Laserfiche WebLink
Next is Communication 42, which is term limits for the Council Members. I know there has <br />been a lot of discussion on this. Life as a council member is not designed to be easy. It's not <br />designed to be hard, but it's not designed to be easy. It is our job, our duty, to perform for <br />the public and the constituents of our districts. I do not support four -year terms. I think that <br />when a person comes into the Council office, they need to be able to prove themselves to <br />their constituents that they are doing the job that the constituents hired them for. I believe <br />that two -year terms do that. It keeps the Council Member on their toes at all times, <br />responding to the needs of their constituents. If they don't, they are going to be out of the <br />job. There might be the possibility of a compromise here. We could start off by having a <br />Council Member run for a two -year term, and their second term, they could run for a four - <br />year term. So, a total of six years consecutively, and then they would have to step down. <br />The first two years, they are going to have to prove themselves to their constituents, or they <br />cannot get the four -year term. It is difficult to run an election. We have to do it every other <br />year, and yes, it takes time, a great deal of time. I guess there are some Council Members <br />that can do it during the daytime, but I was never able to do my job and be a Council <br />Member. I had to do my campaigning mostly on personal time, and it's tough. I admit, it's <br />tough to do it every other year. But, it's not about whether it is tough for the Council <br />Member; it's about what is best for the public. In my opinion two -year terms are best for the <br />public. <br />If you did go to a two -year, four -year scenario, then if the Council Member is not doing their <br />job, then they can go to the recall or impeachment process depending on what the issue is. <br />Those two processes, even though they are being vastly improved by the suggestions of Ms. <br />Hecht, they are still very onerous for the public. That is the reason that I support the two - <br />year terms. It doesn't cost the public anything more to have an election every two years. <br />Then if the person is not behaving themselves in some way or not doing what they <br />campaigned to do, then the public can go to the impeachment and or recall process; but they <br />are very onerous. I think our primary function is to make it easy on the voters to get the kind <br />of person they want on the Council for their district. <br />I would like to now go to Communication 43, Public Notice of Council Meetings. We have a <br />State law that says we are supposed to provide public notice of our agenda six calendar days <br />before the meeting. We are all aware of what's been going on in the past few months, but the <br />problems that we're facing have been going on for a long time. Fortunately we now have the <br />internet and a lot of people have access to it and it makes it easier. I think it is important that <br />we adhere to this law of six calendar days. However, with that said, the close of business for <br />the County by Mayoral directive is 4:30 p.m. The community at large should be able to get <br />their hands on that agenda by 4:30 p.m. on the sixth calendar before that meeting takes place. <br />By public access, not only should it be prior to - -or no later than -4:30 p.m. on that day, but <br />there should be some changes made on how we do it. First of all, since this is the Legislative <br />Branch, public notice should be physically posted outside the building where the County <br />Clerk resides. It shouldn't be locked up behind two sets of locked doors, over weekends, <br />over holidays, and not posted on the internet as some of the other people have already <br />testified to. That's the first place it should be. It should also be posted at the main buildings <br />for the Mayor's office, wherever those buildings might be; there is one in Hilo and one in <br />20 <br />