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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN CHARTER 2020-07-24 (2018-2020)Hawaii County Charter Commission 16 I Session Council Chambers, Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street, Ste. 1401 Hilo, Hawaii July 24, 2020 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Hawaii County Charter Commission was called to ORDER: order at 10:01 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Mr. Douglass Shipman Adams, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Douglass Shipman Adams, Chair Ms. Jennifer Zelko-Schlueter, Vice Chair Mr. William Carthage Bergin, Commissioner Ms. Michelle Galimba, Commissioner Mr. Paul K. Hamano, Commissioner Mr. Kevin D. Hopkins, Commissioner Ms. Sarah H. Rice, Commissioner (via videoconference from Kona) Mr. Christopher John Imiloa Roehrig, Commissioner (via videoconference from Kona) Ms. Marcia A. K. Saquing, Commissioner Ms. Donna Mae Springer, Commissioner Ms. Bobby Jean Leithead Todd, Commissioner Also Present: Mr. J Yoshimoto, Commission Attorney Mr. Jon Henricks, Commission Analyst Ms. Shannon Magnuson, Commission Secretary Ms. Leinani Wessel, Legislative Assistant, (Kona courtesy site) CHR. ADAMS: So I would like to welcome all of us to the 16Th session of the Hawaii County Charter Commission, 2018-2020. Today is Friday, July 24Th, It is 10:00 a.m. and I would ask that all of us please silence our communication devices. I am glad I had this in my notes so that I would remember to do it. I would also ask that all of us please when you are speaking, unlike what I did, that was all just an example, right? I didn't do that you know, unintentionally, it was all intentional for me not to turn my mic on, so nobody could hear me. Make sure to please when you are speaking, speak into the mic, speak as clearly as you can, make sure that your mics are on so that we can hear each other here and we can hear in Kona. That would be... that would be helpful particularly when we get into any discussion that we are going to have. Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 July 24, 2020 CHR. ADAMS: At this time I would like to call the meeting to order. Mr. Henricks if you would please call the roll. MR. HENRICKS: Mr. Bergin (here), Ms. Galimba(here), Mr. Hamano (here), Mr. Hopkins (here), Ms. Leithead-Todd (here), Ms. Rice (here), Mr. Roehrig (here), Ms. Saquing (here), Ms. Springer (here), Ms. Zelko-Schlueter (here), Chair Adams (present). Chair you have all 11 members in attendance. STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Commission to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: CHR. ADAMS: That's... that's just really, I really am very grateful to all of you for making the effort to be here today. Thank you, Mr. Henricks. Do we have statements from the public here in Hilo or in Kona? So none in Hilo. Do we have any statements from the public in Kona? MS. WESSEL: Good morning. There is no testifiers here this morning. APPROVAL OF The Chair directed the Commission to proceed to the next order of business, MINUTES: Approval of Minutes. CHR. ADAMS: Alrighty. I would then move us on to the next item on the Agenda, Approval of Minutes. You should have received the July 101h regular meeting minutes already in... electronically. I would entertain a motion to approve the July 10th, 2020 regular meeting minutes. MS. ZELKO-SCHLUETER: So moved. CHR. ADAMS: Is there a second? MS. SPRINGER: Second. CHR. ADAMS: It's been moved by Vice -Chair Zelko-Schlueter and seconded by Commissioner Springer. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor of approving the motion, please signify by saying "aye"(aye). Any opposed? The motion passes unanimously. Page 2 Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 July 24, 2020 Vote on Motion Commissioner Zelko-Schlueter moved to approve the minutes of To Approve Minutes: July 20, 2020. Seconded by Commissioner Springer and carried (Approved) by the following voice vote: Ayes: Commissioners Bergin, Galimba, Hamano, Hopkins, Rice, Roehrig, Saquing, Springer, Todd, Zelko-Schlueter, and Chair Adams — 11 Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. APPROVAL TO CHR. ADAMS: At this particular moment, I would like to ask... this seems GRANT THE to be as good a place as any to talk about this. One of the things that in my little CHAIR brain... I shouldn't say that I guess... that I was worried, that I got concerned AUTHORITY TO about, is how do we actually ever stop one of these meetings from occurring? APPROVE THE Because we always have to pass the... we always have to approve the minutes MINUTES OF from the previous meeting right? And then you have a meeting. So we talked LAST MEETING: about it with the staff, and we have a suggestion that the Commission provide the Chair with the authority to review and approve the minutes of the last meeting. So I would entertain a motion to grant the Chair the authority to review and approve the minutes of the last meeting without holding a meeting. Is there such a motion? MR. BERGIN: So moved. CHR. ADAMS: Is there a second? MS. GALIMBA: Second. CHR. ADAMS: Alright. It has been moved by Commissioner Bergin and seconded by Commissioner Galimba. The discussion on that, I would just... that's pretty much what we are talking about. We're trying to just close this up. I would probably not... just to let you know what I would do, I probably would not actually sign off on the minutes from this meeting until close to the general election time just in case there was a need for another