Omaha daily bee., 1890-06-08
COUNTY HOSPITAL CONTRACTS.
Majority and Minority Reports of the Com
mittee on Construction.
A BIG CUT IN THE GRADING BILL
The Balance Due Ryan & Walsh Fixed
at St7,O5t t.5T-Another Long
and stormy Session Of the
Commissioners.


coran 81. Sam Chambers 81, and John Cor
man 81, for witness fees in the investigation
Of Mount IL Grifiin's coal bill.
Mr.. Berlin moved that these three names
be stricken from the list. No second being
received, the chairman called Mr.. Turner to
the chair and seconded the motion in order
to bring the matter before the board.
Mr.. O'Keeffc objected to this and moved to
amend by putting the street on its passage as
read.
Mr. Berlin said the attendance Of these
witnesses had not been requested by the
board, and, while the amount involved was
small it would be establishing a bad prece-
dent The witnesses on the other side of the
case had not been paid by the board, but if
these bills were allowed these other witnesses
could bring in their bills also.
Mr.. O'Kceffe took the floor and reiterated
his oft-rcpeatcd statement that the board was
continually doing things which it had no
right to do
Mr.. Anderson said the county attorney had
said these claims were illegal and the board
had no right to pay their bills.
Mcssrs OiKeeffe and Anderson had a
warm little spat over the records of the
board. The latter said the records of the
board in the years past were silent as the
grave on the amounts paid out on the hospital
contract
Things waxed very warm and the air was
suphurOuS for few minutes, as these two
old war horses raked up the records of the
past and accused one another of a variety of
CrOokcdnesS
Peace finally settled down on the scene and
Mr.. O'Keeffe's amendment to put the appro-
priation sheet on its passage as read, was
called for
Mr.. Turner became hopclessly entangled in
parliamentary rules and called for advice on
all sides. He finally decided that he would
put the amendment first and it was carried.
l1l. dad
the quondam chairman said he didn't see no
use votin' on the same thing agin.n
Matters were finally Strengthened out and
the appropriation sheet was carried as orig
inally read
The county clerk requested permission to
employ seven extra clerks to make up the tax
list for 1890. These books must be prepared
for the treasurer by October and the clerk
stated that the work was fully one-third more
this year than last. On motion of Mr.. Corri-
gan the request was granted
Peter Martin kicked against paying tax on
three dogs, and swore that he mad never
owned Il dog in his life The finance COM
mittce will wrcstle with the dog question.
The contract with Eli johnson for running
county grader was signed and the bond
approved
The county engineer submitted profile of
LeavenWorth street as directed by the board
last Monday, showing the amount of dirt to
be moved in grading that street east of the
LeavenwOrth street park.
On motion of MIR. O'keeffe the matter was
referred to the city engineer with request
to establish the grade of this street so that
change would not be likely to be in IA year or
So Mr.. O'Kecffc remarked that the county
might pay the city's share of the cost of
grading, but he wanted the matter fixed so
that the grade could not be changed.
The bills of the three assistant county at
torneys for May were presented and referred
to the finance committee.
A report of the committee on bridges, which
cd hat hr cont, ,,t
for constructing the sewer on g street, west of
South Omaha, be awarded to T.. j. Brennan
The finance committee reported in favor of
reducing the coroners bill for April by strik-
ing out 50 for swearing witnesses. The re-
port was adopted. The bill for May was al
lowed i'll full, having no such item.
The bills of Drs. Rosewater and Baldwin
for post-mortcm examinations We're allowed
to the extent of S25 each.
The report of the finance committee on the
insurance on the hospital building was
adopted, giving each of the following
agents insurance to the amount of
five years w. j. Mount, Home insurance
company of Omaha; Murphy & Lovett, Hart
ford and Etna of Hartford; Olsen 4 Macleon,
Rockford, H.; II. E. Palmer & Son, Cont
mental, New York; c. Kaufman, Connecticut
of Hartford; NJ. r. Rsdon, United Firemen
of Philadelphia; Webster u Howard, Ger
mania OF New York; Martin x Perfect Nor
witch Union of England and Underwriters of
NEW 1Ofk, w llllilIlS ~ Burns, NeDftlSka
Fire, Nebraska; Howell Il McShane, Phoenix
of Hartford Nichol Brothers & Hall, London
and Lancaster, and Home, New York; Ring
walt Brothers. Eagle Fire, New York;
Wheeler & Wheeler, Omaha of Omaha; Kill
kenny " Bray, Michigan Fire and Marine,
Detroit and Glcns Falls. The total amount
OF the insurance was $50, 900.
The contract between the board and f. j.
Brennan for constructing the sewer in Q
street west of South Omaha at 81 33 per
linear foot was ordered signed
The board then took u recess TO make up
the report on the hospital.
The committee on construction was called
to order by Chairman Okeeffe, who pre-
sented statement he had prepared, finding
the amount due the contractors TO be $lT,-
95l.5'. This amount was figured as follows
Amount Of general contract. .$l2O,03 90
Gnadingg dhn ga1IeS anG excavation 1881 1881 %
Total ........... sl47 1866 g2
Paid on general contract. Sl01, ,1S5 40
4" for grading and excavatlng .... 1921 10
Balance $Ss &
OF this amount he stated that the CON
tractors had been allowed $la,2Sll0, at the
rate of 30 cents per yard for grading, which
amount he claimed should have been only -
cents per yard, making S5,320l0 which had
been overpaid on the item of Sl9,2Sl 10 for
grading. Deductiug this, there remained
Sl1,95l 81 still due the contractors.
As soon as this report was read Mr. Ander-
son read long history of the records of the
commissioners bearing upon the famous
grading vouchers, showing each voucher
which had been paid the contractors, by
whom signed, and for what purpose drawn
During the reading of this statement
Messrs. Turner and O'Keehe kept up IA
running fire of sarcastic remarks bearing
upon the question.
Mr. Anderson claimed that the contractors
had been paid $50, SS0,25 for grading up to
1885, while an estimate purported to show
that they had only received Sli,39716. He
dilated upon this for over an hour during
which the entire listing of the hospital was
ralSed over, The last grand jury and various
other things came in for consideration
MIR, Berlin wanted to know If there was a
contract for grading at % cents.
Mr. O'Keeffe said he had always
claimed there was, but when MIR
Anderson demanded the contract,
O'Keeffe angrily demanded to know
where O hundred other contracts
We're of which there was no record. He said
he had always claimed the contractors should
only have had 25 cents for grading, but the
other two commissioners on the old board had
always claimed they We're entitled to IS cenls
per yard, but the court was the only body
which could settle the matter.
Mr.. Berlin requested TO be Informed as to
some of the details in the matter, but MIR
O'kpeffe lost his temDpr and eNDrpSSpQ him