The committee appointed at the September meeting of the Board to inquire into the present condition of the Binghamton Asylum for the Chronic Insane, and as to the amount that will be required for its completion, submit the following report: Your committee deemed it wise to defer the duties assigned to them until after the pending presidential election, as better suiting the convenience of the persons to be engaged in it, and to avoid any possible complications of the work of the committee with outside issues. Believing that a reliable estimate of the cost of completing the repairs of the asylum building and putting it in order for the reception of patients, to be the most important part of our duty, your committee decided to employ a competent architect to make such estimate. The committee, therefore, employed at a reasonable compensation, J. L. Sillsbee, Esq., of Syracuse, who was recommended to us as a very reliable architect, who had designed and supervised the erection of several large public buildings, and had seen them completed at a cost very near his estimates. Your committee held its first meeting at the Lewis House, in the city of Binghamton, Nov. 4, 1880. There were present, Commissioners S. F. Miller and T. B. Bronson and Secretary C. S. Hoyt. Commissioner E. W. Foster was unavoidably absent. The trustees of the asylum had previously been notified by a letter to their president of the time, place and object of the meeting, and requested to be present at some time during our stay in Binghamton, to give any information in their possession that we might desire. This request was very kindly complied with. President R. A. Ford and Superintendent Dr. T. S. Armstrong and Trustees George Truman, Erastus Ross and H. G. Rodgers, were present at one or more of our meetings, and gave us much valuable information as to the present condition of the affairs of the asylum. From them we learned that there was no outstanding indebtedness against the institution, that all contractors who had been employed under written agreements, had been satisfactorily settled with, and their contracts canceled, and that there was a cash balance in the treasury on the first of November, 1880, of $2,750.00. In addition to this, the steward reported on hand a surplus of forty or fifty tons of hay, and two or three hundred bushels of potatoes from the farm that would be sold during the winter. Your committee visited and inspected the asylum building in company with architect J. L. Sillsbee, and found the work and repairs as left by the workmen in various stages of progress, but none of it completed. The condition of the work, and the estimates for its completition are carefully set forth in the report of the architect which is hereunto annexed, marked A. There had been a storm the night previous to our visit to the asylum building, and we found the hall floor in the upper story of the north wing wet with rain from a defective sky-light, and the finely finished walls in the day-room wet and stained from leaks in the gravel roof. There was leakage, but to a less serious extent through the gravel roof of the eastern extension. We requested our architect, Mr. Sillsbee, to examine immediately the roofs, and ascertain the nature of the leakage and the remedy, and report to us that evening. On our return to the city, we met the president and several of the trustees of the asylum, and urged upon them the necessity of immediately protecting the property in their charge by a perfect roof. During this consultation, Mr. Sillsbee returned from the asylum and reported that in company with Mr. Ackerman, a builder who had been in the employ of the trustees, he had carefully examined the roofs, and found them very poor, and that they could only be made permanently safe by a new tin roof in place of the gravel roofing on the north wing and eastern extension. Mr. Sillsbee estimated the cost of these new roofs and sky-lights at $1,500. Your committee recommended that the trustees should immediately contract for these roofs, as there were sufficient funds in their hands, and as these roofs had been twice estimated for in applications to the Legislature for appropriation. The trustees agreed with your committee as to the necessity of action in this matter, but thought that their building committee would not be justified in contracting for new work without the direction of a legal meeting of their board. It was therefore decided by the officers and members present, to call a meeting of the board of trustees for the next Tuesday. The president subsequently informed your committee as requested, that the meeting was held, and that a resolution was passed directing the building committee "to have the roof of the asylum repaired where needed, so as to protect the building from damage either by rain or otherwise." A letter was immediately sent to President R. A. Ford, acknowledging the receipt of the resolution, and calling attention to an inclosed copy of a letter of Mr. Sillsbee, urging the necessity of a new roof. Mr. Sillsbee's letter is annexed, marked B. The chairman of your committee received a letter from H. G. Rodgers, Esq., one of the trustees, inclosing a copy of a letter from J. S. Wells, Esq., a builder of Binghamton, of experience, who says that these roofs can easily be repaired, so as to answer this winter, and the sky-lights can be boarded over, and that it is too late. in the season to put on a new roof, etc. These letters are annexed, marked C and D. It is understood that the trustees have followed Mr. Wells's advice. Your committee have set forth their action in this matter thus fully, because we feel that these valuable and costly repairs, and even the walls of the building itself are in danger of serious damage until they shall be protected by a new and perfect roof, and while it is true that no great damage has yet happened, nor may any occur during the winter, yet we should regard those intrusted with the care of this property as guilty of great