Omaha daily bee., 1894-01-14

prising the mayor, chairmen of certain
council committees and certain subordinate
officials whose duties lie in the line OF santa
ton, We have the board for the
certain specified subordinate officials.
We have a public library board of
nine members appointed by the mayor.
And finally we have Il Board of Park Com
mlssioners, comprising five members APP
pointed one each year, for terms OF five
years each, by n majority of the judges of
the district court in which any city OF the
metropolitan class may happen to be stu
ated. Other Offices that may be found neces-
sary may be created and the duties pre-
Scribed by ordinance of the city council.
Powers of Local Administrti ion.
Into the powers of local administration,
which have been at different times vested Ii in
our municipal government, | shall go but in
a general way. 1t has been the evident in
tention OF the legislature at all times to
leave all matters of strictly local moment to
the municipal government under restrictions
calculated to prevent abuses and to protect
both the people and the state government.
These powers, roughly speaking, refer first
to providing the requisite ordinances and
regulations for the preservation of the
health, safety and good order of the com
munity, and second, to the raising of a reve-
nue. necessary to defray the expenses of the
government ana of the machinery and i'm
provoments required for the efficient exer-
else of these power
Under II system of jurisprudence which
demands that every municipal government
show an expressly delegated authority
from the legislature for every act of its
officers, the development in Nebraska has
been necessarily in two directions. There
has been q constant increase in the number
of specifically mentioned powers conferred
by special charter and general act, and at
the same m a constantly increasing mum
Der of minute restrictions and limitations
upon the exercise of those powers, Take,
for example, the system of special assess
ments for benefits from local improvements.
They were first authorized in Omaha by its
charter amendment OF 1865, aud then only
for sidewalks and in case the property
owners failed TO construct them when prop
erly notified to do so. An amendment of the
following year provided for special assess
ments "fOr improvements to any extent" to
be levied upon the abutting property, pro-
vided they were demanded by n petition rep
resenting two-thirds of the assessed value of
the property affected. Tha details of the
system were further evolved in the general
acts of 1869 and 1871 ana III successive en-
aCtmcnts until at present the complicated
procedure Is authorized for a great number
of expressly designated purposes, while the
prOpcrty~sOwner liable TO special assess
ment is hedged about by innumera-
BILE safeguards intended TO prevent
arbitrary action on the part of
the city council, and tosinsure to each the
due respect OF his property rights. A de-
NNAbi'iAANAN1 'i''AAAN'A - AANAANN AA'NtJ w 'A9
cerncd in very many of the other powers of
municipal. government.
Conclusion.
In conclusion let me present two or three
points which have been suggested by this
study, First, the general form of municipal
government in Nebraska mas existed un-
changed in spite Of much experimentation.
Corporate capacity has been exercised by
the mayor and council, assisted by such
officers as have been found necessary or
desirable. The bicameral council, which
has found favor in many cities and which
has been tried in many others, has never
commended itself to Nebraska legislators
and the one chamber council has thus far
suficed.
Second, with the increasing number Of
city officers and the increasing compleXity
OF their duties and functions the RESPONSE
bility Of municipal officers has been altered
and shifted. The two classes OF Officers,
elective aud appointIye, have varied in com,
position, the city clerKship for example,
alternating his Responsibility between the
voters and the city council. Some
elective officers, such as tho city
engineer, have become appoinJive by
the mayor and council. The experiment