The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-06-25
MAYOR GOING AFTER
CITY DEPARTMENTS
Believes That Petty Jealousies and Slipshod
Methods Have Already Cost Taxpayers
Enough-May Call on Council
to Order a Halt.

4 Mayor Richardson has taken vigor-
Gus hold Of the complaint made by
! City Engineer Boiling to the street
/ Committee of the lack of cooperation
between the city departments. with
the consequent expenses to the tax
payers and the patch-w work appearance
/ of all public works The Mayor was
in consultation with City Attorney
Pollard yesterday morning for some
time, and later addressed letters 10
1 Mr. Boiling, superintendent Davis. of
the waterworks. and Superintendent
Knowles. of the gas works. with a
\ view of securing accurate data on the
fttuation. He has under Amusement
the question OF sending special mes.
| sage to the Council on the subject in
the near future.
The subject is not a new one and
both City Engineer Boiling and Mayor
Richardson have before protested in
annual reports and messages. Streets
have been grayelled or paved and the
Improvement has been hardly COM
/ pleted before workmen come along
and dig trenches for gas main or a
| water pipe. or possible for both few
/ weeks apart. and the street for which
the taxpayers have just paid to have
| put in order, is left scanned and ridged.
and almost impossible. Grove Avenue
/ west OF Lombardy Street has been
! Sraveled and rolled three times in five
years, only TO be torn to pieces by city
! hands. and is now a most undesirable
| thoroughfare for smooth driving
Must Unity Public works.
| The Mayor Is of the opinion that the
/ root of the matter will not he reached
| until one board or committee has con-
4 troll of all public works. In his first
annual message to the Council he
called especial attention TO the re-
| marks OF City Engineer Boiling in his
/ annual report as to the waste and In
4 efficiency of digging up the streets
after they have been improved. and In
some instances paved. In that mes
| sage the Mayor said: AS all these
| three classes of work (sewers, water
and gas mains). are now ordered by
three separate committees, acting in
dependently. 1t has been difficult to
carry ont these suggestions, but the
continuous digging up of streets has
| given occasion for SO much complaint
! that all work OF this character should
| be ordered by one committee or by a
board invested with proper authority"
That the friction and petty jealousy
and lack of cooperation between the
city departments has reached a seri-
Gus stage, costing the public treasury
annually large sums of money, is
| shown by the report of the special
Committee on Changes in the Form Of
| City Government, which proposes a
plan for an executive board or com.
| mittee of salaried officials, nominated
by the Mayor and elected by the Coun-
Gil. which. under general direction OF
the Council, shall have executive
charge Of the various departments, the
! awarding of contracts, and auditing OF
~ alt, IT,.
and the administration OF its business
affairs.
Many Plans Proposed.
The ordinance carrying this plan
into effect practically abolishing the
standing committees which now have
charge Of the various departments, has
been recommended for adoption by the
Council Committee on Ordinance.
Charter and Reform. the only amend
ment being an increase in the pro-
posed compensation of the executive
officers, that committee holding that it
would be economy on the city's part to
employ competent men for all their
time to see that city improvements
are properly made and that 1t would
not become necessary to do such work
again and again each time at the ex-
pense of the taxpayer and to the detri-
ment and loss Of property owners
whose property is still awaiting sim
liar Improvement
Another plan has been suggested.
and is pending in one OF the various
committees In which such matters are
allowed to be lost. 1t provides for All
executive board, composed of the heads
of the various departments; that is
to consist of the Mayor. the City En-
gineer, the Superintendent of Water
Works and the Superintendent OF Gas
Works. Still another plan, which has
been suggested. and which only polltl-
cal considerations prevented from be X
Ing adopted year or two ago. is put ]
ting the Gas and Water Departments
under control of the City Engineer, ,
making the heads of those departments
assistants In his Office. SO that all may
report to one man, and he, IN Turn
may advise with a single Council COM
mittee, which will have charge OF all
public works. It is argued FOR th's
plan that the City Engineer now has
an assistant in charge Of improvement 9,
OF streets: another who supervlses me !
sewer system and It's extensions; stu
another who has oversight OF parks
and Fairgrounds, and fourth, VINO,
under Mr.. Bolling's direction, oversees
the work of harbor Improvement
Favor Some Change.
Several Councilmen approached yes
terday were unwilling 10 colnHit theIl-
selves to any specific plan or to prom
ise to support any particular remedy
but all agreed that the waste and In
efficiency fthe present system showed
a. glarins defect that must be taken
lnp and remedied as soon as possible
and nv the method which best COM
n1ends itself to the minds of the more
active and experienced Couneilmen.
AS a specific instance OF the waste Of
the present system, Mr.. Boiling cites
the application OF the Gas Department
to tear up the paving laid six months
ago on Thirty fourth street, now Chin