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[LH Corner–black and white print of building with TEXAS PTG. CO, FORT WORTH. printed under it]
OFFICE OF FORT WORTH. CITY WATER WORKS. JNO F. LEHANE, Chairman Water Committe. H.L. CALHOUN, Secretary.
FORT WORTH, Texas, May 7th, 06. 190___
Hon.Mayor and City Council.
Gentlemen:–
For several years the City has been furnishing one Dock Hamilton on Galveston Ave , an invalid, with city water, the city Marshall having been instructed by the City Council to pay the water bills out of the pauper funds in his hands as they matured.
Since the presen5 Chief has been in office these bills have not been paid as he says the council has never authorized him so to do.
Kindly give instructions as to what you desire done in the matter as there are seven quarterly bills still unpaid.
Respectfully submitted. H.L. Calhoun Secretary.
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To the Honorable Mayor and City Council,
Gentlemen:
We, your committee appointed to consider the matter of the Lahey matter, would respectfully represent to your honorable body that we are of the opinion that the city attorney should be instructed to condemn the property immediately, and therefore recommend that he be so instructed and that the city engineer do at once furnish him such descriptions as will enable him to proceed without delay.
Very respectfully,
W. D. Harris Mayor
E. C. Orick City Atty
John B. Hawley H. L. Calhoun
5/7/06
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Attach to Orricks Report of 5/7/06 Hawley
To the Honorable Mayor and City Council of the City of Fort Worth.
Gentlemen:
In reference to the matter of the dam involved in the suit of William Lehay against the city, I feel it my duty to report to you (this report being made with the consent of the finance committee) that I am not of the opinion that the hole cut through the dam so involved will comply with the judgment of the court, unless the hole so cut is a practical destruction of the dam.
This being so, and it being my firm opinion that the condemnation proceedings will result in a much lower assessment of damage than that reported by the committee appointed by the city council, I feel it my duty in the interest of the city to make this report requesting that the dam be not at present cut or destroyed and that the matter be left to those officers of the city government having most knowledge upon the subject, together with such committee as your honorable body may suggest, or that instructions be given by the city council for immediate condemnation of the property.
I would state in this connection that if the condemnation committee places the valuation of the property at such a figure that the city is disinclined to pay the same, that the city can then abandon the dam and destroy it and the cost to the city of the condemnation cannot be a much greater sum than $25.00.
Feeling as I do upon the subject, I do not believe that the emergency water supply of the city should be destroyed until every remedy given the city by law has been exhausted and until it was found that after said remedies had been exhausted that the cost was so great that the city was warranted in destroying the same. Of course, as to the necessity of the maintenance of this dam I am not advised, and in writing this opinion act largely upon my own individual views with reference thereto.
Respectfully submitted, E. C. Orrick