Patrick's expression kept changing, but he knew very well in his heart that if this matter hadn't been brought up, he might have been able to negotiate with Charles to cancel the plan. But now that it had already been told to these "councilors," it was naturally impossible to retract it. At most, he could only slightly salvage his own interests.
In fact, he himself had long had plans in this regard. With the development of Pittsburgh, the number of officials needed would definitely increase, and he was indeed already a bit too busy. However, in his plan, these new officials should be arranged by him, not proposed by Charles, and certainly not handled by this farcical council.
However, the reality now was that Charles had taken the initiative and proposed it first, and his reasons for opposition were insufficient and not accepted by the other party. He wanted to say, "I don't allow it," but looking at those "councilors" who were clearly on Charles' side, and then at Antoine, Moulton, and others standing behind Charles, and finally at his own empty back, Patrick weighed his options and decided to compromise.
"Alright, tell me how you plan to reform. What new official positions will I have a share in? I hope what I give won't be too much more than what I gain."
Charles was very satisfied with Patrick's compromise and said with a smile:
"Don't worry, in fact, most of the newly added officials will also be under your management, considered your subordinates. I just feel that the entire town currently has only three official positions, making effective management impossible, which is why I had the idea of reform.
I'm doing a bit better now, but you and Antoine are truly overwhelmed and new officials must be added. As for the additional positions, they are Judge, Sheriff, Notary, and tax officer. My idea is for you, the Town Chief, to concurrently serve as Judge, and the new tax officer and Sheriff will also report to you. What do you think?"
"Judge?" Patrick grimaced.
At this time in America, only very large cities had Judges. In general small towns, the Sheriff and Notary basically shared some of the Judge's duties. Now, with both a Sheriff and Notary, and himself as Judge, it might not be comfortable to serve. However, since Charles still placed the most important tax officer and Sheriff under his management, it wasn't a very significant decentralization of power.
"En!" Charles continued, "Pittsburgh is currently developing at a high speed, and various cases will definitely be numerous. It is very necessary to establish a court and a Judge to handle these cases. For the impartiality of court judgments, specific judgments can be made by a jury, and jurors will be selected from propertied males in Pittsburgh."
There were not many people in Pittsburgh who truly understood the law. All trials could only rely on public opinion, with the minority submitting to the majority for judgment.
"Good! But the selection of officials should be up to me!" Patrick agreed almost as soon as Charles finished speaking.
However, the additional request he made would never be accepted by Charles.
"No, they are normally under your jurisdiction. The power of nomination cannot be given to you again. My idea is still for them to apply themselves, and then for the council to approve it."
This was the key to the reform.
If the power to nominate officials belonged to Patrick, then half of this town would truly be taken by him. If it weren't for the fact that his own nomination was truly inappropriate, Charles had originally wanted to nominate the official candidates himself.
"Voluntary application? What if they don't listen to my orders in the future? Can I remove them from their positions?" Patrick also didn't back down.
"Not listening to orders, that, of course, depends on what kind of orders they are. When we establish new positions in the council, we will clearly define the powers and responsibilities of the new official positions, as well as their subordinate relationship with you.
If it falls within the scope of their official duties, you cannot interfere. If it falls within your scope of responsibility and they do not listen, you can petition the council to remove them from their positions."
If he could dismiss them at will, even if they were originally his own people, for the sake of their official positions, they might defect to Patrick. Charles naturally would not agree.
"Isn't this still dividing my power?" Patrick was a bit annoyed.
"No! I've already said that it's to lighten your workload. Now your work can be accomplished through subordinate officials, and your power and responsibility will still be confirmed by our council," Charles said affirmatively.
A normal democratic system is like this. He merely stripped him of his nomination power; Patrick's actual power as Town Chief was not harmed. It's just that the Town Chief would now become subordinate to him! Charles chuckled inwardly.
At this time, America had no system of separation of powers and checks and balances. The power of the Town Chief was generally still very great, so Patrick naturally found it a bit difficult to accept Charles' proposal. However, he hadn't been the Town Chief for nothing all these days.
