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TO THE HONORABLE MAYOR, and THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE City of Fort Worth:-
We, your Charter Committee, composed of Hon. T.J. Powell, Mayor of the City of Ft. Worth, E.C.Orrick, Chairman of the Charter Committee, J.F.Lehane and W.G.Newby, members thereof, would respectfully submit that they herewith report to the City Council the Charter of the City of Ft. Worth as the same has been agreed upon by the said committee together with the exceptions and differences between the Mayor and the Committee which are hereinafter set out.
FIRST:- We report the charter as a whole, which embodies agreed with the exceptions hereinafter set out. In connection herewith, we would state that we have taken this method of reporting the charter in order that the issues may be clearly defined, and that the Council may have no difficulty in passing upon the same when they shall have been submitted to it. And also in this connection we would state that some of the ideas of the Mayor, and upon which he made his canvass, have not met with the approval of the committee and they are unable to report in favor of those ideas set forth in the charter which is herewith reported as a whole.
SECOND:= The first point upon which we differ from the Mayor and from the charter herewith submitted is upon the question arising under Art. 2, Sec. 3 of the Charter as it now stands. We do not think that all of the officers of the City of Ft. Worth should be elected by the people, and our reasons for so reporting have been carefully considered by the committee, and while probably not in accord with our former ideas upon the subject, are the result of the most careful consideration considering the best interests of the city. We therefore report, (a).
That the following officers of the City of Ft. Worth shall be elected by the people as follows, to-wit:- The Mayor, the Aldermen, The Board of Equalization, the School Board, the Chief of Police and the Assessor and Collector of taxes. In this connection we would state that we think that the School Board of Equalization should be composed of nine members, one from each ward, to be elected as the Aldermen are now elected. And as to the question of whether or not the said Board shall be elected at the same election as other officers of the City of Ft. Worth, we do not
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care to express an opinion, but refer the said question to the Council as a whole. (b) We report that we believe that the following officers should be elected by the City Council, to-wit: The Superintendent of the Water Works the Chief of the Fire Department, the City Auditor, the City Secretary, the City Attorney, City Physician and City Engineer and the City Treasurer, the City Treasurer to be elected under and according to the provisions of the Charter as it now stands,
THIRD:- We think that Section 2 of Article 5 should be amended to correspond to the suggestions just hereinfore made,
FOURTH:- We believe that with reference to the referendum provisions of this charter, an exception should be made in the case of ordinances of a general nature which are passed by a unanimous vote by the Aldermen elected and not the Aldermen present. Believing that if all of the Aldermen elected are unanimously in favor of any measure that it is bound to represent the sentiments of the City of Ft. Worth, and that if there shall be objection upon the part of one Alderman the will of the people can be properly ascertained.
FIFTH:- We further report that we do not believe that it is for the best interests of the City of Ft. Worth to fix arbitarily a franchise tax of not less than three per cent of the gross receipts of the party to whom the franchise is granted, and that we think that the power to fix the compensation which shall be charged to any person or party to whom a franchise shall be granted shall be left entirely with the City Council.
SIXTH:- We beg leave to further report that we are opposed to the provision that eight hours shall constitute a day's work in the mechanical and manual labor departments of the city being inserted in the charter of said city. That the committee is fully in accord with the eight hour law, but according to their understanding of the purpose of a charter the same shall not be inserted therein. We believe that the question of whether eight hours shall constitute a day's work would be relegated to each council as it may be elected, and that they shall have the exclusive right to pass upon the same. The present committee here desires to state that they shall favor,and do favor, any law looking to the establishment of the eight hour law, provided the same be an ordinance of the City of Ft. Worth and shall not be incorporated in its charter.
SEVENTH:- We further beg leave to report that we think that the
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provision of the charter as presented providing the City of Ft. Worth shall not establish work shops is unadvisable, and therefore report that that section of the said charter as presented shall not be adopted.
EIGHTH:- We also further report that with regard to the question of School Trustees we think that instead of the election of School Trustees, six in number, by the city at large, that the School Board should be composed of nine members, one from each ward of the city who shall be elected as the Aldermen are now elected, towit, one from each ward by the qualified electors of each ward. And as to the question of whether or not this election for such Trustees shall be held at the same time as other elections, we do not attempt to say, but submit the question to the Council as a whole.
NINTH:- As to the question of the One Dollar special tax levied we, the Committee would respectfully report that we think it is best for the council, as a whole to pass upon the question.
TENTH:- We further report that there should be a power engrafted in the said charter empowering the City Council to remove from office by a majority vote, any officer, agent or employee who is elected, appointed or employed by them.
ELEVENTH:- We further report that we believe that with reference to the salary of Aldermen some provision should be made to pay the Aldermen for their attendance upon committee meetings, and to that end we suggest that a provision be incorproated in the charter providing that the Aldermen should be paid not exceeding $3.00 for each committee attended by them, said amount to be fixed by the City Council.
Believing that these are all of the points of difference between the Mayor and the Committee, we respectfully report the same, hoping that our suggestions may present the points squarely so that the Council will have no difficulty in passing upon the same.
In view of the fact that W.G.Newby, a member of the committee, is absent from the city, the Charter Committee makes this report believing that they understand his views, and that they are fully in accord with the report herein made.
Very respectfully, E.C. Orrick John F. Lehane