The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-20
'C|TY COMMISSION
 TO CONSIDER NE WI AUDITORIUM PLAN
Entire Project Will Be Dis- cussed Today With View of Making Another
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CContinued From Page One)

soile eApldHdtlOns oL CSEldln lHlHS that may not have been generally un- derstood. When we assumed office we found plans of the associated architects that called for seating cs- pacity of 1000. The commission de- cided it was better not to have any thing at all than to have an audi torium of less than 5000 capacity of the arena type.
 We proceeded to ask for new plans, and five sets were submitted. They called for seating capacities ranging from 7,5o0 upward. After due consideration and mature delib eration we decided to accept those of Mir. Breeding. I might say that no set of plans was acceptable in every way to every member of the commis- sion. These plans call for an audi torium of approximately 5000 seat ing capacity ana I might say here that we do not expect this building to be ornate at all.
 Better Prices the Reason
 "As to the contract, Mr. Breeding told use we could get better prices by asking for separate contracts. He
 
 concerns in Birmingham who would handle the whole project, and that by asking for lock and key bids we would restrict competition to a few We instructed him, however, to ask for bids both ways.
 There has been serious friction between certain architects and cer- tain contractors in this work. I have heard that there was a meeting of the associated architects held some time ago, at which it was decided that three of them would compete on this work, and that one of them should be the lowest bidder. We asked for bids both ways to break up this combination or any other that might be formed.
 'The lowest bid for general con struction was that of Mir. Ford, which was approximately s310,000. We fig ured, that by splitting the contracts, however. we could save between S10,- 900 and s20,000. Shortly before the bids were opened a contractor at tempted to block the plan and award ing of the contract by claiming that he had not seen the specified tions and had not been allowed to bid. I investigated, however, and found that the estimating bureau had been fur nished a copy of the specifications ssnd that this party had been allowed privilege of bidding.
 "Mr. Breeding received the bids and brought them to the commits sion. We did not complete tabula- tion of them in one afternoon and locked them in a safe in Mir. Me Bendon's office. The next afternoon the Ingalls, Iron works claimed tna. they had been required to bid on a light construction roof instead of a heavy one, their bid being submitted through Day & Sachs company They also claimed that the engineer who had been employed to check the steel work had made the plans himself l told MT. Breeding that this should be investigated and suggested that MT Van ,Keuren of Birmingham. one of the best steel structural engineers in the south, be employed to check them again. It developed that Mir. s. S storer. who had previously checked them, had been consulted by the Atlanta Engineering and Sales agency, who did the work for Mir. Breeding for s1,000. This wa. with out my knowledge. and 1 told Mir Breeding that it should not have been dene, and we immediately employed Mir. Van Keuren.
 Vnn Keuren Report Delays
 Waiting for report of MT. Van Keuren was the cause of the last delay in awarding the contract, and I make this statement that you may all know our side Of the matter"
 Question was then raised as to what building enclosed" meant, and Mir. Dickson said it included steel, brick. metal sash, doors and founda- tion.'
 President McLendon declared that the two sole objects sought in the auditorium were large seating ca. pacity and ito see that every dollar is honestly spent" He said he was not surprised at the rumors, and thar plans had been made to have a super intendent on the ground during con struction Ito follow up the contrac- tor from 8 o'clock in the morning until the men leave at night" Charles Allen was asked how much delay would be caused by having an experte check the plans. and he said approximately 60 days. MT. Dickson said he believed it would be longer than that. and that if the matter were halted now it would be eight months or year before ground was broken.
 Frank Rushton spoke at length on various phases of the auditorium that should be considered carefully and Morris W. Bush, chairman of the auditorium committee of the Cham Der of Commerce, declared that his experience was that cities nowadays
  all could see and hear rather than to tremendous ones where many seats were worthless.
 Commissioners were then called upon by J. D. Moore, president of the Chambe of Commerce, for an ex- pression, and each in a few words what his opinion on the mat ter was. Consensus of opinion was that the commission wanted further time, and upon motion of Frank Rushton, 1t was decided that Presi- dent Moore should write a letter to the president of the commi ssion set ting forth the proposition. after which commissioners said they would hold conference and frame a reply A vote of thanks was extended the commission, on motion of MT. Rush ton, for their frank and open-mind- ed attitude and their co-operation with the chamber" Will Not Drop Protest Protest of the Atlanta Construction company against award of the con- tract for erection of the municipal auditorium 'inclosed" to D. E. Ma nasco. building promoter, will not be dropped, J. W. Leroux, president of the company, announced Friday night prior to leaving for Atlanta. The company, however, will accede glad ly to the proposition of the Cham be r of Commerce to check up on the bids The Beautiful EIonueu