Evening star., 1941-10-17
Montgomery
Government
AssaiIed
Obsolete as 1906
Auto, Rockville
Meeting Is Told

The operation of the present
Montgomery County government Is
as far behind the times as the
mechanism of a 1906 automobile
Frederic P. Lee of Bethesda last
night told more than 100 persons
at the Rockville High School.
The meeting was the first in a
series to be held every Thursday
night in Rockville under the spon-
Sorship Of county wide study
group organized to consider the
Brookings Institution report on the
county government.
Frequent applause greeted MIR.
Lees criticism of various county
agencies, particularly when ne re-
ferred to the concentration of le2ls-
lative and administrative power in
the hands of the county commits
sioners as "a potential source of
dictatorship to be feared much
more than that which the commits
sioners say they find in the pro-
posed establishment of county
administrator, as recommended in
lne BrOOklngS report.
Drastic Change Urged.
In reviewing the report published
last spring, in which drastic changes
were proposed in practically every
county activity, the speaker, pas
president of the Montgomery County
Civic Federation. declared:
Many of the difficulties we face
in our county government today
can't be remedied without funda-
mental changes in that form Of
government. The present setup Just
isn't adequate for the solution OF
these problems
Among the innovations proposed
In the report, he explained, are the
abolishment of the Liquor Control
Board and the bringing Of the va
rious dispensaries under an ade-
quate accounting system; appoint
ment of a county controller with
authority to pre-audit accounts be-
fore their payment; formulation of
genuine pay-aS-you-go" financial
policy; naming of an experienced
police administrator as head of the
police force instead of the pres
ent police commissioner office now
filled by one of the county commits
sioners, and a broader and more
efficient health service.
Situation Called Shocking.
The need for an expanded health
Office is all the more pressing now.
he added, because of the shocking
situation in the Bethesda Chevy
Chase area, where he said 40 per
cent of the selective service regis
trants between the ages of 81 and
% had been rejected as unfit for mil
itary service.
Mr.. Lee devoted much Of his talk
to a discussion of the proposed
county council, which would sup
plant the present Board of Com
missioners.
Under the new charter form of
government, as suggested by the re-
port, he pointed out, the council
would be relieved of ali admins
trative duties and would operate
only as a legislative body. 1t would
be composed of nine members serv-
ing without pay, with each of the
nine elected by the voters OF his
respective district instead Of by the
county as a whole.
Centralized Control.
The administrative functions of
the county would be handled by
the heads of the various depart
ments, he explained, and would be
co-ordinated by county admin
iStrator, named by the county
council.
All legislative authority now eX-
ercised by other boards and COM
missions would be transferred to
the council, he went on. The
council also would exercise more
centralized control over various
other functions now assigned other
bodies, such as maintenance and
development of parks and park
ways and supervision over county
fire departments.
Turning to the question of per-
sonnel selection by county agencies,
Mr.. Lee characterized the present
system as "a political appoinLee
system for the most part which is
obsolete and inefficient" He gave
unqualified Endorsement to the re-
ports recommendation for merit
system for all county jobs.
Urging his listeners to go out
and campaign for the proposals in
the Brookings report if you think
they should be put into effect" Mr.
Lee emphasized, ANY governmental
structure is only as good as the
efforts exerted by the citizens in its
behalf"
Plenty of Candidates.
Asked where the nine "distin-
euished" members of the proposed
county council could be obtained,
Mr.. Lee replied, They're lying
around the county so thick you'd
have trouble picking them out"
In answer to a charge that if
the nine councilmen would receive
no pay they wouldn't give their
best efforts to their jobs the speaker
asserted that "as soon as you pay
them you make the job attractive
to some one who wants it solely be-
cause of the money"
In any event, he continued, they
would work only one month in the
year, and most of their sessions
would be at night. He pointed to
one community in New York State
which, he said, had instituted such a
system recently with great sue
cess"
Federal Workers Eligible.
To another questioner who asked
whether the Hatch Act would pre-
vent Federal workers from accept
ing positions on the council he
replied that the partisan char
acter of the group would remove
1t from the acts jurisdiction.
Mr.. Lee frequently was aided in
answering detailed questions on the
report by Lewis Merriam, who di-
rected the survey.
Mrs. Dean Dinwoodey, vice pres
ident of the Federation of Parent
Teacher Associations in the coun-
ty, will speak on Education" and