1999-02-20 Charter Commission Minutes

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INTRODUCTION OF COMMISSIONERSPage 3 of 29 sort of sabotage the orderly proceeding of government. So you shouldn’t be intimidated by it, but it is the law. The penalties are, conceivably, though I’ve never known anyone to be prosecuted for it, subject to, it’s a misdemeanor. There are criminal penalties. The exceptions: Some of these exceptions are new, relatively new, and they were put in as sort of a utilization of the law because of the hardships of the original form of the law put on doing business. There is one for emergency meetings, which I doubt if you’ll ever use, but it’s there, if there’s an imminent peril to the public’s health, safety or welfare. There are others. One is to consider and evaluate personal information relating to individuals applying for licenses, that doesn’t apply to you. To consider hiring, evaluation, dismissal or discipline of an officer or an employee, which may or may not apply. I don’t know if whether arrangements have been made or whether there will be staff retained by you. To consult with the board’s attorneys on questions and issues pertaining to the powers, duties, privileges, immunities and liabilities – that is most commonly used when there is a law suit filed. We hope that doesn’t happen. It’s sometimes misused, not to my knowledge in this County, but I’ve seen it misused at the State level in particular, where Boards think that if they go into their back room with their attorneys that they can do anything that they want, and I recommend against that. Here’s one: To consider matters relating to the acceptance of private donations. That probably won’t apply. And there is a prohibition against "chance meetings". So, beware of that. "No chance meeting shall be used to circumvent the spirit or requirements of this party". A new section that was put in in 1996, and some of you may not be fully aware of it, "92-2.5. Permitted Interactions of Members. A. Two members of a Board may communicate or interact privately between themselves to gather information from eachother about official matters to enable to perform their duties faithfully so long (and this is the important point) as no commitment to vote is made or sought." So, two of you on your way home to Kohala or wherever can talk about Board business, but be very careful about promising your vote. B. Two or more members of a Board but less than a quorum, may be assigned to investigate matters relating to board business providing that the scope of each members’ authority is defined at the meeting of the Board, all resulting findings and recommendations are presented to the Board at a meeting of the Board and deliberation is held at the Board. That provides that should a particular matter come before you and you want to appoint some kind of a sub-committee, or study group to go out and gather facts, that’s permitted. Discussions between two or more members of the Board, but less than a quorum is permitted, concerning the selection of Board’s officers. And the rest don’t seem to apply. So two of you can talk about Board business, no more than two. A group of more than that but less than a quorum can be assigned to go out and gather facts and come back with a report. Those are the two most, I think, probable exceptions that you might wish to take advantages. SANTANGELO: So if four of us end up in the same place having lunch, that’s cool? WURDEMAN: But you got to be careful about discussing Board business. I’ll try and put everything together and get it to you through Rudy. Questions will come up, people will come before you, and I’m confident, allege violations. When they do, you should consult with myself or a member of my department or whatever attorneys might be assigned to you. Don’t be intimidated by this and be careful about, I know there’s people who are here who have been on the Council who know that there are people who come in and make wild allegations about Sunshine Law violations, normally without substance. But sometimes they become intimidating and really, the important thing is that you do your duty and don’t let some of these people who have more leisure time than the rest of us do to come to meetings disrupt you. Any questions on that? Okay, the third is Rules of Procedure. There are Rules of file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 2-20-99.html7/1/2011