USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Attleboro > Reports of town officers of the town of Attleborough 1934 > Part 18
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226
ANNUAL REPORT
street of sidewalk plowed our first on our approximately one hundred miles of highway. This is not a complaint, merely a record of normal human nature as it acts today in our high-speed civilization in New England in winter, as it chafes against the inconveniences of our severe seasonal conditions.
Few people study the work that is done in this community during the winter season, as compared to other localities who have a comparable problem. Not many people understant that in the fore part of the year, between January first and April first, we usually are operating before a budget figure has been set for our highway accounts, so that when November and December arrive with their disagreeable conditions, a sensible financial problem is present, owing to the un- certainties facing us in serving the public convenience and overcoming winter conditions which cannot be foreseen and are entirely outside of our control.
In the first quarter of 1934 it may be noted there was an unusual severity of climatic conditions causing a very deep frost which of course aided in holding sleet, snow and ice to our ground surfaces over exceptionally long periods. Icy conditions were taken care of to such an extent and in as efficient manner as was possible, with the equpiment we had at hand.
In spite of departmental recommendations, no provision was made for improved sanding machines. The department believed we should have this equipment and had several practical demonstrations, showing the benefits to be obtained therefrom.
In our sidewalk snow plowing it is becoming increasingly difficult to take care of the work, owing to the shortage of horses available for said work. Tractor sidewalk snow plows should be purchased but in several localities would be pre- vented from doing their best work, owing to the great number of trees and roots therefrom present in our sidewalks.
Practically every piece of equipment which would support a plow for highway purposes, including tractors, light and heavy trucks, etc., was in operation as required and accomplished marvelous results, bearing in mind the age and condition of this equipment. The urgency of a recommendation made at this time to replace obsolete highway snow plow equipment must not be overlooked. Conditions warrant and the public demands it. I believe the city government should recognize these facts by providing for up-to-date equipment, thus allowing the department to have a fair opportunity, in justice to the public demand, to produce the results desired.
The 1934 budget, passed in April, had a sub-division on the work-sheet in the amount of $5,000.00 for Snow and Ice. There was expended during the year under the Snow and Ice account the sum of $5,876.85. The difference between the budget figure and the expenditure had to be taken from our highway main- tenance account. Of course automatically this caused a reduction in funds available for our other sub-divisions under the highway maintenance account. Snow and ice conditions however being emergency, of necessity we believe there can be no aversion by the department of our duties in snow removal, without a direct order to this effect by the Mayor, if any funds in our account are available for the purpose. The children must go to school, foodstuffs must be supplied, fuel has to be delivered, factory raw materials and products have to be dis- tributed, if the community is to survive winter's seige. Upset expenditure con- ditions are present in this work when one realizes that advantage is taken not only of usual forces present but of any assistance that can be properly obtained from abnormal forces available under welfare and other projects. Jurisdiction to work any other help than our own more than eight hours per day and at such times as are outside our regular working hours, is not present in this department. Storms very often strike us outside of these hours and the preparations for fighting them have to be handled at once, without the aid of such outside forces, until after the grinding severe part of the work has been taken care of, the storm has cleared and the clock has noved to the regular working hours for the help other than usual which has been mentioned. Usually men not regularly employed are difficult to find during a gale, preferring to wait until skies clear and weather moderates.
227
ANNUAL REPORT
It can be readily seen the practical fact that severe winter work as outlined herein calls for well-nourished men used to heavy muscular exercise prohibits the proficiency desired from some of the classes of help mentioned. This should not be neglected in considering the problem present. Regardless of difficulties our winter work must go on. I recommend that the city government study the problem of utilizing the off-platoon of the Fire Department in severe snow-storms in helping to clear our hundreds of fire hydrants as promptly as possible, to insure efficient fire protection to our community, upon the declaration of the need for this emergency work by the chief executive of the City, with the idea of taking prompt action, immediately the study is completed, to obtain the results desired. Please remember the severe tasks imposed by the snow and ice problem call for consistent and positive maintenance expenditures around the barn, garage and on all trucks, tractors, plows and other gear used.
SIDEWALKS AND CURBING
The Sidewalks and Curbing account, in view of the ever increasing motor vehicle traffic, is to my mind of seriously greater growing importance in our public work, particularly from the standpoint of public safety.
Curbing not only retains usual gravel walks against scour and washouts, but acts as a wheel-guard in protecting pedestrians from the danger of vehicles out of control. It also acts to prevent parking on sidewalks, which often tends to force pedestrians into the vehicular-way part of a street. Improved walks induce pedestrians to stay off the hard-surface road, thus serving in a practical, beneficial way tending to reduce accidents.
In the forepart of the year few orders were passed by the Municipal Counci covering curbing and granolithic walks, work being completed in accordance with these early orders for curbing on Elizabeth and Olive Streets, while sections of granolithic walk were placed on County, Olive, Pine, South Main and Emory Streets.
