Putnam patriot., 1911-08-18
Adjourned Town Meeting

whether or not the town would vote to accept the new concrete bridge over the Quinebaug river was held in Union hall Tuesday evening. There were about 75 present. J. C. Nichols was elected chairman.
 H. J. Thayer made a motion that the town accept the bridge. He said he made the motion to get the matter before the meeting. The motion was seconded by C. w. Bradway. While the house sat in silence waiting for some further action W. S. Johnson came into the hall and upon being in- formed of the motion before the house, said that he would offer an amend ment that the bridge be not accepted. It was suggested that this was not an amendment to the previous motion but a new motion. He then said he would change 1t to instruct the selectmen to employ "a suitable person to inspect the bridge and report back to the meeting whether or not the bridge was Oulll dCCoEuknk tu tohbtaSt'
 Considerable discussion followed. C.. w. Bradway said that the town had elected the selectmen and had author ized them to build the bridge, and he believed the men were competent men ard if they said the bridge was all right he thought the town should ac- cept 1t.
 Mir. Johnson said that he thought the bridge had not been built accord ing to contract, and was willing to point out wherein the deficiencies were apparent. First, the town voted for 4O foot bridge, He said he had measured the bridge that afternoon, and it was not 40 feet except in one place, where the electric light poles were. Further he said the contract calls for 12 inches of macadam on the roadway and this had not been full filled. It was the sense of the town meeting that had authorized the build ing of the bridge that 1t should be lighted in the center. The side walls, while they don't conflict with the con tract, were made of poor material. The rods are supposed to be covered with cement. He asked MT. Pierce if they were. MT. Pierce said he would talk when the speaker finished.
 After MT. Johnson had finished MT Pierce said that regarding the width oi the bridge, that the town voted for q bridge the full width of the street The roadway Is 26 feet, there are two | six foot walks, and on each side Is a railing and cornice foot wide making l the 40 feet. In regard to the macadam he said there is l2 inches where possi- ble, but where cross rods were encased | with six inches of cement and came within five or six inches at the top on l the sides near the gutter there was not room for l2 inches of macadam. In regard to rods not being encased in ce' ment, he explained that there had been one on the further arch, but as soon as 1t had been discovered 1t had been encased.
 There was considerable more talk relative to the matter of letting the contract, the use of patent overhang- l ing walk, removing the, ,old abutments from the river, etc., not exactly to the point of whether the contract as made had been lived up to.
 | Regarding provision for lighting the bridge 1t was stated that when the se- | lectmen called on the manager of the light company he did not have the necessary pipe and they did not wish | to stop the construction to wait for It. l They were also informedtthat the wir' ing could be done under the sidewalk MT. Johnson asked Manager Thurs ton of the electric light company to ex' plain this from bis point of view. MT Thurston said that he had looked over I the plans and found no provision toI | lights. He thought that let the com pany out. Then the selectmen came to him and told him whatithey want ed, and he couldn't give it to them al a moments notice as the company needs time for such an undertaking, az | they have work ahead continually He said he had not put lights on tht bridge because 1t had inot been accept ed by the town, and until 1t was hs said the company had no right to ever drive nail in the structure.
 Selectman LaRue said that the towr had good bridge. That this was thu general opinion. Regarding the pat ent oyerhanging sidewalk he isaid the town was fool for having 1t ther'
 were 40,0O0 fools, for there were tha
 many such sidewalks in use. II
 thought that this number of them wa
 assurance that 1t was good thing
 There was considerable applause whe the doctor finished.
 After more talk along similar lines
 motion that the matter be left to arb
 tration, made by MT. Johnson. WE lost. The previous question, to acceE the bridge, was then voted upon an
 carried unanimously.
 The meeting then adjourned. Interesting Locals