The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-18
LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
suggestions for It's Reorganization
i'm Cities and Towns.

subject of county and township reform
The light of experience has settled the more
important points. Perhaps more than fif-
teen years ago the best authorities on mu-
nicipal government in this country agreed
that the English plan of city government
which has always prevailed throughout the
United States, by which all legislative and
administrative powers of the city were
vested in common council or board of
aldermen, was unsuccessful. They further
agreed that the federal plan, with separa-
ton of legislative from administrative pow
ers, which had succeeded so admirably in
national and state governments, should be
extended to the government of cities. Ac-
cordingly the experiment was tried in num-
erous cities with great success,
In 1890 indianapolis, through her CONNER
cial Club and Board Of Trade, took up this
question for herself. At the request of a
joint committee of citizens from the above
organizations and from the city govern
ment the writer became the draughtsman
of a reform charter for the city of Indian
apolis. The citizens committee above men,
vision and examination of the provisions
of a new law for the government of the
city, This charter became a law in 1891 and
mas proven most satisfactory piece of
legislation. The Supreme Court has up
held the law as valid whenever it has been
questioned. Under it the tax rate for In
dianapoliS has decreased from so cents to so
cents, and a great improvement in the con-
duct of public business has taken place In
1893 the cities of Evansville and Fort Wayne
also procured the passage of reform char
terS, adopting the indianapolis law, with a
few changes in detail. The only task, there
fore, which awaits other cities and towns in
Indiana in respect to changes in their
ganlzation is to prepare legislation in which
the same principles are applied to smaller
communities.
To begin with, the legislative power of the
city should be vested In a common council
possessing powers which are possessed by
the council under the Indianapolis law of
1891. The power of the council should, how
ever, be subject to the check of q mayors
veto. Further, in respect to fixing the tax
levy and making of appropriations, some
oi11cer OF the city, hereafter spoken of,
should each year be required to submit de-
tailed estimates of the various appropria-
tons for the coming year. The councils
power should extend to approving or reduc-
ing these estimates, but not to increasing
them. The administrative business of the
city should be taken away from the coun-
Gil entirely and vested in separate officials.
In small towns the mayor should consti-
tute the sole executive official of the place.
lie should act as controller, submit esti
mates to the council and within the limits
of money appropriated by the council make
contracts for public work. This scheme
OF government is applicable only to the
small towns of the State, In the case of
larger places provisions should be made
in the law for the institution of one or
more executive boards, 10 be appointed by
the mayor, to conduct public business. In
dianapolis under her law, has a finance de-
partment, at the head of which is the con-
troller, a Board of Health and Charities of
three members, Board of Public Works of
three members, a Board of Safety of three
members. All of these are appointed by the
mayor and subject to removal by him. The
council may also impeach any city official
and remove him from office. The law to be
enacted should be elastic, allowing cities to
exercise their own option by way of ord-
nance, or, still better by popular vote, as to
when they will authorize the mayor to insti-
tute any one or more OF these boards, in
stead of performing the work himself 1t is
question of the size of the community, of
the volume of public business, and of the
relative expense caused by increasing the
number of officials. But the principle is the
same in all cases. The mayor is the execu-
tive head of the city. Whether he performs
the work himself whether he leaves it to
one or more assistants to do the public
work should be optional with the
various cities and towns of the State. If.
however, a city should elect to institute "A
board of public works. then the law should
explicitly define the powers and duties of
such a board when instituted just as fully
as is done in the indianapolis charter. The
same thing would be true If small city
should prefer to have one commissioner of
pubic works instead of three. All of these
executive officers. however would be strict
~ limited in their power to incur liability
Tor the city or town by the amount of
money which had been appropriated for the
purpose by the council. The council, being
the popular body should hold the purse
strings. BY this plan the two departments
Of the city government mutually check each
other and secure economy and efficiency.
The Judicial powers of q city or town
which desires to adopt Il reform charter
should be taken away from the mayor on
trely and placed in the hands of an indie
pendent magistrate, exercising powers now
exercised by Justices of the peace and
mayors
! strenuously insist that this work of
municipal reform ought to lie undertaken
by n commission acting in behalf of the
whole State, 1T will be an incalculable mis-
81 % a. GSsar4 lel.f, nsX..I,
city and town in the State prepares its own
charter and has special act of the Legis-
lature, with such an artificial classification
as TO exclude other places. These matters
should be settled by general laws embody-
ing elastic provisions which leave a large
room for local option in respect TO adopting
the various features of the law in the par
ticular community interested. Special or
local laws are too subject to amendment
and change TO be very available or perma-
nent. When the Indianapolis members of
the Legisla ture ask for series of amend
ments to our charter 1t is necessarily treat
ed AS a local matter and goes by consent
in the Legislature. with little or no public
knowledge or investigation. Much more true
is this of places which are located al a dis
tance from the capital of the State, where
as in the case of a general law, no private
clique or ring would be likely to secure
improper amendment TO a law in which
many communities were interested. If We
go forward with separate laws for each mu-
nicpality in the State, we will have our
statute books encountered beyond measure
and the resulting legislation will not be the
best nor the most successful.
In concluding these articles. which are
merely suggestive of possible reforms i'm
our local government, I venture TO repeat
that suitable legislation on these subjects
can only be properly undertaken and pre-
pared by a non-partsan commission. For
this purpose bill introduced in each
of the last two Legislatures authorizing
the Governor to appoint such commission.
At the session of 1897 it passed the House
hut was defeated in the Senate. The ef~
forts of all good citizens, irrespective of
party who believe that our dntiquated
forms of local government should be inn
proved and modernized and made more eff
ficent and more economical, ought to be
directed to the creation of q commission
for the study of the whole subject and the
preparation of suitable bills to be submit
ted to the Legislature.
AUGUSTUS L. MASON. Chairman.
Committee on Municipal Affairs Indiana
State Board of Commerce.