MIN CHC 1989-01-25 - Laserfiche WebLink

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BETHEA : Was that the 1963? IBARRA: ' 63 was the beginning. So, that ' s the start. BETHEA : Yeah, well this was. . . IBARRA : ' 68. . . BETHEA : Yeah, but this. . .this was the minutes that you ' re referring to--the 1963 Charter Commission, or the 1968? IBARRA : ' 63. Because at ' 63 we were still in the Board of Supervisordays and so a group of people like yourself on the Charter Commission, which was authorized by statute , then had the task of deciding what form of government shall we have for the County of Hawaii. And they took what , four or five years before they could. . .came up with the present form of government . And I say , it ' s interesting to read because they ' ve had speakers who spoke on the city-manager-type of government , the strong-mayor- type of government and other input from community groups prior to making the decision as far as what to put out to the electorate as far as the recommendation from the commission. So , I just mention that because , you know, it ' s interesting reading and the transcripts. . .it seems like it ' s verbatim. Like , I think Mr. Greenwell was there , Mrs. Hale , and some of the names that you recognize, and. . . . GREENWELL : May I interject something? One of the reasons we went to strong Mayor-type of government was because of the obligating of the County by one of the supervisors of an amount that was not authorized by the Board. And to get away from that possiblility happening again, was one of the reasons why the strong-mayor-type of government was considered the best , one person that would be fully responsible. IBARRA : So now I' d like to just give you a[n] overview and discuss our present, as authorized under the County Charter, our present form of government . I have a handout , which is an organization chart , which you can follow with me. [Handout A. ] And , when we talk about a strong-mayor-type of government , like Mr. Greenwell said , actually the Charter authorizes two branches of government : the legislative branch which is vested in the Council and the executive branch which is vested in the Mayor. Now, they are co-equal branches of government with different functions , so when we talk about the strong-mayor type of government, we ' re talking about a mayor who has veto powers . And. . .you can have a mayor without a veto power and basically, the mayor has no control or cannot veto what the legislative branch passes. But when we talk about the strong mayor, that ' s what you commonly talk about in municipal law , is a mayor with veto powers. Okay. But , don ' t get me wrong. They ' re both co-equal branches of government with different functions. The Council, as the Charter says, is responsible for public 28