2007-01-10 Board of Ethics Minutes Regular Session

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Board of Ethics Minutes of Regular Session January 10, 2007 AL: Sometimes I begin to wonder. KS: I know. These kinds of things when you are trying to empty the swamp, they can't do it. (Laughter) BLT: Empty the swamp is such a great image in my mind. County employees mired in the mud. RW: You might want to soften that a little bit. KS: I was thinking about the National Democratic, Nancy Pelosi's 100 days or hours or whatever it is. Anyway, we are going to have to a lot to do. BLT: I think this will have to be a process. These things weren't written overnight, or within a month, and there was a lot of plagiarisms of other people's boards and rules. KS: Every department has one of these, right? BLT: Not all departments have adopted rules of practice and procedure. It depends on (1) Whether by statute they have one rule making authority; and (2) What types of rule they make might be tailored specifically to what they do. The Planning Department has rules on variances, subdivisions, and processing documents. Planning Commission has a set of rules, Board of Appeals, and some of their rules apply more to who can appeal, when can you appeal, when can you file, how many days do you have to make your decision. Some things are uniform, you will see very similar, and other things are more subject specific. What I can do is gather what rules there are for other boards and commission and maybe check with Maui, and City and County of Honolulu. KS: Then the question is, do we need to compare ourselves to the Planning Commission of Maui or should we just be looking at practices for the Board of Ethics? BLT: I think the most likely is the Board of Ethics. AL: Because we are very specific. BLT: You are very specific and so are the State rules, and if we can find City and County, I'm sure it has to have something. KS: Okay, that should be easy. RW: Do Oahu and Maui both have Boards of Ethics similar to ours? Bobby, do you know? 10