USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Arlington > Town of Arlington annual report 1907-1908 > Part 6
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After serving several years as an assistant engineer, Mr. Charles Gott was on March 16, 1878, elected chief engineer, to which posi- tion he has been consecutively elected up to the time of his death, November 26, 1907. He was an able and efficient officer, faithful, enthusiastic and brave in the discharge of his duties, and governed by high ideals of manhood and humanity. The efficient manage- ment of the department under his leadership for nearly thirty years places it among those of high rank.
The Board records its appreciation of his high character as a man and a citizen, and of his honorable and faithful services for so many years as an officer and expresses the deep sense of sorrow of the department and the community at his decease.
At a meeting of the Selectmen held December 9th, Mr. Frank P. Winn was appointed to fill the vacancy on the board of engineers. Mr. Winn is no stranger to the work, having been connected with the department for years, and once served as an engineer.
The board of engineers on December 11th elected Walter H. Peirce to the position of chief. Mr. Peirce has been connected with the fire department for many years, and for several years has been one of the engineers. It is believed the choice is a wise one ; that Mr. Peirce will command the confidence of the department and maintain its present efficiency. The Board is glad to report har- mony and good feeling throughout the department.
For details relative to the department reference is made to the report of the chief engineer.
POLICE DEPARTMENT. Under the same management as the previous year this department has sustained the same degree of efficiency as heretofore recorded. No change in the force has been
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SELECTMEN'S REPORT.
made, except the appointment of Edward T. Ryan to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of James E. Whitten on June 8, 1907.
The force merits special mention in its work of capturing burglars, and in successfully raiding violators of the liquor law. There has been very little occasion for the latter, however, the excellent work of recent years having a somewhat permanent effect.
For details of work attention is called to the report of the chief.
ALMSHOUSE. In accordance with the vote of the Town passed in March, the almshouse was discontinued, being closed June 1st. Two of the inmates were transferred to the city home in Somer- ville, one boarded with a family in town, and one allowed to seek his own livelihood. The building was cleaned and fitted up for renting. It has been let since July 1st at the rate of $300 per year. In 1906 the net cost of maintaining the almshouse with four inmates was about $1,650. These same inmates are now more sat- isfactorily cared for at an expense of about $800. And when the receipts from the rent of building are taken into account the saving by the change is very evident.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT.
(Almshouse.)
Amount appropriated in March.
$1,750 00 513 241
Receipts and reimbursements.
$2,263 24
Paid out
1,297 042
$966 20
Transferred to Outside Poor Account.
500 00
Balance unexpended.
$466 20
OUTSIDE POOR. The net cost of maintaining this department the past year is somewhat larger than the year before. The reason of this is the discontinuance of the almshouse, thus placing the inmates as outside poor; the increased number of hospital cases; and the increase in the number of families and persons aided. The high cost of living has doubtless augmented the cost of maintenance somewhat. The policy of the Board is to render partial assistance only in order that the person or family aided may help themselves as far as possible. Reimbursement for aid rendered is obtained as far as possible.
1 This includes $150 for rent since the almshouse was closed; $90.68 for sale of hens and cows; reimbursement of $121 for wood and labor thereon, and $156.51 for board.
2 This includes $245.92 for labor on wood, and $287.52 for expenses in repairing and fitting up the house for renting.
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SELECTMEN'S REPORT.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT.
(Outside Poor.)
Appropriated in March, 1907. $5,500 00
Transfer in November from almshouse account. 500 00
$6,000 00
EXPENDITURES.
For aid to regular list
$4,129 25 29 00
Less reimbursements.
$4,100 25
For aid to occasional list.
31 20
Aid here, but having settlement else- where ..
334 09
Less reimbursement ..
234 42
99 67
Aid here, but being State charges.
339 42
Less reimbursements (including $6.60 check returned).
75 21
264 21
Aid elsewhere, but having settlement here . .
145 86
For care of sick in hospital,
93 00
For care of feeble minded.
169 45
For care of epileptics.
310 14
Less reimbursement.
