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ANNUAL REPORTS
CITY OF ATTLEBORO 1916
ATTLEBORO PUBLIC LIBRARY JOSEPH L. SWEET MEMORIAL
1
ATTLEBORO PUBLIC LIBRARY a 31654001303418b
Harry
P. Kent 2 - Girst et
Mass
mar 20 hav 20 1917.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/reportsoftownoff1916attl
HAROLD EDWARD SWEET FIRST MAYOR OF ATTLEBORO ELECTED DEC. 8, 1914 RE-ELECTED DEC. 12, 1916
ANNUAL REPORTS
OF THE
Officers and Departments
OF THE
City of Attleboro
: AT
EBOR
...
20
TOWN OF
1691
in
SS
INCOR
IC
RP
LEBOROUG
AT 974.48
1916 C.1
FOR THE YEAR 1916
SUN PUBLISHING COMPANY Attleboro, Massachusetts 1917
C
SWEKY DSHE
52-031 Gift
Estate of Mrs Harry P. Kent
GOVERNMENT
OF THE
CITY OF ATTLEBORO 1916
ELECTED OFFICIALS.
MAYOR.
Term expires January, 1917.
Harold E. Sweet. .
80 North Main St.
Hours :- 9:30 to 11:30 and 3 to 5 Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 9:30 to 11:30 A. M. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
CITY CLERK AND TREASURER. Term expires January, 1917.
Frank I. Babcock. 163 South Main St. Hours :- Daily from 8:30 a. m. to 5 p. m. except Saturdays. Satur- days 8:30 a. m. to 12:30 p. m.
ASSISTANT CITY CLERK.
Term expires January, 1917.
Alberta F. Remington. .6 Fourth St. Appointed by the City Clerk, confirmed by the Council.
CITY COLLECTOR. Term expires January, 1917.
Lester W. Nerney 200 North Main St. Hours :- Daily from 8 a. m. to 5 p. m. except Saturdays. Saturdays 8 a. m. to 12 m.
COUNCILLORS-AT-LARGE.
Terms expire January, 1918.
Philip E. Brady, President. 12 Horton Block.
Harry P. Kent. . .12 First St.
William H. Saart. 20 Tappan Ave.
Howard G. Smith. 32 Elizabeth St.
Charles O. Sweet 119 Bank St.
Oscar Wolfenden.
173 County St.
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ANNUAL REPORT
WARD COUNCILLORS. Terms expire January, 1917.
William H. Garner. 373 South Main St.
William A. Spier 14 Grove St.
Solomon B. Jacobs Park St.
Samuel M. Holman 39 Pleasant St.
Joseph E. Gaynor 45 James St.
ASSESSORS.
Walter J. Newman, Chairman. 177 Pine St. Hours :- Daily from 8:30 a. m. to 12 m. and 1:30 to 5 p. m. except Saturdays. Saturdays 8:30 a. m. to 12 m.
Term Expires January, 1918.
Harry E. Carpenter, Clerk. .West St.
Term expires January, 1919.
Malcolm Currie 12 Holden St.
Term expires January, 1917.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE. Terms expire January, 1918.
Benjamin P. King, Chairman. 17 First St.
Dr. Reginald P. Dakin, Secretary . 32 John St.
Mrs. Emily L. Richardson. 13 Maple St.
Terms expire January, 1917.
Walter A. Briggs. 1 Cliff St.
Thomas G. Sadler. South Attleboro.
Mrs. Florence B. Theobald. .250 County St.
Terms expire January, 1919.
Mrs. Mary C. Ford. . Tyler St.
Edwin F. Thayer. 17 Mechanic St. 177 Pine St.
Walter J. Newman
APPOINTED OFFICIALS. OVERSEERS OF THE POOR.
Joseph V. Curran, Chairman. Highland Ave., Hebronville. Term expires February, 1918.
Benjamin P. King, Clerk.
17 First St.
Term expires February, 1917.
Frank M. Payson 139 North Main St
Term expires February, 1919.
