CHC 1979-04-10 - Laserfiche WebLink

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We think he did a very fine job and it has served the county well. There are some items that have come up over the years that possibly could be improved on and that is what we are here to talk to you about today. The language of the issues that we will be bringing up, we feel, is left to your discretion and counsel in putting it together. Therefore, we have come in with an outline of ideas that we feel you should be looking at and the language could be written later should you so choose to adopt those positions. The first six articles in our outline state: That the county council shall consist of nine members. That one member be elected from each of nine districts. There would be no councilmen at-large. That terms of the office of council- man be for four years. That the four year terms be staggered and set up on the same basis as that which the Con Con set up for the Hawaii State Senate in 1978. That the nine districts be reapportioned following the _1980 census and that every eighth year, thereafter, Shall- be _reapportionment years. And that there will be interim appointments when a councilman is unable to carry out his duties as a representative to that council . The next item, Item No. 7, refers to Article X of the Charter. That there be a balanced budget. Article No. 8 would be new to the charter and would have to be incorporated therein. That the property tax and if you will , strike out(any piece) and add--on residential property--must not exceed 1% of its assessed value wi i s assessed value not to increase more than 2% per year except : ,. that when the property is sold the assessed value goes to the fair market value. Add in, also, commercial and industrial properties should be under separate const era ion or axing urposes. Item No. 9 is also new and would be written into the charter. That a provision for a "Sunset" law be incorporated into the County Charter. And, No. 10 which comes under various headings in various language in the charter: That all agency--and I address the word "all" agency and department head appointments and removals be ratified by the county council. Gentlemen, those are the ten basic items that we feel could improve the charter to make it more helpful to the people of the County of Hawaii . A county that is growing very rapidly. West Hawaii , apparently, a little more but I am sure that we have allsee_n the growth in East Hawaii and South and North, as well. There are four additional items that we do not have on this (outline) that we have not considered but I would like to bring to your attention today and we will be probably presenting our positions on those at the open hearings which you will be conducting around the island. - 13 -