Haas v. Lincoln Park Com'rs

• Decision Date: 05 June 1930
• Docket Number: No. 19773.,19773.
• Parties: HAAS et al. v. LINCOLN PARK COM'RS et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

339 Ill. 491

171 N.E. 526

HAAS et al.

v.LINCOLN PARK COM'RS et al.

No. 19773.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

April 17, 1930.

As Modified on Denial of Rehearing June 5, 1930.

Error to Circuit Court, Cook County; George Fred Rush, Judge.

Suit by John K. Haas, Jr., and others against the Commissioners of Lincoln Park and others. To review a decree dismissing the bill for want of equity, the complainants bring error.

Reversed and remanded, with directions.Urban A. Lavery and Walter T. Quigley, both of Chicago, for plaintiffs in error.

Cooke, Sullivan & Ricks, Milton J. Foreman, and William H. Beckman, all of Chicago (George A. Cooke, Edward H. Fiedler, and George E. Woods, all of Chicago, of counsel), for defendants in error.

DE YOUNG, J.

John K. Haas, Jr., Harry Lapp, and Cacelia Hart, citizens, residents, and taxpayers, filed in the circuit court of Cook county an amended bill to set aside four contracts by which the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company undertook to construct a breakwater and to do certain filling for the Commissioners of Lincoln Park. The complainants further sought to enjoin the company from doing any work under the contracts, and to enjoin the park commissioners and their secretary and treasurer from issuing any warrants or making any payment for such work. General and special demurrers were filed by the defendants, and the demurrers were sustained. The complainants elected to abide by their amended bill, and a decree was rendered dismissing the bill for want of equity. Since the validity of a statute is involved in this case, the complainants prosecute a writ of error from this court.

It is alleged in the amended bill that the Commissioners of Lincoln Park constitute a municipal corporation created by an act of the General Assembly entitled ‘An act to fix the boundaries of Lincoln Park, in the city of Chicago, and provide for its improvement,’ approved and in force February 8, 1869 (1 Private Laws of 1869, p. 368); that the act vests the commissioners with certain powers and imposes certain duties upon them; that, in defining the duties of the commissioners, the twenty-third section of the act provided that ‘it shall be the duty of said commissioners to let all work, exceeding in amount twenty-five hundred ($2,500) dollars, by contract, in the manner provided in the charter of the city of Chicago for letting contracts for public improvements'; that an act entitled ‘An act to reduce the charter of the city of Chicago and the several acts amendatory thereof into one act, and to revise the same,’ approved and in force February 13, 1863 (Private Laws of 1863, p. 40), constituted the charter of the city of Chicagoin effect at the time of the passage of the act of February 8, 1869; and that, with respect to the duties of the Commissioners of Lincoln Park, the following provisions of the same charter are still in force and effect: ‘Whenever any public improvement shall be ordered by the common council of said city, and the assessment for the same (where the same is to be paid for by special assessment), shall have been confirmed, and one-half of such special assessment shall have been paid into the city treasury, the said board of public works shall advertise for proposals for doing said work; a plan or profile of the work to be done, accompanied with specifications for the doing of the same, being first placed on file in the office of said board; which said plan, profile and specifications shall at all times be open for public inspection; which advertisement shall be continued for at least ten days in the corporation newspaper, and shall state the work to be done. * * * When the expense of any work or public improvement shall exceed the sum of $500, and the same is to be paid out of the general fund, or the water or sewerage fund, of said city, the doing of such work shall be let by contract, in the same manner as is provided in cases where the expense of the same is to be paid for by special assessment’ (section 15, chapter 6); ‘All contracts shall be awarded by said board to the lowest reliable and responsible bidder or bidders' (section 16, chapter 6); and ‘No contracts shall be hereafter made by the common council or any committee or member thereof, and no expense shall be incurred by any of the officers or departments of said city government, whether the object of expenditure shall have been ordered by the common council or not, unless an appropriation shall have been previously made concerning such expense’ (section 43, chapter 5). Private Laws of 1863, pp. 78, 74.

