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Show ill vilvvi5 MiMjIIlllJ At the first regular meeting of the new City Administration held at the' . ; City Hall last Saturday evening, Jan. ; 8, 191C, a full representation of the j v city officials were in attendance. A report was given by the committee ou rules and regulations, who re- i commended that they adopt the rule.; ! formerly used by the previous admin- j istrations. Following this report Mayor Daniel Rasmussen delivered a message to the new city adriiinistration outlin-. outlin-. ing the future work of the council and the needs of the city. The message mes-sage was given as follows: MESSAGE OF MAYOR Gentle men of the Council: Section 24 of the Revised Ordinances Ordin-ances of the City provides that "The Mayor shall, from time to time, give the Council information relative to the affairs of the City, and shall re-- re-- commend for their consideration such ' measures as he may deem expedient." At the beginning of our term of office, we are naturally desirous of knowing the conditions of the City's affairs, and I submit for your consid- , eration a few observations which have ) come to me during my connection with the past administrations, and present to you some of the conditions as shewn by the records of the City. ' I desire also to make some re commendation which, if acted upon, will bring about improvements in the affairs of the city. In the first place I desire to express ex-press my pleasure at being associated associat-ed with the administration of the business of our city. Mount Pleasant enjoys a good name among the cities of its class in j the State. It harbors a people who are in-1 dustrious and thrifty, who are try- ing to solve the problems of life 'i in the best way and for the best good or all. The City is favorably mentioned abroad for its rank as an educational education-al center and the young people of out community enjoy rare facilities in gaining an education. The business houses are for the most part, substantial structures and our merchants are doing their service ser-vice to the community in a creditable credit-able way. The City is provided with spiendid opportunities for entertainment and the enjoyment of its citizens. The health conditions are good. The City lies on the gradual slope from the mountains and the drainage drain-age is all that could be desired. The streets are broad and well kept for the most part and are well lighted at night. The City boasts an excellent excel-lent electric light plant owned by -he municipality. It also has a rau- 1 ; nicipal water works system, both of , which relied credit upon the far- I sib'htcdness of its citizens. To any one who has failed to appreciate their I lot i" our fair city, and to any one who doubts that its future is promising, I recommend the fol lowing lines: IT ISN'T YOUR TOWN IT'S YOu If you want to live in the kind of a town That's the kind of a town you lilts, ' You needn't slip your clothes in a i Ki'ia e-"1 And start on a long, long nike. You'll find elsewhere what you le?t behind, For there's nothing that's realty ' new. i It's a knock at yourself when you I knock your town, ! It isn't your town It's you. ileal towns are not made by men v afraid Lest somebody else gets ahead. Y.'hon everybody works and nobody I shirks You can raise a town from the dead. And if while you make your personal person-al stake Your neighbor can make one. too. Your town will be what you want to see, 1 1 isn't your town It's you. '' There is nevertheless, much to be done, both by the officials-elective ;"id appointive and by the ciF-'tis jvneraliv to retain the fair reputa-i reputa-i t'ion which the City enjoys as tUc i "Queen City of Sanpete." Other ciFes are doing their best to tor.-.e ahead and we should not rest on our oa:s in the interesting race. ('loan I'p. , , For a number of years there lias been conducted in our state, a "Fle:n Town Contest." All the cities and towns of the State have been inspected in-spected bv an ollicer and sio'vd according ac-cording to their merits based neon the smitarv conditions, the cleanliness clean-liness of Yards, the appearance o! f 'Mires, and ditches, the condition ot ptivets and water channels, and et.. So f.,r Mount Pleasant has not e.i-ioved e.i-ioved the honor of carrying otl of' the prizes awarded but has lar.vl well in comparison with most c l.es sco:" 1. If we say we will, we can nr. S" a favorable showing in this iiuiiier. Cur city enjoyes good drain-; a,,e and good fall for the streams runit'ug through it. We have numerous numer-ous v eil kept homes with clean yards una beautiful surroundings. Many of ou; citizens take