Today’s the day. The county has until 4:30 p.m. to turn over minutes from County Council executive sessions, according to a Aug. 12 letter from the state Office of Information Practices (OIP). The letter, signed by OIP director Leslie Kondo,
Today’s the day. The county has until 4:30 p.m. to turn over minutes from County Council executive sessions, according to a Aug. 12 letter from the state Office of Information Practices (OIP).
The letter, signed by OIP director Leslie Kondo, notified Kaua‘i County Clerk Peter Nakamura that the county must turn over the minutes from various County Council executive sessions to the OIP today.
If they do not, two Kaua‘i men said they are prepared to file suit to gain access to the records the county is withholding.
On June 10, Walter Lewis and Dr. Ray Chuan requested minutes from more than 140 County Council executive sessions dating back to Jan. 2002, said Lewis.
Lewis said the request was made both for personal reasons and as a watchdog measure. He said the county was refusing to release the documents because they saw the attempts as “an infringement on their power.”
Both men said if the county does not make the records available to them, they are prepared to file a lawsuit.
“We want access to those documents and they are withholding them. We want to find out what they say,” Lewis said.
“The public has a right to know what’s going on,” said Chuan. “We can’t say precisely what we want because we don’t what’s in there. They used to go into executive session willy nilly. Since we filed the request, there’s been a notable decrease in executive sessions.”
Lewis said the county council as not acting in the spirit of the state’s sunshine law. The law provides limited exceptions which are to be narrowly construed to allow agencies such as the County Council to hold closed meetings to consult with counsel relating to their powers and duties and certain other matters, he said.
Lewis admitted the OIP, which has strongly urged the county to turn over the minutes, has no real enforcement power, hence the likelihood of litigation.
Kondo informed Nakamura, and by extension, county attorney Lani Nakazawa, that the county’s response(s) had been inadequate and didn’t support the withholding of the records.
Nakazawa did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Last week, after taking under advisement arguments from attorneys for both the OIP and the county, Fifth Circuit Court Judge George Masuoka said he would render his decision Aug. 30 on OIP’s motion to dismiss the county’s lawsuit concerning its ongoing refusal to release the minutes of an executive session meeting.
Kondo said if Masuoka rules in OIP’s favor the county would not be able to appeal OIP’s decision (that the County Council had violated the state’s sunshine law) and would have to release the minutes.
Kondo said this decision was made through a series of letters.
The battle over access to certain Kaua‘i County Council executive-session minutes dates back to a Jan. 20 County Council executive-session meeting (ES 177), where a possible investigation into the Kaua‘i Police Department was supposed to be the topic.
