Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-03-09 Board of Ethics Minutes regular mcHAWAII COUNTY BOARD OF ETHICS MINUTES — REGULAR SESSION March 9, 2005 — 10:07 a.m. Liquor Department Conference Room 101 Aupum Street, Suite 230, Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Present: Reeve Williams, Chairman Sharon Cislo, Vice Chairman Leroy Victorine Kerry Inouye Patricia K. O'Toole, Deputy Corporation Counsel Paulette Cainglit, Secretary Mary Crosson, Secretary Barbara Lively, Petitioner 2206= CHAIR: Good morning, Board of Ethics meeting coming to order. Is there anyone from the public? Are you here representing the public? PKO: No. LIVELY: I'm Barbara Lively, I have a petition on CHAIR: Oh, hi, Barbara LIVELY: Thank you, Bill. CHAIR: Yeah. Have you folks had a chance to review the minutes of the last session, February 9? SC: I move to accept and file the minutes of the February 9, 2005, regular session minutes. LV: Second. CHAIR: Second. Any discussion? All in favor? SC: Aye. LV: Aye. KI: Aye. CHAIR: The chair votes in favor. SC: I also move to accept and file the minutes of the February 9, 2005, executive session. LV: Second. CHAIR: Discussion, questions? All in favor? SC: Aye. LV: Aye. KI: Aye. LV: Mr. Chair? CHAIR: Yes? LV: Can we work out —can we amend the agenda to take Ms. Lively's petition earlier? CHAIR: Certainly. PKO: You don't need to amend the agenda, you can just take it out of order. CHAIR: Take it out of order, yeah. LV: That way she doesn't have to sit through all the rest of the issues. CHAIR: All right, so we'll dispense with the Communications and the Unfinished Business and instead move right to Section 6, New Business, I believe it is. PKO: Letter "c." CHAIR: Letter "c." Petition filed by Barbara Lively, and I think we can proceed. Barbara, will you please come forward? So, Barbara, would you like to tell us about this? We've got your petition here, but in your words? LIVELY: Well, basically, it's just that I'm under two different contracts —with the Research and Development Department and the Resource Center, and I have a copy of, I guess, the pertinent parts of the contract that talk about what I was supposed to be doing as a facilitator for them. I personally don't see any conflict, but I thought it would be wise to see what you 2 folks thought. As an example, last FridayI'm also a council aide for Bob Jacobson —last Friday, Bob was in Washington, D.C. He sent me to a meeting in Pahala. Now on Thursday, before the Friday meeting, I had a meeting in Keaau that I facilitated at under one of the contracts here, after work, for Bob. But I also had a meeting that night in Pahoa that I attended for Bob, that was with the Department of Transportation. And because I was going to Pahala on Friday, we used the County van. So when I went to my meeting after work in Keaau under the contract, I did drive the County van, because I was taking it to a meeting in Pahoa and also the next day's meeting in Pahala, so there are some situations where I am, I guess, forced, to beI don't know, share resources? I don't know if it's important. The facilitation that I do under contact is basically in the evenings or on the weekends, so they normally don't interfere with my regular work hours, and I work from home, I have a computer there. There's also a computer in Bob's office, that's a personal computer that he pays for internet service that he allows me to access to use the e -mail during my lunch time. I've recently picked up a second contract, and so it's just getting, I don't know, more involved. I guess more instances where there may be a possibility of being, I don't know, using both resources, orI don't know, hopefully you guys can straighten it out. Another example I do —one of the contracts is funded from the Meth Initiative grant, and so that work— CHAIR: What kind of grant—what is that? LIVELY: The Meth Initiative is a grant through the Hawaii County Resource Center. Anyway, that work is supposed to be limited to drugs, so basically what I'll do is I go work at night community meetings and put together presentations by the Police Department, the Prosecutor's Office, and give presentations to community groups dealing with the community impact of drugs, ice specifically. Now there's also a couple of instances where I —like, for instance, tomorrow I'm doing a meeting in Hawaiian Acres. Initially this came to me from Bob Jacobson because he's a resident there, and there were some neighbors that were complaining, and so I organized this community meeting. Now I was using the resources and the connections that I have to resource that, organize this meeting, but it's actually something I'm doing it as his aide and not as a facilitator for the Resource Center, so, it can get very complicated. But Bob feels, and do 1, that whatever things I'm