The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-02-20
THE PROBING BEGUN
COMMISSIONER Russo TELLS LITTLE
Of THE BOARDS DoINGs.
Night of the school Board In
vestigatfon.

with stenogra pher. The first witness
Mr.. Russo, member OF the board and chair
man of the committee on finance. Mr..
Moore did the questioning at first and other
members took a turn at plying some inter
rogatories w. t. Brown, who was re-
tanned by the committee to assist it in Sc
curing evidence none of the committee be-
ing familiar with the subject and
all being nonresidents, prompted Chair
man Moore, who also had printed list
of typewriter questions. The sum of the
information received from Mr.. Russo and
Miss Ridenour, the assistant secretary, the
only two witnesse examined. does not ex-
coed that which is familiar to every citi-
zen of Indianapolis who has watched the
course of events in school board affairs.
Mr.. Russo testified as TO the practice of
the board in making temporary loans say
ing that the board had found it necessary
to do so to keep it's treasury supplied with
funds for current expenses for eight or
ten years past, according to his informa-
ton. 1t was the practice, he said, when he
came into the board. He described the
method of securing loans saying it was Gus
tomary both to advertise for money in the
newspapers and also to send a circular let
ter directly to the banks and trust COM
panies, as we'll as to others supposed to
have money to loan. Such loans he said,
usually run for from three to six months.
Whom it customary to serve with
notices outside of banks?" was asked
THE county treasurer, the State treas
urer and the trust companies" was the re-
ply. 1.-THE notice was sent usually by mail
When small loans were to be made we
did not always send out notices. These
loans were for sums needed to supply
deficiency existing when payments must be
made. For large loans we always used the
newspapers"
Mr.. Russo explained that the last loan
was secured from the Merchants National
Bank. 1t was for $3.50, 600, and was secured
at 50 per cent. The money was advertised
for, he said, but the only bid offered was
that of the Merchants National Bank 1t
made in January and runs until June
80. The proceeds We're used to pay off other
temporary loans. He said he thought the
money is deposited in Frenzers bank, but
that was matter Of the. treasurer's bust
ness. He explained that the board has four
funds-the special, the tuition, the Manual
Training School and the library fund. The
board, he said, acted on the belief, based
upon the legal opinion of its attorneys. that
the money in one fund cannot be trans
ferred to that of another and cannot be
borrowed from that of another He said this
is not matter of rule made by the board,
what is the Indebtedness of the board?'
TT is about $4,000, exclusive of the tenn
porary loans. These amount to about $751;,
holds. the notes and obliga tons of the board.
He denied that he had ever heard that
per cent. which cost the board more
The committee next touched upon the
building of the library. The witness said
that when he entered the board, the build
ing was under roof. We had not seen the
contract, he said, and when the committee
Oh buildings and grounds had audited
counts and drawn warrants his committee
honored the draft. The work of caring for
the building devolved upon the s eomm d1s
missioner Leoper is chairman and the
architect. He said he had heard that some
changes had been made in the plans of the
building. Mr.. Moore attempted to draw out
of the witness what his duties we're in re-
that each committee had its own work and
that other committees did not interfere,
and from the witnesses IL replies b s not much much
mittees di. He said he thought it was from
six to eight months after the time of the
that the board. was able to use 1t. In the
meantime rent was paid for the old build
ing and when the time came to settle with
IT they failed to complete it within the
s tine e ha
had to be made in the plans and that the
contractors had suffered from strikes. The
was forced to stand q forfeit Of s4os or $500
for failure to fulfill the contract. This firm
to get the witness to acknowledge that it
was fourteen months that the board was
KEPT KEPT out Of the building AFTER the specifies
not think it was so long. The board was
paying $500 a month rent during this time.
He said the chairman of the committee on
buildings and grounds made no complaint
to the board on account of this.
questions concerning the Ricketts, pur-
chase. He explained that the cost of the
property was 100000. payable after fifteen
ton had been called to the desirability of
the board having this property. in connec-
tendent Jones, who was urging the board to
add to the facilities of the high school, He
said the property had been appraised by
reai-estate men, and by some prominent
citizens o ss d property in o the r.
gained from the witness except that he
thought the, property worth $4,000. Mr..
little personal investigation of the value of
the property, and accepted the estimates
of property in the vicinity, without much
question. He said no effort IT had been made
to have the offer OF 5000 reduced fa as y
of v; Il Malott and J s; Cruise =. A aues so
ADVERTISEMENT was made for the purpose of
securing a loan upon the ground in order
ness testified to the opposition in the board.
saving that the vote stood seven TO TOUR
w purchase
Miss Ridenour the assistant secretary,
was next put upon the stand. The COM
mittee gained some insight into the financial
condition of the board for several years.
and went into detail about the
record of the past three years.
as to receipts and expenditures. Miss
Ridenour explained that the board had con-
t,nually beet short in ready funds since
the High School was built in 1886, when
time warrants had to be issued. This was
due to the change in the office Of city treas
urer the county treasurer being made the
CITY treasurer A different time for tax pay
ing resulted and the board had to borrow SO
bridge over the deficiency Then the de-
mand for more school houses became so
serious that it was decided that the board
had the right to its credit and 1T has
been borrowing ever since, being in debt in
temporary loan most all of the time. Speak
ing of securing loans by advertising, she
said there was usually only one bid and
seldom more than two. The committee
sought to learn something of the interest
account on the funds in bank, but the
witness said she had no knowledge of any
interest account, and did not know whether
the treasurer draws interest or not None
is credited to the boards account. This
matter she said, is. under the repeated
opinions of the boards attorneys COM
PEELED to remain in the treasurer's hands on
the alternative of the invalidating his
bond She said she supposed ii was the
fact that Mr.. FrenZel is personal friend
of Mr.. Adam that caused the treasurer to
chanpe the arro,lut from FIatcher'S Rank