2011-01-14 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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nondiscretionary, discretionary being like the Planning Commission, but the nondiscretionary commissions is really listened to by the departments and the administration because they kind of view these commissions as very short time. They’re not integrated into county government. What they say is all very nice and well, but we’re going to continue doing business as usual. So, how do we ramp up these boards and commissions so that they actually get the value out of them that the expertise that we gathered, the opinions that were put forth, have an impact on how we govern? MR. HOFFMANN: First of all, you may not, without a substantial change in attitude on the part of the administration and the department heads. Let’s face it, you’re absolutely correct. These are advisory. Most of the boards and commissions are advisory. If some suggestions were made, would the managing director of the county for instance, take a look, not just reading what these recommendations were, but would he actually take action on that? It depends how the mayor and the managing director and the department heads view the results from the different commissions. You’re absolutely correct. For technical commissions, particularly in energy and advisory, we try to put people on there who have a background in that area. I don’t know that that’s been successful entirely. But it really goes back to what we said initially. We’ve always done it this way. We have to change that attitude. And that’s not something we can legislate. It’s honestly got to be absolutely, from the top down. The Mayor’s got to sit down and say, we can’t continue to do business in this manner. And I’m going to accept this. I’m going to move ahead. I want the commission to do it this way or I want to work with the council in this area and so on and so forth. I do believe though that if the credibility of county government is enhanced, if we can get over this idea that some of the boards and commissions are manned by people who are just there for a free lunch or they want to have their name on the commission or so, if we can get over that somehow and actually see competent people at all times in order to make sure that we do have it. And to have the council members aggressively pursue individuals to join the boards. That doesn’t happen all the time. I think the Corp Counsel does a very good job of trying to keep us informed. We have to change that so that more people in the community will seek this, not as a sort of an extra job, but as something in which they can share their experiences and their expertise for the benefit of the community. That enhances county government, and participation in government, but it’s got to start with all of us. And each time the council goes through one of those reorganization nonsense, each time we’re there and the credibility of the council or the administration is undermined by this nonsense, it makes it much more difficult to get the people to come forward to do what you’re asking for nothing or for next to nothing. Again, I don’t think the system is broken. I think we just have to keep working. Some people need to change the attitudes. MS. O’HARA: And one kind of humorous but recognized comment that we’ve received from some of the staff of the county, one being Kathy’s boss, was the video taping of the County Council and the extent to which we taxpayers pay for that, and how much of the actions that are taped and broadcast are not jurisdictional, meaning the council is not focused on it’s jurisdictional actions. How would you feel about reining that in? Cause this is a fairly large contract that we pay for. 22