The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-06-06
NO TEST SUIT
IS NECESSARY
Howl Raised by Administration
Over New Law Has Proved
Ground!ess.
MEASURE ADVANTAGEOUS
RESULT PROVED BY RECENT DE-
vELoPMENTS.

That the howl raised by the admin
istration over the law passed by the
last legislature defining the procedure in
letting contracts for public improvements
has proved groundless has been amply
demonstrated during the past two weeks
Notwithstanding this fact however the
howl mas cost the city many thou
sands of dollars; has injured its credit
has scared taxpayers into not paying
their Improvement assessments and has
held up all public work. All this has
been done for nothing, as everything is
moving along smoothly now.
When the council two months ago stood
aghast at the outlook regarding public
works, the new law was examined and
FOUND TO contain the necessary qualifica-
tons for ffrst-class excuse. The city
attorney after CHANGING il over decided
that II meant that separate contracts
must be let for every separate lot or
parcel of property abutting on the i'm
provements. Immediately campaign
was begun to explain to the citizens how
the antagOnistic Republican legislature
had tried to do the American party
in this underhand manner.
Advised a Test Suit.
The city attorney advised a test suit
to determine the exact status of affairs
ana all sorts of schemes were made as
to how this would be brought. In the
meantime, James Kennedy and S. Birch,
sidewalk and sewer contractors, did just
what was expected and refused to go
ahead under their 1907 contracts because
or the new law. This caused a pro-
longed wrangle, which has not been set
tied yet and will probably result in the
city being compelled to put in all the
work on these contracts at a much
higher price than that bid
The test suit idea was knocked in the
| head by P ]. Moran. when the con-
| troversy over letting him the. contract for
asphalt paving extensions on Brigham
and West Temple streets came up Mo-
ran told the board of public works that
! it was foolish to think of bringing a
| test suit and that he was not. afraid to
| go ahead and do the work and take any
it. The board. of course, had to let Mo-
ran go ahead.
Great Light Dawns.
Then somebody had a happy though;
and that was to bring the test suit any
way. A Brigham street resident was
picked to commence suit against the city
to stop the paving but it was discov-
cred that this could not be legally done
| Then 1T was thought best TO ask the
| courts to enjoin Moran from working on
Brigham street and thus bring the matter
before the. court, but it was discovered
| that the whole question as to the validity
| of the law would not be involved i'm
! such an action. To aid in fighting this
| suit $50 was appropriated by the coun-
Gil, but nothing has ever been done in the
| matter.
During the past two weeks the great
| light has dawned upon the council and
| the attorney and it has been discovered
/ that the new law is really all right The
discovery was not made. however. until
| convenient time. If it had been earlier
| the city would have so many contracts
on its hands that it could not>pay even
| one-fourth of its portion, which some say
| 1t can do now.
Fernstrom's Attitude.
The original discovery was made nv
Councilman FernstrOm, who all along
| contended that the new law did not work
| any hardship. He brought the matter to
| an issue three weeks ago with a reso-
luton defining the mode of procedure
under which public work shall hereafter
be conducted This put it directly up to
| the administration to do something and
| the city attorney drew the celebrated or
| dinance covering the same ground as
FernStrOm's resolution. which was passed
| two weeks ago. The ordinance il viii
/ be remembered, had a little Joker In
| it which will allow all sorts of print
| ing bills to be put in by the official or
| gan.
Now no one ever refers to the new
| law and there is no question but that il
/ is benefit instead of a detriment In
a word, 1t simply means that the assess
/ ment shall be made on each separate
/ block or section of work after il is com.
| pleted and that the assessments shall
be based on the actual cost Hereto
/ lure estimates nave Deen made by the
| city engineer of the cost before the con-
| tracts are let and these have been the
/ basis of the assessments
Advantages of New System.
| Under the present system there will be
no divergence between the estimates and
| actual cost and the property owners viii
not be compelled to pay too much OF
will they get off easily at the expense
OF the city. 1t is also provided that the
/ assessments cannot be made until after
/ the work is completed and that no paw
ments are due until that time This rem
/ edies the old evil of having the work or