meeting. Then of course at that meeting we could approve these minutes and I would, you know, take care to review and approve those. So, is there any discussion that anyone has or concerns anybody has about doing that? MS. RICE: Yes. I am confused. It's Sally talking. CHR. ADAMS: Yes, Commissioner Rice. Page 3 Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 July 24, 2020 MS. RICE: Uhm so, let's go to these minutes. So, you wouldn't... why wouldn't we... if we approve these minutes as voted on, that they wouldn't be filed, they would be done. CHR. ADAMS: So the... the minutes for July 10, 2020, we just did. That's not what you're talking about. You are talking about July 241h minutes? MS. RICE: Oh, okay. So what you are saying is that... that you would review and approve the July 241h minutes, in other words this meeting's minutes. CHR. ADAMS: Assuming that it's the last meeting that the Commission has, correct. MS. RICE: Okay. So... if we look at the minutes and find something that needs to be corrected, just something that one of us said, then would we contact you? CHR. ADAMS: Uhm, let me ask Mr. Henricks to address that. You'd like to defer to our Legal Analyst, Mr. Yoshimoto? Mr. Yoshimoto. MR. HENRICKS: Yes please. Thank you. MR. YOSHIMOTO: So... sorry? It's on? Okay. So, Commission members, so the proposal currently now... CHR. ADAMS: It's on. It's just that he's soft spoken. MR. YOSHIMOTO: Okay. So to answer Ms. Rice's question, you know we have two alternatives right? And this is mainly due to... MR. ROEHRIG: Can you repeat that? CHR. ADAMS: Yeah, why don't you take your mask down a little bit J? There you go. MR. YOSHIMOTO: How's this Kit? This is better? MS. RICE: Yes. Yes. MR. YOSHIMOTO: Okay. Okay, so we need to be mindful of the Sunshine Law. So you know, one of the issues that the Chair was talking about was how do we review and approve the minutes from a last meeting because otherwise we would perpetually meet to approve the previous meeting's minutes. Page 4 Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 July 24, 2020 So what the Chair is asking for is authority to review today's minutes... assuming today is the last meeting, and grant him that authority. The concern with having members provide input to the minutes can be addressed if those suggestions or edits if there are any, be sent to staff only and the Chair not be aware of who sent those suggestions because again, that might be construed as conducting board business outside of a regularly scheduled meeting. So to Ms. Rice's question, we could address that in that way by modifying the motion in that way. Ms. Rice, does that help? MS. RICE: Okay, let me just be sure I understand. So, just say it is a minor thing that needs to be corrected, and I am saying that I am just putting... making trouble where there is none, but then I would contact the staff? MR. YOSHIMOTO: Correct. MS. RICE: And, and they would correct it? And then it would be approved by the Chair? Is that correct? MR. YOSHIMOTO: Correct. Right. That would, that would be an alternative to the current motion. So that motion could be modified. Now if you so wish to do that. MS. RICE: That sounds reasonable. Yes. MR. YOSHIMOTO: Okay. Mr. Chair, is... CHR. ADAMS: Yeah, so I think as a procedural matter, the staff would receive those comments and questions but primarily comments from the Commissioners and then they would modify as needed, the minutes, and then I would review those final draft minutes if you would. MR. YOSHIMOTO: Okay and then so, we should set some type of time, like 30 days or something to that effect. Mr. Chair, or do you want to leave it up till right before the election like you mentioned? Because you know, per law we have to post the minutes, I think it is 40 days... a draft, right. So, whatever is your pleasure, either way works. CHR. ADAMS: Yeah, I don't know that I can put a date on it just because I don't want to presume that we wouldn't have a meeting. MR. YOSHIMOTO: Correct. Okay. CHR. ADAMS: Are there, is there any other comments... are there any other comments? Page 5 Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 July 24, 2020 Okay, so we have a motion on the floor and a second. We have a motion on the floor and we've heard the procedural matters. Hearing no other discussion, all in favor of the motion... I am going to ask for roll call on this particular motion just because I think it's important that we just identify it, so by roll call Mr. Henricks if we could vote on the motion. Vote on Motion to grant the Chair: authority to approve the minutes: MR. HENRICKS: On the motion to grant the Chair authority to approve the minutes of the last meeting of this Commission: Mr. Bergin (aye), Ms. Galimba (aye), Mr. Hamano (aye), Mr. Hopkins (aye), Ms. Leithead-Todd (aye), Ms. Rice (aye), Mr. Roehrig (aye), Ms. Saquing (aye), Ms. Springer (aye), Ms. Zelko-Schlueter (aye), Chair (aye). Chair you have 11 votes in favor. CHR. ADAMS: The motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Commissioner Bergin moved to grant the Chair authority to approve the minutes of the last meeting of the Commission. Seconded by Commissioner Galimba and carried by the following roll call vote: (Approved) Ayes: Commissioners Bergin, Galimba, Hamano, Hopkins, Rice, Roehrig, Saquing, Springer, Todd, Zelko-Schlueter, and Chair Adams — 11 Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Commission to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. CHR. ADAMS: Alright, moving on, we have no Communications, so we will move through that item