HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN CHC 1990-04-30 Minutes of Regular Meeting
of the
HAWAII COUNTY CHARTER COMMISSION
April 30 , 1990
I. CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Bethea called the meeting to
order at approximately 1 : 10 p.m. at the Liquor Dept.
Conference Room, 101 Aupuni , Hilo, Hawaii .
II . ROLL CALL:
Members Robert E. Bethea, Chairman
Present: Sherwood Greenwell , Vice Chairman
Pamela F. Cushnie
Francine Duncan
David Fuertes
H. Peter L'Orange
Aileen Lum
Steven T. Nishikawa
Patricia M. Poppe
Attorney: Christopher Yuen
Secretary:R. Marie Jacobs
Members James O. Juvik
Absent: Akira T. Omonaka
III. APPROVE MINUTES OF 03/28/90 & 04/09/90: Discussed a
change to be made in the 04/09/90 minutes to be made re
Salary Commission before the minutes are mailed out.
Upon motion made by Ms. Poppe and seconded by Mr.
L'Orange, the minutes were then approved.
IV. PUBLIC TESTIMONY: Michael Mentnech. Mentnech: Repre-
sents the Hawaii County Republican Party. Read his
statement. They do not wish the Salary Commission to
review and set executive salaries due to the
possibility of abuse (see Exhibit A) . Duncan: Asked
him for a suggestion to solve the problem (Tape
1 : 1 :43) . Mentnech: Should have public involved in
salary setting. Salary increases should be tied to the
inflation rate and union raises and be presented to the
public. The move worldwide is to have open
government .
Poppe: Salary Commission makes a proposal to the
council for consideration. Bethea: Commission sets
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the salaries; council doesn' t determine it. Yuen: The
proposal is for the Salary Commission to set the
salaries of all elected County officials (includes
mayor , prosecutor and council) ; department head
salaries are still set by ordinance.
Bethea: Partial wording said, elected officials will
have a "reasonable relationship to the salaries of
civil service employees , giving due consideration for
the duties and responsibilities. " Also, Salary
Commission members should have the approval of mayor
and council .
L'Orange: Questioned whether sunshine law applies to
Salary Commission. Yuen: Yes , it does apply.
Cushnie: Questioned whether check and balance existed
between Salary Commission and council . Mentnech: If
council wants a raise, they chose people who will agree
that they need a raise. Cushnie: But council is
accountable to people. Mentnech: Can see abuse--not
from present electees , but maybe from those in place
after the next election. Prefers to leave it as it now
is . If council is in charge of the money, they
shouldn' t be delegating salary decisions to
commissions. L'Orange: Repeated Mr . Mentnech' s
proposal: to rewrite the compensation section to
delete the Salary Commission complete and have salaries
set by council. Mentnech: Yes , or require council to
okay salaries .
Mentnech: Newspaper article hinted at ALL executive
salaries being raised , but in actually, it ' s only the
mayor ' s and prosecutor ' s.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY: Jerry Rothstein. Rothstein: Re
Article XI , (1) does not wish any further voting rights
taken away from citizens. (2) Wants clear ballot
language addressed by the Charter Commission because of
the confusing language used in the Hapuna initiative.
County Clerk is supposed to have the final say in
language, but the County Clerk always deferred to
Corporation Counsel . Rothstein reviewed language
before it was put on allot , found it confusing, and
made suggestions to change it; there was even a factual
mistake in the language. Corporation Counsel not only
refused to simplify the language but refused to correct
the error. Hence, Hawaii residents lost the right to
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the beach because of the confusing language. Suggests
mayor appoint a group representing the pro and con
sides of issue, plus others. (3 ) Petition signatures
should expire every two election years . (4) Questioned
what "qualified voter" issue refers to on agenda.
Bethea: Adequacy of ballot language was discussed and
commission is trying to solve the problem. It ' s still
an open issue. Re ballot language, Sec. 11-7(b) , hope
to clarify. Yuen: Qualified voter issue refers to
whose signature counts as valid on a petition. Does
your signature count if you are registered voter when
you sign initiative? or does it count if you are
registered the day the County Clerk begins validating
signatures?
Rothstein: In the Hapuna initiative, if you were not a
registered voter on the day you signed your name, then
you were not counted as valid. This knocked off
hundreds of valid names.
Cushnie: Also discussed using post office boxes if a
voter didn' t have a residence address ; and the 15% of
the total number of persons who voted for the office of
the mayor in the last preceeding election. Poppe: No,
it was to mean the people who specifically voted.