310 14
For care of dipsomaniacs.
44 57
For clerk services.
300 00
For burials.
68 00
For miscellaneous
32 34
Paid bills 1905 and 1906.
271 96
Reimbursements .. .
236 55
35 41
For care at out of town almshouse. ..
177 00
5,560 96
Balance unexpended . ...
$439 04
.
.
ยท ..
SUPPRESSION OF GYPSY AND BROWN TAIL MOTHS. The work of this department has been mainly on the same lines formerly pursued. Spraying has been carried to a greater extent than here- tofore and has been very effective because of the favorable condition of the season, being dry. A new feature in the work has been the tinning and covering of holes or decayed places in trees to prevent breeding places whenever the value of the tree would warrant such work. This work has covered streets, parks and private estates.
Less work has been demanded on streets and public parks because of the diminished number of pests on these places. More time, therefore, has been given to the cleaning of private premises, prac- tically all residential estates having been treated wherever the owner has not attended to the matter himself.
The policy of the department is to notify the owner before the local superintendent enters his premises to clean the same. This notice is sent out in circular form, usually in October, to the effect
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SELECTMEN'S REPORT.
that all owners are to clean their estates on or before a certain date, otherwise the local superintendent may enter and clean the same.
It has also been a new feature to clean the premises below the snow-line first and then on a second visit clean above the snow-line. The object of this is to have all ground work cleaned before the snow falls. This method of work has apparently worked well.
No attempt has yet been made by the Board in the treatment of large tracks of woodland. The policy of the Board at present is to treat only so much of the borders of such woodland as will protect adjacent residental or park lands.
There has been an appreciable decrease of gypsy moths the past year as compared with 1906. Brown tails, however, have increased, probably because in 1906 a disease was especially destructive to these pests.
Less men were needed to cover the Town this year, and therefore less expense incurred. It has been the policy of the Board to employ only as many men as can be profitably employed throughout the year, except at times when the character of the work requires a much larger number.
It is hoped that in a short time these pests will be so reduced that a comparatively small appropriation will be needed to maintain a satisfactory condition of the trees on both public and private estates.
The department keeps a card catalogue of all work done with ex- penses therefor. This information is available whenever desired.
The work begun in 1906 in Sucker Brook Valley was completed. This work was by special order of State authorities, and done to their satisfaction. A very serious breeding place has thus been re- moved.
William H. Bradley has continued as local superintendent and James F. Higgins as clerk.
In July a communication was received from Superintendent Kirk- land to the effect that the State auditor rules : -
First. Against allowing towns any reimbursement from the Com- monwealth for crops, livestock, etc., damaged by spraying.
Second. Against allowing towns any reimbursement from the Commonwealth for cost of liability insurance protecting the Town in case of injury to employees or the public.
The Board thinks such expenses necessary in prosecuting the work of exterminating gypsy and brown tail moths, and that the burden arising from damages by spraying and from liability insur- ance should not be thrown entirely on the town, but that the Com- mon wealth should share in the expense. If the law forbids this, then further legislation is needed.
In fact the Board have petitioned the Legislature for a change in the law, so that the State may participate in this expense.
During the past year the Town has expended $13,249.78 in ex- terminating the gypsy and brown tail moths. This is $2,418.32
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SELECTMEN'S REPORT.
less than was expended the year before. The financial statement attached shows the location and character of the work.
NEW CONTRACT FOR STREET LIGHTING. The five year contract with the Somerville Electric Light Company, afterward assumed by the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston, under which our streets have of late been lighted, expired May 1, 1907.
At the annual March Town meeting a committee consisting of the Board of Selectmen, the Board of Public Works and Messrs. Henry Hornblower, Philip Eberhardt and Walter B. Douglass were appointed "to report to the Town at a special Town meeting a form of contractor contracts for street lighting, with prices for a period of years, or upon any other matters pertaining to any form of street lighting for the Town of Arlington."
