2024-07-15 Merit Appeals Board Minutes

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Merit Appeals Board July 15, 2024 CHR. CABANAS: Mr. Thomason, do I need Board approval to enter these communications into the record for the hearing? MR. THOMASON: No. CHR. CABANAS: No? Okay, I can proceed? MR. THOMASON: Yes. CHR. CABANAS: Okay, thank you very much. Making sure I'm doing everything correct here. Okay MR. THOMASON: You've got Ted here so, we better be careful. CHR. CABANAS: Yes, I know, Mr. Hong, so MR. THOMASON: I know him well, too, and I'm very (inaudible) although I'm not really sure why. CHR. CABANAS: But I need, also, to be fair to the County of Hawaii and Mr. Justin Lee, so I have to put that knowledge of Mr. Turner—Mr. Hong on the side. Okay. So does either parry have any additional evidence at this time? MR. HONG: Madam Chair, and members of the Boardagain, good morning. From my perspective, what we wanted to do today was hear the motion to dismiss and in the event that the Board denies the motion to dismiss, I would be asking for an extension of time to present our case—only because as the Notice of Appearance indicates, I was retained on the 9h of July and we, certainly, didn't have the opportunity to identify witnesses or ask for the Board to issue subpoenas for County witnesses. So, in the event that the Board does deny the motion to dismiss, we will be asking for an extension. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. So noted. So, County of Hawaii, Mr. Justin Lee, would you like to make an oral argument at this time, for a motion to dismiss? MR. LEE: Sure, thank you. Madam Chair, members of the Board, just briefly, and I'd like the opportunity for rebuttal, if the Board is willing to grant it, I guess, depending on what the Appellant argues. But the way I see it, is two issues. The first is statute of limitations. It's the County's position that Mr. Turner's appeal was filed beyond the 20 days. We think the rule is pretty clear. It's 20 days from the action. There was a lot of discussion in our briefings with regards to notice. Page 19