(1 fm> ' * the TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT CITY OF LACONIA FOR YEAR ENDING FEBRUARY 15, 1916 GEORGE P. MUNSEY TWELFTH MAYOR OF LACONIA NINETEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF THE RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES OF THE CITY OF LACONIA NEW HAMPSHIRE FOR THE Year Ending- February 15, 1916, Together with Other Annual Reports and Papers Relating to the Affairs of the City Xaconia (press association, printers MAYORS OF THE CITY OF LACONIA City incorporated by act of Legislature approved March 24, 1893. First organization of city government, May 3, 1893. *Charles A. Busiel 1893-4 Samuel B. Smith 1895-6 Charles L. Pulsifer 1897-8 Edmund Tetley .:..•• 1899-0 Jared A. Greene 1901-2 Woodbury L. Melcher 1903-4 Benjamin F. Drake 1905-6 William F. Knight 1907-8 Alfred C. Wyatt 1909-10 George H. Saltmarsh 1911-12 George B. Cox 1913-14 George P. Munsey 1915 *Deceased. ORGANIZATION OF CITY GOVERNMENT Tuesday, March 23, 1915. At ten o'clock in the forenoon of the above date, mem- bers-elect of the city council for the municipal year of 1915 and the members from the previous council met for organ- ization at the city council room agreeably to the provisions of the city charter. The oath of office was administered to the mayor-elect, Hon. George P. Munsey, by the retiring mayor, Hon. George B. Cox. The mayor administered the oath of office to the follow- ing councilmen-elect, viz: Ward 1—Caleb J. Avery. Ward 2—Curtis A. Davis. Ward 3—John B. Moore. Ward 4—William F. Sanborn. Ward 5 —William D. Veazey. Ward 6—Clarence E. Rowe. Prayer was then offered by the Rev. Edwin H. Prescott, after which the mayor delivered his inaugural address. INAUGURAL ADDRESS Oh HON. GEORGE P. MUNSEY, MARCH 23, 1915. Gentlemen of the City Council : In May, 1893, Laconia's first mayor, Charles A. Busiel, took the oath of office. This was 22 years ago. Laconia had just united with that part of Gilford now known as Ward Six and this union was incorporated as the City of Laconia. I became a resident of Laconia that same year, and in this way I feel that I have grown up with the city. I have watched with interest the progress of every depart- ment of the city's life. I have seen the inventory of $4,000,000 rise to 2% times this amount. I have seen every mayor and council from then till now take up the reins of government with a single purpose and earnest endeavor to assist in the city's march onward and upward. I have felt that every good citizen is in duty bound to do his part in the well-being and advancement of his own city, and become a factor in the uplift of the moral and business life of the community. Every one who loves the town in which he lives should be willing to make a sacrifice of his time and his prefer-' ences when the public demands his assistance. So, during these 22 years of the city's existence, men have given of their time, judgment and experience for the benefit of the community and today you and I have been called to carry on the work already begun. You are today assuming your position in the line of public servants to work for the public good, and in being* . 6 CITY OF LACONIA -called to act as mayor of our city, I consider myself fortu- nate indeed, in having- for co-workers such men as have been selected to represent the various wards of the city. Every man comes making- a personal sacrifice of time and energy, and I feel that with such men as you, the city's interests will be well cared for. Only three new faces appear at the desks and in the re- maining three, with your Mayor, we still have a majority of the council of last year and our efforts will be a contin- uation of the work then undertaken. Requests for some improvements and suggestions of others have already begun to come in. Available funds will hardly begin to cover the multitude of desired improvements and we will be somewhat handi- capped by more than $4,000 worth of bills contracted in 1914 that must be paid this year, and our appropriations must be made with this in view. The public must give patience a prominent place, we must select carefully and in the meantime ask the indul- gence of all Our appropriations last year amounted to $177,000, and in deciding for what purposes this money should be used, I believe that every member had in mind only the city's well-being. Main street was put into permanent condition from Mill street to the bridge, the old paving being removed to Water street where it will be used to complete the work already begun on that thoroughfare. Elm street bridge, was completed and Laconia can now boast of its first cement bridge of material size, and a bridge of which all our citizens may well be proud. Sev- eral new bridges are fast approaching the state of exten- sive repair and it is very evident that before many years some action along this line must be taken. Over a mile of surface drains were laid in 1914 resulting in much benefit to localities where located, and I might add that in view of the necessity of much more of this work INAUGURAL ADDRESS 7 and in view of the fact that many of our citizens being out of employment at this time, I would favor extending these drains where needed and that an early appropriation be made for this purpose, that we may give work to our own people while they are in need of employment. This should have attention as soon as the ground will permit. The natural drain now crossing Court street and passing over much private property should be removed, and made to pass down Lawrence street to the river. The Elm street drain in ward 6 should be completed and I would recommend that a surface drain on High street be laid from Avery street down High street through Union ave- nue and Jewett street to the river. The Pine street exten- sion should be completed and a piece of land should be secured at Weirs upon which may be erected suitable buildings for the storage of the city tools as recommended by the Superintendent of the Streets. The city report shows that nearly three miles of side- walk have been built during the past year; these are an asset to the city and should be extended as fast as con- ditions will permit, but whatever is done in the way of new work the old walks should be kept in proper repair. Our macadam roads seem to be giving satisfaction and while the report states that they are maintained at an ex- pense of 1.74 per yard, it should read $0.0174 per yard, which is somewhat lower than one year ago and would ap- pear to be very reasonable. I anticipate that some new roads may be built this sea- son, but by all means let us maintain those we already have and build new only as it can be conveniently done. I have been impressed with the most excellent reports from different departments as printed in the last city re- port and I believe if everyone would carefully read these reports as they appear they would find themselves becom- ing more interested in city affairs. The many ideas ex- pressed therein by those who have made the various sub- 8 CITY OF LACONIA jects a matter of study are well worth one's time to read and consider. One of those recommendations has come to me with such a force and coincides so closely with my own ideas that I ask your indulgence for a moment while I read from the report of the City Engineer. It will be found upon page 83 in the published report and reads as follows: "Considerable money is expended from year to year lay- ing out and grading new streets and it seems to me that much more laying out of streets is done than the demand for house lots would warrant, or that the present progress of building would call for. The result is that we get a number of streets, many of them costly to grade and maintain, on which there is not near enough taxable prop- erty to warrant the expenditure. Land is sudivided into house lots and streets laid out by the owners without re- gard to lines, grades, drainage, sewer extension, or proper development of the city and the result is that in the at- tempt to establish proper grades, drainage, etc., the tax payers have to pay much more for such works than would be the case if such extensions were made under proper engineering supervision. There are a great many vacant lots on streets that are graded, have sidewalks, water, sewers, gas and drainage, and it would seem like good business policy to utilize such streets where the city and others have already made large investments, rather than develop areas where there are not such appliances and where their installation will cost the tax payers a great deal of money and where they will be used to only a limited extent for many years." If there were no avail- able house lots, the foregoing would not apply, but the building of [streets and sewers before there is sufficient taxable property to demand such outlays should be taken up with great care.