2017-09-27 Environmental Management Commission Minutes

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in the Code, in the Charter, or even Case Law saying that a body like this has the type of authority to go and issue a letter that hasn’t been peer reviewed, that hasn’t have the support of the Director to have a letter go directly to the State Department of Health.” Therefore, the Commission cannot use the County letterhead when writing the letter to Dr. Pressler, nor can they tell the Director to send the letter on their behalf. However, the Director is free to do so if he wants. o Commissioner Bennett moved to redirect the letter and have it addressed to Director Kucharski instead of Dr. Pressler. Commission Chair Fritz seconded, and it carried unanimously. o Commission Chair Fritz expressed his appreciation for Corporation Counsel’s comments and stated “perhaps we overstepped an invisible line, and we are corrected.” o Commissioner Bennett offered a point of clarification that “on two occasions, in the record, I asked Corporation Counsel point blank is there any reason why we cannot do this. And the answer from Ms. Schoen was no. At the subsequent meeting I believe it was another of your officers I asked the same thing, is there any law, and the answer was no.” Therefore the Commission proceeded with the letter only to find out through a memo that it wasn’t allowed. Commissioner Bennett took offense to the nature of the letter “that was threatening and bullying. Threatening with criminal sanctions, jail and fines.” A letter with Corporation Counsel Kamelamela’s explanation today would have been sufficient. Corporation Counsel Kamelamela apologized if Commissioners perceived the letter as threatening. The intent was to notify the Commission of what the consequences are if they continued with the letter to Dr. Pressler. o Commissioner Olson stated “when I voted for your motion I did say that I thought it was probably overstepping what our authority actually was. We’re appointed by the Mayor, confirmed by the Council, and that’s the agencies that we serve aside from representing the public.” b. Review rules regarding approval of minutes o Deputy Corporation Counsel Wong informed the Commission that starting in July 2018 there will be and update to the Sunshine Law. Minutes can be done the way they currently are handled or do a recording with time stamps, upload it to the website and write a short summary of the meeting. Members of the public can go to the website, look at the summary and see the time each agenda item discussion started and locate that timeframe on the recording. o Commissioners liked the idea of audio recording, but would still like to continue with the written minutes that are currently done. c. Memos from Deputy Corporation Counsel Keyra Wong regarding powers and duties of the Hawai‘i County Environmental Management Commission under the Hawai‘i County Charter and Hawai‘i County Code o Deputy Corporation Counsel Wong clarified that her client is the Commission and also the Department. Commissioners may contact her at any time for legal advice as it pertains to their powers and duties as a Commissioner. 7. REPORTS/CORRESPONDENCE: a. Director’s Report (attached to original minutes): o Format has changed a bit, now has a section which answers questions that were brought up in the previous month’s meeting. o Business Services Hawaii is another metal salvage facility on the east side. o Puakō Transfer Station issue with the Contractor showing up late is being addressed. Invoicing will reflect the correct time. 5