CITY PHYSICIAN.
Term expires February, 1917.
Wilfred E. Rounseville. 40 Bank St.
HEALTH OFFICER.
Term expires February, 1917.
Ralph P. Kent. 115 County St.
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ANNUAL REPORT
FIRE DEPARTMENT-FIRE ENGINEERS.
Hiram R. Packard, Chief 8 Hope St. Term expires February, 1918.
Fred A. Clark, First Assistant. 22 Hayward St.
Term expires February, 1917.
William E. Sweeney, Second Assistant. 10 School St.
Resigned March 7, 1916.
Craig C. Pope, Second Assistant. 244 Park St.
Term expires February, 1919.
POLICE DEPARTMENT.
Edmond H. Gingras, Chief and Lockup Keeper. .15 John St. Term expires February, 1917.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS.
Harry J. Goodale, Superintendent. 61 County St. Hours :- Daily from 8 a. m. to 12 m. and 1 to 5 p. m. except Satur- days. Saturdays 8 a. m. to 1 p. m.
Term expires February, 1918.
Samuel Dyer, City Engineer. 48 Hodges St. Appointed by Supt. of Public Works. Term expires February, 1917.
AUDITOR. Term expires February, 1918.
Edgar F. Bosworth. .17 First St. Hours :- Daily from 8:30 a. m. to 12 m. and 1:30 to 5 p. m. except Saturdays. Saturdays 8:30 a. m. to 12 m.
INSPECTOR OF BUILDINGS.
Term expires February, 1917.
Millard F. Ashley 8 Sturdy St.
SEALER OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. Term expires February, 1917.
Hugh Gaffney 31 Dennis St.
BOARD OF REGISTRARS.
John R. Curry, Chairman. 4 Foley St.
Term expires April, 1919.
Michael A. Galligan 70 Dunham St. Term expires April, 1917.
Chester A. Smith. . South Main St., Hebronville.
Term expires April, 1918.
Frank I. Babcock, ex-officio. 163 South Main St.
ยท
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ANNUAL REPORT
CITY SOLICITOR.
John J. Coady 10 John St.
Term expires February, 1917. PARK COMMISSIONERS.
Charles A. Mooers 72 County St. Term expires February, 1917.
John E. Anderson Thacher St.
Term expires February, 1918.
Solon D. Bushee 255 County St.
Term expires February, 1919.
TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
Terms expire February, 1919.
Joseph L. Sweet, Chairman. . 42 Peck St. 197 South Main St.
Leonard I. Lamb. .
Thomas E. McCaffrey 99 Union St.
Terms expire February, 1918.
Mrs. Irene T. Hill. 192 South Main St.
John J. Thacher. . South Main St.
Miss Elizabeth J. Wilmarth. 73 North Main St.
Terms expire February, 1917.
Mrs. Eleanor S. Carpenter . 60 Peck St.
Charles S. Holden, Secretary. 378 North Main St.
Mark E. Rowe. 178 South Main St.
CITY FORESTER. Term expires February, 1917.
W. E. S. Smith. 51 Thacher St.
FOREST WARDEN.
Term expires February, 1917.
Hiram R. Packard. 8 Hope St.
SOLDIERS' RELIEF AND BURIAL AGENT. Term expires February, 1917.
Fred L. Morse. 24 Dean St.
PLANNING BOARD.
Terms expire February, 1919.
Joseph Finberg, Chairman. . 24 John St.
Milford E. Bliss. 12 Dean St.
Terms expire February, 1918.
Mrs. Mary G. Mullaly. 1 Ellis St.
George A. Sweeney, Secretary. 52 Holman St.
Terms expire February, 1917.
Mrs. Josephine L. Hammond. .17 Second St. Raymond M. Horton. 116 Pleasant St.
.
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ANNUAL REPORT
INSPECTOR OF ANIMALS. Term expires April, 1917.
Hugh Gaw .52 Union St.
