MIN CHC 1999-09-08 - Laserfiche WebLink

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ALONZO: Harry, I've got a question. As far as claims, do you handle the Geothermal Fund claims? TAKAHASHI: We don't. By ordinance, it falls under, 1 believe, the Planning Commission. ALONZO: But you distribute the money. The Planning Commission grants the claim, then - TAKAHASHI: Then the Planning Department will submit their requisition to pay and then we will process the warrant. ALONZO` Okay. TAKAHASHI: I've been with the County for 24 years now and I've seen the County grow and I've also experienced, especially of late, there are no resources. Many agencies are more than willing to give up some of their responsibilities and then often times it gets punted to the Finance Department. But more than that, there are a lot of service areas that really don't fit any one agency, and so if I were to make a recommendation, I would say, if you're going to consider revamping the organizational structure, maybe it is time we look at some sort of General Services Agency. ALONZO: Other comments. How do you feel about having all fees to be paid to the County, being one general area? For instances, like you have here, drivers license and the safety inspection function, to the Finance Director? TAKAHASHI: If we ever get the J.C. Penneys facility done, one of the plans is to have driver licensing and inspection program fall under the Department of Finance. We are, right now, reorganizing Finance to accommodate that, however, we would need the concurrence of the Union. We are developing that proposal right now. Now, it's highly contingent upon the completion of J.C. Penneys because it makes little sense for us to take over the function when it's still located at the Police Stations. Now there will be some problems because Finance Department does not have many facilities available, so you know that some of the rural communities may have a problem with that. Right now, the substations provide some services, but we are looking at it. It's been proposed and we'll take it to the length we can. If it gets approved, we'll handle it. ALONZO: Same goes with the Property Tax office? TAKAHASHI: Property tax, yes. When we relocate, we would have property tax being collected, motor vehicle weight tax being collected, and driver licensing all under one roof. 39