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MIN CHC 1999-05-12
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CHARTER COMMISSION WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1999 ALPHABETICAL INDEX Subject Page numbers Adjournment 44 Announcements 44 Attendance 1 Available Documentation 5 Background Presentations on County Government and the County Charter 6 Budget 4 Call to Order 1 Commissions 39 Communications 2 Communications/Public Relations Committee 42 County Department Proposals 34 Financial Status Report 2 Minutes 1 New Business 6 Next Meeting Date 2, 44 Office Space 4 Public Input Meetings 44 Reimbursable Expenses 6 Selection of Commission Attorney 3, 7 • • Selection of Commission Secretary 3, 42, 43 Statements from the Public 3 Unfinished Business 3 HAWAII COUNTY CHARTER COMMISSION Transcript of Meeting of May 12, 1999 Hawaii County Liquor Commission Conference Room, Hilo Lagoon Center Attendance: J. Ray, S. Bess, M. Herkes, R. Higashi, G. Martin, J. Santangelo (after 3:10 p.m.), G. Yoshiyama, Corporation Counsel R. Wurdeman Absent and Excused: S. Irvine, D. Kurozawa Absent: E. Alonzo, K. Balog And 4 members of the public in attendance. RAY: The May 12th Special Meeting of the Hawaii County Charter Commission is called to order at 3:07 p.m. Let the minutes reflect that in attendance are John Ray, Chairman, Roland Higashi, Vice Chair, Steve Bess, Marni Herkes, George Martin, and Gary Yoshiyama. I had verbal notice from Sue Irvine and Daryl Kurozawa that they could not attend today, so we'll expect the others momentarily, but let's go ahead and get started. You have a packet before you, and I tried to put things in the order -that we're going to deal with them, so Item No. III, the minutes. If you will recall, we deferred approval of the March 17th minutes which we just received at the last meeting, and also included here we have the April 14th minutes, which I assume we're going to defer approval on those until the next meeting since nobody's had a chance to read them. So in regard to the March 17th minutes, which were distributed at the last meeting, do I have a motion to approve? YOSHIYAMA: So moved. RAY: Second? BESS: Second. RAY: Okay. Discussion on the -, this is the March 17th minutes that were distributed at the last meeting. Discussion? I've just got a general comment. In reviewing these meetings, I find them not to be particularly substantive or easy to follow, and I think maybe part of that is, you know, the subject matter, or lack of, right, and part of it is probably the -, my leadership, or lack of, in terms of running the meetings, but they seem to be pretty helter-skelter and all over the place. But like I say, I think a lot of that is, you know, we're just sort of free-for- all discussing the organization and whatever but, hopefully, they'll be, you know, more productive as a recording tool and more useful to us later. 1 So all in favor of approving the March 17 meeting minutes? All in favor? COMMISSIONERS: Aye. RAY: motion to defer? Okay. The minutes are approved. The April 14th minutes, do I have a BESS: So moved. YOSHIYAMA: Second. RAY: All in favor? COMMISSIONERS: Aye. RAY: Okay. So I'll remind you that we do have a meeting for next Wednesday, so we'll try to approve these meetings -, minutes at that time. Okay, going down in your packets, the financial status shows a balance of $29,045.07. The purchase of a file cabinet is the major purchase, and I'll refer to that later, but we do have our own file cabinet now. Let the minutes show that Mr. Santangelo has now arrived. Okay, Communications, Item No. V. Included in your packet, there's a little notice from myself regarding just general organization, some things I want to cover maybe later today. And then, also, what I did was I made a copy of everything that I've included, that I've received from boards, commissions or departments to date, so you've got a copy of everything that's come in so far with, you know, with comments. Okay, any questions about that? We've also -, I received two communications asking for us to mail out agendas and minutes, from Jason Armstrong with the Hawaii Tribune -Herald and from Jerry Rothstein. HERKES: What.do they want us to do? RAY: They'd like copies of the agendas. HERKES: Did they want them mailed to them? RAY: Jason asked for them to be dropped off at his drop-off spot in the County Building, and I was going to do the same thing with West Hawaii Today with Bobby Command, because I've actually been calling him and giving him updates as far as what we, you know, were up to, and he did a nice article, other than referring to me as a lobbyist. But anyway -. So we 2 we're in touch with them, okay. So that covers Communications. Statements from the Public on items on the agenda. No one here. Okay, Unfinished Business, Selection of the Commission's Attorney. I'd like to ask Mr. Bess to report on where we are with that. BESS: Yes, Mr. Chairman, the subcommittee did interview all but one of the candidates for the attorney's position and, unfortunately, we were unable to schedule -, we had scheduled an interview of the last remaining candidate, but we were unable to conduct that interview. So what's going to happen -. As you know, Sue Irvine is on the mainland, and she had asked that she be part of the review process for all of the candidates since she had been a part of it for the first three, and so what we're going to do is we're going to be interviewing the last remaining candidate on Tuesday before our next meeting so that we will be in a position to recommend two attorneys or more to the Commission, as a whole. I should mention that I justreceived word from Mr. Lester Ishado, who was a candidate, and he has withdrawn his application. RAY: Okay. All right. Any questions on that? Okay, because of the public notice, I had talked to Mr. Bess about this, and so we have included that on the agenda for next week and so, hopefully, that'll take place. Okay, VII B, Selection of Commission's Secretary. Could I ask either or both Gary Yoshiyama or Marni Herkes to give us a report on where we are with that. HERKES: We have three applications that Civil Service has deemed appropriate, and we will be interviewing them. It would be nice if we could them done in the next week, and we will try. Mr. Balog's not here today so -, but I'll talk with Gary and see if we can get them -, see what his schedule is, what my schedule is, and when we can interview. RAY: to send out for -. Okay. And then we've got two additional applications, right, that we have HERKES: We're going to do the three. Yes, Mr. Ray, we can go through all that, if you want, but in the interest of keeping the minutes readable, I thought we'd just say that we have three right now that are appropriate. RAY: Well, I just wanted to explain that in terms of the time frame that we do have to send out two additional applications and give them five days to respond to deficiencies, and then, if they do qualify, then I assume we'd be interviewing them, as well? HERKES: Uh huh. 3 • RAY: Okay. So time -wise, Gary or Marni, do you have any idea if we -? Let's assume we get the -, that the other two, one of the other two, you know, qualifies arid we have to interview that person, as well. Where does that put us in terms of, you know, having a warm body hired and on board for the Commission? HERKES: After we make a decision, say we make a decision within ten days. RAY: Okay. HERKES: Gary, how long does Civil -, do we have to -, can we hire right away? YOSHIYAMA: Yeah, anytime. Yeah. HERKES: Okay. YOSHIYAMA: Right. RAY: So -. HERKES: We could have one on board by June 1S` RAY: Okay. Well, anything -. • HERKES: It would be a goal. RAY: You can do to move that process along, it would be extremely helpful in terms of the schedule, you know. We anticipated, as far as especially going into departmental reviews -. Because I don't think any of us thought through, you know, the logistics of, you know, starting this review process and, you know, interfacing with the County departments and whatever. But we really do need to get somebody on board as soon as possible, okay. Budget, I put this on here. I don't think there's anything new to report there. We -, the budget, basically, we have the budget for this calendar year, which the balance will expire, and then we have the $100,000 included in the budget for next year so -. Okay. Moving on, Office Space. As far as the County is concerned, we have purchased and located a file cabinet. It's in, physically in the County Clerk's office, which seems a little bit odd, but that's where it ended up. And I went in and met with the County Clerk and the staff there, and was assured that we'll have, you know, full, timely access to our file cabinet. And if the Clerk is in the -, is in a meeting, that we can go in and knock on his door and tell him we need to get into our file cabinet, and we'll get timely access. At least it should be secure. But anyway, there's a four - drawer file cabinet there. And then in the Office of Information, we do have a drop-off box on the front counter, it's there now, and everything should end up there. We do have a good system of moving documents back and forth from Hilo to Kona, where I am most days, so we can pouch stuff over to the Mayor's Office on a daily basis, so that's very convenient and that works well for me. And we can save on postage that way, corresponding with the County departments and whatever. Instead of having to mail stuff, I can just pouch it back over and get it back. So that works out well. So, hopefully, those two situations will cover our needs logistically, assuming the administrative assistant we hire, you know, has all the, you know, home office capabilities that we need. Does that seem reasonable to everybody? HERKES: Yeah. The only thing I was going to say is that next time you talk to the press, I think it would be important to make a point of the fact that we have drop-off places on both sides of the Island for anyone that would like to comment, so that they -, just to kind of start " to talk about how accessible we are. RAY: Okay. Yeah, I think that's a good idea and, you know, additionally, maybe we should kind of formally decide, you know, what other, you know, documentation, you know, that we may want to be available. I know we had talked about past Charter Commission minutes being available, you know, in East and West Hawaii, and that is not the case presently. So if that's something we want, then we need to get copies of those made and work out, you know, where they're going to be if people want to go in. And is just the past Charter Commission okay, or do we need to go back to the one prior to that? That's four volumes of the one prior or -. HERKES: I think if anybody wants the prior ones, they can ask for them. I don't think we need to make them available. RAY: Okay. HERKES: What is -, do we still charge $3.00 for County Charter booklet, or $6.00? RAY: I believe it's $3.00. BERKES: Three dollars. RAY: And they are available at the Mayor's Office in West Hawaii and the County Clerk's office in East Hawaii. But all of those things we need to, you know, make part of public notice or, you know, you mentioned letting the press know. We can do that, as well, but you know. SANTANGELO: John, point of clarification. On that Charter, have we publicized well that it's on the Web, because there -, if you have access to a computer, it's free. RAY: We have not, and I think we're waiting to, you know, get out some sort of, 5 you know, press release bulletin. SANTANGELO: Put that all together. RAY: Right. You know, I distributed, you know, one that had some thoughts I came up with in terms of just description of the Charter and whatever, and so I think all those should be included at that time and, you know, get the press on board, as well. Reimbursable Expenses. To date, only I think three of us have turned in the forms for reimbursable expenses. If you do want to, if you do want to do that, I wish you'd do it on a relatively timely basis, and those forms are right here. HERKES: Thank you. That's what we need is a form. RAY: Well, they were here at the last meeting, and I pointed it out at the last meeting. And so the most timely way to handle it is that if you fill it out today, then I can, you , know, I -, one of -, myself or Roland need to sign the authorization, and then they can get turned in. So -, okay. I didn't include on here, that should have been in Unfinished Business, just the topic of general organization and scheduling and where we go from here, and I'd like to table that until after the presentations, so -, we already have a couple of people coming on that. And under New Business, (I think I'd like to defer the Communications/Public Relations piece, as well, to that discussion when we talk about, you know, where we go after this. So that moves us into, as Mr. Yuen comes in, New Business, B, Background Presentations on County Government and the County Charter. And I want to welcome Mr. Bethea and Mr. Yuen and Mr. L'Orange, who have all so graciously volunteered to come in and meet with us today and give us a'little background and answer any questions we might have in regard to the Charter review process, the County Charter, or County government in general. So, welcome. You folks want to come sit at the table? Hi, Bob. We'll keep this relatively informal. I think we invited you here today to, you know, give us any input, thoughts, help on, you know, initially, on getting organized, you know, the process, any processes you found, you know, helpful in terms of activities of the last Charter Commission. I'm -, personally, I'm particularly interested in any comments you might have about engaging the public, you know, just the whole subject of public input, you know, how to solicit public input, any thoughts you might have. But, you know, Bob do you want to lead off and -. BETHEA: Okay, I will. Can everybody hear me? RAY: Yeah. 6 BETHEA: I got kind of a cold, so I'm losing my voice. Well, when you invited me, I wasn't sure what I could contribute. And I thought about it over the past several days and I'm still not sure what I can contribute, but I will try. One of the things we benefitted from was having a very good attorney, Chris Yuen here. I mean, it really, it really was a help. He was very good at keeping himself out of the policy decisions, acting as an attorney. I might have applied for the job and asked for your consideration, because I think it's an interesting job, but I don't think I could have accomplished that. I'd be, you know, expressing my own opinions, etcetera, etcetera, and I don't think that's the role of counsel. And I think that's one of the things you need to get straight with whoever you do have, what you -, the expectations that you do have, who's counsel for the Committee. But anyway, I thought at least an appearance here would give me a further opportunity to disclaim any responsibility for single member districts or for the four-year term. Pete L'Orange over here, made that motion. No, Sherwood Greenwell made the motion, Pete seconded it. And I simply didn't have the votes; that's the real truth of it. It was me and the labor guys. And there's a funny story attached to this. At the time, I didn't favor the single member districts either, and our little group, which was a minority group, didn't favor the single member district. But we thought, sure, if it's coupled with a two-year term, that the voters couldn't be so misguided that they would go for it. And so we thought both would go down in flames. In retrospect, for whatever it's worth, I think the single member district was okay. But I think the two-year terms are ludicrous. I just think it's very bad for County government. So we were just dead wrong in our analysis of what the public wanted. I think, as I was trying to think about what your role is when you first start off, I think you should get some information about some very basic questions. In other words, get some information about the basic style of government. Are you going to be having any interest at all in the City Manager type of situation? And you may decide that no, that just -, that's not going to work for us in this County. And if you get some background work done, get it dug up and get it read, then at least you can put that in perspective if you get some testimony about it. The -, right now, we have what I think is generally considered a strong Mayor system because the Mayor has a veto; that's the usual differentiation that I think of. And you have to decide, well, if we're going to stick with the same kind of a system, do we want a strong Mayor with a veto? One of the things that was particularly disturbing to me was what I thought to be the disproportionate balance between the Mayor and the County Council with the County Council having the two-year terms and the Mayor having a four-year term. It just didn't suit me. But I think that you got to get back at that and think about what you feel about it. Another basic question is should people run for Council on a nonpartisan basis? Is this party kind of a set-up at the County level, where you're not dealing with international policy or even national policies, you're dealing with things of less significance. And I think we have seen, just to venture my opinions, some very -, a lot of discord arising out of partisanship because of the system we had, and I'd rather see Council people line up philosophically rather than on the basis of party. 7 RAY: Bob, can I ask you know, you know, what comes,to mind when you say that is the City and County with is nonpartisan, Honolulu, and they seem to be, you know, have more discord or more turnover, more change and more partisanship, you know, that this jurisdiction. And it was funny, I was having lunch with somebody today and I was, you know, we were talking about that a little bit and, you know, the -, they brought up the point that maybe nonpartisanship actually leads to less stability, you know, because as, you know, at least with the parties there's, you know, sort of more of a reason to stick together and keep the majorities together or not. And with the case with nonpartisanship, it seems to, be even, you know, more willy-nilly and more fluid or whatever. But, you know, I know you're a real observer of politics in the State and, you know, City and County is nonpartisanship, but they sure, you know, seem to be in a state of constant flux over there. BETHEA: RAY: They do, it seems to me, and maybe it wouldn't work. I don't -. BETHEA: But I sort of think of periods here where you had, you know, just people lined up based on party lines, and people felt like they were kind of forced into decisions that they didn't want to make out of, you know, basic party loyalty, and we got into this -, well, I don't know, we got into squabbles about who controlled whatever limited patronage there was available to the County Council, as some of you well remember. But that's just an observation. I think you have to think through that question, you know, whether -, I'm certainly not positive about the answer. I was also thinking about the public testimony. I don't think you're going to have people beating down the doors to testify. And quite frankly, it's good to hear it, but I don't know how much of what you hear will actually be constructive. You know, I think you need to listen, but I don't think that most people that are testifying will have opinions that are based on, you know, sound knowledge of County government and how things might work. So I always thought that you have to go out and you have to listen, and I may be basically in disagreement with Chris on this, but you're there to do a job to get -, to have better resources than the man on the street and to think about what's, you know, best for the County as a whole. And so I think you can take, and you need to take into consideration everything that you hear out there. And maybe this is one of the basic questions, but I don't think you should simply reflect what you hear. I would hope that your job goes beyond that, to try to really think it through and take advantage of the extra information that you have. That's simply a personal philosophy, and I think probably you ought to solicit opinions on that from these two people to my left. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. Did you guys feel like there was some real very valuable things that came out of public testimony? YUEN: Well, I think that the -, from the government people, I think there was a lot of important, you know, information. BETHEA: Yeah. 8 YUEN: From the general public, I think people have -, some people have good ideas, but they weren't ready to be brought into the Charter or they were things that were a little more specific than what you actually are going to put in the Charter, and people want to sometimes put in things that are more legislative in nature than really the function of the -, the structure function of the government, which is a little abstract. Apart from something like single member districts, which had a lot of interest, political interest from the general public, most of the things that the Commission was looking at ten years ago, like the relative power of the Mayor versus the Council in budget is just not something that the average person is going to come and give testimony about. BETHEA: Yeah, right as he was saying that I wrote down budget process, because that was something that I'm not sure we ever really felt we handled. There were some complications and time problems in there, weren't there, you know, about does the Council have enough time and -? I can barely remember it, but those -, that was a problem area. L'ORANGE: I think you should be as open as possible with the public. One of the things that amazed me is that one organization, let's leave it nameless, had very excellent written material. When the president got up, he put his foot in his mouth and shot down everything he had written. I mean, he gave us just strictly B.S. And so I think it's very important to give people a chance to show that, I mean to -, and to be questioned, if you have to question them, you know. I was shocked. One of the best reading material I ever seen, and then the guy that presented it, wow. And I think -. Well, let's just leave it there. But we had police protection in Puna. I don't recall why, but there was some reason why we had the police protection in Puna. BETHEA: Because it was Puna. HERKES: Now, be careful. BETHEA: I don't know. I don't remember that. L'ORANGE: Ido. SANTANGELO: I'd like to -. Wait? Okay. RAY: Is any -, we are perfectly prepared to start a little dialogue here, but is there • anything -? L'ORANGE: Yeah, I -. RAY: You'd like to say as far as just sort of a presentation or -? 9 L'ORANGE: I think one of the things that was most useful, and I don't think it was in the rules, I think it was an agreement on the Commission, is that we decided once we had voted on a section, that section was put to bed. We did not revisit it. Because we could have got into complete chaos if, at the end of the whole thing, we revisited a controversial area. RAY: So, Pete, how did that work out, you know, timing -wise, you know? I've been trying to figure out how this will go. And we'll, say we get, you know, a layer of departmental, you know, input and then we get a layer of, you know, public input or something, you know, comes up, you know, a little bit later in the game and whatever. Now -. L'ORANGE: Never push the decision. Bob was an excellent chairperson. If somebody wanted to defer and leave that item for a subsequent meeting, we just did that. We didn't -, it might be on the agenda, but Bob was a very fair chairperson and anybody could say let's divert or let's talk about that some more. But once we had decided on a single memberdistrict, which I was very much in favor of, I deferred to Mr. Greenwell on the two-year term. He was a senior statesman, and I respected his opinion having been on the Council. I, personally, think the two-year term is too short, but I did defer to him on that. But the -, I don't think we could have gotten through, because we had a lot of discussion, it was very fair, it was very open, but I think that rule was one of the lynchpins. I think it was just a gentleman's agreement. BETHEA: I think that was it. I had forgotten about that. I had learned 'from an early negotiation with Jack Hall, who I thought was a great negotiator and you hada great ability with Jack to move through things, and it always scared the daylights out of me, but once we had gotten through a provision, we were through that provision, and then you didn't try to find some leverage to come back and open it up, and it kind of made things go. I had forgotten that. L'ORANGE: No, I think that -. And this one last comment that I was thinking about. Because, I guess, we had the single member district, we had lots of reporters in the back of the room all the time. And I felt very strongly that the only person that should speak is the chairperson about process or whatever was going on, because the reporters come and they want to know your opinion. And T don't think -, well, my personal opinion is my opinion is going to be said on the mike, on the floor. I think debating it in the press the way the Council does some of their stuff is ridiculous. I mean it's just -, let the chairperson talk for the Commission on matters of procedure and where you are and whatever and you'll save yourself a lot of grief because they try to get stupid answers out of you or -, I've observed that. I don't answer the press, so that's a simple rule. But that's just a personal, you know, prejudice. And I'm good friends with the reporters, but -. Anyway, that's all I have to say, sir. RAY: Chris, anything to add? 10 • YUEN: Well, I appreciate what Pete is saying and now I remember that it did run very smoothly. And I think that that was the agreement that -, something got voted on and that was pretty much it. Whenever you're looking at, whenever you're starting off with a set of work like this, there are really three kinds of issues that you deal with. There's the big, over -arching basic kind of question. In our Charter Commission ten years ago, this whether to go single member district was a big question. And if you decide to do that, there is a bunch of other things that you have to do that go along with that. And I think that the Commission dealt with that pretty early, as I remember. And the same thing with City Manager. There was some discussion of it at the time. Nobody, I think, was that -, nobody was really -, there were maybe one or two people that were interested in it, but it was clearly not going to go anywhere. If that's going to be seriously considered, then there are a lot of revisions that need to be thought of that follow after that, and that needs to be done early. The second kind of change that one makes in a Charter are the things that may be -, that are a little more specific but they still really make -, they do make a real difference on how things work on the ground. And to give a couple of examples, at the last Charter, there were changes, the Police Commission. The Police Commission was given considerably more power to investigate misconduct at the Police Department. Another example, qualifications of the Planning Director, I believe, and was there another one that we put in the qualifications for? BETHEA: Engineer. YUEN: I think that was -. BETHEA: Didn't we? YUEN: In already. BETHEA: It was already? YUEN: The third kind of issue is just the purely technical, what I would call purely technical issue, and that's where you have provisions in State law that are -, that supercede things that are in the Charter, and you need to fix them because they read differently. And even though the lawyers can sit there and figure out that in this -, you know, and I don't remember what exactly they were, the lawyers can sit there and say, well, this thing in the Charter is no good because it contradicts something in State law which -. In some cases, the Charter will supercede State law, but in other cases the State law will override the Charter. If you leave them in the Charter, people get confused, or people will pick up the Charter and they'll say this is the way it is, and it just causes the lay person to get confused. Those kinds of -, the third area of issue was the kind of area that I think the Commission largely left to me to figure out what were those things. They had some input, certainly from Corp. Counsel and some of the departments that have run into some of these things. So I think that it works well to make a decision on the big things fairly early on. And then I think that we -, on the other things we pretty much marched through, section by section, as a way of just keeping things in order and just trying to keep track of -, sometimes you'll do something in Article II that then you've got to change something in Article XI at the same time and we would keep track of that. But for the most part, after dealing with the big questions, we pretty much just went through things in order. Looking back, it was interesting for me, we have four or five binders like this from -. I don't know if you saved yours. BETHEA: No, I didn't. YUEN:. I'm a pack rat. HERKES: Each of you have four binders like that? YUEN: \ .Pardon me? HERKES: Each of you have four binders like that? YUEN: Yeah. We had a lot of -, we had a binder probably that's just minutes like this, and then I wrote a lot of things. There's some background materials, other people's charters, things from the mainland, civics textbook type things on different forms of municipal government. I was -, and we have all these press clippings that I was looking through, which are very interesting. And I realized that one of the things that happens when you're working on a Charter Commission is that there's -, your -, a lot of the work is inspired by things that have happened in the past few years in the County government that have caused problems or have issues that have come up, and I -. That's not a bad thing, you know, that's the natural thing. You're going to react to certain things that have come up. Before the last Charter Commission, there had been a controversy involving the Police Department which is still not completely resolved, but there was a controversy involving the Police Department and the Commission and the powers of the Commission, and that led, I think, ,directly to some of the things that were proposed as changes in the Charter. Mayor Akana had passed away, and that led directly to some suggestions about what-, and changes in when you have a special election to fill a vacancy, when you wouldn't have a special election. If the period of time was quite short, you'd just let the Managing -Director carry over until the next regular election, those kind -, those are a couple of things. The budgeting things -. 12 BETHEA: Yeah. YUEN: Had been a point of contention between the Council and the Mayor for several years before, and that was a reason for trying to work on that. I agree with Bob that we didn't -, the last Charter Commission didn't really solve that. And I don't know, again, with a perspective of looking back on a few years, the same kinds of issues still come up between the Mayor and the Council, and I think that some of that is just inevitable in a government involving separation of powers and different power centers -. BETHEA: Yeah. YUEN: Looking to assert their own authority. The Charter should be as clear as it can be, but there's always going to be some give and take on those things. So -, and I -, and probably there are things that have come up in the last few years that are going to be part of the agenda and part of what the public expects for this Charter Commission. L' ORANGE: On the budget, I was very uncomfortable with it, and it seemed to me like a timing thing. And the problem was that neither the administration or the County Council was willing to give us any recommendation or to work together to work out a solution that worked. And we didn't know anything about the subject, really. But you know you got to wait until the State comes up with their thing and the timing seemed pretty short. BETHEA: Tight. L' ORANGE: Tight between the State budget and the other. But we didn't feel that anybody, at least I didn't. We knew there was a problem, but we didn't know how to fix it, and neither the Administration nor the County Council or the finance people gave us any recommendations that we could -. BETHEA: Exactly, because we didn't know, or the County wouldn't know what it was going to get from the legislature until the legislature was over, you know, what was going to come, so it was very difficult for the County to plan. There was, however, and I don't quite have it in my grasp, another fundamental difference between the counties, and that was how detailed the budget was, because that got into questions of what was the authority of the Mayor to transfer funds within a department and this and that. Do you remember that, Chris? And I think here we had a much more detailed budget than elsewhere, which kind of tied the Mayor's hands. There was a difference between transfers within a department and transfers between different departments. In other words, the Council could pass a budget that is so detailed that the Mayor can't do anything; yellow pencils are $1,346 a month or something. I remember that being something that at least it concerned me. And that raises one question is that if -, for those of you who are like me and didn't have much of an understanding of how the budget system works, I would really focus on trying to get as much understanding about 13 that as I could. Tie one thing back to what Chris said, this whole thing about City Manager, get it out of the way quick, one way or the other. You may really decide, after doing some reading about it, it's something you want to do and, if so, then, you know, . really get at it. But I wouldn't waste a lot of time on something you know, isn't going to go anywhere. It doesn't mean you don't hear from the public and what their recommendations are, and it doesn't mean that they can't change your mind, but I think you have to move through those kinds of things. And if you decide that you want to stay with the basic form of government that we have now, a Council and a Mayor, a strong Mayor or no, veto or no. And then, you know, you go down and get into the budget questions and the length of terms that Council people should have, etcetera, etcetera, how do you think they should balance out, that's what I think. And then we did, I had forgotten that, after we got some basic stuff out of the way, we tried to, for want of any other way, we tried to go through the Charter line by line and subject by subject. One of the things that I would strongly recommend, and I have it back in my mind now, is I got the Charter and I must have read it three or four times, then I'd start over, and I would start making notes to be sure that I could understand what I didn't understand, and then to try to fill in the gaps. So it would be really be helpful, I think, if you went through and really read the Charter, then read it again and read it again and, you know, then you get down to the things that you're pretty sure you don't know. • YUEN: You had asked -, I wanted to get back to your question on public input, and you know, I think it's important to have hearings in the different parts of the Island so that people feel welcome to come and say things. We had a lot of press coverage, and I don't see anybody here from the press. I thought that most of our meetings had press. I don't know, I think that there's -, there are assigning, the local paper I think is assigning fewer reporters to meetings than they used to. And then part of it was that we had a sexy issue, we had this political issue that was obviously going to be dealt with on the single member districts, but there was quite -, they pretty regularly, I thought they came to virtually all the meetings, even the ones that dealt with things that weren't very controversial, and that, you know, it helps keep people in the loop. • RAY: Yeah, Jason Armstrong is obsessed with the special election, and when I told him literally that we weren't going to be discussing it today, he said. well, let me know when you get back to that. BETHEA: With what? RAY: The idea of a special election. And I've tried to explain to him that, you know, this is just something that we talked about as a what if type scenario we might consider but anyway -. 14 • As far as, you know, going out to the public, did you -, do you recall using any, you know, particular tools or methodology to engage the community more? In other words, did you go out with a agenda that you were going to be discussing, you know, these types of things versus just going out and, you know, have you folks got anything to say? In other words, depending entirely on the public, you know, for coming up with, you know, questions versus, you know, figuring out a way to engage them before you went out because that -? BETHEA: would have? Didn't we go out fairly early for the general type of remarks that they YUEN: The Commission went around the Island pretty early, and we went to Ka`u and Kona and Honoka`a. Didn't we have a meeting -. I'm sure we had a meeting in Honoka`a. I don't know if we had a -, I'm sure we had a meeting in Waimea. I don't think we went up to Kohala. And I'm pretty sure we had a meeting in Pahoa but did not attempt to publicize the meetings beyond the regular kinds of notices that are held. After the -. RAY: And did you get much input of -? You know, I know Bob commented not much input of real substance but, you know, I mean, how was the turnout and how pertinent was the, you know -? YUEN: There were a few community organizations that had very extensive kinds of comments. There were probably two or three community organizations really came with, you know, a list of changes, and there were a few citizens who had gone through, you know, go through it and yellow pencil everything that they would like to see changed. There were -, more often, there were people that had a specific thing, but it wasn't -, none of them were your TV classic public hearing with, you know, people pounding of the tables and -. RAY: YUEN: Okay. From a -. Everything was very civil. RAY: Okay, from a process standpoint, input from the public versus input from the, you know, County departments, and, you know, how that works. In other words, you know, we ask for input from the County departments, or say we did all our County department review in June and July or whatever, right, and then we went out to the public, and then we got suggestions. Then did you go back to the departments for, you know, comments or input on things that had come up that weren't covered initially or -? L' ORANGE: I think Bob asked the question, I think the chairman asked questions of the department if there was something -. YUEN: You must have sent a letter to -. 