on the agenda, and now we move into our Unfinished Business. UNFINISHED The Chair directed the Commission to proceed to the next order of business, BUSINESS: Unfinished Business. CHR. ADAMS: Now we move into our Unfinished Business. We have two items, one is Communication No. 53.3 and the other item is Communication 53.2. Without objection, I am going to take these items out of order. Isn't that correct Page 6 Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 July 24, 2020 Mr. Henricks? Is that what we are doing? Right, and so we will deal with item two in Unfinished Business, that's Communication No. 53.2. The Report and Recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee Established to Develop Charter Amendment Proposal Summaries and Ballot Questions, Propose Consolidation to Charter Amendment Proposals and Propose Renumbering of Charter Amendment Proposals for Sequential Ordering. There is a... this was postponed by motion on July 101h, at our meeting on July 101h that there is a motion on the floor made by Commissioner Bergin and seconded by Commissioner Zelko-Schlueter to approve the recommendations and adopt the report of the Ad Hoc Committee as presented in Communication No. 53.3. I should note the reason that we are taking these out of order according to the agenda is that whatever decisions are made on the ballot questions, would likely have an impact if they are other than what we already... that's in the recommendation, would have an impact on the Communication in 53.3 which are the proposal summaries. So it just seems to make sense, let's get the questions squared away and then we can deal with the summaries, so that is why we are doing it in that order. Okay, is there a need for me to do anything... we've postponed, do we need to bring it back into... MR. HENRICKS: The motion's on the floor. CHR. ADAMS: So the motion's on the floor and it has been seconded, and so we can start discussion on the... on the item. So we have 53.2 which is the discussion, which is the discussion of the variety of ballot language. With the permission of the mover, Commissioner Bergin, or was it you?, No, it was Commissioner Zelko, hold on. Yes, with the permission of Commissioner Bergin, if I may, I am just going to roll through these proposals... these ballot questions that is... briefly and then open up for discussion. Is that okay? Okay. So what we have in discussion on this motion is that we have ... we have 16 proposals that have been provided by the... recommended by the ad hoc committee. The first proposal is one that takes six of the Charter Amendment Proposals that we approved back last year and combines them. And then those would correct... the idea is those correct certain technical, linguistic, and grammatical issues in the Charter and so, it just seemed to the committee that it would make sense to bring those together. And then we have Charter Amendment... and then the rest of the proposals are individual Charter Amendments and we have just put the numbers in order because we had some Charter Amendments that we did not pass, but we Page 7 Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 July 24, 2020 maintained the numbering system previously and so the proposals then would be in a sequential, without any numbers missing, order. So at this time we have the proposals in front of you, does anyone have any comments that they would like to make on any of these ballot questions? Kona, do you have any comments? MS. RICE: No. We're good. CHR. ADAMS: Alright. Not hearing any... oh, I am sorry. So let's bring that down to you so you can... there you go. MS. GALIMBA: Okay. So this is kind of a... not necessarily relating to 53, no it is relating to 53.2, but, okay, so... I just had a question about sort of the... what is this called? CHR. ADAMS: The text? MS. GALIMBA: Yeah, the Ramseyer. Is this... is this just for us, or does this go out... like what is the outreach on this? CHR. ADAMS: So the question is for Mr. Henricks. MR. HENRICKS: So, the proposals themselves, which are not the questions, they are what you described, the full text of the Charter with the Ramseyer format bracketing, strikethrough, underscoring, is the legal document that when the questions are voted in the affirmative, how the Charter will be revised, that full text will be provided to the public at least, well, two times, through newspaper publishings in the West Hawaii Today and the Hawaii Tribune Herald per law as required. We would also have the full text available in normally what would be our polling places which we don't have this year, so those would be available at our voter service centers. They will also be available at our Clerk's offices, or excuse me, not Clerk's offices, our Elections offices in Hilo and also in Kona. And also at this time I have been talking to Chair Adams and also legal counsel and will enter into discussions as we get closer to the general elections, with our State Elections office and our Elections Division about how we can provide notice in each ballot package that goes out in the mail, of how to review this full text. We would not be able to provide the full text with the ballot package. It would consume too much space being that it is 30 some odd pages, but as you... I don't know, most of you received your ballot packages, there is information in there that supplements the ballot. Instructional information, educational information, and we will work to find a way to present a link so that people who have access to the internet could then view the full text in a convenient manner