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CITY OF DUBOIS Page 131
Legislature of Pennsylvania until the Session of 1891, when
municipal laws were enacted authorizing boroughs, as well as cities
to improve streets, curb, grade and pave them, as well as construct
sewers and charge the cost thereof to the abutting property owners.
The first meeting shows that the Council appointed J.
B. Ellis as Treasurer. The Council did not seem to know that
Clearfield County had a special law, and that Mr. Ellis had already
been elected to the office of Treasurer at the same time the members
of Council were elected.
After exhausting their thoughts, they came to the
conclusion that it was necessary to have a place to house,
figuratively speaking, the Borough, and accordingly appointed a
committee of two to secure a home for the Town Council. The meetings
were held at weekly periods. Finally, James Hines was elected Street
Commissioner. Mr. Hines was rather of an erratic dispostion and
trouble commenced. Petitions were presented for borough policemen.
While the Council had appointed, a Treasurer, there was
no money for the payment of current expenses and current expenses
commenced to accumulate. Although an assessor had been elected,
there seemed to have been no effort made to have an assessment of
the taxable property within the limits of the Borough made, nor did
the Council levy any tax so far as the minutes of the various
meetings of the first year indicate.
The meeting of the 25th of April indicates that the
Council commenced to realize that they were a legislative body and
could pass laws for the regulation of borough affairs. However,
these laws indicate that they had gotten copies from some of the
smaller villages.
One of these ordinances prohibited the feeding and
milking of cows on sidewalks or crossings. If the Council had passed
an ordinance prohibiting the tieing of a cow to a stump or a log in
a street or alley for feeding and milking, it would have had some
reason, but at the time this ordinance was adopted, there was no
such thing as a sidewalk or street crossing.
However, the Council did provide for the building of
sidewalks about this time, but no effort was made to enforce this
ordinance until the following October, except the School Board was
requested to build a sidewalk in front of the school house in the
Second Ward. This fact is ascertained from the minutes of the School
Board and not from Council proceedings.
Another ordinance passed related to the breeding of
stallions within the borough limits and provided that this process
must be done under cover and away from residences.
Another ordinance provided that people must not deposit
manure, coal, ashes, dirt or anything else on public streets.
Another ordinance related to the construction of flues. This
ordinance prohibited the running of a stove pipe out of the side of
a house or through the roof of any dwelling house, shop, smokehouse,
bake oven, or other build-
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