There will be an organizational meeting of the next Kaua‘i County Council at 2 p.m., Monday, at the Historic County Building. The newly elected legislative body — comprised of Jay Furfaro, Bill “Kaipo” Asing, Tim Bynum, Daryl Kaneshiro, Lani Kawahara,
There will be an organizational meeting of the next Kaua‘i County Council at 2 p.m., Monday, at the Historic County Building.
The newly elected legislative body — comprised of Jay Furfaro, Bill “Kaipo” Asing, Tim Bynum, Daryl Kaneshiro, Lani Kawahara, Dickie Chang and Derek Kawakami — will decide who will be chair and determine committee assignments for the next two years.
Private discussions among the seven members-elect have begun, officials said, but they remain reluctant to publicly disclose their aspirations before the meeting next week.
The chairmanship is expected to be between Furfaro and Asing.
Asing, the most senior member on the council, stepped down from his role as chair last summer to temporarily serve as mayor after Bryan Baptiste died in office on June 22.
Furfaro, who is finishing his third term on the council, was appointed to serve as chair after Asing resigned. He has said he is interested in maintaining this role when the next council takes office.
Kaneshiro, a four-term councilman who filled the empty seat created by Asing’s departure for the past few months, said yesterday that he has no interest in being chair.
Kawahara, Chang and Kawakami are unlikely choices for chair as this will be their first terms on the council.
Bynum said the organizational meeting two years ago for the current council was a split vote for who should be chair, with five for Asing and two for Furfaro.
He said he hopes the next organizational meeting reflects the voters’ desire to see change. He also hopes the members respect each other’s aspirations for committee assignments and roles on the council.
The council members-elect do not legally have to hold a public organizational meeting. They become subject to the Sunshine Law when they officially take office. In this case, the council swearing-in ceremony is Dec. 1 at the Mo‘ikeha Building.
The state Office of Information Practices on Nov. 14, 2002, opined that it is not illegal for a quorum of newly elected members of a council to meet to discuss selection of officers prior to commencement of their terms of office. A loophole in the Sunshine Law allows such an assemblage, which would be prohibited after council members officially take office.
But the OIP “strongly recommends that a quorum of members-elect of a board not assemble prior to officially taking office to discuss selection of board officers, in keeping with the spirit of the Sunshine Law.”
This puts the Kaua‘i County Council somewhere in the middle. Leaning toward the side of government openness, the members have posted a public organizational meeting. But it is still being held prior to their officially taking office and it remains to be seen how much consensus was built in private discussions before the group deliberates at the organizational meeting.
Kaneshiro said the council needs to be set before the inauguration so it can move straight into official business at that point.
After taking office, state law limits discussion outside noticed meetings to two council members at a time.
For more information, visit www.state.hi.us/oip
• Nathan Eagle, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or neagle@kauaipubco.com
