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• Commissions might be a helpful change. RAY: Okay. Any other questions for Mr. Graham? All right, thank you very much, Bill. Our next speaker is Lesley Patton. PATTON: Good evening. I didn't bring anything formally prepared but I do share some of the concerns of Bill Graham and there's sort of three or four that form a circular pattern. You could get in at any point in the circle and I'll start off with the Planning Commission and the Water Commission. I have a strong personal preference to see these Commissioners elected. We live in a state in which there is not an actual local government and State and County are it. And as a part of the United States, this sits funny with me that the average citizen in their own community doesn't have more actual input into the decision making process. And both the Planning Commission and the Water Commission are pretty sensitive Commissions right now. Their decisions can have some very far reaching and controversial results so I personally would favor having those be elected. The discussion that you just completed about the Planning Commission, and maybe this one body is overworked. Again, this is a function that local government could cover if we had it but that's an issue that has to be decided at a state level, whether we can have local government. And that brings up to me, the issue you mentioned of having perhaps, considering the issue of neighborhood boards and I've been here 18 years now and I keep watching the news and reading the newspapers to see how the neighborhood boards work, on Oahu in particular, and they don't satisfy me in a sense of full participation inasmuch, to my understanding, as they advise. They do the legwork for the Council, to make it possible to continue with county government rather than local government. And then, they can reach their decision, their recommendation but it can be overturned by the Council and so that doesn't feel like full democracy to me and I would not like to see neighborhood boards started on this island because I have a feeling that if they get started then there's not much momentum or chance for it to actually proceed to incorporated townships or cities. And I really feel that the differences between Hilo and Kona need to be addressed by the citizens of those respective communities. And up in Kohala where I'm from, we have an entirely different viewpoint, even from what's going on here in Waimea. Our communities shared some similarities in the past but increasingly we're moving in different directions and we don't yet have a governmental mechanism for dealing with that so I would not wish to have neighborhood boards on this island. And that also ties into the issue that was raised about Mayor or County Manager.