CITY MANAGERS.

Shannon News, 12 February 1929, Page 2

CITY MANAGERS.

THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 'still an Experiment. NEW YORK, Dec. 26. Philadelphia is contemplating the institution of the city manager plan of civil government. It is just twenty years since the first city manager in the United States took up duty in Staunton, Virginia. The plan has worked well in many communities, although its general application was but recent, and it is yet too early to acclaim it a perfect cure for civic ills. Philadelphia, whose traditional pride has had a severe shock in the revelations of corruption among its police, is nowadays taking counsel with itself. None of its police who served in the city during the’ liquor corruption period will ever be allowed to serve there again. They have all been ti-ansferred to up State centres. A Bill has been drafted to provide for the creation of a metropolitan police force under State control and for the introduction of the city manager plan. The city manager plan, must not be confused with commission government. That scheme, which does not include any .supreme administrative chief, has for its foundation a commission embracing both executive and legislative powers. Each member of the elected commission heads a department of the city government. Like the small council system, commission rule, lacks the distinguishing feature of the city manager plan indicated by its title. During 1928 352 cities had managers. Cleveland is the largest that made the experiment and Cincinnati "is second. The people of- Cleveland decided last year, after a four-year trial, to continuo the plan. Its manager had been president of several large business concerns.' Cleveland pays him £SOOO a year. Cincinnati's manager, now in his third year, was a graduate of West Point, and showed high administrative ability as Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds at Washington. V . 6 BURGOMASTER PRINCIPLE. Since the city managers of Cincinnati, Dayton, and several other important municipalities were imported from other communities, the impression has gained ground that it is the custom, under this plan, to choose nofl-resi-dents exclusively for this position. This is a feature of the German professional burgomaster, from which the American plan has been liberally borrowed. But a survey shows that slightly more than half the' present city managers were residents pf their communities at the time of their appointment. However, 'the Philadelphia- Bureau of Municipal Research reports that the experience of the last ten years suggests that, whew a community first adopts the plan, it is more likely to select an outsider for fhe managership. As the plan becomes stable, local men seem to be the favourites.

This preference for local meii, however, limits the opportunity of trans* ’fer, and makes the profession less in* viting as a career, m the opinion of the Research Bureau, which has expressed the fear that continuance of this tendency probably would brihg to an end the manager movement. Some observers think, however, that administrative experts will acquire more and more freedom to circulate; Examination of 167 city charters shows that 159 do not require local residence as a managerial qualification. Youagei men, naturally, are preferred,