CHC 1979-03-13 - Laserfiche WebLink

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• • • The rule that supports the clerk ' s office does support the County Council. Section 3-7, Subsection (b) (6) "Appoint necessary staff for which appropriations have been made by the council, subject to civil service laws and classifications" etc. So it is within the realm of the county clerk ' s office to appoint whatever necessary staff they may `feel is appropriate. FMR. MOSS: As Mr. Zuza k'asaid, the original • version of the charter and I 'm sorry I didn ' t bring mine with me on one of the early pages has a paragraph authorizing the council to hire whatever staff it :feels is necessary. Now that is omitted from the 1976 Revised . Edition of The Charter. And . I haven ' t found anybody who found out why. Whether it got .left out by mistake or whether there was a revision to the original charter which removed it. And, as I say, almost un- animously, the councilmembers whb:have talked to us have com- plained about their lack of staff and their lack of ability to really get detailed figures and do the research necessary to make proper decisions _sometimes. MR. SCHUTTE: What I am getting at is that they might have omit%ed that under the councilmen but they turn around and make the county clerk directly responsible to the council and the county clerk ' s responsibilities are to • 2}3point necessary staff for which appropriations have been made by the council from other functions as the council may prescribe.. . So I am looking at this asibeing that the council ' s direction . could be to support the clerk ' s office to take care of the necessary 'staff that they ,would need =ths, informa- tion. But _ getting back more fully .to the. legal counsel side of this , are we .not looking at a situation where we have the corporation counsel ' s office--now mind you--that is serving one entity,' .the county government. .. Like state government - and -the attorney general 's office--you have various divisions and departments which are serviced legally by a • deputy attorney general . Still he answers to the a.g. ' s office of the state. In this case, we have the corporation counsel ' s office which can delegate duties of their deputies to the various departments such as the planning department or the • • County. Council whichever needs legal advice. I would be inclined to feel that an attorney from the corporation counsel ' s office would render a legal decision if asked for one. A legal opinion . He would write . a legal opinion. Not necessarily leaning to any particular side. There may be some situations that have existed in the past that through •a shortage of man- power the corporation counsel ' s office was not able to provide • the .necessary individuals to help out in checking various legal things out but what I am saying . is are we not looking at a position of getting away from that one entity and creating two distinct powers that could be in litigation continuously as • the current administration and council is today. If you had a situation like this and had a legal opinion by a council . attorney and you are going to get a rebuttal by the corporation . counsel ' s office in favor of the county and yet you are all working for one entity. I think that they would do an injustice to the general public in this sense because it thenibecomes a • • - 24 -