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minutes 10-27-99Page 33 of 48
<br />come to you, are ones that they feel have some merit.
<br />CORREA: Right.
<br />RAY: Well, I apologize for not having the Police Commission here, but I didn’t find out in time, so I
<br />thought it would be worthwhile to go ahead and have these gentlemen here, and at least have this
<br />discussion in part. So, we will have to get the Police Commission here, at some point in the not too
<br />distant future, to wrap up this discussion. So, no more questions for these gentlemen on this topic, but
<br />since we do have Mr. Wurdeman here, there may be -
<br />HERKES: And we put all kinds of things under him.
<br />RAY: I’m sure we want to take advantage of, especially our midnight Board of Appeals move -
<br />HERKES: The minute you leave, we start putting things under your department, and we’re not adding
<br />any personnel either.
<br />WURDEMAN: I know that. That’s a given.
<br />RAY: So, I’m sure, Mr. Wurdeman, you’re aware of the discussion and straw vote by this group in
<br />regard -
<br />WURDEMAN: I wasn’t aware there was a straw vote. I’m aware of the initiative, yes.
<br />RAY: I’d say it’s just a vote of sentiment in regard to moving the Board of Appeals to your office in
<br />conjunction with this idea of creating a Division of Permitting, so I guess, give you a chance to respond
<br />to that.
<br />WURDEMAN: Okay. Well, nobody wants to take on new responsibility, especially since it’s unlikely
<br />there will be staff to go with it. But leaving that aside, I really think it, objectively, creates a greater
<br />opportunity for people to charge that there’s, at least, an appearance of conflict of interest. And the
<br />reason I say that is presently, suppose there’s an appeal from the Planning Department. We have one
<br />attorney that represents the Planning Director. We have another attorney that advises the Board, and we
<br />try and keep those two functions separate, and with some success. But, now, what there is the constant
<br />danger of, some kind of a conflict, and maybe the members of the public see it as inherently somehow
<br />corrupt, but now, if you bring the whole administration of the Board into our department, with the files
<br />and the secretarial function, and with us having some control over budget, I think that increases the
<br />danger. And I think the Board of Appeals should be placed somewhere in an agency that has really
<br />nothing to do with its operation, that can provide administrative support, but is completely neutral as far
<br />as the merits of any particular dispute.
<br />RAY: So, where would that be?
<br />HIGASHI: Parks and Recreation.
<br />WURDEMAN: Well, I don’t know. I mean, I don’t want to point fingers at anybody, but, I don’t know,
<br />Finance Department. How’s that?
<br />RAY: Sorry, Mr. Takahashi beat you to the punch on that.
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