doing , so he really has a hard time with— CHAIR: , yeah. LIVELY: So basically I'm just here for your input and advice. CHAIR: Are you a full-time County employee, with a 40 -hour week, salary, employee —all the benefits, packages? LIVELY: I'm an at -will employee with the Council. CHAIR: So you're not tenured, in other words, right? LIVELY: No. CHAIR: But you're a full-time employee. And in the contractual business you do as an independent contractor and it's all facilitation work? LIVELY: Yes. CHAIR: All right. LV: When you're working as Bob's aide, you are paid County funds through his office? LIVELY: Yes. LV: If you're working as a facilitator, you're compensated by another fund? LIVELY: The facilitation services that I provide —one contract is a stipend of $650 a month, a $550 stipend and $100 reimbursement for mileage and gas. So $650 total. The second contract that I just entered into is for services rendered is a series of six meetings altogether. So the —for the work meetings, there's one set price and for big community meetings there's another set price. LV: Is it conceivable that you might be working at—facilitating and getting paid County hours at the same time? That's the only— that's what bothers me, is if there's a duplication of compensation, that doesn't sound right. LIVELY: Okay. For most ofI have a meeting tonight that I'm facilitating. Most of the meetings that I facilitate for the Resource Center are in the evenings or on the weekends. There are a few things that I'm responsible for that may occur during regular work hours. If and when that happens, then I take off of the County iob I just sign out or don't M LV: LIVELY ATA LIVELY LV: LIVELY LV: LIVELY LV: SC: LIVELY come in that day. But now there's—to add another layer of confusion on this whole thing, there's now situations where I am working for other council members in their districts, their community groups, that do not fall under the contract, either of the contracts, so that I'm now able to continue working with, for instance, the Downtown Improvement Association and the project, that I'm able to work with them for Because it's his district, Bob has agreed, because he is my boss, and it doesn't fall under the services under the contract. I'm also going to be doing community or town meetings for Gary Safarik —the whole office suggested using my facilitation skills on a volunteer basis, because it's not under the contract and it's after work, so I don't get paid for it. I understand that I could claim time for that, but a lot of what I do is volunteer. If there is a situation where there is a responsibility that I havea contract that comes up on a work day, I take Who coordinates whether you're working or not working? I do. As an independent contractor both of the contracts I have with the Resource Center, there's only a few service deliverables that are identified by them. The rest is not. And the use of the computer in Bob's office —it's not a County computer, right? Right. It's personally owned by him. But it is run under County power? I believe that it probably isI remember seeing— Which is minor, okay? Right, right. He pays for the internet service, but you're asking me as to power- - -power and space— Um hmm, and space. But see, the thing is that my facilitation work, I have a business card and an e -mail account that I don't access from my terminal, but interestingly enough what happens is people, because it's a small town, you know, people hear about you, people know about you, whatever, I do get e- mails to my terminal for this other stuff, and so I direct them to the other e -mail address, which is the Yahoo account which I access at home or in Bob's office on my lunch hour if I need to. But sometimes e -mails do come in to my County address because they know about e- mailing there. LV: That's understandable. You can't control who sends you what. LIVELY: Right. LV: It's only what you do with it. SC: I'm a little uncomfortable with the County van usage, too. About the County usage from —using it for the County meetings and then LV: Yeah, except if you follow what she was saying, it's a continuous use thing. She takes the County van to go to a meeting during the evening, but in the afternoon, on the way to that meeting, it's there, so I think that's reasonable. It sounds reasonable to me, as well as holding on to the van to use the next day. SC: What is the perception of the public, though? LV: The public may take a look and ask questions; however, I think the response and the rationale is valid. It wouldn't make sense for her to have to go to Keaau in her own vehicle, leave the County van here, come back and get the County van, and then go to the Pahoa one. SC: Unless you could—unless you were able to collect expenses going to theI'm just trying to look at it from the perspective