HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN CHC 1989-09-15 PH • Minutes of
HAWAII COUNTY CHL,-TER COMMISSION
Public Hearing &
Regular Commission Meeting
September 15 , 1989
I . CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Bethea called the public hearing portion of the
meeting to order at approximately 5: 11 p.m. at the Parker
Ranch Restaurant , Waimea, Hawaii. A regular commission
meeting was to follow.
II. ROLL CALL
Members Robert E. Bethea, Chairman
Present: Pamela F. Cushnie
Francine Duncan
David Fuertes
James O. Juvik
Aileen Lum
Steven T. Nishikawa
Akira T. Omonaka
Patricia M. Poppe
Attorney: Christopher Yuen
Secretary:R. Marie Jacobs
Members Sherwood Greenwell , Vice Chairman
Absent : H. Peter L'Orange
III . INTRODUCTION
Bethea: Reminded those present that this public hearing
is in accordance with Section 15 . 3 of the Hawaii County
Charter re the mandatory 10-year review. He read the
public hearing schedule.
Bethea: Introducted topics previously brought before the
Charter Commission for review/alteration:
(1) The way the County Council is elected;
(2) Qualifications of Council members;
(3) Changes in the general plan;
(4) The way appointments of agency heads are made;
(5) Functions of the Salary Commission/setting the
salary of the mayor;
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(6) Whether the Planning Commission should be an
advisory body or a body with greater decision-
making powers;
(7) suggested changes in the Fire Department, including
creation of a possible fire commission;
(8) Changes relative to the Water Commission;
(9) Changes relative to the Police Commission;
(10) Fiscal procedures;
(11) Changes in initiative and referendum;
(12) Changes with boards and commissions; and
(13) Recommendations that County elections should be
non-partisan.
Bethea: Public testimony may be offered on any subject
within the purview of this commission. He requested that
those testifying be to the point and succinct (1 : 1 :42) .
A sign-up sheet was provided for those wishing to
testify; they were called on in the order the names were
received.
IV. MS. KELLY POMEROY (Exhibit A)
A. Pomeroy: Would like a gender-neutral Charter and
gender-neutral affirmative action documents .
B. Pomeroy: Procedures for gathering and validating
petition signatures are referred to in three places
in the Charter with different wording and details
given in each; these are found in the initiative,
recall and charter amendment sections.
C. Pomeroy: Proposes a new Section 13-28 (i.e.
validation and petitions) , 13-20 (i. e. records and
meetings open to the public) ; Section 12-1 . 3 (i . e.
recall elections) ; Section 11 (i . e. initiative) .
D. Pomeroy: Section 13-4(f) : The ennumeration of
districts and the provisions for appointments to
boards and commissions is repetitive. The districts
coincide with County Council districts , so spelling
them out in each section may be dispensed with.
Bethea: The various commissions have varying
numbers of members and are chosen on different bases
(35) .
E. Pomeroy: The Planning Director proposes land use
changes on behalf of private developers as part of
the general plan revision process; this is an
abuse. It puts the County in a position of being
581 (Corrected)
an advocate for private monied interests (32) ; it
exempts environmental impact statement requirements
and reduces public scrutiny (Section 3-16) .
F. Pomeroy: Replace general plan words: replace "air
pollution" with "air and water quality" and add
"environmental" to the social , economic and govern-
mental spheres .
of Appeals wordinggiving Pomeroy: Board pp g g preference
to members with backgrounds in planning and
construction was deleted; but removing this provi-
tion does not exclude persons of such background.
H. Pomeroy: Impeachment : Section 12-2. 1 should allow
for impeachment of appointed officials .
I . Pomeroy: A political party has no right to be
disproportionately represented on boards and
commissions (28) . No more than a bare majority
should be of a given sex or ethnic group.
J. Pomeroy: Section 13-23 : The phrase "morals of the
community" is inappropriate wording; it should be
replaced with "well being. "
K. Pomeroy: . Public hearings: When a decision-making
body takes action which is contrary to public
testimony, the decision-making body should explain
its reasoning.
L. Pomeroy: Section 14-3 : A Council or board member
who declares a conflict of interest should not be
required/allowed to vote if he or she has a conflict
of interest.
M. Pomeroy: Charter amendments should be voted on in
segments or portions . The commission should remain
in service until after the election. Section 15-2
and 15-4 support that if someone initiates a change,
that individual should have input on how their proposal
will be worded for voting purposes.
N. Pomeroy: Other changes are mentioned in Exhibit A.
V. JOHN LAURANCE
A. Laurance: The County lacks a commission to make
qualified comments re energy production and
utilization, science, technology. Would like the
formation of an energy commission appointed by the
(Corrected) 582
mayor included in the Charter . This would be a
coordinating group, not necessarily endowed with
power, but one that could make recommendations (11) .
