Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-05-27
CITY SOLICITOR HAS a WORD.
Gives the Law Upon Which His opin-
ion to the Council Was Based.

Gives the Law Upon Which His Opin-
ion to the Council Was Based.
Editor Times Republican. The par
agraph in Local Comment" of Satur-
days issue of your paper commenting
on the resolution ordering the paving
of North Third street, while probably
not intended as a criti'ism upon the
final action OF the city council is pos
sibly subject to such q construction.
One isapt to gather the impression from
the comment that by the passage OF
the resolution, unamended as proposed
by Councilman Greene, the advantage
of some possible safeguard to the pub
lies interest has been lost and can only
be recovered by the rejection OF all
bids.
The particular amendment proposed
if adopted would have eliminated the
kind of asphalt specified and inserted
that bidders shall state the kind of
asphalt" leaving the kind of asphalt
to be used in the improvement to be
determined at the time the bios were
acted upon.
The statute Is definite and certain,
and the council must act within the
limitations placed upon It's powers by
the statute. The demands of the stat
ute and the construction placed upon
it's provisions by our supreme court,
Enthusiastically require that any street
improvement proposed be first def
nitely determined upon, including the
kind of materials to be used in It's con-
struction. Under the statute the low
est bidder is entitled to the contract,
unless all bids are rejected by the
council The inquiry naturally arises
by what criterion would or could 1t
be determined who was the lowest bid
der il various kinds of material, OF
various kinds of the same general class
of material were bid upon. each bidder
making and submitting different fig
ures on the several Kinds of material
upon which figures We're asked. or with
reference to which bidders were left
free under the call for bids to sub
nit figures and claim consideration
Such proposition clearly leaves I'M
determined the kind OF material OF
which the Improvement is to be con-
structed until the bids submitted are
acted upon, which matter the statute
specifically requires to be determined
before bids are called for. There is
always reserved to the city council the
right and authority to reject all bids.
In this latter power of the council lies
the sole safeguard of the publics In
terests against combination or col
fusion ON the part of bidders, or the
decentralization of the materials of
which 1t is proposed to construct such
improvement.
AS to the method proposed for Sc
curing protection to the public's in
terests by asking for bids upon diff
ferent kinds of material, our court Of
last resort has said: 1T may be that
combinations among bidders. or col
lusions between them and the council
would be as effectually prevented and
fair competition secured by that as by
any other plan that could be adopted.
But it is a sufficient answer to all that
was said in argument by counsel on
that question to say that the statute
leaves to the council no discretion as
to the course which shall be pursued,
and it needs neither argument nor CT
tation OF authority to prove that when
a citizen is sought to be charged with
the cost Of works of public improve
ment from which he derives but little
benfit or advantage, except such as arc
shared by the members of the public
generally, the power must be exercised
strictly in the manner prescribed by
law"
1t is only for the city council to ac-
cept the law as it is, and protect the
interests of the public by the exercise
of their authority when the occasion
shall arise. Yours Very Truly,
C. H. VAN LAW.
[Mr. Van Law is right in assuming
that the T.-R. intended no censure upon
the final action of the city council for
in view of the wording of the amend
ment in question and the law which he
has mentioned, the 1'.-R is inclined to
accept the city solicitors opinion as
the correct one. Nevertheless. without
assuming the right to debate a Jaw
point With lawyer, 1t was our thought
that the mandate of the statute as to
the "lSind of material meant only to
distinguish between materials of differ
ent character, such as between brick
end asphalt or brick of a first grade and
brick OF poor grade, but could hardly
be construed SO narrowly as to demand
that paving resolution specify the
name of the manufacturer in order to
designate the kind of material" to be