2006-03-02 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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Ms. Garson said privatization is a little outside of what they are to study but that it could possibly be worked in when looking at specific departments. Ms. Cushnie suggested, along the lines of what Mr. Sakaguchi said, that they task Ms. Garson with finding two diverse points of view within the County government -- department heads who will come and speak specifically about their department and opportunities for privatization, and at least begin discussion on a limited basis. Ms. Garson indicated that the Commission needed to direct her on which departments they wanted and not leave the discretion to her as staff attorney. Mr. Sakaguchi apologized and said he hadn't been very clear. He just wanted them to talk story about their philosophy on the project — should they go detail by detail, requiring a lot of their time to understand each department, or could they take an overview approach, just to bounce ideas off each other. He said he would just like to know what each member is thinking about the project. Ms. Cushnie said that before she got appointed to this Commission, she had started a short list of things that she'd observed on the mainland, where precedents were set by mainland counties. One is the requirement for vacant lot owners to maintain their lots so they are not susceptible to brush fires. These types of small inquiries are what she is interested in making to various departments, on her own or with another Commission member. She said these types of questions may have a small but important impact on the cost of government. Mr. Sakaguchi said he believes all the members have their own ideas about issues like that and that they should share ideas. Ms. Cushnie said she was interested in polling the different departments, by herself or with another commissioner, and ask questions of them. Ms. Garson suggested that it may be more efficient for a letter to be drafted with their inquiries, which could be sent to each department. From a technical standpoint it may be easier to do it this way than to form a subcommittee to go in person to each department. The departments will be happy to share any information they can, especially in responding to specific questions. Mr. Miyasato asked if anyone wanted to make a motion to break for lunch and continue their meeting afterwards. Mr. Joseph said they needed to establish an agenda so that the public would know what would be discussed in the next meeting and questioned whether privatization should be listed as a topic. Ms. Garson said the way the agenda is written, they were talking about methodology. So if the methodology they decide today is to start discussing the various issues, e.g., privatization, they need to be specifically listed on the agenda. The commissioners were told to let their secretary know what items they wanted on the agenda. W;