1. The following elected or appointed officers:
   • Mayor;
   • Managing Director;
   • Director of Finance;
   • City Representative, who shall also serve as
     • Director of Commerce;
   • City Controller;
   • City Treasurer;
   • Personnel Director.

2. The Mayor's Cabinet and a committee thereof to be known as the Administrative Board.

3. Other heads of departments as hereinafter in this chapter specified.

4. The following departments which are hereby created:
   • Law Department;
   • Department of Commerce;
   • Police Department;
   • Department of Public Health;
   • Fire Department;
   • Department of Streets;
   • Department of Recreation;
   • Department of Public Welfare;
   • Water Department;
   • Department of Public Property;
   • Department of Licenses and Inspections;
   • Department of Records;
   • Department of Collections;
   • Auditing Department;
   • Procurement Department.

5. The following independent boards and commissions, which, except for the Board of Trustees of the Free Library of Philadelphia, are hereby created:
   • City Planning Commission;
   • Commission on Human Relations;
   • Board of Trustees of the Free Library of Philadelphia;
   • Board of Pensions and Retirement;
   • Civil Service Commission.

6. The following departmental boards and commissions, which are either created or placed, as the case may be, in the respective departments, as follows:

   In the Department of Commerce:

   • Board of Trade and Conventions.

   In the Department of Public Health:

   • Board of Health
   • Air Pollution Control Board
   • Board of Trustees of Philadelphia General Hospital
   • Board of Trustees of Philadelphia Hospital for Contagious Diseases.

   In the Department of Streets:

   • Board of Surveyors.

   In the Department of Recreation:

   • Fairmount Park Commission;
   • Board of Trustees of American Flag House and Betsy Ross Memorial;
   • Board of Trustees of Atwater Kent Museum;
   • Board of Trustees of Camp Happy.

   In the Department of Public Welfare:

   • Board of Trustees of House of Correction;
   • Board of Trustees of Home for the Indigent.

   In the Department of Public Property:

   • Gas Commission;
   • Art Commission.

   In the Department of Licenses and Inspections:

   • Zoning Board of Adjustment;
   • Board of building Standards
   • Board of License and Inspection Review.

   In the Department of Collections:

   • Tax Review Board;
   • Sinking Fund Commission.

7. An advisory board in the Department of Recreation to be known as the Recreation Coordination Board.

8. Such additional advisory boards as the Mayor may appoint.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Article II, as amended.

• Purposes:
  1. The framework of the executive and administrative branch of the City government is detailed in this section. It lists all the principal elected or appointed officers, and all departments, boards and commissions. It makes provisions for a Cabinet, a committee thereof known as the Administrative Board, and department heads.

  2. The elected City administrative officers are: a Mayor, of the strong-mayor type, who is undoubtedly the City's most important officer; a City Controller, traditionally an elected official in Pennsylvania, to audit expenditures of the City government; and a City Treasurer, because of constitutional compulsion, whose office is to become an appointive one when the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth permit ( Section 3-202 ).

  3. The principal appointed officers include the Mayor's chief assistants: the Managing Director, who will supervise the service departments; the Director of Finance who will be the chief financial and budget officer; and the City Representative who will be the Mayor's ceremonial representative and the City's publicity chief. The Personnel Director, to be appointed by the Civil Service Commission, will be the city's personnel officer.

  4. Departments are established on the basis of functions to be performed. Considerations prompting the departmentalization of functions are that functions grouped together be related to each other; that neither too few nor too many functions be placed in any one department; that the departments created embrace all fundamental municipal activities; and that problems of particular concern such as water, recreation, records and revenue collection, receive special attention through the creation of departments to deal specifically with them.

  5. All but five boards and commissions have been connected, for the purposes of fiscal administration, with those departments to which their functions are most closely related. Such boards and commissions are denominated departmental boards and commissions. The five that constitute exceptions, denominated independent boards and commissions, are boards whose activities are not closely related to any particular department or are of such importance as to merit independent status.

     See Annotations to the following sections for the special relationships of the following departments, boards and commissions:

     Department of Public Health and

     Boards of Trustees of City Hospitals - Sections 5-300, 5-303 ;

     Department of Recreation and

     Fairmount Park Commission - Sections 5-600, 5-602 ;
     Board of Trustees of Camp Henry - Section 5-605 ;

     Department of Public Welfare and

     Board of Trustees of Welfare Institutions - Sections 5-700, 5-701.

