The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1900-01-23
OHIO'S OPPORTUNITY.
T Secure an Ideal System of Govern
ment for its Cities and Villages.

Obi passed an act creating a munich
pal code commission to revise and cod.
ify t be municipal laws of the State.
Governor Bushnell appointed Judge
Davi d f. Pugh and the Hon. Edward
Kiblt. .r the two members of the com.
missi on and they began work at once.
They found the laws of Ohio govern
ing cities and villages hodge-podge
tangle of blunders and contradictory
statutes, caused in part by ''classifica.
tion' legislation, often in opposition to
the intentions of the constitution of the
state and in disregard of the equable
aims, which are the fundamental prin-
cipal of taxation laws in republic.
Because of the tangled web in which
they found our municipal laws, after
a patchwork policy of nearly century,
the work of the commission was directed
to reconstruct the whole code of mum.
lcipal laws for cities and villages, and
the result is new code so complete
and uniform in its administration, SO
fair, and with the most complete sys-
tenn of safeguards against corruption
and inefficiency, that, if passed in its
present form, it will make Ohio the
model state in our nation in the system
of local government.
| 1t does away with classes in cities
and provides for but two forms of mu-
nicipal government-cities and will.
lagos. All places having three thous-
and or more inhabitants are classed as
cities, with a uniform system of govern
ment for all, All places with less than
three thousand inhabitants are classed
as villages and all come under one sys.
tenn of laws.
The city council will have but seven
members, but those members will be
held in check by five citizens, called
tax commissioners, who sit in judgment
on all the doings of the council requir-
4 ing tina expenditure of money and can
Ireject any scheme of finance which to
them seems unwise or unnecessary.
The mayor, also, has been given veto
|
partment of Accounts, Department oi
Law, Department of Public Safety and
. Department of Public Improvement
Under these heads all of the work is
, done, and, as each department will
/ have responsible head any abuse Of
administration can be located at once
To guard against abuse in the ap-
pointing power state board ofcommis
. sioners is appointed, and such officers
as are appointed must pass an examin-
alton by this board of commissioners
through local examining officers. Oh
5 the seven members composing the city
council, four will be elected in wards
/, or councilmanic districts, the other
! three by the city at large, and it is
: thought that this plan will place the
city government in the hands of an
, ADLER and better class of citizens. Non
! partisan government, so far as possible
: is aimed at. Nominations for the election
of officers, made by petition only, and
! no party caucus nominations will be
| recognized. The election officers in {
city will be few. The mayor in the
executive department, two in the De
partment Of Public Safety, the police
: judge and police clerk; one in the De
partment of Accounts, the city treas
urer, and seven councilmen; all of thu
other offices are appolntive under +;
e system of examination, except few b,
the mayor.
This plan of nomination by petition
? will take such matters entirely out o
the hands of ward heelers and vii
raise municipal government out of
|, slough of incompetency and corruption
e to a high level of excellency and viii
= invite the best citizens of the State tt
take part in it.
Home rule is one of its most promi
. nent features. The control of all loca
e franchises without interference of tn
State Legislature, is in the hands O
the city and village governments
= All important new appropriations ant
!. expenditures of money must be vote
on by the people before it can be car
= ried into effect by the city or villag
council, and thus one of the best safe
: guards of economic governments, tha
of the referendum will be secured t,
. the people.
k AS the entire law covers two hun
y dred and sixty printed pages, only
o tmere outline can be given in a news
tpaper article, 1t may, however, b.
), fsummed up in a few words: That i
is a system of municipal governmen
in which the people of each localit,
j keep, so far as such a thing is possible
; the management of their own loca
t affairs in their own hands, provide,
with all necessary privileges and safe
guards.
Under Republic the people get jus
q so good government as they deserve
1 they have the power to raise or lowe
- the standard of excellence in thei
public servants, and, as Chief Justic
e Marshall has said that 'the power O
Taxation is the power of destruction,
e that power, under this law, is treate,
fairly, placed in the hant of the pee
y pie, with freedom 20 use it largely, bu
with equally large powers of restraint
: also in the hands of the people.
Ii would be we'll if every voter an,
Taxpayer in every city and village Q
IOhio could be shown the excellence Q
d this proposed "Municipal Code Q
Ohio'' and urge its adoption by our leg
islatOrs,
Glasgow, Scotland, has the mode
. lefty government of the world and ever
good feature of it's code is embodied i
e the proposed Ohio code, or can be pu