The log cabin Democrat., 1911-08-09
COMMISSION FOR
 MUNICIPAL PLANTS FAVORED BY COUNCIL
CHANGE IN MANAGEMENT OF WATER AND LIGHT SYSTEMS
 IS RECOMMENDED.

By the unanimous adoption of re- port by the committee on light plant last night the city council went on rec ord as favoring a radical change in the supervision of the municipal wat erworks and electric light plant. h. stead of being operated by council committees, the plants will, if the con- mittee's recommendation are enacted into an ordinance, be under the control of commission of three citizens. who will serve for three years, with the term of one member expiring each year. This system, the committee states, will give a permanency to the management of the plants which could not be secured under council commit. tees, the pcrsonell of which would probably entirely change every two years.
 The committee also recommended rates for the new waterworks system. the meter system being advocated and rate of 25 cents per 1000 gallons suggested for the first 10000 gallons used in three months. A flat rate of 50 cents per month for consumers using only one hydrant is also recom- mended. The report in full follows:
 Conway, Ark, Aug. 8, 1911.
 
 To the City Council of the City of
 Conway:
 Your committee on electric light plant, to which was referred the mat ter of suggesting plans for the opera tion of the Conway waterworks sys- tenn and rates to be charged for water service, submit the following:
 1. We believe that the successful operation of both the municipal water and light plants will require change in the present system of management by the council committees. The man. agement of two plants which will rep resent an investment of nearly S10O,- GOO and which are owned by the peo- pie represents a trust not to be light ly considered and one that should de- mand the best thought and judgment of the members of tins council. In order to give the plants the necessary stability and permanency of control without at the same time taking them too far out of the hands of the people and their representatives, We would suggest the organization by the coun- cil of water and light commission, to be composed of three citizens elected by the council, who should be given full power in the operation and man. agement of the two plants. The terms of these commissioners should be for three years and so fixed that the term of one commissioner would expire each year, in the same manner as is now the case with the school directors. These positions should be filled either by members of the council or by ether citizens, or both, no restrictions being placed in order that the council may be free to select the best qualified and equipped men of the city to take charge of the two plants. The com missioners should be required to sub- init monthly reports of their transac- tions to the council, and the members should be made subject to recall by the council
 The advantage of having the plants operated by such a commission, some member of which would always be fa- miliar with the general business of the system, instead of by a committee, the personnel of which would proba- bly, be entirely changed every two years, is too obvious to need discus sion here. As members of the light plant committee, we freely admit that our importance led us into making mistakes, and we feel that he have hardly yet gained the experience ne- cessary to the successful management of the plant, from the standpoint of supervising board.
 ?. Regarding the rates to be fixed for service from the new waterworks system, we have studied the rates in many Arkansas and other towns and cities and have concluded it would be best for the development of the wat erworks sytsem to make low rate for service, in order that as many as possible may be induced to use the city water. The rates which we shall suggest, judging from all the data and estimates we have been able to gather on the matter, will not pay the cost of operating the system for the first year or two, or at least until about 200 consumers have installed