The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1907-04-04

Of THE
COMMITS SIORER'S REPORT.
o THE Hon. JAS. /. ALLREAD.

L
Judge OF the Common Pleas uurl:
Your committee heretofore appointed 10
examine The annual report OF the county
| com mIssiOners of Darke county, beg leave
| 10 report as follows:
| We have verified the several items OF eI-
pendttures NJ ade on authority Or allowance
OF SAID com mmissioners, AS teL forth IN said
| report, and nnd that they tally with tile
bills allowed; that the system OF handling
claims against the county practice u by the
BOal u aud their Requirements for the max
ing out AID presentation generally OF such
Dllls Is good. Likewise, we f1ud That the sc IL
/ eibl ne tIod of business adopted Dy the
| Board In its transactions with The pubic de-
| serves our commentator. Especially Is Tins
True In reference 10 the contracts which the
necessities Of the pub &c business IequITe 10
/ be made for labor and materials furuis Ia ed
To the county, In which we ind that ali such
/ Contracts ABOVE certain reasonable amount
/ are required TO Oe In writing anu VIII Ich con-
/ LtHcts we nnd IN nearly all instances To be
specific In detail and proper hOrm. There
| lore, the criticisms and suggestions which
we may teel called upon TO MAKE herein Ie-
/ late 10 specific cases, rather than 10 geneIul
| features Of Tie business examined.
Wehave found Il few bills that h I'VE been
/ allowed by the Board which were Indefinite
/ IN form III not stating the facts necessary,
| some not showing the amount or character
OF The labor or materials for which the claim
/ Is inudo, and others being defective in other
| respects, MS In the case OF certain bllls Tor
| electric light ana tor water for court house,
which show no I'D eter readings and of ctr
lHln other DilIS for clothing Al d shoes pur-
chased Oy Inc sheriff presumably Tor Prison
eIs IN which kind and amounts or Tor " hOIu
purchased was not stated. We finu that IT, g
commissioners have Increased the aIIOWhUce
| To he sheriff. on account OF boarding pils-
Onefs, from sixty cents Ol $42O per week TO
| slXtyhVe cents or S4.55 per week. This in.
81 ease, in the opinion OF the cUu umittre was
not Justified by conditions and should not
nave been made.
We find that certain bills have been rem.
dered ny the county surveyor and apprHve ed
ny The commissioners, aggregating about
slz.OO, Tor drawing petition and bond adu
lOr view and finding in ditch cases, anu n
Ike item of &4,0O to the deputy surveyor, MI
OF which are clearly illegal.
Prior to the passage OF the Act of March
| 81. 1906, Section l274 of the Revised Statutes
| which was repealed by that act, provided
that The prosecuting attorney shall lie the
legal adviser or the county commissioners
and other county officers, and any OF them
may require OF him written opinions or in-
stluctlons in any matters connected with
their official duties; and for tn ese services
the county con mis>ionerS shall, annually.
at their Decenber session, make him such
allowance as they think proper" The COM
mltCee hnds that under this section annual
allowances have been gradually increased
from year 10 year. from an allowance, $500
made Tor the year 1900, to So 0 NJ ade for the
year 1910, with further allowance of S3OOLU
made unuer the provisions of the above
mentioned act To cover The period from Jan
uary 1906, to April Ii, 1906, the date when
the act went into effect. lie question as to
the proper amount OF such allowances is by
the provisions Of the statute one wholly
within the discretion of the Board OF Junty
commissioners, and though the allowances
made Tor the year 1915, and the fractional
part OF The year 1906. on their face appear to
the appointed members OF the examining
committee to be excessive, such committee
was unable TO determine from the bills rem
deIeu Tor the services performed, no iLemiZ-
90 Ollls having been pl resented or from 9th
er sources, the particular amount, and only
III IA general Way the character of the serVi-
ceH rendered, and are, therefore, unable To
say whet or not the board OF commits
Sloners has grossly abused its discretion IN
The amounts allowed.
