The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-01-31
QUALIFICATIONS OF MR., DOOLY
OPINION GIVEN BY CITY ATToR.
NEY STEPHENS.
Whether Mr.. Dolly is Disqualified
Depends Upon Relations Between
Trust Company and Contractor.

City Attorney Stephens yesterday
gave his opinion to Chairman Dooly of
the board of public works on the issue
as to whether the banker is legally dis
qualified from serving on the board by
reason of his connection with the com
pany which serves as surety on the
bonds of contractors for city work
which is let, supervised and accepted
by the board of which Mr.. Dooly is
chairman
The city attorneys opinion, which
does not say that Mr.. Dolly is either
qualified or disqualified to serve on the
public works board. is addressed to the
board of public works and reads as
follows:
Replying to your inquiry of Jan. Is
as to whether the ownership of ten
shares of stock of the Utah Savings &
Trust company by your chairman dis
qualities him from holding the Office OF
chairman of the board for the reason
that such company furnishes bonds to
contractors performing work under the
supervision of the board of public
works, would say that section 2S5 of the
revised statutes provides that no men,
Der of the board of public works shall
be directly or indirectly interested in
any contract entered into by them on
behalf of the city; and whether or not
the ownership Of stock in this COM
pany disqualifies one from being
member Of the board depends wholly
on the relation Of the trust company to
the contractor
If the relation be such that it is a
matter Of perfect Indifference TO the
trust company whether the contractor
makes or loses or what the outcome OF
his contract may be, then the owner
ship Of stock in the company would not
no dfcurra II fip4f iOn for fhP reason
that there would be no interest, direct
or indirect. on the part of the stock
holders in the contract. Such would be
the case if the trust company is abso-
lutely and beyond all question com
pleteIy Unidentified against any loss by
reason of its sUretyship.
If however. the relation between
the trust company and the contractor
is such that the company is Interested
in the gain or loss Of the contractor or
in how much may be required to be ex-
pended to perform the conditions of the
contract. or if the relation is such that
a question may arise as to whether or
not there may be a liability on the part
of the trust company not absolutely
provided for, then, in my Judgment, a
stakeholder of the company would have
an indirect interest in the contract
such as would disqualify him from
membership on the board of public
works.
THE question: is wholly one of fact
TO be determined by the circumstances
Of each particular case, the true test in
each instance being whether the inter-
est Of the stockholder is antagonistic
to that of the city"
The query .propounded by the board
of public works at the request of the
chairman stated nothing with refernce
to the charge that the trust company
had financed Mr. Moran in the execu-
ton of his contracts with the city.
At the special meeting of the city
council and the mayor. called for to
morrow night TO further consider the
question Of Chairman DOoly's disquali-
fication. it is expected that other legal
opinions will be presented bearing out
the contention that the boards chair
man should be removed