     See also Annotation to Section 8-403.

  6. Only one advisory board, for the Department of Recreation, is expressly created, but provision is made for additional such boards as the Mayor may appoint.

The following officers shall be the heads of the departments following their respective titles:

• City Solicitor, of the Law Department;
• Director of Commerce, of the Department of Commerce;
• Police Commissioner, of the Police Department;
• Health Commissioner, of the Department of Public Health;
• Fire Commissioner, of the Fire Department;
• Street Commissioner, of the Department of Streets;
• Recreation Commissioner, of the Department of Recreation;
• Welfare Commissioner, of the Department of Recreation;
• Water Commissioner, of the Water Department;
• Commissioner of Public Property, of the Department of Public Property;
• Commissioner of Licenses and Inspections, of the Department of Licenses and Inspections;
• Commissioner of Records, of the Department of Records;
• Revenue Commissioner, of the Department of Collections;
• City Controller, of the Auditing Department;
• Procurement Commissioner, of the Procurement Department.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 206, as amended.

• Purposes:
  1. Each department is to have a head, and this section lists the heads of the various departments.

  2. The exercise of the powers and the performance of the duties of each department are made the responsibility of the department head.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article II, Section 6(b).

• Purposes: The Mayor's Cabinet is small and compact in the interest of its effective operations. All service departments are represented by the Managing Director, all finance departments, except the City Treasurer and the Auditing Department, are represented by the Director of Finance. The Mayor's legal advisor and the City Representative are included since their aid will be necessary in shaping policy.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 204.

• Purposes: The Administrative Board will determine the policy to govern administrative details of the City government. Therefore, the chief administrative officers of the Mayor who will be concerned with the effective, over all application of such policy, the Managing Director and the Director of Finance, are made members of the Board.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: The effective functioning of boards and commissions requires that each have a presiding officer and a secretary, and where he will serve a purpose a treasurer, but the secretary and treasurer may be the same person.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article II, Section 2(a), as amended.

• Purposes: This section fixes the time of the Mayor's election.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article XII, Section 1.

• Purposes: The City Controller is retained as an elected officer to make him independent of the officials whose expenditures he will audit.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article XI, Section 1.

• Purposes: The City Treasurer is retained as an elected officer for the present. If the Constitution is amended and the laws of the Commonwealth permit, the City Treasurer is to be appointed by the Director of Finance because the Treasurer's functions are primarily ministerial under the Charter. They are necessarily a part of the broader functions and operations of the office of the Director of Finance and the City Treasurer should serve as a part of the Director's organization.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article XIII, Section 1.

• Purposes: The advice and consent of the Council to the appointment by the Mayor of the City Solicitor are required because under the Charter the City Solicitor is to serve as legal advisor to the Council as well as to the Mayor.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: Consistent with the theory of the strong-mayor form of government, the Mayor is given the power to appoint his principal assistants without the advice and consent of the Council. The Finance Director is to be appointed by the Mayor from persons recommended by a Finance Panel because the major powers and duties vested in the Director of Finance and the extreme importance of his office require that the office be filled by a person of marked competence and experience. The Finance Panel device is intended to help assure especially qualified appointments to this office.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: The Civil Service Commission, rather than the Mayor, has been designated the appointing power of the Personnel Director as a step towards assuring the complete independence of the Personnel Director and the separation of the administration of the civil service system from partisan political considerations and influences, direct or indirect. This is an indispensable requirement of any true merit system of City employment.

1. The Managing Director shall appoint the Police Commissioner, the Health Commissioner, the Fire Commissioner, the Street Commissioner, the Recreation Commissioner, the Welfare Commissioner, the Water Commissioner, the Commissioner of Public Property, the Commissioner of Licenses and Inspections, and the Commissioner of Records;

2. The Director of Finance shall appoint the Revenue Commissioner and the Procurement Commissioner.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: Since the Managing Director and the Director of Finance are to be responsible for the supervision and operation of the departments placed under them, they are given the power to appoint, with the approval of the Mayor, the individuals who are to head those departments. The Mayor has a voice in the appointment process because the ultimate responsibility of the City administration is his.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 207, as amended.

