The Ellensburg dawn. [volume] (Ellensburg, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1912-08-22
Secretary of the Interior Has Signed the Famous
CHI Let Kittitas Valley Rejoice and be Glad
)OHN c. BENCH
REPORTS A FEW
LITTLE THINGS"
o the Council Monday Eevenlng That
Has Stirred up Things Generally


The attack on City Engineer G. n
Miller was resumed at the council
meeting last evening, when Council
man j. c. Bench, in prepared state
nent, accused Miller of over-estimat-
ng quantities on various city jobs.
Bench charged that the estimates
made to contractors were more than
necessary, and said that if Miller was
BIZ right, the taxpayers wanted to
know it, and if he was on the square
they also wanted to know it. Miller
Showed Il set Of plans TO defend his
Position,
Mayor Mahan stated that the mat
tei was most serious one, ana
Should be carefully investigated He
appointed committee of Council
men Payne, Fitterer and Faust 10
look into the charges brought against
the engineer. Fitterer objected to
serving on the committee. saying
that his time was already taken up
on the committee to extend the city
/ limits. He said that in the future
charges against any city official
should be brought in as sworn state
/ ments, and said, that he wanted evil
dence to show that city employees
we're crooked before the charges
were taken up The matter will be
re-opened at the next session of the
council, when Mr.. Bench says the
/ charges will be sworn to and Ggain
placed before the council.
Mr.. Bench, in his letter to the
council, said
in connection with the city's con-
tract with the international Contract
Company, | herewith submit to you
figures showing apparent discrep
ancies between the amounts shown
by the city engineer and quantities
as figured from the specifications.
The specifications call for a ditch
three feet wide at the top. while at
the bottom it is to be about eight
inches wider than the outside diam
eter of the pipe. The average depth
Is to be between four and five feet.
Taking these figures as q basis, we
would have in our trench excavation
3745.2 cubic yards, while the engi-
neer has allowed 6220 cubic yards,
or an excess of 2474.S cubic yards
AS z matter of fact, there are places
where the ditch is less than four feet
deep and the width is only 80 in
ches. There is 204O cubic yards of
levee which ! would like explained,
inasmuch as we have no items COW
erng same in the specifications, and
We previously let contract covering
all the leyee work the engineer re-
quested. We have an item of 1121a
cords of brush, at $500 per cord,
that is sandwiched in with excava-
tions. 1t appears from the specifica-
tions that all disposal of brush cut
on the pipe line is to be placed by
the contractor under the bid of
clearing and grubbing. There is also
an item of hauling so tons of ma
teral. In figuring the weights of
the pipe end castings it only
amounts to 93a tons, based on the
actual weight, as given in the cata-
logue of the pipe company, and
checked from calculation. This is
66l tons less than allowed. The
sum total of the above quantities in
question is 2040 cubic yards leyee at
30 cents per yard. The total amount
is S652.S0; 2474.S cubic yards ditch
at 32 cents amount to $791.94;
il2R cords brush at 81 per cord,
1925; 66A tons hauling at SLIP
per tons is $113.95. The total
amount of those four sums is
51,7S3.69.
Il would like to say that I have
details for all of the above figures,
Gnu am tHvIOuSHly COHNlHCeu tldl
this is a matter that should require
a thorough investigation by some dis
Interested party, and to that end |
rove that the mayor be empowered
TIC take the proper steps toward such
an investigation"
Mr.. Bench also brought up the
matter of the bridge across Wilson
creek at Sixth street, and read
statement to the effect that the en-
gineer had estimated $500 feet of
TIMBER and $50 cubic yards of exca-
'ation, while contractors had figured
that the job would take, at the out
side 5000 feet of lumber and but 10
yards of excayating. Bench also
wanted to know why Miller had es-