2006-11-20 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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Federal governments. Mr. Joseph felt that Mr. Nakasone is intuitive about these things, and he supports his recommendation. Ms. Provalenko asked whether the County could just negotiate with the State and Federal governments for funds to maintain the roads, but not necessarily to take on the liability. Ms. Garson said that with maintenance comes liability. Ms. Nicholson recalled that the federal government did not want to be approached by various counties and would only deal with and funnel funds through the state agencies. Ms. Provalenko asked whether the Commission was saying it wanted ownership of the State roads, and Mr. Joseph said he wanted only maintenance, not ownership. He said he believed it would be cost effective, would save taxpayers money, and made good sense. He said that although he does not believe it will happen, he wants to make the recommendation. Motion and Vote: Mr. Joseph moved to recommend that County and State highways be condensed into one, with the County handling all the maintenance of the State highways. Ms. Stremski seconded the motion, and all members voted aye. M. Department of Public Works (Building Division): Recommend providing them with an adequate travel budget in which certification and training opportunities would be available to staff. Mr. Joseph felt this recommendation was vague. Ms. Nicholson recalled that there was a need to have certification for certain employees. There was a specific reference to the need for certification of building inspectors, and the County did not have the money for it. Ms. Provalenko said she believed this was Mr. Sakaguchi's recommendation. Mr. Joseph said he would like to leave the recommendation alone or come back to it later. Motion and Vote: Mr. Joseph moved to defer this recommendation until Mr. Sakaguchi could be present. Ms. Nicholson seconded the motion, and all commissioners voted aye on the deferral. n. Department of Public Works: Recommend investigating the creation of a traffic hotline, pursuant to item 4a of the DPW's response. Mr. Joseph asked whether this was about calling in and reporting potholes, and the Chair said there already is a number to call for that. (The commissioners spent time reviewing their records.) Ms. Nicholson read from the Public Works response letter: "Currently, this function is handled on an emergency basis as problems arise. If there was a central place all motorists could call to get up -to -date traffic information about road closures due to accidents, flooding, 21