2012-09-12 Board of Ethics minutes

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HAWAI‘I COUNTY BOARD OF ETHICS MINUTES – REGULAR SESSION Wednesday, September 12, 2012 10:02 a.m. to 11:37 a.m. County Council Chambers Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720 Members and Staff Present: John E. K. Dill, Chair Arne Henricks, Member Bernard Balsis, Member Glen Hisashima, Member Renee N. C. Schoen, Deputy Corporation Counsel Mary E. Fujio, Secretary (Minutes in italics are verbatim. Blanks indicate inaudible or indecipherable speech.) 1. CALL TO ORDER Mr. Dill called the meeting to order at 10:02 a.m. 2. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC Mr. Dill announced that written testimony regarding Petition No. 2012-03 had been received from several parties: The League of Women Voters, Richard Kleit, Bev Stehley, and James and Helga Hans. Mr. Dill called up Helen Hemmes, who had signed up to testify regarding Petition 2012-03, and reminded everyone that public testimony was limited to three minutes per agenda item. MS. HEMMES: Good morning, Mr. Dill, Chairman, and members, the Board of Ethics. My name is Helen Hemmes. I’m a member of the League of Women Voters of Hawai‘i County. I would like to read our testimony for the record. The members of the League of Women Voters of Hawai‘i County support good governance. We also support employees’ right to organize and citizens’ participation in government. However, the League does not support using government resources, facilities, equipment, and labor, funded by taxpayer dollars, for campaign purposes. As reported in the West Hawai‘i Today on August 1, 2012, and in the Hawai‘i Tribune-Herald on August 2, 2012, a violation of county and state codes of ethics allegedly occurred when government employees attended political campaign meetings during work hours at county facilities. The meetings reportedly occurred on four dates in July 2012 at four locations. These meetings were a violation of the Hawai‘i County Code of Ethics, Article 15, Section 2-83, Fair Treatment: (b) No office or employee shall use or attempt to use the officer’s or