HomeMy Public PortalAbout12-27-1923 1.
V �f fi ce of Board of Pub1. is
• City of Richmond, Indiana,
Thursday December 27 th , 1923.
The Board of Public Works of the C i ty of Richmond , I ndi.ana, -met
in regular session at the office of said Board Thursday`-December
27 th , 1923, at 9 0 clock A. M. All thee members of said Board being -
present , Messrs , Land , McFall and Henley. The. fo 1Towi:n, prdce ed ings
were had , to-wit : -
Mr. Land , Prest . of Board stated, that he was. opposed to the T.H.
I. & E. Traction Co. , installing their lines on South .''Q" Street ,
and desi red to go on record also as being opposed, to the policy .
of the City, in not making every effort to enjoin said company from
erecting,poles and lines on said street. . .
The Board takes up the matter of opening Southwest 5th Street, as
provided for under Decle.rtatory Resolution No. 167-192a;,• and unani-
mously adopted the following, RESCLUTIU N.
The Board •of Public Works. having re-canvassed the whole situation, -
heard argument for and against the pri mary assessment roll , and re-
alizi ng the large cost of the improvement and the broad- territory
necessari ly assessed to meet the same , and having -regard for the
possibility of extended litigation incident to the asse_esment of
benefi is and damages,, and realizing the uncertainty • of' 'the outcome •
in the Courts, believe it for the be st interest of the City of
Richmond that the proceedi ngs' be discontinued and no further action
taken therein.
It is therefore ordered by the Board that this pro-
ceeding be and the same is discontinued, all members of the Board
, vo ting .for. the adoption of this resoi.ution.
Signed by, Walker E.. Land
Frank R. McFall
R.'. M. Henley
Board of Public .Works .
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The Board sign contract wi th the Westinghouse E..1edtric Mfg . Co. ,
for the purchase of Transformers for M.E.L.& P.P. for:,the year 1924.
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The appraisers Messrs , Davenport , Lichtenf_els & Kramer having made
report and appraising the - old small-pox house at 065.00 house to
- be removed from the lot . The Board directed the Clerk to advertise
said house to be sold at aucti.on Saturday Jan. 5th , _1.924 at 2.P.M.
The Board sign Break--down & Auxiliary Service Contract ,. betv'een the
M.-E. L.& P.P. and the. International .Harvester Company. .
The Board approved the contract & bond of John S. Duke, contractor •
under Improvement Reso lutio n No. 696-1923.
The Board held a meeting with differ ent department heads ,_ and con-
ferred in matter- of establishing a purchasing department for city
supplies, in order to centralize purchasing and keep .a record of
the same
Claims in amount of 6.3707.07 were allowed and ordered paid.
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At the suggestion of Mr. Hess, the Board adjourned to 3.45 P.M. -
in order to permit him to present his vi ews in matter of T.H. I.&
E. Tract on Co. activities.
Thursday December -27 th , 1923. 11 1
Pursuant to adjournment this A.M. _ The Board. of Public Works,
of the City of Richmond , Indiana, meet in the Mayors Office , at
3.45 o' cl ock P.I.R. All the members of said Board bei ng present ,
together with the Mayor , City Attorney and Mr. Hess Manager _ of
the M. E. L. & P. P. Mr. Hess presented the following, topwit : -
To the Board of Public Works , December 27 th, . 1923.
City (Subject ;T.H. I.& E. Activi ties)
Gentlemen :
After a great .deal of discussion with reference to the
reouest of the T.H. I. ' &e E. Co.. for a franchise through town the
wri ter deemed it advi sable to lay before your body certain inform-
- atian that had been collected as 'Well as to suggest several possible
angles that this proposition might take with a vi ew of having our
position care tlzlly outlined from °'a legal standpoint that , we would
be in a position at any time to defend ourselves. This was done in
a letter dated December 1st .After your body had considered- this let-
_ • ter together wi th the Mayor it was decided to have- an informal meet
• ing with Council and to•:have Mr. Ashe of the Liberty Tight & Power
Co. express his views in the matter. I wish to respectfully call
your attention to the fact- that it was• the unanimous opinion of the
Council, City Attorney and. members of• the Board of Works present
• that we should prepare ourselves and fight this due sti on to the best
of .our ability , with- the understanding that we possibly would lose
in the end , but we would- gain a delay which won ld be worth the ex-
pen di to re and gork effort. -
At the next meeting .of the Board. of Works it was decided _that
. the City Attorney , . your president and the writer should go to Indi-
anapolis and talk with Mr. C . C. Perry and George Barnard . From Mr.
