Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-06-01
SUCH IS DECLARED eY MUNICH.
PAL EXAMINER SITUATION RE-
GARDINe MAYORS WARRANTS
REPORT OF EXAMINATION
OF cIrYs BOOKS FILED
Loqalixine Act For General Fund
Warrants Included Those in Mayors
Favor For Federal Court Cases-Too
Much Money Spsnt For Paving In
vestisatine.

entire proceedings of drawing warrants
in favor of the mayor and his police Of
lficers to pay attorneys fees and costs
in the federal court, were it not for the
fact that the warrants have since been
'1esalized, but advising an investigation
as to the legality of the warrants, State
Municipal Examiner NJ. +. Cox, of Des
Moines. today filed his report on the
examination of M~arshalltown with the
auditor Of state.
Mr.. Cox not only touches upon the
mayors warrants, but on other peril
nent affairs, and makes certain rec
concentrations relative to the concen-
tration Of city collections, as outlined
asfew days ago by Councilman Lamb.
Mr.. Cox does not think 1t proper that
the mayor n entire council should
find it necessary to spend so much
OF the oitys lone in Investigating
paving when the city has an engineer
who is supposed to kno more abou
paving han a member of the council.
The examiner also declares as un-
usual the a that the city has been
paying for the use of telephones in
the residences OF members Of the coun-
Gil and city employees.
The Report.
The report of the municipal exam
tner, as it refers to his COM
ments on the city's affairs and his rec
concentrations, is as follows:
1--WE trust that the following COM
ments and recommendations will be
beneficial to the new management Of
the affairs Of the city of Marshalltown.
March. 1911. bill for warrant, No.
4457, in favor of E. B.. Price. was rails
ID with pencil from $40 to $50. and
warrant drawn for latter mount. This
may be all right, but there is no way
OF determining which amount the f.
nance committee o. KID
we found resolutions authorizing
clerk to draw warrants for unpaid
balances, not specifying amounts.
Toe Much Money For Junketine.
Warrants Nos. 1888 and 1889, issued
to mayor and council to pay expense
to Fond du Lac, Wis. nj other
places. The amount of these warrants
was $1,000. The warrants Were issued
May 2, 1910, and the account not rati-
fled until April 3, 1911. At that time
dt was returned to the fund from
which it was drawn, and s695.75 drawn
from the improvement fund to pay the
expense Of the trip. Why the mayor
and whole council should consider 1t
necessary to take a trip Of this kind
when the city engineer is considered
more competent to investigate paving
is more than we can understand.
Salaries have been raised during
the year. This might have been per-
fectly regular, but we could find no
authority"
Federal Court Warrants.
Relative to the warrants drawn by
the council to pay the expenses Of the
mayor and his police officers in the
federal court, the proceedings are de-
c1ared as questionable We're It not for
the fact that the warrants have since
been legalized. The report says on
this subject:
a~ggregating s1.s11.96, were drawn in
favor Of @. L. 1ngledue. Frank NJ.
Haas, Michael Clark. and Robert
Goodale. On the above date these
warrants. plus s549.54, were turned
to the city treasurer in payment Of
fines and licenses collected by the
a The city treasurer gave to the
mayor a receipt for s1.S61.50, the
amount Of the warrants and cash, and
charged himself on his ledger account
with only s54s.54. The t~reasurer's
notes upon the envelope containing
these warrants are as follows:
" Upon advice from the city at
torney the warrants were taken from
h general account and so much
credit in the general fund was taken
out, az the warrants could not be leg
ally charged to the account, as there
were numerous warrants outstanding
against the general fund. unpaid for
want Of funds.'
"At the time these warrants were
ordered drawn from the general fund
this fund was overdrawn something
like 81. 00c, which made the warrants
questionable.
1.-THE legality Of these warrants
should be investigated and the treas
urers receipts and ledger should be
made to balance. BY verifying the
mayors records he has collected ST.
311.98 more than the treasurer has
given him credit for. We would aues-
ton the entire proceedings had these
legislature"
Concentration Of Collection.
In conclusion Mr.. Cox makes the
following recommendations. relative to
the concentration Of city collections:
rhe collections Of receipts should
be concentrated, and as the clerk is
a salarfed officer he should collect all
licenses and everything coming thru
the street mmissioners department.
He should be furnished with num-
bered carbon copy receipt books: a list
Of polls. dogs. ETC., may be obtained
on the assessor direct. and this should
check with his collections. The street
commissioners stub books were scat
tered and different individuals did the
collecting. A city is often surprised
when II gets its Just dues, as we found
one hat increased its miscellaneous
receipts over S2s, 900 the first year by
adopting the above plan.
The whole system must be revised
and 4 plan formulated that the public
may know the revenues of the city.
"By a careful study OF the distribu-
zion Of these expenditures the commits
sioners may determine where it is pos
sibIe to do away with a great deal OF
A~xtravasant expenditures.
"ReSuecffu11y Submitted.