2000-02-05 Charter Commission Minutes

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minutes 02-05-00Page 19 of 66 YUEN: Yes, if we just said Department Heads and a Deputy, the ones who would not be included would be the County Physicians, and the Safety Coordinator, the Band Director, and the Legislative Auditor I have to put a question mark because the Charter, as I wrote a letter to you, does not say that there is such a thing as a Legislative Auditor’s Office. It just says there’s a Legislative Auditor, but why don’t we leave that like that’s a question mark because there’s a discussion about formalizing what the office is and does, and in that case, it would be a Director and would be covered by the salary ordinance. RAY: Gary. YOSHIYAMA: I don’t recall where the Director of Office of Aging and Harry Kim, Civil Defense - I don’t know if they were converted from Civil Service to non-Civil Service type positions. To me, it’s something similar to the Housing and Community Development being in the Mayor’s Office, this kine. But in any case, I take it that Mike Ben and Barry Mizuno are going to attend our next meeting. RAY: Yes, I’m glad you brought that up. We have requested they attend next Wednesday’s meeting. It would probably be good to get their input on this. Maybe we should table this until then. IRVINE: Okay, John, one other question. What about all the Mayor’s Executive Assistants? Are they not - Kokubun, this kind of thing - Is this just the Mayor’s discretion? RAY: He’s the Deputy Planning Director. But anyway, no they wouldn’t be covered under this. YUEN: No, they’re not covered under Mike Ben’s proposal. Positions in the Office of the Mayor, Marcia Reynolds, people like that, are Civil Service exempt but they’re in a pay plan that’s approved by the Council. RAY: Let’s everybody just think this thing through and then we’ll get some input from Mike on Wednesday and, hopefully, we can move it forward. My sense is that we’re going to approve something, it’s just a question of what. Managing Director, and this was the thing I addressed more in the memo that I sent out, and what I did, of the recommendation, was two things: (1) looking at a total reorganization of the Executive Branch of government, along the lines of Maui County. And, basically, what Maui does is they have a section that generally describes the Executive Branch, generally describes the Mayor, but then all the departments are listed under one section, and they just have the Managing Director at the top of that section, the Department of Management, at the top of the list. So that’s the reorganizational part of it. So I called Chris and said, as far as the way they lump everything, including sections that have Boards and Commissions, is there any problem there. I don’t believe there is if that’s the way Maui County’s been doing it for years. And then, the thought there is that it just doesn’t change the powers of the Mayor and the Managing Director. It just puts it in a more logical sequence where it seemed like he’s the key management person. And then in the last page of the memo I sent out, that has specific language on the Department of Management, this is language, sort of a hybrid of Maui County, City and County, and the Lexington Charter. So, under Organization, it says there’ll be a Department of Management, consisting of a Managing Director and the necessary staff. And then under the actual Managing Director, the significant language, or expansion, there is that ‘shall be appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Council’ and then as far as the job qualifications, this is language taken out of a couple of Charters, including Lexington, that we had talked about; five years of experience in an administrative capacity, and shall possess demonstrable educational and/or professional experience in the art and science of government management as required by such office. I was just throwing it out for discussion. Powers, duties and functions. I’d say the significant ones that are included there that are a little bit different are (c), that the managing director would recommend to the Mayor the annual operating and capital improvement budgets. It just puts him more in that process. And then the section (d), I think, is mostly lifted out of City and County in terms of oversight on reviewing all the departments and it also has an inclusion that says ‘make reports to the Mayor and the Council’. I included that to tie that in a little more. And then this language about Commissions, I lifted out, and that seemed to be applicable if we have Commissions and lumping everything together, that you tie in the Managing Director to these Boards and Commissions as far as those oversight functions. And (e), (f), (g) and (h) are identical. There was nothing in there. So, I think the big choices are do we want to organize it this way, and then, as far as powers of the Managing Director, or appointments, do we want it confirmed by the Council. How do we want to describe the position, and then do we want to spell out the fiscal responsibilities the way they are more in (d) where it says more of an oversight for management and performance. While we’re on this, and I hope this is not out of order to take it up, is after I sent this out, I was going through the Maui County Charter and became intrigued by a Commission that they have, and it’s on page 22 of the Maui County Charter, and this is a Cost of Government Commission they have in Maui County. I’m just bringing that up because it’s all, sort of, the same subject of oversight and how all this works. So that’s something we might want to consider, and I chatted with a couple of file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 02-05-00.html7/1/2011