and perhaps also a Page 8 Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 July 24, 2020 phone number to call for those that don't have access to the internet, so that they could be provided the full text of these amendments in some other capacity. MS. GALIMBA: Thank you. CHR. ADAMS: Okay. Are there any other questions or comments associated with the motion? MR. HENRICKS: Mr. Chair. CHR. ADAMS: Mr. Henricks. MR. HENRICKS: If there are no other questions or comments, I just wanted to make a brief comment if that's okay. CHR. ADAMS: Please. MR. HENRICKS: I just wanted to... and again, just making sure that there isn't any other... I don't want to disrupt any deliberations, but I just wanted to say that for what it is worth, in my experience working in these matters, I really appreciate the approach the ad hoc committee took in developing these questions. For what it is worth, and again, just my perspective, my subjective position, they are very well done. I think that they're complete. I think they're clear and I remind, and as the ad hoc committee took the approach, they do not provide voter education. They provide a question that should be you know... it's a comprehensive question in my mind that points out the chief features of each amendment in clear, practical, simple language that people can understand, that is impartial. It is not subjective. It does not lead the voter down a particular path. Very well done. CHR. ADAMS: Well, that's the... that's the committee's work, so thank you Mr. Henricks. MS. GALIMBA: Sorry. CHR. ADAMS: Yes? MS. GALIMBA: I was remiss in not... CHR. ADAMS: If you could bring that closer, oh, sorry. MS. GALIMBA: Beautifully done. Yes. CHR. ADAMS: Thanks Commissioner Galimba. Page 9 Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 July 24, 2020 Okay, no discussion seen, no more discussion seen, I would take a roll call vote on this particular motion. Mr. Henricks. MR. HENRICKS: On the motion to approve the recommendations and adopt the report of the ad hoc committee relating to ballot questions: Mr. Bergin (aye), Ms. Galimba (aye), Mr. Hamano (aye), Mr. Hopkins (aye), Ms. Leithead-Todd (aye), Ms. Rice (aye), Mr. Roehrig (aye), Ms. Saquing (aye), Ms. Springer (aye), Ms. Zelko-Schlueter (aye), Chair (aye). Chair you have 11 votes in favor. Vote on Motion The motion to approve Comm. No. 53.2, the recommendations and adopt To Approve the report of the ad hoc committee relating to ballot questions was carried by the Comm. No. 53.2 following roll call vote: (Approved): Ayes: Commissioners Bergin, Galimba, Hamano, Hopkins, Rice, Roehrig, Saquing, Springer, Todd, Zelko-Schlueter, and Chair Adams — 11 Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. ADAMS: The motion passes unanimously. Moving on to Communication No. 53.3, we have... this particular... we have a motion on the floor. I am sorry. Let me try that again. This has to do with Charter Amendment Proposal summaries as revised per the recommendations of the ad hoc committee, which was established to develop Charter Amendment Proposal Summaries and ballot questions, propose consolidation of Charter Amendment Proposals, and propose renumbering of Charter Amendment Proposals for sequential ordering. This particular... there was a motion on the floor made by Commissioner Saquing and seconded by Commissioner Zelko-Schlueter, to approve the recommendations of the ad hoc committee as presented in Communication No. 53.3. That motion was postponed. We are now bringing it back for consideration. I hope I said that correctly. And, I would... I would invite Commissioner Saquing who made the motion, to begin discussion. MS. SAWING: I just wanted to clarify, we are looking at Communication 53.2 correct? CHR. ADAMS: Three. MS. SAWING: Oh, we are still looking at three? Page 10 Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 July 24, 2020 CHR. ADAMS: We, we, we... just did 53.2, now we are looking at 53.3. MS. SAWING: Okay. Got it. CHR. ADAMS: Which has to do with the proposal summaries. MS. SAWING: Okay, sorry about that. CHR. ADAMS: Mr. Henricks. MR. HENRICKS: Just for clarification, these were the summaries that Chair Adams had put together for each proposal and just so, as to Ms. Galimba's question earlier, how this kind of all works together, when we publish the full text, these summaries will be included. These are intended to give a snapshot of the Commission's perspective and rationale but still provide it, in my opinion, in a you know, relatively impartial manner and so that's what these summaries are for. And the reason that this is before you today is that the summaries that were originally crafted for each proposal, needed to be modified due to the fact that certain proposals were consolidated and that is why the Chair seeks approval of these modified summaries. So again, they will be used as... to supplement the full text as part of the educational effort and outreach to the community. MS. SAWING: Thank you Mr. Henricks. So I appreciate what was set forth here and I think we should move to accept it. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you. Is there any other discussion or comments on the motion to approve the proposal summaries as amended through the ad hoc committee's work? Hearing none, Mr. Henricks, I would ask that we take the roll on this vote please. MR. HENRICKS: On the motion to approve the summaries for each proposal as provided in the Communication 53.3: Mr. Bergin (aye), Ms. Galimba (aye), Mr. Hamano (aye), Mr. Hopkins (aye), Ms. Leithead-Todd (aye), Ms. Rice (aye), Mr. Roehrig (aye), Ms. Saquing (aye), Ms. Springer (aye), Ms. Zelko-Schlueter (aye), Chair Adams (aye). Chair you have 11 votes in favor. