2025-12-22 Salary Commission Minutes

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Salary Commission December 22, 2025 MS. FRENZ: No. MS. OTSUKA: No? MS. FRENZ: The Rules can be changed by the Salary Commission, just to clarify. But the County Charter is what provides—creates this very Salary Commission and the—it provides parameters for which the authority that has been bestowed to the Salary Commission actually has, and that does not include—it just includes increase or decrease of salary. It does not include a merit-based approach. That is something that was brought up back in 2023. If you look at the minutes, it was actually raised quite often—and I had to remind those prior members to dial it in and ensure that we comply with the Charter. So, in order to get Charter—a Charter amendment, you would have to work through Council, get an approval. There is a Charter Commission—but a County Council can, and they have taken action, such as changing the number of people on the Board of Ethics that was on the— MS. OTSUKA: Right—13 or something. MS. FRENZ: —ballot recently, right. So, you have to go to Council, have that passed, and it has to be approved to then end up on the ballot to amend what the Charter says. So, that’s— Charter amendments are significant and, currently as drafted, this Commission does not have the ability to evaluate, depending on who’s in the position. And that’s tricky, right—and that’s something that was discussed here because that changes—it can ebb and flow, depending on who’s in the position, which is all controlled by the mayor. So— MS. OTSUKA: Thank you for that. And I do appreciate all of you, ‘cause I know what it’s like to volunteer and put your heart and soul in it. And this isn’t an easy commission—I understand. But even with the Charter—and it’s Sections 13—it specifically states having the entire membership make votes on certain things to make it valid. So, I’m just saying, like, the County needs to fill positions, the commissions need to be filled because other than that, we’re not honoring the Charter, as it was intended. So, I just had to say that. I do. CHR. PAVAO: Thank you. MS. NAMAHOE: Ms. Otsuka, it’s Commissioner Namahoe. I want to thank you for coming. I th want to thank you for your testimony on the 17 as well as today. You speak to a lot of things that we have been battling—I mean, myself, I can point to one of my fellow Commissioners here because we probably battled the most of it in terms of how do we stay in the lane as defined by the County Charter. And I recognize what you’re talking about, which is the constitutional crisis, which is the Charter crisis—which that and my coffee—has me animated up here because I don’t—we came into Page 15