2007-08-08 Board of Ethics Minutes mc

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6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Further review and discussion of draft Ethics Guide for Hawaii County Officers and Employees booklet. The Chair said he was told by the Corporation Counsel that under this agendized item, he could bring up the resignation of Kendall Sharpless and her failure to disclose her campaign contributions. At next month's meeting, he would like to spend time addressing what proper conduct and inappropriate conduct is for members of the Board of Ethics, and what should be disclosed. He said he did not know whether Ms. Sharpless intentionally or unintentionally did not disclose her campaign contributions to Councilmember Bob Jacobson, but he felt this was a serious taint on the Board. Members of the BOE need to know what is ethical and what is not. He said it was also brought to his attention that when Ms. Sharpless contributed to Mr. Jacobson's campaign in August 2006, her residence was listed as being on Maui. However, she became a BOE member in February or March of 2006. Mr. Ashida said the media brought this discrepancy on her residence to his attention, and he corresponded with Ms. Sharpless via email yesterday on this matter. His concern was to ensure the integrity of prior BOE actions in which she voted. She explained to Mr. Ashida's satisfaction that she has been a resident of the Big Island for a significant period of time. Confusion arose because the particular checking account she used was at a Maui credit union and perhaps that address was used in her contribution to Mr. Jacobson's campaign. She asked Mr. Ashida to pass on the correction to Mr. Jacobson, and Mr. Ashida forwarded the series of emails to Mr. Jacobson along with Ms. Sharpless' request to make the record clear. He said he accepted her explanation as being reasonable and had no reason to doubt that this is what had occurred. The Chair asked whether there were any other ways to cross - reference Ms. Sharpless' residency, such as with voter registration information. Mr. Ashida said he could verify her voter registration information with the County's Elections Division and explained that it is standard practice, since his office works on filling all board and commission vacancies, to do a district verification check on each application that comes in. All applications are cross - checked with the Elections Division to ensure applicants are registered and live in the council district in which they vote. The Chair said that would satisfy him, and he was glad these checks and balances were in place. He felt the situation was serious, because if Ms. Sharpless were not a resident, a repercussion would be that they would have to go back and look at everything the Board had voted on since she became a member. The Chair stated he was also concerned about agendizing items. He had wanted Ms. Sharpless' resignation placed on the agenda under New Business so that the public would know the Board was discussing the issue and making efforts to resolve it. He asked what the policy is for Board members to place issues on the agenda. Mr. Ashida said there was no policy in place, so it was a good time to talk about it. He said he had instructed the Board's secretary not to put Ms. Sharpless' resignation letter on the in