Elected First Vice-President MAYOR VIRGIL F. LAFFERTY, Champaign Educated in Champaign Public Schools and University of Illinois. . . . Associated with Commercial Bank of Champaign, 1929-1940. . . . Established his own organization, Business Management Service and Tax Consultant, 1940. . . . Elected Mayor in 1951 and re-elected in 1955. . . . Member of many civic and fraternal organizations. . . . Member of League's Executive Committee since 1951.

The 43rd Annual Convention of the Illinois Municipal League adopted the Report of the League's Committee on Home Rule. (See page 242.)

The feature of this Report was a recommendation to the 70th General Assembly, to establish a permanent Commission on State Municipal Affairs. The Report also outlined a suggested list of legislation, which might be considered municipal policy, in the coming session of the General Assembly.

The Convention elected the following officers for the coming year:

President, Mayor Charles Wellner, Naperville; First Vice - President, Mayor Virgil Lafferty, Champaign; Sergeant-at-Arms, William H. Winterhoff, Supervisor, Thornton Township, Lansing; (Vice-Presidents): Commissioner John P. Thill, Aurora; Mayor Glen Tillitt, Beardstown; Mayor Lester Cunningham, Belvidere; Mayor O. Lloyd Welsh, Bloomington; Village President Merritt Braga, Broadview; Village President Dan Kulie, Brookfield; Mayor Paul Baur, Cairo; Mayor Stanley Bejger, Calumet City; Mayor H. B. Blanchard, Centralia; Mayor Richard J. Daley, Chicago; Commissioner C. E. Corrington, Clinton; Mayor G. N. Hicks, Danville; Mayor Clarence A. Sablotny, Decatur; Mayor Clayton Pooler, DeKalb; Mayor B. H. Groves, Downers Grove; Mayor Alvin Fields, East St. Louis; Mayor Paul Taylor, Effingham; Mayor John Kimbark, Evanston; Mayor Glen Kunkle, Freeport; Mayor Leo Morrison, Galesburs; Mayor James T. Hennessey, Joliet; Mayor Edward Madison, Kankakee; Village President Evert C Schultz, Lansing; Mayor B. D. Bruno, LaSalle; Village President Andy Frenzel, Melrose Park; Village President John Noel, Mundelein; Village President J. Russell Christianson, Oak Park; Mayor Robert Morgan, Peoria; Mayor William Cunningham, Pinckneyville; Village President Harry J. Smith, River Grove; Mayor Milton Lundstrom, Rockford; Village President George Wilson, Skokie; Mayor Nelson O. Howarth, Springfield; Mayor Joseph Me Adam, Taylorville; Mayor Robert E. Coulson, Waukegan, and Mayor Lee R. Fleming, Zion.

The League Convention also adopted the following resolutions:

"WHEREAS many Illinois public officials and former officials have passed away since our last Convention, many of them having enjoyed being with us during our previous Conventions,

"RESOLVED, that this Convention go on record as expressing its sincere regret at their passing and our condolence and sympathy to their families.

"BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Convention stand in a moment of silence in respect to the memory of these officials."

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"RESOLVED by the Illinois Municipal League in its 43rd Annual Convention assembled, that this Convention go on record in thanking the City of Springfield, the Mayor and public officials, the Association of Commerce and Industry and the hotels for the fine hospitality and many courtesies extended to this Convention and delegates at Springfield, November 11th, 12th and 13th, 1956.

"BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this Resolution be presented to the City Council of Springfield and to the Association of Commerce and Industry."

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"RESOLVED by the Illinois Municipal League in its 43rd Annual Convention assembled that we authorize and direct the Executive Director of the Illinois Municipal League to write letters of thanks to the various firms and individuals who have helped in the entertainment of the members of the Illinois Municipal League Convention."

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"RESOLVED by the Illinois Muncipal League in its 43rd Annual Convention assembled, that the Convention congratulate and thank the officers of the Illinois Municipal League and staff, Leo J. Struif, its President; A. L. Sargent, its Executive Director, and the other officers who have contributed to the good performance of the League's duties during the past year in the furtherance of its program."

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"WHEREAS, in the larger communities, it is necessary that a mayor be allowed administrative assistants to assist in the many details of the mayor's office, and

"WHEREAS, it is desirable that such administrative assistants be appointed by the mayor alone, and

"WHEREAS, to do so would require that the civil service statute be changed,

"NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that Section 50 of Chapter 24 1/2 be amended so as to exempt from the classified service administrative assistants for the mayor.

"BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director and Legal Department of the Illinois Municipal League be requested to devote their full efforts and talents toward the ultimate accomplishment of the intent of this resolution so that the requested legislation will be forthcoming in the 1957 session of the State Legislature."

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"WHEREAS, there exists considerable inequality under the statute in respect to the method of selection and change as among the various forms of municipal government,

"NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislative Committee of the Illinois Municipal League hereby is directed to assist in the preparation of the necessary legislation, and promote the adoption of such legislation that will remove such inequalities in the method of selection and change of the various forms among the municipal governments.

"BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director and Legal Department

of the Illinois Municipal League be requested to devote their full efforts and talents toward the ultimate accomplishment of the intent of this resolution so that the requested legislation will be forthcoming in the 1957 session of the State Legislature."

