The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-09-08

Mmorhs py the contractor snall upPeaF " tlV ulre"tor of public works to be lncompe, tehl or disorderly, he shall be Vschargel Immediately on the reQuisition or the qi- rect9ri and such person shall not asaln De second-"In case of any dispute as to the meaning of this specification, the decision or the director of public works, gwen III Writlng shall be final and conclusive
 Third-,Any work herein specified, when may be fairly implied as Included, in this contract, of which the director or pupilc works shall judge shall be done py the contractor without extra charge
 lt seems to your petitioner that the power placed in the hands of the director or pup nc works by these specifications IS allo- setner too autocratic, and that, Ill the ln- ,!erests Of both the city and the contractor' u should be restricted
 He therefore respectfully asks your hon. oraDle body to order:
 That in all contracts hereafter given out TOT TOT the removal of trees in the city o1 New raven, or for any similar work, the coll tractor shall be empowered to employ such heip as he may see fit, without any power being given to the director of public works to interfere with or discharge such helpi to furnish a bond, or certified check, suIl- cleht III amount to amply secure the city against any loss or damages occasioned by the lncompetency or negligence Of said contractor or any of his employees.
 Also that your honorable body further order:
 That in all contracts hereafter given, out by the director of public works the kind ana amount of work to be done. shall De definitely stated and the time limit def- nitely fxed-from which kind and amount of work and limit of time neither the di- rector of public works nor the contractor snail have power to deviate without Tor feiture of contract-so that every contract or or may be able to figure intelligently on the Work to be done, and so that there may be no opportunity for the granting of spe- clal favors to one contractor more than an other by the director of public works or any Of his subordlnates.
 m the opinion of your petitioner the ad- vertisng for bids on the class of work above mentioned, under the present form or or specillcations, has been simply waste fLo or the me puplie's money; as is proven y by removal of thirty-five trees in various To- cations in the city of New Haven was awarded on tue afternoon of Wednesday, September l, 1897.
 At that time two bids were received: One from the firm of c. W. Blakeslee X Sons, for eight hundred and forty-seven (SS47.00) dollars, and one from Frank Brazos for eight !, hundred and forty ($S4o.OQ dollars difference of only seven $7.00) dollars be- tween the two bids These bids were opened in the presence of the city contro- Ter, city engineer and director of the board of public works, as provided in the charter.
 While the bids were being opened Mir. Charles H; Miller presented his bid, and was told that he was just one minute too
 
 by MT. Miller not knowing that under the provisions of the new charter contractors were required to furnish certified check, instead of a bond, as heretofore, and al though said Miller made all haste to rec tify his mistake, his bid was not received, notwithstanding. the fact that 1t was two hundred and eighty-eight $2ss,00l dollars lower than the lowest bidder. The con tract was awarded to Mr. Brazos.
 The New Haven Street Sprinkling Com pany, of which the firm of Q. w. Blakeslee is the largest stockholder, hires of MT. Bra EOS several watering carts for use in street sprinkling It is hardly reasonable to sup pose that, under the circumstances, en- ployment would be given to anyone com peting against the said firm for city, work. Your petitioner therefore believes that he Is warranted in the belief that MT. Brazos was simply a cover for the firm of c. W. Blakeslee & Sons. lSignedl ANTHONY CARROLL. Ordinance Pension Committee. To the Honorable Court of Common l Council of the City of New Haven:
 Gentlemen: On December 15, 1896, the ] following joint resolution was approved i by His Honor, Mayor Hendrick:
 Ordered, that his honor, the mayor, be authorized to appoint a commission consisting of three persons, to compile the charter and amendments thereto, and revise the ordinances of the City of New Haven, and that such commits sion shall have authority to rearrange the charter and amendments, revise the ordinances, suggesting such changes as they may deem proper, adding thereto such opinions rendered by officials act ing as corporation counsel, for the City of New Haven, as may be of value to the proper authorities in the discharge of their duties, and also prepare in- dexes thereto and report to the court of ble."
 Endorsements.
 Board of aldermen, December 7, 1896, read, accepted and order passed B.
 F. Lyon, city clerk.
 "Board of councilmen, December IA
 1S96 concurred. Edward A. Street,
 assistant city clerk.
 "City of New Haven, December 15, 1896
 approved A. c. Hendrick, mayor. J
 By virtue of said resolution, the un- dersigned were, on December 16, 1896 appointed by his honor, commission to perform the duties therein specified and have since said time been engaged in the performance of said work.
 The commission has collected all the amendments that have been made to the ordinances since the last revision and also all new ordinances passed since that time The number of the same is quite large. The commission has also made a. careful search foI opinions by corporation counsels, for the purpose as indicated in the resolu- tion, but after reading the same through find that but few of them are of value to the authorities, under the existing order of things.
 Having disposed of the foregoing part of it's labors, the commission at once devoted itself to a consideration of what it believed to be the most i'm. portant part of it's duties, viz: the revision of the ordinances and sugges- tions as to such changes as might be deemed proper and necessary. By reason of the adoption Of the new char this part of it's work at once became of more extensive and important char. acter than was i'll contemplation at the time of the passage of the resolution.
 Desiring to make the work thorough and complete, the commission has giver the charter and ordinances most care. ful scrutiny and consideration, to the end that all changes made necessary by the new charter might be made and new ordinances suggested, and to the 1 further end that no other revision oi the ordinances would be necessary fol