CONTROL OF CITY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 80, 5 April 1932, Page 10

CONTROL OF CITY

COMMISSION'S REPORT COMMITTEE'TO CONSIDER MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS 'The report of the City CommissionMessrs. H. E. Morton and H. D. Vickery —upon the results of their three months' investigation into city affairs and administration was handed to the Mayor (Air. X. C. A. Hislop) yesterday afternoon, and is being referred to a committee consisting of chairmen of standing committees (with a representative of the Works Committee, vice Councillor Forsyth, who is away from Wellington), for preliminary consideration before the main discussion takes place at a meeting of the council,, probably in a fortnight's time. The report comprises 201 typewritten sheets, but is largely descriptive of present departmental affairs and methods of working and administration. There is no summary of recommendations as is usual in such reports, but some of the main points and recommendations are as follows:— -The staff of the Town Clerk's department is not- a large one, but the smooth working of the wlioli! organisation is dependent to a large degree on the efficiency and tact of the officers. The Town Clerk and the senior officers are brought into close touch with the public, particularly in regard to administrative and social matters of which the Mayor is usually the head. A great deal of time is absorbed in attending on the Mayor and councillors and in interviewing members of" other organisations and the public. The department is unique in that it has a Deputy Town Clerk and an Assistant Town Clerk. , The Deputy Town Clerk is retiring very shortly and the position and title should be abolished. For some time the Deputy. Town Clerk, Mr. Tait, on account of his special knowledge acquired during his long service has been engaged on special duties preparing an index and precis of all the Acts relating to the City of Wellington and a digest of the whole of tl^e deeds of the Corporation. The Town Clerk's department is certainly not overstaffed in spite of its three heads. Health inspectors are required to perform duties for which they have not the necessary powers effectively to carry out, as they have no power to seize food unfit for human fonsuiuption'. ' ,All the city health inspectors should be appointed inspectors under .the Sale of Food and Drugs Act. Unless Government is prepared to grant the necessary piwers, the municipal inspection should cease and the onus be thrown on the Department of Health, the officers of which Department'should be employed in those "districts where there are no municipal inspectors, and thus avoid duplicating the work in the cities. ; Building inspectors carry out certain work .which,, strictly speaking, should be performed by the health Inspectors—viz., smoke nuisance, renovations under the Health .Act, overcrowding, closing orders, licences, etc. It is recommended that all sanitary inspectors engaged on house connections should be attached to the building surveyor's branch,''and that all others be transferred to the health branch. Condenination orders for the demolition of ruinous buildings should be dealt with under the building bylaws. It is desirable that all health inspectors should be provided with uniforms, and all other inspectors with-a metal badge and number. . VALUATION AND LEGAL. The Commission considers that Mr. F. N. Martin appears to be well qualified for the position-of City Valuer and property, officer. The salary paid is a good one for the position, but his judgment has to be relied on to. a large extent. . The services of ji lesser paid man and less qualified officer might cost many times more than any difference in salary. The City Solicitor does considerably more than is usually performed by a consulting solicitor, as he is available fit -all times for consultation with the Town Clerk, departmental heads, and committees of the council. He is acknowledged to have an outstanding knowledge of local body legislation and of municipal law, and Ms experience has been a lengthy one..He is also legal .adviser to the Municipal Association pi New "ealand. The advantage of a full time officer as against a consulting solicitor was fully established. The cost of the department is not excessive, nor is the staff overpaid whenaccount is taken of the-variety and responsible nature of the work. With the enforced econom-. ies that appear inevitable in connection with the Corporation's activities it appears probable that the considerable volume of work performed by this department in recent years may not be maintained, and that retrenchment of staff will be desirable. "'"'■'■. CITY TREASURY. . The r Commissioners inquired. into methods under which the collection of .moneys by the considerable number of collecting avenues is made, recorded, and paid to the City Treasury, and into the system of check applied in each case. The Commissiouers were assured that systematic check is made''and exaimned the methods employed,' but would emphasise that there must be no "let up" in a check of this nature if it is to be effective. The internal system of 'checking in the treasury should 'be such as to constitute a continuous internal audit of the receipt and accounting for money from collecting officers. It is understood that it is contemplated making an appointment of internal auditor. As all amounts are audited by the Government Audit Office there should be no occasion for such an appointment: the accounts section of the treasury should, if appropriately managed, fulfil this function. It is recommended that the office of rate collector, as such, should be not continued after the retirement of the present officer. This section could be administered by the city .treasurer and opportunity taken to reorganise the duties of the staff. Very little attempt is made to adopt the use of modern office machinery to the requirements ;of the Treasury Department. The Commissioners consider the .costing officer is a capable official. Hd should be assisted to the fullest extent : by being furnished with the necessary data. This should be a definite instruction to the