Evening star., 1924-03-24
Enlarged Utilities Commission

We seem TO be moving faSt toward
a Public Utilities Commission with an
increased membership. To enlarge the
Public Utilities Commission to five
members and retain the District Com
rnissioners as members Of the COM
mission would be compromise be-
tween the present organization of that
commission and the plan which would
altogether relieve the District Commits
sioners from service on it. The quas-
ton has been long discussed. The Dis
trict Commissioners have been the
Public Utilities Commission since its
creation, and they are also the Zon-
ing Commission. Their duties have
greatly increased. What might be
called the traditional duties of the
Commissioners have become heavy by
reason of the growth of the District,
and public utility questions have be-
come numerous and complicated. II
has been thought that Public Utili-
ties Commission should be created
which would be responsible to the
District Commissioners, but of which
the Commissioners would not be mem
bers. The plan which is embodied in
proposed amendment to the public
utilities law would have the Commits
sioners continue as members of the
Utilities Commission, but would pro
of two members who should devote all
their time to the work of the commits
sion. The proposed amendment has
been, or very soon will be, submitted
TO the bureau of the budget. 1t has
been approved by the District Com
missioners. and it is understood that
the chairman of the Senate District
committee favors it. The District
Commissioners should not be overload
ed with work. Besides this there are
many questions which come before the
Public Utilities Commission of char
acter to call for the services of a
lawyer and engineer. The Engineer
Commissioner has about all one man
can do, and it often happens that
neither of the civilian Commissioners
is a lawyer. The Public Utilities Com
mission has functioned well. but the
proposed plan ought to make for a
more satisfactory handling of public
utility questions, which have come to
be among the highly important ques-
tions with which the District govern
ment has to deal.
1t was the Engineer Commissioner
who brought the plan for an enlarged
and reorganized Utilities Commission
to the point where it's terms are in
corporated in a proposed amendment
to the law. The civilian Commission
ers seem to have been in favor of a
Public Utilities Commission of which
they would not be members. but are
converts to the pending plan. Com
missioner Oyster has said that he has
advocated for many years a separate
Public Utilities Commission. but be-
lieves that the plan formulated in the
main by the Engineer Commissioners
promises better than the creation of
an independent board. The District
Commissioners would retain their re-
sponsibility, but would have two as
sociates on the commission who would
have more time. and perhaps in some
ways a better equipment for dealing
with utilities. Commissioner Rudolph
said that he had felt that the Public
Utilities Commission "should be sep
arate and distinct from the board of
District Commissioners because of the
volume OF work involved but he be-
lieved that the proposed plan sis a
practical and sensible solution of the
problem"