15 L'ORANGE: Needed more information. YUEN: On -, and I think they were -, weren't they all invited to -. BETHEA: I think we took them -. YUEN: Invited to -. BETHEA: Didn't we take them in groups or -? YUEN: Yeah. BETHEA: Have the finance people come. RAY: Okay, well, let me give you a example, okay. We've already requested, you know, from the departments and boards and commissions, right, that they submit in writing, you know, what they've got on their minds, and we're starting to schedule meetings. I've got a letter from the Fire Department saying, basically, no comment. Okay, well, I know that we're going to get comment from the general public in regard to a Fire Commission or, you know, some things about the Fire Department or whatever so, you know, that's an example of where, you know, initially the Fire Department, you know, might not have anything to say, right, and then we, you know, say we have a huge outpouring of folks that, you know, are -, suggest a Fire Commission just like the Police Commission or, you know, and that commission, just like the Police Commission, electing the -, I mean hiring the chief and whatever. So does that ring a bell, things like that? YUEN: I would let the department know when the item was on the agenda for discussion certainly, if they missed it in the paper or something. RAY: Yeah. Okay, well, let's go around -. BETHEA: Did we do an agenda before the meeting? YUEN: Yeah. `RAY: John, you had some questions? Mr. Santangelo? SANTANGELO: Just a couple. It's interesting when Bob brought up the dialogue over the single member. I was someone that was pretty excited about that. I think that in practice, having been a Council Member, I don't see how it works real well because of the trophy taking and the territorialism at the Council. On the other hand, I feel people are very well served having a servant that can step up in a small community and represent it, so I'm definitely in favor of the single member district, with its faults in a nonpartisan. You know, power and politics, that's 16 always going to be there, I don't care how you -, what you call it, but I think I'm looking at the public being better served because it makes for more of a straight election. It's real hard to plunk, you know; you get a clear winner. It clears up a lot of the things that the public likes to beat to • death. But -, so I guess the first question is how did single member come up? Was that something that the Commission itself, or was there some party or entity that brought that idea to you? BETHEA: It was the Kona people. YUEN: Well, it was constantly on -, it had been on the agenda. SANTANGELO: Oh, okay. YUEN: You know, the -, it had been voted on. I was actually surprised how many times it had been voted on, but there had always been a very strong interest, particularly in Kona, to have single member districts, and I think it's been -. I'm sure it was debated at the very, the very first Charter, whether to go single member. L'ORANGE: Well, there was always frustration in any place other than Hilo is how does anybody run without getting the vote in Hilo? I mean, that was the practical sort of thing. And there was -;the Shikada plan was a compromise that -, how many, we voted on three, four Charters before the County Council was finally, you know, it was -. So it is a controversy that went back to the initiation of the Charter. SANTANGELO: I think you did a good job with that one. And so, but that brings me to the question, you know, with John, right, my supporter, John as the Chair, was pretty much what you said is a fair minded person and also has the work ethic and is open to suggestions. My question I have, and this will be my main question, and this is where I struggle right now as a Commissioner, and it deals with the public input. My thing is informed decisions. And so I put it down as what is good government versus public's wants or informed decisions versus emotion? So an issue comes -up that may be emotional on a public viewpoint. How did you guys deal with that in terms of was there a process that you looked at and said how does this make for good -? Was there an ethic or -, you know, how does this make for good government versus, gee, I think this one sounded great but it's, you know, emotional but it doesn't translate to good government? Was there a process in that or -? And maybe I'm not making myself clear. L'ORANGE; John, I think the Commissioners voted their conscience. They did their homework, they did their reading, they listened to the department heads, they listened to the public, and they voted what they felt from the information that they had was appropriate. And we had good discussion on the floor. I said Bob was an excellent chairman. We had disagreements; it was never personal. But we had good discussion. I think you, as Commissioners, got to go 17 with your conscience. There's no simple answer to that that, you know, public input is -, comes in when they vote on it, yes or no, I mean, that's the final, you know, final say. You can't tell from what comes in public hearings -, really a read of what's, you know, what's out there. You may have ten -, you've been on the Council, ten people scream against it, and you have all kinds of other people that, you know, that don't. SANTANGELO: I think that's why I asked that question, Pete, because on a Council and in politics, you know, the hardest thing for me to learn, that was perception was the reality. But I felt like here on the Commission, we're not elected, and so where's our accountability? And I keep looking at myself being accountable to working with this group to create good government. And this is a Charter that's been around for a while, so I, you know, I don't see how it needs a huge bunch of -. You know, case in point, you got a Fire Commission. I struggle with what is a Fire -? Because this was brought up when John and I were on the Council, and it's like how does that translate or relate to how a Police Commission works, where you're dealing with -. I mean firemen don't arrest people and deal, you know -, so it's just getting that information. But that was my main thing is -. So it sounds like you guys got your information, you held each other accountable to get your background and be informed, and then you had your discussion. When it came to putting something on the ballot, did you go for pretty much a majority vote, I mean a major majority, or was there something that was like -? How often did it come real close? • L'ORANGE: Simple. Single member district was 6-5, I think. YUEN: No, no. no. BETHEA: Seven -four. L'ORANGE: Seven -four? Seven -four, yeah. YUEN: Seven -four, yeah. Well, you have to have, to put something on the ballot, you need a majority of the 11; you need six votes. If six people vote for it, it goes on the ballot. That's -. HERKES: Simple arithmetic. YUEN: Yeah. SANTANGELO: But it wasn't like a jury thing where you tried to get everybody to buy into this thing? YUEN: I think maybe there was some attempt to arrive at consensus. I think whenever you're sitting in a group like this, and where there's a degree -, and I think the people 18 on the last Commission, there was certainly respect for everybody's viewpoint. So if -, you know, there were things where it had been talked out and people were going to definitely not come to a complete agreement, but I think there were other things where if by shading a word another way you could overcome someone's objections, that people did that, you know, or to come up with a product that everybody was happy with. But there were a few, there were a few, of course, ultimate kinds of issues that was -, came down to a vote, and it was, as I -, the single member was seven -four. Probably most of the things -. BETHEA: That was coupled with the two-year term. YUEN: Yeah, I don't remember -. BETHEA: Yeah. YUEN: How that one went but most of -. L'ORANGE: Sherwood made the motion making the two together. YUEN: And most of the -, most of them were probably unanimous. BETHEA: Yeah. • YUEN: Most of the things that were put on the ballot. SANTANGELO: Thank you very much. RAY: Okay. Questions? BESS: Yes. RAY: Steve. BESS: A couple. Chris, you particularly mentioned the value of government input, and I'm just wondering, was that input basically from the directors, from the managers? And how helpful -, how broad based was your input from the government employees? YUEN: I think it was primarily from the directors, and that they may have kept some control over the situation that way because, you know, I'm sure that when the letter goes out, it goes to the director of a department. BESS: YUEN: Right. And that's who's going to get it. And that probably, for the most part, 19 • they didn't put it up on the bulletin board and invite everybody to come up and say what they thought. People have -, you know, County employees, they do have free speech, you know. If they want to come to this Commission and say, well, we don't really need a deputy director in our department or something like that, they, theoretically, they have the right to do that. I think that sure, we did get more of the viewpoint of somebody in the director's position. I was surprised that there was -, there were a couple of instances of people who were a little lower down who came and presented things that I took not to be completely the party line though, so there was a little bit of freedom there. BESS: Well, I -, the reason I raised that, I know that there may be people in higher positions that are appointees that may not have the understanding of government that some of the ones that have been in there for a number of years, and the question would be how do you stimulate that kind of input? YUEN: Yeah. BESS: So we don't get a party line. YUEN: Yeah. BESS: I mean, what you're going to have is -, I mean, I don't know how the current mayor is going to handle this. • YUEN: Yeah. BESS: But there could very well be an administrative meeting to suggest, you know, how the input to the Charter Commission would be handled, and -. ' L'ORANGE: Yeah, but Steve -. BESS: what -. I guess I'd just like to stimulate as broad a based input as possible, is L'ORANGE: The letters come to -, I'm on the Board of Appeals. The letter came to the Chairman of the Board of Appeals. If there's problems with the Board of Appeals process, the Board is the one that's going to be familiar with the community and whatever hakakas. I don't recall -, we didn't decide anything at the last meeting that I recall; we had a very long meeting. But we're going to have a chance to respond if we care to respond, and that will not necessarily be an administrative response. BESS: L' ORANGE: • Correct. I think we got stuck in the Planning Commission, the Commission itself, 20 • dealing with the planning issues. BESS: Yes. L' ORANGE: chairperson. We got some very good input from the Planning Commission, from the BESS: And how did you stimulate commission involvement? Was it -? L'ORANGE: They were invited, I assume. BESS: Did you have a public relations firm? And if so, at what point in time and what function did it serve? YUEN: No. BETHEA: I don't think we did, no. YUEN: No. L'ORANGE: Couldn't afford it. • BESS: Do you see a need for a public relations firm? YUEN: We did prepare a mailing about what was going to be, what was being proposed, and that was just done -. I think we hired somebody to -, just strictly for the graphic aspect of it. BETHEA: It was at the end, wasn't it? YUEN: That was at the very end. • BESS: Do you see that a public relations firm at an earlier point in time would have been helpful? BETHEA: I don't. BESS: I guess -, so you see the function of a public relations firm as being one that, basically, puts out the message after the fact. All the work has been done, and it's just kind of frosting on the cake. YUEN: Well, we were -, I think it's -, it is part of the Commission's responsibility to explain to the public what is being proposed in a neutral fashion, which is what we tried to do 21 • • with a mailing, and not to -, the Commission is not pushing the set of amendments. The Commission has proposed them, but the Commission is not, you know, is not spending money to lobby the public to vote one way or another. It's just -, it's presenting a mailing that says, you know, if you vote yes on this, you're going to get a single member district. That means we're going to have nine districts that are going to be apportioned roughly, apportioned according to population of the Reapportionment Commission that sets it up. And it doesn't go on to say, well, this is going to make the County run a lot better, blah, blah, blah. This is what it is. Do you want it? And go for it. I don't think we -, you know, we didn't spend a lot of money. I think we were required -, as I recall, there was some requirement that something like that be published. BETHEA: I think there was. YUEN: There is a requirement -. BESS: It needs to be published. YUEN: That an objective summary of the proposals be published in the paper, and that's why this was prepared, and I think the Commission went the extra step of spending the money for a mailing that went out and -. On public relations, I'm not sure at an early stage what that would do, if it would -, because it's -, it'll kind of distract what the Commission is doing. And I don't know, you know, people are not stimulated -. The people are really going to be interested are the people who read the paper and are -, keep up on things anyway, and I don't know that by really trying to publicize your meetings very broadly, that you're going to get, you know, really great input. BESS: Well, one of the things that has come up is that the Commission sees that there may be a need for educating the public as to what is going here, what this Charter Commission is all about, and providing them some background early on that might assist in getting people to come out. How do you react to that? Do you -? 'to what extent did your Commission feel that it had an education function early on, say prior to hearings or during the course of hearings, for that matter? BETHEA: I don't remember. I think we were-, my impression is we were trying to gather as much information as we could from department heads, people in government, and the public, so that we could understand what might be best suited for this County. We weren't going out and just testing the wind with the public. I don't mean to say that -, I'm not implying that you don't listen to the public, but I don't think that's where the real source of information is going to come. You're going to listen -. It's really understanding how County government works, how the budget works, all of this other types of things, and then trying to figure out a methodology which best suits here. And so it's like the average person in the public, if they come up and testify, they don't really -, they haven't been exposed to, hopefully, the volume of material that you've been exposed to. It's the whole thing about representative government. You're supposed 22 • to spend some time and consider all of these and look at the various alternatives and come up with a recommendation. And I think if you've done it right, that if people in the public went through the 'same process you went through, they would probably have the same answer, but they don't have that answer initially. So that's why without disrespecting the public, I felt that the solutions are going to be generated by the discussions among yourselves based on the information which you received, which includes the public, but it's not the biggest portion of it. L'ORANGE: Bob set the tone for our meetings, I think, my memory is getting jogged, is that we had to educate ourselves. That was the most important thing we had to do. BETHEA: Right. L'ORANGE: We had to educate ourselves as to what was in the Charter. And we had some academic types who came in with academic scenarios about different forms of government, not talking about County of Hawaii but talking about -, I don't remember who they were but I -. BETHEA: John Van Dyke from the University Law School, I think. YUEN: Uh huh, right. - BETHEA: We had some -, remember that? BESS: Was that helpful? L'ORANGE: Oh, yeah. BESS: And was that early on before you even solicited any material from the government? L'ORANGE: I think the Chair scheduled things as they were available. Wasn't that sort of-? BETHEA: I can't remember. I can't remember why we had John Van Dyke. We did have him in, didn't we? YUEN: Uh huh. BESS: Which raises the issue of, you know, like background material, and you've got four folders full of stuff. How was that generated? What kind of staff did you have to help you in assembling that? Was that your function, Chris, or -? YUEN: Well, some of it is mine. There was a secretary that did -, would gather all the press clippings and prepare the minutes, and I think, to some extent, I don't remember who 23 had gone and copied the charters of the other counties, and somebody went and dug up some mainland material -as well, and I'm not sure who did that. As I read through this, I was surprised at some of the things I did that I didn't remember doing. RAY: Okay. BESS: Thank you. RAY: Roland; YUEN: I think the secretary was full-time, huh? BETHEA: Yes, full-time. YUEN: Full-time. HIGASHI: Question, did you have verbatim minutes? YUEN: Practically. L'ORANGE: Yeah. YUEN: Yeah. Practically verbatim. I don't think 100 percent, but especially more at the beginning we did, yeah. HIGASHI: Another question is who formulated the ballots, the ballot questions? Was it the Commission or County Clerk? YUEN: We had a little bit of a conflict with that, with the Clerk's office, and the -, we wanted to lump more things together that -, where it's particularly the -, what we considered the housekeeping items, and so you voted on them as a block. And the Clerk, at that time, the -. The Charter was a little bit ambiguous as to how, who would make the decision. The Clerk, then, didn't like that and wanted them all broken up. And I think the Commission -, the reason the Commission wanted to lump them is that we had about, I think 19 different things, and the concern was that people would be overwhelmed by having to vote on so many and that they would just tend to just, the hell with it, I'm going to vote no on all of them, which isn't the way it turned out. But in order to make a better package for the voter, this Commission had wanted to lump a number of the different things together to come up, so there would be fewer things to vote on. The Clerk made us break them all out, but in response, partially, to this conflict, the Commission -, one of the things that was put on was a change that said the Commission, basically had the power to determine the form of the ballot. BERKES: Did it pass? 24 YUEN: I remember the Clerk saying, well, there's a feisty bunch out there. So that's -. And the voters approved it, so now the Commission -. And, you know, you can only go so far with this, you know. One of the things, if you go back to, if you go back to the very early attempts to have a Charter, they were -, I don't know if it was deliberate or accidental, but they failed because of the way the ballot was set up, and you can sabotage a ballot proposal. And part of the reason why the single member, just to get this, the single member and the two years were put together was to keep it from being too confusing, because otherwise you'd have to vote on -. Because all the people that were in favor of two years were only in favor of it if you went to single member, so you didn't want it -. Rather than have an if and only if type of question on the ballot, which people have enough trouble dealing with the kinds of questions that they get, but one that would only -, the two years -. The other way of doing it, the way to break it apart would be to say that only if single member passes, we would then -, are you then in favor of having two years? There's also a way, and I won't explain how to do this, but there was a way of setting it up so that it would almost guarantee both of them have lost, you know, where you have multiple kinds of things that you have to check on. So this comes up and, you know, the -, my approach always is, you know, you don't -, you present it to people, you let them vote on it, you win or you lose, and you don't try to rig the ballot. But, you know, it can be done, and if you go back to -, and there's a court case on this where the first, the first Charter was voted on back in May -, right when Shunichi Kimura was the County Chair. The way the ballot was set up was that there were, and I don't remember exactly how it was done, but there were three or four alternatives, and there were inconsistencies in them, and if you didn't -, and unless one out of four got over 50 percent, then there wasn't going to be a Charter. And I think, perhaps, coincidentally or not, this was a period where the Charter was -. Before this, the County Clerk was elected, and after the Charter called for the County Clerk to be appointed, then the County Clerk set up how the ballot was going to be on the Charter. HIGASHI: So -. YUEN: That's a long answer to your question. HIGASHI: So in the final end. YUEN: Yeah. HIGASHI: Did the Commission formulate the specific question? YUEN: Right. Right. HIGASHI: Okay. 25 YUEN: The d Commissiontogether. will formulate how the thing is worded on the ballot and if any proposals are joine HIGASHI: And as to form, the County Clerk decided -. YUEN: Right. HIGASHI: How the questions were bunched together or were left independent? YUEN: The County Clerk, basically, last time, did not let the Commission join certain questions together and forced them all to be -. HIGASHI: Is it now your opinion that -? YUEN: Broken apart. HIGASHI: What is permissible? I mean, you meant through this once. Do you think -? YUEN: Well -. HIGASHI: Do you think the Charter Commission has the authority to have the specific question presented and formatted? YUEN: Yes. Yes. Right. Right. Subject only to like basic fairness of not presenting in a way that either -. HIGASHI: So there's not -, if you're for -. YUEN: Makes it -. HIGASHI: If you're for it -. YUEN: Yeah. HIGASHI: You're going to vote against, and if you're against, you vote yes. YUEN: Something like that, yeah. So if there are a bunch -, for example, what we had wanted to do was there were things that were just technical, very technical kinds of changes, and we wanted to put all of those together. L'ORANGE: Mandated by State law. 26 YUEN: Yeah, so -. L'ORANGE: Yeah, I mean that's -. HIGASHI: Did you have a special election? YUEN: No. BETHEA: Did we have the final decision on what questions would be joined, or was the County Clerk referring to State law and saying we had to separate them? YUEN: I don't know what -. BETHEA: didn't it? Because I think the single member district and that went out combined, YUEN: That went out combined because the people, the people that were in favor of two years were only in favor of it if single member passed. BETHEA: Yeah, but didn't it go out on the ballot combined? L'ORANGE: That's right. • BETHEA: So that for whatever reason, the Clerk didn't control that. YUEN: No, the Clerk had no objection to that because it's really, it's really -, that's one change in how the Council would be done. You can join some things together, and I think that the Clerk's point of view was that he felt that some of the things that we were joining together were unrelated. BETHEA: Oh, okay. YUEN: And didn't want -. BETHEA: Yeah, there was a State law there or something, I think. HIGASHI: Next question is how much time did it take to deliberate, to form the questions, and form the ballot? Did it take one meeting, three meetings, or -? YUEN: It was .a rolling -. As far as what was going to go on the ballot, there were, there was -, the Commission was voting in a rolling -. HIGASHI: I_ understand that. 27 • YUEN: HIGASHI: Fashion. At the end -. YUEN: And then I think that near the end, I did a recap, you know, what we, you know, and I think I did this a couple of times in the course of -, just so we would be straight. Okay, what have we voted to put on? What have we voted not to put on? And then we -, because there was this -, there was a disagreement with the Clerk, we got up a little close to the deadline, as I recall, before we knew what exactly the ballot was going to actually look like and how many different questions there were -, how many different votes people were going to have to cast. HIGASHI: correct? You were faced with the deadline of the printing of the ballot itself, is that YUEN: Yes. HIGASHI: That was your deadline? YUEN: The Lieutenant Governor's Office. HIGASHI: Yeah. YUEN: That whole -, there's a deadline right -, I can't remember what it was. BESS: When you mentioned recap, are you saying that it was your function to basically, not only say what went on and what was deferred and what was voted on, but to come up with proposed language and then you would float that language to the Commission as a whole, is that it? YUEN: BESS: Right. Right. I drafted -. Okay. So there's -. YUEN: Most of the particular -, the language of the changes in the Charter, and I think I probably drafted the way that the question was going to be placed on the ballot, because it's not always exactly the same thing. The language, the ballot may say, you know, shall the County have a single member district and two year terms? And the actual language that goes in the Charter is, you know, maybe a couple paragraphs to do that. So I think I did both of those things, and not necessarily at the same -, I think it was probably like a three-step process where the Commission would, just to take single member districts, they vote we're going to have a single member district. Then I come in with a draft of what it's going to look like in the actual language changes in the Charter, and the Commission votes on that and approves that. And then 28 • finally, we decide how it's going to appear on the ballot, and they vote on that. But they're not going to -, I think part of the agreement was that they're not going to, you know, try to re -argue everything at each point, you know. Once you've made the basic decision, then you are going to move ahead and vote on the language, and then you are just -, it's just a technical question of how it's going to be stated on the ballot. What's the clearest and fairest way to do that. L'ORANGE: Yeah, we didn't word -smith the ballot stuff. Our function was sort of do we understand what he's saying? Is this expressing what we wanted to do? You know, I think that was more a reflection, I mean, we had confidence that Chris would do a good job with the ballot language in making it legal. Is it understandable was sort of our function. HIGASHI: One last question, Chris. Do you recall about how many hours was required of your services? YUEN: Well, I read in the paper that my bill was $34,000, which would work out, I think I was probably charging -. BESS: Eighty-five. YUEN: A hundred, hundred and ten or something, so about 300, and I was surprised to read that. But I attended all the meetings, and we had a lot of meetings. So that's about what it was, yeah. HIGASHI: Okay. RAY: Marro. HERKES: I did a little checking with Sherwood Greenwell, a couple of items, and I'm fascinated by the Board of Supervisors and why that changed to a strong mayoral and Council, and I have, from Sherwood's standpoint, he thinks it was a very strong Councilperson that they wanted to kind of disenfranchise and get back to a strong mayor because the Mayor would represent the complete Island. In talking, people talking to me, they seem very interested in having a Managing Director, and it could be the global economy that's driving this. I'm not interested in doing anything as a reaction to any one person, because my feeling is that the strong people in the Council will drive the Council; the strong Mayor will drive the Mayor. I think the Council was strong when Yamashiro was there; I think the Mayor is strong when he's there because he's a strong leader. But I don't` think that now in the global economy, I think the Managing Director -, I'm personally leaning towards a Managing Director, but I was fascinated by the fact that you didn't have much discussion on that. And I don't know if that's because people didn't bring it to you or that your Commission wasn't really interested in it. 29 BETHEA: We discussed it early on. YUEN: Yeah, I -, in fact, I was -, one of the things I didn't remember was I wrote some material on it for the Commission. I think that there were -, I think Sherwood was interested in it, and I think -, am I wrong that you were basically -. L'ORANGE: Academically. YUEN: Academically. L'ORANGE: Academically, I liked the idea, but my problem is how do you hire the person? I mean, just -. HERKES: I know. L'ORANGE: The practical, how do you hire? Who do you hire? We don't have an awful lot of Managing Directors in the State of Hawaii, I don't think, that would be willing to work for what the County would pay them. Yeah, that's just a practical -. 'HERKES: Right. 1 BETHEA: You know, that's why I think one of the suggestions I made is find out • about that, and, if you're interested in it, and everybody circulates the material. And then I think that's a decision that you need to make fairly early on because if you're going to go into that type of government, unless you just lift something from somewhere else, some other city that has it in the charter, that's going to take a lot of work and a lot of time. So I -, which doesn't mean you don't do it, but if it's just not going to fly, there's no point in spending a lot of time. So I think what I was recommending, and I think we tried to get it out of the way early, and I think there was some people who thought, you know, that's pretty good, but my goodness, you know, we've got to get this out in a year and a half or something, didn't want to make a life's career out of, you know, converting the system completely. HERKES: Didn't take them more than six months to do it from the Board of Supervisors to the mayoral. L'ORANGE: Marni, it also seems to me, I can't say this specifically, but it seems to me that there might have been a group that was strongly pushing for a Managing Director. It wasn't looked with a lot of favor that their input was -. HERKES: Okay. L'ORANGE: Very useful. And I think there was some of that there, too, that for the public input who was pushing for it was not looked with -, and I'm not talking about Sherwood. 30. • • HERKES: No, I know that, yeah. YUEN: I don't think that it was ever voted on because I think it was certainly discussed and it was discussed early, and there was -, certainly everybody wanted to get informed about it, and after hearing about it, I don't think that -, I think it was plain that, you know, it wasn't going to get passed by the Commission, so it went -. I'd just like to make one comment, from a legal point of view, and that is that you have to be aware that State law must have somewhere between 50 and 100 references to what the Mayor does in the county, and things like -. HERKES: That probably, did it, Chris. YUEN: Things like declaring a public emergency; the Mayor has the power to do that. Rules and regulations, when the Planning Department makes, for example, the shoreline setback being 40 -feet is a matter of a rule of the -, either the Planning Department or the Planning Commission, as I recall. The State law says the Mayor signs all those rules and regulations or can refuse to sign all those rules and regulations. I think that a managing -, I think the County has the power to not have a Mayor and have a County Manager, but I think that if the County does go that route, then the County Manager must be invested with all the powers that the Mayor gives -, is given under State law, and somebody -, if this is seriously looked at, then somebody's got to try to list these things down. You'll see that there are quite a few powers that are delegated to the Mayor that are not -, you're not going to be able to rewrite those powers and -, for the most part, at least, and say the Council -, well, no, we don't want the managing -, County Manager to have those powers, we want to give the Council those powers. That's -, those -, that's an issue that's going to have to be looked at very carefully. When they wrote all these State laws, they kind of assumed that you were going to have a Mayor. The old, you go back 30 years under the State laws, would say County Chair, Chairman, because that's the way they had it. BERKES: Yeah. YUEN: Back 30 years ago. RAY: Marni, any other questions? HERKES: That's it. RAY: Mr. Martin? MARTIN: , I just had one question actually, maybe two, I'm not sure. But you made mention of going along and voting on items as they came up. You'd discuss it, you'd vote on it, 31 • then it would be tabled until you come to the point where it's going to be written down, possibly put in Charter form, and then, once again, discussed and voted on, I guess a second time, to say, yeah, that's what we wanted to do. That's what we was thinking about. Let's go with it. But then you also made mention that if you had public input, you possibly would change your mind. Did that ever happen where you guys went about doing your business, putting it down, taking a vote on it, then going out to the public, gathering information, having some sentiment on possibly that particular subject, and changing your mind? L'ORANGE: Yeah, we took public input before there were any votes. MARTIN: Okay. YUEN: Yeah, they -. MARTIN: I was misunderstood then; I thought that -. YUEN: Yeah, the Commission went around the Island before it ever voted on anything. The other thing, I think that -, say, one set of things would be on the action agenda for a particular meeting so, you know, once that was dealt with, you move on. And, you know, people can always -. If somebody comes and they, you know, make the effort to come to your hearing • and they want to talk about something that you've already dealt with, well, you know -. MARTIN: Yeah. YUEN: We would let them testify but not necess -, you're not going to go back unless somebody, you know, unless somebody on the Commission really wants to do that. MARTIN: I guess one last question. Pertaining to what was mentioned already earlier about we had briefly discussed the possibility of a special election, and then we mulled it around as to formatting that particular issue, and what came up was, well, State law supercedes. And it's my contention, and possibly some other Commissioners here that if this is a County Charter and it deals directly with County and nothing pertaining to the State, do we not have maybe some leeway that we could take a look at something different? Did you ever come up with anything like that where State law, like you was mention that one head -, you guys had to put in, it's 15 actually, provides that the Charter Commission prepare the ballot format for amendments it proposed, you know. You guys actually said, okay, there's a State law. We want to make a change here, and thank you for doing it, and we'll make the decision this time pertaining to what we have. YUEN: Gee, I have to look at that, because I'm not sure that State law says anything about -. You know, the Charter says something, the Commission can ask for a special 32 election to vote on it. I'm not sure that there's a State law that says you can't. MARTIN: Well, not so much can't. YUEN: Yeah. MARTIN: I think the format as to how we go about the election is what the discussion was being mulled around, yeah, mulled over, I should say. WURDEMAN: My recollection is what was being discussed was the possibility of running a special election under some kind of a more economical method such as mail in ballots or -. MARTIN: Correct. WURDEMAN: Things like that. MARTIN: Correct. WURDEMAN: That are not provided for in the State law. And I think probably if it ever went to court, they'd say the elections are a matter of state-wide interest, that Chapter 11, which is the election chapter, would prevail. That would be my guess. I don't know what Chris think about that. YUEN: Well, I haven't thought, I haven't thought about it so -. But, you know, I don't know. I'm cautious about, you know, sitting here and giving you an opinion on something I haven't really thought about very much. But you get -, if you try to do an election by procedure that people are not familiar with, that's -, that in itself raises questions from people. MARTIN: Sure. Well, I just think that, you know, as a Commission, and setting forth law that pertains and directs our County, it may take some changes, yeah. I'm sure like you guys put into place, you know, single district. That was a big change. L'ORANGE: I 'think practically speaking though, you don't have the time to even think of a special election because you're going to have so much input and getting the information out to the public and so they understand everything, but it's only 18 months until the next election. MARTIN: Well, there's a possibility of doing it, I mean, again, just, you know, mulling it over, there is some outside chance of it happening. L'ORANGE: RAY: Yeah, sure. Gary, any questions? 33 YOSHIYAMA: Thank you for coming and sharing all this information. I find it very interesting. I guess my question is can you come to everyone of our meetings? BETHEA: No. L'ORANGE: We're not on the Commission. We've already served our time. YOSHIYAMA: Do you want to receive your appointment? BETHEA: We've done it. YOSHIYAMA: I don't have any other questions. RAY: Okay. Well, great. Thank you all very much. We have the Mayor waiting in the wings, so everybody just stand up -. BESS: Thank you very much. BERKES: Thank you. RAY: And stretch and -. • SANTANGELO: ' Thank you. RAY: The Mayor will be -. RECESSED The Chairman called a short recess at 4:36 p.m. RECONVENED The meeting reconvened at 4:39 p.m. RAY: Welcome, Mr. Mayor. YAMASHIRO: Thank you. RAY: Thank you for coming in. And just wanted to have this chance to chat with you and get any thoughts, insights that you might be able to share with us in regard to County government and the Charter Commission. And also if you could, I know you've been very supportive and active in terms of getting the department input on board, and helping to coordinate that, so maybe if you could, you know, share that with us as far as, you know, what's going on there. YAMASHIRO: Well, let me start with the departments, that's probably the easiest. We have -. 