USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Andover > Town annual report of Andover 1896 > Part 5
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At Brockton we found very large areas used for filtration, and while the result, so far as purification is concerned,
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leaves nothing to be desired, first cost and cost of operation preclude the possibility of Andover's adopting this plan.
At Worcester the sewage is received in large settling tanks, after being treated with lime at the outlet of the main sewer. These settling tanks are in series, and any of them may be shut out of the circulation and drawn off at will. At stated periods each tank is shut off and allowed to settle. The li- quid is then drawn off through the outlet sewer. The semi- liquid sludge is conducted to small filter beds where it is al- lowed to stand until it becomes solid, when it is dug out and used as a fertilizer. The effluent from this system discharges directly into the Blackstone River, and analysis shows that 90 per cent of the suspended and 50 per cent of the dissolved matter are removed. There is no odor arising from any part of the disposal works, and its operation is economical.
The State Board of Health do not, however, sanction this method of disposal, so while your Commissioners feel that the effluent from such a system would be purer, both chem- ically and in appearance, than the water of the Shawsheen River, they hesitate to recommend it as its adoption would be very apt to lead to litigation.
While making these investigations our attention was called by John N. McClintock, A. M., to plans designed by him em- bodying chemical precipitation and rapid filtration through coarse material, the whole to be under cover and well ven- tilated. The plan presents many points of merit and ought to prove economical in operation, and if adopted by the town would save in the neighborhood of $75,000 in cost of con- struction. It has not, however, been approved by the State Board of Health, nor have we been able to verify the figures for flowage through the filters as designed.
Your Board, therefore, look upon the method as experi- mental to a certain extent but having features worthy of care- ful consideration and investigation, and as works will prob- ably be put in operation during the coming summer embodying the main features of this design, recommend that no action be taken by the town regarding disposal until they are in a
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position to make a more complete report on this method.
Also, that they be instructed to petition the General Court for an amendment to Chap. 386, Acts of '95, by striking out Sect. 15 of said Act.
Respectfully submitted,
WM. S. JENKINS, JOHN L. SMITH, JOHN E. SMITH,
Sewer
Commissioners.
Andover, Mass., Feb. 4, 1896.
SEWERAGE BILL.
[CHAP. 386.]
AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE TOWN OF ANDOVER TO ESTABLISH A SYSTEM OF SEWERAGE.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows :
SECTION 1. The town of Andover may lay out, construct and maintain a system of sewerage and sewage disposal for said town; may take by purchase or otherwise any lands, water rights, rights of way or easements in said town deemed necessary for the establishment of such system of sewerage and sewage disposal and for connections therewith ; may es- tablish an annual charge for the privilege of connecting with such system, and may order any or all persons or corpora- tions within the territory covered by said system to dispose of their sewage in said town by connection therewith ; and any person or corporation neglecting to comply with such order shall be fined not exceeding twenty dollars for each week's continuance of such neglect.
SECTION 2. Said town may construct and maintain an outlet for its system of sewerage and sewage disposal into the Merrimack river, and for that purpose may take, by purchase or otherwise, a strip of land of sufficient width extending from the boundary line of said town on the easterly side of the Shawsheen river through a portion of the city of Law-
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rence and that portion of the town of North Andover west of Railroad street and north of Sutton street to said Merrimack river, and may construct an outlet in such strip through pri- vate and other lands, and lay the same under any street, highway or other way or railroad, and may enter upon and dig up any such private lands or other lands, street, highway or other way or railroad in such manner as not unnecessarily to obstruct the same, for the purpose of laying, maintaining and repairing such outlet, and shall leave such streets or ways so dug up in said town of North Andover in a condition sat- isfactory to the selectmen or road commissioners of said town.
SECTION 3. Said town of Andover may, for the purposes of this act, carry its sewers, drains, pipes and conduits under and along any street, railroad or other way in such a manner as not unnecessarily to obstruct the same, and may do any other thing necessary and proper for said purposes.