INSPECTOR OF WIRES. Term expires February, 1917.
Benjamin C. Wetherell .37 Peck St.
FENCE VIEWERS. Terms expire February, 1917.
Eustace V. Carpenter 278 Oak Hill Ave. Henry A. Lord. Locust St.
CARETAKER OF GRAVES. CIVIL AND SPANISH WAR VETERANS. Term expires February, 1917.
George R. Adams 87 Dean St.
CITY STENOGRAPHER. Term expires February, 1917.
Mrs. Lulu A. Gingras. 15 John St.
CITY MESSENGER.
Term expires February, 1917.
Fred L. Morse. 24 Dean St. .
POUND KEEPER. Term expires February, 1917.
Nelson Hagar, City Farm and Pound. . County St.
CITY REPRESENTATIVES ON BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE ATTLEBOROUGH HOSPITAL. Terms expire February, 1917.
Harold E. Sweet. 80 North Main St.
Charles O. Sweet. .119 Bank St. Frank I. Babcock, ex-officio. 163 South Main St.
TRUSTEES OF THE CAPRON AND DEBORAH STARKEY FUNDS. All ex-officio. Harold E. Sweet, Mayor. Frank I. Babcock, City Treasurer. Benjamin P. King, Chairman of the School Committee.
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ANNUAL REPORT
SINKING FUND COMMISSIONERS.
Frederick G. Mason, Chairman. 80 County St. Term expires February, 1917.
Frank W. Weaver. Bates Block. Term expires February, 1918.
W. Granville Meader, Clerk. 146 County St. Term expires February, 1919.
SEWER LOAN COMMISSIONERS.
Harold E. Sweet, Mayor, ex-officio, Chairman.
Frank I. Babcock, City Treasurer, ex-officio.
Frederick G. Mason.
Term expires February, 1917.
Frank W. Weaver Term expires February, 1918.
W. Granville Meader, Clerk.
Term expires February, 1919.
ADDRESS OF
HON. HAROLD E. SWEET
MAYOR OF ATTLEBORO
AT THE
INAUGURATION
OF
THE 1917 CITY GOVERNMENT
HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM
ATTLEBORO, MASSACHUSETTS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1917
.
11
ANNUAL REPORT
Gentlemen of the Council:
Again it is our duty as well as our privilege to render to our fellow citizens a report of our stewardship and to offer some sug- gestions as to the future conduct of municipal affairs.
The first administration of the City of Attleboro is a matter of history,-that it has been written quite generally to the satisfaction of the public may be assumed from the personnel of the executive and legislative departments of the city as they appear here tonight.
After three elections in which each individual has been put to the test of public opinion, we find but two changes in our member- ship, one resulting from voluntary retirement. Mention is made of this not for self congratulation but because it represents a condition worthy of note and affords encouragement for the future-evidence of approval and confidence such as it has been our privilege to enjoy, are bound to enlist and encourage one's best efforts for the public weal.
In view of the fact that I am already definitely committed to re- tirement from this office at the expiration of my second term, it may be proper for me to make some observations regarding this office which could not be made before without some suggestion of self interest, and I trust you will pardon the necessary personal reference in discussing this.
As you are aware, I did not seek a re-election, although naturally an endorsement of this character is pleasing to anyone who has en- deavored to serve the public. Having been re-elected, I desire to take advantage of this opportunity to renew my expressions of appre- ciation for this evidence of confidence in this administration, and to advance at this time what seems to me should be an unwritten law relative to the mayoralty of the City of Attleboro,-one that prevails in a number of other municipalities where it has worked to advantage, and where the people have resented attempts to change the usual order of things. I refer to that municipal policy that decrees by pub- lic opinion merely, and not by regulation, that two consecutive terms are sufficient for any person in the mayoralty. An occupant of this position should obviously have the opportunity of seeking the endorse- , ment that a second term carries, but any man who has conscientiously discharged the duties of this office for four years has met all the civic responsibilities of this character that a community has any right to demand of any individual. On the other hand, no one individual is so indispensable to a community that it is essential to the public welfare for him to be retained in this office more than four years. We have, and I trust always will have, a very considerable number of gentlemen well qualified and willing to assume the office, so that both the work and the honor thereof should be distributed.
