The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-10-20
LITIGATION in Which keokuk Firm and
Fort Madison City Council is
involved Has Been Cleared
WAS OVER ACCEPTANCE
Council Refused to Accept 1t Because
of Some Differences Of Opinion
Over Expansion
Joints.

The litigation in Fort Madison
courts between the Keokuk Quarry
and Construction company and the
Fort Madison city council over the &C
ceptance of paving done by the COM
pany, has been settled out of court
The Fort Madison Democrat says of
the settlement:
The litigation over the concrete
pavement on Santa Fe avenue, be-
tween Richie street and Ohio avenue,
was definitely settled by the city
council at its meeting last evening.
The first steps toward the paving
of Santa Fe avenue were taken by
the city council over four years ago.
and the first official action was taken
on November 1st, 1915, when the
West End paving district was estab-
lished.
The actual construction of this
concrete pavement in dispute was
completed in July. 1916. but the
council then in office refused to ac-
cept the paving because they claimed
that the expansion joints had been
improperly constructed, being slight
ly higher than the rest of the paving.
In spite of several attempts, no
agreement could be reached between
that council and the construction
company, as to what reduction should
be made in the price Of the job.
In March, 1917, new council was
elected and negotiations for set
tlement renewed, but these also failed
to produce results.
In the summer of 1917. suit was
brought in the district court at keo-
kuk against the various city Off
eials who have duties to perform in
connection with paving, to compel
them to accept and assess this work.
The city itself was not made party
to the suit Judge C. w. Vermilion,
of Centerville, Iowa, was secured to
hear the case.
A large number of motions by de-
PENDANTS, and amendments to plain
ttff's petition have been filed. but
the demurrer raising the question
as to the failure to MAKE the city
presented to the court.
In March, 1919, the present coun-
Gil was elected. and were made par
ties to the litigation at the Septem-
Der term of the Keokuk court.
The basis of settlement OF this
dispute. and the suit arising out of
it, is as follows: The contractor,
the Keokuk Quarry & Construction
company, agrees to dismiss the suit
and pay the court costs, and. further
agrees to accept an assessm ent
amounting to $15,150.65. This is loss
of over 1000 from the amount which
the contractor would have received
under his contract if it had been ac-
cepted at the contract price upon the
completion of the work.
The amount of reduction thus agreed
upon Is about $4,000 greater than
the amount demanded from the con-
tractor by the last council, and about
100000 greater than the demand of
the 1855 council. In other words.
the contractor. by accepting the city's
earlier offers which were made before
the litigation was commenced, could
have saved himself between $1,000 90
and $4,000.
The settlement is generally re-
garded as an advantageous one for
the city, because the present high
prices would make the same work cost
at least 100000. Moreover, except for
the slight rise at the expansion joints,
the job is considered an exceptionally
good piece of concrete pavement, and
has stood up remarkably we'll under
the three years it has been in use.
In the suit to compel the accept
ance Of this work, the contractor was
represented by Attorney Hazen l. Saw
yer and G.. l.. Norman of Keokuk,
Iowa, while the defendant city Off
Gals were represented by E. H. Pol
lard.