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minutes 02-05-00Page 5 of 66
<br />to even the Water Commission as well. I think Water does need to get integrated with this at some point.
<br />SANTANGELO: Sue, the reason I went there was just a Commission has very little impact at all, I mean, on anything. It’s
<br />advisory and people don’t listen. If you make this semi-autonomous, understand that I think that Commission is definitely, as
<br />with the Water Commission, they’re dealing with millions of dollars, they’re setting policy, they’re setting the budget,
<br />they’re hiring and firing, and they’re the ones that say which tanks get set up and what new lines get put in. They are
<br />definitely different from any other Commission, quote, in the County government, and I just warn you about that. It’s
<br />different.
<br />HIGASHI: I feel uncomfortable by having a Commission in this case because they cannot support themselves. To begin with,
<br />Water has a source of income, where a department like this may not have an adequate source of income to operate itself, so
<br />we may have to recognize that portion of having a semi-autonomous group.
<br />HERKES: The Commission could be in the ordinance.
<br />RAY: I think the question is, recognizing that there’s not that source of income, does it make sense to set it up that way?
<br />SANTANGELO: But is that true, Mr. Chairman?
<br />RAY: George, you had something to say?
<br />MARTIN: I think it’s a pretty simple solution to that problem. If, in fact, it goes semi-autonomous and they don’t have a
<br />working budget to begin with, we put in the Charter that for the first four years, or whatever, they shall be budgeted by, and
<br />after that time, they either sink or swim.
<br />IRVINE: I think they might sink. I hate to say that. People are more likely to pay for water than sewers.
<br />RAY: Roland.
<br />HIGASHI: In the scope of this thinking, and we’re talking about source of income, we’re not considering putting the Water
<br />Department into this department, are you?
<br />HERKES: Not at this time.
<br />IRVINE: Not at this time, no.
<br />HIGASHI: Okay, just to make it clear.
<br />MARTIN: There’s got to be a separation.
<br />RAY: John.
<br />SANTANGELO: In terms of income, there’s nothing that this department would do, at least in the beginning, that they aren’t
<br />already doing. Hopefully, they would do more, and do it better, so the money is already there. It’s already been budgeted,
<br />number one. Number two, it might bring fees around to where they belong, and where Roland may have been headed. We
<br />already know it’s somewhere between $35 and $85 a ton to bury this, and these fees are generated at that point of disposal.
<br />Once you start to get into that, you can start to create - See, here’s the thing, and this is dangerous water, so I just warn you. If
<br />you have this department that’s semi-autonomous, the budget is there, and it has a revenue source. It has a cost center. Then
<br />what happens is people can no longer, say, go to their local little place and dump their garbage, quote, free. That creates a
<br />revenue source that then funds other people that can go out and collect rubbish because they have to pay somewhere, and a
<br />lot of times, they’ll pay you to pick it up rather than go down and do it themselves. And so when you say semi-autonomous,
<br />yes, it needs a budget, and that’s generally where it leads. That’s murky waters, and that’s why I brought it up.
<br />HERKES: Mr. Chair?
<br />RAY: Marni.
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