Before the mid 1920s when we believe this council committee was organized, resolutions dealing with public utilities were handled by whatever committee Council decided should discuss it. For instance, wires associated with telephone and telegraph service were referred to the Streets & Alleys committee, except those wires on the municipal bridge which the Bridge committee had control of. Another example is street lighting and the discussion of a municipally operated power utility was referred to a committee on Street Lighting. Many of these public utilities were privately owned and a separate committee on Railroads dealt with those companies. The Public Utilities committee may in fact be an expansion of the Railroad committee to encompass all public utilities.
