An all-star team of seven community members with decades of combined government experience will resume their review of the county charter this month.
Voters in the 2006 General Election authorized a 10-year continuing charter commission, but the mayoral-appointed council-confirmed body has been slow moving thus far.
Now with rules in place and procedures set, Charter Review Commission Chair Jonathan Chun said yesterday that 2008 will be a “pivotal year” at a “fast and furious” pace starting next meeting, Jan. 28, at the Historic County Building.
“The charter charges us with basically doing a review of how the government operates, identifying any problem areas and then seeing if those problems can be addressed with a charter amendment,” he said. “There’s some pressure to get solutions out there by next election year.”
The former first deputy county attorney and state senator said he plans to steer the commission from potential pitfalls, such as losing sight of what the problem was in the first place.
He broke the process down into three steps: identify, prioritize, solve.
The commission will pick the problems with the most merit and work to find solutions that will appear on the ballot for voter approval in the form of a charter amendment, he said.
Included on the review list will be provisions pertaining to conflict of interest, Chun said, which involves a determination on whether a council member can or should vote on a measure.
The County Attorney’s Office is expected to release an opinion on the matter, he said, which the commission will review and clarify if necessary.
A likely public proposal to the commission will be for a charter amendment to replace the mayoral system with a county manager.
Kapa‘a resident Ken Taylor alluded to this at the commission’s first meeting on Sept. 24, 2007. He also suggested a problem may be government’s lack of accountability to the community.
“You come over here and talk to council and ask for specific information and they say it is over there; you go over there and talk about the same issue and they say it is over there,” he said, according to the meeting minutes. “So there is no accountability to the community — this is flat wrong and why things have to be changed.”
Chun strongly supported public participation in the process.
“We’ve got a good team,” he said, “but it’s foolish to think we have all the answers.”
Maxine Correa, a former council member, knows government structure and understands the relationship between the council and the administration, Chun said.
Leonard Vierra, a go-to guy for number crunching and contracts, recently retired from the county Public Works Department, he said.
Walter Briant was a former county water manager, Chun said, and John Constantino has a strong business background.
Long-time private attorney Sherman Shiraishi “keeps me straight,” he said, and current Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative board member Derek Kawakami has “a good business background and a good eye in terms of organization.”
The members bring a strong government background and knowledge of how the county operates, he added.
Chun has been in private practice with Belles, Graham, Proudfoot and Wilson since 1998. He has experience in zoning, employment and administrative law.
The people wanted a continuing charter commission, he said, to stay ahead of the eight ball. The 10-year period will create continuity and afford breathing space to evaluate problems and produce solutions.
Lani Nakazawa noted at the Sept. 24 meeting that the amendment process is important for the commissioners to keep in mind.
“After they decide on an amendment the amendment must be submitted to the electorate,” she said, according to meeting minutes. “There is a wide misunderstanding that people think (the commission) has to come up with charter amendments prior to the election in November and if (the commission) wants to do this it would require they submit the amendment by May to be reviewed, translated and printed.”
The charter requires amendments to be submitted in the General Election only if the amendments originate in council or by petition, Nakazawa said. The commission has the ability to call or request a special election at any time to vote on amendments; they do not have to rush to meet a May deadline.
The commission, which meets the fourth Monday of the month, has been criticized for only having held three meetings since its creation. It met Oct. 22 and Nov. 26, but canceled its Dec. 17 meeting.
The December meeting agenda slated discussion on the process to be followed in recommending charter amendments and laying the foundation for handling communications from the public.
Chun encouraged the public to attend the meetings and “let us know what problems they see in government.
“The more input we have the better,” he said.
The commission’s next meeting is at 4 p.m. Jan. 28 in Council Chambers at the Historic County Building.
• Nathan Eagle, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or neagle@kauaipubco.com
