Mitchell v. Colgan

CHIPMAN, C. Petition for writ of mandate. The petition sets forth that by the act of March 11, 1889 (Stats. 1889, p. Ill), as amended March 23, 1893 (Stats. 1893, p. 328), there was established for the use of the Whittier State school a fund, known as the “Whittier Reform School fund,” under which law there has been paid into the state treasury to the credit of said fund $86,012.61, which will be increased by other payments to the sum of about $125,000; avers the purposes of the school and that there are now therein about two hundred and fifty boys and fifty girls;’ that among the various buildings is one called the “Trades Building,” which, as originally constructed, was for temporary use only; describes the building and avers that by reason of its temporary nature and the jarring of the machinery [297]used therein it has become dangerous and liable to collapse, and has been condemned by a competent engineer; and to prevent injury to the life and limb of inmates a necessity has arisen to close and abandon the building; that there is no other building belonging to the school which can be used for the trade departments, and that these departments and buildings for their accommodation are necessary for the purpose of the institution, to provide for which plaintiff invited architects to furnish competitive plans for needed buildings, notices of such invitation being published in certain newspapers; for the advertising of notices plaintiff agreed to pay certain sums; and to the successful architects a first premium of $4,050; to the other competing architects a second and third premium of $150 and $100 respectively; claims duly verified for these amounts were presented to plaintiffs and duly audited, allowed, and ordered paid out of the Whittier Reform school fund and were duly certified to defendant as required by section 30 of the act of 1893, supra, and he was requested to draw and deliver to plaintiffs his warrant on the state treasurer payable out of said fund; said claims were also presented to the state board of examiners, and the claims for advertising notices were allowed and certified by said board to defendant, but the claims of the architects were not allowed by said board; the defendant refuses to draw his warrant for any of said claims; prayer that defendant be directed to forthwith draw and deliver his warrant to plaintiffs payable out of said fund. Defendant demurs to the petition for insufficiency of facts.

Plaintiffs claim that by section 34 of the acts referred to there was created a special fund in the state treasury, now designated as the ‘^Whittier Reform School fund”; that this fund is subject to any use to which plaintiffs may desire to apply it, if for the benefit of the institution, and that they have the power to expend this fund for the erection of needed buildings. Accordingly, plaintiffs proceeded under the act of April 1, 1872 (Stats. 1871-72, p. 925), as stated in the petition. As the power to erect the building is not conferred by this act, we must look to the acts creating the board in this case. It is claimed that this power is derived from the reform school acts supra, and that by section 30 of the act of 1893, it is made the duty of the con