This committee organized May 2d, held meetings through May and June, considered propositions from the Arlington Gas Light Company and the Edison Electric Illuminating Company, had con- ferences with representatives of each company relative to said propositions and on July 1st reported to the Town recommending a form of contract with the Edison Company for a term of twenty years.
This report was accepted, the recommendation adopted with hardly a dissenting vote and the selectmen authorized and empowered to execute said contract substantially in the terms recommended.
The report of this committee may be found printed in this volume as a part of the Town Records.
On the adjustment of several differences a satisfactory contract was executed on the evening of July 8th.
This contract is rather unusual in that it is probably the only case of a twenty year contract for street lighting in the commonwealth. It is believed, however, that it will prove to be a wise and econom- ical move on the part of the Town.
The contract went into effect July 1, 1907, and is as follows :-
This contract, made this first day of July, A. D., 1907, by and be- tween the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston, a cor- poration duly organized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, hereinafter called the Company, its successors and assigns, of the first part, and the inhabitants of the Town of Arling- ton, a municipal corporation in said Commonwealth, hereinafter called the Town, of the second part.
WITNESSETH :
ARTICLE 1. The Company agrees at its own expense for the con- siderations hereinafter recited to furnish, place and maintain such number of electric arc and incandescent lights as the Town may, from time to time, request, for lighting the streets and other public places in the Town, and keep the same lighted as hereinafter pro- vided, so as to give a clear and reasonably steady light, the number at the beginning of this contract to be not less than eighty (80) arc
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SELECTMEN'S REPORT.
lights and two hundred and twenty-nine (229) incandescent lights or their equivalent.
ART. 2. At the beginning of this contract the lights shall be located where now placed, and any additional lights that may be re- quired by the Town shall be located at such points as may be de- termined by the Town, provided that the Company shall not be required to extend its lines more than one hundred (100) feet in order to install one incandescent light, or more than five hundred (500) feet in order to install one arc light for each unexpired year of this contract, but no extensions of lines or additional lights shall be required during the last year of this contract ; provided, however, that the Town may require extensions of lines or additional lights at any time during the period of this contract by paying the cost of the same or the cost of so much of the extension as exceeds that herein required to be made by the Company, such payments to apply as credits upon bills for the future supply of lights on such additional lines.
Whenever requested by the Town the Company will change the location of any light, and the Town will pay the cost of moving the same, such cost not to exceed five dollars for each arc light and three dollars for each incandescent light so moved, unless new lines or poles are required.
ART. 3. The arc lights shall be of the six and six-tenths ampere " Alternating Current Enclosed " pattern, requiring an electrical energy of four hundred twenty-two watts on an average, and no light shall average less than four hundred and ten watts, or such modifica- tion of the same as shall be practicable, provided the candle power of the lights shall not be reduced. The incandescent lights shall be the so-called thirty-two (32) candle power, and shall be promptly re- newed by the Company whenever they become dim, broken or burned out.
ART. 4. The Company agrees to keep all said lights lighted dur- ing certain hours daily, according to the time schedules to be fur- nished by the Town; and the party or parties designated by the Board of Selectmen of said Town shall have authority to order said lights to be burned at any time. .
ART. 5. All lights, when placed in service under this contract, shall continue to be furnished by the Company and paid for by the Town as herein provided until the termination of this contract. Said Town shall have the right to discontinue from time to time a reasonable number of lights for reasonable cause not exceeding in any one year twenty (20) incandescent lights or their equivalent. Upon the termination of this contract, or the discontinuance of any lights furnished by the Company under the terms hereof, payment shall be made by the Town pro rata up to the time of such termina- tion or discontinuance.
