Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-12-17
CITY COUNCIL TAKES
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recognized by the Council as O part of
tic FIRE department Of the said City Of
Wilmington, II such price or prices as
may be determined in said condemnation
PROCEEDINGS. or agreed upon by the Coun-
al In agreements to purchase the came and
t1 operate the same for the pubic use rs a
paid fire department
Section 2 For the purpose Of defray
ing o.. the cost Of requiring the necessary
real and PERSONA property Cf said fire
companies. Council shell have the power
& issue bonds. II manner and form as the
Council shell determine. the same to be
approved as - form by the city solicitor
Ci the city 81 II llmington. to an smount
rot exceeding the total cost Of such real
and per- Il property so taken over
al the aforesaid bonds shall be sigped
bv the mayor and countersigned by the
treasurer and city auditor, IN the same
manner as other bonds OF the CITY 81 VII
uIngtOu and the record theTeo. shall he
Il ade and kept hv the city auditor and
treasurer RESP lively.
S,ction That Immediately upon
TIE taking over OF such real and personal
property the contracts then Ii force and
ii operation between the Council and
several FIRE companies shall cease, de-
rmIne and become absolutely void and
OF no effect.
Section T. That Immediately upon
tie taking over Of such real and PERSONA
) .gertv Couaciishala appoint such officers
..gent, and employ such persons as tho
tluacl, NAV determine necessary - prop
crlv operate the said fire department,
and To fv and pay such off GERS, agents
ard employees such salaries as the Council
shall determine
Section 3 All acts, or parts Of acts
INCONSISTENT herewith are hereby repealed
and thls act shall be deemed and taken
a 8 public act.
COMMITTEES Re oRT.
The following report Of the fire com
mittee. accompanying the proposed bill
was submitted TO Council
President and members Of Council.
Your fire committee has Investigated
the matter Of establishing q paid fire de-
partnleut IN Wilmington. As we were
familiar with local conditions, we gave
other cities oar particular attention. We
have corrcsponded with various cities,
publications. insurance companies and
apparatus manufacturers IN order 10 get
q collective idea Of the best plan 10 follow.
According 70 statistics. tins city Is one Of
flur It's SIZE that does not have some kind
a rea! paid FIRE department. They are
Troy. y. y, Reading, Pa, York, Pa
nd Wilmington Cities like Jamestown
Ny and New Brunswick, n. j., with
p1pulat ous OF about 10000 and 10000
rspectvely, have psId departments
Troy. y. y, now has q part paid depart
ment. FIVE men IN each company being
paid We therefore, think II unnecessary
q dwell on that point as we feel the ma
lority Of our citizens desire paid depart
met We msde no effort u 60 into
details rs TO cost OF establishing q paid
department or the program 70 pursue in
redlstrctag the city, etc, as this
has been discussed several times and
vsrious estimates printed ID underwriters
rep Is and the local papers, besides
ttl4t matter covers another phase Of the
work which WI. have 70 be investigated
and discussed fully before any definite
purchases or plans are made.
I'VE ind that most cities in changing
from volunteer 70 apaId department start
me work through the aid of an enabling act
passed by State Legislatures which either
gives the mayor anC Council authority TO
este Dlsh & department or puts the matter
up 10 the people 20 decide at some special
election. The first course is the one
mostly adopted. An instance Of the peo-
pe deciding IS in Jamestown n Y. The
: aiq department was established n 1911,
bui hey only had a one SHIFT system which
va not altogether satisfactory and III
! 4nuary of this year q special election was
eli 10 decide on the adylsabity Of es-
tabIsLing OF installing q tWo-pIatoen svs-
ten Tins system IS now III effect We
tint various periods elapse from the pass
ing II such an act until paid departments
are established, varying from six months
~ ever wear, size Of departments and
iencrA conditions governing same.
I'VE know of no cities that put the en-
d detail q the proposed changes in their
3ls IN ordinances. All have been of an
81 hqutati.e nature which gave power to
cef-un bodies, 10 create departments
wbei at their discretion tioy considered
tpropcr n dc 81 We. therefore, recon-
mfud that jhIs procedure be followed bv
tals BODY, and further recommend that
bill sucn ~ the attached be presented t.
the Delaware Legislature and that City
Council 20 On record Sc unanimously
taFoTLg ssme
Respectfully submitted,
Alexander r Abrahams
james g. Mearns,
John J MulveLa,
Herman D. FaulkDe-,
arthur johnson,
Fire Committee