MIN CHARTER 2019-06-21 (2018-2020)

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Hawai`i County Charter Commission -11 June 21, 2019 MS. RICE: (inaudible) It should be... MS. ZELKO-SCHLUETER: Sony, Chair Adams, we can't hear. MS. RICE: Sony. We did discuss the boards and commissions when we discussed the amendment for a Climate Change Commission. And it was expressed by I think, Commissioner Leithead-Todd that we had a lot of commissions and we all discussed it quite thoroughly and in that particular instance we decided that a commission would not be something that we would be wanting to carry forward. However, to have a blanket statement that we expressed concern, kind of leads... gives the impression that it was a major subject of discussion, which really was relevant only to that one commission, so I am not sure that... if we can make that a little more... what do I want to say... general, I would be happier. And then the other one about the detailed elements of financial procedures, that was discussed on several occasions and certainly was discussed by the Finance Director, however I am not comfortable with that phrase, and would prefer to have it stated something like some of the Commissioners, rather than the entire Commission, because I don't feel... that's not my opinion, and I think that there's an advantage at times for having the detailed financial elements in there, for instance the emergency amendment that we have set up, so that there is a definite amount of money going into that fund, and the same thing with the preservation fund. So, I am not comfortable. I would be comfortable if it were made more general. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you. Commissioner Todd. MS. TODD: I think I have expressed my concern about the formation of additional boards and commissions without an analyses of the financial impact on departments and in particular, you know my experience with the Planning Department, that you ended up... it wasn't just a fiscal issue, it was an issue of having so many boards and commissions which weren't just Charter, but created through statute that the staff was spending so much time servicing boards and commissions that it made it very difficult for them to get to the actual work of the department, which is processing subdivision and rezoning, and those types of applications. But my concern actually goes beyond boards and commissions, and it is to Charter Amendments that create additional government regulation, procedure, additional departments, without an analysis of the fiscal and regulatory impact. In the past when the County has created like Department of Information Technology was created through the Charter, the Environmental Management Department was created through the Charter, and I think that when we created ... I am not sure whether it was the Police or the Fire Commission, there was no analysis of how much staff would be required to support those people, what the Page 12