2000-04-29 Charter Commission Minutes

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Transcript of Meeting of April 29, 2000Page 12 of 64 Ray. Thank you for responding to us. I would like you all to know that we really and truly have a lot of activity in Kailua now. You said if the people would get together. CERG has a hundred members now and is growing every day. We are here not to be under your skin, or under the skin of government, so much as we are here to insist on good government. We’re going to be under everybody’s skin until we get it. I think all of you got some petitions sometime back from Patty Kealoha, and basically I won’t go repeat what everyone else here has said this morning. But I would like you to remember that you did get petitions from CERG and what those petitions have stated, and I thank you for your attention. RAY: Thanks Pete. You brought up this back - I just can’t resist speaking to this again, this requirement in regard to changing the job criteria for the Head of the Public Works Department, Water Department; eliminating the certified engineer. I spoke very strongly in favor of that, and really what’s behind that - And it was not the Administration at all. In fact, as I pointed out in that Letter to the Editor, that the Administrative response has been pretty much entirely opposed to that. But it was really that those types of jobs are really more administrative in nature, and that we needed someone with a strong administrative background. If you look at who runs business and corporations in America, it’s people with the strong administrative backgrounds, with the business backgrounds. And I discussed this with a number of folks that function in those positions, not only Hawaii but elsewhere, and they, pretty much, philosophically agree with me in terms of the nature of the job. So we weren’t trying to dilute the professional credentials, but in order to get away from, sort of, a cookie cutter engineering approach vs. a wider skill set managerial type of outlook. But I think, because of your reaction and most everybody’s, that’s something that we’re going to pull. But anyway, I just wanted to explain where I was coming from. Okay, Marshall. I’m sorry, how do you pronounce your last name? BLANN: Blann, and I’m from Holualoa and I have just a few comments. That is, I would hope that anytime the Charter gets revised, be it by referendum or by this committee every ten years, that the goal be to make the elected officials more accountable to the citizens, rather than less accountable and a lot more insulated and more prone to abuse. That was a polite certain locution. I hope that’s all right. I think that we want the appointed officials be made, if anything, more competent and not less competent, or in some cases, I think our feeling has been incompetent. And then in regards to impeachment, I’d like to see the 100 signature requirement left. This has not been abused. If anything, I think, it’s been under-utilized. I’d like to see the referendum and recall numbers reduced. I think, for referendum it’s 20% and I think that’s nearly impossible to get that number of signatures the way people are spread around the island. I think having the members at-large makes it more difficult for the citizens to have their feelings and voices heard. I think that’s not what we want in government. My personal choice would be, as Mr. Martin has suggested in the last minutes of this meeting that I read, that the cities be allowed to incorporate on the island. That may not be something that you’re able to do. This island is growing very rapidly and we’ve seen it’s difficult for people in Hilo who really refuse to even drive over to the other side to see the site which is involved in some dispute or issue, make the decisions. It’s better that each community be able to have their own Boards for zoning, their own budgets from their own tax base as a part of the total tax take, so that they can make those decisions more wisely. So my first choice would be to permit cities to incorporate as they wish, and communities on the island. If that’s not possible, my next choice would be a professional County Manager form of government. I file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 04-29-00.html7/1/2011