34 RAY: Okay. YAMASHIRO: Reviewed each of the departments' proposals and, generally, we have tried to focus them on things that are necessary to improve efficiency. There's a whole bunch of nice - to -have stuff that they were considering proposing, but we have, suggested that they just concentrate on the basics and not put too many bells and whistles on the proposals because there's going to be enough changes in the Charter, and to try to make sure that we focus on things that have -, should be done first. So I think the changes from the departments are going to be coming in. They are not a whole lot, there are a few. There are some structural changes, like I believe the basic -, the biggest structural change probably taking Wastewater out of Public Works and combining it with Water. But, generally, focusing on each of the departments, what they feel is their particular needs. Things like whether nor not we should have a Fire Commission or a Public Safety Commission were discussed. That's up to you people. We didn't think it was something that was necessary to continue the operation of the department; it's something that's -, but so I think with regards to each department, you should have a pretty concise presentation from them. RAY: Okay. YAMASHIRO: As far as I'm concerned, you know, basically, the Charter is our basic governing document for the County of Hawaii and, as such, has done pretty well for the last ten years and before that. Going through it today, I just noticed some housekeeping things, like there's no way to fill a vacancy in office for Mayor or the Council if the vacancy is for less than two years and more than 60 days. There's a way -. The Mayor's Office, if there's vacancy that's within 60 days of the next regular election, the Managing Director serves all the way through. The next reference to a vacancy is if it's over two years and over 60 days. There's nothing to say what if a vacancy occurs less than two years from the next election. And I think, I guess by silence, does that mean the Managing Director serves all the way through? Or is there, you know -? Because they define vacancy in the Charter as resignation, death, and whatever, and they provide two scenarios of filling the vacancy, but nothing if it's less than two years. In reference to the Council, it refers to vacancy occurring more than two years, which is an impossibility since the Couni1's on two year terms. So that I think's the housekeeping thing that.. should be addressed. Structurally, we are not suggesting any change with regards to structure of the government between the executive, administrative branch under the Mayor and the administrative branch under the Managing Director. We think, basically, the functioning has worked and can continue to work. We are looking at some changes, although I figure some of those can be done administratively. Looking at the processing of subdivisions after zoning being totally in the Public Works Department as opposed to being partly in Public Works and partly in Planning. We feel once the Council has acted on a zoning request, that is the policy decision of the County of Hawaii, and that the subdivision of the property really is a function of the engineering and the 35 Public Works section dealing with roads, water and other things not really having to do with a Planning function. What has happened on a practical basis now, is the Public Works building inspectors go and inspect a lot being constructed. They don't look at the setbacks, because they say the setbacks are a Planning function, and only look at the actual construction of, you know, whether or not the construction is being done in accordance with Code. So sometimes we have a building that is conforming with the Building Code, but it's violating the setback, and that may or may not be picked up at that time sometimes. It generally gets picked up on a subsequent sale of the property when somebody comes in and says, okay, I want to have the property surveyed, I've got a buyer, and then they find out, well, this house is built in a setback, that kind of situation. So we feel that consolidating the responsibility into one area would more clearly define those responsibilities and make it easier for the people to carry out their roles. We don't think it entails any major personnel shifts there, but there may be some, which we will have to be working with the union to take care of. But other than that, leave it to your good wisdom and graces. RAY: Okay. YAMASHIRO: Because everything I say is going to be construed as am I trying to change the Charter to take care of something else. Like I've already talked to one Green Party candidate, and she asked me, "Am I going to be running against you again?" And I said, "Oh, no, the Charter says I can't run." She says, "Well, you got a Charter Commission meeting." I'm not asking you to delete the term limits, believe me. I'm very happy with term limits. RAY: Okay. Going around the room, John, any questions? L SANTANGELO: I guess just one real quick one, Mr. Mayor. You talked about the Wastewater and Water. What about, has -, will there be anything and has -, have you or your department thought about solid waste and how it could possibly be changed? YAMASHIRO: Solid waste is sort of an entity in itself. We are looking at different methods of handling the solid waste but within the department. SANTANGELO: Departmentalized. YAMASHIRO: Yeah. SANTANGELO: Like with the Water -. YAMASHIRO: We see no place you can put it, you know. With Wastewater and Water seems to be a natural connection because the Water Department sells us water, somebody uses it, then they throw it away. And in the future, that wastewater may be a resource. In Honolulu, they're already finding uses for irrigation water, and actually, in Kona, it's getting to be to that 36 • point. The problem in Hilo, it's not going to be to that point because we just got too much water. We feel if you put the responsibility for disposing of the resource -. If I collect -, if a guy collects the money for selling you something, he should bear the expense of processing to dispose of it. What you have right now is a situation where Water sells the water; we get stuck with the Wastewater bill to process the water and dispose of it. Maybe if you put the two together, the cost may come down as a combination. SANTANGELO: Thank you. RAY: Steve. BESS: You know, I know that your focus has been on trying to make government more efficient, and I'm assuming that that means at the lowest possible cost. I'm just wondering, you know, to try to drive down the cost of government, and looking at it from the standpoint of the Charter Commission, is there anything that we can do? YAMASHIRO: You know, unfortunately, the cost of our departments are not driven by the function of the departments. In deference to my friend on my left, I think the Civil Service laws and the question on privatization has to be looked at, and unless those are addressed by the legislature on a comprehensive basis, that is going to be a major problem. And part of that is because technology has changed so much. We are doing things in different ways. We are processing information in different ways. And the question -, the thing we did 20 years ago, does • it still apply today? Do we have to do what we did, you know? Plan approval, do we have to do plan approval? You know, like I tell my departments, you guys are all working hard, but are you really working at something that has to be done? In changing how our compensation system may be structured, right now if you look at Civil Service, it's basically not geared to what a performance-based, but more on a supervision -based. If you are one level, you get a certain amount; if you supervise more people, you get a bit more; if you get higher rank, you get a little bit more. As opposed to saying if you can do, if you have a given workload and you come out with a satisfactory outcome and you can do it in a certain way, should you get more money. But that, I don't think can be addressed by the Charter. • RAY: Okay. Roland. HIGASHI: Mr. Mayor, over time, departments have changed, they've become larger, have bigger budgets, but some departments have minimum qualifications g of, let's say Public Works, have minimum qualifications to be the head is an engineer. What is your feeling about having a person other than an engineer heading that department? YAMASHIRO: I, you know, I would support a change that would allow managers to be appointed. You don't necessarily need an engineer to run Water or the chief engineer to run. If you had a good administrator, and who could back himself up with staff who generally are Civil Service engineers, I think, basically, what these department heads are doing, they're getting to be 37 • • very sophisticated managers. And Public Works, you know, you span everything from Engineering, Solid Waste, Wastewater, Building, and so I think it has some merit and would possibly be a change that could be productive. There are people that said, well, how can a guy that doesn't know engineers, doesn't know engineering supervise engineers, but I don't necessarily feel that's quite correct. HIGASHI: Okay. RAY: Marni. HERKES: I take it from your comments that you made in the beginning that you are satisfied with the present Mayor -Council setup, that a Managing Director -. YAMASHIRO: But I'd rather have another Council, maybe, but -. HERKES: Well, I didn't say who was in it. YAMASHIRO: But, you know, we are always tempted to make structural changes to correct present problems, and I don't know if a structural change is really what is necessary. I have looked at the City Manager system. That system works, although it has -, it's not as simple as some of my friends on the Council, I think, are supporting something like that, because you just don't fire these guys. HERKES: Right. YAMASHIRO: And I got a recruitment, notice from I think Beaumont, Texas, which is a city of about 140-150,000 people, and the City Manager is I think $175,000 a year, you know, so if you really want to go to that system, you're going to have to provide a compensation package that will be competitive to recruit the type of people -. Only when you have an elect system, you have stupid people who will take less. But that -, the City Manager is not working for ego rewards. But so, you know, and the other thing is a lot of the City Manager systems has a system which once the City Manager's appointed, they appoint everybody without confirmation from anybody else. HERKES: Right. YAMASHIRO: So, you know, once you appoint the City Manager, he appoints the Chief Engineer, he appoints the Finance Director, and you just -. Most of those are like contracts; you just don't get rid of them because you change majority of the Council or whatever, you have to have cause. The contract has to be expired or something like that. So you may have somebody that looks good going in that you may not be happy with, and you may be stuck with them for a while, you know. Like football coaches at the University of Hawaii, you may have to buy them out. 38 • HERKES: \- Okay. Thank you. RAY: George. MARTIN: No questions. RAY: Gary. YOSHIYAMA: You have quite a few agencies, I don't know if you call them, within the Mayor's Office. Are you comfortable in that? You know, like Civil Defense and Housing and Transportation, right? They come -. • YAMASHIRO: They come under the Mayor's Office, yeah. YOSHIYAMA: Yeah. YAMASHIRO: That has, you know, that structurally can go any other place. The present Transportation is there because it's been an experimental agency for, I don't know, Steve was probably Corp. Counsel, maybe it started before him, but at least 20 years. The people are now Civil Service except for the bus drivers, and so, you know, there is still a question whether or not we're going to -, we should continue that or just privatize that whole thing. Some things like Civil Defense, because actually I am the Civil Defense Director for the County, Harry Kim is the Civil Defense Administrator for the County of Hawaii, but under the -, the four Mayors are the Deputy Civil Defense Directors for the State of Hawaii under General Richardson, and so, actually, I am the responsible party in that situation. So, you know, that makes sense in that section. Aging is there now. Aging is under the Mayor's Office. It's functionally actually under Parks, so that could change. But besides Transit and Civil Defense and Safety, I think the others could be moved around. YOSHIYAMA: I got one more question on commissions. You got any feelings on, you know, commissions, number of commissions, types of commissions? YAMASHIRO: Well, we got -, you got two types of commissions, basically, those that are charter or statutory. YOSHIYAMA: Oh, okay. YAMASHIRO: And then you have those that are appointed by the Mayor but terminate with my office. So Committee of Status of Women and some of those, you know, the Bicycle 39 • Safety and that kind, a lot of those just go away with the Mayor. The Charter provides that you can appoint as many as you want. But the statutory commissions generally deal with the Police Department, Civil Service, Water. I think they serve a purpose. • YOSHIYAMA: . Okay. Thank you. RAY: Yeah, along those same lines, you know, it's interesting, obviously, I had never read the Charter, I didn't realize which departments were until I got on this Commission, as far as, you know, what Gary was saying, as far as the agencies under the Mayor versus, you know, under the Managing Director, and I doubt very few people are aware of that. I think most people assume that you're directly in charge of, you know, all those departments as well as those agencies. But I don't know, somehow that just doesn't particularly make sense to me that why the Managing Director would be Public Works, Parks and Rec, Fire, versus Finance Department or the Planning Department or -. YAMASHIRO: I think if you really look at them structurally, what it is is those that deal with broad policy issues, where the finances are under the Mayor, the ones that deliver the service on a day-to-day basis, that actually deal with the public, are under the Managing Director, you know. RAY: But -, okay. But practically speaking, in terms of issues that we're dealing with today, say solid waste and whatever, does that still seem to make sense to you or -? Solid waste comes to mind as that's such a major public policy issue now as far as handling solid waste in the 21s` Century, right, and you know, so it's not just pick up the trash and throw it in a hole now. YAMASHIRO: No, it's a major concern, but basically, once we've decided on a protocol for handling it, it's going to be gone for the next 20 years. It's just what are we going to do? Are we going to landfill it? If this plasma arc furnace really works, then we probably have our solution. They can do it for $50 a ton. We could generate electricity, eliminate waste, and get rid of most of what we generate here, including plastic and tires so -. And once that happens, maybe you don't really need a Solid Waste Department, all you need is trucks. RAY: Yeah. Okay. Any other questions? Okay, well, thanks very much and thanks for -. YAMASHIRO: Thank you. RAY: All the help in, you know, soliciting the input from the departments. And we are going to start -, next week, we are going to meet with a couple of the departments, and • then later today, we're going to discuss how we're going to -. YAMASHIRO: I think you could probably schedule more departments per day than you 40 • think because -. HERKES: They're going to be short? YAMASHIRO: They've been skinnied up a little bit. RAY: Okay. HERKES: We don't get to see their wish lists. BESS: Now, do we ever get to see those changes that might be nice? YAMASHIRO: You can ask them. BESS: Is that how they're labeled, nice ones? RAY: , Okay. YAMASHIRO: They got a bunch. You probably got to watch what I had to watch because you got guys in Parks talking about stuff in Public Works and Fire, you know, they're all picking up the other guys or doing certain things. I said, "Wait a minute, focus on your own department when you go to the Charter Commission." RAY: Well, you know, we talked about that earlier and, you know, certainly County employees, as citizens, can have a level of input, as well, right, so -. Okay, well, thanks very much. YAMASHIRO: Thank you. MARTIN: , Thank you, sir. HERKES: Thank you. BESS: Thanks. SANTANGELO: Thanks. HIGASHI: Thank you. RECESSED The Chairman called a short recess at 5:00 p.m. RECONVENED The meeting reconvened at 5:30 p.m. " 41 • RAY: We finished our background presentations on County government, and I Want to revisit one item of Unfinished Business, the Selection of Commission Secretary. In regard to that process, can I have a motion as far as that hiring process? J HIGASHI: Mr. Chair, I move that we delegate the authority to hire to the committee. RAY: Second? MARTIN: Second. RAY: Okay. Any discussion on that? All in favor? COMMISSIONERS: Aye. RAY: Okay. So, hopefully, that'll expedite that process. On the other item of New Business, A, Communications/Public Relations Committee, it's my understanding that we're going to hold off on that decision for the time being and use our own existing distribution network and the press to get out the word and let that suffice for now. Is that -? SANTANGELO: I'm not opposed, you know, with these meetings coming up and some sort of an informational package of going out to someone and contracting one specific job, and I don't how this Commission feels. But like with this paper you generated and, you know, I think there is a possibility to putting a two or three-page thing together that could be put in the Sunday paper that announces our meetings and informs people what we're about. And I wouldn't say hire a public relations firm, but certainly it's possible to contract one thing. HERKES: Would you like a motion? Would you like a motion? RAY: A motion? HERKES: A motion to -. SANTANGELO: To defer? HERKES: Hold off on hiring the public relations firm? RAY: Yes, please. HERKES: You got it. RAY: Second? 42 HIGASHI: Second. HERKES: Now, discussion. RAY: Okay, now discussion. Thank you. HIGASHI: Mr. Chair? RAY: Yes. HIGASHI: Probably once we see the strength of our administrative assistant, perhaps she could be doing some of that, putting the press release out. If she needs help, maybe some of us can help her but hopefully -. SANTANGELO: But are we going about this in a way that restricts? I thought we had discussed two ways of going about hiring this person in the first place, and one was where it left all that open. The other one was rather restricted in a job description. HERKES: I don't understand the question. 2 RAY: Okay. I -. HIGASHI: Yeah, me, too, but anyway -. RAY: John, you haven't reviewed the applications, but they are very talented, versatile people that we're looking at that really have a lot of capability. SANTANGELO: But the process we're using to hire them leaves that open for them to have a broad spectrum of responsibilities? It's not like something that comes out of Civil Service? RAY: No. I think that -. HERKES: That's an insult. RAY: I think their skill -. SANTANGELO: No, I didn't mean that in a negative sense. RAY: Excuse me. I think their skills will accommodate the wishes of the Commission. It'll be -. SANTANGELO: Okay. Thank you. 43 RAY: Entirely a function of how many hours, you know, we want to -. HERKES: We want to pay them. RAY: Have them on the job. HERKES: . Right. SANTANGELO: Thank you. RAY: And I believe, it's my understanding that we're going to just pursue all avenues of publicity affordable and available to us, you know, through the press and through direct mailings, and let's start off that way rather than go into the public relations major ads. Mr. Martin. MARTIN: To augment what you're saying, Mr. Chair, there's that new flyer that's being sent out for job openings and legal notices. Maybe we can put some information in there, too. I mean it's another avenue. RAY: Okay. Anything we can think of. And, you know, we will get this, you know, one page or more, you know, description ready to go and sent out. Okay. All right. HERKES: Are we going to vote? Are we going to vote? MARTIN: There was a motion on the floor, I believe. RAY: Oh, excuse me, a motion on the floor. All in favor? COMMISSIONERS: Aye. RAY: Opposed? Motion carries. Announcements, next meeting date is on May 19th, in this room at 3:00 p.m., and additionally we've scheduled a meeting for May 26th at 3:00 p.m. in this room. And, additionally, let the record show that we have scheduled public input meetings, location to be determined later, but June meetings on the 16th in Hilo, on the 23rd in Kona, both for 5:00 p.m., tentatively, and the same type of meetings, public hearing meetings for all four Wednesdays in July, 7th, 14th, 21s`, and 28th, all tentatively scheduled for 5:00 p.m., in locations to be determined later. Do I have a motion to adjourn? MARTIN: So moved. 44 RAY: Second? • BESS: Second. RAY: Okay. Meeting adjourned. Thank you. The discussion ended at 5:45 p. Respectfully submitted, Janet L. Kama Interim Secretary 45 Charter Commission Financial Report as of May 12, 1999 Appropriation: 010-911-5912.71-341 Amount available: Included in operating budget Resolution 55-99, effective 4/6/99 Total appropriation Less prior expenditures Balance available, 4/14/99 Expenditures:. $ 10,000.00 20,000.00 30,000.00 (434.92) 29,565.08 Advertising: Meeting notice, Hawaii Tribune Herald 28.29 Mileage: Stephen Bess, 2/99 - 4/99 John Ray, 2/99 - 4/99 135.42 128.76 Total mileage 264.18 Supplies: Photocopies Refreshments, 4/14/99 meeting Total supplies Equipment: File cabinet 7.50 32.85 40.35 187.19 Total expenditures 520.01 Appropriation Balance $ 29,045.07 Other outstanding obligations: Hawaii Tribune Herald & West Hawaii Today - Meeting notices MAY -11-1999 08:24 AM HLPC 8083297108 P. 02 .Is- K. Yamashlro Mayor • (Count of pguaii HILO: 25 Aupuni Street, Room 219 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720-4252 (808) 961-8211 • Fax (808) 961-6553 KONA: 75-5706 Kuakini Highway, Suite 103 • Kailua-Kona. Hawaii 96740 (808) 329-5226 • Fax (808) 326-5663 1999 - 2000 CHARTER COMMISSION John B. Ray - Chairman Roland HIIg9hl- Vice -Chairman Eddie M. Alonzo • Member Kevin M. Halog - Member Stephen G. Bess - Member Maralyn D. Herkes - Member Susan S. Irvine - Member Dr. Daryl H. Kurozawa - Member George A. Martin - Member John L. Santangelo - Member Gary Yoshiyama - Member CHARTER COMMISSION Notes John B. Ray LOGISTICS/SCHEDULE/CONCERNS • Need to get staff on board. • Need to have relevant background/research materials available for review process. • Board and Commissions attached to Departments need time to agendize and discuss issues so we can schedule their input with Departments. • Should we develop theme or philosophy to frame our recommendations such as a more "Responsive and Efficient" County Government? • If you are going to submit reimbursable expenses, please do so on a timely basis. • 1999 Board of Ethics 25 Aupuni Street, Rm. 215 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Warren Chong, Chair John Masuhara, VA1pI41 22, 1999 Leonetta Mills Patrick Masutomi John B. Ray, Chair 1999-2000 Charter Commission 25 Aupuni Street, Room 219 Hilo, Hawaii 96720 RE: PETITION NO. 99-02 Dear Mr. Ray: This is to inform you that your letter of April 15, 1999 and filed as Petition No. 99-02 has been scheduled for hearing on the following date, time and place as follows: DATE: Wed., May 12, 1999 TIME: 10:00 A..M. PLACE: Hawaii County Council Conference Room 25 Aupuni Street, Suite 2nd Floor Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Please advise the Board whether or not you will be able to attend. Thank you for your cooperation. Very truly yours, WARREN CHONG, Chair • Stephen K. Yamashiro Harry A. Takahashi Mayor Director • County of Hawaii DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE 25 Aupuni Street, Room 118 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720-4252 (808) 961-8234 • Fax (808) 961-8248 April 29, 1999 The Honorable John B. Ray, Chairman 1999-2000 Charter Commission 25 Aupuni Street, Room 219 Hilo, HI 96720-4252 RE: Hawaii County Pension Board S.K. Schutte Deputy In response to your letter of April 15 requesting comments from the Hawaii County Pension Board prior to meeting with the 1999-2000 Charter Commission, we have placed that subject on the agenda for our next meeting, June 1, 1999. Our comments will be submitted shortly thereafter. Thank you for the opportunity to participate in your review of the County Charter. Sincerely, Ruth E. K. Walker, Chair Hawaii County Pension Board cc: Board Members Laura Chock Mary R. Kim Beatrice Lau Alberta H. Lindsay Al Konishi, County Clerk Harry A. Takahashi, Finance Director Frederick Giannini, Deputy Corporation Counsel Finance Department, Admin/Accts Stephen K. Yamashiro Mayor • May 5, 1999 &nut Aztiouiri DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL SERVICE • Hilo Lagoon Centre, 101 Aupuni Street, Suite 133, Hilo, Hawaii 96720 -4260 Phone (808) 961-8361 • Fax (808) 961-8617 • TDD (808) 961-8619 Mr. John B. Ray, Chairman 1999-2000 Charter Commission 25 Aupuni Street, Room 219 Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Michael R. Ben, SPHR Director of Personnel Rodney T. Kaido Deputy Director of Personnel ? 9 Dear Mr. Ray: This is in reply to your April 15, 1999 letter requesting that the Department of Civil • Service agendize, for discussion, input to the Charter Commission. Thank you for the opportunity to propose amendments to the Hawaii County Charter, however, we have none to propose at this time. Sincerely, • Michael R. Ben, SPHR Director of Personnel RTK:vym Stephen K. Yamashiro Mayor • • tuuxttui of pafu it OFFICE OF THE CORPORATION COUNSEL 101 Aupuni Steett, Suite 325 • Hilo, Haw&I1 96720-4262 • (808) 961-8251 • Fax (808) 961-8622 May 5, 1999 TO: JOHN RAY,Chair. Charter Commission FROM: RICHARD D. WURDEMAN Corporation Counseliel SUBJECT: SUGGESTIONS FOR CHARTER CHANGES I. Pursuant to the request of the Commission, the following suggestions are submitted for your consideration: Richard Wurdeman Cor oration Coanset 1. Article 3-16: Mandatory Program Review. This is a good idea in theory. However, the Budget Division estimates that there are about 200 "programs" in the County. Thus, a program review would have to be prepared almost every week of the year to meet the requirement that all programs be reviewed every four years. This is totally impractical with existing resources. These reviews should not, therefore, be mandatory, but optional when directed by the Council by resolution. 2. Section 5-2.3, re: Corporation Counsel Delegation: Add: "The Corporation Counsel may delegate any professional legal duties of his office to his Assistant or Deputies." 3. Article 5-2.5. Special Counsel. Presently, Council approval by two-thirds vote is required to retain special counsel. This requirement should be retained for Counsel to represent the County. However, State law and collective bargaining agreements require us to retain individual counsel for certain employees. These should not be considered "special counsel", and thus not subject to this rigorous John Ray, Chair May 5, 1999 Page 2 requirement. Although it has not occurred yet, a situation could occur when, for example, the Police Commission, pursuant to statute, finds that County funded representation is mandated, and then the Council disapprove retention; an obvious crisis would be created. 4. Section 5-6.2. Safety Coordinator. Presently, the Charter imposes upon the Safety Coordinator wide responsibilities, including the investigation of all accidents involving county personnel vehicles, and facilities; and the inspection of all County equipment, buildings, and facilities. These responsibilities are useful, and should be performed, but to properly do so, the Safety Coordinator's office would have to be staffed far beyond the present level. The Safety Coordinator should either be abolished, and the functions be assigned to other departments, or be made a fully empowered risk manager with the authority to carry out his or her duties. 5. Section 5-6.3. re: Board of Appeals Change name to "Board of Appeals and Hearings." Also add to end of subsection (a): "The Board shall also hold such other hearings and appeals as may be prescribed by ordinance or other law." These changes would more accurately describe the function of the Board. 6. Section 7-2.2(d). Police Commission. Presently, the Police Commission is charged with the investigation of charges brought by the public against police officers. At times, these changes are sustained. Unfortunately, because of the collective bargaining system, the sustaining of a charge is meaningless. As a result, the aggrieved citizen is led to believe that action has been taken when it hasn't, and the only result of the Commission investigation is a report which can be used to sue the County. This responsibility should be removed. 7. Section 8-2. Water Commission. A. Section 8-2(a): Clarify that the Water Commission has authority over the finances of the Department. "Manage, control and operate the waterworks of the County and all property and finances thereof." John Ray, Chair May 5, 1999 Page 3 B. Section 8-2, re: Contracting: Add new section (f) to clarify that Water Commission can contract: "(f) Have the authority, by signature of its chairman or other authorized agent, to contract for goods and services relating to the management, control, operation, preservation and protection of the waterworks of the County." C) Section 8-2.2(a) should be amended so as to add the management, control, and operation of the waste water system to the responsibilities of the Water Commission. This would both make enforceable sewer billing and would make possible initiatives for the use of recycled water for appropriate purposes. D) Section 13-13, re: Financial Certification: Amend section (d) regarding contracts: "Be approved by the director of finance orfor the Department of Water Supply, by its controller, as to the availability of funds..." 8. Articles XI, XII. Initiative, Referendum and Recall. These articles presently require electors to provide Social Security numbers when registering. This requirement conflicts with Federal Law. Some other guarantor of identity, such a date of birth, should replace this requirement. Authority should be granted for these kinds of procedures to be set by ordinance. 9) Section 11-2(c). Submission requirements. This section requires that referendum petitions be signed by "qualified voters" equal to 15% of the number of persons who voted in the County for the office of Mayor in the last election. No mention is made of the effect of blank and spoiled ballots, and this should be rectified. Further, while "qualified voter" is defined in the recall article, Article XII, it is not defined in Article XI. This should be clarified. 10) Boards and Commissions A) Section 13-4(i) presently says that the vote of the majority of the entire board is necessary to make any action valid. This has made questionable the power of a depleted board to even continue matters on the agenda. Accordingly, propose that a new sentence be placed • John Ray, Chair May 5, 1999 Page 4 in the section which defines "action" as follows: "Action" shall mean any act of the board or commission which is dispositive of the matter before that board or commission. B) Section 13-4(g) calls for compensation of board members under certain circumstances. This is not done. The provision should either be eliminated and replaced with authority to set board compensation by ordinance. 11) Section 13-18. Claims. A similar section in Honolulu, has been held unenforceable. This requirement should be deleted. 12) Section 13-20. Records and Meetings Open to the Public. This section is not entirely consistent with the State open meetings law. That law adequately covers this area, and the present Charter requirements should be replaced by an incorporation by reference to State law. 13) Section 13-28. Salary Commission. The jurisdiction of the Salary Commission should be expanded to include those department heads and deputies whose salaries are not set by collective bargaining agreements. This, in conjunction with Section 13-28(d) would mitigate the distortion found in some departments where department heads and deputy directors make far less than some of those they supervise, and for whom they take responsibility. II Other issues. 1. Urban Renewal. State law presently requires that County Charter's provide for the abolition and the transfer of powers of County Redevelopment Agencies. No such provision exists in the present charter. 2. Legal Notice. Several places in the Charter require the Legal Notice be the placement of notice in two newspapers of general circulation in the County. State law now mandates a uniform system of notice throughout the State, and the two newspaper requirement is no longer practical. RDW:brel2 DAVIS:CharterChanges Stephen K. Yamashiro • Mayor April 22, 1999 ILnxnt ixf g.iaitraii FIRE DEPARTMENT 777 Kilauea Avenue • Mall Lane, Room 6 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720-4239 (808) 961-8297 • Fax (808) 961-8296 Mr. John B. Ray, Chairman 1999-2000 Charter Commission 25 Aupuni Street, Room 219 Hilo, HI 96720-4252 Dear Mr. Ray: tai Q7 A.. gtdward Bumatay t. Acting Fire cam (57 With reference to your request of April 15, 1999, we have no comments on the County Charter. Thank you for the opportunity to submit our comments. Sincerely, EDW o a. £TAY Acting Fire Chief EB/mo • 05/07/99 FRI 08:19 FAX 808 326 5663 Stephen K. Yainashiro Mayor tuunl of pttfnttii DEPARTMENT OF LIQUOR CONTROL Hilo Lagoon Centre,101 Aupuni Street, Suite 230 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720-4261 (808) 961-8218 • Fax (808) 961-8684 Mr. John B. Ray, Chairman 75-5706 Kuakini Highway, Suite 103 Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740 Dear Mr. Ray: The Department of Liquor Control has no comments or suggestions to submit at this time. JAP:hs May 3, 1999 , CJ002 Janice A. Fakele Director If we can be of any assistance, please call our office. Very truly yours, Janice A. Pali'ele, Director Department. of Liquor Control _ Raymond Carvalho, Chairperson Liquor Commission •4LL J U) Leina'ala Enos, Chairperson Adjudication Board • Stephen K. Yamashiro Mayor April 28, 1999 itttunfg of Fairatii DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION 25 Aupuni Street, Room 210 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720-4252 (808) 961-8311 a7 • Juliette M. Tulang IX Director CC Co C. Kenneth Sowden Deputy Director Memorandum: TO: John Ray, Chair/Charter Commission FROM: Juliette M. Tulang, Director SUBJECT: Proposed Changes to the County of Hawaii Charter Listed are some specific change proposals and a few general statements regarding overall concepts: • Article V, Chapter 6, Miscellaneous, Section 5-6.2. Safety Coordinator. The Safety Coordinator should be a civil service position with minimum requirements, placed under the Corporation Counsel's Office. Rational: When accidents and work comp cases need a special investigator, this will be available as there is a position within the Corporation Counsel Office. Corporation Counsel is involved in cases that go before Dept. of Labor and can better interact with the necessary insurance companies, etc. • Article VI, Chapter 3, Department of Parks and Recreation, Section 6-3.2. Director Establish minimum requirements for the position of Director, Deputy Director. Suggested Background: Business Administration, Administrator of government -funded agency/service, Human Resources Administrator, Recreation Management. Rational: This will reduce perception of "unqualified" appointees. • Article VI, Chapter 3, Department of Parks and Recreation, Section 6-3.4. County Bands There should only be one County Band placed under the office of the Mayor for administrative purposes. Bandmaster continues to be an appointed position and the bandmaster will continue to appoint band members. 1 John Ray April 27, 1999 Rational: This is a historical service and not an essential part of the department of Parks and Recreation. When funds are limited the P&R should not be responsible to provide this service at the sacrifice of needed maintenance or community recreational services. If other band services are needed, COH could contract with DOE school bands to participate in functions or the event sponsor could hire the school band. Other general issues: • Article VI, Chapter 4, Fire Department, Section 6-4.2. Fire Chief Establish a Fire Commission similar to Police Commission and have the chief appointed by the commission. • Create a separate human services department for elderly services, including Office of Aging and other related services. Rational: The Office of Aging is currently under the Mayor's office. Human Services could include other services, like a COH volunteer coordinator for all county projects, i.e. Adopt a road, adopt a park, Keep Hawaii Beautiful clean-up campaigns, all fund raising requests that come to the county. Cc: Mayor Steve Yamashiro Bill Davis, Managing Director • 2 • Stephen K. Yamashiro Harry A. Takahashi Mayor Director County of Hawaii DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE 25 Aupuni Street, Room 118 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720-4252 (808) 961-8234 • Fax (808) 961-8248 April 20, 1999 The Honorable John B. Ray Chairman 1999-2000 Charter Commission 15 Aupuni Street Room 219 Hilo, HI 96720 S.K. Schutte Deputy Thank you for your letter of April 15, 1999, informing us of the Commission's schedule to hear from departments on May 12 and 19. My divisions are currently reviewing the Charter for concerns. We hope to have identified possible considerations by May 10. If anything, we would plan to attend your May 19 meeting to present our comments. Sincerely, Harry A. Takahashi Finance Director HAT:aeb .tephen K. Yamashiro Mayor • April 28, 1999 (gaunt nf c i POLICE DEPARTMENT 349 Kapiolani Street . Hilo, Hawaii 96720-3998 (808) 935-3311 . Fax (808) 961-2702 Mr. John B. Ray Chairman 1999-2000 Charter Commission 25 Aupuni Street, Room 219 Hilo, Hawaii 96720-4252 Dear Mr. Ray: Wayne G. Carvalho Police Chief James S. Correa Deputy Police Chief In response to your letter of April 15, 1999, Major Morton Carter of our Administrative Services Division will be our point of contact for matters related to your Commission. Although further review of the County Charter will be conducted, we believe that Article III Legislative Branch - County Council, Section 3-16, related to "Mandatory Program Review," requires clarification. Defining "program" and "critically review" is necessary as you are aware this matter has come up almost annually when the Department requests approval of grant funds, particularly with the Marijuana Eradication Grant. Major Carter would be available to attend the meeting on May 12th to discuss this further. If there are any questions on this matter, please contact Major Carter at 961-2262. Sincerely, WA G. CARVALHO POLICE CHIEF MAC:0933G c: Mayor Stephen Yamashiro Stephen K. Yamashiro ® Mayor April26, 1999 count irf panntii DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL SERVICE Hilo Lagoon Centre, 101 Aupuni Street, Suite 133, Hilo, Hawaii 96720-4260 Phone (808) 961-8361 • Fax (808) 961-8617 • TDD (808) 961-8619 Mr. John B. Ray, Chairman 1999-2000 Charter Commission 25 Aupuni Street, Room 219 Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Dear Mr. Ray: Michael R. Ben, SPHR Director of Personnel Rodney T. Kaido Deputy Director of Personnel This is in reply to your April 15, 1999 letter to Chairperson Dorothy Pung of the Hawaii County Civil Service Commission requesting that the Civil Service Commission agendize for discussion input to the Charter Commission. You asked that the Commission submit its comments in writing. The Civil Service Commission recommends an amendment to the County Charter that would transfer the duties and responsibilities of the Safety Coordinator under the management and control of the Department of Civil Service. The Commission further recommends that existing positions and budget appropriations also be transferred to the Department of Civil Service. The Commission believes that these duties and responsibilities can be better accomplished under long-term management. It has found that these kinds of duties and responsibilities are, in many instances, a function of human resource management and fall under the general administration of a human resources department. In the case of Hawaii County, the equivalent of a human resources department is our Department of Civil Service. As you plan to schedule a meeting with the Commission, the Commission will wait to hear further from the Charter Commission. Sincerely, 712 )teC ›T. Michael R. Ben, SPHR Director of Personnel cc: Hawaii County Civil Service Commission REVISED EDITION National Civic League The National Civic League gratefully acknowledges the Murray and Agnes Seasongood Good Government Foundation of Cincinnati, Ohio for financing the first printing of this edition of Model County Charter. • REVISED EDITION MODEL COUNTY CHARTER wok National Civic League 19' 1601 Grant Street, Suite 250, Denver, Colorado 80203 Copyright © 1990 by the National Civic League, Inc. All rights reserved: reproduction or duplication by any means is a violation of applicable law. To obtain additional copies, contact: National Civic League Press 1601 Grant Street, Suite 250 Denver, Colorado 80203 (303) 832-5615 FOREWORD The revised edition of the Model County Charter is being published seventy-three years after the National Municipal League estab- lished its first Committee on County Government in 1917 and sixty years since the publication of its first county government model, thf 1930 Model County Manager Law. The first Model County Charter was published in 1956. In the 1970s an unpublished tentative revision of the Model, largely based upon the Sixth Edition of the Model City Charter, was given limited distribution. When the Model Charter Revision Committee was appointed in 1985, it was decided that revision of the city and county models would. be undertaken concurrently. The committee was chaired by Terrell Blodgett, Mike Hogg Professor of Urban Management, LBJ School, University of Texas, and chairman of the National Civic League during 1986 and 1987. The revision project has been coordinated by William N. Cassella, Jr., League executive director, 1969-1985. The drafting consultant has been Frank P. Grad, director of the Legisla- tive Drafting Research Fund of Columbia University. It was evident as this latest revision effort began that the basic legal text of the Sixth Edition Model City Charter had stood the test of the previous twenty years and provided a solid base for the new editions of both the city and county models. During the revision process special attention was given to basic policy issues. Of special importance was the issue of representation. Since publication of the last edition the structure of representation in local governing bodies has been subjected to litigation based upon the "equal protection" doctrine of the Unted States Constitution and standards provided in the Voting Rights Act. The League's research on local representation provided a firm base for considering this issue. Page Elizabeth Bigelow who conducted that reseach has directed the major part of the revision project reseach as a League senior associate and subse- quently as a member of the senior staff of the Institute of Public Administration. • ! iv / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER From the outset it was agreed that both model charters should continue to endorse the council-manager plan and should address issues which have been raised within the context ofthe plan. A special liaison committee was appointed by the International City Manage- ment Associaition to assist the project. The Liaison Committee was chaired by Donald F. McIntyre, city manager of Pasadena, California. An issue which received particular attention was that of political leadership and the role of the mayor in council- manager cities and the council chairman in counties with appointed administrators. James H. Svara of North Carolina State University served as the revision project's special advisor on this issue. At each stage of the revision process, a working paper was prepared by the project staff for distribution to the