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minutes 12-08-99Page 27 of 31
<br />constituent complaints.
<br />IRVINE: No, but maybe they shouldn’t all be political appointees. I had thought, maybe, Civil Service, but Harry Takahashi
<br />says that’s not appropriate, so maybe we need a very pared-down Legislative Auditor’s Office.
<br />M. HERKES: Did you read her recommendation?
<br />IRVINE: Yes.
<br />M. HERKES: That’s what she recommended.
<br />RAY: Wait. Let’s don’t confuse the main function of the Legislative Auditor’s Office vs. this whole idea of auditing. What
<br />the Legislative Auditor’s Office - they write legislation. They do the research. They write the resolutions and the bills. That’s
<br />what they do. That’s the main meat and potatoes of that office. And I think that’s what we want them to continue to do. This
<br />whole idea of being auditors is something that, clearly, they need more capability. But how that’s handled is really a separate
<br />issue. I mean, they write the legislation. They service the committees. Their people are attached to the committees. That’s the
<br />main function. It’s queer because of the name, Legislative Auditor’s Office, and maybe it should be called something else,
<br />but that is the main function. In other words, you have two staffs. You have the clerical staff, and they service the
<br />constituents’ concerns and correspondence of the County Council. Also, on that side, you have Civil Service staff, which
<br />handle the committee reporting and write up the reports and whatever, but that’s all just automatic stuff. The Legislative
<br />Auditor’s Office has a very full plate, researching and writing legislation. That’s what they do. Under the current staffing,
<br />they don’t have the ability to take on auditing tasks, to any great degree. They’re very busy with the tasks that they have.
<br />IRVINE: Connie says, right here, quote, a significant portion of staff time is spent responding to constituent-related concerns
<br />such as illegal drag racing, street light outages, barking dogs, road closures, pot holes, flooding, and so on and on. And that
<br />seems, to me, to be totally inappropriate in the Legislative Auditor’s Office.
<br />M. HERKES: That’s because that’s the way the office is set up now.
<br />RAY: Right.
<br />IRVINE: That’s right.
<br />M. HERKES: Let’s look at how we want it set up.
<br />IRVINE: I have to see what she suggested, and whether it -
<br />M. HERKES: She suggested conduct, or cause to be conducted independent post audits of financial transactions, assist
<br />Council in the review and adoption of capital operating budgets, assist Council in complying with section 3-16, provide
<br />comprehensive research and reference services for the Council, and perform other support duties as may be assigned by the
<br />Council. Now I’ve been through, probably, about fifteen hours of testimony by Marian Higa in the last six months. She has
<br />an expert staff. I think she’s going to leave with that as her proudest accomplishment, that her staff does a great job. She also,
<br />on some of the audits that she does, outsources some of the audits, and that’s a management tool which I see as a possibility
<br />here, as far as program review and audits, are outsourcing rather than County employees. And so, I think that’s one thing that
<br />might be looked at, not in the Charter, but as a possibility.
<br />RAY: But, are we all in agreement that this is something that we’d like to support and pursue? John.
<br />SANTANGELO: I think that one of the things that might help people here, too, John, is in that Council make-up, there are
<br />Civil Service committee people. So it’s not like these committees are without assistance.
<br />IRVINE: Over on the other side, though. They’re not the Legislative Auditor’s Office.
<br />SANTANGELO: No, they’re not in the Legislative Auditor’s Office. But understanding the different components and
<br />background for that.
<br />RAY: Okay, but all the Civil Service people do is the recording and the minutes. That’s a full time job, preparing the
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