• Purposes: Consistent with the strong-mayor form of government plan, the Mayor will, as a rule, appoint the members of all boards and commissions. Council's former participation in the administrative process of government through its power to appoint members of boards and commissions has been removed.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: As a general rule and except for financial administrative purposes, boards and commissions are to be integral agencies and hence are to elect their own officers.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article IV, Section 5.

• Purposes:
  1. A minimum residence of three years is required so that the Mayor will have some intimate knowledge and understanding of the City's problems and needs.

  2. The qualifying age must be met as of the time of the election rather than the time of nomination or taking office.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: These qualifications are prescribed because the Managing Director is to supervise the service departments.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: These qualifications for the office of the Director of Finance seek a person fully competent to fulfill the duties of the office. A controller or an executive of a business, an expert on public finance such as a university professor teaching that subject or a governmental budget and finance officer, would qualify for the office provided his experience is adequate. It should be noted that two things are required by this and the preceding section: activity in a specified field; such experience by virtue of that activity as to qualify the individual for the office.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: Since the City Representative is to perform the dual function of promoting the City and representing the Mayor at public affairs, it is required that he have experience in both public relations work and as a public speaker. It is to be noted that since he is also to serve as the head of the Department of Commerce, Section 3-305 applies, and he is required to be qualified in addition by experience and training for that office.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: To qualify for the office of City Solicitor, a person must be a member of the Bar of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and must have had five years' experience in the active practice of law which includes private practice, practice as a government attorney, or a combination of both. This is the minimum experience believed to be necessary for the proper performance of the duties of the office.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: Sections 3-301--3-304 specify qualifications for the principal appointive officers of the executive branch of the City government. It was not deemed feasible to specify particular qualifications for other appointive, non-civil service officers beyond requiring that they meet a general standard of being especially qualified for their positions by their training and experience.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes:
  1. All officers and employees must be citizens of the United States.

  2. It is not required that appointees to non-civil service positions be residents of the City at the time of their appointment in order to permit the appointment of the best qualified and most experienced persons that can be obtained. On the other hand, an appointee, once he takes office, is required to become a resident of the City within six months of his appointment.

  3. All that is required in the case of members of boards and commissions is that they be residents of the City or of a Pennsylvania county adjacent to the City. At the present time, many members of boards and commissions performing important City functions are not residents of the City. Nevertheless, they serve without compensation, give of their time, and even of their money in helping to make the City a better place in which to live. Examples may be found in the Fairmount Park Commission and the Board of Trustees of the Free Library of Philadelphia. City libraries and City museums have benefited from funds, books and objects of art donated to them by Philadelphia suburbanites. Such benefits might well be lost to the City if membership on boards and commissions were restricted to residents, and therefore, that restriction was not imposed.

  4. Residence qualifications of civil service employees are not covered by this section but by the provisions of the civil service chapter. Section 7-401(u).

ANNOTATION

• Sources: As to term of office, Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article II, Section 2, as amended.

• Purposes: While the Mayor is given the present four year term of office, two limitations are imposed:
  1. His successive terms by election are limited to two terms. He may be elected to serve for a total of two terms of four years each when one follows the other. He may not be elected for the next term following although if he is out of office thereafter for a term or more he may again be elected as Mayor and re-elected for a successive term. Should he fill a vacancy other than by election, he may still serve in addition thereto, two successive terms of four years each by election.

  2. The other limitation, of his office being vacated by his becoming a candidate for another elective office, will prevent a Mayor from neglecting the duties of his office as Mayor while he seeks election to another office. It will also tend to avoid official decisions of a Mayor from being influenced by conflicting interests which might arise if he were, while Mayor, a candidate for another public office. The nomination for an office at a primary election or the Mayor's announcement at any time that he is a candidate for another office will serve to vacate his office.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581. Article XII, Section 1.

• Purposes: The term of the City Controller continues to be as present. See Annotation to Section 3-201.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581. Article XI, Section 1.

• Purposes: Until the office of City Treasurer becomes an appointive one, his term continues to be as at present. See Annotation to Section 3-202. When his office becomes an appointive one, he will serve at the pleasure of the appointing power. See Section 3-404.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: Two considerations were sought to be balanced in fixing a term of office for a Managing Director: the importance of his position to the people of the City as the supervisor of the service departments; the importance of his relationship to the Mayor as the Mayor's personal assistant. The first consideration prompted the fixing of a definite term of four years for the Managing Director. This will help to obtain an official of high calibre and extensive experience because a measure of security of tenure of office is offered. The other consideration prompted the requirement that the Managing Director's term of office coincide with that of the Mayor who appoints him. Thus, in most instances, a Mayor will have serving as a Managing Director one whom he appointed to office. However, should a Mayor elected for a four year term not complete his term, his successor would have a Managing Director who had been appointed by his predecessor. This was necessary to assure to a Managing Director a minimum term of four years unless he is sooner removed from office under conditions specified in Section 9-201.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Article VI, Section 4.

