EXECUTIVE OFFICE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY Legal Department: Office of the Corporation Counsel Department of General Administration: Personnel Office: District Personnel Board Police and Firemen's Retirement and Relief Board Management Office: Management Section Budget Office: Budget Office Finance Office: Office of the Assessor: Board of Assistant Assessors Board of Equalization and Review Committee on Special Assessment Appeals Board of Tax Appeals Office of the Collector of Taxes Disbursing Office Audit Office: Office of the Auditor Purchasing Office: Purchasing Division Division of Printing and Publication Property Office: District of Columbia Educational Agency for Surplus Property Police Department: Metropolitan Police Department District of Columbia Pound Police Trial Board Fire Department: Fire Department Fire Trial Board Office of the Chief Clerk: Office of the Chief Clerk Office of the Surveyor: Office of the Surveyor Department of Civil Defense: Office of Civil Defense Department of Vehicles and Traffic: Department of Vehicles and Traffic Motor Vehicle Parking Agency Board of Revocation, Suspension, and Restoration of Operators' Permits Board of Revocation and Review of Hackers' Identification Cards Registrar of Titles and Tags Veterans' Division: Veterans' Service Center Department of Highways: Department of Highways: Bridge Division Electrical Division Central Garage and Shops Department of Buildings and Grounds: Municipal Architect Construction Division District of Columbia Repair Shop Department of Inspections: Board for the Condemnation of Dangerous and Unsafe Buildings Central Permit Bureau Electrical Inspection Division Elevator Inspection Division Plumbing Inspection Division Smoke and Boiler Inspection Division Department of Sanitary Engineering Sewage Treatment Plant Sanitation Division Water Division Office of the Water Registrar Department of Health: Health Department: Office of the Coroner Anatomical Board Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings in the District of Columbia Board of Police and Fire Surgeons Gallinger Municipal Hospital Glenn Dale Sanatorium: Tuberculosis Hospital Department of Corrections: Department of Corrections: Department of Welfare Board of Public Welfare Department of Public Welfare Department of Industrial Relations: Alcoholic Beverage Control Board Board of Accountancy Board of Barber Examiners for the District of Columbia Board of Dental Examiners Board of Examiners and Registrars of Architects Board of Examiners of Veterinary Medicine Board of Optometry Board of Pharmacy Board of Podiatry Examiners Commission on Licensure To Practice the Healing Art in the District of Columbia Department of Insurance Department of Weights, Measures, and Markets District Boxing Commission District of Columbia Board of Registration of Professional Engineers District of Columbia Board of Cosmetology License Bureau Minimum Wage and Industrial Safety Board Nurses' Examining Board Office of the Administrator of Rent Control Undertakers' Examining Committee District Unemployment Compensation Board Electrical Examining Board Board of Examiners of Steam and Other Operating Engineers General ROBINSON. Both the chart and the list must be considered tentative, as future studies may indicate desirable changes. However, they represent the present intention of the Board of Commissioners to accomplish within 1 year's time. The CHAIRMAN. At that point I understand you are making this reservation that this is your present plan, this is the best you have been able to devise, and this is what you now would recommend to Congress if Congress were to take the action, instead of delegating the power to you? General ROBINSON. Yes, sir; that is correct. That is our best judgment as of now. However, one of the key points in our plan for good government in the future is flexibility in being able to make future changes. The CHAIRMAN. That is what we were talking about awhile ago. Do you consider such continuing authority on an indefinite basis essential? General ROBINSON. Yes, sir; I consider that an essential power. The CHAIRMAN. Does the Board desire that power indefinitely? General ROBINSON. Yes, sir; if we had had that before, maybe we would not need reorganization now. The CHAIRMAN. In other words, a continuing power to reorganize. General ROBINSON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. You do not think, then, it would be advisable for the Congress, after you had been given a chance under this plan for a year or two, to take another look at it and place a limitation upon it? General ROBINSON. I should be most happy for the Congress to take a look at it, and I hope that we can show them some wonderful results. The CHAIRMAN. You believe, though, you would still want the continuing power, do you not? General ROBINSON. Yes, sir; because conditions change and we have been handicapped in the past due to our inability to reorganize effectively to meet such changes. Senator CASE. Mr. Chairman, since you are referring to that point, which I mentioned a little while ago, I think I might say that in my talks with Mr. Fowler during the past year he said that approximately two-thirds, or perhaps 70 percent, of the reorganization plan that he had in mind, and which I think forms partly the basis for this study at least, if not the outline of the plan now suggested-that at least two-thirds of the so-called Fowler plan could have been accomplished without legislation-that is, that the Commissioners have had some minor powers of adjustment. And by suggesting a while ago that Congress at some later date might want to place some time limitation on this, I did not have in mind that the Congress would ever want to retake to itself the handling of details of administrative adjustment or readjustment. It seems to me that if the Commissioners work this out in pretty good fashion, when we take a look at it in a year or 2 years or whenever we may, it would be my hope that Congress would find that it would not have to retake any great amount of powers or place too many limitations. I am not anxious for Congress to go back into the detail of adjustment and readjustment. The CHAIRMAN. Oh, I think this plan might very well have had a provision in it, however, requiring the Board of Commissioners to within a year's time or 18 months or 2 years report back to the Congress upon what action has been taken under this authority. But the plan does not provide for any such report. General ROBINSON. I would be very glad to go on the record as promising to give such a report to any committee