USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > Town annual report of Swampscott 1913 > Part 5
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ART. 23. We recommend that the following be fixed as the particulars of the bonds to be issued by the Town for the pur- poses set forth in the votes under Articles 2, 3, 5, 7 and 21, which relate to the following appropriations : $1,100 for the construction of a sewer in Rockland street ; $2,100 for the con- struction of a sewer in Redington street ; $600 for the construc- tion of a sewer in Roy street; $500 for the construction of a sewer in Melvin avenue and $3,200 for the cost of completing the sewers in Greenwood, Mapledale and Beach avenues.
There shall be fifteen bonds for $500 each, numbered one to fifteen. They shall be dated during the current year, shall bear interest payable semi-annually at a rate not exceeding 4 per cent per annum ; bond I shall mature one year from the date thereof, and one bond shall mature each succeeding year in its numerical order for the period of fifteen years. Said bonds shall bear the Town seal, shall be signed by the Town Treasurer and counter- signed by the Selectmen; they shall be authenticated by the First National Bank of Boston ; shall be subject to registration at the holder's option on presentation to the Town Treasurer for cancellation of the coupons and appropriate endorsement. Principal and interest shall be payable at the office of the Town Treasurer or at such Boston bank or trust company as the Town Treasurer and Selectmen designate. Said bonds shall bear on their face the words, "The Town of Swampscott Sewerage Loan, Act 1913." All other particulars as to form, issuance and sale of said bonds shall be determined by the Town Treas- urer and Selectmen, but said bonds shall not be sold for less than par and interest.
ART. 23. We recommend the following be fixed as the particulars of the bonds to be issued by the Town for the pur- poses set forth in the vote under Article 14, which relates to the purchase of a combination hose and pumping outfit : There
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shall be eight bonds for $1,000 each, numbered one to eight, and one bond for $500, numbered nine. They shall be dated during the current year, shall bear interest payable semi-annually at a rate not exceeding 4 per cent per annum ; bond numbered one shall mature one year from the date thereof, and one bond shall mature each succeeding year in its numerical order for the period of nine years. Said bonds shall bear the Town seal, shall be signed by the Town Treasurer and countersigned by the Select- men. They shall be authenticated by the First National Bank of Boston, and shall be subject to registration at the holder's option on presentation to the Town Treasurer for cancellation of the coupons and proper endorsement. Principal and interest shall be payable at the office of the Town Treasurer or at such Boston bank or trust company as the Town Treasurer and Selectmen designate. Said bonds shall bear on their face the words, " Swampscott Fire Department Loan, 1913." All other particulars as to form, issuance and sale of said bonds shall be determined by the Town Treasurer and Selectmen, but said bonds shall not be sold for less than par and interest.
GEORGE D. R. DURKEE, RICHARD B. HUSSEY, HORACE B. INGALLS, HARRY F. PHILLIPS, HENRY S. BALDWIN.
Voted, Article I, to accept and adopt the report of the Ways and Means Committee, indefinitely postponing the construction of a sewer in Ontario street.
Voted, Article 2, to accept and adopt the report of the Ways and Means Committee appropriating the sum of $1,100 to con- struct a sewer in Rockland street from a point 250 feet from Greenwood avenue to the sewer in Greenwood avenue.
Voted, Article 3, to accept and adopt the report of the Ways and Means Committee appropriating the sum of $2,100 to con- struct a sewer in Redington street between Mapledale avenue and the junction of Devens road.
Voted, Article 4, to accept and adopt the report of the Ways and Means Committee recommending that this matter be post- poned until such time as a definite plan for the disposal of this sewage be adopted.
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TOWN CLERK'S RECORDS.
1913]
Voted, Article 5, to accept and adopt the report of the Com- mittee on Ways and Means appropriating the sum of $600 to construct a sewer in Roy street from the junction of Hillside avenue and Roy street, about 250 feet.
Voted, Article 6, to accept and adopt the report of the Com- mittee on Ways and Means indefinitely postponing the construct- ing of a sewer in Cherry street.
Voted, Article 7, to accept and adopt the report of the Ways and Means Committee appropriating the sum of $500 to con- struct a sewer in Melvin avenue.
Voted, Article 8, to accept and adopt the report of the Com- mittee on Ways and Means referring the matter of constructing a sewer in King street to the Water and Sewerage Board, and that they be requested to report at some future meeting as to the probable cost. .
