The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1912-02-07

Unquestionably the liveliest meeting
of the board Of county commissioners
held in recent years was the one last
was the disposition of the Benz propo-
sition. L. r. Benz, who has been the
architect on the Jail building since It's
beginning, had received notice that
his services were dispensed with. the
/ notice being signed by the chairman
of the board of county commissioners
and the clerk Of the board. The final
| result of the meeting last night, after
many personal tits and differences.
resulted in the architect being re-
tanned.
LIVELY SESSION.
The session was a lively one all the
way through and as soon as the Rrchi-
tect asked the privilege of addressing
the board the meeting began to be
| one Of interest. Mr.. Benz in the be-
ginning said that he had been en-
ployed in an open meeting and that
he deemed it nothing more than fair
| play that if he should be discharged
that ii be done in open meeting. He
said that he did not believe he had
been treated fairly and that he had
been discharged upon the advice OF
the county attorney. He said that he
had been informed by two members OF
the board that they knew nothing OF
the action of the board in discharging
him, and that although he might have
appeared to have been too slow In the
opinion Of the county attorney, that
he considered this also a matter OF
opinion, as it took some time TO for
mui2te his reports and that he was
| now ready to answer any and alr dues-
tions.
After he had finished speaking, r.
| Pope Reese attorney for the county.
/ a rod n loes7. af xu11f
We're answered by the architect IN q
manner that did not throw much light
upon the matter. but during the
course OF these remarks the architect
| and the county attorney engaged In a
number of warm personal tits, In
| the course of these remarks the ques
| don Of the much discussed roof was
brought up and 1t was admitted ny
/ the architect that he had issued ay
order for the change OF the roof.
although he claims that he had a
| rigt to order a change in this par
ticular. II was also admitted by the
architect that he had told the county
attorney that he would not engage with
| the architect employed by the county
to check up his work.
HOT DISCUSSION.
A hot discussion among the mem
bers OF the board ensued after the
architect and the county attorney had
occupied the floor for some time. The
discussion was precipitated by Com
missioner Mcclellan, who said that he
had not been notified of the action, or
the board IN dismissing the architect
until after the matter had been dis
posed of. Commissioner Mcclellan
spoke at length of the privileges Of an
individual member OF the board and
| questioned the legality of the action OF
the board because the commissioners
We're not called together In regular
LIAR PASSED.
In the course Of his remarks. Com
missioner Mcclellan said that he could
/ produce witnesses who WOULD state
| that the building had not been prop
erly put up--in fact that the mortar
! up to the third story had not been
| properly mixed When he said this r.
NJ. Blount. Of the Blount Construction
| Co., arose and said that the man who
made such a statement as that was ..
! liar. The chairman then called the
meeting 10 order. but this was only an
example of what occurred frequently
during the session.
After Mr.. Mcclellan had made a
! lengthy appeal to the board and the
chairman ard Messrs. Baggett and 4.
w. Davis had replied to him. a vote
was called for with the result that
] the action of Messrs. Johnson. Davis
and gaggett was ratified but after
WAS decided to retain him. The
architect Is vested with the same
authority as formerly, but after March
Ist he wifi draw no salary until the
building is completed.
WILL CHECK WITH CONTRACTOR,
r. 81 Blount. of the Blount Con-
struction COMPANY. contractors for
the new jail building, addressed 2
! communication to the board asking
that the board check up the building
with him and that a settlement be
made, saying that either the cOnstrlIc-
ion company or the county Is losing
interest on the money involved By not
making a settlement. County Attor-
ney Reese reported that he and others
were checking up the building and
would be in position to report at the
next meeting OF the board Tuesday
night. It was agreed that after this
report is received that the board viii
be in position 10 take up the matter
with the contractor. The board will
CContinued on Page Seven)