CHC 1979-04-17 PH - Laserfiche WebLink

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MR. ISHIDA: Mr. Dahlberg. The general philosophy as far as the Charter Review Commission is con- cerned is that what we have heard from many people is that the County of Hawaii ' s Charter-,is a good document and basic- ally since it is good, the responsibility as far asthis commission is concerned is to determine whether any changes or any amendments should be made. I think the difficulty we have been having as far as the commission is concerned we are trying to get as much input as is possible from the citizens and from everybody who is connected with the county to guide us. To tell us what areas or what provisions should be changed or amended. My personal feeling is this, if we have such a good document and if there is no input being told to the commission then the document should stand as is. The thing is if there is no input, then there is nothing for us to decide, to even review. Consequently, if nobody gives us any positions for us to make revisions on then there is nothing for us to do. Because if we do it then we are passing our own judgment which I think is wrong. This is why we are going around to the districts to get this input. . If we go through all these public hearings and nobody tells .UsIthink you should do this or do that, I think we would find ourselves in a very difficult position. I do not, personally, wish to be placed in that position. Because if nobody tells me at this type of hearing what we should consider, what areas should be looked into, then I am going to take the presumption that since we do have a good document it should stand. I will vote for no changes. And that to me it would be useless for us to go out again. To me it is for us to determine-to get all the input and all the recommendations as to what areas we shall make changes. If after review of all this input then we would come up and make the proposed changes , then I think there is nothing we can go wrong on. I hate to see us wind up doing nothing. I think your position as far as getting the layman ' s views is good. There is no question but that I think it is also our responsibility to get views from public officials too. Not only elected officials like yourself, but I 'm talking about all of the administration. All of the county employees. Everybody. I think we should get the views from them because, one, they are the ones who will be working under the charter directly and are directly affected by it by day-to-day work. I think these people should tell us if they think one area is inconsistent with another and that we: should try to reconcile it. Unless we are told then we are going to have to go under the assumption that the document is a good one and that it can be operated under. I don ' t think it is up to us, the commission , to get among ourselves and revise or amend or make proposals as far as the charter is concerned and then send it out to the - 12 -