Appointments:

Again Arthur G. Greenfield and C. R. Robertson (by the Reeve) were appointed auditors for a fee of $10 each. Hial (sic) W. Brooks, who worked in a dairy and lived at 166 East Ave., was appointed to the Board of Health for 3 years. He was also appointed Assessor for the year at $65/year with the requisite $500 bond. A. Greenfield and Adolph Herbst? were also appointed to the BoH for 3 years. Again William Cole was appointed as Tax Collector in September at $65/year with the standard $500 bond. A. Acres served as treasurer at $50 for the year. Newton J. Ker was appointed engineer for the sewer project and W. Higgins was appointed Inspector of Drains.

Communications:

Letters sent and received for the year included:

• clerk was instructed to write to J. A. Robertson, the Secretary of Fire Underwriters Association regarding a reduction in insurance;
• the Ottawa Electric Co. wrote to complain about street lights being broken. Council directed the constable to investigate;
• residents on East Ave. complained about a dump and the concern was referred to the BoH.
• the Public School Board requested $10,000 to build a new school.

There were no other references to communication in the minutes for the entire year!

Public Works:

• the snow clearing account increased again this year. In January, 34 men and boys were employed at rates ranging from 8 cents to 15 cents/hour. This involved 370 hours of work at a cost of $53.30. James Beaton and W. Joly were paid $31.10 and $32.00 respectively for snow plowing;
• the idea to install a fire alarm system for the village was put on hold;
• repair of Hurdman Rd. was to cost $300;
• Councillor Beaton was to direct the location of all gulley grates;
• the Ottawa Electric Co. was directed to place 5 lights on Hurdman Rd. and 2 on East Ave.;
• tenders were received for the painting of the fire hall. The tenders included:

W. Rhomhild - 3 coats outside 2 coats of oil inside $25 (accepted)
Louis Heller - " " $40
Fred Winges " " $30

• William Rhomhild, a painter living at 7 Ella St. at $50/year, again filled the position of village constable. Analysis of the village accounts show that he was an industrious lad. His constabulary duties included: collecting dog taxes at 10% of the total collected; health inspections and burying carcasses; fumigating houses; and putting up street signs. In addition he was also paid for painting the fire hall; snow clearing and general labour. An interesting receipt regarding William can be seen here;
• the clerk was paid $10.40 for registering births, deaths and marriages and $4.25 for registering bylaws.

Roads, drains, sewers, sidewalks and more:

Petitions included:

• Grey Nuns requested a drain on Gordon St. – the village paid half of the cost;
• Ratepayers on 5^th St. requested a drain – tenders to be called;
• There were numerous petitions for drains covered by a bylaw passed on Nov. 29. The bylaw listed all the petitions to date that required the building of drains. For approval each petition required that "two-thirds of the owners of the drain area approved and that this represent one-half of the value of the real property to be benefited by the sewers". These petitions included:

• tenders were received for the 5^th St. drain. These included:

There was very little activity regarding sidewalks or roads.

Waterworks:

• the Ottawa East Water Co. requested permission to use a small portion of allowance near the Rideau River to erect a small house for waterworks purposes with the promise to return the land when it was need;
• the Water Co. asked council to notify the city that no water could be supplied to the village without a license. This request was probably the result of water pipe being extended across the canal near the south of the village to service Rideau Garden. This would have reduced the monopoly enjoyed by the company;
• the village paid the water company $375 in December for services;
• An agreement was signed with the Ottawa Electric Company to supply power to the pumping station. Part of that agreement is shown below.

Board of Health:

There were no motions or accounts recorded during this year.

Council Motions, Policies and Bylaws:

Some examples of council’s concerns include:

• the Reeve was authorized to borrow $3,000 from the Bank of Ottawa;
• Scott and Curle? were paid $15 for the Farrell case – (the previous year’s civil suit?);
• Councillor Beaton was to engage all snow clearing labour in future;
• a bylaw was passed to prevent people from driving on sidewalks - $5 to $20 fine;
• a committee was formed to investigate the placement of planing mills and grounds in the village so that they would not constitute a fire hazard;
• a bylaw was passed giving the Fire Chief and his assistant the authority to give orders at all fires and public functions such as parades and drills of the Ottawa East Fire Brigade. Penalties included fines from $2 to $10. (Ed. Note: Was this a power struggle in the village?);
• Reeve was authorized to borrow another $9,000 for current expenses;
• the clerk was authorized to send a petition to the Railway Commission requesting that a crossing be built over the tracks at William St. at the railway's cost. (Ed. Note – this was an ongoing battle with the railways. The tracks cut off a sizeable portion of the village to the east).

Court of Revision:

The Court of Revision was exceptionally busy this year. This was probably due to the increase in taxes as a result of the sewer project. As well there were numerous changes in the designation of school supporters from public to separate. This was probably the result of the special debenture to build the separate school and this board wanted to make sure it received all the money due. The Court of Revision was held with a jury that was selected from ratepayers who reviewed appeals from individual ratepayers regarding their tax assessment or school support designation.

As was the case in most years the larger commercial organizations appealed their assessments as being excessive. The Ottawa and New York Railway was assessed $1,000 and this was referred to another Court of Revision held later. The Canada Atlantic Railway had the assessment reduced to $80.000 at this session. Numerous large landowners such as Patterson, Lees and Slattery had large portions of their holding reduced. A number of separate school supporters had their assessments reduced as well. Judge O’Mara on July 26 held a special Court (for a fee of $5.50) where certain properties were deemed to be assessable.

The property mill rates and resultant payments for the year were as follows:

Accounts:

Some of the more interesting accounts paid in this year included:

• purchase from the Ottawa Fire Proof Co. of 500 feet of hose, 1 nozzle, 3 pairs of rubber boots and 3 rubber coats;
• H. St. Jean, Oscar Landriau and H. W. Brooks were each paid $2 for use of horses at fires;
• the Ottawa Electric Co. was paid $193.60 for light for the village streets for the year. The actual bill can be seen here.

The election for the 1906 council and school trustees was held on December 22, 1905. It should be noted that the ex-Reeve Henry Roche was nominated for the position once again but the clerk declared him to ineligible for the position. No reason was given but it may have had something to do with his involvement with County Council – perhaps he had not resigned in time? John P. Cain, president of the Cain Brick Company at 162 Main St. was elected as a Councillor for the first time. This is interesting in that he is listed in the directory as living in Ottawa. Obviously residency in the village was not a prerequisite for election, only ownership of a business or land was needed. Cain became an important force in 1907 with the advent of amalgamation.

And for the first time in the history of the village two separate election polls were needed to accommodate the larger population.

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