The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-27
CHARTER COMMISSION ADOPTS
SECTIONS RELATING TO SURE
TIES OF CITY OFFICIALS.
COMPANIES AS BoNDSMEN.
SECURITIES WHERE OTHERS
ARE NOT OBTAINABLE.
SEVEN SECTIONS ARE ADOPTED.
ton of the Charter Relating to
Final Sidewalk Orders.

When the charter commission con-
vened last night the first matter to re-
ceive attention was the amount of time
remaining within which the commits
sion must submit its final report to the
mayor. For the purpose Of determin-
ing this important question, it was de-
cided to appoint a committee of five to
investigate the matter and ascertain
how much time was left President
Horn appointed Judge Clark, Col. W.
z. Clough, W. H. Lightner, John D.
OBrien and W. P. Murray as the COM
mittee.
There were only TWO absentees last
evening, Judge Lusk and j. F. Krie-
ger. The commission made fair prog
| ress and succeeded in completing chap
ter 3. Continuing the discussion over
section Is, relative to the letting Of the
contract for the city printing, Mr..
Lightner said that he found that the
amount paid the official papers since
December, 1890, was 40 cents an inch
| for the first and % cents an inch for
each subsequent insertion. Mr.. Light
| ner then moved that section Is be
| amended so as to provide that all bids
be rejected if the lowest bid exceeds 40
cents an inch for the first and % cents
an inch for each subsequent insertion.
| Section IS was then adopted as amend
| ed. III reads as follows:
"On the third Tuesday of December in each
| year and on or before o'clock in the after
noon the city clerk shall receive at his once
| sealed bids for the printing and publishing,
during the year, beginning on Jan. l, follow
| ing, i'll a daily newspaper printed and pub
| lished in the English language in the city of
| st. Paul. and specified in the bids, all ordi-
nances and other proceedings and matters
| required under this charter, by the by
| laws, resolutions or ordinances of the common
| council to be published IN a public news
| paper. Said bids shall be opened by the
| common council acting in joint session and
! said common council acting i'll joint session,
| shall before said Jan. l, accept the bid Of
| the lowest responsible bidder and designate
| the said newspaper specified therein as afore
said as the newspaper in which shall be made
| for said year. all said publications, and said
| newspaper shall be the official newspaper
| of said city for the said year and until it's
successor shall be designated. At least ten
! days before the time fixed for receiving said
| bids, the city clerk shall give notice in the
official paper of said city of the time, place
| and purpose for which said bids will be re-
! ceived
Provided further, that if each and all
| of said bids fix price exceeding 40 cents per
inch for first insertion and % cents per inch
| for each subsequent insertion, the common
council may reject all such bids and adopt
| such other method of publishing such matter
| and designating such official paper as it
| may in its discretion determine
Mr.. Lightner, proceeding with the
| committees report, submitted sections
| 20, q and %, which require city Off
! Gals to subscribe their oaths of office
| and furnish bonds to the city, and
| further require that all official bonds
be supplied by surety companies au-
| thOrized under their charters to guar
antee the fidelity Of public officers. The
| section (22) providing that the bonds
| must be those of surety companies, met
with considerable opposition, which re-
| suited in a somewhat extended discus
sion. Those who favored confirming
| the official bonds to those given by
surety companies objected strenuously
! to the final clause of section %, which
| provides that the common council may
| by resolution reciting the reason there
| for, accept as SuretieS upon any such
| bond in place of such corporation, at
| least two SuretieS, each of whom shall
| be a freebooter in said city of st. Paul
The foregoing provision was added
| in order to meet the case of the city
| treasurer, who is required to give the
| city bond for 100000. In case per-
| son elected to the office of city treasur-
| err should be unable to secure the bond
| of surety company, he might under
| this provision be allowed to furnish a
| personal bond.
| two reasons. In the first place he did
not think that the cost of procuring a
| surety company's bond Should be borne
! by the official required to furnish it.
| The city ought to stand such expense.
! In the case of the city. his $500, 900 bond
would cost him $780, which would be in
flicting an unjust burden upon him.
Mr.. Dean also thought that the pro-
| posed provision whereby the council
| to oil N N
certain instances ought to be stricken
| out. If such latitude were allowed,
| bank officials might go on the bond of
the city treasurer, and thereby place
| him under obligations to favor their
bank. Mr.. Dean moved that the pro-
vision be stricken out. The motion was
| lost by a vote of eleven to two. The
| only two voting in favor of the motion
were Messrs. Dean and McNair.
Before the final vote on the sec
! lions. Mr. O'Brien and Mr.. Lightner
| said they would vote against the adop-
tor of section %. Mr.. O'Brien con-
sidered that the surety companies were
| experimental institutions thus far.
| Mr. Lightners chief objection was the
| cost of securing the bonds of surety
| companies, moreover. the surety COM
panies might even increase their pres
! ent rates.
Mr.. Murray said that that matter
| could be disposed of when considering
the salaries of the city officials.
| Mr.. Butler said he would vote
/ against the section. He was not aware
| that there had been any loss under
the present system by reason of the
irsufficiency of sureties on official
bonds
Mr. Dean could not agree with Mr..
| Butler. He inStanced without men
tioning any banks. the cases in which
the city's money is tied UP in those
banks.
Mr.. Lightner called attention to the
| fact that the sureties on the treaSurer'S
| bond included the officers of all the
banks and that the bond was sufficient
| for that reason.
Judge Clark said that the business
! enterprises of the country used surety
company's bonds and paid the expense
| thereof Why, then, wasn't it good
policy for st. Paul to do. the same?
| Judge Clark declared that it would be
a wise policy for the city to accept
| surety bonds.
A. II. Lindeke said that he had been
| heartily in favor of the surety COM
| pany bonds right along. He merely
| consented to the insertion of the pro-
| viso to cover the case Of a city treas,
urer who might be unable to furnish a
| surety company bond. Mr.. Lindeke
| said that he had often been asked to
go on city treasurers' bonds and eeun-
! ty treasurers' bonds, but he had, as
| prudent business man, always refused
| to go on such bonds. 1t was casting
| a burden on a few men in the COM
| munity who were invariably asked and
| always consented to go on the city
| treasurer's bond.
Section % was then voted upon. It
was adopted by vote of nine to four,
as follows: YeaS-AlnesS Clark,