The evening times., 1911-04-18
CITY COUNCIL RAIF|EO petition
/ Of DISTRICT IS FOR BL0ME PAVING


were' awarded in order to give the
the contractors a chance to even up
matters with the other contractor.
MIR. Burton, agent of the Bitulithic
company, next spoke to the council,
stating that the contractors had
agreed to refrhin from circulating
any petition for their materials and
that he, Mcdonnell or the creosote
block people had not done 80, still
one had been circulated and he want
ed another day in which to have q
chance to let the people know that
they were in the field. He did not be-
lieve that the citizens of Grand Forks
knew that they were paying $2.40 for
a concrete pavement, when they could
get other pavements as good for from
sixty to seventy cents cheaper.
Mr.. Senneck Of the Blome company
was next on his feet and said that he
had only arrived in the city that ev-
ening and that if there had been any
petition circulated by his company as
the other contractors seemed to infer.
that he knew nothing of 1t and desir-
ed to emphatically deny the implica-
tions. Carl Sorenson of the Grand
Forks Concrete company addressed
the chair and then backed up the
statements made by Senneck, stating
that while petition had been circu-
lated in favor of the Blome paving,
he did not think that the Blome COM
pany had hand in 1t.
James Dinnie Arose and wanted to
know why Sorenson championed the
cause of the BlOme company at the
meeting of the paving district held on
Friday evening in the St. Johns
block. Mr.. Dinnie stated that he was
in favor of creosote block paving
but If the people wanted concrete why
he was willing to let them have it
but that he did not think that they
understood that they were paying an
excessive price for that material.
Alderman Sannes felt satisfied that
the people in his ward wanted Blome
paving and wanted the matter put to
a vote. Paddy Mcdonnell wanted to
know whether the contractors could
not have just one more day and the
three inch creosote block included in
the specifications.
Report of Committee
At this point the committee consist
ing of the city engineer and the city
attorney and Aldermen Ryan, Thom-
as and Sorlie, made their report to the
effect that they had examined and foot
ed up the frontage on the petitions
for Blome paving and had found that
3,490 feet were represented. City En-
to state what the exact frontage in
the district was. He stated that this
would be hard to determine but that
it was approximately 1000 feet. This
made the petition lack eleven feet of
a majority. A property owner in the
audience Immediately addressed the
council and stated that he had not
yet signed for any paving and want
ed his name put on the petition, his
frontage was however Offset, by VIM.
Elem, who withdrew his own and
John Cummings names from the pc
tition. The question of the right of
the school board to sign the petition
was brought up and was settled by
City Attorney Wineman stating that
the law of elections made the school
board authorized representatives Of
the city property and that as such
they had a right and were authorized
to sign for whatever they saw At.
Put to Vote
The motion made by Sannes to pave
district Is with granitoid was then
put to a vote and was carried 10 to
4. The vote was as follows: Those
who voted aye we're Thomas, Smith,
Sannes, Salisbury, Redick, Wadsley.
Buckingham, Valley. Sorlie and Ell
lestad. Those who voted against it
were Lockman, Ryan, Hunter and
Turner.
Alderman Sannes then moved that
the contract be awarded to the Blome
company, which brought several to
their feet with the question Of wheth-
er the council intended to award the
contract without a petition signed by
the majority. This matter was set
tied by the council being informed
that when a majority of the proper
ty owners was lacking the council
could decide. The motion was then
put to vote and received unanimous
support.
Districts 16 and 1s
The matter of reading the bids in
the other two districts, 16 and 18, was
Cnen TAKEN up ana q talk IeSL eu6ueQ
between a number Of people, includ-
ing Aldermen Ryan and Valley. Aft
er some discussion 1t was moved by
Alderman Ryan that as there had been
no definite paving decided upon by
the residents and as the property own
ers had not yet held meeting, that
the matter Of these two districts be
deferred until the meeting tonight.
This brought up the matter Of the
annual meeting conflicting with the
opening concert of the Fifth Annual
Music Festival. AS today is the date
for the annual meeting Of the city
council, the city attorney was called
upon to give his views in regard to
holding the meeting on another date.
Mr.. Wineman stated that tho law
called for the meeting today but that
there was no specified time set and
therefore the meeting could be held
in the afternoon. The motion to ad-
journ until this afternoon at 4 o'clock
was decided upon.
. Bids on Sewers
The report Of the public improve