The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1905-03-28
CHARLES A. DOUCHER7Y
RECORDER WITHOUT BOND
On His Second Term According to inspectors Re-
port---Money In the Banks Should Bring
the County Interest.
SOME DETAILS OF THE FINDINGS IN COUNTY

I treasury. The treasurer and his depu-
| ties visit the various cities and vii
lagos and the collections are permitted
to remain in the banks where deposit
ed to the credit of the county treasur
| er. While this Is convenience, 1t Is
clearly illegal In fact, there are
| court decisions to the effect that a
| treasurer cannot remove tax dupli-
cate from his Office at the county seat.
1T will be observed that the county
treasurer carried as credit in his
Office tax receipts held for accommo-
dations. The provisions of the law are
mandatory in this respect. Nor is
| it the intention of the law that any
person or class Of persons are to be
favored in this matter. While it is
| clearly illegal Tor the county treasurer
| to tear out tax receipts and hold them
for accommodation for certain people,
I it is manifestly unfair to those who
promptly pay their taxes, or to those
who, being unable to pay in time, are
compelled to pay penalty"
THE AUDITOR.
IN. w. Oberlin is county auditor,
with his son, Ralph L. Oberlin as
| deputy auditor. These gentlemen are
both progressive and paintaking Off
Gals On the whole the system in
| this Office is found to be in splendid
shape, with a few exceptions, and
these are due to the prevalent habit
of following precedents. The system
Of fling bills and vouchers can be said
to be very bad"
Attention was called to the fact that
| some of the records in the commits
| sioners minutes were not full and com
prehensive enough, and the new sys-
TEN of locating the ownership of lots
installed by the present auditor was
| highly commended.
THE COMMISSIONERS.
"Your examiners made a thorough
! inquiry of the business methods of the
board of commissioners, and while
they are convinced that they are cap
able and well-meaning, a review of
! their transactions showed many er-
rors of practice, due probably to ignor-
| ance of the law. The commissioners
welcomed the suggestions and promis-
ed to regard the statutes in the future.
1t was found that many of the con-
tracts which amounted to over $1,000
were legally entered into, but have no
hesitancy in saying that not a single
one of the contracts for less than
$1,000 was legally established"
Attention was called to the fact that
plans and specifications for work
must be prepared before contracts are
let, which had not been done here un-
I'll recently. ..l
r.ee COUNTY CORONER.
The report upon the practices of the
county coroner shows that inquests
were held in many cases where not
necessary and that excessive fees were
charged in many, owing to the former
custom in vogue in the county for
years. The examiners report that in
quests are to he held only
When death is supposed to have
been caused by violence"
II HdS Deeu the CUSTOM 10 uOlQ IN
quests wherever there has been an ac-
cidental death and the coroner has
also been holding autopsies himself
and charging for them. The examin-
ers set out that all he can charge is SO
for viewing the body, 10 cents a hun
dred words for the necessary writ
ings and 10 cents per mile one way
for travelling expenses. 1t has been
customary to charge 10 cents a mile
each way.
1t was found that he had acted as
coroner in 1873 cases his fees ranging
from $3.50 10 $500. The coroners
fees usually amount TO not over IS.
The report states that when Coroner
Schiltz's attention was called to the
facts he Frankly admitted that he
was not familiar with the section of
the statutes prescribing his fees, but
that he had patterned after the cost
bills of his predecessors and when his
attention was called to the statutes to
say that the official was astonished
is putting 1t mildly"