USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Attleboro > Reports of town officers of the town of Attleborough 1929 > Part 7
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We have had a fortunate year as regards the number of books it was necessary to withdraw for rebinding. The work of special reenforcing done in 1928 was a most worthwhile undertaking.
In connection with the book collection we are happy to express our thanks to all those individuals and societies who have o kindly presented us with gifts of books. There have been 512 such gifts during the past year, and the library has been a most grateful recipient.
91
ANNUAL REPORT
A public library tries to combine the advantages of self-service operation with those of the most specialized individual service. To do this with any degree of success it requires a staff of workers trained in technique and possessing the "feeling" for books which enable the library patron to receive intelligent aid and contagious enthusiasm in the use of books. The Library must never be content with its service, but must ever strive to keep up with, must anticipate the demands made upon it.
Higher standards of service mean more stringent requirements of individual performance for staff members, and a personnel large enough to cope with the increasing duties. In the year just past the library has had one new full time assistant to replace several part time workers, an arrangement which has been conducive to a more stabilized plan of work. At least two additional full time assistants are greatly needed, and a more adequate provision for part time workers, to take care of mending, shelving, the preparation of new books, and the care of the picture collection, is strongly urged.
Members of the library staff have at their own expense, availed themselves of opportunities for professional upkeep by membership in Library organizations and by attendance at the meetings of the American Library Association, and the regional group meetings of the Massachusetts Library Club, the Old Dartmouth Library Club and the Rhode Island Library Association. A junior part time worker studied during the summer at the School of Library Service, Columbia University.
Progressive libraries have learned that too little attention has been devoted to plans for the future. Libraries, like individuals, can better ; erve society by adopt- ing a program of development, not for one year alone, but for five years, or ten years. A vision for the years to come will inspire for greater accomplishments.
To the staff, whose faithfulness and cheerfulness in the performance of duties have made possible the carrying out of library plans in the past, and to the board of trustees whose interest in the welfare of the institution is ever present, I express sincere appreciation. Respectfully submitted,
Elizabeth Lucile Palmer,
Librarian.
BRANCH CIRCULATION
1925
1929
Dodgeville.
2654
2498
Hebronville.
. 5006
8829
So. Attleboro
7141
6104
Washington
. 6378
12740
STATISTICAL SUMMARY
Attleboro Public Library
Free for Lending and Reference
Agencies:
Central Library
4
Branches (Sub-branches)
4
Deposits (Schools)
4
Deposits.
. 1 other
Hours of Opening-Central Library .
10 A. M. to 9 P. M.
Sundays and Holidays Excepted
Open Sundays-September-May.
3-6 P. M.
Number of volumes at Beginning of Year
30,515
Number of Volumes Added by Purchase
1,622
Number of Volumes added by Gifts.
512
Number of Volumes Lost and Withdrawn
1,394
Replacements and Duplicates.
788
Number of Volumes Lent for Home Use:
Adult
Juvenile
Total
77,267 53,178
130,445
Number of Periodicals and Newspapers Currently received 156.
Number of New Borrowers Registered 1062, Central Library.
92
ANNUAL REPORT
Department of Public Works
To His Honor, the Mayor, and the Honorable Municipal Council:
Gentlemen:
Respectfully submitted herewith is the fifteenth Annual Report of the Public Works ) epartment of the City of Attleboro for the year ending December 31, 1920. The Departmental operations for the past year have been indeed extensive and progressive. The problems presented to us, considering this modern era, have been surveyed and either solved or placed in such form that a solution is readily available.
The development and co-ordination of unit costs of the work performed by this Department are well worthy of your sincere consideration and comparison with anything available in the Northeastern States with comparable conditions to work under.
The operation and maintenance of the A. B. C. Street Railway was taken over by the Interstate in accordance with an agreement voted August 20th by the Municipal Council. The terms of this agreement were worked out by the Governing Body. It is expected in the Spring with legislative control authorizing it a bus line will replace the electric cars.
