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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012_0713_Minutes Open_APPROVED COUNTY OF KAUAI Minutes of Meeting OPEN SESSION Approved as circulated 8/10/12 Board/Committee: BOARD OF ETHICS Meeting Date July 13, 2012 Location Mo`ikeha Building, Liquor Conference Room 3 Start of Meeting: 9:00 a.m. End of Meeting: 12:10 p.m. Present Chair Kurt Akamine; Vice-Chair Mark Hubbard; Secretary Warren Perry; Members: Kathy Clark(exited at 11:46 a.m.); Calvin Murashige; Brad Nagano; Paul Weil Also: Deputy County Attorney Mona Clark; Boards & Commissions Office Staff. Support Clerk Barbara Davis; Administrator Paula Morikami; Administrative Aide Teresa Tamura Public Member: Rob Abreu Excused Absent SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Call To Order Chair Akamine called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. with 7 members present. The Chair stated that if there were no objections he would like to amend the agenda to go into Executive Session immediately following the approval of the Minutes to accommodate testifiers present at the meeting. Approval of Regular Open Session Minutes of June 8, 2012 Mr. Perry moved to approve the minutes as Agenda circulated. Mr. Hubbard seconded the motion. Motion carried 4:3 (abstentions: Clark, Murashi e, Weil Request for RAO 12-003 Email dated 6/13/12 from Councilmember KipuKai Kuali'i Advisory withdrawing his request for an advisory opinion as to whether he has a Opinion conflict of interest if he participates in County Council agenda items as relates to the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney's VOCA program, and the Office of Economic Development. Request to be resubmitted to the Board of Ethics for the August 10 meeting Mr. Weil moved to receive the email cited in the agenda and order it filed. Mr. Perry seconded the motion. Motion carried 7:0 Executive Deputy County Attorney Mona Clark read the Board of Ethics Open Session July 13, 2012 Page 2 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Session Hawai'i Revised Statutes as described on the agenda that would take the Board into Executive Session for items ES-17, ES-21, ES-2, ES-3, ES- 7, ES-8, ES-16, ES-18, ES-19, ES-20 and ES-22. As a member of the public, Mr. Abreu asked that the first two items on the Open Session agenda be finished before the Board went into Executive Session so he would not have to come back to the meeting in a couple of hours. Chair Akamine said he announced at the beginning of the meeting that the agenda would be amended. Mr. Abreu said he was there for one of two items that the public could attend. If the Board goes into Executive Session it could last 8 to 12 hours and he would have to come back to address the agenda items. It would only take another 10 to 15 minutes to finish the Open Session agenda. Chair Akamine admitted his point was well taken but it is at the Chair's discretion and the Board's concurrence to amend the order of the agenda given the items on the agenda. Chair Akamine extended his apology to Mr. Abreu. Mr. Perry moved to go into Executive Session at 9:10 a.m. Mr. Nagano seconded the motion. Motion carried 5:2 (nay—Hubbard, Weil Return to Open The meeting resumed in Open Session at 11:34 Session a.m. Ratify Board of Ethics actions taken in Executive Session for items: ES-17, ES-21, ES-2, ES-3, ES-7, ES-8, ES-16, ES-18, ES-19, ES-20, and ES-22 Mr. Perry moved to ratify the actions taken by the Board in Executive Session. Mr. Nagano seconded the motion. Motion carried 7:0 Disclosures a. Sha lene Iseri-Carvalho Candidate for Prosecuting Attorney) Board of Ethics Open Session July 13, 2012 Page 3 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION b. Jane Gray (Historic Preservation Commission) c. Danita Aiu(Historic Preservation Commission) d. Benjamin Lizama, Jr., (Board of Review) e. Jimmy Miranda (Fire Commission) f. Michael Nagano (Fire Commission) g. Jay Furfaro (Candidate for County Council) h. Stephen Long (Historic Preservation Commission) i. Nadine Nakamura(Candidate for County Council) j. Tim Bynum(Candidate for County Council) k. Dick Chang (Candidate for County Council) 1. Ross Kagawa (Candidate for County Council) m. JoAnn Yukimura (Candidate for County Council) n. Luke Evslin (Public Access, Open Space Commission) o. Gary Hooser(Candidate for County Council) Ms. Clark exited the meeting at 11:46 a.m. Rob Abreu asked to discuss a public document, a disclosure that is in the public domain. Chair Akamine explained the Disclosures listed on the agenda were available for public discussion. Mr. Abreu said the disclosure he wanted to discuss was one that the Board had already approved. He came across a document that was not fully true because the Code says if an addition needs to be made, it needs to be submitted to the registrar 30 days after the addition has happened. Mr. Abreu said he had a letter from the Mayor's Office that the Mayor went on a trip to Los Angeles for 4 days and the trip was paid for by a private company. Attorney Clark said Mayor Carvalho is not one of the people listed on the a enda so this request would need to be placed on the next agenda. Board of Ethics Open Session July 13, 2012 Page 