Morris tribune., 1911-11-24
BUYS FIFTEEN ACRES.
Council Disposes of the O'Rior.
dan and Calvin Suits.

" hlOrOan anu MIS-. MafF IdlFiI,
reached an agreement on Tuesday
night whereby the city buys fifteen
acres from O'Riordan for 81, 200 and
pays Mrs. Calvin $500 in settlement
of damages to crops claimed by her.
The council also renewed J. E. Cole S
contract as city engineer for another
year at a salary of $500, and also
heard the electric light committee on
the matter of hiring An electrical en-
gineer.
The electric light committee submit
ted correspondence with engineers,
one of whom wanted 1920 to make a
survey and report, another 500, and
another did not mention his price.
The question of whom to hire was
discussed for some time and it was
finally deemed best not to employ an
engineer until something more de-
finite had been heard from the power
company at Fergus Falls, who may
want to run a line in here, and sell
I current wholesale to the city.
The question of the settlement for
damages resulting from the overflow
of the septic tank was taken up. Mr.
O'Riordan is the owner of the land
thru which the discharge from the
septic tank flows and Mrs. Calvin is
the renter. The former claimed dam
age to the land and the latter claimed
damages for loss of crop for several
years. The settlement which had
previously been talked over informal
ly was defined and settled. The
@ city buys from Mr.. O'Riordan Is acres
of land along the north line Of his
quarter at $50 an acre, and with a
little Strengthening of the drain the
discharge can be confined to this strip
of land. On the easterly edge of this
land the ravine discharges upon some
fiat land and here the city will next
summer construct filter beds. This
can be done easily and cheaply as the
soil is sandy and all that will be
necessary will be to remove the thin
layer of black soil. The buying of
the land is in settlement of all dam
ages in the past and all in the future
which might arise from the fact that
the discharge from the septic tank
might be offensive. The settlement
with Mrs. Calvin is made on the same
conditions, the $500 covering both
past damages to crops and future
claim for damage on 'he ground of
offensiveness.
J. E. Cole stated that his contact
with the city had expired and sub
mitted a verbal report which he stated
he would later reduce to writing and
file with the city c'erk, showing that
he had collected $653.8 in road
taxes. that about $2O5 had been
worked out and that he had expended
$124. rs of the Improvement Union
road fund this year. With this
money and work he had graded half
mile of the approach from the north
and half mile Of the approach from
the west from Gould's to Penn's, al
so nearer the city on this same road
and on West Eight street and Wyom
ing avenue, on East Eighth street
from Oregon to California, on Third
street from Montana to Columbia.
on Columbia from Second to Third,
on Third from Colorado to California.
on First street from Colorado to At
lantic, on West Fifth street from
Nevada to Washington, on East Fifth |
street from Montana to the cemetery,
on East Seventh street and the alley |
between Sixth and Seventh, and part |
ly in filing Atlantic avenue from |
Eighth street to the Great Northern. |
Some of the money was also used in |
dragging the streets. The grading |
of Park avenue, from which the city |
received back $3.50 for dirt used in
filling lots, the making of tile and
the filling for sidewalks had been
done with money out of the general
fund. Mr.. Cole also spoke of the
work that had been done in putting in
catch basins and the extending of
the drainage sewer and the laying of
4, 700 feet of sanitary sewer under
his direction. Also the Seventh street
approach was Strengthened and graded
as state road this year. Mr.. Cole
stated that he was we'll satisfied with
the success he had had in handling the
business end Of his work as we'll as
engineering work, and believed the
former was as important as the latter.
The council expressed themselves
as we'll pleased with Mr.. Cole work,
and stated that they wished to renew
the contract if necessary at the same
price, but desired to reduce the salary
if possible. On account uf the large
drain being about completed and no