A gravely serious combination of circumstances traceable primarily to an intense drought caused serious worry for our water supply. The use of an auxili- ary emergency installation at the Wading River project carried us successfully by the worst period of the year.
The carrying out of drainage and grading work as projected by combining small factors to get a sizable result continued. Slightly in excess of 5,000 feet of six inch pipe was placed in accordance with orders voted and 113 services were connected, convincing proof indeed that our growth has continued through the year.
The extension of our black roads and a continual improvement in our snow removal problem has been taken care of. The City Government, in order to maintain this progress, however, must supply equipment adequate to keep pace with the progress desirable.
The sewer extensions and improvements at our Filter Beds demand at- tention and action in the very near future. The growth of the use of the sanitary sewer system must be taken cognizance of and ample authority given to protect this system from the new menaces arising locally from conditions changed since construction.
It is evident also that permanent bridge improvements which we are carry- ing on along with culvert replacements should not be sacrificed. Such progress is indeed essential to the well being of the community. The intelligent growth in the range of departmental efforts within the limits prescribed by law is a matter of great satisfaction to those participating.
PUBLIC WORKS OFFICE
Mrs. G. Miriam Brennan who has worked for eight and one-half years in charge of our office resigned, owing to ill health and the pressure of duties at home, to take effect March 23rd. Miss Ismay King, already the senior employee in the office, was moved over to take charge upon the departure of Mrs. Brennan. Miss Mildred Masse was moved up to assist Miss King and Miss Beatrice Carney was hired to fill the vacancy thus created. All of these employees carry Civil Service ratings.
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ANNUAL REPORT
The extra effort caused by the changes in the office was cheerfully and ably contributed by the present personnel, thus reducing our inconveniences to a minimum. I am sure this effort will be appreciated by all of our interested and responsible officers.
The best wishes of the entire Department are submitted to Mrs. Brennan for her future success in any line of endeavor she might undertake.
ENGINEERING DIVISION
There have been no changes in the personnel of the Engineering Division. The business in this office consisting of preliminary study, definite location and construction details has been in such volume that expansion here is inevitable if service desired is to be maintained. Delving constantly into important records gives convincing proof of the need for carrying to its ultimate finish the city survey already started. Before proper progress can be made, the data acquired must be protected in its transfer to the Assessors Office.
Simplicity in co-ordinating the existing records in our Assessors Office with those up to date plats being submitted should be insisted upon. Temporary inconvenience must not be allowed to interfere with permanent benefits and prog- ress. It is on this basis our engineering work will continue. The accelerated growth of the work being placed in this division with its relative importance to the public good should be brought to the attention of all of our citizens.
RESURFACING
This account carried positive and lasting improvement to at least four locations within our City. Pearl Street between Hazel Street and Thacher Brook rests on a clay table evened by filling of poor grade. On this was a light gravel road which has been kept in reasonable condition. In the early Spring, heavy trucking to the manufacturing plants adjacent to this location caused road failure of serious consequences. As soon as the ground dried out, the street was lined up, paved gutters were set to lead the water to basins at the brook, and 551 square yards of first quality penetration was placed on an adequate base, bearing in mind the sustaining soil. The highway location is narrow at this point but with the improved surface this piece, 315 feet in length, insures satisfactory traffic flow in a highly valued manufacturing district.
On Park Street between Tappan Avenue and Forest Street a foundation failure was noted. The foundation at this location was substantial hard pan with a high clay content. The rapidly moving heavy trucking now using Park Street broke up this short piece so that it had to be replaced. The base having been put together on a strengthened foundation, 510 square yards of penetration were put in for surface.
On Starkey Avenue and Holden Street on the easterly bridge approach of the railroad over-pass the increasingly heavy traffic from trucking did an immeasurable road damage to what has heretofore been a very lightly constructed type of street. Sidewalks and adequate gutters having been taken care of, this surface was paved with a stone road calling for penetration work of the Massachu- setts Highway type.
