2000-04-29 Charter Commission Minutes

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Transcript of Meeting of April 29, 2000Page 18 of 64 department who has met certain national standards of care and delivery of services, not somebody who has met certain delivery of something else to the Mayor. There are national standards. We have National Fire Protection Association Standards that, in the department I came from, you had to meet those first, and then you were qualified to take the test. That didn’t mean that you were qualified for the position. It meant you were qualified to take the test. When you get beyond Captain, some of these things, there’s no test at all. It’s just got one. You’ve been a good boy, you know, and you waived the sign, you shaka and all that, and that’s not enough. And Curtis Tyler knows about this. He’s been really into it, and I really appreciate all the work he’s done on this. He’s got a lot of files on this, and a lot in his head, and I’d like to just tell you that a Fire Commission is needed. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You can just go to some other municipality where it works. Our Civil Service has been working, for years, on making job specifications for each rank except for Department Heads. We need to change that. Thank you. RAY: Okay, thanks, Tom. Any questions? BESS: I have a question. Have you reviewed the proposed changes in establishing the Fire Commission? BEACH: In here? BESS: Yes. BEACH: I was looking around for that. BESS: If you would, what I would appreciate is if you’d take the time to go ahead and look at that and see - Just with your questions regarding standards, I’d like you to comment as to whether or not the standards that we have established here are sufficient. BEACH: Sure. I’d be happy to. Where do I get a copy of that? RAY: Okay, got one? Curtis, Councilman Tyler. TYLER: Thank you Mr. Chairman. Good morning members of the Commission and your staff. I, too, want to begin by thanking you again for the hard work that those of you that have attended regularly have done. I’m a little disturbed, as others have said, about the poor attendance record of some of your members, and I hope that in the future, when you make your rules, that you’ll put in some provision that if somebody misses three consecutive meetings - this is without a valid excuse - that they are to be removed or subject to removal, or something. This is standard in all Boards, and I’m sure many, if not all, of you have served on Boards of Directors, and you know exactly what I’m talking about. But, some of us were quite concerned with some of these, at least one person in particular - well, more than one person, and we voted accordingly on the Council, and some of our concerns have come true with respect to at least one that I can think of offhand. Enough of that. I appreciate your Administrative Assistant providing me with all of the documents in a very timely fashion. I’m sorry that she had to do that and I wasn’t able to review them on the web, but maybe in my next life I’ll get a little more ma’a, or familiar with that. There’s a lot of information that you’ve assembled, and I have some other things I’d like to touch on. I started to begin with the first page and write my notes, and try to put them together with your proposals, and I must admit I’ve failed in about half of the Charter. But I’d like to begin by starting with your Preamble. I would urge you to go back and look at your Preamble and tell me if you think you get file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 04-29-00.html7/1/2011