61 Fla. 809 | Fla. | 1911
The County Commissioners of Duval County having been authorized to issue bonds for the construction of hard surfaced roads in the county, Tyler v Hyde, 60 Fla. 389, 52 South. Rep. 968, this proceeding in equity was brought in the Circuit Court for Duval County by the appellants as tax payers to enjoin the performance of a contract awarded by the county commissioners for the construction of hard surface roads in Duval County, on the grounds that the bond trustees of the county had authority to make provisions for constructing such roads when the funds therefor were derived from the sale of bonds issued by the county, and that the contract as awarded is invalid because of its award and its provisions. No question of fraud or bad faith is presented.
The constitution provides that five county commissioners shall be elected in each county and that their “powers, duties and compensation * * shall be prescribed by law.” Section 5, Article VIII as amended, see Acts of 1899, p. 358; General Statutes of 1906, p. 41.
As the trustees of the county bonds had no authority with reference to the letting of contracts for improving roads, any understanding as to such matters between the trustees and the county commissioners is merely irrelevant. The advertisement for bids to construct the roads was made by the county commissioners alone and the forms containing the proposals on which the bids were to be made were addressed to the county commissioners only and no mention of the trustees is made therein except that at the bottom of the proposal after the blank for approval by the county commissioners appears the following : “Approved.”..........”For Trustees of County Bonds.” In the forms giving general specifications the engineer of the bond trustes is mentioned, and it is stated that the commissioners and the bond trustees reserve the
The statute required the county commissioners to accept “the bid of the lowest responsible bidder” unless they “shall reject all bids because the same are too high.” It appears that one bidder whose bid ivas lower on some of the work than the one to whom the contract was let failed and refused to submit samples of material as requested and did not submit samples until after the engineer had completed his tests and was prepaidng his report, and that the bid of the one to whom the contract was let ivas for some of the work the lowest bid and for all the work loAver than the aggregate bid of the other bidder AAdiose bid was loAver on a part of the work. These facts and other circumstances disclosed by the record, may reasonably have warranted the county commissioners in regarding the bid accepted as “the bid of éie lowest responsible bidder,” considering character of material and all other, pertinent matters; and there is nothing shown to require a reversal of that action. This was the conclusion of the Chancellor. There is apparently no provision in the specifications that, tended to unduly increase any bid for the proposed work, and nothing indicates that the bid accepted is not a reasonable price for the, work, there being many higher bids.
The terms and provisions of the specifications are not so uncertain or unreasonable on their face as to render the aAvard of the contract illegal or void. It does not affirmatively appear that the law has not been substantially complied with in making the award, the discretion necessarily vested in the county commissioners does not appear to have been abused, and the contract as aAvarded
The following opinion was rendered by the chancellor in denying an injunction and is justified by the record:
“This cause being a matter of considerable public interest, I deem it advisable to outline my reasons for denying the application for a temporary restraining order.
In the first place, the Statute creating the Trustees for county bonds does not in my opinion authorize the said Trustees to build county roads with the moneys received from the sale of county bonds, nor do I find that that statute takes from the County Commissioners the powers and duties cast upon them by the general laws as to roads and bridges.
I find that Chapter 5969, Laws of 1909, is applicable and constitutional, and that under said chapter the County Commissioners must award the contract to the lowest responsible bidder. The County Commissioners must decide the question which bidder is the lowest responsible bidder. The question of responsibility is practically eliminated by amendments filed to the bill of complaint, leaving the question to be decided whether such a case is made by the bill of complaint as will justify a court in reviewing the action of the board of County Commissioners in deciding which bid is the lowest. I do not find such a case made by this bill of complaint. I think the bill demurrable on that ground. It seems to me that it is necessary that samples of the brick must be furnished and tested before the board of County Commissioners could exercise the discretion vested it in by law to determine the lowest bid. The quality of the material to be used seems to me to enter as much in the question of cheapness as the price
Under the allegations in the bill of complaint and other pleadings and exhibits I do not find that the injunction should be issued in this case.
R. M. Call,
Judge.”
It is not made to appear that the order denying the injunction was error, and as the bill of complaint discloses no equity for an injunction, the relief prayed, the demui’rer thereto was properly sustained.
The orders appealed from are affirmed.