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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0633.000 2012-2014 co .tos N. •FORD „�� Phone: (808) 323-4277 BRENDA J. ' ,'�, Council Member _ '--'�'_� Fax (808) 329- 4786 District 6 - Portion of North ;.;, =MO.:•, Kona, South Kona, Ka`u, & T'TE Ou st'" E-Mail: bford @co.hawaii.hi.us Greater Volcano Area HAWAII COUNTY COUNCIL County of Hawaii West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Hwy. Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740 DATE: January 24, 2014 TO: J Yoshimoto, Chairperson, and Members of the Hawai`i County Council FROM ;j Brenda J. Ford, Council Member a SUBJECT: Discussion on videoconference sites closing times I request that a discussion on when the videoconferencing sites may close per the Office of Information Practices (O.I.P.) be placed on the agenda for the Council Committee for February 5, 2014. I respectfully request that this matter breach the deadline for February 5th due to the need to clarify for the Council and the public reasonable closing times for the different sites. I enclose Exhibit 1, my communication with O.I.P. Mahalo. Attachment: Exhibit 1 BJF/ Comm. No 6 3,3 Ref. To• Serving the Interests of the People of Our Island Ref. Date Hawai`i County Is An Equal Opportunity Provider And Employer Exhibit 1 From: Dawn.M.Shimabukuro @hawaii.gov on behalf of oip @hawaii.gov To: Ford, Brenda Cc: Subject: Re:video conference sites Sent: Fri 1/24/2014 10:57 AM Dear Councilmember Ford, I am responding to your inquiry set forth below regarding the Sunshine Law's requirements for keeping videoconference sites open during a Council meeting when the meeting notice had announced that one or more Council members will be participating from a noticed videoconference site. Section 92-3.5, HRS, sets forth the requirements for providing notice of and public access to interactive conference technology (ICT) sites (including videoconference sites) from where board members will be participating during a meeting. These requirements only apply to the ICT sites from where the Council members are participating. These requirements do not apply to any other ICT sites that the Council may choose to make available to the public as a courtesy and for the public's convenience. Furthermore, these notice and public access requirements do not apply to the courtesy public ICT sites even if the notice announces that a Council member will be participating at another ICT site during the meeting. Please contact the OIP if you have further questions on this matter. Yours truly, Lorna Aratani Staff Attorney Office of Information Practices State of Hawaii No. 1 Capitol District Building 250 S. Hotel St., Suite 107 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 Tel.: 808-586-1400 Fax: 808-586-1412 E-mail: oip @hawaii.gov Web site: http://oip.hawaii.gov From: "Ford, Brenda" <BFord(c ,co.hawaii.hi.us> To: <oip @hawaii.gov> Date: 01/24/2014 09:18 AM Subject: video conference sites Aloha, I read HRS 92 about leaving all sites open when the county council is using video-conferencing; however, I think that may be too strict an interpretation. Here are the circumstances: Hawai`i County has the following video-conferencing sites: 1. Hilo Council Chamber (council meets here 1+times per month) 2. West Hawaii Civic Center—Kona Council Chamber (council meets here 1+times per month) 3. Pahoa (council member's office) 4. Ocean View (private community center) 5. Waimea (council member's office) 6. N. Kohala (county building) Note: Red font indicates an ``outlying office" .\w here the council does not meet but brings government to the people by video-conference. Normally, all council members meet at one location (Hilo or Kona Council Chambers). Occasionally, one of more council members needs to attend the council or committee meeting via video-conference from a location where the council is not scheduled to meet. That council member must always send a 6-day written notice that they will be in another location and this information is included in our agenda. This process works well. [Note: If a staff member from the executive branch will be presenting information to the council, they may do so from any other location without notice because they are not required to provide notice. They are treated just like the public —they may appear anywhere, although as a matter of courtesy they usually notify the video-conference office staff where they are that they will make their comments from that location and the video-conferencing staff notifies the council staff. The process works well.] In the Ocean View location, we have a contract employee who operates our video-conference equipment. Our practice has been to close down that the Ocean View site if all of the following events occur: a. It is 3:30 p.m. or later; b. The public testimony from all sites is completed; and c. There is no member of the public who stays in Ocean View to hear the deliberations of the council or committee. This practice saves money in our very tight budget and no member of the public has ever been sent away or inconvenienced. This process works well. [Note: If the Ocean View site closes but other sites have members of the public viewing, those other sites stay open until the meeting is over or the public leaves. We handle Ocean View the same way.] However, when a council member provides written notice that the council member will attend from a location where the council is not scheduled to meet, apparently, per HRS 92, the meeting is considered to occur by video-conference and all video-conference locations shall stay open for the duration of the meeting (even if public testimony is over) and no member of the public stays to hear deliberations. If this is the correct interpretation, our council staff in the council member's office and our contract staff must stay for the duration of the meeting even if the meeting continues into the wee hours of the night and no member of the public stays. This is expensive, time- consuming, and in the case of staff shortage or staff illness, seems unreasonable. The purpose of the outlying sites or the alternate council chamber is to bring government to the people. If no one is there except the staff, there is no benefit to the public, but an increased expenditure of taxpayer dollars. It even seems unreasonable to leave open the alternate council chamber open when the council is not meeting there when no member of the public is there (based on the conditions mentioned above). Many council members want to provide more video-conferencing locations, but the overtime expense under this extreme interpretation would certainly cause us to re-think our position. Other counties might not be willing to video-conference from outlying locations under this extreme interpretation due to overtime expense. Please provide an opinion on HRS 92 when council members are at different locations and using video-conferencing. Is it required by HRS 92 to keep outlying offices open when no member of the public is at the outlying location? Mahalo for your time and assistance. Brenda Ford Council Member—District 6 Hawai`i County Council 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway Kailua-Kona, HI 96740 Ofc: 808-323-4277 Email: bford(c4co.hawaii.hi.us DENNIS"FRESH- ONISIII • °`"+ • ••w,�' KAREN EOFF Chairperson ��'�'��,,•, BRENDA FORD :�'�� GREGGOR ILAGAN ZENDO KERN Tice Chair ±. :�• '• � VALERIE POINDEXTER MARGARET WILLE J YOSHIMOTO IIAWAI`I COUNTY COUNCIL ('oumol o/.Hawai'i /lav ai'i Como.Building 25 l apunii Street Milo, Hawaii i 96720 January 24, 2014 J Yoshimoto, Council Chair Hawaii County Council 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawai`i 96720 RE: Communication No. 633 Discussion on videoconference sites closing times. Pursuant to Section 2(g) of Rule 4 of the Rules of Procedure of the Council of the County of Hawai`i, this written request is submitted with my approval that the above-referenced matter be waived from the Committee on Governmental Relations and Economic Development to the full Council for immediate action. In reviewing this matter, timely approval is crucial. It is therefore advantageous that approval is granted and the matter be placed onto the next Council agenda for review. However, in the event this request is denied, for whatever reason, I understand the matter shall be referred to the Committee on Governmental Relations and Economic Development for placement on its future agenda. Si• „rely, Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Chair Committee on Governmental Relations and Economic Development Approved/Date/Waive to Council: Disapproved/Date/Refer to GREDC: • 0 os imoto, Council Chair J Yoshimoto, Chairperson Hawai`i County Council Hawaii County Council C'ounfi is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer