|
minutes 02-05-00Page 10 of 66
<br />Chief. And I did draft something up that none of you have seen yet. I was going to pass out when we got to that today.
<br />RAY: Are we all clear on that? We did take a preliminary vote, but understand, all these are just preliminary votes. We can
<br />take another vote. We can change our minds if we want. Gary.
<br />YOSHIYAMA: Are we going to come back to Fire Commission because I have something to report?
<br />RAY: Let’s deal with Fire Commission right now. So, we’ve established we did take the preliminary vote at the last meeting,
<br />and so we are moving forward on the same basis we have on everything else. We’ve taken a preliminary vote to develop
<br />language and flesh out any other concerns, so in regard to that, Gary.
<br />YOSHIYAMA: Sometimes I’ve got to thank Roland of reminding me of some stuff, and he reminded me of an assignment I
<br />was given. I was supposed to do some follow-up with the City and County of Honolulu. Sorry I don’t have a written report
<br />because I did it kind of late, but I did talk to the Fire Chief, Leonardi. I talked a little with the Fire Fighters Union, and I had
<br />two lengthy conversations with Fire Commissioners Patsy Young and Norman Ahakuelo, and don’t ask me to spell his last
<br />name. But, they all agreed that the Fire Commission is a very good commission for the City and County of Honolulu. They
<br />are very happy with it. The Fire Chief and the two Commissioners I talked to - the first thing they told me was it took politics
<br />out of the Fire Department, and they all mentioned the same thing, from the selection of the Fire Chief to political campaigns.
<br />And then they went on to say about the professionalism, the selection, the criteria for picking the Fire Chief, and then some
<br />operational matters. It’s running very smoothly. They’ve only, really, about two years of experience, but they don’t have any
<br />glitches. The Fire Chief seems to keep them very well informed. I have some other information if you want to ask me some
<br />questions, but I’ll end with this. The budget is very small. Initially they started out with a $12,000 budget, and that was
<br />mainly to buy equipment, computers, etc. But they’re now operating on $3,500 a year. They meet once a month.
<br />RAY: Any other questions for Gary in regard to that?
<br />HIGASHI: I have one.
<br />RAY: Roland.
<br />HIGASHI: So, in essence, they’re using the staff that they have now. They don’t have a Commission staff?
<br />YOSHIYAMA: They have their own staff. It’s a part-time clerical, steno-type, employee, and they tell me she works part-
<br />time, and they need her for the services of this position when they meet once a month. That’s it.
<br />RAY: George.
<br />MARTIN: The primary function of the commission, as it’s implemented in Honolulu, is to hire and fire the Chief.
<br />YOSHIYAMA: That is a primary responsibility. Also to hear public complaints, similar to the Police Commission. Review
<br />the budget. They review the budget for the Fire Department with the Fire Chief. And recently they met with the Mayor and
<br />his people, along with the Fire Chief, the Fire Commission, and they hashed out the Fire Department budget. So those are, I
<br />think, the major areas.
<br />HIGASHI: And as I recall, they also review personnel action?
<br />YOSHIYAMA: We didn’t talk about that.
<br />RAY: So, that didn’t come up?
<br />YOSHIYAMA: No, that didn’t come up.
<br />RAY: I hope I didn’t confuse everybody by putting this on because we included things that we have voted on but we need to
<br />flesh out other concerns or details. Chris, so you’ve got some -
<br />YUEN: Yes, as I mentioned, this was passed last time and there was a little bit of discussion, maybe I instigated, on the
<br />procedure for removal of the Chief, and I prepared something. I just finished yesterday so I’m going to pass out. I changed
<br />file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 02-05-00.html7/1/2011
<br />
<br />
|