2007-05-09 Board of Ethics Minutes Regular Session

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Board of Ethics Minutes of Regular Session May 9, 2007 JW: ... of the council meeting, yes ma'am. Then, now had I not gone to April 4th, I believe the April 18th, it would have just been rubber stamped and it would have been approved already. I did make a diligent effort, and then I was able to have the thing postponed in favor of a public hearing. So, that is the only reason this thing hasn't been rubber stamped. AL: So, there will be a public hearing now? JW: Yes ma'am, on May 22 in Naalehu, I believe. JD: I just want to try and clarify exactly the players. This Chris .... AL: Yuen. JD: No, not Yuen. JW: Chris Manfredi. JD: Okay, so he is the CEO or manager of Ventures, Big Island Ventures? JW: That's the hard thing. If you read the literature you would think so. But, between then and now I have been doing more and more research and he is —I even went to talk to the guy, `cause I live just up the street from him and not the friendliest person I have ever met just went to talk to him, man -to -man, and cause I would use that sidewalk to go to the stores by- and -by. I just walked up his driveway and said "Hi, are you Chris Manfredi ?" I have seen him before in other public meetings, and he was very defensive. Long story short, he told me that he's not a developer, he is a car mechanic. When I looked in the application, indeed he is not even the applicant. JD: Okay, sorry to interrupt, but I want to try and get a bird's -eye view on this. So, whether or not he is with Big Island Ventures or not, Big Island Ventures applied for this variance, right? Okay, then what you are claiming is that Bob Jacobson and Chris Yuen were ready to rubber stamp this variance, or proposed variance, and the conflict that you see is that ... I am still confused about this Honu`apo Fund and how that becomes involved with Bob Jacobson. JW: Yes sir. When we've been led to believe that Chris Manfredi and his partners have purchased, purchased six - thousand acres along the —be somewhere —this thing you would see when you drive down the highway, you know, on either side of the highway. It's, I don't even know if they own it. I went to look for the tax records. I don't see them. I still see C. Brewer as owning it. JD: Well, I am still trying to get to where you see the conflict. Who donated money to the Big Island Ventures? JW: Well, according to this paper, Chris Manfredi has donated ... it's like so many thousand dollars to the Honu `apo Fund and that has endeared him to the community, and it has endeared him with my councilman, because this is a feather in his cap, this whole ... I'm glad that