Government in the United States, National, State and LocalGarner, James Wilford
History
Government in the United States, National, State and Local
Garner, James Wilford
United States -- Politics and government
=The City Manager Plan.=--A still more recent form of municipal
government vests the management of the affairs of the city in a single
person, called the city manager. He is paid a reasonably high salary and
is chosen by the commission because of his expert knowledge. This plan
has been introduced in Dayton, Springfield, and Sandusky, Ohio; Newburgh
and Niagara Falls, New York; Sumter, South Carolina; Jackson, Grand
Rapids, and Kalamazoo, Michigan; San Diego and Alameda, California; and
some seventy other cities and towns.
=Village Government.=--Differing from cities chiefly in size and in the
extent of governmental powers, are small municipal corporations
variously called villages, boroughs, and incorporated towns. The
procedure of incorporation is usually by petition from a certain number
of the inhabitants, and a popular vote on the question. The law
generally prescribes a minimum population, which is usually
small--sometimes as low as one hundred inhabitants.
_Village Officers._--The principal authority is usually a small board of
trustees or a council, consisting of from three to seven members elected
from the village at large, though in some instances the number is
larger, and some villages have the ward system. The village board is
empowered to adopt ordinances relating to police, health, and other
matters affecting the good order and welfare of the community. They may
levy taxes, borrow money, open and construct streets, construct drains,
establish water and lighting plants and the like, and may license
peddlers, hack drivers, and other persons who use the streets for the
conduct of their business. The chief officer of the village is the
mayor, president, or chairman of the trustees, elected either by the
voters or by the trustees. There is also usually a clerk or recorder, a
treasurer, a marshal or constable, and sometimes a street commissioner,
a justice of the peace, and an attorney.
When the population reaches a certain number, which varies in the
different states (pp. 25-26), the village organization is put aside, the
community organizes itself into a city, takes on a more elaborate
organization, receives larger powers, and undertakes a wider range of
activities.
=References.=--BEARD, American Government and Politics, chs.
xxvii-xxviii. BRYCE, The American Commonwealth (abridged edition), chs.
xlix-li. GOODNOW, City Government in the United States, chs. vi-xiii.
HART, Actual Government, ch. ix. HOWE, The City the Hope of Democracy,
chs. i-iv. STRONG, The Challenge of the City, chs. ii-iii. WILCOX, The
American City, chs. ii, iii, iv, v, vi, ix, x, xii, xiii.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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