Comm No 0043.56 - Testimony - CA-26 - Qualifications for the Director DPW

Home

Testimony of HSPE on CA -26, Hawaii Charter Commission, proposal to amend Section 6-2.2 relating to Qualifications for the Director of the Department of Public Works, to remove the requirement that the Director be a "registered professional engineer" (more accurately, "licensed professional engineer, or P.E.). Hawaii County Charter Commission Dear Commission Members, As an engineer, I dedicate my professional knowledge and skill to the advancement and betterment of human welfare. I pledge: To give the utmost of performance; To participate in none but honest enterprise; To live and work according to the laws of man and the highest standards of professional conduct; To place service before profit, the honor and standing of the profession before personal advantage, and the public welfare above all other considerations. In humility and with need for Divine Guidance, I make this pledge. Engineers' Creed — Adopted by the National Society of Professional Engineers, June 1954 I am Michael Lum, P.E., president of the Hawaii Society of Professional Engineers (HSPE). The HSPE is one of the many state societies that comprise the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE). HSPE members have for many years participated in the annual meetings of NSPE, and served on key commissions, including the NSPE Board of Ethical Review (BER), "Professional Engineers in Government" (PEG), and the "Task Force on the Over -Ruling of Engineering Judgement". What makes a Professional Engineer different from an engineer? • Only a licensed engineer may prepare, sign and seal, and submit engineering plans and drawings to a public authority for approval, or seal engineering work for public and private clients. • PEs shoulder the responsibility for not only their work, but for the lives affected by that work and must hold themselves to high ethical standards of practice. • Licensure for a consulting engineer or a private practitioner is not something that is merely a certificate or achievement; it carries a legal, fiduciary responsibility. *The term "fiduciary duty" is a legal concept describing situations in which a special relationship of trust is deemed to exist between two parties: a person who has offered his or her expertise and prudence and the individual or entity relying on that expertise. A fiduciary relationship represents the highest duty of care recognized in the American legal system and requires that the individual who serves as the fiduciary act primarily for the benefit of his or her beneficiary in matters related to that role, even when such actions run counter to the fiduciary's personal interests. c*ASCE, Civil Engineering, Jan 1, 2014) Comm. No. 43.56