B. Laurance: Geothermal Commission is the only one
that exists (19) ; and that enables the Planning
Commission to make logical and educated decisions if
called on.
VI . ROGER HARRIS
A. Harris: The basis of County government is in land
use planning and controls ; secondarily, the County
is a service agent to residents (1 : 2:40) .
B. Harris: County Council should adopt the general
plan; the general plan is now in its 9th year of a
10-year review and is still not adopted. The
Charter should mandate that 10-year reviews should
be completed by the end of the first year.
C. Harris: Section 3-16 needs expanding upon. The
amendment or review procedure is poor. Once the
plan is adopted, it shouldn' t be amended on a whim
and without due care in considering the whole
island ' s needs (36) .
D. Harris: The previous planning director inserted 10
times the capacity necessary in the general plan to
meet future population demands , which is
unreasonable.
E. Harris: Does not feel community needs formal neighbor-
hood boards . Feels the ad hoc groups and community
associations serve the population adequately.
F. Harris: Section 5-4 . 2: Expand the Planning
Director ' s duties to include publicizing the general
plan and zoning maps (34) ; there should also be a
general plan map open to public review and kept
current by Planning' s staff.
G. Harris: Section 8-2 , Water Commission: Charter
should contain instructions: "Prepare, adopt and
implement an islandwide water plan or plans for the
583
various water districts , consistent with and in
support of the general plan. " Water has no
long-range plans; indeed, it has no water plan
period. There should be a plan; when maximum is
reached, then the plan should be amended.
H. Cushnie: Questioned whether Harris felt water could
be provided to all island areas. Harris: Answered
yes; that it was just a matter of money and having
long-range plans (25) .
I. Duncan: Questioned if Harris were satisfied with
the Planning Board of Appeals; Harris: Yes.
VII. CLOSE PUBLIC HEARING/OPEN CHARTER MEETING:
As there was no further testimony to be offered, the
meeting was closed.
VIII. OPEN CHARTER MEETING:
The commission proceeded to hold a regular Charter
meeting.
A. Bethea: Checklist of items raised by the public was
mailed to members for review.
B. Poppe: Suggested the commission set a cut-off date
for accepting further testimony, and to publish that
date (19) .
C. Bethea: Discussed whether a special election should
be held for Charter amendments; his opinion was that
amendments should be handled at the time of the 1990
election. Yuen: Governor ' s office sets the
deadline for ballot proposals, which is tied to the
election date and printing schedules. The date
would not be available at this time (15) .
MOTION: Poppe: Made a motion that the commission
handle the Charter amendments at the regularly
scheduled 1990 general election. Juvik: Seconded
the motion. All were in favor.
D. Bethea: Discussed hotel/meal arrangements.
584
E. Omonaka: Not necessary to attend the budget
meetings. Any monies needed after June 30th will be
requested separately (9) .
IX. ADJOURNMENT
Upon motion made by Ms. Poppe and seconded by Mr.
Omonaka, the meeting was unanimously adjourned at
approximately 6:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
2 'Z
R. Marie Jacobs
Secretary-Assistant
585
Pomeroy
9-15-89
DISaCUSSION OF PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENTS
The accompanying proposal is color coded for ease of reference . Items
highlighted in blue - the bulk of the changes - have as their aim creation of
a gender-neutral charter .
Two additional groups of changes eliminate redundancy and add flexibility.
For example, procedures for gathering and validating petition signatures are
spelled out in different wording, with differing degrees of detail , in three
different places. . .yet there is no substantive difference in what is being
described.
I have removed this redundant wording from the sections relating to
initiative , recall , and charter amendment , and included it as a new section at
the end of Article XIII - General Provisions. This helps to streamline the
charter , and means that any change of procedure will require only one
amendment instead of three . It is not a constraint , because the common
procedure is automatically overriden if an exception is spelled out in any of
the other three sections. These changes have been highlighted in green .
A similar example is the repetitive enumeration of districts in the provisions
for appointments to various boards and commissions. In every case , the
districts coincide with the county council districts, so there is no need to
spell them out separately in each section they apply to. These changes are
highlighted in pink.
Substantive changes are highlighted in yellow. The ones presented at this
time relate to the general plan , the board of appeals, impeachment ,
"affirmative action" , declarations of emergency, public hearings, conflict of
interest and charter amendment procedures. I will discuss each briefly.