Curbing was purchased but work not completed on orders passed late in the year on Dennis and Franklin Streets and Lincoln Avenue. Work had been started by the turn of the year.
In conjunction with an E.R.A. project this account carried the City's con- tribution for some granolithic sidewalks on streets as listed in the accompanying statistical report. This granolithic work covered a total of 2,078.40 square yards. Other E. R. A. projects which had some granolithic work as part of them under this account were at Park Street near the Sturdy Hospital and at Olive Street near County Street making an additional 39.14 square yards. From the record it may be readily understood that not only did the account carry our regular orders from the Municipal Council, but sustained without extra added appropria- tion, from funds within the budget, an important and beneficial sidewalk project .
It seems too bad that restrictions, both municipal and federal, tie up seriously with red tape further general expansion on such sidewalk improvements. The department would appreciate having this red tape eliminated, so that all of our people would, in an understanding way, cooperate to obtain, especially on our main streets, sizeable mileage with improved sidewalks while Federal aid is available.
Other items of expenditure included herein are for circle curb used in rounding corners at street intersections and two-foot returns, in accordance with the con- ditions local to the work. Recording of assessments pertinent to the account was also taken care of. Cement, coloring, sand, gravel, stone and distributed charges covered the balance of our expense.
An amount of $2.15 was returned to the account.
228
ANNUAL REPORT
NEW EQUIPMENT
After detailed investigation upon two occasions, and particularly after bids had been advertised, the purchase of a large, up-to-date, G. M. C. motor truck with Heil hoist and dump body was decided upon.
Special lighting equipment, a rear pintle hook and a new set of skid chains for this new truck were obtained. A standard Ross plow and frame for heavy duty work was bought so that we could make up a modern truck snow-plow unit.
On the basis of new equipment a balance of $84.81 was made applicable against the purchase price of a new Fordson crawler tractor unit, in accordance with a Council vote of December 28, 1934, authorizing payment from available balances.
STREET LIGHTING
The expenditure under this account for the year 1933 as recorded in its finality was $29,070.36. The final expenditure figure for Street Lighting for the year 1934 was $28,340.47.
Explanation of the net difference in these two amounts is more intricate than the casual observer would believe, in that there must be taken into consideration the lighting facilities as authorized on different dates, necessitating a check-up and an order for placement, with the lighting company acknowledging the order and its completion.
The bills of course are based upon the rates in force and the number of units in service. To get the picture in orderly fashion one could start with the 1930 amount of $34,592.27 paid for Street Lighting. Bear in mind that the usual thing at the time was a slight annual increase in the lights provided. In 1931 the annual charge for street lighting was $35,103.88. In 1932 this amount became $31,859.12, primarily due to an adjustment in rates submitted by the lighting company. In May of 1933, as has already been reported, authorization for the removal of one hundred and sixty-two street lights was directed by the city government. The monthly charges, in accordance with this order and the annual 1933 charges for street lighting, were reduced, most particularly in the latter half of the year. The total expenditure for the year 1933 was $29,070.36. After this reduction. on petition from abuttors or property-owners, or on recommendation from some city government members, the process of replacing the lights eliminated began and continued throughout 1934.
The accumulative expenditure, because of the date arrangement and lack of bulk replacement on additional lights which extended over the annual period, does not indicate for the year 1934 when it is noted in the amount of $28,340.47 a true picture of the actual increase in lighting facilities during this year from those at the date of the reduction in 1933. For this reason a change will be noted and will be reflected in the expenditure for the year 1935, without taking into con- sideration any additional lights to be voted during that year. The intricacies of the origin and accumulation of our street lighting bill should not permit any of our tax-payers to lose sight of the annual ratio position it holds against on the one hand, or as part of on the other hand, our highway maintenance expenditures.
RIFLE RANGE
The change in ammunition used by the Massachusetts National Guardsmen has been responsible for some difference in the bills chargeable under this account of Rifle Range maintenance.
The City Solicitor has been consulted concerning charges as approved for this year and has stated that he believes we have a legal obligation present to care for charges under this account. At this writing we have no record of just exactly what improvements will be proposed by State authorities for the Deantown rifle range.
229
ANNUAL REPORT
CITY SURVEY
In the first quarter of the year the City Survey account was used for payroll to cover work on computation and plotting on the record maps and plat adjust- ments.
From the beginning of the C. W. A. work this office, with the Mayor, had tried to obtain from the Federal authorities approval of a project which would permit City Survey field and office work to be carried out on a Federal payroll. Several times it seemed as though we were about to be successful. The final Federal ruling, however, always came back with the objection that the men to be employed were not eligible under the relief provisions laid down by Federal regulations. A strong effort was made on several occasions later to have ex- ception made to these regulations, owing to the peculiarities which the City possesses which are not present in larger cities. We were overruled. Whereas the department has seen changes take place in regulations allowing Federal aid work it was deemed advisable to hold City funds available for materials under this account, with the reasonable hope further effort from the municipal authorities would permit a valuable project of this kind to be worked out for Attleboro.
