USA > Washington > Benton County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 50
USA > Washington > Kittitas County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 50
USA > Washington > Yakima County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 50
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Territorial purposes. 2.5
Ordinary county
6.0
School
3.0
Road and bridge.
1.0
Road tax
1.0
Military
2.0
Relief of indigent ex-Union soldiers is one-tenth of one mill, a total of 13 4-5 mills. There is not a pauper in the county. The above taxation is
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
heralded to the world as the very lowest known from and including Minne- sota to and including California. If there is another county in a new country that can show as low a taxation, the public would like to know of it. It is not even one-half the average taxation of Dakota-it is about 5 mills less than the average of this territory ; it is 7 mills less than the average of Montana, and apparently, with the natural road beds, and increased valuation, it need not be materially increased in the future. The total assessed valuation of prop- erty is even two million dollars-and like all Washington Territory-this valuation is most shamefully low. The real value is over four times as much and on this basis the real taxation should be divided by four. With this most desirable record of a county yet in its infancy, why should not Yakima County and the city be most desirable to live in? The indebtedness of the city is only $10,000, the taxation 7 mills. When taxes next are paid, this entire indebted- ness could be paid off, or $7,000 of it, so easily as not to endanger the future needs of the city. This amount, in the good financial condition of the city, is almost too trivial to mention. We should not close this article without return- ing the thanks of the Oregonian to Mr. H. C. Humphrey, the popular and efficient agent of the N. P. Railway in this city, who kindly prepared the above table of shipments from his records. He is also authority for the statement that the local express business has more than doubled in amount in the last year. The telegraph shows the same result, while the population itself about doubled in 1888 .- Oregonian.
The record of the preceding pages covers the first few years of the his- tory of North Yakima. The general course of events in city and county is embraced in other chapters in this part of this history. As our aim in this chapter is primarily to give the municipal development of the city, we shall now pass over a space of twenty years, noting only as we pass the fact that the city, as well as the county, went through the financial eclipse from 1890 to 1897 with some inevitable retardation, but emerged on the other side, chastened indeed, but undismayed, and ready for the great growth of the years to come. From the standpoint of municipal government the most important next stage was a great change in city organization.
THE COMMISSION FORM OF GOVERNMENT
During the last decade of the last century and the first of the present, North Yakima, like most of the towns of the state, made a great intellectual as well as material growth.
True to the American habit of mind and character, a portion of that intellectual growth manifested its energy in its application to political problems.
This is, in truth, the very genius of American institutions, the spirit of self-determination and initiative in government. In the West more than else- where, in both state and city government, there has been a great disposition to experiment. The initiative, referendum, recall, and primary elections, are products of this disposition. Very suggestively, during the very time that the citizens of the Northwest were shaping the movements in state government which would democratize politics, they were shaping a line of progress in city
WASHINGTON EVAPORATED FOOD CO.
T
WASHINGTON EVAPORATED FOOD CO., YAKIMA
THE GRAND 'S LARGEST HOTEL -
1
171171 13
SEGARS
HOTEL
GRAND HOTEL, YAKIMA
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
government which would centralize. At first glance it would seem that this latter movement might be antagonistic to the former.
Such a conclusion, however, would be very superficial. Both movements were, basically, democratic. Both alike had their mainspring in the great proposition that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," and the natural sequence that publicity and direct responsi- bility to the people are vital to just and righteous government.
The failure of municipal government in America (the only failure in our system), far from being a failure of Democracy, as some highbrow critics assert, was precisely due to lack of Democracy. In other words, it was due to the "Boss System," with the lobbying, bribery, and rotten backroom politics nesting around such a system. Cast the light of day upon these hidden base- ments of Bossism, and we secure the real Democracy which exemplifies the American ideal.
Out of these conditions, both theoretical and practical, grew the demand in various parts of our country, east and south, as well as west, though the movement has been more general and pronounced in the Northwest than else- where, for the commission form of city government. Thinking men were becoming established in the conviction that such a system would unite effi- ciency with publicity and thus secure honest and righteous administration.
It is a matter of just pride to some of the local statesmen of Yakima that from their city the proposal went which eventuated in the law providing for the city commission government.
This law was framed by a special committee of the Yakima Commercial Club, the members of the committee being as follows: Frank J. Allen, John H. Lynch, F. A. Luce, Wilbur Crocker, and John L. Hughes. The proposed charter, prepared by the above committee, was submitted to the Commercial Club and adopted January 3, 1911.
