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minutes 05-31-00Page 5 of 54
<br />OTTERSON: Yes, but the other places you haven’t. See, John?
<br />IRVINE: Kona. Were you in Kona?
<br />OTTERSON: Pardon?
<br />RAY: Okay. Let’s move on.
<br />SANTANGELO: I was trying to be nice, but never mind. Thanks for being here, Jim.
<br />OTTERSON: Okay. Another thing. This county, this island, the whole works, is going to grow. It’s really getting ready to
<br />take hold. But if you don’t have somebody in there that can head it in the right direction, you’re going to end up with a hell of
<br />a mess. That’s it.
<br />RAY: Okay, thank you. Curtis Tyler. Patrick, you’re next up.
<br />TYLER: Good afternoon Mr. Chair, members of the Commission. Thank you for this opportunity to testify again before you.
<br />I want to begin by thanking you again for your hard work, your perseverance, and your dedication to hearing the public and
<br />responding in the ways that you believe are important for this County, present and future generations. I also want to thank
<br />you especially for the deletions of some of the proposals. As I spoke to you last time when you were in Waimea, I indicated
<br />that too many will create a lot of confusion, so I think the elimination of these items – the deletion, excuse me, of your
<br />original slate makes a lot of sense and I want to commend you for revisiting these and for the courage to listen to the people
<br />regarding their concerns about at least half of those. I wanted to comment on some of those amendments which were
<br />approved as proposals for the ballot, just very briefly. Oh, and I also want to thank you, Chairman Ray, for sending a
<br />personal letter to each of the Council members, as I assume you did, and also to the Chair. I received one from you and I got
<br />one from Mr. Arakaki. Thank you for summarizing. That’s always nice to have an Executive Summary, especially when you
<br />left your file back in Kona.
<br />But, with respect to Strengthening the Authority of the County Managing Director: I think it’s important, which is in the
<br />absence of a County Manager, I think this is a good interim move and we’ll be able to see how things go the next few years. I
<br />think, probably, that person should, as an Administrative Supervisor, probably should have a minimum of a Masters in Public
<br />Administration or a Masters in Business Administration.
<br />With respect to the Fire Commission: As I’ve said before, we just want to be sure that we don’t want to repeat some of the
<br />problems in terms of process, or in terms of system, that we may be seeing today in the Police Commission. And I want to
<br />comment on some of the previous comments by members of the public regarding this. I think we always have to be extremely
<br />careful about whether a system change is needed or whether it has to do with the individual people, the leadership current, or
<br />lack thereof. And sometimes we’re quick to change our system, or our process, because we’re reacting to an individual or a
<br />specific situation. So, while I think that the ideas from the public regarding appointments, or elected Commissioners,
<br />certainly I know have received your careful consideration, I think they may, in the future, be commended for further
<br />consideration. The idea that the Council members each might appoint someone might lend itself for a similar situation, at
<br />least in some cases. Although having nine individuals as opposed to one certainly would lower the chances of that happening.
<br />Nonetheless, as Commissioner Herkes pointed out, these Commissioners always come for confirmation by the Council
<br />members, and if the Council members approve them, you assume this is part of the system. If they choose to ask questions, or
<br />not ask questions, this is hopefully in response to the knowledge of the nominee or the information they receive from the
<br />members of the public. So I think we have to weigh this carefully in terms of process.
<br />Clearly members of the Fire Department, as I’ve previously stated to you, have stated strong support for something like a Fire
<br />Commission because it’s worked very well on Oahu. So I thank you for that.
<br />With respect to the Department of Environmental Management: Because I don’t have all my notes here, is the Environmental
<br />Management Commission going to be one from each Council district, the same kind of appointment situation?
<br />RAY: Yes.
<br />TYLER: Okay.
<br />HERKES: We changed all the Commissions to be that. All of the Commissions will be geographic.
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