There were 2,102 square yards in this job and extended for a distance of 1, 041 linear feet from Pleasant Street by Kendall Avenue up to the railroad bridge. From the foot of the approach slope by the Paper Company's plant for 300 feet, consideralbe work was done on Starkey Avenue excavating loan and subsoil and placing a substantial gravel road, 533 square yards, to sustain the travelled route to the Paper Mill. Traffic is quite continuous and fairly heavy here. Following this work curb was set as requested by the Paper Company so that in
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ANNUAL REPORT
the coming year this gravel section will have to be widened out to meet the new gutter line. The Department is working in co-operation with this large industrial plant for the public interest.
In South Attleboro village last year a stone road was placed through the village leaving a gap from a point in front of Coupe's Tannery near Cumberland Avenue running northeasterly by the switch to the catch basin above Wilbur's driveway, 600 feet in length more or less. Twenty-two feet was a desirable width recommended in a letter from this Department under the date of May 24th urging once more the elimination of the siding. This Department had, at the time of the construction of the State Highway on Washington Street, taken up with the Interstate Street Railway the elimination of this siding in the South Village without success, due to the uncertain conditions of transportation facilities in the City at that time. Our recommendation of the 24th requested prompt action and was reported to the Governing Body by his Honor, the Mayor. The Street Committee went to work successfully on the Interstate Street Railway Comapny for the switch removal but failed to make any arrangements for the money to carry out the construction. Therefore, conditions demanding it the Department started the job at the earliest available moment with work chargeable to the Resurfacing account. The failure to provide a special account for this work hampered its complete development. The drainage adjustments were taken care of as described in another section of this report.
Prairie Avenue was accepted May 1,1923 by a vote of the Governing Body which did not carry with it any funds to place the street in good condition. Each year since the street acceptance, the Department has tried to do a little something to improve unsatisfactory conditions. This year considerable excavation, grading, and gravelling was taken care of so that the by-pass through Palm Street and Prairie Avenue can be recorded as being in excellent shape for vehicular traffic, bearing in mind the surface treatment with tar. It is to be hoped further improvement can be made in this locality on sidewalks and drainage in the future.
After building a catch basin with outlet as authorized on Hebron Avenue and having the water mains properly connected up, the street was scarified, freshened up with gravel, and worked to grade. The necessity for drainage improvement in this locality should be stressed here as this resurfacing work required a cross gutter at the intersection with Bliss Avenue in order to properly protect it. After the gravel was rolled and seasoned, it was treated with tar and ironed out very nicely.
On Lindsey Street advantage was taken of filling available from other work, especially Starkey Avenue, and the inside of a curved embankment near the N. A. line was filled in the interest of safety. The bridge approaches were also pro- tected by additional filling as the opportunity presented itself.
In Monument Square the funds appropriated for the removal of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument to Capron Park allowed no provision for surfacing the square left vacant. No other responsible parties having included a provision for foundation removal and surfacing of the vacant place in the square, this Department in the public interest took upon itself this task. The granite founda- tion had to be broken out with pavement breakers and dymanite. After properly clearing the location, a penetration and seal surface was worked in and a new light set by the Attleboro Company with the proper wheel guard, so that public accommodation in the parking zone at Monument Square was in better shape than ever before.
On Mendon Road between Brown Street and the Rhode Island Line some frost heaves were taken out of the surface and a little widening done in the cuts to facilitate movement of the heavy trucking originating in the locality of Court- ois' Sand and Gravel Bank.
On Pike Avenue between Wilmarth and Steere Streets there is a sag in the highway where it crosses a swamp on which some shaping and grading with good gravel was done to eliminate a potential hazard to the constantly increasing travel using this cross cut.
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ANNUAL REPORT
Some gravel was placed on a short piece of Palm Street close to the Seekonk Line to keep vehicular travel out of a mud hole.