Mr. Allen, chairman of the committee, was state senator from Yakima County, and by him the bill for providing the charter was introduced. With a few amendments it was passed. This charter was adopted by Yakima by a vote of 963 to 148. Walla Walla and a number of other cities of the class to come within its provisions also adopted it. As this charter superseded the previous charter it is of interest to preserve here its essential provisions as found in the following sections of the law :
SEC. 7. Candidates to be voted for at the first and all regular municipal elections, under the provisions of this act, shall be a mayor and two commis- sioners, who shall be nominated at a primary election; and no other names shall be placed upon the general ballot except those selected in the manner hereinafter prescribed. The primary elction for such nomination shall be held on the second Monday preceding the municipal election. The officers of elec- tion appointed for the municipal election shall be the officers of the primary election, which shall be held at the same place, so far as practicable, and the polls shall be opened and closed at the same hours as are required for the municipal election.
Any person desiring to become a candidate for mayor or commissioner shall, not less than 15 nor more than 25 days prior to said primary election,
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file with the city clerk a statement of such candidacy accompanied with the filing fee required by law, in substantially the following form :
SEC. 11. Cities organized under the provisions of this act shall have all the powers which cities of the second and third classes now have, or hereafter may have conferred upon them; all which said powers shall inhere in and be exercised by the commission provided for in this act. The executive and administrative powers, authority and duties in such cities under commission, shall be distributed into and among three departments, as follows:
I. Department of Public Safety.
II. Department of Finance and Accounting.
III. Department of Streets and Public Improvements.
The commission shall determine by ordinance the powers and duties to be performed in each department; shall prescribe the powers and duties of officers and employes; may assign particular officers and employes to one or more of the departments; may require an officer or employe to perform duties in two or more departments, and may make such other rules and regu- lations as they may deem necessary or proper for the efficient and economical conduct of the business of the city.
SEC. 12. The mayor shall be superintendent of the department of public safety, and the commission shall, at the first regular meeting after election of its members, designate by majority vote one commissioner to be superintendent of finance and accounting ; and one to be superintendent of the department of streets and public improvements ; but such designation may be changed when- ever it appears that the public service would be benefited thereby.
The commission shall, at said first meeting, or as soon as practicable thereafter appoint by majority vote, a city clerk, and such other officers and assistants as shall be provided for by ordinance. Provided, that none of such officers and assistants shall be related to any member of the city commission or to each other, either by blood or marriage, within the fourth degree of kindred; and provided, further, that any officer or assistant, elected or appointed by the commission, may be removed from office at any time by vote of a majority of the members of the commission, except as otherwise provided in this act. Provided, still further, that any member of the commission may perform the duties pertaining to any and all appointive offices in his depart- ment, but without additional compensation therefor.
SEC. 13. The commission shall have power from time to time to create, fill and discontinue offices and employments other than those herein prescribed, according to their judgment of the needs of the city; and may, by majority vote of all the members, remove any such officer or employe, except as other- wise provided for in this act; and may by resolution, or otherwise, prescribe, limit or change the compensation of such officers or employes.
SEC. 14. The commission shall have and maintain an office at the city hall, or such other place as the city may provide, and their total compensation shall be as follows: In cities, having by the last preceding census authorized by law, a population of three thousand (3,000) and less than seven thousand (7,000) the annual salary of the mayor shall be twelve hundred dollars
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
($1,200.00), and that of each of the commissioners one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) ; in cities having by such census a population of seven thousand (7,000) and less than fourteen thousand (14,000), the annual salary of the mayor shall be twenty-four hundred dollars ($2,400.00), and that of each of the commis- sioners two thousand dollars ($2,000.00) ; and in cities having by such census a population of fourteen thousand (14,000) and less than twenty thousand (20,000), the annual salary of the mayor shall be thirty-six hundred dollars ($3,600.00), the commission shall fix by ordinance and shall be payable monthly or at such salaries shall be payable in equal monthly installments.
Every other officer or assistant shall receive such salary or compensation as the commission shall fix by ordinance and shall be payable monthly or at such shorter periods as the commission shall determine.
SEC. 15. Regular meetings of the commission shall be held on the second Monday after the election of the commission, and thereafter at least once each week. The commission shall provide by ordinance for the time of holding regular meetings, and special meetings may be called from time to time by the mayor or two commissioners. All meetings of the commission, whether reg- ular or special, shall be open to the public.
The mayor shall be president of the commission and preside at its meet- ings, and shall oversee all departments and report and recommend to the com- mission for its action all matters requiring attention in any department. The superintendent of the department of finance and accountings shall be vice president of the commission, and in the absence or inability of the mayor, shall perform the duties of the mayor.
