HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0183.043 2020-2022 From: Tiffany Edwards Hunt
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2021 12:50 PM COUNTY CLERK
To: Council Testimony COUNTY OF RAWAIII
Subject: Comm 183 RECEIVED
Time 12 tl .r►.
Date Y 0 L Q 1
Council members,
I stand by my earlier testimony in support of Mark Van Pernis, and I will not be taking any more time to testify via
Zoom on this matter. I think a lot of us working and trying to survive are getting increasingly exasperated with petty
politics. This is a classic example of that. In my last testimony to you, I shared a list of ideas of issues and challenges
we face here that you could be working on other than publicly shaming kupuna like Mr. Van Pernis, who has done
more in my lifetime for the public good than me and many of you who are to be deliberating about him.
I'm also disgusted, but actually not surprised, to have learned that the planning director was the one who spliced
together the video highlighting Mr. Van Pernis' meeting bloopers. Sadly, in your three hour deliberation, you council
members didn't explicitly question whether that was a constructive use of the planning director's time. You
essentially condoned such vindictiveness on the part of the administration by not making it clear that a cabinet
member such as him should be doing more important things for that $132,000 per year salary. How about spending
some time with the public revisiting the Hawai'i County General Plan, as one example? It must have taken hours to
find the footage, edit the footage, and splice together the videos into one. How awful that the mayor defended the
video, and it's circulation to council members, at first without heeding the proper channels to ensure this was part of
the public record. I hope this has alerted the Big Island Press Club to look at the administration with a more watchful
eye.
In summary, I urge council members to send a message to the administration to abandon the "cancel culture"
mentality, to work toward properly training people to run and participate in meetings, and also to adhere to the
Sunshine Law. Also, I just want to say that the two women commissioners Nancy Carr Smith and Barbara DeFranco
have proven through their newspaper quotes to be in desperate need of training on ADA accessibility. I really hope
that the administration, it's cabinet, and some of their friends serving as commissioners start to figure out how ugly
and mean they are coming across to those of us who aren't in their network or circle of friends, or even know them.
This treatment of Nr. Van Pernis is just really a poor representation of our island. If you don't have any class, at least
have some aloha. Thanks to those of you seeing through this and voting against it. What will be sad is if you spend
three more hours deliberating about this. Please spend the public's time and money wisely. Mahalo.
Sincerely,
Tiffany Edwards Hunt
Co m. o
Ref. o: UK
1 Ref. tote AY 0 4 2021