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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCHC 1979-05-08 PH i HAWAII COUNTY CHARTER COMMISSION MINUTES 17th Session and Public Hearing Honokaa, Hawaii May 8, 1979 The seventeenth session and public hearing of the Hawaii County Charter Commission was called to order at 7: 18 p.m. in the Honokaa High School Cafetorium, Honokaa, Hawaii , by Mr. Kimiaki Sakata, Chairman. The roll recorded the following: Present : Mr. Harlan Cadinha Mr. Richard Ishida Mrs. Amy Iwamoto Mr. Akira Omonaka Mr. Kimiaki Sakata Mr. Herman Sensano Mr. Joseph Trulson Mr. Basilio Yagong Mr. Matsuo Yanaga Absent Mrs. Gloria Kobayashi and Mr. Spencer Kalani Schutte Excused : Also Mr. P. Quentin Tomich Present : Mr. Earl T. Tanaka Mr. Stuart Oda, Attorney Mrs . :�Joan Carnett , Secretary The Chair welcomed those in attendance and introduced Mr. Quentin Tomich as the first speaker of the evening. MR. TOMICH: My name is Quentin Tomich and I am representing myself this evening. I didn ' t realize I would be called upon so quickly. But I did come to the meeting because I am interested in the things that take place in Honokaa and to our community. The only thing I could report is that as far as I know there is no organization that has looked in depth into this area of revisions .to the County Charter. Somehow it is-not an important event and perhaps that can be explained by the fact that we have been in one planning phase after another up here. And we have been doing a great deal of work for the last ten or fifteen years in the area of planning, especially the last ten years. We have also either been fighting for or against preservation up here and I guess those are the reasons why. . . . Honestly, I really have nothing to contribute to the meeting. I haven ' t looked in depth either as to where we stand in the charter. My only concern over the years is in fact and I could pose the question as to whether the commission has ever looked into the idea of a county manager form of government which would be a departure from our present mayor system. . .perhaps you don ' t answer questions of that sort. But one thing that has struck me in the past and over the years is the possible realm of improvement in our entire system of county government where the mayor would be less than the chief executive officer and the county manager would be the one with more responsibility and executive powers and perhaps be a person specifically trained in the area of management and be a product of the political system. I have talked about this with other people in the community and have found they are of the same opinion. CHAIRMAN SAKATA: You talk about this county manager type--if we were to go into this type of government, would you elect the county manager or would you have him appointed by some- body like the county council, b have someone hire him? MR. TOMICH: I feel he would be hired by the council , let ' s say. CHAIRMAN SAKATA: In other words , they could hire and fire him. MR. TOMICH : Yes, that is what I understand about the county manager system where this is perhaps a hired employee of the civil service system. CHAIRMAN SAKATA: Would you set a term of this office or would it be strictly based on his work? In other words , if he is not doing the job--not capable of doing his work--then we would just fire him? MR. TOMICH: I think it could be a career employee and his term of office would depend on how he did at the will of the council . CHAIRMAN SAKATA: Have you, by any chance, looked into the county representation as far as the council is concerned? Have you ever thought anything about it? How they should represent and do you think we should have nine councilmen on the council as it is now? Or do you think it should be changed? Or should it be by district representation or at-large representation? MR. TOMICH: I don ' t have any firm opinions about this. I know there are alternatives to our present system that have been suggested but I don ' t have any firm ideas about what I would suggest as alternatives. CHAIRMAN SAKATA: Thank you, Mr. Tomich. -2- Next, we would like to call on Mr. Earl Tanaka who is the Chairman of the Water Commission. MR. TANAKA: Good evening, Mr. Chairman and members of the Charter Commission. I really don ' t have any specific matters I want:_*to bring up this evening, but I did want to express my thanks to all of you for coming to the Hamakua area and giving the opportunity for the citizens in Hamakua to have the chance to appear before you. I would just like to pass on some information to you and to clarify some things in regard to the presentation that is being prepared on our position as to the semi-autonomous question of the charter. We have scheduled it on our agenda for the May 23 meeting and will be discussing it and take some kind of action as a recommendation to this body. I just wanted to explain that we have brought it up with the members of the commission and want to give everybody an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the present system and also if they have any recommendations that we will take them up as a commission and make a presentation to you. Unfortunately, I won ' t be here. . .probably our Vice-Chairman, Mr. Hardy Iida, will be making the presentation but we definitely will bring something forth to you. MR. ISHIDA: Just a point of information , Mr. Tanaka. When the water commission does , in fact, arrive at a position will the party who appears before us be prepared to give the rationale as to why the position that is taken by the organization? Many times people appear before us and just state positions and they do not give us a rationale as to why they think their position should be honored. So I would like you to take that into consideration when the commission does , in fact, arrive at a position. MR. TANAKA: Very good, thank, you very much. One of the things , as you know, the water ,commission meetings are open meetings and we do have minutes of the meetings posted. If the discussion is lengthy and worthwhile we will definitely submit along with our testimony the action and activities as well. Our commission meetings are now taken down verbatim so that we will be able to give it to you in exactly the way it was presented and who made the presentation and who spoke for or against--or whatever it is. We will be very happy to furnish all of that background to you besides the stand that we will be taking--even who voted, exactly the votes that were taken and by whom. CHAIRMAN. SAKATA: This meeting. is going to be held on the 23rd of this month? The water commission meeting? MR. TANAKA: That is correct. Our regular commission meeting is usually Tuesday mornings but because we are all going to attend the workshop that Corporation Counsel Steve Bess has scheduled for Wednesday, we are going to have our meetingWednesday evening. We will be prepared to have something presented to you in June. -3- ANNOUNCEMENTS: Next meeting date - Tuesday, May 15 , 1979, 7:00 p.m. , Waimea Elementary and Intermediate School Cafeteria, Waimea ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business , the meeting was adjourned at 7:40 p.m. i ///) Joan Carnett RECORDING SECRETARY -5- MR. CADINHA: Mr. Tanaka, I assume that you don ' t want to get into your personal ideas about the water system at this time. Is that correct? MR. TANAKA: Correct, exactly. Not until I meet with my fellow commissioners. After that I will be very happy to. CHAIRMAN SAKATA: Thank you, Mr. Tanaka. APPROVAL The Chair called for approval of minutes dated OF MINUTES: April 24, 1979. Motion was made Mr. Trulson to approve the minutes as submitted. Seconded by Mrs. Iwamoto and un- animously carried. COMMUNI- CATIONS: Comm. 42: Letter from Councilman William S. Kawahara, dated April 30 , 1979 submitting proposed revisions to the County Charter. Mr. Omonaka rrioved to acknowledge receipt of the letter and to inform Councilman Kawahara of the public hearing to be held in Kona on the 29th of this month and to assure him the proposals he has submitted will be taken into consideration as the commission goes into deliberations. Seconded by Mrs. Iwamoto and unanimously carried. Comm. 43 : Statement from Kengo Nagasako, dated May 1 , 1979 submitting proposed revisions to the County Charter. Comm. 44: Statement from Dorothea Carvalho, dated May 1 , 1979 submitting comments and proposed revisions to the County Charter. Comm. 45 : Letter from Robert J. Santos , Vice President, Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce, dated May 1 , 1979 , representing the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Hawaii , the Hilo Contractor ' s Association and submitting their proposed revisions to the County Charter. Motion was made by Mr. Trulson to receive and file Communications 43 through 45 . Seconded by Mrs. Iwamoto and unanimously carried. -4-