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<br />Chairman Taniguchi announced he is in receipt of written communication from <br />candidate Paul Paiva requesting the withdrawal his application for consideration. <br /> <br />STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS <br /> <br /> <br />Chairman Taniguchi also announced the Commission would be conducting two <br />venues for public testimony, open session and closed session. <br /> <br />Testimony of George Wood: <br /> <br />Good morning Mr. Chairman and members of the Fire Commission. Thank you for <br />this opportunity to testify this morning in support of the nomination of Deputy Chief <br />Glen Honda for the position of the Fire Chief. My name is Keoki Wood, I’m the <br />Livestock Operations Manager for Parker Ranch. I realize that there are several very <br />well qualified candidates for consideration for this extremely important position, <br />however, I would like to speak in support of Deputy Chief Honda for several reasons. <br />Deputy Chief Honda has already proven that he has the experience in performing his <br />fire fighting and life saving duties with the highest level of competency through his <br />many years of service in fire and rescue on Oahu and Hawai‘i island. I personally <br />have seen him in action on several brush fires and he has always maintained a calm <br />and professional demeanor. He demonstrates unique qualities that are only found in <br />exceptional leaders. He remains focused and organized, following chain of <br />command while addressing concerns for safety to his fire fighters, other participating <br />government agencies and the general public. All of this is done simultaneously while <br />attempting to minimize loss of property. As Caption, Honda was always on the <br />lookout for opportunities to train at higher levels and with other government agencies <br />at county, state and federal levels. This training was then brought back to the Hawai‘i <br />Fire Department as Honda was responsible for curriculum development and training <br />of fire recruits for several years. Honda has also shown his fiscal savvy as much of <br />his training was ----- with federal dollars. This is a good example for his ability to <br />reach out and find other creative sources of funding while improving the effectiveness <br />and efficiency of the department. In addition, he’s also developed outside contacts <br />through his training of terrorist attacks, hazard materials, explosives, disaster <br />preparedness, fire equipment design and purchase. In his current position of Deputy <br />Chief, Honda has overseen the construction of new fire stations, dealt with budgetary <br />concerns, established priorities for addressing public safety and coordinates tsunami <br />evacuations with county, state and federal agencies. In summary, Deputy Chief <br />Honda demonstrates excellent leadership skills through collaboration, fiscal <br />responsibility, extremely high integrity, respect for and from the rank and file with a <br />lifelong commitment of service to the community and public safety. Thank you for <br />this opportunity to testify in support of Deputy Chief Honda. <br /> <br />Chairman Taniguchi announced that due to the withdrawal of Mr. Paiva’s application, <br />the Commission would not be taking any testimony on his behalf. He also mentioned <br />all public testimony would be limited to a maximum of five (5) minutes. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />2 <br /> <br />