HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0279.049 2022-2024 p/ eoEAc
Silt Lis
COMM.2?Q
From: Donald Rudny
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2023 1:12 PM
To: Council Testimony; Kimball, Heather; Villegas, Rebecca; Kanealii-KleinfeldewMatt;
Kagiwada, Jennifer; Galimba, Michelle M.; Evans, Cynthia F.W.; Kierkiewicz, shley;
Inaba, Holeka; Lee Loy, Sue _
Cc: Roth, Mitch D
Subject: Bill 48 ,
N
Aloha Honorable Council Members, -�
I have reviewed Bill 48 and have listened to Council Member Kimball's explanation of it in her recent talk story. I wish to make
the following comments.
I found Bill 48 to be overly broad and lacking specificity. It creates another entity within the administration that will likely
conflict or overlap other departments. Its authority is also not well defined. Many of the general duties outlined in this new
office are already being addressed by the administration. Resilience,for example, includes emergency prearedness, and is
addressed by several departments including, but not limited to DPW,CD, Police and Fire. Coordination,communication and
execution among the departments are the responsibilities of the Mayor's Office. I have personally been critical of the Mayor
on other issues, but I recognize and respect his authority. He was elected by the people, so his authority is well defined. This
new office appears to create an autonomous and redundant department that undermines and circumvents the Mayor's
authority and will potentially cause unnecessary confusion and conflicts.
Another concern I have is the funding mechanism for the office. We are already facing higher costs in almost every sector of
our society and this new office will likely be a major expense. There is nothing in the bill that specifies an amount or means of
funding. The PONC fund,for example,was clearly defined and supported by the people. Open ended and poorly defined
funds as being suggested in this bill tend to grow in time as they become infected with mission creep.
Please consider this bill carefully. At this point, unless more convincing evidence is presented to support its need, I would urge
opposing it. It would also help to reach out more to the community for input before a vote is even considered. There are a
number of critical needs facing the Big Island, and in most cases the present administration is trying to address these with the
limited resources available to them. Being an engineer for the past fifty plus years, I found that keeping things streamlined and
practical goes a long way in achieving the end goal.Adding another dimension to our administration will only make things
more complex and difficult.
Mahalo for your time and consideration.
Don
Don Rudny
P.O. Box 106
Pepeekeo, HI 96783-0106
312-209-5870
Comm. 1:141.14q
Ref. To: r(WePc(!
1 Ref. Date MAY 1 6 2023