2007-04-09 Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission Minutes

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Mr. Yada stated that the county funds are internally transferred from the real property tax fund to the special fund. Mr. Yada stated he wasn't totally familiar with the procedure, but was fairly certain that the funds would be allocated but not kept in a separate bank account. Whatever funds are distributed to that account is available. As the tax collections are made the 2% will be added to that line item. Ms. Self stated that the funds are allocated twice a year after the collection of the real property tax. The article states that funds shall consist of monies from 2% of real property tax values collected annually including penalties, and the next section states that each fiscal year the Council shall appropriate $250,000.00 to the fund. Another question posed to Ms. Springer was whether the Commissioners were allowed to submit nomination forms. She indicated that the Commissioners did not, but encouraged the public to participate. The follow up question was if there were circumstances in which the Commissioners must recuse themselves from voting on a nomination. Ms. Self stated that only if you have a personal monetary interest. Otherwise, nothing prevents the Commissioners from submitting the forms, but under the Code of Ethics, if you stand to gain personally, then you need to disclose that. Ms. Self said that since the Commission was created by Ordinance they do not fit the description of either an officer or employee and therefore may not be governed by the Code of Ethics in the Charter. This commission is advisory only. It still doesn't mean that they should not be aware of it. The administration would want everyone to follow this Code. Mr. Yung reported that only one person attended his meeting in Keaau, and one person attended his Hilo meeting. Mr. Flores conducted a meeting on April 4th at the Waimea Community Center from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., 12 people attended. He felt the lack of participation may have been because there was a lack of publicity about the meeting or an untimely listing of the meetings in the newspaper. He said that most people had attended because of an e -mail broadcast. Mr. Yada suggested that if it is practical, it may be wise to select one date on which to hold all meetings concurrently in separate locations. One of Mr. Gilmartin's meeting was slated for this evening, but the newspaper had neglected to print the location of the meeting, so he was not expecting much response. • Create a mailing database and a letter to members of public who previously submitted Suggestion Form, asking them to re- submit revised Suggestion Form. It was decided that a database be created in excel that includes the application date, first name, last name, address, city, state, zip code and email address. The deadline for