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KUROZAWA: And is the feeling that if you hire someone in the Civil Service, will that <br />totally -, you know, is it going to be hundred percent better that someone's going to be totally <br />qualified, and would the departments then follow his or her recommendations at that point? <br />BEN: Well, I think the idea of putting it in a long term program does lend more <br />credibility and more stability to the program, which I think would enhance the program, rather <br />than the changeover that occurs in the leadership of the program. <br />RAY: John. <br />SANTANGELO: Basically changing it from patronage to something that can be a little bit <br />more accountable. <br />BEN: I believe so, yes. <br />SANTANGELO: Where you have a job description and there's a performance base in which <br />you can evaluate it. <br />BEN: Excuse me? <br />HERKES: A performance review. <br />RAY: George. <br />MARTIN: Yeah, taking it from the position that it is now, an appointed situation, and <br />put it into the Civil Service, what authority would this person now have? Or would you guys <br />write that into the description and the authority be generated from that? <br />BEN: I don't think the authority issue would be resolved; the authority comes <br />from topside. But I think you can have -, you can develop authority by having an, you know, an <br />effective program where people start respecting the work that you do. You know, my <br />department is a staff agency, and the departments can take it or leave it. But, you know, as we <br />gain the expertise like we have in all the other fields, you know, they begin to heed our advice. <br />So you would have that kind of authority being implemented. <br />RAY: Okay. Any other questions? Sue. <br />IRVINE: Unfortunately, we just created a Department of Data Processing in the last <br />election because they said the civil servant didn't have the authority to tell the other departments <br />what kind of computers they have to use, and now we're sitting here saying, well, if somebody <br />were a civil servant, they might have more authority than the appointed person. So I think maybe <br />there's some other parameter at work here. I mean maybe there's some other way you get <br />authority than just changing from one to the other. <br />30 <br />