Board of commissioners

“ The present remedy for the evils of the existing laws is most unquestionably the best that has ever been devised; at the same time I must observe, that as the central board of commissioners must necessarily have very extraordinary and full powers, it will be necessary that they should keep such a record of their proceedings as shall render them liable to the actual control at all times of the government and parliament of the country. ”

“ This statute plainly gives to the board plenary authority to subscribe for stock of a railroad corporation, and to issue county bonds in payment of the subscription, though whether such authority in any case may be exercised or not is made to depend upon the collateral question whether the result of a popular election has indicated an approval of the proposed issue. And the board of commissioners is the tribunal contemplated by the laws to determine whether the contingency of fact has occurred,-a determination necessary to be made preparatory to their issuing the county bonds. ”

“ And it is further ordered that, should vacancies occur in said board of commissioners while the court is not in session, the Chief Justice is hereby authorized and empowered to appoint other commissioners, to supply the same, and he is authorized to act on such information in the premises as may be satisfactory to himself. ”

“ Even the very moderate powers granted the board of commissioners, which constituted the only organ of the league, tended to decline, and it can hardly be considered as other than a joint committee to consider matters of mutual interest and to proffer advice to the general courts of the several colonies. ”

“ The commissioners and assistant-commissioners may attend the meetings, and take part in the discussions of the boards of guardians, but are not entitled to vote. The guardians are to assemble at such times as the commissioners direct, and no guardian, whether ex-officio or elected, has power to act, except as a member, and at a meeting of the board, for constituting which the presence of three members is necessary. No defect in the election or qualification of a guardian, is to make void the proceedings of any board in which he may have taken a part. ”

“ Under the act of March 3, 1877, the office of receiver was abolished and the President was authorized to appoint three discreet, competent, and disinterested persons, who should constitute a board of commissioners, whose duty it was to lay out the lands of the reservation into convenient squares, blocks, lots, avenues, streets, and alleys; designate the tract, including the Hot Springs Mountains, which was to be reserved from sale ”

“ The necessity of a living, central, permanent authority had been rendered obvious by the disastrous working of the old system, arising partly from the absence of such control—an authority accumulating experience in itself, independent of local control, uninterested in favour of local abuse, and responsible to the Government. A Board of three Commissioners was therefore appointed under the Act, themselves appointing assistant Commissioners, capable of receiving the powers of the Commission by delegation. ”

“ The said General Board of Commissioners, in Executive Council assembled, have this day chosen, and by these presents do hereby appoint and authorize Dr. Martin Robison Delany, of Chatham, County of Kent, Province of Canada, Chief Commissioner; and Robert Douglass, Esq., Artist, and Prof. Robert Campbell, Naturalist, both of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of the United States of America, to be Assistant Commissioners ”

“ A special act of the legislature abolished the mayor and council and created a board of directors or commissioners of five members, one of whom is president, all being elected by popular vote. Salaries were nominal, for the commissioners were simply the responsible heads of departments with well-paid, expert managers under them to carry out the details. ”

“ They say that the conduct of the commissioners for years has been such as to poison a patrolman from the time he first applies for admission to the force. The payment for appointment, the reputation of the politicians in the Board, the uses made of him by his executive superiors in their private schemes, and by the Commissioners, directly and indirectly, for their partisan purposes, together with the general moral tone490 of the force and the work, all tend to teach him how he is to do for himself when he can. ”

“ The Commissioners recommended the appointment of a central board to control the administration of the Poor Laws, with such assistant Commissioners as might be found requisite, the Commissioners being empowered and directed to frame and enforce regulations for the government of workhouses, and as to the nature and amount of the relief to be given and the labour to be exacted ”

“ Maskelyne, to deliver an Opinion on this Point, I shall declare what I believe very sincerely, [28] that by far the greater Part of the Commissioners are perfectly innocent of the Treatment I have met with: most of them are Commissioners by Virtue of great Employments which engage their Time and Attention: A Board so constituted is continually changing ”

“ Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority so vested in me, and after investigation as provided in said Act as amended having found and hereby declaring that the abolition of the Board of Indian Commissioners created by Section 2039, Revised Statutes (U.S.C., Title 25, Sec. 21) , is necessary to accomplish the purposes above set forth, I hereby abolish the said Board and order that its affairs be wound up by the Secretary of the Interior and its records, property, and personnel be transferred and/or remain under the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior. ”

“ The claims were respectively designated as No. 133 and No. 127. The decisions were made before one of the commissioners had become a member of the board, and as soon as he qualified he dissented from them. This fact will be important in considering the effect of legislative confirmation in 1858. As required by the act of 1805, a transcript of the favorable decisions rendered by the commissioners, including these three, was duly forwarded to the secretary, who, in January, 1812, transmitted the same to congress. The decisions themselves were merely an expression of opinion by the commissioners. ”

“ The commissioners were public agents, clothed with public authority. They were created a board to perform a governmental function, and it is a familiar principle that an authority given to several for public purposes may be executed by a majority of their number. ”

“ The commissioners should, of course, keep sufficiently familiar with the work to intelligently pass upon all questions brought before them at their meetings, but they should not individually direct work nor give orders. ”

