The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-08-25
Finance Committee Exonerates the
City Engineer.
REPORTS FAILED TO TALLY
THREE SUBMITTED, ALL BEING
DIFFERENT.
Nevertheless, By Vote of Four to
One the Committee Decides That
Mr. Kelsey Had No Intention of
Deceiving the Council-Session
That Lasted Three Hours.

After a session that lasted nearly
three hours the finance committee of
! the council yesterday concluded TO ex-
onerate City Engineer Kelsey of the
charge of attempting to deceive the
council Every member of the COM
{ mittee was on hand, and so was Mr.
Kelsey. The meeting was held in the
directors room of the Deseret Ma
tional bank. 1t began at little after
4 o'clock and ended at Z.
+ The exhaustive report submitted by
Mr.. Kelsey 10 the council some weeks
ago was taken up in detail. 1t showed
that the engineer had expended $4.5so.l Il
on water improvements during the SIX
months ending March 81, 1899. 1t was
pointed out that these figures did not
tally with Mr.. Kelsey's former reports.
Figures Failed to Agree.
! According to figures given TO the aud
itor which purported to be record OF
expenditures in the engineering depart
ment, the total was S4.S24.64. Still an
other report submitted by Mr.. Kelsey
to the council on May showed the
total to be 81, 1919. The engineers at
tention was called to the discrepancies
at once.
He maintained that the report then
under consideration, the last one
turned in, was correct. MIR. Kelsey
added that the figures he supplied to
the auditor were not necessarily IN
tended to be absolutely correct. The
idea of letting Mr.. Swan have the sta
tistics at all. he claimed, was that the
auditor might know the engineering
department was keeping within its al
lowance.
Mr. Kelsey further insisted that the
committee pass on his case at once. He
declared with considerable .vigor he
wanted to be exonerated or condemned
right away quick. Finally a motion
was made which directed Chairman
Wallace to draw up a report recon-
mending that the engineer latest
schedule be filed. and that he be exon
Grated from alleged charges of attempt
ing to deceive the council.
Four of the five members of the COM
mittee voted for the engineer. They
We're Wallace Buckle. Romney and
Morris The vote of Barnes was re-
corded in the negative. Although he
declined to discuss either the commit
tee meeting or his stand in the matter
last night, it is understood that he will
make a good strong fight against the
adoption by the council of the majority
report.
Other Committee Meetings.
In spite of that strong counter at
traction, the bicycle races, the coun-
ell committees held their usual weekly
meeting last night. The municipal laws
committee worked longest and hard
est. 1t was decided to recommend an
ordinance closing the north side of
South Temple street, between West
Temple and First West streets, to BIZ
cyclists. A petition from B. G. Ray
bould and others, asking for similar
action on the east side of West Tenn
pie, from Fourth to Sixth South streets,
was denied.
An ordinance closing Main street,
from Eighth to Ninth South streets,
to bicyclists and traffic wagons, was
favorably acted upon. The measure
provides a penalty of from 81 to $50
fine or Imprisonment of not to exceed
two days for each violation.
A proposed law prohibiting the graz
ing of sheep or cattle or the mainte-
nance of outbuildings, from which the
sources of water supply for a distance
of ten miles from the intake pipes
might be polluted. will be recommended.
A fine of from so to 800 OF impriSon-
ment from 10 to 100 days was Inserted
for each violation. The committee de-
cided TO consider the question of pay
ing the Culmer-Jennings Paving COM
pany's claim at meeting to be held
next Wednesday night.
The street committee considered the
request of the Western Loan & Saw
ings company for permission to dedi-
cate a fiftyfoot street running off of
North Temple street, between Fifth
and Sixth West streets. The request
will be granted, provided the city en-
gineer approves the company's plat.
The waterworks committee discussed
the question of disposing of the meters
recently received by the department.
Some OF the members thought it would
be best to rent the meters and others
argued that the proper way would be
to require a deposit for them. The
matter was left unsettled.