SECTION 4. Said town of Andover when it takes any land, water, water rights, rights of way or easements, or other real estate, under the authority of this act, in any other manner than by purchase, shall within sixty days of said taking cause to be recorded in the registry of deeds for the northern dis- trict of the county of Essex a description of the same as cer- tain as is required in a common conveyance of land, with a statement that the same are taken under the authority of this act, signed by its sewer commissioners ; and upon such recording the title of the lands, water rights, rights, ease- ments and other real estate so described shall vest in said town of Andover.
SECTION 5. No act shall be done under the authority of the preceding sections until said system of sewerage shall have been approved by the state board of health.
SECTION 6. Said town of Andover shall pay all damages sustained by any person or corporation in his or its property by reason of such taking, or by reason of any other thing done by said town of Andover under the authority of this act, and if such person or corporation and town fail to agree as to the amount of damages sustained, such damage shall be
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assessed and determined by a jury of the Superior Court in the manner provided by law when land is taken for the laying out of highways, on petition therefor by such person or cor- poration, or the town, filed in the office of the clerk of said court for the county of Essex at any time within the period of two years from the taking of such land or other property.
SECTION 7. In every case of a petition for the assessment of damages by a jury as aforesaid said town of Andover may offer in court and consent in writing that a sum therein spec- ified may be awarded as damages to the complainant ; and if the complainant shall not accept the sum so offered within ten days after he has received notice of such offer, and shall not finally recover a greater sum than the sum so offered and interest thereon to the time of the verdict, said town shall be entitled to recover its costs from the date of the offer ; and the complainant, if he recovers damages, shall be allowed his costs only to the date of said offer, unless he recovers a great er sum than the sum so offered and interest thereon to the time of the verdict.
SECTION 8. Said town of Andover in order to carry out the provisions of this act may raise and appropriate in such manner as it shall determine, such sum or sums of money as shall be required therefor, provided the aggregate indebted- ness incurred shall not exceed fifty thousand dollars beyond the limit of indebtedness fixed by law for said town; and for money borrowed said town may issue from time to time ne- gotiable bonds, notes or scrip, payable at the expiration of periods not exceeding thirty years from the date of issue and bearing such rate of interest not exceeding five per cent. per annum as said town may determine. Said town may sell such securities at public or private sale, or pledge the same for not less than their par value for money borrowed for the purposes of this act, upon such terms and conditions as it may deem proper.
SECTION 9. The receipts from payments and assessments and from such annual rates for the use of such sewers as said town may by vote establish, after deducting the expenses,
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shall be applied, first to the payment of the interest of the bonds, notes or scrip issued under the authority of this act not otherwise provided for, and the balance shall be set apart to meet the requirements of the sinking fund for the payment or redemption of said bonds, notes or scrip, as provided by section nine of chapter twenty-nine of the Public Statutes. If the receipts in any year are insufficient to pay the interest on said bonds, notes or scrip, and to meet the requirements of law as to sinking fund, then in such case the town, to meet said deficiency, shall raise forthwith such sum as will, with said net income, be sufficient to meet such requirements. Said sinking fund shall remain inviolate and pledged to the payment and redemption of said bonds, notes or scrip, and shall be used for no other purpose.
SECTION 10. All acts authorized to be done by said town of Andover in taking lands, water rights, rights of way, ease- ments or other real estate, and in constructing, maintaining and repairing sewers and drains, and in extending the same, and in laying assessments on estates adjudged to be benefited by sewers, whether done under the authority of this act or of general laws, shall be done and performed in the name of said town by its board of sewer commissioners.
