MIN CHARTER 2018-09-14 (2018-2020)

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Hawai`i County Charter Commission -3 September 14, 2018 So we like our Charter. It helps us do our job. The only thing that I would recommend changing is to, a minor name change from "Office of the Legislative Auditor" to Audit of the, ah, excuse me, "Office of the County Auditor", and also to change the Auditor's title from "legislative auditor" to "County auditor". The reason that we are suggesting that change is, we have been an independent office since 2008 and we are responsible for auditing all County agencies, not just the legislative side. As I said, you know, we audit the County as a whole. There may be a miscommunication that we only audit the legislative side and GAO (Government Accountability Office) recommends that all matters related to audits, auditors, and the audit organization be independent. So, and then finally, is the other two County audit offices, both Kauai and Maui are "Office of the County Auditor", while Honolulu City and County Auditor is "The Office of the City Auditor". So in summary, the reason we are requesting the name change is to better define who we are, clarify the independence of our office so our results are not questioned, and bring us in line with the other County offices in the State. So that's all I have. If anybody has any questions. CHR. ADAMS: Thanks Auditor Nims. Any questions or comments? Yes, Commissioner Todd. MS. TODD: Good afternoon. I served as the Auditor at one time and one provision which bothered me back then and which bothered me when I was on the Council is Section 3-16, which is the mandatory program review. Which says "once every four years the Council shall critically review every program supported wholly or partially by County funds and unless the Council shall favorably authorize its continuation, program shall be terminated." Anyway, essentially that has always been a question of whether that has actually occurred. The Council through its rules has basically said that the budget review is in fact the mandatory program review, and part of the problem is, is that if you were to actually try and critically do essentially what this calls for, which is basically a program audit of every program supported by County funds, one there is no definition of what is or is not a program, and two, you don't have the staff to do that. MS. NIMS: Correct. Page 28