The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-11-11
GAL WESTON PLAN
FOR SALT LAKE
Continued from PAGE I

the charter under which Galveston, |
Tex, is now; governed Galveston |
claims to be the best governed city in !
the world. For. fixe years the city has
been ruled by board of fire commits
sioners, who have the powers erdinar-
lily given to a mayor and board of alder
men.
Charters Will Vary.
The league committee or Salt Lake
has varied their charter in several I'M
portant respects from the Galveston
charter. The principal change has been
made in providing that the board of |
commissioners be in continuous session,
where the Galveston board meets bur
twice week. 1T has been found in |
Galveston that much Inconvenience re-
suits from the fact that citizens who
have any business to lay before the |
commissioners must accommodate their
affairs to the two weekly meetings tina |
are held.
Here 1t is proposed to have the COM |
missioners in session continuously andi
they are to be paid salary enough to
permit them to devote their entire time |
TO the government of the city This is !
another departure from the Galveston
charter.
In practically all other respects the
outlined charter for Salt Lake follows
the Galveston charter closely.
The charter of the latter city is COM
plete, covering all possible situations
! that may arise in the government of
that city
The Galveston commission is a body
of five men-a mayor, or general man
ager, and four managers of particular
departments. All power resides in this
commission. The mayor is the presid- |
Ing officer and general director of the |
a no oh,
minor abilities to act i'm cases oil
emergency he has no power beyond his i
vote as a commissioner. The commits
sioners are also held i'm check by being
| compelled to come to the board for all
| power TO act.
Department Heads Elected.
The commission upon its election di-
| vides the departments of the cityl
among its members by election. under
| these four heads: Commissioner oil
| finance and revenue, police and fire /
| commissioner, commissioner of streetsl
| and public property and waterworks |
and sewerage commissioners. The may
| or is elected for his office but the COM |
miSSionerS are not. In spite of the fact |
| that the commissioners divide the city |
| departments up among them after they |
| are elected. the public knows the COM |
! miSsionerS that are slated for each de- |
InGlrt
| special fitness for such departments. |
| The commissioners are elected every |
two years, in May. The mayor gets
| s., 600 per year and the commissioners |
81 200 each.
Here is another place where the char
ter proposed for Salt Lake will differ
materially from the Galveston charter. /
| The mayor the three commissioners
are TO be paid $4,000 a year, enabling |
| them to give their whole time to the
| government of the city. They are to be
| elected every four years instead of
| every two years.
The claim has been PUT forth that
| strong and representative business menI
| i'm a city cannot be secured to admins |
| trate the affairs of the city. The pres
| ent situation III Galveston proves the
untruth of this suppoSiton. The mem
! composing the board of commissioners
| i'm Galveston are the most representa- |
| tive men of the city and they have
| been in office FIVE years, with the pros
| pect of continuing for several more
! years.
One-third Saved in Galveston.
| Galveston is being run today for just
One-thiId of the annual expense that !
was necessary to carry on the city gov
| eminent under the old form before
| 1901 when the government by commits |
sion began Prior to 1901 Galveston was
| known as one Of the worst governed |
| cities In the south. 1t was a wide |
| open" town. The city was in debt 20
| the limit of its credit and the situation
was going from bad 10 worse. An eX-l
| pert examination of the books of thel
| city treasurer showed that the city was
| being robbed annually by its officers
| Of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
| The success of the commission gov
| eminent I'm Galveston is best illus
! trated by the financial record of thei
| city government for the past five years. |
| To begin with, it costs the citizens
| CT Galveston but $500 every two years
| to elect its commissioners, where under
| the old form of government the eX-l
| pense of the city elections hao run npl
| into the thousands of dollars.
For the past five years the annual ex-
pense of the government Of Galveston |
| has been but $500 900. where under the |
| former government the cost had run |
approximately 5000 900 annually. The |
| cid government in four and a half |
years incurred a debt of $780, 900 for |
running expenses. The new government |
has not only incurred no debt of this |
| kind but has paid off the old debt. The !
water department of the city was made |
| to yield $4,000 a year more than it |
ever had before, and at no additional !
cost of operation. When the streets Of |
the city were rebuilt the street railway |
company was made to pay it's share of
| the expense, a matter of some $40 900. |
Over s60, 900 was saved yearly in the !
| operation of the police and fire depart |
ments and fully $4,000 annually in the |
operation of. the other departments of |
| the city
Millions for Improvements.
| on top of ali its other improvements |
| Galveston has constructed and paid for !