• Purposes: With certain exceptions (see Article IX, Chapter 2), every appointive officer of the City serves at the pleasure of his appointing power and until his successor is qualified. For, apart from Constitutional compulsion, the interests of good and harmonious government generally require that an appointing power be able to remove an appointee when any consideration arises requiring removal, provided the appointing power bears the responsibility and remains accountable for his action.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article II, Section 4, as amended.

• Purposes: Present law is continued for two reasons: it presents no problem of any urgency that needs correction; and should the method for filling a vacancy have been changed, it would have been necessary for the voters to have passed separately upon the proposed change at the time of the adoption of the Charter.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source but see Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581. Article IV, Section 2.

• Purposes: This section continues existing law. See Annotation to Section 3-500.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: Vacancies in appointive offices for a term are filled by appointment for the balance of unexpired terms so as to preserve the system of staggered appointments where they are required, and otherwise so as not to impose on a succeeding appointing power hold-over appointees. Vacancies in appointive offices are to be filled in the same manner as original appointments.

• Mayor, $25,000;
• Managing Director, $20,000;
• Director of Finance, $15,000;
• City Representative, $12,000;
• City Controller, $15,000;
• City Treasurer, $12,000;
• City Solicitor, $15,000;
• Personnel Director, $12,000;
• Police Commissioner, $13,000;
• Health Commissioner, $12,000;
• Fire Commissioner, $12,000;
• Street Commissioner, $12,000;
• Recreation Commissioner, $12,000;
• Welfare Commissioner, $12,000;
• Water Commissioner, $15,000;
• Commissioner of Public Public Property, $12,000;
• Commissioner of Licenses and Inspections, $12,000;
• Commissioner of Records, $12,000;
• Revenue Commissioner, $12,000;
• Procurement Commissioner, $12,000.

The compensation fixed by this charter for any officer shall be reduced by an amount equal to any compensation which he receives in addition thereto for any services, rendered by virtue of his office, to the City or to any other governmental agency.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: See the Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 209, as amended.

• Purposes:
  1. It was necessary to fix initially in the Charter the salaries of the principal officers of the City government so that the budget adopted prior to the effective date of the Charter could make provision for the compensation of officers who would have to begin service before the Council under the new Charter had had an opportunity to fix salaries and to make appropriations. It should be noted that the new Council is empowered to vary the salaries fixed and the payroll periods, should it deem a change desirable.
  2. Since some City officers, notably the City Controller and the City Treasurer, receive compensation for their services, by virtue of their offices, from other agencies, and since the Charter salary scale increases their salaries, such additional compensation is credited against salaries received from the City.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 210(c), as amended.

• Purposes: The present policy of members of boards and commissions generally serving without compensation is continued with an exception being made in the case of Civil Service Commissioners. See Section 3-804. However, Council may ordain compensation as it sees fit in the light of experience.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 212, as amended.

• Purposes: The creation of bureaus and divisions in departments, boards, and commissions is left to the department heads and boards and commissions concerned, rather than being fixed in the Charter, in order to permit flexibility and adaptation to changing circumstances and conditions. The approval of the Administrative Board is required so that over-all governmental considerations may enter into the picture and so that some measure of control may be exercised over the number of bureaus and divisions to be established. The creation of bureaus and divisions is thus made a function of the administrative branch of the City government rather than of the Council.

Whenever there shall be a vacancy in the office of the head of any department or any other office to which this section applies, such deputy as shall be designated in writing by the appointing power or in the case of an elective department head or officer, by the Mayor, shall exercise the powers and perform the duties of the department head or officer until the vacancy is filled. With the approval of the Mayor in writing, the Managing Director, the City Controller, the City Treasurer, the City Solicitor, the Director of Finance, the Director of Commerce or the Personnel Director, and with the approval of the Managing Director in writing, any other department head may authorize any deputy to serve in his stead on any board or commission. ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 213, as amended.