The door of my office down town has been open for the past two years for all to enter who would and there will be no change in this respect in the two years to come. I want any citizen to feel perfectly free to come to me direct about any matter which concerns his re- lations to or interest in any part of the city government, but I feel justified in asking that matters of public business, except in emer- gency instances, be taken up during office hours and not at my home.
I have maintained with a fair degree of regularity, certain office hours at City Hall during the past two years,-my schedule calling
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ANNUAL REPORT
for 9:30 to 11:30 a. m. every week day and 3 to 5 p. m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays,-very much in excess of the time usually devoted to this office in other cities similar in size.
It is my purpose for the present, indeed it is essential for proper attention to personal affairs, to curtail the afternoon schedule to Mon- days and Thursdays from 3 to 4 p. m.
Based on the experience of the past two years, I am confident that this arrangement affords ample provision for attention to the business of the city.
Without any lack of appreciation of the courtesy and kindly thought that has prompted many organizations during the past two years to invite the mayor to their social functions, I feel constrained to state at this time that my activities in that direction will be very much restricted during the two years to come.
The novelty of having a mayor has worn off. About every organ- ization within the city has discharged any fancied obligation of this sort it may have felt towards the chief executive, and there need be no thought in the minds of any, henceforth, that the mayor will feel slighted if not on the list of invited guests, nor on the other hand, should any organization feel that any discourtesy is intended if it seems necessary for me to decline when so remembered.
I shall be ready and willing to go anywhere at any time when there appears to be real need of my presence, but please excuse me from attendance on purely social functions where my presence is requested simply because of the office I happen to occupy.
Finances
A study of the present financial condition of the city is both interesting and encouraging.
It is not my purpose this evening to weary you with detailed fig- ures, but there are some accomplishments of the past two years worthy of note at this time. While a complete statement of receipts and expenditures for the year 1916 is impossible of preparation for this occasion, yet such figures as are available indicate that for the second year under city government we have been successful in making our expenses for the current year less than our receipts. Our total payments during the past two years on outstanding obligations of the city have amounted to $164,600, and during that period our Sink- ing Funds have increased $18,403.79, so that there has been a reduc- tion in our net debt of $183,003.79. This also involves a reduction in our annual interest charges of approximately $6,500, as compared with those of 1914.
Furthermore, the only new obligation contracted is represented at the present time by a single note of $3,000 payable next November, covering the balance due on the rifle range purchase required by the State.
We completed in 1916 the last payment of the assessment for the grade crossings abolition, making a total of $108,081.75 which the city has paid in principal and interest on this account. There still remains a small supplementary expense amounting to $3,000- payable $1,000 per year for the next three years-covering the city's share of the adjustment for certain land damage claims incident to changing the railroad grade.
Material reductions have been made in our water and sewer obligations and various school and engine house notes. The city is also in an easier position financially as regards its current funds than was the case a year ago, as we owe less for temporary borrowings and have more cash on hand.
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ANNUAL REPORT
The following data is submitted as affording you means for com- parison with figures of a like nature appearing in my two prior in- augural addresses.
Average valuation for the past three years
$21,666,561.00
Our debt limit-
Revised laws Chap. 27, Sec. 3
$541,664.03
Our present liabilities (Dec. 31, 1916)-
Water Bonds
Sewer Bonds
High School Bonds.
$139,000.00
Fire Station Bonds.
15,200.00
School House Bonds
30,000.00
184,200.00
Total Bonds-Water, Sew- er and General.
1,175,700.00
Time Notes
28,000.00
Revenue Loans
100,000.00
128,000.00
Total Debt - Bonds and Notes
1,303,700.00
Less Sinking Fund Assets
Water
147,796.99
General
27,686.93
Sewer Investment Fund.
