Official letter from Mayor John Watkins to the members of the City Council of New Orleans.
Mayor John Watkins enclosed a list of names of Aldermen elected to the City Council on February 23. He stated that work on the levee in front of Faubourg Marigny was completed at about the estimated cost. Repair work on the levee in front of the meat market was to have been put up for public bids. No action had been taken, but the work could wait until high waters receded. The next section concerned problems encountered in construction of the bayou road. Watkins had taken steps to force Messrs. Michael Smith and S.B. Davis to pay the sum they still owed the City. He had received a letter from Daniel Clark, delegate to Congress from the Territory of Orleans, who informed him that the City's suit claiming title to certain lands was being heard by the Secretary of the Treasury, who would soon render a decision on the matter. The scarcity of ballast this year had hurt local businesses. For this reason the Mayor would allow merchants to borrow ballast from the City on the condition that they return the stones or pay for them. Repairs on the levee facing Faubourg Saint Mary would be very expensive on account of the Council's tax on meats. The Council's decree, which exempted firemen from militia duty, was not approved by the Governor, but it would be incorporated into the militia bill before the Legislature. The previous day a piece of burning charcoal from a fireplace had ignited the floorboards of the chambers of the Superior Court. Luckily the fire was discovered and extinguished before it had done much damage. Watkins suggested that in the future the City should place metal fire screens in front of all the open fireplaces in City Hall.