League's Model Charter Revision Commitee, the ICMA Liaison Committee, and a panel of advisors including political scientists, public administration consult- ants, and individuals representing the National League of Cities, National Association of Counties, Chamber of Commerce of the United States, League ofWomen Voters, American Planning Associa- tion, Government Finance Officers Association and International Personnel Management Association. All four working papers followed the basic format of an article-by- article—and in some cases section-by-section—analysis of the model text. The first working paper raised questions; the second presented comments as proposed modifications and dilemmas faced by the revis- ers; the third contained extensive comment explaining preliminary policy decisions where revisions were recommended; and the fourth presented instructions to the draftsman. Committee members and advisors were asked to comment on each successive working paper. Written, section -by -section comments were received from committee members and advisors. In addition extended comments on specific sections were received from others. Twenty scheduled committee meetings, charter clinics and conference workshops were held. All written comments and reports of the deliberations of the various meetings were reviewed in detail and were reflected in policy deci- sions and the instructions to draftsmen. FOREWORD / v In the course of the revision project the suggestions of countless indivivals who participated in both scheduled meetings and informal consultations were most helpful. The writings of many others were consulted. It would be impossible to name all who gave assistance directly or indirectly. Those who served on the project committees and the advisors who provided written advice are listed. The National Civic League's Model Charter Revision Committee: Terrell Blodgett, chairman, Austin, Texas; Earl Blumenauer, Port- land, Oregon; Thomas J. Clark, Long Beach, California; Wayne A. Corpening, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; John C. Crowley, Pasad- ena, California; R. Scott Fosler, Chevy Chase, Maryland; Randy H. Hamilton, Oakland, California; Robert A. Kipp, Kansas City, Mis- souri; Liane Levetan, Atlanta, Georgia; Gail Levin, Dayton, Ohio; John R. Miller, New York, New York; Tom Moody, Columbus, Ohio; Bruce I. Petrie, Cincinnati, Ohio; Arlyne Reichert, Great Falls, Montana; Jeanne Richman, Scarsdale, New York; Joseph- Robbie, Miami, Florida; George R. Schrader, Dallas, Texas; Noel C. Taylor, Roanoke, Virginia; E. Robert Turner, Boulder, Colorado; David B. Walker, Storrs, Connecticut; David I. Wells, New York, New York; Richard Wilkey, Des Moines, Iowa; Jack D. Wickware, San Francisco, California; and Fay H. Williams, Indianapolis, Indiana. The International City Management Association's Liaison Com- mittee for the Model Charter Revision Project: Donald F. McIntyre, chairman, Pasadena, California; Mark K. Achen, Grand Junction, Colorado; Larry J. Brown, Hillsborough County, Florida; Ernest R. Clark, Bryan, Texas; William M. Costick, Farmington Hills, Michi- gan; Eugene H. Denton, Johnson County, Kansas; David J. Krings, Peoria County, Illinois; J. Thomas Lundy, Catawba County, North Carolina; Claude D. Malone, Jr., Montgomery County, Ohio; Craig A. McDowell, Corpus Christi, Texas; Robert D. McEvoy, Schenectady County, New York; David R. Mora, Oxnard, California; Robert J. O'Neill, Hampton, Virginia; J.A. Ojeda, Jr., Dade County, Florida; Robert J. Schiedler, Barrington, Rhode Island; Donald L. Shalmy, Clark County, Nevada; and Lowell J. Tooley, Scarsdale, New York. Meetings of the entire ICMA Committee were held at three annual ICMA conferences and separate meetings of the county and city vi / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER members of the committee were held in connection with the NACo and NLC winter congressional conferences in Washington. The Panel of Advisors for the Model Charter Revision Project: Wayne F. Anderson, Alexandria, Virginia;James M. Banovetz, DeKalb, Illinois; John E. Bebout, Wellfleet, Massachusetts; Garey F. Butler, Eugene, Oregon; Richard Carpenter, Sacramento, California; Wil- liam G. Colman, Potomac, Maryland; Rodney Colson, Tampa, Florida (Hillsborough County); John Donaho, Baltimore, Maryland; Roberta S. Ehrenberg, Havertown, Pennsylvania; Thomas M. Flynn, Char- lotte, North Carolina; Norman Gill, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Parris N. Glendening (assisted by John W. White and Tom Murphy) Upper Marlboro (Prince George's County) Maryland;Jonathan Howes, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Joan Jessen, McMurray, Pennsylvania; John M. Kamensky, Washington,D.C.; Thomas F. Lewinsohn, Kansas City, Missouri; Aileen Lotz, South Miami, Florida; Daniel R. Man- delker, St. Louis, Missouri; Howard N. Mantel, New York, New York; James P. McDonald, Fairfax, Virginia; Howard D. Neighbor, El Paso, Texas;ChesterA Newland, Sacramento, California; Orin F. Nolting, Prarie Village, Kansas; Robert J.M.O'Hare, Stoughton, Massachu- setts; Allen S. Olsen, Trenton, New Jersey; John E. Petersen, Washington, D.C.; Ray Remy, Los Angeles, California; Paul H. Sedway, San Francisco, California; Charlie B. Shapard, Fort Worth, Texas; Glen W. Sparrow, San Diego, California; D. Michael Stewart, Salt Lake City (County), Utah; Richard J. Stillman, Fairfax, Virginia; Roger A. Storey, Davis, California; James H. Svara, Raleigh, North Carolina; Leon Weaver, East Lansing, Michigan; Joseph F. Zimmer- man, Albany, New York. The Revised Edition of the Model County Charter is the second publication of the Model Charter Revision Project. A Seventh Edition of the Model City Charter was published in July 1989. A new Guide for Charter Commissions and a monograph providing guidance for strengthening professional management in non -charter counties are scheduled for publication in 1990. The League has been most gratified by the generous financial support this project has received from a large number of individuals, foundations and municipal governments and by their endorsement of the importance of the project. This broad-based financial support has FOREWORD/ vii supplemented the major grants received from the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation. the Murray and Agnes Seasongood Good Government Foundation, Industrial Properties Corporation of Dal- las, Ahmanson Foundation of Los Angeles, Lomas and Nettleson Fi- nancial Corporation of Dallas, the Kansas City Star, and Hallmark Corporate Foundation of Kansas City. Acknowledgement is also made of the excellent cooperation re- ceived from the staffs of International City Management Association, National League of Cities, National Association of Counties, National Association of County Administrators and American Society for Public Administration in arranging committee meetings and special sessions in connection with their national conferences. Each edition of the Model City Charter and the Model County Charter has reflected the conditions of local government at a particu- lar time. This edition of the county model comes at a time when counties are assuming expanded roles and the structure of county government is being strengthened to deal with greater responsibility. The Model County Charter is a working tool for all those engaged in efforts to improve the structure and procedures of county government and thus increase its effectiveness. John Parr, President National Civic League May 1990 TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD INTRODUCTION Article I — POWERS OF THE COUNTY xi Section 1.01. Powers of the County 1 Section 1.02. Construction 1 Section 1.03. Intergovernmental Relations 1 Commentary on Article I 1 Article II — COUNTY COUNCIL Section 2.01. General Powers and Duties 5 5 8 9 10 Section 2.02. Composition, Eligibility, Election and Terms Section 2.03. Chairman of the Council Section 2.04. Compensation; Expenses Section 2.05. Prohibitions Section 2.06. Vacancies; Forefeiture of Office; Filling of Vacancies 10 11 11 12 Section 2.10. Independent Audit 12 12 Section 2.12. Action Requiring an Ordinance 13 Section 2.13. Ordinances in General 13 Section 2.14. Emergency Ordinances 14 Section 2.15. Codes of Technical Regulations 15 15 Section 2.07. Judge of Qualifications Section 2.08. County Clerk Section 2.09. Investigations Section 2.11. Procedure Section 2.16. Authentication and Recording; Codification; Printing Commentary on Article II 16 • CONTENTS / ix Article In — COUNTY MANAGER Section 3.01. Appointment; Qualifications; Compensation Section 3.02. Removal Section 3.03. Acting County Manager 27 27 27 Section 3.04. Powers and Duties of the County Manager 28 Commentary on Article III 29 Article IV — DEPARTMENTS, OFFICES AND AGENCIES Section 4.01. General Provisions Section 4.02. Personnel System Section 4.03. Legal Officer Section 4.04. Planning Commentary on Article IV Article V — FINANCIAL PROCEDURES Section 5.01. Fiscal Year Submission of Budget and Budget Mess Budget Message Budget County Council Action on Budget 33 33 34 34 35 Section 5.02. Section 5.03. Section 5.04. Section 5.05. Section 5.06. Section 5.07. Section 5.08. Section 5.09. Section 5.10. Section 5.11. Section 5.12 Section 5.13. 39 age 39 39 39 40 Appropriation and Revenue Ordinances 41 Amendments after Adoption 41 Lapse of Appropriations 42 Administration of the Budget 42 Overspending of Appropriations Prohibited Capital Program . County Council Action on Capital Program Public Records 43 43 Commentary on Article V 44 44 44 x / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER Article VI — COUNTY ELECTIONS Section 6.01. County Elections Section 6.02. Council Districts; Adjustments 49 49 52 of Districts Section 6.03. Initiative and Referendum Commentary on Article VI Article VII — GENERAL PROVISIONS Section 7.01. Conflicts of Interest; Board of Ethics Section 7.02. Prohibitions 53 57 58 Commentary on Article VII Article VIII —. CHARTER AMENDMENT Section 8.01. Proposal ofAmendment Section 8.02. Election 61 Section 8.03. Adoption of Amendment 62 62 59 Commentary on Article VIII Article XI — TRANSITION/SEPARABILITY PROVISIONS Section 9.01. Section 9.02. Section 9.03. Section 9.04. Section 9.05. Section 9.06. 62 Officers and Employees Departments, Offices 65 and Agencies Pending Matters 65 Laws in Force 66 Schedule 66 Separability 67 68 Commentary on Article IX. 69 APPENDIX AN ELECTED COUNTY EXECUTIVE 71 INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM 76 Commentary on Initiative and Referendum 82 INTRODUCTION Publication of the Revised Edition of the Model County Charter reaffirms the long held commitment of the National Civic League to the increasing importance of county government in the American federal system. During the last half of the twentieth century, counties have experienced significant changes in both their role and structure, but they must continue the process of adjustment as they are required to cope with critrical social, economic and enviornmental problems in urban, suburban and rural areas. Considering the enormous diversity of counties, it may be consid- ered presumptuous to present a "model" form which obviously will not fit all or even a majority of American counties. Repeated is an assertion made in the introduction to the 1956 edition of the Model County Charter: No model charter or law can be drafted which should be adopted anywhere without change. The vast differences in the size, resources and problems of the 3,000 -plus organized counties would in themselves make it impossible to prescribe a single basic law or charter equally applicable to all. When to these. differences are added the differences in constitutional and legal provisions for county government and differences in political habits and traditions, it is clear that there can be no single neatly packaged answer to the whole problem of govern- mental organization and power for every county. .. .Th e Model is offered,therefore, not as a panacea but as a resource, seeking to embody as much as possible of the best and most up-to-date thinking on the basic structure of county government ... goals for drafting home rule or special county charters;. .for the preparation of optional county charter laws or for amendments of provisions of state constitutions and laws where those provi- sions prevent or impede the modernization of county govern- ment. xi • xii / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER The revised Model County Charter continues to endorse a struc- ture in which all the powers of the county are vested in the elected governing body which appoints as the county's chief executive a professional manager who is continuously responsible to and remov- able by the elected governing body. As was indicated in the earlier edition, the Model must be modified to fit local circumstances. Some alternatives are provided in the model text, others suggested in the commentary, and a basic depar- ture from the endorsed form is covered in an appendix dealing with an elected chief executive structure. Prospects for Progress Critics of county government have subjected it to more political invective than any other level of government. It has been described as clumsy, antiquated, ramshackle, headless, crooked, and, of course, inefficient and expensive. It was called the "dark continent" ofAmeri- can politics and "the courthouse gang" was the label given to what some considered the "last ditch" stand of the old-fashioned political system. While the name-calling was going. on, leaders of the National Municipal League (now the National Civic League) were urging that the same approach they were proposing for the reform of municipal government was applicable to counties. As early as 1913 the council- manager plan based upon the "short ballot" principle was seen as the way to simplfy county government. Unfortunately, most people didn't read beyond the title page of the National Short Ballot Organization's little 1917 book, The County: The Dark Continent of American Politics. It was a plea for reconstruction of county government. It lauded California's 1911 County Home Rule Constitutional Amend- ment and the Los Angles County Charter adopted in 1912. At the same time Reformer Richard S. Childs, leader in both the Short Ballot Organization (which he and Woodrow Wilson had founded a few years earlier) and the National Municipal League, had launched the campaign for council-manager government in cities. He also was talking about the "prospect for progress" in county government and INTRODUCTION / xiii stated the essenials of county reform: A satisfactory solution of the many problems can be worked out only by a steady process of evoution, under conditions that give scope for experiment, free from needless Constitutional restric- tions. The counties must be free to advance individually and not be in perpetual lockstep. Let the more progressive counties feel their way cautiously forward, to be followed by others when the value of a given step is clearly proved by experience. The path of progress will surely be in the general direction of unification and simplification. Some of the elective officers must be transferred to the appointive list, and those, who remain elective must be built up in power, influence, and con- spicuousness until they command the discriminatiung atten- tionof the electorate. The ballot must not continue to be too long to remember, but must be shortened sufficiently to come within the complete oversight of the voters. Responsibility must be clearly located. The county must be given a definite head. The limbs and body must be joined together and put under the easy control of a brain. Not otherwise can the people of a county secure an organism that will be an effective and. efficient servant. Principles of a Model By 1930 Mr. Childs and the other reformers in the National Municipal League, seeing the success of the Model City Charter in fostering adoption of the council-manager plan by cities, were confi- dent enough to prescribe the "Principles of a Model County Govern- ment": • Provision of a wieldy but representative policy-determiningbody, elected by the people and responsible to them for the conduct of county government. • Creation of a single responsible executive head chosen by the policy-determing body and accountable to it for the administration of county services and operations (i.e., a manager). xiv / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER • Appointment of administrative officers by the chief executive, providing a short ballot and centralized administrative control. • Concentration of activities in a few departments on the basis of function. • Provision of a substantial degree of flexibility to permit adjust- ment to varying local situations. Subject to state constitutional requirements, the proposed plan is suitable for embodiment either in a county government law of state- wide application or in an individual county charter (see NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW, August 1930, p. 565, and September 1933, p. 456). In 1930 the League published A Model County Manager Law based on these principles. This was almost an act of faith on the part of the reformers. There was little enthusiasm among incumbent county officeholders to undertake change, and very little civic support for doing so, due to lack of confidence in the capaicty of counties to emerge from long -held practices. Also, many citizens considered the county an extraneous, unnecessary layer of government, and saw no reason to improve it. For local government services they looked to "city hall." Some residents of incorporated municipalities just didn't think they needed the county. "Give its state functions to the state and its local functions to the city," they said with a closed mind to the possibilities of a greater role for counties. Moreover, state constitutions presented formidable obstacles to county reform. Often a uniform system of county government was prescribed in the constitution for counties large and small. The idea of a chief executive, appointed or elected, had very limited appeal. There was, however, some pioneering experience in a number of counties. By 1933, nine California counties had taken advantage of the county home rule amendment and had adopted charters. Most of these had appointed administrators. An appointed administrator for a non -charter county had been originated in North Carolina. Three Virginia counties already had managers following the lead of Virginia i INTRODUCTION / xv cities. The first two elected county chief executives were created when Nassau and Westchester counties in New York adopted charters in the mid -1930s. Regional Potential At the same time the National Municipal League issued its pioneering report on government in metropolitan areas in the United States. It made a strong statement on the potential of county govern- ment for meeting metropolitan problems: Where county boundary lines coincide with those of the region, the county government, revamped and modernized, may serve as the foundation on which to build a regional organization. In other cases, in which the region covers two or more counties, the county may be preserved as a constituent part of afeder- ated government, its historic role being modified in accordance with the demands of a new situation. (see National Municipal League, The Government of Metropolitan Areas, 1930, p.388). During the New Deal era, World War II, and the years immedi- ately following, relatively little happended on the county reorganiza- tion front, and (in general) little was done to reduce constitutional obstacles. Missouri, the state which originated the municipal home rule charter concept in the 19th century, adopted a new constitution in 1945 which extended the opportunity to adopt home rule charters to the state's largest counties. St. Louis County was quick to take advantage of this, approving its own charter in 1950. Montgomery County, Maryland had begun to operate under a charter in 1948. Meanwhile, the logic of making counties responsible for area - wide functions caught on, partly because hard-pressed cities wanted the suburban areas out in the county to share the burden of functions serving more than city residents. As the principle subdivisions of the state, counties long had the major responsibility for performing serv- ices which are provided statewide (e.g., judicial administration, elec- tions, detention, and roads). But they became increasingly involved in operating parks, libraries, hospitals, airports, health and welfare, • • xvi / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER INTRODUCTION / xvii waste disposal— indeed every "municipal -type" service. Counties, notably Los Angeles County, became wholesalers of services to municipalities. Form Follows Function Forward-looking county officials welcomed the new responsibili- ties, but some accepted this new role reluctantly. It became evident that the traditional rural forms were inadequate. The fundamental architectural principle of form follows function describes the evolu- tion of county government in the last three decades and is a precept which can guide its future. In the early 1950s, the National Association of County Officials (NACO) was a sleepy organization, an "old boy" network with only a part-time staff. Beginning in the late 1950s, it accepted the responsi- bility for providing leadership in building an agenda to strengthen the organizational, functional and financial base of county government. NACO was renamed the National Association of Counties (NACo). In 1959 it held the first Urban County Congress and made a strong case for the important role of counties in providing urban services and their great potential for dealing with substate regional problems, particularly in metropolitan areas. Later NACo's New Counties U.S.A. Center gave special attention to county reorganization. The 1955 report of the Commission on Intergovernmental Rela- tions (the Kestnbaum Commission) pointed out that the evolution of intergovernmental relations in the United States had enhanced the importance of counties as a part of the decentralized element of the American federal system: The intermediate position of the county between the state and municipal governments in some areas, and its position as the primary area of local government or administration in others, have steadily enlarged its importance in intergovernmental relations. It continues to serve in its traditional role as an agent of the state for law enforcement, judicial administration, the conduct of elections and other important functions. At the same time, county governments have gradually been acquiring functions and powers of a municipal character, some of them transferred from municipalities with inadequate area and re- sources. The result is that in most states the responsibilities of local government are increasingly being divided between municipalities and counties. This movement has been acceler- ated in recent years by the fact that the national government has found the county more convenient than the municipality as a base for a number of grant -aided programs. The county seat is commonly the headquarters for officials ad- ministering certain federal programs, and the county govern- ment is often the only available local unit with which the national government may cooperate. In three fields where federal grants-in-aid directly affect large numbers of people- welfare, health, agriculture—the county is involved in varying degrees....as counties assume more and more responsibility for carrying out programs for the state government, or for the national -state governments, the need for improved county government becomes more urgent. Unquestionably, a major, if not the most important, item on the NACo agenda from the early 1960s on was to mobilize the political power of counties as a lobbying force in Washington. The expansion of county eligibility for federal grants of an urban character attested to NACo's effectiveness. In one five-year period counties' direct federal aid increased by over 800 percent. There is no question that this effort moved county governments into the major league of lobbyists alongside the cities. This direct aid which bypassed the states supported many enormously important programs but some have suggested that it let state government off the hook. Now, with federal aid diminishing will state responsibility be ready to fill fiscal gaps? County government has assumed a conspicuous place in inter- governmental relations. County officials are full partners in the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. xviii / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER Flexibility and Adapatability NACo in 1959 at that first Urban County Congress not only emphasized the functional dynamics of counties but'also the impor- tance of new and stronger structures. Metropolitan Dade County, city -county consolidation in Baton Rouge, and Los Angeles County's Lakewood Plan were showcased along with attention to city -county and county -state cooperation. In the 1960s and 1970s counties achieved some important progress in state constitutional change, which opened up opportunities for greater organizational flexibility. Both Alaska and Hawaii came into the union with well conceived home rule provisions in their constitutions. New constitutions in Pennsylvania and Montana set in motion significant reviews of local government and the opportunity for counties to adopt charters with the same home rule status as municipalities. Amendments to the Arkansas and Tennessee constitutions mandated elected executives for all counties. Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, South Dakota and Utah have new constitutional provisions which expand local discretion at the county level. Statutory provisions for alternative forms have been adopted in many states with a new emphasis upon flexibility in non - charter counties. With the great expansion of the functional impor- tance of counties it was apparent that their form had to change. Change was not as drastic or as rapid as some reformers might have wanted, but it came. Today there are almost 700 counties with appointed administrators, Their National Association of County Administrators has close ties with the International City Manage- ment Association, which has brought a high level of professionalism to local government administration. By a recent count there are375 elected county executives To be sure the mandated executives in Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky account for well over half of these but there are over 100 in other charter and non -charter counties. Whether elected or appointed the executive is a well established feature of modern county government. The policy-making side of county government has also experi- enced change. In some places, the county commission has been con- verted into a legislative body, turning administration over to the professional administrator. In others, under the one man -one vote • • INTRODUCTION / xix judicial mandate, single -member district legislative bodies have replaced less representive systems. The guidelines of the reformers, particularly those contained in the Model County Charter, provide a point of departure for those designing reorganization proposals for specific counties. Present day model -builders are by no means as doctrinaire as the reformers of 50 years ago. They know that there are no absolutes, that flexibilty and adaptibility are required. Fortunately, increasing numbers ofincum- ,bent officeholders are also demonstrating their recognition of the importance of flexibility and the need to adjust to change. There has not been a rush to take advantage of the increasing legal availability of county home rule charters, but of the 85 home rule county charters adopted to date, 68 have been put in place since the 1959 Urban County Congress. Significantly, the overwhelming majority of the changes providing for professional administrators in non -charter counties have occurred in the last two decades. What about consolidations? There has been an inclination to dismiss city -county consolidation as a futile approach to local govern- ment reorgnization because so many attempts have failed. It is more appropriatre to note, however, that since New Orleans and Orleans Parish in Louisana were merged in 1805, there have been 27 success- ful consolidations. Ofthese, 15 have taken place since 1960 and all but one were adopted by referendum. The consolidations in Nashville/ Davidson County, Jacksonville/Duval County and Indianapolis/Marion County Unigov have been especially noteworthy, but itis important to note that some recent consolidations have been in smaller places (e.g., Anaconda/Deer Lodge County and Butte/Silver Bow County in Montana). While there has been a significant amount of functional consolidation within the framework of county government. There has been very little interest in consolidation among smaller counties, the question is being raised where drastic declines in population have occurred. It is clear that demands upon counties will continue to increase. Pressures to preserve open space and provide enviornmentallly sen- xx / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER sitive services (e.g., waste disposal, water supply) increasingly must be addressed by counties because the problem can seldom be solved by individual municipalities. More municipalities are recognizing that solutions cannot be achieved if they act alone. Some say that this is because of fiscal pressures and the fact that the elimination of general revenue sharing means that every unit can no longer expect a check from Washington. Counties and other local governments are due some support, fiscal and otherwise, from the federal government, but it is clear that such support will increasingly be targeted to deal with problems of particular severity, and that the days of"something for everybody" are over. It is essential that joint action be encouraged and counties must be equipped to play a central role in cooperative undertakings, some of which may be mandated as a condition to the limited federal assistance made available. County -municipal relationships vary greatly, but there is no doubt that both levels of local government will be involved in an increasing number of interlocal agreements, joint exercise -of -powers relationships, service contracts, and technical as- sistance. County -state relationships have certainly improved but the rec- ord is uneven and again the state can and should provide support in various forms and should remove constraints which stifle innovation at the local level. Indeed, states should provide incentives for structural improvements in county government and functional con- solidation and the use of the county as a vehicle for meeting substate regional problems. The theme of this introduction is an assertion of the principle "form follows function." It is when the function of county government changes that its form adjusts to accommodate that change. In the closing decades of the twentieth century county government in the United States is experiencing more significant changes than at any time since counties were established on the North American continent in the seventeeth century. "County government is the product of a thousand years of piece- meal growth. Its foundations were laid in medieval England, and the superstructure has slowly risen through the intervening centuries. Like some old sprawling castle, it bears the imprints of many a builder and its rambling arrangement betrays the utter absence of consistent • INTRODUCTION / xxi plan." (Introduction to 1956 edition of the Model County Charter.) Where uniformity has been imposed on county government it has lost the vibrance which has sustained it over the centuries; the source of its durability has been adaptation to change. The revised edition of the Model County Charter is designed to assist in the process by which county government continuously adapts its form and structure to meet new and changing demands. THE MODEL CHARTER: A GUIDE It must be emphasized repeatedly that the Model County Charter is not a panacea, nor should any county adopt it without modifications necessary under state law, taking into account local traditions and practices. Counties vary greatly in size, in the number of functions they perform, and in their relationships with the state and other units of local government. These differences must be considered as a home rule charter is drafted for a particular county. The Model serves as a guide. The Model applies to the county some 75 years of experience in local government and provides for: 1. A substantially integrated county government in place of the collection of loosely connected independent officers and agencies that comprise the typical county government today. 2. Arepresentative policy -determining body (or council) of manage- able proportions, elected by the voters and responsible to them for the general conduct of county affairs. 3. A single administrative head or manager (chief executive officer) chosen by the council and accountable to it for the effective admini- stration of county services. 4. The choice of principal administrative officers by appointment by the chief executive, thereby achieving a short ballot, unified administrative control, and fixed responsibility for county admini- stration. 5. A substantial degree offlexibilityin the administrative structure to permit its adjustment to changing local needs and conditions. xxii / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER 6. Modern procedures for fiscal management. Powers This Model, as all of the League's model charters, is designed to enable a local government to make full use of home rule powers as the constitution and laws of the state permit. In the first place, it assumes that a county has wide discretion with respect to the form and structure of its government, including the method of selection of the principal county officials. Secondly, the model "powers" provision. claims all powers available to the county including the authority to provide municipal -type services. The difficult problem of adjusting home rule claims of the county and municipalities within it is recog- nized, and broad authority is given for joint exercise of powers and cooperative intergovernmental relationships. The Council In a true sense the county council provided by. the Model is the governing body with general control over county affairs. All powers of the county except as otherwise provided by law are assigned to the council. The name"county council" is used rather than "county board" or "county commission" to emphasize the policy-making role of the council. Board or commission carries the connotation of an essentially administrative rather than a legislative role. It should be noted, how- ever, that the name given to the governingbody will be determined by local preference and that many county boards and commissions are in fact legislative in character. The importance of the representativeness of the council cannot be over -emphasized. This is a particularly sensitive issue when counties have urban, suburban and rural areas. The Model asssumes that it is necessary to tailor provisions for the composition and method of electing the council to the needs of each county. There is no univer- sally acceptable method. Therefore, model provisions for several alternatives are provided. In all cases the "equal protection" consti- tutional requirement (i.e., "one person -one vote") must be honored. When districts are used, special attention must be given to the redistricting process, including districting criteria. Guidance on this • INTRODUCTION / xxiii is provided in the elections article of the Model. Two alternative methods are provided for the election of the county council chairman and stress is placed upon the leadership potential of this office. The chairman may be comparable to the non-executive mayor in council-manager cities, serving as chief legislator and leader of the policy-making team, as well as the ceremonial head of the county, and —very importantly — its intergovernmental representa- tive. Manager A fundamental f : . . • _ • the • r. i ' o e • g responsibi i y or the administration of county_sern siin a single pro ess a mmrs ra or, t e county man . • • • • .