Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-05-09
BOARD Or EDUCATION

of tho School Funds-The Contracts for
the Fourth Ward School.
The board of education held meeting
last night, with the following results:
MR.. ROCKIES REPLY.
At the last meeting of the board, Mr..
Gilbert made statement, the substance of
which was that Mr.. Roche had sold the
bonds of tbs board to the amount of $50
900, without authority, and the board called
on Mr.. Roche to explain. That gentleman
accordingly sent in the following commu-
nication, which was read
CoMPTRoLLER's OFFICE, Cry HALL,
ST.. PAUL, May s, 1888. !
To the Board of Education of the city of
st. Paul:
GENTLEMEN-Under a resolution of your
honorable body, passed at the last regular
meeting, requesting the city comptroller
to report by what authority he sold the
NJ, five per cent. school bonds to Kountze
Brothers, at par,respectfulIy reports as fol-
lows:
The finance committee of the board were
authorized to negotiate the bonds. After
the committee exhausted all endeavors, by
advertising and receiving no bids, and con
sulting with bankers, brokers and Iothers,
one month having past, Mr.. Gilbert, the
chairman of the committee, called at my
office at O'Clock p. m. Saturday, April Z,
and wished to know if the faith and credit
of the city of Saint Paul were irrevocably
pledged for the payment of the principal
and interest of the school bonds, and if so,
to give him certificate to that effect, as
he wished to give it to E. II. Bailey, ESQ.,.
cashier of First National Bank, for Kountze
Bros. At the same time Mr.. Bailey was
having prepared by Judge Young, all pa
pers relating to the city bonds such as
resolutions of council, certified copies of
laws, etc, and an opinion as to the validity.
of the bonds. then asksd Mr.. Gilbert,
the chairman, to allow me to offer the
bonds to Kountze Brothers, at the same
price as paid for the city bonds,
being 1 5-32 per cent. premium.
He consented. telegraphed accordingly
and received in reply ''too high" then
consulted with City Treausrer Refs, as no
tine was to be lost, and concluded to tele-
graph upon my own responsibility that
they could have the bonds at spar" which
was accepted by Kountze Brothers. 1 i'm
mediately notified Secretary Donnelly,
who telephoned to Mr.. Gilbert, he par
offer, advising the finance committee to
accept it. Later in the day called upon
Mr.. Gilbert at his Office, and after some
consultation, he remarked ''alI right" 1
then bowed out. The probability is, that
if the bid had been rejected by the
| finance committee the bonds would have
fallen below par, and would be yet I'M
sold.
The finance committee should have re-
ported to your honorable body that they
sold the bonds to Kountze Brothers at
'.par," in place of the report condeming
my action.
Iconsider Mr.. Gilbert too honorable a
gentlen an to make an intentional mistake,
and can only attribute the misunderstood
ing to the elapse of time. Very respect
fully, JOHN W. ROCHE,
City Comptroller.
After the reading of the above Mr.. Gil
bert stated that he did not wish to prolong
the controversy with Mr.. Roche, and that
he had no feeling whatever upon the sub
ject. He would say, however, that the
bonds were not sold by his consent or au-
thority, bat wholly without either, and
Mr.. Roche was mistaken when he stated
the contrary. The communication was
laid on the table.
FINANCIAL MATTERS.
MIR. Roche sent in two other communi-
cations on financial matters. In one of
these papers he says that he returns to the
board the contracts of Trick & Co. for the
construction of the Fourth ward school
building, $1O,995; Trick s. Co. addition to
Lincoln school, 1927 Trick & Co. ad-
dition to Van Buren, school, $4,000;
making a total of S33 200, for
the reason that by law
cash contract cannot be made unless there
are funds IN the treasury to pay the esti-
mites as they come due. He says that as the
funds in the treasury mostly belong to the
high schoolfund, and as the faith and cred
it of the city Of st. Paul, must be kept
lnviolate, and the probability that pay
ments can not be made before July and
October next, the contract can not be
countersiened. He further says that thirty
thousand dollars is the estimated limit in
the present tax leay in course of collection
for new school buildings which will be-
more them absorbed by the above con-
tracts.
This being the statement of the case
as made by the comptroller the
board proceeded to consider the
the matter with a view to ascertaining
what would be the best course to take with
reference to the contractors. After talking
Ine sup1ecJ over while IL was at last con-.
Guided to refer the whole matter to the
committee on property, the attorney and
the comptroller for consideration.
THE HIGH SCHOOL FUND.
The other communication OF Mr.. Roche
showed the balance of cash on hand yes
terday morning to the credit of the school
treasury to be $46,O35.32, belonging to the
following funds: high school fund, S37,-
697; interest fund, $2,122.71; general fund,
$6,215.61. Total, $46,O35.32. Mr.. Roche
also gave high school statement which
showed that the contracts already entered
into for the High school were $172 in ex-
cess of the legislative appropriation.
MISCELLANEOUS.
DR.. Schiffman reported that portion of
the wall of the Van Buren, school was set
thing, and on his motion the matter was
referred to the committee on property
with power to act.
1t was determined to put temporary
fence around the Garfield school.
Look out for large lot of furniture on Satur-
dav at Kayanagh's auction sale stand corper ofs