The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-02-25
DAVIS MESSAGE
TO CITY COUNCIL
RETIRING BOARD OF ALDERMEN
HEAR ENCOURAGING WORDS
FROM MAYOR DAVY WHO Ex-
PRESSES APPRECIATION FOR
UNIFORM COURTESY.

What will probably be the last
meeting of the present city council
was held last night, pursuant to ad-
journment. Mayor Davy presided
and all of the aldermen were present
A number of unfinished routine mat
tiers were disposed of and it was de-
cided to leave the disposition of some
pending ordinances to the incoming
council.
Mayor Davy announced the reap
pointment of the city weigher, S.
Johnson, and he named Mrs. G. A.
Nye and G. E. Freeberg to be mem
bers of the library board vice Mrs.
S. G. Comstock and Rev. Mr.. Bostrom
resigned.
The report of Walter Thomson, jr.,
expert accountant, on his audit of the
books of the city clerk and the water
and light department was read by the
clerk. The report covered a period
from Jan. l, 1909 to Jan. l, 1913, four
years. In substance Mr.. Thomson
said that he found everything correct
and that all receipts and disburse-
ments had been entered and posted.
He had reconciled the city t~reasurer's
bank balances as stated in the report
of that official made on Dec. 81, 1912.
Also he had examined fully all OF the
accounts Of the water and light de-
partment and found all correct. Mr..
Thomson recommended that the clerk
| open a tax ledger to keep account of
all taxes certified so that at the end
Of the year it could be seen what had
been paid. Balances were all up to
date M they reflect good judgment
in the selection of all records which
have been kept in an able n work
man like manner free from erasures
and a credit to the accountant and the
city.
Gentlemen of the Council: Before
the final adjournment of this body l
want to thank you all for the uniform
courtesy extended to me during my
term in office. With some of you l
have been associated four years and
it is a great pleasure to know that
| during all this time the council has
| worked as a init. There have been
times when matters of much import
nee have come before us that we
could not at once decide upon the bet
ter plan to adopt, but finally when
We did come to a decision it was al
ways unanimous. l presume our
judgment was not always the best,
but / know we nave always done the
best we could in the interest Of our
city.
Il want to thank the several COM
mittees who have served during my
term of office. and especially the
street, bridges and sidewalk and the
poor committees. With the great in
crease of automobiles in our city there
has been a demand for better streets,
and l know the members of this COM
mittee have spent much of their valu-
able time and their work has been
we'll and economically done always
giving employment to our own people
and teams. The poor committee, a
most trying job, one that requires
much time and patience to select the
worthy from the unworthy have done
their work we'll and have saved the
city man hundreds of dollars, and
all other committees as the occasion
required nave lone well.
Improvements.
During the past foul years a num-
Der of improvements have been made
which will be pleasant reminders of
those who were CONNECTED with them.
While the former council made the
paving of our business streets pos
sible, it was for us to see that the
work was properly done and / think
that by wise selection of Engineer
HOpeman and others under him, we
have as good, If not the best job of
like pavement in the state and l know
Of no other business street that is bet
ter lighted. Another thing that has
added much to the appearance of
Front street is the removal Of the
telephone and electric light poles and
wires and placing them in the alley
or where an alley ought to be and it
is no fault of this council that 1t Is
not there as every effort was made to
secure one, however. the electric poles
and wires are there and l might say
that it is a pole line that is a great
credit to the city, the water and light
commission and Superintendent War
ner.
Water and Light Commission,
And I want to congratulate the
aldermen of h past four years upon
the wise selection of members Of the
water and light commission, men who
volunteered to give their valuable
time to MoOrhead and have served
faithfully. l do not think many of our
citizens fully realize the magnitude of
the business done by the water and
light department. 1t is one Of the
largest institutions in our city. The
receipts of this department for the
past four ear was 1922, 439.90. EN-
ploying a number of high class men,
such as superintendent, engineers,
electricians, linemen, ETC., with miles
of water mains and electric wires to
care Tor. With l,34O water Inc light
meters to keep in order and ready
every month, meaning that 1910 ac-
counts are figured up, sent out and
collected every thirty days. SO we
! can see that our water and light de-
partment is NJ small thing, and when
we realize hat we have the lowest
light rate in the state where coal is
used for fuel, and l think l might in
clude water power plants, however,
all this is u to good business man
agement. l him it should always be
the aim Of our aldermen to try and
commission who will carefully guard
the city's interests and particularly
successful business men, who, actuat-
ed by a desire for the public welfare,
| are willing to work without
sation. The water and light depart
ment should not be used for paying
| political or any other debts. I might
mention other things that have hap
pened during the past four years.
One l have in mind:
interest on Deposits.
"The city, for the first time, has
been receiving interest on it's depos-
its, while there was some objection
to this demand made by the council,
the majority of the repositories We're
willing, and the result is that the
city treasury has received during the
past four years, $4,535.07, interest on
the daily balances. The interest for
the past year was $1,698.02. The
council also caused to be built a COR
the many machines and implements
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