Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-05-16
LIVELY DOINGS
IN WOODBRIDGE
Public Hearing on Awarding
Of Road. Bids Crowded
With Indignant Men.
NEARLY C0ME Te SLOWS
Committee Is Scored and
Heated Remarks Made
Reconsider Contracts.
lsnecial from staff Correspondent.l

Woodbridge, May 16-After two
hours of wrangling and shifting OF
feet-no chairs being provided-it was
unanimously decided by the eiti'
township, at the indignation meeting
held last night in the fire house, that
1t was The sense Of the meeting to dis
approve Of the action of the Township
Committee last Thursday night, when
they awarded three road contracts to
L. B. Juan, who happened to be just
$2,s05 higher than the lowest proposal
To Reconsider Awards.
After hard words had been coined
last night and old feuds renewed, 1t
developed late in the evening that the
committee held a special session Sat
urday night, at which time the minutes
of the previous meeting, relative to the
awarding of the road contracts, were
passed but only with the understand
ing to reconsider the awards after last
night S stormy session.
AS the matter now stands the citi-
zens and taxpayers have disapproved
the committee action, that honorable
everybody in Woodbridge Township
nave taken Slu6S OA Tue IdteSt pOAASASol
agitation. The ladies as well as the
men have joined respective factions un
til now the town is worked up as never
before since the day when the famous
steam roller was purchased years ago.
Bids are Given.
There were five bidders for the three
roads, which have caused all the troub
le. The highest and lowest bidders
were:
For Cliff Road and Holton street in
Sewaren; M. Irving Demarest, 81 $685.
03; L. B. Juan, 81, ,49561; Mutton Hol
low road, Thomas F. DUNCAN, $2,l08.
81; Juan, $3,559.25; Ridgedale avenue
Dunigan, $2,025, Juan. $2,672.
Statement of Committeeman.
Following the elections of John F
Ryan as chairman, over DR.. P. j. Kain
Of the Congregational church, and Ed
ward Harmed, clerk of the township
committee, as secretary of the meeting
the following comprehensive statement
was read by the clerk from John S
Dooley, Anton Kuhlman and Randolph
Lee, the three committeeman who
awarded the contracts over the heads
of the objecting two members.
Referring to the recent criticism
signed TAX Payer in the May 18th
edition of the Perth Amboy Evening
News, we invite your attention to the
following explanation of our action II
regard to the awarding of bids for the
matchmaking of certain roads in the
Township of Woodbridge on May II
1911:
First-Owing to our public posi-
do he
interest of the public at large, we feel
1t incumbent on ourselves to use oul
best Judgment IN the expenditure Of
public funds, and in the awarding Of
the, recent contract, it Wa. the inten
tion of the committee to place the
awarding of these. contracts on q good
business basis, which would secure fol
the tax payer the greatest value fol
the money expended, taking into con
sideration the maintenance Of roads as
well as their original COST
"Second-Owing to the criticisms Of
the public during the past year on the
condition Of the roads now existing
and the necessary excessive cost OF
maintaining these roads, 1t is fail
assumption on our part to take fol
granted that if the roads in question
were built in the proper manner il
would not necessitate unwarranted ex
penditures for maintenance, which
would leave In the hands of the com
mittee in following years a greater
proportionate amount for the extension
Of new roads, rather than In the up
keep of roads which had they beer
properly built in the first place, would
,ot lor "a
the Township funds to maintain.
"Third-1n making decision there
for, as to the best method Of obtain
ing these results, the natural conclus
ion would be to determine through the
opinion of an experienced engineer, q
minimum price for which good results
could be obtained, and a careful con
sideration of the parties contracting fol-
this work.
"Fourth-Upon taking this matter
up and going through the records pub
lished by the Commissioner of Public
Roads for the State of New Jersey, il
was easily determined that a fair price
for work of this class and for roads
which would compare favorably with
our county roads could be obtained.
"Fifth-The Following extracts from
these records, verifcations of which
may be obtained by any tax payer
from the published report of the State
Commissioner, illustrates the above
points beyond any question" "
Summary of Bids.
Here followed a lengthy and ex,
haustive summary of the cost of other
roads in this section, which averaged
around SIC. The contracts awarded
will cost about 92c. per square yard
while the lowest bid was for something
like Gle. The county is now paying
around S8c. Continuing, the statement
said:
sixth-A comparison of the above
figures paid by the County and the
price paid for Township roads Of the
same class, would indicate that good
Continued on page z.)