Keprinted from The Annals of the American Academy of Political and 
 Social Science, Philadelphia, February, 1914. 
 
 THE CITY-MANAGER CHARTER OF DAYTON 
 
 By L. D. Upson, 
 
 Director, Bureau of Municipal Research, Dayton, Ohio. 
 
 The Dayton charter i s an endea vor to retain the stre ngth of 
 the commission plan—the concentration of policy deter mining 
 auth(5fit3^in~a~Tsmall non-partisan leg^ islative body—and to add to 
 it a pUrmSTi ent admin i s trati veTor ce of trained executives. I ^ithe r 
 the c(5himissi Gn~hor federal s cheme cf govemm.ent secures this last 
 end. The federal ward plan of representation, and the Tiennial 
 change of departmental heads, has been discredited. And investiga¬ 
 tions showed that commission government, while an improvemient, 
 had not secured the desirable efficiency in city administration. 
 
 It does not appear practicable to select m.en from the average 
 walks of life, and require them not only to deteimine the policies 
 of a municipality, but also to direct the technical details of conduct¬ 
 ing a city departm.ent. The obvious solution of this problem is the 
 complete separation of the legislative from the administrative func¬ 
 tions of governm.ent in conjunction with a short non-partisan ballot. 
 This was effected in the Dayton charter, which was m.odeled closely 
 upon the Lockport plan. The representative body is limited strictly 
 to legislative duties—determining what shall be the large, general 
 policies for the^ government. The execution of these policies is 
 delegated to an appointed city manager held definitely responsible 
 for them. 
 
 Five commissioners or councilmen, elected at large on a non¬ 
 partisan ticket for a term of fom* years, constitute the legislative 
 division of the city’s government. After consideration of both 
 proportional representation, and the preferential ballot, it was 
 decided that nominations be secured by at least two per cent of the 
 registered voters signing a petition to place their candidate on the 
 primary ballot. At the first election five candidates were selected, 
 
 (862) 
 
The City-Manager Charter of Dayton 
 
 193 
 
 the three receiving the greatest vote to serve for four years. The 
 remaining two hold office for two years. 
 
 Thus the board of commissioners becomics a continuous body, 
 two members, then three members being elected every alternate 
 two years. In this m.anner a legislative bod}^ will be assured, a por¬ 
 tion of which will be always familiar with the affairs of the city; 
 and at the sam.e time there will be a tendency to prevent the whole¬ 
 sale rem^oval of admiinistrative officers, such as might be attendant 
 upon a quadrennial choosing of entirely new representatives. 
 
 The commi ssioner receiving the highest vote at the elect-ion at 
 which three comm issioners ar e chosen—that is once every four years, 
 acts as mayor. His major duties are to act as chairman of the com¬ 
 mission and to represent the city as one ol,tiie members of the 
 coumfy budget commission for the fixing of the tax rate. In addi¬ 
 tion he is recognized as the official head of the city by the courts, 
 and by the governor for the purposes of the military law. There is 
 no veto power, and the mayor is in reality only the cereimonial head 
 of the government. 
 
 Objection has been made to this method of choosing the mayor, 
 in preference to having candidates run for this designated office. 
 It is now possible for any disgruntled faction by failing to vote for 
 all but one candidate to insure the choice of the most undesirable 
 member of the commiission as miayor. This has not proved true 
 locally, but is doubtless a theoretical objection with considerable 
 foundation. 
 
 Commiissioners receive a nominal salary as only a portion of 
 their time is necessary for the perfoimance of their public duties, 
 which may be summarized as: 
 
 1. The appointment of a city manager. 
 
 2. The enactment of the city appropriation ordinance, and 
 
 approval of the mayor’s budget upon which the tax rate 
 is based. 
 
 3. Enactm.ent of police ordinances. 
 
 4. Enactment of resolutions and ordinances determining upon 
 
 public works to be paid 'for by special assessment. 
 
 Aside from the city manager the commission is empowered 
 to appoint a clerk, several members of an unimportant county board,, 
 
 (863) 
 
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 194 
 
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 The Annals of the American Academy 
 
 and a non-partisan board to execute the civil service clause of the 
 charter. The appointments of the city manager may be made 
 from the entire eligible list, as determined by the civil service board, 
 and dismissals can become operative only after an appeal to that 
 body has been heard. Such latitude in employing would permit a 
 commission and manager so inclined to create a political machine 
 almost impregnable. On the other hand, the privilege granted of a 
 dismissed employee to appeal to a board whose decision is final, 
 practically compels the manager to prove incompetency beyond 
 any question. The manager is directly responsible, not only to the 
 commission, but to the public for the efficient administration of the 
 city, and inability to dismiss freely undesirable employees would 
 seem to throw an unwarranted obstacle in the way of that accom¬ 
 plishment. 
 
