|
would say that not having something in there is like saying the County is not responsible for
<br />overseeing the environment. I am going to look at what he wrote, and I think the way he
<br />approached it was that it is regarding waste, or as proposed by a County ordinance, or as
<br />directed by the mayor. That would be another way of doing it. I put in something also trying
<br />to include the concept of sustainability. In part, I am really into that we should be looking into
<br />grants in aide, and if you have these words in there, like sustainability, that allows for a great
<br />deal more funding. I suggest that while some of that terminology may not seem important, in
<br />terms of our financial position, it gives you a platform in all of these grants; it is your stated
<br />position in the County in support of this.
<br />Lastly, (G) amends Article IX, Prosecuting Attorney, Section 9.3, Powers, Duties and
<br />Functions. One of the things that has come up is the whole idea of the Sunshine Law, and who
<br />enforces these laws, and how are they done. Let me start with (H); these are parallel provisions
<br />that amend Article VI, the Executive Branch, Section 5 -6.1, the Corporation Counsel. A lot of
<br />this is getting into conflict of interest and the trust of the people that the Sunshine Laws are
<br />really important, they are taken seriously, and they will be enforced. So, for the last one, (H),
<br />Corporation Counsel, I propose that there also be an associate Corporation Counsel, like the
<br />second in command. It allows that both of those positions be appointed, and that the associate
<br />would have primary responsibility for what goes on with the County Council. I think it's Maui
<br />that has a somewhat similar approach. When the Corporation Counsel spoke, which was quite
<br />a few months ago, I think it was Commissioner Jarman that brought up some of these conflicts,
<br />and the response of the Corporation Counsel was that he really didn't feel conflicted. I would
<br />hope that he is modifying that position.
<br />I'm going to give you one quick example. With the impact fee legislation the Council brought
<br />forth, which is development fees, not just the current tax payers should pay for that, but also
<br />that there should be some portion of the impact of off site facilities and infrastructure that
<br />should be carried by the developer. For instance, when Costco went in, we needed to do a new
<br />intersection at Queen Kaahumanu Highway. That cost $5.5 million dollars and Costco paid
<br />nothing because we didn't have any kind of impact fees in place. And it doesn't say the whole
<br />thing; it just says to allow for some portion to be placed on them.
<br />At the same time, the Corporation Counsel is representing our County in the Hokulia case, and
<br />if I was your Corporation Counsel on that, it gets into issues of the impact fees and the
<br />legitimacy of those, so I really felt there was a conflict there. It tends to come out that the
<br />Administration's position rules, and that hurts us, the public. I'm not going to spend more
<br />time, but I'd like you to look at these. They both encourage us to take the Sunshine Law
<br />seriously and we really want to encourage more trust. Right now there is not trust. These are
<br />some structural ways that it could be addressed. One of the things the Corporation Counsel
<br />said was that they really felt that there should be a new name for the second in command. I
<br />think they put deputy, but I thought associate, in order to separate those two; in order to have
<br />more sense of one being responsible for the policy group and the other for the rest. Those are
<br />my suggestions. If you want to just think about them, I'm offering them as ideas. You only
<br />meet every ten years, so I just want you to realize not to put things off, because it will be 10 to
<br />15 years when it will come up next. Thank you very much.
<br />IN
<br />
|