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you Mr. Henricks. The motion passes unanimously. Page 11 Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 July 24, 2020 Vote on Motion The motion to approve Comm. No. 53.3, the summaries for each proposal as To Approve provided in the Communication No. 53.3 was carried by the following roll Comm. No. 53.3 call vote: (Approved): Ayes: Commissioners Bergin, Galimba, Hamano, Hopkins, Rice, Roehrig, Saquing, Springer, Todd, Zelko-Schlueter, and Chair Adams — 11 Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. NEW The Chair directed the Commission to proceed to the next order of business, BUSINESS: New Business. CHR. ADAMS: Moving into New Business, we have none. We have no Reports. We have no Executive Session items that I am aware of. And then at moment, we have no Agenda Items for our next regularly scheduled meetings on the agenda, I am not... do any Commissioners have any suggestions for future agenda items? Seeing none... Commissioner Leithead-Todd. MS. TODD: I just have... CHR. ADAMS: It's on. MS. TODD: I just have a question on timing here. Now we have approved this. At what point are you folks submitting it? That's all. I just want the timelines. CHR. ADAMS: Sure. MR. HENRICKS: The language that will appear on the general election ballot must be submitted no later than 4:30 p.m. August 201h, to the State Election Office. The intention is to not wait up until the last minute in case there are any issues, so, on or before then, but not too much before then. We will of course diligently... we will have to prepare, Chair will be preparing a letter that will document what happens today... CHR. ADAMS: It will serve as a cover for this. MR. HENRICKS: Correct and put everything together. To my... MS. TODD: Does this have to go to the Council, our ballot language? Page 12 Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 July 24, 2020 MR. HENRICKS: No. It does not. This is... the Charter provides that the Commission shall draft the ballot questions with no requirement for review or approval of any other body or person. So the Chair will be submitting to myself as Clerk, the ballot language and then I will then submit that on behalf of the Commission, to the Chief Elections Office of the State for inclusion on the general election ballot. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you. Yes, Commissioner Saquing. MS. SAWING: Hi. Thank you. So moving forward as a Commission, what is our timeline as we serve? CHR. ADAMS: So, according to the Charter, and I will be corrected here if I am incorrect. We serve till the day after the general election. So, the general election is the 4Ih, Yd or the 4Ih, I can't remember. Anyway, it is one of those two days, 3rd, and so we serve to the 4 I of November of this year. Not seeing any other items here, we... I would just note in our announcements that we do not have a next meeting scheduled. Doesn't mean that we wouldn't have one, but at the moment we don't have one that is scheduled. So let me, before adjournment, let me just... when we started this back in July of 2018, at the first meeting I asked each of you, and if you weren't able to be at that first meeting I gave you the opportunity at the next meeting you were able to be at. I asked each of you to make a comment about why you were on the Commission and what you expected to see happen. I am not going to ask you to remember what you said, but what I would like to do is I would like to give each of you the opportunity to say... to make some type of final comment associated with your service for the record. And you don't have to. I am just giving you the opportunity to do that. So if I could, I am going to start with our Commissioners in Kailua-Kona and so, Mr. Roehrig, if I may start with you. Do you have any comments for the record as we appear to be concluding our business on this Commission. MR. ROEHRIG: I agree with everything Sally... CHR. ADAMS: I am sorry Sir, we couldn't hear you. MR. ROEHRIG: No comment. CHR. ADAMS: Thanks Commissioner Roehrig, appreciate that. Commissioner Rice. Page 13 Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 July 24, 2020 MS. RICE: Of course I have comments. You can count on me. I would like to say that this has been a very educational and really enjoyable experience. I have enjoyed getting to know some of the Commissioners that I didn't know before and to get to know even better, the other Commissioners that I already knew. I think you as Chair Doug, have done an amazing job especially at some of our public hearings. I think you handled them diplomatically and pleasantly and I think you gave everybody an opportunity to be heard. So from my perspective, it's been a very pleasant, educational, and enjoyable experience. And thank you to all my fellow Commissioners. Aloha. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you Commissioner Rice. Commissioner Bergin. MR. BERGIN: Sally has very, very clearly expressed the emotion and the experience that I was able to enjoy while serving on this Commission. I would be remiss if I didn't continue to express the concern that I have that we look at the Big Island as a whole island and yet be very, very sensitive to the fact that building an emergency component into our Charter that would be duly supported accordingly, can only be reinforced by what has happened to America but certainly the Big Island in the last five months. Thank you. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you Commissioner Bergin. Commissioner Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: So yes, Commissioner Rice summed it up very well and I also... I am always amazed by your leadership Chair Adams, but I also just wanted to add in that our staff has been amazing and just really helpful in getting some of our half thought ideas into shape. So thank you very much to all of you and just making it... just really easy and a pleasure to be here and help out our County. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you Commissioner Galimba. Commissioner Hamano. MR. HAMANO: Yes, I would like to thank my fellow Commissioners for their work and cooperation in acting professionally and despite differences of opinion, I think we all worked well together and that was very appreciated. I think you know, everyone was looking toward bettering the County of Hawaii in trying to revise the Charter. I would also like to emphasize that I believe that Chair Adams has been an excellent Chair in guiding us and moving us always in the right direction. His patience with all of us and in public testimony, and so I would like to congratulate him for his excellent service. And also to the staff, one thing I did learn, I have never worked in the County system before but I am very impressed with the staff of the County of Hawaii. Very impressed. Thank you. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you Commissioner Hamamo. Commissioner Hopkins. Page 14 Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 July 24, 2020 MR. HOPKINS: Yeah. I actually was just thinking about what I had said when I had started. Which was very much as my way of approaching these things is, if it is not broken, don't fix it. And my concerns at the beginning that maybe we would maybe be pushing agendas other than this... I am very, very pleased with all the Commissioners and everybody that we worked with. You know, I was on the losing side on a lot of things, but hey, everybody came up with very good reasons for it and although this is a bit more expansive than what I would have preferred, I understand why each and every one of these Charter Amendments are here dealing with... I guess what I would more call operational problems and procedural problems that we have. Some direction in here, but a lot of this deals with problems in the original Charter as it has been amended previously and it is what is needed for the County to work and that is what this group actually did. Nobody really was here pushing agendas. Everybody was here trying to say how can we make the County better and I really appreciated working with all of you. CHR. ADAMS: Thanks Commissioner Hopkins and let me just make a comment that I am particularly touched by the amount of dedication that you personally took to this particular task given the impact that your personal life has had on your situation and we just wish your wife the best. Commissioner Saquing. MS. SAWING: Thank you. I was thinking I was going last. First of all Mahalo Sally. You were spot on on your comments. I agree completely with what you said. I do want to first mahalo you Chair Adams. You know your leadership and your guidance as Paul noticed, is truly what got us through this whole process along with the support of the staff. Not able to do anything with staff, I have a staff of 31, I cannot do the job that I do without them, so you guys are all rock stars. I really, really appreciate it. But for me it has been a learning curve from the beginning, and my biggest take away is the professionalism, the compassion that all the Commissioners have, and the integrity of the work that we all put forth in this Charter. So very honored and humbled to be part of this process and my mahalo to all of you. Thank you. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you Commissioner Saquing. Commissioner Springer. MS. SPRINGER: I would like to thank you as well. I don't know how you could have sat through all of those meetings and just held your composure when we are sitting there going grrr... I just only hope that my facial expressions didn't show. But, thank you everyone. It was a pleasant and learning experience for me. I don't know what I really expected, but I have learned a lot and I have enjoyed working with each and every one of you. Thank you so much. Page 15 Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 July 24, 2020 CHR. ADAMS: Thanks Commissioner Springer. Commissioner Leithead-Todd. Am I getting close? MS. TODD: Yes. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you. MS. TODD: I would like to thank everybody for their work. I am particularly happy with the set of proposals we have. Especially the disaster and emergency fund. Though in the aftermath of this recent global pandemic, I wonder if I set the bar too low in terms of the amount of money that the County needs to set aside because who knew that everything would be impacted from every segment of our lives and it just is amazing you know, what we have had to endure and this is... this is the largest social gathering that I have been to you know, since the start of this. This is the largest group of people I have been around and we are only able to do it because we are able to space, but I appreciate everybody's work. I will miss all of you as I go back into semi quarantine and staying at home. Thank you for your work. