MIN CHARTER 2019-04-25 (2018-2020)

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Hawai`i County Charter Commission -10 April 25, 2019 really look at that seriously but that is my feeling. In any case once again thank you for all of your time and all your work. It is not easy. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you. Is there... are there any other testifiers in Kona? MS. FORD: Yes Sir, there is. CHR. ADAMS: Ms. Ford are you the only other testifier? MS. FORD: Yes Sir. CHR. ADAMS: Alright. Please go ahead Ms. Ford. BRENDA FORD: Proposal No. CA -18 and CA -31 in support, Comm. No. 46 and Proposal No. CA -27 in opposition. MS. FORD: Thank you. My name is Brenda Ford and I am one of the co-authors of the PONC and the Maintenance Fund associated with it. I would like to testify on Communication No. 46, the calling of the special election for the Charter Commission. I oppose this on the basis that it is a waste of County funds. You have to do a special election. It could be done by mail in ballots but there is still a lot of money wasted because those could still be sent out during a general election. Rather than spend a couple of hundred thousand dollars doing a special election, I would suggest that you use that money to put in an explanation of pro and con explanation of each Charter amendment for the public when they get their package mailed to them during the general election or they can pick it up from an office or they can get it online. Two hundred thousand would be more than enough. If you guys want to write the pros and the cons that is fine. If you don't have anybody that wants to write the pro or the con, those of us in the public would be glad to pick up the slack. So the things that we support, we would rather write the pro statement rather than have somebody who is potentially opposed to it write something strange. So I would urge you not to waste that money but use it for a pro/con explanation to go as an insert into the ballots. On CA -18, I support this. I am saddened to see that somehow it has gone back to the original. We need to help these stewardship groups as much as we possibly can. It is one of the things that we have learned over the years and I support it and I hope you can change it back to the way we had it originally that we can pay them. Our purpose is to make the PONC stronger and our stewardship grow stronger and incent them to go out and take care of our land. The County cannot and will not do it and it was never intended to do it. On CA -27, regarding the forcing us to use easements. It is unnecessary. We can use the easements now. We have always been able to use easements. You are making a ballot longer than necessary at additional cost. Wasted time for everybody. So I support 18, I oppose 27, I support CA -31. CA -31 allows Page 9