CHC 1979-07-03 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

that we received from people about the ;Nater .eepartment going off into left field, so to speak. I think it is, probably, sound administration to have one person responsible for the actions of the government of which he is head. He can always passthe buck down, but, eventually, that is the way it is and I think in any department where you find that the department head, although he is appointed by a commission, it is a hierarchy kind of a situation where you have the Mayor at the top, the commission, and the department head, you know, on a three level tier, so to speak. To some extent the commissioner is responsible to the Mayor as well, and the department head to the commission and to the Mayor, but, that is the only theoretical foundation that I could really come to grips with. I don 't think there should be any attempt to redefine that particular phrase. I think it is going to be a futile attempt to do so and, in fact, we might box ourselves in if we try to make it too detailed. Unfortunately, there has been some problem, as Chief Paul has testified regarding what his role and responsibilities are. As tempting as it may • be to clarify it, my feeling on it is that perhaps the best thing to do is just leave it as it is without attempting to tamper with it. MR. SCHUTTE: Counsel, what you are saying then is that leave it in the vague situation. If it does have to be challenged, let the courts. . . . MR. ODA: Let the courts grapple with it. MR. SCHUTTE: I would imagine it would be a rather difficult .situation. . .you know, here we have the Mayor that sits on top of it and he appoints the directors of the makeup of the commission and if he does not have some retaliatory measures to move his department it would be rather difficult. But, then again, he does say in his own statement that it is very vague in its application and he also says if we are going to tamper with it, he suggests that we do away with it. So, maybe, as you say, leaving it as such until such a time that it is challenged. MR. ODA: Actually, I think it is understood as a matter of just executive administration, or governmental administration that the executive head of the government should have somecontrol over an executive agency. Regardless of whether -tiere _is a commission, overriding it or not. The other matter is that a commission such as what we have in our government is basically a part-time commission. They meet once, or at most, twice a month, with the exception of the planning commission , perhapsi'. but most of these commissions meet very infrequently and they are not familiar with the day- to-day functions of the department, and rightly so, they don ' t. They come to the meetings and are practically spoon fed by the department head as to what is to what is going on. Now, in the meantime, what happens on the other twenty-nine days of the month where the commission doesn' t meet and is not physically involved in the--or intellectually involved in the operations of the department. It is the Mayor. . .it is the Mayor -8-