Weekly journal-miner. [volume] (Prescott, Ariz.) 1908-1929, 1914-03-25
EXPLAINS WORK OF
THE CIVIC LEAGUE
(From Wednesdays Daily.)
Communicated


ties. 1t is pleasure 10 respond
to sincere inquiries and tell from
time to time what the Civic League
OF Prescott is doing.
Any Civic League must be guild
ed in its ideals and methods OF ac-
complishmcnt by the material ii
has at It's disposal and nature Of the
environment in which it is 70 pro-
gresS. In this determining pro-
cess we have headed into more de-
finite departments Of work only one
OF which we will speak of in this
article Our previous efforts have
been directed toward getting ac-
quainted with the essentials OF our
community and aralyzing them
which has resulted in tests OF state
wide as well as Of local Importance
Our Political Study department
has formulated 4 series OF studies
on the City Charter and City Or
dinances. The first paper present
ed. began with the Charter. This
brought forth the ideas ii which
the following is an extract or sum
mary:
All citizens need to understand
the governmental foundation upon
which our city rests. and that
means to read intelligcntly the
Charter and Ordinances which mold
the rules governing officers and
citizens. and by which both must
abide. The Charter says that all
power and authority IS vested by
the Territory (Statc) i'll the Mayor
and Common Council to act for the
city as a corporation. To change
this responsibility from them would
neccssitate state legislation. and il
has never been repealed or amend
cd. The Mayor and Common coun-
Gil are the ones who make the laws
OF the city in conformity to its
Charter and State laws, and are re-
sponsible to the people OF the city
for the same. even where duties
and powers are delegated by them
to subordinate officers. The Char
ter also says that where complaint
is made for neglect or refusal to
do their duty against any subordi-
nate officer, that it is the duty OF
the Mayor to present the charge
TO the Common Council, and that it
Is their duty TO investigate. and in
their power. if the charge is sus-
tanned. to punish, suspend from Of
fee, or remove from office. This
provision in the. Charter has never
been repealed or amended. and re-
quires State legislation to do So
This is very important matter
to fix the exact place of RESPONSE
bility for ineficiency OF public ser
vice, should we ever need to know
The Charter provides that when
duty is transferred to subordinate
officers by the Council that it car
ries authority and power the same
as if originally specified in the
Charter. Also it says that the Ma
yor's duty as an executive officer
OF the corporation is to exercise
careful supervision over all the
City's affairs. and its subordinate
officers" Each city officer or en-
ployee is subordinate to the Mayor
and Common Council.
The question was asked: "Who
compcls the Mayor and Common
Council to do their duty. should
they refuse or neglect it," and was
replied to by prominent attor-
ney who said he presumed it would
come before some court of COM
potent jurisdiction by some proper
method Of procedure. The So
called liberality OF our Charter
seems to center in there being no.
thing to limit or guide The Com
iipii SphHN' Is ~ hiliNAl III Ol
terms they are to use in the franz
ing OF ordinances. as they are to
Cd regulate, (2) suppress. CD IL
cense. a. suppress, and 90 pro-
hibit" certain specified matters of
civic welfare. They are free, so
far as the Charter DEGREES, to use
any one or more OF these five terms
but they are not supposed to
choose a term that is i'll direct con-
flict with our State law at the time
the ordinance is made. While the
Charter places no check in this IL {
lustratlon. yet there are two very
forceful ones to guide them. name
ly, the State law which always
ranks in superiority over city. and
the voice of the people
The Political Study Committee
will follow up with half-hour stud
les at regular intervals. on the CITY
Ordinances and kindred matter.
Other departments of our work
will be reported, as something of