East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1913-11-17
MEMBERS Of WATER
COMMISSION REPLY
TO BEST'S CHARGE
Extra Money Paid Frank KeIsay Was
for Extra Work They Declare
Elliot Works for City.

Elliot Works for City.
If DR. Best should amputate the
foot Of a patient and then later find
II necessary TO amputate the leg at
the knee and again higher up, the one
case necessitating three Operations,
would his charges be the same as they
would have been had the first oper-
alton been all required?"
This is the answer of other mem
bers of the water commission to the
charges made by Commissioner Best
Saturday that Engineer Frank c. Kel-
say has been paid more than, under
his contract. he has been entitled to-.
AS before stated in this paper, they
freely admit that the sums paid to
Engineer Kelsay during the past five
years have not been all for work per,
formed under the written agreement
reprinted in DR.. Best's article of Sat-
urday. The records have shown this
clearly and there has been no attempt
to hide the fact.
They explain again that Engineer
kelsay made his first survey. under
the direction of the water commission,
for pressure pipe line and. later
when the commission decided TO use
cement pipe and construct a gravity
line, 1t was necessary for him to make
an entirely new survey inasmuch as
the first line followed up, the river
while for gravity line, a hydraulic
grade is necessary. Under the direc-
tion of the commission, the engineer
also ran a line to the North Fork
when that stream was considered as a
possible source of supply. 1t is not
reasonable they contend, that any en-
gineer would run three surveys for
The price of one. They did not expect
it, they say. and paid him the extra
money readily They also paid him
extra money for services in locating
the lines Of the land purchased at
Thorn Hollow. for extra blue prints
and for services as a witness in the
condemnation suits.
Elliot Work for City
AS for the charge that the COM
mission is paying a man 5000 a month
when. under the contract, this man
should draw his pay from the engi-
neer, the other members brand the
statement as deliberately false. T. p.
Elliot, the man referred to, is hired
directly by the commission as its fore
man on the work at Thorn Hollow and
has no connection with Mr.. Kelsay,
they state Mr.. Elliot is no more in
the employ of Mr.. Kelsay than is any
man We have employed at the springs
declared Chairman VIII Moore He
foreman to superintend the work
which the commission reserved for it.
self He has directed the laying Of
all OF the pipe leading from the
springs To the gate house, has sup
erintended the excavation along the
rock bluffs for distance of 5000 feet
and all other work which has not been
contracted. Under our contract with
MIR Kelsay, he is to have a compe-
tent engineer on the job as an inspec-
tor and his man is Mr.. Zeidlhach.
Last year the work which was done
under the superintendency of Mr.. Ell
liot was done at a cost Of S1.45 a yard
where as the original estimate was
$500. This year the work has cost
Us $l.55 a yard and We expect TO do
all Of this work at Thorn Hollow at a
saving of 25 per cent over the original
estimates. That is why we are doing
it ourselves and why we have em-
ployed a competent man as foreman.
We pay him the salary he can COM
mand any other place for the reason
that it has been our experience that
a cheap man is costly
Regarding the figures submitted by
DIT Best regarding the payment Of sur
veyors' expenses from Tacoma. the
commission admit that they paid
such charges 1T is a customary pro-
cedure." they say. when surveyors
are not To be had in the immediate
vicinity"
As for the charge that Chairman
Moore paid S175 for team OF horse,
that is worth not more than SIS. In,
commissioners explain again that tn,
horses We're secured from \. Il. Cool
cy with the understanding that. II af
ter 80 days use. they proved salts
factory, he would be paid Sl75 and
if not, he would be paid for their use
Marion Jack. member of the com
mission and a well known farmer. de
clared it is his belief that the horse
We're worth S175 and the commits
sion paid it. Moreover, they declar,
their belief that they cannot at thi
time secure such horses for cen
less. Also they intimate that tn
cause of Or. Best's dissatisfaction Will
! the bargain lies in the fact that tn
commission did not purchase horse
| from him or allow him TO make tn
/ purchase.
Relative to the charges that Ger
tain bills were not itemized beror
payment. the commissioners call at
tention to the certain bill submlttep
| by DIR. Best on Sept. iS tor expense