145 Ga. 663 | Ga. | 1916
(After stating the foregoing facts.)
“Legal Notice. Bids Wanted.
“Georgia, Glascock County. Sealed proposals will be received by H. G. Sammons, county commissioner of said county, at the office of the county commissioner of said county, at 13 o’clock noon (Central time) on Saturday, September 35th, 1915, for furnish*668 ing brick, lime, cement and mortar, coloring, and labor for building the walls for a new court-house for said county, according to plans and specifications now on file for inspection in the oflice of county commissioner of said county, at Gibson, Georgia. The right to reject any and all bids is reserved by said county commissioner. This 30th day of August, 1915.
“H. G. Sammons, County Commissioner of Glascock County, Georgia.”
This notice was published only three times. It was first published on September 8, again on September 15, and then on September 22, 1915; and sealed proposals were opened and the contract made on September 25, 1915. On September 1, 1915, prior to the publication of the notice of September 8th, there was published a notice substantially the same as that which we have quoted, except that it stated that the proposals would be received “at 12 o’clock noon (Central time) on Saturday, October 25, 1915.” This was a substantial variance between the notice as first published and that contained in the last three publications; and it was not a substantial compliance with the law in reference to the publication of notices of this character. The notice as first published, considered as one advertising for sealed bids to be submitted on September 25, 1915, was fatally defective. It is highly important to the public and to taxpayers of a county that the statutes which we have referred to should be complied with in the matter of making these advertisements; and this defective notice and advertisement as published was not a substantial compliance with the statute. And that being true, the contract let, after having failed to give the notice called for by the statute, was illegal and void; and the court below did not err in so holding, and in granting the restraining order as to the carrying out of this contract by the bidders and by the county authorities. It further follows, that, having held that the court-house could not be built under the contract, there was no error in enjoining the use of convict labor in erecting the contemplated building. Whether or not convict labor could be employed in erecting a court-house is not now decided.
But the court should not, under the evidence, have enjoined the collection of the tax levied for the purpose of raising a fund wherewith to build a court-house. If a court-house was necessary, the
Judgment affirmed in part, and reversed in part.