Amador ledger., 1905-04-07

the record of the deed from Sibole
to Amador county of the lot in ques-
tion. lone was in need of Gala
boose, and lot for the same. Sibole
had lot to sell. SIS was the pur-
chase price; the county was asked
to plank up the money, and did so
without so much as blinking an
eye" Perhaps the question of the
right of the county to make a pur-
chase of real estate in this manner
was never brought up. 1t was as
sumed that the county had just as
much right to purchase a jail lot, as
an individual had to buy residence
lot, without any preliminary pala-
yer. Nevertheless, in this off-hand
purchase of real estate the board
violated one of the plainest provis-
ions of law. Having procured the
deed on premises con trary to law,
the question of the validity of the
county's title to the parcel of land
may crop up at any time. Subdi-
vision of section 25 of the county
government act as amended in 1903,
and which is now in force, reads as
follows:
-. No purchase of real prop
erty shall be made unless a notice of
the intention of the board to make
such purchase, describing the prop
erty to be purchased, and the price to
be paid therefor, from whom it is
proposed to be purchased, aud fixing
the time when the board will meet to
consummate such purchase, has been
published for at least three weeks in
some newspaper of general circula-
tlon published in the county, etc.
At the meeting of the supervisors
held this week another provision of
the county government act relative
to the permanent powers of the
supervisors was brushed aside in an
equally unceremonious fashion. The
pipe line along the lone road, 1870
feet, was by simple order of the
board entered upon the records, sold
to c. Froelich for cents per foot.
In the same manner another line of
pipe leading from the end of Water
street to the hospital grounds, sew
eral hundred feet in length, was sold
to G. Marelia for $45. Furthermore.
by the same simple process of an
order, W. Going, the janitor, was
directed to sell all the old stoves,
furniture, and junk stored in the
basement of the hall of records at
private sale. There was no ques-
tion raised about the probable value
of such property. Neither did it
enter into the calculations of the
board as to Inconvenience and
leopardizing of other vested inter-
ests by the removal of the pipe line,
claimed to be the property of the
county and included in the order of
sale. AS we understand it, the re-
moval of the town pipe will shut the
water supply from private resi-
dences, and entail much expense and
hardships in unlooked-for quarters
if carried into effect. Subdivision 9
of the same section of the county
government act reads in part as
follows:
To sell at public auction, at the
courthouse door, or at such other
place within the county as the board
may, by four-fifths vote, order,
after thirty days. notice, given either
by publication in newspaper pub
lished in the county, or by posting
in five public places in the county,
and convey to the highest bidder for
cash, any property belonging to the
county not required for public use,
paying the proceeds into the county
treasury for the use of the county !;
provided if in the unanimous judg-
ment of the board the property does
not exceed in value the sum of S75,
the same may be sold at private sale
without advertising, by any member
OF the board empowered for that pur-
pose by a mjority of the board.
In the face of these provisions the
parties concerned in the sale orders
above referred to will do well to
pause and consider where they are at
before proceeding to the consumma-
tion of the deal with the county
managers.