SECTION 11. Said town of Andover may at any legal meet- ing called for the purpose adopt a system of sewerage for the whole or any part of its territory, and may at such meeting determine by vote what proportion of the expense of con_ structing the same shall be borne by the town. The remain_ ing cost of said system shall be borne by the owners of es- tates situated within the territory embraced by it and bene- fited thereby, but no estate shall be deemed to be benefited unless or until a sewer is constructed into which it can be drained. The owners of such estates shall be assessed by said commissioners their proportional parts respectively of such portion of the total cost of said system as is not borne by the town as above-provided ; such proportional parts shall be based upon the estimated average cost of all the sewers composing said system and shall be assessed by a fixed uniform
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rate according to the frontage of such estates on any street or way in which a sewer is constructed, or according to the area of each such estate within a fixed depth from such street or way, or according to both frontage and area ; and every such owner shall within three months after written notice of such assessment, served on him or on the occupant of his es- tate or sent by mail to the last address of said owner known to said commissioners, pay the sum so assessed to the town treasurer : provided, that said board shall, on the written re- quest of any such owner made within said three months, ap- portion such assessment into such number of equal parts or instalments, not exceeding ten, as such owner shall state in such request, and they shall certify such apportionment to the assessors ; interest from the date of such apportionment at the rate of five per cent. per annum shall be added to each of said assessments until they are paid, and one of said parts shall be added by the assessors to the annual tax of such es- tates for each year next ensuing until all said parts have been so added, unless sooner paid as hereinafter provided ; and provided, further, that nothing herein contained shall be con- strued to prevent the payment at any time in one payment, notwithstanding its prior apportionment, of any balance of said assessments then remaining unpaid, but interest on such balance at the rate of five per cent. per annum shall be paid to the date of such payment; and thereupon the treasurer shall receive the same and shall certify such payment or pay- ments to the assessors, who shall preserve a record thereof. In cases of corner lots abutting on more than one sewered street the same area shall not be assessed more than once. No assessment shall be made with respect to any estate until it can be drained by a sewer. When a sewer has been built running through land other than a street no assessment shall be made as to said land abutting on said sewer until that part thereof occupied by the sewer has been laid out as a street.
SECTION 12. Au assessment made under section eleven shall constitute a lien upon the estate, which shall continue for three years after it is made and notice served as above
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provided, or, in case of apportionment, until the expiration of two years from the time the last instalment is committed to the collector; and said assessment together with interest at the rate of five per cent. per annum may, with incidental costs and expenses, be levied by sale of such estate or so much thereof as shall be sufficient to discharge the assments and intervening charges, if the assessment is not paid within three months after service of said notice, or, if apportioned, within three months after any part has become due. Such sale and all proceedings connected therewith shall be conducted in the same manner as sales for the payment of taxes ; and real estate so sold may be redeemed the same as if sold for the non-payment of taxes and in the same manner. Such as- sessment or parts thereof may also be collected by an action of contract in the name of the inhabitants of the town of An- dover against the owner of said estate, brought at any time within three years after the same has become due.
SECTION 13. Any person aggrieved by such assessment may, at any time within three months after service of the notice mentioned in section eleven of this act, apply to the superior court for the county of Essex for a jury to revise the same, but before making such application he shall give fourteen days' notice in writing of his intention so to do to the commissioners, and shall therein particularly specify his objection to the assessment, to which specification he shall be confined before the jury.
SECTION 14. The provisions of chapter fifty of the Public Statutes and of acts in amendment thereof and in addition thereto, pertaining to sewers and drains, not inconsistent with this act, shall apply to the town of Andover in carrying out the provisions of this act.
SECTION 15. The state board of health, upon the applica- tion of the board of health or selectmen of the town of North Andover, alleging the existence of a public nuisance or the pollution of the waters adjacent to said town into which the effluent of said sewer of the town of Andover is discharged, to such a degree that the public health of said town of North
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Andover is endangered, shall appoint a time and place for a public hearing thereon, and give such notice thereof as said board shall deem proper. After such hearing said state board, if in its judgment there is good reason for such complaint, shall order the town of Andover to abate such nuisance, or to cleanse and purify its sewage, before its effiuent is dis- charged into the waters aforesaid, so that the public health shall not be endangered. Any court having jurisdiction in equity may, upon application of the board of selectmen or board of health of said town of North Andover, enforce the orders of said state board of health in the premises by any proper order or decree.
SECTION 16. This act shall take effect upon its passage, but no expenditure shall be made and no liability incurred under the same, except for prelimiary surveys and estimates, unless this act shall first be accepted by vote of two thirds of the legal voters of the town of Andover present and voting thereon at a legal meeting called for that purpose within three years from the date of its passage. [Approved May 14, 1895.
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Finance Committee.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR YEAR 1896.
