The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1953-12-17

The Board of County Commission
ers, like the rest of us, have really
caught the Christmas spirit.
At their regular meeting on Tues
day, they voted unanimously, on a
motion by Commissioner Chester F.
Delphey, to provide Christmas dec
orations in front of the County Court
House.
The decorations, which are confin-
ed to the Bronze Plaque Monument
to the county's War Dead, were set
up by the County Roads Department
After the decorations were conn
pleted, the Board designated Miss
Georgia Norford, the blind news
stand attendant in the courthouse, to
turn on the lights.
When l dropped into the Savoy
Restaurant at noon on Tuesday to
grab a sandwich, Lee Elgin called
me over to the table where he was
sitting with a group of friends and
told me that, if l ate lunch with the
group every day, l would get more
real news than could get any where
else Around Town" - and | guess
he was just about right.
Every moon hour, Lee, together
with John Baker III, Ralph Fiery,
Henry Ayers, William Hetzer, Stew
art Bushong - and sometimes even
Mayor Burhans manages to find time
to eat with them-have lunch at the
same table and from bits of their
conversation that have come my
way, they apparently discuss just
about everything under the sun --
from politics to pumpkin pie.
The nice thing about these inform
al gatherings every day, is that these
men are not all of the same political
faith and / am sure that their ex-
change of views from day to day, is
healthy sign.
The only thing | regret is that
cannot be with them, but a news
paper editor, unfortunately, seldom
is able to take more than just few
minutes out for lunch. In fact, about
the only day of the week in which I
take an hour for lunch is Thursday,
when / attend the Kiwanis Club
meeting. -
Beginning last Wednesday night,
the Mayor and Council began the
tremendous task of delving into a
300-page Work Sheet" prepared by
the City Auditor, from which the
city's 1854 Budget and Tax Rate will
be set up.
They worked from ZOO p. m. to
midnight on Wednesday, came back
on Friday night for another five-hour
session and then ended the week by
tackling the job again on Saturday
from 400 p. m. to HOO p. M
When the Saturday session was
over, they had advanced far enough
to start calling in the heads of the
departments for their reports on
their budget requests. The first of
these sessions was held on Tuesday
night, at an open meeting.
During the three hours that was
present, the heads of the Tax Dept,
the Personnel Dept, the Purchasing
Dept, the Engineering Dept, and the
Light Dept, were questioned, with
most of the discussion centering
around the Purchasing, Engineering
and Light Departments.
The Purchasing Agent was ques-
toned at some length regarding an
item in his proposed budget, of
$1,000 for a building in which to
house equipment now scattered all
around
He was followed by the City En-
gineer, who was questioned about
salary increases he requested in his
budget, including his own. On the
latter increase, Mr.. Williams sug-
gested that the heads of the three
main departments-Light, Water and
Engineering - be set at the same
level.
The last to be questioned, before
left, was Mr.. Daniels, head of the
Light Department, and as far as
am concerned, he made by far the
best statement.
To begin with, | was impressed
with the fact that, although he runs
the Light Plant as if it was his own,
his proposed budget carried no re-
quest for any increase of his own
salary, which is now, l believe, the
lowest of the three.
Then I was very much impressed
by his down-to-earth statements re
garding the future of the plant. He
told the Mayor and Council that,
due to most of the equipment being
twenty, or more years old, the main
tenance costs were increasing every
year. and that while the gross profit