CONTROLLING A CITY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16534, 29 December 1927, Page 7

CONTROLLING A CITY

U.S. COMMISSIONS CIVIC MANAGER SYSTEM SYDNEY, Dec. 17. In view of the decision of the NewSouth Wales Government to appoint a commission of three to administer the affairs of the city, a glance through the report of Sir John Sulman (prepared for the Commonwealth Government) on the various systems in America throws interesting sidelights on the commission form of Government.

Sir John found that the elective prin-, ciple still prevailed in Great Britain, and, as the services were being carried on in a satisfactory manner, there was not much likelihood of a change. In America, however, the clamoring for something new was ahvays paramount, even in regard to the administration of the various cities, so that he was enabled to study local government from many angles. “Reverting to the theory that all men are born equal, and any citizen is capable of filling any public office,” states tho report, “the citizens kept all appointments as far as possible in their own hands, and made them for short terms. Hence on election day the voters were presented with long lists of offices to fill, numbering scores, or even hundreds.”

Sir John pointed out that this system became unmanageable with the growth of population, and the party organisation developed with the “Ward Boss” and his “heelerk” These introduced a low typo of politician, who “lived on the game,” and when municipal funds were low money was obtained by hook or by crook from municipal contractors. INTOLERABLE POSITION. The position finder this form of government soon became intolerable, and an attempt to solve the difficulty was by electing mayors with autocratic powers. This stemmed the tide of graft, but was unpopular, and the next step was the election of three commissioners. ’ “Great economies in administration were effected and . ‘boodling’ was stopped,” continues the report ; “but each commissioner being independent in his own sphere, they did not always work together harmoniously. “Another difficulty was that, as there were ahvays more candidates than places to fill, it was not until they were elected that the distribution of duties could be effected, and it often happened that a square peg got into a round hole. CITY MANAGER SCHEME. “This system was improved upon in 1908, when tho town of Staunton (Vir.) elected its commissioners to act as a board to settle the policy of the administration, and also a City Manager, who had supreme control of selection of the civic staff, and was responsible for the satisfactory carrying out of the work. ‘‘This system is the same idea as the control in a public commercial company, where there is a board of directors and a general manager. Of course, he bad to be a; man of outstanding ability, capable of controlling the departmental experts under him, and above all patry politics. “As the results have in nearly all cases become satisfactory, this method of city government is spreading rapidly, and bids fair to become universal,” writes Sir John Sulman.

More than 300 . cities have already adopted the plan, according to the report, and the latest convert was a city of 1.000,000 inhabitants. “The main lesson to be learned from a study of city government in America,” concludes the report, ‘‘is that the best results can only be obtained by enlisting the services of the best men in the community, irrespective of politics, trusting them, and giving them a free hand to carry on their work, and that the commission manager form of government offers the host solution of the problem. “This form of administration would certainly retain the elective quality,” it is declared, “but. the appointment by the Government of three experts to act as commissioners for a limited period In clean up the affairs of the city of Sydney, would be most desirable at the present juncture. “After their terms of office had expired the elective board, with the expert City Manager in charge of his staff of department specialists, might be 4’ied with advantage to the civic administration, and yet give the people of Sydney a voice in'the control of the city.”