Show NO CAHSE OF U ACTIN I The Mayors Water Pipe Veto Now a Total Wreck EVERYBODY IS EXONERATED A Broadside of Refutations and Contradictions Con-tradictions in the Council A Five Hours Session With a Verdict of Nut Guilty Rhodes Bros Accuse the Major of Stating Untruths So Say They All The mayors veto of the water pipe contract con-tract cost the city council a fivehours wrangle and the taxpayers 100 in cash last night Everybody accused by the mayor of wrong doing was exonerated asa as-a matter of course with the exception of President Loofbourow whose case is reserved re-served for a special committee Following are the proceedings of the five hours session and the work accomplished accom-plished could easily have been done in an hour After the meeting had been called to order the recorder stated that the minutes of the meeting of December 2 were lost at the last meeting but that he had reproduced re-produced them They were then read and approved as were also the minutes of the last meeting The following proceedings were then had COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE On motion of Lawson seconded by Kelly the council resolved itself into a committee of the whole to investigate the matter of the mayors veto of Rhodes Bros contract for furnishing certain water pipe Beardsley was selected chairman of the committee and President Loofbourow then moved that the investigation be had with open doors which motion was carried car-ried Rich moved that the recorder read the mayors communication and the chairman chair-man so directed In connection with the mayors communication a letter was also read from the Colorado Coal and Iron compauy to the mayor in which they agreed to furnish the pipe for which a I contract had been entered into with Rhodes Bros for the sum of 53150 per ton 5 cents less than the contract They also stated that they had not been invited to bid upon the pipe prior to the letting of the contract The letter bore date of Dec 20 RHODES BROS ROAST THE MAYOR The following sworn statement of Rhodes Bros relative to the purcbse of pipe was then read To the Honorable President and City Council GENTLEJIRI We best leave to submit to your honorab body the following statement relating relat-ing to the contract forbSO tons of sixInch pipe referred to by his honor the mayor in his veto message ot the 3d m = t Last spring we entered into contract with the Colorado Coal and iron company of Pueblo Colo purchasing ot them at a stated price per ton the entire output of their mill for the year I Ifc92 Last August your committee called for I st r bids for 8JO tons of sixinch pipe Our bid was the lowest and we at once di rected toe Colorado Cobl ana Irom company to manufacture ail the sixinch pipe possible The contrast was not awarded to us until some weeks later Ve then piaced an order with the Colorado l oat and Iron company for 450 tons and with an eastern firm an order for 400 I tons At about that time the Colorado Coal and Fuel company purcnased the entire plant i of the Colorado coal and Iron company The former firm ignored our contract and declined to ill the oraer We at once commenced suit for violation of contract and piaced with other mills orders for pipe to complete the contract Tho pipe has boon slow in coining In out enough has been shipper to complete the contract con-tract and is now being received by the city We have furnshefl the pipe faster than 11 was required for use so that tho city has Buffered neither loss nor inconvenience by the delai We parcbabed ntteen cars of pipe from a firm with whom we bad not dealt Def re It was shipped subject to Inspection here and to be paid for I accepted as shown by enclosed letter let-ter These card were wrecked while enroute here Before the arrival ot the same wo notified noti-fied the superintend nt of water works and asked him to inspect the pipe We also after its arrival stated the facts to mayor and asked him to have inspectors appointed to examine ex-amine each piece and reject all that was cracked or otherwise damaged whicti he did And all pipe not sound and up to standard was rejected the attached certificate shows that the shipment ship-ment was wrecked That eightyfour pieces were a total loss and that the inspeetois who examined the pipe hero found thirtysix pieces cracked and unlit for use TiE MAYOR PKEVAUIOATED His honors statement that a portion of the order for 8 Tons was furnishid by the Colorado Coal Iron < oinpany Is not true That firm did not furnish any portion of the pipe for sad order Alter the above shipment of pipe had been received and settled to tho satisfaction cf nil parties his nonor the mayor Invited us to bid on 8JO feet of 16 inch pipe lately purchased by the city Showing that he dd not at that time consider us lrrcspdn tble bidders that would hunt up pipe which was not salable In other markets When our bid was accepted for tiS tons of pipa and before we entered Into contract con-tract with your committee His honor the mayor sent for our Mr G B Rhodes and stated to him as follows Our relations have always been very pleasant and our business transactions satisfactory but i want to say to you that if you go into contract with the Waterwoiks committee I will do all that I can to keep you from getting your money for the pipe but very klnaiy remarked re-marked that i the bids had been asked for by myself in tho regular way and i yours had been the lowest bid I would have awarded you the contract Nothing was