Chair Swanson called the meeting to order at 4:10 p.m.

Legislator Pinto motioned to approve the minutes of January 12, 1998 and was seconded by Legislator Stewart-Cousins. The motion was carried by a vote of 4-0. (Oros, Latimer, Young out for vote)

Chair Swanson provided each member with a book of all the Boards and Commissions, which detailed the requirements of each Board and Commission as well as listed the members and vacancies.

Chair Swanson stated that she sent a letter to the County Attorney requesting an opinion on the waivers that were discussed at the previous meeting. It is her understanding that in the past waivers were only given when the applicant was employed. She was waiting for a response from the County Attorney before she addressed the matter further. Legislator Pinto suggested a letter be sent to Ralph Buttler and Michael Ritchie inquiring as to whether or not they still are requesting a waiver, and requesting that they submit a letter to this committee with their response.

Legislator Pinto asked if there was ever an issue in this committee where they would go into executive session. Mr. Kriss responded that the only things that tend to be sensitive are police records. The Chair can screen the confidential records, and if something comes up, at

that point they could go into executive session. Only if it deals with confidentiality would they do so.

Chair Swanson began by informing everyone that Mr. Hashmall has represented her in the past. However this does not preclude her from asking him questions or voting on his appointment.

The first question she asked was, how he perceived the position of Deputy County Executive. Mr. Hashmall responded that his perception of his role and function was not unlike what is provided by law. He would be the second in charge, he will run day to day operations, stepping into the shoes of the County Executive in his absence. Also, all commissioners will report to him. He will assist in all executive and administrative functions.

Chair Swanson asked if, in his opinion, this differed in anyway from the way the position had been defined through practice in the past. Mr. Hashmall stated that Mr. Spano’s view on government differs from that of his predecessor. He agrees with Mr. Spano’s philosophy, reduce and focus on government. All the Commissioners will work directly with Mr. Hashmall, there will be no middle people. Having people in the middle just slowed things down and interfered with the efficiencies of running the departments and filtered the information that the County Executive or Deputy County Executive received. One of the biggest differences is to eliminate those functions, all the Commissioners have direct access to him. This has a double benefit, first it will eliminate jobs, and spending on the ninth floor, and second it makes things run quickly. In line with that they will be submitting to the Board of Legislators, a pay plan which will reconfigure these jobs, because most of the assistants on the ninth floor were teamsters and were not properly functioning in the role that they were intended. Their idea is to create specific titles with specific functions. Thereby reducing the number of people they have up there, then they will do it department by department.

Legislator Oros asked Mr. Hashmall what his role with the County Legislators would be. Mr. Hashmall responded that Larry Schwartz, one of the County Executive’s top advisors, will handle the intergovernmental relations. He will be the main link for all other levels of government. He will be the administrations point person. He will have the direct responsibility to work on a daily basis with the County Board. He will help with the legislative agenda, intergovernmental affairs, and with local officials as well. Mr. Hashmall will have the responsibility of anything that deals with government services, and legislation effecting that. If questions need to be answered, policy issues need to be clarified, or administrative people are needed at a committee meeting, Larry Schwartz will be the contact person. It is the Administrations goal to have a partnership with the County Board. The County Board will be treated that way, all information needed will be provided. There will be an open door policy.

Chair Swanson asked Mr. Hashmall what he sees as the strong points or unique talents and abilities that he would bring to this position. Mr. Hashmall responded that it is his understanding of the process. He has been on both sides. He has been an elected official, in the town of Somers. He has been on the minority and the majority sides in his four years there. He has also been on both sides of government in the city of Yonkers he was the city manager, working closely with the administration there for a number of years and worked with the legislative body there. He has a very good perspective of government. He also has the added experience of being in government, out of government, and back in government. It gives you a special appreciation of both sides of the table.

