Putnam patriot., 1927-03-25
Couneils Eir.t Sin

Councils First Slip
 The first step taken by the councii after George N. Perry came out with proposition that he though would save the city a large amount of money, stating that adequate ir,- proyements could be made for an amount not Co exceed S50,000. This sounded good, SO the council at a meeting decided to look into the mat ter themselves with the assistance of Mir. Perry, without consulting the commission. They engaged Mir. Pal. mer as their engineer, thereby tech nically taking the matter out of the commissioner hands.
 Mir. Perry's S50,000 plan was to reinforce the present tank with con- crete and building it up to increase it's capacity to 100. .000 gallons or to erect new tank of the same capacity. Also to lay a ten inch main on School street to Mechanics street The idea of putting the large main on School street rather than on Main street was because he expected that before many years the state would build a concrete road there. and the large main would be in so the road would not have to be ripped up at later date.
 We wish Co ask right here. How about the condition of Main street, Is t so good that it will never have to be made over? When the time comes that it will have to be repaired what will be done about the six-ineh main that We now have? On account
 4 H. ia [ Fa ## b.I- in use and the corrosion II cannot be over five inches II seemed to us that anyone giving this matter any serious and intelligent thought would readily see that Main street was the logical place to begin to improve our pipe system because there is where we need fire protection, to Il great eX= tent
 After several months had elapsed from the time the commissioners sub nitted the Symond's plan the special city committee received a plan from Mr. Palmer which embodied most of Mir. Perry's ideas with some increase of storage by adding a tank on Bates hill. The total capacity of the two to he 200, ,000 Right here we wish to say that neither Mir Perry nor Mir. Palmer had figured on the sufficient amount required. According to the N. F. Insurance Exchange. the mini mum amount of storage required for T city of this size is one million six hundred and seventy thousand gal Ions.
 Strengthen Main Street
 The commissioners insisted so much on the importance of strengthening Main street that MT. Perry had includ- ed in the plan q ten inch main from Front street CT I-iv, " and Richmond 10 connect with the six inch main on Main street. also few hundred feet from the corner of Providence street ta the Adams mill The estimated cost of this plan was S90 900 and we considered it had the following de feets Not storage enough. no added pressure. as the tanks were to be on the same level as the present one. and not taking care of the Main street section properly You can very well see that the plan did not come up lo requirements in any way to- wards permanent improvements. As il was the unanimous idea of the council special committee Co get a plan of a lower cost we submitted the proposition to Mir. Symonds who iii turn furnished what has been known as Symonds' second plan.
 This consisted of a million gallon steel tank on Bates hill with 8 twelve inch main to Providence street ana from there along School street and Front street to Main street. and mil- lion gallon steel tank on Richmond hill with twelve inch main connect ing to the Sabin street line and ten inch main on Church street from Providence street to Woodstock ave nue. Thus providing a circuit of large pipes covering both sides of the river. In this plan the elevation was maintained which is so important for better service. Mir. Symonds made this layout with a large pipe on School street because the city committee was so determined to follow MT. Perry's idea so as not Go disturb Main street. The estimated cost of this plan was S100.00O.
 The commissioners considered that Mr. Symonds' second plan was the better of the two at the lower cost. The cost is estimated at around Sl00,- GOO. It gives us the quantity and pressure which lacked in the other, but still with this plan as well us Mir. Palmer's we would have steel tanks that are subject to continual expense for maintenance and are not in line of the permanent improvements as plan ned by our predecessors. Although the commissioners did not approve this as we'll as the first submitted by MT. Symonds. still We would have been willing to carry 1t out if the citizens at a city meeting had ex- pressed their desire to adopt a low priced proposition. We would not as sume the responsibility of adopting something that we did not believe as being best for the city in the future.
 Plan Sent tc Palmer
 Then this plan was sent to Mir Pal mer by council committee so that he could make a comparison and submit another that would come nearer com plying with the requirements that we were so consistently fighting for quantity and pressure, We would not agree Co cut down for any eonsidera- ton. Finally MT Palmer's second plan was submitted which was the same layout as the fifst with the sx- .ception of larger and higher tanks