ART. 6. The prices for the lights fixed herein are based upon the
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SELECTMEN'S REPORT.
understanding that said lights are to be furnished from what is known as the overhead system of wires, but if, during the continu- ance of this contract, the Company is obliged to place its wires un- derground, by reason of an act of the Legislature or otherwise, said Town shall annually thereafter, during the continuance of this con- tract, pay to said Company, in addition to the rates for lights here- inbefore fixed. amounts equal to six per cent. of the initial cost of that portion of the underground constructions of the Company in Arlington used exclusively for the service of said Town, including the expense of changing the wires giving exclusive service to said Town from overhead to underground. The underground construction in Broadway, from the Somerville line to Massachusetts Avenue, and from that point on Massachusetts Avenue to Mystic Street, and from that point on Mystic Street to the Winchester line, which is already provided for, and any other lines of underground construction for use exclusively or mainly for transmitting current through Arlington to other places, shall be constructed at the Company's expense without payment or contribution on the part of the Town. But if, during the term of this contract, the Company shall voluntarily place its wires underground in or along any of the streets of said Town, the Com- pany shall do so at its own expense without payment or contribution on the part of the Town.
ART. 7. All lamps, poles, wires, fixtures, and other apparatus, appliances and materials used in carrying out this contract, and lo- cated in the streets and other public places in the Town, shall be furnished by the Company ; shall be of suitable quality, shall be kept in good order and condition by the Company, and shall be immedi- ately replaced when broken or otherwise defective.
ART. 8. The Town agrees for the considerations herein before recited, subject to appropriations from year to year, to pay the Com- pany for the lights furnished and kept lighted as aforesaid, provided the Company fully performs in every respect its part of this con- tract, at the following rates :-
For sixteen hundred hours' burning per year, at the rate of seventy- five dollars per year for each arc light furnished, and at the rate of fifteen dollars per year for each incandescent light furnished.
For such number of lights, counting one arc light as equivalent to five incandescent lights, as shall exceed four hundred incandes- cent lights, or their equivalent, the prices shall be at the rate of sixty-five dollars per arc light and thirteen dollars per incandescent light per year, instead of seventy-five dollars and fifteen dollars, respectively, as above provided.
When the burning varies from sixteen hundred hours per year, adjustment shall be made on the basis of four-tenths of a cent per hour for each incandescent light, and on the basis of two cents per hour for each arclight. This contract being drawn for a term of twenty years, a discount of twenty per cent shall be made by the Company from each monthly bill figured as aforesaid.
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SELECTMEN'S REPORT.
If, during the continuance of this contract, the Company's regu- lar prices for arc or incandescent lights furnished to other munici- palities are reduced, a like reduction shall be made in the prices of the arc or incandescent lights herein provided for.
If at any time during the continuance of this contract (but not before the lapse of three years from the date hereof, and thereafter not oftener than once in three years,) either the Town or the Com- pany shall claim that the prices then being charged and paid here- under are unreasonably high or low, as the case may be, said Com- pany or said Town may apply to the Board of Gas and Electric Light Commissioners for an increase or reduction in said rate, and both parties hereto shall be bound by the order of said Board in that regard, unless the rates so fixed shall be in violation of any constitutional provision.
ART. 9. A deduction shall be made for every hour that any light or lights shall remain unlighted, or of less than the required power, during any of the hours specified for the same to be lighted, and at the same rate for any part of an hour, as follows :-
Five cents per hour for arcs and one cent per hour for incan- descents.
The Town shall furnish to the Company each day during the continuance of this contract a list of lights unlighted or of less than the required power during the preceding night, giving times and locations, and shall furnish a summary of the same on or before the fifth day of each calendar month for the preceding month.
ART. 10. Payments shall be made to the Company on the regu- lar pay day of the Town in each month for the lights furnished the Town during the preceding month.
ART. 11. The Company agrees to indemnify and save harmless the Town against any and all claims for damages, loss, cost and expense on account of injury to persons or property, arising in any way out of the erection, construction, maintenance or use of any of the lamps, poles, wires, fixtures and other apparatus and appliances furnished by the Company hereunder, except where such injury is the result in whole or in part of the fault or neglect of the Town, its officers, servants or agents while acting as agents of said Town ; and against any and all claims for damages by reason of any alleged infringement of patent rights in the use of lamps, poles, wires, fix- tures, machinery and other apparatus, appliances and material supplied by the Company hereunder, and agrees, at its own expense, to assume the defence of all actions at law or in equity which may be brought against the Town for any alleged infringement of patent rights as aforesaid, and also against all decrees, judgments and orders of any court in relation to such alleged infringements.
