2007-01-10 Board of Ethics Minutes Regular Session

Home

Board of Ethics Minutes of Regular Session January 10, 2007 added cost because there are certain things that have be added to the vehicle, but that is on the.... It is entirely possible that the car dealer will want to give one officer a good deal, because he might get business from the other guys. They have a profit in there. It is just business on their part to try and get other people to come in. It would be a problem if the Police Officer went in and said "I am a Police Officer what kind of deal can you give me ?" because that is using your position to try and get yourself.... Police Officer stops you and you say "I am a county employee, don't give me a ticket." That is a different issue, that is an ethical violation. AL: I'm wondering if in the ethics guide for Hawaii County officers and employees, do we need to go into your projected amount of detail on your advisory opinions. I don't know if we just need to define that there are these things? BLT: This is how you apply to get an informal, and you can request that it be confidential. The formal is when you haven't listened to us. I thought it was important to say there are these penalties. Theoretically, all the way up to getting fired from your job. AL: This is serious business. I can see, because we say if you are in question or in doubt, check, check, check and this is how to check. KS: This also empowers employees. When I first came on there was that case about a truck driver who failed a test who had been mentored by the testers. The guy kept saying something was wrong, and in his own way he went through this process. AL: Yeah, that was a hard break on that one. BLT: That was before I was here. AL: That was before. I bet the guy, he was just so, he had such a developed sense of fairness. Almost a childlike sense of fairness and it felt so unfair to him. Frankly in my opinion it was unfair, but it didn't violate anything. He said "I know I failed the test but if things had been different, maybe I would have been chosen for the job." I think that there was a whole thing in the union process that once you fail it you don't get to take it again. What kind of deal is that? I actually admired that man because he put a lot on the line to check the ethics of something. I was drawn to his sense of fairness, his sense of ethics. BLT: We have to make tough calls sometimes. RW: So where are we in this process? BLT: The question I have is whether you like this format. RW: I like it. 14