Gunnison news-champion., 1915-05-14

County Commissioners purchased ssm~
from Tim. Brothers wss followed By
5. L. wh,pp. who daring the nine years
he was County Treasurer, paid no ss-
tention to them. and when Mrs. A. n
Do~ney took charge of the ofsioe N
1871. they we're prsctscsliy IN the same
condition as when Mr.. Brothers left
them nine year. before. The County
Commissioners. by resolution. instruct
ed Mrs. A n Do~ney. County Tress-
urer. 10 bring the sbstrsct books up TO
date. She employed L. G. Palmer To d.
the work. which took over three years,
end finally she also employed J. H. Nc
Cormick to do part Of it and they were
allowed . reasonable compensatlon
therefose. and since that time the Com-
miss'oners have allowed the sum of ~
each year to keep them up.
The newspaper srtice holds former
County Clerk. o. j. Hurley to he short
sl246 IS in HE accounts. According to
these Newspaper articles, Mr.. nulnix
would make il sppesr that h< hes
actually taken this amount Of Money
from the funds Of his oshce.
The fsct is that while Mr.. Hurley wss
county clerk, the cosaty owned the reg
ular sbstrset boeks end he wss ped foe
keeping them UP. 1t 10 . question
whether the county should own thess
books or not. In many places they ere
owned BY sa sbstrsct company Mr.
Hurley wss pod the sum Of thirty dol-
lars . month fer this work, . very small
sum in comparison with the respoasi-
bility of the work. There 10 voucher
on hle signed by Mr.. hurley for I'll this
worh, but Mulnix says, - indicated by
The ReWspapss stories, that Mr.. Husiey
shOuld not have received money for TIE
pesfsrnaaee Il this wosA, saa tkat IL
he a, thsa - y sAsst N his fsaAs -
iisble to pssseevaisa. II ~. nulain =
going to accuse Mr.. Hurley of being
short in his sccounts, it is his duty "
show the actual shortage and not inti-
mate . shortage end claim one just be-
cause he hes been employed for keeping
up the abstract book. II the county
clerk cannot be employed for keeping
mp the abstract books, il is not the mas
who does the work who is wrong, il is
the system which is wrong. and the
remedy hes in devising a new system.
The commissioners do not deny that
they drew the amount of money stated
in the newspaper articles There are
bills on file for every amount so indicat-
ed, but when Mulnix says they are short
he is going on the supposition that they
are entitled to draw only $500 90 each
year. There is question about this
matter. 1t is held by many attorneys
that the county commissioners in .
fourth class county may draw millage in
addition to their salary for attending
the meetings. And it is well settled
that there are various duties for which
the commissioners are allowed extra
compensation by law. For instance
the chairman of the board of county
commissioners is allowed five dollars .
day for the actual time he expend. in
the care of the poor The county com
missioners have charged mileage in
Gunnison county and it is for the high
er courts to say whether they are en-
titled to it. and not for Mr.. Mulnix to
charge graft just because they have
collected it,
The commissioners have collected for
attending state meetings. Such stten-
dance is for the benefit of the taxpayers
and in most counties the technically of
the law as to the right to collect mile
age for attending these meetings has
been waived. Commissioners do much
for the benefit of the county for which
they cannot draw pay, and the custom
has been to allow them mileage. Com
missioner Whalen. at present. is super
intending road work under the Rookie
feller foundation for which he cannot
draw pay, but stiIl state auditor would
call him CRATER. For years Whalen
has used his own automobile for county
work and made no charge for il, thus
saving the county large livery bi'ls.
Three years ago, when II was doubt
fUl whether state funds could be secUr-
ed TO complete the Blue mesa road. an
absolute necessity If the Rainbow Route
WAS TO be success, Commissioner W.
ley made several trips to Denver, and
counties west Of Us to line UP the West
ern Slope. Largely through his efforts
Ss. 500 was secured from the state and
as result the Rainbow Route Is on the
map. Was that worth while7 Would
you expect man to do this work fo.
nothing, taking week after week from
his own business without compensation
and then pay his own board and mise-
age
Cnpfipuad on EouYfA RnRA