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Transcript of Meeting of April 29, 2000Page 4 of 64
<br />PRANKE: My name is Del Pranke. I live in Pahoa. I’m really sorry you made that last statement, Mr.
<br />Ray, because those of us who don’t understand what’s going on have made an effort to understand, and
<br />sometimes the legalities are not that easy for non-lawyers to understand, but some of us have made an
<br />attempt to understand.
<br />RAY: I agree with you, Del. I was on the Council that voted to delete this in the last Charter
<br />Amendment and I, obviously, didn’t understand at that time, and that was my direct responsibility.
<br />PRANKE: I know. You just made a statement. I understand. That’s not the problem. A lot of us don’t.
<br />The way I see number 10 and number 14, in essence, the Planning Board of Appeals would no longer
<br />have any power because under the Corporation Counsel they would just be a mouth piece for the Mayor,
<br />and the Planning Commission powers, as I see, giving them the force and effect of law for Special
<br />Management Areas is going to reduce their protection for our shoreline. But that’s neither here nor there.
<br />I wanted to talk about several of these items that you have here. I tend to agree with Sandra concerning
<br />her testimony, but I also want to suggest that one way to help the folks on the West side might be to
<br />change your situation with the County Managing Director to provide for two County Managing
<br />Directors, one for each side of the island. Everybody talks about two Mayors. Maybe we don’t need two
<br />Mayors. Maybe we need two Planning Directors.
<br />RAY: Planning Directors or Managers?
<br />PRANKE: I’m sorry, Managing Directors. Excuse me. County Managing Director. One for each side of
<br />the island, because if you look in the Charter, many of the important parts of the County government
<br />come under the Managing Director. He’s still responsible to the Mayor, but that’s a possibility.
<br />I’m against number 13, Special Counsel. If the Corporation Counsel has a conflict of interest, then
<br />having them appoint an attorney is a conflict of interest. The County Council should appoint -
<br />Somebody needs to appoint a special counsel, and they have the authority to do that. If the Corporation
<br />Counsel has a conflict of interest, and God knows, they seldom know when they do, if they have a
<br />conflict of interest, they should not be appointing an attorney to handle a situation where they have a
<br />conflict of interest. Any law firm in the country would be disbarred for doing such a thing. Corporation
<br />Counsel, especially in this Administration, has gotten away with a lot of stuff that lawyers should be
<br />disbarred for. So, I’m against having the Special Counsel be appointed by the Corporation Counsel.
<br />As I’ve said, I’m also opposed to having the Board of Appeals moved to the Office of the Corporation
<br />Counsel. As I’ve talked to you before, the Board of Appeals is an oversight committee. Now, Mr. Yuen,
<br />you just went through this and, being a lawyer, you had an advantage. You were able to go to court and
<br />argue because the Board of Appeals, a politically appointed Commission, failed to follow the law. You
<br />had to go to court to make them follow the law. Most citizens, or some of us, don’t have the wherewith
<br />all, or the ability, to argue that in court. The Board of Appeals is an oversight committee, and like the
<br />Police Commission, like the Ethics Board, they should not be under the Mayor. They should come under
<br />the Council, and the Council should appoint one member from each district for each of those
<br />Commissions; the Police Commission, the Ethics Commission, and the Board of Appeals - it should be
<br />called the Commission of Appeals, as we talked about before, should be appointed by the Council
<br />members. It’s an oversight committee. It’s an oversight situation where they’re supposed to overview,
<br />for the citizens, what the Administration is doing. Remember, most of the times we have Mayors who
<br />have not been elected by a majority of the people, and someone with a minority of the vote should not
<br />have control over a majority without some kinds of checks and balances. And the checks and balances
<br />are these oversight boards. The Police Commission, the Ethics Board and, at least, the Planning Board of
<br />Appeals should all be oversight Commissions placed under the County Council with the Council
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