The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1919-11-13
ELECTION CAN'T BE
CALLED OFF

Editor Star: The county commits
sioners at their regular meeting Oct.
5th, took up and carefully considered
the. resolutions passed by Fellowship
and Lowell Farmers Union, said resO-
lutions being signed by Mr.. Aubrey
Frink as secretary. and stated that
said resolutions were passed by Al
members of said unions on Oct. 31st,
1919. The resolutions first request
that this board call off the proposed
bond election to be held on Tuesday,
Dec. End.
In answer to this request the board
would respectfully state that in view
of the action of the state road de
partment, had on July 10Th and Both
last, and the communication of Mr..
NJ. M. Smith, chairman of the state
road department, as published from
cur minutes in last weeks Star, we
cannot consistently call off the bond
election for Dee. End. Under the law
we believed it to be our duty to call
the election. The members of the
board have no more interest in this
bond election than other citizens have,
therefore it is up to the voters to de-
eide the question as for or against
bonds at the election on Dec. 2nd. I'm
der the circumstances we do not be-
lieve we would have done our duty not
to refer the whole matter to the
voters of the county to decide.
The next request of the Fellowship
and Lowell Farmers Union is for the
county commissioners to call in rep
resentative men from each commits
sioner's district and determine what
roads they wish to improve, also
width, grade and material. also
first class engineer to go over said
reads, make surveys and draw up
specifications, etc. The board begs
t, say that they have already done
in September what the said farmers
union requests in October. The board
called into service from the first COM
| E1issioner's district, Mr.. T. T. Mum
| roe; from the second, DR.. S. H. Bitch
from the third, Mr.. Nathan Mayo
| from the fourth. Mr.. C. A. Vaughn
and from the fifth, Mr.. J. K. Chris
tian, to work together with an ap-
| proved civil engineer furnished US by
| the state road department. and the
several public roads were carefully
| gone over and the mileage measured
and the width. grade and material
agreed upon and a map showing the
estimated cost for each road in each
| commissioners district. Thereupon
| the bond election was called and all
the information to be furnished the
| public, which will be done by the 18th
of this month (November), when all
the voters will be fully informed.
| The last request of said farmers
union to advertise for bids for con-
| tracts to build the several roads be-
fore the election, we deem impractical
and inadvisable to the best interest of
the county, as any bona fide bidder,
who is equipped with machinery and
experience in road building, would
not furnish bond and certified check
to bid for something we did not have,
hence those who might put in bids
might not be qualified with machinery
ard experience to carry out a con-
templated contract. No competent
bidder could afford to make a bid to
build acceptable public roads for Mar
ion county one or two years in the
future without adding 25 to 40 per
cent. to his bid to meet conditions that
might exist, therefore the extra price
charged by the bidder would be that
much extra expense for the county to
pay.
The said Fellowship and Lowell
Farmers Union say they will vote
against the bond issue if their re-
quests are not complied with This
board respectfully replies to this:
We have called this election for the
voters to decide. we shall abide their
Judgment. We shall not in any way
coerce any voter or use any methods
that are not open to the public. Our
! interest is only that of common citi-
zens. o. H. Rogers,
Chmn 3D. of Co. Commissioners.