2026-04-23 Merit Appeals Board Minutes

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Merit Appeals Board April 23, 2026 Call to Order (Item 1) CHR. CABANAS: Good morning, everyone. The County of Hawaiʻi Merit Appeals Board meeting is called to order at 9:03 a.m. We are seated in the Hilo Council Chambers of the Hawaiʻi County Building, at 25 Aupuni Street, First Floor, Room 1401, in Hilo, Hawaiʻi. I’m Gabriella Cabanas, Chair of the Merit Appeals Board. We have quorum today with all four Board members present. To my immediate left is Ms. Suzi Bond. MS. BOND: Good morning. CHR. CABANAS: And my far left—Mr. Gilbert Aguinaldo. MR. AGUINALDO: Aloha, good morning. CHR. CABANAS: To my far right—is Mr. Daniel “Niel” Thomas. MR. THOMAS: Hello, good morning. CHR. CABANAS: And to my immediate right—is our Assistant Corporation Counsel, Mr. J Yoshimoto. MR. YOSHIMOTO: Good morning, everyone. CHR. CABANAS: Seated in the back of the Board members is Glynis Yamada, our Secretary- Reporter. MS. YAMADA: Good morning. CHR. CABANAS: Good morning. And in the gallery, we have a number of individuals, so I will introduce them now. From the Office of the Corporation Counsel—Mr. Ryan Thomas and Mr. Demetri Lametti—they are our Deputy Corporation Counsel—excuse me—attorneys; and we also have Mr. Joshua-Joel Ravey from the Department of Water Supply; and we also have our Director of Human Resources, Ms. Sommer Tokihiro; Mr. Kawika Uyehara, the Deputy from Department of Water Supply; and Ms. Michelle Simmons from the Department of Parks and Recreation. So, good morning to all of you. Addendum to Agenda (Item 2) CHR. CABANAS: As far as the addendum to the agenda—we received, yesterday, a correspondence from Mr. Ravey and it is numbered as Communication number 25-09.03—I’m sorry, it’s from Corp. Counsel—Mr. Ryan Thomas—concerning the matter before us and the hearing that we will start in a few minutes. So, I’d like to have a motion to add this communication to our correspondence— Page 2