2006-03-16 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

Home

Ms. Sakaguchi again said that he wanted a copy of the full report, and Ms. Crawford said she would leave it with us. 6. DISCUSSION ON RESPONSES RECEIVED FROM DEPARTMENTS REGARDING PREVIOUS COGC RECOMMENDATIONS CONTAINED IN REPORT The Chair noted that the Commission had received these responses at the last meeting, and he wanted to make a comment. - He said when people hear about the Commission, they think it is about cutting back on things to save money. However, he said that in order to save money, sometimes you have to spend money, such as on a computer. He asked the commissioners to keep an open mind through the months, as the Commission is not all about cutting back. Sometimes you have to spend money to save money. Mr. Sakaguchi said that many departments, however, are asking for things that have nothing to do with saving money. He questioned whether the Commission was to consider only things that save money, or also consider things a department may want. The Chair replied that a consideration was whether the job would be done more efficiently. Mr. Sakaguchi said that would open the door to a lot of things and asked whether it was the Commission's responsibility to cost things out, to see if there would be a savings. The Chair clarified that the Commission was just to make recommendations. Ms. Kaetsu stated that some of the commissioners' questions could be answered by reading what the Commission is supposed to do in the Charter. She read from the Charter: The County is to promote economy, efficiency, and improved service by limiting inefficient expenditures, eliminating duplication and overlapping of services, consolidating services, and abolishing services not necessary to the efficient conduct of government. The Commission is to study and investigate the organizations and methods of operations of all departments, commissions, boards, offices and other instrumentalities of all branches of the County government and determine what changes, if any, may be desirable to accomplish the policies set forth herein. Mr. Sakagucbi stated that the Commission has the prerogative to concentrate on certain things and it would be good to think about those things on which it should concentrate. The Chair noted that the next item on the agenda was for that purpose. Mr. Sakaguchi questioned the purpose of the reports, and Ms. Kaetsu said her intent when she requested the information was to show the Commission that the departments did take the former COGC's recommendations seriously, implemented what they could, and explained why some couldn't be implemented. She said the departments do follow up and that since this is not an ongoing commission, there is not a lot of opportunity for feedback. She stated it would be wise for the commissioners to focus their energies. A