2010-07-30 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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see. There is a list of some things also in your annual report, but those aren’t necessarily limited to Charter. MR. TAKABA: I just want to clarify, I’m not saying that all we’re taking is the Charter start. What I’m saying is that that’s the start to look at what’s in there. There might be others in the County Code that you feel should be core services – as I said, Aging, Mass Transit, which I think is. We shouldn’t limit our discussion to just these core services because if we want to eliminate anything, we need to find out whether that’s, cause they may be rightfully eliminated if that’s what we want to do. If we don’t discuss it, it’s like it’s still going to exist, it’s going to continue. We should take a broader look and decide which ones we feel should be addressed or discussed. I’m just looking at what the responsibilities are. It talks about eliminating expenditures to be consistent with the efficient performance of the central service activities and functions. Until we define what they are it’s hard to say eliminate or cut off stuff. And that’s all I’m saying. MS. NICHOLSON: So, is there a statement in the Charter of what the really core functions of County government are? MS. GARSON: No. MR. MATSUDA: In the beginning I think Bill, what you mentioned is that I guess what you wanted to get from this commission is if anything is to define what the County core services are, and how we’re going to attain that is going to be another situation. With the bleak economic situation coming up, I think that’s where you’re coming from. Because with all these departments involved, to me every department is essential, but what I heard from you was that you wanted to get an idea or at least some kind of recommendation from us as to what do we feel are the core County services. Am I correct? MR. TAKABA: Yes. To guide us. We’ve talked about core services. We’ve talked about it very loosely. Somebody say what do you mean by core services? You’re going to say well, it could be public safety. It’s real generic. I don’t know if that’s enough as we look at, you know we’re kind of an elimination mode, cost cutting mode. If you think about it, you have to make sure that what you’re doing is there’s a purpose to what you’re doing. MR. MATSUDA : Right. And just to continue on, I was looking at this here, is this done annually? The Notice to All Employees? I saw this from Barbara Bell. MS. GARSON: No, it was just an attached letter that was sent out by the last Cost of Government Commission. MR. MATSUDA : So, it’s not done annually, like everybody gets this and everybody throws it out and says okay, whatever, what their opinions are, this department or what did this department need. MS. GARSON: No. 19