The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1913-11-15
CITY MANAGER PLAN POPULAR
NUMBER OF CITIES HAVE,
ADOPTED NEW SYSTEM OF
MUNICIPAL GOVERN
MENT.
Other Cities Discussing it and Some
to Vote ON Plan I'm Near Future
Eight Places Which Have Adopted
Plan are Widely Separated.

The following article from the Ma
rion. Ohio, Tribune, which credits the
Short Ballot Bulletin for it will prove
of general interest i'm Sumter, no
doubt, as Sumter is the home of the
City Manager plan of municipal
government:
Not since the Greater Des Moines
Committee assumed the function of
acquainting the country with the vir-
tues OF the Commission plan, has any
municipal development been so wide
ly heralded and received with so
much favor as the adoption Of the
new city manager plan by Dayton,
Ohio. But IL is not so generally
known that the new system has al
ready been adopted by eight cities at
widely separated points throughout
the country and that it is under ac-
tive contemplation i'm a number OF
others. City Manager charters have
been adopted to date, i'm these cities
Sumter. s. c.. :. 80. ..S,lO9
Hickory. n. c.. :. :. ...3,716
Morganton, y. c.. 49,. :. ..2,712
Dayton, o.. :. :. ..116,577
Springfield, o.. -. :. ..4G,921
LaGrande, Ore. :. :. ..4,843
Phoenix. AriZ.. :. :. ..11,134
Morris. Mimi. :. .... ..1,6S5
On November IS. the plan will be
voted upon in Amarillo. Texas, a city
which is now operating under the
regular commission plan. The charter
commissions in Winona, Minn., and
Sadusky, Ohio. are preparing chart
ers on the same plan.
A feature Of the new Pennsylvania
commission government law is that
the salaries Of the governing body
Except the firsO may be fixed by To-
cal action. Mr.. A. NJ. Fuller, Of
Meadville, who led the fight for the
adoption OF this law, has pointed out
on numerous occasions that this pro-
vision makes 1t possible to set the
salaries of the commissioners at a
nominal figure and devote the
amount thus saved to the salary Of q
competent manager. Some cities also
which have not been able 20 change
their charters. have created the Of
flee Of city manager by ordinance.
Staunton, Va, did so as far back as
1909. and Fredericksburg, Va, has
followed her example. More recently
suburb of Chicago, has done the
same.
These Cities have usually followed
the practice of selecting their city
manager from outside the city, thus
giving encouragement to the growth
Of a body OF men trained by contin-
uous a"d broad experience in NUM-
cipal affairs These may be expected
in time To compose a distinct profess
sion of municipal management,
somewhat after the fashion OF Ger
man burgOmasters. who are chosen
not for their political affiliations,
but for their peculiar abilities and
for their record of achievement in
one or more cities
The city manager plan even
threatens the older commission type.
The city of Tacoma. for example, has
been operating under the commission
plan for four years, giving somewhat
less satisfaction than most OF the
other 500 cities in the list. In re-
cent aDalysis of certain difficulties
which arose I'm his official experience,
Mayor w. w. Seymour pointed to
the fact that where men are elected
To serve both i'm legislative and ad-
ministrative capacity. the seeds are
sown for wasteful dissension and
frictsnn i,,,n