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minutes 12-08-99Page 10 of 31
<br />properly. So, it occurs to me, it says in here, that you can hire the Chief, and that you fire the Chief, but it also says under
<br />what conditions you fire, and if you’re not getting full disclosure, that makes it very difficult to build a case. Is that right?
<br />SCHEELE: Yes, and we’ve also tried in the past to evaluate the Chief, and Corp Counsel tells us that we cannot do that
<br />because one of the forms that we had come up with, some of the questions the Chief went over, went to Corp Counsel and
<br />said I don’t think they should be asking me this and this and this. Now, I don’t know when you’ve ever had an employee that
<br />told you what ought to be on the evaluation form that you’re doing. I don’t allow that for my employees. We all know that if
<br />you’re going to fire somebody, you have got to build a case, whether you’re a private employer or whether you’re a public
<br />employer, and so it’s very difficult to do that. I mean, we can
<br />listen to what the Chief says, and tells us that he’s doing, and that kind of thing, but as far as being able to ask certain
<br />questions, the Corp Counsel tells us that we can’t do that.
<br />SANTANGELO: When you do a contract, it occurs to me that if you had like a performance based contract, and the Chief
<br />that you’re hiring, admits to you what he or she has planned, and someday I hope you do that, and what he or she plans to
<br />implement, you have some milestones that you can set up. You can go back and look at that, and evaluate it, and it seems like
<br />it then creates a certain amount of accountability.
<br />J. HERKES: And fluidity between the Commission and the Police Department too.
<br />SANTANGELO: So, if you’re dealing with your Chief Executive, and that’s what you were saying, the Board sets policy,
<br />and in a lot of cases, sets a budget and then hires a Chief Executive to carry out that policy within the budget, that if you have
<br />the sort of string with your Chief, then the reports and other things would be more forthcoming because, again, there’s an
<br />accountability to you. You don’t have that now, because it says you hire and fire? Your contract isn’t like that?
<br />SCHEELE: No. We don’t have a contract. There is not a contract. He’s not on a contract basis.
<br />SANTANGELO: So maybe this is something we can look into.
<br />SCHEELE: Honolulu has done exactly that, just recently.
<br />SANTANGELO: I wanted to open that up, and I’ll yield the floor. Go ahead.
<br />BESS: I’m sorry. I was just going to ask, have you been advised by the Corporation Counsel that you cannot hire on a
<br />contractual basis under the existing Charter provisions?
<br />SCHEELE: No, we’ve not asked them that.
<br />SANTANGELO: But it occurs to me that if you do have that accountability, it solves a lot of these problems because we’re
<br />looking at this saying, don’t you have the right? It’s in the Charter. But, you’re saying, that’s not how, in reality, this is
<br />carried out. Because, again, you can be stonewalled, and other things, and you have no way of calling the person on that turf
<br />called the carpet.
<br />J. HERKES: And, again, if the language is much stronger in the Charter, then there’d be no question at all to what our
<br />responsibilities are to the public, and what the Police Chief and Department should be doing, as well. And, again, it’s broad
<br />policy we’re looking at, not everyday administrative duties.
<br />SANTANGELO: Last question. But it occurred to me, if you have this accountability of the Chief, does that solve most of
<br />your problems?
<br />J. HERKES: It would get most of our questions answered.
<br />SANTANGELO: Thank you.
<br />RAY: Marni.
<br />M. HERKES: I’m always fascinated by the wording in the Charter, Chris, and maybe you can help a little bit. This was one
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