Laserfiche WebLink
Administration and by a number of different departments in terms of how it functions. <br />• So, this is really in reaction to how that functions now within the County. <br />Planning Commission powers. I covered that. That's 6 and 10 together. <br />Qualifications for Heads of Department of Public Work and Department of Water <br />Supply. Right now in the Charter, there is a requirement that both of those positions be <br />filled by a Registered Engineer. I don't know if you remember, last year our Chief <br />Engineer, head of the Public Works Department, retired and the Deputy, who was an <br />engineer, but wasn't a registered engineer, couldn't step up into that position. So, <br />that's what generated a lot of discussion, whether this was necessary or made sense, <br />and in discussing this in regard to Public Works and the Department of Water Supply, <br />the thought was that the job requirement is really more administrative in nature for both <br />of these departments, and there are lots of engineers, there are tons of engineers, in <br />both departments already. So, the suggestion is to eliminate that requirement that <br />requires a registered engineer. <br />Impeachment. Two changes; one that I think is fairly minor is just eliminating one word, <br />and that's a reason for impeachment, the word `maladministration'. Our legal counsel, <br />and others that weighed in on this, just didn't feel like that was a reasonable grounds <br />for impeachment. The more major and controversial change is in the number of <br />signatures required for an impeachment petition. And right now, the number of <br />• signatures required are only 100, and we're suggesting it be raised to 3% of the voters, <br />and that would be 3% of the number of voters registered in the prior election. And that <br />also triggered the necessity to create a procedure to verify signatures, so that's the <br />other part of this section. And that verification language is similar to what's in the <br />Charter now for Initiative and Referendum. The differences are that there would be a <br />one-year time limit on signatures, and we wouldn't allow signatures to carry over from <br />one election term to another. In other words, if impeachment proceedings started in a <br />prior term, it wouldn't carry over to the other. That's one suggested difference, and the <br />other is that it wouldn't require the statement of social security numbers which, in our <br />train of thought, violates Federal law. There's a good explanation of this in the <br />summary. <br />GRAHAM: John, could you tell us just quickly what's the difference between <br />`maladministration' and `malfeasance'? <br />RAY: The difference between maladministration and malfeasance. We <br />do have an attorney here who was Corporation Counsel so he is probably the best <br />person to weigh in on this. <br />BESS: Well, it's just my opinion, but here `malfeasance' is where you have <br />a prescribed duty and you fail to perform that duty. 'Maladministration' is you don't <br />administer very well. It does not deal with a legal duty and then being in violation of <br />that legal duty. It would be a criticism, that instead of it being illegal, you would not be <br />performing as one might like you to perform. Is that clear enough? <br />