CHAPTER V.
THE CITY.
Need Of.—A village being one election district has only one polling place. The community may increase so in numbers as to make it necessary to have several voting places. For the accommodation of the people, these would naturally be located in different parts of the community; and to prevent fraud, voting precincts would have to be carefully defined. The council would naturally be made up of representatives from these divisions.
When, under this arrangement, the voters assemble in different parts of the community, they could not listen to financial reports and vote taxes, as they do in the town and the village. Hence it would be necessary to endow the council with increased powers, including the power to levy taxes without the direct authorization of the people.
The expenses for public improvements, for waterworks, sewers, street-lighting, etc., may take more money than it would be prudent to assess upon the community for immediate payment. In this case it would be desirable for the community to have the power to issue bonds.
Again, with increase in population there is an increase in the number of disputes over private rights, and temptations to crime become more numerous. Hence the need of one or more courts having jurisdiction greater than that possessed by justices of the peace. The conditions necessitate also an increase in the number and the efficiency of the police. And to render the police efficient it is necessary that they be under the direction of one man, the same one who is responsible for the carrying out of the ordinances of the council, namely, the mayor.
A community organized to comply with the foregoing requirements—divided into wards, having a council made up of aldermen from those wards, having a council authorized to levy taxes at its discretion, having a municipal court, having regularly employed police acting under the direction of the mayor—is a city, as the term is generally used in the United States.
Another reason for establishing a city government is frequently potent, although unmentioned. The pride of the community can be thereby indulged, and more citizens can have their ambition to hold public office gratified.
How Organized.—A city may be organized under general law or special charter from the legislature. Large cities, and small ones with great expectations, usually work under a charter. But the custom is growing of organizing cities at first under general law. Then if a city outgrows the general law, grows so that it needs powers and privileges not granted therein, it may properly ask the legislature for a special charter.
As a type, the principal provisions of the general law of Minnesota are here given, as follows: