Evening star., 1953-12-04
Fails
To Halt Survey
In Alexandra
Beverley Opposes
Going Ahead With
Government Study

Alexandria's government sur
vey continued today, after Mayor
Marshall j. Beverley unsuccess-
fully tried to stop it
The mayor expressed his dim
view of the survey last night
during a conference between the
city council and representatives
of the Wharton Institute Of the
University of Pennsylvania,
which is conducting the study.
Charles P. Celia, jr., chief of
the Government Consulting Serv-
ice at Penn, reviewed the first
phase of the survey, devoted to
proposed organizational plan
for the city government. Details
of this portion of the survey
were made public last month.
II can't see any need to go
on" said Mayor Beverley. Il
voted against it in the first place,
and I can't see that what we've
heard tonight justifies any fur
ther expenditure"
Only A Portion.
Mr.. Celia attempted to assure
the mayor that the report re-
viewed last night represents only
a portion of the entire survey
ut is unfair to intimate this
is all we've done in the past five
months" said Mr.. Celia. "The
report just deals with govern
ment structure. We'll have
another report in a few days de-
failing procedure in the finance
department. The reports should
flow continuously from now or. )"
That didn't convince Mayor
Beverley.
you've been here five months, +"
he said. We've spent nearly
$4,000 to find out that we have
a pretty good government organ
ization already. I can't see any
need to go on"
What disturbed Mayor Bev-
erley most was the similarity be-
tween the government organiza-
ton recommended by the sur
veyors and the existing setup.
Proposes Changes.
Some of the major changes
recommended by the surveyors
are more authority for the
finance director over all fiscal
functions, new department of
general administration, elevation
of the planning division to a de-
partment outside of the public
works department, consolidation
of plumbing. building, zoning
and electrical inspection func-
tions into one department, and
reorganization of certain ad-
visory boards such as the traffic
board and health board.
In reply to a question by Mayor
Beverley. Mr.. Celia stated that,
in effect, the assistant city man
ager serves as a department of
general administration. Mr.. Celia
added that the recommended
change in the planning setup is
not drastic. Mayor Beverley said
the Council, long ago, started to
reorganize the advisory boards
along the lines recommended by
the survey.
The surveyors also proposed
creation of a personnel depart
ment, as provided in the city
charter. City Manager Ira
Willard said funds for a per-
sonnet director already have peen
provided in the budget and he
has advertised for applicants
Councilman David Haddock
disagreed with the Mayor.
'It may be we'll worth our
while to spend some money to
make sure we're doing things
right" he said. I'm delighted
to find so few things wrong in
our government organization. 1
don't think we should stop now.
I don't feel at this point our
money is being wasted, although
I may when the survey is ended" !"
Councilman Daniel O'FlaherUy
and Frank Mann added words
of support for the survey.
No one offered to join Mayor
Beverley's campaign to stop the
study and the surveyors returned
to their task today.