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you Commissioner Leithead-Todd. At this time, I think I would like to ask our staff for any comments that they have regarding this, so Ms. Magnuson do you have anything? Please use one of the mics. No, I didn't forget her. MS. MAGNUSON: Hi. CHR. ADAMS: If you could put it on... MS. MAGNUSON: Is it not on? CHR. ADAMS: Not on. There we go. MS. MAGNUSON: I'll recognize my own voice in the minutes. But I just wanted to say that every moment working with you guys has been an honor and a privilege, and a pleasure. And I will miss working with you guys and until this concludes and after, I am always here if I can help you in any way. Email, text, you know, call and I am still at your beck and call. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you Shannon. I think I speak for all of us when I am able to say that your team has been just terrific and really as has been stated around the dais and in Kona, we would not be able to have done anything if it wasn't for you and your team, so thank you. Mr. Yoshimoto. Page 16 Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 July 24, 2020 MR. YOSHIMOTO: Thank you Mr. Chairman. You know first of all I want to thank each and every one of the Commission members. You know it has been my pleasure, my honor, to serve with all of you as your legal counsel and to watch all of the discussions and you know, all of the things that we did. You know I want to say that it means a lot to me as well as to everyone in our community for people like yourselves to put yourselves out there. To listen to the community concerns, to be able to listen to the different ideas, and then come to a solution or a resolution as to what to do. You know these Charter Commissions, they only happen every 10 years, and you know, it is a really special Commission because we are with a common purpose and that is to better our community, our County, and so you know with that in mind, you know, I am proud of the work that the Commission has done. I can't begin to express the appreciation because of the challenges, the time commitments everyone has faced, and to Chair Adams, you did an awesome job as Chair. Your leadership, you diplomacy, have been very much appreciated. To the staff, to Mr. Henricks, he has been terrific. Support staff, to Shannon, as well, I can't say enough about the good work. I think this shows, this Commission shows how the process works, and I know the Chair is very cognizant of believing in the process and I think we all do. And I think this shows that when you follow the process, you know, good things can happen, so I want to thank everyone again. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you Mr. Yoshimoto. I am going to go to Mr. Henricks. MR. HENRICKS: Thank you for this opportunity Chair Adams. It's real simple for me. There's probably over 150,000 people that were eligible for this Commission, and the Mayor found the best 11 people. So kudos to the Mayor, honestly. That is the most important part of this process. Everything we did afterwards is a reflection upon finding the right people that we know are going to care and take their time and listen to each other, to the community, and have a really diverse viewpoint and as Commissioner Hamano said, respect, professionalism. I am a very sentimental person. I am actually kind of sad right now. This is hard. And I know when I look back in my life, hopefully as I get older, this is going to be very special to me so thank you all for making these great memories for myself. Secondary only to my family memories, are professional ones and this is a highlight, so thank you all. You did fantastic work and I really appreciate how much you appreciated what we had to offer as staff and gave us this opportunity to do this and thank you Shannon, thank you J, thank you Leslie Chow, and Donna Eckersley, Susan, Jeanette, you know, Sherry, everybody that pitched in to do this for the people of this island, congratulations. CHR. ADAMS: Vice -Chair Zelko-Schlueter. Page 17 Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 July 24, 2020 MS. ZELKO-SCHLUETER: It is hard to follow that one. But it has been, like everyone else mentioned, a real pleasure to serve with all of you. I have served as Doug's Vice -Chair on several different... in several different organizations, so nothing but love for you Doug. I think you do an amazing job. I really appreciate it. I, I would like to echo actually what Mr. Hamano said. This staff, J, Shannon, Jon... you folks have been... I can't imagine anyone more professional or easier to work with. I think the County is very lucky to have you folks so thank you very much and I think the last comment I would make... anyone that worries that Commission members chosen by the Mayor or anyone else doesn't really accurately reflect the community concerns, I think we have had a very diverse group of folks on this Commission, with very different views, but we all were very respectful of each other and I think really represented Hawaii Island well and our residents, so thank you very much. