The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1914-03-06
CITIZENS MEETING
WAS VERY LIVELY
ENGINEER AND CERTAIN CITIZENS
HAVE SEVERAL CLASHES. I
Vote Taken at Close Indicated Majority
of Those Present Favored
Gravel.

A mass meeting held at FrOst's
opera house, Tuesday evening, for
general consideration by citizens
and the common council of Clio Of
the whole subject of paving Vienna
street, was numerOusly attended |
and productive of considerable
heated and vehement discussion.
Engineer Roberts was on hand to
give whatever information might be
called for regarding the specifica-
tions for paving and drainage
which he had prepared for the vii
lage. The first matter of business |
was the reading of the resolution OF
the council, published in The Mes
;senger, which called for the con-
structon of pavement according
to plans and specifications pre-
pared by the engineer, the same
, to be of concrete. President Hurd
stated the purpose of the meet
ding to be to ascertain the senti-
iment of citizens as to what kind of
pavement they preferred, saying
that it was not the purpose OF the
council to force anything upon the
public which it did not want. Vii
lage Clerk Barnard read the speci-
fications in detail, which called for
the construction of $40 square
yards of reinforced concrete pave
ment, which with the necessary ex-
pansion strips, tiling, catch bas-
ins, curbng and cutters would cost
according to the engineers estimate
"a total of $7,7S3.70. Mr.. Roberts be
ing called upon, discussed details
of construction quite thoroughly
and said plans called for thick
ness of eight inches in the center
and five inches at the curb line.
Following this, III. f. Bodine ask.
ed for considerable information re-
garding the durability of concrete
paving and after considerable dis
'acussiOn read an article written by
a. member of the common council
of some city in Illinois, who claim
ed to have made an exhaustive
study of the concrete rOadways of
Wayne county and found that they
were full of cracks and very unsat-
sfactory. He was followed by Thos.
Oliff, who declared himself against
concrete and told of certain street
in Ann Arbor which he had in
spected and which soon went to
pieces. He also made some inquiries
concerning the connection of En-
gineer Roberts with the contracting
business. Mr. Roberts denied that
he was at present contractor in
any sense of the word or that he
had any personal interest in the
particular kind of pavement that
should be laid in Clio. He admit
ted that concrete pavement was
hard to lay properly and that it
was liable to crack, but said that
methods of laying such pavement
had been greatly improved within
the past year and that where prop
erly laid it would make durable
road in his judgment. He also read
from the official report of the
Wayne County Road Commission
ers, in which they mentioned the
low cost of keeping concrete roads
in repair and said that of all the
miles that had been constructed
they had not as yet been compelled
to tear up single foot. Mr.. Oliff
game back by saying that they had,
however, been obliged to resurface
a great deal of the concrete with
some sort of asphalt binder, and
questioned the engineers estimate
of SLIP per yard as the cost of
construction. Mr.. Roberts replied
that his estimate of cost was based
on his best judgment after having
laid $4,000 square yards OF such
pavement last year, and asserted
that the contract could be let at
this time at his figures. AS proof
of the availability of concrete as
road material, Mr. Roberts said the
great Lincoln Highway, reaching
from ocean to ocean and costing
$40. 900, 000 90 would be built of this
material
Early in the proceedings Village
Attorney Selby stated that the rea-
son it was impossible to consider
brick as a paving material was be
cause the estimated cost was above
Sl1:GOO00 and the law providing
, that not more than one-half Of one
1Jper cent could be assessed for high
way purposes in any one year, pre-
cluded the possibility of raising suf-
flcient funds for that kind of paw
ing. According to last years valu-
I alton it would have been possible
TO have raised S3,30000 uder the
rule stated by the attorney, and in
asmuch as the assessment has been
raised considerably this year it
would be possible to raise larger
sum, possibly close to S3,S0000. The
attorney stated that the pavement
when once constructed would have
; to be maintained through general
taxation and in response to ques-
tions it was stated that the special
+ assessment would be made on
basis of frontage and not upon an
advalorem valuation.
nj. G. Doyle was called upon for
some remarks and stated that while
ne could say much upon the
subject he did not think it proper
TO do so, as he was not the owner
of property in the special assess
ment district.
AS means of ascertaining the