San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-02-02
AGREE To KEEP
HARR|GAN BUT
LET OUT OTHERS
Reporters Excluded From
Caucus Over Protest
OF Commissioners.
RIEDEN TO PAY COSTS
City Not to Bear Expense
Of His Injunction
Against Employees.
RIEDEN TO PAY COSTS

An agreement whereby City Engineer
d. ID. Harrigan will retain his position,
despite an attempt by Street Commits
sioner William o. Ricden TO discharge
him, was reached at a secret caucus of
the mayor and commissioners Friday.
The meeting was held behind closed
doors. despite protests by Commission
ers pfeiffer and Lambert that the press
be admitted. The session is said TO have
been warm one, Commissioner Pfeif-
fer taking the mayor to task on sew
cral occasions.
Under the agreement reached Friday
the city engineer is TO be retained but
Commissioner Riedcn is liberty To dis
charge other employees in the engineer
ing department. if he can. Commits
sioners Lambert and Wright took the
position that only Harrigan had been
exempted from the provisions OF an or
dinance passed a week ago, giving Rio
den authority TO cut his forces, and for
this reason they were insistent only
upon the retention Of the city engineer.
Veto Unrest Does Not Work.
Mayor Black. NJ the outset OF the
meeting, according TO Commissioner
pfeiffcr. threatened TO veto the resolu-
ton adopted Thursday afternoon, multi
| flying the Riedcn ordinance. and TO veto
the resolution directing the street com
missioner TO reinstatc Harrigan and the
other men. Ii was pointed out TO the
mayor that IL could be passed over his
veto by majority vote Of the coun-
ell
He then threatened to pro rate the
city engineers salary among the de-
partments Of Commissioners Lambert,
Wright and Pfeiffer.
You are not going to take anything
from these departments, Commissioner
Pfeiffcr informed the mayor. We
have three votes in the council and they
will prevail.
Would Cut Mayors Expenditures.
The tax commissioner pointed out
that there was sufficient money in the
engineering department 10 operate it and
that Harrigan should not be punished
for Reiden's failures. Commissioner
Pfeiffer also warned the mayor that if
he attempted to take money from the
three departments mentioned that, with
three votes, the mayor would find his
appropriations for q number Of men in
his department held up. The tax COM
missioner charged that the mayor was
carrying a number Of men on his pay
roll. such as special investigators, etc,
whose services could be dispensed with
and that he would insist that this be
done.
Taking M the question of the in
junction suit instituted by Commissioner
Ricden Thursday to restrain his dis
charged employees from performing their
| duties, the tax commissioner pointed
out that the council had not authorized
the suit and that the city should not
have been made party to it. In view
Of this fact, Commissioner Pfeiffcr sug-
gested that Commissioner Ricden pay
the costs.
Rieden to Pay Costs.
The mayor is said to have told the
commissioners that he had asked Rieden
not TO file the suit. The city It
torney stated that he had filed it on
! instructions from the street commits
sioner. Commissioner Pfeiffer again
insisted that the city was not liable for
| the costs and Commissioner Rieden fl
| nally agreed that he would pay them.
The meeting was called primarily for
| the discussion of the setting back of
the Goggan building on Houston street.
After considerable discussion the mat
ter was referred to the city attorney
| for a solution.
The tense situation at the City Hall
of the last. few days had not dimin-
ished Friday. City Engineer Harrigan,
whom the street commissioner had at
tempted to discharge, was at his desk
as well as a number of other employees
in the engineering department 1t was
generally held that the injunction res
training them from working was multi
fled by the resolution adopted Thurs
day, repeating the previous ordinance
and reinstating the men. 1t was on
the basis of the original ordinance that
the injunction was granted. it was held
and since the ordinance had been re-
pealed. the injunction was no longer in
eject. Citations on the injunction were
not served on the city engineer and
other employees until Friday morning.
Rieden Has Mass Meeting.
A mass meeting of discharged en-
ployes in the street department was
held at the material yards Friday morn
ing with the annoudced intention by
Commissioner Rieden of telling his men
the fright and wrong Of it." The
street commissioner, +. A. Chapa and
other addressed the meeting. Commits