The writer certainly believes a City Survey project well worthwhile and recommends that efforts be continued toward accomplishing the result desired.
WATER DIVISION-MAINTENANCE AND OPERATION
Carrying out the program of the depression times the maintenance of build- ings in the Water Department was kept at the lowest possible figure so that matters of vitally pressing importance could be taken care of first with funds allowable. A smoke pipe was repaired at the water-barn work shop. The boiler and engine-room roofs at the South Attleboro pumping-station were fixed up to prevent serious trouble ensuing from leakage. Small lumber items, spikes, coach screws, etc., were provided and miscellaneous work in and about the water- plant buildings, was given attention.
Shop and barn charges are ridiculously low when one examines the plant and analyzes the work which takes place there. They were kept so only by the use of the most stringent economy. Coal for the plant was purchased in the amount of $122.85, while light and phone charges, covering not only emergency protection but usual service for the year, amounted to $60.30 and $121.46 respect- ively, giving us a total for these three items of $304.61 for the entire year. Other expenses running to $100.32 included towels, light bulbs, batteries, solder, emery cloth, switches, fuses, files, hack-saw blades, brushes, rawhide lacing, repairs on clock-register, grate-bars for boiler, part for post drill, putty, cable for gas pump, set of bits, repairs to lights and drill post, wrenches, hose and a multitude of other expenditures necessary by the very nature of the plant to keeping it in operation twenty-four hours every day in the year, including Sundays and holidays. This, bearing in mind the extreme weather and the unusual load placed on our water service, will give you a real perspective of an efficiency in supporting the city government in its economy program which challenges comparison.
Our insurance items under the water department covering public liability, workmen's compensation, liability and property damage on autos and fire in- surance on the West Mansfield pumping-station, fire coverage on the pump and boilers at the South Attleboro pumping-station and the barn and contents at the water-plant on County Street, which are handled through the Mayor's office, amounted in total to $1,280.33. The wiiter has definitely established his position in favor of and supporting for the best interests of the City an insurance study and report which to date he has not found available.
Taxes outside the control of the department in the amount of $299.48 as listed statistically had, of necessity, to be paid in Mansfield, Foxboro, North Attleboro and Attleboro. The Incidentals account, having an expenditure of $8.96, was kept to the lowest possible minimum.
230
ANNUAL REPORT
The extraordinary severe winter weather to which we were subjected at both ends of the year forced us to have provided in April of this year an Emergency Thawing account to cover charges accrued from our crews out with electrical thawing devices. After examining the problem and the success obtained in and around us I am sure the expenditure of $728.60 as listed statistically can be con- sidered a real investment, even though it resulted in a very severe endurance test on men and machines to keep water service open and prevent the daily can supply used by some of our neighbors.
Under the account for maintenance payroll it was necessary, due to budget slashing, to shrink our forces to the irreducible minimum. While the result has been immediately successful it should be borne in mind that cramping the forces which maintain and care for a plant and investment as large as our water depart- ment is; and with a going and growing business whose revenue in small amounts exceeds one hundred and six thousand dollars per year, to the extent as represented by the figures available for payroll in this budget, ultimately forces neglect in proper care of the investment and the business, which will be highly difficult in the future to overcome. Depression legislation took care of wages.
Water meters are the cash registers of the people's service. Sensible in- vestors in utilities of this kind insist on meters that wear the best and are the most conveniently standardized to make their repair and maintenance economical. As our tests continue we believe the investors in Attleboro, meaning the tax- payers, deserve the same protection. It has been our aim for years to give just this protection to them. Bearing in mind business conditions the revenue record speaks eloquently for itself. I believe that whereas the School Depart- ment, the Fire Department, the Highway Department and other municipal places pay for the water they consume, an accounting of and payment for all the water used for municipal purposes would be in order from the standpoint of equity and in distributing costs both to the Water Department and to the other municipal departments concerned. I recommend that the city government stabilize municipal water charges in the interests of justice among city departments and the Water Department. Conservatively it must be stated that our meter re- placement policy falls short of being adequate to cover our needs. This is bound to result necessarily in loss of revenue without fault being attached to Water Department employees and due to lack of funds for meter replacements.
There is included herewith a statistical record of services, both new and re- placed, which is indicative by comparison with other years of just what is happen- ing in these depression times. Unquestionably, work of this kind is being post- poned because home-owners find themselves unable to assume any extra financial burdens. The policy of the department is to do everything in its power to help out real estate in keeping its head afloat during these stormy times. While it is true new work has been cramped for several years it necessarily follows that our water maintenance has expanded a great deal, causes for which are outside of our control, many of them being traceable to the unusual depression creating a stringency on purses of property-owners.