120,767.58
296,251.50
Net Bonded Debt.
1,007,448.50
Above liabilities that are out- side debt limit-
Water
588,500.00
Sewer
403,000.00
Revenue Loans
100,000.00
1,091,500.00
Less Water and Sewer Sink- ing Funds
268,564.57 822,935.43
Net Debt within the limit.
184,513.07
Borrowing Capacity Jan, 1,
1917
$357,150.96
Borrowing Capacity Jan, 1, 1916
316,877.83
Borrowing Capacity Jan. 1,
1915
267,701.20
Net increase in our borrowing capacity since Jan. 1, 1915
89,449.76
-
$588,500.00 403,000.00
These figures are submitted not as boastful claims of accomp- lishment, but merely as evidence that we have striven earnestly to reduce to a minimum the current expenditures of a growing municipal- ity. We realize that we have left undone many things that ought to have been done, that we cannot defer much longer certain needed improvements that will involve new financial obligations, some of which will require time to meet and will therefore take the place of those already met or being reduced annually.
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ANNUAL REPORT
I confess to facing the question of our income in the next two years with some measure of concern in view of the very radical change that will result from putting into effect the income tax legis- lation passed by the General Court last year.
The State authorities are confident that ample revenue will result from the enforcement of the 6% income tax on intangible personal property and other special taxes, and we need not be disturbed about the results for the year 1917, as we are assured that the State will return to us whatever amount is necessary to make up the total tax levied on personal property in this City in 1915. It is generally ac- cepted that our local personal property assessments have been much larger and consequently proportionately nearer the actual amounts held here in personal property, both tangible and intangible, than is the case in most Massachusetts municipalities of our size. What is to be feared after this year is the reflection in an added State tax, of the shortage of returns from personal property which the Assessors locally, and elsewhere, feel is bound to occur. A concrete illustra- tion of what is involved in our own case will indicate to you that there is sound basis for this belief.
The amount of intangible personal property assessed locally is approximately $3,000,000, which with a $20 tax rate yields $60,000. This is practically the amount which the State will have to return to us this year from its income tax receipts, and represents six per cent. on an income of $1,000,000. Such an income requires a prin- cipal of $20,000,000 invested at 5%. In other words, the $3,000,000 now assessed locally must increase to $20,000,000 unless some other communities and the State make up the difference.
Civic Needs
There has been gratifying evidence of real interest on the part of some of our public spirited citizens in suggestions advanced a year ago as to some of our civic needs. I am already assured of some de- velopments during the current year that will indicate that an appeal to the generosity of Attleboreans is never made without results.
A Municipal Building for housing the city offices and police head- quarters is highly desirable, and the question of a site therefor, which has been a subject of discussion for many years, is again raised by the recommendation of the Planning Board. It does not appeal to me, however, as a proposition that must have our attention this year when we have so many other needs that are more pressing.
The renewal of the suggestion that a public sanitary be built on the Common merits careful consideration, and a start at least could be made by allowing the Planning Board a small appropriation sufficient to procure plans and specifications for such a building.
Other recommendations of the Planning Board, which has given much time and thought to its work, deserve more than passing com- ment, but may be taken up later on.
There is still much work to be done on the City Ordinances and I would recommend that the Municipal Council proceed forthwith to take up seriatim the old town by-laws, repeal such as are inconsistent with any of the present city ordinances, and re-enact into city ordin- ances such as it may be deemed wise to retain.
At this time, however, it appears wise to sound a note of caution against over-legislation, and this suggestion is made with a full sense of my own responsibility in this matter, as I have repeatedly urged upon your honorable body the necessity of providing a comprehen- sive set of regulations for the guidance and observance of our city. We must avoid, however, any tendency to make our enactments too
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ANNUAL REPORT
profuse or too restrictive, either upon our citizens or the city itself. We must recognize that there is a law of reason as well as a law of fact and allow for the intelligent application of the former by those charged with authority, and avoid laying down such hard and fast restrictions that no opportunity is given for the exercise of individual judgment.
