Norwich bulletin., 1916-05-02

The monthly meeting of the West erly town council was held Monday, and the reading of the minutes of the seven meetings held during tho month occupied the first half hour of the session. Superintendent Thomas Mc- Kenzie of the water department, aub- mitted a certified copy of the act authorizing the town of Westerly to create a sewerage system, within a prescribed sewerage district, The act as passed on in town meeting was regard to the referendum The original bill provided that the tax payers with in the proposed sewerage district, who are to pay the expenses, should vote on the referendum, and not the tax payers of the town as @ whole. The in regard to the referendum. It pro- Vides that the matter of accepting or rejecting tha bill be decided at a spe- cial town meeting to be held prior to June 15. Thus the matter is put up to all the taxpayers of the town, in- stead of those resident in the drain age district and that the polls be open from 10 in the morning until in the afternoon.
 Councilman G9aswell said he pre- stunned the change was made because the town would be held responsible for the indebtedness.
 MT. Mackenzie said the intention was that the people who are to Do benefited, and who are to pay the bills, were the proper ones to settle the
 Councilman Hasweil, a member of the general assembly, said he could sec no valid reason why the amend mont was made,
 MT. Mckenzie said it was simply a case whore the town as @ whole loaned it's credit, fully guaranteed to the section to be severed. The amendment goes on in detail of the mode of procedure that must be taken. 1t will be decided by ballot and Yes and No vote, Should the town vote Yes, the drainage district must pay the expense,
 The amendment made so many changes from the regular routine of town meetings, and mixed matters up so much by reason of unnecessary re- caused Town Clerk Whippte to eS- claim: t'The man who made up tho amendment to that bill is a damphoo1; and 1t made no difference. whether 1t was MT. Jennings, the leader in the house. or any other man." This town has it's raoderatoss, he said, but un- der this amendment. tho council must appoint IsaodeTRtoTs, the clerk and not the town sergeant must post notices of the special town meeting >in ten public places. Tho customary election officials must be appointed, the vote taken by ballot, the vote counted by the moderators, and afterwards count ed by the town council on a. returning >Foard. To comply with the amend ment the council must pass 9 series of votes to cover all the points. If there be any little slip, or error, there would bc trouble over the issuance of bonds. It was advised that the coun- ell go slow in the matter as there was involved an expenditure of from $175, 900 to s2o00oo. It was decided to defer action to & special meeting of tho council to be held next Saturday evening. and that Clerk Whippie and Town Solicitor AEard be q. committee to prepare the necessary votes.
 Everett Earns, rspressneina tta owners of the property in High etresS, porary post onice, potitioned the eeun- ell to construct an entrance to tha basement of the building from tho sidewalk, with a covered entrance four feet by four feet six inches ia dimension. On motion of Mir Flynn the matter was referred to the high. way commissioner to investigate and report to the meeting next Saturday evening.
 Frank w.. Coy, representing the board of trade committee concern ing the reduction of =atee by the Weseer- lY Light and Power company, asked tho council if anything had been heard from the public utilities com mission, in regard to a public hearing on the reduction Of rates from light and power. President Cullsy inform cd him that the council had received nothing definite. Mir Coy then tolG of the reductions made by the Narra- sansett company, which gave g vote of from Is cents to 12 cents per k. w., with summer season rate Of 20c per k. w., and for cooking two cents per k. W. At Narragansett Pier the charge is 12 cents and 20 cents for summer season rates. In Westerly the regular rate is 14 cents while at Watch Hill during the summer season the rate is 25 cents. This proposed hearing should be no longer delayed, he said, and the rate should be lowered right away. The councilmen represent the town, and the interests of the people, and this delay is not creditable to the council. He suggested that the busi- ness of the council in this particular be through the clerk of the council and not by a lawyer. It might be well to take up the matter of furnish ing light and power with the Nara gansett company, or with the parties who recently purchased the water power privileges near Ashaway, as the Westerly Light and Power company had no exclusive franchise, or it may be the town of Westerly would pre- fer the produce of it's own light and power. He urged that some action be taken to have the public utilities give public hearing on this matter in the very near future.
 It was voted on motion of MT. Has we'll that the town solicitor proceed to get the public utilities commission to hold a hearing as soon as convenient, and in Westerly if possible.
 Tree Warden Edward Gavitt came before the council to be heard on a petition that did not materialize re- garding the removal of tree in front of the Means property. He did not miss the opportunity to talk, however. He spoke interestingly of the good season that had been during the year and told of a sure invasion of brown tail moths that were sure to come to Westerly with a westerly wind from Pawcatuck. Much had been done to combat this pest, but it could not be carried on forever without funds. He was ordered to lay the matter before the senator and representatives from Westerly to the next general assem- bly, with @ view of getting part of the state appropriation for this work. The tree warden's report showed that