The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1912-08-01
FIND ADDED EXCAVATION MADE
Committee However Puts Amount of
all Extras Due the Contractors at
Less Than One Fourth the Amount
Claimed by the Company.


the common council met on Friday eve
ming and spent more than four hours
considering the bill for extras on the
trunk sewer as flied by the Cleary,
White, Newman Company and at the
end of the long conference the commit
tee had made two decisions. The first
was that the contractors were entitled
to $8,765.5S for extra work done either
on the written order or with the ex-
pressed consent Of the city engineer,
who under the contract had the right
to order the extra work and material.
The second was that an error had
been made in showing the profile for
the sewer and that this error resulted
in the contractors being forced to do
certain amount of extra excavation.
The committee, however, was convinc-
ed that the amount of extra excava-
tion claimed was largely exaggerated
in the bill for extras and that the con-
tractors had attempted to charge the
city for this excavation at a rate far
above the actual cost.
The examination of the bill revealed
the fact that the contractors had
charged the city with practically every
foot of sheeting and flooring that had
been used in the sewer and that prac-
tically no effort had been made to pull
out any Of the lumber thai had been
placed for the protection of the sewer
trench. The company had no order
from the city engineer which would
warrant the claim for the lumber used
in sheeting.
The investigation showed that the
city had been charged for every cubic
yard excayated in back filing regard
less of the fact that the company had
made many claims for extra concrete
put in places where extra excavation
was made.
1t is possible that a reasonable and
fair settlement of the bill would allow.
the company for extras in the neigh
borhood of $4,000. The claim of the
company for extras is a little over
$4,000 and the committee declared
that if the company was not willing to
accept a reasonable settlement that
the entire matter would be thrown
into the courts and fought out before
jury.
The irregularities and inconsistent
cies in the bill of the contractors are
so glazing that it is certain that the
city would be able to show many
things in court which would lead
jury to decide against the company on
all points.
The contractors have charged the
city with all lumber used in the sewer
at rate of forty dollars thousand,
stating that this was the actual cost of
this lumber. The company purchased
a large amount of lumber at $1,000 per
thousand and it is declared that the
cost Of putting it in the ground was
not in excess Of a few dollars a thous-
and.
One of the members of the contract
ing firm has made a proposition to the
committee to have the actual cost of
the sewer figured up by experts and
allow the company this amount plus
ten per cent profit. The committee
will not consider this proposition
Members Of the committee admit that
the company may have lost money on
the contract but they insist that it
is not the city's business to make
up the losses which the company may
have sustained through improper bid
ding or unbusinesslike management of
the work after the contract was award
ed
Any settlement that may be made
between the contractors and the city
must be contingent on the company
making a settlement of all claims
against the city as a result of the
building of the sewer previous to the
final payment.