2012-08-08 Board of Ethics minutes

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take care of the problem. She asked how Mr. Yagong could have taken care of it if she were to ask him for help. The unidentified woman again interrupted the proceedings to say that everything being read into the record was hearsay, and that Mr. Dill was asking for hearsay from Mr. Yagong. Mr. Dill told her that if she spoke out of turn again, he will ask her to remove herself from the meeting. Ms. Napeahi asked how approaching Mr. Yagong could have helped with her complaint, and what that had to do with it. She asked how it had anything to do with her complaint about Fresh Onishi and Donald Ikeda. She asked whether Mr. Yagong could have done anything for her. She was told to complain to the Board of Ethics. She was trying to find out the process to complain, and the only thing she was given was the Ethics Code. So she was going on that, because that’s what the Board of Ethics gave her. She asked what that had to do with making a decision to help her. She is requesting help about two members of the council. What relevance does contacting Mr. Yagong have to do with the complaints she has? Mr. Dill said he was trying to say that the Ethics Code which the Board oversees and tries to enforce is lacking in the area she is complaining about. He was trying to find a different avenue she could take to actually get some traction and an official ruling so there would be some teeth regarding attendance at council meetings. Ms. Napeahi asked if she should go to Dominic Yagong, and Mr. Dill said that would be his recommendation. Ms. Napeahi again asked how Mr. Yagong could help her, and Mr. Dill said he does not know. He said she had valid issues in her petition and that he wished there was something in the Code that could apply to her petition. However, there is nothing in the Code about attendance and voting records. All he was doing was offering the suggestion that perhaps Mr. Yagong could do something about it, because of his leadership over the council. Ms. Napeahi again asked how Mr. Yagong could help her, and then turned to Ms. Schoen with her question. Ms. Schoen said that to make the record clear, today’s proceeding is an initial review of the complaint. The Board’s job today is to review the complaint to see if it complies with the rules and then determine whether it wanted to proceed on the petition via an informal hearing or dismiss it for lack of jurisdiction. That was what the Board was to decide today. Mr. Dill asked whether he should even make a recommendation, and Ms. Schoen said the issue is whether the Board has jurisdiction over the matter. Ms. Napeahi said she read the whole Code of Ethics and questioned who came up with it, because if anybody has a complaint they can only go by what is written in the Code.