General plan (Section 3-16) . The system whereby the planning director
proposes land use changes on behalf of private developers as part of the
comprehensive general plan revision process should be viewed as an abuse . It
puts the county in the inapproporiate position: of being an advocate for
private monied interests. Without any, ra_t.ionale , it-exempts potent'`a14.X
massive projects from environmental impact static=ment requirements, and ;
generally reduces public scrutiny .of them.-: ;This, .is a loophole which hould 'be
closed.
•
Two other' changes relating to. the .general .._plan., replace "air pollution" with
"air and water quality" as being among the concerns of . the general. p 1.an,
add "environmen+a1 " to the social , . econorTc and governmental spheres as being
worthy of attention .
Board of Appeals, (Section 5-6.3) .. .The. statement giving preference ,.to persons : ,`
EXHIBIT A ,586
(13 pages)
•
with a background in planning and construction on the board of appeals has
been deleted. While such background may be an advantage on some technical
questions, it could also work against public concerns by stacking the board in
a pro-development direction . The kind of background specified in the charter
as it now stands wouldn' t necessarily result in persons better able to
understand the explanations of a technical consultant than would an
intelligent individual of some other background, yet it is very likely to
introduce a bias on political aspects of the board's function. Removing the
provision does not exclude persons of such background.
Impeachment (Section 12-2.1) . This change allows for impeachment of appointed
officials as well as elected ones. There is no good reason to put any county
officer beyond the law with respect to misdeeds or negligence in office.
"Affirmative action" (Sections 13-2 through 13-4 and 15-3) . These changes
call for the use of gender neutral wording wherever appropriate in county
documents, and encourage appointments which overall will tend to reflect the
demographic characteristics of the county with respect to sex, ethnic group ,
occupation and political party.
Declaration of emergencies (Section 13-23) . "well-being" is substituted for
"morals" , as more appropriate and less alarming wording.
The present requirement of no more than a bare majority of any one party on an
appointive body may produce a nonrepresentative board. Suppose , for example,
3 that one party were in the overwhelming majority in the county, and the only
other party turned out to be a small one given over to a fringe political or
religious ideology. I 'm not claiming this is presently the case , but I don' t
consider the idea totally far-fetched, either .
In what way would the public interest be served by giving these two
hypothetical parties equal representation in appointive positions? They •
certainly don' t have it with respect to elected positions, which are the
foundation of our democracy. A less extreme example may be less clear , but
the principle is the same: a political party has no right to be
disproportionately represented.
It would be more appropriate to say that no more than a bare majority should
be of a given sex or ethnic group . The political affiliation requirement is
very likely to lead to some individuals switching parties as needed to fit the
requirements. But people do not have the option of switching their sex or
ethnic group in order to gain power .
Public hearings (Section 13-20) . This change asks that when a decision-making •
body takes action which is counter to public testimony, they should give their
reasons and attempt to suggest ways that legitimate concerns might be
resolved. Nothing is more frustrating to the citizen than to present argument
after argument which individual officials admit off the record are valid and
weighty, only to have them totally ignored, without any kind of
acknowledgement , when the decision is rendered. This more than almost
anything else leads to a feeling that government is nonresponsive and
irresponsible .
Conflict of interest (Section 14-3) . This change prevents an official from
587
voting in a way which would further a conflicting interest , and prevents any
other official from compelling such a vote . The county has witnessed
instances where a council member has declared a conflict of interest and then
• been ordered by the charirnan to vote anyway. This is either a sham or a
violation of the official 's civil rights. It constitutes a cynical
undermining of the conflict of interest laws in any 'case , and erodes public
confidence in our government.
Charter amendment (Section 15-3) . These changes include a requirement that
voters be allowed to vote on a charter proposal in units no larger than
individual articles, and allows for "mop up" operations after the election.
One additional substantive change is really a by-product of one of the
nonsubstantive ones. The charter now specifies that the seventh police
commissioner must be from Hilo. The proposed change dealing with enumeration
of the districts allows this to be the case but does not require it . A
stipulation could be added that if there are more commissioners than
districts, the excess commissioners shall be drawn from the districts
including the largest urban populations, in order of size . But I don't see
any great harm in leaving it up to the mayor and the council for now.
The remaining changes, highlighted in purple , deal with miscellaneous points
of grammar , logic , style , etc . - such as the random appearance of the archaic
subjunctive usage in " if it be" . The changes to Article XVI are an attempt to
remove "excess baggage" from the transitional provisions.
In a number of places the phrase "twelve o'clock meridian" has been replaced
with the word "noon" . The latter is less stilted, more succinct , and equally •
precise . In a small way, it may also serve to make our charter less remote
from the average citizen.
Respectfully submitted,
Kelly Pomeroy
P.O. Box 44584
Kawaihae HI 96743
882-7632 •
588
CHARTER AMENDMENTS PROPOSED BY KELLY POMEROY 9-15-89
Section 3-4. Compensation ; Salary Commission.
