MIN CHARTER 2018-12-14 (2018-2020)

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Hawai`i County Charter Commission -6 December 14, 2018 There are some things that we could change and I would like to talk to you about that regarding the PONC fund. We would like to have a staff member be paid for by the County, I am sorry, by the PONC fund and to work in the finance department. Ms. Hecht I believe has the information and has supplied it to you or if not she will. So I oppose all the changes you are making except the ones we are making today for the staff member and in the future we are going to make some changes to the—recommend some changes to the maintenance fund. Do not take the money away. Do not reduce the money. We are trying to get people to take care of this. This is on Communication No. 21, so let me know when I get to my three minutes and I will go on to other things. No Mayor is above the law or below the ball. They are supposed to implement the law. That is why it is in the Charter. That's why the Council can't change it once the voters have passed it. We are trying to get people to take care of the land. There's no money being expended on any of these lands by the County. They don't have to maintain them. They can just leave them alone until some day we do have money or we find a committed group like Mr. Keoni talked about that wants to take care of the land. If we don't buy the lands now, they will be gone forever. There was an idea thrown out into the public that developers could take better care of the land than the County. Developers only want to make money and there's nothing wrong with making money, but not at the expense of the people's treasured lands. Alright, so, I am asking you to not do what you are trying to do. It is an appalling slap in the face to the people who have passed this legislation three times. So that is all my comments ori the PONC. On Communication No. 19, the legislative auditor, changing the name to County Auditor, is fine. I support that. By the way, I wrote that law too. Communication No. 23, four-year terms versus two-year terms, every Charter Commission tries to do this. One of the excuses given is it should be a four-year teen, is the Council members have to run every other year. An election is not about the comfort of a Council member. It is about the will of the people and their attempt to get the best Council member that they can get to do the job for the people. If you give Council members a four-year term, a bad Council member, a lazy Council member, even a Council member doing illegal things can cause a great deal of damage. But if they don't do their job every two years the community can vote thein out of office. If they have a four-year term we have to do recalls, we have to do impeachments, we have to do all kinds of expensive time consuming things. If it is two years, we get rid of them right away. So I oppose four-year terms as a Council member I know it is tough to run an election. I have done it five times. I know it is hard, but that is not what you should be looking at. It is not about the Council members. It is about the people and what is best for them and it is best for them to get a Council member who will work their butts off for them for two years and then two years, and two years. I served eight consecutive years. Page 9