Section 523 of the Revised Statutes pro-
vtdes that the office OF the probate Judge
Shall be provided by this county conmis.
sloners" with such blank books, blanksand
stationery as are required by the Judge in
The discharge OF his otticlaI duties.
The committee finds that among other
such supplies furnished for this 9th ce large
number OF blanks for administrators and
guardians accounts and bonds, applications
scDeuuIeS, petitions, and notices nave been
paiu Iof on allowance Of the commissioners
to the amount of so; that in the opinion
OF the committee the purchase OF this class
OF supplies Is not authorized by law and Is
an uuwarIanled expenditure of public
We further lnd that for the yeal ending
IN FeDruafy, lSU5, an allowance was made 10
the PROBATE judge under The statute for ser.
vices in criminal cases OF $2UO, when The
humber OF cases had before him within the
year was twentythree, while for the follow
Ing year an allowance of $3.50 for services in
ike cases as male, when The number of
cases had Was twelve, We are of the opin-
ion that the latter allowance is clearly ex-
ceSsiVe and not IN proportion to an Onnt nf
services Ia
compensation would have been for like ser.
vices in other proceedings when his com
penkatiOn Is IN the form OF fees allowed ty
the statutes. We can see no reakon WIN
amounts allowed him for criminal cases
should be greater than what they would be
on the fee basis,
We fnd that in the constructor OF bridges
subStl ucturts ana AupeI ST rue III es he bone
Ot commissioners have failed TO comply
Will the provisions or sections 1856 and ig6.
I9j IN n' t. prev ViOus 10 the letting of con
uacts for the construction OF the same, fur
n1hhIng or having furnished as REQUIRED an
estimate or the cost or each item and the en- |
tire aggregate cost OF such stl ucIure, By this
omission 1t Is impossible to determine
whether or not The contracts IL ade comply
with section 500 Of the statute which pro.
for price in excess of the estimates. In The |
future tht Sc sections of the statutes sbOu Id /
be complied with.
We find that from time TO time through
out The year considerable an onnt
OF corrugated sewer pipe for culVerts has
been purchased for the use of the county;
that up to July or August of this year these
had bet N furnished by local agents of the
at prices based on list prjre
VIII ten per cent. off plus freight; that at |
ABOUT the Time mentioned the local agency |
appears to have been changed, and n mucR |
higher list price substituted and the dis |
count formerly allowed discontinued, SO
that as II now Is the county is compelled To
pay Tor these sewers IuIl list price less |
Irelgut only. This is unusual in trade az in
nearly all cases purchasers are allowed some
11scQuht from Iikt, especially for cash and |
n quantities. We fail TO see why the pres
,nt agency should not allow at least as lib.
'rhl terms as WAS allowed by the old and IL
I VIII not do so. we recommend purchases
iIregI from The manufacturers, or the dis
ot Inc purchases ard q Bubsti- |
utlln OF another class of sewers
1t has been the custom for several wears
or The examining committees to call atten.
10 10 the gross extravagance OF the Hoard
u Inhrmary Directors, In their charges for
ON pensallOn for themselves, but n0twitb
such repeated criticisms these oh.
ectionable practices continue unabatCd. M
otlce having been taken of the urgency Of :
eform either by the members of the Board :
VhO order the bills, or by the County Com I
niksioneIs whose duty 1t is to pass upon the y
anne. The present Board is no exception tO I
he rule, and an examination OF their claims 9
Or compHnHation and expenses, discOses in =
ur judgment, the most fragrant Violation
I careful business methods. Repeated in
Cances occur where the directors have |
harged Tn county per diem for services | ,
nat should have been delegated 10 the an. 4
and performed by him That
costs the county the price If two davsI
ervices OF one OF the directors for each
y citing of the Board held at the Infirmarv
q seeming 70 th1nk II necessR ry to consume