of the public. KI: Am I to understand that you're compensated as part of your pay for your mileage and vehicle use? LIVELY: For—there's $100 reimbursement for mileage and gas, yes. KI: So why would you take a County vehicle? LIVELY: Well, that particular day, I was going to the meeting in Pahoa with the Department of Transportation for Bob, because he's in Washington, D.C., and then the following day I was going to a meeting in Pahala with the County vehicle which started at 9:30 in the morning. I really didn't want to take the County van, but because the County decided to reimburse me for mileage for the use of the car, my personal car, they R made me take the van to Pahoa, and by they made me, I mean, Connie said, "You really need to take the van," I was kind of pressured. The facilitation work that I do —one of the monthly facilitators' meeting, there's four of us island -wide, and those meetings occur in . They rotate districts, and so those with high mileage think that I'm compensated for the $100 stipend. I also attend a lot of confidence- building workshops, informational workshops, and training —occur all over the island. I am the facilitator for the entire east side, so, the $100 stipend that I receive really doesn't begin to pay back my SC: I wonder if there's a way of documenting things so that you at least have a record, like if you're —when you use Bob's computer in his office, that's his personal computer, maybe somehow can be documented so that there's a paper trail so that if there is any misconception by the public, there is some kind of a paper trail or documentation of how you're doing things. It's understandable why you do it, and why you have to do it, especially like with the County van, but maybe if that's somehow, I don't know, maybe if it's somehow put in writing, that you know, you had to use the van for this particular purpose and have it recorded and kept somewhere, I don't know. Do you have any suggestions? LV: Is there a log? LIVELY: There is a log of the —for the use of the van. LV: The van, yes LIVELY: - -that the office manager maintains. SC: Okay. LV: And that all trips need the purpose for the run? LIVELY: Right. As far as the computer -- SC: I'm just trying to think of it from the, from the public's perception and, you know, if they, if for some reason they would find that you were on County time, or even if you're on your lunch hour and you're using a computer in a County office, the perception is, oh, you're using— LIVELY: Right, exactly. Another thing is that, as the facilitator for the Resource Center, they do make all kinds of space and computers available to me. 7 SC: You mean like laptops, or LIVELY: - -all the computers— SC: Oh, okay LIVELY: - -it's usually in the Resource Center office, they give you the space available, a desk, the computers and everything, and it's just —and I really use them a lot. But sometimes it's easier for me to just run to Bob's office. So that's not something I have to do, it's something I do on a daily basis, so if there's any kind of problem with that, I could definitely use the computers system at Oh, another thing, I have just recently applied for a job in the Legislative Auditor's office, and so—do you see any problem with this situation if I were to be hired on with the Legislative Auditor's? CHAIR: Oh, sister, you one wahine kini popo. You know, Barbara, I think we need—we don't have enough information. I know what you're saying, we appreciate your being up -front about this. You're kind of walking a fine line, as we see it. I think most of us are a little bit bothered by that, but to make a good judgment, I think we need to see your job description, and I think we need to see the full contract —your two contracts. I've got a piece of one here that's only —not a complete contract. LIVELY: No, no CHAIR: - -So I kind of think we need to, you know, review those before we can move further in this. It's even feasible that we might want to talk to Bob Jacobson about this as well, you know— LIVELY: Okay CHAIR: - -But we, I know we admire your gumption for coming on in here with this, and it's certainly the right thing to do, because there is a public perception that you know, people get on the inside, and they start wheeling and dealing, and they unfair advantages and so forth, and you know, they're getting paid for —two pots of money for doing the same jobs, overlapping areas, so it's a fine line, and I think really the guidance for all this should be coming from your employer, primarily, and so I think, if you'll give us —let us revisit this in detail, with your job description, your full contracts, any other salient information that you think would help us, help you, and your employer stay straight and take the high road. Okay? LIVELY: Well, I will also then submit one for the