Public needs to support proposed county Ethics Board bill
Public needs to support proposed county Ethics Board bill
Bill 101, which proposes a charter amendment to change the way in which our county Ethics Board commissioners are chosen, is scheduled for a Finance Committee meeting Tuesday at 4:15 p.m at the West Hawaii Civic Center.
The number of Ethics Board members would be increased to nine for a term of four years, with each council member nominating two people of different political parties from his district, one of whom must be appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council.
At the current time, five Ethics Board commissioners are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council for five years, which has resulted in commissioners over the past several years who are only from the east, primarily Hilo, side, of the island. Decisions made by the Board of Ethics might have been very different if there were more members and if they were from all areas of the island.
I do not think ethics are different on both sides of the island, just that if board members are scattered around the island they are less likely to know or to have had personal contact with anyone involved in a board petition, which will lessen the likelihood of a recusal and hopefully lead to more impartial proceedings.
As it is, we have a crippled Ethics Board with only three members, all of whom must be present to have a quorum. If a member needs to recuse himself because of a conflict of interest or is sick, no meeting can be held. Four monthly meetings over the past six have been canceled, including ones scheduled for October and November. Because of his own difficulties, the mayor shows no sign of appointing any more commissioners to fill the board.
It is clear that a change in the appointment of Board of Ethics commissioners is needed.
The nomination of Ethics Board members by their council members, with selection by the mayor, and confirmation by the council, will provide a needed set of checks and balances.
Please voice your opinion on this charter amendment by sending in your testimony with reference to Bill 101 to counciltestimony@hawaiicounty.gov. by noon Monday. It is always better to testify in person, but because of the late time for the hearing and the possibility that the meeting will be delayed, it would be prudent to send it in in case live testimony is not possible.
Cheryl King
Kailua-Kona
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