• a. • oint- men , remov: : • ge .pervasion .v th . o m j The council-managerform seems particularly appropriate for county government. Unlike cities, counties have not had the tradition of an elected chief executive, a mayor, based upon the "separation of powers" principle. The administration of county affairs has generally been by a number of separately elected officials with the central core of county government, both legislative and administrative, in the county board or commission. The council-manager plan is a direct and logical evolution from government by commission. It preserves and strengthens the unity in policy making which the commission was supposed to provide, and achieves unity and responsibility in admini- stration, which commission government did not provide. Thus the council-manager plan is not so drastic a break with the tradition of county government as an elected executive plan, because it continues to vest overall responsibility in a representative body rather than dividing it between an elected council and an elected chief executive. The members of the county council continue to be the responsible parties so far as the electorate is concerned, though they exercise their responsibility for administration through their appointed agent, the manager. The really big break with tradition comes when a reorganized xxiv / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER • • county government brings under council control (and administration by the appointed manager) functions previously performed by inde- pendently elected officers or substantially independent boards and commissions. Legal and political considerations may limit the extent to which this can be done. Indeed, most counties operating with appointed administrators represent some degree of compromise. Some separately elected officers are continued, but various arrange- ments are made particularly in the budget process to give a greater degree of centralized policy and management coordination. The manager may perform some services, particularly of a housekeeping nature, for independent officers and agencies. The existence of responsible professional management at the core of county operation ten s inevitably to improve the tone of the entire county government. One of the most important developments in county government has been the strengthening of professional management in counties which do not operate under their own charters. In some states this is accomplished by state enabling statutes providing optional forms of county government. In other places, non -charter counties adopt resolutions, ordinances or local laws which put in place effective systems providing for professional administrators. Provisions of the Model, particularly the article on the manager, can be used as a point of departure for those drafting such legal instruments. However, the Model will be supplemented by a separate publication designed specially to assist non -charter counties in strengthening the legal basis for professional management. Organization and Procedures The Model provides for the establishment of county departments, offices and agencies by the county council. It does not provide a model scheme of departmental organization because of the great variety in county functional responsibilities. Although some charters may appropriately provide for specific departments, care should be taken to avoid freezing into a charter any departmental scheme makingad- aptation to changing conditions difficult. The Model does provide for a legal officer with alternative methods of appointment included. Previous model charters have included detailed provisions for per- sonnel administration and planning. This Model recognizes that to INTRODUCTION / xxv an increasing extent, state statutes control both. The Model places with the council the responsibility for establishing a personnel system based on the merit principle and the organization and procedures for planning. The Model's financial procedures, as in the previous edition, are relatively simple with clarification of procedures for the adoption of the budget, capital program, and appropriation and revenue ordi- nances. Unlike earlier models, this edition does not include detailed election procedures, recognizing that state election laws apply to all counties whether or not they operate with local charters. The Model includes as an option a basic provision for using the initiative and referendum, if they are authorized by state law, and includes procedures for their use in an appendix. An Elected County Executive Although the Model provides for an appointed executive, it recognizes that some counties are operating effectively with elected chief executives. Therefore, an appendix supplies examples of key provisions in charters providing for an elected chief executive, includ- ing those which define the duties ofprofessional administrators ap- pointed by the elected executive. Repeated as equally appropriate in 1989 is the concluding para- graph of the introduction to the 1956 Model County Charter by John E. Bebout: It has already been observed that there is evidence of a mountingbeliefin the American County and a growing interest in preparing county governments to meet greater responsibili- ties. One of the most encouraging factors in the situation is the new faith that county officials themselves are displaying in the importance of their place in our governmental system. The National Association of County Officials [now the National Association of Counties] is taking an active part...in the effort • xxvi / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER to strengthen and justify that faith. The Model County Charter is offered as a contribution to the same cause. Terrell Blodgett William N. Cassella, Jr. May 1990 Terrell Blodgett is Mike Hogg Professor of Urban Management, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas, Austin; chairman of the Model Charter Revision Project Committee, and former chairman of the National Civic League. William N. Cassella, Jr. is coordinator of the Model Charter Revision Project and former executive director of the National Munici- pal League. Article POWERS OF THE COUNTY Section 1.01. Powers of the County. The county shall have all powers possible for a county to have under the constitution and laws of this state as fully and completely as though they were specifically enumerated in this charter. Section 1.02. Construction. The powers of the county under this charter shall be construed liberally in favor of thecounty, and the specific mention of particular powers in the charter shall not be construed as limiting in any way the general power granted in this article. Section 1.03. Intergovernmental Relations. The county may exercise any of its powers or perform any of its functions and may participate in the financing thereof, jointly or in cooperation, by contract or otherwise, with any one or more states or any state civil division or agency, or the United States or any of its agencies. COMMENTARY ON ARTICLE I §1.01. Powers of the County. The powers provision is based on the principle that the county should lay claim to all powers it may legally exercise under the state's constitution and laws. Restrictions may be made: (1) by specific provisions in the appropriate parts of the charter; (2) by ordinance, since the section does not require that all the powers claimed be exercised; (3) by inaction — that is, failure to exercise powers; or (4) by decisions of state and federal courts. • 2 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER The section simply assures that the county has accepted the total authority available to it. It eliminates they p grant powers provision of the charter would itself limit the 1maximthat um powe er b,for example, embracing less in its terms than the constitutional home rule grant nt or by inadvertent omission or ambiguity that coul d openFant judicial interpretation. This is the most that the charter can do, for the extent of the powers available to the county the door to restrictive 's constitution, statutes and judicial decisions. For example, dependno referenon the ce is made in this section to contracting with private vendors for the provision ofpublic services; unless prohibited by law, this is an accepted method for providing a service. It cannot be overemphasized that the general powers provision ofa charter must be tailored to the law of each state. The courts of some states do not give effect to a charter statement of powers expressed in general terms but require that the charter specifically enumerate all of the "as fully and completely as though they were s powers claimed. The words charter" at the end of §1.01 are designed to preclude cifisuch a view but lly enumeratedwin il]tnot in states requiring an enumeration. The Model section cannot be used in these states. Those drafting charters are cautioned to make a careful study of the state's law on local government powers before using the Model provision. As to restrictive approaches by the courts to the interpretation of county powers provisions, the charter can do no more than include directions designed to reverse the court's approach such as those contained in §1.02. Questions of restrictive court interpretation aside and assuming that a state's law does not require an enumeration, §1.01 is so drawn that it may be utilized efiecti vely under any of the existing types of home rule as that of the National Municipal League's grant as wellh Edition) and regardless of whether the 's Model State Constitution (6th t is contained in a constitution, optional charter law or other general enabliinng act. It must be recognized that as Primary subdivisions of states, counties to a veryg man- dated by state law to exercise specific powers and fulfill certain responsibili- ties. lar a extent are §1.02 Construction. It is desirable to include this section as a declaration of intention even though there may be doubt as to how much effect the courts will give it. It is designed to avoid a restrictive interpretation of the general powers statement in §1.01 and application of the restrictive technique of judicial construction which relies upon the mention of specific powers as evidencing to exclude other or broader powers (expressio unius est exclusio alterius). §1.03. an intention Intergovernmental Relations. This section provides a clear statement of the county's power to participate in intergovernmental relationships — to receive assistance from the federal, state and other local governments, to be represented in regional agencies POWERS OF THE COUNTY / 3 established under federal or state law or intergovernmental agreements, and to perform jointly with any other governmental jurisdiction any function it may perform alone. The difficulties of drafting an intergovernmental relations provision are similar to those of drafting a general powers provision. The subject is generally governed by superior state statutes which cannot be altered by a charter provision. These state statutes are usually enacted on an ad hoc basis, each dealing with a particular project, program, or regional or metro- politan agency. Where more general authorizing statutes or constitutional provisions exist, there is scant judicial interpretation of their effect. Because specific projects are so commonly authorized and governed by specific legis- lation, there has been very little litigation concerning the extent ofa county's power to cooperate with other governments in the absence of such enabling legislation. There is no need to examine in detail the reasons for the extensive utilization of specific legislation. Important political questions are often involved and state constitutional and statutory limitations on a local government's financial and borrowing powers must be considered. State leg- islative control over local government powers, coupled with restrictive judi- cial doctrines, have generally necessitated specific state legislative approval when large sums are spent on joint federal -local government projects. 4 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER Article II COUNTY COUNCIL Section 2.01. General Powers and Duties. All powers ofthe county shall be vested in the county council, except as otherwise provided by law or this charter, and the council shall provide for the exercise thereof and for the performance of all duties and obligations imposed on the county by law. Section 2.02. Composition, Eligibility, Election and Terms. Alternative I: Election At Large (a) Composition. There shall be a county council of [odd -number] members elected by the voters of the county at large. (b) Eligibility. Only registered voters of the county shall be eligible to hold the office of council member. (c) Election and Terms. The regular election of council members shall be held on the of in each odd- [even-] numbered year, in the manner provided by law. At the first election under this charter council members shall be elected; the [one-half plus one] can didates receiving the greatest number ofvotes shall serve for terms of four years, and the [remainder of the council] candidates receiving the next, greatest number of votes shall serve for terms of two years. Commencing at the next regular election and at all subsequent elections, all council members shall be elected for four- • 6 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER year terms. The terms of council members shall begin the da of after their election. Y NOTE: If staggered terms are not desired, use the following section: [(c) Election and Terms. The regular election of council mem- bers shall be held on the day of ry beginning in . The terms of council members eshall be years years beginning the day of after their election.] Alternative II: Election At Large with District Residency Requirement (a) Composition. There shall he a county council of [odd -number] members; not more than one shall reside in each of the [odd -number] districts provided for in Article VI. All shall be nominated and elected by the voters of the county at large. (b) Eligibility. Only registered voters of the county shall be eligible to hold the office of council member. (c) EIection and Terms. The regular election of council members shall be held on the of in each odd- (even- i numbered year, in the manner provided by law. At the first election under this charter council members shall be elected; the candi- dates receiving the greatest number of votes shall serve for terms of four years, and the candidates receiving the next greatest number of votes shall serve for terms of two years. Thereafter, all council members shall be elected for four-year terms. The terms of council members shall begin the da of election. Y after their NOTE: If staggered terms are not desired, use the following section. [(c) Election and Terms. The regular election of council mem- bers shall be held on the day of every years beginning in . The terms of council members shall be years beginning the • COUNTY COUNCIL / 7 day of after their election.] Alternative III: Mixed At -Large and Single - Member District System (a) Composition. There shall be a county council of [odd -number] members. shall be nominated and elected by the voters of the county at large, and shall be nominated and elected by the voters of each of the council districts, as provided in Article VI. (b) Eligibility. Only registered voters of the county shall be eligible to hold the office of council member. (c) Election and Terms. The terms of council members shall be years beginning the day of after their election. Alternative IV: Single -Member District System (a) Composition. There shall be a county council composed of [odd -number] members. One council member shall be nominated and elected by the voters in each of [odd-numberl council districts, as provided in Article VI. (b) Eligibility. Only registered voters of the county shall be eligible to hold the office of council member. (c) Election and Terms. The regular election of council members shall be held on the of in each odd- [even-] numbered year, in the manner provided by law. At the first election under this charter council members shall be elected; council members from odd -numbered districts shall serve for terms of two -years, and council members from even -numbered districts shall serve for terms of four years. Thereafter, all council members shall serve for terms of four years. The terms of council members shall begin the day of after their election. • 8 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER • NOTE: If staggered terms are not desired, use the following section. [(e) Election and Terms. The regular election of council mem- bers shall be held on the day of every beginning in . The terms of council members shall be years years beginning the day of after their election.] Alternative V (Proportional Representation) (a) Composition and Terms. There shall be a county council of [odd -number] members elected by the registered voters of the county at large for a term of years. (b) Eligibility. Only registered voters of the county shall be eligible to hold the office of council member. (c) Election. The regular election of council mem- bers shall be held on the of in each I numbered Years. The Council shall be elected b odd- [even - y pro tional representation by the method of the single t ai spor- fer- able vote. Section 2.03. Chairman of the Couancil. Alternative l The county council shall elect from among its members officers of the county who shall have the titles of chairman and vice chairman of the council, each of whom shall serve at the pleasure of the council. The chairman shall preside at meetings of the council, represent the county in intergovernmental relationships, appoint with the advice and consent of the council the members of citizen advisory boards and commissions, present an annual state of the county message, and perform other duties specified by the council. The chairman shall be recognized as head of the county government for all ceremonial purposes and by the governor for purposes of military law but shall • COUNTY COUNCIL / 9 have no administrative duties. The vice chairman shall act as chairman during the absence or disability of the chairman. Alternative II NOTE: If Alternative II is used, Section 2.02(a) should be modified to read as follows: "There shall be a county council composed of the chairman of the council and [even -number] councilmembers elected as provided in Section 2.02(c); the chairman shall be elected as provided in Section 2.03." Section 2.02(c) should be modified to provide for election of an even number of council members by whichever method is used. At each regular election a Chairman of the Council shall be elected for a term of [the same term as other councilmembers] years. The chairman shall be a member of the county council and shall preside at meetings of the council, represent the county in intergov- ernmental relationships, appoint with the advice and consent of the council the members of citizen advisory boards and commissions, present an annual state of the county message, and perform other duties specified by the council. The chairman shall be recognized as head of the county government for all ceremonial purposes and by the governor for purposes of military law but shall have no administrative duties. The council shall elect from among its members a vice chairman who shall act as chairman during the absence or disability of the chairman and, if a vacancy occurs, shall become chairman for the remainder of the unexpired term. Section 2.04. Compensation; Expenses. The county council may determine the annual salary of the council members by ordinance, but no ordinance increasing such salary shall become effective until the date of commencement of the terms of council members elected at the next regular election. The council members shall receive their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties of office. • 10 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER Section 2.05. Prohibitions. (a) Holding Other Office. Except where authorized by law, no council member shall hold any other elected public office during the term for which the member was elected to the 'council. No council member shall hold any other county office or employment during the terms for which the member was elected to the council. No former council member shall hold any compensated appointive office or employment with the county until one year after the expiration of the term for which the member was elected to the council. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the council from selecting any current or former council member to represent the county on the governing board of any regional or other intergovernmental agency. (b) Appointments and Removals. Neither the county council nor any of its members shall in any manner control or demand the appointment or removal of any county administrative officer or employee whom the county manager or any subordinate of the county manager is empowered to appoint, but the council may express its views and fully and freely discuss with the county manager anything pertaining to appointment and removal of such officers and employ- ees. (c) Interference with Administration. Except for the purpose of i nquiries and investigations under §2.09, the council or its members a11 deal with county officers and employees who are subject to the direction and supervision of the county manager solely through county manager, and neither the council nor its members shall give orders to any such officer or employee, either publicly or privately. Section 2.06. Vacancies; Forfeiture of Office; Filling of Vacancies. (a) Vacancies. The office ofa council member shall become vacant upon the member's death, resignation, removal from office or forfei- ture of office in any manner authorized by law. (b) Forfeiture of Office. A council member shall forfeit that office if the council member (1)]acks at any time during the term ofoffice for which elected any qualification for the office prescribed by this charter or by law, (2) violates any express prohibition of this charter, • COUNTY COUNCIL / 11 (3) is convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, or (4) fails to attend three consecutive regular meetings of the council without being excused by the council. (c) Filling of Vacancies. Avacancy in the county council shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term, if any, at the next regular election following not less than 60 days upon the occurrence of the vacancy, but the council by a majority vote of all its remaining members shall appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy until the person elected to serve the remainder of the unexpired term takes office. If the council fails to do so within 30 days following the occurrence of the vacancy, the election authorities shall call a special election to fill the vacancy, to be held not sooner than 90 days and not later than 120 days following the occurrence of the vacancy, and to be otherwise governed by law. Notwithstanding the requirement in §2.11, if at any time the membership of the council is reduced to less than , the remaining members may by majority action appoint additional members to raise the membership to Section 2.07. Judge of Qualifications. The county council shall be the judge of the election and qualifica- tions of its members and of the grounds for forfeiture of their office. The council shall have the power to set additional standards or conduct for its membersbeyond those specified in the charter and may provide for such penalties as it deems appropriate, including forfei- ture of office. In order to exercise these powers, the council shall hare power to subpoena witnesses, administer oaths and require the production of evidence. A member charged with conduct constituting grounds for forfeiture of office shall be entitled to a public hearing on demand, and notice of such hearing shall be published in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the county at least one week in advance of the hearing. Decisions made by the council under this section shall be subject to judicial review. Section 2.08. County Clerk. The county council shall appoint an officer of the.county who shall have the title of county clerk. The county clerk shall give notice of council meetings to its members and the public, keep the journal of its 12 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER proceedings and perform such other duties as are assigned by this charter or by the council or by state law. Section 2.09. Investigations. The county council may make investigations into the affairs of the county and the conduct of any county department, office or agency and for this purpose may subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, take testimony and require the production of evidence. Failure or refusal to obey a lawful order issued in the exercise of these powers by the council shall be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than or by imprisonment for not more than or both. Section 2.10. Independent Audit. The county council shall provide for an independent annual audit of x,.11 county accounts and may provide for more frequent audits as it deems necessary. Such audits shall be made by a certified public cccouf tan t or firm of such accountants who have no personal interest, rect. or indirect, in the fiscal affairs of the county r o."'its officers. The f,overr�mentorany council may, without requiring competitive bids, desig-nate such accountant or firm annually or for a period not cxcer=dine; three years, but the designation for any particular fiscal year shall be made no later than 30 days after the beginning of such `isca] year. lithe state makes such an audit, the council may accept 't as satisfying the requirements of this section. ecti carr 2.11. Procedure. (a) Meetings. The council shall meet regularly at least once in every month at such times and places as the council may prescribe by rule. Special meetings may be held on the call of the chairman or of or more members and, whenever practicable, upon no less than twelve hours notice to each member. Except as allowed by state law, :Il meetings shall be public; however, the council may recess for the purpose ofdiscussingin a closed or executive session limited to its own membership any matter which would tend to defame or prejudice the character or reputation ofany person, if the general subject m atter for consideration is expressed in the motion calling for such session and final action on such motion is not taken by the council until the matter is placed on the agenda. • COUNTY COUNCIL / 13 (b) Rules and Journal. The county council shall determine its own rules and order of business and shall provide for keeping a journal of its proceedings. This journal shall be a public record. (c) Voting. Voting, except on procedural motions, shall be by roll call and the ayes and nays shall be recorded in the journal. members of the council shall constitute a quorum, but a smaller number may adjourn from time to time and may compel the atten- dance of absent members in the manner and subject to the penalties prescribed by the rules of the council. No action of the council, except as otherwise provided in the preceding sentence and in §2.06, shall be valid or binding unless adopted by the affirmative vote of or more members of the council. Section 2.12. Action Requiring an Ordinance. In addition to other acts required by law or by specific provision of this charter to be done by ordinance, those acts of the county council shall be by ordinance which: (1) Adopt or amend an administrative code or establish, alter, or abolish any county department, office or agency; (2) Provide for a fine or other penalty or establish a rule ov regulation for violation of which a fine or other penalty i imposed; (3) Levy taxes; (4) Grant, renew or extend a franchise; (5) Regulate the rate charged for its services by a public utility; (6) Authorize the borrowing of money; (7)Convey or lease or authorize the conveyance or lease of any lands of the county; (8) Regulate land use and development; and (9) Amend or repeal any ordinance previously adopted. Acts other than those referred to in the preceding sentence may he done either by ordinance or by resolution. Section 2.13. Ordinances in General. (a) Form. Every proposed ordinance shall be introduced in writing and in the form required for final adoption. No ordinance shall contain more than one subject which shall be clearly expressed in its title. The enacting clause shall be "The county of hereby ordains ..." Any ordinance which repeals or amends an existing ordinance or part of i 14 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER the county code shall set out in full the ordinance, sections or subsections to be repealed or amended, and shall indicate matters to be omitted by enclosing it in brackets or by strikeout type and shall indicate new matters by underscoring or by italics. (b) Pr'ocedu>i. An ordinance may be introduced by any member at any regular or special meeting ofthe council. Upon introduction of any ordinance, the county clerk shall distribute a copy to each council member and to the county manager, shall file a reasonable number of copies in the ofTice of the county clerk and such other public places as the council may desi,tirlate, and shall publish the ordinance together wi ill a notice setting -out the time and place for a public hearing thereon and for its consideration by the council. The public hearing shall follow the publication by at least seven days, may be held separately or in connection with a regular or special council meeting and may be adjourned from time to time; all persons interested shall have an opportunity to be heard. After the hearing the council may dopt the ordinance with or without amendment or refect it, but if it _ amended ded ?. ^.v matter of substance, the council ormayadopt ;.-'_,i; ti: the ordinance its a not t amended sections have been subjected to -I, �;:'•' procedures herein before required in the case of a newly i:li:r:;i.,._ceil ordinance. As soon as practicable afteradoption, the clerk the ordinance and a notice of its adoption published and al. a reasonable price. pt as otherwise provided in this charter, fri(financeshallbocomeefectiveattheexpiration of 3 i.',. -'r ,rlu!i(ion oratany lrtcrdate specified t l l'Tian iisit" 1.kfinE'.<.1. A':used in this section., the t'rn] '�.iC�11i'_: t0 [li•int, in one � - "publish" _orrnoreds.-.�;spapersofgerierrllcircul anon in the 11) 1- ile ordinance or a brief sunli]]ary thereof, and l,l;,!ros �: here copies of it have been filed and the times when they) arele available for public inspection i t and purchase at a reasonable price, Section 2.14. Emergency Ordinances. To meet a public emergency affecting life, health, property or the public peace, the county council may adopt one or more emergency or- dinances, but such ordinances may not levy taxes, grant, renew or extend a franchise, regulate the rate charged by any public utility for its services or authorize the borrowing of money except as provided in §5.07(b). An emergency ordinance shall be introduced in the form and COUNTY COUNCIL / 15 manner prescribed for ordinances generally, except that it shall be plainly designated as an emergency ordinance and shall contain, after the enacting clause, a declaration stating that an emergency exists and describing it in clear and specific terms. An emergency ordinance may be adopted with or without amendment or rejected atthe meeting at which it is introduced, but the affirmative vote of at least members shall be required for adoption. After its adoption the ordi- nance shall be published and printed as prescribed for other adopted ordinances. It shall become effective upon adoption or at such later time as it may specify. Every emergency ordinance except one made pursuant to §5.07(b) shall automatically stand repealed as of the 61st day following the date on which it was adopted, but this shall not prevent re-enactment of the ordinancein the manner specified in this section if the emergency still exists. An emergency ordinance may also be repealed by adoption of a repealing ordinance in the same i;nner specified in this section for adoption of emergency ordinances. Section 2.15. Codes of Technical Regulations. The county council may adopt any standard code of technici:l regulations by reference thereto in an adopting ordinance. The proce- dure and requirements governing such an adopting ordinance shall be prescribed for ordinances generally except that: (1) The requirements of §2.13 for distribution and filing r,`. copies of the ordinance shall be construed to include copies c'•. the code of technical regulations as well as of the adopting ordinance, and (2) A copy of each adopted code of technical regulations as well as of the adopting ordinance shall be authenticated and recorded by the county clerk pursuant to §2.16(a). Copies of any adopted code of technical regulations shall be made available by the county clerk for distribution or for purchase at a reasonable price. Section 2.16. Authentication and Recording; Codification; Printing. (a) Authentication and Recording. The county clerk shall authenticate by signing and shall record in full in a properly indexed '16 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER hook kept for the purpose all ordinances and resolutions adopted by the coiinty council. (b) Codification. ieation• Within three years after adoption of this charter and at least every ten years thereafter, the county council shall provide for aleparation of re Pa general codification of all county ordinances and resolutions having the force and effect of law. The general codification shall be adopted b y the coT- slliill l;t., =,t,l�l;,3 council byordinance and ,'led promptly in bound or loose-leaf form, together with :Ill i ; charter and any amendments thereto, pe c li titutirn and other laws of the state of rtli]ent and such codes of the technical regulations and other rules and such of ''ii'y specify, This compilation shall be kownla and cited officially ans as the s l.1).: coul]ty code. Copies ofthe code shall be furnished to County ell-Ice/F., placed in libraries and public of ; f, ':il�.l ii"!<'c;' availablele `' ce._ for free public reference;;rci ! : ,hc council. ,ar purchase by the public al,? reasonable price . l 1'. .. ...'iii it V r! r'1dt7 ' n. -;' . . ,tip'' 1, £tI cQ., ; and )1 e0,.✓l;IF,iOn '1'h _ 'i:' cr] C (iinail 7 county 'i i' (':.'.i11.;')i-C`. Viii •,. +,;l having Lh'f and ...�fl'.. >J!ralamendment 1 ', force P.l lei t r , �.,t.'iI'�J_' its adoption, �;,� r. this C'. i': .irtC'r to I'7 printed i the printed ordinances, lili�ie 1,r - it ,, is 7 baf;�d or sold to the ,'. a:: iixec; b the c'.t'r•-ncii. ;'r .. i7r%'.'ill."'�' ( ,; ilt7'✓.' ,,,}, Ca- .od rt) 'i tir;s thereafter, `.%il.'i"!(?1'G E'.i''i chi.: rte r, .-.,;Lthe '.I .'t.: .. i_on •a, r+ '.' :n,,i cilee;1 i.., yin,. l r £ printed in ,-e. c 1,1,E, elect. <. 1 in t i , rot- r -, _ on t �,1', ill and cl`i ll :i £-ill. ! 1 i! z ;`il + , �. r,.'-•. '1.!),1:f) r ^:runt , ...hall mak it C_?ir],- le i'a.ile with respect to ,it :,:ri and ris;l,;,I,i(rolany coin F_fit changes in or additions :.be provisions :'f the constitution and other l _.__._. or the cK'rr, or ,, �tt'r,, of the state of re ulations included inthecoide."] regulations and other rules and `'OM .ENTRY ON ARTICLE 11 The Model recommends the county council-manager fbrm in which the council, elected by, representative of, and res county is the fundamental democratic elementmnsible to the citizens of the Recognizing that all of the powers that can be exercised by the county rest COUNT`( COUNCIL / 17 in the popularly elected county council, the charter must provide fora council which is truly representative of the county's citizens. Therefore, the Model presents several alternatives without expressing an absolute preference for any one. Each county's population 'pattern — economic level, racial, geo- graphical, etc. — has implications for the method of electing the council to assure equitable representation. While all jurisdictions are governed by the Voting Rights Act, in some counties the problem of compliance with its provisions and avoi dance of court challenges is a matter ofparticular concern. Just as 'there is no absolute model for providing competent and effective legislators, there is no absolute pattern which will assure equitable represen- tation. TheModel does not listas charter agencies any citizen advisory boards and commissions. The council has the power to establish such agencies. As the body charged with making county policy, the council can create all appropri- ate mechanisms, permanent orndhoc, toassist inthat. process (e.g.,planning board, recreation board, study committees). Likewise it can create agencies with quasi -legislative or quasi -Judicial status (e.g., human rights commis - zoning appeals board). '!`i)Model does .provide that the cnairmrn of the council shall be the pre,..'; di lig officer and a voting P.re of the council and shell perform certain L,peci is duties which will enhance the chairman's role as policy leader. %2.01. General Powers and Iluties. This section does not speciiically enumerate the powers of the council. A': enumeration of speciiic powers in this article will not• enlarge the powers or the council and may operate to diminish therm if utilized by the courts to S.!;.,r,;yrt restrictive interpretations (see note to i1.02). Composition, Eligibility, Election and Terra :'1 all but. a few states the county governing bodies are small. The most ;': an size is three, the next most common number of menlb'rs is five. The LJ , c1 does not specify the exact number of council members. It considers three too small to provide adequate representation, but does recommend that. t•he council lx, relatively small — an odd number ranging from five to nine. members. Although in the largest counties a greater number of council members may be necessary to assure equitable representation, there is wide agreement that smaller councils are more effective instruments for the development of programs and conduct of legislative business than large local governing bodies. In the Uni ted States there have been exceptional situations here a large council, broken into many committees handling specific sub- jects, has been able to discharge its responsibilities promptly and effectively. Large councils usually have been elected from relatively small districts with the frequent result that parochialism and log -rolling' distract attention from the problems of the whole county. Some contend, however, that members of larger governing bodies more clearly perceive their role as legislators (i.e., 18 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER policy makers) and are less inclined to become involved in management of operations than members of small governing bodies who may be inclined to perform in the historic role of county commissioners with administrative responsibilities. In determining the size of and method of electing the council, consideration should be given to the diversity of population and geographical elements to be represented as well as to the size of the county and the municipal subdivisions within the county. Alternative I: Nomination and Election At Large (a) The Model recognizes the value of the at -large principle in designing the composition of a council, while recognizing the necessity of providing fo representation of geographical areas under certain circumstances. The at - large system has allowed citizens to choose council members best qualified to represent the interests of the county as a whole. In larger counties, however, citizens may feel isolated from and unconnected with their government without some geographical basis of representation. This may be true particularly when a county has both urban and rural areas. In considering the appropriateness of using the at -large system, each county must assess its own situation. Counties with significant differences in or conflicts among ethnic, racial or economic groups may wish to consider whether one of the alternative systems may achieve more equitable representation of the county's population and avoid legal challenges under the Voting Rights Act without sacrificing council effectiveness. (b) No special requirements on length ofresidence are included because in this era of highly mobile population and frequent disparity between place of work and place ofresidence, length ofresidence requirements lose what little validity they may once have had. The simple eligibility requirement is being a registered voter of the county. (c) It is recommended that, where state election law allows it, elections should be scheduled in odd -numbered years to avoid confusion with state and national elections. The Model recommends four-year terms. If staggered terms are used, elections of council members would be held every two years. Model language for both staggered and non -staggered term provisions is included. There are two basic questions which must be raised when staggered terms are under consideration. First, is it desirable to maintain continuity and avoid radical swings in council composition? Second, should citizens be able to change the direction of their government at any election, not wait another two years to complete the change? The issue of whether staggered terms have a discriminatory effect continues to be litigated. • COUNTY COUNCIL / 19 Alternative IL• Nomination and Election At -Large with District Residence Requirement (a) A complaint frequently lodged against the all at -large council system is that a majority of the council may live in the same area of the county. This may give rise to questions concerning the equitable distribution of services with allegations that particular sections receive partial treatment. This objection can be met while still maintaining a council elected at large by establishing districts of equal population and requiring that one council member be resident in each district. Although this alternative does build geographical representation into an at -large system, depending upon the local situation, it may be subject to the same objections under §2 and §5 of the Voting Rights Act as Alternative I. (b) and (c): See comments under Alternative I. Alternative III: Mixed At -Large and Single -Member District System (a) The mixed system for a council with members elected at large and members elected by and from districts has become increasingly popular in recent years. One reason for this is the approval it has received from the United States Department of Justice as a method of electing the county council which complies with the requirements of the Voting Rights Act in places where the at -large system has been challenged and where change to a single -member district system is opposed. The mixed system combines the wide perspective of the at -large council members with the local concerns and accountability of di strict council members. It can allow minorities who live in concentrated areas to influence or even determine the outcome of elections in their districts. A problem can arise when at -large council members consider their position to be superior in importance to district members. It is essential that at -large and district council members have equal status with respect to offices and services, and that there be no difference in length of terms. There is disagreement as to the correct ratio of at -large to district members. Opinion ranges from favoring a majority being elected at large to a majority being elected by and from districts. This is a matter of local preference. It should be noted, however, that for jurisdictions concerned about scrutiny by the U. S. Department of Justice or the courts under either §2 or §5 of the Voting Rights Act, a clear preference has been indicated for the formulation where a majority of the council is elected by and from districts. (b) and (c): See comments under Alternative I. Note that staggered terms are not recommended for the mixed system. 