2000-05-31 Charter Commission Minutes

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minutes 05-31-00Page 1 of 54 Back To: Home Page | Table of Contents | Charter main page HAWAII COUNTY CHARTER COMMISSION Transcript of Meeting of May 31, 2000 Hawaii County Liquor Commission Conference Room, Hilo Lagoon Center Attendance: J. Ray, E. Alonzo, S. Bess, M. Herkes, R. Higashi, S. Irvine, D. Kurozawa, G. Martin (from 5:24 p.m.) J. Santangelo, Counsel C. Yuen Absent: K. Balog, G. Yoshiyama And 8 members of the public in attendance. The meeting was called to order at 5:05 p.m. RAY: I’d like to call the meeting to order. This is the 1999-2000 Hawaii County Charter Commission. It’s Wednesday, May 31st, 5:05 p.m. We’re at the Hilo Lagoon Centre, Liquor Control Conference Room. Attendance. Present: myself, John Ray, Chair; Roland Higashi, Vice-Chair; Sue Irvine; Marni Herkes; Steve Bess; Dr. Daryl Kurozawa; John Santangelo; Eddie Alonzo; and I believe we’re expecting one or two more people. Statements from the Public. We have four people signed up now. You need to sign a written registration form if you’d like to testify. First person signed up this evening is Del Pranke, and the next is Jim Otterson. PRANKE: I’m sorry. I’m kind of confused about the agenda because at the last meeting I thought you were going to go over the proposed changes to the agenda that have been put in by the public, and you never did that. And I don’t see it on this agenda. Is it all right if I speak about this letter, because I’m still pushing to have the Police Commission, at least, chosen a different way? YUEN: Yes. RAY: Sure, go ahead. YUEN: Yes, I wouldn’t have the Commission take it up as a motion, but no harm in letting him speak to it. PRANKE: I just wanted to bring your attention to Mr. Brunton’s letter. It only came to me this morning so I made copies for everybody. I don’t intend for you to have to read the whole thing but I wanted to bring your attention to a couple of things. The fifth paragraph, he states he attended the meeting. He decided it was a facade of concern and public expression to maintain the status quo. And then the last page pretty much sums up how sad this meeting was with the Corporation Counsel advising the Police Commission not to allow people to speak on certain items on the agenda because they were covering up for Mr. Carvalho and there were 40 or 50 people there at this meeting. It filled that whole ballroom, of people trying to get their points across and not being allowed to speak on items on the agenda, simply to cover up. This was a political cover-up for Mr. Carvalho who’s in deep water right now, and just barely keeping his head up. And I just wanted to say the people of this county are constantly -- people that come up to me constantly, ‘why don’t they get rid of that guy’. ‘How can we do that?’ But we can’t. As long as the Mayor appoints the Police Commission and the Police Commission appoints the Police Chief, we cannot get rid of him unless the Police Commission decides that they want to. And if they are under political control of the one person who appoints them, then we have no choice. So, we need to give people the opportunity – they’re begging for this out there – the opportunity to change the way the Police Commission is chosen. The Police Chief would still be chosen the same way. To allow each County Council person to appoint a Police Commissioner to the Police Commission with the approval of the rest of the Council, and that person would be appointed from their district. It’s that simple. It’s a simple change. I’ve written it up for you and I know you folks have it. It’s really, really, really important. Right now, this is the thing that everybody talks about every time they come up to me. ‘Why are we stuck with this guy?’ The reason we’re stuck with him is because the Police Commission is under the control of the Mayor. Now, this wouldn’t always be the case. file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 05-31-00.html7/1/2011