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Show t PAVING CONTRACT MUDDLE The muddle which hns arisen regarding regard-ing the letting of contracts for street and sidewalk paving is interesting. It Is a complicated situation, that is it Is somewhat difficult to discern the motives of the various parties mixed up in the deal. That there are ulterior motives there is no reasonable doubt. The situation briefly stated Is about as follows. Last April the board of public works advertised for proposals for paving certain streets. Bids were received and It was found that thb Barber Asphalt company was the lowest low-est bidder by some $20,000, which, however, was not a very large sum in , a Job costing between $300,000 and $400,000. P. .1. Moran was the next lowest bidder. For some reason or another the council did not let the contract, and the bonrd of public ' works rejected all offers and re-adver tised for fresh proposals. The reason put forth for that action was that they expected to receive lower bids. This expectation was not realized. The new bids were higher than the others and the Barber company's bid from j being the lowest on the iirst occa-j slon was the highest and Moran's was the lowest. This and other circumstances circum-stances gave rise to the belief thai there was collusion between Moran and the Barber company and principally principal-ly for that reason the board of public works say they rejected both bids again and are now advertising for a third crop of bids. Moran's bid is $72,000 lower than the city engineer's estimate of what the work should cost. The membeis of the city council coun-cil almost unanimously take tho ground that the contract should be awarded to Moran and If they can legally le-gally do so seem determined to give the contract to Moran in spite of the board of public works. That there are political and other reasons for positions taken by both the board of public works and the council seems reasonably certain. It , is charged that the board of public works and the mayor do not want to give Moran tho contract, because they think that the present of about $80,000 made to Morau on the Big Cottonwood conduit is sufficient for him, that if he was given this contract con-tract it would increase the public dissatisfaction dis-satisfaction which is already very considerable, con-siderable, and that It would bring the "American" party Into worse repute than it is already in, and so injure that party's chances of carrying the county coun-ty election next November. The "American" "Am-erican" members of the council, however how-ever are friendly to Moran. It Is charged that some of tho "Americans" have a "stand In" with Moran and also that they want the work put under way at once so that an army of men will be employed who will vote tho '"American" ticket at tho coming election. elec-tion. It is pojnted out that although the present administration has been six months In office they have not yet done anything In the way of public improvements, but have squandered the city's money by increasing sal-arises sal-arises and needlessly increasing the number of men employeil by the city and that something must be done to satisfy the public. The. Democratic members cf the council, It Is charged, join with the "American" members in favoring Moran just to Intensify the muddle, cause delay, prevent the administration ad-ministration from accomplishing anything any-thing and then place tho blame on the administration, which having control con-trol of nil the departments are the re-sponsble re-sponsble parties. At present a dead lock appears to exist and the outlook for any paving being done this year Is not bright. It may be that some of the streets will be torn up and left In that condition during the winter which would bo a trump card to play against the "American" "Am-erican" party. It Is scarcely possible now that much paving can bo done before the cold' weather comes which prevents work of that kind. The bids submitted were for work on Main, First and Fourth South street. The lowest bidder on June 15 was $11,549.40 higher than the lowest low-est bidder cn April 11. Following is a statement of the bids submitted on April 11 and tho bids submitted on .Tune 15: For paving State street from Fourth South street to Seventh South street, and Fourth South street from West Temple street to Second East street. P. J. Moran. Reinforced concrete curb, ten-year guarantee, April 11, $100,1C4.00; June 15, $00,820.10. Barber Asphalt Paving Co. Ten-year Ten-year guarantee, April 11, $92,0211.20; June 15, $102,031.50. For paving East Temple street from Fourth South street to Ninth South street: P. J. Moran Reinforced concrete curb, ten-year guarantee, April 11, $70,-C48.95; $70,-C48.95; June 15, $07,051.25. Barber Asphalt Co. Ten-year guarantee, guar-antee, April 11, $02,804.35; Juno 15, $70,575.95. For paving First South street from West Temple street to Third West street. P. J. Moran Reinforced concrete con-crete curb, ten-year guarantee, April 11, $51,288.70; June 15, $49,815.95. Barber ABphalt Paving Co. Ten-year Ten-year guarantee, April 11, $47,40025; June 15, $52,4C3.20. For paving Second South street from Third East street to Tenth East street: P. J. Moran. Plain concrete curb, June 15, $100,189.30. Barber Asphalt Co. Ten year guar-intee, guar-intee, April 11, $101,809; Juno 15, $118,088.30. Tho total of the bids made by Moran Mo-ran for the work was $319,87G.C0, while that of tho Barber company was $343,158.95, making a difference of $23,282.35. When the bids were submitted sub-mitted in April Moran was the highest bidder. The new bids, the third set advertised adver-tised for, are to be opened on July C, according to tho present plan of the board of public works. That, however, how-ever, does not give eastern contractors sufficient time to look over tho situation situa-tion and prepare their proposals. Among all tho city departments the. health department takes the palm for Inefficiency and general cussedness! Tho latest move of the health commissioner com-missioner Is to throw the ontlre work which properly belongs to his offlco upon tho county. It is true tho commissioner com-missioner has done practically nothing but draw salary since he assumed of-flee of-flee and he seems determined to puri sue that policy. Tho demands of the public for service havo beeii Ignored nnd now the attempt is being made to legalize the do nothing policy of the department. C. M. Nielsen will be n candidate for the Democratic nomination for county attorney. Mr. Nielsen is a well known attorney who has been practicing law here for tho past do.-cn do.-cn years. He served n term ns justlco of the peace and has many frlonds who arc urging him to become a candidate. C. Stanley Price mny decide to bo a candidate for the Republican noml-nation noml-nation for county attorney. Ho is well qualified for tho position, and one of the nblcst young lawyers at this Colonel M. M. Kalghn will In all H probability go boforo the Republican convention for tho nomination for county attorney. Two years ago ho received a very respectable vote for the nomination for district attornoy, but fell short cf enough to nominate. Chief Justlco Bartch has gono to Washington to work against the con-firmation con-firmation of II. E. Booth as United States district attorney, nnd Incident-illy Incident-illy to secure tho appointment for himself. Tho judge probably has tcumen enough to see that he has lit-tic lit-tic chance of securing the nomination for re-election to his present position. Nothing has been heard of his threat to resign for quite a while. Just why the state should be afflicted by tho ap-polntmcnt ap-polntmcnt of Judge Bartch as United ed States attorney Is not apparent. Tho ntl-Olasmann ncoplc of Ogdcn iro greatly "worked up" over tho pros-sect pros-sect of Mr. Glasmann being appointed postmaster of Ogdcn. Tho appoint-nont appoint-nont rests with Congressman Howell md It Is not at all likely that either ot the senators will interfere In tho natter. |
