2006-10-11 Board of Ethics Minutes Regular Session

Home

Board of Ethics Minutes - Regular Session October 11, 2006 The County Code states that the Financial Amount Code may be changed. The G amount can be change to reflect more that $150,000 and less than some stated amount. There may be additions to the Financial Amount Code (H, I, J). Members of the board agreed that they should set the amount as high as $1,000,000 which is consistent with the State Financial Code Amount. Item 5 of the County Instruction currently reads "Interests in Real Property Held in the County." Should it be modified to remove "Held in the County "? The Board agreed that the words "Held in the County" should be eliminated. The State Instructions state in Item 6 that "you are not required to disclose real property held that is your personal residence," and in Item 7 "you are not required to disclose real property acquired that is your personal residence," and in Item 8 "you are not required to disclose real property transferred that was your personal residence." Should they put this into the County instructions? Ms. Leithead -Todd stated that we are really looking for investments and things that people have made profits made on. Disclosure of personal properties may be an invasion of privacy. Even the Real Property web site has been modified so that people are given a measure of protection. Ms. Leithead -Todd indicated that the form cannot be changed unless you change the County Code. The problem is that the Financial Disclosure is stated in the County Code. If you want to delete personal residence then a recommendation to change the County Code may be in order. This is particularly true for volunteer Board and Commission Members who are not being compensated. This may not pertain to elected officials. The status of the following committees in regards to Financial Disclosures needs to be verified: Cost of Government - -if created by Charter they would be required to file. b. Kailua Village Design Commission. Ms. Sharpless stated that she wants to follow the State Financial Disclosure Form, and then refer to the County Code to see it there are any conflicts. She said that there is inconsistency when we follow the State on some issues, but not on others. She believes that this is what makes a process obsolete and open to interpretation. She gave an example of someone serving on a commission at the County level and serving on a committee at a State level. Having the same form would make it much easier to document data. Having a slightly different county form would make it difficult to