Voted, Article 9, to accept and adopt the report of the Ways and Means Committee indefinitely postponing the construction of a sewer in Huron street.
Voted, Article 10, to accept and adopt the report of the Ways and Means Committee indefinitely postponing the matter of lay- ing a water pipe in Banks terrace.
Voted, Article II, that the pay of the permanent men of the Fire Department be $21 per week dating from May 1, 1913.
Voted, Article 12, to accept and adopt the report of the Ways and Means Committee reporting the sum of $300 for the purpose of shingling the fish house at Blaney Beach.
Voted, that Articles 13 and 14 be taken up together for con- sideration.
Report of Committee on Gasolene Engine Pump and Hose Wagon.
SWAMPSCOTT, MASS., April 14, 1913.
To the Citizens of the Town of Swampscott:
At the annual Town Meeting the undersigned were appointed a Committee to investigate and ascertain the most desirable com- bination gasolene engine pump and hose wagon for use in the Fire Department of the Town.
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Your Committee"has examined all of the most approved types of gasolene engine pumps for use in Fire Departments, and wit- nessed the demonstration of several. It appears to your Com- mittee that a six cylinder motor of about 100 horse power and a pumping capacity of 700 gallons of water per minute has a de- cided advantage over the four cylinder type of motor. Such a pump with a body that will carry 1,200 feet of 22 inch hose would, in the opinion of your Committee, meet the needs of the Town.
The cost of such apparatus, together with the appropriate equipment, which includes everything necessary for immediate use, will probably be about $8,500.
From the investigation which we have made of the experience of other cities and towns with similar apparatus, we are of opinion that such apparatus is already used successfully by other cities and towns, and that by its use a substantial saving in the maintenance of the Fire Department can be effected, without any detrimental effect to the efficiency of the Department. On the contrary, the Department's efficiency will be increased.
We therefore recommend the purchase of a combination gaso- lene pumping engine and hose wagon of the type and capacity which we have suggested, and the appropriation of the sum of $8,500 for that purpose.
Respectfully submitted,
JAMES F. CATON, ELIAS G. HODGKINS, CLARENCE B. HUMPHREY, GEORGE P. CAHOON, GEORGE F. CLAY, FRANK W. OULTON.
Voted, Articles 13, 14, to accept and adopt the reports of the Board of Engineers and the Board of Selectmen, also the report of the Ways and Means Committee, appropriating $8,500 for the purchase of a combination hose and pumping outfit, the money to be raised by a bond issue, and that the Fire Engineers and the Selectmen be authorized to make the purchase and dispose of the five horses and any other apparatus not needed.
Voted, Article 15, to accept and adopt[the report of the Com- mittee on Ways and Means recommending the appropriation of
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1913]
$3,000 from the Overlay account of 1911 and credit the same to the Overlay account of 1913 for the purpose of discounts and abatements.
Voted, Article 16, to accept and adopt the report of the Ways and Means Committee indefinitely postponing the subject matter of this Article.
Voted, Article 17 , that the report of the Committee on Brooks be not read.
Voted, Article 17, to receive the report of the Committee on Brooks, that the same be filed, the thanks of the Town being tendered to the said Committee for services rendered and the Committee discharged.
Report of Committee on Brooks.
At a special Town Meeting held July 24, 1912, the Committee made a preliminary report which is printed in the Annual Report of the Town for the year ending December 31, 1912. The Committee then made the following recommendations :
A. That the Town take the necessary steps to cause the City of Lynn to cease discharging sewage upon the territory of the Town by way of Stacey and King Brooks.
B. To change the method of disposal of sewage and drain- age from the present method of pumping to a continuous over- flow by gravity.
The Committee also suggested other steps to be taken in process of the solution of the drainage problem, but they all depended to a greater or less extent upon the action of the Town as to the two main recommendations. The Town accepted the report and continued the Committee.
Since July 24, 1912, the Committee has continued its investi- gation and study of the problem, with the assistance of the engineer, which the Committee employed at the time of beginning the work. The Committee has also attempted to carry out the unanimous vote of the Town and get the City of Lynn to stop discharging sewage into Stacey and King Brooks.
