The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-20
Contractors z5D THE CITY.
Mayor Myers Says House Drainage
Work VIII Continue.

WORK VIII AOntAnu
Just what action the city will take in
the matter of the abandonment of the
house drainage contract by Miles & Bradt
and what effect this action of the con-
tractors win have upon the house drain
age work has not been determined. City
Attorney S. y. Adams is looking into the
matter.
The Mayor said yesterday that nothing
viii be done by the city until the arrival
Of MIR. W. II. Chapman, the supervising
engineer, who is expected here shortly.
Mr.. Chapman viii be requested to ascer-
tain the exact status Of the work and also
to make suggc stions as TO the portion of
the work which can be taken up under
the altered circumstances. The house
drainage work will not be abandoned by
any means" said Mayor Myers. III the
contention Of Messrs Miles & Bradt Is
found to be correct i; will be necessary for
CouncH to make contracts from year 10
year or biennialy. What we shall prob
ably DO is 70 go ahead and make con-
tracts for so much of The work as can be
completed this winter and next fall, leav-
Ing our successors TO continue the work.
From what Mayor Myers said, Miles &
Bradt will be lucky to get out of the con-
ors," said the Mayor, will be held liable
for all damage to public and private prop
erty occurring In the progress of their
work. For instance the city has bill of
about $3.50 against the contractors for
work done in repairing pavements dis
turbed by them in their last seasons work,
and there is some work yet remaining to
be done Against this the city has about
81 400 of the contractors money withheld
under the Is per cent. clause, and their
5000 bond, which was furnished by them
last July in order to obtain something over
$1,000 which was then in the citys hands,
under the Is per cent clause. If the courts
should hold the contract to be Illegal the
first bond of $4,000 could not be proceeded
against but this second bond of 5000
would still be liable because 1t was given
for the special purpose OF saving the city
from damage by reason Of work already
done"
As to whether the reasons given by the
contractors for Withdrawing from their
contract are legal ones, the Mayor said
he was unable to give an opinion, this be-
ing left TO the city attorney.
Miles & Bradt recently completed their
work upon the new government building,
and are now engaged in rebuilding the Ca
thedral. MIR. Bradt was seen at his office
at the new Cathedral. lie said that he
had received the Mayors letter, written
him in accordance with a resolution adopt
ed by Council, notifying the firm that the
city could not release them from their
contract and that il would hold them and
their bonds responsible for any loss in
Cured as the result of their action. Also
that the city did not consider that there
was any balance due them.
AS to the reasons for abandoning the
contract MIR. Bradt said: "Our position is
stated in our letter to Council, which you
published this morning A case came be-
fore the Supreme Court from some town
or city in Georgia last winter in which
the court decided that a city government
could not legally enter into any obligation
extending beyond its term of office. we
paid no particular attention to this case
at the time. Recently, however case
has come up In Atlanta. in which the at
torneys, King Il Spalding, have, in a
lengthy opinion, informed their clients
that such contracts are Illegal. On learn
ing of this opinion Mr.. Miles, my partner,
wrote me from Atlanta to send him a copy
of our contract with the city which I
did. The contract was submitted to our
attorney, Mr. Robert Zahner of Atlanta.
and acting upon his advice, we have de-
c.ded TO abandon the contract. We had
no doubt of the good faith of the city in
the matter. but, according to our under
standing, any citizen could institute pro-
ceedings against us al any time and put a
paid US monthly for the work done, with
holding Is per cent, but any interference
with the work might have found US with
large amount of material on hand and
thus put US to considerable loss"
Mr.. Bradt said that it is true that the
firm wrote the Mayor last July. when
they desired to obtain the money withheld
by the city under the Is per cent. clause,
stating that il was their intention to COM
plefe the contract.
1--WE had no idea of abandoning the con-
tract at that time" said Mr.. Bradt. I'VE
only recently came to this conclusion af-
ter being Informed of the legal status of
the contract"
Mr.. Bradt said the firm was prepared
to answer any legal proceedings which the
city might bring against it. and that he
had no fear that any Judgment would be
given by the courts against their bond.
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