Milford chronicle., 1922-03-03


team. and our people did not often Sc
very far from homeI but. now tha'
we have the automobile, It 70 neces.
sary that We have q more uniform
method Of lsvytnG our taxes for t11l
class Of roads.
Another Of the provisions IN the new
bill was that the Levy Court should
appoint during the month Of January
1917, and every four years thereafter
during the month Of January, q COM
petent road engineer, who should be
graduate Of a reputable school OF
college, and must have had two years
experience In practical road building.
On January 16, 1917, our Levy Court
appointed an engineer; who, at one
time was and may now be, q member
Of this Rotary Club. I refer 70 M.
Charles M. Upham, who served as
our county engineer from January 10,
1917, until he was elected chief en-
gineer Of the State Highway Depart
Of Delaware.
The act providing for the appoint
ment Of an engineer gives a great
deal Of authority to the engineer. The
engineer appoints every one Of the
road supervisors, all Of his assistants.
and can discharge any Of them at
any time he may see ut without con-
sulting anybody, and can employ
others to I'LL their places as he may
see fit.
When Mr.. Upham left US. his sue
cessor was appointed for the unex-
pired term, which expired January /,
1891, Since that time. our county has
had three acting engineers, but no
legally elected county engineer" One
Of these acting engineers was a grad
uate, as the law provided. but he could
not get a majority Of the votes Of the
Levy Court, although he had served
the county very acceptably for three
and one-half years. Neither of the
other two acting engineers was a
graduate as provided by law, and the
one now serving as acting county en-
gineer was elected by majority Of
our Levy Court last December to serve
as acting county engineer until De-
cember 81, 1922; which, In my judg-
ment, Is a strict violation Of the law.
Under the old system, as previously
stated, there was a separate bank ac-
@1aAAs ACA GeASAA QAA0 u NAAG l6u LOdQ
districts, and one bank account for
general county purposes. Under the
new system, all Of these eleven ao-
counts have been converted into one
account; and, instead Of retaining
county orders until called for. they
are mailed direct to the parties to
whom the orders are drawn, and am
glad to be able to say that there has
never been an order Of Sussex county,
issued since January /, 1917, presented
to the bank for payment and payment
refused thereon. If this was the only
thing the present system accomplish
ed, 1t would be fully worth While.
In all Of the Levy Court purchases |
under the present system, bids are |
asked for wherever possible and prac-
teal. It cost Sussex county, under
the old system, over 5000 to publish |
he list Of delinquent tax payers which |
was published In the year 1916; while,
under our new system Of securing |
bids, this work was done in 1917 for
b2S4.2O. There might have been a few
more delinquents in 1915 than 1917,
out certainly the difference was very
slight. It cost Sussex county $14.5O |
/ thousand for the ballots which were
lsed in the election Of 1915; but, after
bids for the printing Of bal
OTIS In 1918, when everything was
very much higher, it cost $9.75 a
thousand. While we have saved in
many Of our purchases, these are pos
tbly the two most extreme cases.
Under the old system, the Levy
Court met once month. Under the
lew system, the Levy Court meets
very Tuesday. which is decidedly bet
er.
After Mr.. Upham was appointed
ounty engineer on January 16, 1917,
he Levy Court had Mr.. Upham at {
lumber Of conferences regarding per- t
lanent road improvements, and we t
7ere all very anxious to get a bill {
trough the Legislature, which was '
hen in session, authorizing bond is '
ue for permanent improvement Of !
ublic roads,. so It was thought best /
nat we get in touch with the officers {
( the Delaware Good Roads Asso-
Iation Of Sussex County," which was r
OF very active at this time, and sug- t
est that they get back Of the move r
tent and start some work to create Il
ublic sentiment. The association Il
allied a meeting in Laurel promptly, n
nd invited the members Of the Levy C
ourt and county engineer to attend v