then said of us as being simply irresponsible brokers nor any fear expressed that we would furnish pipe wnica had been condemned elsewhere He further icma ked That even though the council passed the contract over his veto that he would carry the matter Into the courts and lteep us out of our money 1 IK ssib e and that he would say the same thing to Uoanis Long Co they being the next lowest bidders DINT EMPLOY LOOtVOUKOW Judge Loofbourow has never In any sense of the word acted as attorney for us Your committee com-mittee demanded cf us that we comply with our bid and go into contract His honor the mayor had already warned us that he would try to keep ua Irom getting our mOD i we aid so Knowing thit Judge Loofbourow was familiar with the municipal law of tho city we asked we entered into contract wouid It be binding us againstthe city He explained that it would be binding i approved by the mayor i vetoed by him i would be binding only after havinar hen passed over his veto by a twothirds majority ma-jority vote We offered to pay him for his information in-formation but he refubed to take any compensation compen-sation We most respeotlullv submit that the facts In the case do net show that we hunted up inferior in-ferior pipe which was tot saleable In other markets and bad probably been condemned elsewhere and attempt to dispose of it under contract with the city On the contrary that we notified the proper official Mr Ryan before the arrival of the pipe and asked to have it in spooled for the reason that i it had not been accepted by the city we were not bound to pay for It ItWe We sell thousands of tons of pipe yearly throughout the west We therefore protest with emphasis a anst having our good name as merchants and contractors traduced by maliciously distorting tne truth and by misrepresenting mis-representing tho facts even though it be done by the chief executive in order that he may gain an advantage in 0 controversry in which he is engaged with a ordlnatt branch of thc city government Respectfully submitted RHODES BHOS There were also some letters read in Bros support of the sworn statement of Rhodes WASTED THE MAYORS SIDE Karrick then asked i the mayor had been asked to attend Moran No what do we want with the mayor Hes already told his side of the story What we want now is the other side Folland made the motion for the council to meet as a committee of the whole The mayor has made certain charges and he must have some evidence to base them on He should be present or send what information he ha I have also heard that President Loofbourow was the attorney for Rhodes Bros MoranOh we are hero to investigate charges made by the mayor let us proceed pro-ceed HornThere is no use in calling this meeting i we are not going to investi gate I the mayor doesnt want to come and defend his veto let him stay away I am in favor of proceeding Lawson I want a thorough investigation I investiga-tion in detail j P I i j RichThe committea have no right to invite the mayor l although I am very sorry he is not here I suggest however that a committee of two be appointed to call upon him and ask him to attend Moran I say the mayor has told all he knows There i no danger of his overlooking over-looking anything I dont believe in his being invited here Itjs a piece of foolishness fool-ishness Thereare only a few questions to be decided As to whether or not the Colorado Fuel company was invited to bid I can answer that as to President Loofbourows alleged connection with Rhodes Bros he is here to answer t that After some further talk of similar character char-acter a motion to send a committee to invite in-vite the mayor to take a hand in the proceedings pro-ceedings was carried and the chair an pointed Honor Rich and Kelly to wait upon his COULDNT FIND HIM After an absence of a half hour the committee returned and reported that the mayor was not at the Alta club nor the theatre and hence they did not find him Moran Will thats l nice report Karrick then moved that the committee commit-tee adjourn until some future time when the mayor could be present Moran This is beginning to make me tired and I am not going to stay here much longer and dildally with this matter mat-ter And the very gentlemen who made the motion last Tuesday morning that the counci should meet tonight as a committee commit-tee of the whole are now wanting to postpone post-pone the investigation Folland dont like such insinuations I am here in the interest of the city and only desire to do my duty Karricks motion was then voted down and i was decided to proceed with the investigation in-vestigation vcstglion Lawson then asked Moran with reference refer-ence to the allegation of the mayor that the Colorado Fuel company had not been invited to bidDI DID SOLICIT BIDS Moran then read a letter written by himself t the Colorado Fuel company under a date of Nov 26 prior to the letting let-ting of the contract in which he solicited n bid from them In answer to this letter let-ter an agent of the company came here and submitted a bid supsequensly but the bid was returned to him to hold until a later date when other bids were expected ex-pected and was not again submitted submit-ted Mr Moran was quite sure that the letter from the company to the mayor would indicate that the mayor had promised prom-ised to solicit bids from them which he did on Dec 17 after the committee had entered into a contract With Rhodes Brothers Moran saw nothing strange in the cut made