 The city manage r, appointed by the comm ission, is the adminis¬ 
 trative head of theTity government, and responsible for all depart¬ 
 ments. This adminis^trator is appointed without regard to political 
 beliefs, and “may or may not be a resident of the city of Dayton 
 when appointed.” But whether the manager may be a resident of a 
 state other than Ohio is questionable. The state constitution 
 requires that “no person shall be elected or appointed to any office 
 in this state, unless he possess the qualifications of an elector.” The 
 manager holds office at the will of ffie _cqmmis_sioners and is also 
 subject to popularrecanr This last provision is of course a departure 
 from recognized good practice, but was believed necessary to secure 
 public endorsement of so radical an innovation in the method of 
 local government. 
 
 Doubtless also the position and political independence of this 
 executive would have been strengthened had it been made necessary 
 for the comimxission in discharging their employee, to prefer formal 
 charges and hold a public hearing upon the same. The short ballot 
 and the recall will probably inhibit a repetition of the political 
 jobbery in the dismissing and hiring of a manager, which is seen so 
 frequently in the instance of school superintendents, yet it might 
 have been well to make this prohibition doubly sure. 
 
 Summarized briefly the duties of the manager are as follows: 
 
 / 1. To see that the laws and ordinances are enforced. 
 
 ( 2. To appoint, and except as herein provided, remove all 
 
 4. 
 
 (864) 
 
The City-Manager Charter of Dayton 195 
 
 directors of departments and all subordinate officers 
 and employees in the departments in both the classified 
 and unclassified service. ^ 
 
 3. To exercise control over all departments and divisions 
 
 created herein or that may be hereafter created by the 
 commission. 
 
 4. To attend all meetings of the commission with the right 
 
 to take part in the discussion but having no vote. 
 
 5. To recommend to the commission for adoption such measures 
 
 as he may deem necessary or expedient. 
 
 6. To keep the commission fully advised as to the financial 
 
 condition of the city, and 
 
 7. To perform such other duties as may be prescribed by the 
 
 charter or be required of him by ordinance or resolution 
 of the commission. 
 
 It will be noted that these duties are in no way political or 
 policy determining, and their delegation to an appointive officer 
 cannot be considered as relinquishing any rights that the public 
 may have in the government. 
 
 For administrative purposes the municipal government is 
 divided into the 
 
 1. Department of law. 
 
 2. Department of public service, comprising the construction 
 
 and maintenance of streets, sidewalks and sewers; col¬ 
 lection and disposal of waste; and management of public 
 utilities. 
 
 3. Department of safety, comprising the divisions of fire and 
 
 police, building inspection, and the enforcement of 
 ordinances relating to weights and measures. 
 
 4. Department of finance, comprising the divisions of accounting, 
 
 and the purchasing of supplies, the office of treasirrer ^ 
 
 being abolished as a duplication of the work of the auditor. 
 
 5. Department of public welfare, comprising the divisions of 
 
 health, parks and playgrounds, charities and correction. 
 
 At the head of each department is a director, chosen by the 
 manager, responsible to him and to the commission for the econom¬ 
 ical, efficient and proper conduct of the division. The commission 
 
 (86s) 
 
196 The Annals of the American Academy 
 
 may, however, by ordinance discontinue any department and deter¬ 
 mine, combine and distribute the functions of government as they 
 see fit. The municipal judicial election and educational systems 
 are by law without the jurisdiction of the charter. 
 
 It is possible, however, that the division of the government 
 into these five principal departments, inherent in the commission 
 plan, was too slavishly copied in the local document. The newly- 
 elected commissioners seriously considered exercising their authority 
 to abolish. this proposed organization and increaise the number of 
 divisions or bureaus to a total of twelve. While this proposal would 
 increase the supervisory duties of the manager, it would have made 
 the head of each division an actual working unit rather than an 
 administrative position. The salaries of the supervisory places 
 abolished could have been distributed in part to the heads of divisions, 
 with a view to securing a higher grade of executive, and very advisedly 
 might have been partially invested in securing an assistant city mana¬ 
 ger, thereby insuring a more than one-man organization. The 
 manager might then resign, be recalled, fall ill or be otherwise inca¬ 
 pacitated and there would be ready to assume his responsibilities, 
 as manager, a subordinate fully familiar with the duties, program 
 and organization of the government. Under the Dayton char ter 
 so many obligations devolve upo n the man ager personally, some of 
 whicl Tuntortunatelv are of a purely routin e character, such as the 
 signing of all orders for city su pplies,_ that a few days’ neglect would 
 bring the local administration into grave disorder^ 
 
