HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/23/1933 Board of Public Works Minutes50 The sday , May 23rd.. , 1933.
Bo and re t in reguln r ses si on a t .10-30 A. M . A.11 members pr e sent . Yinute s of
meeting hled Tuesday, h[ay 16th., 1933, read and approved.
Counc i.lma n Gus tin app era red be fore the Board asking that property owners in the
vicinity of Yishawaka Avenue and 26th., Street, be given relief from flooded basements
after heavy rein storms. hr. Gustin stated that the .basements in this section are
flooded due to tie fact th, t the sewer in Kshawake Avenue is inadequate to handle
the water. City Engineer, F. C. 107 V had ne de an investigation with Councilman
Custin of this situation; and. presented a plan for a proposed relief sewer to be built
on 26th., Otreet from S'ishazrraka Avenue to the first alley north. Yr. Wray stated that
the expense involved in tearing up the pavement in Mishawaka Avenue would be too
great at this t ins; and -said that the relief could be given these property owners by
the construction of a 15 or 18 inch sewer on 26th. St. The Board instructed Mr. Wray
to obtain approximate costs of this Tork from various sewer contractors to be presented
to the Board at, the_ next meeting.
The Boa rd. is sued a temporary permit to Anthong Cytack to erect a small stand
on the Around between the side walk and curb on Garst Street at the entrance to the
Studebaker Plait at Garst rand i''ranklin Streets. Clerk of the Board instructed to issue
said Anthong Cytack permit to be presented to the Building Department at the time the
building peTmit is obtained.
One of the property owners along; the alley west of Franklin Street from Calvert
Street to honald Street, appe^red before the Board requesting that this alley be
graded as the heavy rain falls have washed out the garden seeds planted by a number
of the residents along said alley. It will be recalled that 'the Board adopted and
confi firmed an improvement resolution calling- for the grading of the alle?T west of
Franklin Street from Calvert Street to Donald Street under ImprDvement Resolution
No.2474 and a dvertised for bids to be received October 111 19321 but a t that t ime no
bids Mere received. The Board now orders that sealed proposals be received for the
grading of the alley wrest of Franklin Street from Calvert Street to Donald Street under
Improvement Resolution No.2474 on the 6th. , day of June , 19339 at 18-30 A. F. The
Board further orders that notices of said proposals be published on the 24th. , day
of Egy and on the. 31 st . , lay of Lay, 1933, in the South Bent Tribune and Nears Times
accord i.ng to law. Clerk also instructed to advise local contractors of said bidding
to insure bids on this work.
1 aYor. ++' . R. Finkle instructed the Board to discharge Charles Bailey, Cenera 1
Foreman of the Street eDartment and also Edward Kindi g of the Street Department, to
bv effective` June 1, 1933.
Upon the recommendation of E yor V. T. Hinkle, the Board hereby modifies it's
order for the suspension of track elevation salary p^id. to City Engineer, T. C. Wray,
made on YRy 8th., 1933, by mdving the suspension of said tract: elevation salary effect-
ive June 15th., 1933, instead. of June 1, 1933, ant' upon this reco_r-rendation approved
the salary claim for City Ang ineer, F. G. 'irayq for track elevation salary up to June
15, 19331 in the sum of P146.67.
The Board approved track. elevation salaries for the month of 1"ay, 1933, in the
sum of 396.66 an? hereby orders City Controller to war same out of Track Elevation
Fund.. -
The Board approved salary claims for various departments in the sum of 3,796.83,
._nd hereby orders City Controller to pay same.
The Board approved cl,^ims for Wrious departments in the sum of 06,065.64
including the rent of ,later t y?jents in the sum of 0,006.67, ant hereby orders City
Controller to pay same.
The matter of the petition of "ttarney,Louis Famnerschmid_t for the redistribution
of assessments aFeinst a certain parcel of ground Darned by his. clients, The South Bend
Current Controller Co., was a rain t ak en up by the Board. At the time the Board
informally PFreed to approve, the redistribution of said assessments as petitioned for
by hr. Hammerschmid t, the Board was not aware of the fact that the yeti ioners mere
only willing to pay their share of the S el inquent assessments and the penalties but
when the mm. tter 1,Tas lr�_i.rther investig.^ted, it was found that under the law, the Board
cannot make the redistribution as petitioned for until the delinquent assessments are
paid in full. Clerk of the Boars instructed to advise AV. F. mmerschmidt by letter
of the Board's decision in the matter.
The following communications of the L.yor, we ordered read and place? on file:
OFFICE OF
CITY I=ALL
OTJ-'s BET,
THE YAl0R
IN; :-IAT 1�1�'_
Lay 17 th . , 1933
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Tuesday, Iftay, 23rd. , 1933
To my fellow officers and employes:
Unque s ti ona ly you have been interested in the news stories concerning municipal affairs
that have been appepring in the press during the past Teek.
`'i-he inf orma tioT available to me et the present time � i scloses the serious condition.
of the f inancia.l affairs irs of the T;`unicipal City. Ogre }k.ve an estirrr te: �' deficit in
a)p®rating funds for the next eigl^t-month period of approximately �;200,000.00. This
has been caused b-T t' e c�osi.ng of banks thereby freezing our working balances, and. a
29 per cent delinquency in the Spring tax collections. If the experience of last
' y^ar is repe^ted, the delinquencTr in the Fall payments will be greater than that shown
by the Spring collection, however this point has not been given consideration in the
jj estimated deficit, and vie are hoping the collections vri.11 be rs large in the Fall as
they mere in the Spring. '
I The closing of the; henks and th.e tax delinquencies are indications of the serious
financial condition faced b?r our fellcw citizens anc tax payers. You are acquenited
vritl-, 'the extreme distress of thousends of South Bend's citizens, over 18,000 of whom
are on direct poor relief end thousands of others unemployed and living on accumulated
savings.
