Morning journal and courier., 1891-11-03

uucIo ID Ao oUAkdtlUu SOu tuo pdIb ol uhlo l city or board of public works, but that it was sent here by your yolition and under the conditions just stated by the mayor.
 Mir. Fleming, agent of the Harrisburg l road roller, being present, answered:
 Mr. Fleming-Except that the price was named; there was price named. Other wise it is exactly as his honor states.
 And your committe believe if the board of public works or the committee had pur- chased road roller, no matter what price the Harrisburg company had esked for it, the well known business character of Mayor Sargent would not have permitted him to have paid more than that machine was worth after he had used
 As to that portion of the grievance which deals with the matter of the power of the board or and @ Poad IT roles r for The of new road roller:
 sne ao
 sel, and on the 3d of June, 1891, he rendered his opinion thereon which is hereto annexed and made part of this report, and is new marked To the honorable board of aldermen.
 to DO o yGaE WHn
 order.
 he is hereby directed to submit to this board Tn
 writing on the evening of the 18th of this n month
 his legal opinion as to whether the board of pub
 charter of the city and the appropriations for the
 year 1891, to bargain for, purchase or approve of
 any bill against the roiisy siiiy of New Haven Tor
 That the corporation counsel submit to this
 board on the evening of the 10th copy or ms ms
 last"
 board of public works of said city shall have the
 general superintendsRee management ana 1 con, a,s
 M ef sad csy sha sne the same to be kept, at all times, in good cond1tlon and repair; shall execute all oIaels 4 s,,a oa the court of common council in reference to the. street, sidewalks, crosswalke, bridges, sewers, gutters and parks of said city, and in reference to the laying out and construction or new ones Said board shalI in the month of oc; tober of each year, make out and present to sald
 court an estimate of the expenses or keepnng al pair for the year next ensuing D .,,o board of finance s'in the month of November in each year shall make estimates of the moneys said city for the year next ensuing, and of the rate of taxation required to meet the same; and ate heads and departments, which said estimates shall be submitted to the court Of common council during the first week sssos2fu of the act upon said estimates, and shall, dnring
 praons ea Se of suc6 may seem to be necessary and proper to meet
 he 9f e of prfations for any one year shall not exceed the estimated income for that year, nor shall any aioners of said city make any expenditures, ex- cept for the objects and purposes specified by
 sal any city f. or % department officer or board of commissioners of said city incur any liability
 @ by mt or n o e appropriations so made by said court or common council. In the appropriations made for the department of the hoard of D1bIic works for the year 1851 the following item appears:
 Stone crusher and road roller running oo expenses. s.............. ...Slosooo oo Commissioner Brown in his communication to your honorable board states that "A contract was entered into by and between the board city, by which it was provided that Connor
 city for crushing stone, and receive $125 per ton upon to furnish to the city of New Haven" In that case the board of public works would
 be the m g I
 terms of the above contract, to supply all the | crushed stone which they may be called upon to
 There is no contract for doing. the road roller work, but that is being done under the manage Whether the item of $1O,OO0 must be confined | merely to the expenses of running the roller or
 whether it can be used to purchase new one in in
 purchase second roller in case one roller is not 1 sufficient to do the work of the city, depends I PUCAAo | works in recommending and the intention of the court of common council in mak- ing the appropriation for this item. If 1t was in | tended to cover repairs and renewals of the | crusher, as well as the mere running expenses, l then the board of public works could purchase a roller if one needed to carry out the work 1 ordered to be done by the court of common coun- cil But if, on the other hand, it intended to
 the board of public works could not make the purchase.
 their intention was in asking for this appropria- l tion, and your honorable board can judge what the intention of the court of common council was | in making the appropriation.
 l It will be the duty of the board of public works l to obey any order of the court of common coun-
 eh ie she ha would M that the ! board of public works defer action in regard to the purchase until they have been authorized by l the court of common council.
 A copy of the report to the board of public
 works asked for is hereunto annexed. Respect | fully submitted,
 0. T. DRIscoL14 Corporation Counsel. l And also see the report made by the corpora l tion counsel on the communications made to him | by the board of public works with reference to l whether member of this board has legal | right under the ordinances and charter of the city of New Haven to become so far interested in l contract being executed under the directions
 of this board as to become bondsman for the l contractor to furnish him with supplies for
 the execution of his contract. Which answer l see marked Exhibit e.
 1 EXHIBIT c.
 'The only portion of the city charter relating l ! section 37, and is as follows:
 'There shall be in said city 9 board of public l police commissioner composed of six members, a l board of fire commissioners composed of six
 all of %hHm shall be electors a residing
 of the said police commissioners shall, princi-
 pal, agent or employe, be engaged in
 liquors The mayor of the city shall be ex-offics, | io chairman of said boards and may vote in case
 of a tie, except upon the selection. of voting inc oot6 olfxy andf fNyxrr police commissioners, and the election or ap-
 pointment by ballot or vote of any officer eril-
 boards, or for the dismissal of any such officer or 1 employe No person shall be a member of more
 one sna sad memssq o the eher e o
 boards furnish materials or be employed
 to do any work for said city, nor shall l Der of said boards, except as herenbefore pro- l vided, or be appointed to any office employ
 said boards may elect one of their % number @ to to l preside in the absence of the mayor, and the
 e of and eoune men, and entitled to all the privileges of menl-
 bers of said boards of aldermen and councilmen, | The charter ooes not expressly touch on the question of given bonds or selling materials to
 contractors: The clause relates to employment and furnishing materials and reads, thor shall any member of either of said boards furnish any | materials or be employed to do any work for said l city"
 From this it will be seen that members of the boards of fire and police commissioners, al well | as the members of the board of public works, are 1 thus prohibited.
 | But the prohibition is restricted to furnishing materials and being employed to do any work | for the city There is no prohibition in the char ter or ordinances against members of the boards either giving bonds for selling materials to contractors.
 The doing of either of these things by commis-
 sioners is rather a question of propriety than a question of law.
 Respectfully submitted,
 c. T. DRIscoLL, Corporation Counsel.
 June 3, 1891.
 And as said opinions were unanimously ac- cepted by the board of aldermen June 5, 1891, and ordered on file, and as the corporation coun- it is neither necessary or proper to make any comment upon said opinions except to add, we find no ground for disagreeing from the same. A good deal of desultory talk was indulged in they had against different members of the board of public works, the most of which was listened to by your committee more for the purpose of allowing everybody to tell all he knew or thought he knew about the board
 of public works than for the purpose the complaint, but, after considering all of said | evidence we do not find that any person or per sons had any substantial ground of complaint or l grievance or thought there anything dis ests of the city being done by said board. | It also appeared from the evidence that there was some friction between different members of 1 the board and that some bckerings and ill feel who thought they were in the minority in the distribution of the work within the l control of the board of public works, but we do not find that anything was done | by the majority which had not in fact been done and would not again have been done by such minority mQmhar Tr1a han ftoxy l