MIN CHARTER 2018-10-12 (2018-2020)

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Hawai`i County Charter Commission -4 October 12, 2018 CHR. ADAMS: If I may, I had Commissioner Hopkins here first. MR. HOPKINS: I had a question on there and I won't give the specifics on it. But there have basically been suggestions made around part of the things here that essentially would be we just strike part of the Charter okay? And I am not going to even talk about what sections, but what happens if we just strike that part of the Charter? What happens to those functions that were being talked about there? Do they just revert to the general—do we have to talk about where those functions go now or we can just sit there just strike it and let County Council and the Mayor figure out how they are going to deal with it afterwards? Because I can't bring up exactly what was said because it is not on the agenda the way that I look at it. We actually had somebody suggest, if you look at the implication of one of the testimonies today basically means we strike part of the Charter you know, regarding a particular function that is being discussed in the Charter today. MR. HENRICKS: I think that would be part of your discussions with legal counsel here and perhaps even the affected department to say if you remove something, does it need to be replaced with anything? I mean different situations may require different responses to that but, so without specifics it is hard to say whether or not it needs to be... MR. HOPKINS: Yeah, well I don't know. I can give you the specifics but I don't know whether I can because... MR. HENRICKS: If it was testified on today, it is probably ripe for discussion. CHR. ADAMS: If it was brought up by public testimony, you can reference the public testimony. MR. HOPKINS: Okay. Well, then thank you for that. CHR. ADAMS: I mean that's my understanding. MR. HOPKINS: I am just trying to be careful. CHR. ADAMS: Okay, one second. Let me just ask our counsel. MR. MASUDA: Yes that's... Hi. Yes, that's correct. If it was brought up, it's on today's agenda, it is fair game. Also, what you also have to be concerned about when you are just striking something is does that language—is that enabling language? Does that language authorize the department to function a certain way? That does not necessarily eliminate the department depending on what particular language you are talking about. Page 32