With funds available whatever was possible was done to keep up our main line as well as possible in its maintenance. Circumstances and conditions have impaired definitely and often doing of all of the things which we believe should be done along this line. It is to be hoped that in years immediately ahead of us the government will see fit to bring our main line maintenance up to the point at least where it was before the depression, modernizing it wherever possible as time marches on. Unusual circumstances, probably due to underground condi- tions not normal and traceable to intense cold and changes of temperature, caused split mains, in some cases directly due to freezing. These were repaired and service restored without delay. Again we had trouble under the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad crossing at Starkey Avenue, with a 6" joint leak to repair. In Hebronville at the corner of Bridge and Phillips Street a 12" joint leak showed up and was immediately repaired. On Lindsey Street a 6" joint leak occurred and was taken care of without delay.
231
ANNUAL REPORT
It was necessary, to accommodate some of the drainage improvements, to lower services as attached to the water mains on North Avenue and again on Horton Street. On County Street at Wolfenden Street, at First Street corner Grove Street, and at the corner of County and Wall Streets, line gate leaks were taken care of. Hydrant inspections and repairs were carried out in a workmanlike and efficient manner, maintaining the reputation of this department against more than usual odds throughout the winter. In this way such of the fire equipment as we were responsible for was kept in working condition. A total of thirty-one hydrants were repaired during the year. A 6" main was lowered on Horton Street for drain accommodation. On Summer Street at Mary Street it was necessary to reset and replace a hydrant. The Tiffany and County Street improvement, so-called, required the relocation of a hydrant which proved to be of great value in this particular locality. At South Main Street near Spring Street, where the 12" gate was cut in with a new line hook-up to clear the street work, the hydrant was replaced, while 6" pipe lines were placed into Spring and Short Streets to replace the demerit size pipe formerly present at this location. At North Avenue corner West Street a hydrant branch was lowered and a two-foot extension placed to raise the hydrant. On Pleasant Street at Forest Street it was necessary to replace a hydrant which had been hit by a truck. For some unknown reason this hydrant seems to be exposed to more than usual hazards according to record.
Without complaining of the exeedingly cold winter may I call to your atten- tion the fact that this is the time when people have to force their fires for heating apparatus to function properly. As a result there is a large increase of fires in buildings to extinguish which, of course, water from hydrants is usually necessary. Despite the urgency and need for this hydrant service in these extreme conditions it remains a fact that water still freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, so that with weather 20 degrees below zero, or 52 degrees below the freezing point of water, it seems reasonable that our Water Department is entitled to the compliments they have received for having successfully, against great odds and at times with great physical suffering to themselves, maintained a service which the Fire Department chief acknowledges has been remarkable in its success. It is for this reason that I solicit from the City Government funds proper and sufficient to permit us a first- class set of equipment to skillfully combat all of the conditions outlined herein.
How many of you have stopped to figure the brilliant and consistent record of improvement on costs from any reasonable standpoint of the vehicular side of the Water Department when for instance in 1920, the year prior to the arrival of the writer, one old White truck and a horse which was of no practical value, cost considerably more to give a great deal less service, than the 1928 Reo truck, the 1929 Dodge truck and the three Ford Runabout trucks, two purchased in 1929 and the other in 1930, which are now in use every day in the year by the depart- ment. Repeatedly this record has been stressed to members of the city govern- ment with a view toward obtaining for such a going business an economical and effective replacement basis for our motor vehicles which would permit the efficien- cy in all its phases expected from cars in this utility. Troubles such as water leaks, pipes breaking off in the cellar at the meter and dozens of other things are bound to happen through the year, oftentimes on Sundays or holidays, or when the men have gone from their regular tasks. Of course, our people expect prompt service and to insure it the personnel must have equipment positive in its workings and economical in its upkeep. This year we believed that we should have had a replacement for one of the Ford Runabout trucks. We feel certain that on the basis of our record of keeping the Water Department fleet in operation for a year with a cost of $$09.25 we have earned your sincere consideration of the advantages to the policy outlined, all of which is for the benefit of our people, the customers who pay the bills.
Of course, from whatever funds were available within the water department budget, those materials for necessary maintenance, including tools, etc., had to be purchased so that immediate sacrifice of service for the most people could be avoided.
232
ANNUAL REPORT
MAIN LINE EXTENSION
In the budget for 1934 under our water accounts the sum of fifteen hundred dollars ($1,500.00) was provided for main line extensions and replacements.
Two hundred and fifty dollars ($250.00) of this amount was transferred on December 26, 1934 as part of an account necessary to provide tar for the North Avenue E. R. A. gravel project which filled the space formerly occupied by rails on this street.
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