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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOMM. 084 A r 7 HAWAII COUNTY CHARTER COMMISSION - July 25, 1979 The action of the Charter Commission in proposing that the Hawaii County Council be made up of 9 members elected out of single member districts for 2-year terms is a disaster to orderly local • government. In one fell swoop, the Commission has destroyed the - good work it has done in creating an adequate system of checks and balances within our County government, As proposed, 9 single member districts can only result in a provincial body concerned with respective districts first and the whole County secondarily . Because of the very size and diverse nature of our. island, the separation of individual districts will only further stress the differences between East and West, the populated vs unpopulated mam, rural vs urban, developed vs developing areas of our County . A Councilman from the developed Hilo areas may not be as sympathetic to fire. protection in Pahoa or Ka' u . His interest may lean towards park or recreational facilities or road maintenance, CIP moneys will no longer be apportioned on what is in the best interest of the County, COMM. NO. 5, cy_ -2- , but making sure the members of the Council have projects in their district which they can point to, A return to the pork barrel cannot be in the best interest of this County . . Under the present system, or with one calling for a number of at-large candidates, those who are responsible to all the voters on the island will think in an islandwide prospective. As an example, if we were solely responsible to the Hilo area, this just passed budget would not reflect 30 new police positions for Kona, new fire positions for Pahoa and North Hilo . It is only because the Council is accountable to all the people of this County that the islandwide needs prevail over provincial district demands . We must never forget that elected officers are accountable to the electorate. The broader this body is, the broader must be the thinking of the person in office. The questions of representation will always persist . -Even with • the Kona district, there is no unity of thought between mauka and makai . The real test of a voter' s input into a representative govern- ment is how many people he has the opportunity to vote for within the -3_. decision-making body . It is only the people you have an opportunity t of voting for that you con hold accountable for actions at the next - elections , Under the present system, all members of the County Council are elected by all the voters of this County and as such, they are accountable for their actions to all the voters . The action of the _ Council in responding to the needs of the County speak louder than any words . There has been no pork barreling of projects into separate representative districts because the whole County is one district . All the projects are in districts which vote on all Councilmen, One of the biggest concerns has been\ responsibility and accountability . to the electorate. We feel the greater the electorate, the greater the responsibility and accountability . Under the present system, no single Councilman can ignore any one part of the island, for he must return there ultimately and ask those people for support in his re-election , The most significant impact of this proposal is to destroy all the good work that this body has done in balancing the power and -4- { • roles between the legislative and administrative branches of our County government. With 9 individual districts . having 2-year terms, there is no single member of the County Council that can stand up - to the Mayor within the first two years of the Mayor's term. While the Council is faced with a mid-term election, the Mayor need not C run for re-election at this time and his ability to withhold spending, to transfer funds, or direct moneys into various districts will have an important effect on the actions of the County Council . This power will nullify the Council ' s role as an equal partner, serving as a check on the Mayor in the governance of this County . A similar situation was faced by the Constitutional Convention in its, last sitting in 1978. As a result, terms of the Senators were staggered so as to remove the inequity of power between the respective houses . The convention found that under the system where all Senators were elected to 4-year terms, with terms all ending at the same time, the Senate • could wield an inordinate amount of power in dealing with members of the House who must run every two years and were under greater election pressures in theihterim. Because they did not- have to run -5- ' for re-election, the Senators were able to stand fast on certain r-ye5e, / issues in dispute between the Senate and House, and to res-eft to compromises . Under the present situation proposed, the Mayor and the Council could come to a dispute as to an item or program. The Mayor could. simply withhold the spending for this project or not -seek capital improvements in certain council districts, thereby punishing a Councilman for his failure to yield to the Mayor' s prerogatives . Under our present situation, the terms of Mayor and the Council are coterminous . There is no advantage on either party's part i y because theY •must both seek re-election at the same time . These • practical problems are things that must be faced by you, the .Charter • Commission, The Charter Commission was selected to make changes where needed in. our existing County Charter, You are-selected for your ability to make hard decisions where hard decisions are necessary for the • benefit of all the people of our County , .I do not feel that it is ap.porpriate that the Charter Commission abdicate this decision-making prerogative by yielding to choices on the ballot. If alternatives are to be offered, I suggest the Charter Commission also put on the ballot a 9-member which would allow 5 Councilmen out of 5 individual representative districts and 4 at-large, Each Councilman would have a 4-year term with the initial 5 district members running for a 2-year term and a 4-year term in 1982, This would seem to be an additional compromise between the two proposals already on the ballot and the existing situation, Those who demand direct district representation would have the accountability of one= member on the County Council , In addition to this one member, they would also have the ability to vote on four other people who would also be accountable to them in their actions . This gives each district on the island the ability to vote for 5 Council members , Thank you for allowing me to make this presentation.