The Committee has taken up the matter in detail with the members of the Lynn Municipal Council and has been over the line of the brooks and sewer with them, but the Committee has not succeeded in getting the City of Lynn to take any more definite action than to admit that the practice ought to stop. This has
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been the attitude of the City of Lynn for a quarter of a century. Meantime the City of Lynn has been discharging into these brooks a larger and larger amount of sewage each year.
The Committee feels satisfied that the City of Lynn will do nothing to abate the practice of turning large quantities of raw sewage into these open brooks, except under compulsion. Although the Committee feels that, under the vote of the Town of July 24, last, and in consideration of the attitude of the City of Lynn, and the menace to health which the discharge of sew- age intot hese brooks involves, it would have been justified in taking the necessary legal steps to compel Lynn to cease turning its sewage into our brooks. Nevertheless, as it is a matter which will require the expenditure by the City of Lynn of a very large sum in order to abate this nuisance and menace to health, the Committee has sought to give the City of Lynn every oppor- tunity to proceed without compulsion.
The Committee is satisfied, however, that the City of Lynn will never so proceed and the Committee recommends that it be explicity instructed, by vote of the Town, to inaugurate and prosecute in the name of and on behalf of the Town, such legal steps as shall seem likely to most speedily compel the City of Lynn to stop turning its sewage into Stacey and King Brooks.
Until the City of Lynn is compelled to stop discharging such a very large volume of sewage into these brooks, but little can be done, except at an expense which this Committee does not feel warranted in even suggesting that the Town incur, in the way of improving the drainage condition of Stacey, King and Mudge Brook districts.
With regard to the changing of the method of disposing of the sewage and drainage from pumping to gravity flow : The Com- mittee has taken this matter up in detail with the Water and Sewerage Board, and has had numerous conferences with the Board, the last one on March 14. While the members of the Water and Sewerage Board seem strongly impressed with the plan of changing from a pumping to a gravity discharge, on the score of the probable financial advantage to the Town , nevertheless, as the present system was designed to be operated as a pumping system, the members of the Water and Sewerage Board have suggested to the Committee the advisability of securing the opinion of some engineer, not heretofore connected with the problem of the sewerage or drainage of the Town, upon the ques- tion of the successful operation of the system if the disposal is changed from pumping to gravity.
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As the Committee is disposed to proceed with caution in this matter of changing the system of disposal and is anxious to avoid any mistake in the solution of the drainage problem, the Com- mittee, while renewing its recommendation that the pipe which now connects the receiving basin with the outfall pipe to dread ledge begrelaid to grade and a by-pass be laid through or around the present receiving basin so that sewage may flow directly to sea by gravity in place of being pumped after collecting in the receiving basin, also recommend that it be authorized to secure additional engineering advice, as suggested by the Water and Sewerage Board.
The Committee does not recommend the filling up of the receiving basin or the dismantling of the pumping station at the present time until it is shown by actual, practical operation the extent to which the full capacity of the town sewers and drains may safely be utilized for surface drainage, without the necessity of pumping the flow.
It has been brought to the attention of the Committee that some of the residents along Paradise road are somewhat impatient that nothing has yet been done to relieve the conditions in that section.
While the Committee recognizes that the conditions along Para- dise road are with difficulty borne by the residents, nevertheless Mudge Brook, in that section, is almost wholly in private owner- ship and unless the conditions along Paradise road can be improved as a part of a general system of drainage the town would have no right to tax the citizens to pay for such improve- ment.
The plan which the committee is working out is a general drainage plan, which shall benefit the Town as a whole and the preventing of the discharge of sewage into Stacey Brook by the City of Lynn and the changing of the method of disposing of the flow in present sewers from pumping to gravity, are two funda- mental elements in the problem which must be definitely settled before much progress can be made in relieving the drainage nuisance in particular localities by the expenditure of money raised by taxation.
As affording some immediate relief to the drainage conditions along Paradise road, and as it is a part of a general drainage plan, the committee recommend that the Town acquire the low, swampy land immediately to the Northeast of the Marblehead branch of the Boston & Maine Railroad and control the flow therefrom by suitable gates at the culvert under the railroad and
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that a drain be constructed from a point near the junction of Walker and Banks roads which shall conduct all the surface drainage coming or which can economically be brought to that point, into the aforesaid low area Northeast of the railroad.
