The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-09
Supervisors Accused Of Undue
Profigacy With Public
Moneys.
FUNDS ILLEGALLY DRAWN.
Contracts Let to Members of the
Board at Exorbitant
Prices.

PHOENIX, ARIZ., Dec. 8.-Official cir
cles of Maricopa County have been shaken
from center TO circumference by Grand
Jury report which has just been made pub
lie. Various officers of the county have
been censured for violations of the law,
and the investigating body's findings are
of nature that leads to serious charges
against the Board of Supervisors. consist
ing of Captain W. L. George, J. 7. Priest
and w. A. Klmball. These gentlemen are
strongly censured for the profigate free
dom with which they handled the public
funds, paying to themselves exorbitant
sums for county work, or to outsiders to
whom contracts were awarded.
The report opens by stating that the
Grand Jury has been petitioned by many
taxpayers to relieve the county and
Territory from excessive and unIaw-
full charges made by their officers
for services rendered. The report
of the committee on investigation of the
county Supervisors follows. This COM
mittee censures the Supervisors for extrav-
agance and improvidence, speaks of their
having let contract for building the Jail
to st. Louis company, which award was
contrary 10 law, and declares that had the
law been obeyed several thousand dollars
would have been saved the county and the
appearance of jobbery avoided. The COM
mittee finds that $3.50 a month is being
paid to take care of Jail costing $4,000,
which has been pronounced absolutely
safe, and that the guards employed are
deputies of Sheriff l.. H. Orme, who peck
cts their fees.
Continuing the report states that the
Supervisors let road.repairing contract
to j. I. Priest, the chairman of the board,
and Mr.. Priest gave work to all the teams
that Captain George, another member of
the board, could supply, and $1,000 was ex-
pended, while civil engineers say that
$500 would have been very liberal pay for
the amount of work done. This road was
commenced for the express purpose of
giving work to the deserving poor, who
got but $3.50 of the large sum expended.
The report declares that the road business
of the county has been conducted in a
most extravaganza and wasteful manner;
that no regular amount is allowed for men
or teams, and that sums ranging from
$3.50 to $500 per day have been paid in
parallel instances. Extravagant amounts
for materials have been constantly allowed,
thus exhausting the road fund without
good results.
The committee declares that the board
has allowed large amount of road funds,
and recommends that the Supervisors be
held personally responsible for same
under their bonds. They have allowed an
amount for indexing names in the Recor-
der's Office, under the terms of which an
ordinarily skillful copyist could make $26 q
day, and $500 has been illegally expended
in this way. The board has allowed $1053
to its members illegally, and the accounts
for this year have been very loosely kept.
Public service would be benefited by q
change of the deputy clerk. J. T. Priest
drew q total of $l234, which amount was
illegal. and the committee recommends
that it be recovered to the county.
The investigating committee censures
the board of control for its Iooseness in
administration of the Territory's affairs,
and accuses it of having paid $500 for a
tract of land, for which the owner re-
ceived but $3.50. It finds that the contract
for repairing the insane asylum was let
for $672. but that the contractor was paid
1922 for damage the building sustained
while in the course of construction, which
extra allowance was in violation of ex-
plicit law on the subject.
After finding several other departments
all right, the Grand Jury brought its
labors to close, but the people who pay
the bills want to know why somebody was