|
minutes 03-11-00Page 7 of 17
<br />sounds like a euphemism taken to the extreme. It sounds like a Department of Waste Management, and you’re calling it
<br />Environmental Services. I don’t know. That kind of thing feels a little offensive in some ways so maybe you’d do well to get
<br />rid of that.
<br />IRVINE: It’s straight from the mainland.
<br />RAY: We copied that from other Charters. The City and County was looking at a major reorganization a few years ago and
<br />that was the language they used, so just proactive -
<br />IRVINE: I went out on the web a lot and talked to people in San Diego, looked at the City of Portland, San Luis Obispo,
<br />some cities in Washington, and whatever. And this is fairly standard language, however, the woman in San Diego said, well,
<br />that’s getting to be dated and she had even a farther out euphemism. So, whatever it was, I can’t remember what she said, I
<br />thought we weren’t ready for that yet. But that’s the explanation for that and the fact that the City and County of Honolulu
<br />did suggest having this sort of department a couple of years back.
<br />RAY: But, if you’ve got something better.
<br />GRAHAM: Waste Management. That seems like what you’re talking about. Your talking solid waste.
<br />IRVINE: The other thing is that we really, really, really want to get the feeling of let’s recycle, let’s take care of our land
<br />now. Mandating something like that rather than leaving it where it has been in Public Works without some sort of statement
<br />that this is what we want to see happen.
<br />HIGASHI: Also, under the Charter, they’re able to create a new department if it’s addressed in the Charter. This is going to
<br />be a growing concern from now on, and maybe for the next 20 years. Our feeling is that we need to get higher expertise in
<br />this field, and once we create a department, the Department Head would be somebody differently educated than we have in
<br />Public Works now. And once we have it established, other technologies come in, and other concerns can be addressed by this
<br />department. So what we may have in here now may represent some of the things that are ongoing, but there can be other
<br />concerns in the future and this department will have to address that.
<br />GRAHAM: Yes, I think I get you. That even though it’s a bit narrow, as you specified now, it may broaden in the future, so it
<br />might as well have a title that will encompass that. Okay. Thank you.
<br />Second, a sort of narrow, specific issue I thought of was when you’re talking about impeachment, and you’re talking about a
<br />3% of the voters in the County need to sign for impeachment, it feels like that’s appropriate for countywide elected positions,
<br />but for elected positions within a district, all the impeachment petition votes should come from the district served, I believe.
<br />So I think I would like to see you all make a change there.
<br />HERKES: We had quite a discussion on that.
<br />GRAHAM: In the same way, I mean we don’t have impeachment at the Federal level, or the State level, or something, but I
<br />don’t feel I should be responsible for signing petitions to impeach Norman Mizuguchi, or something, just because he’s also in
<br />the State Senate, when I have a Senator in the State Senate. So, it just feels like it would be wrong for me to try to
<br />impeachment a Councilman from Puna, or something like that.
<br />RAY: Okay, but most of the Council issues are island-wide, countywide in nature, so from that standpoint they do effect you
<br />as an island citizen.
<br />GRAHAM: I was just going to say most of the issues of State Legislature are statewide too, but I don’t feel that I should be
<br />trying to vote for impeachment of Norman Mizuguchi because of some way he voted on some bills, or whatever other thing
<br />bothers me. That’s all. It doesn’t seem that it is a hard change for you to make. If you want to elevate the percent to 5%, or
<br />something, within his district, it seems like an easy thing. It’s not like you, sort of, have to do it this way.
<br />HERKES: See, that’s a real tough issue for me, too, because I feel term limits infringe upon my right to elect whom I want,
<br />and so that impeachment in your district - having somebody else reach into your district and impeach the candidate that you
<br />elected to represent you is really hard. I guess the vote we took was island-wide, but I guess that’s what we’ll have to go
<br />through and see what comes out.
<br />file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 03-11-00.html7/1/2011
<br />
<br />
|