LIHUE — At least one county councilman wants the public to know the whole story. Kauai County Councilman Mel Rapozo said Wednesday he will make a motion, at a later time, to release executive session minutes to the public dealing
LIHUE — At least one county councilman wants the public to know the whole story.
Kauai County Councilman Mel Rapozo said Wednesday he will make a motion, at a later time, to release executive session minutes to the public dealing with the civil suit filed by Councilman Tim Bynum against the county.
His statement, made during the County Council’s Wednesday meeting before the board entered into an executive session on the case, also included a promise to introduce a resolution for an audit or investigation of the Office of the County Attorney.
“I’m struggling with that because … this is not about money — this is about finding out what happened and getting to the bottom of it and that never happened,” Rapozo said. “I’m troubled by it, and at the end of the day, we’re going to be writing a bunch of checks.”
The announcement came on the heels of a judgment, issued by U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright on Monday, that dismissed a request by former county prosecuting attorney Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho to have a trial rule on the case.
The case dates back to September 2012, when Bynum filed a civil suit claiming that Iseri-Carvalho and county supervising planning inspector Sheila Miyake violated his civil rights when they investigated and prosecuted him for zoning violations of his residence.
The suit, which included the County of Kauai, included Iseri-Carvalho and Miyake in both their individual and professional capacities.
That investigation, Bynum’s suit claimed, attempted “to chill his advocacy on the County Council and harm (Bynum’s) chances of re-election,” according to U.S. District Court documents.
An undisclosed settlement was later reached and Bynum offered to dismiss his claims. However, Iseri-Carvalho refused to sign it but the judge ruled in Bynum’s favor to dismiss Iseri-Carvalho’s request with prejudice, meaning she is forbidden from filing another lawsuit based on the same grounds.
“The court will not be drawn into this continuing political feud,” Seabright wrote in his judgment.
What’s troubling, Rapozo said Wednesday, the same day the Garden Island reported on the case, was that the County Council was never informed last year that the county’s insurance company had taken over the case from the Office of the County Attorney to settle the dispute.
“My concern is that this board was completely left out of the loop in this case, and the perception from the public is that we did that because it was one of our colleagues on this council,” said Rapozo.
Councilman Ross Kagawa agreed and the disclosure would allow the public to see what happened behind closed doors on the case.
“I think the public needs to see all of the minutes, so they can judge for themselves as far as what their elected officials are doing,” Kagawa said. “The way we handled this case is an absolute disaster and I hope we never repeat this again. It’s so frustrating and the most frustrating part is that it was a mutual, political fight.”
County Attorney Al Castillo, Jr. and First Deputy County Attorney Jennifer Winn said an exact amount of how much has been spent so far on the case has not been determined.
According to the state Office of Information Practices, executive session minutes are open to public disclosure but can be limited under certain circumstances.
Councilman Gary Hooser said he agreed the situation was not handled properly but said he understood the merits behind Bynum’s lawsuit. Moving forward, he said, should entail an examination of management practices in the Office of the County Attorney.
“I can certainly understand the situation and I think it’s characterized as Mr. Bynum’s suit costing the county, but I think it’s a more fair characterization to say that it’s the conduct of a variety of individuals in this county that created this contentious situation,” Hooser said. “It’s a lot more than just one person and I, for one, would like to know what actually happened.”
• Darin Moriki, county government reporter, can be reached at 245-0428 or dmoriki@thegardenisland.com.
