The Bond Election That Wasn't Legal
Olympia's council pushed the city into debt and ordered a vote before checking whether it had the authority to do so — then spent public money to learn it hadn't. The Tribune, having warned them, savours the mess.
The city council will probably have a new election to bond the city. Had the advice of The Tribune been followed the last one would not have taken place, until the council was sure it was the correct thing to do; but it went ahead, plunged the city in debt, ordered an election and then paid out money to ascertain that its action was illegal.
“It went ahead, plunged the city in debt, ordered an election and then paid out money to ascertain that its action was illegal.”
Olympia's 1891 council bonded the town first and checked the law afterward, then paid a lawyer to confirm the mistake — an argument over municipal debt and due process that any city hall still recognizes. The squabble over who authorized what, and at whose expense, is the permanent weather of local government.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.