Legislative Auditor's position. CHAIR: Yeah— SC: Good idea— CHAIR: We may as well see all of them, what all the cards are that you have on the table, help you figure out how to go with this. Okay? Do you have any more questions, or LIVELY: No, but thank you so much. KI: On at least two places of this position classifications that you gave to us, it says, you know, you're supposed to do certain things for the duration of the contract. What's the duration of the contract? A year, two years? LIVELY: I think the one you're looking at CHAIR: We need to see the rest of the contract, we need to see the whole package of the contract, because we've just got these little excerpts here that don't get us the whole picture. All right? LIVELY: Okay. Yes. CHAIR: If there are no further questions, thank you, we'll defer this matter until you provide us the rest of the information, and stay tuned and try to walk the fine line, carefully, realizing that you are, you don't want to risk crossing that line. LV: Thank you. SC: Thank you. LIVELY: Thank you for taking me early, thank you. CHAIR: Okay, back to the agenda, let's return to Item 4, Communications, 4a, the Communication 2005 -03, The High Road publication by the Hawaii State Ethics Commission. SC: I make a motion to accept and file. 9 LV: Second. CHAIR: Seconds to that, second? I'd like to note, to Mary or Pat, whoever receives these, we may want to get a few more of these copied of this particular issue. This is like chock full of all sorts of references and information and things that would be useful to future board members, and we got imminently, we're going to have two more board members come on board, and so this could be part of the package for them, too, part of the information package. And in that regard, you might also want, Paulette can you help her, get together a little package for new board members so they're not landing cold. One item of interest here was the training done by the State Ethics Commission of all the State government officers, governor, so forth and so on. I almost wonder if that's exportable. I'll check on that and see if that can be done, or if there's any interest in that, or or our County Council in light of what we've just heard. Okay? So accept and file, so all can vote, please? In favor? SC: Aye. LV: Aye. KI: Aye. CHAIR: The chair votes aye. Second, Communication No. 2005 -04, a letter to Constance Kirm from Lincoln Ashida regarding records retention period. LV: Move to accept and file. SC: Second. CHAIR: Second? All in favor? LV: Aye. SC: Aye KI: Aye. CHAIR: The chair votes aye. Next item, 5, Unfinished Business, a bill amending County Ethics Code relating to financial disclosure forms, and I called you on that, Mary. Did they ever pass that bill, the draft bill? PKO: It went to the Committee already. CHAIR: Great, and 10 PKO: I just need to report on that. CHAIR: Okay. What's your report? PKO: It passed the Finance, but Safarik questioned whether we would still have the short form. The whole point is we don't want to have it any more, so —but there was no opposition. And then it has to go through two readings and it becomes a bill. CHAIR: Okay, so Leroy, as the past Chair, and myself as the current Chair, testified, he verbal, was there to testify, he in person, myself in writing, with Mary's help, and Pat on it PKO: I thought you wanted to speak on that. They didn't even ask him anything. CHAIR: Yeah, I was—so I guess it's, just a LV: The only question that was asked was, "Who he ?" CHAIR: Who he, who he. They didn't know who you were. All right, so do we have a motion to be filed then? Do we need to file that or just take note of that? SC: No need. PKO: There's nothing to file. CHAIR: Noted? LV: Yes. SC: Noted. CHAIR: Duly noted. Second item, Unfinished Business, the review of dislosure, financial disclosure statements, filed pursuant to the Hawaii County Code, and specifically, Yukio Takeya. As you recall, he had an unfinished—he was missing an item. So—is that the complete item? LV: Mr. Chairman? CHAIR: Yes? 11 LV: Could I interject, prior to us going into this thing, I notice in Ms. Lively's petition a couple of things that showed up. One was that she had not indicated —this is just information, by the way. She had not indicated whether she wanted an open or closed hearing. PKO: We had her sign this morning. I called her LV: That's something when we get a petition, it should be —the thing is, the specific provision of the Code of Ethics in question, she put down Chapter 2, Article 15. That's not a specific section. CHAIR: Right. LV: And I don't think we should accept it that way. CHAIR: Right. Well, do you suggest that we actually amend that as well? LV: No, I'm just saying it's for information, for future reference. CHAIR: Okay. PKO: That's the whole point. CHAIR: That's the whole