Cushnie: Questioned Mr. Rothstein' s opinion re council
making changes on petitions before approving them.
Could petitioners and council work out changes?
Rothstein: If council adopts petition, then there' s no
need to bring it to the voters. The people who brought
up the petition should negotiate with council , as long
as it doesn' t stray from the intent of the petition.
Rothstein: Also, pamphlet or booklet should be mailed
to voters re the ballot items , so they can be self-
educated prior to the election. Bethea: Did pass a
motion last meeting to include post office boxes be
considered as a residence address .
Duncan: Who do you feel should judge what is plain
language? Rothstein: More than one person should
decide--a group--including non-legal people, an
attorney, and possibly a high school student , for
example.
Cushnie: Decided to give the County Clerk 30 days to
prepare a certificate of sufficiency for petitions ;
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should there be more or less time (Tape 2: 1 :46)?
Rothstein: Once an initiative petition is in progress,
you can assume there will be a language question
thereafter. As soon as the petition is handed in, the
County Clerk has 30 days to validate it ; and a group
should meet shortly thereafter to review the petition
language. Cushnie: Questioned time constraints .
Petition isn' t valid until certificate is issued.
Rothstein: For each initiative, you can have an
appointed group to review the petition publically.
Rothstein: Also objects to a non-County employee of
the opposing side of a petition being allowed to review
voting rolls of signatures ; this is improper
procedure.
L'Orange: Everyone interested in language clarity.
Sees no need for pros and cons of a petition being in
on the ballot clarity issue. Rothstein: Agreed.
Suggested groups to clarify language for ballots be
ex-officio, rather than an appointed commission.
Bethea: Actually, both sides would prefer language
that is prejudicial in their favor; that ' s reality.
Rothstein: Neither side liked the Hapuna language.
Bethea: Commission plans to review methods for
clarifying and simplifying ballot language; it ' s on
today' s agenda.
Rothstein: During this commission meeting, questioned
whether he would be permitted to enter discussions
between commission members . Bethea: No, public has
opportunity to air its views during public testimony
portion of meeting; public will have other opportuni-
ties to air its views at other meetings though.
Public testimony portion of meeting was closed.
V. AGENDA ITEM NO. 5: Art . X: Sec. 10-14 (c) (2) . Yuen:
Commission already amended no-bidding minimum amount
from $4 , 000 to $8 , 000 , in conformance with state law.
Mr. Gray/Finance wanted wording added to state "or
according to state law" in case state bidding amounts
changed before the Charter was next up for review. The
commission decided this additional wording wasn' t
necessary at this time. L'Orange: Council can always
amend Charter , if necessary later.
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VI . AGENDA ITEM NO. 6 : Salary Commission wording. Bethea:
Wording has not been prepared yet and will be deferred
to next meeting.
VII . AGENDA ITEM NO. 7 : Art. XI: Initiative/Referendum.
Bethea: Wording has not been prepared yet and will be
deferred to the next meeting.
Bethea: Can discuss 11-7(b) . Duncan: Asked who is
responsible for the cost of educating the public re
ballot issues? Who is responsible for informing public
of people running for office? Yuen: Presently, there
is no requirement that anyone spend a certain amount of
money to educate the public. A state law requires a
facsimile of a ballot to be given to the public. The
Charter requires this commission only to publish a
notice in the newspaper containing a digest of what is
proposed and a notification that the whole text is
available for review at the County Clerk' s office.
Commissions do spend money educating the public; and
this commission can include something in the Charter to
that effect. Poppe: The press usually chooses to
inform the public of issues .
Bethea: Need to consider whether we should seek budget
money to educate the public. Greenwell : We should
approach council and explain the need for monies.
Whether or not a resume of candidates is given is not
our responsibility. Yuen: Ballot language goes to Lt .
Governor ' s office for finalizing. Bethea: Need to
decide whether we should make an educational effort
beyond the minimum required of us.
Cushnie: Can discuss need to form a committee to
review the ballot language? Bethea: Yes. Poppe:
Sec. 11-7 seems clearly written with a "for" or
"against. " Yuen: If you ' re in favor of a particular
initiative, it will go on ballot as a "for" vote; if
you' re against it , vote "against . " Commission
continued discussion on using "for or against" or "yes
or no" on ballot. Poppe: Hapuna ballot was too
confusing for lay minds . Hapuna was an example of
poorly written language; maybe the next language will
be more clearly written as a result. L'Orange:
Doesn' t see need for a committee to review ballot
language. Asked whether there was a County office to
refer such a matter to. Duncan: But Mr. Rothstein
said that County Clerk only acts on recommendation of
Corporation Counsel .
