The Mena weekly star., 1921-02-17
of $500 each and 10 of 5000 each in 1940. Commissioners Annual and Supple
 mental Report.

| Irectly state such receipts and expen- ditures as indicated by the vouchers filed herewith. With respect to many of the charges, however, neither the accounts nor the vouchers are sui , hciently itemized Go meet the require ments of the law. There are also some charges that in our Judgment are excessive and some that were in our opinion unauthorized by law, and perhaps illegal and void.
 The first item of expenditures in 1 the report on file k for one Ford tour ing car purchased from the Proctor Smith Motor Company, of which firm one of the commissioners is mem- Der. The voucher shows that this charge is for one touring car, $5S9.20. and that the remainder is made up of items for supplies and accessories for the car, the entire charge aggregating $609.70. This car, as we were in- fromed by the commissioners, was purchased for their use while on off, ficial duty and that it was so used un- til few days ago when 1t was sold for $2T5. Further along in the &C., count it appears that repairs and up- keep on this car were contracted for with this same firm and paid to the extent of $6S7,24 In the first place, we doubt the authority of the com missioners under the law to purchase car for their use, but in any event the purchase in this case, as we'll as the contracts for repairs, was Illegal and void for the reason that the law prohibits the commissioners from making any contract with any person, firm or corporation in which any of the commissioners is interested either of rectly or indirectly, by requiring of each of the commissioners that he take an oath to this effect before entering upon his duties. Such contracts are not only against public policy and not enforcible as such, but when forbidden by law are illegal and void.
 In connection with the above it would perhaps be in order to note in this place that the depository for the funds of the district chosen by the commissioners is bank in which one of the commissioners is a stockholder and an officer, and that what has been noted above with respect to the pur- chase of car applies with equal force in this case.
 The report shows a total of $lb,- 941 01 paid to the Southwestern En- gineering Company to date. The con tract made by the commissioners with the engineering company provides that the engineers fee for all services shall be :. per cent of the total cash payments made to the contractors, payable as follows; Forty per cent when the contract or contracts are let, and the remaining 60 per cent to be paid in installments at the same time and in the same proportions that cash on estimates is paid to the contrac- tor or respective contractors. Under our interpretation of the contract the engineering company should have been paid $11 ,000 when the contracts for construction were let, passing this on the estimated cost of $550,00 The cash payments on the estimates of the contractors, including the payment of $15,000 to the Independent Rock Company of DeQueen, aggregate $82,- 87764, and the engineers fee on this amount would be $2,486.33 which to- gether with the first payment of $11,- 900 would aggregate $13,4S6.33 as against $15,941.01, which has been paid the engineering company to date, making an overpayment at this time of approximately $2,454.68, A portion of this overpayment is due to the fact that the engineers received their fees in some instances on the gross amount of the estimates instead of on the actual cash paid to the contractors as provided by the contract.
 In the matter of the contract with the Independent Rock Company of DeQueen, Arkansas, we find the com missioners made a contract November B, 1920, for the purchase of 10000 tcubic yards, more or less, of gravel at 80 cents per cubic yard. The contract provides for an advance payment of 1000 per month for four consecu- tive months, the first payment to be made December 1y 1920, and the other payments to be made on the same day of each following month until $20,- 900 has been paid. The records show that three of these payments have been made, aggregating $15,000, vouchers for which arc on file. The first of these vouchers, which is a check on the Farmers 6 Merchants Bank, dated December 8, 1920, and siiEf signed Effrietdi by bby the president and secretary of the board of commissioners and made payable to the "Independent Rock Company by F. E. Goodwin" i" and being for the sum of $5,000, bears the indorsement, Independent Rock Company, by F. E. Goodwin. Secre- tary," and is stamped paid by the Farmers & Merchants Bank on the date it was drawn. With reference to this matter we found in the files of the commissioners, furnished to us by them, the following correspondence;
 Letter from L. D. McCown, dated January 10, 1921, addressed to com misioners, emitting formal parts:
 "The court has recently appointed
 me as receiver for the Independent
 Rock Company of this place. Until
 properly relieved by the court,
 will operate their plant and carry
 out their contracts.
 In the papers turned over to me
 by the former officers of this com pany, is a contract to furnish you
 with certain gravel. In this con
 tract 1t is stipulated that you make certain advanced payments on the
 gravel to be furnished you, and
 further that these payments would
 be in $5,000 installments. The
 books of the company show that
 you have made two payments of
 $4,000. It seems reasonable to as-
 sume that these were parts of two $5,000 payments, and if I am right
 in assuming th's you are requested