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minutes 03-25-00Page 4 of 34
<br />individual voter, you get to vote for four Council persons vs. just one now. I think it’s just how you look at it, or
<br />philosophically, would you rather than people more focused on smaller geographic districts and more prone to represent
<br />those districts rather than the island as a whole. People look at it very differently, so some people like it, some people don’t.
<br />And also, just want to bring up that it takes a simple majority to place one of these amendments on the ballot for the
<br />Commission, so it only takes six out of 11 votes to move something forward.
<br />HERKES: Sharron needs names when they’re speaking.
<br />RAY: Yes, could you please introduce yourself when you speak?
<br />The Council Manager Form of Government. Council Manager Form/Function, whatever. This one is number 3 titled
<br />Strengthen the Authority of the County Managing Director. This is probably the issue that we spent more time looking at and
<br />researching than anything else. We’ve read a pretty comprehensive selection of material from different groups like the
<br />League of Women Voters, from looking at different jurisdictions across the country. Looking at the Council Manager form of
<br />government vs. the strong Mayor form of government, the Council Manager form of government would be basically, not
<br />necessarily eliminating the Mayor but, having the Mayor function more as the head of the County Council, and then the
<br />Council would hire a City Manager who would actually run the County, and be a very strong management role. We decided
<br />not to go with that model, but in all that discussion and looking at different Charters, one in particular that influenced us was
<br />one from Lexington, Kentucky. They’re a joint City/County government. They adopted a Council Manager form of
<br />government in the early ‘70s and then in the mid 80's they went back to a strong Mayor form of government, but in that
<br />transition period, or whatever, they created a very strong Managing Director position under the Mayor, still a strong Mayor
<br />form of government. So that’s one of the models we’re looking at. We also looked at some different models within the state,
<br />particularly Maui County.
<br />And what we’re proposing, and you don’t have all this in front of you, the way it would look in the Charter, but basically
<br />rewriting the entire Executive Department in the County Charter, and the way our County Charter’s written right now is we
<br />have different sections within the Executive Department, three sections. We have a section that is several departments under
<br />the Managing Director, several departments answer to the Mayor, and several departments that answer to Commissions. And
<br />what we’re recommending is restructuring the Executive Branch Article to put all the departments in one section headed by a
<br />Department of Management, which is, of course, headed by the Managing Director. And we’ve significantly addressed the
<br />powers, duties and functions of the Managing Director to make that a more comprehensive management position. And where
<br />we’d like to see this go is that the Managing Director would operate, a comparable private sector model, as the Chief
<br />Operating Officer of the County. But the Mayor would still be the Chief Executive Officer. The Mayor would still hire the
<br />Managing Director. What we have included is that the Managing Director would be confirmed by the County Council, which
<br />it’s not now, so that’s an addition. Then throughout the Charter, in areas where the management role and oversight only refer
<br />to the Mayor in different instances, we’ve included the Managing Director throughout the Charter to basically, from an
<br />organizational standpoint, to clearly put the Managing Director more in the chief management role. So, that’s what that
<br />amendment is all about.
<br />Number 4, a Fire Commission. We have a Police Commission now. We don’t have a Fire Commission. We basically, pretty
<br />much, copied the City and County of Honolulu language and model. They implemented a Fire Commission a few years ago.
<br />It seems to be working well. It seems to be working with a minimum of expense, and so we’re recommending that a Fire
<br />Commission be created and it’s main function would be to hire or fire the chief, review the department, and it seems to have
<br />had a real positive impact on political shenanigans in the Fire Department, so we’re recommending a Fire Commission.
<br />Number 5, a Department of Environmental Services, or we may call it Environmental Management. A little bit of
<br />background on this. The County Administration came to us last Spring with a proposal to move the Wastewater Division
<br />from the Department of Public Works to the Department of Water Supply. So that’s what generated a lot of discussion on
<br />what might make sense in terms of, kind of, mixing or matching, or whatever, and in researching this, we found that a much
<br />more common match-up across the country was a match-up with wastewater and solid waste matched together. So, we’re
<br />moving in that direction, and we’re talking about a possible Commission, and this proposal would basically - In the Public
<br />Works Department, there are six divisions right now. This would take two of the divisions, Solid Waste and Wastewater, and
<br />create a new department. This Charter Amendment would mandate that that would have to happen, but the County Council
<br />and the Administration would be coming up with the ordinances and figuring out exactly how it would be set up. But you’d
<br />have these two existing divisions now involved in a new department, whether it’s Environmental Services or Environmental
<br />Management. Where we came up with that word is that’s basically what most people are calling it across the country, and the
<br />City and County of Honolulu actually proposed a similar alignment a few years ago. It didn’t go through in this case, but that
<br />was the title they had used as well. I think what’s driving that is we’d like to see more emphasis in terms of these areas,
<br />especially in regard to the regulatory regime, which is increasing every year, Federal regulations in regard to these areas. It’s
<br />becoming increasingly complex to deal with these issues. So that’s part of the justification for a separate department. There’s
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