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..