LIHUE — The Kauai County Council approved a measure that would let voters decide if county officials and employees may represent private interests before boards, commissions and agencies they are not employed by. The resolution, which passed unanimously and was
LIHUE — The Kauai County Council approved a measure that would let voters decide if county officials and employees may represent private interests before boards, commissions and agencies they are not employed by.
The resolution, which passed unanimously and was introduced by Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura, would place a question on this year’s general election ballot to determine whether the County Charter provision should be changed.
At the crux of the proposed change, Council Chair Jay Furfaro said, is determining which people are qualified to serve on county boards and commissions and clarifying situations where there are conflicts of interests.
The charter’s Code of Ethics currently does not allow any officer or employee of the county to “appear on behalf of private interests before any county board, commission or agency.”
One example of this problem, Yukimura said, happened during public hearings on Bill 2491, now Ordinance 960. During that time, she said, Kauai Coffee Company President Wayne Katayama was scrutinized before being able to testify on the bill because of his role as a county Planning Commission member.
“There’s no rationale because I don’t know what the conflict is,” Yukimura said about the incident. “It’s not like he is going to do something on the Planning Commission because he talks to us on the council about the work that he’s responsible for.”
Another example, she said, is Lihue attorney Jonathan Chun, who is not allowed to represent some clients before the County Council, because he is a member of a Kauai Workforce Investment Board subgroup, the Youth Council.
“There are a lot of people who would be great on our boards and commissions, but they’re unable to serve on an unrelated board because it prohibits them from doing their work,” Yukimura said. “I’m proposing it because there actually is a real problem with the existing language right now. It keeps good people off our boards and commissions without no real reason that I can see.”
Furfaro agreed.
“It’s really trying to give us some clarity into which people can actually qualify to serve on our boards and commissions rather than this real blanket view that says, ‘Anybody who works with the government is automatically exempted,’” Furfaro said. “That eliminates a lot of potential commissioners.”
A public hearing on the resolution is scheduled on May 14 and will be taken up by the County Council for final consideration on May 28.
