Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1925-03-12

100 OIL inc uoHc Laws of 1923, they"
That IS, the superintendent en-
| ploHed by these towns-"they shall
nave general charge of all ways and
bridges III 'heif district and see that
the same are improved, repaired ana
maintained as provided by law"
Now, Chapter 25 Of the Revised
statutes is the chapter under which
the present Highway Commission is
functioninE and it defines all their
rights and privileges in connection
with road and bridge building. Chan
| ter 1913 of the Public Laws of 1924 Is
| the law relating to bridges. Now If
this man is elected-that is, from nv
| point OF view as ! look at this act
II TINS man IS elected under the SUI
| porVlslon OF the Highway Commits
SION ne takes 1ull charge Of the roads
and bridges and so far as I can see
aside from the fact that the Select
men have right TO discharge him bv
| a tWo-thirds vote, he has absolute
control Of Your roads and bridges and
| goes on maintaining, repairinc and
| building new roads according TO his
! judgment, backed up by the High
way Commission. This man, YOU un-
derstand, is employed by the Select
men for period of three years.
Y our Selcctmen, are elected annually
and it is possible, then, for your Sc
lectmen, in the year 1925, to employ
Il superintendent of roads who will
continue to serve for two years after
they have ceased to have an interest
in the towns affairs.
Now, Section 5, Chapter % of the
Public Laws of 1919. shall not apply
to towns forming q union, in accord
anco with the provisions of the pre-
ceding sections for such a time as
that union may continue in force"
This Section 8 takes away the right
OF the various towns 10 employ SUI
perintendent OF streets. In other
words, if we should combine with
two or three towns then you will have
done away with any rights, so far as
the town is concerned, to employ Il
superintendent Of streets other than
to employ him in this group of towns
such as is designated in this act.
1t seems TO me it would be much
better for US to continue functioning
as we are today under the present
law. (Applausel
Mr.. LELAND of Sangerville: Mr..
Speaker and members of the House:
II do not understand that there is any
, new motion before the House.
The SPEAKER: The question is on
the motion of the gentleman from
Sangerville, Mr.. Leland. that Report
y Ought to Pass be accepted
Mr.. LELAND: Mr., Speaker | shall
not take up the time of the House
this morning to so over again the re-
marks which | made n week ago at
which time expected that this mat
ter was settled.
7 notice what the gentleman from
Belfast. Mr.. Frost, says with relation
to the existing law taking care of the
present situation. that they might not
do anything under this act which
they might not do under the existing
law. Il seems to mo, however, that
he has overlooked the fact that in
this act the assistance Of the state is
provided for TO help pay the salaries
of the superintendent. ! note what
the gentleman from Pressure Isle
says with relation TO the evidence be-
fore the committee and he made
very fair statement Of the case in
deed. The committee, as | understand
it. was influenced by the weight Of
evidence presented and also by the
merits of the bill itself. 1t seems to
me that this is nothing more nor less
than simply q provision by which
to esecurc very efficient supervision
of their roads. Also. it seems to me
that il might very possibly work out
To the advantage of the towns in the
use of such equipment for highway
construction and maintenance as
would not he possible for small towns
to have. which could be made pos
sible under the priyisions of this act.
Now. gentlemen, all ] have to say in
connection with this is that it is not
the intention Of the act to place more
fully under the. direction Of the High
way Commission the affairs of the
towns themselves. 1t is simply to
bring about q better cooperation.
better CO. ordination of the activities
of the State and towns in order that
they may more efficiently function to-
ward what we all resire, namely, the
Improvement of our highways and
bridges.
Mr.. FROST: Mr.. Speaker and MEM
hers: ! wish to say just one more word
in reply to the remarks just made
by the gentleman from Sargentville
(Alr. Leland in relation to the state
paying q part of the salary. | think
that AL Of us here in the House who
are familiar with State Aid ConStruc-
furnish one dollar and the State fur
nishes another dollar. Now. if We
employ n superintendent on any par
tcular piece of State highway road,
in reality the State pays one-half of
that mans salary and the town pays
the other half. Now, under this bill,
any money that is paid to the super
irtendent is deducted from the money
which would bn voted TO the town by
the Highway Department. l do not
know that I make myself perfectly
clear on that, but the idea is that
you get no more under this act than
you do under the present law in tho
fifty fifty basis under which we are
building state Aid Roads.
Mr.. LELAND: Mr.. Speaker, ]
would say that my understanding of
this proposition is that the superin-
tendents salary would come out of
the general fund Fl the maintenance
and construction of the State Aid
Roads and of third class roads but
not directly from the appropriation
for each, town, simply that it is pro-
vided for in the fund available for
those classes of roads.
Mr.. BRAGDON of Perham: Mr.
Speaker and members of the House:
wish to call attention briefly to the
situation that will exist under such
a law as this: that is, perhaps, l can
think of two or three places in my
own town where this situation would
exist: Take a case like this, that
whereas along the road from Fort
Kent toward Patten, through the
towns of Portage. Nashville, Masar-
dis. etc, if five towns Join together
there they will stretch out on line
80 miles long. This superintendent of
highways would naturally live in the
largest one and keep a swivel chair
warm there, according to the prevail