The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-01-18
UD|TOR|U i'm
OFFERS THREE
ALTERNATIVES
Commission Will Probably
Not Act Thursday Because
of Chamber lnvestiga-
ton Scheduled For
Afternoon


tract for the auditorium en-
closed" it was indicated Wednesday
following executive conferences at
! the city hall, when protests were en-
tered against the execution of the
contract awarded d. E. Manasco,
Birmingham building promoter, by
four to one vote of the commits
sion last week. Either the COM
mission will advertise for new bids,
will rescind its former action and
award the contract to the Atlanta
Construction company, said to be
lower bidder than Manasco, or it
will stand by its action and sign the
contract with Manasco, it was fore
cast. Then other bidders would
probably move, it is predicted.
J. w. Leroux, president of the At
lanta Construction company, and
Scion Jacobs, Birmingham repre-
sentative, conferred with the COM
mission more than two hours
Wednesday afternoon and present
ed figures to substantiate claim
that their bid was $4,000 lower
than that of Manasco. Commits
sioner w. E. Dickson. who has
charge of the project, said after the
meeting that mo conclusion was
reached" and that it was not de-
cided what course would be fol-
lowed. He said also it had not been
! determined when action would be
taken. IL is expected however,
that it will not come at the adj
journed meeting Thursday morning,
but will be deferred probably until
Friday, in view of investigation of
the Chamber of Commerce, which,
it is understood, will be completed
| by that time.
Conference With Ford
Conference was held in the morn
! ing with c. w. Ford of the Ford Con-
struction company, who told the
commission he had been instructed
by the architect, II. d. Breeding. to
bid on the entire job and not on sepa-
had he been allowed to bid on sepa-
rate contracts he would have been
| $4,000 lower than Manasco.
| Although bids were received by the
commission two weeks ago and nu-
merous conferences have been held
at which, according to Dickson
statements, tabulations were being
made. it has developed that error was
made in including cost of construct
/ ;.rr 1, ;.. 81
tion company's bid and excluding it
in that of Manasco, Mr.. Leroux pre-
scented figures Wednesday which he
claimed showed that his bid was in
! reality $4,000 lower than that of
Manasco. Dickson said he was not
certain whether it was or not
! Chamber Meeting Thursday
Statement was issued by o. L.
Bum, secretary of the Chamber of
Commerce, Wednesday, in which he
invited all interested persons to be
lof directors at 2 O'Clock Thursday
Afternoon, when complaints against
the contract award will be heard and
| 1t is not known whether the Cham
/ be- of Commerce investigation will
bring forth much result. but Mr.
Bum said that the matter would
be sifted to the bottom" A stenogra-
lpher will take notes on the meeting,
he said, in order that there will be no
mi understanding.
1.-THE chamber has the file of blue
prints and specifications now on file
I in its Office said Mr.. Bum, and
they are open for inspection of all
interested parties and all citizens
The chamber has offered its serv-
ices as medium for throwing light
on this important matter and, there
fore, invites anyone with an objec-
ton to come before it and explain
his objection. The chamber will
take such further action as the in
formation secured justifies"
Claims Increased Cost
Failure of the board to accept his
bid will result in the necessity for
more than 100000 to construct the
building, according to j. W. Leroux.
He gave as the reason for this state
ment the fact that the price of steel
had increased since the advertising
of the bids and that his company
was protected on the old price of
steel through the fabrica ting COM
pany from which he will buy the
necessary steel in case he is the sue
cessful bidder.
According to Mr. Leroux the com
missioners have been advised that
/ they can reject all contractors bids
and the architects plans and begin
again on the auditorium project. He
| stated that If such action was taken
by the commissioners it would mean
! a delay of at least eight months
in the letting of the contract for
the building and from IS months to
two years in the construction of the
auditorium. To do this also would
materially increase the expense OF
| the building, he said.