Evening star., 1951-12-27
Hearing Planned
On Alexandria S
Charter Changes
Commission and
Council Disagree
On Several Provisos

A public hearing will be held
on proposed changes in the Alex
andria charter before the Council
makes its final recommendations
on the revisions. -
The recommended changes,
some proposed by committee Of
the City Council and others by
the Charter Commission. were
gone over by the Council at a
meeting last night.
Councilmen agreed to withhold
fnal action on the revisions until
they are prepared exactly as they
would be included in the charter,
and until public hearing can be
held.
The Council then will make its
recommendations to the city's rep
resentatives in the State Legisla-
ture. where all amendments to
the charter must be made.
Some Disagreement.
The Charter Commission and
the Council Charter Committee are
in disagreement over several of
the major proposed revisions.
The Charter Commission said
1t could not go along with the
committees recommendation to
insert a requirement that all local
elections be conducted in accord
ance with State law, meaning that
there would be party primaries.
The Charter Commission, when it
drafted the charter two years ago,
included a provision for non
partisan local elections, which
had been favored in a referendum,
but the Legislature deleted that
requirement.
Councilman Leroy Bendheim
said the councils Charter Com
mittee felt there still was no hope
Of getting nonpartisan elections
approved by the Legislature and
felt that the charter should be
amended accordingly.
The Charter Commission also
disagreed with a recommendation
of the Council Committee that the
city manager be required to notify
council members when any ma
jor city employe is hired or fired. |
The Charter Commission said it |
felt the council had authority to |
require this without amending the
charter and expressed fear that
inclusion of such a provision In
the charter might imply that the
city manager should obtain coun-
Gil approval for his appointments.
Disagree on Planning.
The Charter Commission and
Council Committee agreed that
the Council representative on
the planning commission should
not vote as he now does. The
Charter Commission disapproved,
however. of designating the field
Of service that each citizen mem
Der on the planning commission
should represent as recommended
by the Council Committee.
The Council Committee sug-
gested that the names of Council
candidates should appear alpha
betically on ballots, not in the
order Of filing, as provided by the
charter.
Other changes in the charter
that were favored In a recent
referendum would make the
juvenile judge appointed, instead
of elected, and provide for elec-
ton of the Mayor and vice mayor
by popular vote, instead of by
vote Of other council members.
Contract Held Up.
The council postponed author
izing the school board to award
a 1862 500 contract for construc-
tion of a new 30-room elementary
school in the southern end of the
city, and instructed the council
school committee to find out what
the total cost would be.
Councilman Roy Bragg said the
council should know the full price,
including sidewalks, playground,
grading and other finishing
touches before authorizing any
expenditure. Councilman r. Sam
uel Luckett said the council never
had been able to find out the full
cost Of the Ficklin Elementary
School.
Mr.. Bendheim, chairman of the
council school committee. said
$l29,033 was available in the State
construction fund for Alexandria,
and $4,000 remained in the
school bond account. He said it
would be necessary to finance the
remainder with a Y,ew hoy,d icc,,o