Chair Swanson asked how Mr. Hashmall feels the privatization initiative should be approached, on his level and working with the County Board. Mr. Hashmall stated that he believes Mr. Spano made it clear that his position is inclusive, that means if you want to examine

an issue such as outsourcing or privatization, you do not do it unilaterally on your own. You consult with not only the Board, but the unions, and every other person who has an interest in the area and you come up with the best scenario. If there is any area that would benefit by outsourcing or privatization, the administration is open to them. The Administration is not coming in with any preconceived notion on any of those issues.

Chair Swanson asked what Mr. Hashmall sees as the greatest challenges facing Westchester and how he would prioritize these. Mr. Hashmall stated that the largest issues are budgetary in nature. The two major ones on the table are DSS and Corrections. The Administration has some ideas on solving both of those problems. They will do everything they can to save money and run everything effectively. They intend to streamline the programs. The computerization issue is anther major issue. The Administration has hired a very highly respected professional in the field who shares Mr. Spano’s zest for information technology. He has lots of great ideas for making mainframes obsolete but he will then take that success in transforming mainframes into servers and expanding that from department to department. Hopefully the result would be that it will save us lots of money in labor costs, making people more efficient, making us less labor intensive and making sure information is at everyone’s fingertips.

Chair Swanson stated that it would make things easier if the Board of Legislators financial analyst was permitted to attend the pre-meetings of Acquisition and Contracts (A & C). Also it would be in the best interest not to get adverserial on some the things which are necessary. Legislator Oros explained the problems that have previously occurred because Mr. Boland had not been involved in those pre-meetings. Mr. Hashmall feels that there should be no secrets, they should have all the information at their fingertips. However, how it has been structured is that it is an executive function in forming the agenda.

Until the administration decided to put something on the agenda it would not then kick in the formal process. The administration needs

some leeway in deciding what should go on the agenda or not. How would the County Executive know what should go on the agenda unless he has the opportunity to speak with his commissioners. However the Administration is open to ideas. Chairman Latimer interjected that if the pre-meeting has a certain formality then what we most need, through our budget analyst is the ability to interact with the appropriate people in the administration prior to the formal A & C meeting. It need not be the pre-meeting but it needs to be at some time because Mr. Boland will have questions. If the questions come at the meeting itself that is when the problems occur. The feedback that both Mr. Hashmall and the County Executive have given Chairman Latimer is that they are open to that type of informal conversation for Mr. Boland to ask questions.

Legislator Spreckman stated that she has known Mr. Hashmall for a long time. Not only does he research, and do his homework, he makes sure he knows both sides. She feels he will be great over here and she is very happy to work with him. Legislator Spreckman stated also that she wanted to disclose that Mr. Hashmall may have represented her in a case in the past.

Mr. Hashmall stated that he is looking forward to working with all of the Legislators. He also stated that his door is always open.

Chair Swanson explained that they would sign him out of committee today and then the Resolution will go before the full Board of Legislators to vote on at the next Board meeting.

On motion of Legislator Spreckman, seconded by Legislator Oros, the motion to approve the Resolution confirming the appointment of Jay Hashmall, Esq. as the Deputy County Executive was carried by a vote of 7-0.

There are three public member vacancies on the Rent Guidelines Board. We have several resumes that were sent in last year.

However since it is a new term we will send each of them a letter, asking if they are still interested. The reason for the urgency is because the chairman of the committee has to be a public member. There are two sitting public members but neither want to be the Chairman. They need a chairman to have a meeting.

Chairman Latimer asked for a list of any appointments that are due from the Board of Legislators as a body or an appointment that he would have to make in his role as Chairman, or an ex officio appointment of a Legislator that is due. This way he can get a memo together that says the following things are pending and require either a Chairman recommendation or Board recommendation or action. Then he can come back to this committee and discuss the best method to quickly fill those positions.

Legislator Pinto motioned to close the meeting at 5:07 p.m. and was seconded by Legislator Spreckman. The motion was carried by a vote of 7-0.