point. SC: It's not specific enough. LV: You have to know the specific division of it. CHAIR: Yeah, I was looking at Chapter 2 -83, you know, start to zero in on some things there, but PKO: Well if one comes in like that, do you want me to reject it, or just say that you need to pick out one of these sections? LV: I think they need to tell us what section they're concerned with. It doesn't PKO: She said she doesn't think there's a violation, but she didn't put anything down, in which case she shouldn't be here, but we do want to encourage people to ask these things down, so I will, if I see one like that, then I will communicate with them and say that it will likely be rejected unless they cite some- 12 SC: More specific. LV: I'd just hate to get one like this and then in effect have to go through each section to make sure we didn't miss something. PKO: Yes. CHAIR: Duly noted, thank you. Returning to the order of business, which is the review of Yukio Takeya's financial disclosure, item 2 was the missing item. It's completed, as shown. LV: Are you ? She's as public as you get. PKO: She's the Liquor boss. SC: I'm curious about So this is done, then? Okay. Yes, he already —this he needed to fill in, and I think last time there was only two signatures that we needed. I think it was Bob's and mine. CHAIR: Is that a done deal, we've reviewed that? LV: Yeah, he already passed. CHAIR: I reviewed it, so move to accept and file financial disclosure form for Yukio Takeya? SC: So moved. LV: Second. CHAIR: Second. In favor? LV: Aye. SC: Aye. KI: Aye. CHAIR: Mary, do we have others? Do we have others to SC: We're on New Business right now. CHAIR: Oh, I'm sorry. We're in New Business SC: And we're on "a." We just completed this here. 13 CHAIR: Sorry. SC: And we're here now. CHAIR: Thank you. SC: You're welcome. CHAIR: Thank you, Vice Chair. SC: We're on the Senate Bill 1548. CHAIR: Oh, right, that was the other missing bill I'd asked about. Senate Bill 1548, relating to County Ethics Commissions. I've not seen that bill, who's got that bill? PKO: Me. I put that on to tell you that there is such a bill floating in the legislature. CHAIR: Oh, I see. Draft. PKO: Yeah. But it seems to be surviving. It says that the constitution says the ethics commissioner shall be selected in a manner which ensures their independence and impartiality. So somehow the issue has raised as to whether, because they're selected by the mayor and approved by the council, they are subject to the Ethics Code, whether that was ensuring impartiality. The AG said yes, they wrote and said yes, but Mollway, who's the director of the State commission, says he doesn't think so. So they're passing this through, basically saying the same thing as the constitution, without telling us how we should do it better. CHAIR: What agency or body does the review, or has the review authority? PKO: Him, so I don't know. The State Ethics Commission is lucky in thatI don't know if they're more impartial or better than —the Judicial Council, which is part of the Judiciary, selects two names and gives it to the governor. The governor picks one of the names. But they're not approved by the legislature. So I guess it's a query whether —which is a better system. I have to talk to the Mayor and see if he wants us to comment on it, but I talked to the other counties, and so far no one is going to testify or submit. CHAIR: So you're suggesting we remain passive and watch and see? 14 PKO: Well, I don't like it, number one, because it doesn't specify how we're supposed to do anything better. Under our Charter, the mayor appoints and the council— that's just the way it is. I don't know how to get members otherwise, unless they specify something. So to me it would be confusing if it passed, because I don't know what we would be supposed to do, and that's basically what I would say, if the Mayor says go ahead and say something. But I would have preferred if all the counties felt the same way and wanted to do something, but none of them seem to want to, so. CHAIR: So has this reached the Mayor for decision? PKO: No, I have e- mailed Andy Levin, who's supposed to be the legislative liaison, and then I'm going to follow up CHAIR: Take an issue and have the AG or the Corp Counsel weigh in and render an opinion or suggest an opinion to the Mayor, to submit your testimony. PKO: I mean, I will say that's what I think. LV: I agree with your thought process. One thing that I object to in coming up with laws is a law that is ambiguous, and that's about as ambiguous as you can get. If you're going to say that procedures need to be changed, changed to what? You know, if you're not ready to say that, then it shouldn't pass. PKO: The last committee report said we should consult with Mr. Mollway, but where does that leave us? LV: Is that ethical? PKO: So