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taking powers away from the planning director very <br /> specifically, and they permitted the Council along with <br /> the planning director to initiate general plan <br /> amendments. Those were the two really, really big <br /> changes. Because prior to that the planning directors <br /> had almost all the say. <br /> GREENWELL: You sure? <br /> L'ORANGE: That ' s correct. <br /> BETHEA: Okay. In Chapter 6 . . . <br /> KANUHA: Chapter 6 , Section 5-6 . 3 relates to the <br /> Board of Appeals . Now what we' re saying is this , the <br /> Board of Appeals is attached to the Planning Department <br /> for administrative purposes . So we administer their <br /> actions in terms of staff support and so forth. <br /> However, one of their primary responsibililities is <br /> as an appellate board. It ' s almost always to hear <br /> actions that , you know, and verse and in a lot of these <br /> instances , the department was a party to that . So it ' s <br /> always been an uncomfortable situation that we ' re serving <br /> the same board that ' s supposed to provide a subjective <br /> ruling on whether or not . . . if , you know, action was <br /> (inaudible) . How we resolved the issue temporarily is <br /> we've needed to utilize two County attorneys in order to <br /> solve that , a separate attorney that services the Board <br /> of Appeals and a separate attorney that pleads the <br /> Planning Department ' s cases in those proceedings . <br /> We felt that it was . . .a lot to do with the situation <br /> . . . it was not a good situation for our office and so , <br /> therefore you know we' re suggesting that perhaps the <br /> administrative responsibilities should be assigned to <br /> another agency, such as the Corporation Counsel . <br /> Now what has happened is that , we 've also found that <br /> since the Board of Appeals now also hears appeals from <br /> the actions of the chief engineer with regard to build- <br /> ing, electrical and plumbing actions , that has been more <br /> of the focus of what they've been hearing. So conse- <br /> quently, you know, we could not also recommend that they <br /> be attached to the Department of Public Works because it <br /> would create the same kind of situation for them. That ' s <br /> just a suggestion that we think needs to be adjusted. <br /> BETHEA: Yeah, I think we need to be sure that we <br /> have that on our hit list of things specifically to <br /> consider. <br /> YUEN: If I could just jump in here, there are some <br /> tricky issues connected with the Board of Appeals on <br /> what. . .and that are not clear in the Charter right now, <br /> 387 <br />