CHAPTER VI 

 GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL OF PARKS 



The general administrative control of parks in America follows no 

 standard form. There is a marked difference in the plan of government 

 in cities throughout the country, ranging from government by city council, 

 the original type of control, to administration by park boards or com- 

 mission, the form of government in use in the majority of cities. 



SECTION I. TYPES OF GOVERNING AUTHORITIES 



1. City council or committee of council. This is the earliest form of park 

 government from the beginning of cities until well past the middle of the 

 nineteenth century. It was the only form of control of certain types of 

 properties now included in park systems such as commons, squares, tri- 

 angles, plazas and monument sites. This form of government is still found 

 in villages, towns and small cities, and exists even in a few large cities, of 

 which Atlanta, Georgia, is an example. 



2. Commission governed cities. The inauguration of the commission 

 form of government in American cities ushers in a type of control of parks 

 under a single elective commissioner usually known as commissioner of 

 parks and public properties, commissioner of public works or commissioner 

 of public welfare. The commission form of government exists in approxi- 

 mately four hundred ten towns and cities in the United States. In not all 

 of these communities, however, are parks and recreation under the control 

 of the commissioner, for in a few examples a park board has been retained 

 or one has later been created to take charge of parks, or a recreation board 

 established to administer the city's recreation. 



3. Federal plan governed cities. This type of municipal government 

 found in some cities comprises an elective council, a mayor who is the chief 

 executive officer and functional departments, each in charge of a director 

 appointed by the mayor with the approval of the council. This is really a 

 modified form of the commission form of municipal government which 

 brings into the administration of parks the same conditions existing in a 

 true commission form of government except that the director of the depart- 

 ment of parks and public property or the commissioner of parks is appointed 

 instead of elected by popular vote. In a few instances in cities governed 

 under the federal plan, parks are under the administrative control of the 

 park board or commission type of government. 



4. City manager governed cities. In city manager governed cities the 



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