MIN CHARTER 2019-06-07 (2018-2020)

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Hawai`i County Charter Commission -12 June 7, 2019 MBA's (Masters of Business Administration) at the head of their organizations. Sometimes this structure works well, relieving the engineers of the non-technical problem areas, but deferring to the engineers judgement on technical issues. However, a risk that is frequently ignored, is that unless the trust relationship develops between the engineer and the non -engineer supervisor or regulator, the technical program or project can be misdirected into unstable and even dangerous ground that may become unduly influenced by political factors, public relations issues, financial considerations, and unreasonable completion schedules. More recently, the National Society adopted its position statement No. 0702 on the recognition of the engineering function in government. Within the text of NSPE 0702 is this very strong statement: NSPE recommends that government officials having the authority for hiring or appointment, recognize the importance of the engineering function within their government departments and agencies, through the selection of fully qualified licensed professional engineers, to positions having responsibility for making engineering decisions and exercising engineering judgement. I wish to remind the members of the Commission that the nationwide system of engineering licensure laws has been laboriously set up state by state, starting with Wyoming in 1907 and completing with Montanta in 1947, and then of course extending to Alaska and Hawai`i when they became states, in response to a growing number of engineering disasters that occurred in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many of which were the direct result of unqualified individuals making critical engineering decisions. I feel the enactment of CA -26 would work to degrade this process in protecting safety, health, and welfare of the public. Please do not approve CA -26. Mahalo. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you. If I could ask Mr. Boucher please to come to the microphone. Mr. Ono. HUGH ONO: Proposal No. CA -26 in opposition. MR. ONO: Thank you very much. Okay, is that loud enough? CHR. ADAMS: Yes. MR. ONO: Okay, thank you very much. My name is Hugh Ono and I am testifying on behalf of CA -26. I am a PE and I have been the Public Works Director for six years from 1987 to 1993. I need to point out something from my experience and my career as an engineer to make my point why the PE requirement as part of this job is so important, and for the same reasons that Curtis has stated is safety and health reasons. I was also the Division Administrator for the State Highways' Division for three years, for the three years I worked on O`ahu. I have also been the national chair for the engineering exam for three years and I need to point out some examples. I won't highlight them all, but just the ones that involved a lot of engineering decisions as part of my tenure as the Public Works Director. Page 6