On Tiffany Street from the Poor Farm entrance through the rock cut and over the hill, gravelling to maintain the shape of the road was adequately taken care of.
On Union Road or Peckham Street, so called, when favorable opportunity presented itself, the filling to widen the shoulder along the swamp near Dumonts was continued.
On West Street between the cemetery and Carpenter's curve a second surface treatment in the Fall was utilized under this account to protect the resurfacing job which had been started prior to this season.
On Wilmarth and adjacent streets a beginning was made in drilling and blasting jutting boulders to improve the used vehicular surface for the public convenience. It can be said here that in any rock work taking place under this account the material available after blasting was utilized either for curb founda- tions or for crusher.
In addition to the streets outlined, there are several small items which were taken care of during the year in the regular course of events. General charges cover drill sharpening, electric bills, water charges under the Ordinances for street work, warning notices in the Spring of the year, and other innumerable small items which must be taken care of properly under this account.
DRAINS MAINTENANCE
Under Drains maintenance the important work of either replacing basins which have failed or repairing those which should be taken care of was carried on in accordance with reports delivered by the men working in the usual maintenance work after inspections confirmed the requirements.
At South Main and Manchester Streets a basin was rebuilt.
On South Avenue the increasing spread of heavy travel collapsed an old basin on an underdrain and this had to be rebuilt. In both cases a standard grate and frame was placed on the brick structure.
The State Highway construction work at Pleasant Street left an entrance to a manhole opposite Richardson Avenue and this Department had to clear the State Highway with a proposed connection for future use.
On County Street opposite Snell's Factory the collapse of an old existing structure required the rebuilding of a top and replacing of a standard grate and frame with a proper throat stone.
The regular routine work of cleaning out our catch basins and connecting drain lines was taken care of adequately insofar as no serious complaint has been recorded during the year on any of the work which should be handled by the Department.
Of course, at Leroy Street, an unsatisfactory condition of many years stand- ing still annoys people. A start having been made, however, in accepting a proper plan for eliminating this condition, it is to be hoped that the red tape can be reduced in such a manner that work will start very soon to clear up the annoying drainage features in this locality. Vigilant watch has to be kept on several of our drainage areas so that fiber root growth will not be allowed to accumulate to inconvenience our public. The second feature which gives us trouble is the utter disregard of some children and adults for keeping wood and other debris out of the gutters. This sometimes results in pipe blockades which with a little care and interest on the part of those most concerned could be avoided.
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ANNUAL REPORT
STREET SWEEPING
I believe the efforts recorded under this account have been quite remarkable. I make this assertion because of the fact that the conditions we contend with today in the center are a great deal worse with the numerous machines and careless people passing to and fro constantly than they were a number of years back, when as many as three men were doing the work now taken care of by two regulars. The time is coming when our system will have to change to obtain the desired results.
The first improvement should, in my opinion, originate by the stricter enforcement of the regulations covering those people who throw debris or papers into the street. The second step would be better co-operation from property owners and tenants in the retail district who seem to forget that a lifting wind removes paper, excelsior, and other materials from uncovered receptacles in the rear of property adjacent to the loop streets. The third improvement to consider is the liklihood of working mechanical assistance on an investment basis in keep- ing our streets clean.
PATCHING
The remarkable extension in recent years of our treated roads has invited a heavy increase in the use of these roads by both light and heavy motor traffic. This factor in consideration with the regular increased treated mileage carries a reasonable index for the increase in this Patching account. I believe this period will carry forward until such times as our improved construction catches up with a rational index covering its proportion to our total highway mileage.
The gravel patching operations, of course, have been reduced considerably. The bituminous patching operations, calling for several different sizes of stone and sand as well as black mixing material, have extended not only as outlined above in scope but also have been carried through twelve months of the year.
This time factor of reaping a return on highway investments for the full year should never be lost sight of in thinking of road maintenance charges in the gross. In the accompanying statistical list, detailed accounts may be found.
