The Herald

MANAGER PLAN A CHALLENGE TO
CITIZENS

The problem of efficiency in the affairs
of the taxpayer is brought before the na-
tion in a recent issue of a national magazine
in an article asking, "How Well Is Your
Country Run?". The article points out that
of the nation's three thousand seventy coun-
ties, eighteen use the manager plan. This
information was made available through the
National Municipal League which pioneered
the spread of the City-Manager form of gov-
errnment.

As paralleled to the city-manager plan of
municipal operation the plea does not mean
just running a government as cheaply as
possible: it also means giving the taxpayer
the most for his money. Servicing the tax-
payer is a tremendous and complicated job
as a manager is charged with seeing that
the government which he manages has law
and order, good public schools, assistance
to the needy and reasonable taxes to pay
for these and other services. Under the
manager plan there is no need for political
back scratching as the manager is hired and
can be fired by an elected board of di-
rectors or commissions.

It is pointed out that where elected of-
ficials are given the responsibility of run-
ning the government and have no control
over other elected officials, much time and
money is spent in duplications in a patch-
work government. The county taken as an
example is shown as a many headed bureau-
cracy in which some officers were elected
some appointed by the state, some appoint-
ed by the county board and some appointed
by the Judge of the circuit court. An ob-
server said, "It was virtually impossible
to pin any responsibility for anything on
anyone. A voter who wanted information
or action found himself in the midst of a
bureaucracy buck-passing that his taxes
were paying for." Under the manager plan
when they want action they know who to
get to be the manager.

Recently a group of citizens drafted a
charter designed to give us a city manager
form of government. This was done in ans-
wer to the citizens wishes at the polls in a
special election to determine whether the
manager plan was desirous here. The ma-
jority of voters expressed a desire for the
plan and as a result the charter group
was designated to inaugurate such service.
The charter group recently returned a draft
extending tremendous powers to the city
manager and giving every opportunity for
this form of municipal government to be-
come both popular and efficient. The citi-
zens, however, must play their parts. The
matter of efficiently controlling the affairs