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Cushnie: Asked whether technical , legal language is
necessary on ballots? Lum: But can state it legally
and then state it simply afterwards on same ballot.
Bethea: Maybe an insertion to say, "shall contain in
plain language an objective summary of the substance of
the measure, and shall have below a ballot title. "
Motion No. 1 : Duncan: Proposes that Mr. Yuen prepare
language for review and/or approval at the next meeting
relative to Section 11-7(b) (Tape 2: 2:41) . Poppe:
Seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion
carried.
VIII. AGENDA ITEM NO. 8 .a) : Art . XII , Sec. 12-1 . 3 . This item
is deferred until the next meeting, when the language
will be prepared/adopted.
AGENDA ITEM NO. 8 .b) : Art. XII : Balance of article.
Yuen: Need to consider whether you even want to touch
recall info if voters approve single-member districts.
Bethea: Discussed Sec. 12-1. 6. Yuen: This section
says if 50% or less of the registered voters turn out
to vote, you will not recall the official . Sec. 12-1 .7
refers to those qualified to vote in a recall
election. Bethea: Decided to go to next item.
IX. AGENDA ITEM NO. 9 : Art . XIII: Boards/Commissions .
L'Orange: Important to know if the single-member
district option is adopted. Yuen: If you want to tie
board/commission membership to single-member districts ,
you have to change all boards/commissions to nine
members , except Civil Service has to have five
members. Greenwell: Can include something in a
districting package.
Bethea: No changes instituted for Secs. 13-1.
Discussed eligibility of running for office. Yuen:
Must resign present job to run for council or mayor.
Bethea: Questioned what would happen if someone waited
until the last minute to run for election.
Cushnie: Asked if residency requirement appeared in
other portions of the Charter. Yuen: There will be a
residency requirement in the singl-member district
proposal .
Commission: Discussed Sec. 13-2; 13-3 . Bethea:
Question was previously brought up: Can the mayor
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appoint someone prior to confirmation by council?
Yuen: That was in another section. Bethea: Sec.
13-8 , regarding appointing authority, when the mayor is
out, his appointees are out.
Yuen: Appointed and qualified is not the same as
appointed and confirmed. You can take office and the
appointing authority finds you qualified for the
position, you don' t have to wait until you're
confirmed. Bethea: Carpenter appointed someone to a
position before the person was confirmed by council .
Yuen: Number of changes were made in Sec. 13-4 . Items
adopted appear in Mr. Yuen' s chart attached hereto as
Exhibit B.
Commission: No changes made in Sec. 13-5 and -6.
Yuen: Regarding Sec. 13-7 , rules and regulations have
no effect until approved by the mayor; council has
nothing to do with it (Tape 3 : 1 :47) . This can be
changed to conform to state law.
Motion No. 2: L'Orange: Moved that Sec. 13-7 be
changed to confirm with state law. Poppe: Seconded.
Bethea: Specific amendment would be deleting "approved
by the council . " All were in favor. Motion carried.
Duncan: Wanted to back up to Sec. 13-5 so that the
county Charter could be included.
Motion No. 3 : Poppe: Made a motion to include the
county Charter. Greenwell : Seconded. All were in
favor. Motion carried.
Poppe: Questioned whether Sec. 13-8 had already been
amended to change the word "qualified" to "confirmed; "
"qualification" changed to "confirmation. " Yuen: It
was discussed but not changed.
Motion No. 4 : Poppe: Made a motion to move for the
above change in Sec. 13-8 . Duncan: Seconded the
motion.
Bethea: Discussed proposed change. "Qualified" means
the process mentioned in 13-3 . Mayor should make the
appointments and those appointees take office; if
council doesn' t confirm, mayor has to come up with
someone else to fill the position. Not in favor of
890
Motion No. 4 . Poppe: Questioned the clarity of the
words "qualified" and "qualification. "
(NOTE: Mr. Fertes left the meeting. )
Yuen: Asked if the substance of the motion was that a
person takes office when appointed by the mayor and
continue to function until the council confirms/rejects
the person. You may want to include a time frame for
council to act within; if council does not confirm/
reject , the person shall be deemed to be confirmed.
Suggested he come up with exact language at the next
meeting.
Motion No. 5 : Motion No. 4 was withdrawn. Poppe:
Made a motion to re-word the paragraph according to the
previous suggestions by Mr. Yuen. Duncan: Seconded.
