Norwich bulletin., 1920-03-18
CHARGES PETTY POLITICS IN
 NoRMIcH CITY COMPARTMENT

At the March meeting of the Mems club Of Trinity Episcopal church en Wednesday evening E1 Mayor Allyn | l., Brown spoke to the men on The | Evil of Csty Government-Petty Poli- ties Mir. Bfewn Fave examples of | the way in which petty politics en- tsrs into the Norwich city government | City government fs conducted on q | political basis and not oh a business | basis There Ia no business about It. | and the party in power passes out the | plurns to it's friends. he charged.
 For example, he mentioned the mat ters of city printing, and sdveftising. | The advertising for people to keep | their sidewalks clear must cost the | city eight to ten dollars a day he said. This could be saved by print ing the notice once or twice s week. have the police department notify the householders and then have the
 street department do the follow up
 work
 l Several years ago the matter of the city barn was brought up and at that time 1t was thought best to keep the
 city teams, and horses in serne other
 place and make the city barn Into an
 ofBce building. One municipal de-
 partment was willing to take over the
 building. Politics entered into the
 question ad the matter was dropped
 with the result that we have a city
 barn ip the center. of the business
 section. -i
 Time and again salaries have been
 raised and ofices created for friends
 simply because A certain party was in
 power and friends must be satisfied. Another evil is the hack of continu- : ity of policy. One party lays down : hard and fast rules but the next ad-
 ministration kicks these rules all over which means additional expense to 7 those who were affected. This is an , unfair way Of treating the public. An l other thing that shows lack of oon-
 tfnuity Of policy Is the way one ad- ministration leaves several thousand i dollars In unpaid bills The admins . tration just coming In power is faced by debt even before it takes once. This T causes special city meetings to be ' called and appropriations to be made. 2 Temporary loans are made necessary
 because during certain months of the . year there is no revenue from city r taxation. If the taxes were to be col n lected in June or July just as the '. fiscal year Is starting these temporar, . loans might be done away with. : Speaking of fhe gas and electric de. V partment Mir. Brown said that tn, z franchise owned by the city was if bshould endeavor to suppors it. He al ,a so stated that he thought a revision 0 .r the statutes should he made aliowini
 the department to borrow money rsth
 CT than ask for appropriations. m Another thing that Norwich shout,
 have is permanent chief of the fr :. department. not have the ofrce sub S \ feet to the change of .ecministratier .S The underwriters rate city bet. %,s % ter that has a permanent Ire chief an - the local insurance rates would b le much lower If the position of chic - was a permanent one.
 T. The system of the present police de
 partment needs change. Now unde
 the present system a supernumar has to wait for someone 10 be pen ie stoned of or resign before he can be CT come asmember of the force. Ii he sometimes ten or fifteen years b. ch fore q supernumary can become d. regular member of the force. Tn III couid be remedied hv the examinatlc v- system and any man who passed n CT requirements of the position could b, ho cor'e 6 member of the force.
 Ist The city should give the depar
 ments power to transact their ON ar business and then make the head the department responsible for hi
 department. A central purchasin agency would add greatly to the q ii 6ciency of the city governmet. A the departments could make out lis for material wanted and it could purchased through ons agent. Tn wouls get better material and at loy <. CT prices.
 Another thing that would help | | city would hs a revision Of the cha 5l ter and ordinances. These are nc I very complicated ss there has been HI revision since 1878. Tn regard to ci streets MT Brown advocated bo III issue rather than the system of q II propriations and this would ma more uniform streets in the city. Ell The solution of this Is to arose t ! people Of Norwich to a sense of ci1 I'll duties. People grurnbie at the VI SI the city is run but they don't botr to come out to city meetings ' should awaken the people to M Ell civic conscienee.
 M A short discussion followed ] III l Browns talk.
 III Refreshments were served at I'll conclusion of the meeting which V I'll opened by short business sessio