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power of a Mayor. And I think we feel that you have not dealt adequately with that <br />issue. And, in fact, the proposed changes in the Charter amplify that problem. I would <br />• hope that you would reconsider that. When we want representation of all the voters, we <br />need to have less Executive power at the top, more managerial expertise, and that's <br />why we would favor a stronger County Manager; one selected and elected by the <br />Council, not appointed by the Mayor. <br />We've reviewed carefully the proposed changes. Now, I haven't had time to read the <br />most recent language since I walked in the room, but assuming that the substance of <br />the proposals is much the same as it has been, there are, from our point of view, really <br />some major problems. And one of the major problems is the at -large Council <br />elections. We feel very strongly that this removes responsibility and accountability for <br />representatives to their local electorate. We want government that's responsible to the <br />citizenry, and the way we get that is by having locally elected representatives who <br />represent the diversity of interests in this island. We are not all the same. We do have <br />different interests and at -large elections have many disadvantages. One, they don't <br />represent any constituency, and two, to elect them requires a fair amount of money to <br />run an at -large election island -wide. This disadvantages minority candidates. It <br />disadvantages candidates who are not backed by special interests willing to contribute <br />substantial amounts of funds to a campaign. The last thing we want is for more special <br />interests to influence our politics on this island. So, we would really oppose at -large <br />elections for several reasons. One being they're very expensive and would likely <br />attract special interest money, but two, they don't really represent the local interests of <br />our diverse community. And three, of course, we fear that the majority electorate on <br />the East side will, in fact, gather three more votes on Council. We don't need that. <br />We really are very concerned about the delegation of authority from the Council, which <br />is elected by the people, to appointees by the Mayor, or appointees in departments. <br />We do not want to see delegated authority to those who are not accountable directly to <br />the people. Therefore, we oppose changing the Planning Department functions to <br />allow them to act without Council authority, on their own, and we certainly oppose the <br />Planning Commission being able to make decisions about planning, zoning, and the <br />like. This is very much contrary to making government accountable to people. So, I <br />really don't understand - I'II speak for myself, I don't understand how you could come to <br />these conclusions that this would make for better government in Hawaii. I think it <br />makes for worse government in Hawaii. <br />Finally, I would say that we want the qualifications of Department Heads to be <br />improved, not reduced.. And I haven't read the details, now, of what have been put <br />forward for the qualifications of Department Heads when you sought to reduce <br />engineering qualifications and substitute something else. But it seems to me that <br />we need better qualified people in government, not less qualified people in <br />government, so we would certainly oppose that. <br />So, if I may summarize quickly. It is that all of the moves the Commission is <br />2 <br />