United States v. City of Wendell, Idaho, Formerly Village of Wendell

In the spring of the year 1946, the Federal Works Administration supplied the City of Wendell, Idaho, with $1,700 for advance planning for the “grading, draining, and paving of various streets” at Wendell. The city’s obligation under the agreement, and under federal regulations which it accepted, was to “complete such plan preparation” and “repay such advance” when “the construction of the public work for which the advance is made is undertaken or started.” Then, “undertaken or started” was defined as the time when “the first construction contract is awarded * *

This was all part of the plan enacted by the Congress at the close of World War II to encourage local government units to get public works under way to provide against general unemployment which it was anticipated would arise with demobilization of the armed forces and the return to civilian life of .military personnel.

Promptly, plans and specifications for paving 71 blocks of the Wendell streets were drawn by a contract engineer hired by Wendell. It was originally contemplated by the city that the streets would be paved with funds to be obtained by issuance of general obligation city bonds. The estimates of cost were…