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members enjoy the attorney - client privilege with him as long as it is about privileged legal <br />matters. <br />The Chair again stated that he does not want Board members forwarding their personal <br />perceptions on specific situations to the rest of the Board members. <br />The Chair said he had exhausted his questions and moved toward discussion of the Ethics <br />Guide. <br />Ms. Lum said she did not have time to go over the whole guide again, but she kept <br />finding little things to be corrected. She asked Mr. Ashida about the "Applicability" section on <br />page 2 and whether he had communicated with the Council about making the Charter consistent <br />with the Code in terms of who needs to complete financial disclosure forms. Mr. Ashida said <br />yes, that Pete Hoffmann had introduced a bill per the Board's request to amend that portion of <br />the Code of Ethics so that members of boards or commissions with only advisory powers and <br />functions would be exempt from filing financial disclosures. <br />Mr. Ashida further explained that members of an advisory board or commission which <br />was created by the County Code did not have to file financial disclosures. However, members of <br />an advisory board or commission which was created by the County Charter would have to file <br />financial disclosures. This was inconsistent and did not make sense, so the Council was asked to <br />introduce legislation to change this. The bill went through its first reading a couple of weeks ago <br />and is scheduled for a full Council meeting next Wednesday in Kona. Some of the Council <br />members, however, expressed the sentiment that the proposed bill is not a good idea. They felt <br />that everyone should file financial disclosures, including members of advisory boards and <br />commissions. Mr. Ashida expressed concern that as a part of the government, there was a need <br />to balance the need to collect personal information about people versus the need for that <br />information. He had told the Council that as government, they should not collect personal <br />information just because they can. There needs to be a reason to collect the information. There <br />are board members who make substantial decisions and therefore should file financial <br />disclosures. This is not necessarily true with advisory commissions. However, since some <br />Council members seem to want all board and commission members to file financial disclosures, <br />it is possible the bill may morph into one requiring that. <br />Ms. Lum said that the wording in the "Applicability" section of the guide, then, should <br />remain the way it is. Mr. Ashida said the bill would probably get resolved in a month or so. <br />Ms. Lum asked that on page 2 of the guide, under "Gifts," the word "circumstances" be <br />changed to "circumstance" and the words "be reasonably" changed to "reasonably be." She said <br />that was as far as she got in her review. <br />The Chair asked whether the content of the guide was what they wanted. Ms. Lum said <br />she wished it could be in simpler language but did not see a way to do so. She said that if the <br />guide is to have respect, the language needs to be as well done as they could do it. The Chair <br />said he wanted to get moving on the guide and felt the content is excellent and that it would <br />serve as a great guide. He would support a motion to accept the guide and proceed to getting the <br />Mayor's approval. <br />31 <br />