The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1908-12-31
Committees Report.
10 the Honorable James l. AIlread,
Judge Of the Court of Common Pleas,
within and for the County of
Dlfke and State of Ohio.

To the Honorable James l. AIlread,
Judge OF the Court of Common Pleas,
within and for the County of
DIrke and State of Ohio.
The comm ittee heretofore appointed by
you 10 examine the Annual Report of the
comm ssloners Of Darke County, Ohio, de-
sire to report as follows:
We examined the entire expenditures in
the said report, which was filed as the law
directs, on the third Monday of September, r,
and compared them with the bills present.
ed ana allowed by said Commissioners, aud ,
Win the exception of q few minor errors,
the Items in the bills allowed corresponded ID
with those In the report; the errors were
simply clerical, and were easily corrected.
The business OF the county being extern
slVe and varied, the report necessarily con-
tained many items of ex pense, under differ
enG headings, and at times, we found some
dlmculty tn selecting, without delay, the
necessary vouchers when needed. Tue fact
that cerLnln contractors and m eI chants did
an extensive business with the Commits
sIoners, made many orders necessary to be
issue some of which were shown to con-
tain IN the aggregate, items in the report
amounting to many hundreds of dollars
ana these orders ana Items had to be col.
lected cOllated and then referrGd d to the re-
port for coIrecth ess, all of which ILok much
timos DuC we were graJtfied In finding that
the footlngs corresponded with the mount
In the report,
The facC that some of these vouchers were
passed upon and allowed by the Commits
mlssioners but not yet paid, and were in
the possession OF the Auditor, rendered the
service OF the clerk necessary to procure
them, with other vouchers, and these un.
paid vouchers when examined, were check.
ed 6y the committee and returned to the
Auditor. This was done TO snow that the
same had once been passed upon by the
committee and would not be INCLUDED in
the report Of the coming year.
In comparing prices paid for sewer pipe,
sewer tile and the material used In cOnsLruc-
ting crossings, culverts, d dItches and bridges,
we notice that at least two kinds of sewer
pipe were used, the corrugated or galVah ized
iron, and the cast iron pipe; the latter be-
Ing much higher In price than the former;
the comparison being about as follows: 1915
for the linear foot, cast iron, "A inches in di-
ameter; and Sl.95 per linear foot for the same
sized corrugated iron,
We give below the prices awarded to five
| different contractors:
| t) One pipe "a 1T. by 80 in. in diameter,
~ Same. "a Inches in diameter at Sail. $3.50
~ Corrugated galva nized iron pipe, at
80 il inch pipe. 500 per linear foot kind iO'O
not mentioned.
(5) "a inch pipe, corrugated, 8l.S5. same as
above.
The prevailing prices for galvanized cor
tor 10 inch; 30 for l8 inch; ST. 10 for 2l inch
| and the a inch, 81 95, as above.
The price paid to the Crawfordsville Cor
rugated Cuivert Company for lS inch pipe
| was 931a cents, net, per foot, freight prepaid,
most OF the pipe used was $l.3O per foot for
IL inch pipe, the county paying half the
| freight.
We note that in many instance in con.
structing and repairing bridges the work re-
Quired was let under sealed bids which were
opened in public, and the contract awarded
to the 10 west responsible bidder, he to de-
| pOsit $l0D. conditioned that IL the work was
| awarded tn him, he would enter into con.
| tract in five days, with bond condition ed
| that he would pay all bills for labor and
material, and present receipts therefor when
the final estimate was made; which bond
was equal in amount to the contract price.
| In letLIng contracts for bitches, plans and
specifications for the work were placed on
file. open to the inspection of any one, "a q d
the contract was let at public outcry, to the
lowest responsible bidder. and he was re-
tquired to enter into bond and contract as a.
bOve stated; and in all these cases, one con.
tractor and merchant seen ed to have an eq.
ual chance with another
But these were not always the methods Of
awarding contracts or purchasing material
and the records show that many hundreds o
dollars worth OF sewer pipe were not pur
chased on competitive bids as the law re
Qui1es, but were let on the e''private" bids O
certain contractor, who thus had the ad
vantage of all other contractors or mer
chants having this kind OF material to sell.
We think that undt the law all contract
ors and merchants should have an equa
chance to secure public work and to find sal
for their material under honest cOmpetitiv
bidding. that the law does not know on
man from another.
man when elected to q public position
and In the discharge OF duty takes the ON
Cial oath, he then becomes the agent. tn
representative of the whole people.
By comparing the dates upon the bills {
llading for sewer pipe we flnd that very Ofte
the pipe was shipped before the contract va
entered into. Many OF the contracts wei
not dated ct all.
The bills allowed have all been certified
by the Commissioners or ct times by the DR.
5 bate Judge and prosecuting attorney, whe
the law requires their signatures.
The three hundred dollars to which eaC
commissioner Ia entitld In the repair al
construction OF bitches are evidenced by q
daily service Of each at three dollars per da
while the inhrmary directors have bes
Icareful In certifying the number OF days eT
/ IplOyed, the kind Of service rendered, the
: car fare and other travelling expenses whi
: In the discharge of their Official duties
Q The law is broad and liberal, and gives
official the right OF exercising the preron
tive9 Of his once in an economical mann,
and to employ anch help as may be nee,
! sary 70 fully discharge the duties Of his on