Schools,
$19000 00
School-Houses,
2000 00
School-Books and Supplies,
1500 00
Repairs on Highways and Bridges,
3000 00
Macadamized Roads,
4000 00
Sidewalks,
1000 00
Removing Snow,
500 00
Town Officers,
5000 00
Town House,
1000 00
Waterworks, Maintenance,
4700 00
Sinking Fund,
675 00
Fire Department, Running Expenses,
2000 00
New Apparatus and Engine House changes,
3000 00
Horses and Drivers,
3000 00
Street Lighting,
3700 00
Printing and Stationery,
700 00
Spring Grove Cemetery,
200 00
Memorial Day,
200 00
State Aid,
1600 00
Military Aid,
300 00
Expenses of Almshouse,
4000 00
Relief out of Almshouse,
5000 00
Repairs on Almshouse,
500 00
State Tax,
6000 00
County Tax,
5000 00
Abatement of Taxes,
300 00
Amount carried forward,
$77875 00
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Amount brought forward,
$77875 00
Interest on Notes, Funds, and Bonds, Insurance, Hay Scales, Miscellaneous,
10000 00
500 00
50 00
1500 00
Total,
$89925 00
. Respectfully submitted, for the Committee,
ARTHUR BLISS,
Chairman.
In addition to the above, the last of the three $10000 notes of 1893 is to be paid this year, making $99,925.00.
ARTHUR BLISS, Selectmen of Andover.
SAMUEL H. BOUTWELL, JOHN S. STARK,
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Town Warrant.
ESSEX, SS: To either of the Constables of the Town of Andover. GREETING .
In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you are hereby directed to notify and warn the inhabitants of the Town of Andover, and North Andover so far as relates to the election of Trustees of the Punchard Free School, qual- ified to vote in town affairs, to meet and assemble at the Town House, in said Andover, on Monday, the Second day of March, 1896, at Nine o'clock, A. M., to act on the follow- ing Articles, namely :
Article 1st. - To choose a Moderator to preside at said meeting.
Article 2d. -- To choose Town Clerk, Treasurer, Collector of Taxes, One member of the Board of Selectmen, Assessors and Overseers of the Poor for three years, One member of the Board of Health for three years, three members of the School Committee for three years, one Water Commissioner for three years, One Trustee of the Memorial Hall for seven years, one Sewer Commissioner for three years, Trustee of Punchard Free School from the South Parish for two years to fill a vacancy, One or more Auditors of Accounts, Constables, Fence Viewers, Field Drivers, Surveyors of Lumber, a Pound Keeper, and any other officers the town may determine to choose.
Article 3d. - To take action on the following question : " Shall Licences be granted for the Sale of Intoxicating Liquors in this town?"
Article 4th. - To determine what sums of money shall be appropriated for Schools, School-Houses, School Books and Supplies, Highways and Bridges, Sidewalks, Removing Snow, Horses and Drivers, Town Officers, Town House, Hay Scales,
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Fire Department, Insurance, Street Lighting, Printing and Stationery, Spring Grove Cemetery, Memorial Day, State Aid, Military Aid, Waterworks, Interest on Bonds, Funds and Notes, State Tax, County Tax, Abatement of Taxes, Alms- house Expenses, Relief out of Almshouse, Repairs on Alms- house, and other town charges and expenses.
Article 5th. - To see if the Town will appropriate a sum of money for the celebration of the 250th anniversary of its incorporation on the request of its Committee of Fifteen.
Article 6th. - To see if the Town will purchase land, re- move and remodel the engine house in Ballard Vale, and appropriate a sum of money therefor, on petition of Engineers and others.
Article 7th. - To see if the Town will vote to reconsider the vote taken two years ago authorizing the sale of the J. P. Bradlee steamer, on petition of Charles F. Billington and others.
Article 8th. - To see if the Town will accept the pro- visions of Chapter 374, Acts of 1895, authorizing the Town to place the administration of their highways under a single highway surveyor, on petition of John E. Smith and others.
Article 9th. - To see if the Town will authorize the Select- men to appoint a night watch in Ballard Vale and appropriate a sum of money therefor, on petition of Charles H. Shattuck and others.
Article 10th. - To see if the Town will vote to purchase a new ladder truck and appropriate $1200 therefor, on petition of Engineers and others.
