The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-21
SLEEPY CHARTER SESSION.
Chapter for Regulation of the City
Treasurer Considered.

| The charter commission held sleepy
! session last evening. The general sub
| ject of consideration was one Of little
i interest to the members Of the board,
most Of whom appeared worn out With
| the cares and tolls Of the week. The
attendance was not as full as usual,
| the number including Commissioners
| Steele, Gjertsen, HaWley, Hernlund,
Atwater, Haynes, Davenport and Jones.
| Judge Steele, not feeling in proper
| spirit to preside over the deliberations
| of the body, called to the chair for the
evening Commissioner Jones. Commits
sioner Gjertsen puffed leisurely ut his
| cigar, and only occasionally interrupted
proceedings to inquire where the others
were at There being nothing before
| the house on the question of civil ser
| vice, Commissioner Davenport had no
| interest in what was going on, and
! spent most of the evening reading a
| newspaper. Commissioners HaWley and
! AtWater did the heavy thinking of the
| evening, and occasionally their opin-
| ions were not harmonious. Commits
| sioner Haynes had little to say, and
| Commissioner Hernlund did not oppose
| a single proposition submitted for dis
! cussion.
The topic which had been made a
| special order for the evening was the
| chapter on the city treasurer. 1t con-
| tanned forty-one sections, and taken
| alone makes a document longer than
the constitution of the United States
| The entire chapter is devoted to eX-
! planning the duties Of the city treas
! urer. providing for the several funds,
| how funds are to be gotten out Of the
| hands of the treasurer, in what man
! ner the several funds are to be OBJ
| tanned and employed, etc. Assistant
| City Treasurer Ankeny was present by
| invitation of the commission, and made
! numerous suggestions Of benefit to the
| lawmakers. The charter as agreed
| upon will provide for the following
| funds: Current expense fund, perma-
nent improvement fund, permanent i'm
provement revolving fund. interest
| fund, school fund, park fund, library
| fund. street sprinklinC fund, ward fund
! for streets. An attempt was made to
/ increase the number of funds, or to
| leave the matter in such shape that
| the council could hereafter add new
| funds, but this was voted down. The
| principal point of difference was as to
| whether interest on park board obli-
! cations should be charged against the
| park board direct or against the in
! terest fund On this question Commits
| sioners Hawley and AtWater took issue,
| the latter claiming that the interest
| charge for indebtedness should be
| charged against the park Iunu, III or
! der that the people might know exact
! ly what they were paying for the main
| tenance of the park system. Mr.. Haw-
! ley thought it could easily be deter
/ mined by a little computation what the
| interest on park bonds amounted to,
and favored 4 single interest fund. His
view was adopted by the majority
| vote.
| Another question. which provoked
some little discussion was as to wheth-
er in case of damage resulting against
the city by reason of defective streets,
the general sinking fund should be re-
| sorted to, or the separate ward fund.
The latter is the present arrangement,
and it was the general opinion that
the sinking fund should hereafter be
locked to in case. Of damage. This
! change was decided upon for the
reason that under the proposed char
ter, the streets of the entire city are
| to be under direct supervision of the
city engineers Office, and there would
be no reason in holding the separate
wards liable for damage under those
circumstances.
Upon motion of Commissioner At
water, it was voted that a committee
! on printing be appointed: It was sug-