| Show CITY COUNCIL the city council met in regular session december 17 mayor armstrong presiding A communication was received from B 0 Bay bould calling the attention of the council to the fact that several petitions had been presented re oace to their predecessors in office concerning the bad condition of that part of west temple street lying between fifth and sixth south streets and that on april 20 1886 this street was ordered to bu be graded but not an attempt had been made to carry out the instructions the petition asks that the work be done at once as teams were mired there every day and he thought that if it was not dot done the result would be a lawsuit against the city for damages the mayor stated that the supervisor had been instructed to fill it up when hauling gravel petition referred to the street supervisor moon and twitchell petitioned titio ned for the privilege of covering up that part of the city canal which crosses lot 5 block 30 plat B and also from said lot to the bridge on fourth south street the same to be done by fixing aud and covering with soil so as to allow free passage of water referred to the committee on canal A communication was received from john white a resident of plain city weber county stating that he had read in the papers that suit has been brought against the city by one thomas B R higgini to prevent the sale of a certain parcel of laud land upon the plea that he was the legal owner of said lot and further asked that a deed be made to him higgins the petitioner protested against the issuance of such deed on the ground first that he was a lawful owner second that he had never disposed of his right third that he held a certificate lor for said lot for twenty years although it had passed from his hands by trickery and fraud it being his supposition that said certificate was now in the hands bands of higgins or some person in collu colla idon blon with hm him fourth he claimed priority of possession by the building of a cabin which had subsequently been stolen the petitioner stated that he had been i lace and asked that equitable action be taken in the matter communication received and referred red to the city attorney george morris presented a petition setting forth that willam noye in 1871 1971 purchased from salt lake city lots 2 and 3 block 86 plat D and received a certificate from the city surveyor to that effect afterward the land was sold to matthew morris who left a widow mrs morris it is alleged was ignorant of the law and failed to make the proper entry and but this week learned that these lots had k teen keen een sold at the guccion sale of lots the petition asked that the sale be reacted and a deed given to sarah morris petition received and referred to the city attorney twelve liquor licenses were granted A petition was presented from residents of fourth golib south and eleventh east asking for an electric light to be placed at the intersection of the two streets referred to the committee on improvements 1 I M millspaugh represented that in a mayors deed given to N C sorensen the document conveyed the east half balf of lot 3 block 6 plat B when it should have been the north half and therefore asked that the error he be corrected referred to the city attorney the following communication from jesse W fox city surveyor was read 1 t I tender you my resignation as city surveyor to take effect january 15 1890 my reason for this action actions is th that at I 1 cannot keep up the work and attend to other duties devolving upon me ine after some consideration action wab deferred for one week the following communication was received irom from mayor armstrong I 1 beg to call your attention to the fact that I 1 have been arrested upon indictments diet ments made by the grand alry jury of this district charging me with aiding and abetting in the no misappropriation of public moneys and while I 1 am not advised as to the specific charges made against me and will probably not ascertain until saturday next at which time I 1 have been no notified tilled to appear for arraignment I 1 respects respectfully ully ask that a committee be appointed to in investigate Veti gate said charges as aa I 1 I 1 do not believe any man guilty of aiding and abetting in the misappropriation of public moneys to be worthy of the position of mayor of this city or president of this aoun oil cil alderman riter moved that action be deferred for one wee kowing to the fact that no specific charge had yet been made and it would be impossible for a committee to make an intelligent investigation councilor young said it was an important matter and he be believed it should be investigated at as early a date as possible after some further discussion it was decided to let the matter go over to the next meeting of the council instead of one week it being deemed advisable to hold an adjourned session in a few days the committee on improvements to whom was referred the petition of W R everell and others and the salt lake brewing company and others asking that the electric light be extended so as to embrace third street on the north bench also a lamp at the I 1 intersection of fifth south and tenth east streets reported that while they would woud d like to see the entire city we 1 1 lighted they were compe compelled e to rec recommend ommen ag against not further r or ex extension for reasons heretofore given councilor dark clark in behalf of the committee said that it had been the policy of this committee to refuse all such petitions for the reason that the electric light works wore were now running at their full capacity and could not furnish more lights at present councilor young people in that part of town have said that we granted a petition for a light on the application of one man and then re fused a petition signed by councilor bowles it was the first petition sent in that we granted and we were soon so BO flooded with them that we were compelled to refuse all alderman mccornick mck 1 have been speaking w with councilor dark clark on this topic and we decided to ask the mayor maor to go with us over the city and select suitable sites for new lights and then we could authorize the electric light company to add to their facilities the mayor I 1 have been talking with the manager of the elect electric riu light company and he informs me that they anticipate increasing their facilities soon by the addition of a now new dynamo alderman riter biter I 1 am strongly in favor of voting for additional lights the lighting of the streets by electricity was one of the most important acts of the council I 1 therefore move that the committee on improvements be instructed to take steps in the matter councilor dark clark I 1 understand that the electric light company will be prepared to furnish forty more lights within thirty days alderman mccornick asked if the telegraph company could not be compelled to remove their poles from south temple street as they were a nui nuisance sauce on account of obstructing the light fr arm m the electric street lam lamps s the matter was ordered investigated v vesti e g gated ted the finance committee reported the bids for city bonds had been opened but in view of the fact that the recent land sale had brought more money than was expected the committee recommended that the bonds be not sold report received and recommendation adopted the special committee to whom was referred the petition of jesse W fox sr and others proposing to return the amount paid by the city to the hydraulic canal company palyn in consideration of receiving a deed from salt lake county of an undivided one sixth interest in the jordan dam and the water waier of said river provided the city would deed said one sixth interest so acquired back again reported that