SEC. 16. Every ordinance or resolution appropriating money or ordering any street improvement or sewer or making or authorizing the making of any contract, or granting any franchise or right to occupy or use the streets, high- ways, bridges or public places in the city for any purpose, shall be completed in the form in which it is finally passed, and remain on file with the city clerk for public inspection at least one week before the final passage or adoption thereof. No franchise or right to occupy or use the streets, highways, bridges or pub- lic places in any city shall be granted, renewed or extended, except by ordi- nance; and every franchise or grant for interurban or street railways, gas or water works, electric light or power plants, heating plants, telegraph or tele- phone systems, or other public service utilities within said city, must be author- ized or approved by a majority of the electors voting thereon at a general or special election.
SEC. 17. No officer or employe elected or appointed in any such city shall be interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract or job for work or materials, or the profits thereof, or services to be furnished or performed for the city; and no officer or employe shall be interested directly or indirectly, in any contract or job for work or materials, or the profits thereof, or services to be furnished or performed for any person, firm or corporation operating interurban railway, street railway, gas works, water works, electric light or power plant, heating plant, telegraph line, telephone exchange, or other public utility within the territorial limits of said city. No such officer or employe
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
shall accept or receive directly or indirectly, from any person, firm, or cor- poration operating within the territorial limits of said city, any interurban rail- way, street railway, gas works, water works, electric light or power plant, heat- ing plant, telegraph line or telephone exchange, or other business using or operating under a public franchise, any frank, free ticket or free service, or accept or receive, directly or indirectly, from any such person, firm, or corpora- tion, any other service upon terms more favorable than is granted to the public generally. Any violation of the provisions of this section shall be a misde- meanor, and every such contract or agreement shall be void.
Such prohibition of free transportation shall not apply to policemen or firemen in uniform; nor shall any free service to city officials provided for by any franchise or ordinance be affected by this section. Any appointive officer or employe of such city who, by solicitation or otherwise, shall exert his influence to induce other officers or employes of such city to favor any particular candidate for any city office, or who shall in any manner contribute money, labor, or other valuable thing to any person for city election purposes, shall be discharged from his office by the commission.
SEC. 18. The commission shall each month print in pamphlet form a detailed itemized statement of all receipts and expenses of the city and a sum- mary of its proceedings during the preceding month, and furnish printed copies thereof to the state library, the city library, the daily newspapers of the city, and to persons who shall apply therefor at the office of the city clerk. At the end of each year the commission shall cause a full and complete examination of all books and accounts of the city to be made by competent accountants, and shall publish the result of such examination in the manner above provided for publication of statements of monthly expenditures.
SEC. 19. If, at the beginning of the term of office, of the first commission elected in such city under the provisions of this act, the appropriations for the expenditures of the city government for the current fiscal year have been made, said commission shall have power, by ordinance, to revise, to repeal, or change said appropriations and to make additional appropriations.
SEC. 20. The holder of any elective office may be removed at any time after six months of incumbency by the electors qualified to vote for a successor of such incumbent. The procedure to effect the removal of an incumbent of an elective office shall be as follows: A petition signed by electors entitled to vote for a successor to the incumbent sought to be removed, equal in number to at least thirty-five per centum of the entire vote for all candidates for the office of mayor cast at the last preceding general municipal election, demanding an election of a successor of the person sought to be removed, shall be filed with the city clerk, which petition shall contain a general statement of the grounds for which the removal is sought. The signatures to the petition need not all be appended to one paper, but such signer shall add to his signature his place of residence, giving the street and number. One of the signers of each such paper shall make oath before an officer competent to administer oaths that the statements therein made are true as he believes, and that each signa- ture to the paper appended is the genuine signature of the person whose name
CASCADE LUMBER COMPANY'S PLANT, YAKIMA
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
it purports to be. Within ten days from the date of filing such petition the city clerk shall examine and, from the voter's register, ascertain whether or not said petition is signed by the requisite number of qualified electors, and, if necessary, the commission shall allow him extra help for that purpose; and he shall attach to said petition his certificate, showing the result of such exami- nation. If by the clerk's certificate the petition is shown to be insufficient, it may be amended within ten days from the date of said certificate. The clerk shall, within ten days after such amendment, make like examination of the amended petition, and if his certificate shall show the same to be insufficient it shall be returned to the person filing the same; without prejudice, however, to the filing of a new petition to the same effect. If the petition shall be deemed to be sufficient, the clerk shall submit the same to the commission without delay, and the commission shall order and fix a date for holding the said election, not less than thirty days nor more than forty days from the date of the clerk's certificate to the commission that a sufficient petition is filed. Provided, how- ever, that in any case where the clerk shall find that the petition is insufficient, or in any case where the commission shall refuse to order an election, then in either of such cases any taxpayer may petition the Superior Court of such county, and such court shall forthwith examine the petition and, if it shall find the petition sufficient, then the court shall order that such election shall be held and the commission shall be required by the order of the court to hold such elec- tion.
The commission shall make, or cause to be made, publication of notice and all arrangements for holding such election, and the same shall be con- ducted, returned and the result thereof declared, in all respects as are other city elections.
