Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1913-08-06
THE CITY MANAGER PLAN.


: community of 10000 inhabitants il
which the powers of local govern
ment are all vested in a board O
three citizens, elected at large anC
subject to recall. One of these is en-
titled mayor, but is without powers
beyond those of presiding Officer
and ceremonial head of the city. Tc
this extent the plan of organization
follows the commission" type, bat
with these vital differences
The three elected officres are not
supervisors of departments; they
draw but nominal salaries; they are
not expected to give any considerable
time to public duties; they are frank
ly not political experts. The COM
missioners simply represent the in
terests of the city as a board of di-
rectors, and delegate the responsible
ity for details to competent execu-
tive, known as the "city manager,
who is their servant and subject to
removal by them at their pleasure.
To him they entrust the appoint
ment subject to civil rules, of all the
other city officers and employees; to
him they look for reports of the city's
needs and the formulation of the
budget.
And so, in Sumter, the elected gov
erning board monopolizes the poll
tics" of the town, which is constru-
ed in a high sense, as the making of
public policies. The appointed exc
cutive, free from political influence,
is able to conduct his Office according
to professional standards.
In January the commissioners Sc
lected the first "city manager" At
no moment did they look upon the
office as a plum to be shaken down
for a politician who had been active
in securing their election. or for
local favorite. They acted in a way
which was at once revolutionary and
Enthusiastically American. They
advertised! The best position in the
city went to a young engineer from
outside the city, who had no other
claim upon it than his ability to per-
form it's duties.
The Sumter advertisement, which
was confined to few of engineering
journals (because it was thought that
an engineer could make himself es-
pecially useful in the city, brought
over $50 applications, from every
quarter of the country. The idea OF
putting city on genuine business
basis had attracted remarkable
number of excellent candidates; full
ly two-thirds of them had had exper-
fence in municipal engineering and
many were holding positions as city
engineers. Among the number were
several graduates of West Point and
the Massachusetts Institute of Tech
nology, and one was commissioner
of public works, an elective ofhcer
in one of the commission-governed
cities in the middle west.
The Sumter experiment, were IT
but a local phenomenon, would lack
significance. But, for four years the
city of Staunton, Va, has been under
a plan as nearly similar as the laws
of the state will allow; the city man
ager plan was adopted in March in
Hickory and Morganton, N. c., and Is
feature of the proposed charter OF
Whittier, Cal. it has been endorsed
by official commissions in st. Peters
burg, Fla, Bisbee, Ariz., and Owosso,
Mich, it is incorporated in statewide
permissive bills in New York, Min
nesota, Ohio, and New Jersey; it has
the sanction of the board of trade In
Lockport, N. Y, and all the leading
civic bodies in Dayton, Ohio; 1T mas
been seriously discussed in Dover,
n. H., and Honolulu, H. T., 1t is the
central feature in plan of city and
county federation supported by
strong group of civic and commercial
organizations in Alameda county,
Cal, a community of 100000 people
witch includes the cities of Oakland
and Observation-Disclosures of Reviews.
Why Does a Stick Hold Together?
Mortar, as you know, sets hard"