These works would intercept and control the flow from prac- tically half the territory now draining Mudge Brook and your Committee believe would furnish marked relief from the flood- ing of premises which now occur along the line of the brook with almost every rain.
The Committee estimates the cost as follows :-
I20,000 sq. feet of land at ¿c.
$600 00
Drain .
1,800 00
Sluice and gates .
250 00
Grading
1,000 00
$3,650 00
The Committee recommend that the swamp land be acquired for park purposes. The conversion of this swamp into a park would add to the beauty and consequentially to the prosperity of the Town. It would also prevent the acquisition of this area of comparatively cheap land by a class of occupants whose ideas of living and whose lack of care of the appearance of their habi- tations do not accord with the standards necessary to maintain the Town in the front rank of North Shore residential communities.
The Committee, in its report to the Town last July, recom- mended that the sewage of the eastern section of the Town be brought to the location of the present receiving basin and flow from thence to the dread ledge outfall by gravity, and that the intercepting sewer be built large enough to care for the most troublesome part of the surface drainage of the eastern section of the Town.
Since its report of July last, the Committee has still further studied the subject of the drainage of the eastern section of the Town, and sees no reason for urging the recommendation less strongly. In fact, additional study has strongly confirmed our earlier conclusions.
The Committee does not, however, recommend the construction of this sewer until it has been demonstrated by practical use to what extent a pipe laid from the pumping station to the dread ledge outfall pipe may safely be relied upon to handle continu- ously by gravity such flow as may be brought to it.
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The Committee believes its plans, if carried out, will result in an actual money saving to the Town of from $3,000 to $3,500 a year in the operation of the present sewers and drains, and a far larger proportional annual saving to the Town in handling the surface drainage and additional sewage which must be cared for as the Town grows.
The Committee would call the attention of the Town to the fact that a saving of. $3,500 a year means the saving of the interest at 4 per cent on $87,500.
The Committee further wishes the Town to realize that it will cost at least twice as much to care for our drainage with an independent system of pipes and conduits as it will to care for it by utilizing the sewers so far as possible.
The Committee, therefore, ask the Town to appropriate the sum of $1,000 to be expended by the Committee in connection with the preparation and prosecution of the necessary steps to compel Lynn to cease discharging sewage into Stacey Brook, and to meet the suggestion of the Water and Sewerage Board as to a review of Committee's plans, as to changing from a pump- ing to a gravity disposal.
Respectfully submitted,
H. ASHLEY BOWEN, Chairman, JAMES F. CATON, LORING GRIMES.
Voted, Article 18, to accept the report of the Schoolhouse Construction Committee and place on file.
Voted, that when we adjourn it be to Monday evening, April 28, 1913, at 7.45 o'clock.
Voted, to adjourn at 10.25 P. M.
Attest : GEORGE T. TILL, Town Clerk.
Adjourned Meeting April 28, 1913.
In accordance with the adjournment of April 21, 1913, the voters assembled at the Town Hall on Monday evening, April 28, 1913.
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The meeting was called to order by Daniel F. Knowlton, Moderator, at 8 o'clock.
The records of the previous meeting were read and approved as corrected, after ascertaining that there were the required number of voters present.
Voted, Article 18, to accept and adopt the report of the Ways and Means Committee appropriating the sum of $1, 150 to satisfy the claims of the contractors on the Hadley School construction.
Voted, Article 19, to accept and adopt the report of the Com- mittee on Ways and Means, appropriating the sum of $1,000 for the purpose of developing additional lots in the cemetery, and that the money be taken from the cemetery lots investment fund.
Voted, Article 20, that the subject matter of this article be left with the Sewer Commissioners and a Committee, consisting of Aaron R. Bunting , Henry B. Sprague and Oscar G. Poor, to in- vestigate the subject of sewering the easterly portion of the Town and report their findings at some future meeting. The Sewer Commissioners are also instructed to withdraw their request or petition before the State Board of Health, seeking permission to establish a sewerage outfall at or near Ram Island, off the shore of Beach Bluff, until the report of the Committee to investigate this matter shall be heard.
Voted, Article 21, to accept and adopt the report of the Ways and Means Committee, appropriating the sum of $3,200 for the purpose of refunding to the treasury the cost of completing the sewers in Greenwood avenue, Mapledale avenue and Beach ave- nue, and that the money be raised by a bond issue.
