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<br />At 4:10 p.m., Chairman Taniguchi called the Regular Session back to order. <br /> <br />Chairman Taniguchi noted that the Commission, having received and examined <br />applications, having gone through two rounds of interviews, having received and read <br />numerous written testimony, having received verbal testimony, the Commission is <br />prepared to move towards a vote for the next Fire Chief of Hawai‘i County. <br /> <br />Chairman Taniguchi thanked the candidates that came forward for being willing and <br />for having the courage to go through this very trying and difficult process. He also <br />recognized the spouses of each candidate as well as their family, their friends and <br />supporters. <br /> <br />Chairman Taniguchi also acknowledged and thanked Commission Secretary Jennifer <br />Kualii for keeping the Commission organized and on track as well as Corporation <br />Counsel Lincoln Ashida and Martha Rodillas for providing guidance relative to the <br />legal basis of deliberations and proceedings and lastly, his fellow Commissioners for <br />taking time away from families and away from places of employment to participate in <br />this process. <br /> <br />Chairman Taniguchi stated that while he does not know if the Commission will agree <br />entirely on a single candidate today, what he does know is that the Commission <br />agreed that all four candidates are very, very well qualified and the Commission is <br />extremely proud and pleased that the County of Hawai‘i Fire Department was able to <br />produce four viable candidates for the Commission’s consideration. <br /> <br />Chairman Taniguchi announced the Commission has decided to use a secret ballot <br />method of voting; essentially what that entailed is that each Commissioner would be <br />given a ballot with the names of the four candidates on it. He stated the <br />Commissioners would then be asked to check the name of their candidate they would <br />like to see promoted to the position or rank of Fire Chief for Hawai‘i County as well as <br />sign the ballot. At the end of the procedure, Commission Secretary Jennifer Kualii <br />would be asked to collect the ballots and officially read the vote of each <br />Commissioner into the official record of today’s proceedings. Chairman Taniguchi <br />stated one of the reasons why the Commission elected to go with this method of vet <br />voting, as opposed to roll call, open voting is, the Commission didn’t want to put any <br />undue pressure on any Commissioner during a roll call, verbal vote. He stated all <br />Commissioners would be voting at the same time, all Commissioners would be voting <br />privately and each Commissioner does not know how each one will vote. <br /> <br />Chairman Taniguchi noted that once the votes are read into the record, if the <br />Commission does not have a clear majority of votes, the Commission has agreed to <br />return into Executive Session to continue deliberations. If, at the end of the <br />Commission’s vote the Commission has a clear majority, that individual would then <br />be named or appointed to the position of Fire Chief- Elect as the official act of the <br />Fire Commission. <br /> <br />Chairman Taniguchi asked the Commissioners to be mindful of each other, that no <br />matter what, all candidates are all part of the same Hawai‘i County Fire family and <br />should be afforded and treated as such. <br /> <br />3 <br /> <br />