4 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Mr. Perry explained to Mr. Abreu that under the agenda item "Disclosures", the Board reviews the different disclosure forms that have been submitted to the Board. If Mr. Abreu thinks the Mayor violated the Code of Ethics and gained a special benefit based on his position or failed to provide updates to his disclosure as required by the Charter, Mr. Abreu could file a formal complaint with the Board for the next meeting. Mr. Abreu said if he files a complaint it will be placed in Executive Session. The Disclosure document is public domain and needs to be talked about in public. There is no confidentiality here or private issues. Mr. Perry pointed out that the Mayor's Disclosure is not part of today's agenda. If a formal complaint is made, the Board is bound by confidentiality unless the respondent does not want the complaint in Executive Session. If Mr. Abreu's purpose is to have the information about the Mayor's possible violation of the Code of Ethics disseminated to the public this is not the way to do it. Mr. Abreu may get a determination from the Board that there was a violation but during the course of the investigation it will not be disseminated to the public. That is the restriction for the Board. Mr. Abreu is asking the Board to follow the Charter relative to the failure to disclose and in the same breath he is asking the Board to disregard other provisions of the Charter. Mr. Hubbard stated that a Disclosure is a public document. A claim about failure to disclose will be taken in Executive Session. Mr. Abreu said he had a signed letter saying the Mayor accepted the trip and that is testimony. Mr. Hubbard said Mr. Abreu was claiming a failure, which is a complaint, Board of Ethics Open Session July 13, 2012 Page 5 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION and the Board would hear it in Executive Session. Mr. Abreu said he was following the Code and the Charter and as a member of the public he was bringing a public document to the Board with the signature of the person verifying they did it. Chair Akamine said the Board could only discuss items that were given proper notice on the agenda. Mr. Abreu might have a valid point but it cannot be discussed under this agenda. Mr. Weil told Mr. Abreu that he was asking the Board to prejudge the Disclosure and dance around the Board's own Rules and the County Charter, which they cannot do. It would not be ethical. The only way the Board can consider it is as a complaint. Mr. Abreu said he brought this to the Board because it is the public's perception that things are done in the dark. That is why considering this Disclosure in Open Session along with the supporting documents that state this happened, the Mayor cannot come back and say it did not happen. Attorney Clark stated the Board had to stay on the agenda items. Mr. Perry said for this to be public, Mr. Abreu would need to file a formal complaint and have the respondent waive his right to privacy. That is the only way since Mr. Abreu is alleging a violation. After a brief discussion of what constitutes a complete disclosure, the Board was reminded that they need to be consistent because they have been accepting disclosures with blank sections or sections with N/A for some time now. Board of Ethics Open Session July 13, 2012 Page 6 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Chair Akamine said Disclosures d, f, g, h, and i have listed"N/A". Mr. Perry moved to deem Disclosures d, f, g, h, and i complete. Mr. Hubbard seconded the motion. Motion carried 5:1 (nay—Weil) Disclosure b, d, e, f, g, h and i had either"none" or"N/A". Mr. Perry moved to deem Disclosures b, d, e, f, g, h, and i complete. Mr. Hubbard seconded the Mr. Weil said his nay was to those items marked "N/A"but"none"was motion. Motion carried 5:1 (nay—Weil) acceptable. Disclosure c indicated"N/A" on sections 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9. Mr. Perry moved to deem Disclosure c complete. Mr.Hubbard seconded the motion. Motion carried 5:1 (nay—Weil) Disclosure d contained a blank on section 5 and 9. Mr. Perry moved to deem Disclosure d as complete. Mr. Hubbard seconded the motion. Motion carried 6:0 Mr. Hubbard moved to deem Disclosures e, f, g, and i through o as complete. Mr. Perry seconded the motion. Mr. Perry seconded the motion. Motion carried 5:1 (nay—Weil) Disclosure h checked that he was a candidate for office. Ms. Davis thought the misunderstanding in checking the right box might be that Mr. Long was the nominee from the County Council for the Historic Preservation Commission and why he thought he was a Council candidate. Mr. Perry moved to deem Disclosure h as complete. Mr. Hubbard seconded the motion. Chair Akamine cautioned the Board about knowingly seeing an error. Motion carried 6:1 (nay—Akamine Announcements Next Meeting: Friday, August 10, 2012 Adjournment Chair Akamine adjourned the meeting at 12:10 Board of Ethics Open Session July 13, 2012 Page 7 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION P.M. Submitted by: Reviewed and Approved by: Barbara Davis, Staff Support Clerk Kurt Akamine, Chair ( ) Approved as is. ( ) Approved with amendments. See minutes of meeting.