625. MUNICIPAL REFORM.—The period since 1875 and especially since 1900 has been marked by a strong tendency to reform municipal government.
The abuse of power by the city council in many instances forfeited the respect with which the public had formerly regarded that body. The power to appoint various city officials was transferred from the council to the voters, and many of the functions formerly exercised by the council were entrusted to newly created municipal boards.
In about half the states constitutional provisions now forbid the legislature to pass special acts concerning municipalities. In other states the constitution enumerates a large number of subjects with regard to which the legislature cannot enact special legislation. In some states the cities of the state are classified into two or more groups, according to population; the legislature is compelled to designate the group or groups to which statutes are to apply. In about a dozen states certain types of cities are allowed to frame and amend their own charters, provided that such acts are not inconsistent with the constitution and statutes of the state.
Municipal civil service reform is of increasing importance, more than 200 American cities having sanctioned it in some form. As applied to municipal affairs the merit system includes a municipal commission, appointed by the mayor; a system of competitive examinations designed to test character and capacity; a plan for requiring the appointing officer in each department of city government to select his subordinates from an eligible list; a method of removing officials; and sometimes a system of pensioning employees who have grown old in the service.
The movement for popular control has been closely associated with municipal development. The tendency to shorten the ballot, the holding of municipal elections at a different time than state and national elections, and the concentration of administrative officers under a responsible appointing head, are steps in this direction. In many states the Direct Primary has been intimately associated with municipal development. The Initiative, Referendum, and Recall have been adopted in a large number of cities, especially where the mayor- council plan has been abandoned for the commission form of government.
B. MUNICIPAL ORGANIZATION
626. THE THREE TYPES OF CITY GOVERNMENT.—The three types of city government in the United States are the mayor-council plan, the commission plan, and the city manager plan. [Footnote: For a description of the commission and city manager plans of city government, see Chapter XXXVI.] The commission plan is a new form of city government which has been designed to overcome the defects of the old mayor-council plan, while the city manager plan is a modification of the commission plan. Of recent years both the commission plan and the city manager plan have spread rapidly, but it is still true that few American cities of any appreciable size have adopted either of these two plans. The old mayor-council plan prevails in most American cities, and for this reason the remainder of this chapter will be devoted to a description of this form of government.
627. THE CITY COUNCIL: ORGANIZATION.—Usually the city council is a single-chambered body, though some of the larger cities have from time to time experimented with a double-chambered council. In some cities councilmen are chosen on a general ticket, but in most cases the council consists of one member from each ward or district into which the city is divided. Councilmen must be voters in the city in which they serve, and by custom they are generally required to be residents of the ward from which they are chosen. The terms of councilmen vary from one to four years, two years being the average term. In the smaller cities councilmen are usually unpaid, but in the larger municipalities they receive a stated salary.
628. THE CITY COUNCIL: POWERS.—The typical American city is subservient to the state legislature, the powers of city government being enumerated in a charter received from the legislature. These enumerated powers have been rather narrowly interpreted by the courts.
The council enjoys a measure of police power, which it may invoke to protect the health and to further the well-being of the city's inhabitants. The exercise of this police power, however, must not conflict with state law.