456 PARKS 



4. Tenure of office. In fixing the tenure of office of members of park 

 commission, it is highly desirable to arrange the tenure in such a way that 

 a majority of the commission at least shall be old members. This ensures a 

 continuous line of experience in handling plans and policies which, in park 

 planning, development and operation, must extend over a period of years. 

 The most acceptable plan of fixing the tenure of office is to have one retire 

 each year. Thus at the time of the appointment of a commission of five 

 members one would be appointed for one year, one for two years, one for 

 three years, one for four years and one for five years, and thereafter one 

 would be appointed each year for a term of five years. The same plan may 

 be used for commission of three, seven, nine or any other number, although 

 other combinations of years of tenure might be fixed. In Oakland, Cali- 

 fornia, the tenure of office of the park commissioners (three in number) 

 is for six years, one being appointed every two years. In San Francisco 

 the park commission of five members classified themselves so that one 

 went out of office at the end of one year, one at the end of two years, one 

 at the end of three years and two at the end of four years. In Hartford, 

 Connecticut, in a board of ten appointive members, one is appointed each 

 year, but that member who serves the full period of ten years is not eligible 

 for reappointment. 



The plan followed in some cities of appointing all the members for the 

 same tenure with the possibility of an entirely new membership at the end 

 of the tenure of office of the old commissioners is not wise in park legislation 

 for the reason that under such a plan there is no reasonable assurance of 

 stability in policies or executive organization and the affairs of the depart- 

 ment may be thrown into the more or less complete control of whatever 

 political faction happens to be uppermost in the community. 



To secure overlapping tenure of office in elective commissions an 

 arrangement is desirable whereby one or more of the commissioners shall 

 be elected every two years as a minimum, so that the elections may coincide 

 with some local, state or national election, thus avoiding the trouble and 

 expense of conducting separate elections. In the small park districts of 

 Chicago in the sixteen commissions of five members each, one in each com- 

 mission is elected each year. In Minneapolis, out of a commission of fifteen 

 members, twelve serving six years each are elected four at a time every two 

 years. In Louisville, Kentucky, the six elective members in a board of seven 

 serve four years, three being elected every two years. In some of the cities 

 of Iowa having commissions of three members the tenure of office is six 

 years, one being elected every two years. 



In cities administering parks under a plan other than a board or a 

 commission the tenure of office is fixed either by the length of time for which 



