The Paducah evening sun., 1910-03-17


Icommission form OF government for
cities OF the Second class passed on
the hast evening. The governor has
until March rs to act on II.
No County Detective.
Frankfort. Ky. March II. (Spe-
cial. THE governor vetoed the bill
providing for district detectives in
counties having cities OF the Second
class.
Lexington, KY. March 1.-THE
Lexington plan" OF municipal gov
ernment IL TO be given a trial In
Kentucky.
Under the provisions of the bill the
Question OF the final adoption OF the
COMMISSION form OF government will
be voted upon in Lexington at the
general election next November. and
the sentiment for a change is so
strong that there can be little doubt
of an affirmative vote.
Briefly. the new charter provides
for a complete reorganization of the
city government by the election OF a
mayor and four commissioners, who
shall have entire charge OF an de-
partments ana appoint all employees
The first election Of mayor and CON-
missioners will de on Tuesday, No
vem'ber 7. 1911. and a non-partisan
. May NOT BE VALID. .
% A question Is raised today as .
. to the constutionality OF the .
. commission government bill .
. for Second class cities. permit .
. ting them to choose between the .
. commission and the present .
. charter. Section 156 of the .
. constitution says: "Ali munic- .
. ipal corporations OF the same .
. class shall possess the same .
. limitations" II is suggested .
. that IL some Of the cities choose .
. the commission government and .
. some retain their present char .
ter form OF government. their
. powers and limitations may .
. differ.
. . . . . . . . .
primary will be held on Saturday.
October 81. a little over two weeks
earlier. Any number OF candidates
may be nominated by petition for
mayor and commissioners. regardless
OF party affiliations, and in the pri-
mary election all the names will go
on the same ballot, arranged alpha
beticslly without any party name or
device.
Every citizen will be privileged to
vote In the primary for one candi-
date for mayor and four for commits
sioners. by stamping in squares OPP
posite their names. The highest two
for mayor and the highest
eight candidates for commissioners
will be declared the nominees, and
their names will go on the ballot
alphabetically in the general election
two weeks later. again without party
names or devices. The people will
again vote for one candidate for
mayor and four for commissioners.
and the highest candidate for mayor
and the highest four for commission
ers will be declared elected.
The mayors term will be four
years and the commissioners two
years. In 1918 a police Judge and
four commissioners will he elected In
the same way. Each alternate two
years and the ticket will be headed
by the mayor and the police judge.
as both are constitutional officers and
cannot be abolished or changed by
charter amendments.
The mayor and commissioners will
organize the new city government
the first week OF January, 1912,
lcreating the following departments
under the new charter:
Department OF public affairs.
Department of public finance.
Department of public safety.
Department OF public works.
Department of public property.
The mayor will be at the head of
the department of public affairs and
each OF the commissioners will be
assigned to one of the other depart
ments by vote OF the majority.
The Lexington plan provides a
salary of $4,000 for the mayor and
So. 900 for each commissioner. There
is no recall by which a certain num-
lber OF citizens upon petition may Sc
cure an election to decide whether
or not the commissioners shall re-
sign or I'LL out their terms; no initia-
tive by which citizens may compel
the enactment of popular measures
and referendum on petition OF one
fourth the votes. which is impracti-
cable. ~