Omaha daily bee., 1906-01-07

| council makes all the contracts, they will
/ be under an obligation to see that they
| are properly carried out. If any dispute
arises between the city engineer and the
! contractor the council decides who Is right
and who is wrong The presence Of coun-
| cilmen on public works has a very good
| effect. In performing the duties Of the Adj
visory board they will receive bids and let
contracts for all the supplies that are
| needed by the city. This will impose the
! duty Of being acquainted with the market
price Of supplies and seeing that the goods
! contracted for are delivered. The Advisory
board was the final judge on the tearing
down Of buildings condemned by the build
ing inspector. The council is now the final
| judge. The council has the power to de-
! fine and add to the duties Of any officer Of
the city, even though his duties are de-
fined by the charter.
In council of twelve, eight members
/ two-thirds-are practically the mayor and
! council, as they can pass any ordinance,
| resolution or contract over the mayors
veto. If any one can organize a good gov
| eminent league composed of eight men,
| bers OF the council, he will have accom-
| plished thhe object of the organization. If
| the mayor, comptroller or any member of
| the council shall incur any Indebtedness
contrary to law, the city attorney is COM
! PEELED to proceed against them in court
and have them removed from office; but
| there is much less danger of creating over
laps than there used to be under the old
| charter. as the heads of all the departments
! VIII know at the beginning of the year
! Just what they have to expend for the
year. There will be no back taxes to figure
on to get them out of a hole All back
| taxes will 90 int
the debts of the city There will be no
more mysterious balances found in the
treasury. Every taxpayer can easily find
out where the money goes.
| Amy councilman who absents himself
from any meeting of the council or Board
| OF Equalization will be fined SO for each
| otense The object of this is to compel
all councilman to be present and go on
| record on every question that comes up, so
that there will be no lodging.
| Inc duties of a councilman at board of
| equalization are very important. He should
| see that the cost of all public improve
ments are fairly assessed on the property
| benefited and be able to explain why the
| same kind of Improvements may cost more
on one street than on another But it Is
at the Board of Equalization where prop
! erty values are fixed for taxation, that
the councilman can be of greatest value
| TO the masses of the people. The cor
porations are always represented by their
| attorneys, and most of the business houses
are represented by their agents or their
| attorneys, the nonresident property owner
is represented by his real estate agent; but
the home owner, who has to work all day,
has no one to represent him but his ward
! councilman; and there is no service that
| is more highly Cd b,y1 t,o
people than that of seeing that they are
not unfairly taxed, while they are at work
and unable to take care of their interests
| Every councilman should be supplied
with list of the property in his ward as
1t Is returned for taxation, and as he drives
| around the ward looking after streets and
| sidewalks and public works, he could no.
| tce any mistakes any unfair valuation
| in the assessment lists.
| Hereafter the councilman, like the
county commissioner, will have to devote
| nearly all his time to the performance OF
the duties of his office. They will have to
meet at o'clock in the morning instead
| of at at night, and take plenty of time
to consider the vast amount of business
connected with great metropolitan city.
The present system of rushing through
hundreds of papers by reading their titles
| anu iSltIIlllS THEM TO Ine committees and
| compelling the city clerk to make record
of each one, and in many cases copv nett
lions that are worthless, is a great ex
pense and the object of these communico-
lions has passed away before they are re-
ferred back to the council. If the civ
| fathers could take plenty of time To com
slider everything that comes before them
| they would fill the waste basket instead of
| hlling the records with a lot of worthless
STUN. and they could respond more readily
to the necessary demands of the people.
II the councilmen are to be sidewalk in
| spectors II would be a good idea to abolish
the committee on sidewalks and have all
matters pertaining to sidewalks I'm each
ward referred to the councilman of that
ward. This would give the credit or blame
to the councilman for good or bad side
walks and everybody would know where IN
KICK some one must take the RESPONSE
bility for deciding when a sidewalk IS
| dangerous nuisance and should he CON
demned and a permanent one put in its
place. When q permanent walk ia IaId
and a property owner pays for it, he ought
/ to have some assurance that IT has Soma op
| the elements Of permanency about II
I Some OF the permanent sidewalks laid bv
/ private contractors without inspection are
| about as permanent as the winters snow
nut the contractor has a license and a bond
and If you don't like the job you can spend
more than the walk cost you in a lawsuit.
/ Under our present charter the city is NOT
/ responsible for injuries caused by defective
! sidewalks so those who are injured will
4 have to sue the property owner. This win
make great falling off in suits against
the city and lessen the number of clients
Of many brilliant advocates at the bar or
bars.
To perform the duties of a councilman
as provided in the charter will keen an
| active, intelligent man busy every day
/ In the week, and, if he wants TO rest ON
( Sunday, he must have an office located in a
! convenient place in his ward and have
/ otice hours on some evenings in the week.
where the working people can see him with
out having to lay Off a day.
This was the kind of a councilman the
| Douglas county delegation had in mind
| when they raised the salary to SIPS per
| MONTH $S less than that of the county
commissioner. They did not intend It should
be soft snap for some busy business man.
who would appear in the council once or
/ twice week, and make a grandstand pIav
! and draw his S125 at the end of the month
/ as Kind Of an extra Oh, no. The legis-
! latOr saw I'm his minds eya tuysI,,o ,.gr-.1,,z.