1 - Ivan Allen, Jr. Digital Collection - Georgia Institute of Technology

16.A 'C~r iHlilnta Joutnill Wednesday, Jon. 23, 1974Here's Organization of New City CouncilBy lIA~'K EZELLAtlanta·s City Council Is ready to go to work as the. city's poliCy·making body,After "'~ of haggling, the council bas laid doVrl1 itscommittee suueture and has approved. the procOOlD1l1rules for its operaliln.It is the first branch of gQvemmeat to get itseU organ-1ud under the new city charter.One of its first major duties, in fact, will probably bethe review ol Mayor Maynard Jackson'. plan for reorganizingthe much larger executive branch.When that weighty task Is done, the new governmentwin have made a political reality of the bare-boneS outlineof government embodied in the new city charter.Council PresidentWYCHE FOWLER, associ.ate In one of the city's largestlawhrms.RESPONSIBlLlTIES:. PreSides over council meet.lOgsVotes only to break tiesAppomts committee chair.men and membersBecomes mayor if incumbentis disabledT.akes on any other dutiesassigned by councilThe new charter is a fmgerling when compared withit.! predece6SOr, which was nearly 100 years old andstretched. to more than 600 pages.Despite Its minl·length, the new charter ~cks somebig changes for AUanta governmment, the ma)OC one 00doubt being the separation of executive and legislath'epowers,In the charter it Is a Simple statemenl. In practice,the separation Is going to be a masive operatiOfl, andperhaps a ticklish one.In the 0 I d government. which was generallycharactenzed as a weak·mayor system, the Board ofAldenneIl eurclsed a wide range of (.'OIItrol in what arenormally considered exccuti\'e fwlCtions.People who wanted to comet an outlandishly highwater bill, for instance, ended up gOing to the A1dennanicWalti' Committee rather than to an eseculive,1\ot SW""pI'isingiy, things got bogged do",l1 00 the legisl1li>,end.'Ihe Board 01 Aklennen almost ne\'er met for lessthan four hOurs, and many of its conunit1ees took just asIq to get ready for the full board meetings,Much Of that time was spent on the rouUne matters.and broad policy questions tended to get lost in the gulf ofdolIaIls.'I1lere were claims that citizens, too, y,-ere getting lostIn the shuffle.\\lIen things went sour, the Ioodency was for eadlpolitician, or bunch of them, to blame all the rest. It wasconfUSing, at be6L.The newohart(!l', hopefully, will cure those ills.City UtilitiesCHAIRMAN: Q. V. Williamson.president of a large realestate company.ME.llttBERSHIP: John Cal·houn, Morris Finley, CharlesHe.lms, James Howard, HughPierce, Jack Summers.RESPOXSIBILITIES:Water, sanilatlon and ,ar·bage.sey:age and waste disposalStl'fftsPublic worksBridgesWater pollution controlExecutiveCHAIRMAN: BuddyFowlkes. Georgia Tech trackcoach.MEMBERSHIP: JamesBond. John calhoun, MornsFinley. Richard Guthman,Nick Lambros. Hugh Pierce.RESPONSIBILITIES:"Legislative oversIght" orthe executivt branchPersonnel and Civil servicePtJrchasingContracts by the executivebranchIntergovernmental relaUonsOperations of lhe mayor'sofficeDevelopmentCHAlR.\IA.\,: Richard Gu·Uunan, senior vice presidentfor administration in an in·vestment counseling firm.ME~BERSHIP: PankeBradley, John calhoun,Gregory Griggs. James How.ard, Arthur Langford Jr., CarlWare.RESPONSIBILITIES:PlanningZomng ordinancesComprehensive developmentplansLand use plansBuilding officialsHousing code enforcemcntNeighborhood developmentEconomic developmentCouncilCHAIR~lAK r\lck Lambros,attorney.ME,\lBERS!I1P JamesBond. George CotsakJ),Gregory Gnggs, James How.ani, Ira Jackson, Jack Sum·"'.",RESPONSIBILITIES'Council operations and staffExecutive appointments re·quirlng council approvalConfliCl of interest questionsAgenda for council meetingElection mattersRules of Council'·Conduct. decorum andgood