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"RESOLVED, that the Illinois Municipal League at its 43rd Annual Convention, meeting in Springfield, Illinois, on November 11th, 12th and 13th, 1956, does endorse the following policy statement of the American Municipal Association:

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 provides for a balanced road construction program based upon need. Surveys show that this need is greatest in and around our traffic-choked cities. Every effort should, therefore, be made to complete the vital urban sections at the earliest possible date. To accomplish this, state highway departments, in close cooperation with municipal officials should quickly prepare realistic city highway plans that meet the more complex construction and coordination problems of urban highway construction. These highways should, in all respects, conform to the highest engineering standards of efficiency and safety. National, state and local agencies responsible for highway construction should be organized for maximum efficiency to reflect that national importance of this mammoth undertaking. Salaries for employees in these agencies should be adequate to secure and retain the services of the skilled personnel needed to complete the program. Since this is a federal-state program that is to be financed from highway, user fees, cities should not be required to contribute financially to the cost of the federal-aid highways.

We urge Congress to again approve that provision of the 1956 Rivers and Harbors Act which would have allowed the Corps of Engineers to provide additional capacity at large flood control dams for the provision of storage capacity for municipal water supply. The bill passed the Congress in the last session but was vetoed by the President for reasons unrelated to these provisions of the Act.

With the coming of the air age, airports have taken on a new importance to the economic life of the hundreds of American cities and towns. While municipal officials stand ready, to promote the nation's military preparedness in every way possible, we deplore the tendency on the part of the military to dominate, at the expense of civil aviation, operations at civil airports. This action is in a majority of cases arbitrary and without apparent benefit to military preparedness, and results in denying to the local citizens the advantages of air facilities. We urge the Congress through its control of military programs and expenditures to bend every effort to preserve within the framework of valid national defense considerations the bedrock American principal of the supremacy of the civil over the military.

We urge the U. S. Congress to enact legislation permitting the sale to state and local governments of federal surplus property at private or negotiated sale and at the same price that such properties are offered to other federal agencies. State and local government should have priority for purchasing such property after other federal agencies and after the donable program for health, educational and civil defense purposes.

Financially sound state and local governments are the heart of democratic government. Because many federal activities directly affect local finances we urge the Congress to:

(a) Protect the integrity of local municipal income taxes in those states where these taxes are levied by authorizing federal agencies to withhold such taxes from federal employees on the same basis as that required of private employers.

(b) Oppose all efforts to make the income from municipal "bonds of any type subject to federal income tax.

(c) Authorize commercial banks to underwrite municipal revenue bonds, which should reduce the interest that municipalities must pay for public works borrowing.

(d) Allow a regulated investment company, holding the bulk of its assets in the form of municipal securities, to pass through to its shareholders the tax exemption that is accorded income from these securities, thus encouraging a broader public market for municipal bonds.

(e) Assist those communities which suffer persistent unemployment to return to economic health by the extension of federal loan, technical and other aids to help the locality to recover.

(f) Make the present federal-aid programs that promote municipal activities fully effective by approving each year the full appropriation as permitted in the authorizing legislation. Thus Congress should provide the authorized funds for housing, airports, water pollution, census of governments, aid to rural libraries, civil defense contributions program and others.

(g) In the administration of the federal-aid airport act, the expensive item of runway resealing and joint filling should be made eligible for federal assistance.

We commend the Congress for passage of the Water Pollution Control Act of 1956 which for the first time provides the legislative basis for an effective program to curb stream pollution.

Federal grants to municipalities for the construction of sewage treatment facilities should be made available equally to all municipalities for the building of additions to existing plants or the construction of new facilities.

If we are to survive in a nuclear bomb age, we must have a sound, well developed national civil defense program. The development of this plan is the exclusive responsibility of the federal government. Implementation of the plan is a joint responsibility of federal, state and local governments. Federal financial assistance should, however, be extended to purchase equipment and supplies and to cover certain administrative costs of operating state and local Civil Defense units. Congress should provide for an organization of the Federal Civil Defense Administration that will insure that the agency, head will have adequate authority and full participation in all national decisions affecting Civil Defense.

In the past twenty years and particularly in recent years there have been numerous studies to determine the

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impact of large federal tax-exempt holdings upon local government. Each study has concluded that the tax-exempt property does constitute a financial hardship on municipal government and that Congress should consent to payments in lieu of taxes on these holdings. Meanwhile municipalities continue to carry this burden, and no action has been taken. We urge that Congress immediately institute a "broad program" of payments in lieu of taxes as recommended in the 1955 report of the latest study group of the Commission on Intergovernmental Relations.

Congress has in recent social security amendments recognized the principal that Old Age and Survivors Insurance coverage should be extended to municipal employees on a voluntary, local option basis on the same terms that OASI is extended to other citizens. Municipal firemen and policemen covered by state or local retirement systems have been excluded by law from coverage. Congress has extended coverage to policemen and firemen in four states. We urge the Congress to extend the same authority to all states and to allow municipal police and firemen social security coverage if they so desire.

The program of advance planning loans to assist cities in initiating needed public works improvement planning and in creating a public works project backlog for economic stabilization should be continued. We urge, however, that a termination date be established for projects, plans for which become obsolete due to unavoidable or unforeseen, circumstances."