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Aloha Kakou,
As of July 15, 2009, the Mayor has withdrawn his two Communications of July 10 to the County Council transmitting a total of seven names for appointment to the Puna CDP Action Committee. At the request of the Mayor's office I have removed our posting of those two communications from the Puna CDP web page on the hcrc.info web site. In that the first Communication, dated May 7, 2009, transmitting six names to the Council was returned to the Mayor with no action taken by the Council, no nominations are presently before the County Council for confirmation. Therefore, I have also removed the May 7 Communication posting.
The Mayor and Corporation Counsel are currently reviewing the selection procedures for the Puna CDP Action Committee to ensure that the method used to establish the list was appropriate. It is expected that the complete list will be submitted to the Council in time for consideration at the next available Council meeting.
Mahalo,
Larry Brown
(Planning Department)
Assume the best and ask questions.
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Is it just me, or does this sound like a double dose of government mindspeak? Seems like Mayor Billy is changing the rules in the fourth quarter of the game to get the previously ineligible players he wants on the field. Please, somebody tell me that this is not the first step in dismantling the Puna CDP or making it something other that what was approved by the grass-roots process.
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Hard to say Jerry. Could be a lot of things.
It might be that FoPF delivered a request for government documents to the Mayor's office on Tuesday and got them athinkin'. We were requesting the legal opinions and basis for the Mayor's private solicitation of nominees.
It's a sunshiny kind of thing.
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How does that old song from "Hair" go? Oh yeah, the phrase that shady politicians everywhere hate, "Let the sun shine!"
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Today was the 10th day since we submitted our request for government documents to the Mayor's office. I did just get an email from Lincoln Ashida giving me some lawyerly song and dance about since the Mayor has withdrawn the nominations they don't want to hand over any docs yadda, yadda, yadda.
Here's some of his yammer:
Ashida: "It is my understanding Mayor Billy Kenoi has not yet made a final decision on all nominees, so any records relative to this matter are pre-decisional. For this reason, the County has elected to not make them public at the present time."
We responded that if we develop an interest in post decisional documents we will make a separate request. Meanwhile our document request remains and the CoH has failed to deliver as required by law. It is not a matter of electing to comply.
So Monday morning there will be a complaint filed with the state Office of Information Practices (OIP).
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That entire response is BS:
Ashida: "It is my understanding Mayor Billy Kenoi has not yet made a final decision on all nominees, so any records relative to this matter are pre-decisional. For this reason, the County has elected to not make them public at the present time."
Why can't we see these docs? All of them should be public record, all the time, not when they choose what to release and when. This goes on all the time, no surprise here. One of the reasons why I stay away from the political threads...my blood pressure rises.
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Good job Rob, keep up the pressure. These guys just don't get it. After being caught violating the Sunshine Law, they still think that it is OK to deny access to public records. Apparently there is no overall understanding of ethical conduct, so every transgression is a separate entity in their collective mind. It appears that their (our?) corporate counsel is also unclear on the concept of 'public record' and is actively aiding the council in it's wayward acts. He seems to think that by saying 'oops, sorry' about the vote fixing and offering to go back to the way things were, that should make it right. In other aspects of the law like theft, burglary, traffic accidents, etc. there are penalties to be paid, and this transgression should be no exception. I am certain that without the public outcry,the council would not have voluntarily said 'we were wrong, we need to start over'
Unfortunately, it has been my observation that the public as a whole has about a ninety day attention span, so if they clean up their act 3 or 4 months before an election they can probably keep their jobs.
Maybe with jobs in the private sector going away, there will be a lot more candidates for office at the next election. There may indeed be a sliver of silver in the dark clouds of the economy.
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Aloha Puna CDP Participants,
At the direction of the Planning Director we have re-opened the application period for the Puna Community Development Plan Action Committee. Applications will be accepted until 4:30 PM, Friday, September 4, 2009. Anyone that has previously submitted an application either to the Planning Department or to the Mayor's Office for appointment to the Puna CDP Action Committee does not need to re-apply. We would appreciate it if anyone wishing to withdraw their applicantion from consideration would contact Larry Brown in the Planning Department before September 4, 2009. The Planning Department will re-convene the same Review Committee used in the original review and evaluation process to identify additional candidates from the both original and new list of applicants to interview for possible recommendation to the Mayor for appointment to the PCDP Action Committee.
Your assistance in communicating this reopening of the application period and encouraging members of the Puna Community that you feel would be an asset to the Action Committee to apply will be critical to ensuring that a broad-based group of applicants will be available for appointment. Application forms and copies of the selection process inlcuding an addendum to the selection process may be downloaded at
http://www.hcrc.info/community-planning/...process-1/ <http://www.hcrc.info/community-planning/community-development-plans/puna/action-committee-selection-process-1/> . Applications and additional information may also be picked up in the Planning Department located at 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 3 in Hilo between 7:45 AM and 4:30 PM Monday through Friday. Please feel free to contact Larry Brown or Rachelle Ley with any questions you may have.
Mahalo,
Larry
Larry Brown, Planner
County of Hawaii, Planning Department
101 Pauahi Street, Suite 3
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
Phone: (808) 961-8135
Fax: (808) 961-8742
email: lbrown@co.hawaii.hi.us
Rachelle Ley
Community Planning Assistant
Puna Community Development Plan
808 937-3217
Email: RachellePunaCDP@gmail.com
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