The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-05-28
FINALLY VOTE FOR
CHANGE IN PLAN
Ordinance Committee Ia Ike $
First Step Toward Commits
sion Plan.
TALK BY MILLER
Believes Present System Of Coy
crnment Could BE Turned
Into Big Graft.
VIGOROUS TALK BY MILLER

| BY n vote OF 4 to tho Council Com
i mittee on ordinance. Charter and Re-
form last night recommended to the
! Council for adoption the ordinance re-
ported by the special Committee on
| Changes In the Form of City Govern
ment providing for the creation OF an
! administrative committee to take over
certain executive functions now car.
ried out by standing committees of
| the City Council.
Under the plan approved there arc to
be four commissioners employed for
i their entire time. sitting daily. The
man proposes their nomination by the
Mayor and confirmation by the city
! Council for a term Of four years each,
/ so arranged that ono commissioner
/, will be elected each year.
/ The vote in the committee stood:
Ayes Mcssrs. CMtchins. Miller. Pow
ell and Elicit.
Noes siessrs. Burke, Fuller ana
| lJlnlaufS
The debate, which preceded the vote,
| was long and informing. every member
1 admitting that the present system is
clumsy and unwieldv. Mr.. Fuller and
/ Mr. 1rmlauf were for reducing the menu
/ bership of the two branches of Connc,'.
1 though they were not ready to accede
! to the plan proposed by former Alder
I report for the Committee on Changes
| 4, the Form OF CITY Government.
| Chairman Cutchns explained in de-
| TAI, tho work Of his committee. out
| lining the more glarinE defects In the
nresent system: the reasons why
commission could not be introduced at
present. and giving what he believed
would be the advantages of the plan
he proposed The present admins
tration, he claimed, lacked co-ordtna-
ton between It's various departments
Councilmen are called on for routine
and detailed duties in connection with
matters with which they are not ia
miliar: the cumbersome machinery
makes necessary long delay in the
passage of every ordinance: the di-
vision of authority and responsibility
between committees and department
heads. and the failure to have some
definite purchasing agency to do the
purchasing for all departments.
Not Time for Commission.
Mr.. Cutchins thought that the time
was not ripe for the Introduction of
commission-that is. small body Of
men charged with both the Legislative
and administrative functions OF city
government Besides the fact that
amendment 10 the State Constitution,
he did not think there was sufficient
safeguard as to the honesty and efIi-
cheney of the three or five commits
sioners who might be elected, nor any
way of checking on their work
DIR. Clifton M. Miller vigorously in
dorsed the proposition for creating an
administrative board. The city, he
asserted. was free from graft. but was
most expensively governed
axes arc high and our committee
management is most unbusness-likc.
he asserted. we are paying too much
for what we get
Ic thought the salary Of $4,000 pro-
posed was too small. saying that the
city needed big men of affairs who
were ccNS,uatent to run it. and that 1T
should get the best men available and
pay them what other great corpora
tions would paw for their services.
Ono OF the commissioners, he thought.
should be an expert engineer. and he
advised throwing the position open 10
other than Richmonders If batter men
could be secured elsewhere. Acting
! Chairman Elicit reminded him that no
man could be elected to city Office
who was not a qualified voter.
One OF our greatest defects said
DIR. Miller, rs our division of rcspon-
sihi1ity. II is absolutely wicked to
elect superintendent of plant such
as orr Water Works or Gas Works.
and then not give him authority 70 en-
ploy and discharge his men. The whole
| system IS wrong. That 1t hasn't raised
up nest of grafters is due to the high
character of the community, hut tho
| possibilities of graft In our way of
doing business arc simply sbeyond be-
| lief"
Mr. Fuller said he was in favor of
reduction in the membership of the
Council and that the men should be
paid for their time: that the city had
| no right to expect such detailed SER
| vices free, but said that no one of the
plans submitted appealed to him. Mr..
Burke agreed that there was some
cumbersomeness on account of the NUM-
| Der OF members and because there
! We're too many committees, but did not
advocate any change.
| DR.. Miller secured the adoption of
amendments to the ordinance fixing
the salary of each of the four members
/ OF the administrative committee at
1 $4,000 each the present pay of judges
of the city courts providing for a
clerk at s1,S00, and enlarging the bond
of each of the members to $4,000.
/ u believe the membership of the
Council should be reduced" said Mr.
i Umlauf. "and ! am ready to retire
4 without any kick to make way for
such reduction, But | believe ii dan
i gerous to place in the hands of one
man the nominating of commissioners
to have the spending of $3,O00,O0O Y
year and tho awarding of all city con-
4 tracts Influence of the strongest kind
i has been used in the past to elect to
l office old, broken-down politicians, men
utterly unfit for the positions. We
4 would never bc able to make changes
in such a committees. We can't get rid
of Inefficient heads az departments now,
because of the outside influence tina,
is brought TO bearton Councilmcn to
secure their rc-clcction.
'''rherc has been waste In the city
4 government. but 1t has been caused by
Incompetent heads Of departments, and
only pressure has prevented the Council
I from turning them out When this
Imatter OF n board of control or COM
mission was ur once before the poll
ticians had the all selected who
We're to get the jobs. wouldn't lot
those men they had selected run even
the little business | own. much less
| the great business Of this city, We