The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-02-07
CITY COUNCIL IS
in LONG SESSION
Al DERMEN HELD A LONG MEET,
ING LAST NIGHT--WATER Fill
TRATIoN ACCIDENTALLY COMES
UP FOR DIscussIoN-sIG Rou.
TINE BUSINESS.

| The city council met last night in a
prolonged session. The gathering was
marked for the fact that every alder
man in the city was present at the
meeting.
AT the opening of the meeting Mayor
Lowell announced for the benefit of a
rumber OF citizens who were present.
that the question of repaving any of the
streets of the city would not come up at
the meeting. He also stated the reason
for the same.
According to the requirements Of the
law, the city engineer must file with
MS plans Of paving, the grading of the
streets to be worked upon. None of
me streets that have been proposed for
| paving have ever been graded and for
this reason they could not be legally
paved. 1t will be an all summers Job
to establish grading, making 1t nee
essary for the citizens of the south
| side to postpone their proposed street
improvements for another year.
Mayor Lowell also spoke of his re-
cent visit to Bismarck where he watch
ed with interest number of bills being
governments. One of these proposes
to obviate the filing of the grades with
the plans and specifications for street
Improvement, which if passed. might
enable the city to advance with
the proposed paving.
The mayor reported that upon the
investigation of the city attorney and
himself, they felt certain that the city
had good claim against the county
Of Cass for funds due the city from
the county. These sums were retain
ed by the county treasurer as fees in
the collection of special assessment
taxes, the details Of which were pub
!ished in The Forum a few days ago.
The council ordered that action be
taken against the county to recover
the money due the city.
DR.. G. A. Carpenter appeared before
the council in the interest of the Bap-
fist church. The church desired the
city to pay a bill of sewerage repair
in front of the church, the damage
having been done by slide of land,
which was i'll no way under the control
Of the church officials. The mem
bers of the council decided that it
would be establishing a precedent to
ray all or part of the bill and rejected
the proposition of settling the account
for the repairs.
Gordon Keeney, jr, appeared before
the council offering to sell to the city
for the sum of $500 a number OF lots
on Seventh street on the north side,
where the city had laid out streets and
infringed upon the property of Keency.
The matter of the purchase of the pro-
perty was referred to the street COM
mittee which was to act in conjunc-
ton with the mayor and the city at
torney on the proposition and report
at a future meeting of the council.
The reports were read of the corpor-
alton officials, all Of which were re-
ceived and placed on file. OF chief
notice was the fact that city lights had
been reported out during the last
month, the total of 1,402 hours.
The question of the pay for arc
lights in Island park was again be-
fore the city council. This bill has
previously been presented at the meet
ing of the city dads, and usually 1t
has been sent back to the park COM
mission. However, this time it was
sent into new channel and will re-
committee for time.
Attorney Barnett appeared before
the council stating that he had been
retained by a number of the voters
and property holders of the First ward
to protest against the sewer assess
ment of the big trunk sewer recently
laid in this portion of the city. The
property holders were adverse to pay
ing so heavily for the late sewer, In
view of the fact that they were already
paying for about three other refuse
carriers, and that the new sewer was
placed in position for needs OF other
parts of the city, and was not at all
necessary for the property holders of
the First ward The matter was re-
ferred to a committee consisting OF
Mayor Lowell and Alderman Clapp.
Several petitions were received by
the aldermen by parties claiming to
have been assessed to too great an
amount George Kingsley Lars Chris
Hanson and the widow of Sam John
son all asked for reductions. Mrs.
Johnson's case was decreed to be de-
cidedly unjust and her case will have
the attention of the city auditor and
city attorney at once. The other pc
titions were received and placed on
file.
Alderman Mcdonald brought up the
question of where the drays were to
hang out during the coming summer
months. Mayor Lowell was named as
a committee OF one to locate the drays
in a permanent home, near the center
of the city where they could transact
their business to a good advantage.
A number of locations for the dray-
men to hang out were suggested, and
1t is probable that some of these will
be selected The question Of placing
a dray phone in some central place for
the benefit of the carrier wagons was
discussed and favorably considered.
Alderman Stewart brought UP mo-
ton that the city engineer be instructed
to include in his plans for a filtration
plant and pumping station, speciflca-
tions for a city lighting plant. Sam
Mcdonald, the chairman of the fire and
water committee objected to this. on
the grounds that it would delay the
work on the filtration plant, which was
well under way. and should not be him
dered or hampered at this time How
ever, Mr.. Anders set both gentlemen
at ease by stating that plans for a
lighting plant could be made later and
made to fit in with the filtration plant
easily.
Alderman Jardine, the chairman of
the light committee introduced num-
Der of figures secured from Grand
Forks officials, which went to show
that the city of Fargo was not re-