It is further alleged in the amended bill that the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company is a New Jersey corporation having its principal office in the city of Chicago; that the Commissioners of Lincoln Park made three contracts with the dredge and dock company for the extension and improvement of Lincoln Park; that the first of these contracts, dated August 20, 1926, required the construction of 6,000 lineal feet of breakwater and the deposit of 700,000 cubic yards of filling between the breakwater and the existing shore at a total cost of $1,201,580; that the second, dated August 10, 1927, required the construction of 2,000 lineal feet of breakwater and the deposit of 1,500,000 cubic yards of such filling at a total cost of $1,195,500; and that the third, dated October 24, 1927, required the construction of 6,000 lineal feet of breakwater at a cost of $801,500; that the advertisements for bids which resulted in the first and second contracts appeared in the Chicago Evening American on Saturday, July 31, 1926, and on Saturday, July 23, 1927, respectively, but only in a certain edition and not in all the editions of that newspaper on the days stated; and that the third contract was made without any advertisement for bids except the advertisement pursuant to which the second contract was let, 2 1/2 months before.

The plaintiffs in error charge that with respect to each of the three contracts the park commissioners failed to prepare adequate and proper plans or profiles of the work to be done in advance of the advertisements for bids; that they refused to keep the plans or profiles open for public inspection; that they denied a competing contractor information concerning the work to be done and notified him that the work required by the second and third contracts would not be considered or awarded during the year 1927; that the advertisements not only omitted to give sufficient information concerning the proposed work, but that they were secret and collusive and were purposely designed to be seen and read by the fewest possible number of persons and competing contractors; and that, while the park commissioners advertised for bids for the construction of a breakwateronly, yet they proceeded to contract for filling, in addition to the building of the breakwater, to the extent of $1,802,000.

The plaintiffs in error further allege in their amended bill of complaint that notwithstanding the illegality of the foregoing contracts, the park commissioners on November 15, 1928, entered into another contract with the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company for the delivery for filling purposes of material dredged from the new channel of the Chicago river; that this contract was made without any advertisement for bids or the receipt of any bids whatever; that the material contracted for is known as waste or dumpage and readily cna be secured in large quantities without cost or charge; that nevertheless, the commissioners obligated themselves to pay the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company upwards of $520,000 therefor; and that the company claims there is already owing to it under that contract in excess of $200,000.

It is alleged that although the time fixed for the completion of the work has expired, yet none of the contracts has been completed and much work remains to be done; that payments by the commissioners to the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company under the several contracts will constitute an illegal diversion of public funds and will cause irreparable damage to the taxpayers of the park district; and that the appellants had no knowledge or information of the illegality of the contracts until July, 1929.

On the argument of the demurrers, it was agreed by the parties: First, that the commissioners of Lincoln Park, on October 13, 1920, adopted and thereafter printed and published an ordinance codifying their general ordinances, section 27 of chapter 4 of which was as follows: ‘All contracts exceeding the amount of $500 for work, materials or supplies, or other public improvments, shall be let by the commissioners, after advertisements, to the bidder regarded by the commissioners as being the lowest trustworthy and responsible bidder. Such advertisement shall appear at least once in some local newspaper or technical publication not less than ten days nor more than fifteen days before the time set for receiving the bids, and in all cases the right to accept or reject any and all bids or parts thereof shall be reserved by the commissioners. Such contract, however, may be let without advertiement if approved by a majority of the commissioners.’ Second, that on October 13, 1926, the commissioners again revised and condified their ordinances retaining section 27 of chapter 4, except that, by the revision, advertisements for bids were required upon all public work or improvements involving an expenditure in excess of $2,500, and the publication of the advertisement for bids was required to be at least fifteen days, instead of not less than ten nor more than fifteen days, before the time set for receiving bids. Third, that section 27 of chapter 4, as revised on October 13, 1926, is still in force and effect. And, fourth, that the court should take judicial notice of the existence of the ordinances during the respective periods stated.

The plaintiffs in error contend that the circuit court erred in sustaining the demurrers to the amended bill...