Voted, Article 22, to accept and adopt the report of the Ways and Means Committee, postponing the subject matter of this article until after such time as the Board of Selectmen shall be enabled to arrange with the Lynn Gas & Electric Co. for a prac- tical demonstration on our streets of the proposed new street lamps.
Voted, Article 23, to accept and adopt the report of the Ways and Means Committee as follows : (Unanimous. )
That the following be fixed as the particulars of the bonds to be issued by the Town for the purposes set forth in the votes under Articles 2, 3, 5, 7 and 21, which relate to the following
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appropriations : $1, 100 for the construction of a sewer in Rock- land street ; $2,100 for the construction of a sewer in Redington street ; $600 for the construction of a sewer in Roy street ; $500 for the construction of a sewer in Melvin avenue, and $3,200 for the cost of completing the sewers in Greenwood, Mapledale and Beach avenues.
There shall be fifteen bonds for $500, each numbered 1 to 15 ; they shall be dated during the current year, shall bear interest payable semi-annually at a rate not exceeding 4 per cent. per annum. Bond No. I shall mature one year from the date thereof, and one bond shall mature each succeeding year in its numerical order for the period of fifteen years. Said bonds shall bear the Town seal, shall be signed by the Town Treasurer and counter- signed by the Selectmen; they shall be authenticated by the First National Bank of Boston; shall be subject to registration at the holder's option on presentation to the Town Treasurer for cancellation of the coupons and appropriate endorsement.
Principal and interest shall be payable at the office of the Town Treasurer or at such Boston bank or trust company as the Town Treasurer and Selectmen designate. Said bonds shall bear on their face the words, "The Town of Swampscott Sewer- age Loan Act, 1913." All other particulars as to form, issuance and sale of said bonds shall be determined by the Town Treas- urer and Selectmen, but said bonds shall not be sold for less than par and interest.
That the following be fixed as the particulars of the bonds to be issued by the Town for the purposes set forth in the vote under Article 14, which relates to the purchase of a combination hose and pumping outfit : There shall be eight bonds for $1,000 each, numbered I to 8, and one bond for $500, numbered 9. They shall be dated during the current year, shall bear interest payable semi-annually at a rate not exceeding 4 per cent per annum. Bond numbered I shall mature one"year from the date thereof and one bond shall mature each succeeding year in its numerical order for the period of nine years. Said bonds shall bear the Town seal, shall be signed by the Town Treasurer and countersigned by the Selectmen. They shall be authenticated by the First National Bank of Boston and shall be subject to registration at the holder's option on presentation to the Town Treasurer for cancellation of the coupons and proper endorse- ment. Principal and interest shall be payable at the office of the Town Treasurer or at such Boston bank or trust company as the Town Treasurer and Selectmen designate. Said bonds shall
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bear on their face the words, " Swampscott Fire Department Loan, 1913." All other particulars as to form, issuance and sale of said bonds shall be determined by the Town Treasurer and Selectmen, but said bonds shall not be sold for less than par and interest.
Voted, to dissolve at 9 P. M.
Attest : GEORGE T. TILL, Town Clerk.
Friday, June 6, 1913. TOWN WARRANT.
ESSEX, SS.
To either of the Constables of the Town of Swampscott in said County, GREETING:
In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you are directed to notify the inhabitants of the Town of Swampscott, qualified to vote in elections and in Town affairs, to assemble in the Town Hall, in said Swampscott, on Friday, the sixth day of June, at 8 P. M., then and there to act on the following articles, viz. :
ARTICLE I. To see if the Town will vote to paint and repair the G. A. R. Hall Building and appropriate money for the same, as recommended by the Committee on Ways and Means and the Board of Selectmen.
ART. 2. To see if the Town will authorize the Board of Selectmen to enter into a contract with the Lynn Gas & Electric Co., for lighting the Town for a period not to exceed five years, and to cancel the existing contract, as recommended by the Board of Selectmen.
ART. 3 To see if the Town will vote to increase the rate of interest on the issues of bonds authorized under votes taken under Article 48 of the Warrant for the Annual Meeting of February 17, 1913, and under Article 23 of the Warrant for the Special Meeting of April 21, 1913, amounting in all to the sum of
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