anyway, I just wanted to let you know that was floating around. I don't think it's going to have any immediate practical effect, but it made the cross -over, I understand. CHAIR: And who's thatI guess it's the Judiciary, are they the proponents for this? Who's the proponent? PKO: Let's see, which committee did it go to Hanabusa. Is that Judiciary? CHAIR: Yeah, I think she is. I think Leroy's correct, I think maybe we need — do we have a sense of this Board that we should not be supportive of such ambiguous laws, and maybe we should say your Board of Ethics 15 recommends that the Mayor take a position on this, irrespective of the fact that other counties have not? PKO: Right. I'll throw that into the discussions. CHAIR: Yeah, let's do that. Get Levin to do his homework. Moving right along. Item 6b. Financial disclosures. We have five new forms to review in open session. SC: Does she need to have anything in here? CHAIR: Well, whatever's her homeI mean, it seems to be it's her home. So SC: She probably should then fill it in? CHAIR: No, I don't know if she's a corporation or limited partnership, or sole proprietor. SC: Could we ask Pat if she needs to fill that in. CHAIR: What about it, her shares, on her coffee farm, that's her home, I don't know if her shares are an issue. If she shows the value of her property otherwise, PKO: Well, she has to list it if or 10% of So what is this? CHAIR: Well, she shares, maybe she put 100% or something like that. I don't know if she's a sole proprietorship— SC: Should they be returned if they don't have all the boxes filled in? If not, then— CHAIR: Member of the Water Board. PKO: But that's fill in, right? SC: Not all the boxes. CHAIR: Well, number of shares. That would imply a business corporation. I'm in the same situation— there's no shares, I have no shares. It's my sole proprietorship. 16 SC: Which is no problem at all, it just should be filled in with something, I would assume. Isn't that what these financial disclosures are about? Why fill them out PKO: I think we should put inapplicable, or something, because otherwise— SC: N /A, not applicable? PKO: Yeah. We should just leave the form, I guess. I'm sure she's thinking, "I don't have any shares." SC: Of course, of course. And just put not applicable, just so that everything is filled in. And do you understand this, why it's circled? CHAIR: That is a missing one, I think. SC: Okay, then. CHAIR: I can't get rid of this cold. Two and a half weeks of cold, two and a half weeks of painting my house. Maybe they're related. SC: Okay, you need to sign this one here. Okay. I didn't sign this one because this is left blank. So I don't know how you want to handle it. CHAIR: Now here's exactly what you're talking about. Here's a gal who's very business -like. She's an accountant. SC: Well I guess my point is, if we have a financial disclosure and it has certain things that you're supposed to fill in, and if you don't fill them in, why have the financial disclosure? Just fill in the blanks and then we can file them. So let's just get the blanks filled in and filed. I'm sure it's oversights, because I think I had an oversight on mine, where I forgot to fill in a blank. That one, yeah, you have to sign that one. CHAIR: Was Dale Fergerstrom a fire captain originally, or was he a retired policeman? LV: SC: And these are incomplete. Oh, this is incomplete. This one right here, we need item 9, the name is Werner. It's just circled and there's nothing in there. I'm sure that it's zero, but it should then have been checked "none." And this one, we need a home phone number, or cell phone. 17 CHAIR: Which one is that? SC: Dionne. CHAIR: So we're missing items SC: - -phone number, a home phone. LV: SC: I signed this one. Okay. And here you go. CHAIR: Are there any more of those floating around? LV: Mr. Chair, I move that we accept and file submissions 2, 3, and 5 Fergerstrom, Scarr, and Woodward-Rice—as being acceptable, and we return items 1 and 3 SC: 1 and 4. LV: 1 and 4, I'm sorry —Carl Dionne and Martin Werner—as being incomplete. CHAIR: Is there a second? SC: Second. CHAIR: All in favor? LV: Aye. KI: Aye. SC: Aye. CHAIR: The Chair votes aye. Pass. SC: It's Marlin Werner. CHAIR: So, disclosure forms for Carl Dionne and Marlin Werner, PKO: Do we have to return them, or can we call and ask them? CHAIR: Call them. Telephonically, yes. IN PKO: All right. CHAIR: And the following agenda we have already addressed, Barbara Lively's petition is item "c," and it's deferred for any further submissions and additional review. So we're now at Item 7. SC: We have to go into Executive. CHAIR: Pardon meoh, I'm sorry. Do we need to accept and file? SC: We've done the financial disclosures, and we filed, so now we need to go into executive session. CHAIR: Yeah, so we're at Item 7, and we move to Executive Session. SC: So moved. LV: Second. CHAIR: Favor? LV: Aye. KI: Aye. SC: Aye. CHAIR: So we go into Executive Session. Moved to Executive Session: 10: 50 a.m. Returned to Regular Session: 11:15 a.m. (Lincoln Ashida, Corporation Counsel, entered the meeting.) CHAIR: Are we wired for sound? Do we have a motion on the floor? LV: I move that we accept and file the financial disclosures b, c, d, e, f, h, i, J, k, 1, m, o, q, r, s. CHAIR: Do I hear a second? 