Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 60, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 October 1918 — WIPES BUT $6,000 ORDER [ARTICLE]

WIPES BUT $6,000 ORDER

B. J. Moore Will Not Receive Extra Allowance on Zimmer Ditch. At the October meeting of the county commissioners a petition was filed by B. J. Moore, contractor for the construction of the Zimmer ditch, affecting lands in Newton and Union townships, asking for $7,000 in addition to the regular contract price, and the commissioners entered an order granting him $6,000 extra. This order was published in The Democrat’s report of the proceedings of the commissioners, and several of the land-owners affected got busy and employed attorneys to knock this illegal order out. Accordingly a special meeting of the county commissioners was called for last Saturday, but only Commissioner Welch showed up. When the matter was presented to him by the attorneys for the laudowners and the illegality ci the order shown, he crossed the order from the records as president of the board. The land-owners affected say that Mr. Moore was drainage com.aossioner when the specifications for this ditch was gotten up and that the matter was apparently fixed up especially for him to bid on it. It is reported that he could have sold the contract after securing saime at $5,000 profit, but of course expected to make much more or he would have sold it. He has had considerable trouble and expense on the job, it is true, the land-owners say, but this was one of the chances he took when bidding the contract off. They also say that most of this trouble has been occasioned by using an old dredge that is not large enough to handle the work properly. But the idea of allowing him $6,000 extra because of this and coming back on them with an extra assessment to cover this liberality of the commissioners, is one of the grossest outrages ever perpetrated on a long-suffering body of tax payers, and they did not propose to stand for it.