the matter had been carefully considered they said while we are convinced that the transaction was made in good faith by all concerned subsequent events have demonstrated that the interest in the water of the jordan river so acquired by the city is uncertain and cannot be at present maintained by the city but bat 41 by expensive litigation we therefore recommend that the proposition propos ilion of said hydraulic canal company be accepted we are not prepared to determine whether the deed conveying sai sam I interest should be made to salt lake county or to the hydraulic canal company and therefore leave this c question lues tion to be determined by the council bouncil uncil and when so determined we 4 recommend that the city attorney be instructed to draft and present the necessary deed for the approval of the counell council mr dooly stated that inasmuch as there was a question about the city being able to maintain its ite interest to one sixth of the waters hus bus banded by the jordan dam last conveyed by the county it would appear that the city had bad a one fifth interest in said add waters and if the council voted away one sixth of its interest then the grantee would receive an actual one thirtieth of the waters of the river while he did not believe that anyone entered into the contract with the hydraulic canal company dishonestly he was nas unwilling to deed said company something when it was stated by coun calois that the city received nu nothing thing however he believed the city could have maintained its right if it had officers who would maintain it be was sure if he bought it he would do so he did not think the report stated what it meant councilor young sail mr doolas objection was merely a technical one and could be easily overcome alderman sharp was unable to understand the point raised by mr dooly the report stated the matter correctly it recommended that the identical interest required by the city from the county be deeded back and left the city attorney to give ive iliac his opinion as to whether the eed deed should should run to the county or the company there was no member on the floor of the council who would pretend to claim that the transaction was not made in good faith by both sides at the time and for one he I 1 bought at the time that the city was making a good purchase pur chace and would obtain for its money one oae sixth in the waters of the jordan river biver he thought so still but the majority of the count council 11 having decided that the right obtained by the city could not be maintained except by ex pensive litigation the committee had bad recommended that the identical int interest ert be it much or little littie simply that no more and no less be recon re con keyed to the source from which it came mr dooly was wag satisfied if it was understood that the city simply relinquished what it acquired but he insisted that the report did not say any so and would therefore vote against it unless amended councilor roberts was in favor of the city attorney giving a ruling as to whether the city could maintain its right it it could then the one sixth interest in those waters was worth instead of but he apprehended that the city could never hold its ita right the people out there would combine against the city cit yand aDd if the matter got into the courts they would swear the interest all away I 1 opposed the proposition from the start ased because cause I 1 foresaw that we would not be able to get what we purchased mr dooly sotto woe then thea why did he sign the report in favor of it alderman mccornick I 1 am no Ja lawyer wyer but I 1 apprehend if the city undertook to maintain its right to the water acquired from the hydraulic canal company there would be many difficulties thrown in the way by the people interested on both sides of the jordan and while a private individual might be able to defend it if he be owned it I 1 dont think the city can and hence I 1 am in favor of relinquishing in favor of the county court from whence it came councilor dark clark said we bought the grant efant that the county court made to the hydraulic canal co company m for one sixth of the capacity of the jordan dam on the records of the county court today it is recorded that when the company should incorporate they would receive a deed tv to the water right when the proposition of the city to procure it was discussed the question was considered as to whether it would be the better plan for the coal corn any to incorporate and the deed to be made to it or whether it would be more advisable for the court to deed di erectly to the city the latter plan being the more expeditious it was agreed upon as a result of this under standing 9 the hydraulic canal company petitioned the county court to make the deed accordingly and on that petition it was done councilor so ales thought the city got all alf the title that anybody could get it was identically the same as the other canal companies got and as the city received in the first in instance he had bad never heard beard a legal opinion nin in regard to the matter I 1 voted for the proposition because it appeared to me it was a good buy I 1 am not convinced yet that it if the city got what it bought we will be very foolish to relinquish it if it lets have our money back councilor young I 1 have heard today that indictments have been een made against several persons for alleged wrongdoing wrong doing in selling this property to the city I 1 do not know what the charges are but let us ee tee i t about it we should not be in too great a hurry if it was a crime to sell it it may be a crime to buy it let us take time to investigate the matter thoroughly on motion action was deferred to the next council meeting A motion was also made that the city attorney investigate the question as to whom the deed should be made the city marshal asked to make a verbal report and said that he had bad been arrested on the charge of mis appropriating public funds he asked that a committee investigate his affairs and if anything crooked was found he was ready to retire from office deferred till the next meeting of the council the mayor with the city attorney associated to whom was referred the petition of soren A olsen for fora a deed to part of lot 1 block 28 plat pat F reported that several transfers oi of property had taken place but that no deed had been le ie corded and recommended that such deed is issue sueto to N norberg the original owner who was shown to be still living recorder wells in behalf of Q G M ottinger chief of the fire bre department part ment offered the following suggestion geSt len in view of the tact fact that our fire alarm s system stem will be in working order entla few days I 1 respectfully fully suggest that cil pass an ordinance supplementary to the present ordinances relating to the city fire department making it a misdemeanor for any evy or mischievously disposed per son SOD to mar or destroy or in any way interfere maliciously with the alarm boxes wires or other appliance of the fire alarm in all cities using the fire alarm the laws in this respect are very rigid referred to the city attorney with instructions to prepare the required addition to the existing fire alarm ordinance alderman mccornick said the plans lans for the joint city and county guilding Euil building ding had been opened by the cites committee but the county officials were not present and no action was taken the plans submitted were quite handsome the architects five in number being W ward W E ware T 0 an gella B R apponyi APPOD yi all of salt lake and A morris and C B of denver the council adjourned to meet on friday ew evening ening after adjournment the members spent some time in looking over the plans for the building |
