The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1910-02-17
Town NEEDS A MANAGER.
Hendersonville Can Afford
to Hire a General Manager
and Pay Him Fair Salary


and Pay Him Fair Salary
Amunicipality is a corpora
ton and should be conducted as
a corporation"
Therefore Hendersonville needs
and should have a general mana
ger, the same as any other cor
poration.
As Hendersonville is the
largest corporation hereabouts,
the man selected as manager
should be exceptionally well
qualified for the position and his
salary should be commensurate
with his responsibilities say
$500 or $500 per year.
Mr.. w. A. Smith has long had
this idea, and the following, from
the Charleston News & Courier,
tells of a Virginia city's prof.
table experience with a general
manager:
Staunton is now a thriving city
of about 12, 900 people. Two years
ago it discovered that, although
the taxes were heavy, and al
though the best men of the town
took part in it's Government.
there was much waste, and
therefore general lack of eff
cheney in the conduct Of munici-
pal affairs. About this time
people began to talk Of the COM
mission form of city government.
Municipal, government in Amer
lea had become proyerbially
wasteful and bad. There was
no concentration of. authority.
Some one of these good Staunton
citizens suddenly discovered that
after all a municipality was
nothing more than a corporation,
and he began to wonder why if
a general manager were a good
thing for a mercantile corpora
tionae should net coed
thing fora municipal corpora
ton as well.
In the early part of 1908 Staun-
ton employed a general manager.
He ewas to make all contracts for
labor and supplies and in gene
raj perform all of the admins
trative and executive work now
performed by the several stand.
ing committees of the Council,
except the finance, ordinance,
school and auditing commit tee. y
In other words the general mana
ger was to have charge of all the
administrative work of the city.
Two years have passed. Staun-
ton now saves each year on Goa
bills alone almost enough to pay
the entire salary of the genera:
manager. Staunton in a year OF
two will be better provided with
permanently paved streets thar
any city of its size in the world.
Staunton has one of the best
lighting systems in the country,
and the cost is nominal. So,
too, it has a very excellent water
service. There is practically nc
department of the city that is
not more efficiently conducted
than ever before in the history
of the town, and more economi
cally. There is no waste ir
Staunton. All improvements
are permanent and are correlated
Staunton is perhaps the best
lgoverned city in America. The
success of the Staunton plan has
been certain. This is clear t
anyone who merely walks casu
Tally through the town.
It will be noted, that by tn,
lStaunton plan the city council i
mot eliminated. It decides OF
9all questions of policy, makini
1.-THE money grants, enacts muni
cipal laws and in general per
j forms all the duties of legis
llative body. To it the genera
i manager is answerable at a.
times. It is the board of direc
tors to whom the general mana
ger reports. There is no loss O
popular control. The genera
manager y sirnseIy the admin,
trative officer. fHe better than
board of directors can direct ir
telligently the actual work whic
the higher authority has decide
should be done.