(b) The commission shall consist of nine members, who shall represent the
districts as provided in Section 13-4 of this charter . In addition, the
civil service director and deputy civil service director shall serve as
ex-officio members of the commission in an advisory capacity.
Section 3-5. Vacancy in Office. [Change "he succeeds" to "being
succeeded" ; change "twelve o'clock meridian" to "noon" ; change "his
election" to "the election" .]
Section 3-16. General Plan. [Change "air pollution" to "air and water
quality" ; insert "environmental " between "social " and "economic" .]
(c) Amendments to the general plan may be initiated by the council , by
the planning director, or by a private party which submits a proposal to
the council or to the planning director. In the case of a land use
reclassification proposal by or on behalf of a private party, said proposal
shall be considered to have been initiated by the private party, and
neither the council nor the planning director shall claim to have initiated
it. Such a proposal may not be exempted from environmental impact statement,
requirements and must receive hearing publicity in its own right , not as
one of a list of general plan revisions.
Section 4-2. Organization. The activities under the direction and
supervision of the mayor shall be distributed among such agencies as may be
established either by this charter or by the county council . New functions
may be assigned by the mayor to existing agencies.
Section 5-1 .1 Election and Term of Office. The mayor shall be elected
for a term of four years, which term shall commence at noon on the first
Monday of December following the election.
Section 5-1 .2. Qualifications. Any person elected as mayor of the
county shall have been a duly qualified elector of the county for at least
one year immediately prior to being elected. The mayor may not serve for
more than two consecutive full terms of office.
Section 5-1 .4. Powers, Duties and Functions. The mayor shall be the
chief executive officer of the county, vested with all the executive powers
of the county, except as otherwise provided by this charter. The mayor
shall have the power to:
(a) Exercise direct supervision over all agencies enumerated in this
article or established by mayoral privilege, and through the managing
director supervise and coordinate all other executive agencies of the
county, except as otherwise provided by this charter.
(e) [Delete the portion after the semicolon.]
Section 5-1 .5. Vacancy in Office.
MOM
The person elected as the successor shall , if the term of the person
being succeeded has not expired, serve out the unexpired term commencing at
589
noon on the first Monday of December following the election.
Section 5-2.2. Appointment and Removal . [Change "he" to 'the person
selected" .]
Section 5-2.3. Powers, Duties and Functions. The corporation counsel
shall act as the chief legal advisor and legal representative of all county
agencies, the council and all officers and employees in matters related to
their official powers and duties, shall represent the county in all civil
legal proceedings, and shall perform all other services incident to the
office as may be required by law. The corporation counsel shall , however,
be prohibited from representing any county officer in impeachment
proceedings.
Section 5-2.6. Term of office. [Change "but in no event shall he
continue in office beyond" to "for a period not to exceed"]
Section 5-3.3. Powers, Duties and Functions.
(e) Examine all contracts, orders and other documents ,by which financial
obligations are incurred. Every such document shall be subject to the
director's approval , but this shall not be given without prior verification
of the appropriation, allotment and availability of funds to meet the
obligation concerned, with verification in accordance with Section 10-11 .
(f) Prepare and issue warrants, prepare payrolls and pension rolls and
disburse all funds in the county treasury. No money shall be paid out of
the treasury without prior verification of the appropriation, allotment and
availability of funds to cover the claim concerned, with certification
thereto as provided in Section 10-11 , and a determination that such claim
is regular in form, correctly computed and in the nature of a legal
obligation.
(g) Maintain a general accounting system for the county and require all
county agencies and executive agencies to report and remit all receipts as
needed.
(1 ) Where not in conflict with this charter, assume and perform all the
duties and functions of the purchasing agent, the treasurer and the auditor
of the county as provided by law, and for this purposethe director of
finance shall be authorized to appoint a deputy, to assign and reassign
duties to any employee and to make internal administrative and
organizational changes, subject to the approval of the mayor.
Section 5-6.3 Board of Appeals. [The wording says they shall hear
all appeals from actions of the planning director, but the planning
commission is also charged with hearing appeals from actions of the
planning director -- ??] [Change "his" to "the public works" ; delete final
paragraph.]
Section 6-1 .1. Organization. There shall be a position of managing
director in the office of the mayor, and the managing director shall be the
principal managrnent aide of the mayor.
Section 6-1 .3. Powers, Duties and Functions. The managing director
shall :
590
(b) Advise the mayor concerning the operation of all agencies under the
managing director's supervision, and initiate studies of the internal
organization and procedures of such agencies, and require reports from any
of them as may be needed for this purpose.
