The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-10-30
Council Manager
 Government Urged For City by .CCC
Clubs Want Hora1, Contract LUestigated

4ASSVA4A6 ] ASS%O o~~r Council of Community Club accepted for record the re port of it's Legislative Com mittee setting forth a Coun cil-Manager form of g. vern ment for Waterbury an' seven distinct parallel recon mAndations.
 The seven recommendations in part are:
 l. Amend the City Charter to provide an estimate budget in December and to lay a cor rected' tax rate after the filing of the legal abstract in January and also set forth specific qlaan- fications for the members Of tne Bos I'd of Tax Review.
 g. A thorough ''investiga-
 tionn of the Horan revaluatlon contract and the city's tax de-
 partment.
 3. Postpone plans for con struction of a municipal airport until improvements have been made to city services, such as streets, sewers, lights, ponce' fire, parks, etc.
 4 A study by the Council each year of the preparafi0n ok. the annual budget and . stuay and estimate of the various funds set up within the finan- cial structure.
 E. A study of the expendi- ture of city funds for the ex- tension of water mains, cree
 ton of the water tank in tne East Mountain area, plans Tor the East Mountain reservoir etc.
 6. Study advantages and
 benefits to be derived for tax navers by . Council Manager
 nIan. Study feasibility of a
 short ballot and direct primary system for the cAty.
 ]. Study of the feasibility of
 a merit system for city em.
 pIoyes such as the Connecslcut
 Merit System Association.
 The recommendations are tn result of a year-long study Of var ous conditions and situations, tn committee told the Council TIT committee consists of Antnon Martino and Oscar Liebreich, co chairmen.
 Severely critical of the city ad ministration the committee charge "unsound investments and financls procedure" mark the current econ on1y.
 The committee states, in part:
 "To operate any business and es pecially a business such as runnln a city requiring the managemer of schools, hospitals, fire, police an engineering departments. street, wa fer. sewer and other department trained men are required. The gov ernment of a city is essentially collection of all these services | the end that these services may ]. nrovided more economically and d greater degree, otherwise thel would be no incentive for sma communities to unite cooperatlvel to form a city organization.
 "1t is well known and agreed ths thees technical and specialized ser1 ices should be run by people Wn know how and not by just any pc litical hack who happens to win 1,on,Ilarity contest on election da' There is no Democratic way to pl out a fire, no Republican way build a road or repair a street. an likewise, there is no Socialist way remove snow in winter.
 .arhese services and the runnir of a city on sound business oas have nothing to do with party poI flies. In the past we have stood ft a lot of things that don't max rn,,ch sense but today we are ot cinning to realize the necessity more order and efficiency in ol government. Our greatest need tt dav is the Council-Manager plan c;tv government to replace our SC jailed Mayors charter form of gol ernment where an amateur can ,,armitted to run the whole sho and public servants become dicts tnrS."