great pleasure iii keeping their premises, not only eli. in, but attractive, by means of, well kept lawns and flower beds, neat teuees and clean sidewalks, but we do need more cooperation to secure se-cure the best results and we need the he'p cf those who are enthusiastic in i'uch matters, to encourage those who are more indifferent to the appearance ap-pearance of their home surroundings. I should be pleased to learn of the organic. t'on in our community, of some sort of Civic" League, that would cooperate with the City council in some plan to stimulate their interest in-terest in Civic beauty and organize ways siul means of accomplishing results re-sults in the line of better kept streets and heme and business premises. The schools might be enlisted in a general campaign for a cleaner and a better town. An observation has shown me that a large part of the work of keeping home surroundings in order falls to the younger class of our citizens. The city has established in a number of places, garbage cans in (he business section to receive waste !,iU,er and etc. by encouraging their u'se and increasing their number, the appearance of our public streets would be still further improved. Th.; Finer,;-';'.! Situation. As is well known to the Council, the financial condition of the City, is such as to deserve the wisest administration admin-istration of the City's affairs. On January first, the city was indebted to the amount of $68,646.91 in the following forms: Water Works Bond $13,000.00; Electric Light Bond $38,-000.01'; $38,-000.01'; Promissory Notes $11,400.00 and Time Warrants $1,246.91. There wan due to the City from sidewalks in deferred and delinquent installments install-ments K5, 383. 95; from the County and City taxes in the amount of $5.1100.55 and other assetts $2,-045. $2,-045. SO, leaving the net indebtedness' at $50,910.61. The bonds and most of the floating debt bear interest at the late of 0 per cent., perhaps as low a rats of interest as could be had, but some of the notes are of long standing, stand-ing, and should be paid off, or relieved. re-lieved. Considering the amount of money invested in the electric light plant, over and above the amount derived from the sale of bonds amounting to about $9,000.00, and ro':'embering that over $5,300, with interest will be returned to the City, as the deferred installments of the side walk paving assessment, falls cue the financial condition of the City, is perhaps not as unfavorable as would appear at the first glance, and yet an effort should be made toward reducing the obligations of the city. li. is time that some plan be put into operation, looking forward for-ward to the time when the bonds of the city are matured. There are diffoient 'plans that might bo divided, di-vided, a sinking fund drawn from the general tax, might be created but it appears to me, that the most re:u ible and satisfactory way would he to devote the net receipts of the electric light and water works '."epartments to the redemption of the bonds of those departments. In the v.a'ir works department, the net receipts re-ceipts amount on an average to $1700 a year, the fact that the city has the option of redeeming any or all of the bonds at any time after 19 1:1. would make this matter very coi'v eniei't. Out of the net receipts of the departments, one $1,000 bond tv.i'.l l-j redeemed and each leave ?ti.r..-iMit to pay off the greater part of ;he interest. The net receipts lievFid from the Electric Light De-!::: De-!::: nteni. should be similar devoted li.! it; :! if possible to pay off all or i i-.r-.e part of the bonds, is-:ii is-:ii , ! for the ptirpose of con-'t con-'t ,'vci the electric light plant, bv ;"' Fee thev are matured. The I ! ' t ' the c'ty for contingent ex-. ex-. i,. i . F..",-M be so calculated before 1:1',- i.'.e the tax levy is made as to I . u:!i 1' possible to carry on the work i; F.'o Fiy and permit this plan to be "oioi o'd. i :!i:s connection. I might suggest, !-'F ib to will come into operation Iff-; ye'lv the new law, in which the j : ioror.y will be assessed at full cash v. and the rate of taxation al-I al-I to the City, will be reduced. ! i ' .' .;:, in operation previously pro-jvFel pro-jvFel Frit 5 mills may be assessed ! 'or ov:t ttitre it expenses. As against ! 2 "Fl's '.'".lor the present law; that 'ie it ','- may be levied to purchase ' . r s it roes, streams, and to con-v con-v ;;c works and to supply . . t- tor irrigation and other pur-i pur-i i t s, a .-.gainst 4 mills under the 1. -' I lav . that 5 mills may be -i i.i i.'inrove and repair the . s :"t l side walks as against 2 .F F t'o.v; that 5 mills may be F'ontinued on last page) |