The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-24
BOARD REFUSED
 ID ASK ENGINEER
 FOR RESIGNATION
W. B. Cloe Seeks Dismissal of Engineer Batson in Lengthy Communica-
 tiOn-NO Second

Resignation of $. R. Batson, county highway engineer, was
 asked by w. B. Cloe, member
 of the board of revenue, in a
 communication presented to
 the board at a meeting last
 night. This is the second time
 within the past two months lthat the demand for the resig- nation of MT. Batson has been
 made by MT. Cloe, who fol-
 lowed the demand with mo-
 tion to ask the resignation of
 the county engineer. This mo-
 tion met the same fate that the former did and there was no
 second to it.
 | In his communication, MT. Cloe set out several reasons why. in his opinion, the services of the county highway engineer should be dispensed with. They are as follows:
 l "First-The county engineer. without
 due and proper authority from the board, did appoint an inspector at a salary of
 $f,500, and did begin the installation of
 testing laboratory spending over $500, | and did refuse to O. K the bills of the l P1ttsburg Testing Laboratory, which were | legally and properly incurred.
 | "Second-The county engineer, while
 receiving the annual salary of s4,l4o.
 which should engage his entire time in | the interest of Jefferson county. did en-
 gage to supervise s3Oo,ooo contract with
 the city of Bessemer at 5 per cent, net
 ting him in the neighborhood of s15,0oo ! in addition to his salary of s4150 | DREW SALARIES | 'Third-That he drew the salaries of | the engineering department in a lump sum and then settled with the various employees with his personal check, a sys- tenn not in use in any. other department,
 and which is at least open to serious | criticism.
 ! "Fifth-That there are serious defects | in construction in many places in the | county roads that give silent evidence of lack of efficiency or engineering ability upon the part of the county engineer | "If this board and the general public | will inspect the engineering work done at the following places, I cannot doubt l statement, my attention having been l called to these places I have made a personal inspection with other gentle 1 men, and while not being an engineer l fully concur with these representations | as to dangerous curves and faulty con- | struction.
 ] 'I desire to call your attention to ] First avenue from Forty first street to East Lake; Third avenue near the fair grounds; Twenty-sixth street from Eff teenth to Twenty-first avenues; also to l the extremely dangerous and unneces- | sary curves on the Lewisburg road, where there has already occurred a col lision between two trucks, and where | the danger to life and property is an | hourly menace to the public and the l county treasury. Your attention has
 been called to the dangerous curve on the South Bessemer road near Brown S station, and where this board has al- ready agreed that from s1.0o0 to s1, 800 1 should be spent at once to protect the public.
 WORK AT LOCK IF
 And last, but not least your attention is called to the large amount of work done on the road to Lock F, Warrior | river, where grading and engineering work has been done amounting to s1o O00 so s20,000, probably two-thirds of which is lin Tuscaloosa county. I have visited | this location with four other gentlemen. all of whom agreed that this was an in- | excusable blunder upon the part of the
 county engineer whIch will result in a dead loss to the county. I submit, gen. tlemen, that this error, if error it is. should warrant the dismissal of the en- gineer resI onsible for the same instanter. | These facts and conditions are pre- lsented to this board with the suggestion that the county engineer in the interest of Jefferson county and ir view of the large amount to be spent in the near fu- ture for construction work. should be an engineer of experience and ability that
 would inspire the complete confidence oi the public. I desire to state that I have no personal ax to grind and am making this recommendation impelled only by ia sense of my duty to this county, of (which I am a sworn officer"
 | NO SECOND TO MOTION | As there was no second to the motion
 of MT. Cloe to ask for the resignation of MT. Batson, 1t was not put berore the board.
 Relative to the road work done in Tus-
 caloosa county by the force of workers :. of Jefferson county, Jerry Gwin. chair man of the board, stated that this was due to the fact that the county line had been changed by the legislature of l9l; and the foreman in charge of the work did not know just where the line was He stated that he had taken up the mat ter with Tuscaloosa county officials and they had agreed 70 reimburse Jefferson county for the work as well as to com plete the road to Lock r. Thomas E. } Huey made a motion that MT. Gwin and IMr. Cloe compose committee to further take up the matter with Tuscaloosa ) county officials and report back to the board.
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