the Congress may designate. The CHAIRMAN. I do not know what would be the proper time; a year, 18 months, 2 years, or what. As you point out here, you do not want to make all these changes with one stroke of the pen. It has to be a gradual process, in order not to disrupt the functioning of the government. General ROBINSON. I am sure that with the splendid interest Senator Case has taken in the past in the reorganization of the District, we will probably receive a letter from him at a suitable time asking for such a report, and we will probably give it to the District Committees or to this committee if the committee should do so desire. The CHAIRMAN. I would suggest this: A suggestion from me or from Senator Case would not be in any degree binding, but I would suggest that the Commission, after it has made substantial progress in effectuating this reorganization plan that the Commission give the Congress some report on it. I think you could do that voluntarily. General ROBINSON. Yes, sir. I think it will probably come up in connection with our next year's budget hearings. The CHAIRMAN. I think the Board could perhaps make a resolution to that effect. The plan does not provide for any check on the progress made and we cannot amend the plan. We would not want to deny the approval of the plan just on that account, but I think you can voluntarily supply a report to the Congress which the plan has omitted. General ROBINSON. Yes, sir. (See resolution presented by General Robinson, p. 68, hearing of May 20, 1952.) General ROBINSON. In answer to a previous question, I would like to state that we feel that under our present authorities effective reorganization is practically impossible, because except by legislation the Čommissioners cannot increase their control over semi-independent agencies, such as the Board of Public Welfare, examining boards, and the like. We cannot create new functions or offices. We cannot appoint in classifications above GS-15. We cannot replace a board or a commission by a single head. We cannot even change the name or the functions of agencies set up by statute. We cannot delegate authority in many places where responsibility is assigned to the Commissioners by statute. Those are some of the things we cannot do under our present authority. The CHAIRMAN. Is it contemplated that this plan, this reorganization, will actually effect any savings in the cost of operating the District government? General ROBINSON. I discuss that a little later, sir. The CHAIRMAN. All right. General ROBINSON. It is also important that the intentions of the Board of Commissioners be understood with respect to the many boards and commissions to be integrated, which presently are semiautonomous in nature. Principal among these are the Board of Parole, the Anatomical Board, and the examining and licensing boards for the various professions and occupations. The Commissioners intend to exercise administrative and fiscal authority over such agencies and to consolidate and streamline their various housekeeping functions; but generally there is no intention to take from them their fact 99821-52- 4 finding functions and their independence of action. Generally, the Commissioners plan to delegate to such agencies the operating powers they now exercise; and, as in the past, their determinations generally are to be final in nature and without appeal to the Board of Commissioners. The first stage in development of this detailed plan commenced when, pursuant to reorganization questions raised by Senator Case, of South Dakota, the engineer commissioner in August 1951, directed his military assistants and civilian executive assistant to initiate studies with a view to formulating a plan for internal reorganization of the District government. This first stage involved the development of the basic concept and detailed plan of reorganization, and was substantially completed last December; when this plan was submitted to, slightly modified by, then approved by the Board of Commissioners, and forwarded to the Bureau of the Budget. It was made public in November 1951, was the subject of wide discussion by various citizens' groups and was modified as a result of public opinion and further study. It has received the almost unanimous approval of the people of Washington. It represents the considered judgment of the Commissioners, based on years of analysis by individuals intimately familiar with the District's special problems. This proposal resulted from reorganization studies of the District government, long underway and intensified over the last 2 years; which included a comprehensive study and careful analysis of recognized authorities on municipal management, the organization and operation of other forms of municipal and State government, the effectiveness of such organizations in other cities of comparable size, the various reorganization studies previously prepared, including those of the Congress, the history and legislative background of the present organization and agencies, and the functional responsibilities of such agencies. The study and analysis required detailed knowledge of District operations. The plan as finalized reflects the thinking and long experience of many District officials, the views of leading citizens, the conclusions developed by years of day-to-day dealing with Congress, and detailed analyses of District operations. It gives due consideration to the complexity of local problems and reflects a careful evaluation of the desirable and undesirable elements of organization, tempered in the furnace of long experience. It is both realistic and practical. There is no doubt that it will work, and work effectively. There are certain principles set forth here, which we followed in developing the new organization; which I do not believe it is necessary to read. I would like to skip to page 22 in the middle of the page. (The unread portion of General Robinson's statement follows:) In implementing the plan certain guiding principles, among others will be followed: (1) Control should be centralized; but operations, particularly in so large an organization, should be decentralized. (2) As a corollary of this, the basis for establishing top-level control should be the grouping of related activities: Which is to say a grouping by major purposes. At lower levels other methods of grouping may be used. Grouping by process or technical function is used to obtain the fullest advantages of technical and specialized skills and knowledge, and to secure competent professional supervision as, for example, in the case of public works and certain |