Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1919-06-13
ENDORSE CHANGES

pITHENs, AT PUBLIC MEETING,
8 APPRovE PROPOSED CHART
ER AMENDMENTS. ~
With but a few slight. changes, all
OF the amendments to the city charter
which were proposed. by the charter
commission, were endorsed at a public
meeting Of citizens at the city hall Mon
day evening, at which about forty were
present! While the attendance was far
from what it should have Been and real
" was not representative Of the diff
ferent interests Of the city, there was
80 little difference of opinion on any
of the proposed changes that this was
taken to indicate that the people in gen
eral favor the changes. :,
q The endorsement of the proposals by
the citizens means that the charter
commission will continue with it's work.
It will get an appropriation from the
council, as there will be certain ex-
penses involved, such as an attorney to
draw up the proposed changes; stem
ographer to make the copies; pubica-
tion and election costs.
N. N. Bergheim, chairman of the
charter commission, called the meeting
to order and he called for q vote as to
whether the matter should be discussed
in view of the fact that there were not
more citizens present. Those present
felt that it would be well to proceed
with a discussion at this time and on
motion by P. S. Randall it was so de-
cided.
;. Mr.. Bergheim took up the proposed
changes one by one as they appeared
on the printed pamphlets which were
circulated recently, and each proposal
was discussed and then voted upon. Ev
cry one Of the proposed amendments
was approved by the meeting with
some minor changes.
The first proposed amendment brought
up for discussion was the one relating
to elections and salaries. This one was
approved just as it was submitted.
This amendment calls for city elections
every two years instead Of every year,
thus saving election expense; providing
a salary for aldermen Of So per meeting
for regular meetings, ST for special
meetings and ST. for adjourned meet
ings, the total for one year not to ex-
ceed $50; the appointment by the coun-
Gil instead of election by the people of
the city clerk and city assessor. was
favored by most Of those present, as
they felt that these two Offices were
really administrative and the duties re-
:auire close connection with the city
council to get the best results, whereas
now they are not bound to comply with
the councils wishes.
r The proposed amendment to provide
for building inspector was approved
without any changes. Such an inspec-
tor would have supervision Of all build
ing operations in the city and permits
would be required from all who wished
to build within the city limits. In
this way the city would have an abso-
lutte check on what is being done in
this line in the city and the inspection
feature would also lessen fire hazard.
One change was made in the propos'
ed amendment to the chapter on the
revolving fund: It was proposed that
the revolving fund limit shall not ex-
ceed $4,000 for each 1000 population.
Many were Of the opinion that there
should be no limit to this fund what
ever, as it would be hindrance to pub
lie improvements Consequently it was
decided to leave out that part of this
paragraph relating to the limit OF the
revolving fund.
The public utilities amendment was
approved as porposed. This amendment
will make it possible, should the city
own its public utilities, to provide prop
er departments to handle them and to
create funds for handling same.
Three changes were suggested IN the
proposed amendment on the chapter re-
lating to the board Of public works. 1t
has been shown that to handle matters
relating to public improvements through
the board Of public works is slow and
unsatisfactory way and it can be han
died quite readily by the council,
therefore it was decided to propose the
elimination Of the board. Relating to
the delegating Of power to the council
to initiate Improvements by a four
ffths vote, this was changed to two
thirds, as four-ffths would not figure
Que satisfactorily with a council OF
nine. The clause relating to the inita-
ing Of improvements by 25 per cent of
the property owners along the proposed
amendment who are also owners of 25
per cent of the property, was changed
to make it apply only to property own
ers resident in the city Of Little Falls.
It was felt that this should be specified
as nonresident property owners could
hold up an Improvement: -.
The proposed amendment relating to
franchises was discussed particularly as
relating to the length of time. Some
favored long time franchises and others
were for short time franchises. In the
proposed amendment Is years was sug-
gested as the limit and this was raised
to 20 years. Otherwise this clause
was not changed. s
The last proposed amendment listed
on the pamphlet, relating to the initia-
tive and referendum, was approved with
two changes in the percentages. It was
proposed that on presentation Of the
council Of an ordinance accompanied by
petition Of Is per cent Of the voters,