The frontiersman., 1952-10-30
Permanent Appointment
Continued from page 1

has used his own office supple mented by an adjoining office loaned temporarily by former Councilman Lloyd Severns.
 Shaw advised against putting the new City Clerk in a new city office immediately. His offer of help in getting the new appointee oriented to the maze of city busi- ness-the regular and special dut- ies, the records, and the backlog of information-Was predicated on the assumption that he would be close at hand to advise. He said he could not take time from his own practice to spend large amount of time in another office. He suggested that the City Clerk work in the loan office of the Severns building for few weeks. Members of the Council pointed out that the city had no furniture to equip an office immediately. Even the electric light fixtures had not arrived. Shaw's sugges- tion was finally approved, it was decided to give Severns one months rent for loan office. The city has had the use of this office free for four months.
 In the meantime the Council hopes to get the new office in the Neal Wright building equip ped and ready for occupancy by December l at the latest.
 Other Council action last night included the appointment of Ray Lancaster as Fire Chief begin ming November 1. Present Fire Chief O. R. Mitchell had indicated that he did not desire re-appoint- ment. The appointment carried monthly stipend of $50 and allows an extra $10 for all runs, "wet or dry" Hagen said that Lancaster plans to work out a system of training firemeh and enlist more volunteers. A fire committee is presently drawing up regulations as to what is expected of the Fire Chief.
 Throttling of activity in city de- partments because of red tape restrictions was another subject that brought about spirited dis cussion between the mayor and Council last night. Telephone Superintendent Melvin Haugen appealed to the Council for help in getting some telephone post holes dug, poles erected, and cable repaired and strung before freeze-up He said his problem was urgent since only one to three weeks remained. Hiring of a quail fled helper on an hourly basis was thwarted by a letter of in struction from the mayor in which employees were warned against mourning expenses for the city without definite authorization by the Council. Hagen said that em- ployees should first go with their requests to the Council commit tee in charge of the department and then have the committee front" for the employee to get Council approval for temporary employment or purchase of equip ment. While some members of the Council observed that this run around might not be in the best interests of City service, they did agree that organized procedures should be set up to give the de- partment heads some lee-way. O.. K. Kincaid went so far as to put the whole blame for the stale mate on the Council for not haV- ing set up such procedures all ready. It was pointed out that departments in Anchorage work under the budget system and all vouchers for payment of services and supplies come up for Council approval each month. If any voucher is questioned it is tossed out.
 Temporary authorization for Haugen to get the help he needs for the next three weeks was granted by the Council. A per- manent solution to this problem