The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-02-13

Waterbury charter commission has many attractive features to 1t. II provides for 2 budget scheme and the allotment of available funds Tor expenditures in a highly business like and satisfactory manner. 50 that expenditures will bear a close reia- tionship to the city's revenue. 1t pro- vides for a standardization of ap- pointments within the gift of the ad- ministration so that all positions will be classified and paid Q standard rate of pay with adequate provisions for advancements and increases in pay based upon merit, so that you would not find in one office two clerks doing the same work. and one receiving through political favoritisni a higher rate of compensation than the other, and it provides for com petitive examinations for these stan- dardized positions without consider ation given to any national, religious or political beliefs. It provides for a complete new pension set-up based upon actual determination of the funds to be raised instead of the haphazard pension scheme now in force. It provides for a purchasing department on business lines with the requirement. for consolidation of purchases and competitive prices on such purchases. It approaches very closely the corporate organization which has proved so successful in business and industry"
 In outlining the advantages of the council-manager form of govern ment, Judge Reeves cautioned his audience that too much must not be expected from 1t unless voters con- tinuo to take an active interest in municipal affairs after the new char ter has been adopted.
 The present charter of Water bury, Judge Reeves said, lis hodge-podge, . cumbersome one full of contradictions and inconsistencies which make an efficient and ec0nomt- cal Administration extremely diffi-. cult, if not impossible. Those who have given serious thought to the fsubject of. new charter agree that & new charter Is desirable. There is bound to be a radical differnce of opinion, however, as to the form new charter ought to take. There # one thought want to impress upon your minds, and that is that no charter which the human mind has yet devised will automatically give to this city an efficient and economi- cal administration of its affairs. White a new charter in itself will not positively guarantee efficient and economical administration of your affairs, 1t will, if in proper form. make. possible the kind of adminis- tration we all desire and make more difficult inefficient and extravagant management"
 "Our bonded debt exceeds $17,- O00,o00. Interest and redemption payments this year are more than s1,700,000. Slightly over 10 mills of kA- LS~ c to nay interest and redemption or bonded debt. These figures tell only part of the story. If new charter will helu us restore the financial set-up. then we ought to have it."
 Judge Reeves criticized some weaknesses of the present form or city government in Waterbury. espe- cially the limitations upon the may ors power of appointment and his lack of effective power to remove in- efficient officials elected by the peo- pie. He also criticized the present set-up of certain departments which are administered by boards and spoke especially of the park board, which he characterized as ono with a splendid personnel but as "un- dernocratic" because the members ara self-perpetuatinE.
 The situation has been further complicated, he said, by amend ments to the charter which nave added to the powers of the board or aldermen in some cases the power to appoint administrative officials. '"rhe result was" Judge Reeves said. "a decentralization Of power ana authority as well as of respon- sibility. The charter charges the mayor. as chief executive, with the enforcement of law and proper ad- 1ninistration of the government, but inc set-up makes the carrying out or this power impossible. It Is futile to hold the mayor responsible Tor conditions over which he has no ad- euuate control. The mayor has no effective power of removal of inef- ficient officials elected by the peo- ple."
 ed for Waterbury Is now in opera lion in about All cities, according to Judre Reeves. The largest city hav- ing this type of government IS Cieve- land with a. population of 1,2bO,00O.
 The council manager form of gov ernment, the judge said, has in many cases been adopted in cities where the people have become dissatfshed with inefficient and uneconomicaI administration. "The adoption or this form has not always resulted in immediate reductions in taxation. ne said. ana added that that would probably be the truth here in a financial condition which discloses suhstantiaI current deficit, with bonded debt 50 high. 1t will take even inc best administration several years to correct this condition. The long,. CT 1t is put off. the longer may we expect to pay tax rate or Sb mihs.
 '.The council-manager form or charter tries to follow as far as pos sibie the scheme found in the ordin- ary successful corporation. In the corporate form of organization the. stockholders elect a board of direc- tos. and the board of directors thus elected select the general manager That ia true in the council-manager tnrr, of charter. The voters, who are the stockholders. elect council cf five who become the board or di- rectors. and the board of directors Tn turn select a city manager to actual. iv rnanaee the administrative part ne fha city,s activities. Ninety-nine her cent of the city's activities are purely business. and are Tn no sense of | political nature. There IS no political principal involved Tn nirinE . school teacher or paving street or layinr a sewer or running dance n the Hamilton park pavilion. Prac- ticaily all of our city activities are nurely business matters and can only h~ eon6ucfed successfully if ordinary