The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-03-16

1 amendment was favored by the alder men.
 Mayor Farnsworth said there was al-
 ready proper provision for the discharge l of an incompetent superintendent. lie
 said that before the adoption or that section of the charter the superintend-
 ent was bothered with by members or 1 the board of education, and that the | predecessors of the present superintend- i ent had not been given opportunity to
 show what they could do. He did not
 think that public opinion of New Haven
 would allow the board to retain an in
 competent superintendent. He opposed
 the amendment.
 Mr. Troup favored the amendment.
 He said that he did not think the mem
 bers of the board should be permitted
 to appoint a public officer for longer
 time than the appointing officer holds
 office.
 | MT. Troup also favored the amend
 ment to the charter to consolidate thor
 oughly the board of education with the
 rest of the city government He want
 ed their acts reviewed by the board of ! finance and the common council. He
 said: We have little annex down on
 Center street running along in way
 that the people know very little about.
 They say this is to put the mayor be- | yond temptation as to appointment Of | teachers. Why not have majority 1 vote of the board of education sufficient to overrule action of the superintend-
 ent? Why was this exception to the general rule of the charter passed? The | fact is that the whole thing ought to go | into city hall. Then probably we will not have nonresident pupils coming into New Haven and educated for S6O when the taxpayers of the city pay s149 for education of children residing in New Haven. We ought not to have any
 annexes. We ought not to have those little side-shows set up for personal sat- isfaction and qualification. Mayor
 Farnsworth said that the consolidation act was made up of compromises. Peo-
 pie who opposed bringing the educa- tional department into politics would
 not give a hair. He didn't think it would be proper now to make changes without full and proper hearing such as was held year and a half ago, and
 said that the provisions now are ade-
 quate to get rid of an incompetent man."
 MT. Troup said he was opposed to the reform humbugs and hypocrits. If we are to have consolidation let use have thorough consolidation. He thought that the board of education should not be treated differently from the other boards under the city government.
 No one appeared for or against the amendment to increase the salary of the city sheriff to $1,200.
 The amendment to permit the board of finance to make transfers of appro- prations without the consent of the common council was taken up. The aldermen and councilmen voted to op- pose it.
 Mayor Farnsworth said that he fa- vored the amendment. He said that it was impossible to fix at the beginning of the year exactly the amount required in each account under particular head. The charter now requires transfers to be recommended by the beard of finance and adopted by the common council. The mayor argued that reference of de- sired transfers to the common council delayed action and embarrassed the de- partment asking for the transfer, the delay often being so great as to render transfers unavailable for use when they are finally made.
 Mir. Ely having been directed by the aldermen to approve the amendment, stated the history of the passage of the present charter. He said the com mon council at that time objected to giving the board of finance absolute power in regard to this matter, and that that body opposed this matter now for the same reason, The mayor said that in line with the way the common coun- cl does a great deal of business in New Haven it had voted without con- sulting the wishes of the pee ole, to in struct the corporation counsel to oppose the amendment.
 Alderman Chillingworth said that the common council did not believe in giv- ing all power in regard to finances of the city into the hands of seven men, nominated by the mayor. Mayor Farnsworth then produced a report of the absences and attendance of mem- bers of the present board of councilmen and aldermen, the report showing a large percentage of absences. He then | read from records and communications to show that action on matters had | been delayed in the two boards of the | common council.
 The house bill providing for retaining but one board of the common council | was next taken up MT. Ely said that he though that the charter should have a chance to show what it was good for, , and he hoped that so far as the general scope of the charter was concerned 1t would be allowed to remain as 1t is. The committee decided to report on the amendment.
 The bill for the establishment of a sinking fund commission of three mem- bers, for the city of New Haven, was next taken up Mayor Farnsworth stated that the bill was drawn by a of the board of finance. He said that there were some years when sums of money might be set aside to [ meet indebtedness falling due in the 'uture, and the idea of creating a sink ng fund commission was to take care ,f sums thus set aside. The proposed pill provided that bonds for refunding 'ity debts might be issued, but MT. Ely bought that this was matter for the egislature to act on
 Mayor Fanrsworth said that he would ,e glad if the city of New Haven didn't nave to go to the legislature for any,