20 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER Alternative IV: Single -Member District System (a) TheModel includes an alternative providing the single -member district system for electing the council. The growing recognition that membership on councils should represent all racial and ethnic groups more adequately has spurred increased use of the single -member district system. With racial minorities concentrated in particular sections of a city or county, to elect minority council members when single -member districts are used. In addition, single -member districts can open it is easier among candidates because the costs of running a the way fort greater n diversityres much less than those of running at -large. Citizens a feel closerto district elected council members, whom theycan hold res P � are so community concerns. responsible for In places where the at -large method of electing the council has been ruled in violation of the Voting Rights Act, the single -member district system has regularly received approval from the courts and the Justice Department as a replacement system. The single -member system does have its drawbacks is the danger that parochial problems of district elected members will mean that inadequate attention is given to countywide`� inherent problem the classic problem of ` o concerns. The potential for Whenever districts are used the �a� swapping is ever-present. and equal" districts is of utmost�importance. Article VI of the Model provides ng of district lines to provide "fair districting procedures and criteria designed to prevente unequal districts, which are unconstitutional under the n persnone vote doctrine. (b) and (c): See comments under Alternative I. Alternative V: Proportional Representation The first edition of the Model County Charter and the first five editions of the Model City Charter recommended the Hare system ofm representation (PR) as the preferred method of electing councilspIt had rtiona beenl used in 22 American cities but by the early 1960s had been discarded in all but one of them. It was never used by an Arnerican coun ty. can be shown that PR can provide the greatest equity Unquestionably, itall sectors of the community. However, the complexity R nd thselo representing d expensive counting system confused the voters where it was used and of PR and the long and prevented it from becoming a widespread reform measure. PR is included as an alternative method for electing the council. There is a renewed interest in PR because of its potential usefulness as a means to assure representation of minority populations. Technological developments hold out the prospect for development of a computerized voting and counting COUNTY COUNCIL / 21 system which eliminates some of the objections to PR. A complete explanation of the PR system of voting is available in the fifth edition of the Model City Charter (New York: National Municipal League, 1941). When considering the PR Alternative, charter reviewers may also wish to investigate the so-called "semi -proportional" representation systems — the limited vote and cumulative vote —both of which are designed to assure minority representation. §2.03. Chairman of the Council. The office of council chairman assumes a different character from county to county depending upon local political, economic and social conditions. He or she is uniquely positioned to be the political and policy leader of the county. As the presiding officer of the council and ceremonial head of the county, the chairman of the council is the most conspicuous county official. Not being the executive responsible for the day-to-day county operations allows the chair- man to focus attention on major policy issues, an important facilitative activity. The chairman can function in the same manner as the mayor in a council-manager plan city, and may even be given the title of mayor. The chairman fills three facilitative roles that offer enormous leadership opportunities. First, the chairman can coordinate the activities of other officials by providing liaison between the manager and the council, fostering a sense of cohesion among councilmembers and educating the public about the needs and prospects of the county. Second, the chairman can provide policy guidance through setting goals for the council and advocating the adoption of policies that address the county's problems. Third, the chairman is an ambassador who promotes the county and represents it in dealing with other governments as well as the public. The specific responsibilities of the chairman listed in the Model enhance the chairman's leadership position. Presiding at council meetings is a traditional responsibility with great potential impact on setting the tone for county government and helping the council make decisions. Designation as intergovernmental representative reflects the increased importance of rela. tionships with other local governments as well as the state and federal governments. Appointment of boards and commissions with council advice and consent creates the opportunity for purposeful balanced representation and can be used to forge coalitions and tap into networks of community activity. When the state of the county message includes the setting out of needs and goals for the county, it should reflect the thinking of the council and information provided by the staff as well as the chairman's own priorities. In presenting the state of the county message, the chairman can act as spokes- person, educator, team leader, goal setter, and policy advocate. It -is impor- tant that the timing of the message be such that it will not be confused with the presentation of the budget by the manager. The Model provides two alternative methods for electing the chairman. • 22 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER • Which one is used will depend on local preference and tradition. In most counties the chairman is chosen by and from the governing body. counties it is believed that the direct election method increases the for leadership by In some This isa P giving the chairman a county -wide potesupport ntial Particularly important when all or most of the council members are elected from districts. A disadvantage of this method is the possibility that the chairman will be at variance with the council majority on some important issues. When the chairman is elected by and from the council, the of conflict between the chairman and the council majority is avoided. Some counties follow practices which may diminish the prospect possibilityr- ship. For example, rotation of the office of chairman among P pectofeffectiveleader- preclude the emergence ofa respected leader who will be ablmtoeacgwr may ex- perience and increase his or her competence in the exercise of leadership skills. An awkward alternative is to automatically designate as chairman the council member who receives the largest number of votes. In councils elected from districts, council selection of the chairman may present the chairman with conflicting roles — district and countywide. shipWhatever the method of election or the strength of the chairman's leader- role, the chairman is preeminently a legislator, a member and leader of the council —not an executive. However, the office does require some special staffsupport, which generally can be provided by the manager. be arranged as part of a system whereby the chairman and the manager function as a team. This can often ensive chairman's encroachment the executive responsibilities of the manager. There is no structural arrangement forindependent g vernmenft w could lead to the effective ]eadershi which will assure P. The person who occupies the chairman's office must understand the nature of the job — its possibilities, interdepe limitations — and have the personal inclination, energy,and talelenn o amount ofstructural support ta exercise necessary leadership. Without that, not tot will produce a leader. However, the method of selection and the statement of responsibilities provided in the charter should be designed to help assure the selection ofa capable person with recognized dership abilit make a significant contribution to the operation of the ounty1Q9 who could §2.04. Compensation; Expenses. In general, salaries of council members should not be substantial but sufficient to permit individuals with limited means to serve. It is assumed that council members will earn their major income from In determining the compensation of council members, it should be recognized that under this charter theyare employment. dayttoday management part-time officials and are not involved in ag ment as is the case when commissioners (or council members) under the commission plan actually direct the operation of depart- ments. A salary too close to a full-time salary could encourage council members to think of their positions as managerial and thus detract from their 1 COUNTY COUNCIL / 23 role as legislators or policy -makers. It is important, however, that council members be compensated for expenses incurred in performing their duties (e.g., travel to the state capital to testify on behalf of the county). The Model rejects the setting of the actual amount of compensation in the charter except for the salary of the first council after the charter goes into effect (see §9.05(f)). The delay in the effective date of any salary increases provides ample protection. In some counties, the delay is only to the beginning of the next fiscal year after the increase was voted. Extra compensation should be provided for the chairman because, in addition to regular responsibilities as a council member, time is spent on intergovernmental matters, special promotional and other responsibilities and at ceremonial occasions requiring the chairman's presence. §2.05. Prohibitions. (a) This provision prohibits council members from holding other elective office (e.g., as occurs in some states, serving in the state legislature and the council concurrently). Also prohibited is holding any other county office or employment during one's council term or for one year after leaving office. These provisions are designed to avoid conflict of interest situations. The charter is specific, however, that these prohibitions do not restrict any current or former officeholder from service on the boards ofregional or other intergov- ernmental agencies. Such service is particularly valuable in accomplishing the objectives of intergovernmental cooperation. (b) and (c) The prohibition against interference by council members in the appointment and removal of employees and the administration of county programs does not include the broad language of earlier models because it was considered too rigid and unrealistic. This provision, while expressing the general policy of noninterference, does not exclude .communication between council members and the manager on questions ofappointment and removal. The manager may seek advice from the council regarding appointments. Council members are strictly prohibited from giving orders to county officers or employees. However, the prohibition against interference with administration does not prevent council members from making inquiries of department heads or employees for the purpose of obtaining 'information needed by them in the discharge of their duties including response to constituent requests. In some counties, automated information systems make information on aspects of departmental operations readily available to council members on computer terminals. §2.06. Vacancies; Forfeiture of Office; Filling of Vacancies. The events or conditions which create a vacancy are specified in this section, as are the grounds for forfeiture of office. Vacancies are to be filled temporarily by the council and then by the voters for the remainder of the term at the next regular election unless that election occurs within 60 days, this period being necessary to allow time for candidates to file. Failure of the • 24 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER council to fill a vacancy within 30 days will result in the calling of a s election. This provision should assure that the council will act, but in the event of a deadlock, a s special on will provides for filling vacancies by council actin resolve oven if the membership fall Finally, the section below the quorum otherwise required for council action by §2.11. §2.07. Judge of s Qualifications. Making the council judge of the qualifications of its members is new to this edition. There are procedural safeguards to protect a member charged withcondunds for uct as well as the for forfeiture. The provision authorizing the council to set additional stan- dards for the conduct ofitsmembers isadded toem tconstitutinggrounds p°w on itself the highest possible ethical standards. erthecounci] to impose §2.08. County Clerk. See §§215 to 2.16 for other duties assigned to the county clerk. In a number of states, certain statutory oounties, even thosena operatingduties may be assigned to the county clerk in all ccounty clerk is a constitutionor stawith te s at charters' In some method whose ates, the f selection and duties may not be altered by a locally dopted charter. Ithe clerk is not a constitutional or state statutory officer and does extensive administrative duties, the office may be, in fact, are department, in which case a perform a� appointment by the manager regular aperating would be appropri- ate. Investigations. The power to make investigations is given to council but not, as was done in some earlier models, to the manager. The manager has the appoint, remove and suspend ofiicersbut itisconsideredinappropriatepower to manager to have the power to subpoena witnesses uction e evidence. and compel production of §210. Independent Audit. The necessity for annual independent audits of the county's financial affairs has long been accepted. Since the value of such audits is directly related to the caliber of those who conduct them, it is provided that certified public accountants be retained. Selection ofa professional accountant does not lend itself to the usual requirement, however, of choosing the "lowest responsible bidder."e orfirm where the factors of competence, reliab l'ty and repute council should not ation ared �this mor is a cafe cant. For anaudittobemost caar w beneficial, some ofit must extend over the entireti ywhich necessitates designation of the auditor during the state conducts Periodic audits of the coup es thea first month. If established requirements,the state audit mayys finances that meed money- saving substitute for an audit bya be an acceptable and money - is on• financial audits, the council al private firm. resile she major emphasis management audits to evaluate the implementation of work programs. responsibility to institute P grams. • COUNTY COUNCIL / 25 §2.11. Procedure. This section sets forth what are for the most part standardized and well accepted procedural rules to govern the official action of the council. The frequency of meetings can, of course, be suited to the needs of the particular county. The section contains the usual protection that meetings must be public and that a journal of proceedings be kept as a public record. Most states have open meeting laws which specify the circumstances when closed or executive sessions may be held; such meetings are sometimes necessary for effective council functioning and may require attendance of the manager, attorney, or otherofficials or invited participants. A majority vote is required for all council actions except actions to adjourn, to compel attendance of members in the absence of a quorum, and to appoint additional members if the membership falls below a majority of the total authorized membership as provided in §2.06(c). §2.12. Action Requiring an Ordinance. This section assures that the enumerated types of council action be taken only after compliance with all the procedural safeguards required for passage of an ordinance by the succeeding sections. The term "ordinance" is used in the Model to specify a procedural standard. In some states the same procedural safeguards may apply to the adoption of "resolutions" or `local laws." Those drafting charters should use the legal terminology appropriate in the particular state. Other subjects requiring an ordinance are not mentioned here because the requirement is specifically stated elsewhere in the charter. These include adoption of codes of technical regulations (§2.15), appropriation and revenue ordinances (§5.06) supplemental and emergency appropriations and reduc- tion of appropriations (§5.07), and creation of a charter commission or proposal of charter amendments (§9.03). If the initiative is authorized by the charter or state law, the following should be added to the list of actions requiring an ordinance: (10) adopt with or without amendment ordinances proposed under the initiative power. Pursuant to subsection (b), acts other than those enumerated in this section or required by law or by specific provision in the charter to be by ordinance may be done at the council's option either by ordinance or by an action involving a less formal procedure. Motions relating to matters of council procedure may involve even less formality. A roll call vote on a procedural motion does not need to be recorded in the journal in the case of such motions (§2.11(c)). *2.13. Ordinances in General. This section embodies a midway approach between the detailed ordinance procedure contained in the earlier models and the extremely spare procedures 26 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER in some recent charters. By dispensing with the requirements of full reading of all ordinances and publication of their full text both before and features of earlier models that had been criticizedrdaass optunneceslsary iminaann, it d cumbersome. Distribution of a copy to each council member obviates the need for a full reading. Publication is simplified by brief summary together with notice of the times amend places whrmitting theere copies are available for public inspection. Further simplification is effected by adding, as in §§2.14 and 2.15, special provisions for expeditious handling of emer- gency ordinances and for adoption by reference of standard codes of technical regulations. The section retains the basic safeguards of a public hearing following notice by publication and a second publication with notice ofadoption. It does not go so far as charters that dispense with publication or permit adoption at the same meeting at which a non -emergency ordinance is introduced. The protective features it retains are those deemed necessary for full and careful consideration. Sufficient leeway for emergency situations is provided by §2.14. §2.14. Emergency Ordinances. Although early models contained no provision for emergency ordinances, such a provision is common in existing charters and of undoubted usefulness. Speed is achieved by permitting introduction and adoption at the same meeting by an extraordinary majority and an immediate effective date. §2.15. Codes of Technical Regulations. This provision permits adoption of standard and often lengthy, and technical regulations, such as building and sanitaryY, detailed which simply incorporates codes, by an ordi- nance requirements simply are satisfied and adopts the code by reference. Publica- tion should indicate the nature of he code, y �and the council is not on of the adopting required to include all such technical codes in the general county code pursuant to §2.16. Burden and expense are minimized and at the same time the essential safeguards of the general ordinance procedure of §2.13 are preserved. It provides an increasingly valuable method whereby counties may draw on the latest scientific and technological advances. §2.16. Authentication and Recording; Codification; Printing. Subsections (a) and (c) of this section state essential procedures for maintaining legally authenticated records of all ordinances and resolutions and for making them available to the public. The merits of the general codification provided for in subsection (b) speak for themselves. The Model provides for inclusion of pertinent constitution and state statutes, thus envisioning a countyde Parts of the people may turn for all state and local legislation governing the county. This is in marked contrast to the situation still existing in many counties where much of this legislation and particularly state laws oflimited application e nowhere collected and are often out of print, unavailable, or difficult to find. Article III COUNTY MANAGER Section 3.01. Appointment; Qualifications; Compensation. The county council by a majority vote of its total membership shall appoint a county manager for an indefinite term and fix the manager's compensation. The county manager shall be appointed solely on the basis of executive and administrative qualifications. The manager. need notbe a resident of the county or state at the time of appointment, but may reside outside the county while in office only with the approval of the council. Section 3.02. Removal. The county manager may be suspended by a resolution approved by the majority of the total membership of the county council which shall set forth the reasons for suspension and proposed removal. A copy of such resolution shall be served immediately upon the county man- ager. The county manager shall have fifteen days in which to reply thereto in writing, and upon request, shall be afforded a public hearing, which shall occur not earlier than ten days nor later than fifteen days after such hearing is requested. After the public hearing, done is requested, and after full consideration, the county council by a majority vote of its total membership may adopt a final resolution of removal. The county manager shall continue to receive full salary until the effective date of a final resolution of removal. Section 3.03. Acting County Manager. By letter filed with the county clerk, the county manager shall designate a county officer or employee to exercise the powers and perform the duties of county manager during the manager's tempo - 27 1 28 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER rary absence or disability, the county council may revoke such desig- nation at any time and appoint another officer of the count until the county manager returns. Y to serve Section 3.04. Powers and Duties of the County Manager. The county manager shall be the chief administrative officer of the county, responsible to the Council for the administration of all county county manager shall: affairs placed in the manager's charge by or under this charter. The (1) Appoint and, when necessary for the good of the service, suspend or remove all county employees and appointive ministrative officers provided for by or under this character, except as otherwise provided by law, this charterorperopersonnel rules adopted pursuant to this charter. The countymanage l may authorize any administrative officer subject to the manager's direction and supervision to exercise these powers office or agency; with respect, to subordinates in that officer's department, (2) Direct and supervise the administration of all depart- ments, offices and agencies of the county, except as otherwise provided by this charter or by law; (3) Attend all county council meetings. The to take part in discussion but shall not vote; shall have the right county manager (4) See that all laws, provisions of this charter and acts of the county council, subject to enforcement by the county manager or by officers subject to the manager's direction and supervi- sion, are faithfully executed; (5) Prepare and submit the annual budget gram to the county council; and capital pro- s) Submit to the county council and public a complete report on the finances and administrative activities of the county as of the end of each fiscal (7) Make such other reports as the county council may require concerning the o year; operations of county departments, offices and agencies subject to the county manager's direction and super- vision; • COUNTY MANAGER / 29 (8) Keep the county council fully advised as to the financial condition and future needs of the county; (9) Make recommendations to the county council concerning the affairs of the county; (10) Provide staff support services for, the council members; and (11) Perform such other duties as are specified in this charter or may be required by the county council. COMMENTARY ON ARTICLE III In the plan recommended in the Model, the county manager is continu- ously responsible to the county council, the elected representatives of the people. It is significant that 6 of the 12 items in the code of ethics for members of the local government management profession refer to the manager's rela- tionships to the popularly elected officials: Be dedicated to the concepts of effective and democratic local government by responsible elected officials and believe that professional management is essential to the achievement of this objective. Be dedicated to the highest ideals of honor and integrity in all public and personal relationships in order that the member may merit the respect and confidence of the elected officials, of other officials and employees, and of the public. Submit policy proposals to elected officials; provide them with facts and advice on matters of policy as a basis for making decisions and setting community goals; and uphold and implement local government policies adopted by elected officials. Recognize that elected representatives of the people are entitled to the credit for the establishment of local government policies; responsibility for policy execution rests with members of the government management profes- sion. Refrain from participation in the election of the members of the employing legislative body, and from all partisan political activities which would impair performance as a professional administrator. Keep the community informed on county affairs; encourage communica- tion between citizens and all county officers; emphasize friendly and courte- ous service to the public; and seek to improve the quality and image of public service. (The other items in the code refer to the manager's personal and professional beliefs and conduct.) 30 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER As a professional administrator, the manager must be trained and expe- rienced in the processes of the effective management of public service deliv- ery, and utilizing this expertise execute efficiently the policies adopted by the elected county council. The manager however, because of breadth of knowl- edge and experience in the increasingly complex areas oflocal government op- erations has a duty and responsibility to assist the elected council in the policy-making process. Although in recent years the policy role of managers in counties and cities has been given greater recognition, those who first endorsed the council-manager plan as the form recommended by the National Municipal League's Model City Charter were well aware of the "double function" of the manager: ...In every form of administration, and especially in a democracy,. both expert and lay elements are indispensible for the best results; the expert for his knowledge of the most effective means of attaining the results desired; the layman to keep the expert in touch with public opinion, to preserve him from falling into ruts, to prevent the trees from obscuring his view of the forest. They are not two antagonistic elements each seeking to enlarge its sphere of action at the expense of the other. They are not even independent powers in the government each working in a distinct field, performing its ap- propriate acts. and having for these purposes any authority of its own. On the contrary, they are two parts of the same mechanism, or we may liken them to two elements in one chemical compound whose combined qualities give the character to the substance. In a sense, they take part jointly in every act performed. On everything that is done the expert should be consulted, and every act, however minute, technical or in the nature of routine, should be done with the approval, express or implied, of the lay controlling body which must assume to the public the responsibility therefor. The lay body must never cast the blame upon the expert. If convinced he is unfit for his position it may remove him; for permanence does not mean incom- petence in office. But a removal must only mean a search for a better man to hold permanently, that is by a tenure dependent only upon his professional work. The expert, on the other hand, must realize that he is not the ultimate authority; that everything which ought in his opinion to be done cannot be accomplished; that he has a double function, the conduct of current administration, and persuading the representatives of the public so far as he can that his plans are wise.' 'A. Lawrence Lowell, "Experts in Municipal Government and the New Model City Charter" in The New Municipal Program, National Municipal League Series, A. Appleton and Company, New York, 1919, p. 37f. • COUNTY MANAGER / 31 §3.01. Appointment and Qualifications. Appointment of the manager by majority vote of the entire membership of the council, not simply a majority of a quorum, assures undisputed support for the appointee. Stating that appointment is "for an indefinite term" is essential to avoid contracting for a specified term or an arrangement which would reduce the discretion of the council to remove a manager. The phrase, "with special reference to his actual experience in, or his knowledge of, accepted practice in respect to the duties of his office hereinaf- ter set forth," used in earlier editions, has been eliminated as superfluous because it is dearly implied in the general phrase, "on the basis of executive and administrative qualifications." This stresses the basic principle of the council-manager form that the manager is a qualified professional adminis- trator. The provision that the manager need not reside within the county when appointed and may, with approval of the council, live outside the county while in office, is desirable today because of the problem of housing availability and cost. This provision also enables two or more jurisdictions to employ a single manager. Increasingly, appointment of the manager involves an employment agree- ment between the county or municipality and the manager. These agree- ments can cover all aspects of the manager's job, from salary to other forms of compensation, from duties to performance standards and evaluation, to severance procedures. An employment agreement provides mutual protec- tion for the manager and the local government. It should be noted, however, that they are not tenure agreements and do not impede the council's power to remove the manager. §3.02. Removal. This section is designed to provide an orderly removal procedure when a manager declines to submit his resignation at the request of the council. While this section is not designed to protect the manager's tenure, the provision for inclusion of a statement of reasons for removal in the prelimi- nary resolution, presentation of it to the manager and the opportunity for the manager to be heard if he or she so requests assures that any unjust charges will come to light and be answered. The requirement of a vote of a majority of all the members prevents a minority acting as the majority in a quorum to pass a removal resolution. The council may delay the effective date of the final removal resolution in order to provide for termination pay. In cases where there is an employment agreement between the county and the manager, the issue of termination pay is likely to be covered in that agreement. §3.03. Acting County Manager. In order to remove any doubt as to the identity of the acting county manager, the manager is required to designate a county officer or employee • '32 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER to serve as acting county manager during the temporary absence or disability of the manager. The council is free, of course, to replace the acting county manager if it is dissatisfied with performance, and the acting manager is not entitled to the protection of the removal procedure afforded the manager by §3.02. §3.04. Powers and Duties of the County Manager. Although this section equips the manager with the necessary legal author- ity to discharge administrative responsibilities, the manager's authority may be subject to limitation in some states by provisions of state constitutions or laws. The listing of the manager's powers and duties assumes that the manager will not only perform managerial duties in the county's operations but will also have a significant role in the development of policy. There are important policy implications in the manager's duties to prepare and submit the budget, to report on the county's finances, administrative activities, departmental operations and future needs, and to make recommendations on county affairs. The duty to provide staff support for the council members includes providing information on policy issues before the council. In some charter counties, when the appointed executive is titled "county administrative officer" (CAO) or "county administrator," the legally pre- scribed powers and duties of the office may differ from those provided in this section (e.g., appointment of department heads may require council ap- proval). Often, in fact, there is no essential difference in actual operations. This pattern is common in non -charter counties which have adopted struc- tures providing for appointed professional administrators. Article IV DEPARTMENTS, OFFICES AND AGENCIES Section 4.01. General Provisions. (a) Creation of Departments. The county council may establish county departments, offices or agencies in addition to those created by this charter and may prescribe the functions of all departments, offices and agencies, except that no function assigned by this charter to a particular department, office or agency may be discontinued or, unless this charter specifically so provides, assigned to any other. (b) Direction by County Manager. All departments, offices and agencies under the direction and supervision of the county manager shall be administered by an officer appointed by and subject to the direction and supervision of the manager. With the consent of council, the county manager may serve as the head of one or more such departments, offices or agencies or may appoint one person as the head of two or more of them. Section 4.02. Personnel System. (a) Merit Principle. All appointments and promotions of county officers and employees shall be made solely on the basis of merit and fitness demonstrated by a valid and reliable examination or other evidence of competence. (b) Merit System. Consistent with all applicable federal and state laws the county council shall provide by ordinance for the establish- ment, regulation and maintenance of a merit system governing personnel policies necessary to effective administration of the employ- ees of the county's departments, offices and agencies, including but 34 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER not limited to classification and pay plans, examinations, force reduc- tion, removals, working conditions, provisional and exempt appoint- ments, in-service training, grievances and relationships with em- ployee organizations. Section 4.03. Legal Officer. Alternative I There shall be a legal officer of the county appointed by the county manager as provided in §4.01(b). The legal officer shall serve as chief legal adviser to the county council, the manager and all county departments, offices and agencies, shall represent the county in all legal proceedings and shall perform any other duties prescribed by state law, by this charter or by ordinance. Alternative II There shall be a legal officer of the county appointed by the county manager subject to confirmation by the county council. The legal officer shall serve as chief legal adviser to the council, the manager and all county departments, offices and agencies, shall represent the county in all legal proceedings and shall perform any other duties prescribed by state law, by this charter or by ordinance. Alternative III There shall be a legal officer of the county appointed by the county council. The legal officer shall serve as chief legal adviser to the council, the county manager and all county departments, offices and agencies, shall represent the county in all legal proceedings and shall perform any other duties prescribed by state law, by this charter or by ordinance. Section 4.04. Planning. Consistent with all applicable federal and state laws with respect to land use, development and environmental protection, the county council shall: (1) Designate an agency or agencies to carry out the planning function and such decision-making responsibilities as maybe specified by ordinance; DEPARTMENTS, OFFICES AND AGENCIES / 35 (2) Adopt a comprehensive plan and determine to what extent zoning and other land use control ordinances must be consis- tent with the plan; and (3) Adopt development regulations, to be specified by ordi- nance, to implement the plan. COMMENTARY ON ARTICLE IV §4.01. General Administration. This section authorizes the establishment of county departments, offices and agencies. It does not enumerate the specific operating departments or detail their internal organization but does provide that they be administered by an officer appointed by and subject to the direction and supervision of the manager, thus forbidding administration by a board or commission. The number of departments will vary in accordance with local needs as well as the distribution of functions among units of local government (e.g., in some cases, municipal services are consolidated under the county; in other cases, cities or special districts will be responsible for services elsewhere performed by counties). An administrative code adopted by the council is the appropriate place for the details of departmental organization and operating rules and regulations; this allows for change without necessitating a charter amendment. In addition, many aspects of the internal organization of specific departments should be governed by administrative order rather than by council action. This maybe particularly appropriate in smaller counties where the manager may be required to discharge directly a wider range of operating responsibili- ties. In a full service county, line or operating departments typically will include public works, parks and recreation, police, fire, health, library, water and other utilities. In large counties public works maybe subdivided into separate departments such as roads and streets, buildings and sanitation. The organizational arrangement for housing and urban renewal functions gener- ally will be prescribed by state law. The staff departments —finance, personnel, planning and law —likewise should be covered by the administrative code. To varying degrees their organization may also be dependent upon state law. For example, it may not be possible to provideforan integrated finance department which includes all aspects of finance administration, but rather it may be necessary to provide for an assessor and tax collector. Although earlier models provided for a 36 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER purchasing agent, it is now felt that the organization and procedures for municipal purchasing should be covered in the administrative code. $4.02. Personnel System. The personnel provisions are designed to provide a flexible system which will encourage the development of competent staff. The more detailed provisions of earlier models have been rejected. Historically the National Municipal League models were used as guides for installing the merit system in local government when it was felt necessary to spell out detailed organization and procedure in the charter subject to change only by referendum to avoid distortion by patronage -minded local governing bodies. Beginning in 1927, League models rejected the independent civil service commission concept and called for the appointment of the personnel director by the manager and for a personnel board with largely advisory powers. With personnel systems increasingly controlled by state law and subject to certain federal regulatory authority, the charter should not impose additional constraints as to details in personnel administration. It should, however, strongly state the commitment to the merit principle. The Model states that commitment and calls on the council to provide by ordinance for the organi- zation and procedures of the personnel system. It lists subjects to be covered by personnel policies governing the administration of the merit system. It should be noted that some ofthese may be covered adequately by state law and that their inclusion in the local ordinance could be unnecessary, particularly in smaller jurisdictions. $4.03. Legal Officer. Every county must have either a full-time or part-time legal officer, depending on the size of the county and the volume of legal problems. This officer normally will head the county's law department. Both the title and the precise nature of the legal officer's duties will depend on state law, local practice and the organization of the court systems. The title may be county counselor, county counsel or county attorney. Because of wide variations in local practice and state law, three alternatives are provided for this section. Strong arguments can be made for Alternatives I and II. In support of Alter- native I it can be pointed out that the legal officer, as a county department head, should have the same relationship to the manager as other department heads. The manager and his top staff members all are, in fact, advisors to the council. Implicit in the council's power to make investigations of the conduct of a county department is the power to engage special counsel ($2.09). This would be the appropriate procedure in the unusual circumstances in which the council requires independent legal assistance. Alternative II which requires confirmation by the council is justified because the legal officer is the county's attomey and thus must provide legal advice to the council and represents the council in various legal proceedings. • DEPARTMENTS, OFFICES AND AGENCIES / 37 This means that the legal officer has a different relationship to the council than other department heads. Alternative III is included because in some states law requires appointment of the legal officer by the governing body. §4.04. Planning. Treatment of planning in this Model differs significantly from the earlier models where planning was the subject of a separate article. This edition covers planning in the article on departments, offices and agencies which places responsibility in the council for establishing detailed structure and procedures. In concept, planning, like personnel, is preeminently a staff function tied directly to the county's executive with adoption and implemen- tation of plans and development policies the responsibility of the council. In recent years federal and state laws on land use, development and environmental protection have imposed not only increased regulation but in some cases specific procedures on local governments. The model provision provides the needed flexibility for the county to establish workable structures and procedures for exercising the planning function within the context of constraints imposed by higher levels of government. 