Moran v. Thompson

Citations

• 20 Wash. 525
• 56 P. 29
• 1899 Wash. LEXIS 196

Syllabus

<p>MUNICIPAL CORPORATION S-CONTRACTS FOB PUBLIC WORKS—BIDS-PROVINCE OF BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS—LOAN OF CITS' CREDIT.</p> <p>Under a provision of a city charter requiring all local improvements, the funds for the payment of which are to be derived in whole or in part from assessments upon the property benefited, “and such improvements as the city council shall by ordinance prescribe,” to be made by contract let to the lowest bidder, a contract by the city for the construction of additions to its existing water works system must be let by competitive bidding.</p> <p>Where, under the call of a board of public works for bids for the construction of additions to the city water works system, the specifications, made in conformity with charter and ordinance provisions, provided that warrants issued in payment should draw interest from the completion of the work and that a reserve fund of thirty per cent, of the contract should he held for thirty days after the completion of the work, upon which laborers and material men should have a prior lien, the board of public works cannot, after accepting a bid, modify the contract so as to provide that the interest should run from the date of issuance of the warrants and that the reserve fund of thirty per cent, should be held to secure payment of laborers and material men, and any valid claims for fees or royalties on any patented article connected with the work, and as security for the replacement or completion of any defective or uncompleted work which may be found, and to secure the repayment of any interest moneys advanced prior to the date of the final completion of the work, as such alterations in the contract change it materially from the one submitted to competitive bidding.</p> <p>Article 8, § 7, of the state constitution prohibiting municipal corporations from loaning their money or credit to or in aid of any individual or corporation, is violated by a contract which provides that the city’s warrants in payment of certain c