2000-05-31 Charter Commission Minutes

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minutes 05-31-00Page 3 of 54 you wouldn’t have had these problems. You would have had it all documented, everything down that he has done or hasn’t done. And the only one that can do that is – Well, the Mayor could but evidently he doesn’t. A City Manager – Here I go again – would do that. He has the power to do that. He has the power to keep all of the records on a Police Chief, and I’ve seen that done, and I’ve seen them get rid of a Police Chief in the same manner. You also have a Police Commission, but the one that keeps the report on the Police Chief, he is the boss. The Police Chief here, it doesn’t seem like he has to reckon to anybody. I mean, it seems as though he’s God, really. And that shouldn’t be. Somebody should be his boss. But anyway, like I’ve told you that before; I’m going to say it again and I just did. But the reason why I’m here – the questions that I wanted to ask that are things I’ve read in the paper about – I know John had talked about the Directors of each department. They would have to have a degree of some sort, but now that I read in the paper they don’t have to have anything. Whoever wants to appoint them, can appoint them. Is that right? RAY: No. OTTERSON: Then I’m reading it wrong in the paper. According to the way I read it in the paper, they do not have to have any – Public Works Director wouldn’t have to have - RAY: The Public Works Director would have to be a registered engineer. HERKES: And – OTTERSON: He does? RAY: Yes. OTTERSON: Okay, that’s great. How about – RAY: Every Department Head has qualifications in the Charter. OTTERSON: The Planning Department? RAY: Right, every Department Head. OTTERSON: That’s great. RAY: They may not be to your liking but they all have qualifications in the Charter. OTTERSON: It may not be to my liking, huh? HERKES: But they’re stronger than they are now. OTTERSON: They are? HERKES: We’re working in the right direction. OTTERSON: Because, just to give you a ‘for instance’, in Kona the new high school that they built there, the entrance to the high school is as wide as a freeway. You come out of there and then you get on to 11. They have built beautiful rock walls 30-35 feet high. Now, 11 will be a major thorough way someday. Now, they’re going to have to move them doggone walls back out and the amount of money and time that they have spent on those walls, those rock walls, will all have to come out of there. RAY: That’s a State Highway, and that’s a State high school. So that’s not under the jurisdiction of the County. OTTERSON: Well, how do you get to that, though? RAY: That’s not anything we’re dealing with here. That’s a State Highway – file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 05-31-00.html7/1/2011