2006-03-16 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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Ms. Cushnie stated that she wanted the letter to basically include what was written in the Charter and wanted the responses limited to one to two pages. After further discussion, the commissioners decided that a one -month deadline for departments to respond was sufficient. Ms. Nicholson asked if the Commission would be sending a letter out to the Environmental Management Department, requesting specific information to be included at the next meeting. The Chair noted that it would be difficult for the Department to have a response before the next meeting. Ms. Garson stated that the County website is an excellent source for information about organizational charts, although she is not certain that the Environmental Management Department's chart is on the site. Ms. Garson stated that she needs to be able to give the Department direction on what to expect and what to bring to the meeting. As well, the agenda needs to be particular enough to notify the public on what is going to be discussed. Mr. Sakaguchi stated that the letter the Commission sends should convey that the Commission wants to help the departments and is looking for their suggestions and input. They should not just be doing a presentation but should feel free to express their thoughts on issues they feel are important. He wants to have a dialog with them. He wanted to be friendly with the departments and not adversarial. The Chair asked if there were any further discussion on item 7, and there was none. 8. DISCUSSION REGARDING EACH COMMISSIONER'S VIEW ON THE CONCEPT OF PRIVATIZATION Mr. Sakaguchi stated that the privatization issue could be taken up with a broad -brush stroke and added to an agenda. Ms. Nicholson suggested asking the department speakers whether there was a place in their department for privatization during their presentations. Ms. Cushnie asked for an operating definition of privatization and precedents that were set here and in other places. Ms. Garson said it has more of a legal definition involving taking a service that was typically provided by, for example, civil servants and farming it out to a private entity. There was a landmark case around 1996 which resulted in Act 90, which is a statute that sets out under what circumstances a government agency can hire outside people to do functions that are customarily performed by civil servants. She stated she could get a copy of Act 90 for the commissioners. Ms. Garson also explained that when the County is going to contract out, there is a whole checklist to go through involving the reasons for 16