Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1929-11-15
CITY UTILITIES
MEET SUBJECT
Members of Commission Not
Clear on Original
Agreement


The city commission voted Fri
day morning to reimburse the
developers Of Los Ebanos addition
for water mains and sanitary and
storm sewers in that section OF
the addition lying within the city
limits.
The section includes 81 acres of
the development and the larger
part OF q system which was put
in by the James-DickinSon COM
pany In 1927 at their own exv 'nse.
Cost OF the entire system was
placed at $3i ,470 by G. w. Rogers.
city engineer, who made a survey
on instructions from the city COM
mission. Costs were figured by the
developers at S3l ,203..
A. d. Dickinson, member o. the
firm, presented the question. stat
ing that the city agreed to re-
imburse them for expenditur- for
public utilities when the develop
ment Of the addition became a
reality.
Agreement not Clear
ITS a reality right now If any
thing ever was" Dickinson declar-
ed. Taxable valuations for the city
have been increased from $4,000
to $229,000 within the past two
years, and are steadily rising"
Members of the commission were
not clear as TO what agreement
had been made with the company
at the time the construction was
begun. j. "A. Cobolini reminded the
members that he had not been on
the commission at the time, and
so had nothing to 60 on. John
Starck argued that the city had
agreed to take over the utilities
at cost, and he believed that this
should be done.
Mayor "A. B. Cole stated that he
had no knowledge of an actual
agreement. lie said there had been
some discussion, that the company
asked that some such agreement
be made, and that the commission
suggested a specific statement OF
terms be submitted for their con-
sideration- This, the mayds- held.
had never been done, and the mat
ter was left in that state.
Mayor Opposes Payment
Cole opposed the payment for
the utilities on the ground that
II sets a precedent which will be
morally binding on the city In
dealing with other additions.
Payment for the entire project
was asked by Dickinson. Legality
OF the city paying for such develop
ment outside the city limits was
questioned.
II. b. Galbraith. city attorney.
settled this with the remark: "We
bought an airport"
On the motion or Burt HinkIev
Sr., the commission agreed to nav for
for the portion Of the system actually
within the city limits the fair price to
be determined by Rogers in con-
junction win company engineers.
j "A. CobOlini and John Starck. how
ever, held against immediate set
tlement Of the question during the
argument.
Il want to get some legal advice
before I take any action on this. n
he said. Everything I've done has
been illegal. and want to be sure
about this. I've been breaking the law
ever since I've been on the commits
sion"
Gas Permit Given
Another matter which has been
hanging fire for the past two years
was cleared up when the commits
sion voted unanimously to allow the
gas company to cut the pavement
to lay mains to the chamber of
commerce. The point at which the
cut Is to be made was left to the
discretion of the gas company and
the building inspector, who is to be
instructed to issue such permit
at once. This request was laid be-
fore the commission by Dickinson.
as chairman Of a chamber OF COM
merce committee.
Dickinson and George Desha also
presented a proposal to install q
miniature golf course at the cham
Der OF commerce for the benefit OF
the tourists. The proposition call
ed for leasing space for the green
to a company, which proposes TO
install the course and pay the cham
Der OF commerce 10 per cent on re-
ceipts. This proposition was vetoed
on the idea OF charging Tor