Bisbee daily review., 1921-08-31
CHA COUNTY TAXPAYERS, IN
LETTER TO STATE ENGINEER,
QUESTION HIS ROAD REPORT

GLOBE, AriZ., Aug. 80. - Demand
is practically made upon State Engi.
neer Thomas Maddox for an account
ing of ella county's portion of the
state road fund, in letter addressed
to the engineer on behalf of the ella
County Taxpayers Association. The
letter is in answer to an open letter
given to the press by the state en-
gineer in which the latter charged
the secretary of the association with
misstatements in a letter the latter
had written.
Letter To Maddox
The letter To Maddsck follows:
MIR. Thomas Maddox,
State Engineer,
Phoenix, Arizona.
Dear Sir:
Replying to your letter of the 18th
instant, | beg to advise that M. Kee-
gan's report was considered and ap-
proved by the Executive Committee
and by a general meeting of the AS
ISOLATION before it was published. In
view, of the specific charges of mac
curacy made in your letter have TAX
en- the trouble TO investigate the
points raised and | find no material
error in his report.
Patrick Rose, former chairman of
the Board of Supervisors, confirms
Mr. Keegan's statement that the origi-
nal estimate ON the ella County por-
ton of the GlObe-Geronimo and of the
Miami-Superior was in each case plac-
ed by you at a cost of $90,000.00. This
estimate was given by you in the Of
flee of the Boara at Globe, Mr.. Kee-
gan and Mr.. julius Milton, County En-
gineer, being present at the time; and
it was on the strength of these esti-
mates that the Board of Supervisors
approved the work on the two pro-
jectS.
Statements Denied
your letter states: Mr.. Hopes
contract was for 80 miles instead of
3.9 miles, as stated in your report l
have seen a blue print issued by your
office, giving the length of Section
F. as 3.9 miles and in your Fourth
Biennial report to the Governor you
state, on page 3S, Section F. is be-
ing constructed contract by Jorr.
Hopes This Section consists of
3S71 miles, beginning about three
miles from Miami Cement seems
hardly necessary.
Your statement that the contracts
let to Mr.. Hopes, Mr.. Faucet ana
ella County, have all been without
any classification whatever, is incor--
rect. l have seen the specifications
and they give a distinct classification
into Excavation Borrow Glass "A
Concrete, Glass b Concrete etc.
That your final estimates on
which the Hopes contract was based
were inaccurate, is shown by the fact
that long before the contract was COM
pleted, 32,122 cubic yards had been
elcavated between stakes, where
your estimate showed only 24,975
yaI1s for the completed work. SINH
larly, excavation for Borrow at the
same period, was 1926 yards, AS COM
pared WITH your estimate of 100 yards
and clearing and grubbing amounted
to % acres, where your estimate gave
IA acres. That your figures were in
accurate was admitted by your letter
of Dec. 22nd, 1920, when you wrote:
On the original estimate, one yard
excavation was assumed to make IA
yards of fill, whereas it is taking one
yard of excavation to make one yard
of fill The magnitude of the error
and the questionable nature of the ex-
PLANTATION would have justified much
stronger language than was used in
Mr.. Keegan's report.
Board Backs keegan
"The Board of Supervisors bear out
Mr. Keegan's statement that you do
not give an accounting of the work
done and expenses incurred by your
department from the rs per cent fund
The presentation to the Board or
claims for approval does not consti-
tute an accounting in any sense of
the word. They have no means to
check the validity of these claims or
to determine what use was made of
the material or labor. What they
need and what you fail to give them.
is detailed statement showing. the
total and unit cost on each project
together with the amount of work ac-
complished and comparison with the