• Purposes:
  1. The designation of deputies and the determination of their compensation are made an administrative rather than a legislative function because the problem is one peculiarly within the concern, competence and experience of the administrative branch of the government. The number of deputies appointed is made subject to the approval of the Administrative Board so that the number will remain within reason and within need. The compensation of deputies, while an administrative decision, will be limited by the amount of money appropriated by the Council to a department for salaries and other non-civil service officers and employees. All such appropriations must be lump sum appropriations.
  2. Deputiers are empowered to act in place of superior officers under appropriate circumstances. Thus, whenever there is a vacancy in the office of a head of a department, a deputy authorized to do so, may exercise the powers of that office, pending the appointment of a new department head. This makes possible the uninterrupted continuity of the work of the department, adequate supervision and direction. Deputies are authorized to serve on boards and commissions for their superior officers so that such officers will be free to attend to their many other duties.

1. The Mayor, the Managing Director, the Director of Finance, the City Treasurer and the Personnel Director, and the heads of the several departments and the several boards and commissions shall appoint and fix the compensation of such secretaries, consultants, experts, bureau or division chiefs, superintendents, assistant superintendents, assistant chiefs, and other assistants and employees as may be required for the proper conduct of the work of their respective offices, departments, boards or commissions. Unless otherwise specifically provided in this charter, employees of a board or commission shall be nominated by its chairman or president or by such other officer as may be designated by the board or commission.

2. The number and compensation of all employees in the Law Department, and in the offices of the Managing Director, the Director of Finance and the City Representative, shall be subject to the approval of the Mayor; the number and compensation of all employees in the office of the Personnel Director shall be subject to the approval of the Civil Service Commission; the number and the compensation of all employees in all departments under the supervision of the Managing Director and in their departmental boards and commissions shall be subject to the approval of the Managing Director; and the number and compensation of all employees in the Department of Collections, and its departmental board and commission, and the Procurement Department shall be subject to the approval of the Director of Finance.

3. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, the compensation of persons presently employed by the City shall be according to the presently existing classification and pay scale until civil service regulations are adopted as provided in this charter after which all persons subject to the civil service regulations shall be employed and compensated in accordance with such regulations.

4. The mayor shall furnish to the Cabinet and to the Administrative Board such clerical and other assistance as may be necessary for the conduct of their work and the keeping of their minutes.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 214, as amended.

• Purposes:
  1. The number of employees to be appointed and their compensation are made a matter of decision for the administrative and executive branch, rather than the legislative branch, of the government. Appropriations will be made in lump sums to the various departments, boards and commissions for personnel services. Each agency will decide how many employees are to be appointed and what their salaries shall be within the lump sum appropriation to it. The Council retains legislative control to the extent of its power to appropriate the lump sums requested. At budget hearings Council may and should require justification of the amounts requested.

  2. The compensation of employees in the civil service is to be fixed by the various officers and department heads in accordance with the civil service pay scale and job classification regulations. The pay scale and job classification of employees of the City subject to civil service at the time the Charter takes effect are maintained pending the adoption of new civil service regulations.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Ordinance of the City of Philadelphia, December 21, 1942.

• Purposes: The composition of the City Planning Commission includes the Managing Director because he is in charge of the service departments of the City concerned with City capital improvements; the Director of Finance because the City Planning Commission is responsible for preparing initially the capital program and capital budget; and the City Representative because, as the City's promotional officer and Director of Commerce, he is concerned with the growth and development of the City. Five private citizens are included to assure adequate civic representation through persons who are neither preoccupied nor connected with City functions as public officials.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Ordinance of the City of Philadelphia, March 12, 1948.

• Purposes: The membership of the Commission on Human Relations is fixed at nine as against five on its predecessor, the Fair Employment Practices Commission, because of the additional duties and powers vested in the new Commission.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Ordinance of the City of Philadelphia, December 31, 1894.

• Purposes: The number and method of appointment of the Board of Trustees of the Free Library of Philadelphia are retained substantially as at present. The Recreation Commissioner is a new member because the activities of the Free Library will be concerned in part with phases of recreation..