(c) [Change "his" to "the managing director's" .]
(f) Perform all other duties assigned to the managing director by this
charter or by the mayor.
Section 6-2.2. Chief Engineer. [Change "he" to " the person
selected" .]
Section 7-1 .2. Civil Service Commission. [Change "membership shall be
representative of the community and of the county geographical areas of
' "members shall
Puna, Ka u, Kona, Kohala, Hamakua, . and Hilo" to rnemb represent r
the districts as provided in Section 13-4 of this charter" .]
Section 7-2.2. Police Commission. The police commission shall consist
of seven members, who shall be appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the
• council , and who shall represent the districts as provided in Section 13-4
of this charter.
Section 7-3.2. Liquor Commission. There shall be a liquor commission
.consisting of seven members, who shall be appointed by the mayor and
confirmed by the council and who shall represent the districts as ,provided
in Section 13-4 of' this charter.
Section 8-2. Water Commission. [Change "the county geographical- areas
of Puna, Ka'u, Kona, . Kohala, Hamakua, and Hilo" to "each of the county
° council districts" .]
Section 9-1 . Election and Term of Office. (Change "twelve o'clock
meridian" to "noon" ; change "his" to "the" .]
Section 9-2. Qualifications. [Delete "He shall be a citizen of the
United States of America" and join the rest of the sentence to the
preceding sentence.] •
• Section 9-4. Powers, Duties and Functions. The prosecuting attorney
shall :
(d) [Change "he has information" to "evidence indicates" ; change "officer
as he shall designate." to "officer."]
MOS
(f) [Change "him" to "the prosecuting attorney" . ]
• Section 9-6. Vacancy in Office. [Insert a comma after the first •
occurrence of "deputy" .]
•
The person elected as the successor shall , if the term of the person
being succeeded has not expired, serve out the unexpired. term commencing at
noon on the first Monday of December following the election.
Section 10-2. Perparation and Submission of Budget and Capital
Program.
(c) The mayor shall review all the .available estimates and may hold
591 •
public hearings thereon and revise the estimates as needed in preparing the
budgets and programs. •
Section 10-6 Capital Budget. . .
(b) [Change "as guide" to "as a guide" .]
VVff
(d) [Delete parenthetical reference.]
Section 10-8. Appropriations: Supplemental and Emergency. [In second
paragraph, delete the comma in "the council , may" .]
Section 10-9 Appropriations: Reduction and Transfer. [Delete "to the
mayor" ; change "he" to "the mayor" .]
Section 10-11 . Payments and Obligations Prohibited: Verifications; •
Penalties. [first paragraph , next to last word: change "his" to "that
person's"]
Section 10-13. Post-audit. [In second paragraph, change "cause an
audit and investigation of the accounts maintained by the officer and by
his agency or executive agency to be made" to " initiate an audit of the
accounts maintained by the officer and the agency or executive agency" ;
change "an officer be found" to "an officer is found" .]
Section 10-14. Centralized Purchasing.
(b) [After "department of finance" , insert "who shall be chosen by the
director of finance and" .]
RSV
( i ) [Change "as in his opinion may be necessary" to "as may seem
warranted" .]
Section 12.1 .1 . Recall Procedure.
• [Delete Sections 12-1 .3 through 12-1 .5, and adjust the subsequent
numbering accordingly.]
Section 12.1 .3. Recall Election. .[Former Section 12.1 .6.] The
petition shall be validated as provided in Section 13-28. If it is
sufficient, the clerk shall immediately notify the .officer whose removal is
sought, and if the officer does not resign . . .
Section 12.1 .5 Succeeding Officer. [Former Section 12.1 .8. ; change
"his" to "the" ; change "he" to "the person" .]
Section 12.1 .6 Immunity to Recall . [Former Section 12.1 .9. ] The
question of the removal of any officer shall not be submitted to the voters
until such person has served six months of the current term, or, in the
case of an officer retained . in a recall election, until one year after that
election .
[Delete Sections 12.1 .7, .8, & .9.]
Section 12-2.1 . Impeachment of Public Officers. Any other provisions
in this charter for removal of appointed or elected officers
592
notwithstanding, any elected or appointed officer may be impeached for
malfeasance , misfeasance , nonfeasance, or maladministration in office . The
circuit court shall be a court of impeachment for the trial of any such
officer who may be charged on any of the foregoing grounds. The charges
shall be set forth in detail in writing in a verified petition for
impeachment signed by not less than one hundred qualified electors of the
county.
The court shall sit without a jury and shall proceed according to the
form required for the trial of all civil cases. If the court sustains the
charge , the officer shall be deemed removed from office and the office
declared vacant under this charter . In the case of an appointive position ,
the person removed may not be reappointed to that position for a period of
at least two years.
