The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-06-14
ENGINEER FER.
Water Supervisor a
Assistants Unanimously
Appointed By Board 4
Of Works.
WHAT The CITY WILL GAIN
Commissioner Hauck's De-
fends Boards Action
What Will Finan-
ciers Do +?
WHAT THE CITY WILL GAIN

AS 'The News" stated two days agos
the Street and Water Board have passed.
over the Mayors veto, their resolution
appointing Mr.. Garwood Ferris supervise
ing engineer, at yearly salary of s4,O00s
and James P. Hall and H. II. Bowlys
assistants, at a salary each of $3.50.
This was done at yesterday afternoons
meeting. When the motion was made to
place the ordinance on it's final passaga
Commissioner A. Hauck said
ITO one not conversant with all tha
facts, the veto just read would seem to
indicate a condition which would warrant
the public in believing that this Board
had made some haphazard appointments
with more regard for the placing of cer-
tain individuals on the city payroll than
thought for the city-s interest and re-
quirements. To the statements made and
conclusions assumed in this official mes
sage, this Board would most earnestly
protest. The appointments were made De-
cause the contractor had notlned tha
Board that his preliminaries had reaehed
that stage where he desired to consuIs
with an engineer of this Board before De-
ginning actual operations, and because 10
have failed to give work or TINS mag
nitude the most careful inspection at the
very start, would, we believe, have been
an act of misfeasance in office, sufflcIenr
to warrant our DS1IlR CldSSStl ciS SoACASA'-%
or worse.
''Fiis Honor expresses himself as dissat-
isfied because we appointed not only an
engineer in charge, but two assistants
also and we submit, that in a work OF
this character, a work heretofore unpre-
cedented in the history of the city, g
work of such radically drferent parts ana
each part so essential to the proper COM
pIetion Of the work as WhoIe, that the
appointment of these three individuals az
this time was but the. exercise OF oral-
1aT1ci aal
was actually begun, when the employees
of the contractor were, like bees, WORK
ing here, there and elseWnere, at Varl-
Gus places on different branches OF tne
great undertaking, these three lndivld-
uals would have previously become SO
conyersant with the speclncations, VIII
the topography of the territory and WITH
the thousand and one matters OF detail
that intelligent supervision coulo pc az
once given, and that the possibility OF
the use of Indifferent material ana tne
doing of Indifferent work would be large
" minimized at the very start
1.-THE Mayors insistment that salary
of 81 900 per annum for the engineer IN
charge of the work is too much, can be
answered by the statement that large
water company in this state "a company
controlled by private capitaD, pays IT'S
chief engineer for a similar service an
annual sum just two and one-thlrd times
the amount liked by US. The official oD- -
lection to the amount of salaries paid BY
us to the assistant engineers ($25oV per
annum each) is, we submit, also withoue
good foundation.
The individuals appointed by US are
more than inspectors; they have the ca
the practical knowledge each is known 10
pacity to direct, and were appointed 1or
possess. Naturally they are made suD-
servient to the engineer in charge ae
salaries appreciabiy less than he receives.
We believe that those salaries are modesE
and feel that the taxpayers win join with
US in that belief His Honor gives publiG
utterance to the statement that he would
have been pleased to consult with US IN
nriOr TO the making OF Tl0S6
appointments. This statement is indeed
a revelation, as in any and all previous
conferences in the water matter-and
there have been many-the Mayor has
uniformly and positively declined to COM
NIT himself and has fallen back on the
statement: You go ahead, and when your,
action reaches me officially, I'll do whas
ITO right about face in the same matter
when appointments are to be maoe, -
something not to be readily understood.
and although It's true that his Honor
has felt free to consult with and suggest
TO us in the making of some appoints
ments for other branches, his often ex-
pressed desire to be untrammelled IN tne
water question led us to believe that to
leave him alone In the matter was to
best please him. and this being in line
with the duty which devolved on US by
law, we proceeded to act If in the future
the Mayor will intimate that he desires
to anticipate a possible action of this
Board by an official conference. doube
not that the Board will accede with
pleasure. The appointments made by uS
Indicate no definite term of service and
and believing that the appointments are
proper ones. and that the salaries are buc
fair move that the preamble and reso-
lutions do now. pass. notWithstandlng the
objections of his Honor the Mayor.
All the Commissioners voted aye and
the resolution became effective; Now
nance Board do with the salaries fesolu-
tinn?r