Evening star., 1952-04-13
District Reorganization Plan
Budget Bureau Gives Details Of Proposal
For Manager Council Type of Government

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The tert of a statement by
Fredrick J. LatDton, Director of
the Bureau of the Budget, on
the reorganization of the gov-
ernntent of the District followS:
: At the request of the President
: the Bureau of the Budget has
made a study to determine what
can be done under the Reorgani-
t zation Act of 1949 to improve the
: government of the District of
Columbia. On the basis of that
} study, a tentative plan for the
! reorganization of the District
, government has been prepared
/. for the consideration of the
5 President. This plan is generally
modelled on the council-manager
!. form of organization now used
in many of the better r-governed
cities of the country.
i While the plan would bring
about general reorganization of
the District government, it does
not and cannot provide for home
rule. Home rule and reorganiza-
ton are two different and sepa-
rable matters. Home rule involves
provision for popular election of
the governing body of the Dis
trict and a broad delegation of
legislative authority to the Dis
trict government. However. re-
organization plan under the Re-
organization Act cannot trans
fer legislative functions to the
District or provide for popular
election of officials. The Reorgan-
ization Act. however, applies to-
the organization of all parts of
the District government other
than the courts and affords an
ample basis for a thorough over
hauling and modernization of the
governmental machinery of the
District.
The Present Organization.
The present organization of the
District government is the product
of almost 80 years of piecemeal,
Iplanless growth. The basic fea-
lures date from 1874 when Con-
greSs abolished self-government
for the District and set up a three
man, appointive Commission to
have charge of the District gov
Iernment pending the formulation
of new plan of organization. In
1878 this arrangement was made
permanent.
Over the years, the District gov
ernment has grown continuously
more complicated until it now con-
sists of some 70 separate agencies.
This is one-third more than the
number of agencies in the Federal
Government. No less than IS of |
of the District agencies are boards
Ior commissions. While the heads
Iof most agencies are appointed by
the Board of Commissioners, many
Iof the agencies, particularly the
boards and commissions, are
largely or almost wholly inde-
pendent of the Commissioners.
Traditionally. the Board of Com
missioners has divided the agen-
cies among it's members and each
Commissioner has been respon-
sible for dozen or more. The
Engineer Commissioner has gen.
eral supervision over the various
public works and engineering
agencies; another Commissioner
has police, fire and a miscellane-
Gus array of units; and the third
deals with health, welfare, recre-
alton and number of other agen-
cies. AS result. the District gov
lernment tends to be a three
headed organization.
Numerous Studies Recommend
Basic Reorganization.
Many studies have been made
Of the District government over
the last 80 years and nearly all
have recommended extensive re-
organizations. The principal. of
these have been the studies by the
BrookingS Institution 1920, the
Citizens Efficiency Committee
193O, Griffenhagen and Asso-
ciates 1880, the Auchincloss
Committee on Home Rule and
Reorganization O948), and the
Budget Officer of the District (Mr.
Fowler) Q95D. All five of these
studies have recommended a basic
reorganization and all but one
recommended the adoption of a
manager form of government.
The Alternatives.
There are three basic forms of
municipal government:
a. Mayor form-with al
Council for local legislation and
an elected Mayor in charge of
administration and having a veto
on Council actions.
ID. Commission form-with the
Commission as a body adopting
local ordinances and policies and
each Commissioner acting as al
super-department head in charge
of part of the government.
c. Council-manager form-with al
Council to adopt local ordinances
and determine policies and al
Manager, appointed by the Coun-
Gil, to supervise the departments
and agencies.
The mayor-council form cannot
be established by reorganization
plan under the Reorganization
Act. Without authority to provide
for popular election Of the Mayor,
the mayor council form would be
substantially the same as the
council manager form.
The Board of Commissioners of
the District has laid before the
President a plan continuing the
commission form of government.
On the other hand, the plan de-
veloped by the Bureau of the
Budget at the request Of the
President presents the council
manager form of organization for
the Presidents consideration.
This council-manager pattern is
substantially the same as the plan