MIN CHC 2009-09-26 PH-Pahala.tif

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MR. ENRIQUES: Thank you very much for coming out here, and for volunteering for this stuff. Thank you. CHR. HAITSUKA: Next we have Mr. Bradley Westervelt. BRADLEY WESTERVELT (At this time Bradley Westervelt came forward to address members of the Charter Commission.) MR. WESTERVELT: Good morning. I wasn't planning on speaking but after hearing Guy speak, I thought I would come up here and thank you for the work you are doing, I like what I have read here. I just reviewed the nine amendments, and I have a couple of comments on number eight. But, first I want to say I am particularly pleased with number seven. This is a good progressive idea that we should base recall petitions on the number of voters that actually participate in our elections. That is a more fair way than counting the number of potential voters. Let's actually deal with things on the terms of the number of active voters. So, thank you for that. Number eight has me a bit confused. I don't actually know the purpose of this, and I know I'm not here to ask you questions about that, so I'm just going to comment. Removing the requirement that claims against the County be filed with the County Clerk and instead be filed with the Corporation Counsel, I can understand the efficiency in that because everything has to go to Corporation Counsel anyways; but there are a couple of related issues that have me concerned. This relates directly to the subject of transparency that was being discussed a moment ago. If someone from the public comes forward with a complaint against the County, this amendment would put the record - keeping on this out of the public eye, it would seem. If the complaint goes straight to Corporation Counsel, it could potentially die there, and never be viewed by the public. It goes on to say that the requirement for the annual report must be filed with the office of the Mayor instead of the County Clerk. Again, that seems to be odd, why would we want to put record - keeping anywhere but the County Clerk's office? The County Clerk is supposed to be the repository of all public records. If someone brings forth a complaint or a lawsuit, I would think the public would think to look there first, as opposed to going to Corporation Counsel or the office of the Mayor. So, I question the wisdom of this approach, and I'm curious as to what inspired this suggested change, but I'll research that at a later time. That's all, are there any questions? CHR. HAITSUKA: Are there any questions? CHR. HAITSUKA: Mr. Enriques. MR. ENRIQUES: I just wanted to make a comment just to remind you, if and when you need my help to move this four -year thing, I'd be happy to be part of the education process. Thank you. CHR. HAITSUKA: Thank you very much. There doesn't appear to be any other testifiers, and we will close this meeting at 9:42 a.m. Thank you. 0