Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1865-12-30
VIOLATION OF THE VIRGINIA

| duct Of the city business-spoken in eulo-
CYSTIC terms Of the present controllers Of
municipal government. It is therefore
with special regret that we feel compelled
by a n of unavoidable duty to challenge
the action OF any Of the members OF the
City Senate. We presume that, with a
majority of that body, the wrong doing
we have to mention has been an inadver-
tence, which, upon enlightenment, they
will do all they can to atone for, in be-
half of their consciences and the people.
Upon them, however, must rest the I'M
pleasant charge Of not a~ttentiyely reading
the plain letter Of the law by which their
place and prerogatves are established.
The 18th section of the city charter Of
Virginia gives the Board Of Aldermen au-
thority to appoins-among other officers
"a City Clerk. Section 90 prescribes the
duties of this officer; saying, after an
enumeration of the more obvious duties Of
his office, that he shall do and perform
such other duties as may be required or
directed by the Board Of Aldermen, by
resolution or ordinance" Section Sc fxes
the salary Of the City Clerk at Sl,5oo
per nun rE}af'r
Under the United States Public Land
Statutes, it became necessary for the city
to file two maps of the land embraced
under the corporate act. Two tracings
were accordingly made, under "resolu-
ton" of the Board, by the City Clerk,
W. NJ. Gillespie - this work consist
ing of a tracing over a city map. For this
service, the Board Of Aldermen allow Mr..
Gillespie 5000; in addition to his pre-
scribed salary. This was in the very face
Of the charters limitation Of salary and
stipulation of the City Clerks duty. And,
moreover, we may here state in p~arenthe-
sis, the maps made were not Of the right
character ; and a new set will have to be
made out by competent parties. An ex-
cuse is made for this error, on the ground
tina. the situation of the mining hosting
works, as now agreed to by the city, ne
cessitates the new map filing. Tho mis-
take, however. consisted IN Ignorance Of
the character of the map required a mis-
take which would not have occurred, if
there had been a proper, careful examina-
ton of the demands Of the United States
laws referred to. This service, besides
being a part Of the City Clerks duty, and
illegally paid Extra compensation for by
the Board, is rated at twice the price it
would have cost had there been no City
Clerk to appropriate the job. One hum
dred dollars would have been a liberal al
lowance for the work, if performed by an
outside party, who was not receiving
$1,000 per annum for performing precise
" such service, as a part Of his duty.
We are informed that there have been
one or two more so-called extra SER
vices" rendered /; for which Mr.. Gillespie
is said to have received a hundred dollars
"extra,"-msking his salary $1,000 in
stead of $500. the ample sum fixed by
the incorpo ration act.
And now, to cap the climax, we have
the following statement in the Enterprises
report, of this morning, OF bills allow
ed" by the Board Of Aldermen, last
night:
"wm. NJ. Gillespie, City Clerk, extra SER
vice Of self and assistant, arranging and
copying original and duplicate Assessment
Roll, $780,"
Here we see that for regular City Clerk
work, there is another "extra" drain.
Of $500.
Under such a system of procedure, we
can not exactly estimate how much more
might have been donated Mr.. Gillespie,
during this Winter; il he was not called
to Carson City to devote himself exclu-
sively, during the Legislative session, to
his duties as Legislative reporter for the
Enterprise. We may remark, that if his
next six months pay accord with the last
half year Of salary, extras and all, he will
have been unlawfully paid $1,000, over
and above his salary. But il is not what
he has or is to get: it is this waste Of
funds-four or five hundred dollars-al-
ready made by the Board, that we notice
with sorrow and censure. II the same
loosene.s obtained in other departments,
in the payment of other officers, we should
o see the city irredeemably swamped.
But here: "extra service Of self and
assistant" What ASSISTANT Who is he:
None other than Mr.. Eddy, one Of the
Board of Aldermen Il is not possible
that he is unaware Of the language Of the
37th section Of the City Incorporation
Act, which reads:
SEC. 81. II any city officer mentioned in
this Act shall become interested, directly or
indirectly, in any contract to which the city
Of Virginia may, directly or indirectly, be a
party, he shall be deemed guilty Of q INSIDE
meanor, and on conviction thereof before any
court OF competent jurisdiction, be punished
BY fine in any sum not exceeding one thou
sand dollars. or BY Imprisonment in the city
Jail for any term not exceeding SIR months,
or by both such fine and imprisonment, in
the discretion Of the court and such officer
shall be liable on his Official bond for the
payment Of such 6ne, and all such contracts
shall be absolutely null and void, TO all in
tents and purposes whatsoever.
Il will be observed that Alderman Eddy
has been guilty Of a misdemeanor. the
penalty for which is $1,000 fine and six
months imprisonment in the city Jail. For
the payment Of this fine. he is liable on his
bond so that if Gi!lespie's extra had
continued up to now for a years term.
the amour, of the misrepresentation might
have been exactly recovered by the city in
a proper criminal prosecution. 1t is
probable that, in view of the present stage
Of "extra" accumulation, a Judge might
fix the fine at $500. which amount re-
,urnad would balance the CITY Treasury