The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1904-04-27

/ ship OF Clinton, from May -. 1902, to Sep
] ttmhcr :, 1905 amounted TO S6s437 lie charg-
/ ed the county for services for every working
+. day from the May meeting of the BOARD to
/ the November meeting. except three days.
one ot which was the lth OF luy. lie made
one duplicate charge He admitted that he
dad not do anything else but attend to county
business. lie was ono of the committee
which. at the invitation of Paul A. Queen
+ Esd, visited the Surrogates office at Bcv
! dere to inspect the indexes in that Office
! lie swore he charged the county nothing for
/ this service, Int on his way from his home
i to the depot in the morning of the day he met
| Mr.. Queen aud went TO Bcyidcre with him
he drove by a county bridge where some men
! were working and charged the county s.
/ for looking at il.
George W. ppdyete, Freebooter from Beth
! lehem township, received for personal services
and mileage from April Q, TOO, to September
1904. $3.50. In his bills | ind two dupH
cate charges. In going over his vouchers for
mileage 10 aSylnms. find that he is indebted
! tn the county for overCharges tor mileage
/ amounting To Sf6Ss
jeremiah T.. BOVINE, Freebooter from Della
ware township, received Tor personal services
and mileage from May, 100, to May. lQaG
! $500. 81. In his charges for attendance on asVa
| lum committee he made his charges for mile
| age what he paid III railroad fare, and IA his
| attendance a committee and as n member
| Of the board upon different bridges and at
| different meetings, he made his charges for
mileage what he paid for railroad fare The
statute permits him To charge for each and
every mile which he shall necessarily travel
| three cents per mile, his charges for mile
age IN attending upon his public service arc
| illegal. This man approved bill for lighting
| the Housed bridge while il undergoing re
| pairs under contract. The bill was a charge
| Tor putting up lights to warn the people OIL
| the bridge and the bill includes charges for
contractor. John w Scott to protect the ap-
proachcs TO the bridge. but the FrcchodcTs
! approved two vouchers presented by two diff,
icreut men for lighting each end of the bridge
hRVt H. -
the bridge and also charges for many gal
| Ions of oil used
James WyckoG Freebooter from Clinton.
| from May, 1909. to August H. loot received
for his services and mileage the sum of s6os u.
| Among his bills. find one duplicate charge.
| When called upon To explain the amount of
a hill Tor repairs To what was called county
| bridge, hut what was really a sluicewav in
| front OF the bank in Clinton, for which he
charged several DAYS attendance he could
give nothing satisfactory in the way of an
PLANTATION.
In the bills of Isaac cteveling Freeholder
from Chnton,l find one duplicate charge and
also one duplicate charge in the bills of Jos.
| II Hawke. Freebooter from Union township
find that Andrew 7. blackwell, Freeholder
| from East Amwell township was a member of
| the committee ON supplies. stationery and
printing, and one OF the persons invited by
g. Queen to go TO Belviderc. He was par.
uCular To say that the trip to Belvidere did not
cost the county ANYTHING. hut his way to
the depot in the morning, he came Fem-
| charged the county 5000 for looking at them.
| 1t the practice of the several Freehold.
crs. whenever they found or were advised that
a bridge, whether ii was pipe under the road
gutter in the street or suCcway or a
bridge to be whitewashed. needed attention To
call III the Frechodcts Of the adjacent town
| SLIPS for committee of from two TO five or
sly to visit the work and give attention to IL.
| The Freeholdcrs invited to make part of such
| committee did not attend in 4 body. hut went
a their pleasure to visit the bridge aud give
| attention IT, the work upon it, and charged
| their per diem to the county There no
| pruot At all of any action OF any committee on
any bridge, but charges made in personal
| scrviee bills for day after day by different
freeholders because they invited there
| by the tr,eholdcr Of the township to inspect
| charges, but have been unable to do so. When
| these bills were presented to the board oil
| Freeholders originally, il would have been an
easy matter ior the board or its committee to
| ok-inio them and refuse to allow the
| charges. So far ! found the charges for
per diem OF the frceholders were for about
| halt an hour ut time spent in the day on
| public work, sometimes less than that The
| law permits a Erceholdcr to charge $500 per
| day Tor each day he shall be actually and nee
! cssarily employed, in discharEing the duties
| enjoincd upon him by such officer. There
was no proof that any Freeholder spent full
| day on any public work that he charged per
diem Tor attending or even half day, A
great deal OF the work done by contract
| which did not require the personal attendance
| Of the freeholder AT all. In very many IN.
| stances especially IN the CITY OF Iambcrtvilc,
| the Freebooter would stop on his way to and
| from work and look at the public work for "a
| few minutes. and would then go his way. but
would MAKE a charge of his per diem for that
DAY.
| David { Farley Freebooter from Tewks.
bury Township, was chairman of the finance
| committee since May, 1901 BESIDES very
larg- amount OF money received by hun for
| personal 'cfN CTS. the Board voted to him and
| Inc accepted compensation for his "clcar
and correct monthly reports OF the financial
GoHdlt"h oi the county $ AFFAIRS hlty dollars.
.s ie"',y, as "pPe",ea "i''l warns, was ~
committee for two wears This was extra
| conversation and exnrcssIv contrary ia law
for the laN saws t'at the Freebooter shall re
ocivc Stoo Ion each day and no other allow.
,nee or ofuulnment directly OF indirectly. shall
| bc received by such officer | refer your
Honor to Section 10 of the Act concerning
[ hogcn Frccholdcrs Gen Stat Vol payr
4t6 Nh Farley was called as a witness before
me aud was examined as to his knowledge oi
the finances af the county lie could not ave
any definite information abnu, the financial
affairs OF the county His financial statements
for which he had received So much praiee
were made up ly Mr. Higgins the clerk IN
the bank who kept the accounts Of the Conn.
ty Collector.
Among the charges approved and paid bv
the Ruafd 81 lrcehodcrs wa, bill present
ed by luhn W Scott for storage ol derrick be.
longrig 10 the county Tie btd was $1,000 and
vas paid annually although according To- the
testimony Of Frccholdcr Fupcr i, lay out SD,
the ground aud was not worth mere than
tLso Mr CalIan, chairman OF the county
buildings committee said that lie had never
seen the derrick and had no knu4,lcdge Of H.
but inasrll { II as II was a uslM charge PAD
annually 'ir bad approved the bill for paymen,
/ consider the acttons 81 the committee in a.
proving the NIL aud Of the Roard IN ordering
II pad. blogal
Aly-.iieutiat, was called to vouchers fpt s-s
Tor rem ot oflec oi county superintendent 81
public schools approved and pend by the
Hoard 81 FrccToldcrs can find no warrant
in law for ilts, payments
ppIbGEe
~ tine vouchers Tor personal services that
were ,"eNeil'a 1" me my attention was called
to the WORK upon bridges II has been the
custom oil tue BOARD OF frecholdtiS oil liuh
l'Id"n N"uIlA 70 buhd MAINTAIN ana repair
h"l "hly ihe bridges across streams IN the
county but tulVcrts, sluices ana cutters IN the
'4iR' towns ~ the county, ana pipes and
slllecs m the towns and townships N the
county. Ia the second ward ot the city OF
l.ambcItYllle, according 10 the testimony Of
Freebooter Parker, there are twenty nine
bridges Al oi these bridges 50 called arc cul'
v'tis and drains. In the FIRST ward Of Lam
bertYille there are iorty'seVen culyerts and
bridge Al are called bridges. In the third
ward 81 that city there are forty culycrts and
the oriogr or other work.
have T. cd to ascertain the amount 81 such