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STREET TREES. SF 
needed to be done and the policies that should be carried out. 
Because it takes a long time to get results in growing street trees, the 
policies should be as nearly continuous as possible and the terms of 
the members long enough to insure a majority of experienced persons 
on the board at all times. 
The method of appointing the commissioners is not so important 
as that each shall be selected from the territory as a whole rather 
than from a part of it. In some places where the term of service is 
10 years, each one’s successor is appointed by the remaining commis- 
sioners, subject to confirmation by thecourt. Where this is done a 
member is not permitted to succeed himself. In other places the 
commission is appointed by the court; in others, it is elected by the 
city legislative body or is appointed by the mayor subject to the 
approval of the legislative body. The important point is to keep the 
administration as nearly as possible on a purely business basis. 
A good board can accomplish nothing without liberalfunds. There 
are two methods of providing these: (1) By an appropriation from 
the general tax levy and (2) by direct assessment against the prop- 
erties, collectible with the other taxes. If the funds are provided by 
appropriation, a fixed minimum, expressed in millage of the tax 
rate, should be provided in the organization of the commission. 
This minimum should be such that a fair amount of maintenance work 
can be done when no other funds are available. Councils that 
appropriate money sometimes hamper boards by withholding appro- 
priations. Work of the nature of tree planting should not be per- 
mitted to suffer or be lost by a year’s neglect. The fund provided by 
this minimum amount should not be so large that regular additional 
appropriations will not be needed to carry on the work properly, as this 
will give a desirable point of contact of the commission or board with 
the ordinary channels of expressing public sentiment in the district 
interested. The minimum appropriation mandatory should be suffi- 
cient to prevent injury from lack of care of work already begun. A 
period .of minimum care and attention while a board and the people or 
their representatives are coming to a new understanding of one 
another’s position is not necessarily a detriment, provided a reason- 
able maintenance has been possible in the interim, but without such. 
care the results are ruinous and work would better not be started 
than be undertaken with the possibility of such a period of neglect 
occurring. 
It is probably desirable to assess the cost of tree planting against 
the adjacent property owners at a proportional cost per front foot 
and to provide for maintenance out of a general fund. Boulevards 
and other unusual developments are sometimes maintained with 
satisfactory results by regular assessments against the abutting 
properties. 
