Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-07-26

Low Authorizing
Auditing Property
Levy Recommended
A completely new setup for
Alexandria's Department of
Public, Works and legislation
authorizing compulsory assess
ment against AUDITING properties
for street, sewer, curb and side
walk. construction Is recon-
mended in a report made public
today.
The report on operation of
the city's Department of Public
Works is part of an overall sur
vey Of Alexandria by the Gov
eminent Consulting Service of
the University Of Pennsylvania.
The department would have
three major divisions under the
recommended reorganization
plan: street division, sewer diyi-
sion and sanitation and service
division.
The street and sewer division
each would handle its own con-
struction and m ain nan ce
work, and the third division
would handle street cleaning.
refuse collection and other mis-
cellaneous service collections.
New Sections Planned.
The Director Of Public Works
under the new setup would be.
aided by an administrative Sec
ton and an engineering section.
The report suggests that the
position of Deputy Director Of
Public Works should be abolished
and the Planning Division which
now comes under Public Works
should be established as a sepa-
rate agency under the City Man
ager.
To eliminate the position of
deputy director, the report states
that division chiefs should be
given expanded responsibilities,
leaving the director with time
for planning.
At present, Alexandria's Pub
lie Works Department has five
divisions. One of these is a
Maintenance and Service Di-
vision, which handles repairs for
both street and sewers.
Called Majnrs Problem.
Inability of the city to compel
abutting property owners to pay
for street and sewer improve
ments is listed as one of the
Public Works Departments ma
jor problems.
1.-THE result is half streets,
gutter, curb and sidewalk gaps,
unused sewer lines and the gen.
orally inefficient operations that.
accrue from such conditions"
states the report.
1t urges the city to make
every effort" to obtain necessary
State legislation authorizing
such mandatory assessments.
City Manager Ira Willard ex-
planned that the city now has to
do such work by agreement with
AUDITING property owners. He
said the compulsory assessment
recommendation was intended
to apply with new street, side
walk and sewer construction
and not maintenance work.
Other major recommendations
among Is included in the report
are:
l.. More extensive use of pri-
vate contract work for street and
sewer work.
2. Charge rental fees for city
equipment used in subdivision
contracts.
8. Development of a long
range street maintenance and
Improvement program, with a
complete, inventory of existing
and anticipated needs.
4. Strict enforcement of &C
ceptable standards for street
paving in all subdivision projects.
S. Combine trash and garbage
collections, except conducting
them separately, since the city
no longer sells garbage to hog
farms and disposes of it in
sanitary land fill.
s. Consider charging CONNER
cial establishments for trash and
garbage collection.
The report states that the
chief public works problem in
Alexandria is that of adjusting
from the need of a relatively
small and stable community to
those of a large, sprawling city
with a tremendous population
potential.
This problem, according to the
report, has been recognized to
some extent by those responsible
for public works policy and adj
ministration. But the report
adds cit Is admittedly difficult
for those who have directed af-
fairs during the transition period
to make a complete break with
the past; nonetheless, it must
be accomplished"
Starlight Movies
pinvnrnnnd E;lrn