He naturally had a group of supporters under him. Even if Charles and his supporters seemed to have the upper hand now, as long as he was still the Town Chief, he would definitely be able to train a group of influential confidants. After much deliberation, he still agreed to Charles' proposal.
The proposal to establish new official positions was quickly passed by the "council," and the new official positions were contested by Charles and Patrick, each instigating their own confidants to run.
The final council vote was also relatively successful, establishing a new tax officer, held by Greenspan of the Godfrey family; a new Notary, held by the old militiaman American; the militia commander Antoine successfully concurrently served as the town's Sheriff; and Town Chief Patrick would concurrently serve as Judge.
Besides the Judge position that Charles agreed to give him, Patrick nominated candidates for every other position. Among them, he nominated the tavern owner Spencer to be the tax officer, which led to fierce competition with Greenspan, but ultimately failed due to Charles' strong support.
For Patrick, the truly crucial point was that Charles had the council make clear regulations for the power and responsibilities of each position. Patrick and those new officials had to exercise their power according to these regulations.
This way, Patrick's power was greatly restricted. If he couldn't handle his relationships with his subordinates, causing them to not cooperate with work, then he would only nominally control these people, with his true power only remaining as Judge and the Town Chief's signing authority. However, if his relationship with his subordinates was good, then his power and prestige would not be affected in the slightest.
At the same time, because Pittsburgh was currently financially well-off, the "council" also decided to increase the monthly salaries of Charles, Patrick, and Antoine by five pounds each. However, the salaries for the several new positions were only at Antoine' original level, to be increased once their performance improved.
Nevertheless, the several newcomers were considered Charles' confidantes. His purpose in using them was to decentralize some of Patrick's power, and also for the integrity of the town government. He planned to personally subsidize their remuneration.
After handling these matters, a Grants committee was also selected, consisting of five "councilors," specifically responsible for relevant appropriations, and Charles, as the speaker, had a veto right.
Subsequently, the Appropriation Committee immediately began formal operations. In addition to several town government appropriation proposals put forward by Patrick, it also reviewed proposals put forward by the gentry. In fact, the main proposals were for the construction of several new buildings, a relatively large number.
There were three bridges alone to be built in the shallow water area. For other buildings such as the Town Hall, Police Station, School, and Post Station, many could only be planned, as there were simply not enough manpower and materials to start construction immediately.
Charles Godfrey finally tallied it up. Including these projects, official salaries, and other equipment and arms expenditures, the budget didn't even reach ten thousand pounds. At this time, the pound in America was truly too valuable; the least valuable thing, on the contrary, was labor.
After finishing official business, Charles Godfrey, accompanied by Greenspan, and bringing Antoine, Moulton, and others, returned to his home in Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Trading Center.
Originally, many people were prepared to welcome Charles home, but due to being busy with official matters, and Charles not wanting to engage in formalism at his home, there were no special reception personnel at home at this time. Even the several work supervisors were still busy in their respective workspaces.
And as soon as he entered the Trading Center, Charles felt the changes brought about by the increase in the town's population.
Originally, this home was called a trading center, but it was normal for no one to visit all day. Now that the town had one or two thousand people, there were more people in the shop. It was already late when Charles came in, just before dinner, and people going in and out of the Trading Center were all buying bread.
"Greenspan, you've managed this trading center really well!" Charles praised Greenspan with satisfaction.
"Sir, you flatter me. Without your permission, I took the liberty of adding the business of selling bread and other cooked foods, in addition to the original grain and flour business. I still need your forgiveness," Greenspan said, not at all proud.
"It's fine, I gave you full authority to manage the Trading Center, and this is completely within the scope of the power I gave you." Charles shook his head, indicating he didn't mind.
Those who came to buy bread were all men, because the people who moved to Pittsburgh were mainly workers, and poor workers at that. Most of these people's families had no women, and it was generally unlikely for them to take care of housework themselves, so they naturally needed to buy bread. Greenspan's addition of selling finished products like bread, in addition to simply selling raw grain and flour, was indeed a clever idea.