Perry we. were to obtai lei' tnf-ormati o n wi th reference to the India nap-
oils T.H. I.& E.Co. "Ne.cessity. and Convenience Case ". From Mr.Barnard
we were to gain his view and see what he would charge for represent
ing us . Mr. Kelley failed to meet wi th this committee, but your
presi dent and the writer talked to Mr. Perry and Mr. Barnard and
found that Barnard was in position to take our case and would do so
• at the rate of < 75 per day for conferences and 6'100 per day when he
was representing us in court or Commission. He strongly advised that
• we do everything in • our power to keep the T.H. I & E.Co. out of our
' territory and. seemed to be of the opinion that this could be done
at. least for two or three years All- this informati.o n above was re-
ported to your body, but you wi ll re call that there was no definite
action taken with reference to employing Mr. Barnard because of the
fact that our City Attorney would not recommend same on the grounds
that there was no case existi ng for. us to •take any action on. You
will recall , however, that i m lemi it was felt by the writer
that we would be called upon to take some definite action immediate-
ly and that we would fi nd ourselves unprepared. It was suggested by
the wri ter that the T.H. I.& E.Co . might apply to the Public Service
Commission for a ri ght through the City' or that they might come in
here on Sunday or• some other holiday and bui ld through the town be-
fore we could restrain them from .so d.oi'ng . '
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You will also note that in the writer ' s letter of Dec.lst the
quest ion, was rai sed as to the sincerity of the T.H. I.& E. Co. when
• they asked for this franchise to connect their power plant at Terre-
Haute wi th the Dayton Plant .
(Cont' d.next page. )
1 Thursday December 27 th , 1923.
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The wri ter feels that this suspicion had been justified in that
as soon as they were aware that the ci ty was to take in addition-
al territory they started work the afternoon before Christmas -
wo rking all day Christmas to build a line through this territory
and w]1en the writer happened to meet their superintendent the first
question the superintendent asked was whether this ordinance would
be passed or not last night , and when assured by the wri ter that it
would be he laughed and said , "Then we will be in the city whe ther .
you want us or not and we will be in there without any restrict ions _
and wi 11 be at liberty to go into competition with you". The wri ter
immediately after the T.H. T.& E.Co. had started to work on Monday
got in touch vs'i.th the Mayor and your president and asked that a •
restraining order be asked for from the Circuit Court on the grounds
that the T.H. I. & E. Co. were entering the territory of the Muni-
ci pal Electric Light & Power Company for the purpose of entering
into competition with the Municipal Electric Light and Power Co . ,
furthermore, that they had been refused a franchise to btu 1d through
the city and after Council had takenthirlq certain steps to annex
certain territory they were taking advantage of the city and bui ld--
ir a line through the .terri tory that soon wou ld become a part of
the city . This matter was referred to the City Attorney by your presi-
dent and he advi sed that it would be impossible for us to get a _ c
restraining order and any action that we might take wou ld probably
put us in a position *here we would look foolish to the public .
The writer feels .that this proposition is of such great. import-
- ance that we should not be content to sit idly by and all ow the T.
H. I.& E. Co. to do as they. please in our territory. The writer wishes
to suggest that because of the importance of this matter that we
- handle same as all other important matters have been handled in the
past anal have a meeting of all departments interested and if deemed
- advisable call in representative citizens for their advice. The
wri ter also feels that this proposition will take on such a wide
scope from year to year that it would be well to employ some attorn-
ey in Indianapolis who necessarily is in closer touch with such
situations than anyone in Richmond , also because of the possible
work conne cted vi th this fi ght it does not seem fair to burden the
City Attorney' s Office with same , therefore. the wri ter wishes to
recommend in writing, as he has done on several occassions verbally,
that George Barnard be employed and that your body have a conferenee
rd. th him immediate ly to go ove r all the possible disadvantages that
- the presence of this transmission. line of the T.H.I.& E. Co. might
cause us , also to determine what action is best for us 'to take .
It seems that this should be done immediately as I am afraid we •
have already waited too long.
Respectfully submi tted ,
Municipal Electric Lighting and Power Plant
D. C. Hess , Manager.
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The above was referred to the City Attorney
The Board then adjourned,
Attest Pre st.of hoard
Clerk of Boars