Show CITY government THE MAYOR this is ia the ninth of 0 series of twelve articles appearing in this paper on oil city go gom the object of these articles is to educate the voters of the city ot of fillmore on city government ny by taking up tip the discussions in ill a segregated way such its as we cire are the object qan can be more easily attained the government of american cities is ia it a conspicuous fit failure lure in in in the history american government it hits has failed alise miserably ra bly i in comparison to the access ot the gover government ament ot of european europe al I 1 c cities es james bryce the famous english philosopher of political 9 clelle pronounces the government of american cities its as americas most moat conspicuous lailure tai lure these words speak the truth one great reason for this failure is the lack of a knowledge of city government uy by the masses of the american people A stream will not biot rise above its source A government will not be any better than its people make it consequently an education of the government of american cities is whitt what the people oi 01 america ii abt acus ua the purpose of this particular piece is to give the voters it a knowledge ot of tile the science ot government in ill american cities and applying it to our own is as much its as possible this particular piece is interesting in that it deais with one ot of the moat important cle 10 ts ot of our city government read it and grasp an ail idea of a low lew things concerning the mayor of our cities milton A melville our last article dealt with the law making way body of our city the council chis issue deals with the enforces of the laws or the executive ot of our city government the mayor the development of the american can mayoralty is unique it has no counterpart in any part of the world in the colonial era the mayor was generally appointed by either the city council or the governor very seldom was he ejected to lo the loftice his powers were limited to that of a presiding olli I in ill fact he was waa nothing more than a in city government ern ment after tile the revolutionary war the powers of the mayor increased and lie became less dependent upon the city council ile he wis was elected by popular vote H was gian the veto power in with certain powers of appointment and had the pow power er to enforce ordinances to a limited extent in other words the federal analogy appeared in the government of american cities from this time forth the general powers of the mayor have been increased today to day lie he is this dominating man in the af of th cities the development of the power of the american mayor has not been uniform throughout the united states slates but at the same time they have developed practically the same in genera lines lilies the method of elbe election tion har han shifted to that of popular election the plurality of votes i ia sufficient to elect a nominee to the office in all but a few cities the term of office of the mayor ranges from one year to four years mhd one year term terin pre vailon new En england giand jn h genral shift to the two and foul year terms has resulted in all ohr parts odthe of the united states in III nearly all of if the largest cit ies such stich as aa new york chicago and boston the four year term prevails dihe reason for a longer term is that all of the mayors time dimeis is not employed gaming gaining favor vor with voters in preparation for ills his coming election to be a mayor a person must be a qualified voter generally there areno ar e property or educational qualifications placed up on nomine as so sometimes Some tims a person must be twenty five years of age I 1 think this does not hold in our city no previous experience in city livern government ment is required although most of the mayors have held minor offices before becoming mayors very seldom Js is the office of mayor used as it a stepping stone for political success generally politicians do not seek sea this kind of office there have been instances however where fa inious americans Am ricans have used that office as a steppingstone to higher political frame fame grover cleveland agan his career care eraa as mayor of buffalo newton D baker late secretary of war started in as mayor of cleveland Clevela ild brand whitlock recently released ns as minister to belgium was once mayor of toledo tile the salary of mayors ranger from nothing in small towns to as aa high as per year in in chicago the mayor of Filli fillmore Fill pore receives per year the american cities are more generous as wage payers to their mayors than are other cities in ill tile ine world As a rule lule howee aw american mayor spends more than he makes due to the social demands made upon him so frequently ly the mayors powers are divided under five general heads the first power he posses is tile the power to recommend legislation i A lie he veto power is vested in the hands ot most of the mayors UL oi me american cities lo 10 override a veto takes at least two thada vote of the council the mayor cannot pocket veto the bills as the governor can call how b e A nere inece are aire no other cities outside ot of the united stats slats having tile veto power it Is purely american it was taken froni from the plans of our national government it is not efficient in its working 9 the may mayor 0 r of fillmore Fill 0 lias has no veto power ile he only lias has ahe power to vote in case the council are a tie thus our council retains this power which is generally voted in the hands ol of the mayor 1 1 I lie he mayor generally gner ally posses the appointing power in american cities sometimes approval by the council is necessary this is the case in fillmore Fill moro tile the trend of tho the inting power is I 1 ing entirely into the hands of cho che mayor ho he lias has in most cit iea ica exclusive jurisdiction in the appointment of officers in III a civil service z commission is powered empowered im to approve of all officers kip pointed cd oy ay the mayor altho much crit cism has been reigned against such an ail idea it has brought about good results in the cities of tho the mayor has tile the power in most cities to initiate financial legislation As it A general rule tho the mayor ha has tho the izower power to prepare the budget and the council has ony the power to strike out and reduce items in the budget hie council has not tile the power to 16 0 raise or initiate any item in fillmore a finance head is approved of by the council it can call be the mayor and it may be a member of the council the council retains much jurisdiction along financial lines then there are a lot of other minor powers which the mayor has bas these wo we shall not take time kime to discuss the steady growth of mayoral powers power sN is evident the council is steadily losing power in fm dav or of the mayor this is not the ease case in europe there the coun oil cil retains much of its power I A lie city governments there tire are successful too our governments i although this change has been going on have not improved materially eri ally whether or not an all increase in mayoral power is improving them is doubtful in ill tile opinion of most moat people I 1 believe ve that if a steady improvement in in our city governments is resulting due to the shift of most of the powers to a responsible head the mayor |