38 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER Article V FINANCIAL PROCEDURES Section 5.01. Fiscal Year. The fiscal year of the county shall begin on the first day of and end on the last day of Section 5.02. Submission of Budget and Budget Message. On or before the day of of each year, the county manager shall submit to the county council a budget for the ensuing fiscal year and an accompanying message. Section 5.03. Budget Message. The county manager's message shall explain the budget both in fiscal terms and in terms of the work programs. It shall outline the proposed financial policies of the county for the ensuing fiscal year, describe the important features of the budget, indicate any major changes from the current year in financial policies, expenditures, and revenues together with the reasons for such changes, summarize the county's debt position and include such other material as the county manager deems desirable. Section 5.04. Budget. The budget shall provide a complete financial plan of all county funds and activities for the ensuing fiscal year and, except as required by law or this charter, shall be in such form as the county manager 40 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER deems desirable or the county council may require. The budget shall begin with a clear general summary of its contents; shall show levy, detail all estimated income, indicating the proposed property and all proposed expenditures, including debt service, for the ensuing fiscal year; and shall be so arranged as to show comparative figures for d year and land actual income dincome and expenditures es of the precedditures of ingfiscal yearcurrent . year a It shall indicate in separate sections: (1) The proposed goals and objectives and expenditures for current operations during the ensuingfiscal year, detailed for each fund by organization unit, and program, purpose or activity, and the method of financing such expenditures; (2) Proposed capital expenditures during the ensuing fiscal year, detailed for each fund by organization unit en such ticable, and the proposed method of financing each capital expenditure; and (3) The anticipated income and expense and profit and loss for the ensuing year for each utility or other enterprise fund operated by the county. For any fund, the total of proposed expenditures shall not exceed the total of estimated income plus carried forward fund balance, exclusive of reserves. Section 5.05. County Council Action on Budget. (a) Notice and hearing. The county council shall publish in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the county the general summary of the budget and a notice stating: (1) The times and places where copies of the message and budget are available for inspection by the public, and (2) The time and place, not less that two weeks after such publication, for a public hearing on the budget. (b) Amendment Before Adoption. After the public hearing, the county council may adopt the budget with or without amendment. In amending the budget, it may add or increase programs or amounts and may delete or decrease any programs or amounts, except expen- ditures required by law or for debt service or for an estimated cash deficit, provided that no amendment authorized expend t res to anamount greater than total estimated income. FINANCIALPROCEDURES / 41 . . (c) Adoption. The county council shall adopt the budget on or before the _ day of the _ month of the fiscal year currently If it fails to adopt the budget by this date, the budget proposed ending. by the county manager shall go into effect. Section 5.06. Appropriation and Revenue Ordinances. To implement the adopted budget, the county council shall adopt, prior to the beginning of the ensuing fiscal year: (a) an appropriation ordinance making appropriations by de- partment or major organizational unit orand authorizing a ; single appropriation for each program activity tax levy or (b) a tax levy ordinance authorizing the properlevies and setting the tax rate or rates; and (c) any other ordinances required to authorize new revenues or to amend the rates or other features of existing taxes or other revenue sources. Section 5.07. Amendments after Adoption. Supplemental Appropriations. If during the fiscal year the (a) Suppappropriation county manager certifies that there are available for couy ounc by ordinance inexcess of those make supplemental mted in the budget, the appropriations for the year up by may to the amount of such excess. iations. To. meet a public emergency (b) Emergency APP property or the public peace, the county council affecting life, health, p P Y may be may make emergency appropriations. Such appropriationsmay made by emergency ordinance in accordance with the provisions ro §2.14. To the extent that there are no available meet such rnappropri the revenues or a sufficientfundbalance ordinance authorize the issuance of council may by such emergency but e emergency notes, which may be renewed from time to time, emergency notes andrenewals of nxt succeeding thatny fiscal year shall be n which the aid notlater than thed last day of thhfiscal e year emergency appropriation was made. during the (c) Reduction of Appropriations. If at any time er thatthe fiscal year it appears probable to the county manag revenues or fund balances available will be insufficient to finance the 42 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER expenditures for which appropriations have been authorized, the manager shall report to the county council without delay, indicating the estimated amount of the deficit, any remedial action taken by the manager and recommendations as to any other steps to be taken. The council shall then take such further action as it deems necessary to prevent or reduce any deficit and for that purpose it may by ordinance reduce one or more appropriations. (d) Transfer of Appropriations. At any time during the fiscal year the county council may by resolution transfer part or all of the un- encumbered appropriation balance from one department or major organizational unit to the appropriation for other departments or major organizational units. The manager may transfer part or all of any unencumbered appropriation balances among programs within a department or organizational unit and shall report such transfers to the council in writing in a timely manner. (e) Limitation; Effective Date. No appropriation for debt service may be reduced or transferred, and no appropriation may be reduced below any amount required by law to be appropriated or by more than the amount of the unencumbered balance thereof. The supplemental and emergency appropriations and reduction or transfer ofappropria- tions authorized by this section may be made effective immediately upon adoption. Section 5.08. Lapse of Appropriations. Every appropriation, except an appropriation for a capital expen- diture, shall lapse at the close ofthe fiscal year to the extent that ithas not been expended or encumbered. An appropriation for a capital expenditure shall continue in force until expended, revised or re- pealed; the purpose of any such appropriation shall be deemed. abandoned if three years pass without any disbursement from or encumbrance of the appropriation. Section 5.09. Administration of the Budget. The county council shall provide by ordinance the procedures for administering the budget. FINANCIAL PROCEDURES / 43 Section 5.10. Overspending of Appropriations Prohibited. No payment shall be made or obligation incurred against any allotment or appropriation except in accordance with appropriations duly made and unless the county manager or the manager's designee first certifies that there is a sufficient unencumbered balance in such allotment or appropriation and that sufficient funds therefrom are or will be available to cover the claim or meet the obligation when it becomes due and payable. Any authorization of payment or incurring of obligation in violation of the provisions of this charter shall be void and any payment so made illegal. A violation of this provision shall be cause for removal of any officer who knowingly authorized or made such payment or incurred such obligation. Such officer may also be liable to the county for any amount so paid. Except where prohibited by law, however, nothing in this charter shall be construed to prevent the making or authorizing of payments or making of contracts for capital improvements to be financed wholly or partly by the issuance of bonds or to prevent the making of any contract or lease providing for payments beyond the end of the fiscal year, but only if such action is made or approved by ordinance. Section 5.11. Capital Program. . (a) Submission to County Council. The county manager shall prepare and submit to the county council a five- [six-] year capital program no later than three months prior to the final date for submis- sion of the budget.. (b) Contents. The capital program shall include: (1) A clear general summary of its contents; (2) A list of all capital improvements and other capital expen- ditures which are proposed to be undertaken during the. five [six] fiscal years next ensuing, with appropriate supporting information as to the necessity for each; (3) Cost estimates and recommended time schedules for each improvement or other capital expenditure; (4) Method of financing upon which each capital expenditure is to be reliant; and (5) The estimated annual cost of operating and maintaining the facilities to be constructed or acquired. 44 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER The above shall be revised and extended each year with regard to capital improvements still pending or in process of construction or acquisition. Section 5.12. County Council Action on Capital Program. (a) Notice and Hearing. The county council shall publish in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the county the general summary of the capital program and a notice stating: (1) The times and places where copies of the capital program are available for inspection by the public, and (2) The time and place, not less than two weeks after such publication, for a public hearing on the capital program. (b) Adoption. The county council by resolution shall adopt the capital program with or without amendment after the public hearing and on or before the day of the month of the current fiscal year. Section 5.13. Public Records. Copies of the budget, capital program and appropriation and revenue ordinances shall be public records and shall be made avail- able to the public at suitable places in the county. COMMENTARY ON ARTICLE V This article provides for the development of a comprehensive financial program, allowing maximum flexibility within the boundaries of sound fiscal practices. The complete financial plan involves two major elements: 1) the current annual budget, and 2) the multi-year capital program which is coordinated with the annual budget. §5.01. Fiscal Year. It is strongly recommended that the fiscal year be set so that fiscally sound jurisdictions will not have to borrow for short terms in anticipation of taxes except in emergency si tuations. It is recogni zed, however, that before changes FINANCIAL PROCEDURES / 45 in the fiscal year can be made consideration must be given to the fiscal patterns of the other taxingjurisdictions affecting the county. The dates when the state usually pays significant amounts of grants in aid to the county should be considered in developing an advantageous fiscal calendar. §5.02. Submission of Budget and Budget Message. The specific submission date will depend upon the fiscal year but in any case itis suggested that it be at least 45 days prior to the beginning of the fiscal year. §5.03. Budget Message. The budget message should clearly present the manager's program for the coming year translated into financial terms. Programs of the various county departments shout d be explained and the county's debt position summarized. Prom a careful reading of the budget message, members of the council and citizens should be able to obtain a clear and concise picture of what the manager expects to accomplish in the comingyear, the estimated cost, sources of revenue and changes in the county's debt. §5.04. Budget. The budget, a complete financial plan for all funds and activities, includes both revenues and expenditures. Expenditures for current, operations and capital outlays should be shown separately with the source of financing indicated. A detailed classification of revenues, expenditures and specific funds is not set forth in the Model because classifications will be developed by ordinance or administrative order if they are not established by state agencies concerned with local finance as part of a uniform accounting system. Proposed current expenditures are to be presented in terms of the programs of the respective offices, departments and agencies, the fundamental feature of program or performance budgeting. §5.05. Council Action on Budget. The only restrictions placed on the council with respect to action on the budget are those governing the adoption procedure, the requirement that certain mandatory expenditures may not be decreased or deleted, and the requirement that total authorized expenditures may not exceed the total of estimated income. No specific date as the deadline for adoption of the budget has been included. Setting a deadline for adoption does not preclude the earlier completion of action on the budget with ample time for public hearings and council consideration of the budget, if it is submitted early enough by the manager. The Model includes one of several possibilities for dealing with failure of the council to adopt the budget by the prescribed deadline. It provides for the budget as submitted by the manager to be deemed adopted. Among other possibilities in such a situation are: (1) for the amounts appropriated for 48 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER An innovation introduced as a part of the League's model financial procedures in 1964 — and continued in this Model —is the requirement that the capital program include estimated operating and maintenance costs of proposed capital facilities. This forces more realistic projections of expendi- tures because sometimes the operating cost of a facility will exceed the amortized annual capital charge. It also sounds a warning that maintenance should not be neglected. §5.12. Council Action on Capital Program. The capital program's adoption, which must be preceded by required publication, notice and hearing, means a positive commitment by the council to undertake a scheduled five-year or six-year capital improvement program. The methods of financing the improvements will be detailed. Major improve- ments will be financed by bond issues authorized by either a bond ordinance or by a popular referendum. Most projects requiring bond issues will extend over a period of more than one year. Other projects, to be financed from current income, also may extend over more than one year and will normally involve construction contracts with adequate safeguards for both parties. Still other capital projects may be completed within a single fiscal period as part of the work program of the department of public works. In all cases, actual disbursements for capital items during a single fiscal year, whether in the form of debt service or direct outlays, are carried as the capital outlay section of the budget for that year. The requirement that the capital program each year be submitted well in advance of the budget enables the council to consider the proposed improve- ments, the methods for financing them and the recommended priorities in sufficient time to make decisions on capital items which will be subsequently reflected in the budget. The fact that most capital improvement decisions must be made well in advance of actual disbursements means that the bulk of the capital items in a particular budget will be the result of decisions made several years earlier. Changes, often of a relatively minor nature, may be made each year. Because all states regulate borrowing for capital improvements by general legislation, no article on this subject is included. §5.13. Public Records. In addition to compliance with the formal legal requirement that copies of the budget document and capital program be made available, many counties prepare popular summaries which are given wide distribution and which provide citizens with essential general information. Article VI COUNTY ELECTIONS Section 6.01. County Elections. (a) Regular Elections. The regular county election shall be held at the time established by state law. (b) Registered Voter defined. All citizens legally registered under the constitution and laws of the state of to vote in the county shall be registered voters of the county within the meaning of this charter. (c) Conduct of Elections. The provisions of the general election laws of the state of shall apply to elections held under this charter. All elections provided for by the charter shall be conducted by the election authorities established by law. For the conduct of county elections, for the prevention of fraud in such elections and for the recount of ballots in cases of doubt or fraud, the county council shall adopt ordinances consistent with law and this charter, and the election authorities may adopt further regulations consistent with law and this charter and the ordinances of the council. Such ordi- nances and regulations pertaining to elections shall be publicized in the manner of county ordinances generally. Section 6.02. Council Districts; Adjustment of Districts. (for use with alternatives II, IIT and IV of §2.01) (a) Number of Districts. There shall be county council districts. (b) Districting Commission; Composition; Appointment; Terms; Vacancies; Compensation. (1) There shall be a districting commission consisting of five members. No more than two commission members may belong to the same political party. The county council shall • 50 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER appoint four members. These four members shall, with the affirmative vote of at least three, choose the fifth member who shall be chairman. (2) No member of the commission shall be employed by the county or any political subdivision of the county, or hold any other elected or appointed position in the county or any political subdivision of the county. (3) The county council shall appoint the commission no later than one year and five months before the first general election of the county council after each federal decennial census. The commission's term shall end upon adoption of a districting plan, as set forth in §6.02(c). (4) In the event of a vacancy on the Commission by death, resignation or otherwise, the county council shall appoint a new member enrolled in the same political party from which his or her predecessor was selected, to serve the balance of the term remaining. (5) No member of the districting commission shall be removed from office by the county council except for cause and upon notice and hearing. (6) The members of the commission shall serve without com- pensation except that each member shall be allowed actual and necessary expenses to be audited in the same manner as other county charges. (7) The commission may hire or contract for necessary staff assistance and may require agencies of county government to provide technical assistance. The commission shall have a budget as provided by. the county council. (c) Powers and Duties of the Commission; Hearings, Sub- missions and Approval of Plan. (1) Following each decennial census, the commission shall consult the county council and shall prepare a plan for dividing the county into districts for the election of council - members. In preparing the plan, the commission shall be guided by the criteria set forth in §6.02(d). The report on the plan shall include a map and description of districts recom- mended. (2) The commission shall hold one or more public hearings not less than one month before it submits the plan to the county council. The commission shall make its plan available to the s COUNTY ELECTIONS /51 public for inspection and comment not less than one month before its public hearing. (3) The commission shall submit its plan to the county council not less than one year before the first general election of the county council after each decennial census. (4) The plan shall be deemed adopted by the county council unless disapproved within three weeks by the vote of the majority of all members of the county council. If the county council fails to adopt the plan, it shall return the plan to the commission with its objections, and with the objections of individual members of the council. (5) Upon rejection of its plan, the commission shall prepare a revised plan and shall submit such "revised plan to the county council no later than nine months before the first general election of the county council after the decennial census. Such revised plan shall be deemed adopted by the county council unless disapproved within two weeks by the vote of two-thirds of all of the members of the county council and unless, by a vote of two-thirds of all of its members, the county council votes to file a petition in the Court, County, for a determination that the plan fails to meet the requirements of this charter. The county council shall file its petition no later than ten days after its disapproval of the plan. Upon a final determination upon appeal, if any, that the plan meets the requirements of this charter, the plan shall be deemed adopted by the county council and the commission shall deliver the plan to the county clerk. The plan delivered to the county clerk shall include a map and description of the districts. (6) If in any year population figures are not available at least one year and five months before the first general election following the decennial census, the county council may by ordinance shorten the time periods provided for districting commission action in subsections (2), (3), (4) and (5) of this section. (d) Districting Plan; Criteria. In preparation of its plan for dividing the county into districts for the election of council members, the commission shall apply the following criteria which, to the extent practicable, shall be applied and given priority in the order in which 52 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER they are herein set forth. (1) Districts shall be equal in population except where deviations from equality result from the application of the • provisions hereinafter set forth, but no such deviation may exceed five percent of the average population for all county council districts according to the figures available from the most recent census. (2) Districts shall consist of contiguous territory; but land areas separated by waterways shall not be included in the same district unless said waterways are traversed by high- way bridges, tunnels or regularly scheduled ferry services both termini of which are within the district, except that, population permitting, islands not connected to the mainland or to other islands by bridge, tunnel or regular ferry services shall be included in the same district as the nearest land area within the county and, where such subdivisions exist, within the same ward or equivalent subdivision as described in subsection (5), below. (3) No city block shall be divided in the formation of districts. (4) A municipality within a county shall be divided among as few districts as possible. (5) In the establishment of districts within counties whose territory is divided into wards or equivalent subdivisions whose boundaries have remained substantially unaltered for at least fifteen years, the number of such wards or equivalent subdivisions whose territory is divided among more than one district shall be as small as possible. (6) Consistent with the foregoing provisions, the aggregate length of all district boundaries shall be as short as possible. (e) Effect of Enactment. The new county council districts and boundaries as of the date of enactment shall supersede previous council districts and boundaries for all purposes of the next regular county election, including nominations. The new districts and bounda- ries shall supersede previous districts and boundaries for all other purposes as of the date on which all council members elected at that regular county election take office. [Section 6.03. Initiative and Referendum The powers ofinitiative and referendum are hereby reserved to the COUNTY ELECTIONS / 53 electors of the county. The provisions of the election law of the state of , as they currently exist or may hereafter be amended or superseded, shall govern the exercise of the powers ofinitiative and referendum under this charter.] NOTE: Section 6.03 is in brackets because not all states pro- vide for the initiative and referendum and it is possible that not all counties within the states that do provide for it will choose to include the option in their charters. COMMENTARY ON ARTICLE VI In previous League models, detailed provisions on the nomination and election process were included. This edition recognizes that the election laws of each state apply to counties whether or not they operate with a local charter. Areas of local discretion are few. Among those discretionary areas may be the provision of nonpartisan elections and the timing of elections. Operating within the limitations imposed by state law, the county may by ordinance adopt regulations deemed desirable. §6.01. County Elections. Although in most states local elections are regulated entirely or to a very substantial extent by state statutes, certain variations may be provided by local charter; for example, home rule charters may provide for nonpartisan local elections. When possible, it is particularly desirable to separate local from state and national elections. Therefore, local elections are frequently scheduled in the fall of odd -numbered years or in the spring of the year —both as a result of state election laws and of city and county charters. It is recommended that such timing be specified in the charter if it permissible under the state election laws. §6.02. Council Districts; Adjustment of Districts. With three of the five alternatives provided for the election of the county council involving districts, the provision for drawing and redrawing district lines assumes particular importance. This section is a substantial departure from that of previous models because of the need to comply with such legal mandates as Baker v. Carr, Avery v. Midland County, Texas, and the Voting Rights Act and its amend- ments. Rather than a two-part process with an advisory commission recom- mending a plan, followed by city council passage of a plan (which might or might not resemble that of the advisory commission), the Model provides for 54 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER a more direct process —redistricting by an independent commission. The lead time for redistricting has been expanded to provide sufficient time to resolve some of the increasing number of local government redistricting suits as well as to provide for sufficient time to comply with the requirements of §5 of the Voting Rights Act where that is applicable. In addition, the Model provides. for ordered, specific criteria for redistricting based on population. The Model provides for a bi-partisan commission. The fact that the four council appointees (or at least three of the four) must be able to agree on the choice of chairman should facilitate the commission being able to work to- gether. To avoid the conflict of interest created when councilmembers must consider new districts whose lines may materially affect their political futures, the council can neither approve nor veto the result. The council may, however, prevent implementation of the plan if it finds the plan in violation of the charter and files with the courts for such a determination. The criteria mandated in this section are designed to preclude gerryman- dering either to protect or punish incumbents or to prevent particular voting groups from gaining power. The criteria are unquestionably the most important part of the section. It has been suggested that with the proper ordered criteria, the redistricting process is less open to manipulation and flagrant gerrymandering will be almost impossible without a clear violation of the mandated criteria. The criteria concerning waterways and islands should be included in charters where appropriate. The exact terminology for election administration subdivisions (e.g., "wards or equivalent subdivisions) should be adjusted to conform to state law. There are counties which prefer to have redistricting done by the county council either because of a belief that the redistricting process essentially involves a series of political decisions and that attempts to separate the process from the politics is futile and foolish or because redistricting in the past has been satisfactorily accomplished by the council and that there is no need for change. Where a county opts for redistricting by the council, the following provisions should be substituted in §6.02: (b) Council to Redistrict. Following each decennial census, the county council shall, by ordinance, adjust the boundaries of the county council districts using the criteria set forth in §6.02(e). (c) Procedures. (1) The county council shall hold one or more public hearings prior to bringing any proposed plan to a vote. Proposed plans must be available to the public for inspection and comment not less than one month before the first public hearing on said plan. The plan shall include a map and description of the districts recommended. (2) The county council shall approve a districting plan no later than 10 months (300 days) prior to the first regular county election following the decennial census. COUNTY ELECTIONS / 55 (d) Failure to Enact Ordinance. If the county council fails to enact a redistricting plan within the required time, the county attorney shall, the following business day, inform the Court, County, and ask that a special master be appointed to do the redistricting. The special master shall, within 60 days, provide the Court with a plan drawn in accordance with the criteria set forth in §6.02(e). That plan shall have the force oflaw unless the court finds it does not comply with said criteria. The court shall cause an approved plan to go into effect no later than 210 days prior to the first regular county election after the decennial census. The county shall be liable for all reasonable costs incurred by the special master in preparing the plan for the court. Subsections 6.02(d) and (e) of the Model should be relettered (e) and (1) and the words "county council" should be substituted for "commission." §6.02(d) of the substitute language (Failure to Enact Ordinance), is particularly important because itis designed to be an incentive for the council to get redistricting completed on time. Failure to redistrict will not result in just another election with the same old districts as was provided in the pre- vious edition. Even the most divided of councils would probably prefer to get down to the business of compromise than have a special master redistrict for them — and few would want to explain the additional cost of paying someone else to draw up a plan that probably would not be any more satisfactory than their own ccmpromise. 56 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER Article VII GENERAL PROVISIONS Section 7.01. Conflicts of Interest; Board of Ethics. (a) Conflicts of Interest. The use of public office for private gain is prohibited. The county council shall implement this prohibition by ordinance. Regulations to this end shall include but not be limited to: acting in an official capacity on matters in which the official has a private financial interest clearly separate from that of the general public; the acceptance of gifts and other things of value; acting in a private capacity on matters dealt with as a public official, the use of confidential information; and appearances by county officials before other county agencies on behalf of private interests. This ordinance shall provide for reasonable public disclosure of finances by officials with major decision-making authority over monetary expenditures and contractual matters and, insofar as permissible under state law, shall provide for fines and imprisonment for violations. (b) Board of Ethics. The county council shall, by ordinance, establish an independent board of ethics to administer and enforce the conflict of interest and financial disclosure ordinances. No member of the board may hold elective or appointive office under the county or any other government or hold any political party office. Insofar as possible under state law, the county council shall authorize the board to issue binding advisory opinions, conduct investigations on its own initiative and on referral or complaint, refer cases for prosecution, impose administrative fines, and to hire independent counsel. The county council shall appropriate sufficient funds to the board of ethics to enable it to perform the.duties assigned to it. 57 58 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER Section 7.02. Prohibitions. (a) Activities Prohibited. (1) No person shall be appointed to or removed from, or in any way favored or discriminated against with respect to any county position or appointive county administrative office because of race, gender, age, handicap, religion, country of originor political affiliation. (2) No person shall willfully make any false statement, certifi- cate, mark, rating or report in regard to any test, certification or appointment under the provisions of this charter or the rules and regulations made thereunder, or in any manner commit or attempt to commit any fraud preventing the impar- tial execution of such provisions, rules and regulations. (3) No person who seeks appointment or promotion with respect to any county position or appointive county adminis- trative office shall directly or indirectly give, render or pay any money, service or other valuable thing to any person for or in connection with his or her test, appointment, proposed appointment, promotion or proposed promotion. (4) No person shall knowingly or willfully solicit or assist in soliciting any assessment, subscription or contribution for any political party or political purpose to be used in conjunc- tion with any county election from any county employee. (5) No county employee shall knowingly or willfully make, solicit or receive any contribution to the campaign funds of any political party or committee to be used in a county election or to campaign funds to be used in support of or opposition to any candidate for election to county office or county ballot issue. Further, no county employee shall knowingly or will- fully participate in any aspect of any political campaign on behalf of or opposition to any candidate for county office. This section shall not be construed to limit any person's right to exercise rights as a citizen to express opinions or to cast a vote nor shall it be construed to prohibit any person from active participation in political campaigns at any other level of government. (b) Penalties. Any person convicted of a violation of this section shall be ineligible for a period of five years following such conviction to hold any county office or position and, if an officer or employee of the 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS / 59 county, shall immediately forfeit his or her office or position. The county council shall establish by ordinance such further penalties as it may deem appropriate. COMMENTARY ON ARTICLE VII §7.01. Conflicts of Interest, Board of Ethics. Many states have state conflict of interest and financial disclosure laws which include local officials as well as state officials. Counties in these states may wish to modify this section accordingly by either eliminating duplication with state law or providing for local filing of state forms to provide local access to the information. The language of this section differs drastically from the treatment of this subject in earlier models. Instead of provi ding what was essentially statutory language, this section mandates council passage of ordinances covering certain basic subjects and which provide for a specific mechanism to admini- ster and enforce the law. This will permit amendment as may be required without a referendum which would be necessary if the charter covered the subject in detail. This provision is intended to show that the charter is serious about the need for dealing with ethics problems but at the same time leaves it to the county council to adopt the formulation most appropriate for the specific situation. It does make provision for a Board of Ethics but leaves details on the board's composition and procedure to the council. §7.02. Prohibitions. The activities prohibited by this section are antithetical to the mainte- nance of a sound, permanent county public service. The prohibition against discrimination states basic county policy which applies to all personnel relationships. Prohibiting fraud or attempted fraud and bribery in connection with appointments and promotions by charter provision stresses the impor- tance of maintaining the integrity of the public service. Prohibitions against political solicitation and participation in political campaigns afford protection for the employee as well as the integrity of the system. State law of general application may be sufficiently comprehensive to cover the activities prohibited by this section. If so, it is not necessary for the charter to contain these provisions except to give confirmation of public acceptance of these policies. 60 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER Article VIII CHARTER AMENDMENT Section 8.01. Proposal of Amendment. Amendments to this charter may be framed and proposed: (a) In the manner provided by law, or (b) By ordinance of the county council containing the full text of the proposed amendment and effective upon adoption, or (c) By report of a charter commission created by ordinance; or (d) By the voters of the county. When any five qualified voters initiate proceedings to amend the charter by filing with the county clerk an affidavit stating they will constitute the petitioner's committee and be respon- sible for circulating the petition and filing it in proper form, stating their names and addresses and specifying the address to which all notices to the committee are to be sent, and setting out in full the proposed charter amendment. Promptly after the affidavit of the petitioners' committee is filed the clerk shall issue the appropriate petition blanks to the petitioners' committee. The petitions shall contain or have attached thereto throughout their circulation the full text of the pro- posed charter amendment and must be signed by registered voters of the county in the number of at least twenty percent of the total number of registered voters at the last regular county election. The petitioners committee may withdraw the petition at any time before the fifteenth day immediately preceding the day scheduled for the county vote on the amendment. 