19 SC: Second. CHAIR: All in favor? LV: Aye. SC: Aye. SC: Aye. CHAIR: Chair votes aye. LV: I move that we return for completion of disclosure of financial interests a, g, n, and p for completion. CHAIR: Second. KI: Second. CHAIR: In favor? LV: Aye. KI: Aye. SC: Aye. CHAIR: The chair votes aye. PKO: Okay, now for "p," we need the long form? CHAIR: Yes. PKO: CHAIR: I did, I did, and most of them are doable by a phone call. And again, it just provides reinforcement of why we need to get back on the long form annually for everybody, because this is really a chop suey mess. All right, I'm at 8, Announcement. Are there any announcements to be made? Yes, Lincoln Ashida, the Corp Counsel. ASHIDA: Good morning. CHAIR: Good morning. 20 ASHIDA: I just wanted to thank Ms. Cislo and Chief Victorine for your service on the Hawai' i County Board of Ethics and We really, really appreciate it. SC: Thank you very much. ASHIDA: We enjoyed having you, thank you very much. LV: It was an experience, and I appreciate it. ASHIDA: Chief Victorine, when I was a prosecutor, he would come to see me at my office and, I can tell that story now that he doesn't carry a gun LV: - -Are you sure about that? ASHIDA: He'd get off the elevator, tell the receptionist, open that locked door, the security door, just summarily open it, and he'd walk right up to my office , right outside my office, look in, and you were there. Woe, I'm going to stop what I'm doing now because the Chief is here! I really enjoyed working with you, and I never had the chance to tell you how much I appreciated you. LV: Thank you. The feeling's mutual. ASHIDA: Well, I just got a call today from the Managing Director. She's asking that our office take over filling in all boards and commissions. CHAIR: Very good. ASHIDA: So we've been offered that in the past, and they're just taking us up on that offer now, so CHAIR: -- effective immediately? ASHIDA: Yeah, I talking to Paulette, and she said if you have folks that are interested, tell them just to contact me directly. I'll fast -track the paperwork. We've got to waive the committee meeting to get to Council. Pat, what's the issue regarding whether the confirmation process through Council is sufficient to satisfy the constitutional requirements for the State Board of Ethics Society? PKO: That bill is still in the legislature, but the AG opined that it is okay, and under our Charter, I don't know what else we're supposed to do. 21 ASHIDA: So we're just going to go business as usual with on that issue? CHAIR: Well, we actually said —among ourselves, we had a sense that we should weigh in on that and basically support the status quo, I think, about that bill, because that bill provides no specific directions, and we mentioned to Pat, we'd be really happy if you folks would take the initiative to prepare something for the Mayor to submit, that basically says, we've got a good system going right now, where the Mayor appoints, the Council confirms, and what else would we do? Send our nominations to Dan Mollway? I can't figure ASHIDA: So if you had anybody out there, just send them to me. I'll make sure they get an application, if they don't have one, get them on board, try to waive it through Council or the committee. It would normally go where, Planning Committee, Pat? Because right now we're looking at not having forums for April. SC: Correct. CHAIR: It's really close, and I've been talking to them on that one. I haven't to Patty or Dixie, but I sure have been talking to Wendell til I'm blue in the face, and giving him names, calling people, telling them their names are in, and saying let's go, we're out of time, `cause their time's up, as you know. Our April meeting, we will not have a quorum unless we get Karl Kawahara aboard, which I understand he's before the Council, but that needs to be . Karl Kawahara, he should be going in front of the Council. That would give us one, two, three SC: You'd have a quorum. CHAIR: That would give us three. So we'd have a quorum, you know, assuming no one was ill. I've got on in the wings, a gal named Ann Lum, from Kamuela. We need someone —she's someone that I recruited, and Sharon recruited, and she's coming down, a good candidate. ASHIDA: Mary or Paulette, may I impose upon you to, today at lunch, getting these names and contact numbers, and I'll reach them if they don't call us. CHAIR: So this is effective immediately, is it? ASHIDA: Dixie just called me this morning. LV: Are you talking about the Ethics Board alone, or all the boards? 