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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019_0722_CRC OP Minutes Approved COUNTY OF KAUAI Minutes of Meeting OPEN SESSION Approved as circulated 8/26/19 Board/Commission: CHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION Meeting Date July 22, 2019 Location Mo‘ikeha Building, Meeting Room 2 A/B Start of Meeting: 3:05 p.m. End of Meeting: 3:43 p.m. Present Chair Jan TenBruggencate, Vice Chair Marissa Sandblom arrived at 3:25pm. Members: Carol Suzawa, Virginia Kapali, Patrick Stack, Lori Koga, Reid Kawane. Also: Deputy County Attorney Adam Roversi. Boards & Commissions Office Staff: Administrator Ellen Ching, Administrative Specialist Anela Segreti. Testifiers: Arryl Kaneshiro, County Council Chair, Jade Fountain-Tanigawa, County Clerk Excused Absent SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Prior to the start of the meeting, County Clerk Jade Fountain-Tanigawa gave the Oath of Office to new Commissioner Reid Kawane. Call To Order Vice Chair TenBruggencate called the meeting to order at 3:05 p.m. with six members present which constituted a quorum. Election of New Chairs Former Chair Ricky Watanabe has moved to a different Commission leaving an opening for Chair position. Jan TenBruggencate is current Vice Chair/Acting Chair and willing to serve as Chair to the end of the year. Marissa Sandblom is willing to serve as Vice Chair and is being recommended. Ms. Suzawa moved to elect Vice Chair Tenbruggencate to Chair and Ms. Sandblom to Vice Chair. Ms. Koga seconded. Motion carried 6:0. Communications CRC 2019-06 Letter received from Board of Ethics dated June 28, 2019 regarding Ethics Disclosure Statements Requirements. Chair TenBruggencate suggested letter be received and discussed later. Ms. Suzawa moved to receive CRC 2019-06. Ms. Kapali seconded. Motion carried 6:0 Charter Review Commission Open Session July 22, 2019 Page 2 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION CRC 2019-07 Confidential communication received from Deputy County Attorney Adam Roversi on July 3, 2019 regarding amendment to Charter Section 23.06. Chair TenBruggencate stated that the Commission had waived confidentiality on this item at last meeting, but that Mr. Roversi alerted Commission that they must waive confidentiality again. This item has no particular sensitivity, but it is standard practice as a confidential communication. Mr. Roversi informed Commission that all County Attorney letters will come as a confidential communication and it is up to the Commission as to if they want to waive that confidentiality and discuss in open session or have a discussion in executive session. He does not see any particular reason why it must remain confidential. Chair TenBruggencate reminded Commissioners that they waived last time. Ms. Koga moved to waive confidentiality on CRC 2019-07 confidential communication. Ms. Suzawa seconded. Motion carried 7:0 Approval of Minutes Open Session Minutes of June 24, 2019 Ms. Suzawa moved to receive CRC 2019-06. Ms. Kapali seconded. Motion carried 7:0 Business CRC 2019-02 General Discussion on Charter Initiatives of Interest Chair TenBruggencate recognized that the Commissioners should consider the Ethics Disclosure letter. He suggested to defer this to the next meeting to discuss further and create an agenda item. Ms. Kapali asked to invite someone from the Board of Ethics or their Counsel to the next meeting to elaborate on the letter. Asked to add to next month’s agenda. Charter Review Commission Open Session July 22, 2019 Page 3 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION CRC 2019-03 Discussion on County Auditor Position Continued discussion of County Auditor Position and possibly recommending the removal of the County Auditor Position from the Charter. County Council is continuing to try and hire, but suggestion has been to proceed by hiring Auditors in the specific field of interest, rather than having a single in house expensive Auditor. Asked the County Council and County Clerk’s office to come and talk with Commission regarding where things are and any recommendations. Council Chair Aryl Kaneshiro and County Clerk Jade Fountain-Tanigawa appeared before the Commission. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa distributed the Report to the Charter Review Commission: July 22, 2019 (on file) to the Commission. Council Chair Kaneshiro gave a breakdown of what is going on, process. Extensive rounds of trying to find qualified people in 2014, made one offer and person decided not to take the job. Second round by an Executive Search Committee which had four potential candidates, but did not find someone qualified with a good fit. Now on third round which is in process, have not had interviews yet. Hawaii applicants are few. Applicants worldwide, many have not been to Kauai and do not know about the island, many have not been to Kauai and don’t know the cost of housing, etc. They want someone who’s going to be here for their six year term, so need to find a good fit. Person has to have the vision of what the office will look like and what they are going to do, it’s a clean slate. Report shows the cost of having an Auditor’s office compared to contracting audits out, it would be more cost efficient for the County to contract audits out than staff an office. Cost just shows salaries, not office equipment or anything else they may need. Historically they actually contracted out a lot of the audits, contracted nine audits and followed up on two internally. So he believes they are doing what Council could do without an Auditor’s office which is to contract out. $250,000 has been put in the County budget for audits. Went out for four audits this past fiscal year. They believe they will be able to do three or four this fiscal year. In his opinion if they are looking to make any changes of the language, the question Charter Review Commission