HOW are you cleaning your catch basins and sewers? The "SECO" Portable Pumping Apparatus cleans sewers All Municipalities in Wisconsin Must Provide Comfort Stations By A. L. H. Street HE Wisconsin legislature recently en TH acted a law constituting 937f of the Statutes of that state, and reading as follows: "1. Every city and incorporated village shall provide and maintain a sufficient number of suitable and adequate public comfort stations for both sexes. 2. The state board of health shall establish rules and regulations governing the location, construction, equipment and maintenance of public comfort stations, and may prescribe minimum standards that shall be uniform thruout the state. 3. The governing body of any incorporated city or village may adopt and enforce additional regulations deemed essential for the proper construction and maintenance of such public comfort stations." Frank R. King, State Plumbing Inspector, states that "the rules and regulations provided for in the act are now being formulated." He further provides a condensed summary of tentative provisions relating to the code of rules to be adopted by the state board of health, which are given in the following paragraphs: There are 317 incorporated villages and 124 cities in Wisconsin, and all are subject to the provisions of the act. Of these municipalities, 152 have water and sewerage systems, 91 have water-works but not sewerage, and 198 have neither. Cities and villages of the first class can provide washing facilities and water-flushed toilets; those of the second class, under favorable conditions, can provide waste disposal by sewage disposal systems; and those municipalities that cannot provide water-flushed toilet facilities may provide suitable privies, as may be directed by the State Board and local governing bodies. Requirements concerning water-flushed toilets will be made. Regulations will be made concerning the location of the stations, with a view to insuring proper safety, convenience and sanitation, and permitting such stations to be made a part of such semi-public buildings as halls, court houses, libraries, fire and police stations, public parks, bridge abutments, etc. Plans for the stations are to be submitted to the State Board of Health, and in some instances to the Industrial Commission. The same bodies or local authorities will supervise the construction. Provision will Le made by the State Board for suitable approaches and privacy, etc., separating accommodations afforded both sexes. Requirements for amply housing the equipment and serving the needs of the particular community will be made. Washing facilities are to be furnished where water and sewer are available. There will be provisions for towels, soap and paper, and service closets. A uniform emblem will be adopted, consisting of a green circle five inches in diameter on the outside and one inch wide, with a white center bearing a four-pointed, orange-colored star. The body of the sign is to be white and the border and lettering a deep blue. These signs will be furnished by the state at cost. Sections of the rules will deal with the design, construction, materials, light, ventilation, equipment, floors, walls, ceiling, doors, windows, partitions, and painting. Stations are to be open from sunrise, until 10 in the evening, except as otherwise provided by local regulation. Care of the stations may be assigned to any proper person, such as the custodian of a building or a local constable, under definite instructions as to his duties. Display of indecent pictures and writing in the stations will be punishable offenses. General requirements will be made for sanitary and safe conditions. Special rules will be issued to apply to stations where water-supply and sewage disposal are not available. Specimen ordinances, resolutions, etc., are to be furnished cities and villages for guidance. It is suggested that communities desiring to build stations of considerable size secure the assistance of an architect or engineer fully familiar with comfort station building types and equipment. The Board expresses intention to secure the approval by local governing bodies of the rules to be finally adopted. T City Manager Plan Thrives Under Handicaps By Harrison G. Otis HE City Manager Plan of municipal government, regarded by Woodrow Wilson as "a marked advance over any plan heretofore tried in this country from the standpoint of efficiency and economy," seems to thrive under the many handicaps forced upon it by the events of the past two years. Notwithstanding the fact that the interest and energy of the entire country have been focused upon the problems of war and reconstruction, more cities took time to place their local government upon this business basis last year than during any preceding twelve months. The record for 1918 of thirty-two additions to the list of city-manager municipalities is apparently to be exceeded in 1919. Already the figures total twenty-five, with two more pledged for 1920. Many charter campaigns are scheduled for this fall. This numerical increase is of slight significance, but the stories emanating from the scores of our cities, whose business affairs have been entrusted to trained managers during the war, mark a real epoch of municipal achievement. Among the captions to the tales from eighty-five city-manager municipalities as collected in the Fifth Yearbook* of the City Managers' Association are the following: Grand Rapids, Lowest Tax, No Overdrafts Public Safety of First Importance Wichita Saves Thousands of Dollars Business Methods Pay at Altoona Portsmouth Saves $44,000 First Year Manager as Complaint Specialist Reduce Debt, Cut Budget, Increase Service After Three Years, $132,000 Better Off Letter to Tax Payers Invites Suggestions $90,000 Bond Issue Without Tax Increase New City Prospers Under Manager Plan Save Over $2 per Capita, First Year Hasty judgment would indicate that financial economy is the chief point at issue. To those who prophesied that the new form of government would prove "efficient but cold," the emphasis upon the human element of city affairs, found in these stories, comes as a genuine and happy surprise. Lest the results accomplished, flattering as they are, be misconstrued as a criterion of what the new plan may be expected to produce under more favorable conditions, the editor in the "Foreword" to this Yearbook makes three significant statements: 1. Readjustment of a city's working organization and methods is the first, the hardest and the least appreciated task of a city manager. 2. Government cannot be measured by the tax rate. Efficiency may allow reduced taxes; it may demand increased taxes; it may even dictate a deficit, in emergency, rather than endanger public safety. Real success lies in selling the most good government to satisfied tax-payers. 3. Progress under the new plan has been hampered by two temporary handicaps: war conditions, with scarcity and high cost of labor and materials, yet bringing increased demands for service; and the newness of city-manager government, with a consequent dearth of trained managers, a frequent lack of understanding on the part of commissioners, and a citizenship not yet wholly awakened to its task of participating in civic affairs and to the joy of disinterested community service. |