2006-09-11 Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission Minutes (Kona Mtg)

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Ms. Garovoy stated she wondered about the fact that in (c) there's a strike through at (c) (1) however there was no section (d) with an entire strike through; things like that she felt could be interpreted in a number of ways. Ms. Garovoy stated what would be helpful for Debbie and her group was if the County could share the legal authority or the case law they used to give them a level playing field where they could share the case law with an attorney (if they get one.) Ms. Self stated that this was not a deliberate attempt to try and knock this down. Ms. Hecht stated she thought it was a little suspect that it was brought up a week before the ballot language was due, which was September 8, 2006. Ms. Hecht stated on Friday, at 4:30 p.m. which was the day that the ballot question was due from the County, this was the first they ever saw of the language deleting 214 -D. Ms. Hecht stated the other part that was deleted on the ballot question and submitted on the deadline day was the part where it stated, "If you agree, vote for. If you disagree, vote against." What also was deleted was, "(Notice: A ballot left "blank" on this question will not be counted as a "FOR" or "AGAINST" or a "ballot cast ".)" Ms. Hecht stated it was like a shifting landscape. She also stated she had a naive notion that elected officials represent their constituents and help enable the will of the people and somewhere along the line, almost ten thousand people signing a petition was a pretty good indicator that's what people want to happen. Ms. Hecht stated she figured it out it was 12.7% of all registered voters in the County signed their petitions. Ms. Self stated she makes no representation for the Council and she doesn't represent them in this situation but she could say that no one in the Corporation Counsel office did anything deliberately. She was not sure what Connie told Ms. Hecht but legal interpretation was made by Lincoln Ashida, who spent an entire weekend researching this, and she's not sure about the timing issues or even when the deadlines were, but she does know that Lincoln was quite shocked that the section had been left out and that was the way it was submitted. Ms. Self stated that Ms. Hecht's suggestion of talking to the council members was a great idea. She stated she's not sure which ones were in favor and which ones weren't but she thought a lot of them were probably in favor of purchasing lands that this Commission has chosen and selected. Ms. Hecht stated the Council voted unanimously to override Connie Kiriu to give them certificate of sufficiency after she invalidated so many signatures for ridiculous reasons. She thought there was a fair amount of support from the Council for it. Ms. Self stated she couldn't speak on their behalf but she thought they were going to feel the same way about how this turned out. Ms. Hecht asked if the Council could override a ballot question. Ms. Self stated she didn't think they could override it. in