2006-03-16 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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Vote: The Chair called for a vote on the motion to review the Department of Environmental Management first. All members voted aye on the motion. The Chair clarified that the Commission was still on item 7 of the agenda and asked if there were any more discussion on approach. Motion and Vote: Ms. Stremski moved to have the Department of Public Works the Commission's second priority. Ms. Cushnie seconded the motion. All members voted aye on making the Department of Public Works the second priority. Ms. Kaetsu said those two departments are good to start with, as some of the issues overlap between them. Up until 2000, it was all one department. Motion: Mr. Sakaguchi moved that at some point in the future, the Commission spend time considering broad -brush recommendations. The Chair said there is not a problein with agendizing something like that, that it could be placed on the agenda at any time and did not need a motion. Ms. Garson said that since the Commission only has eleven months, it would be good if they could set a tentative roadmap down. Ms. Cushnie said she wanted to have at least seven departments prioritized to make the best use of time if a department representative wasn't available. Ms. Garson stated it might be good to set two or three on an agenda, because the commissioners might have lots of questions and want a representative to come back. She is also concerned about the time if there is only one department per agenda. Ms. Cushnie said she wanted to discuss Parks and Recreation, as she agreed with Ms Stremski that it should be their second priority department. Ms. Kaetsu said that Parks and Recreation is a big department and the commissioners may want to hit areas the last Commission did not get to. If there are specific concerns in an area, there is nothing to prevent them from looking at that area. Ms. Garson said they could also look at something that came out of the prior COGC report, to follow up on. Ms. Kaetsu also said that the Planning Department is another important department, though not as large as Parks and Recreation. The Planning Department has long -range responsibilities and is trying to do abetter job at integrating. She also said that since the Commission was interested in liability, it may want to look at the new Risk Manager position under the Department of Finance. Ms. Cushnie asked how that position got created, and Ms. Garson explained that the Council started discussing it, because every time there is a lawsuit and a settlement offer is on the table, the Corporation Counsel has to present the case to the Council and request its approval to settle. The Council always wants to know what is going to be done to address the problem of future liability, so there was a collective idea to hire someone to be on the lookout for potential areas of liability. 12