61 62 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER Section 8.02 Election. Upon delivery to the county election authorities of the report of a charter commission or delivery by the county clerk of an adopted ordinance proposing an amendment pursuant to §8.01(b) or a petition finally determined sufficient proposing an amendment pursuant to §8.01(d), the election authorities shall submit the proposed amend- ment to the voters of the county at an election. Such election shall be announced by a notice containing the complete text of the proposed amendment and published in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the county at least 30 days prior to the date of the election. If the amendment is proposed by petition, the amendment may be withdrawn at any time prior to the fifteenth day preceding the day scheduled for the election by filing with the county clerk a request for withdrawal signed by at least four members of the petitioners' committee. The election shall be held not less than 60 and not more than 120 days after the adoption ofthe ordinance or report, or the final determination ofsufliciency of the petition proposing the amendment. If no regular election is to be held within that period, the county council shall provide for a special election on the proposed amend- ment; otherwise, the holding of a special election shall be as specified in the state election law. Section 8.03. Adoption of Amendment. If a majority of the registered voters of the county voting upon a proposed charter amendment vote in favor of it, the amendment shall become effective at the time fixed in the amendment or, if no time is therein fixed, 30 days after its adoption by the voters. COMMENTARY ON ARTICLE VIII All Charters require modification from time to time. In states where the constitution or statutes prohibit counties from adopting their own methods of charter revision, this article could not be used. This article lists four methods for proposing charter amendments. The first references any methods which are provided by state law and the second a 1 CHARTER AMENDMENT / 63 is by the council itself. The third is by a charter commission which in many states may be created by the council. In some states the charter commission method is provided by the constitution, in others by statute. Often this includes a procedure whereby the formation of a charter commission may be initiated by petition or by ordinance. The final method is by a voter initiated petition. It is important that the number of signatures required be substan- tial. It should be relatively difficult to amend the charter and charter amendments should not be used to harass officials. 64 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER Article IX TRANSITION/SEPARABILITY PROVISIONS Section 9.01. Officers and Employees. (a) Rights and Privileges Preserved. Nothing in this charter except as otherwise specifically provided shall affect or impair the rights or privileges of persons who are county officers or employees at the time of its adoption. (b) Continuance of Office or Employment. Except as specifi- cally provided by this charter, if at the time this charter takes full effect a county administrative officer or employee holds any office or position which is or can be abolished by or under this charter, he or she shall continue in such office or position until the taking effectofsome specific provision under this charter directing that he or she vacate the office or position. (c) Personnel System. An employee holding a county position at the time this charter takes full effect, who was serving in that same or a comparable position at the time ofits adoption, shall not be subject to competitive tests as a condition of continuance in the same position but in all other respects shall be subject to the personnel system provided for in §4.02. Section 9.02. Departments, Offices and Agencies. (a) Transfer of Powers. Ha county department, office or agency is abolished by this charter, the powers and duties given it by law shall be transferred to the county department, office or agency designated in this charter or, if the charter makes no provision, designated by the county council. • 66 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER (b) Property and Records. All property, records and equipment of any department, office or agency existing when this charter is adopted shall be transferred to the department, office or agency assuming its powers and duties, but, in the event that the powers or duties are to be discontinued or divided between units or in the event that any conflict arises regarding a transfer, such property, records or equipment shall be transferred to one or more departments, offices or agencies designated by the county council in accordance with this charter. Section 9.03. Pending Matters. All rights, claims, actions, orders, contracts and legal administra- tive proceedings shall continue except as modified pursuant to the provisions ofthis charter and in each case shall be maintained, carried on or dealt with by the county department, office or agency appropri- ate under this charter. Section 9.04. Laws in Force. (a) In General. All county ordinances, resolutions, orders and regulations which are in force when this charter becomes fully effective are repealed to the extent that they are inconsistent or interfere with the effective operation of this charter or of ordinances or resolutions adopted pursuant thereto. To the extent that the constitution and laws of the state of permit, all laws relating to or affecting this county or its agencies, officersor employees which are in force when this charter becomes fully effective are superseded to the extent that they are inconsistent or interfere with the effective operation of this charter or of ordinances or resolutions adopted pursuant thereto. (b) Specific Provisions. Without limitation of the general operation of subsection (a) or of the number or nature of the provisions to which it applies: (1) The following laws and parts of laws generally affecting counties or county agencies, officers or employees are inappli- cable to the county of or its agencies, officers or employees: [enumeration] 1 TRANSITION/SEPARABILITY / 67 (2) The following public local laws relating to the county of are superseded: [enumeration] (3) The following ordinances, resolutions, orders and regula- tions of [former county governing body] are repealed: [enumeration] Section 9.05. Schedule. (a) First Election. At the time of its adoption, this charter shall be in effect to the extent necessary in order that the first election of members of the county council may be conducted in accordance with the provisions of this charter. The first election shall be held on the of . The [county officials to be designated] shall prepare and adopt temporary regulations applicable only to the first election and designed to insure its proper conduct and to prevent fraud and provide for recount of ballots in cases of doubt or fraud. (b) Time of Taking full Effect. The charter shall be in full effect for all purposeson and after the date and time of the first meeting of the newly elected county council provided in §9.05(c). (c) First Council Meeting. On the of following the first election of county council members under this charter, the newly elected members of the council shall meet at [time] at [place]: (1) For the purpose of electing the [chairman and] vice chairman, appointing or considering the appointment of a county manager or acting county manager, and choosing, if it so desires, one of its members to act as temporary clerk pending appointment of a county clerk pursuant to §2.08; and Note: Omit bracketed words if Section 2.03, Alterna- tive II is used. (2) For the purpose of adopting ordinances and resolutions necessary to effect the transition of government under this charter and to maintain effective county government during that transition. (d) Temporary Ordinances. In adopting ordinances as provided in §9.05(c), the county council shall follow the procedures prescribed in Article II, except that at its first meeting or any meeting held within 60 days thereafter, the council may adopt temporary ordinances to 68 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER deal with cases in which there is an urgent need for prompt action in connection with the transition of government and in which the delay incident to the appropriate ordinance procedure would probably cause serious hardship or impairment of effective county government. Every temporary ordinance shall be plainly labelled as such but shall be introduced in the form and manner prescribed for ordinances generally. A temporary ordinance may be considered and may be adopted with or without amendment or rejected at the meeting at which it is. introduced. After adoption of a temporary ordinance, the council shall cause it to be printed and published as prescribed for other adopted ordinances. A temporary ordinance shall become effective upon adoption or at such later time preceding automatic repeal under this subsection as it may specify[, and the referendum power shall not extend to any such ordinance]. Every temporary ordinance, including any amendments made thereto after adoption, shall automatically stand repealed as of the 91st day following the date on which it was adopted, renewed or otherwise continued except by adoption in the manner prescribed in Article II for ordinances of the kind concerned. (e) Initial Expenses. The initial expenses of the county council, including the expense of recruiting a county manager, shall be paid by the county on vouchers signed by the council chairman. (f) Initial Salary of Council Chairman and Council mem- bers. The chairman of the council shall receive an annual salary in the amount of $ and each other council member in the amount of $ , until such amount is changed by the council in accordance with the provisions of this charter. Section 9.06. Separability. If any provision of this charter is held invalid, the other provisions of the charter shall not be affected thereby. If the application of the charter or any of its provisions to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the application of the charter and its provisions to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby. • TRANSITION/SEPARABILITY / 69 COMMENTARY ON ARTICLE IX Many charters are weak in the provisions designed to facilitate transition from an old to a new basis of government. More than almost any other part of the charter, the article containing transitional provisions needs to be tailored to existing law and organization. The Model makes no claim to being complete in this regard but is designed to call attention to matters that must be considered and provide a basic pattern for a transition article. Extreme care in the preparation of this article will pay off in many ways, including disarming of arguments against a new charter based upon fears of its immediate effects personnel and the processes of the government. It may also save the county from costly litigation and administrative confusion. The bracketed clause in §9.05(d) should be included only if the referendum is provided. §9.06. Separability. A separability clause is a necessary precaution and should be included in every charter. 70 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER APPENDIX AN ELECTED COUNTY EXECUTIVE Although since 1915 the League's model charters have embodied the council-manager plan (appointed executive plan), it has always recognized that some cities and counties, if properly organized, can strengthen their operations with a strong elected executive form. In fact the first edition (1900) of the Model City Charter endorsed the elected chief executive. However, because this was such a drastic departure from prevailing practice the recommendation gained rela- tively little acceptance. Municipal government at the time was extremely fragmented by a number of separately elected department heads often providing fiefdoms for powerful politicians. Some depart- ments were headed by separate commissions designed to insulate departments (e.g., public works) from political patronage and scandal. The early Model specifically eliminated all popularly elected officials except the mayor and council and made no provision for council approval of mayoral appointments. The mayor was to be a truly strong executive. County government has continued to be characterized by a struc- ture which includes a number of separately elected administrative officers, some of whom are mandated by state constitutional provi- sions; others are provided for by statutes applicable statewide. This situation has made it difficult to establish a county chief executive with authority over the full range of county operations. In a substan- tial number of counties, however (mostly large urban and suburban counties), elected chief executive systems are in place. Where they have performed well, the elected executives have been able to emerge as effective governmental leaders, overcoming by political strength competition from other specialized officers elected county -wide. In some cases, charters have been able to change these officers from elective to appointive positions making them responsible to the 71 72 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER elected executive. The elected county executive can be viewed as somewhat compa- rable to a state governor. The authority ofgovernors has expanded as the state ballot has been shortened and separately elected statewide administrative officials have been replaced by department heads appointed by the governor. Shortening the ballot at the county level is important to the achievement of a truly effective elected county executive. When an elected executive system is used, the executive must have sufficient authority to. operate as a genuinely responsible executive. The executive's authority should not be diluted by assigning any executive operations to independently elected department heads or to boards and commissions, nor should it be nullified by the requirement that major appointments be subject to the "advice and consent" of the council. Advice and consent can interfere with an executive's attempts to recruit department heads and other personnel from out- side the county on the basis of professional competence because of provincialism and political pressures put on the council by local residents. An argument can be made for council advice and consent in the appointment of certain boards and commissions, such as the board of ethics, where it is important that both the executive and legislative arms; of the government be committed to the successful work of the body. A full text providing for an elected chief executive is not provided here because the basic council-manager (appointed executive) charter can be adapted readily for this purpose. To a considerable extent, this can be done simply by changing the word "county manager" to "county executive," except P Article III whichmust be substantially altered to provide for election rather than a poiothe provision for the powers of the council and thechairmantof tlhe' council in the basic Model (§§2.01 and 2.03) should be modified. Lan to that used in the Model State Constitution for the Language is presented as a tentative text of the basic provision for the elected executive: (a) Executive Power. The executive powerof the county shall be vested in a county executive. (b) Election of the County Executive. The county executive shall be elected for a term of four years by a direct vote of the people at the regular county election. The first such election APPENDIX / 73 shall be in. , 19 The county executive's terms shall begin on the day of after his or her election and shall continue until his or her successor has been elected and has taken office. (c) County Executive's messages to the Council. The county executive shall, at the beginning of each calendar year, And may at other times give the council information as to the affairs of the county and recommend measures he or she consid- ers necessary and desirable. One basic difference between the County Council -Manager and Elected Executive plans is the "veto" power. This power has no place in a Council -Manager government because it distorts the basic prin- ciple of the form — that the council is assigned all powers of the county. The significant difference in the elected executive form is that the elected executive has an assigned role in the legislative process, and must make a decision on each ordinance — sign it become law without signature. The veto should be included in the legislative article of an elected executive charter and listed among the executive's powers in the executive article. The veto provisions of two county charters provide illustrations: Prince George's County, Maryland EXECUTIVE VETO. Upon the enactment of any bill by the Council, with the exception of such measures made expressly exempt from the executive veto by this Charter, it shall be presented to the County Executive within five days for his approval or disapproval. Within ten days after such presenta- tion, he shall return any such bill to the Council with his approval endorsed thereon or with a statement, in writing, of his reasons for not approving the same. Upon approval by the County Executive, any such bill shall become law. Upon veto by the County Executive, his veto message shall be entered in the Journal of the Council, and, not later than at its next legislative session -day, the Council may reconsider the bill. If, upon reconsideration, two-thirds of the members of the full Council vote in the affirmative, the bill shall become law. Whenever the County Executive shall fail to return any such 74 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER bill within ten days after the date of its presentation to him, the Clerk of the Council shall forthwith record the fact of such failure in the Journal, and such bill shall thereupon become law. In case of budget and appropriation bills, the County Executive may disapprove or reduce individual items in such bills, except where precluded by State law. Each item or items not disapproved or reduced in a budget and appropriation bill shall be subject to the same procedure as any other bill vetoed by the County Executive. King County, Washington EXECUTIVE VETO. Except as otherwise provided in this charter, the county executive shall have the right to veto any ordinance or any object of expense of an appropriation ordi- nance. Every ordinance shall be presented to the county executive within five days after its adoption or enactment by the county council. Within ten days after its presentation, the county executive shall either sign the ordinance and return it to the county council, veto the ordinance and return it to the county council with a written and signed statement of the reasons for his veto, or sign and partially veto an appropriation ordinance and return it to the county council with a written and signed statement of the reasons for his partial veto. If an ordinance is not returned by the county executive within ten days after its presentation, it shall be deemed enacted without his signature. Within thirty days after an ordinance has been vetoed and returned or partially vetoed and returned, the county council may override the veto or partial veto by enacting the ordinance by a minimum of six affirmative votes. Another important consideration in drafting an elected executive charter is the extent to which the charter should make provision for professional managerial assistance for the county executive, in the form of an aide having the same basic professional qualifications as a county manager. Various names and duties have been assigned — county administrator, chief administrative officer, administrative assistant, executive officer, or deputy county executive: Although APPENDIX / 75 there is growing experience with such arrangements, there clearly is no "model" formulation and apparently no feasible way to discourage the tendency to appoint persons qualified politically rather than professionally. The managerial assistant to the county executive, no matter what the title, should not be assigned charter powers inde- pendent of those of the county executive, but should be able to perform any administrative duties of the executive if instructed by the execu- tive to do so. The working relationship of the administrator and the county executive may well be compared to that of the executive officer of a naval vessel and his commanding officer. The county executive should be solely responsible for the appointment and removal of the administrator without any requirement of approval by the Council. The basic Model has stressed the desirability of keeping charter provisions as simple as possible, leaving details for inclusion in the administrative code. In line with this, an elected county executive charter should limit treatment of the executive's managerial aide to a very brief provision. The following contains the essentials of an adequate provision: There shall be county administrator [or other title] who shall be appointed by and may be removed by the county executive. Ap- pointment shall be on the basis of executive and administrative. qualifications. The administrator shall be the principal manage- rial aide to the county executive and shall perform such duties as may be assigned to him or her by the county executive. Three illustrations of the administrative officer provision follow: King County, Washington COUNTY ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER. The county ex- ecutive shall appoint the county administrative officer, who, under the general supervision of the county executive, shall assist him, shall supervise the administrative offices and shall perform such other duties as are delegated to him by the county executive. 76 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER Montgomery County, Maryland CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER The County Execu- tive shall appoint a Chief Administrative Officer subject to confirmation by the Council. The Chief Administrative Officer shall be a professionally qualified administrator who shall serve at the pleasure of the County Executive, with compensa- tion determined by the County Executive subject to the ap- proval of the County Council. DUTIES OF THE CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER The Chief Administrative Officer shall, subject to the direction of the County Executive, supervise all departments, offices, and agencies of the Executive Branch, advise the County Executive on all administrative matters and perform such other duties as may be assigned by the County Executive, or by this Charter. Prince George's County, Maryland CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER The County Execu- tive shall appoint a Chief Administrative Officer. He shall be appointed on the basis of his qualifications as a professional administrator and shall serve at the discretion of the County Executive. The Chief Administrative Officer shall perform such administrative duties and exercise such general supervi- sion over the agencies of the executive branch as the County Executive may direct. INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM In states where the initiative and referendum procedures are not provided by state law but may be provided in local charters, the model provisions may be adopted. It is also possible that a county may choose to provide for the initiative and not the referendum. In that case the model provisions should be modified accordingly. APPENDIX / 77 Article INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM Section _Al. General Authority. (a) Initiative. The registered voters of the county shall have power to propose ordinances to the Council and, if the Council fails to adopt an ordinance so proposed without any change in substance, to adopt or reject it at a county election, but such power shall not extend to the budget or capital program or any ordinance relating to appro- priation of money, levy of taxes or salaries of county officers or employees. (b) Referendum. The registered voters of the county shall have power to require reconsideration by the Council of any adopted ordinance and, if the Council fails to repeal an ordinance so reconsid- ered, to approve or reject it at a county election, but such power shall not extend to the budget or capital program or any emergency ordinance or ordinance relating to appropriation of money, levy of taxes, or salaries of county officers or employees. Section _.02. Commencement of Proceeding, Petitioners' Committee; Affidavit. Any five registered voters may commence initiative or referendum proceedings by filing with the county clerk an affidavit stating they will constitute the petitioners' committee and be responsible for circulating the petition and filing it in proper form, stating their names and addresses and specifying the address to which all notices to the committee are to be sent, and setting out in full the proposed initiative ordinance or citing the ordinance sought to be reconsidered. Promptly after the affidavit ofthe petitioners' committee is filed the clerk shall issue the appropriate petition blanks to the petitioners' committee. 78 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER Section _.03. Petitions. (a) Number of Signatures. Initiative and Referendum petitions must be signed by registered voters of the county equal in number to at least 15 per cent of the total number of registered voters registered to vote at the last regular election. (b) Form and Content. All papers of a petition shall be uniform in size and style and shall be assembled as one instrument for filing. Each signature shall be executed in ink or indelible pencil and shall be followed by the address of the person signing. Petitions shall contain or have attached thereto throughout their circulation the full text of the ordinance proposed or sought to be reconsidered. (c) Affidavit of Circulator. Each paper of a petition shall have attached to it when filed an affidavit executed by the person circulat- ing it stating that he or she personally circulated the paper, the number of signatures thereon, that all the signatures were affixed in his or her presence, that he or she believes them to be the genuine signatures of the persons whose names they purport to be and that each signer had an opportunity before signing to read the full text of the ordinance proposed or sought to be reconsidered. (d) Time for Filing Referendum Petitions. Referendum peti- tions must be filed within 30 days after adoption by the Council of the ordinance sought to be reconsidered. Section _.04. Procedure after Filing. (a) Certificate of Clerk; Amendment. Within twenty days after the petition is filed, the county clerk shall complete a certificate as to its sufficiency, specifying, if it is insufficient, the particulars wherein it is defective and shall promptly send a copy of the certificate to the petitioners' committee by registered mail. A petition certified insuf- ficient for lack of the required number of valid signatures may be amended once if the petitioners' committee files a notice of intention to amend it with the clerk within two days after receiving the copy of his or her certificate and files a supplementary petition upon addi- tional papers within ten days after receiving the copy of such certificate. Such supplementary petition shall comply with the re- quirements of subsections (b) and (c) of §_.03, and within five days after it is filed the clerk shall complete a certificate as to the suffi- • APPENDIX / 79 • . ciency of the petition as amended and promptly send a copy of such certificate to the petitioners committee by registered mail as in the case of an original petition. If a petition or amended petition is certified sufficient, or if a petition or amended petition is certified insufficient and the petitioners' committee does not elect to amend or request Council review under subsection (b) of this section within the time required, the clerk shall promptly present his or her certificate to the Council and the certificate shall then be a final determination as to the sufficiency of the petition. (b) Council Review. If a petition has been certified insufficient and the petitioners' committee does not file notice of intention to amend it or if an amended petition has been certified insufficient, the committee may, within two days after receiving the copy of such certificate, file a request that it be reviewed by the Council. The Council shall review the certificate at its next meeting following the filing of such request and approve or disapprove it, and the Council's determination shall then be afinal determination as to the sufficiency of the petition. (c) Court Review; New Petition. A final determination as to the sufficiency of a petition shall be subject to court review. A final determination of insufficiency, even if sustained upon court review, shall not prejudice the filing of a new petition for the same purpose. Section _.05. Referendum Petitions; Suspension of Effect of Ordinance. When a referendum petition is filed with the county clerk, the ordinance sought to be reconsidered shall be suspended from taking effect. Such suspension shall terminate when: • (1) There is a final determination of insufficiency of the petition, or (2) The petitioners' committee withdraws the petition, or (3) The Council repeals the ordinance, or (4) Thirty days have elapsed after a vote of the county on the ordinance. 80 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER Section _.06. Action on Petitions. (a) Action by Council. When an initiative or referendum petition has been finally determined sufficient, the Council shall promptly consider the proposed initiative ordinance in the manner provided in Article II or reconsider the referred ordinance by voting its repeal. If the Council fails to adopt a proposed initiative ordinance without any change in substance within 60 days or fails to repeal the referred ordinance within 30 days after the date the petition, was finally determined sufficient, it shall submit the proposed or referred ordi- nance to the voters of the county. (b) Submission to Voters. The vote of the county on a proposed or referred ordinance shall be held not less than 30 days and not later than one year from the date of the final Council vote thereon. If no regular county election is to be held within the period prescribed in this subsection, the Council shall provide for a special election; otherwise, the vote shall be held at the same time as such regular election, except that the Council may in its discretion provide for a special election at an earlier date within the prescribed period. Copies of the proposed or referred ordinance shall be made available at the polls. (c) Withdrawal of Petitions. An initiative or referendum peti- tion may be withdrawn at any time prior to the fifteenth day preceding the day scheduled for a vote of the county by filing with the county clerk a request for withdrawal signed by at least four members of the petitioners' committee. Upon the filing of such request the petition shall have no further force or effect and all proceedings thereon shall be terminated. Section _.07. Results of Election. (a) Initiative. If a majority of the register voters voting on a proposed initiative ordinance vote in its favor, it shall be considered adopted upon certification of the election results and shall be treated in all respects in the same manner as ordinances of the same kind •1 APPENDIX / 81 adopted by the Council. If conflicting ordinances are approved at the same election, the one receiving the greatest number of affirmative votes shall prevail to the extent of such conflict. (b) Referendum. If a majority of the registered voters voting on a referred ordinance vote against it, it shall be considered repealed upon certification of the election results. Where the Article on Initiative and Referendum is used, the following language shall be used in §2.12.: (10) Adopt with or without amendment ordinances proposed under the initiative power. Where the Article on Initiative and Referendum is used the following language shall be used for the Charter Amendment Article: ARTICLE VIII CHARTER AMENDMENT Section 8.01. Proposal ofAmendment. Amendments to this charter may be framed and proposed: (a) In the manner provided by law, or (b) By ordinance of the Council containing the full text of th( proposed amendment and effective upon adoption, or (c) By report of a charter commission created by ordinance, or (d) By the voters of the county. Proposal of an amendment by the voters of the county shall be by petition containing the full text of the proposed amendment and shall be governed by the same procedures and requirements prescribed in Article for initiative petitions until such time as a final determination as to the sufficiency of the petition is made, except that there shall be no limitation as to subject matter and that the petition must be signed by registered voters of the county equal in number to at least 20 per cent of the total number of 82 / MODEL COUNTY CHARTER those registered to vote at the last regular county election. The petitioners' committee may withdraw the petition at any time before the fifteenth day immediately preceding the day scheduled for the county vote on the amendment. Section 8.02. Election. Upon delivery to the county election authorities of the report of a charter commission or delivery by the county clerk of an adopted ordinance or a petition finally determined sufficient, proposing an amendment pursuant to §8.01(d), the election authorities shall sub- mit the proposed amendment to the voters of the county at an election. Such election shall be announced by a notice containing the complete text of the proposed amendment and published in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the county at least 30 days prior to the date of the election. The election shall be held not less than 60 and not more than 120 days after the adoption of the ordinance or report or the final determination of sufficiency of the petition propos- ing the amendment. If no regular election is to be held within that period, the Council shall provide for a special election on the proposed amendment; otherwise, the holding of a special election shall be as specified in state law. Section 8.03. Adoption of Amendment. If a majority of the registered voters of the county voting upon a proposed charter amendment vote in favor of it, the amendment shall become effective at the time fixed in the amendment or, if no time is therein fixed, 30 days after its adoption by the voters. COMMENTARY ON INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM §_.01. General Authority. Since the initiative and referendum are more valuable in their availability than in their use, this model provision sets up an exacting procedure. Unlike other provisions, this article must be completely self-executing. Detail cannot be filled in by the council because it is the possible inadequacies of council against which these devices guard. Neither the initiative nor the referendum should be applicable to the budget, capital program, any ordinance relating to the appropriation of money or the levy of taxes, or, of course, to salaries of county officers or employees, for this would interfere with responsible officials striving to achieve a properly balanced long-range fiscal program. • APPENDIX / 83. §_.02. Commencement of Proceedings; Petitioners' Committee; Affidavit. Requiring a petitioners' committee places clear responsibility for the undertaking of initiative or referendum proceedings. §_.03. Petitions. The number of signatures required for initiative and referendum petitions is 15 per cent of the total number registered to vote at the last regular county election. This is a more exacting requirement than "10 percent of the total number of persons who voted in the county for the office of governor in the last gubernatorial election" as in earlier model provisions. Limiting the period for filing a referendum petition to 30 days after passage assures that the effective date of an ordinance will not be delayed unless the referendum effort is of serious proportions. §_.04. Procedures After Filing. The mandatory language prevents the county clerk from delaying certifi- cation of the sufficiency or insufficiency of petitions beyond the twenty days specified. §_.05. Referendum Petitions; Suspension of Effect of Ordinance. The fact that filing a referendum petition with the county clerk suspends the effective date of an ordinance will spur the clerk and the council into prompt action on the question of sufficiency. When an ordinance is subjected to a referendum vote and the council's action is sustained, termination of the suspension must be delayed until sufficient time has passed for official determination of the election results. This will vary with local practice. The 30 days indicated in §_.05, paragraph (4), is arbitrary. If there is a definite provision for the official reporting of election results, the lifting of the suspension should probably coincide with the reporting. §_.06. Action on Petitions. The initiative and referendum make mandatory council consideration of the proposed `initiative ordinance" and reconsideration of the "referred ordinance." The words, "adopt a proposed initiative ordinance without any. change in substance," are designed to permit correction of technical imperfec- tions. Provisions for submitting a proposed or referred ordinance to the voters permit considerable latitude as to the election date to encourage holding the vote at a regular election if possible. One of the most important reasons for requiring a petitioners' committee is to provide a mechanism for withdrawing an initiative or referendum petition if those originating the proceedings change their minds or feel that action of the council satisfies the need which prompted the petition. §_.07. Results of Election. Initiative ordinances approved by the electorate become effective, just as is the case with an ordinance passed by council, in 30 days or at whatever later date is specified. • 1 NATIONAL CIVIC LEAGUE PRESS 1601 GRANT STREET, SUITE 250, DENVER, COLORADO 80203; 303-832-5615 Stephen K. Yamashiro Mayor (Gun% of ufn zii 25 Aupuni Street, Room 215 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720-4252 • (808) 961-8211 • Fax (808) 961-6553 KONA: 75-5706 Kuakini Highway, Suite 103 • Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740 (808) 329-5226 • Fax (808) 326-5663 1999-2000 HAWAII COUNTY CHARTER COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1999, 3:00 PM HAWAII COUNTY LIQUOR COMMISSION CONFERENCE ROOM HILO LAGOON CENTRE AGENDA I. CALL TO ORDER II. ATTENDANCE III. MINUTES — IV. FINANCIAL STATUS REPORT V. COMMUNICATIONS VI. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC Agenda Items Only • VII. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. Selection of Commission's Attorney — Executive Session B. Selection of Commission's Secretary C. Budget Considerations D. Office Space E. Reimbursable Expenses VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. Communications/Public Relations Committee B. Background Presentations on County Govemment and Charter IX. ANNOUNCEMENTS A. Next Meeting Date - Date, Time, Place X. ADJOURNMENT Note: If you require an accommodation or auxiliary aid and/or services to participate in this meeting (i.e., sign language, interpreter, Targe print), please call 961-8223. William G. Davis Managing Director Henry Cho Deputy Managing Director From: Bev Yano To: Jan Kama Date: 5/11/99 Time: 11:09:52 AM Page 1 of 1 County of Hawaii 1999-2000 Charter Commission **25 Aupuni St. Room 219, Hilo, HI 96720x* **Phone: (808) 961-8211 * *Fax: (808) 961-6553** MEMORANDUM To: All Charter Commission Members 1 Page From: John B. Ray, Chairman Fax: 329-7108 Date: May 11, 1999 Subject: REMINDER NOTICE! REMINDER! County Charter Commission Meeting TOMORROW! Wednesday, May 12th 3:00 p.m. Liquor Control Room