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HAWAII COUNTY BOARD OF ETHICS <br />MINUTES — REGULAR SESSION' <br />Thursday, November 19, 2009 <br />10:05 a.m. — 11:08 a.m. <br />333 Kilauea Avenue, 2nd Floor <br />(County Council Chambers — Hilo) <br />Hilo, Hawaii 96720 <br />(and via videoconference at the Kona Council Office, <br />75 -5706 Hanama Place, Suite 109 <br />Kailua -Kona, Hawaii 96740 <br />Present: John E. K. Dill, Chair <br />Marilyn Nicholson, Member <br />Diane Gentry, Member <br />Renee N. C. Schoen, Deputy Corporation Counsel <br />Adrianne Heely, Maui Deputy Corporation Counsel <br />Mary E. Crosson, Secretary for the Board <br />Cathy Hall, Supervising Legal Clerk <br />Also present during portions: Del Pranke, Kevin Dayton, Levi <br />Hookano, Kenneth Goodenow, Lincoln Ashida, Brooks Bancroft, <br />Kevin Dayton, Jason Armstrong, Nancy Cook - Lauer, and others; <br />and Karen Eoff (via videoconference at Kona) <br />1. CALL TO ORDER <br />10:05 a.m. The Chair called the meeting to order and asked Karen Eoff, who was <br />present via videoconference at the Kona Council Office, if there were any members of the public <br />to testify from Kona. There were none. <br />2. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS <br />Del Pranke and Brian DeLima had signed up to testify. <br />Mr. Pranke testified that a conflict of interest exists in having the Corporation Counsel <br />represent County employees or officers before the Board of Ethics, as well as in other venues. <br />He said it was also a conflict for the Board members to review the Mayor's proposed changes to <br />the Ethics Code, since the advice they receive is from the Corporation Counsel, who was <br />selected by the Mayor. Mr. Pranke further stated that it was unfair in that taxpayers do not get <br />free representation by counsel. He said he applied to the Charter Commission to review this <br />matter. In addition, he said the Board of Ethics is incorrectly named a "board" when it should in <br />fact be called a "commission." He said the Board of Ethics is supposed to be independent of any <br />branch of government so that it can make decisions in an unbiased manner, and that the Board <br />1 Minutes in italics are verbatim. Blanks indicate inaudible or indecipherable speech. <br />