2006-12-19 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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Ms. Nicholson asked whether their names could be included in the report. Mr. Joseph said they should be included, along with their districts. Ms. Nicholson stated she also wanted the deputy corporation counsel's name and secretary's name listed. Mr. Joseph said this listing could occur on the first page, after the cover sheet. In the second paragraph of the introduction, Mr. Joseph said he does not like the wording saying that "it was very difficult for the COGC to go into great depth in preparing this report." He said he felt they did go into great depth with certain departments, as Mayor Kim had expressed he wanted them to. He did not feel they did a superficial job. Ms. Nicholson suggested the following wording instead: "Despite the Charter provision that only allows eleven months to create a report, the COGC, at the recommendation of the Mayor, chose to focus their efforts only on certain departments." Mr. Joseph said to take out the word "only" and say "focus their efforts on certain departments." The commissioners agreed on the following wording: "Despite the Charter provision that only allows eleven months to create a report, the COGC, at the recommendation of the Mayor, chose to focus their efforts on certain departments." In the second paragraph of the introduction, Ms. Nicholson said she did not like the term "generic suggestions." She said those suggestions are department -wide suggestions. Mr. Joseph agreed. The commissioners agreed upon the following wording: "For these issues, the COGC has combined them into department -wide suggestions." The commissioners discussed and decided to amend the wording in the last paragraph of the introduction, to say: "In this report, the commission and board recommendations follow the departmental recommendations." Ms. Noda suggested they include the COGC's telephone number in the letterhead, and the commissioners agreed. Motion and Vote: Mr. Joseph moved to accept page 1 of the draft with the amendments as discussed, and subject to final review. Ms. Stremski seconded the motion. There being no further discussion, all commissioners present voted aye. The commissioners continued on to page 2 of the draft. The secretary was instructed to change the wording in IA to follow the amendments made earlier during this meeting, as follows: "Corporation Counsel is to provide /coordinate the legal, contractual, and procurement training to all new managers /supervisors, specific to their departments, within three months of hire date." The commissioners continued to IB of the draft. Ms. Nicholson said she was concerned that they were specifying training opportunities on the mainland. She said employees could travel to another island, or even to another country, to research innovations. The others agreed. IA was amended to read as follows: "Though many departments budget for professional training opportunities, the COGC was informed by a department that off - island trips are discouraged because of the costs and because of the public perception of travel being a waste of money. However, the COGC feels that departmental staff should regularly travel off - island to explore the E?