STREET CLEANING
Under the Street Cleaning account, the Spring and Fall cleaning of gutters where curb has been set is charged. In addition to this such scraping and out- lining of outside roads as is usual in season is charged off to this sub-account. The nominal reduction which has been consistent for some years should cease. An increase covering a reasonable period of years should be allowed to take care of such used way widening as can be done in the course of our seasonal work on secondary roads.
It is also increasingly important to follow Fall scraping more closely, opening side drains as the crew goes along because of the greater winter use of all of our highway mileage. The Department recommendations for funds have taken these facts into consideration. The results obtained from our efforts as outlined on our secondary highways have given great satisfaction to folks who live away from the Center and many of them have been kind enough to mention this to the Department.
SIDEWALK MAINTENANCE
The bulk of the work was the usual maintenance of our gravel, bituminous, and cement sidewalks. An unusual feature for this year was the resetting of several hundred linear feet of curb (1173 feet) on Pleasant Street between the City Coal Company and Starkey Avenue. It was essential that this work should
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ANNUAL REPORT
be done before replacing the space occupied by the car track with paved surface. The cobble gutter was salvaged and used in other locations, not main arteries The water line in the easterly gutter of Pleasant Street was rolled to the curb. This work and disposition of the charges will allow expansion in use of the funds made available for Pleasant Street.
On the West side of Washington Street at Mendon Road, improvement has been constantly desired and in this connection circle curb, properly chargeable in its entirety to the City, was placed to coordinate with other improvements recorded under different headings.
At Holden and Bank Streets Mr. William King gave the City a small piece of land and allowed the easing of the southeast corner of this intersection. The Department placed new circle curb and reset several linear feet of existing curb as it should be to coincide with the proposed improvements on Bank Street.
On Garden Street at Manchester and Olive Streets and on Dunham Street at the Speedway, circle curb was set to improve the safety of the pedestrians.
On Bacon Street in South Attleboro it was necessary to support the shoulder back of the sidewalk by filling in some places.
In Robinson Avenue drilling and blasting and rock excavation took place within the sidewalk area to clear the road section.
This expenditure was worked out in conjunction with other improvements listed elsewhere.
On Washington Street in South Attleboro work of filling along the easterly side of the street to bring it out to a section which would allow a proper sidewalk was continued, and several thousand yards of excavated material which had been removed from Mendon Road, Robinson Avenue and other streets in South Attleboro was utilized to fill out this section. You will recall this work was started first a few years ago by utilizing surplus excavation from Newport Avenue.
It seems indeed too bad that the cross section of such a busy highway as this one should have been left in such a dangerous condition, for the pedestrian on the easterly side, by the Commonwealth. I strongly urge upon the City Government the importance of consolidating the efforts of all interested parties to continue the improvement initiated by this Department in the interest of the public safety, particularly for the pedestrian along Washington Street in South Attle- boro.
Numerous other streets as listed had the routine maintenance work. After a survey of the conditions as they exist within the City, the Department firmly believes no time should be lost in extending granite curb and improved sidewalk surface, for the many benefits thus obtained are well worth the ex- penditure.
EQUIPMENT, MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR
The charges, other than those that are ordinary which could be written off against the different job work, are included under this item. The special repair of our tractor chargeable against the highway division is included as well as charges for portable boiler, loader, and mixer repairs. This account is one we try to keep to a minimum as it is our ambition to write off what equipment maintenance charges are available against the work in hand.
ROAD ROLLERS
The repair and overhaul of our steam maintenance roller is indeed small, bearing in mind the work which it had to do during the current year. Some charges usually carried here were picked up and properly distributed this year to the special accounts which had roller service warranting them.
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ANNUAL REPORT
CRUSHERS
A new pair of crushing dies were purchased, these being interchangeable either for North Avenue or West Street. The balance of charges include motor repairs and are usual in this kind of work.
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