'j T.1he e v^i lnb le bank and buil~ ing; and loan d ep osi is bfv e shrunk or been frozen during .
• this '-)eriod of depression more tti-an fifty millions of dollars. It is estimated ,the
community income for all inc ustrie s en.d ind ivVu als has shrunk approximately '70%;
tax delinquencies have increased approximately 100%. The earning power of property
from which taxes are collected has had a corresponding decrease in line v:rit.Lthe
conditions set forth i_n tti.is paragraph, with the result that thousands of our citizens
■ '1 have been charged taxes vfrich they are unable to pay.
''+e, as City officers and employes are faced with a duty to out, fellow citizens. The
estimated d_efi_cit must be met by saving end s^crifices on the part of every one. We
must save our cit-r from conditions faced by man-T other municipalities where deficits
i have been ntet b-r e0,,ditiorial borrowing until the community has become bankrupt by its
inability to pay. ='e must approach t ^!e problem e s a familt recognizing that the in-
come ,' the producers h,: s been reduced and th^ t we are no' longer able to continue our
expenditures at their former rate. They must be reduced in keeping'gith our esti.mr ted
income ^rr, in a('F`i_tion, efficient end loyal service with the hip'- standards that have
been established in this community must be continued. Efficient police and fire
protection and a clean anc healthy city must be maintained.
There is another siee to the problem and that is, if South Bend can weether this
depression i,,.-i.thout increasing its burden of debt, i.-' it can be known for its loyal and.
efficient employes, if it can stand out as one of t1re few cities of the entire country
that has come through v!ith f1ving colors due to the willing sacrifice and lolra.lty
lof its public serv, nts, it vrill prove attractive to new industries looking for
locations in communities that are clove enc progressive, and b7Tmeking our city
• ,attra.ctive to new industries we can help a_L its unemployed citizens end taxpayers to
i obte in w cork am thus huild our city to its former financial position.
I am calling uponf every office r and employe of the city to do his duty in this time
of street of. I assure you tl-_at if .-ou will meet the conditions and the sacrifices
(made necessary bzT the present. financ ial condition) as Y; ill be outlined by your
Common Council am the administrative branch of the local 1--unicipal Government, when
condi tions beu®me normal arnin, appreciation wi11 he shown bl,T obtaining just and
fair treatment for ever-- one in keeping with the returner' prosperit1T of our fellowcitizens .
j R. Hinkle, I::a7Tor.
I /� TT
'J 1: YO ii A: i`, lTlt
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FROT, 0 ffi c e of t he Latr or
TO : C ORC A. SCz"OCIT, PF ST 1,-?7 'F Bg ^_g'-1 0F1 pI?RT..TC :';'ORKS
The Covernor' s Committee has notified. me that there i-, i l l available >119 , 000.00 in
• (Gasoline Tax money, to be used -n the Street Department for repairs and rm intenance.
I1? further advise that this moneybe used to give tre greatest amount of direct labor
!,,'to men n o?-r on the dole .
The economy program that is r.o-. €'oinr into effect for tl-e purpose of meeting- the
deficit in the General Fund demands that all monies novr accruing to jrour department
jfrom taxes be kept in the General Fund for use in other depertments and to help meet
the estimated ,deficit. Thus, your activities must Jae necessarily limited in the Street
Lepe rtr-e nt to such functi ons a. s th e law w ill p ermit the �119 , 000.00 to be used for.
'IPlease submit to me not le ter than I-:ondatT morning e t 9:00 o' clockA . E., a complete
Ilenelysis of ==our Oe---e.rtrrent shoTing each specific type of v-rork taken cpre of; the
• foreman to whom this work is assigned to, and the equipment used in the performrnce
of the work; the number of ran employed in the gang; tie hours they work and any
�;other miscellaneous information that will be helpful.
lIt has been. suggested trat you have one light truck nncl two men to take core of all of
Tuesday, Ypy 23rd . , 1933.
small jobs of the city, thus, eliminating the criticism that men wcrkinp in the street
department ere sent out on jobs in groups la rge r than is necessary to teke care of the
work. I understand the con�'_ition under which this criticism is created and know that
ordinarily it is ecomomy to stop a le rge r gang to tale cr re of a small job, but under �
the circumstances and feeling also that there will be enough small work to keep a truck i
busy, 19dvise that the criticism be met in the manner in which I have set forth. j
I note from the pay roll that many of the men working for the city in the street depart-.
Rent are not receiving enough money to properly maintain them or their families.. I
suggest that you submit a list of Tour men with names W addresses and. the number of
people in their families. It is m-- intention to establish a rate of pay and a minimum
amount of money that must be paid to each man working under the staggered work program,
and this information will be helpful to me in estab lishinp the amount of money each
man shou:i_r earn.
may 191 1933.
R. Hinkle , i,a.yor.
Yeeti ng adjourned at 12 o'clock noon.
Attest:
Clerk of tre T�oard
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