Article 11th. - To hear and act on the reports of the Selectmen, Sewer Commissioners, and other Town Officers.
Article 12th. - To see if the Town will accept the list of names for Jurors prepared and posted by the Selectmen.
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Article 13th. - To fix the pay of the Firemen for ensuing year.
Article 14th. - To see if the Town will vote to place a drinking fountain at the junction of Main and Marland Streets and appropriate a sum of money therefor, on petition of the Village Improvement Society.
Article 15th. - To see if the Town will accept the pro- visions of Chapter 154 of Acts of 1882 as amended by Chapter 240 of the Acts of 1890 relating to public parks.
Article 16th. - To see if the Town will authorize the erection of an additional electric light on Abbott Street and one on Chestnut Street.
Article 17th. - To determine the method of collecting the taxes the ensuing year.
Article 18th. - To see if the Town will appropriate a sum of money to improve Ridge Street.
Article 19th. - To see if the Town will name the street leading from Main past James N. Smart's house Gardner Avenue.
Article 20th. - To see if the Town will appropriate a sum of money to care for the public dump, on petition of the Vil- lage Improvement Society.
Article 21st. - To see if the Town will vote to grant the free use of water in case the Village Improvement Society places a fountain in some suitable public place.
Article 22d. - To determine the disposition of unexpend- ed appropriations.
Article 23d. - To see if the Town will appropriate a sum of money to continue the sidewalk on the north side of Sum- mer Street to the house of J. F. Morse.
Atricle 24th. - To authorize the Treasurer to hire money for the use of the Town, in anticipation of taxes upon the approval of the Selectmen.
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Article 25th. - To determine the amount of money to be raised by taxation the ensuing year.
Article 26th. - To transact any other business that may legally come before the meeting.
Hereof fail not, and make due return of this Warrant, with your doings thereon, to the Town Clerk, at the time and place of meeting.
Give under our hands, at Andover, this Thirteenth day of February, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six.
ARTHUR BLISS, Selectmen
SAM'L H. BOUTWELL, of
JOHN S. STARK, Andover.
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Memorial Hall.
TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES.
We do not think that the figures of the Librarian's report, appended hereto, lie in their showing of the quiet but effec- tive work of our Public Library during the past year. In round numbers : 14,000 volumes available for reading or reference ; 60 different newspapers and magazines on the tables for daily consultation ; 200 new names added to the 4,000 previously registered of those privileged to withdraw books; 20,000 books in the aggregate circulated during the year, including 2,200 delivered by special carrier in four school districts of the town. These indicate that the gener- ous purpose of the early founders, as well as of later pro- moters, of the Library is being carried out, so far as the funds at the disposal of the Trustees permit.
The list of accessions shows, we think, the attempt to pro- vide a wide variety of interesting and helpful reading, prefer- ence being given to books suitable for the young and for the common people, without full libraries of their own, for whom especially the Library was designed. It may be suggested as a help towards a wise selection of books that patrons of the Library should oftener fill out the slips, which will be fur- nished by the Librarian, with the names of desirable volumes, stating the author, publisher, and price. Among the more important reference books added during the year are H. H. Bancroft's Illustrated Book of the World's Fair, in two vol-
.
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umes, and Larned's History for Ready Reference, in five volumes.
By a change in the Regulations the Library is now open for the delivery of books on Wednesday, the same as on other week days : viz., from 9 to 10 o'clock A. M., from 3 to 5.30 and 7 to 9 P. M. The Reading Room is also open on every week day during the same afternoon hours, and in the morn- ing from 8.30 to 12 o'clock.
The card catalogue, referred to in the last annual report as in progress of preparation under the direction and at the expense of Mrs. John Byers of Andover, was presented to the Library in October last, and its three separate classifica- tions of books, by authors, by titles, and by subjects, have already proved of great convenience to the patrons of the Library. Printed lists of accessions made from time to time to the catalogue are kept on the tables. The great present need of the Library in this line is a new printed catalogue, for which there are no available funds. Is it too much to hope that some public-spirited citizen may carry forward the generous work begun by Mrs. Byers, and provide for this need ?
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