and criminal neglect if they should allow the balance in their treasury to be exhausted for any other purpose, so as to prevent their using the first favorable weather in the spring to put on these new roofs. It will be observed that Mr. Sillsbee's report places the total estimated expense of completing the building at $49,233, but he adds that over one thousand dollars can be saved, if the window gratings are omitted in the day rooms. This we think can be done with safety and to the mental benefit of the patients, as attendants will always be present in these rooms, and the absence of the gratings will avoid that sense of restraint that is so likely to cause unhealthy mental excitement. But it is probable that for so large a work, the legislature should be asked for an appropriation of $50,000. It is suggested, however, that the law should require the work to be done by contract, and let to the lowest responsible bidder; and if advertised in parts as would likely be desirable, it should be provided that nothing should be done under any contract, until the sum of all the accepted bids for the entire work should fall within the appropriation. An additional appropriation of $5,000, will be necessary for furniture, bedding, kitchen utensils, etc. There is on hand, handed over by the trustees of the State Inebriate Asylum, bedding and bed-room furniture, about half enough for the three hundred patients, that the present institution is expected to accommodate. There is nearly a full supply of some articles, and almost a total deficiency of others. The bedsteads and chairs for the more disturbed patients ought to be of a different and more substantial pattern. There is quite a quantity of new kitchen furniture on hand, bought by the present trustees, but other articles will be needed. An appropriation to the institution of $20,000, will also be necessary to meet its expenses for maintenance for the first six months, or to such time as bills can be collected from the counties sending patients. A total appropiation of $75,000 will therefore be required to complete the building, to purchase necessary furniture, and to enable the institution to enter efficiently upon the work to which it has been set apart. Doubtless, the magnitude of this appropriation will strike the Board with some surprise, exceeding as it does the original estimate made, and this too, after two appropriations have been exhausted. But it must be remembered that a large part of the $50,000 now asked for, to complete repairs, and the greater part of the two appropriations already expended, were made necessary by the plans adopted by the trustees for a new water supply, and for a new system of heating and ventilation. These plans were not contemplated by this Board in the first instance, nor were they ever submitted to it or approved by it. This statement is made here, not to criticise the value of these additions, but simply to note the fact, that the State Board of Charities should have no credit nor responsibility for their adoption or expense. After putting this statement upon record, your committee are free to say that from the best information they can obtain, they are of the opinion that this new water supply from the river would have been found necessary before the institution had been filled to its full capacity. The committee, therefore, regard it as a valuable improvement, that could not have been long postponed. The new system of heating and ventilation has required an enormous amount of extra work in addition to the contract price of the heating apparatus. First, there was made a deep excavation in the sub-basement below the foundation walls, the entire length of the building, and bench walls were laid in cement to support the old foundation. Then this wide sub-basement hall or air passage six feet deep, and ten or twelve feet wide, was carefully plastered. Then there were flues and air ducts, and passages for heating pipes through the partition walls of the entire building. All of this work was done in the best manner and much of it, especially in the basement, with a perfection of finish, that seemed to your committee wholly unnecessary. But it is claimed that this system of heating has all the latest improvements, and has the approval of the most scientific architects. It is certainly to be hoped that its successful operation may justify its advocates. As the same boilers, that furnish power to raise the water from the river, also furnish the steam for heating, it would seem possible that there may be an annual economy of fuel that may mitigate the cost of the system. But whatever criticism as to past acts may be made, or may have been deserved, these facts remain, the State has this building that cost originally nearly $800,000, and the large farm attached, both now idle and useless. An appropriation of $75,000, would in three months convert it into a successful asylum for the chronic in sane. There are to-day in the counties of the State, having no insane asylums, nearly eight hundred chronic insane without suitable shelter, without proper care, and many of them in the most deplorable condition. These await the completion of this asylum. The appropriation recommended will furnish accommodations for three hundred of the most destitute and disturbed cases. Next year we can provide for those remaining, in cheap wings to the main building, or in cheap detached buildings on the farm. In making the above recommendations, your committee are not unmindful of the fact, that the original plans for the adaptation of the asylum building to the use of the chronic insane, as approved by the State Board of Charities, were widely departed from, thus greatly increasing the expense; and they have therefore suggested and do urge that the expenditure of the amount herein recommended be so guarded in the law, as to secure the completion of the building within the appropriation. Respectfully submitted, ALBANY, N. Y., January 13, 1881. S. F. MILLER, CHARLES S. HOYT. |