repute of tbe council andthe members thereof."Sperxhng of council fundsIn effect, the new charter divides up aU the civicduties into pelicy-making and pollcy.executing functions.The council maMs policy and the mayor executespolicy, the new chartef" says.The council, for instance. could dl>cide that the citywants t.o install 100 traffic l~t.s a year for the nert fi\'eyears.It WOI&! be the mayor's duty to see that the city got agood IX"lct on traffic lights and to see that they get in·stalled in the right places.The ticklish art 'would be borderline cases, th~could be a has:;le, for instance, over whether the locationFinanceL • Gre,orywith 01of new traffic lights is a OC>cisiM for the legislature (policymakers) or the execut.h'e (policy executor).The policy proposals themselves could originate eitherin the mayor's office or in the council.Some 0( the major policy Items, such as the prepara.tion of comprehensive development plans, are given to themayor by the new charter.But the charter also gi,\"8S the council the authority tobire its own stalf of experts.. including an auditor. Thatmeans that the council could, if it wanted to, study andInitiate Its 011-'11. policies, or modil'y the ones proposed lIythe mayor.Tbere Is one simJ!.arlty with the old Board of Alder·men, at least on the SW'faoe. That is the existence of c0mmitteeS,nine of them, which will do the spade work on tbequeetions submitted to the COW'Ici1.Under the new arrangements, council presidentWydly Fowler ",ill refer all incOming paper work to theappropriate commitlee.The committee is required to study each proposal,take a vote on it, and bring back recommendation;; {or thefull council to vote on.'I'he committees. outlined. in the aeoompaIl}ing iIlllS"traditions, we~ appointed by Fowler two weeks ago,The cotn::ilmen not identilied In the illustrations are:-James Bord, v.w lists his occupation as politician.He has been a recording Wiustry worker, road show man-­agee and \·oter organizer.-John Calhoun, din:x:tor of a Ford Foundation studyof blaei: history in Atlanta... The 7~}'ear-okl calhoun's pastbusin8s affiliations include social service coosuIUng work,accomtlng, tea~ and newspaper work.-Gt'orge CotsakU, head of Atlanta Grocery Co"v.hoIesaler' .-Manis Fin,koy, graphlc arts chief for Southern RuralAdm, a black capitaUsm oriented group based in Atlantaam v.'Ork1r¥ thro~t the Southeast.an ordained Presbyterian minlsterUrban Trairung Organization, anaJudiciaryCHAIRMAN: Marvin Ar·rington, lawyer.MEMBERSHIP: PankeBradley. George Cotsakis,Morris Finley, James Howard,Arthur Langford Jr., Jack.Summers.RESPOXSIBILtTlES:Penal ordinancesCity Court operationsNumber and salanes oCjudgesNumber of salaries of solIcilOrsand public defendersNumber of part·time COllrtofficialsLaw departmentLand agentDllties of public defendersTransportationCHAIRMAN: lra Jackson.proprielor· of enlerpriseswhich include real estate,auto parts. a service stationand land development.MEMBERSHIP: Marvin Ar·rington, Panke Bradley,Morris Finley, BuddyFowlkes, Richard Guthmao,Charles Helms.RESPONSiBILITIES:Transportation generallyAviation, including Harts·field International AirportTraffic engineering andcontrolParking facilitiesMetropolitan Atlanta RapidTransit Authority (MARTA)mattersTax and ren'nue admims·trationFina~ departmentResourcesCUAIRMA;'; POInlr.t Brad·ley. former rtseOirch anal\·~tfor health and communltv a('.tlOn groups ...... ife of a CeOrS11State University sociologyprofessor,ME)'IBERSHlP: Marvin Ar·rington. James Bond. JohnCoilhoun, George Cotsakil,Charles Helms, Arlhur Lang.ford Jr.RESPOXSmILmES:Parks and RecreationAtlanta Public LibraryEconomle OpportunityAtlantaModel CitiesHealth, education and wei·fare mattersCommunity service activl·tiesConsumer aHairsCivic CenterAuditoriumPublic 5