2010-07-30 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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MS. GARSON: Normally within one year after the mayor is appointed, either December or January. It would have been January of this year or December. MS. NICHOLSON: So that’s why we’re starting a little late. That makes our challenge even harder in trying to get some input in to the next budget cycle. MS. WONG: And less than nine members. MS. NICHOLSON: Yes. MS. O’HARA: I have a question for Mr. Takaba. You mentioned that the County Charter has more explicit language about the essential County government services that are identified for this County. We only have the small section of it. MS. GARSON: I’ll get you a copy of the full Charter. It’s also available on the County’s website. I think what you’re referring to is just the departments set forth in Charter and their mandate. MR. TAKABA: The Charter created the departments. The framers of the Charter had in mind what county government should be doing. They put those departments to carry out these functions within the Charter. I think the Charter would be good to have so that you can look at it and get a grasp of how we differ from the state or federal government and what our responsibility should be. I mentioned that example before where I talked about health, education and welfare. It would be more of a state function. It’s listed in the constitution that way. Parks and Recreation, recreational activities would be a county function. And that’s listed in the Charter. There is a separation. There may be some overlap but there still is a separation between what the County government should be doing and what state government should be doing. Transportation might be an example like the county does with our Mass Transit Agency. The state, they’re doing more airports in their transportation system. They’re doing airports and connecting counties to different counties. The county do more roads and highways that connect areas within a town. I think we need to really define where we separate county and state, as well as the federal responsibilities. If you look at the Charter, you’ll get a better idea of what county government should be doing. MS. NICHOLSON: I do have a question about that. How much of what the county does is driven by the funds that may be available? MR. TAKABA: I used to work for the Office of Aging. The federal government sets up a mechanism to get federal funds down to the county, the lowest level of government, to the counties, communities. A lot of times we’re driven by money, what’s available and how we can add to the communities. We start to question, and there have been questions about why is county government doing aging services. Isn’t it a state responsibility? There’s a State Executive Office of Aging. Is it really a health care issue? Is it more recreation? So, a lot of it depends on how we deliver a service. If we are delivering recreational programs, and that’s how Aging started on the Big Island. It was more of a recreational program. And that fit in with Parks and Recreation. And that’s why it’s housed at the Department of Parks and Recreation. And as federal funds 15