The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-04-20

| Burke, and Frank Swan.
The matter Of the recent action OF
the city council in vacating B street
| was then brought up by Major Col
Inns, who told of the use of the street
by the citizens of West Keokuk.
pointing out that it was the only
street by which citizens of that part
of the city could get to the river and
declaring it was the most fragrant vio-
! lation of the wishes of the people
that had been made by the council.
After telling of the long time the
street had been in use, Major Collins
introduced the following resolution:
| Resolved, 1t is the sense Of this
meeting Of citizens Of the city Of Keo.
kuk, Iowa, that the city council of
Keokuk, Iowa, be petitioned to adopt
an ordinance prohibiting the vacation
of the streets of the city and to pro.
hibit the conveyance, transfer assign
ment and use of the public property
of the citizens, only upon the app
! al of the voters of the city at a spe-
cial election to be held for that pur-
| pose.
/ After short discussion of the mat
/ ter, in which Major Collins, Frank
Swan and several other participated,
the resolution was adopted.
Major Collins resumed his talk
j then and told Of frequent visits to the
city hall, where he looked over rec
ords and other matters of interest
/ On many of these trips he declared
/ that he was unable to elicit informa-
/ ton from City Clerk Sandberg be-
cause all matters pertaining to the f.
nancial condition of the city are not
i in his office.
"lmpossibIe."
j The speaker also declared that he
4 had been credibly informed that
i Mayor Elder had emphatically stated
that "he would not do as the dear
people Of Keokuk wished him to do
because he did not have to-" Major
/ Collins declared that the mayor and
councilmen would do as the people
wished, or they were bigger fools
than he had thought" to which Mr..
Swan laconically remarked, "Impos-
sible."
The matter of the indebtedness Of
the city was taken up by the speaker
then and he declared that 1t was in
excusable that the city should be
4 plunged into debt to the approximate
amount of $4,000 and declared that it
was poor management, mal-adminis-
tration and incompetency on the part
4 of the mayor and commissioners that
such state was brought about Ma
jor Collins said that in the past four
| years. the city's revenue amounted to
4 $500,000, which had been spent and
that they were now in debt to the
tune of $4,000, which was illegal, &C
cording to the supreme court of the
/ United States, which had ruled di-
Erectly contrary to the Iowa supreme
court, in the matter of municipal In.
debtedness.
/ Calling attention to the fact that
the council was trying to negotiate
bonds to the amount of $4,000, Major
/ Collins said that they had no legal
right to do SO, if there was an objec-
ton filed within thirty days from the
date of the ordinance. The certifi-
Gates, upon which the bonds are
based, were according to Maj Collins,
dated January 10, 1913 and his In
junction suit against the city was
filed within thirty days from that
date.
4 In telling of the disposition OF these
bonds, he said that Chicago firm
had turned down the proposition to
buy the bonds and that the council
was now negotiating with a Daven-
port concern for the sale.
Perry Dean, local contractor,
here broke in to interrupt the speak.
err long enough to inquire when the
city would pay him the few thousand
/ dollars that was coming to him. Ma
4 jor Collins could not tell him the ex-
act date when 1t would be paid.
The following resolution was then
offered by Major Collins and carried:
Resolved, That it is the sense of
/ this meeting of the citizens of Keo-
: kuk, Iowa, there is no excuse for the
city council to exceed the yearly
revenue Of the city and create float
ing debt and embarrass the fiscal af
fairs and credit of the city as it has
done within the past year.
Publicity.
The matter of the publication CT the
minutes of the meetings of the city
council was then taken up and Major
Collins declared that the methods of
suppressing the news of the official
actions of the council were an wrong,
I that the citizens had right to know
! every move made by the commissions