HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0044.098 2020-2022 3
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From: Wayne Hemby
Sent: Friday, January 15, 2021 10:57 AM
To: Council Testimony
Subject: Planning Committee Meeting - Comm.44
Honorable Council Members,
Please accept this email as testimony for the Tuesday,January 19, 2021 Council meeting regarding the appointment 40r$.
confirmation of Zendo Kern as County Planning Director.
I am firmly against the appointment and confirmation of Zendo Kern. This should have been a quick and simple matter but as
with all things Zendo, it has become complicated,drawn out and tedious. Zendo Kern does not have the qualifications required
by Section 6.7.2 of the Hawaii County Charter. His application should have never made the final cut for nominations because
he has neither the educational requirements nor the management experience required. This alone should prevent even a
single vote being cast for confirmation. Any council member that votes otherwise should be subject to a violation of the
responsibility to follow the Hawaii County Charter. There would be an ethics concern for any member that abandons their duty
to follow the requirements outlined.
In just the last two weeks Zendo Kern has been the subject of additional published concerns including
• Ethics Committee meeting where Zendo asked for a closed meeting regarding conflict of interests resulting in
a request for his client list and another scheduled meeting
• Newspaper article explaining Zendo Kern didn't even show up for his job interview. He tried to attend via
zoom which thankfully was unacceptable but caused another meeting to vote on confirmation.
• A Jan 4 article in Environment-Hawaii clearly outlining problems that should concern the council regarding
some of Mitch Roth's nominees, including Zendo Kern
• A Jan 14 op-ed by Brenda Ford. As a former council member she outlined the objections to Zendo Kern
better than I could ever express
In addition, as indicated by numerous articles and letters to the editor of West Hawaii Today, and Hawaii Tribune Herald, there
is a lot of opposition on grounds of conflict of interest as a result of his business association with developers, and donations
which constitute optics of"pay for play"or"quid pro quo".
While he may be skilled in a narrow band of knowledge regarding how to steamroll a project past regulations (his web site
quotes "Lets et s r,:,'aei f1-is clone as soon as we Carl,1),there are many instances of specific documented behavior that illustrate
he does not have the management skills orjudgement required for the Planning Director position. It is clear he will blindly
advocate for any development regardless of lacking infrastructure to support it or the devastation and decline of quality of life
resulting from it. For your convenience I will list a few of these instances with links to the original articles,where Zendo Kern
has been involved with questionable judgements or activities:
Aug 2012 questions about campaign contribution from Pacific Resource Partnership
Sept 2012 failure to recuse and subsequent council vote resulting in an ethics complaint .�
Comm. No
March 2013 filing of improper paperwork required for Kona fundraising event Ref. To: (�®
sef. Daie 202
June 2 2013 Mistake in voting on property tax bill during council session
kers to balance budget
business
Sept 2020 Misuse of Ag land and rentals not approved or permitted
which is under FBI investigation
2020 Shut down his web site in advance of nomination. Archives are available(click to see)
Thank you for your consideration and for your time in evaluating my testimony. I hope that I have clearly outlined why you
should vote against the confirmation ofZendoKern for Planning Director
Respectfully,
VVzyoeHemby—ResidentoƒKui|uaKona
Emai|edto on 1/15/2021
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