New Britain herald., 1916-03-16
City Fathers W1angze Opey B0ost F01 Towers and Woods
Superintendent of Water De partment Gets Increase of S1O0 After Much Debae-Assistant Prosecuting At
 torney Granted S125-E stimates Are Laid Over

l A motion of Alderman l.. X. Parker ; to amend the unfavorable report of the 1 committee on salaries on the petition
 to raise from $500 to $2,2OO the sal | ary of Superintendent James Towers | of the water department caused more 1 debate at the March meeting of the l common council last night than all l the other business of the session. MT. | Parker's amendment was to make the 1 salary $2,1OO and he spoke of the value of MT. Towers work and com pared his salary unfavorably to those in small towns for similar work All
 on his own time, said the alderman,
 MT. IOWerS has perfected the water
 department maps and made the sys-
 tenn up-to-date in every particular.
 Councilman Landers was pleased to agree with Alderman Parker and said 1t should be remembered that apart from the fact that MT. Towers is a
 competent man he is getting no more
 than some factory foremen who work
 but eight and nine hours while he is on duty twenty-fOurs a day for 365 days in the year. He though $2,10O not more than he should receive
 Chairman W. E. Rossberg was called upon for a statement and he strongly backed the arguments Of the previous speakers and added that the salary committee had erred in turning him down. Mr. ROSSberg said the job was q large one and MT. Towers is a large man. The water department is three million dollar corporation and spreads all over Hartford county. MT. Towers is familiar with all parts of the system and is cheap at $2,1OO.
 CoUncilmn Curtis feared MT. Tow CTS might have his head turned by so much praise. However, MT. Curtis thought he was worth the raise.
 Salary Committee Peevcd
 The remarks made by the salary boosters stirred the ire of the salary committee and the members were not slow to come back. Chairman Wag ner of the committee said MT. l-oss- berg had appeared before the commit tee with the self same arguments and the committee had considered them. | However, they had felt that the pres ent salary is enough. If the council l wanted to change it, he was satisfied. Councilman McDonough, also a mem ,, Der of the salary committee, came l next and vigorously opposed the raise. l He thought the limit had been reached l on salary boosts and it was time to l make a check somewhere on the mat !! ter of large salaries. He didn't care what Hartford did any other city. 1 They were there to consider New | Britain. The point was what New Britain could pay and the taxpayers . had had more than enough. A check i had to be made somewhere ana tile l took it on the Towers mat ] ter Alderman McCabe spoke in sim i liar vein and said the taxpayers m a1s 1 ward were hard pressed. CounclI1nan Ianders came back to remark tnaI Il he were on salary committee ana 'el- tain action had been decided upon ne would not feel sore if the councI thought otherwise He was sick of hearing the continual howl about the taxpayers and what they couldn't stand. For his part he represented as many small taxpayers as the two pre- vious speakers Nobody ever pre- tended MT. Towers was tech nical expert said MT. Landers in reply to an insinuation that if the ] superintendent had been all that was claimed he would have fOrseen some i uf the costly blUnders made by the 1 former consulting engineer, Percy M. i Blake He would vote to pay a man 1 what he was worth regardless of pop 1 ular glamour. Alderman McCabe said l the councilman from the sixth might 1 be able to pay big taxes. but there were people in his ward who could not.
 Alderman Parker said if anyone wanted to guage Mr. Towers real
 worth he should go to some cities and
 see the heaps of meters thrown aside
 as junk Meters cost lots of money,
 and they are not thrown aside in the local water department. Councilman
 Curtis said the competency of a man
 should be considered. It is a saving to hire such. as they prove cheaper in
 the end Councilman Paonessa want
 ed to ask MT. Rossberg a question re-
 garding the boards action in bringing
 in the petition but was ruled out of
 order.
 S2.1OO Killed.
 A roll call vote was taken on the
 amendment to make the salary $2,1OO
 and d tie developed, 12 voting yes and
 12 voting no. Mayor Quigley dis
 solved the tie, voting against the
 amendment, but remarked that he