Evening star., 1937-08-07
EIGHT NEW UNITS
FOR D. c. SOUGHT
IN RE0RGAN|z|NC
Final Draft of Kennedy Pro-
gram Provides Adding
Departments.
CITIZENS COMMITTEE
OF ADVISERS PROPOSED
Directors of Bureaus Would Be
Informal Cabinet for
Commissioners.

Consolidation Of nearly all munich
pal activities under eight new DEPART
ments, to prevent overlapping and du-
plication of services, was proposed to-
day by Representative Kennedy.
Democrat, of Maryland in the final
draft of his proposed program for
drastic reorganization and moderni-
zation of the District government in
the interests of efficiency and economy.
The plan also proposes creation of
citizens advisory committee to con-
suit with ard advise the Commission
ers on all municipal problems, as we'll
as the appointment of special budget
officer and a change in budget proce-
dure. which would preclude the Bud
get Bureau from debating the finan-
cial policies Of the District. The ad-
visory committee would be composed
Of five citizens and the Chairmen of
the Senate and House District Com
mittees
The eight new departments sug-
9ested bv Kennedy follow: Finance.
Safety, Welfare, Works and Engineer
Personnel. Each department would
be under director directly responsible
for the administration of all affairs
within the department.
Would Constitute Cabinet.
Kennedy declared the directors Of
these eight departments should con-
stitute an informal cabinet for con-
sultation with the Commissioners.
The corporation counsel's Office. the
Public Utilities Commission, the Ma
tlonal Capital Park and Planning
Commission and examining boards of
various types would remain as in
dependent Offices.
Kennedy severely indicted the pres
ent form of the municipal government
as "a cumbersome hodge podge of or
ganization' He declared some opera
tons are ineffectively conducted and
obsolete as to method.
Municipal governmental functions
Kennedy said. ARE distributed IN
amazing fashion among the Commits
sioners, various Federal departments
and number of independent boards.
In functions under the Commissioners.
the organization is not systematized or
effectively correlated. Some duties are
in departments, some in boards. some
in committees. some in the person of
various officials.
The Commissioners have a multi
tude of detailed duties and direct re-
sponSiblllty for administrative routine
In many instances. In many respects
their powers are curiously circum-
scrlbed and acts of Congress are re-
CURED on numerous minor matters.
The budgetary process seems to be
needlessly cumbersome in some phases
and lacking in sufficient organization
in others. The tax collection system
is ineffective in many respects. Most
of these defects are due to the fact
that the municipal government has
not been oyerhauled since the 1870s
and a multitude of functions have
been laid upon it since that time
without any plan as to system or gen.
eral efficiency. A complete reorgani-
zation and modernization is deslr-
able"
Says Commission Preferred.
In form, the District Government.
according to Kennedy, must of ne
cessity be municipal In q city like
Washington, in which an elected
council is impractical for many
reasons, he pointed out, a three-man
commission is preferable to one-man
commission or manager. The great
advantage of a one-man executive.
he said, is concentration of power and
responsibility. On the other hand,
its disadvantage, he explained, is in
the field of quasi-legislative functions,
(See REORGANIZATION, Page A-9)