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you Vice -Chair Zelko-Schlueter. So let me just close this up with a couple of comments. And by a couple you know I mean like 14 or 15. I appreciate first of all, all the kind comments. That's very nice of you and I know what the truth is so... When we started this a couple of years ago, and I learned that I was going to be appointed as the Chair, I was scared to death. I think we all kind of understand that. At some point we have all had the opportunity to be in charge of our peers kind of idea and so I knew some but I didn't know all of you. I wasn't necessarily familiar with the staff, with the exception of Mr. Yoshimoto who we'd had the opportunity to work together. I felt sorry for him. And I just have to say that my ability to do what I am called to do within the rules that we have, would have been impossible if you all hadn't been the team that you developed into. I really do think that as many of you stated, the ability to bring your concerns and opinions on matters that are important within a document that is not a day to day document, but is more of a foundational document, to listen to the County, Directors, and Deputy Directors, and other members of the staff, to listen to the public. We had folks that were passionate about some of the things that were going on. We know that we have that in the County. And it was our responsibility on a... on a decennial basis, we are the ones that were called and accepted, and were willing to listen to our fellow citizens on these issues. And so I applaud you all for that because I think that that kind of gets lost in the wash a little bit right. We... we hear it, and sometimes the passion can be not as clear as perhaps the person that is explaining it wants it to be, and what we hear is, we hear the passion or the anger, but not necessarily the message. Yet you guys were able to, I think, work through that and discern really what, what was going on. And that allowed us then to have conversations and dialog that I think informed the documents that we presented to the Council and then received back from the Council and amended and then what we are going to be doing in terms of presenting as ballot questions and then the summaries for the voters to vote on come here in November. Page 18 Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 July 24, 2020 I am very pleased to have been able to work with all of you. More importantly to have been able to meet you, and to get to know you, even if it has been in this situation. I think it is about time that we get this show on the road though, right. The work has been done. There's a little bit of education that we will undertake to make sure that those who are going to vote on these understand what they are voting on. There's nothing worse than seeing something on the ballot and not having a clue. So the idea is to make sure that they have an understanding of why what they are voting on is there and why it is important. So we will do some of that as well. And then we continue to move on with the variety of things that we are doing. I could say something... you know what is neat about this is that I could say something personal about each of you. That would take a bunch of time and we probably don't want that in the minutes and we can do that when we are able to socially gather again at a later time. But I will say that Shannon and J, and Jon, have been just really rock solid for me and I really just want to say on the record how much I appreciate them and their willingness to put up with my little kind of craziness as it goes on. And then Jennifer has been... she did not want to be the Vice -Chair, Lord knows, and... but, she decided she would do it and I have felt backed up. You all know that I have a military background. When I was a Company Commander, we have in the organization First Sergeant and there is this phrase that goes with the relationship between a Commander and a First Sergeant and it is called being back-to-back right, and I have always felt that Jennifer and I have been back-to-back right. You are always looking out. Taking care of the things that are around you, knowing that the other is taking care of what they are supposed to take care of well. And so, Jennifer, I would just like to thank you for your service here and always having my back as well. I am sure there is a bunch of other stuff that I am going to regret that I didn't say. That is typically the case with me. I remember about 14 things after I turn the mic off and we have gone our way but I would just say thank you on behalf of the citizens and also the visitors to our fair island, for your work and for your efforts, and for your passion here. I appreciate that Kit and Sally can't necessarily see us as well because they are across the island, but all of you made the effort to be here today in the middle of all kinds of stuff going on. I am very, very grateful. You have no idea frankly, how grateful I am that you all decided to make this. To take the final actions that we have as a Commission, to present this... these items before the voters. I consider that really, really important and I am so grateful that each of you did as well. So, with that I would entertain a motion to adjourn. Is there a second? It has been moved by Commissioner Zelko-Schlueter and seconded by Commissioner Saquing. All in favor of the motion to adjourn please signify by saying "aye" (aye). I am assuming without objection, no opposition, and the motion is approved unanimously. This meeting is adjourned. Page 19 Hawaii County Charter Commission -16 Meeting Adjourned at 10:50 a.m. July 24, 2020 Vote on Motion There being no further business, at 10:50 a.m. Commissioner Zelko-Schlueter Adjourn moved that the meeting be adjourned. Seconded by Commissioner Saquing and (Approved): catTied by the following voice vote: Ayes: Commissioners Bergin, Galimba, Hamano, Hopkins, Rice, Roehrig, Saquing, Springer, Todd, Zelko-Schlueter, and Chair Adams -- I 1 Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. Commission Approval: October 30, 2020 >Oc&i glass Shipman 6d"ams, Chair 18-2020 Hawaii County Charter Commission Page 20