Open Session July 22, 2019 Page 4 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION would be what is the most appropriate action to take for the County. He feels that an option to have an Auditor or to contract out audits would be better than to just have a measure to eliminate the position completely. Chair TenBruggencate went over the three ways to get an amendment on the ballot: 1. Citizen petition, 2. Charter Review Commission, 3. County Council. Asked if the Council had any inclination in taking this on. Suggestion of changing the language to provide an option is interesting and one not heard before. Council Chair Kaneshiro is not sure what all Council Members will think about it. They are currently in process and if Council was to take any action it would have to be after the current process that they are in. Discussion of why Auditor position is in the County Council, County Clerk office. It is in the Charter. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa stated that the position is a Council appointment and it is supposed to be independent. The term is for six years according to the Charter. Discussion on CAFER and Finance’s role to assist in developing, but audit under the County Clerk’s office. Council is looking at more performance audits. Mayor and Council worked together and identified four audits for the fiscal year (page two of report) based on what the Mayor and Council was interested in. Discussion of possible amendment options and clarification of Council currently having the option to do audits in house, if we do not and cannot find an Auditor. Deputy County Attorney Roversi read Section 3.1.2 of the current Charter provides that the Council has the authority to conduct financial and performance audits. Charter Review Commission Open Session July 22, 2019 Page 5 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Discussion of possible language for change in Charter regarding the option stated above and continued problems of hiring an Auditor. Chair TenBruggencate requested an update after this round in the process. Council Chair Kaneshiro agreed to come back once gone through process. He stated that much of this is his own opinion regarding cost savings and being more efficient. It will take the Council to vote to make changes to the Charter after this process is completed. He will suggest if they do not have a hire after this process to look at making a change to the Charter. Chair TenBruggencate thanked Council Chair Kaneshiro and County Clerk Fountain-Tanigawa for coming. Council Chair Kaneshiro thanked the Council for their service. Chair TenBruggencate invited a motion to defer and keep on agenda. Ms. Sandblom joined the meeting at 3:25pm Ms. Suzawa moved to defer CRC 2019-03. Ms. Koga seconded. Motion carried 6:0. CRC 2019-04 Discussion on Charter Section 23.06. Claims Confidentiality has been waived on CRC 2019-06 relating to this item. Mr. Roversi went over the communication regarding proposed language. Mr. Roversi provided two alternatives to stating a two year time period and the pros and cons. One would have a statement referring to, “the time period provided under state law” and the second would site the statute section, “the time period provided in Hawai’i Revised Statute section 46-72”. Charter Review Commission Open Session July 22, 2019 Page 6 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Discussion on the 2 years as a standard and unlikely hood of it being changed. Mr. Roversi stated it has been the State’s statute of limitations for several decades. It was imposed upon the Counties to mirror the State’s for at least a decade. Clarified that it is currently six months in the current Charter. Chair TenBruggencate entertained a motion to have draft language prepared for the ballot. Ms. Kapali moved to have the Deputy County Attorney draft language for the ballot regarding CRC 2019-04. Ms. Sandblom seconded. Motion carried 7:0. CRC 2019-05 Proposal to add to Charter, qualifications for Police Chief Ms. Ching informed the Commission that it is on the Police Commission agenda for next week. Chair TenBruggencate suggested to defer and take it up when they are ready to talk with Commission. Ms. Suzawa moved to defer CRC 2019-05. Ms. Sandblom seconded. Motion carried 7:0. Communications Ms. Ching stated that a late communication by email was received by Ms. Ching from the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (on file) which was distributed to the Commissioners regarding election for the Office. Chair TenBruggencate suggested it be received and added to next meeting’s agenda. The communication is regarding if only two people running for an office, than the election happens in the Primary. Also amending Section 9A.05A. Mr. Roversi stated that 9A.05A has to do with an appointment when there is a vacancy, (paraphrasing)if there is more than eighteen months left there is a special election, if there’s less Charter Review Commission Open Session July 22, 2019 Page 7 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION than a year than appointed by the Mayor. Leaves an open question of if it’s between a year and eighteen months. Ms. Kapali requested that the Prosecuting Attorney attend the next meeting. Chair TenBruggencate said that can invite, but will discuss further at next meeting. Ms. Sanblom moved to receive the communication and make it an agenda item for the next meeting. Ms. Stack seconded. Motion carried 7:0. Announcements Next meeting: Monday, August 26, 2019, 3:00 p.m., in the Mo’ikeha Building, Meeting Room 2A/2B. Adjournment With no objection, Chair TenBruggencate adjourned the meeting at 3:43pm. Submitted by: __________________________________ Reviewed and Approved by: _________________________________________ Anela Segreti, Administrative Specialist Jan TenBruggencate, Chair ( X ) Approved as circulated. ( ) Approved with amendments. See minutes of ___________ meeting.