The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-12-18

ing at par and accrued interest and
 Proceeds derived from the sale of the bonds will be used to cover the cost of constructing the Bessemer
 road for which the Dunn Construc- tion company holds contract orig inally awarded in April, 1920. At meeting of the board Friday the bid of the Dunn Construction company for the bonds at par, without any prem
 ium, was rejected by the board of revenue. Whether or not the board would carry out the original contract for construction of the road has been in dispute for some time, owing to the difference in the cost of labor and ma terial to be used on the road at the
 present time as against the date of the original contract. It is sSid that costs of material and labor have de- creased since the contract was let Tn the spring of 1920 which would have resulted in the county's paying sev. era1 thousand dollars more for con- struction of the road under the orig inaI contract had the bonds been sold at par than if the contract were re- let.
 Premium Offsets Difference
 According to members of the board, the additional premium to be paid by
 the Dunn Construction company for the bonds, together with the amount
 of interest which will be saved by the county by carrying out the orig
 inal contract rather than taking bonds to be reissued at special cleo
 tion January 30. carrying per cent interest and the additional interest which would be pand on them during
 the 10-year period of the bonds life will offset the difference in the con- struction cost between the present | time and the date of the original com
 tract. This interest is estimated at
 approximately s4o,000, which. togeth-
 CT with the per cent premium ai- lowed by the construction company for the bonds amounting to S27,500,
 will total approximately S675So, which is sufficient. board members
 say, to offset the difference in con-
 struction of the road cost the county | by carrying out the original contract
 the same as if the contract were re-let
 according to present day costs of ma
 terial and labor.
 1 Decision of the board to accept the
 new bid of the Dunn Construction 1 company and to allow that concern to
 go ahead with the building of the road as originally contemplated was reached at a conference held yester-
 day morning between members of
 the board. W. R. J. Dunn, vice presi-
 dent of the company. and his attor- ney, at which Dunn agreed to pay
 the additional ' per cent premium l following rejection of his original bid
 Friday, which called for purchase
 of the bonds at par and accrued in- terest only. Formal ratification of
 the agreement reached at the con- l ference was made yesterday after
 noon when the board of revenue met i in adjourned session by three to one vote. D. c. Ball, w. B. Copeland
 and Lacey Edmundson voted to ac- | cept the bid. while Thomas E. Huey voted to reject it. Jerry Gwin, the other member of the board. was not present. The motion to accept the bid was made by Lacey Edmundsop and seconded by w. B. Copeland. | Terms of Bid
 | According to the terms of the bid
 as accepted the bonds are to be de- | livered to the Dunn Construction
 company in monthly installments of rot less than S10.000, nor more than | S75,000, beginning February l, l922. | Acceptance of the bid to be construed as notice to the Dunn Construction company to begin work on the prof
 ect
 'If the contract with the Dunn Con l struction company for the building l of the North Bessemer road had not 1 been carried out, the county would 1 have been under the necessity of re- | advertising for bids and reletting the | contract" D. C. Ball, chairman of the
 board stated after the bid had been ] accepted. If we had waited until after the special election and had | then advertised and sold sufficient ] bonds carrying per cent to cover the 1 cost of construction, this additional l interest coupled with the interest on | the bonds for 10 years their life period
 would have amounted to approxi-
 mately $40,00O for the 10year period. l In addition we would have probably
 had to stand the expense of long 1 drawn out litigation with the Dunn company whose attorney has advised them that they would have & suit for damages against the county and might have had to pay damages. If we relet the contract now. under the present cost of labor and materials, the difference would probably be not
 more than approximately S65,000. By taking a premium of ' per cent on the
 bonds and carrying out the original contract we get this premium amount ing to s27.5S0 and save $40,000 inter- est on the new bonds, which together. amounting to $67,5s0. approximately covers the difference in construction cost on the road as it can be built
 now and as 1t could have been built In the spring of 1920 under the con ditions then existing. In addition, by carrying out the contract with the Dunn company. that concern releases the county from all liability on four