“ During the years 1897 and 1898, no less than seven different persons were selected as civil service commissioners, until a board was found willing to act upon the Mayor’s interpretation of the statute. One instance of the abuse of the law will suffice to show the methods resorted to, for the purpose of selecting a party man to fill a vacancy in office. An examination was held of applicants for the position of “foreman of street lamps repairs.” The man who passed at the head was a sixty day man. ”

“ It has provided in the District of Columbia for a board of three commissioners, who are the controlling officers of the District. It may intrust to them a large volume of legislative power, or it may, by direct legislation, create the whole body of statutory law applicable thereto. ”

“ In large cities there are boards or commissioners, distinct from the council, and these may be composed of salaried officers. In either case the board may employ a superintendent to take charge of the work under its jurisdiction. The principal criticism which can be offered against this method of managing administrative departments is that responsibility cannot be definitely located. No single member of a board or commission will assume responsibility for mismanagement; and when responsibility is divided among several persons, none of them feels it very strongly. ”

“ This was a sufficient compliance with the statute. The commissioners, by statute, constituted 'a board.' That was their official designation, when meeting to perform any duties with which they were charged. ”

“ Whenever it ceased to be the public interest, or the policy of government, to confide the choice of Canal Commissioners to the executive, it was the duty, as it was the right, of the legislature, to change the mode of appointment, and there could be no cause for complaint when they recommitted the selection to the people. ”

“ The commission shall elect annually a chairman from its own members. It shall have the power and authority to employ experts, clerks, and a secretary, and to pay for their services and such other expenses as may be necessary and proper, not exceeding, in all, the annual appropriation that may be made by said city or village for said commission. The body creating the commission shall by ordinance or resolution provide what compensation if any, each of such commissioners shall receive for his services as such commissioner. ”

“ A newly appointed commission is usually stronger than one more firmly established—when its fight has been won. It is well then to remember that in its creation, its powers should be closely defined and safe guarded, so that it has a continuing strength not wholly dependent on the personality of the commissioners and yet is so checked that the white light of public opinion may penetrate into its innermost recesses at any time. ”

“ The question is frequently put whether it is better to have five commissioners and let them choose their own chairman as a mere presiding officer, or to provide that one commissioner specially elected shall be chairman, with special executive and administrative powers. ”

“ Before commencing business they were required to pay to the board of school commissioners of Mobile County, for the use of the public schools of that county, the sum of $1000, 'and annually thereafter a like amount for the term of ten years, or so long as said partnership shall choose to do business under the provisions of this act ”

“ Commission government was for many years a fad in this country, and it has become discredited, so that of late we have been doing away with commissions and coming to single heads for departments having executive functions and some minor legislative functions, such as park boards, and police boards, and have been trying to concentrate responsibility in that way. In Erie County and throughout New York a commission elected by the people governs our counties. The board of supervisors is a commission government. It has never been creditable—always bad, even as compared with our city governments. ”

“ All municipal governments are but agencies of the superior power of the state or government by which they are constituted, and are invested with only such subordinate powers of local legislation and control as the superior legislature sees fit to confer upon them. The form of those agencies and the mode of appointing officials to execute them are matters of legislative discretion. Commissioners are not unfrequently appointed by the legislature or executive of a state for the administration of municipal affairs, or some portion thereof, sometimes temporarily, sometimes permanently. ”

“ Any vacancy on the Commission shall be filled by the Board of Supervisors for the unexpired term. Each member of the Commission shall serve until his successor is appointed and qualified. Not more than one member shall be an adherent of the same political party. No member shall hold any other salaried county office, nor shall he have been, within the year next preceding his appointment, an active executive officer in any political organization. ”

“ Each province has at its head a Royal Commissioner who has extensive powers, but who holds office at the pleasure of the king, though in the first instance his appointment is generally for some definite period. The Commissioners are not simply responsible for the good government, or for the collection of the taxes in the district under their charge, but they are intended to form connecting links between the central and the outlying portions of the kingdom. ”

“ The organization and functioning of the Legislative Council shall be determined by its internal regulations. Article 52 The People's Commissioners shall be elected by direct universal suffrage, with one People's Commissioner for every 100,000 inhabitants; each fraction of the population equal to or greater than 50,000 inhabitants shall give the right to one additional People's Commissioner. ”

“ We beg, therefore, to suggest that, instead of the mode proposed by the assembly, three commissioners or referees should be appointed,—one to be named by Her Majesty, one by the house of assembly, and one by the proprietors of the land,—and that these commissioners should have power to enter into all the inquiries that may be necessary, and to decide upon the different questions which may be brought before them, giving, of course, to the parties interested an opportunity of being heard. ”

“ In the first place, the negative did not, and cannot, cite a single city in which the commission plan has failed to secure good men. Better men are elected under the commission plan, for the number of elective offices is greatly decreased, while the responsibility and honor of the position is relatively increased. Moreover, the government is put on a business basis and the commissioners are given steady employment at a good salary. They have an opportunity to make a genuine record for themselves, as well as to serve the best interests of the city. ”