Trial for impeachment shall not exempt a person from other civil or
criminal proceedings relating to the same actions or negligence as gave
rise to the impeachment proceedings.
Section 13-1 . Definitions. As used in this charter :
(4)(3) [change "and" to "or"]
(7) Removal by impeachment proceedings as provided by this charter.
amd
(9) Upon filing nomination papers, while still in office , for another
elective office.
Section 13-2. Titles, Subtitles, Personal Pronouns; Constructions.
[Add to the end of the paragraph :] All county officers and employees shall
attempt to avoid the use of singular personal pronouns wherever it can
reasonably be done in this charter , in new ordinances and resolutions, and
wherever appropriate in other county documents.
Section 13-3. Appointments. No appointing authority shall appoint any
person to any office or position which is exempt from the civil service
laws until satisfied by proper investigation that the person to be
appointed is fully qualified by experience and ability to perform the
duties required.
Appointing authorities shall bear in mind the need for balance among
department heads as to sex and ethnic group, such that to the extent
feasible , there is not an excessive disparity from ratios found in the
general public .
Section 13-4. Boards and Commissions. . . .
(c) No member shall be eligible for a second appointment to the same
board or commission prior to the expiration of two years, except that
members whose initial appointment was for two years or less are eligible to
succeed themselves for an additional term. Otherwise , no member whose term
has expired shall continue to serve, on such board or commission .
(d) Any vacancy occurring in any board or commission shall be filled for
the unexpired term.
(e) Appointive bodies shall , to the extent feasible , be selected in a way
that maintains a balance as to sex , occupation , ethnic group, and political
party which does not differ to an excessive degree from that of the county
as a whole .
(f) Wherever it is stated in this charter that commissioners or board
593
members shall represent the districts, unless otherwise specified, the
districts shall coincide with the county council districts, and no district
shall have two representatives until all districts have a representative,
and no district shall have three representatives until all districts have
two representatives. Should a redistricting .occur, retention of such
officials under the new structure shall be at the discretion of the
appointing authority, even for districts which remain unchan ed. -The terms
PP 9 9
of any officials who are retained under a redistricting shall remain
.unchanged unless the charter as amended provides otherwise.
Section 13-5. Oaths of Office. [Delete the word "his" ; change " . . ."
to "(name of position)"]
Section 13-9. Non-Civil Service Status and Classification. From and
after the full effective date of this charter, no county position which is
• exempt from the civil service laws shall be included in a position
classification plan established under the civil service laws.
•
Section 13-10. Prohibitions. [Change "any office or position under
his supervision" to "any county office" ; add "son-in-law" and
"daughter-in-law" to the list of relatives.]
Section 13-13. Contracts. The county may enter into contracts with
private parties, the United States, or any other governmental body therein,
for the performance of any function or activity which the county is
authorized to perform. All written contracts to which the county is a party •
shall : . . .
Section 13-20. Records and Meetings Open to the Public.
4b)' [Add a last paragraph :] When a decision is reached contrary to public
testimony, members of the council , board or commission , individually or as
a group, shall give the reasons for their votes, and if possible, suggest
ways in which legitimate concerns not addressed by the decision might be
resolved.
(c) [Change "resume" to "summary" .]
(e) [Remove title and parenthetic sentence; change "connected" to
"connected with" .]
Section 13-22. Coordination of Work. [Change "building" to
"buildings" ; change "which he might require of the employees of his agency"
to "which might be required of employees of the first agency" .]
Section 13-23. Declaration of Emergencies. The mayor may declare
emergencies when the peace, life, property, health, safety or well-being of
• the community are endangered, but the failure or refusal of the mayor to
make such a declaration shall not preclude the council from finding that an
,emergency exists.
•
Section 13-24. Waiver of Charter Provisions. [Change "duly
advertised" to "a duly advertised" .]
Section 13-28. Validation of Petitions. Except as otherwise provided
elsewhere in this charter , Validation of a petition calling for a vote by .
the electorate on any subject within their purview shall be subject to the
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rules set forth in this section, as well as by such other rules as the
county council may impose by ordinance, consistent with the provisions and
with the spirit and purpose of this charter.
(a) The petition shall indicate by name and address three or five signers.
who constitute the petitioners' committee for that petition, and the
address to which all communications are to be sent.
(b) The signatures to the petition shall be filed on papers of uniform
size and style and assembled as one instrument.
(c) Each signature paper or set of signature papers shall contain the
full text of the ordinance, resolution, amendment , revision, recall , or ..
other issue to be voted upon, and each signer shall be given the
opportunity to read the full text .