The commission shall call a special primary election for the purpose of nominating one candidate to oppose the incumbent sought to be removed, which said primary election shall be conducted, as nearly as may be, in the same manner as other primary elections under this act. The successor of any officer so removed shall hold office during the unexpired term of his prede- cessor. Any person sought to be removed shall be a candidate to succeed him- self, unless he formally resigns his office, thereby creating a vacancy, and the city clerk shall place his name on the official ballot without nomination. In any such removal election, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes shall be declared elected. At such election, if the candidate opposing the incum- bent receives the highest number of votes, the incumbent shall thereupon be deemed removed from the office upon qualification of his successor, which said qualification shall take place within ten days after receiving notification of election, otherwise the office shall be deemed vacant. If the incumbent receives the highest number of votes he shall continue in office and shall not be subject to recall under the provisions of this section during the remainder of his term of office. The same method of removal shall be cumulative and additional to the methods heretofore provided by law.
SEC. 21. Any proposed ordinance may be submitted to the commission by petition signed by electors of the city equal in number to the percentage
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
hereinafter required. The signatures, verification, authentication, inspection, certification, amendment and submission of such petition shall be same as pro- vided for petitions under Section 20 hereof.
If the petition accompanying the proposed ordinance be signed by electors equal in number to twenty-five per centum of the votes cast for all candidates for mayor at the last preceding general election, and if it contains a request that the said ordinance be submitted to a vote of the people, unless passed by the commission, it shall thereupon be the duty of the commission to either
(a) Pass said ordinance without alteration within twenty days after attachment of the clerk's certificate to the accompanying petition; or
(b) Forthwith after the clerk shall attach to the petition accompanying such ordinance his certificate of sufficiency, the commission shall call a special election, unless a general municipal election will occur within ninety days thereafter, and at such special or general election such ordinance shall be sub- mitted without alteration to the vote of the electors of said city.
The ballots used for voting upon said ordinance shall be similar to those used at the general municipal election, and shall contain these words: "For the Ordinance" (stating the nature of the proposed ordinance) ; and "Against the Ordinance" (stating the nature of the proposed ordinance). If a majority of the qualified electors voting on the proposed ordinance shall vote in favor thereof, such ordinance shall thereupon become a valid and binding ordinance of the city, and any ordinance proposed by petition, or which shall be adopted by a vote of the people, cannot be repealed or amended except by a vote of the people, and on the margin of the record of such ordinances the city clerk shall write the words "Ordinance by Petition No. " or "Ordinance by Vote of the People," as the case may be.
Any number of proposed ordinances may be voted upon at the same elec- tion, in accordance with the provisions of this section, but there shall not be more than one special election in any period of six months for such purpose.
The commission may submit a proposition for the repeal of any such ordi- nance or for amendments thereto, to be voted upon at any succeeding general city election, and should such proposition so submitted receive a majority of the votes cast thereon at such election, such ordinance shall thereby be repealed or amended accordingly. Whenever any ordinance or proposition is required by this act to be submitted to the voters of the city at any election, the city clerk shall cause such ordinance or proposition to be published once in each of the daily newspapers, in said city, such publication to be not more than twenty or less than five days before the submission of such proposition or ordi- nance to be voted on. Provided, that if no daily newspaper is published in such city, then such publication shall be made in each of the weekly newspapers published therein.
All ordinances repealed or amended shall have placed on the margin of the record of said ordinance by the city clerk the words "Repealed (or amended) by Ordinance No. " or "Repealed (or amended) by vote of the people," as the case may be.
SEC. 22. No ordinance passed by the commission, except when otherwise
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
required by the general laws of the state of Washington or by the provisions of this act, except an ordinance for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety, which contains a statement of its urgency and is passed by unanimous vote of the commission, shall go into effect before thirty days from the time of its final passage, and if during said thirty days a petition signed by electors of the city equal in number to at least twenty-five per centum of the entire vote cast for all candidates for mayor at the last preceding general municipal election at which a mayor was elected, protesting against the passage of such ordinance, be presented to the commission, said ordinance shall there- upon be suspended from going into operation, and it shall be the duty of the commission to reconsider such ordinance, and if the same is not entirely repealed, the commission shall submit the ordinance as is provided by sub- section "b" of Section 21 of this act, to the vote of the electors of the city, either at the general election or at a special municipal election to be called for that purpose ; and such ordinance shall not go into effect or become operative unless a majority of the qualified electors voting on the same shall vote in favor thereof. Said petition shall be in all respects in accordance with the provisions of Section 21, and be examined and certified to by the clerk in all respects as therein provided. Provided, this section shall not apply to ordi- nances providing for local improvement districts.
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