1999-10-13 Charter Commission Minutes

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minutes 10-13-99Page 19 of 31 HERKES: I did. PIERSON: I haven’t got a call yet. I have a phone. HERKES: Are you on file? PIERSON: I have an answering machine. I went to talk to Rudy Legaspi and Rudy Legaspi told me, don’t bother, we have our own people. Because I sent someone in, so I cannot accept that there’s a shortage of people. HERKES: Rudy told you that? PIERSON: He told me that we already have a list. I was going to recommend someone. I took the application. I gave it to a person that I thought would be fair and qualified. So, I can’t buy into that. HERKES: Okay. PIERSON: You folks have a big job, a real big job, to try to make improvements in this system, and believe me, there’s a lot of improvements that need to be made. If there’s going to be Commissions, basically these people just turn out to do advertisements for the Mayor, the appointing authority. That’s what we see, but it’s possible to have one Board or Commission that does the function of several right now, and some cities are arranged that way. The American Civil Liberties Union has a publication that describes a competent Police Commission, or Civilian Oversight Review Commission, whatever they call it, Board, and if you folks have an opportunity, and care to do so, look it over and see how the present system we have here falls short of that. It falls very short of it. One thing you folks will want to do, if you’re going to work on laws and changing the system, you will want to obey the system that we presently have, and you have not done that with this right here. This is already illegal. There are people here that should know better. Example, Minutes Approval. Why does the public not have an opportunity to speak about minutes approval? I’ve been to numerous meetings of the Police Commission and the Board of Ethics, and the minutes are not true. They’re not true, and yet the public, who may have been misquoted, does not have an opportunity to speak about that. Here it is. Statements from the Public, but you can’t speak about the minutes, huh? Okay, that’s wrong. Public Hearing, 1999-2000 Rules of Procedure. Is the public welcome here? I think that the law says that it should be, but it’s not. So, this is wrong. You folks needs to start obeying the law yourselves, before you try to make laws for other people. Thank you. RAY: Comments? Mr. Martin. MARTIN: I have two points, I guess, and I’m going to lose one shortly here. You made the comment on Del’s proposal for the Commission, and that the Council would, in fact, make the appointments, and I believe you are in agreement with that. Correct? PIERSON: Yes. MARTIN: Then, you went on to make a statement that, in its present form, they’re puppets. What considerations would you have that now Council member appoints, and this person is no longer a puppet? Where is the adjustment on that? PIERSON: Council people are elected every two years, and it’s very possible, but the Police file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 10-13-99.html7/1/2011