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Show cSf i , . , 1961 SUNDAY HERALD 19C " " ' - , Improvements Barometer ' J ' . ' : . . , . - r ' Writer Evaluates Provo Of Progress Under Ghqrter Progress (Continued from Page factor lit the current administration for the past seven months has been its new city manager, Edward .J. Connell, who' replaced tthe city's first- - manager,' Earl Udall, after the latter resigned to accept a new position in California. for some time Mr. Connell seemed to have a genius for rub-ing local people the wrong way a source of friction he appears to be eliminating as time goes on and bothTie and the local citizenry get to know each. other better. It is this writer's sincere opinion that he has learned a great deal about handling local people in jthe last few months, and that he has shown himself big enough to profit from some of the mistakes he made in handling them during the first months. "In his defense it can be said that he never ducks a problem, but prefers to meet it headon. here and now. When the problems are intricate, difficult of'so-lutiothe outgrowth of years in some cases, and worse because some of his predecessors avoided conflict by1 merely them you have some explosive situations. Dedicated Service This , writer is convinced that Provo's city manager .has the city's welfare sincerely at heart that he wants with all his abilities to give Provo good, effi cient government. In other words although many have questioned his methods, this writer is con vinced you cannot honestly ques tion his motives.. He takes a disarmingly frank view rof the . situation. "I would welcome a test of this government at the polls, if the citizens sincerely want it," he de clared with evident sincerity to this writer. 'If they don't want me, I certainly don't want to pose myself on them. If they don't want me, I can't do them the job j that should be done for them.' He talks eagerly of where he hopes to improve Provo's city government. Its waste removal system, he believes, is certain ly not as efficient as it should be. He hopes to make it better. He is fiercely dedicated to bet tering the lot of Provo's police force. "I want to make a job on the Provo police force something to be sought after," he declared, "not jus something to do if you can't find something that pays better This .vvill mean, he points out, necessarily , better salaries, both to?attract good new men, and keep the many excellent ones now on the force. 'His proposal for a study to integrate police and fire irients (as many cities across the country are doing) drew fire from the firemen hotter than some of the blazes they have doused.' It has apparently subsided for the moment with the promise that the study will be thorough and detailed, and that both sides will . keep each other fully informed of intentions and findings. Mr. Connell has taken great strides in consolidating many of Provo's. city departments a . t : . : n, by-passi- ng - 1 . ', " . . ' the charge that the department er law-maki- ng ; j seven-memb- er full-tim- long-rang- long-rang- 11-- ' f 11-C)- . ,- charge of administration of city ' '. business. Mayor is Dr. . Uoyd L. Culli-more, with Stella H. Oaks as- assistant mayor. Both are mem- as is A. K. Bfien- holt. Other council members are W. Frank Kill pack, Northwest; Dr. Ariel S. Ballif, Northeast; Roy Passey, Southeast, and N. . Halvor Mads en, Southwest. The councilmen, all devoted workers receive only nominal fee' of $500 per" year apiece (the jmayor gets $600) but work long" hours in the service of their com munity. City Manager Edward J. Con nell came to Provo from Ohio where he had served as administrative assistant to the city man ager of Cleveland Heights for four years. A native Utahn, he is a mem ber of the LDS church, a graduate of University of, Utah and holds a degree in public admini stration from University of Corn ell at Ithaca; N.Y. Both he and his wifes the form er Velma Faye Johnson, were born in Tooele. They are parents of . four children. Mr. Connell served as assistant city manager of Tooele .for a time. Prior to coming to Provo he was employed as administrative head of departments (equivalent to city manager) at Rocky River, Ohio, a city of 64,000 population. - bers-at-larg- ,", ; . v is disposed toward accumulating too much fat, both in its budgets and its reserves. Mr. Connell and the city coun cil all declare that the charge of excess power leveled at the coun system doesn't hold up in the face of the many city advisory boards, which have been appointed and which, for the most part, appear to be functioning fairly well. An exception was the shade tree commission where the chairman resigned, but this problem appears to be on its way toward a more amiable solution. Argument Answered Another argument used against the excess-powcharges is mereto out the point ly mechanics of the old city com mission. Under that system, two men had the power to make the city's laws because they formed com-a majority of the three-ma- n missiojn, plus the power to ad minister tnem. a mayor ana a commissioner who would vote with him could absolutely control the city. With a city council, it takes at least four with three left to form a lusty dissent if they so wish. And the council must make the laws. Under the charter, the city manager cannot create a law or an ordinance. He can only administer and carry it out after the council adopts it. e Hiring of a city planner Is a move which Mr. Connell considers to be one of his most important to date. A city cannot, he asserts, grow with e worth without any. e good, city planning.. The city planner has a master's degree in planning from Columbia University. So there you have the five cil-mana- : (Continued from Page i lighting, and covering much of the old millrace. The electric department has in stalled two 5000 KVA substations; plans two more this year, one near BYU, the other in the downtown area. It has completed improved "lighting at Pioneer Park; is in process of improving lighting at North Park, and has. begun installation of brilliant new downtown street lighting. This department has spent about $500,000 in capital improve ments during the past half dec ade, and has studies underway as to how best to expand distribution and increase its power sup . ply. To insure maximum benefit from every capital improvement tax dollar, all major capital improvements now are processed through the office of the city planner, .and sometimes the same equipment can serve two departments, or employees of one department can provide labor for another, cutting contract costs. Blueprints have been completed for improvement of the golf club house