(d) Each signature paper or set of signature papers shall contain an
affidavit signed by the circulator , to the effect that said person
personally circulated the paper orset of papers, that each paper bears a
stated number of signatures, that each signer seemed to fully understand
the purpose of the petition , and that each signature was affixed in the
circulator's presence and to the best of the circulator's knowledge is the.
genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be.
(e) Each person who signs the petition shall be a duly qualified elector
in the county or in the specified census tracts, and the information
supplied shall include that person's printed name, signature, residence
address, social security number and the date of signing.
(f) Individual signatures may be withdrawn, if within fifteen days after
the filing of the petition, the individual submits a written request
therefor to the clerk of the council .
(g) The petition shall be filed with the clerk of the council by the
petitioners' committee or by the council , as provided elsewhere in this
charter. Within twenty days of the filing, the clerk shall complete a
certificate as to the petition's sufficiency, both with respect to the
required number of valid signatures and with respect to compliance with
other requirements, and in making this determination shall disregard any
signatures not in accordance with the provisions of this charter. As soon
as a certificate is completed, the clerk shall notify the petitioners'
committee of its contents.
<h) As soon as a petition is certified to be sufficient , .the clerk shall
submit it to the county council along with the certification, and in the
case of a recall petition, shall make notification of this action to the
officer who is sought to be recalled.
( i ) If the petition is insufficient,, the certificate shall show the
particulars wherein it is defective , and if a majority of the petitioners'
committee elects to amend it, they shall notify the clerk of their
intention to do so, and within ten days after receipt of the clerk's
certificate, shall file a supplementary petition, governed by the same
requirements as the original petition . Within five days after the filing of
a supplemental petition , the clerk shall complete a second certificate as
to the sufficiency of the original petition as amended by the supplementary
petition . Thereafter , the procedural requirements for the petition as
amended shall be the same as that for the original petition.
(j) A majority of the petitioners' committee may request the county
council to review the clerk's certificate , at or before the meeting at
which the clerk presents the certificate to the council . The council shall
review the latest clerk's certificate, upon the committee's request, and
shall approve or reject the certificate or may substitute its own
determination of sufficiency of the petition by resolution. The review
actions of the council shall be final but shall not preclude the filing of
595
a new petition for the same purpose.
(k) If a petition is certified to be insufficient , and it is not amended
to become sufficient as provided in this charter , a new petition of
essentially the same content shall not be submitted within six months, or
in the case of a recall petition within one year, of the last date of
certification of the failed petition.
Section 14-2. Standards. It shall constitute a conflict of interest
for any employee or officer of the county to:
(a) Solicit or accept any gift , loan, gratuity, favor, promise or service
with the understanding that the same may influence such person in the
proper discharge of official duties.
(b) By virtue of official position , to secure special privileges,
consideration , treatment or exemption for any person beyond that which is
available to every person .
(c) Engage in any business, transaction or activity or have a financial
interest, direct or indirect , which might reasonably tend to be
incompatible with the proper discharge of official duties or to impair
independence of judgment in the performance of that person's official
duties.
(d) Receive any compensation for services as an officer or employee of
the county from any source other than the county, except as otherwise
provided by this charter or by law.
(e) Appear on behalf of private interests for compensation before any
agency of the county other than a court of law, nor represent private
interests in any action or9 roceedin against ainst the interest of the county in
P
any litigation to which the county is a party. An officer serving the
county without compensation , however , may appear for compensation on behalf
of private interests before a county agency other than the one said officer
serves if it does not have the power to review the actions of the officer's
agency or to act on the same subject matter.
9 . .
Section 14-3. Disclosure of Interest . It shall be incumbent upon all
employees or officers of the county to:
(a) Make full disclosure in writing to their appointing authorities or to
the council in the case of an elective officer, the possession or
acquisition of any interests, financial or otherwise , as might reasonably
tend to ceate a conflict with the public interest . Any member of an
elective or appointive body who has a personal interest , direct or
indirect , in any proposal pending before it shall disclose such interest
prior to any vote on the proposal , and shall not vote in a manner which
would tend to further that interest, and shall not be compelled by any
other person or persons to vote on the matter at all .
Ida
Section 14-4. Conduct of Employees. . . .
(b) [Delete "the" .]
Section 14-5. Board of Ethics. There shall be a board of ethics
appointed by the mayor with the approval of the council . It shall consist
of five members who shall be residents of the county. The board shall
establish its rules of procedure . !Without limitation of its functions, the
board shall :
(d) [Change "that come to its attention" to "as come to its attention" .]