 ' During the campaign antecedent to the writing and adoption 
 of the charter, considerable discussion was raised concerning the 
 proper status of the city solicitor and auditor in the proposed plan. 
 It was contended that the financial officer, being accountable for any 
 illegal payments by his department, should have a discretion inde¬ 
 pendent of managerial influence. It was also advanced that an 
 independent solicitor would be ample security to this end, since the 
 auditor must accept the opinion of this officer as to the legality of 
 financial transactions of the municipality. At one time it was 
 proposed to have both the solicitor and auditor appointed by the 
 commission rather than by the manager. This proposition probably 
 arose from a natural reluctance to desert entirely a government of 
 checks and balances so long common in American practice. It was,. 
 
 (866) 
 
The City-Manager Charter of Dayton 
 
 197 
 
 however, a struggle between political theory and a desire for con¬ 
 centrated authority in which the latter prevailed. The correctness 
 of either position can only be empirically determined. 
 
 The broad social character of the document may be judged 
 from the creation of an entire department concerned with the 
 welfare of the citizen body. Not only is the promotion of public 
 health, parks and recreation centered in this division but the 
 director must provide for research into the causes of poverty, 
 delinquency, crime and disease, and other social problems in the 
 community; and must by lectures and publicity facilitate a wider 
 understanding of these questions. If this section is made effective 
 in the same spirit in which it was written, the city govemmient 
 will not only reflect the progressive socialized opinion of the citizen 
 body, but will create it, and the city itself become an active leader 
 in promoting the difficult art of community living. 
 
 Unique- in American practice is a provision borrowed from 
 Germany, which provides for the possible appointment of citizen 
 boards to act in an advisory capacity with departmental heads; 
 and the appointment of a similar city-plan commission is made 
 miandatory. No powers are granted such bodies, except that their 
 recommendations become departmental records, and there mmst 
 be regular stated meetings. 
 
 In addition to the e asy am en dment of the charter, demo cratic 
 governm ent is safegu arded by the prov ision, for the in itiative, 
 referendum and recall. It is unfortunate, however, that the ballot 
 at recall electrons"liot only contains the proposition for recall, but 
 also the names of such candidates for the possible vacant office, 
 as may have seemed the required number of signatures. No recall 
 petition may be filed against any officer until six months after the 
 election or the failure of a recall election against him. The per¬ 
 centage of electors required to initiate or refer legislation and to 
 recall officials is the same or less than that found in over one-half 
 of the cities having similar legislation provisions, but is relatively 
 high when compared with the percentage—te n per c^t—^^ eces- 
 sary to amend the charter. This discr epancy was knowingly 
 incorporated fro m a desire to prevent the harassinv^UF TEe commis¬ 
 sion by disgr untled political elem ents. 
 
 Aside from the separation of the legislative and administrative 
 
 (867) 
 
198 
 
 The Annals of the American Academy 
 
 divisions of government, it is in the procedure laid down for the 
 operation of these latter branches, that the charter is most notable. 
 While all government is dependent on the quality of chosen officials 
 and the extent of citizen interest, 3 ^et it is believed that the charter 
 provisions governing budget making, accounting pr oce dure, the 
 purchaiing ot supplies, ser\dce and operating cost, stand ardizat ion 
 of duties and compensation, etc., are of such a character as will tend 
 to insure a desirable minimum of efficiency in city govemm^ent even 
 should there be an after^eleetion slump in puEhc^jnterest. No 
 matter what character of men are later chosen to administer the 
 governm.ent of Dayton, they must of necessity use the most modern 
 methods in that administration—m^ethods which most readily raise 
 danger signals at neglect, inefficiency or corruption. 
 
 Frequent comment has been made upon the almost universal 
 failure of commission-governed cities to install m^odern scientific 
 methods of city business, and upon the fact that a few cities operat¬ 
 ing under a cumbersomie form of federal government have, by the 
 adoption of these same hitherto neglected ordinances, placed them¬ 
 selves in the first rank of efficiently governed municipalities. Even 
 were there no lesson to be dravm from these circumstances, it is to 
 be anticipated that, in developing a system of government modeled 
 closely upon the plan of incorporated commercial organizations, 
 an endeavor would have been made to include also certain char¬ 
 acteristic features of their management. Most notable of these 
 is perhaps the care used in the collection and disbursem.ent of funds. 
 
