The Sewer Question

lt was quite late wüen the adjourned meeting of the common couneil opeaerl ana the session was a. long oue. l'resident Hiscock was absent aad' upon motion of Aid. laubengayer, Aid. Brown was elected president pro tem. The ürst coinmunication which was read was that of the board of public works relative to the Ann Arbor Water Co.'s position in regard to tihe flushing of the sewers. lt was a long one and was referred to the water committee. The board advised that steps be taken immediately to set the flush tanks in operation, it also set fortü that the $100 provided for in the company's franchise is ampie compensation a.nd that an addWional expenditure was not necessary, but that the company is liable to furniisih the .water for that ainount which is sufficient A communicaition from a dozen or more property owners in the Tnird ward was referred to the s$wer committee. Lt asked that the buUclingi of a sewer north of Oatherine st. on Main st be suspended uutil petitioued for. The cominittee on streets recommemled that Adaru Meuth be paid $35 for a deed of the property belonging to him whieh is uow occupied by the city; that a fence be built around the north side town pump on Broadway at an expense of $20; also that the Street oommissioner be ordei-ed. to grade and turnpLke Hill st. from the stone culvert near División Bt to l'aokard, S. University ave. froin Va-sli.tenaw ave to Oxford, Watout from_ S. University ave. to Geddes ave., and that the gutters be üxed on the corner of Madison and tëeventh sts. Adopted. . , The following report was also olïered: "i'our committee on streets would recommend that $50 be appro priated trom the street tund to complete the work of putting Tappan st. to grade, and that the earth taken therefrom be used in tilling the 'street at the corner of Tappan st. and E. Unlversity ave., aud also at ttie corner of Prospect st. and E. University ave., and that all of the remainder of the earth not used at the above designated places be used in nllmg in K. University ave between Prospect and Packard sts., and that no pai-.t of such earth be drawn to aiiy othe-r than tho above named places." Adopted. The next thiug to come up was the important matter of the Washtenaw ave. sewer in front of the propörty belonging to Prof. Frank Wagaer and others. On this question the eouncil wrestled for over an hour. Tliere were three cominittee reports. The tirst one read wais the majority report sigued by Aid. Oady, Brown and Taylor. his report was to the effect that the ewer remain where it uow is, as tliey hought the property owners had )roier aceomrnodations and that they elied upon the city engineer's opiuion. The tirst minority report was signeü by Aid, Moore, Koch, and baubeujay'er and was in favor of loweriug the sewer at the above stated point. The third minority report was only signed by Aid. Prettyman and the ippearance of Hamlet's ghost would not have stai-tled the aldermen any more than did the contents of the "oue man's" report, lt advocated that the sewer be lowered at the expense of the eouncil, board of public works and city engineer. Aid. l'rettyman vigorously defended his report uuül ealled to time by Chairaran Brown, and by this time the report whicli was at first thought to bo a joke had assumed quite a seriuus aspect. The city "dacte" became hot. Aid. i'ergruson's stentorlan voice rang out through the chamber and tie asked, "l'd like to know what the cominon oouncil has to do willi it T' Aid. Pretrtyman: "bet us do tliis rilght and havo Aun Arbor a city to be pointed to in its leglslattoo." Aid. Ferguson: "Wlmt do we ham the eaneers for; why don't we do all the work and save tliat expense xo the diyï" Aid. Koen: "I want to sny rlgib here thati 1 won't pay one cent on tliis. What have we Rot engiueera nsTpotors, etc. for?" AM Maynnrd: "If I've got lo pnj for relajnns this sewer I want a worc too. We niight just as well give a quit claim deed of wha.t we owii righi iKic is tnere are otlier similar cass." Aid. üuttérüëld: "I, tor my part. nust be more thoroughly iuformea beore I enter iuto my pocket to try to ïud anyithing. Here are our comiuitee reporte, but tliey dissigree and show us notliiug. lt is simply wtietüer t ifl proper to believe several citizeus rathor ttum our city engiaeers. Until we :n informed by aüier and more competent engineers that our engineer is wrong then we ougUt to abide by his opiuiou." l'rof. Frtank Wagner was given tüe loor and said he liad made some tigrres and the expense of lowering kvould be about $300. His niain argument was that tlie house braiieh on his property would not have fadl ?uough as it now is and that it would be too near the surface and would freeze. Prof. Pattengill claimed tliat he eould not use the sewer at all on his lots. He pays $90 sewer tax on tlie two lots. The expense of lowering ough't to be borne by the city. Aid. Ferguson : "I just want to say again tbat. I ain't in the sewer business, nor are the others." I'rof. D'Ooge did not consume so nueh time, but with souie eloquence rieaded on behalf of himself and his ïeishbors that the sewer be lowered. By tiiis time the council had pretty nearly heard all of oue side of the story and City Engineer Key was ïskecl to explain his view of the matter. He saiid: "What these gentlenen have said is for the most part true. The sewer is all right. I would do the saine thing if I were to build it again. It ia no mistake, for 1 did it with eyes opea and if it is wrong it is only poor judgment on ruy part. There is enough fall and frost won't hurt it." Prof. D'üoge stated that tae sewei was hardly three feet lower thau his cellar. But Inspector Ward jumied to his feet here and said that he had taken the levéis and it is over five feet lower. EiiKinecr Key read a statement made by Mr. Pierson, an acknowledged aiUhority on sauitary engineering, showiug that the house brauehes would not freeze. Aid. Brown and Maynard claimed thev woidd not vote to pay a cent and the "one man'" report was voted . down, Aid. Prettyman only voring for The first minority report was amended so that the expense be assessed gainst the Hill st lateral. . The vote a its passage as amended stood: Yes-Moore, Maynard, AUmeudlnger, och, Snyder. Iaubeiigayer, Sliadford, Coon; No- Browu, Ferguson, Taylor, rrettyinan, Cady, Butterlield. A resolution was then ofEered that he sewer be lowered to a certain depth iiDLuediately. The resolution passed and the matter is now in the haucls of the. board of public works. M. Davenport was employed to take care of the city offices for ?129 per year. Aid. Cady then offered a resolution that Mr. Sawyer be allowed to have a bilí board on the opera house corner, which is contrai'y to the ordinance. Aid. Butterfleld asked if this sajne thing had nat been voted down a few weeks ago and was inforined that It had. "Well," sald he, "and between tha-t time and now we accepted Mr. Sawyer's invitation to go to 'TrilbyV Aid. rretitymaa also opposed Üie grainting of the privilege for violating au ordinance, but on a vote the matter passed. The board of public works waa ordered to get the price per yard for 3.000 yards of cobble stones and report