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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012_0827_Minutes Open_APPROVED COUNTY OF KAUAI Minutes of Meeting OPEN SESSION Approved as circulated 10/22/12 Board/Committee: CHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION Meeting Date August 27, 2012 Location Mo'ikeha Building, Meeting Room 2A/213 Start of Meeting: 4:05 p.m. End of Meeting: 4:25 p.m. Present Chair Patrick Stack; Vice-Chair Carol Suzawa. Members: Ed Justus; Jan TenBruggencate Also: Deputy County Attorney Jennifer Winn; Boards & Commissions Office Staff: Support Clerk Barbara Davis; Administrator Paula Morikami Excused Member: Joel Guy; Mary Lou Barela; James Nishida(arrived at 4:26 p.m.) Absent SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Call To Order Chair Stack called the meeting to order at 4:05 m with 4 Commissioners present Approval of Open Session Minutes of July 23, 2012 Mr. Justus moved to approve the minutes as Minutes circulated. Mr. TenBruggencate seconded the motion. Motion carried 4:0 Communication CRC 2012-09 Memorandum dated 8/9/12 from Patrick Stack, Chair, to Ricky Watanabe, County Clerk, transmitting the County of Kaua'i Charter Amendment Ballot Questions for the 2012 General Election Mr. TenBruggencate pointed out two grammatical adjustments that should be made to the ballot questions relating to §22.03, Initiatives and Referendum Petitions, and §24.01, Charter Amendments. The word"of' following the word"comprising" is superfluous and should be removed in both ballot questions since "comprising"means "consisting of. Mr. TenBruggencate moved to notify the County Clerk that the Commission would like to remove the word"of' following the word"comprising" for ballot questions relating to §§22.03 and 24.01. Mr. Justus seconded the motion. Mr. Justus recommended in the Explanation for the amendment for §23.02 H that the word"need"be removed from the last sentence because it im lies unintentionally that there is a need for them to take a break. Charter Review Commission Open Session August 27, 2012 Page 2 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Attorney Winn said that was not a grammatical correction but a change to the purpose of a section which was previously approved by the Commission. Motion carried 4:0 Business CRC 2012-10 Voter Education—Explanation of County Charter Amendments Proposed in the General Election a. Time line for Charter Amendments (revised 4/24/12) b. Voter Education Distribution Areas c. Tapin_ of f Mayor's "Together We Can", October 5, 10:00 a.m. Ms. Davis explained that the legal size form titled Explanation of the County Charter Amendments Proposed in the 2012 General Election will be included in the mail-out of all absentee ballots. Additionally the Elections Office has said there would be a large poster with the Explanations at all polling sites. It was noted that the same two corrections will be made to this document as was specified for the transmittal to the County Clerk. Chair Stack and Mr. Guy will participate with the Mayor in taping a Discussion only; there was no Commission discussion on the proposed Charter amendments for the "Together We Can" action show. CRC 2012-05 Memorandum dated 4/10/12 from the Prosecuting Attorney Office,proposing charter amendments to Article VIII relating to the Office of the County Attorney (deferred from 6/25/12) b. Proposed changes from Commissioner Ed Justus to Article VII Mr. Justus recapped that of the original suggested changes he had proposed three sections have been removed from consideration. The suggestion for changes to §8.02 has been deferred to November. The suggestion for Charter Review Commission Open Session August 27, 2012 Page 3 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION adding Mediation has been deferred until November. The only current item for discussion is §8.03 Qualifications. Mr. Justus suggested increasing the number of years the county attorney would have to practice law in the State of Hawai'i from three years to five years. This suggestion came from the Prosecuting Attorney's Office to Mr. Justus and the County Attorney also thought this was a reasonable suggestion. Chair Stack asked what the derived benefits would be. Mr. Justus said you would get people that are more qualified in the field of law. The County Attorney's personal opinion is at the very least, you have somebody who would be better established and have a good grasp of the laws in the State of Hawai'i. It was also his opinion that most lawyers, after five years, will probably want to move to something more lucrative. Ms. Suzawa asked if five years was too restrictive and they might have problems finding staff. Mr. Justus said that was not Mr. Castillo's opinion and he thought three years was hardly adequate. Mr. TenBruggencate suggested Mr. Justus defer this item because he would vote against it. Mr. TenBruggencate said he does not buy the argument in part because you could get a former Attorney General of the United States who has been practicing law in Hawai'i for just three years and he would have far more experience than anybody. The only benefit is somebody would have to practice law in Hawai'i for longer. It does not seem that necessarily ensures extensive legal experience by itself or accomplishes what is intended. Secondly Mr. TenBruggencate does not recall ever having a candidate for county attorney with less than five years experience. Kaua'i County does have some very powerful, experienced legal minds who have stepped up to be the county attorney. Mr. Justus moved to defer §8.03 to the November meeting. Mr. TenBruggencate seconded the motion. Motion carried 4:0 Charter Review Commission Open Session August 27, 2012 Page 4 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Announcements Next Meeting: Monday, September 24, 2012, 4:00 p.m. Adjournment Mr. Justus moved to adjourn the meeting at 4:25 p.m. Ms. Suzawa seconded the motion. Motion carried 4:0 Submitted by: Reviewed and Approved by: Barbara Davis, Support Clerk Patrick Stack, Chair ( ) Approved as is. ( ) Approved with amendments. See minutes of meeting.