The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1915-03-03
The MAYORS HOG WASH.

me mayor crtttcises the section Of
the charter en- filling vacancies. II
the mayor will read the old charter he
Will see that in copying it form the
Huntington charter q serious mistake
was made, which makes 1t impossible
to I'LL a vacancy under certain condi.
lions. This has been discussed in the
Civic League and other places and is
admitted by all familiar with the old
charter.
Section 81 o fthe old charter reads:
Whenever vacancy or vacancies,
from any cause whatever, shall occur
In the Office OF commissioner, and the
time for a regular municipal election.
as provided for in section thirty here.
In, Is not within TWO YEARS (six
months in Huntington charter) there.
from then the board Of affairs shall
call a special election at which tho
qualified voters of the city shall fiji
such vacancy or vacancies by the cleo.
,tion fsome person or persons there.
to-"
Section SIS reads as follows: "lf
there shall occur atan ytime moro
than two vacancies on the board OF
affairs, the common council by ma.
1ority vote of all the members elected
thereto, shall ill such vacancies for
the time being, but the person so ap.
pointed shall be OF the same political
party as the commissioner whose Of.
fee was vacated and is being filed"
Under the old charter II a vacancy
occurs In the Office of commissioner
and the time for any geenral city cleo.
ton Is not within two years the board
shall call special election. Under
this the only waysan election can be
called is when the regular election Is
more than two years off. Under tho
new charter the election will be held
within less than two years anyway,
as the term OF Office is limited to only
two years, so 1t will be seen that the
voters will have a chance to yota
quicker under the now charter 10 MI.
vacancy than under the old charter.
So there goes the mayors hog wash
in the interest OF. the dear peepul" 10
the sewer. II the election under the
old charter.is within two years there
Is no special election called, but the
council I'LL sthe vacancy by appoint.
ment. Under the new charter there
is no council, and the people will fill
the vacancy sooner at the regular city
election.
In the Huntington charter the words
two years" reads six months, and the
change 10 one of the. numerous unac,
countable things that have crept into
tho old charter. Under the present
charter the council can only act, when
"mcve than two vacancies" occur,
which means three or more, and a
special election cannot be called II the
regular election is within two years
and the council being unable to act
unless more than two vacancies oc.
cur-there is possibility that two
places may remain vacant, with no
power 10 fill them for one year, II
months and 30 days. These are the
plain facts that the old charter dis.
closes. We ask the mayor to get on
his glasses, read up on the old charter
and state tomorrow IL we have not
stated the exact truth aobut filing
vacancies and II It is not true that
under the old charter two vacancies
might remain with no power to fill
them, and that under the Biennial
election provision Of the new charter
II the people do not get action quicker
TO fill vacancies. This talk about va.
cancies Is all nonsense anyway, for
has. not some statesman well said that
None die in Office and. few resign?
That's why we call 1t Hog Wash.