Letters for June 30, 2015

Letters for June 30, 2015

What about checks, balances?

If the County Council has the power to appoint a county manager, what happens to the checks and balances we currently enjoy having a mayor and council?

Peter Sterne

Koloa

County officials need to call for audit of KHS

Enough already! How long must we wait for the powers that be to initiate a county audit of the KHS to get to the bottom of this controversial public roasting of its executive director and a few others?

Doesn’t the KHS receive a major portion of its annual budget from us, the innocent taxpayers? I, for one, can’t trust 100 percent of what’s being said by either side of this ongoing tit for tat being shamelessly regurgitated over and over again in TGIForum. I want the truth exposed and those reading this letter deserve nothing less. While employees and board members continue to argue back and forth over percentages and the climate of the existing work environment, animal lives hang in the balance.

So hey, county officials! Stop amusing yourself each day reading the last slinging of mud in our newspaper and do your job! Get to the bottom of this whole mess with an audit and do it soon. While you’re having a good laugh, thousands of animal lives and a few human livelihoods are at stake. Think “best practices” and “professionalism” and you may avoid providing TGI readers a good laugh at your expense.

Vince Cosner

Lihue

County manager brings expertise to table

Thanks to Councilman Chock and Chair Rapozo the county manager form of government was on a recent council agenda.

A two-hour informative discussion was held involving all councilmembers and a number of citizens from the public.

Following is one of the many testimonies given that hopefully will stimulate large numbers of Kauaians to call and email their representatives telling them that they are tired of the present system that is antiquated and counter productive to solving our many problems and that they want a manager system used so successfully all over our nation.

Forming a subcommittee to research and analyze the costs and benefits of a county manager/council form of government and to compare it with the costs and benefits of a mayor/council form of government is only the first step toward putting major efficiencies in our Kauai government but a major step in making it happen.

If this council and administration are listening to the dissatisfactions of its citizens over the multitude of problems both past and present that are not being addressed, they will embrace a system where a professional is hired to solve problems and make decisions based on their past experience.

Should the CEO of a multi-million dollar operation (Kauai) be hired because of his/her popularity or because of the experience and expertise he/she brings to the table? A real no brainer!

With a still elected mayor sitting as one of the seven councilmembers, isn’t it easy to see how decision making would be simplified — no finger pointing about whose problem it is — by giving it to an experienced manager?

A manager would be fired in a heartbeat if he allowed a gym roof leak to continue for 20 years as has been the case with the Kilauea Gym — with still no resolution!

Or a lack of a site or drug facility on Kauai for over 10 years. Plus traffic, our roads, solid waste, all growing worse under our present system.

And, one of the best parts about using this system is that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel as it is being used widely successfully around the world.

Any unbiased person who factually compares our present system to this form of government will be more than willing to at least give it a try — with a tremendous amount to gain.

Glenn Mickens

Kapaa