Omaha daily bee., 1909-05-23
Il city government
will be turned over to
a new administration


time the new city coun-
Gil. the ma:cr, city clerk, comp
t%roller, attorney, engineer, build
ing Inspector and Board of Fire
and Police Commissioners will
take Office and the affairs of the
city will proceed for the next three 4
years under their guidance. OF Il
the incoming city officials the MI
mayor, city clerk, comptroller, at I'LL
torney, building inspector and six iii
of the councilmen are democrats. I'M
OF these all are reelected. The N
city engineer, six councilmen and \
four members of the police board
are republicans. Thus of the
twenty-five elective officers of the Il
city each of the leading parties has EE
eleven. For the first time the city "a
engineer and the members of the &
police board are elected. In the
past the engineer has been ap-
pointed by the mayor and the po-
lice board by the governor.
The change in administration
will be accomplished without any
especial ceremony. The council
will meet and it's first business will
be to organize by electing a presi-
dent. AS it is evenly divided on
party lines 1t is likely a deadlock
may result for a time. Five OF
the democrats are candidates for
tho nOcffinn nP nraCidant On tho
voting for the Office may go on for
some little time before a choice is
made. At best it will require
some member to vote for one
candidate not belonging to his
party to achieve an election by
majority. The police board will or
ganize with less effort, for it's mem
bers are all republicans. The other
officers will simply take the oath, file
their bonds aud proceed to r~eorganize
their Office stats. AS no change is
made in the political aspect of any of
the Offices it is not probable that any
extensive changes will be made in the
list of city employees, although Mayor
Dahlman may alter his selections in
some regards. In the engineers ofice
some extensive changes may be made,
as the new charter has removed from
the control of the engineer the larger
part of the force formerly employed
under his direction. and the death of
Engineer Rosewater some weeks ago
placed the Office temporarily in the
control of the democrats. Other
offices are so organized that few of the
employees will be disturbed.
The new city administration will
have some very extensive problems to
deal with. The growth of the city has
been SO rapid hat its management is
constantly presenting new questions
and new responsibilities for it's OFF,
Gals. New contracts for lighting the
streets are to be made by the incoming
council and means for providing a con-
siderable extension of this service
must be secured. The continued ex-
tension Of paved streets-and more
than a million dollars will be expended
during the coming summer in Omaha
on this item of improvement alone
means Jhat the task of cleaning and
maintaining the streets in proper or
der is moIe of a task each year than
ever. This work mus: ha overlooked
by the mayor and city council, the city
engineer and the street commissioner
having direct charge of it. Then the
construction and maintenance of sew
ers is another big item in the work of
the engineering department, while the
street sweeping n repairing is looked
after by the street commissioner. Mat
tiers pertaining to the relations of the
public service corporations with the
city and with each other are pending
before the council and will receive
some attention. as the democrats in
their platforms pledged certain re-
forms which will have to be worked
out some way. The clerical and ad-
ministrative functions OF the city gov
will be carried on in much
the same way, except on the larger
scale incident to the growth of the
city.
The Board of Fire and Police Com
missioners has some problems of its
own to solve, To start with, the mat
ter of e~quipping two fire houses that
are without men or machinery must
be taken up early. Chief Salter is
anxious for the building of two other
fire houses, with further additions to
the working force of the department.