The record-union., 1899-09-06
ALL ABOUT THAT VAULT.
SUPERVISOR MORRISON ASKS
SOME QUESTIONS.
Threatens to Institute Mandamus
Proceedings Unless the Board
Rescinds the Contract.

Judging from expressions dropped by
| the members of the Board of SuperviS-
ors at yesterday mornings meeting, the
trouble over the proposed vault for the
| County Treasurers Office has only just
| got good start, and the indications
are that before many moons have come
and gone the courts will be called upon
to settle the question as to whether or
not the Board of Supervisors has power
to let a contract for improvements
which run far into the thousands with
out first adopting plans and specifica-
tions for the same and then advertising
| for bids
| AT a recent meeting of the board, it
will be remembered contract was en-
/ tered into with Herring, Hall, Marvin
& Co., whereby that firm agreed to
build the vault required for the sum
of SS,Q51, and to finish the same with
in eight months from date of contract.
After the reading of the minutes,
Supervisor Morrison opened proceed
ings by inquiring whether the minutes
showed that the plans and specifica-
tions for the vault had been adopted
before being read before the board.
| Supervisor Jenkins explained that the
motion that they be adopted was made,
and that he objected, giving as rea-
son for his action that the plans and
specifications had never been placed
before the board and that he had no
absolute knowledge of what they con-
| tanned.
Gillis said that Jenkins had examined
the plans and specifications in the
Treasurer's office some time before the
contract was let, and that he was
familiar with them.
Jenkins said that he had seen pro-
posed plans and specifications on the
date referred to by Gillis, but that they
had been placed before the committee
only and not before the board-that
| they were not official, and that after he
(Jenkins) had seen them, Gillis had
put them in his pocket and kept them
there until the moment he made the
motion to accept the bid put in by the
agent of Herring, Hall, Marvin & Co.
He wanted to know from Gillis why he
had not presented the plans and spec
| ifications to the board instead of keep
| ing them in his pocket
Curtis said he wanted to correct Mr..
Jenkins statement. He called at
tention to the fact that he had de-
manded that the plans and specifica-
| tions be read as he had never heard
| them.
Jenkins agreed, but recalled that Cur
| tbs had not made his demand until after
he (Jenkins) had raised the question.
| He asserted that if Mr.. Curtis had
not made his demand the plans and
specifications would never have been
read.
Morrison said he had learned all he
wanted to learn. He too, had talked
with Mr.. West, agent Of the Diebold
Safe Company, and the latter had told
him that the safe required could be
put in for $4,000 or $4,000. Inasmuch,
he said, as the board had failed to first
adopt plans and specifications and then
advertise for bids for the work, he de-
sired to ask that the action in award
ing the contract be rescinded and he
gave notice that unless such action
were taken mandamus proceedings
would be brought to prevent the carry
ing out of the alleged contract.
Supervisor Morrison said the people
| of the county, he felt positive, were
| dissatisfied with the action of the
board, and that as a matter of fact the
! board had acted under the old law,
which permitted it to enter into a con-
tract for improvements without first
adopting plans and specifications and
| then advertising for bids
The old law, he said, had been fe-
! pealed and he wanted to give the
| Record Union" credit for helping the
board TO get the law repealed and the
new one passed by the Legislature.
The board, in awarding the contract
for the vault, he said, had gone back
of the law and accepted the bid with
out giving a chance for competition He
| understood the work could..have been
done $1,000 or $1,000 cheaper than the
amount contracted for, and while he
wished to cast no reflection upon the
honesty of any member of the board,
| he desired to give notice that unless
| their action was rescinded, trouble
would ensue and the court would be
called in to see that the law was COM
piled with. He asserted that the ac-
| tion Of the board had been Illegal
Gillis offered few explanations. He
| said that West, the agent of the Die
| bold Safe Company, had insisted in
| talking about putting in an inferior
| safe, one and one-half inches in thick
ness, instead of one three inches thick
the kind the committee wanted. He
| further said that West had had twen-
| ty-three days in which to file plans and
specifications, and as a matter of fact
| he did not file them until the morning
on which the contract was let and that
when he did SO he filed them with the
| County Clerk, and might just as we'll
| have filed them in New York, as the
committee wanted to submit them to
| Expert H. J. Small before reporting. He
| said that for tWenty-three days the
committee had tried to get bids for the
| received, and he alleged that only two
companies in the State were so situated
as to bid upon such a proposition.
Morrison said the only reason why
no more bids were received for con-
structing a vault to cost over $4,000
was because they had not been adver-
| tised for He reiterated that the
board had no right to award the con-
tract without first adopting plans and
specifications and then advertising for
bids.
Curtis inquired of Morrison whether
he had not advocated the purchase of
cabinets for the Office of County, Super
intendent of Schools Howard, without
first advertising for bids for the same
Morrison retorted that he had done
| nothing of the kind and that the min
utes would show that plans and specifi-
cations had been adopted before bids
were advertised for.
| And at that point the matter was