by the Colorado Fuel company com-pany as they had seen Rhodes Brothers bid and could easily make a cut of 50 cents per ton He also stated that the former company had never submitted but one bid during his connection with the waterworks committee Also that he and the other members of the committee waited upon the mayor with the unopened un-opened bids but his honor refused to have anything to do with the matter The committee then retired and opened the bids and found the bid of Rhodes Brothers to be the lowest With reference to the mayors state ment to the effect that he had never had any difficulty in securing bids from the firm in question and that it took more credulity than he possessed t believe that I the committee could not have done so without extraordinary exertion Moran said he didnt care what the mayor believed be-lieved or what anybody else believed He had done his duty and that was all there was to it itMR I M RHODES STATEMENT I J E Rhodes of the firm of Rhodes Bros then made a statement with regard to the manner in which they did business He said that they entered into a contract with the Colorado Coal ana Iron Company I Com-pany in May 1892 to purchase of them all the pipe that they could manufacture I His firm did a large business and the company in question could not furnish them from than onefourth of the pipe which they needed In relation to the mayors statement that fifteen car loads of pipe was shipped here under consIgnment I consign-ment to some outsider under some arrangement with Rhodes Bros Mr Rhodes stated that the pipe was shipped subject to approval here and the firm consigned the pipe to themselves I The gentleman then proceeded to rip up every allegation made by the mayor in his communication As to his connection with President Loofbourow Mr Rhodes said that he called on Mr Loofbourow believing that he was well versed in municipal law to enquire as to how a contract would have to be executed in order to be binding after a veto by the mayor Mr Loofbourow gave him the desired information but refused to take any payment for the advice President Loofbourow then took the I floor and made a similar statement He had never talked with Mr Rhodes prior to that meeting nor has he done so since BACKED BY RYAN Superintendent Ryan of the waterworks water-works was asked by Mr Moran as to the quality of the pipe which had been purchased pur-chased from Rhodes Bros and stated that it had always been firstclass except fifteen carloads which had been in a wreck Mr Ryan was sure that the city had always been treated fairly by this firm and had never paid for a foot of I pipe which was not as represented Folland moved that a subcommittee of three be appointed to draw up a report to submit to the committee of the whole and Evans Simondi and Folland were appointed as such subcommittee Hardy I was first named a one of the subcommittee subcom-mittee but refused to act AN UNSATISFACTORY REPORT After a recess the subcommittee handed in the following Kesolved Ihnt the recorder be and Is hereby Instructed to communicate with the mayor and inform him that the council have had his communication com-munication of Jan 2 in reference to the contract con-tract of Rhodes Bros under consideration fliid request him to i he has any further information in-formation respecting the matter the council ig ars iJ mmhi nt f will be pleased to hoar from him on next Tuesday Tues-day evening Rich then proceeded to roast the committee com-mittee for the resolution He didnt propose pro-pose to be besmirched by delaying the matter until a later day He had ben roasted continuously since his connection with tha water works committee and had become tired of it Kelly moved that the committee of the whole bring in a report exonorating all interested parties of the charges made I I against them by the mayor Karrick opposed the motion on the grounds that the mayor was not present and that the investigation was onesided I compelled to vote Mr Karridk said that lie would vote no Hardy agreed with Karrick and wanted the mayor given an opportunity to substantiate sub-stantiate his charges EVERYBODY EXONERATED Everybody talked at once for a short time after which thesnbcommittee submitted sub-mitted the following Whereas An Investigation has been made by the council sitting as a whole conducted with a view of learning the facts connected with the charges made In the Mayors veto message dated January 2 with reference to the committee com-mittee on water works and the contract with Rhodes Bros and Whereas This committee have had various parties connected therewith under examination also all communications in the possession of the water works committee bearing on the matter I Resolved That it be the sense of the committee com-mittee that tho evidence adduced is clear and convincing and that the various charges and assertions ma3e in said communication are unfounded and further that tho water works committee has exercised due care and diligence dili-gence in conducting the business entrusted to them without prejudice or partiality to any H F EVANS concerned A l SlilONDI I I concur in the above as far as the evidence submitted has been given I ELI A FOLLAND I On motion the report was adopted byI the committee all voting in the affirmative affirma-tive except Hardy and Krrrick The committee com-mittee then reported to the council and I the report was adopted by the same vote except Loofbourow excused I The council then adjourned I |