1999-12-04 Charter Commission Minutes

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minutes 12-04-99Page 11 of 39 districts really having a negative effect. I think what had a much more negative effect, in the past, was party politics, and just lining up with party majorities that just arbitrarily went one way or the other. HERKES: That’s because you’re in the wrong party. HIGASHI: May I? We’re kind of wandering off. RAY: Sure. Roland. HIGASHI: The one thing that is proven is the Mayor is the only person that runs island-wide right now in County government. The feeling is that those that run at-large from the Council would have as much respect as the Mayor. I mean, they have the same constituency. If we’re going to go with a strong Mayor form of government, at least the Council people who are running at-large, has some perception of having the same kind of constituency, and not the same authority, but have the same people that they talk to. One other thing that may happen is that once we adopt this, and if it’s something that we want to do, we can always add on who will be Council Chair, if we decide that the largest vote getter of the three, he will be, but I’d like to leave that separately. If we adopt this as a basic plan first, and if there’s other feelings of adding on to this, then we can move on. RAY: Sue. IRVINE: I did have one other comment. In talking to Helene Hale one day, who I admire quite a bit, about the possibility of having some four-year terms on the Council and some two-year terms, kind of super Council people, she said, oh my God, the people with the four-year terms will be totally meddling in the elections on off years, when they’re not up for election, and I said, oh well, okay. HIGASHI: Just let me add to that. The Mayor could do the same thing, but it’s been proven that people stay out of other’s races. RAY: I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that, and I wouldn’t necessarily agree that the Mayor - I mean, the Mayor has the budget power over - HIGASHI: No, what I’m alluding to is that the Mayor does not go into his single member district because he’s a four-term guy, and say I’m going to support this guy over another guy because this guy doesn’t like the way I smile. I think people tend to not interfere with races because they are two or four-year terms. RAY: Okay, John. SANTANGELO: I found that two-year Council members interfere in people’s races when they feel they are pretty secure at home. You don’t eliminate that, and again, is this good government or not, and you can’t legislate integrity. That’s got to come from the individual. People who are going to meddle are going to meddle, and people who aren’t, aren’t. I think this works well, and I think it’s a good model. I have to agree with John, and I may be different on this overall. I feel it’s very provincial when it comes to those money matters, the CIP and stuff. But, on the other hand, it was my experience that when it came to the broader issues, the Council did try to deal with it on a broader base. HERKES: Is that in favor of or against? SANTANGELO: I’m in favor of this. I’m just saying that John has merit. HERKES: I just couldn’t understand. SANTANGELO: Well, that’s all right. You’ll understand as we go along. RAY: Okay, are we ready? Anybody else have anything else to add? So, we have a motion on the floor to approve Roland’s suggestion on the Council composition and terms. All in favor, aye. 8 COMMISSIONERS: Aye. file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 12-04-99.html7/1/2011