Evening bulletin., 1910-09-13

specifications have been advertised
and bids received thereon, the con
tract must he in strict accordance
with the advertised specifications,
and any substantial departure there
from renders the contract void, and
the contractor is not authorized to
collect either the contract price or
the reasonable value of his work and
the materials used. From the infor-
nation contained in the committees
report. have to advise you that the
contract for the building of the con-
crete arch bridge for MALI stream
between Stations ~ 90 and 10. is void
and the contra ctor is not entitled To
receive anything for the work or ma
terials, which have gone into the
bridge. The alterations which were
made in the original contract were
Of so substantial nature that It
was necessary to submit the matter
to competitive bids before making a
new contract. There are number
OF other defects in the contract for
the building of this bridge. which
may be unnecessary now to point
out, inasmuch as ! have advised you
that the contract is void. The ac-
tion of the Board OF Supervisors in
purchasing reinforced material at a
cost of $l154.1G and furnishing this
to the contractor is entirely irregu-
lar, but II Is an irregularity which
does not affect the contract and can
not be of any interest to you. lnas-
much as the contract, as a whole, is
OF no. validity. am also of the
opinion that, without further evil
dence OF fraud on the part of the
Board of Supervisors. their action in
purchasing this material can not re-
suit In any penalty. upon them.
In this connection | wish to call
your attention to that portion of the
contract to be found on page OF
your committees report and which
provides that the contractor shall
thereafter receive from the county
such sum or sums of money which
shall become available for the con-
struction. building and completion
of said sections, subgrades. concrete
bridges, concrete arch bridges and
such other work as mentioned above
| and to build the said road; and which
shall hereafter he mentioned and
specified in the contract or contracts
| for the completion of the new Ho.
nolii road, ETC." This Is a peculiar
device, evidently contriyed for the
purpose of avoiding the section of
the statute which provides that the
| county shall not undertake or con-
tract for'Eork to he done in excess
1 OF funds on hand at the time of con-
tracing for the work. Under this
| section II is apparent that the con
, tract was undertaken by the con-
tractor and the chairman of the
I Board of Supervisors. So far as the
written contract above quoted is con-
| cerned II is void because there was
not sufficient on hand. on the date
when II was executed, to pay for the
work contemplated. 1t can not be
considered new contract with the
, county for the reason that 1t was
never made with the Board of SUI
peryisors acting on behalf of the
county.
Inasmuch as the principle involved
in the foregoing paragraph is inyoly-
ed in other contracts described in the
committees report, II may be well
for me to call your attention to the
, fact that in order to have a binding
contract with the county the matter
must be decided upon by the Board
I of Supervisors at one OF their regu-
lar or special meetings, and that un-
derstanding of the members of the
/ board made between meetings can In
, no way bind the county. II is also
! principle of law that the chairman
| of the board can not bind his fellow
members by a contract which has not
received the prior sanction of the
board at a regular or special meet
ing.
Your committee has pointed out
the fact that specifications have been
prepared and bids publicly advertised
for on work which consists of large
number of sections, such as the bids
opened September 2, 1903; that the
sum total of the various items con
tracted for is taken as the basis OF
accepting or rejecting bids. When
the bid has been accepted as a whole
one OF the particular sections of the
successful bid is then made the basis
of contract with the county. Under
: this arrangement II Is possible for q
bidder to have a secret understand,
ing with majority of the Board
/ OF Supervisors, whereby his total bid
would be ridiculously small for the
entire work, while bids for one OF
two sections would be far in adyanc,
OF the similar bids made by his com
petitors, and the Board of SuperYls
ors would then enter into contract
/ With tho uucaauafnl LIIlar Tnr IN.