The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-06-28
A CONTRAST IN CHARTERS.

! PROVISION against special legislation al
! fecting cities is shown with remarkable
! force by the provisions of the new charter
! of Minneapolis, which have just been
made public. No greater diversity could
! well exist between the provisions of the
organic law of two American communities
than that which those provisions show to
exist between the new charters Of the two
adjacent cities of st. Paul and Minneapo-
| lis.
| The provisions of the Minneapolis char
! ter are distinguished chiefly by the radical
attitude which is assumed in many direc
! tons, and by the apparent lack of uni
| formity either In the appointment of the
| heads OF departments or in the constl-
| tuition of the executive bodies, depart
ments of the city government. Many de-
/ partments have but single head many
! others consist of boards, without uni
formity in number. Many heads Of de-
partments, boards as we'll as individuals,
are chosen by the mayor, some with and
some without power of confirmation by
the council, and many others are elected
by the people. The city elections come off
in November with the general state cleo
ton, instead of with US in May. The
! mayor appoints and removes at viii the
head or chief Of the police department
and police ire departments, while
the health department is made up
of board Of three members; the board
of charities and corrections is made up Of
! four members, both bodies being appoint
! ed by the mayor; while the members of
the library board consist of six members
elected by the people. With this specif-
cation it can be readily distinguished how
{ little of uniformity exists in the choice Of
/ those charged with the administrative ex-
ecutive work of the new city govern
ment.
| The leading, and indeed, the character
izing provision of the Minneapolis char
ter is it's civil service commission. That
/ body is composed of three members, not
more than one belonging to the same pc
! lit:cal party. The term of office is three
/ years The commissioners are appointed
by the mayor. They meet at least once a
/ week. The commission names a suitable
number of persons to conduct examina-
! tons, who shall receive compensation if
/ not already in the employ of the city.
] Immediately after its appointment the
commission is required to classify every
! position in the city Offices and depart
ments, with the exception of those not in
cluded in the civil service provision. The
unclassified list shall consist of the Off
GERS elected by the people or appointed by
the council, judges and Clerks Of election.
members and secretaries of the different
boards, the officers appointed by the may
or as heads of departments, the city at
torneys, clerks of the municipal court,
librarian. landscape gardener, superin-
tendent of the workhouse, superintendent
OF the parks, mayors private secretary.
city physician and other physicians in the
employ Of the city. All rules of the COM
mission shall be made public. An applica-
ton register shall be kept Employees who
have held their Office for two months be-
fore the charter goes into effect will hold
their office under the protection of civil
service rules. without examination. The
civil service examination shall be made
public and free to all citizens of the civ.
Notice of the time and place Of the ex-
animation shall be published in the official
paper. The commission shall rank all an
plicants according to the merit shown in
the examination, but may add to the per-
centage gained by soldiers Of the wars
of the United States. Examination of
manual labor shall be as to their phvsi-
cal and moral fitness.
A contract committee is established
and all work costing over 800 is to be
dene by contract. It consists of TIE
mayor, the city engineer and the presi-
dent of the council Contractors are
obliged to pay their men the same wages
as paid by the city for similar work, and
eight hours shall constitute a dav's
work
The city is given the power to ACQUIRE
a plant or plants for furnishing to the
city and its Inhabitants transportation,
light, heat, power. telephone or TELEGRAPH
services. At the demand of 1000 voters,
the city council shall procure estimates
of the cost of construction and main
tenance of any public utility, and may
submit the proposition of the city pur-
chacing such plant to the vote of the PEG
PIE. A majoli y CT tie vote a at tie &
election is necessary to authorize the
council to erect or purhase such a plant.
If the plant is already built the council
can procure it by ccndemna ton proceed
ings.
The city council may By a two-third
vote of all its members grant fran
ch'se. None shall h perpetual. nor for
longer than ten years, without first sub
hitting the proposition to the vote of the
people and securing a majority OF the
vote cast at that election.
Thee are many ether provisions equal
ly as radical as those relating to civil
service appoin: nents ard municipal own
ersh p mentioned above. Among them
are taose which re,a:e to TIE coatrol by
the council OF public corporations and OF