The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-06-20
MORAN BLOCKED
FOR THE PRESENT
Board of Public Works and
City Attorney Check Pro-
posed Paving Grab.
HOT SESSION OF COUNCIL
LEGAL COMPLICATIONS MAY
FRUsTRATE CONTRACTOR.

Pat AIOran's frame up" TO secure four
big street paving contracts for himself re-
ceived an unexpected check at the joint
meeting of the board Of public works and
the city council yesterday afternoon. With
a practically unanimous council behind
him, Moran was unable 10 bulge tina
board of public works. which. through
Chairman Fred J. Leonard, declared th8G
it would not resCind its action in reject
ing Moran bid. but would continue to
Teadvertise for new bids.
Assistant City Attorney II. J. Dninuv
ruled that the board was within its rights
IN rejecting the bids, That IL had tho
power TO incur the expenditure Of read
VertIsement without the sanction Of tHa
council. and that the council could not
coerce II 10 entering into and signing d
contract which il dfd not approve
The meeting, which was protracted and
somewhat heated, adjourned without ac-
ton. except tC ask that q written opinion
be rendered by the city attorney. COun-
Gilman RulOT :. Wells, Moran adher-
ent, rubbed il into Mr. Dir inny by cx-
pressing the hope that City Attorney Og-
den Hiles would personally examine int8
the law and write the opinion 1t is prob
able that special meeting VIII be called
for tomorrow night to receive and act
upon the written opinion
Ezra Shows j Little Fight.
Mayor Ezra Thomson renewed his
.
stirred 10 action by the exposure in the
papers yesterday morning of his intention
to flee to the Denver race meet and leave
Acting Mayor A J Davis on the ground
TO execute MCTsn's wishes. The attitude
Of the mayor held the board Of public
works in line for Moran. but City Engineer
Kelsey, the mayors appOintCe and hIth-
eTtO an opponent of Moran IL the paving
matter, has apparently returned to th8
Moran camp, from which ne temporarily
StTayeU
M kelsey in ar7Sv-ar %, l,--osffy,,.- ~
pressed the belief that the Moran bids
were as low as che city could reasonably
expect His attitude, it is claimed by
s0Uc, really represents that Of the mayor
while 1t is SKID that the board of ID bic
works in opposing Moran. is trying mere
~ to preserve its self-TespeCt and is
record for consistency. The board. It is
said. IS not Tlli1g to assume lie 5diUIn
Of publicity reverting itself at No an .
behest.
MulVey and Ferry Switch.
CounciImcn NJ E NuIvcv and NJ Mont
Ferry, two Americans who have been
posing as opponents OF Moran. camc out
under the Moran cOIOrs yesterday. MuI-
Vcy s switch was MT a surprise. bc -. q
ne mas been rated as Moran man all
SlOnS-OH5 whom The TCdOubtlhlC Patrick
was holding in reserve for an rgyncy.
out Ferrys attitude came as n sh g To
most people.
Throughout the meeting MuIvey Wa thu
bold champion OF Moran Nj Ferry said
little but what he did sav was i'm MurauA
favor. When the low bid of the Bar1Cr
company was rejected Il few weeks ~
Mr.. Ferry was aggressive IT. lis Oppus5-
ton to that action.
The switch Of EIulvey and Ferry gives
Moran thirteen COunCilGleu ont of fifteen
He has all the Democrats seven Of the
nine Americans and the lone RcDubli-
can The only two Of the whole fifteen
CCunciimen who are even nOminlUy oD-
posed 10 him are Carter and O-DouneI,
both OF whom arc Americas
Bids Are Produced.
The meeting, which was really q ccn-
mittee of the whole session of the CITY
council with the members Of the board
of public works present as invited guests,
elected Councilman A y Davis as IT'S
chairman Chairman l. uarl f the
OF works was called upon TO p 'duce the
rejected bids Cor paving, which he did
He also announced that the beard was
advertising Tor new i'IdS in SaIt La1Co
daily and in two eastern papers.
why were the bids raicctcd?.' asked
Councilman FeTuStOru.
Because they were too high" replied
Air Leonard They were not as good a.
the Barber company did IN April
Mr.. Leonard nr0cccdCd . expTaiD rHs
difference in the bids, and in reply To
Mr. FernstrOE, admitted that ne did not
expect to get lower bids bv readvertisi0ay
Councilman CTabtree asserted that con
tracts for previous street paving had
been awarded at a figure much higher
IIleH moran ) Do IN the present instance.
The Trouble Starts.
Why did you not report the bids to tina
COuuCil2'' demanded Mr. Fernstron
We don { have TO report TO the COun-
ell" replied Mr. Leonard, until we accept
a bid We had the city attorneys Opin-
Jon TO that effect
DO you believe" queried Fernstror.
that the city attorney meant that YOU
could go on mourning advertising ex-
pense until eternity without reporting to
the council and receiving its SANCTION
MI Leonard replied that the board pro
posed only TO advertise a reasonable
length Of time. He further objected to
MOran's bid on the ground that Moran
had specified too long a time limit for
the work. Some of it. he said
would give Moran thirteen months to fin
iSh in.
Il suppose You are aware" said Fern
Continued on Page 2.