2000-03-18 Charter Commission Minutes

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minutes 03-18-00Page 26 of 27 PRANKE: Well, you would, but that’d sure cost us a lot. I’m always trying to think. Somebody said we should elect the Police Commission and that. I’m not for more election, more people on there. That costs more. SANTANGELO: It does. PRANKE: So having people that are already there, appoint them is a cost saving thing. I forgot one thing here, and we talked about it. Concerning the impeachment, I would support this a little more if you would add to this ‘any officer of the County may be impeached’. ‘Any officer who is appointed by an elected official or any Board.’ Right now, if that were the case, the Police Chief could be impeached, and I know a lot of people would go along with that, but the idea is if you can only impeach the people - You can’t say the Mayor’s wrong because the Police Chief is his choice, but the Police Commission voted him in, so there’s separation. But any officer of the County who is not a Civil Service employee should be impeachable. IRVINE: Del, can I just ask you one thing? PRANKE: Yes ma’am. IRVINE: You’re saying that court costs are what prohibit people from impeaching. PRANKE: Oh, yes, I think so. It’s several hundred dollars just to file, and then if you need copies of anything, they’re not cheap over there. It’s a $1.00 a page for the courts. So anybody that goes in there on their own - And you’ve got to know the Court Rules. You’ve got to know the Rules of Civil Procedure, all kinds of things. I don’t think it’s an easy proposition. If you want to make it harder, then make it easier to actually go through impeachment. What would be good would be if a judge would sit like a Small Claims Court and decide whether there really is an issue. SANTANGELO: Merit. PRANKE: Yes, merit to the case, and then if that’s the case, then send it on to be heard. Then you could make it harder, actually more signatures. But I have some question as to whether we can even tell the Court. I don’t know that we can say in here, that the Court shall sit. Nobody’s ever questioned that, but how can the Charter tell the State Courts what to do? But we have the authority to do the Charter, I guess, under State Law. Yes, Okay. IRVINE: I think that’s what impeachment by definition is, being thrown to the courts. PRANKE: Well, we have the authority to set up the Charter under State Law, so I guess that probably - I’m certainly through and I know you’re tired of hearing me. RAY: I’m going to dispense with my review of the Charter. PRANKE: I will write five of these up. I’m not going to bombard you with everything, but I will write five of these up, and I will have them to you before April 1st. I didn’t get a chance because I’ve been doing some other things. IRVINE: Would you put these in priority, as far as which you feel is most important, or something because one of the problems we find is that we didn’t want 30 amendments to the Charter, and that’s why the Charter has inconsistencies and things, because sometimes it’s not worth going in and making an amendment just to straighten a word out. PRANKE: Then even more than having those people appointed, I would say a standing Charter Review Commission to constantly review these things and make sure that it stays right. I think that would be great. And people serve two years, and go off. Two years, and then go off, that wouldn’t be a bad thing. RAY: Thank you. PRANKE: Thank you. If you guys want to go, I’ll listen to you in April. RAY: I think I’ll dispense with the review. ADJOURNMENT file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 03-18-00.html7/1/2011