2007-03-09 Investigation Into Alleged Sunshine Law Violations

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Printer Friendly :: Page 1 of 2 f West st Haw. I i•. '"Oda I♦ Print Page INews from the Big Island -t East side members exit costs taxpayers $186,000 by Jim Quirk West Hawaii Today jquirk @westhawaiitoday.com Friday, February 23, 2007 9:19 AM HST What appeared to be a political game orchestrated by the Hawaii County Council minority during Thursday's regular meeting has apparently cost Big Island taxpayers$186,000. Despite having a full slate of agenda items, many of which were bills that required two-thirds of favorable votes from the nine-member council to pass,four council members, including Puna's Emily Naeole and Hilo's J.Yoshimoto, Stacy Higa and Donald Ikeda, left the meeting early. Yoshimoto later said he left to attend another meeting in Hilo, but did not know the plans of other council members. He also did not believe early departures will be a recurring problem. Yoshimoto said Thursday's meeting was originally scheduled to start in morning,but was recently changed by Chairman Pete Hoffmann to 1:30 p.m.so Hoffmann could attend a speech at noon by Mayor Harry Kim. The foursome's premature departure prompted remaining council members--Hoffmann,Angel Pilago of North Kona, Bob Jacobson of South Hawaii, Brenda Ford of South Kona andDominic Yagong of Hamakua--to vote to postpone taking action on a number of agenda items. The most significant postponement was Bill 22,which was slated for its final reading.The bill, if approved,would have allowed the county to bond$2 million for a$9.3 million project to build a solid waste reload facility near Hilo's existing solid waste transfer station. The project has been in the works for years,according to Pilago and Hoffmann,and prior delays have already caused its cost to inflate. Early in the meeting when all council members were present, Mayor Harry Kim reported that if Bill 22 weren't approved by the council in 24 hours, Isemoto Construction,the firm slated to build the facility,would be forced to increase the cost by another$186,000. Not long after Kim's revelation, Naeole,Yoshimoto and Higa excused themselves from the meeting. Ikeda stayed a little longer,and was there to vote on a handful of resolutions early in the meeting, but then he left too. Bills considered capital improvement budget items,such as Bill 22, require at least two-thirds of the council to vote in favor of them to pass. Pilago categorized the absence of his four peers as"unfortunate." "I would think they should be here,"he said. In regard to the perception that council members left to make a political statement,Yoshimoto said, "It's amazing how things can get blown out of proportion." Some of the other bills postponed because of the apparent political game include a$1 million project to build a new emergency shelter in West Hawaii and a$10 million project to build a connector road from Laiopua to Kealakehe schools. The bills for those projects are still in their first readings. Pilago said the road project is very important and urged residents affected by the delay in the project to contact the excused council members"and urge them to vote." Yagong said near the end of the meeting that he wants to give the excused council members the benefit of doubt,and was hopeful all four had legitimate reasons for leaving early. http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2007/02/23/local/locaIO3.prt 3/7/2007