Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-05-19
STATEMENT OF P. R. BEcKIEY.

1879 relative to the President of Boards OF
Supervisors, viz: .In addition to the fees al
lowed by ]a#, the Board of Supervisors are
hereby authorized TO allow to the President OF
the Board compensation not exceeding So
for each day necessarily employed when said
Board ia not in session provided, however.
that ssid per diem shall not exceed so in
any one month" They claim that under
cover Of this provision the President has been
allowed s25 per month IN addition to ms SAL
airy, without any showing OF how ne was &C,
tually engaged. The PRESIDENT Oh ene oos ds
ia necessarily employed even more escn
month than the five days referred to IN the
section. It is well known fact that all the
members of the Board of Supervisors. With
the exception OF the President, are members
of the Finance Committee. They were advised
upon what was the proper construction OF the
section referred to, and it was their duty TO
pass upon all the demands referred TO, py
this isw.construirg Grand Jury. asked
for no moro than wss NY legsl due, ana the
Board was fully aware of the business and
lsgality of my claims, and consequently they
we're allowed. Furthermore, all OF my pre-
decessors had received as President Of the
Board the same salary. During the time
served il tbs Board Messrs. Harry Seymour,
Daniel Mason, L. Elkus. S. B. Moore, Dan
lei Brown and j. W. Wilson served as Pres
ident. They pat in their demands for the
same sslary, in the same manner as L dld,
and it was paid them, and who viii say that
thess gentlemen are, or were, BOT good CHI.
Fans snd honorable rnen?' They thought
it right, proper, and in accordance with law
to put ia their demands for this amount, and
that fieht has never been questioned until
this aFour Months Grand Jury took upon
themselves Judicial robes and interpreted the
laws as they have never been before inter-
preted. 1t has never been asked, tquired,
or even thought necessary, that the President
of the Board should itemize his demand for
his monthly salary of 1925 any more than the
members Of ihs Board make an isemized
demand for their monthly salary Of 500.
They charge that Beckley fought SO worth
Of lumber from the county and did not pay
for it until some time afterwards. | would
not answer such trifirg charge were it not
for the purpose OF showing to he public the
anirnus OF some of the members OF the late
Grand Jury, and which, il had more space
at my command, could tnore fully show.
They have tried by this 20 SHOW that there
was in this sale of lumosr an attempt 20 COM
NIT fraud or swindie the county. The Nc.
Mapus brick building, out of which the lum-
Der referred to came, was advertised Co be
sold to Il ehighest bidder. 1t was fe that the
highest bidder (H. s. Besls) would not get it
off the lot 10 time to commence the eenstEuc-
ton OF the Hall of RscordF, and the Board
concluded not TO sell, aad put the chain-gang
to work tearing it down. Bsals' bid for the
building was S2S7. The county used brick
enough to build the wall or the Hall of
RECORDS lot and sold the remainder to Mr.
Henley for 1892 30, and the SIS they re-
ceived for the lumber makes S457 80, showing
ola naiu to no MI Nv fiji, cf;0r Of
the Board in refusing 20 sell to the highest
bidder, S170 so. TIE lumber wss variOusly
estimated TO be worth from $50 TO 500, end
told the Board IL they could do no better L
would give them $50 for it. The entire
Board agreed it was q good bargain and
accepted the offer. I can furnish abundance
Of evidence that the lumber was worth no
more.
Another charge is that claims were allowed
by the Board that were not itemizsd, in di-
rect violation of the law. 1t is the duty Of
the Finance Committee to examine into the
legality of every claim, itemizsd or not.
They have full power to allow or reject. L
presume they did this on each and every de-
mand. | am confident that no demand was
ever allowed by them that they did not know
in fact, did not have positive evidence of its
correctness.
This Grand Jury repeatedly asserts thst
EUS lJOhIu StI1HSO ~ many
and yet they, noc their experts, have not sin
gled out one of Sbe many referred to, which
they can prove YVES illegal, or for which the
county Of Sacramento has not had value re-
ceived. They refer to the claim allowed J.
T. brennan, for the expeuse of the tip down
the Sacramento river. The expense referred
to was Incurred as follows The Board
of Supervisors learned that The
food had destroyed the levess and
roads along the river below the city, render
ing them wholly impossible. even to citizens
on horseback. It will be remembered that
there were large washouts On nearly every
farm, and the destruction Of property by the
ravsges os the food had decreased the value
of property in that section many thousands
of dollars. The Board, under che existing
circumstances, not only considered il their
right. but duty, to go and see what could
be done, and see especially the amount of
damage done to property, for taxable pur-
poses, the time OF making the assessment be-
ing near at hand. The Board procured from
Governor Perkins a small steamer, free of
charge, and went down the river almost 60
Isletor, AMI were gone two days. We
were accompanied by General r. L. Sheehsn,
r. J. Merkley, County Assessor Houston,
County Clerk Bsrkey and quito runlber of
others. 1t was for the actual expenses of
that unpleasant trip that tho Board is
charged with an Illegal bill OF SI07 so. ANY
of the gentlemen mentioned who accom-
panied the Board can testify as TO whether it
was business trip or 2 picnic, or whether
this demand of S107 80 is one Of which the
Board need feel ashamed
Ia regard to tie Board repairing bridges
without advertising The Board visited what
is known as Hicks t1idges tsliuied to by
Grand Jury) found it was absolutely neces-
sary that they should be repaired and put in
coed order. The Road Committee was SUI
thorizad TO have an investigation made as to
the probable cost, and Messrs. earle & Croly
went with the Chairman Of the committee
and made a thorough examination OF all tie
bridges (seven in number), after which they
reported 60 the Board that portion of the
lumber could be used in their reconstruction,
bat were unable to determine dow much. In
view Of the above the Board determined to
employ parties whom they knew to be per-
fectly responsible to put the bridges in good
repair. thereby getting more durable job
done than they could have by advertising I
believe now, as / did then, fron tie thorough
manner in which the repairs wers made, that
we acted for the best interest Of the county.
The above statement viii apply to the Nc
Cabe bridge, also the bridges en- the Lagoon,
repaired by Mr. Sawyer (See report OF The
Grand jury I herewith append the letter
addressed by him to tie Board IN relation TO
that work
CALF, October Q, 1882.
Mr. Beckley-Deur Sir: 1 have been over to the
Lagoon bridges and examined them. ad that two
OF them want planking new, as the old ones are
nearly worn through would take up the old
plank and put them on top Then all three OF them
will want two sets of new stringers, and two beat5
Will have to be all new. The bents all good but
one, which will have to be replaced with a new one
II viii take II 900 feet OF lumber, which viii cost
S27 pr thousand on the ground, and about 500
pounds OF nails and probably about 500 for labor
II you can do that much let me know ut once, and
vii 90 to work on them right away. Yours,
]. II. SAWYER.
In conclusion, don't believe the Board, or
any member thereof. believed, they were
openly violating any law. Nor do 1 so be-
lieve nov, the much-cireuiated and vol
luminous decision of the great legal talent of
the late Grand jury to the contrary notwith-
standing. P. r. BEcKLEY.