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, HELENE H.HALE I,: `.' ;d S Councilwoman .)'. �MO P\ COUNTY COUNCIL County of Hawaii Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii 96720 REPORT TO CHARTER COMMISSION • AUGUST 1, 1989 This paper is on my behalf only. It does not represent the position that the council as a whole has taken as given to you by our Chair, Russell Kokubun. We are in the process of refining some other areas and these will be also given to you by Russell . 111 The reason I am so interested in your work is the first Charter Commission was under my administration as Chairman and Executive Officer in 1963 and I feel that I do have some valuable experience to pass on to you. Having operated under both the Board of Supervisors and the Council/Mayor system as has my former colleague Sherwood Greenwell I want to urge you to consider combining the best of both systems. Now that we have had 20 years of charter government you have a real opportunity to think broadly about your responsibilities . The first charter commission' s recommendations were not passed, and it took three elections to sell charter government to our people . So don' t be afraid or discouraged if you proposed something that doesn' t pass . You may be planting seeds that will sprout later . I believe that your job should be to present the best possible form of government to our people. If you are going to just tinker with our charter, it was not necessary to have you do all the work you are doing. Certainly the general public will never realize how much you have given to this process, and if you are just going to propose what incumbent politicians think, it is a waste of your time . At any time the council can agree on items to be changed they have the power to put them on the ballot without a commission. 463 EXHIBIT B 0 (3 pages)