The record-union., 1896-04-24
Supervisors.


ing our legislative body, is charged with
the duty and responsibility of making
contracts for the public service, for
which a large part of our revenue is
expended. =
The taxpayers expect them to frame
reasonable ordinances and use good
judgment in handling the public funds.
They are expected to do those things
which conserve the public good, and
none others. The law lays down lust
what they shall do as to the more i'm
portant things, and they should be re-
quired to obey the law
We have found our greatest difficulty
in Investigating county affairs as con-
Quoted by the Board of Supervisors
We find, upon examination of claims
paid by the county for stationery, that
the prices paid in 1895 were greatly in
excess of those paid for the same arti-
cles under the last contract, that of
1893, and we here submit a partial list
showing.
(Here follows list of articles, such
as ink, paper, mucilage, rubber bands
and other office supplies, showing an
increase in prices in 1895 over those of
1899
And so we find that for nearly all the
supplies furnished for the past two
years, which have not been contracted
for, the taxpayers have been paying
these extravagant prices, and this ap-
plies more especially to stationery,
blank books and all forms of job print
ing.
In our investigation we failed to find
member of the Board of Supervisors
who had ever made it his business to see
that the claims We're properly compared
or checked up to prove their correctness
as to prices charged.
We found the practice to have been in
1898 to make contracts for articles that
are never required or used, and then
those supplies in most common use by
the county officers are purchased OF
parties bound by no contract, and in
most cases the county is overcharged
Supervisor Morrison stated, when
called before the Grand Jury, that the
reason why no contracts had been made
for stationery for the past two years
was because the two stationery houses
in Sacramento combined to put up the
prices, and SO far as putting in bids for
stationery were concerned, they were
the same as one house
The Supervisor admitted that al
though the county paid more for these
supplies than they could be bought for
elsewhere, yet he thought 1t the proper
thing to buy them here in Sacramento.
We submit that in view of the state
ment of the Supervisor about our two
stationery houses combining to put the
prices up, and the prices as shown in the
foregoing statement which the county
paid in 1895 over the prices under con-
tract in 1893, the Supervisors policy of
buying here, to say the least, is a
doubtful one.
The Supervisors are required under
Section % Of the County Government
Act to annually advertise for bids and
make contracts for stationery and blank
books, and make schedule and fix prices
for job printing. We found that no con-
tracts had been made since 1893, and no
prices fixed for job printing. They are
also required by law to advertise an
nually for bids and make contracts for
all supplies furnished the county. We
found the following supplies had not
been contra cted for, according to the
law, or at all, to wit:
Stationery, potatoes, butter, eggs, fish,
milk, lard, wood, coal, lumber, hard
ware, tinware, crockery, dry goods.
clothing, shoes, blankets, spreads, to-
bacco, whisky, hay, grain, blacksmith
ing, horse-shoeing and drugs for the
City Dispensary.
These supplies are purchased in large
quantities by members of the board. or
on their orders, and aggregate several
thousand dollars more than half the
cost of all supplies used during the year
In allowing claims there has been
carelessness and utter disregard of the
interest of the taxpayers. For instance,
when claims are presented the title and
amounts only are read, and the Super
visor who ordered the goods or the
work allows them, without examining
them to ascertain whether or not they
are correct as to the prices charged.
The reason for transacting the busi-
ness in this manner was given by mem
bers of the board that it was because
they found it done that way when they
became members of the board
Three Supervisors stated to the Jury
that they knew the county's business
was being transacted in a careless
slip-shod manner" but they did it that
way all the same.
The work done on the public roads is
not performed in systematic. bust
ness-like manner, and the quality and
amount of work not commensurate with
the cost to the county. The responsi-
bility is often left with the laborers who
do the work.
The expenditure for labor and mate
rial for the public roads is more than
tie income for the fiscal year. This
applies more especially to Road Dis
tricts Nos. 4 and 5, as shown in this
report.
The Grand Jury found one instance
where few men were engaged in do
ing work on a public road and an over
seer was hired to ride around with horse
and cart to superintend the work. I'm
der the law in regard to work on the
public roads, this practice is wrong. as
the supervision of all road work should
be performed by the Road Commits
sioner.
We also found that a great deal of
work has been done by parties who hire
teams and wagons of one of the SUPER
visors, who is a Road Commissioner.
and in some instances their claims for
such work have been assigned to the