1999-08-25 Charter Commission Minutes (2)

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minutes 8-25-99Page 21 of 60 QUEROBIN: The reason for that, I believe, is because of State monies. EMS is like a per diem contract with the County because the State funds the EMS portion so they have - but if a Commission is formed, maybe be a good idea to combine the EMS Commission with the Fire Commission so that there won’t be a bureaucratic overlay. YOSHIYAMA: That’s where I think I was leading my question because I think there’s some concern of building up of the bureaucracy by adding another Commission. Yes, you answered my question. Thank you. RAY: John. SANTANGELO: Just a quick comment. The health is supplied by the State. I mean they’re supposed to be doing this and they’re hiring us for the MT. QUEROBIN: That is correct. From when I was there, they reimburse the - let’s say the contract was for, let’s say for X million of dollars and it was on a per diem basis. You got reimbursed for what you spent and if you didn’t spend in that time, you give the money back. SANTANGELO: But I think the point being that the MT part of it is a State part, that this Commission that we’re considering would deal directly with our own county function of fire. QUEROBIN: Right. But maybe if a Fire Commission is formed, it’d be a good idea to include a person from the EMS Department on the Commission. SANTANGELO: From that Commission. QUEROBIN: From that Commission. I would think so. SANTANGELO: Thank you. RAY: Okay. Roland. HIGASHI: Mr. Querobin, if a Public Safety Commission was formed, would that be something that would be amiable to you? Combining total Public Safety. QUEROBIN: Are you talking about police, fire? HIGASHI: Police and fire - QUEROBIN: I don’t know if I can answer that. I’m not real familiar but I have an idea of how the Police Commission works. But maybe if you combine everybody together, you might overburden everybody. I don’t know. Or it may work. I really can’t answer that. But it may be a good idea, something to pursue. HIGASHI: You can take it back to your group and can see if that’s something that may be acceptable. QUEROBIN: What we’d really like to see is a Fire Commission and for years, like the last Charter Review, we went against a Commission. At that time we didn’t see a need for it but as the complexity of the Fire Department grew, and then we see the need for it. It’s not like come to work and sit and wait for a fire today. You need a person in there who can take us into the next century, somebody with good vision and long term planning. I hate to say but I’ve seen plans. I mean plans come and go. I don’t know how many Mayors we’ve had. From Kimura’s time; we had Mayor Kimura, then file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 8-25-99.html7/1/2011