All in favor . Motion carried.
Yuen: Suggests that the commission also go back to
Sec. 5-2. 6 in connection with Motion No. 5. Feels the
Corporation Counsel section was left until Sec. 13 was
dealt with. Bethea: This section will be included on
the next agenda.
Commission: No change noted for Sec. 13-9 . Duncan:
Feels the anguage "From and after the full effective
date of this charter , " is unnecessary language.
L'Orange: Also discussed Sec. 13-10 , adding additional
relatives to the list.
(NOTE: Ms. Lum left the meeting. )
Motion No. 6: L'Orange: Moved that "son-in-law" and
"daughter-in-law" be added to the list of relatives in
Sec. 13-10. Seconded by Ms. Cushnie. All were in
favor. Motion carried. Bethea: This should be a
housekeeping item.
Commission: No changes noted in Sec. 13-11 and 13-12.
Bethea: Sec. 13-13 . Yuen: Request came from council
to be allowed to enter into contracts related to their
legislative function. Greenwell : Should have the
right to approve contracts also. L'Orange: Doesn' t
understand the number of contracts the county enters
into or the scope of the contract item. Greenwell :
Suggested having Finance Director and Council represen-
tative to address the issue at the next meeting.
891
L'Orange: Does not want to approve a Charter change
that is a council or Finance responsibility. Bethea:
If there is a contract that covers more than one year ,
council may have to be involved. Greenwell: If there
is a big money contract , council should be involved.
Would like council and Finance Dept . to answer
questions regarding contracts. Yuen: County probably
signs several hundred contracts a year. Contracts
without appropriations need to go to council for
appropriation of monies .
Bethea: Referred to Helene Hale' s letter of March 15 ,
1990 (Exhibit C) regarding contracts. Yuen: Although
item was discussed previously, it was not an item voted
on. Bethea: Should be an agenda item for next
meeting. Questioned whether any action was previously
taken on Sec. 3-3? Yuen: No.
(NOTE: Mr. Nishikawa left the meeting. )
Yuen: Did not discuss Ms. Hale' s proposal (Exhibit C)
or take a vote on it . Bethea: Asked whether could be
considered part of today' s agenda. Yuen: Insofar as
it fits in conjunction with Art . XIII.
Motion No. 7: L'Orange: Made a motion to ask Finance
Director to appear at next meeting to address contracts
topic. Greenwell : Wants Mr. Kokubun to appear also.
L'Orange: Wants to find out how many contracts the
county has before making a decision on the contract
issue. Bethea: Need to find out from Finance Director
how many contracts are involved. Yuen: Council has to
ask administration to hire a consultant. Other
counties and ours seem to go with the hiring of
consultants as an administrative function. Greenwell:
Wants to know how many contracts council has actually
approved and how many have been approved adminis-
tratively. Bethea: Will call Finance Director to find
out.
Bethea: Sec. 13-14 . Section 13-20 involves code of
ethics , which is a large topic. Greenwell : Suggested
deferring until next meeting.
X. AGENDA ITEM NO. 12: Set Next Meeting(s) . Next meeting
was confirmed for May 14th, except it was changed to
Hilo instead of Waimea. And it will begin at 9 a.m.
Mr. Greenwell will chair the meeting.
892
Tentatively, the following meeting will be held June
1st in Waimea at 9 a.m. Place: Parker Ranch Library.
XI. GENERAL: Bethea: Need to ask Mr. Omonaka to find out
how expenditures are progressing and plan to ask for
public education money.
XII . ADJOURNMENT: Chairman Bethea adjourned the meeting at
approximately 4 : 13 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
(2A01291"‘/
R. Marie Jacobs
Secretary-Assistant
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•V/,g0 ,L//4NIMG(T
The Republican Party is opposed to the expansion of the Salary Review
Commission authority to include Executive salaries.
The possibility for abuse is enormous in this situation where the Mayor
appoints those who review his own as well as the Council's pay. It provides
only the most tenuous accountability to the public which this government is
supposed to serve.
We feel this proposal runs counter to the American principle of
repesentative government. Raising salaries may be difficult politically;
however, that is part of the job that comes with those salaries.
This is not an appropriate answer to the salary dilemma. It smacks of
backroom dealing and should not be on the ballot. Where are the checks and
balances of government in this proposal?
