Value Of Rules Illustrated

SUSPENSION OF THE COUNCIL RULES THURSDAY

Brought About the Hasty Passage of An Ordinance Which Did Not Provide for Its Taking Effect

Messrs. Wagner and Mack got the amendment they desired to their telephone ordinance Thursday evening. The head had to be written after the first reading of the ordinance and a long amendment was made to it. The rules were suspended and the ordinance was introduced and passed at its first meeting. Its purpose is to allow distributing poles to be placed on the streets where conduits were placed.

Ald. Coon objected on the ground that the old company was required to place its poles on private property, while the new company was given the privilege of using the streets.

President Haarer called attention to the fact that the ordinance did not have any title. City Attorney Sawyer prepared one. Then someone wanted the council to designate where the poles should be placed an the city attorney hastily prepared an amendment to that effect. The ordinance was put upon its final passage and passed. In its hasty preparation and passage time was really lost because there is no clause in the new ordinance amending the previous ordinance saying when it shall go into effect and under the rulings of the court an ordinance which does not designate when it shall go into effect never goes into effect.

This is only an example of the value of the rule which requires an ordinance introduced at one meeting to go over to the next meeting. Had this ordinance done so, the defect would have probably been discovered before its final passage and remedied.