LIHUE — The Kauai County Council struck down a pair of charter amendment proposals on Tuesday that would have let county voters weigh in on the seven-member board’s fee-setting authority at the Wailua Golf Course and eligibility requirements for county
LIHUE — The Kauai County Council struck down a pair of charter amendment proposals on Tuesday that would have let county voters weigh in on the seven-member board’s fee-setting authority at the Wailua Golf Course and eligibility requirements for county Cost Control Commission members.
Both resolutions, which were voted down by separate 3-2 votes on final reading, would have placed the charter amendment proposals on this year’s general election ballot for voters to consider, if they had been approved by the County Council.
County Councilmen Gary Hooser, Mel Rapozo and Ross Kagawa cast the three dissenting votes against each of the proposals. Councilman Tim Bynum and Council Chair Jay Furfaro were absent from the meeting and did not vote on the proposals.
“For us to propose a charter amendment, there must be a strong need — you know, if the bike ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Kagawa said. “I’m just afraid that if we put a lot of amendments that don’t need to be on there, we’re going to come up with results that may not be the true feelings of our residents.”
One proposal that didn’t make the final cut would have let voters decide whether all government employees, or just those employed by the County of Kauai, shall not serve on the county’s Cost Control Commission, which is charged with scrutinizing county expenditures and developing cost-cutting recommendations.
The County Charter currently does not allow any of the board’s seven members to be “employed in government service.”
“What this provision is doing is precluding qualified people from sitting on a commission where their skills could be very well used, so to me, that’s bad policy,” Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura, the proposal’s introducer, said. “That is why I’m proposing a change — it disqualifies a lot of potentially highly skilled people who can contribute a lot.”
Rapozo, however, said all government employees, not just those who work for the county, have an inherent conflict of interest, if they were to serve on the Cost Control Commission, because the county receives grants from the federal and state government.
“If you work for the government and your government agency is responsible for funding certain parts of our local government, then you shouldn’t sit (on the commission),” Rapozo said. “I think our forefathers who crafted this section in the charter knew exactly what they were doing.”
Another charter amendment that did not pass through the County Council would have given the seven-member board the option to yield their fee-setting authority at the Wailua Golf Course, either in part or as a whole, to the mayor’s administration.
The county charter, as it currently reads, gives the County Council the sole power to set the fees and rates at the municipal golf course.
Yukimura, the proposal’s introducer, said a more flexible option to set fees and rates is needed to bolster sustainable practices at the golf course, which draws about $1 million annually from the county’s general fund to subsidize operations.
Giving the mayor’s administration more purview over fees and rates, she added, would allow them to respond quickly to tourism trends and market pressures, as well as free up opportunities to create promotional golf packages and other incentives for the Royal Coconut Coast.
“The reason why I feel this is important is because the golf course needs to be run more like a business but still have that public idea in mind,” Yukimura said.