engineering staff. The information as to costs then made available will be invaluable for comparison purposes and promote economy in working. . The use of recording; arid automatic calculating machinery should be carefully investigated. ' FORM OF PUBLISHED ACCOUNTS. There appears to be room for improvement in the form in which the accounts of the district fund are presented. The items of and expenditure could be more appropriately marshalled in tfte general account, care being taken that items of receipt and of expenditure relating to the same or similar activities are set out opposite eacl\ other in the published accounts so that the sub-totals of receipts and expenditure may be readily compared. There appears to have been little alteration, over a long period of years, in the grouping both of items of expenditure and of revenue. There appears to be no definite system of allocation in regard to salaries and other apportionable items of expenditure. To enable the items of receipt and expenditure to be comparable from year to year a definite and appropriate scheme for the allocation of salaries and other apportionable expenditure should be put into operation. This allocation could then bo used in the costing system. Non-re-curring items of a special nature or of plant purchased out of revenue should not be lumped together with annual maintenance charges, but should be shown separately under proper sub-headings. The general account of the district fund could be presented in ,more compact form by ! grouping: principal items of: receipt and j expenditure. Probably the expenditure could more appropriately be collated under the ac- i tivities controlled ,by committees,' dis- ■ tinguishing between expenditure of a nature which recurs annually, non-recur-ring special expenditure, and (if possible) the interest and sinking fund charge applicable to loans raised for the services controlled by each committee, Detailed '

items, could be presented by way of explanatory memorandum subsidiary to the main account, but in such systematic form as to enable comparison to be made from year to year. No record in the nature of an account is kept in the books for plant used for the general purposes of the corporation. It would be desirable to obtain power to create a plant account to which the cost of all plant could be debited, provision being made ■ for annual depreciation and renewal fund, and the various services charged for use of plant. GENERAL FINANCES. After dealing in some detail with the general account, the Commissioners remarked that it will be noted that the rate o£ increase of fixed charges is greater than the increase in cost of services and other outgoings. This is to -some extent mitigated by the fact that in recent years works have been constructed out of loan moneys, 'the interest on which is wholly or in part contributed by receipts from special taxation. The principal class of loan referred to is in respect of road construction and pavimr the Mam Highways Hoard defrays the interest and sinking fund charges on soine^ loans The additional revenue received by local bodies in recent years from petrol tax and heavy traffic fees can be considered, in part, at least, as a credit-against'interest and sinking fund contributions on reading loans. Bent of properties purchased out of loans for I catetor*- IDB purposesare "» the same CITY ENGINEER'S DEPARTMENT iJ?W ll?--f pa?is-devoted to a survey of the City Engineer's Department ™dJ?tZZ™^° aS °f —Sanisation The work is subdivide.l into several di-yisions-tl) street and general engineer%S work, and city cleansing supervision(2) designing staff, architectural and general engineering work; (3) building supervision and land surveying ;(4)stormwater, sewerage and water supply, pumpil^ stations and destructor plant; (5) - townplanning; (6) clerical. w • X 1? 6 ?$ eerin chaFee of Jf o . j division if Air Ihompson, who is assisted by four district engineers (with motor-car), iour district overseers (with light truck) one cleansing overseer (with truck), one laboratory assistant and two engineer's assistants, and transport officer. The dig- | trict engineers do supervision work only jail the engineering, design, and surveying e, tc S . b? I"S corned out by the designing [staff in 2 division. The reason assigned for the appointment ot these district engineers was the inability to get suitable men for the position of district overseers; the district engineers are in effect -overseers" with an engineering training. Having appointed these engineers as overseers it was not necessary also to retain .the services of four district overseers. Half of the time of these engineers' and overseers is now devoted to the supervision of relief works, whereas one .man should be capable of supervising the whole of these works. . Economies which may be made in the collection of time-sheets are also pointed 1 The designing branch under Mr Aked' consists of four architectural assistants, live*i engineering assistants permanent, and four temporary, four cadets,, one tracer and one photo printer. Counting the cadets in the water and sewerage branch there are no less than five cadets in the department. Two would be ample. Two architectural draughtsmen should suffice for maintenance work. The retentior of the four temporary engineering assistants can no longer be justified, particularly in view of the suggested reorganisation of the department. FURTHER REORGANISATION. Division three is nominally under Mr. Luke, and comprises the staff of the building superintendent, which includes four building inspectors, two dangerous goods inspectors/ two clerks; also the staff of the chief land surveyor, which includes three surveyors, one assistant-surveyor, one plan keeper, two tracers, six chainmen. . In view of the urgency of a topographical survey, it is desirable to retain for tins work the surveying staff, and the two - assistant-engineers, No. 1 division, who are in excess of requirements. There is not likely to be much subdivisional work for some time, and the town-plan-ning staff can be better spared than the surveyors, who, by carrying out the topographical survey, will have to prepare the ground work for any town-planning scheme. . . / . • PREPARATION, OF REPORTS. , Jf r-- Luke is designated, office engineer. \\hen the City Engineer, was appointed, Air.