and 50 acres have been set aside for an addition in' holes a of course. Provo hopes to build a combined civic center and office buil ding" as soon as possible. It would be financed by sale of existing city property and without incur ring any additional taxes. Provo has already sold off its site for a United States Post Office, the old Eldfed Recreation Hall dona ted by Mr. and Mrs. L. J. Eldred; and hopes to later se.U part of the Henderson property and its interest in city and county grounds. Bringing its scattered offices including police and fire departments under one roof, would provide savings in overhead costs and would increase efficiency, says City Manager . :Y " . (Continued from Page e step which he feels is vital to efficiency. Already they have been reduced from 22 to 15. Under former cjty manager Udall, considerable1 budgetary consoli dation and central financial control was achieved, moves which have been carried on by Mr. Con: nell. x , Utility Setup One action started by Udall under the home rule charter, without! going too far in the mat ter,' has been bluntly carried for ward by Mi. Connell until it has become one of his. chief sources of conflict. That is the integra: tion of Provo's electric power department into the over all city opas contrasted to its vir--, eration tually separate autonomy, except for final city commission control, in former years In days gone by Provo's power employees had a separate, and higher, wage scale from other city employees and formed their own, definite clique. It is a problem that cannot be corrected overnight although substantial steps have been taken starting as far back as former mayor George E. Collard. It still is one of the thorniest problems of Provo's city government today. It's supporters say the city could, and many say it is, bleeding the department with excessive fund demands to the point of weaken ing it. This the current administration denies, countering with long-rang- C) - . . 10-- All Sections Edward J. Connell. Despite ambitious plans for im provements, Provo has no inten tion of raising its tax levy, but hopes to cut property taxes by half to one mill through the great er efficiency 'in administration, and as much as five mills if a sales tax is approved. e, Jones, Hinckley and Nicholas Govemmeni Duties of Divided Among 3 Commissioners Utah County Commissioners divide the responsibiii- aes of government with the assignment of various de ' partments to each of the three' members. Chairman of the commission is Sterling D. Jones, Republican, of Spanish ForkG. Marion Hinckley, Provo, Democrat, and F. Rulon Nicholes; Republican, of American - , . DOING SCREENPLAY re-elect- 1 y4l K" s " located. 1 1 W3i V ' , III one-tim- cf the county commission from 1953 to 1958, then served two years as chief deputy under Sheriff Ralph Chappie. Commissioner Jones is married to the former Dorothy Pulver of Payson. They have three daughters and two grandchildren. As chairman of the county com mission, Commissioner Jones coordinates activities of the commission, arranges for meetings, and acts as spokesman for the commission. The post of commissioner of roads gives Commissioner Jonea charge of the 800 miles of roads in county areas. He has responsi-ihiilit- y of maintenance of old roads and construction of new ones where needed. Under way at the present time is the job of reiuventorying the county's roads, determining needs and conditions as part of a five-ye- ar plan begun in 1957, with programming of work yet to be done in order to complete the work a j planned. Within the county the roads department requires the most money and personnel. County (Continued on Page 20-C- )r :,S PVS OREGON ' J W E CHEYENNE : tr YT -s, I WYOMING 1 NEVADA 11 Ik - -- " ! lit! i NERVE CENTER OF COUNTY GOVERNMENT Here is the classic City and County Building in Provo, the county seat of Utah County, where county offices are 11 Vyc ' ' ' ' itI . -- O O O V - ' v of the peace. He was a member Sis 1 FOR LESS J't i i 1 HOLLYWOOD years. Overall expenses for the total; period are not up to any startling degree when viewed in the light of the city's growth and inflation, the current administra tion asserts. Neither, it declares, is the city payroll. Rome was not built in a day, and neither will be the 'aims of the" present system of Provo city government. Some say another five years, or even mora, will be necessary to start sr..raig the results to any marked degree. .The forces aligned in opposition as yet haven't shown . their real strength, or if they possess real strength. If they do, the current administration may not get its added five years, or more, without first submitting to a test of the people's confidence in it. What the outconie will be, only time can tell. PRODUCE MORE Mr 5 mm . Robert (UPI) Dozier has 'checked into Columbia Pictures to write the screenplay for "The Watchman," a new novel hy Davis Grulbib scheduled to be published early this year by Scribners. Fork, complete the three-ma- n , commission. Mr. Hinckley served as chairman of the commission the past two years. He is a holdover member of the commission. Mr. Nich-ole- s was last November and Mr." Jones, who served on the commission previously, won election in November over former Commissioner Marcellus Nielson of Spanish Fork. At the time this article was written, the election of Commissioners Nicholes and Jones, by a close margin, was being contested by Democrats in Fourth District Court. Duties of the commissioners include: Chairman Jones roads, weeds and planning; Commissdon-- e r Nichodes building and grounds, microfilminig, civil, defense, youth home, and bees inspection; Commissioner Hinckley THhealth, exhibition and advertising, safety council, welfare, state fair exhibit, fire commission, Miss Utah County contest, and Utah Water Users Association. Commissioner Jones Commissioner Jones owns and operates a cattle ranch in Spanish Fork. A graduate of USU, and. a e school teacher, he started his politioal'career as a justice " . BUNKER'S , FEEDS W&k'-Mounf- v ). J 6-- - V """Crfii il W, kahsas 1 jh COIO UTAH ' 1 V 1 1 i C''T v - tr -- ) - S. kid .' , Pennant Brand Feeds Bulk Feed Delivery . . . Livestock and Poultry Supplies Field Seeds Sit. OUR MODERN Bulk Garden Seeds If i i I ? ' '. r H nii- -v UP TO DATE MILL ENTER MjjSfc FEED 500 NORTH 1600 WEST, OREM - . for Indians and Once k was a barren land, a vast roaming-are- a wild life. 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As we continue to expand . and grow, we pledge ourselves to offer to the Central Utah Area the same low cost courteous service. iSfFH : A. 5-01- 40 PLEASANT GROVE SU Is Across From Us" 5-2- 91 - 1 ) J |