Evening journal., 1920-04-22
new IDEA IN
GOVERNMENT
AIDS NORFOLK
ConIInued From FIrst page


without log-rOlling for the benefit OF
some small particular section
The Norfolk government consists Of
city commission or council of fv,
men, elected at large This council
chooses a president and selects cit,
manager It's president gets $500 a
year and the members 1920 each
The city manager is paid si2 coo. In
turn the manager appoints the heads
OF the city departments. who are
chosen purely for their business abii-
NY and irregardless OF political af-
illiation. In Norfolk there are 1--WE
departments: Law. welfare. public
works and finance. The department
heads, In turn, are responsible for
everything under their Jurisdiction
ana may be fired at any time by The
Guy manager, who may be "1rcd by
fhe ilve-meniber Council, whose
members, lastly, are subject TO recall
from office Dy the yolcrs.
In consequence OF This system. r
said Mr.. AshDurner, everyone con
necicd with the city government is
always on his mcitlc Let me add
too, that our city employees feed their
families with food that is theirs
Ihey have earned 10 and not gOt II By
standing on some street corner dOiny
political butlonh0llng.
in 1918, when Norfolk changed to
The city manager form OF government.
u was known as h0lbcd OF politics.
But a Good Government League got
charter through the Legislature and
submitted IL TO The people who rail-
Ned It.. Then The ave city commits
sioncrs We're elected The two men
receiving the fewest number OF votes
Were elected for only two years, so
as TO provide rotation. These Two
commissioners are now getting out
lheir petitions FOR reelection" said
Mr.. Ashburner. "and they are being
endorsed by everyone. Why. the old
CITY employees. who took on their
coats and fought against the new
now are It's staunchest sup
porlers. They have found merit is
better than pull that they can do
more ana better work. and lhelr Jobs
are safer so long as they perform
ihelr duties cOnscicntlOusly.
me newspapers and public, too
we're throwing bricks with both
lands at the police department when
NE new system came in Now they
re praising the police as the finest
apartment 10 the country. The DO
lcemen themselves Will not have a !
nan on tle force who is not clean. !
Ne nave increased the police and
re department personnel y per cent. |
Ne also nave increased the pay un- |
ii the minimum now Is Si5f5O a |
month, or $3.50 a year for both de- /
,artments The police work on The
hrce platoon system. The nrcmen in
NO platO0ns
The Norfolk nre department f. a
alu service and nine compani,s ara
ldintaincd. as compared TO twelyo
olunlccr companies In Wilmirqion
he city has about 10000 popula-
Among The things we have eslab-
Ishsd Ia our iS months OF service
ontinued NJ Ashburner, ARE a iu-
enue ana domestic relations court
city planning commission. a mort
Ynlitllssioni 3 public utilities com
llssiun, ullrteen or fourteen play
louhus, contagious disease hospital.
rec dental clinic FOR both Ncrrocs
"a Nhiics, and a largo amount ~
rect extension, street wldenlnp ana
Mer work. The cOnlaciOus hosnii1i
located within the city limits. andJ
OBJECTIONS are made to n Tall
r. Ashburner.
For a long time Norfolk has been
iNlnE sQuabble over iiS water
lcsllOn, the speaker went on. ..We
'ked authority 10 issue al OOO OoO
ponds for new water system. and [,
was voted, six 90 one We also
I'VE ADDED S50iOO0 10 the salaries of !
'hool teachers"
@Ihe secret OF our success simmors
lNn 10 ihis. The CITY Is RIM moi
one man, not by a half dozen
en-, but by The whole onle
Voush the elimination OF ward lines
70 financing we were first able
i9p 0u huge amounts OF waste due
uupicSuon or work and unncccs- ,
ii,E MoIk. Inen we were abl 10 =
'iiect our laNes much better because :
e people co-opcratcd Our mercsp q
Ie lakes alone liner used from io A. q
per mt. Our tax rate h 20 "a J
the Si00 valuation. There 4 an !
sessmcnt every I've years. and Ne \
,N-c Deon working under Thai of
-. Ihal was very low on re,i I
1"lc and gave US only SIS ODO OO0 I
row gre rf-assessing and eNpeci i
auu f1JVVOiu0 more, which wNl d,
y down the tax rate materially !
e have no county lax" I
n Nirtually all mercantile taxes IN :
liminston 90 10 The State inslesd I
70 lhe city. The combined county q
n Guy tsN rate here Is S2.3i as v
ainst - 80 In Norfolk. p
Nif. Aslburner, althoueh maintain u
3 he believed the city manarer svs- p
m netier than others. defended Civ ~
mlnlsiraton throughout the conn
against attacks, saying many Of p
en- today were attempting to u
ia batl leShips with the same tools O
q materials Noah must have employ g
IN constructing the ark" a
cans the securing Of a fund OF In. b
,mailon that Is we'll worth while p