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<br />HAWAI‘I COUNTY BOARD OF ETHICS <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES – REGULAR SESSION <br /> <br />Wednesday, December 12, 2012 <br />10:00 a.m. to 11:33 a.m. <br />County Council Chambers <br />25 Aupuni Street <br />Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720 <br /> <br /> <br />Members and Staff Present: <br />Bernard Balsis, Vice Chair <br />Arne Henricks, Member <br />Glen Hisashima, Member <br />Renee N. C. Schoen, Deputy Corporation Counsel <br />Mary E. Fujio, Secretary <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1. CALL TO ORDER <br /> <br />Mr. Balsis called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. <br /> <br /> <br />2. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS <br /> <br /> <br />Mr. Balsis called up Dan A. Cole, who had signed up to testify on Petition No. 2012-08 <br />(agenda item 4b). He reminded testifiers that testimony was limited to three minutes. <br /> <br />MR. COLE: As far as your last statement about testimony, the information I am bringing <br />before you is of such importance to the health, safety, and welfare of the people of the <br />County of Hawai‘i that I request you relax such regulations as you are authorized. First <br />of all, on clarification. I’d like to bring to the information of the Board here an article by <br />Nancy Cook-Lauer in today’s paper. The petition I have before the Board is for the fact <br />that the mayor of Hawai‘i, Billy Kenoi, allowed proprietary use of the people’s assets, <br />i.e., $10 million, for the sole purpose of the First Hawaiian Bank. That is the violation of <br />the ethics charge. Nancy Crawford states, or actually states in the article, that the $10 <br />million in question was in fact authorized by the County Council for the issuance of the <br />bonds. This is a false statement. The Hawai‘i County Charter explicitly states that all <br />bonds must be authorized by the Council prior to the issuance. I questioned, under the <br />State Office of Information Practices act, UIPA act, for the actual information on the <br />issuance of these bonds. In a reply from Lincoln Ashida, I was told that the $10 million <br />bonds were in fact issued—the $10 million bonds that Mayor Kenoi sold on March the <br />2nd of 2011 for $10 million to Bank of Hawai‘i—were not authorized until May the 4, <br />two months later, by the Council under Bill 311, draft 3. I questioned this. I got the <br /> <br />