Until the elected members shall have been chosen, a majority of the Board at the time being shall constitute a quorum. Thereafter five members shall be a quorum.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: The composition of the Board of Pensions and Retirement consists of the Director of Finance because the creation and management of pension and retirement funds will present important financial problems; the Managing Director because, next to the Mayor, he will supervise the greatest number of City employees who will be affected by any pension and retirement system; the City Controller because he is the City's auditor; the City Solicitor because of the intricate legal questions which will arise in connection with pensions and retirement benefits; and the Personnel Director because of his concern with personnel welfare. Four other members are to be elected by City employees who will thus have a voice in the administration of the pension and retirement system. A majority of the permanent members is constituted a quorum upon the creation of the Board to permit it to begin to function as soon as possible pending the election of employee representatives.

Of the members first appointed, one shall be appointed for a term of two years, one for a term of four years, and one for a term of six years. Thereafter, all appointments shall be for terms of six years.

Unless and until the Council shall provide a higher rate of compensation, each member of the Commission shall receive a fee of one hundred dollars for each meeting of the Commission which he attends, but the total compensation payable to any member in any one year shall not be more than $6,000.

The Commission shall meet at least once each month. All meetings shall be open to the public unless the Commission shall otherwise direct.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: A Model State Civil Service Law. Section 4.

• Purposes:
  1. Civil Service Commissioners are to be appointed from names suggested to the Mayor by a Civil Service Panel in order to make certain that Commissioners meet the qualifications specified in the Charter. These include the requirements that they be in sympathy with the application of merit principles to public employment and that in the exercise of their powers and fulfillment of their duties they be independent of partisan politics.
  2. This is one of the few instances where staggered terms are fixed because it is not a function of the Civil Service Commission to effectuate the policies of any particular Mayor's administration.
  3. Substantial remuneration is provided for Civil Service Commissioners because they will be required to devote considerable time to their duties even though they are part-time City officers. Council may increase the compensation fixed by the Charter but may not decrease it. This is another measure to safeguard the civil service system.
  4. The Commission is permitted to have executive sessions because the quasi-judicial nature of its work will from time to time require that it be performed in private. However, Section 7-201 gives employees the unqualified right to request public hearings of their cases.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Ordinance of the City of Philadelphia, December 22, 1932.

• Purposes: City and State Department of Commerce heads have been included on the Board of Trade and Conventions because the work of the Board will be vitally concerned with the commerce. The Board will also have important functions to perform in the realm of public instruction and school representatives are included for this purpose.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article VII, Section 4.

• Purposes: The development in recent years of a field of study in public health and the academic degrees awarded to those pursuing such study prompted the requirement that at least one of the physician members of the Board and the dentist member have such degrees. A dentist has been included on the Board because of the importance to public health of adequate dental facilities and care. Three members are required to be physicians because public health involves the constant application of learning in the medical sciences. Four members of the Board may be lay persons and persons whose skills and training are important in the public health field, such as sanitary engineers, nurses, and osteopaths. The Health Commissioner is made the Chairman of the Board because the Board is attached to the Department of Public Health and the regulations promulgated by the Board will be the regulations of the Department.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Ordinance of the City of Philadelphia, June 25, 1948.

• Purposes: The composition of the Air Pollution Control Board is such as to assure members competent to deal with the subject of air pollution control. The Health Commissioner is a member because the Board is attached to the Department of Health.

This applies to

• Board of Trustees of Philadelphia General Hospital
• Board of Trustees of Philadelphia Hospital for Contagious Diseases
• Board of Trustees of House of Correction
• Board of Trustees of Home for the Indigent
• Boards of Trustees of any additional institutions hereafter established, acquired or operated by the City.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 401 as amended.

• Purposes:
  1. No particular qualifications are required of appointees to boards of trustees of City institutions but all appointments must be made on a non-political basis. It is anticipated that citizens with a demonstrated interest in institutional welfare and administration will be chosen and that they will be competent to fulfill their trust.
  2. This section is drawn to cover not only the institutions named, but any new institutions which may be hereafter operated by the City.
  3. Staggered terms have been provided because sound institutional management should be independent of changes in political administrations.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Ordinance of the City of Philadelphia, March 17, 1884 and December 31, 1919.

• Purposes: The Board of Surveyors is continued substantially as at present, except that the various members are to be appointed by the Commissioner of Streets with whose Department the Board is connected.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of March 26, 1867, P.L. 547, as amended.

• Purposes: The membership of the Fairmount Park Commission is continued as at present except that the Recreation Commissioner is added as a member ex officio because the Commission is connected with his Department and is concerned with recreational facilities and activities.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Ordinance of the City of Philadelphia, May 26, 1941.

