Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-01-28
CITY EXPERT
(contTnuec rom PAGE y

pal research. II" undertook an in
Ves'lGatiOn Of the actual r. sults in ten
commission governed cities. for the
Herman Metz FUND This book repre-
seEts the results Of his ilyee ga.
ton; on the whole it is fairly favor
able TO the commission plan He,
however. goes into the economies AMI
efficiencies Of all the different de-
partments. The volume contains 4
great deal Of very suggestive material
and helpful suggestions on how TO
being about good city government.
. The book is published by D, Appleton
& Co. and sells for 81 so. Another
fairly good book covering the whole
field of commission government is
DR. Ernest S. BradfOrds Commission
Government of American Cities" This
is published by the Macmillan Com
pany, S125. DR.. Bradford appreC-
ates the subject from a point Of view
entirely favorable to the plan Not a
great deal of space is devoted to the
argument or objections to commission
government The volume gives
very comprehensive and comparative
analysis of all of the various plans
and a great deal of personal infOrma-
ton, which Dr. Bradford collected in
his various travels over the country.
A book on lue subject is also editel
by Clinton Rogers Woodruff called
city Government by Commission"
and published by Appleton Company,
$3.50 This if largely a collection Of
addresses given before the convention
of the National Municipal League.
One of the most useful works on
the subject for charter commissions
would probably be the Digest of
Short Ballot Charters" This is a
loose-leaf volume edited by Professor
Beard of Columbia and published by
the Short Ballot Association. 3S3 4th
Ave, New York. and sells for $3.50.
1t contains a digest of the charters of
practically every city that is operating
under the commission plan. (This is
kept up to date by the association, by
sending additional pages, as new
charters are adopted. 1t presents in
a very handy form the information
which a charter commission should
have at hand, such as the percentages
required for petitions, number Of COM
missioners. civil service regulations.
publicity, requirements, provisions for
the Initiative, Referendum and Re-
call, etc. The Short Ballot Associa- !!
ton also publishes a bulletin each !
month, which gives a complete list re-
vised to date of cities that have
adopted and are operating under the
commission plan. The November, |
1911, issue of the Annals Of the Ameri- !
can Academy of Political and Social
Science was devoted to commission |
government This volume contains a !
large number of articles by various
students of city government upon the !
and operation of COM
mission government in their localities.
This volume may be-seeured from the |
am sending you copy of the bulletin |
which l prepared upon this subject
couple of years ago. This bulletin |
contains the citations to nearly all !
the laws and also very comprehen- |
sive photography of material on the |
subject. | am also sending you several /
copies of the bulletin which / pre- |
pared for the Madison committee and |
also copies of the Wisconsin law.
A new movement has been develop
ing within the last year or two, which
goes one step farther than commits /
sion government. namely, the city |
manager plan. One of the weak /
nesses of the commission plan has al
ways been that there has been no !
central head to the administrative |
side, which could be held responsible |
for the administration of the city.
Another weakness has been the fact !
that a great majority of commission
charters have contemplated the cleo
ton of experts to. take charge of each |
department; as a rule majority OF
the board, however, could over-rule
the department head or the commits !
sioner in charge of the department.
This has resulted in lack of re-
sponsibility for the administration of !
his department on the part of the |
commissioner, as has been the case in
Des Moines during the last year.The
police commissioner was oyer-ruled by
the other members Of the board. !
The city manager plan is an effort
to obviate these two difficulties. I'm
der this plan there is a small com.
of three, five or seven men
who are elected by the city at large
and who have charge merely of the
legislative side of the city govern
ment They represent the citizens OF
the city and determine the policy Of
the government. They choose a gen.
eral manager or superintendent of
the city to take charge of the admin
istrative side. The general manager
is held directly responsible to the
for the entire administra
ton Of the city government. He
chooses the experts in each depart
ment, hires all employees, has the
power to discharge them, outlines the
methods of different departments, and
in short is the business manager of
the city, charged with the duty Of
carrying out the policy determined
upon by the commission. The COM
therefore. only meets once a
month or as often as it is necessary.
The business manager manages the
city government and is responsible for
its efficiency to the commission. The
commission has the power of recall