Don’t look for Saburo “Sab” Yoshioka to resign from the Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) board of directors when members meet on Thursday, May 19. Yoshioka, a KIUC board member reelected to a three-year term on March 17, is ostensibly
Don’t look for Saburo “Sab” Yoshioka to resign from the Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) board of directors when members meet on Thursday, May 19.
Yoshioka, a KIUC board member reelected to a three-year term on March 17, is ostensibly in violation of a new KIUC policy aimed at preventing nepotism within the utility company.
Yoshioka’s son-in-law received a job-offer letter from KIUC supervisors in March, and signed the letter, signifying his intent to take the position, three days before Yoshioka was reelected, said Anne Barnes, KIUC director of communications.
The board has met once since then, and Yoshioka did not attend that April 27 meeting.
Yoshioka said he was not planning on submitting his resignation letter until he was satisfied his “concerns” regarding “two KIUC governance issues” were addressed to his satisfaction.
He would not reveal what his concerns are, except to say it was an internal matter.
“I got a call from one of the board members, and was told my concerns were being addressed,” he said. “I’ll see if they get done. Then I will send in my resignation.”
Yoshioka would not reveal the name of the board member who contacted him.
Gregg Gardiner, chairman of KIUC’s board of directors, said Wednesday, “I don’t think we’ve fully established what his concerns are.”
He said board members decided to form a two-person committee to meet with Yoshioka in the near future.
Yoshioka said Wednesday he had submitted a letter to the board of directors prior to his March 17 re-election, explaining his concerns.
Yoshioka conceded he is in conflict with KIUC Board Policy No. 18, section B-3F, a new cooperative bylaw concerning nepotism and the qualifications of who could sit on the board of directors.
Gardiner said in an earlier interview with The Garden Island that the policy does not have enforceable action, adding state law mandates KIUC board members can’t force a director out.
On Feb. 16, members of the KIUC board of directors unanimously approved the new policy regarding nepotism.
The policy states that in order to be eligible for election or appointment to, and to serve on KIUC’s board, a candidate can not have a close relative employed by KIUC within three years of the date of the individual’s prospective election to the board.
- Andy Gross, business editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or agross@pulitzer.net.
