CHC 1979-05-01 PH - Laserfiche WebLink

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be elected without some background when their family budget may be $15 , 000 annually, and then all of a sudden he is working with a figure of $37. million dollars. It is not an easy task. I wouldn ' t be surprised if some of the past councilmen still , today, after they have served their term, know exactly what the county finances are. It is difficult. You have probably seen the county financial budget. It is a very difficult, complex . . .from the real property to the grants from the state and the grants from the federal governments and all of these have to be considered in the finance and the distribution of these moneys. And also any councilmen who are elected with the good intent of doing good things for the people alone, is not enough. You have to know a little bit of politics. A lot of people consider politics as dirty but it is not dirty. It is part of our life. To acquire that political knowledge is very difficult in one or two years. Good politicians make good representatives. Of course, there are exceptions, too. But, in general, I think we should consider elected officials as honest and sincere and willing to serve the people. I many a time havefelt that maybe.: the five councilmen should run from their own district and maybe that the chairman of the council run at-large. The chairman be a full time and be paid almost similar to the mayor' s pay, or a little less. And he does all the county clerical work and you can abolish the county clerk and the deputy clerk. I think this will make more sense to have a councilsof that composition. Before I forget, I will appreciate it if you will consider that you will give a legal staff to the council . This was our big problem where one legal staff advised two governments. The people are not getting their fair share. They are not getting justice. By having the -corporation counsel 'serve the administration and serve the council is very difficult and I am sure all of you people remember how I tried hard to have a counsel for our county council. I wasn ' t successful and this is one area I hope that you members will consider so that we can have a better service. On the other hand, I have an alternative suggestion, tonight. You may laugh at it but I think this county does not need a strong mayor type of government. We probably should go back to the old board of supervisors. Five supervisors and a chairman. They ran the county just as well as it is today. Although in 1958 when I was first elected the budget was about $7 million. Today it is hitting $40 million. So there is a difference in size. But if you can elect people with enough caliber and knowledge in administration, I ' think it can be. And we wouldn ' t have the bickering between the adminstration and the legislative body. Today, you can see, Kauai , Maui , Oahu all having bickering between the administration and the legislative body. I don ' t think this is necessary. we spend a lot of money unnecessarily paying all these high wages. I think if we get the right people this can be run by five councilmen and a chairman. I don ' t think we need the mayor, assistant director or director helping the mayor with the -21-