Liberty St. Paving $25,585 Fourth Ave. Paving $6,775

The council held a special meeting Monday night and expedited Liberty street and the Fourth avenue paving, ordered a number of sidewalks torn up, approved the treasurer's bond, and discussed several charter amendments.

All the aldermen were present except Ald. Kearns, Schumacher and Coon. The bond of the city treasurer was approved.

The sidewalk committee recommended to the council that a Iarge number of sidewalks which were in bad condition be torn up. The council adopted the report and referred it to the board of public works for action.

An ordinance to amend section 3 of the sidewalk ordinance to include the block on Hill street between Packard and Sybil streets in the cement district was given two readings.

THE COST OF PAVING.

Plans and specifications for paving Liberty street and Fourth avenue were submitted and the engineer's estimate of the cost. The engineer estimates the total cost of paving Liberty street, the paving to be 42 feet wide from Ashley to Fourth avenue and 30 feet wide from Fourth avenue to State, at $25,585. Of this amount the city is to pay $9,721.80 and the property $15,863.20. The city's share is made up of $5,256 for street and alley interesections, $500 for engineering, inspection, etc., and $3,965.80 as 20 per cent of the remainder. The plans and specifications were approved and accepted and the board of public works instructed to advertise for bids by a vote of 12 yeas to 0 nays.

The engineer's estimate of the cost of paving, with asphalt block, Fourth avenue from Liberty street to Huron street was $6,775.60, of which the city is to pay $1,435.12 and the property $5,340.48. In this paving there are no street intersections to be paid, so that all the cost to the city is $100 for engineering and inspection and the 20 per cent on the balance, or $1,335.12.

Ald. Schlenker wanted to wait until the board of supervisors met to see if they would pay for the block by the side of the court house.

City Attorney Kearney: "That block is not included."

Ald. Schlenker: "It ought to be."

City Attorney Kearney: "The people on the two blocks want this paving very much. The board does not meet until October, too late to begin this year. This block by the court house can be paved later."

Ald. Johnson: "You can't get paving on this block alone. You can't get enough signers."

Ald. Hutzel: There is a great deal in the argument in favor of paving this block. But the people between Huron and Liberty are in pretty bad shape in bad weather. It would cost less money for this one block if it could be included with the other two blocks in this petition but he did not want to hold up this paving for this year, and offered a resolution accepting the plans and specifications and instructing the board to advertise for bids.

Ald. Grose said he had interviewed a number of the supervisors and they had said to him that they had never refused to pay their share for paving. They had never been consulted. He thought there would be no trouble to get this block paved when the time comes, when the Y. M. C. A. building is done and the street is not occupied with building material.

Ald. Johnson wanted to know whether any contractor would come here to put in one block of pavement.

Ald. Fischer spoke in favor of the resolution and it passed by 10 yeas to 2 nays, the nays being Ald. Schlenker and Johnson.

CHARTER AMENDMENTS.

The committee on charter amendments submitted a report advocating the procuring of amendments to the charter:

1. To provide for a police commission with full control over the appointment and charge of the police.

2. To pay a salary of $100 a year, in quarterly payments, to the mayor, president of the council and aldermen in full for all services.

3. To increase the salary of the city assessor to $1,500 a year.

4. To fix the boundaries within which saloons could be run. Talk developed that the council would have no saloons in the district east of Division street and south of Fuller street.

Ald. Fischer explained that the committee did not want any action taken last night, but simply to let the people know what the proposed amendments are so that they could talk over the matter.

BUILDING SIDEWALKS.

Ald. Grose wanted an amendment to the sidewalk provisions to make it easier to build sidewalks. Walks had been ordered three or four times which were not yet built. He thought the city should build all walks and levy a tax on the property extending over two years, with five per cent added for the second year.

Ald. Schlenker thought the council had plenty of power under the present charter. The trouble was differences of opinion between different city attorneys. Some attorneys claimed that walks ordered by one council must be built before that expired. If the order holds good until the walks are built, we would have no trouble.

Ald. Grose said the trouble with the present system was that you have to serve notice on the property owners, which is sometimes difficult to do. If the city built the walks it could go ahead without any notice or advertising.

Aid. Schlenker asked City Attorney Kearney his opinion as to whether a walk ordered last August could be built now.

City Attorney Kearney said it could if the property had not changed hands. If it has been sold, the new owner is entitled to a notice to build the walk.

Street Commissioner Ross said there was no trouble to build the walks if you can get the men to build them. Neither was there any trouble to collect from the people. The only dispute that has arisen is where property has changed hands.

Ald. Douglas said the trouble was that the contractors did not employ enough men to build the walks they contracted for. Where they should have 15 or 20 men they had 2 or 3 and so could not finish their contracts. He thought the city itself should do the work.

Street Commissoner Ross said the board had not previously fixed a time for the completion of the contract or required any bond of the contractors, but they proposed doing so this year.

City Attorney Kearney said it was a legal question whether the legislature could build walks and tax it to the property without giving the property the benefit of competition.

Ald. Fischer moved that the city attorney and ordinance committee draw up a sidewalk amendment and in the meantime the city attorney look up the legal phases of the matter. This carried and the council adjourned.