Resolved: That the business affairs of all cities and incorporated villages be administered by five independent commissioners (safety-police and fire, justice, finance, health, and public works), directly responsible to the people.

Resolved: That in all cities and incorporated villages there shall be established "juvenile courts," in which children under sixteen years of age shall have a hearing, said courts not to be "courts of record" (see p. 134).

CHAPTER VII

THE COUNTY

General Statement. The state is divided into sixtytwo1 governmental units, called counties, for the administration of state law pertaining to the people residing within each county respectively. County government, unlike city government, is the same in all counties not identical in boundaries with the boundaries of a city. In the administration of law the county government bears an important part, a service that is quite distinct from that performed by any other department of our state or local government. Many cases of law are carried from justice (town) and city courts to the county court. The recording of deeds and mortgages and the probating of wills are services performed by county officials. Moreover, the principal roads and bridges outside of large cities are under county control, and the county is also responsible for the preservation of order. The county idea, like that of the town, was brought to this country by our forefathers. It first appeared in Virginia and was widely adopted in the Southern colonies.

City Counties. City counties are those whose boundaries are identical with the boundaries of cities as set forth in city charters. The Greater City of New York contains five counties New York, Kings, Queens, The Bronx, and Richmond. In such cases, city and county governments coincide in part. For example, there is no county

1 See p. 678, New York Red Book, 1915 edition. The Bronx was the sixty-second county.

legislature, since there are no towns, but the people elect a sheriff, county clerk, and district attorney as in other counties. These officials have to do with the administration of justice, thereby reducing the county thus situated to a judicial division of the state, as in Greater New York. County Government. Otherwise than above stated, we find the county government, like the federal and state governments, divided into legislative, executive, and judicial branches, which we will now consider separately.

County Legislature. The county legislature is the board of supervisors. This board is made up of the supervisors, one from each town elected at the biennial town meeting, and one from each ward in those cities. whose boundaries are less than those of a county. These supervisors represent their towns or wards in the county board of supervisors, or legislature, just as assemblymen represent their districts in the state legislature. At the annual meeting the board chooses one of its number as chairman and appoints a clerk who is not a member of the board. The board of supervisors is therefore made up of representatives from smaller political units, and the government of the county is representative. The chairman of the board appoints standing committees to facilitate business, much as the Speaker in the House of Representatives does, or the speaker in the state legislature.

Board of Supervisors: its Duties. The constitution of the state provides that the legislature may increase the powers of local legislation of the board of supervisors as it deems expedient (Art. III, sect. 27). The present powers of the board of supervisors may be briefly summarized as follows: (1) caring for county property courthouses, jails, poorhouse and farm, etc.; (2) determining the county budget and levying a tax to meet the

same, including the county's share of the state tax and any expenditures for town work; (3) auditing all bills and accounts against the county; (4) making appropriations of money for various county purposes and as above mentioned; (5) fixing salaries of county officers; (6) borrowing money on the credit of the county not to exceed the limit set by law; (7) dividing the county into school-supervisory districts and assembly districts; (8) making contracts for and in the name of the county for the care of the county poor, etc.; (9) making regulations relative to weeds, fish, game, and animals; (10) preparing yearly a list of three hundred men to serve as grand jurors for a term of one year; (11) appointing a county superintendent of highways and removing him for failing to do his duty; and (12) canvassing the votes in the county after each general election and announcing officially the results of the election. In this capacity the board is known as the "county board of canvassers." Members of the board of supervisors serve for a term of two years and receive four dollars per day for actual service as county officers.

County Executive: Removals. The executive department of the county is represented by the sheriff, clerk, treasurer, attorney, superintendent of the poor, superintendent of highways, and superintendents of schools - one or more appointed by the district board of school directors. County officers, except district superintendents of schools (see p. 80), may be removed by the governor for cause.

Sheriff. The sheriff is the chief executive officer of the county. It is his duty to preserve the peace of the county by the prevention of crime and by the arrest of criminals. He has charge of the county jail and the prisoners lodged there. He serves court orders. To suppress riot he may call out all the able-bodied men of the county. This body

is called the posse comitatus. If he is then unable to restore order, he may ask the governor for aid. He is responsible for the enforcement of state law within the county and of local regulations passed by the board of supervisors. He assists the county clerk in the selection of jurors, attends the courts of record held in the county, preserves order, conducts public sales of property ordered by the courts to be sold for the payment of debts in execution of judgments. For the carrying out of these duties he may appoint an undersheriff and a number of deputy sheriffs. The sheriff is elected at the general election for a term of three years by direct vote of the whole county. Because of his great power the state constitution forbids his succeeding himself in office. In some counties he is paid a salary, in others he is paid partly by fees, and in still others wholly by fees. The tendency, however, is to pay a salary, and the fees collected are turned over to the county treasurer. The executive head of the county government differs from the federal and the state executive in that he has no veto power over the county legislature, as the other two have over the federal and state legislatures.

County Clerk. The county clerk is the custodian of the county records. He records deeds, mortgages, wills, and other documents affecting the title to real estate, and files judgments of the courts and other papers subject to public reference. In some counties, however, there is a separate officer, called a registrar," for recording deeds and mortgages. The county clerk is clerk of the county court and of the supreme court when it holds a term in his county; he draws from the proper lists the grand and petit (trial) jurors, when this duty is not performed by a special officer called "commissioner of jurors." He is elected for