The record-union., 1899-08-10

During the afternoon session a num-
Der of demands for road work IN Dis
trict No. 4, were read and approved.
MAYOR HOuSTON'S CLAIMS.
Joseph w. Houston of CORTLAND, un,
der whose supervision some road work
had been done near CORTLAND in Dis
trict No. 5, was before the board tc
urge the allowance of the claims put
in by the men who had performed the
work.
Most of the work. it transpired, was
performed during the last fiscal year
The claims We're signed by Supervisor
Jenkins, who turned them over to Su,
pervisor Mclaughlin, and there they
stopped.
Jenkins protested and requested Nc,
Laughlin to either sign the claims OF
give a reason for refusing to do SO
He said he had always tried to live
within the Auditors reports; that there
is 1,375 in the road fund which the
law authorized him to expend this
month in District 5, and that SILT was
carried over from last month which
he was authorized to expend, making a
total on hand to meet bills coming in
in August. of 81 1872.
Mclaughlin said he did not doubt the
business of the claims, but thought they
should have been paid from the funds
the fiscal year in which they were con-
tracted, and not presented the follow
ing year when there were no funds to
meet them.
Jenkins said that Mr.. Houston had
been kind enough to act as overseer OF
the work I'd ho
posed to see to it that the men who
did the work got their money.
ellis said he should raise no objec-
ton to paying the claim if it was paid
legally, but the Auditors report showed
that the money on hand could be ex-
pended only for work done after July
1st. He said the members from the
Fourth and Fifth Districts should not
have contracted for more work last
year than they could pay for.
Curtis and Jenkins protested that the
board, and not they, had contracted for
the work.
Jenkins said that the board had taken
from the funds of the Fifth District
$4,000 to build a road on Suffer Island,
and that the work resulted in reclaim
ing valuable property which would in
year return more in taxes than the
road cost, and yet out Of the $4,000 ex-
pended, only $1,400 had been taken
from the general fund He thought
the Fifth District was doing it's share
towards keeping up work on roads.
ellis and Curtis entered into a long
discussion about funds expended for
the macadamized road near the County
Hospital, and in the Fair Oaks sec
ton, and for the time, Houston's bills
were lost sight of.
ellis still contended that it was not
intended that present funds should be
used for paying claims contracted prior
to July LIST, and that his attorney had
informed him that if he signed such
claims he would be responsible for the
amounts on his bond.
Thereupon Jenkins called for the bills
which had been passed earlier in the
week, and succeeded in locating num-
Der bearing Gillis' signature which had
been contracted before July LIST.
You'd better look out for your
bond" said Jenkins. and continuing:
I'm not afraid of being held respon-
sible on my bond for paying these
be paid
Mr.. Houston who had patiently lis
tened while the storm was raging, arose
at this point and said:
Gentlemen, this is the first time
ever got into the jaws of the Board of
and I promise you it will
be the last have conscientiously su-
pervised the work done and have not
charged, nor thought of charging one
cent for my services. I shall now go
home and pay the bills myself"
Continuing, Mr.. Houston referred to
ellis contention that funds should not
be overdrawn for work, and said that
the work done was absolutely neces-
sary; that at one point on the road a
man and his team had gone down Cthe
man and his hat being recovered, the
team still being on the bottom). He
said it was impossible to complete the
work in a month.
Curtis said that was not necessary,
but that each month demands should
have been sent in for work done.
Mr.. Houston said he had put in no
demands because he understood there
We're no funds. Had he put in the
CldliHS lHcy NOu1u liOl nave peell HUH
ored and the men employed would have
quit work. AS a matter of fact, he
said he had advanced about two-thirds
of the money for the labor performed
to keep the men working. He felt IN
able to carry Sacramento County along
for very extended period of time. He
said he could not have knocked off
work at any particular time unless he
left sheer offset from the graded to
the ungraded portion of the road-an
incline so steep that it would take six
horses to drag up buggy.
In concluding his remarks, Mr.. Hous-
ton said:
IF you and I had our deserts, ellis,
we would both have been hung years
ago"
You might" replied Gillis, "but net
me; I've been a good boy"
WELL returned Houston. eff we
had our deserts for each time we have
stretched the buckskin, we would have
been hung long ago." He said he had
heard the board Chew the rag" until
he was weary, and would go home.
hoping to see the members next month.
The bills in question were three in
NUMBER, one LOT Hoo, one LOT Fol.fo, ana
a third for S46.15. They were de-
mands for work authorized by Super
visor jenkins, overseer of District No.
B. and which had been performed to
raise a low strip of road near Court
land.
The bills are still unsigned.
Mr.. Jenkins spent the next half hour
in finding other road claims which ne
thought We're faulty and which had
been signed by the board, and in cit
ing presidents for borrowing money