The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-02-03
AN INTERESTING CASE.
From the wilkes-Barre Record.

From the Wilkes-Barre Record.
That school boards and similar bodies
should never act in matters of import
anCe to the people without having first
had the benefit of sound legal advice has
just been illustrated in the case of the
board of school directors of old Forge
township, Lackawanna county. Last
summer the board decided that the dis
trict was in need of handsome and eX-
pensive new school building. They forth
with secured plans, advertised for bids,
awarded the contract for the erection Of
the building, and then proceeded to make
provision to raise the money to pay for it,
The sum required was $4,000, and it was
proposed to bond the district for that
amount. In the meantime the contractor
had gone to work, put in the foundation
and was getting along rapidly with the
superstructure, when the board was con-
fronted. with an injunction restraining
them from issuing bonds The decision
in the case making permanent the i'll
junction, was handed down by Judge
Gunster of the Lackawanna county court
on Saturday. 1t atiirms that under the
act of assembly of June l3, 1874, the board
cannot issue these bonds, as it would Gre
ate an Indebtedness of the district in eX-
cess of the legal limit, and the assent of
the voters of the district had not been
first secured.
%
As the new building is far advanced
toward completion the board owes the
contractor nearly the full amount called
for by the contract, and has no resources
in sight to meet this just Indebtedness We
do not know whether or not the Old Forge
I. directors had taken legal advice before en-
tering upon this new building and bond
project, but it is evident if they did their
counsel was Incompetent 1t is an untor-
tunate muddle in many ways. The dis
trict needs the school building for the ac-
| commodation of the children; the direc-
tors have contracted an obligation which
| they are unable to discharge; and the con-
| tractor. who undertook the work in good
| faith, is many thousands of dollars out
| of pocket; all because the board of direc-
| tors failed to take legal advice or EN-
ployed an incompetent attorney to advise
| them.
o
There ought to be some way out of
| this unortunate muddle by which no in
| justice will be done any interest involved.
| School boards and similar bodies would
| do well to guard against being caught in
| the same kind of trap. one safe way is
| to procure the means before contracts are
| entered into The law as eXpOunded by
| Judge GunSter is a good ana necessary one
| for the protection of property owners ana
| taxpayers against excessive taxation to
| pay indebtedness eXtraVagantly incurred.
| TO secure the assent of the electors TO
| increase the Indebtedness of the district
| will probably be the next step taken, but
| here also difficulty confronts the direc-
| tors of Old Forge. inasmuCh as the people
| of a populOus part of the township are
| petitioning the court for the erection of
| a borough, ana as they will nave a school
| building of their own to erect they Will he
| likely to vote against an increase of the
Indebtedness of the old district. The case
| is a highly interesting one, especially to
the old Forge school directors and the
| contractor.