LIHUE — Voters may decide in November who should serve on the county’s Cost Control Commission — some government employees or none at all. The question that could end up on this year’s general election ballot was introduced by Councilwoman
LIHUE — Voters may decide in November who should serve on the county’s Cost Control Commission — some government employees or none at all.
The question that could end up on this year’s general election ballot was introduced by Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura and passed unanimously during a recent County Council meeting.
It is headed for a public hearing at 1:30 p.m. May 28.
The proposed Kauai County Charter amendment asks whether all government employees, or only those employed by the County of Kauai, should be excluded from serving on the county’s Cost Control Commission — a board whose mission is rooted in analyzing and cutting spending.
Government employees aren’t allowed to serve on the commission, so the ballot question would affirm or change the practice.
If the Kauai County Council gives its stamp of approval to the amendment in June, residents would vote on the issue in November.
Yukimura said the issue arose in February when the seven-member board was determining whether Brandon Shimokawa, administrative services vice chancellor at Kauai Community College, should be appointed to the Cost Control Commission.
The mayoral nominee, she explained, had the qualifications needed to sit on the county board but could not be confirmed.
At issue, she said, is a provision in the Kauai County Charter that does not allow those “employed in government service” to be a Cost Control Commissioner.
Shimokawa’s job at KCC, a state-run institution, made him ineligible to sit on the board, which is tasked with “reducing the cost of county government while maintaining a reasonable level of public services,” the Kauai County Charter reads.
Councilman Mel Rapozo said he spoke with past county officials who explained that the conflict of interest exists because the county receives subsidies and funds from the federal and state government.
“Because the Cost Control Commission is intended to reduce spending and cut programs, there is the inherent or potential conflict of interest for a person who works for the state or federal government to sit on a commission that is expected to cut programs,” Rapozo explained during Shimokawa’s confirmation in May.
But Yukimura doesn’t see it that way and is seeking to clarify the Kauai County Charter provision by allowing federal and state employees to sit on the board.
The amendment she’s proposing, however, would exclude county employees from becoming a Cost Control Commissioner.
“I don’t see any rational nexus to not have a federal or state employee serve on the Cost Control Commission,” Yukimura said. “I don’t think anything should be done for a single person, but I think the issue is a policy issue that we need to address. I think there are a lot of qualified state and federal people who could serve well on the Cost Control Commission, but I don’t think anyone from the county operations itself should be serving because they’d be reviewing their own situation.”
A public hearing on another proposed ballot question that would allow the County Council to yield their fee-setting authority for the Wailua Golf Course to the mayor’s administration will also be heard on the same day.
• Darin Moriki, county government reporter, can be reached at 245-0428 or dmoriki@thegardenisland.com. Follow him on Twitter at @darinmoriki.
