City commissioners In the race for city commissioners, each party nominated two candidates and the top three were elected. The office was a county office, a holdover from the time before consolidation of the townships in Philadelphia County into one city. The most important of the remaining duties of the commissioners in Philadelphia was the conduct of the city's elections; they also had responsibility for regulating weights and measures. Incumbent Democrats Thomas P. McHenry and Maurice S. Osser saw the same decline in their vote share as other Democrats did across the city, but held on to their seats on the city commission. Incumbent Republican Louis Menna edged out his running mate, Charles Wright, for the third seat. Two Socialist Labor Party candidates took a tiny share of the vote. Other offices and ballot measures Democrat William M. Lennox was reelected county sheriff, his fourth consecutive term. Louis Amarando, also a Democrat, was reelected clerk of the court of quarter sessions (a court whose jurisdiction was later transferred to the court of common pleas). The Democratic register of wills, John E. Walsh, Jr., also earned reelection. All three Democrats won their races by twelve or thirteen points, a decline from 1959, but still a safe majority. The Democrats also took nine of the fourteen magisterial district judge positions up for election that year (a local court, the duties of which have since been superseded by the Philadelphia Municipal Court) with incumbent Benjamin Segal leading the list. The ballot contained three questions authorizing more city borrowing: the first for $20.2 million to spend on land and buildings, the second for $16.9 million to spend on water and sewage systems, and the third for $5 million to spend on the Philadelphia Gas Works. All three passed by greater than two-to-one margins. See also List of members of Philadelphia City Council since 1952 Notes References Sources Books Newspapers Journals Philadelphia 1963 Philadelphia Philadelphia Mayor 1960s in Philadelphia