ART. 12. The Company agrees that the Town may at all times, with or without the Company's knowledge, employ a competent person to test the electrical currents and energy furnished to any or
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SELECTMEN'S REPORT.
all of said lights and to examine and test the street lights to ascer- tain whether or not the Company is complying with the terms of this contract, and for such purpose the Company agrees that such competent person may have access at all reasonable times to all said lamps, poles, wires, fixtures and other apparatus of the Com- pany in the streets and other public places in the Town, and used in carrying out this contract. The Town agrees to idemnify and save harmless the Company against any and all claims for damages, loss, cost and expense on account of injury to persons or property arising in any way out of the employment, act or neglect of such person, except such as may arise in whole or in part from the fault or neglect of the Company, its agents or servants, while acting as agents of said Company.
In case two tests of any circuit shall be made separated by inter- vals of not less than one hour during any one night and both of said tests shall show that the Company is not furnishing for said lights the electrical current or energy required by this contract, the average of the results of such tests shall be taken and deemed to be the actual current and energy furnished for said circuit during the entire lighting time of said night and a proportionate part of the payment for the lights in said circuit, for said night, as determined by said average, shall be deducted from the next monthly payment.
ART. 13. Should the Town at any time find that the Company is not complying fully with all the terms and requirements of this contract, the Town shall immediately notify the Company of such fact, so that the Company may at once remedy the fault.
ART. 14. This contract shall begin on July 1, 1907, and shall continue until July 1, A. D. 1927, and thereafter, subject to
appropriations, during successive periods of one year each until this agreement shall have been terminated by notice in writing given by either party to the other not less than thirty days' prior to the end of any such successive yearly period ; and in default of such thirty days' notice, this agreement shall without further notice or agreement, be deemed to be extended for an additional twelve months next succeeding the end of the yearly period then current.
ART. 15. If during the existence of this contract the Town of Arlington shall decide to establish a municipal electric lighting plant in any manner authorized by law, this contract may thereafter be terminated by either party thereto on ninety days' notice in writing to that effect.
( Memo. In agreeing to this provision, without a provision for a modification of the discount given in Article 8 in case of the estab- lishment of a municipal plant before the end of the full term of this contract, the Company does so only because through inadvertence and mistake such modification was not brought to the attention of the committee of the Town having the making of this contract under
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SELECTMEN'S REPORT.
consideration until after said committee had publicly represented that the provision as above written would be embodied in the con- tract without change. The Company reserves the right in all future contracts to insist on such modifications.)
ART. 16. No laborer, workman or mechanic working within this Commonwealth in the employ of the contractor, sub-contractor or other person doing or contracting to do the whole or a part of the work contemplated by this contract shall be requested or required to work more than eight hours in any one calendar day.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the said Company has caused these pres- ents to be executed in duplicate by its general superintendent, there- unto duly authorized, and the said Town has caused these presents to be executed in duplicate by its Board of Selectmen, thereunto duly authorized, the day and the year first above written.
The Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston, by
WILLIAM H. ATKINS, General Superintendent.
Town of Arlington, by
S. FREDERICK HICKS, FREDERICK S. MEAD, J. HOWELL CROSBY, Board of Selectmen.
THE EDISON ELECTRIC ILLUMINATING COMPANY OF BOSTON.
CERTIFICATE.
I, Fred G. Havlin, Clerk of the Executive Committee of the Di- rectors of the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston, hereby certify that the following is a true extract from the records of a meeting of said Committee, duly called, at which a quorum was present, held 'on July 25, 1907, namely :
" A contract with the Town of Arlington, dated July 1, 1907, and signed by the Selectmen of that Town, was presented ; whereupon it was
Voted: That the general superintendent of the Company be authorized to execute for and in behalf of the corporation the con- tract with the Town of Arlington dated July 1, 1907."
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