-Luke, being the only officer of the department having' a knowledge of the history of the engineering works of the city, was to assist Mr. Hart, in addition to his other duties. Mr. Luke has prac- ; tically acted as chief clerk, preparing many of the.reports of; the city surveyor, and m a great mqny respects he has acted as i Assistant City Engineer, if not as-City Engineer. Mr. Luke receives all reports from the district engineers, and many of those prepared by Mr. Thompson and Mr. yMcKillop, and by arrangement prepares 'the final reports for the signature of the City Engineer. Mr. Luke's principal work outside his secretarial work is the examination and reports of subdivisional plans for the Bylaws Committee. Mr. Luke attends this committee, Mr. Hart attends when required. . ■ ■ , ' . Most of the reports to the City Engineer from his principal officers will contain the data .from which to prepare his own reports. In many cases he may only\ have to concur with the reports. He may have ,to elaborate occasionally on these reports to make them understandable to his committees. The assistance of a stenographer is'always available, and in many cases if-he explains what is desired the chief clerk can prepare drafts of less technical reports. Again, many reports are only collated information. It is highly desirable that the Engineer should prepare his own reports with such clerical assistance as he may require, also I that he should personally attend committees in regard to all matters affecting his department. There should be-no necessity for the attendance of other officers. He is the professional adviser to the council, and he should be present to explain his reports and to give any further information required, so that matters may not ba delayed. ' WATER AND SEWERAGE. .In the Commission's opinion the designing of stormwater drainage .can be prepared by the water and sewerage branch, but the construction of minor drains in street works should be carried out by the street construction staff. Main drains and the larger jobs should be let by contract and supervised by the street works staff. . . There is no necessity to have a separate overseer for the maintenance of sewers and another for water supply mains. The size of the maintenance and construction staff will depend on the amount of money voted during next financial year. It is recommended that property owners pay the cost of water services from the water mains, including cost^of tapping, and that the service from the main to the boundary of the section be laid with copper piping. It is not understodd why the council has borne the cost of water services and not of house drains, both being private services. This recommendation would mean a reduction of the cost of the staff engaged on this work by approximatelyf- £2700 per annum. The professional staff- engaged on the designing is more than ample in view of the limited amount of money being expended, and reduction.Jn staff is necessary. ." ■ , . . • CLERICAL STAFF OUT OF PROPORTION. The clerical staff of the Engineers' Department has grown out of all proportion ' continues the report.. In 1924 the staff was 17 and at that date the costing was carried out by this staff. In 1931 the staff had increased to 38, exclusive of costing staff, which is now attached to the treasury. This is an enormous increase. There is a tendency to overload the filing and records system. Letters on receipt are either attached to a previous file, or a new file is commenced. Copies are made of Town Clerk's files so far as they affect the Engineers' Department. An adequate filing system is essential, but the system appears to be carried to such detail that not only is undue" clerical labour employed in recording but the time of officers is taken up in conforming with the requirements of the system. The clerical staff i.« considerably overloaded, and with the proposed reorganisation, of the department, considerable savings are . possible I with regard thereto. ' , ■ The present system of collection of timesheets is again criticised, and it is sug-1

gested that as the district engineers and their overseers both come to the city every day, they should make arrangements for delivery of time-sheets. RECOMMENDATIONS MADE. The impression gained is that the administration of the Engineer's Department has been weak and that with few exceptions the training and expedience of officers has been limited or sectionalised. There has been a tendency to keep on appointing further young engineers when experienced tradesmen or overseers would better meet the situation. The department cannot be blamed for the whole of the excess staff with which it now finds itself, as in 1927 the council decided to appoint more new officers than were recommended. It is recommended that Mr. Thompson, Assistant-Engineer, should be responsible for the design of all street works engineering, land survey work, approval of subdivisions and town-planning, and all contract works. This position is the one of chief responsibility next to that of City Engineer, Mr. McKillop to remain as at present in charge of water and sewerage. In lieu of four district engineers the number should be reduced to two, each being in charge of two district overseers, these engineers with their district overseers -being placed under the direction of a maintenance engineer. '■ It is recommended that Mr. Luke should be appointed to this position, and that Mr. Aked, upon the retirement of Mr. Drummond, should be building superintendent, in charge of supervision of buildings and the checking of all plans, specifications, and the computations submitted by engineers, architects, and builders. An as-sistant-engineer should be appointed from present staff to assist in that work. A rearrangement of the duties of the inspectors attached to the department is advocated, :\yith reductions in staff in certain respects. Other extracts from the report are pub-, lished elsewhere in this issue, and more will appear in subsequent issues.