Minutes 05/22/1917 - Laserfiche WebLink

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R. C. P. tax~tlon for the years 19 A communication from ed by The Ferries Company A petition w~s read dinance recently adopted mended, stating that them there are acres of unimpr mises in no w~y offends a The petition w~ should no~ be enforced in the City Manager and Chic by the Department of Law. A comm~uuica~ion was : by the CoU~t to mix a pri~ the purpose of erecting a la~d, houses, and damages The eommunioatic sented to the Judge thirt~ available at that time. On motion, tl · A communication ~s requesting a specmal cali~ st him by the Cm~y On motion of Er. Bunting moved that the Then th~_Msmager "Mr. J. T. H~nvey, Ms and. Gentlemen of th/ "Gentlemen:-- ~In rE ject of my dismissal of ~ while the law does not re~ the Council make an expl~ tence, Insubordination and given him from time to tin a few of the cases:- 1. Prior to my assun of all of the Fire Hydrs~ Up to the time of his rem¢ times and he gave first pass him on the street done this inspecting afte~ no effort $O to do, as 2. He wms instructed and inspect s~ll of the e~ 3- Improper use of c ment, notwithstanding numa plaints inthis m~tter we~ 4. Lac~ of care in that some o~ the combin~ti have repeatedly given inst ~t. House, ~ooked over, ~ repairs which.could h~ve b ~lker. In July, 1~16, he were bought in Oetober~ 1~ th~n the books in the Audi by me, he took a new lnven in ~d of the equipment be ' 6. He seldom,~f, ever ~nich time he ehoul~ h~ve a general rule, if I wishe rear of the Truck He,se. to make inspections of fac City at least twice a year make these inspections, T 7- In practically ev connection with department the s~me out. He w~s the attitude. The above citations w dismissing him. I wish to state a~ th cedent in the event of my ~3-14, was referred to the Dep~rtment of F~,ance.*~ J. O. Wlgg, protesting against the increase in ferry rates, as request- w~s referred to the Public Property Department. ~romJ. R. McNeil and sundry other residents of the City that the or- ffe~lating the keeping a~d grazing of cows on unenclosed lots, be a~ ~re many sections of the City contlguoue~o the County lines where ~ved~Operty, and that the keeping a~d grazing of cows on ~uch pre- ~inst the laws ~nd rules of dedency and health. discussed by the Council and they seemed ~o think that the ordinmmce ~uch cases, and it was moved that the Department of Health request of Police not to enforce the ordinmnce pending a report on same The motion w~e adopted. eceived from the School Board stating that the Commission a~pointed ~e on the Parker property, which the Board desires ~o condemn for school building thereon, h~d agreed on a price of $7,500. for the ~n stated further that the report of said Commission will be pre- days from May 15th, and that it will be neoessmry to have the money communication w~s referred to the Dsp~tment of Finance. .ece£ved from the former Chief of the Fire Department to the Mayor ~d meeting of the Council ~o inves~ig~te the charges preferred again- and the reply of the N~yor thereto w~s submitted s~lso. .rbe~t, the comm~Anioat.ion from the former 0hief was read, and ~. y. Man~ger be now heard from.1 The motionw~s s~iopted. ad ~s follows: "Portsmouth, Va., May 22n~1, 1~17. 'or City Council. ~ly to your resolution aud request that I submit a report on the sub- r. W. Re ~alEer as Chief of the Fire Department, I would state that ulre me to ma~e such a statement, I will as a m~tter of courtesy to ation in this case to the effect that I dismissed him for ~ncompe- Neglect of Duty, aea result of his f~iling to cmrry out instructions e. By way of concrete specifications, t would cite the following as ing office, he w~s instructed to inspect ~nd report on the condition within the City; after I took office I re-issued these instructions. val no report had been m~de by hi~. I spoke of the m~tter several an excuse that he could not get around town~ AS his uniform would e, this ~xcuse~wms a poor one. He had ample time in which to have the arrmVal o~ the car, which was placed at his disposal, but m~de aS I can l~rn~ both the members of the Public Safety Committee and me to visit houses every morning, This he failed to do. mr furnished him by the City for his use as the Chief of the Depart- roue warnings on the subject from me which were given verbally. Com- made to me by Messrs. J. T~ Hanvey, Osoie Dashtell and others. eking after the equipment of the department,as evidenced by the fact on wagons have not had any haud extinguishers on them for months. I ~uctions to have these extinguishers gathered up, brought to the Court i if need be, sent away for rep~lrz. ~Nost of them require only minor men m~de here. I have been unaole to have this attended to by Mr. reported 7550 feet of hose in the department. 1000 feet of new hose i6~ ~n February, 1~17, he reported 7750 feet of hose or 800 feet less tot's office called fo~. When his attention w~s called to this fact~ ~ory and accounted for the Shortage. N~i proper interest and records ~n kept, such a report would not h~ve been m~de, , ~eported to headquartSre before 10:30 or 11:00 in the morning, by ~ompleted his inspection of the various houses. After thmt hour, as ~ to get into touch with him, I would find him playing cards in the ~ection 403, Page 180, o£ the Municipal Code, requires the Fire Chief ~ories, stores, business houses, etc., within the Fire limits of the · He always e~lmed that he. did not have the time or facilities to ~e time devoted to card playing could have been thus employed. ~ry case where I g~ve hi~ instructions or made muEgestions to him in work or matters he had some excuse for not accepting or carrying ~nly head of a department in the entire government who assumed this Lli I think make out a case i'n full ~uetifmc~tmon of my~action in Lsm~ime that I do not expect this explanation to be taken as a pre- other removals from office in the future. "Y~ur ~ ~ t~ulv ·