Seward Seaport Record

Public Works Officer Visited Seward Mon.

Col. Arthur D. Morrell, deputy commissioner, Bureau of Community Facilities under General Services Administration of Public Works, and Burke Riley, administrative assistant out of Gov. Gruening's office, arrived in Seward Monday at 1:30 p.m. on the ARR gas car.

They were met at the station by Mayor Lanier, Ray James, Dr. Shelton, and Councilmen Russel Painter and Mildred Kirkpatrick.

The party made a tour of the city, covering the north end carefully, to give the officials a view of the area in need of sewers. After a visit to the hospital and school, the group retired to receive instructions from Col. Morrell on the procedure of making application for Public Works assistance.

According to Col. Morrell, the Public Works Bill as passed by Congress covers such projects as schools, hospitals, sewers, water supply and paving of streets and sidewalks. Application for funds must be made by the municipal body, accompanied by specifications and estimate of costs. The application must be recommended by the Territorial Governor's office, and by the Department of the Interior. If accepted, the Bureau takes over the final work of engineering, letting of contracts, and construction.

Upon completion of the project, title is given to the community at the cost of 50 per cent of the grant. Payment to be made in cash or upon any plan arranged previous to the grant.

It was agreed that sewers and all underground construction should be completed before any extensive paving would be practical. For that reason the Council is particularly interested in a sewer system at present, but all plans are tentative, pending more information from the Federal bureau.

People of Seward feel particularly grateful that the board consented to send representatives to view the situation here. It was at first thought that hearings would be held only in the larger cities, and Mr. Ray James made a special trip, at his own expense, on behalf of the city to meet the board at the hearing in Juneau last week. He made an appeal to the board to conduct hearings in the smaller towns which are badly in need of Federal assistance for public improvements, and which would be unable to send representatives to the hearings.

The bulk of the appropriation to Alaska under the Public Works Bill is earmarked for schools, but inasmuch as Seward is one of the two Territorial cities so pressed for additional school facilities that it bonded itself to the amount of $125,000 for that purpose, the Council feels some encouragement over the possibility of obtaining Federal aid for public improvement projects.