The sun., 1898-02-17
PROPOSED NEW CHARTER
Amendments Recommended by
Municipal Commits sion.
NUMBER Of WARDS REDUCED
Recon- ncn(lat ion on the Charter to
be Presented for the Consent Of
the Delaware Assembly.

Messrs. John S. Rosscll. d. W. Taylor
and W. ID. Muller Jr., Municipal Com
missiOners, met the CITY Council in their
chambers in the City Hall last evening.
The object was the discussion of the
proposed new charter for the city of Will
minglon, and the divers amendments
made to the old charter were presented
and explained by Mr.. RosseIl.
One Of the amendments. il adopted,
will give Council the authority to annex
land irr one mile contiguo Is to the
boundaries OF city; properly grade same
and lay ont in streets, providing the con-
sent "I thlrrfnulisls OF the property
holders ls Srcllrd.
''"fpr" annexation is allowed Go lncil
must define the property 50 taken in
"" "l tie city papers and give notice
that sue property is 10 be annexed.
Another is to grant privileges to per-
sons or corporations to construct or ex-
tend anV enterprise, provided such grant
shall be made lur Il definite period, not
exceeding twenty years.
\ further amendment reduces the
number Of wards from twelve to tive and
the eirction Of three Councilmen from
each ward.
The term Of office is fixed at two years
ana no person can cast his ballot for
more than two of the three members to
be elected.
As Il reason for this, the commission
believe that every ward should be repre-
sented by the party in minority in said
ward.
The term Of the mayor is increased
from three years to tour and the incum-
bent cannot succeed himself.
1t also provides that the mayor shall
also appoint not more than two of the
heads "i the several depart rtments of his
political iaith nor more than one half of
the members of said departments of the
81 ne party By which he was elected.
The other heads Of departments with
appolntees must h OF opposite political
faith. The Director Of Public Works and
Of Public Safety will also be opposite po-
litically.
These appointments are subject to 4
two-third vote of Council and if they fail
to ratify the appOintees, he must present
other names. Ii then rejected by COun-
l.cil the Mayor has the power to name the
! heads Of departments without said con-
sent.
The heads Of departments will be all
Advisory Board, together with the
Mayor. who will be the official head.
They will be authorized and have
control of all expenditures Of said de-
partments and no moneys paid without
the consent of the Board
If such expenditure in any department
reaches more than Sl.OOO, then the
consent of Council must be gained in or
der that the additional sum may be
paid.
A new department is also erected un-
der the proposed charter, that of the De-
partment Of Water Supply which will be
under the supervision Of one head who
must send all bills and expenses to the
City Treasurer and City Receiver.
Mr.. RosseIl thought that a new ap-
pointve office should be made and sug-
gcstcd that the offices OF City Receiver
and City Treasurer be merged under the
former head.
"Thi>," he said, was the consensus
Of opinion among The LAWYERS OF the city
they believing that the office should not
br elective
The meeting was held as Il committee
nf a whole and Mayor Henry c. Nc
Lear was called upon to preside.
The commissioners will have a copy
Of the proposed new charter printed,
which will be presented to the Della
ware Assembly and meeting Of Council
will be held tomorrow evening, when
Council will decide whether or not they
will ratify the charter.