Michael Mentnech
Hawaii County Executive Committee
Republican Party
EXHIBIT A
(1 page) 894
CHECKLIST (THROUGH MARCH 7 , 1990)
APPROVED FOR BALLOT KEEPING UNCHANGED
1. §3-2 , 3-3 . Council districts. 1. Art. I
2 . §3-16. "Environmental quality. " 2 . Art. II
3 . §3-18 . Reapportionment 3 . §5-1. 5. Successor to
4 . §5-1. 4 (b) . Mayor's office. mayor; vacancies.
5 . §5-1. 5 . Vacancies. 4 . §5-2 . 5. Corp. Counsel*
6 . §5-3 . 1. Deputy finance director 5. §3-5. Council
7 . §5-3 . 2 . Finance director vacancies.
qualifications. 6 . Art. V and VI re
8 . §5-4 . 2 . Planning director departments under
qualifications. managing director
9 . §5-5. 3 (c) R&D duties. 7 . §6-2 . 1. Public works.
10 . §6-1. 1. Deputy managing 8 . §7-3 . Liquor.
director 9 . Art. VIII. Water.
11. §6-1. 2 . Managing director 10 . Art. IX. Prosecuting
qualifications. attorney. *
12 . §6-4 . 2 . Fire chief
qualifications.
13 . §7-1. Civil service.
14 . §7-2 . Police. (* means not all issues
15 . §13-4 (d) . Holdovers. have been decided. )
16 . §13-4 (i) . Majority voting.
17 . §13-4 (j ) . Quorum.
18 . §13-4 (1) . Confirmation.
19 . §13-4 (m) . Absenteeism.
20 . Gender-neutral
language
21. "Meridian" to "Noon" .
EXHIBIT B
(1 page)
895
4OJ�SY OF \\1.•i
•
HELENE H.HALE { ? �`+ /,
Councilwoman
.''.�rE OF HPJr
11/
COUNTY COUNCIL
County of Hawaii
Hawaii County Building
25 Aupuni Street.
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
March 15, 1990
Mr . Robert Bethea, Chair
Charter Review Commission
County of Hawaii
101 Aupuni St.
Hilo, HI 96720
RE: Council recommended Charter amendments
The Council in the last few months has proposed amendments to the
County Charter .
We are interested to learn the Commission' s disposition with regard
to the Council ' s proposals . If the Commission has not acted upon
these ro osals but expects to do so, when will the Commission
p p
consider these amendments?
The proposals are:
(1) Article XIV, Section 5
The board of ethics shall uphold the standards
in Article XIV, Code of Ethics, Hawaii County
Charter, and Article 14 , Hawaii County Code, as
well as Chapter 84 , Hawaii Revised Statutes .
Where conflicts arise between the application
of these provisions, the board of ethics should
be guided by the stricter standard. (See IGR
Report No . 35 , Adopted 10/04/89 . )
(2) Article III
The County council may contract for services
necessary to the exercise of its legislative
powers . The council chairperson shall execute
the contract on behalf of the council after the
council has expressed by resolution the need
for such a contract . Notwithstanding any
provision of this charter to the contrary, the
execution of the contract by the council
chairperson shall be sufficient to obligate the
county. (See IGR Report No . 34 , Adopted
10/04/89 . ) 896
EXHIBIT C
(2 pages)
Mr. Robert Bethea, Chair
Charter Review Commission
March 15, 1990
Page 2
(3) Article X, Section 9
The mayor may at any time during the fiscal
year transfer part or all of any unencumbered
appropriation balance between classifications
of expenditures or programs within an agency or
executive agency upon the approval of the
county council by resolution; and if at any
time the mayor so requests in writing, the
council, by ordinance effective immediately
upon adoption, may transfer, part or all of any
unencumbered appropriation balance from one
agency or executive agency to another . . .
(See IGR Report No . 41, Adopted 12/28/89 . )
Article X, Section 2
(a) [Within ten (10) working days after the
close of the state legislature but not later
than May 1 of each year, the] The mayor shall
submit on or before March 1 of each year to the
county council : . . . (See IGR Report No . 22,
Adopted July 19 , 1989 , as amended. ) [New
materials are underscored, deleted materials
are bracketed. ]
Lastly, the Council proposed that the Charter
should not be amended to include provisions
pertaining to the Hawaii Redevelopment Agency.
(See IGR Report No. 25, Adopted 07/19/89 , as
amended. )
I would appreciate hearing from you before March 27, 1990 as the
Inter-Governmental Relations Committee will be taking this up at
that meeting .
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Helene Hale, Chair
Committee on Inter-Governmental
Relations
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