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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/25/2014 Special Council Meeting minutes - Interview SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING JUNE 25, 2014 The Special Council Meeting of the Council of the County of Kaua`i was called to order by Council Chair Jay Furfaro, at the Council Chambers, 4396 Rice Street, Room 201, Lihu`e, Kaua`i, on Wednesday, June 25, 2014 at 8:44 a.m., after which the following members answered the call of the roll: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Mason K. Chock, Sr. Honorable Gary L. Hooser Honorable Ross Kagawa Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura Honorable Jay Furfaro Excused: Honorable Mel Rapozo APPROVAL OF AGENDA. Mr. Chock moved for approval of the agenda as circulated, seconded by Ms. Yukimura, and carried by a vote of 6:0:1 (Mr. Rapozo was excused). PUBLIC COMMENT. Pursuant to Council Rule 13(e), members of the public shall be allowed a total of eighteen (18) minutes on a first come, first served basis to speak on any agenda item. Each speaker shall be limited to three (3) minutes at the discretion of the Chair to discuss the agenda item and shall not be allowed additional time to speak during the meeting. This rule is designed to accommodate those who cannot be present throughout the meeting to speak when the agenda items are heard. After the conclusion of the eighteen (18) minutes, other members of the public shall be allowed to speak pursuant to Council Rule 12(e). Chair Furfaro: We have a period for Section "D" to find out if there is anyone that wishes to give testimony in advance of the agenda item. Is there anyone in the audience that wishes to do so? There being no one present to provide public comment, the meeting proceeded as follows: Chair Furfaro: Seeing no one, we will move on to Item "E," which is the interview for a position on the Board of Ethics with Maureen Tabura here. INTERVIEW: BOARD OF ETHICS: • Maureen M. Tabura — Term ending 12/31/2014 SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 2 JUNE 25, 2014 Chair Furfaro: Please come right up, Maureen. This is for a completion of a term, for and through, December 31, 2014. Good morning. There being no objections, the rules were suspended. MAUREEN M. TABURA: Good morning Chair. Good morning Councilmembers. Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much for being here. Ms. Tabura: Thank you. Chair Furfaro: On that note, I would like to give you a few moments to introduce yourself to the Council, give us a little background, and then we will open it up to some questions. We do have in our packet, the application for the Board of Ethics. So, the floor is yours. Ms. Tabura: Thank you. My name is Maureen Tabura. I am a wife, mom, nurse, and a Nurse Educator at Kaua`i Community College (KCC). I am also a Kaua`i United Way board member for over eighteen (18) years. I was approached by Nadine Nakamura and recommended to the Mayor to fill in this position. I find it has come to my time, my son is going to go off to college, it is my time to start giving back to the community, and that is why I am interested. Chair Furfaro: May I ask in your role of nurse educator, you obviously deal with the Code of Ethics as it deals with the health system? Am I correct? Ms. Tabura: On an every day, and every hour occurrence. Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. I am going to now turn then to Councilmembers for questions. JoAnn, I will give you the floor. Ms. Yukimura: Yes, welcome. Thank you, Maureen for your willingness to serve. I would say that you are already giving to the community in the work that you are doing, but it is great that you want to go beyond that. So, this ethics that the Chair mentioned, do the nurses have a Code of Ethics to abide by? Ms. Tabura: Yes, we do. The American Nurses Association (ANA) has a Code of Ethics and we do teach our students and then they encounter that on a daily basis when we look at patients' rights, their choices, and how our health care decisions are being made, if they are involved in the decision. Ms. Yukimura: Who enforces the Code of Ethics for nurses? Ms. Tabura: The Board of Nursing, the ANA. Once we teach that responsibility, you have to enforce it, use your own morals and ethics to make those determinations. We teach our students to be patient advocates. So, we should always be working in the best interest of our patients. Ms. Yukimura: Well, it is very interesting that you talk about the training because as an attorney, I got trained too in the Code of Ethics for attorneys. I am not sure how much training we give County workers in terms of SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 3 JUNE 25, 2014 training in ethics. If it is the patient in the case of the nurses, whose interests are you supposed to represent? So, perhaps that is something that you can look at as a member of the Board of Ethics. So, actually, a Code is something that can be trained. It is not just a matter of commonsense, is it, in the Code that nurses work by? Ms. Tabura: There are standards to guide you by, but a sense of commonsense needs to take in when you need to refer to the Code versus you need to get an opinion. In a hospital setting you would bring an ethical dilemma to the Ethics Committee where they would make those decisions. Ms. Yukimura: So, hospitals have Ethics Committees? Ms. Tabura: They do. Ms. Yukimura: That is very interesting. With that kind of background, I think you will be an excellent asset. Ms. Tabura: I hope so. Thank you. Ms. Yukimura: Yes. I appreciate your willingness to serve. Thank you. Chair Furfaro: Thank you, JoAnn. Other members? Mr. Kagawa, you have the floor. Mr. Kagawa: Well, I just want to thank you for stepping up and I have known you for a while from youth sports. Congratulations on your son graduating. Ms. Tabura: Thank you. Mr. Kagawa: Hopefully he can be a major league pitcher. Ms. Tabura: That would be nice. Mr. Kagawa: I just want to thank you for stepping up. Once again, Paula has done a great job bringing fresh, new faces to our volunteers on the Boards and Commissions and you are just another one. Thank you and I wish you well. Ms. Tabura: Thank you. I look forward to this opportunity. Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Mr. Kagawa. Mr. Hooser. Mr. Hooser: Yes, good morning, and thank you also, for your willingness to serve. Have you served on Ethics Commissions or Committees before? Ms. Tabura: At the hospital, I have had the opportunity to sit on the Ethics Committee, at Wilcox Memorial Hospital. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 4 JUNE 25, 2014 Mr. Hooser: So, you have evaluated ethical complaints from individuals? Ms. Tabura: Yes. Mr. Hooser: So, I imagine in all environments, every working environment is a political environment to a certain extent? Ms. Tabura: It is. Mr. Hooser: And so sometimes people will use ethical complaints as political tools to discredit individuals? Ms. Tabura: I would imagine that. Mr. Hooser: Have you had experience working with this or do you have thoughts on that? Ms. Tabura: No, but I look forward to learning from my colleagues on the Commission. When you read the handbook and information that Paula provides, it makes you stop and rethink how perception and how things could be interpreted. So, I look forward, especially in this upcoming campaign election, I would imagine there may be many concerns brought to the Commission. Mr. Hooser: Great. Thank you very much, again, for your willingness to serve and I appreciate your thought that you are giving to the issue we just discussed. Thank you very much. Ms. Tabura: Thank you. Chair Furfaro: Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: Good morning. Ms. Tabura: Good morning. Mr. Bynum: Thank you very much for being here. I will echo that the Boards and Commissions is something that I totally support and with the staffing and the things that have been happening in many of our Boards and Commissions are really involved and active, nonetheless than the Board of Ethics. You are joining a Board with some outstanding people that have been through complex issues. There is good support. So, I very much appreciate your service. Thank you very much. Ms. Tabura: Thank you. Chair Furfaro: Vice Chair Chock. Mr. Chock: Thank you, Maureen. Thank you for being patient with me and introducing...now that I have heard, oh KCC and Kaua`i United Way. I did not have my coffee this morning as I walked up the stairs and you folks greeted me, but now I am putting it all together. So, thank you for being here and the work that do you in community already. I think you said it well. It is about commonsense and being able to tap into that and see through some of what I SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 5 JUNE 25, 2014 think, Councilmember Hooser is talking about as well, in terms of ethics. We definitely need that kind of attention to this Commission. So, thank you for your service. You definitely have my support. Ms. Tabura: Thank you. Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Vice Chair Chock. Councilmember Yukimura. Ms. Yukimura: You are completing a term. So, your term will be ending December of this year? Ms. Tabura: Correct. Ms. Yukimura: And I presume there will be an opportunity to be reappointed. So, that is good. Whose term are you filling? Ms. Tabura: Peter Weld. Ms. Yukimura: Who? Ms. Tabura: Peter Weld. Paul Weil. I am sorry. Ms. Yukimura: Oh, Paul Weil. Okay. So, Kathy Clark is still on? So, there will be two (2) people with a health background on it and also two (2) women. So, that is four (4) plusses. Okay, I think I understand the context. Thank you very much. Ms. Tabura: You are welcome. Chair Furfaro: Any other questions for Maureen before I pose my last one? First of all, I do want you to know that I am very delighted that you stepped forward. The criteria for ethical standards at hospitals and health care units certainly set the tone across the Nation for many. You had used the term "challenges with ethical dilemmas." In your role, have you ever been part of a Committee or part of any investigative or research process regarding a complaint? Ms. Tabura: No, not in reference to what you are asking. Chair Furfaro: No. Ms. Tabura: But I believe I am a quick learner and with the mentorship I believe I will receive on the Commission, I think I will learn quickly. Chair Furfaro: Well, I do not think there is any more questions from the Councilmembers here today. I want to thank you for submitting your name. I will be supporting you, and that will come up on our Council agenda, I believe, July 9th. July 9th, we will be voting on your appointment. If there is anything that you want to say in closing, if not, we will let you go from today's interview. Ms. Tabura: Thank you for this opportunity. Thank you. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 6 JUNE 25, 2014 Chair Furfaro: Very good. Thank you very much. I will excuse you from this portion. There being no objections, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Chair Furfaro: On that note, members, we will end/adjourn this Special Council Meeting and start up again at 9:00 a.m. Thank you. BC, we are now adjourned. ADJOURNMENT. There being no further business, the Special Council Meeting adjourned at 8:56 a.m. Res , P 7 I Mr _ 1 . � C ' N • R. Administrative As- - t to t• County Clerk :aa