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IR. ISHIDA: Mr. Bess , from the previous <br /> discussions with other departments we have come into a quandary <br /> with regards basically to those departments under commissions <br /> in 'i article VII , the personnel Services , Police Department, <br /> Liquor Control and it is also applicable to the Department of <br /> Water Supply. There is a provision in each of the respective <br /> chapters , the last one, which states, "the department shall <br /> come under the general supervision and control of the °mayor" . <br /> Has that provision ever been construed by the corporation <br /> counsel's office?"? <br /> MR. BESS : No, it hasn ' t. <br /> MR. ISHIDA: . The difficulty we have been <br /> faced with is that the mayor, the administration; nor the <br /> respective department heads know what that entails,. They all <br /> feel that the administration has some control over, them and <br /> they just don ' t know what the control. .what the limits of the <br /> controls are. And because of that. one department head expressed <br /> the situation that he had two bosses and he was unable to <br /> operate under that situation. Can that provision be construed <br /> consistently so that there would not be any conflict between <br /> the administration and the commission which appoints the <br /> department head. <br /> MR. BESS : Well , Mr. Ishida, I think the <br /> best way to answer this is that I would be glad to research <br /> the matter and render an opinion to you. These off the top of <br /> the head kind of opinions are worth exactly where they come <br /> from. My own feeling is that these kinds of provisions are <br /> not inconsistent with say, for instance, the .Department of <br /> Water Supply. My reading of those administrative supervision <br /> provisions is that there is a need for the mayor to be able <br /> to coordinate and integrate the functions of all of the <br /> different agencies. That they have got to be able: to work <br /> together. There has to be some kind of a final arbiter that 's <br /> sitting up there saying, hey, listen you guys get together and <br /> so as far as I 'm concerned. . .let' s take for instance the <br /> Department of Water Supply and departing from my original <br /> position that I '1=l take this under advisement, the water <br /> commission sits as the policy making body and however there <br /> is a great' deal of need for the Water Department to, in the . <br /> manner in which it is operated, to be integrated with the <br /> other departments of the county. And this administrative <br /> supervision provides the mayor with some power to do just that. <br /> The difficult thing in the Department of Water Supply is that <br /> as everyone knows here is that the initial Section talks about <br /> a semi-autonomous department and no one quite knows what semi- <br /> autonomous means. The Charter Commission minutes of the last <br /> two Charter Commissions didn ' t do a very goodjob in terms of <br /> defining what they meant by semi-autonomous. But at any rate <br /> the Department of Water Supply is an especially difficult <br /> - <br /> position because no one quite knows how to read that adminis- <br /> trative supervision Section together with that initial Section <br /> 8-1. And that I would like to have an opportunityto research <br /> the matter and render a legal opinion. <br /> I can tell you this. I have worked very <br /> closely, personally, with the Department of Water Supply and <br /> Water Commission and that provision has proved to be trouble- <br /> some in the past particular problems. <br /> -32- , <br />