Salt Lake Tribune | 1915-11-09 | Page 2 | County Purchases Cause of Trouble

CQUnlTY PURCHASES CAUSE OF TROUBLE Controversy Renewed by Department De-partment Heads Through Action of Auditor. Another lone- drawn out fight over t bo question of authority as between various county officers iu the matter of , purchasing supplies took up the time! of the county commission vest crday. , J. E. Clark, chief deputy county clerk, complained to the' coinmissiou that the couuty auditor, Charles A. Weaver, had usurped all rights in regard re-gard to making purchases and had refused re-fused to pay for supplies which Clark had ordered for the county clerk's office of-fice because the orders had not gone through his office. Other county officials have complained com-plained against the auditor on the ground that he has attempted to assume full powers of a purchasing ageut. Weaver contends that under the law he should supervise all purchases of stationery and "other office supplies." He interprets ' other office supplies ' ' to include practically everything, it is said. On the other hand, it is contended contend-ed that he is only empowered to make purchases of pi nted matter and stationery, sta-tionery, such as are covered in contracts con-tracts awarded to the- lowest bidders each year. The commission decided that it was not for the auditor to interpret the law and ordered that the question be referred to the county attorney. Inasmuch as the dispute has arisen frequently, the commission will ask the attorney to diagram in detail ' the respective re-spective jurisdictions of the heads of departments in regard to purchasing.