The star-progress. (Opelousas, La.) 1917-1921, 1920-11-24
MANAGER FORM OF
CRY GOVERNMENT
FAVORED BY SOME
system Adopted in Few
municipalities Seems to
Work Well
UrSPONSIBILITY is
CENTERED IN ONE
advocates Claim Greater
Efficiency by It's
Adoption

few years ago an election was
,sld IN Opelousas to take the sense
!, the voters as to whether commits
s,ou form of government would be
.donted or whether we should retain
no old aldermanic form. The result
:, the election is still frseh in the
minds Of many, the voters rejecting
IVA large majority the adoption of the
commission from, preferring to re-
relp under the old system.
since that well remembered affair
,hare has been some spasmodic talk
sbout testing the matter again before
tbe people, but up to the present all
that has developed has been talk
potbing else but talk. and even that
has died in an echo.
viii Question be Revived?
If there exists any idea of reviving
the question nothing definite or con-
crete has been done to show the vot-
ers that there is strong movement
behind it to push it to a successful
conclusion. However, we have heard
rumor or two from a few localities
relative to the wisdom of adopting a
more concentrated form of commits
sion goyernment--the selection and
appointment Of a man to act as "city
Manager with full charge full auth
ority and full responsibility in every
thing pertaining to th government of
the city. Unquestionably very few
have given this phase of city govern
ment the least thought, but those few
Who have thought over the matter are
somewhat enthusiastic and even state
that It's adoption by the parish would
also prove it's efficiency in solving
problems that have been perplexing
and expensive However, these pro-
ponents Of the new idea confine their
present enthusiasm to city govern
ment at this time, preferring to see
the form tried out here and if it
proves successful, then go a little
further and make it also apply to the
parish.
First Place to Try Plan
Dayton, Ohio, we believe was the
first city to adopt the managerial
form" of municipal government, fol
lowing great flood which almost wip-
ed the city off the map. The city was
in desperate straits and desperate
measures were required to bring ord
er out of chaos. A "city manager"
lsomething new in the annals of mum
ieipal government) was chosen and
given full charge of everything. The
idea behind this novel move was that
a municipality was after all but a BIZ
business concern and it's affairs
should be run in a business like MAJ
ner The aldermanic form and the
Old commission form did not quite
meet with the demands and require
ments Of Dayton at that particular
time Of stress and this manager form
was adopted to make up the deficien-
cies Of the other two.
Not Extended Rapidly
That was quite a number of years
ago and the manager form has not
been extended very rapidly, though its
efficiency can not be doubted, its
champions claim. Several cities in
the same population class as Dayton
have adopted the form and are putting |
i to a thorough test now. The OPP
ponents of the system claim it is un-
democratic and smacks of an auto
cratic form of government, but In con-
uadiction to this charge the other side
states that the new form eliminates |
~ chance of shifting responsibility
lOr mistakes Of government and takes
government out of the hands of irres-
'ponslble politicians and officeholders
IND places it in charge of more COM
petent hands.
Crowley Trying Out
This is about the gist of small |
alk here relative to the appointment
u city manager, such as our neigh
'or' Crowley, recently did, and which
'tty Is now testing out the efficiency
= tnis modern plan of municipal gov
opelousas may be little
more conservative and refuse to follow
.roWley in its pioneering example.
mat awaits to be seen.
-Ik, RESTAURANT CLOSES