The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1905-06-22

Mr.. Geo. T. Morgan.
Comptroller of the City OF Pensa-
cola, Florida.
Dear Sir:-By the authority and
power in me vested l hereby remove
YOU from the Office of Comptroller OF
the City of Pensacola, and l command
you to perform no further work an
Comptroller Of the City Of Pensacola,
and | further command you to imme-
diately surrender all books, docn-
ments, papers, and other property be-
longing to the City of Pensacola to
the City Marshal forthwith.
My reasons for removing you from
Office are as follows:
Willful neglect OF duty by absenting
yourself from the city.
Drawing warrants for fraudulent
claims against the city.
Your bond is not according to law
In testimony whereof l set my hand
and seal this twenty-first day of June,
1905, in Pensacola, Florida
CHAS. H. BLISS.
Attest: Mayor.
B. S. BERNARD, Clerk.
Absence from Office.
very SuOTllN dllCT OCSdlnc ANoy VI
OF the City of Pensacola Comptroller
Morgan voluntarily absented himself
from the city without leave of absence,
and did not return TO the city until TO
day. During his absence he did not
send me any official communication or
other communication to my know
ledge.
During this absence the regular bi-
monthly pay day has interviewed and
the duties Of the Comptroller have
been performed by ex-City Clerk
Shine. City Clerk Bernard made M
the pay rolls and vouchers and took
them to the Comptroller's office and
the warrants were returned for each
voucher and for name on the pay roll
properly signed. Presumably the
Comptroller has signed these warrants
in blank and had left the filling and
the other duties and work to be per-
formed by Mr.. Shine. 1t is serious
question in my mind whether the
Comptroller has any power to delegate
his authority to another, and especial
ly Is this true when 1t is done without
the consent of the chief executive OF
the city.
Fraudulent Claims.
One of the first bills that claimed
my attention after | became Mayor
was a bin against the City for feed
supplies by Mr.. A. Mcdonald Meyer.
| noticed that a uniform charge was
made against the city for each bale
of hay and that no weights were given.
IL appeared rather peculiar to me that
the city should purchase hay by the
bale without any respect to the size
of the hale. 1t did not seem to ne TO
be good business and l took time To
investigate further.
/ find that Mr.. Meyers bid for sup
plying the Board of Public Safety with
feed for the month of May, 1905, was
choice white oats at 44c bushel, and
No. l Timothy hay at soc a hundred.
The bid contained no reference what
ever to bales" of hay. The bill rem
dered the Board of Public Safety for
the Fire Department showed los
bushels of oats for which AZ cents has
been charged instead of "A cents, the
contract price. In the matter OF hay
% bales had been Jumped of at Sl-0O
and one at 80 cents on the last day OF
the month. / cannot conceive why a
reduction of ten cents should have
been made on one little bale at the
end of the month unless it was meant
for a lagniappe to influence the next
months bid.
II will be borne in mind that bales
Of hay usually range from sixty pounds
to 40 pounds and IL L am not misin-
formed bales OF hay vary considerably
in weight even where there is an at
tempt to get them the same size.
Therefore 1t would be very improbable
that bales would be so uniform from
one week TO another that there would
be no material variation Then it
must be borne in mind that the price
charged for these bales would necesi-
tate them weighing 125 pounds each
to fulfill the contract price and this
weight is very unusual. l have rea-
son to believe that Mr.. Meyer instead
of buying bales OF unusual size, pur-
chased the smallest bales be could
get, and l am told that he purchased
a whole car OF hay to sell to the city,
the bales of which weighed only about
65 or 20 pounds. Be that as it may
the contract price was for hay at so
d WClSHS anu eAC OAAA
rendered was at so much bale. The
said bill was o. KID by ]. George
White, Jr., signed correct by Clerk {.
L. Shine, approved by T. E Welles,
approved for payment by J. George
White. chairman of the Board of Pub
lie Safety, audited by Comptroller Geo.
T. Morgan and payment receipted by
A. Med. Meyer.
I find under the same bid feed fur
nished to the patrol house thirty BUSH
els of oats furnished one cent cheaper
than to the fire department and four
bales of hay at one dollar. one bale
at 80 cents and one at so. cents The
voucher had the same signatures with
the exception OF the fire chief.
Without going into details for the
month of April find that % bales OF
hay were furnished at the uniform
price of one dollar a bale, while the
bid ,was for so cents a hundred. The
bid for oats was IA cents while the
charge to the fire department was As
cents and the patrol house Al cents
This voucher had the same indorse-
ments as the one for May with the
exception OF Chairman j. George
White.
l have looked over a number NJ