Putnam patriot., 1912-01-05
Common Council.

ana made a lew remarks concerning the retiring aldermen in which he said he was sorry to see them go. As Al derman Carpenter was the only retir- ing member who was present the mayor took the opportunity to thank him personally for his past kindness and consideration and for his con- scientious attention to his duties to the city.
 The new aldermen, Messrs. Johnson, Duvert and Mann then took the va eated seats and the mayor administer ed the oath to all of the aldermen.
 He then read his annual message which was as follows.
 MAYORS MESSAGE
 Gentlemen of the Common Council:
 In accordance with the custom of the able men who have preceded me in office, submit in writing this mes- sage in part as to what has been done and in part as to what in my opinion should be done by the city, and by it's mayor and common council as it's ser wants.
 appreciate more than ever the re- sponsibility of the office and also ap- preciate more than ever the fact that without the help of the common coun- cil my usefulness as mayor would be very limited. We are the city's ser wants and as such in my opinion, as 1 said in my message of two years ago, if we do not give due attention to the business affairs of the city we will have poor results, and the city demands an administration and as careful manage. ment as the ordinery man gives to his own private business. We have in the past eliminated from this council all political feelings. and it is only by eliminating these political feelings that we can render good accounts of our stewardship as servants of the city.
 accept again the responsibility of the position of mayor of this city, with the full belief that you members of the common council will work with me with the purpose in view of giving this good city of ours careful manage ment, but at the same time an admin istration of improvement and advance ment.
 HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT It is only a repetition for me to say that our citizens dem; nd good high ways, and it must be .,Bur endeavor to use whatsoever highway appropriation shall be made for the permanent im- proyement of streets and in such a manner that by the continuance of the methods used the streets of our city will gradually be brought up to well graded, smooth, dry, and perfectly good condition. We have accomplish ed much in the last year in relation to the permanent improvement of our highways. We have purchased a crusher and roller and the city has put itself in position to place such mate rial upon the streets that each and ev cry expenditure shall be for the per manent good, not simply to tempora- rily fill holes. At the same time it must be borne in mind that ordinary repairs are needed and will continue to be needed in many places, and that all our streets should be made at least comfortably passable and safe, though the bulk of our highway appropriation should be so used that the streets shall gradually be made permanently good l think that very few of our citizens realize the very great improvement that the city has made in the past two ' ticularly on Barber sstreet, al the foot of Walnut street, South Main street, School street, and many other places, and few of the people realize the amount of time and careful attention and study that has been given to the improvement of lour streets by the chairman of the highway committee and his associates. l wish to cali at tention particularly to the wonderful improvement made, at so little expen- allure, on School street from Mechan- ics street to the new High School building, which makes the entrance into our city, so much used by the peo. pie of Thompson and by people from Providence, attractive and safe and l adds so much to their good opinion of our city to which these outside people bring a large amount of business which adds to our general prosperity. It must be borne in mind that in the im- provement of this entrance to our city our roller and, crusher have been of wonderful value. We had all the rock from our sewers to dispose of in some 1 way and the added cost of this iim- provement to the highway, under the circumstances, has been comparative ly very small, and has made our roller and crusher cost the city very little money. It must also be borne in mind that good entrances into our city are the greatest inducement that we can furnish the outside people to come in to do their trading. Putnam is the center of a very large trading popula- tion, and 1 recommend that these inn provements be continued and that a more liberali amount be in some way obtained for the permanent improve ment of our highways.
 WATER SUPPLY
 The Board of Water Commissioners informs me that it has now full and thorough report, both as to the condi- ton of the plant of the Putnam W ater Company and the necessary things to be done to put the plant in proper con- dition. so that the board will immedi- ately proceed to take the same over The board informs me that this has been a matter requiring a very large amount of detail work and study and that the work has been done as rapidly as the board could expect, and that there is very little question but that the city will actually own and operate a system of water works within this city within the term of the present ad- ministration.
 SEWERAGE
 The city has during my administra' ton voted to place system of sewers
 within the city. The larger part of a com mpleted system has already been in- stalled, though the completion of the same has been so recent that no pro- visions have been made for the assess ment of lbenefits. Much work has
 been done by the servants of the city 1 in the planning of this system, and | ! wish to call the attention of the tax