 Beginning with the appropriation of funds, it is required that 
 departmental estimates shall be compiled by the manager from 
 detailed information registered on uniform blanks. In substitu¬ 
 tion for the heterogeneous division of expenditures formerly pre¬ 
 vailing, the new classification must be uniform for each of the main 
 functional divisions of all departments, and departmental requests 
 must give in parallel columns the following information: 
 
 ( (a) A detailed estimate of departmental needs. 
 
 (6) Expenditures for corresponding items covering the past two 
 years. 
 
 (r) Expenditures of the present year including transfers. 
 
 (J) Supplies on hand. 
 
 {e) Increases and decreases. 
 
 (868) 
 
The City-Manager Charter of Dayton 
 
 199 
 
 (/) Other information required. 
 
 (g) .Recommendations of the city manager. 
 
 Additio nal pr ovision is made for the publication of and public 
 hearing on the budget estimate beford'rr~cah"'5eenacted into law. 
 This is a notable gain. During,.the old regime the public was recently 
 able to obtain an informal hearing on the departmental estimates, 
 'v bttt was never allowed to learn tlie contents of the final appropria¬ 
 tion ordinance until it was presented to council for approval, and 
 then it was not unfrequently am^ended from the floor. 
 
 For the regulation of^he accounting procedure it was decided 
 to incorporate two^ections found in the Cleveland charter which 
 require that “accounting procedures shall be devised and main¬ 
 tained for the city adequate to record in detail all transactions affect¬ 
 ing the acquisition, custodianship and disposition of valuesC A 
 
 corrollary clduse, but one upon which the above depends for its 
 ' interpretation reads in part as follows: “the commission shall cause 
 a continuous audit to be made. . . . Such statements shall include 
 a general balance sheet, exhibiting the assets and liabilities of the 
 city supported by departmental schedules, and schedules for each 
 utility publicly owned or operated; summaries of income and expendi- 
 ture supported by detailed schedules; and also comparison . . . 
 with the last previous year.” A strict accounting interpretation 
 of the terms “income and expenditure” will place the city account¬ 
 ing upon a basis of credits accruing and liabilities incurred rather 
 than the usual cash receipts and disbursements basis, upon which most 
 municipalities operate. 
 
 Before the holiday season of 1912 the city found itself unable 
 to pay the salaries of the police and fire forces, although several 
 hundred thousand dollars were on deposit in other funds, and all 
 credits of the police fund had not been collected. At the time the 
 city was paying interest on a large floating debt, for one depart¬ 
 ment and loaning other money to the banks at reduced interest. 
 Recalling this anomaly the paper demarcation between funds was 
 withdrawn, and for purposes of paying bills there now exists only 
 one city pocket. However, only money actually anticipated to come 
 into the treasury may be appropriated, thus securing the treasury 
 from over-draft. This section was^also designed to prevent further 
 deficits, in the operating account, which in the last six years has 
 been exceeded by $360,000. 
 
 ( 869 ) 
 
y 
 
 4. 
 
 
 200 > * ■ ‘The Annals of the American Academy 
 
 ** • * * % • * 
 
 Supplementing these provisions for financial accounting are 
 
 clauses by which “thii head of each department''. . . shall require 
 proper time reports for all services rendered . *. . to serve as a 
 basis for the preparation of pay-roll youchers,” and by which each 
 departmental head must submit “current financial- and operating * 
 statements exhibiting the transactions (of his department) and the 
 cost therefor.” is believed that these provisions adequately 
 provide for progressive budget making, general finance accounts, 
 cost accounts and operative records—the m^achinery of efficient 
 government. 
 
 Revenue systems and forms of taxation are prescribed by 
 general law, not subject to charter modification. How'ever, com¬ 
 plete detail, too lengthy to be discussed in a brief article, has been 
 provided for the financing of public improvements and the control 
 of franchises. 
 
 The brief time allowed for the preparation of the Dayton 
 charter prevented a thorough consideration of some sections, and '■ 
 a review by special authorities. No doubt it possesses many weak¬ 
 nesses, a number of which have already become apparent under 
 closer scrutiny. However, it does not assume to be the last word, 
 but rather the first word in government of this character. Only 
 years of experience can solve many of the questions which are daily 
 presenting themselves, and doubtless the final law controlling cities 
 adopting the principles incorporated here will have many essential 
 differences. Yet it is believed that there hhs been devised here a 
 plan of government, the principle of which will solve the grave 
 problem of municipal administration in America. 
 
 (870) 
 
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