1999-08-25 Charter Commission Minutes (2)

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minutes 8-25-99Page 32 of 60 KOZOHARA: The vendor had a full service contract for one election. We’ve met with the vendor, not only us but all the counties have met with the vendors. They’ve corrected those errors. Actually there were only two machines which were dump. Others were not malfunctioning. YUEN: No, what I mean is, those machines are not sitting in the basement of the County Building? KOZOHARA: No. YUEN: They’re on the mainland somewhere or - KOZOHARA: I’m not sure where they are right now but it belongs to the vendor. YUEN: It belongs to this company and there’s no contract in place to use them again? KOZOHARA: No, not right now. YUEN: So before we have any kind of election, unless you have a lot of people sitting and counting ballots by hand, somebody has got to make a contract with some company to actually physically have an election system in place for counting ballots. KOZOHARA: Yes. YUEN: Okay. KONISHI: To follow up on that. One of the things that has happened since 1979, which we have to deal with, is there’s now a State Procurement Code and one of the things that they really slapped around the Chief Election Officer about, with regard to the ‘98 election, was the fact that there was some allegation that he should have done this or that with regard to the State Procurement Code, so one of the things that we’d have to do in putting a system together is going through this whole process with regard to procurement. Four months is the information we have, it would take us to comply with the Procurement Code. YUEN: And when you gave us your estimate of $400,000, that’s assuming that somebody else has put together a system for counting the ballots, right? That’s not assuming that if the Commission here decided that we wanted to have an election in May and the County had to go and get a vendor, and hire somebody, and then find a way to count the ballots, that would be extra on top of this $400,000. Is that correct? KOZOHARA: It’s included. The figure for the ballot counting was based on the amount that we paid in 1998 for one election. We’re charged for the Primary and the General. YUEN: I see, okay. SANTANGELO: Mr. Chairman, while we’re on the subject, I have one question. If there was this election, who has to go get the money? KONISHI: Who has to get the money? I guess we do. SANTANGELO: You’d have to go get the money. KONISHI: We’d have to go to the Council and ask for the funds because it would come file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 8-25-99.html7/1/2011