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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/15/2010 Public Hearing Transcript re: BILL #2385PUBLIC HEARING DECEMBER 15, 2010 A public hearing of the Council of the. County of Kauai was called to order by Jay Furfaro, Chair, Committee of the Whole, on Wednesday, December 15, 2010, at 1:48 p.m. at the Council Chambers, 3371-A Wilcox Road, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura Honorable Mel Rapozo Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura Honorable Jay Furfaro, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2385 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND ORDINANCE N0. B-2010-705, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, -FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2010 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2011, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND ($90.,211- County Auditor), which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on November 10, 2010, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on November 25, 2010. ' The hearing proceeded as follows: GLENN MICKENS: Thank you again, Jay. For. the record, Glenn Mickens. Regarding this bill 2385, Ernie's (I presume) asking for another 90,000 for another person or persons in his... Anything my friend Ernie wants to do to get that auditing department up and running I completely support. I haven't delved into anything else, except I trust Ernie, and if he said he does need somebody to be able to get this thing up and running, I can't wait. I think it's really great that we've got this auditor's department now. I think we've been waiting a long, long time to get an audit going. Anyway, I completely support it, Jay. Thank you very much. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. Let me see, Mr. Mickens, if there's any questions. Glenn? ... if there's any questions of you. Does anyone have questions? There are none. Thank you, Glenn. Mr. Taylor. KEN TAYLOR: Chair and Members of the Council, my name is Ken Taylor. I too agree that these funds should be forthcoming for the auditor's department to hire this person to move forward. You have to remember that a couple years ago the voters of the community voted in favor of establishing this activity, and I think it's most important that after the community has spoken to do what's necessary to get it up and running. So I support moving forward with this resolution. Council Chair Furfaro: Any questions of Mr. Taylor? Thank you very much, Ken. Come right up. Oh, Alice. I'm sorry Alice, why don't you come up. I saw only your fingertips over Glenn's head. ALICE PARKER: Alice Parker for the record. I want to say, as a reformed auditor myself, we definitely need an auditing office, and I think you've picked the perfect person to do it, because I worked for two months under Ernie, and he is brilliant, and I don't over... say that anyway, because he's a very sharp guy. He's very conscientious. He does...making sure that everything's right, and he's the right person to be auditor. If he says he needs somebody, he needs somebody, because he doesn't spend government money foolishly. And the only mistake he made was putting this haole in the charge of the rice cooker on election day, and he'll never do that again. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you Alice LONNIE SYKOS: For the record, my name is Lonnie Sykos. Good afternoon Mr. Chairman and Council. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you Lonnie. Good afternoon. Mr. Sykos: I too am speaking in support of the funding for the... Council Chair Furfaro: Lonnie, hold on just a second, we might have a technical problem. He's got the phone ringing again. Are we okay or are we offline? We're in recess while we're offline. Okay we're good to go. The technical issue is resolved. Lonnie, you have the floor. Mr. Sykos: Thank you. I'd like to speak in support of funding the auditor's request and or requests, if I understood what's being asked for her. My view is that for every dollar the auditor can save the county, it probably replaces between five and ten dollars of income that we would have to generate. His activities simply lead us to best practices in how to save money versus having to go out and generate new revenue. Since you're in this, the auditor's very important. He's also a leader for the exercise of civics, which pathway in civics the county chooses to pursue, and I would encourage the county in all areas to pursue best practices. And so this requires going out into the world and learning what best practices are for the various activities that the county does, and auditors, by definition to be an auditors, are focused on best practices. I'm very happy to see the funding that's occurred for him, and I hope that he gets everything that he needs, because ultimately it will save all of us money. Thank you very much. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you Lonnie. Anybody have any questions of Lonnie? No. Thank you very much Lonnie. Is there anyone else in the public that 2 would like to testify? No. Okay, again I just want to say that this is a public hearing on this particular item. It's a request that funds two additional people for the county auditor for approximately seven months, and we have the detail if you'd like to see it, but I will close this public hearing. Thank you. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 2:57 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ~~ PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 3