22 ASHIDA: All the boards and commissions. CHAIR: All the boards. ASHIDA: Where would you like to work, Chief? LV: What's that? ASHIDA: Where would you like to work, Chief? LV: I have an application in with the Police Commission. ASHIDA: The Police Commission? What district are you? LV: I'm in Pete Muller's district, and he's on his way out —he's out. ASHIDA: I guess all three names that came in got submitted to the Council already, but let me —can you call me later? LV: Sure. ASHIDA: I'll go track down that letter and see —Pete Muller is district LV: Two, I think. Kaumana, Ainako. CHAIR: I thought he was Puna. ASHIDA: Kaumana is two. CHAIR: I thought Muller was Puna, no? LV: No. ASHIDA: No, no, Pete Muller is Ainako. LV: Pete lives in Ainako. ASHIDA: That's where Bobby Jean lives. That's two. For any boards and commissions—so Sharon, if you're interested in continuing to serve our County, we happen to know where you live. CHAIR: We want to go to where she lives. 23 ASHIDA: No, seriously, because it's wide open, and I understand there are a few experiencing not having enough members, that unfortunately, we're finding problems throughout the County, boards and commissions, so we'd love to have you. When you come with experience, that's what we like. You understand the process, you understand the County. It's a tremendous benefit to us and our community. LV: Mr. Ashida, I also had made contact with Shigeko Kiyojima, and I know she put in an application. I understand that Wendell was going to talk to her about a different commission, but I think she'd be an ideal fit for this Board. ASHIDA: Paulette mentioned that to me, I agree. I'm meeting with Dixie next Tuesday, specifically to pick up whatever paperwork that has been turned in already, so I surmise that's probably there, but in the interim time, we can start the ball rolling now, if people that you know want to serve, such as Karl Kawahara and Shigeko. CHAIR: So Karl's from town, from Hamakua, she's from Puna, right, and this gal Ann Lum is from Kamuela, has a nice spread, and a nice ASHIDA: I guess this all ties in to —the other reason I'm here, I have a communication that I submitted to the—request to the Board of Ethics for an informal advisory opinion, which I was hoping could be heard in April, if not then, in May, that's fine. But because it involves our attorneys in our office, there's a sense of conflict, so I've asked a deputy corporation counsel from Maui to come fly down to advise you, so we wouldn't compromise Pat, because it does involve an issue concerning all of our attorneys. He said that he can only make it on the 15th of April, which is a Friday, right— MC: No, the 12th ASHIDA: No, no, the 15th, that's not right. So it's the 12th, which would be a Tuesday. CHAIR: We'll give you that. ASHIDA: It might be moot if we don't have enough members in by then. CHAIR: Yeah, well the ball's in your court, Lincoln. 24 ASHIDA: Yeah, I guess so. I've got the motivation to make it happen here. So if it's not April, then in May. So I wanted to give you heads up that that's coming around the corner. It's not bad stuff. It's good stuff. CHAIR: Anyway, thanks for giving us the status, and giving kudos to these two here. They're two really valuable members, and we're taking them to lunch on their behalf. And while I have you here, that you're in charge of the boards and commissions, , it really needs some straightening out. Thank you. ASHIDA: Thank you very much. SC: Thank you. LV: to contact you? ASHIDA: Yeah, sure. Everbody knows Kawahara. CHAIR: He did a good job at that, everybody knows that. All right, no further announcement- PKO: Well, so the announcement would be that if we have an April meeting, it would be Tuesday, April 12 CHAIR: Right. Pending a quorum. PKO: Yes. If we don't have one and it has to move— CHAIR: It's some time in May, to be determined, preferably on our regular schedule. PKO: Yeah, but if the Maui guy can't come that day, we'll try to accommodate him. CHAIR: Since you guys are all part of the —see if you can make it happen in May, and if you can make it happen on our regular schedule. LV: I've got a suggestion. Why not have the meeting on Maui? CHAIR: There's an idea, there's an idea. As a postscript, we're all available to go to Maui. No ka oe. The next regular monthly meeting will be determined. Do I have a motion for adjournment? LV: Adjourned. 25 CHAIR: Second? SC: Second. CHAIR: All in favor? LV: Aye. KI: Aye. SC: Aye. CHAIR: Aye is established, the meeting is adjourned. Thank you. (Meeting adjourned at 11:23 a. m.) Respectfully submitted, Mary E. Crosson Secretary NOTE: Blank lines indicate inaudible words or voices on audio tape recording. 26