2000-03-25 Charter Commission Minutes

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minutes 03-25-00Page 19 of 34 RAY: Jim. OTTERSON: Yes, I sent letters to each one of the Council members and I’ve got some pretty good feedback from them. RAY: Talk is cheap. OTTERSON: Well, absolutely, I agree with you. But now let me tell you about me. I feel so strongly about this, having worked under the situation, under the system, for 25 years. My wife worked under it for 35 years. Of course, she’s quite a bit older than I am. HERKES: We know your wife. We remember her. OTTERSON; I’m in trouble, aren’t I? HERKES: Yes, right, you are. OTTERSON: So, it just excites me. It really does. It excites me to see something that could be changed so easily and work so great, because it is a smooth process, this Council Manager situation. And the way you have it there, the Mayor can come in, like I’ve said before, he can be straight off of the street. He has to have no knowledge of what, or how to handle, it’s getting close to 200 million - before too long, he’ll have a $200 million budget, and unless you’ve got somebody in there that knows how to put this money in the right places, or have the people under him, now that - That’s the big thing - like your Finance Director, your Planning Department. One of your most important places is the Planning Director. Well, all you have to do is drive around here in three or four blocks, and you see what could be helped out, and that would be the Planning Department. You’ve got Public Works. You’ve got Parks and Rec. You’ve got right on down the line, and they need a sufficient amount of Directors with the papers that show they are Directors, to run those. And Keiko, I’m not running you down or anything like that, but just say the next Mayor that would come in, say they would come off the street. In the Charter the only thing they have to know, the only thing they have to be is a registered voter. Right? Have you read your Charter? Okay. That’s exactly all they need to know, so I hope you, please, give this some big thought because it’s going to be a major decision on you guys’ part. But it does work. One more thing, though. You say somebody in San Diego, or somewhere in Kentucky, got rid of it? RAY: Are you saying - OTTERSON: Anyway, I just wondered what the population was there? RAY: I’m not sure what the question was yet. OTTERSON: What the circumstances - RAY: You mean why Lexington, Kentucky switched from a City Manager? OTTERSON; Yes. RAY: Just basically they thought that would be a more effective way to run the city. OTTERSON: I just wondered how large a community it was. RAY: Oh, I think it’s in the several hundred thousand range, the combined City of Lexington and the County. OTTERSON: When was this? Do you know? RAY: I’ve got the information. They switched back about 10 years ago. OTTERSON: I bet they’re back to manager now. RAY: No, they’re not. file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 03-25-00.html7/1/2011