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Section 15-3. Mandatory Charter Reviews. The charter shall be
reviewed in every year which ends with the digit nine . Not later than the
fifteenth day of January of the charter review year, the mayor, with the
confirmation of the council , shall appoint a charter commission composed of
eleven members to study and review the operation of the government of the
county under this charter. Commission members shall be representative of
the various council districts. The council shall appropriate funds to
enable the commission to carry out its duties, including the hiring to
necessary staff.
The commission shall hold at least one public hearing in each of the
council districts. The commission may propose amendments to the existing
charter or a draft of a new charter. The commission's proposal shall be
forwarded to the county clerk, who shall provide for its submission to the
electors of the county at either a special election as determined by the
commission or at the first general election following the charter review
year .
The commission shall publish not less than forty-five days before any
election, at least once in a daily newspaper of general circulation within
the county, a brief digest of the amendments or charter and the purpose
thereof and a notice to the electorate that copies of the amendments or
charter are available at the county clerk's office and at all public
libraries.
Section 15-4. Ballot . The petitioners, the council , or the
commission , depending upon which body initiated the changes, shall decide
how their proposal shall be broken into independent units for voting
purposes, but in no case shall the units be greater than individual
articles of the charter. A majority of votes cast for any given unit shall
be required for passage of that unit.. Any provisions approved by the voters
shall become effective at noon on the thirtieth day after the election ,
unless otherwise provided in the charter as it will stand with the appoved
changes.
Section 15-5. Disbanding of Commission. Members of the charter
commission shall hold office until the election at which their proposal is
voted on, except that if the charter as adopted or amended by the voters
requires adjustments to correct the numbering, or other nonsubstantive
changes, the commission shall make such adjustments, subject to approval by
two thirds of the council membership. If the charter as adopted by the
voters contains incompatible or incomplete provisions, the commission
shall , before disbanding, make recommendations to the council as to how
such flaws might be remedied.
Section 16-1 , Schedule, This charter, as amended, shall take full
effect at noon on the thirtieth day after its ratification by the
electorate.
Section 16-2. Existing Laws and Conflicting Laws. [formerly Section
16-3; shift all succeeding sections down one slot .] All county ordinances,
resolutions, orders and regulations which are in force when this charter,
or amendments to it , take full effect , are repealed to the extent that they
are inconsistent with or interfere with the effective operation of the
charter.
Section 16-3. Status of Agencies and Personnel .
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(a) Any county civil service employee whose position is abolished as a
• result of changes to this charter , and ' 'ho has held that position for at
least a year prior to the change, shall tbe assigned to another position in
the county without loss of pay. When th:e latter position becomes .vacant , it
shall stand abolished unless it is permanently created in the table of
organization of the agency or executive agency concerned.
(b) Unless otherwise provided, no change to this charter shall be deemed
to affect the civil service status of any department head or deputy who is
incumbent at the time the change goes into effect.
(c) Any county officer not covered by civil service whose position is
abolished through a change to this charter may be absorbed into a permanent
civil service position without loss of vacation or sick leave allowance ,
service credit or other rights and privileges and without the necessity of
examination , provided that such person possesses the minimum qualifications
for that position. The method and procedure for such appointment or
transfer shall be established by resolution or ordinance. These provisions
shall not apply to any person appointed as a deputy or assistant to the
administrative head of any agency under this charter.
(d) Any county employee or officer not covered by civil service whose
position is abolished through a change to this charter and who is not
transferred or appointed, shall have the right to be placed on appropriate
re-employment lists and shall be deemed eligible for certification to
positions in the same class or in a related class in the same or lower
grade as long as qualification requirements are met ; provided that a
written application for re-employment is filed with the department of civil
service within thirty days after the termination of employment . Such
certification shall expire three years after the effective date of the
• charter amendment which abolished the person's position.
(e) No loss of vacation allowances, service credits or other rights and
privileges of any officer or employee in the civil service shall be caused
by amendment of this charter , but nothing contained herein shall be
' construed to prevent future changes in status pursuant to civil service
laws.
(f) Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, each department head
holding office when this charter is amended shall continue in office until
succeeded in office or until removed pursuant to the provisions of this
charter.
[Original sections 16-6 and 16-7 incorporated into new 16-3]
Section 16-4. Transfer of Records and Property. [No change other
than section number .]
Section 16-5. Pending Proceedings. [Change "this charter" to "any
amendment to this charter" ; change "succeeds" to "holds or succeeds" .]
Section 16-6. Lawful Obligations of the County. [Change "date of this
charter" to "date of any amendment to this charter" ; change "the adoption
of" to "any amendment of" . ]
Section 16-7. Hawaii Redevelopment Agency. [Still relevant? Change
"this charter" to "any amendment to this charter" - ?]
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