| Show SOME PROMISED SUITS flatters in Which the City and County Are Deeply Interested GRAVITY SEWER WORK FARRELL MAKES A CONTENTION WHICH is VERY MEATY Gravity Sewer Repairs Will Be a Bone of Contention as Concerns tine Specifications A I Claim By the Contractors Which Contains 3Inch Importance Prospects For Litigation Appear tot Re Very Good There is every liklihood of an immense suit at law over the cost of the completion com-pletion of the gravity outlet sewer Readers of The Herald will remember the exclusive announcement made a few days ago concerning the wholesale condemnation con-demnation of the inside plastering of the conduit The city engineer has declared several thousand feet of the work defective defec-tive and has ordered the contractors to repair and remedy the same This is being done There is nothing startling or sensational sensa-tional in the above but when the contention con-tention of the city engineer and the contractors con-tractors are considered it will be seen that a great deal depends upon the ultimate ulti-mate action of both parties The engineer in making his examination examina-tion found certain portions of the work sounded fiat when tapped with a hammer ham-mer and declaied it was because the work was hollow underneath This he said was due to faulty construction He ordered the contrators to at once repair the same and make it good The contractors con-tractors appealed to the board of public works and the chairman of that body stood with the engineer saying that no estimates would be allowed bv the board unless the order was obfeyecl Then it was that the contractors decided to enter a protest against having to do the work and did so This action was taken as ale a-le al measure The work then begun and is going on day by day But every bit of material used and every days labor expended is being charged to the city and when the task h i complete the bill for the same will be presented tile board of public works for allowance It will be refused as a matter mat-ter of course Then it will be taken to the city council and the council will refer re-fer it to the board of public works with the attorney associated After the usual time the matter will come back to the council with a recommendation that the claim be disallowed and then the contractors con-tractors will begin suit The claim will be made that it is not the fault of the contractors that the work is defective but on account of the specifications It will he set up that in the foundation for the sewer the contract called for material in such proportions that the work could not help but he fault The contract called for cement one part round gravel five parts and sand four parts The material had to be tamped in the bottom until the layers flushed which the contractors claim forced the fine sand and cement to the top and left the gravel at the bottom with nothing1 to bind it This kind of work the contractors claim resulted in joints being made and this being so the work could not sound any other way than hollow Hence there will be a suit for the collection col-lection of the extra work which is being done What the results will be as concerns the repairs on the sag north of the Warm Springs remains to be seen This matter will engage the attention of the board at an early date Farrells Contract The matter of the decision of the board of arbitrators in the matter of the Farrell Far-rell contract is still hanging fire although the report of the majority was submitted sixteen days ago Farrell contends that there is something mysterious in all this Midgeley the third man was in the coun ty building a half hour Vefore the meeting meet-ing and was in conversation with Councilman Lynn at the head of the stairs When the report was presented his opinions in the case were withheld and the announcement made that he would make a minority report On motion of Mileage Maker Geddes of the county court the decision of the arbitrators was referred to a subcommittee subcom-mittee to investigate as to the action taken at arriving at a decision the means employed to determine the length of the wires charged for and several other reasons During the sixteen days which have elapsed there has been nothing done until un-til yesterday when Midgelpy filed his report re-port It differs from the other only a few hundred dollars and will be presented pre-sented at the next meeting of the committee com-mittee which will be held on Friday afternoon But in the meantime Farrell contends he is being kept out of his money when the same should have been paid long ago He asserts that when the matter of arbitration came up under the provisions pro-visions of the contract he was to choose one and the city and county the other This was done The pair could not agree and then instead of allowing them to select a third this was left to the county court In the face of all this Farrell has won a decision He has paid for one half the cost of the expenses of the arbitration while the city and county have paid nothing While adverse to beginning a law suit to recover it looks as if Farrell would have to begin action in the courts to collect col-lect the cash |
