The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1900-04-27
KoONTZ.
Unsucc essfu1 Effort to Abolish
A Municipal Office.

On Wednesday night of last
week, at the regular mont hly
meeting of the Board of Alder
man, the following resolution
was offered and passed:
"Resolved by the Board of
Aldermen, That on the expira-
tionof the present superintendent
term, we repeal the ordinance
creating the Office of Street Su-
perintendent, said repeal to take
effect at the end of the unexpired
year.
elm consideration of the above
resolution, be it further resolved,
that the entire Board of Alder
men constitute the committee on
streets and bridges, that all ques.
tions relating to streets and
bridges have the consent of a ma.
.jority of the committee before
making any contracts for mater.
ial or work; and that two of the
policemen act as Overseeer in the
absence of the committee during
working hours"
AS it required the signature of
the Mayor to make the ordinance
valid, a special meeting of the
board was called for Tuesday
evening to secure final action.
The ordinance, which had been
prepared by City Attorney Ham
mOnd Urner, was read and the
members were asked to give their
views on the matter After Mr..
Winebrener had moved the adop-
ton of the ordinance and it had
been properly seconded, Mr.. Zim-
norman stated in opposition that
he thought the plan to do away
with the Office, created as it was
by the present administration,
would be a bad policy, politi-
cally, and might be the means of
bringing defeat upon the party at
the next municipal election. He
thought the system was a good
one and saved money for the city.
He further added that if any
thing was wrong it must be with
the man who holds the position,
and not with the system itself.
Mr.. Biser was in favor of con-
tinuing the Office and said he did
not think there was a policeman
on the force who was competent
to take charge of the work as the
ordinance provides.
Mr.. Shell declared himself as
opposed to the ordinance. After
quite a discussion Mr.. Wine
brenner declared that as it was
almost impossible to find a police
man on duty after midnight, one
OF them cOuln easily be spared to
look after the streets. This Gre
ated quite a sensation.
MIR. Brown thought that the
$3.50 paid Mr.. Mantz, would be
better invested in a stone crusher,
as it was badly needed. r
Finally it was moved to lay the
ordinance on the table, but the
motion was lost, Messrs. Schell
Winebrener and Brown voting
against it. The original motion
was then taken up and declared
passed. The Mayor then vetoed
the ordinance and as it would hav,
taken a fOur-f fifth vote to pass i
over the veto, the matter wa
ended.
Mr.. Peter Mantz is the presen
incumbent and the Office was ere
ated by the present administra
ton.
1t was meant to be q return to tn
old system in vogue under previou
administrations, and which wa
always found to work we'll. /
was generally admitted that tn
office of Superintendent @
Streets was an unnecessary one
In larger cities where there ar
greater difficulties and where tn
force of men is larger, the pla
does well, but where other mt
nicipal employees can do the wor
without interfering serioasl
with their other duties, as in I'll
case with Frederick, it is surel
} the part of economy to go bac
to the old methods. or