Your attention is again called to what appears to be much needed action on the part of the government of the city of Attleboro,-that is, the acceptance of the Board of Survey Act passed by the 1916 Legislature. This had its inception in this city, being drafted origin- ally as a special act for the City of Attleboro, and it appealed to the Committee on Cities as a desirable piece of legislation so that it was re-drafted and made general in its application to all the cities of the Commonwealth.
The discrimination between the acceptance of the Board of Sur- vey Act and the oft-recommended plan of a city survey should be kept clear both in the public mind and in our own. The need of an accurate survey of the city is again brought to your attention in the report of the Assessors, and is most heartily seconded by me.
You will note from the report of the City Solicitor that during the year 1916 eleven claims for damages were made against the city as compared with three in 1915, indicating a condition that would ap- pear to warrant provision by your honorable body for a Committee on Claims.
On July 30, 1917, Attleboro will have completed thirty years of existence since the division from North Attleborough. While it may not be the time for invidious and exultant comparisons, it would seem a proper occasion for notice, and I therefore beg to suggest that some provision be made by the city for recognition of this anniversary, having in mind nothing elaborate, but some simple exercises of an historical nature, with possibly some exhibit of our industrial develop- ment during these thirty years.
PUBLIC WORKS
Highways
In any consideration of highway construction we must bear in mind that practically all the conceptions of proper road building have been radically changed during the last ten or twelve years due to the tremendous wear and tear to which our roads are subjected by present methods of transportation.
We face a constantly growing expense for the cost of mere main- tenance, leaving aside entirely the question of new and durable con- struction, but it has been a policy of this department to apply some portion of the funds annually appropriated to construction that pos- sesses some degree of permanence, and experience has shown that one must be very guarded in making assertions relative to the per- manency of present road construction, except of the most expensive kind. During the past year it has been demonstrated that frequent patching, approaching almost a patrol service on some of our main highways in the center, along the lines suggested in my address to you two years ago, has proven effective and comparatively inexpensive.
Probably the most important and certainly the most expensive single proposition that faces us during the coming year is the widen- ing of Union St. and the permanent paving thereof. We are already definitely committed to this needed improvement by reason of our
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ANNUAL REPORT
having obtained a license from the government for the use of the necessary land on the new postoffice site, and the question of financ- ing and kind of construction must have early consideration. An ex- penditure is involved of such an amount as to warrant our extending the payment beyond the present year, but only for a limited term, not less than three years nor exceeding five. As to the kind of pave- ment to be used, I refer you to a carefully prepared report of the Superintendent of Public Works with detailed figures and recom- mendations.
The need of early and comprehensive action on the all-important question of proper drainage of surface water is again emphasized. Following my suggestion last September a committee was appointed, consisting of the Committee on Drains, Committee on Finance and Superintendent of Public Works, with the authority to investigate the above matter and report recommendations to the Council within a year.
It is hoped that this whole subject will be before your honorable body in such form as to permit of a start on the real work during the current year.
Last year your attention was called to our probable bridge re- quirements, and we have gone through the year 1916 rather shakily and uncertainly, almost fearful of uncovering suspected conditions that would be apparent immediately upon any attempt to make re- pairs. Some absolutely necessary patching has had to be done, but we must, for the safety of the traveling public, undertake some re- construction work on our highway bridges during the current year. Concerning this the Superintendent makes very definite recommen- dations, which I shall take up with you in detail later on.
I regret that you were not disposed to accept the suggestion ad- vanced last year relative to establishing a method of street sprinkling or dust laying assessment, such as has been adopted in a very con- siderable number of Massachusetts municipalities,-placing a com- paratively small burden upon the abutter directly benefited and upon the street railway where it is affected, rather than depending upon general taxation for this special service, from which a large number of property owners derive no particular benefit. It is a constantly growing feature of our highway expense requiring $10,000, last year.
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