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ISBELL: My name is Virginia Isbell. I'm a resident of Kealakekua on the <br />Island of Hawaii, and I've lived here on the island for 40 years. I'd like to read a <br />prepared statement, if I may. <br />RAY: Sure. <br />ISBELL: First of all, I want to thank you for allowing us to be here today. <br />We have a General Membership Meeting, as you know, going on. <br />Aloha. My name is Virginia Isbell. I'm President of the Hawaii County League of <br />Women Voters. It is our pleasure to participate in this Charter Review Workshop. <br />The Hawaii County League is made up of two units: West Hawaii and East Hawaii. Are <br />you surprised? No. These units meet on a regular basis monthly with General <br />Membership meetings combining the two units, usually in Waimea. Today is our <br />calendared General Membership Meeting and we appreciate your allowing us to take <br />this time to present our united views. <br />It should also be noted that the League is nonpartisan and provides numerous services <br />to Community Associations for their annual meetings and issues. This includes <br />counting their ballots and providing a non-biased/neutral and credible body for <br />accurate results. <br />For the past year, the League of this County has been actively studying various issues <br />regarding this county and its Charter. We support the following: <br />1) We support Neighborhood Boards; <br />2) We support nonpartisan elections for Mayor and County Council. <br />3) We support Vote -by -mail provided there are strict safeguards to protect against <br />fraud. <br />The League has also discussed the Manager/Council form of government with the <br />Chair of the Council taking on the "rote" of Mayor at official functions and there was <br />general support; we did not have the opportunity to send out a ballot on that because <br />we needed more information, we felt. However, we did not go into in-depth. <br />The League did have lengthy discussions regarding a change in representative districts <br />which included single member districts with at -large members as well. There was <br />absolutely no support for that concept. All we did was get into why it's not good and <br />why we like the system the way it is, so there was no support at all. <br />We have, as our primary initiative, the creation of a comprehensive and informative <br />"Voter Information Pamphlet". Individual members of the League have selected an <br />12 <br />