The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1899-01-06
BILLS DISALLOWED
School Board Votes to Sustain
*. .as..as....;. ,s@1ff s,@a
Its Charter. 4>s1 @cG
,Members Put in Bills for Repairs and
Furnishing Supplies ia Viola. n
ton of The Charter. @,.e "a,

The school board last night took an
other twist at the members who put in
bills for services rendered or material
furnished the schools, in violation of
section eighteen of the charter under
which the school district exists AT
the last meeting, Mr. Wilson strongly
protested against a bill for work on a
building, presented by Capt. Keysor,
but it was allowed. zas
Last night all Of the members We're
present except MessIs Cray and Web
ster Mr.. Coughlan presided Shortly
before the bills were taken up, Capt.
Keysor put on his coat and went home,
as the room was too cold for comfort.
When the bills were read off, there
appeared one from Capt. Keysor for S.
for making some pigeon holes for the
girls rubbers in the high school build
ing, and one from Mr. Parry for $2.05
for material furnished the high school
Mr.. Fletcher moved that the billsssb
allowed, but Mr.. Wilson amended this
so as to except the bills of Messrs. Key
sor and Parry. Mr.. Fletcher accepted
the amendment. "a ga. li,..s.sf9 e4eas
Mr. Coughlan arose and said that he
and Supt, Varney had asked Mickey,
scr to construct the pigeon holes with
the understanding that the charge. was
TO be reasonable. The. only question
before the board was. whether the
charge was reasonable and he thought
1T was ,....,.l...s, .s5l.. r-. sfl.
Mr. Wilson replied that this was not
the only question before the board. "a 1t
was violation of the charter for the
board to allow bill presented by one
of it's own members for doing work or
furnishing material 1t was not per-
ssonal matter with him, and the bills
were small, but the practice should be
nipped in the bud The law says that
the board shall not allow such bills, and
that the Office of any, member present
ing them is liable to. be declared va
cant. - ., s.,s ,.t. Il.
Mr.. Parry called for the reading, of
The section of the charter to which, Mr..
Wilson referred. 4
Secretary Brewster read it, as fol-.
Hows: q. gra
Sec IS. No member of the board of
education shall be directly or indi-
Tectly interested or concerned in any
contract for building, or repairing any
lI,sl c., IL.
supplies for the schools or the board,
and any such contract or transaction
shall be void, and the office of any such
member may be declared vacant
Mr.. Parry explained that some of the
teachers had sent orders to him by pu-
pils, which they wanted filled at once.
The material furnished was such as
ammonia, etc. ,use1 in the laboratory If
the charter was to be followed literally
Rn every particular, the board would
LhaEe to mend it's ways in good many
respects Common sense should be
nsed in enforcing this section.
Mr.. Coughlan said that Capt Key
4sor has done much work in the way of
repairs at the various buildings and has
never oVercharged. Probably he has
charged less than any other carpenter
would. 1t has saved much running
around after carpenters
Mr. Fletcher said that he believed
sEhat Capt. Keysor's. bill was reasona-
ole. and Mr.. Parry's. bills may be rea-
esonable, but this was not the point.
aJnless checked, the continued viola
zion of this charter provision will 1ater
n