5295_01

20 This would be strictly legal and is important as the Charter is mandatory on the subject. The City is to be congratulated upon the purchase of the water works and the extension of the system. If business like methods be permitted to prevail inthat department, untrammelled by interested endeavors to undully reduce rates; and the City, for the first year of operation and the profits on purchase, the system will be placed on a most satisfactory basis. The revenue from water rents is from $9,000 to $11,000 a month and as the opening up of a new supply goes on this will continue to add to the income, making it fully $15,000 or $16,000 a onth without materially adding to the working expenses. The rates charges are as a whole reasonable as in any City on the Pacific Coast and the result of operations this year promises to yield a good surplus over all working epenses and ample interest on a capital of $1,000,000. I apporve of the proposition to regard Lake Washington as the source of water supply for the next few years; but I think there will be within that time as the population is increasing so repidly; necessity for increased pumping facilites. It is not too early to carry out the plan of transferring one of thepumps from Lake Washington to the Broadway pumping station in the interest of the large and thickly settled district now dependant upon the high pressure service for the Broadway Station. I respectfully call the attention of your honorable body to the necessity of complying with requirements of the Charter as to paying wages in cash. It would be well to invest one of the responsible officials of the government with sufficient power to negotiate the sale of enough warrants each month to pay all wages in cash. It will effect a great saving to the City in the end, and as the discount on scrip is taken for the most part from men who can ill afford it, a great hardship will be avoided, the best security a City can have is a justly paid and contented people. In granting franchises for new street railroads a distinction should be made

21

between those roads which propose to parallel or nearly parallel existing lines and those which are designed to open up and render accessible a new section of the City. The first are of no great benefit to the public, providing the existing line which it is proposed to parallel give a satisfactory service. In such cases competition in that an advantage, for a uniform by low rate of fare is changed by the roads throughout the City. Streets should not be granted to such parallel roads unless adequate renumeration is given to the City , and the Council should unhesitatingly reject all bids for such streets where the amount offered is less than is deemed proper. In dealing with the second class of roads, of course, there are other matters to be considered. These are directly beneficial to the public as they open up for residence purposes new sections of the city and afford the public new means of transportation. The City can afford to grant streets for such purposes at a much more ressonable compensation than where the proposed road parallels another line, thus really subserving no public interest. this broad distinction should not be lost sight of. I am glad to see that the Council has provided for the codification and printing of the general ordinance, There are only a few printed copies of the old ordinances and these are very incomplete. It is almost impossible for those whose duty it is to enforce the laws to make their aquaintance. There as so many subjects of grave importance to come before the council and which bear so equally on all parts of the City, that I consider it very inadvisable that and portion of or should be unrepresented in the council. It is in my opinion, one of the first duties of the legislative branch to provide for an election of fill the two vacancies in the Board of Aldermen. One provision of the Charter seems not to have been fully complied will by the Council; that is the fixing of bonds of officials, all of whom are required to give security for faithful performances of their duties. I recommend the passage of an Ordinance

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defining the duties of the Superintendent of Public Buildings, Bridges and Wharves and combining wiht these duties now performed by the Superintendent of buildings, whose office was created by and old ordinance and not perpetuated by the new charter. Muchtrouble, confusion and even vexatious litigaton has been caused by the absence of system in platting addittions. Streets and disjointed and fail to meet at symmetrucal angles. I suggest that the City Engineer be instructed to prepare a map showing these irregularities and nake estimates of the cost of condemning land torectify them. The City council should include these amounts in the general indebtedness to be funded. The necessity of beyond all doube, and the wisdom of acting now is shown by the fact that the City has had to pay $175,000 for one corner which was offered to and refused by the m unicipality for $8,000 only a few years ago. This will be an act of justice to the taxpayers who have cheerfuly asserted to the payment of the amount required for the Yesler and Rinehart corners. Hereafter the City Council should insist upon the provisions of the Charter that no plat shall be accepted which does not conform to the lines laid down. The City Council wisely relegated to the purchasing of goods for the City to the Baord of Public Works; as experience had demonstrated that their powers are too circumscribed; I suggest that a Joint Resolution be passed directing the Board to prepare a blank form upon which all bills against the City must be made out. It should containan attestation under oath that the foods charged for have been supplied, and to who,; a recognizable description of the merchandise, date, name of the person ordering and of him receiving them, and that the goods have not been charged for or paid for before . the Secretary of the Board should Keep a record corresponding in every particular tothese bills. There are several streets which should be graded without delay. This is especially advisiable in long streets like Broadway, which will take until winter ot complete. The owners are anxious to have it done and especially as the City has exhausted its available resources for street

23

work. The laborers thus thrown out of work can be engaged upon improvements which will go on just the same, but the City's credit will not be involved. The system of paying for private improvements by bonds provided for by the Charter will regulate the liability and contractors will probably figure more closely and compete more energetically when they know just how and when they are to be paid. Wherever whoenrs desire to make such improvements they should receive every encouragement. In connection with the subject I give my concurrence to the opinoin of the Corporate Counsel that the interntion of the Charter is that the City should contribute the cost of surveying and establishing grades through its salaried City Engineer. I may be permitted to ad a warning that nopetition for permission to grade streets be granted in any exceptional manner but that in every case the stictest adherence be observed to the routine laid down by the Charter. All the evil consequences of authorizing street work may be traced directly tomaing excption to the rule. Where are invariable course is pursued, every official becomes familiar with his his duty and can be held to account. The Charter directs that the City Council shall provide suitable rooms for the use of the various Commissions. The City is already paying $500.00 a month rent for officers and cannot be siadto be as will housed as it should be, nor have many of the Commissioners a place of meeting. I would recommend that the city sell the piece of property on south Third Street and the present site of the Jail and Police court, which will bring about $75,000 and purchase the site of the old County Courthouse, if that cam be obtained at a reasonable price. A City Hall could be erected there which might include an Engine House on the Ground Floor fronting on Jefferson Street and the Alley is an excellent location for a downtown station, a jail in the basement at one end and on upper stories all the offices and chambers needed for the Municipality. The present Police Station and Jail are entirely unfitted for the purposes to which they have been transformed in the crudest and clumsiest

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way; and it was never contemplated that then should be other than temporary quarters. There is economy and convenience in this plan. Among other matters of this charter is the fixing the new state law providing a municipal Court where now, goes into effect will require the Council to fix the salaries of the Court Bailiffs. and the amount of bond to be furnished by the Clerk on whom all responsiblity is imposed for moneys etc. collected by the Court. It will also be advisible to draft by ordinance a schedule of Court Fees. This is a very convenient period of the year for the City Council to appoint the Auditing Committee from both houses provided for by the Charter to throrughly examine the books of all the City Departments. It might be a wise economy to employ the services of an expert accountant to act under direction fo the Council Committee. I take this opportunity to say that it is a matter of pride and gratification to me that the election fo commissioners of the several Boards created by the Charter have proved so acceptable to the public and resulted generally so satisfactorily. the experiment of a Board of Police Commissioners Chosen from both politial parties has practically all questions of politics from that Department and confined the attention of the members exclusively to the moral and sound aspects of the very complex and often vexatious problems with which the Police Commission has to deal. In conclusion it is hardly necessary for me to remind your Honorable Body that Seattle is the second City of the Pacific Coast, and is rapidly attaining the proportions of a Metropolis. With three competing lines of transcontinantal railroad to reach here before the expiration of your term, the completion of the great iron and steel works on our outskirts, the opening upon all sides of extensive coal and iron mines the throwing open of the tide lands within our borders to imporvements, to mills and to facotries, the assurance of a large