The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-12-06
REPORT ON COAL CONTRACT
CLAIMS COMMITTEE ARR1TGNS THE BOARD OF EDUCATION.

CLAIMS CONMlIIEE AHhAI"NS
 THE BOARD OF EDUCATION.
 Unanimously Adopted by the Aldermen
 Change in Financial system of De-
 pnrtmcnt of Education by Legislative
 Enactment is Recommendations
 of Finance Recommends Appropria-
 tions-Firemen's Petition Referred.
 The committee dn claims, to which was referred the communication of An thony Carroll, concerning the weighing and inspection of the coal supply pur- chased by the New Haven school dis trict by the board of education from w. F. Gilbert, under contract, held meeting yesterday afternoon and com- pleted a report which was submitted to the aldermen last night and recom- mended radical change in that portion of the city charter which refers to the finances of the department of educa- l ton. The testimony taken at the va rious sessions of the committee in re- l gard to this communication has been published in the Journal and Courier.
 The report of the committee, after summing up the testimony given by members and employees of the board of i education at the hearings on the mat ter given by the committee, is as fol- l lows:
 Your committee finds that the com mittee on schools and school buildings
 did not possess the legal authority to make a final, conclusive and binding
 appointment of MT. Carroll as weigher and inspector of coal, without the con- sent of the board of education, express
 ed or implied; that such appointment as they made at their meeting on June 20, was not final conclusive or binding,
 because 1t was not subsequently, actu-
 ally approved of, or even passively ac-
 uuiesced in by the said board and that
 the board of education did have and
 possess and exercise the right author
 ity and power to set aside and nulllfy
 such action and appointment of either
 or both the committees. The motives
 which animated and caused the board
 to exercise it's prerogative in this par
 ticuar case, it is beyond the province
 of your committees duty to interpret;
 but in the light of other aspects of this
 case which were brought to view dur |, ing the hearings, your committee 1eel
 Justified in calling your attention to
 the fact, admitted by the oldest mem , bers of the board, that it has been the almost invariable practice for years to , defer to the judgment and accept, with
 out question, the action of the commit
 tees in all such matters.
 , Accordingly, your committee respect
 fully submit that Anthony Carroll, not
 having been legally appointed and qual. flied as weigher and inspector of coal ,, and not having actually performed any
 services as such, is not entitled to com
 pensation, and has no valid and lega claim against the city under color o1
 such alleged appointment.
 But while conceding the right of the :, board of education to set aside and re
 feet the selection of MT. Carroll or O
 any one else whom any committee might have agreed upon, your commit o tee are nevertheless of the opinion tha
 the said board is open to and deserv lnE Ol SGNGIG CellSulc lol IethilAlS VI properly safeguard the interests of tn q school district and the city in the mat S ter of the coal contract under consid o eraton. In the opinion of your com 7 mittee, the manner in which this mat o ter has been treated, indicates perm o cious business methods looseness o i, management, an absence of system an r an unfamiliarity on the part of tn 1 members of the board with the busl ,f ness details and operations of the dis ', trict that are worthy of strong criti o cism and condemnation; and which,
 not checked and remedied, must even :, tually work havoc and disaster to tn
 interests of the district and tn
 finances of the city.
 # It was fully demonstrated that tn ,r methods of the board of education wer , far different from those of any privat w corporation or individual; and you ,t committee are fully satisfied that T 7f member of the board would expend te
 thousand dollars in his private bus ness in so slovenly manner and VII
 such careless omission of proper 1T ,. spection as marked the purchase of tf ,r school coal supply for this year :, While your committee do not lnter Ia to charge any actual or contemplate |, dishonesty upon anyone in connect't x, with this matter, they nevertheless coi
 slider it their duty to point out no
 abundant is the opportunity to defral
 the taxpayers under such a condltit
 of affars, an opportunity which shou UT not be permitted by any munlclp ", board and which could not exist und 'ly proper management and Weil-col ,,, ducted business system.
 With regret your committe are con iA pelled to note that there was much VII the bearing and conduct of some men tn hers and employees of the board of edl ,is cation that indicated disposition - impede the investigation whether II .' o' difficulty which your committee III, ili, times experienced in extracting lnfo e.'' mat:on concerning the matters una "A consideration, should be attributed to ,o' reluctance and disinclination to give Q or. to actual ignorance on the part S members of the school department i. iiu the affairs of which they had chare ~ or to a combination of both, is left opt '. for interference. But your committee d ' have trouble in securing the attendan ae and the testimony of those witness ''e who were connected with the depar
 nent of education. At the beginnin