• Purposes: The Recreation Commissioner is made a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Flag House and Betsy Ross Memorial because the Board is connected with his Department.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Ordinance of the City of Philadelphia, July 28, 1938.

• Purposes: The Board of Trustees of the Atwater Kent Museum is continued as at present so as not to vary the terms of the agreement under which the City accepted the Museum for under the terms of the agreement, any variation might result in the loss by the City of the Museum.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929. Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 401 as amended.

• Purposes: The Recreation Commissioner is made a member of the Board of Trustees of Camp Happy because it is connected with his Department.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Ordinance of the City of Philadelphia, December 30, 1937.

• Purposes: The composition of the Gas Commission is not specified because it is determined by the provisions of the contract in force from time to time between the City and the operators of the City Gas Works. Should there not be such an agreement in force at any time, Council is empowered to determine the composition of the Commission.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article II, Section 11.

• Purposes: The Art Commission, formerly the Art Jury, is continued substantially as heretofore, with the addition of a landscape architect. The Commissioner of Public Property is made a member because the Commission is connected with his Department. Since the Commission from time to time passes on projects within the realm of other departments, the department head concerned is made a member at the time his project is being considered.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Ordinance of the City of Philadelphia, August 10, 1933.

• Purposes: The Commissioner of Licenses and Inspections has been added to the Zoning Board because the Board is attached to his Department.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Ordinance of the City of Philadelphia, May 9, 1949.

• Purposes: Persons experienced in the design and construction of buildings are required to be members of the Board of Building Standard. The Commissioner of Licenses and Inspections is made a member because the Board is connected with his Department.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: The number of members constituting the Board of License and Inspection Review is left flexible so that the membership may be increased as the volume of the Board's cases grows.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: The Tax Review Board will consist originally of the Director of Finance, the City Solicitor and the City Treasurer because it is anticipated that the Board will not have a great volume of cases to review until Council defines the scope of matters that may be appealed to it. When its volume of business increases, the Board will consist of up to five members as the Council shall ordain. At that time an accountant and a lawyer will be required to be members of the Board because the Board will be concerned with review of tax cases and any one of the three members originally constituting the Board may be replaced.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Ordinances of the City of Philadelphia, June 19, 1857, and May 9, 1857; Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article XIV, Section 1.

• Purposes: The Director of Finance, the City Controller and an experienced banker or investment banker constitute the Sinking Fund Commission because its functions include the investment of moneys and the redemption or purchases of City Bonds. Section 6-208.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: One of the major problems which will confront the new Department of Recreation will be that of coordinating recreational activities conducted by the City, the Fairmount Park Commission and the Board of Public Education. Section 5-601. Representatives of the Fairmount Park Commission and the Board of Public Education are included to achieve the desired cooperation.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: Except for the Recreation Coordination Board, no advisory boards are created by the Charter. However, since it may be advisable in time to have such advisory boards, provision is made for their appointment..

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: The Finance Panel, which is to recommend to the Mayor individuals from among whom one is to be appointed as Director of Finance, is composed of representatives of organizations concerned with and experienced and interested in the operations to be supervised and conducted by the Director of Finance.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: The Civil Service Panel, which is to recommend to the Mayor individuals from among whom three are to be appointed as Civil Service Commissioners, is composed of representatives of organizations interested in and concerned with good government and personnel and labor practices, and the attainment of a true merit system of the City employment.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: Nominating panels are made self-perpetuating bodies to assure their independence from domination and control of any particular City administration. Mere temporary inability of a representative to serve is covered by the provision that the official of his organization who is next in rank shall serve in his stead.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes:
  1. The chairman of each panel, who is named in the Charter, is to convene it so that it may proceed to carry out the duty with which it is charged. Recommendations must be submitted in writing so that they shall be a matter of record.

  2. In order to achieve the objectives for which panels are created and at the same time not to restrict the Mayor to the appointment of an individual who may be undesirable to him, the Mayor is empowered to reject lists submitted to him by a panel and to request as many additional lists as may be necessary until he is able to fill the position. This will permit the Mayor to appoint someone with whom he believes he will be able to work and at the same time assure that the person whom he appoints is qualified for the job. Of course, the Mayor is responsible to the voters if he rejects names submitted by a panel without a justifying reason.