Durango semi-weekly herald., 1906-12-20
COUNCIL MEETING.

Last evening the council met in
| regular session. All present except
Mayor Mcconnell and Alderman Bal
ster. Alderman Berndt presiding.
After reading the minutes of the
last meeting and granting few
liquor licenses, the sewer question
occupied an hour of time without ac-
complishing anything. A settlement
with Stilwell & CO., owners of the
private sewer. had not yet been made.
1t appearing they wanted more for
| their right of way and pipes than the
city and contractors wished to pay.
wanted three months to complete the
| work after starting in. The sewer
| question was passed up to the next
meeting.
A. F. Hood. the trustee for the
bondsmen of the bridge contractor,
was present and given a hearing, He
presented n petition generally sign
ed by large and small taxpayers pray
| ing for relief from bearing the bur-
| den of the excess over and above the
cost of the contract price, which was
over $4,000. Mr.. Hood represented
his contractors bondsmen in an able
| and dignified manner He did not de
sire the council as a body or individ-
uals to commit an Illegal act. but as
the city and people of Durango would
have the benefit of the bridge the bal
ance of their lifetime and those for
ton was a monument to the city and
the contract was taken for a less sum
than it was really worth or possible
to build for the price. he argued that
1t was not the spirit of the bondsmen
to beg for protection. though 1t
would compel some of them to mort
gage their homes and create hard
ship that they could not carry He
wanted the council to investigate the
matter thoroughly and convince
themselves as to the actual value of
the structure and to not do an illegal
act in reimbursing in part the bonds
men. Contractor McKinnon had
few hundred dollars in the bank. all
of his earthly possessions at the time
he undertook to carry out his con
tract, which was soon used up in
trying to keep the work going. That
| Fol hn tn,
the front and carried on the work to
completion and. II they were COM
PEELED to, would stand the shortage
manfully, though 1t crippled the ma
jority But he believed the counci,
and the people of Durango did not
want something for nothing. and was
backed by large number of repre-
sentative citizens and taxpayers.
Alderman Dobbins said the bridge
had not yet been accepted by the
council and quoted the city attorney
the council individually to visit and
examine, together with the city en-
gineer. and pass upon the bridge in
legal form. He did not believe the
council could act upon Mr.. Hoods
petition until the bridge had been
accepted.
Alderman Rivers conveyed the in
formation that the bridge was com
pleted. though there were no lamp
posts or lamps in position. owing to
the delay OF the ID. & r. G.. but they
were not part of the contract.
Alderman Casey said 1t was the
first duty of the council TO determine
whether 1t would be legal or whether
the council would be acting accord |
ing to law to reimburse the contract
or for losses sustained when 1t was
known that an honest effort had been
made to fulfill the contract and that
no graft from any source had crept |
In. He wanted the city attorneys
opinion. After returning from his