[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of
West Reading 10-12-1918 by Ord.
No. 89[1] (Ch. VIII, Part 3, of the 1993 Code of Ordinances). Amendments
noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Streets and sidewalks — See Ch. 396.
[1]
Editor's Note: Section 7 of this ordinance provided that the
ordinance be null and void and of no effect unless the company filed
its acceptance of all the terms, conditions, regulations and restrictions
of this ordinance. Section 9 required that the company pay all legal
advertising or printing fees in connection with the passage of the
ordinance.
Permission be and is hereby granted to The Bell Telephone Company
of Pennsylvania, its successors and assigns, to maintain and operate
its poles, conduits, manholes, cables, wires, and all other overhead
and underground fixtures and appliances as now erected, constructed
and in place on, over, under, across and along the public streets,
alleys and highways within the limits of the Borough of West Reading,
County of Berks, State of Pennsylvania; to erect, construct, reconstruct,
maintain and operate additional poles, conduits, manholes, cables,
wires, and all other necessary overhead and underground fixtures and
appliances on, over, under, across and along the public streets, alleys
and highways within the limits of said Borough, subject to the following
provisions.
All poles hereafter erected by said company shall be neat and
symmetrical, and shall not be less than 20 feet above the surface
of the ground, and shall be so located as in no way to interfere with
the safety or convenience of persons traveling on or over said streets,
alleys and highways; and in the work of installing and maintaining
its underground system, said company shall not open or encumber more
of any street, alley or highway than will be necessary to enable it
to perform same with proper economy and efficiency; nor shall it permit
such opening or encumbrance to remain for a longer period than shall
be necessary to do the work for which said opening shall have been
made.
All work done under the provisions of this ordinance in said
Borough shall be subject to the supervision of the Highway Committee
thereof, and said company shall replace and properly relay any sidewalk
or street pavement which may have been displaced or damaged by it
in the construction and maintenance of its system in said Borough.
Space on the poles erected or in the conduits laid under the
provisions of this ordinance, shall be reserved, free of charge, for
the purpose of carrying a wire or wires of any fire alarm or police
telegraph system now in use, or which may hereafter be adopted by
said Borough; in no case, however, shall said wire or wires carry
high-tension currents.
Said company shall continue to maintain, free of charge, the
one telephone located in the Borough Council Chamber; install and
maintain, free of charge, one additional telephone at such time and
at such location within the limits of said Borough as the Council
thereof may, by resolution, designate, provided such location is not
more than 200 feet from said company's then-existing pole or conduit
lines; move said telephones, or either of them, from time to time,
to such location or locations within the limits of said Borough as
the Council thereof may, by resolution, designate, provided any such
location is within 200 feet of said company's then existing pole or
conduit lines; also furnish free service from said two telephones
for the transaction of municipal business only, to all of said company's
stations in the area within which local service is, from time to time,
furnished at standard rates to its subscribers in said Borough of
West Reading, and said Borough shall pay unto said company for all
telephone service furnished to it outside of the area within which
free service is to be allowed under this section.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: At present, these facilities and services are
not furnished to the Borough by the company.
Said company shall maintain all poles, cables, wires, conduits,
ducts, mains, pipes, manholes, distributing poles and all other apparatus
now in place or hereafter erected or constructed under the provisions
of this ordinance, in good and safe order and condition; and shall
at all times fully indemnify, protect and save harmless said Borough
from and against all actions, claims, suits, damages and charges,
and against all loss and necessary expenditures arising from the erection,
construction and maintenance of its system in said Borough; or from
its neglect or failure to maintain said apparatus in good and safe
order and condition.
Nothing in this ordinance shall be construed to grant unto said
Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania any exclusive right or to prevent
a grant of similar privileges to other companies.
It is hereby understood and agreed that neither the purpose
nor intent, nor the obligation of this ordinance, if and when approved
by the Public Service Commission of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,[1] is such as to impair or in any way affect the exercise
by said Commission of any of the powers vested in it by the Public
Service Company Law, approved July 26, 1913.[2]
[Added 10-12-1918 by Ord.
No. 90]
The American Telegraph and Telephone Company of Pennsylvania,
its successors and assigns, may acquire, occupy and use such part
of the underground works of the Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania
as are now in place or that may hereafter be laid and constructed
on, in, under, across and along the public highways of said Borough
of West Reading, as it shall require in the due prosecution and conduct
of its business, upon such arrangements as the two companies may agree
to; provided: that the American Telegraph and Telephone Company of
Pennsylvania shall at all times fully indemnify, protect and save
harmless said Borough of West Reading from and against all actions,
claims, suits, damages and charges, and against all loss and necessary
expenditures arising from the use or maintenance of any and all of
the underground works acquired by it as aforesaid; and provided: .
. .[1] that it is understood and agreed that neither the purpose
nor intent, nor the obligation of this ordinance, if and when approved
by the Public Service Commission of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
is such as to impair or in any way affect the exercise by said Commission
of any of the powers vested in it by the Public Service Company Law,
approved July 26, 1913.[2]
[1]
Editor's Note: The omitted material provided that the company
file its acceptance of the ordinance within 60 days after final enactment;
otherwise, the ordinance would become null and void and of no effect;
and that the company pay all legal advertising or printing fees incurred
by the Borough in connection with the passage of the ordinance.
[2]
Editor's Note: The Public Service Company Law was repealed
(P.L. 1053, 1937, Section 1502) and supplanted by the Public Utility
Code (P.L. 1053, 1937). The preamble to this ordinance stated that
the American Telegraph and Telephone Company, an associated and connecting
company with the Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania, desired to
acquire, for connecting and through line purposes, a certain portion
of the underground works now in place and hereafter to be laid and
constructed by the Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania, on, in,
under, across and along the public highways of the Borough.
