2000-02-09 Charter Commission Minutes

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minutes 02-09-00Page 11 of 41 department would take care of all of that. RAY: Thank you. Any questions? OTTERSON: And I haven’t sold you yet, I can see. RAY: All right, thank you. Walter Moe. OTTERSON: Just remember, though, it’s a very, very important issue because I have lived under it and I know it works. Thank you. MOE: Good evening Chairman Ray and the rest of the Charter Commission. I need to speak into this mike to record it. Am I correct? RAY: You’re correct. MOE: Okay. I don’t know if I want to refer to myself as a rubber stamp but my name is Walter Moe and, to my surprise, a month and a half ago I was invited by the Mayor to volunteer for the Police Commission. So I had the pleasure of appearing before the County Council a week ago to be questioned by our distinguished panel of Council people, and not being familiar with anything really for knowing what’s going on, or concerning myself with the work of the Police Commission, etc., I started looking into it and, to my surprise, in that discussion I detected a certain amount of puzzlement among our Council people in understanding certain language within this Charter. So I started reading, and read it probably ten times over and over, and the more I read it, the more, let me say I didn’t necessarily became more confused because I know what I’m reading, but what I’m reading is contradictory, and not very clear, so my purpose over here is really not saying that I’m advocating any changes in structure, but what I’m asking you to consider, to review the text and language of the Charter, and make it understandable. RAY: Which particular section confuses you? MOE: Okay, for instance, ‘adopt such rules as may be considered necessary for the conduct of its business and the regulation of the matters committed to its charge and may review the rules and regulations’. May? In other words, they don’t ever have to, or look at it, or go home? So is that the intent? May. RAY: Okay. MOE: One of the points. Of course, I’m talking about Section 7-2.2 Police Commissions, on page 14. Next one is ‘a summary of the charges filed and their disposition shall be included in the Annual Report of the Commission’. Understandable. Now, if you read this, ‘filed and their disposition shall be included’, how does that reconcile with the statement ‘neither the Commission nor its members shall interfere in any way with the administrative affairs of the department’? Now, whatever you would be doing under the particular instruction, you are interfering with the administrative affairs of the department. Now as I understand it - RAY: How do you interpret that? MOE: Apparently, there have been - RAY: That’s not the way it reads to me. I just wondered where you see the conflict there? MOE: Well, down on (d) it says ‘make periodic reports to the Police Commission about the activities of the Police Department and about action taken on cases investigated by the Police Commission’. So if I would be asking questions in reference to what happened, what took place, what actions have you taken, I would be interfering with the administrative affairs of the department. No? Yes? I don’t know. Do I need a Corporation Counsel attorney to give a ruling on this? Apparently that took place several times. So all I’m asking, really, would it be possible if we could really clean and clear this up? I’m not here to change structurally anything, okay? I’m not saying abandon it, or something, or have this happen, or that happen, but make it easy for me to understand so that if I am - I’m not even there yet, I don’t think. We never had a meeting yet. I was questioned by the Council but I don’t think I have heard from the Mayor’s Office what the next steps are, and how this works. But when I heard ‘to be a rubber stamp’, whatever I’m doing, I take very serious, and I work at it, and I really file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 02-09-00.html7/1/2011