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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJan 8, 1925~ ~ ~,~u~a~ meeting or the city coun-.t a ·meeting of councils and let councils' cil of the city of Cohlmbia I~eights decide weather they wanted'to clean'ge, :was held in th'e Columbia School I (40 Arm)from a 56 foot roadwa~ to 'Tl{ursday evening, Jan. 8, 19~.5, f0r'45 foot roadway west of Fifth street; .the purpose of giving City Manager to Main street. It's not the Powers· Leitch'. a. public hearing on an'd the engineer's ~contracto~.0r your's to i charges in writing. ~i~eting ~alled 'establish or re-establish gra~les. These to order by Mayor Morton. Roll ;Full council present'.~ Summary leading up to public hear- : ing~ , Where has city council is elected-Sy ~the people and the sole representa-. ~tive and thereby responsible to ~ere has the'cit~ .manager ·is employee of the City of Columbia Heights and responsible to-the coun- cil alone~ and not. 'to the .people. Where has majority of the city cram- cfi deem it necessary and for. the best interests, that we employ ~ city manager bf more practical experience t2 handle the line of developments that will come up from time to time Where has Mr. Leitch was notified' at meeting of city council held in Col- umbia ,School Jan. 5th, 1925, of ~he 'intention of the majority of the mere: hers and where has Mr. Leitch was ~asked' to hand in his resignation, at 'the regular meeting of ~the council Jan. 13th, 1925. ~er~ has Mr. Leitc~ ;'being employed by the city'~council t for one year, and in accordance with .Chapter 2,-Section 11, of'city charter Mr. Leitch. demands a public bearing and written charges. Where has city powers belong to the councils. If you had done your duty the curb ind gut- ter on 40tt~ Ave. wes~t of 5th St. not. need to been' destroyed..But itl co61d Of bee~ prevented if you had held same up 24 hours, as a member of council called your attention to the fact that a mistake was about to be made, c'ouncil orders reconstruc- tion' Of c. ur_~_and .g_u_tter~. with curb on 40th Ave. running, east at an extra cost to city. ' , ':Charge No. 3--Council's orders that dirt 'from curb and gutter' trench on' 40th'"Ave..be r~emoved to ' hearest '~oints of advantages so as to lower the cost of contract to the'abutting property owner. Bu[ you had' this dirt distributed to different parts:Of' city until a protest was made by tax- payers who, were tO pay for this im- provement. The results .were. thai the cost. of removing this dirt .had 'tO: be charged'to city at large. ~: Charge "N0~'. 4--:At: :'th6" tini~' ~.- th~. curb and gutter improvement ,was~ dis~ cussed it was agreed by councils that the type of 'Minneapolis stander( catch basin.be used on 40th Ave. Again you disregards.council's orders and installed a pattern of your .own'. Yot council grants same, and .calls Public were. asked to discontinue the prac- hearing 'for Jan. 8th, 1925. ~ rice; as council's did not approve of W~ritten charges as follows: · !' such type of manholes;, but-yo~ ha~e · January Sth, 1925. ~Mr. wm. Leitch, City Manager. Charge No. 1--Is it not tbe fact that you drew up contract for Main street grading you did not ask the :city attorney fo~ his opinion Wt'ietbek :the contra~t' was faulty or not. If you ~had'd0ne this, we ape sure that there wonld not have the mistakes 'the re- stilt was this. You called for a thirty- foot. roe'alway but failed to mention anything about gutter or better known as ditches whether there were to '.be any. If so, you failed to sta'te whether they were to be outside or inside of the thirty toot roadway. Therefore the Friedley township board, rejects grade and demanded that grade be widened before they would release money. Their demandq.were met. This ,caused an extra expense to i city. Gravel was to be of the same~ grade as was used on firm: road, butl we"find that g. reat perc.entgge of thisi was: clay; at that ~ate wb were paying: ..f0~. c!.a.Y, and~o_t__~gravel ..... : ...... :.-.J ~ taken no iteps to correct same; Your attention has also been called 'in re- f gards to manhole .cover on Jackson i St. Whether' you have changed same since your attention was called to :replace cover, we cannot say at this ' time. ~. Charge No.US--Mr. Leitch, you were hired as city manager, you were also' to be the building, inspector and plumb- ing. ~hat you were to receive'a salary of $2,000.00 per year. Now, then, who authorized you to employ a plumbihg inspector at an extra,cost to the city? I~f you were not capable of handling same .your duty was to ask coun~ to relieve you from same. You have also tried to persuade Mr. A. H. An- derson to a. ccept the position as build- ing inspector. .. Charge No. 6--Mr. Leitch, accordiiig to Cha'pter 6, Section 53 of the city 'charter stating the power and duties of the city manager Clause A states: To see that the charter and the laws, ordinances and resolutions of the city are enforced. Why whren't the ordin- ances' enforced? Mr._'Leitcn, a num- ber of builders have made. complaints that they were con(pelled to live.uPi to building ordinance and dcm'endedi t'o know why 'others wet5 not eom-~ pelled to do s.ame. 'These complaints~ were followed up and proved to' be .~r. ue..to...u.s,_:i~. _: ..... ..... _. ..... ._2 ..... * Charge No. 7--Now please 'explai~ to councils .why.building and'plumbing; ordinance can no longer·be enforcedI in this city, who is' resp5nsible for: same? Is it.a fact Or is it not: the! 'fact that you were told by the'city: attorney that 'the ordinance ain't Worth the pape,r they are Written on? Due to the wrong i~Ubli'cations of the amendments. Theref0r. e who is respon-: sible, the city manager or tlm City councils? Is it not a fact that you keep councils in the dark all this while, ~vhen ypu knew the facts re- gardi~/g these ordinances. In conclu- sion we feel satisfied that the action taken by councils at a special meet- ing held Jan. 5th justifies your re- moval. Signed~ I~. W. KARROW, GEO. BURGOYNE, . Councilmen. Mr)'heitch s~ke a few words and asked for time to ·answer. charges~ · Mr. Barney O'~oole. Leitch's favor as also did Mr. Lucier~ 5~r. Prestoman, Mr. Haugen, Evans, Mr. Geronsin, Gust ~olms, A.' E. Sundburg and ~r. Ish~rwood. tion was made by .Burgoyne, second- eq by Ledwien' tbat the matter let stand until the next regular meet- 'lng and give c~ty m~anager time to answer charges. Carried. Mr. Evans: took the floor and made a motion that 5-Iayor Morton give the audience a chance to vote as a great many (l~em had come to express themselves and didn't, have a chance, and a vote taken in that way would show the ex- pression of the people. The motion xvas seconded by Mr. Geronsin and a great many others. ME. Morton ~ut~ the ~otion 'and asked all in favor to signify by raising the~hand. It was~ carrie~ unanimously. .' Mr. Evans also asked the present council to retain city nmnager for the balance of the. year. Objections :by Councilman Burgoyne. Mr.' Leitch thanked the people for their support. Mayor 5[orton thanked .the. audience for their ~attention and good behavior. 5Iotion by Burgoyne, seconded .by Karrow, that the meeting~ be journed. Carried. ' ' 5firs. J. Gould, Secretary..