The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-12-09
Up TO The MAYOR.
Board Of Finance ConCurs
in Water Specifications
and Pushes Them
Along.
TO VETO OR SIGN BY DEC. 10.
Officials Determined to Issue a
Call for a New Supply
Early in 1898.
Els HONOR'S HEW OBJECTIONS.
Mayor Hoos Transmits One of Mr..
Croes' obstructive Reports to
the Financiers.
RIS HOEoR's HEW OBJECTIONS.

The Board of Finance last night con-
CURED in the resolution of the Board OF
Street and Water Commissioners order
ilS TO be advertised the plans and speci-
fications for a new water supply, which
are practically the same as those recent
ly vetoed by Mayor Hoos. AS the situa-
ton is at present the Boards of Finance
s and Street and Water Commissioners
have united to push the water question
to head for the reason, they say, that
they don't see the necessity for dilly dali
lying or sIilly shallying.
The resolution book of the Finance
Board went to Mayor Hoos today for
his 81. nature, and with it certified
copy, and then from the time he re-
ceives that he will have ten days in which
either to veto, approve or allow to be-
come operative by inaction. At the next
regular meeting of the Board the matter,
in whatever form it is, will come up and
under the rules will go over for two weeks
when the Finance Board. if His Honor
vetoes the concurrent resolution, will over
ride it. Then the plans and specifications
will be advertised in ''The News and
bids will be received. The Mayor, how
ever, has the final say before q contract
can be awarded.
A few minutes after President Henry
Brautigam had called the Board to order
last night Clerk Martin Finck opened a
long envelope, saying as he did so:-
Communication from His Honor the
Mayor
Read it, exclaimed Mr.. Brautigam,
settling himself in his chair and casting
a comic glance at his colleagues, Messrs.
R. Simpson, J. S. Bailey, Henry L. Kel-
lers and w. F. Midlige, each Of whom
assumed an attitude of very interested at
tention. Corporation Counsel Blair and
Corporation Attorney Douglass, with Jus
tice ]. Nevin, were also there and equally
interested in what Mr.. Finck had to read.
The letter was as follows:-
JERSEY CITY, December s, 1897.
To the Honorable the Board of Finance
Gentlemen-The Board Of Street and
Water Commissioners having passed, with
a single alteration. the specifications for
a new water supply recently vetoed, and
their resolution being now in your hands,
I am induced to notice report made
by four members of your Board and
given publication in the daily press. 1t
says that to confine the bidding to Plan
"A'' would prevent competition with the
East Jersey Water Company. This sug-
gestion is sufficient, if true; but it is
met by the fact that Plan "A' is the
only one inserted in previous specifica-
tions, and that the bidding under those
specifications was not confined to the
East Jersey Company. If it was the in
tention of those who adopted those speci-
fications to so confne the bidding, it was
not successful. 1 have no prejudice for
or against this company, and would GER
tainly veto any award of a contract if
there was only one bonafide bidder.
Your insistment upon the clause con-
cerning abandonment of contract is
sufficient evidence that you have been
poorly advised. The city could not, upon
abandonment of the work by the con-
tractor, undertake the completion of it
as provided in this section While under
obligations for your view of what ''the
merest tyro in law knows about this pro-
vision L must confess my doubt that
you consulted lawyer before expressing
this opinion. And you say, the section
is the one usually inserted in city con-
tracts for improvements. If the city was
contracting for the construction of water
works, the provision might be well
enough; but the city is happily wholly
WlllOuL pO@6I " COilp1clt WI n9 epeAt-
doned by a contractor. This contract is
to be for a supply of water, not for the
construction of works. Upon this and
other points in the report of your COM
mittee, however, I prefer to let a third
party speak. and therefore append a copy
of report made by j. James r. Croes,
Esq, Civil Engineer, to whom the speci-
fications were submitted. I preferred to
avoid the publication of the criticism of
Mr.. Croes, hoping that a suggestion of
his objections might lead to alteration of
the specifications, but your assumption
of conclusive knowledge renders publica-
ton necessary. His report is as follows:-
RELATING TO JERSEY CITY WATER
CONTRACT
JERSEY CITY, October g. 1887.
To His Honor Edward Hoos, Mayor of
Jersey City, N J:-
SiI-f have examined with care, the
specifications for a new water supply for
Jersey City. which you placed in my
hands, with a request for my opinion as
to their adaptabifity for the purpose for
which they were intended, viz: the Sc
curing from responsible contractors of
proposals for furnishing an ample supply
of the best water on the most economical
terms to the city.
The first specification is limited to the
furnishing of a supply by gravity from
sources sufficiently elevated to deliver
the water al 127 feet or 210 feet above
tide level. The water is to be delivered in
the condition in which it may be at the
time, in storage reservoirs in which it
has been collected, and is only required
to 'sbe pure and wholesome for drinking
The area of water shed required. the
amount of storage necessary to be pro-
vided the dimensions of the conduits.
the character of the materials and work.
mansllip demanded, are all very fully and
explicitly set forth in the specifications
which on careful examination appear to