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NEIGHBORHOOD COMMISSION
DRAFT REGULAR COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
CALL TO ORDER: Commission Chair Brendan Bailey called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
Members Present: Brendan Bailey, Bob Finley, Ron Mobley, Bob Stubbs, and Sylvia Young.
Members Absent: Sheila Apisa, Ed Gall, Wilson Ho, Jeanette Nekota
Guests/Staff: Bert Narita (Chair, Diamond Head/Kapahulu/St. Louis Neighborhood Board No. 5); John Kim (Chair, Manoa Neighborhood Board No. 7), Tom Heinrich (Member, Manoa Neighborhood Board No. 7); Ron Lockwood (Chair, McCully/Moiliili Neighborhood Board No. 8); David Hilea, Jr. (Member, Ala Moana Neighborhood Board No. 11); Lynne Matusow (Member, Downtown Neighborhood Board No. 13); Cardy Fang (Chair, Kalihi-Palama Neighborhood Board No. 15); Jon Chinen, Debbi Glanstein, Linda Ure (Members, Kailua Neighborhood Board No. 31); Joan Manke (Executive Secretary), Bryan Mick (Executive Assistant), Linnie Pascual (Neighborhood Commission Office).
ROLL CALL OF COMMISSIONERS: A roll call of Commissioners was administered with a quorum of five (5) members present (Bailey, Finley, Mobley, Stubbs and Young).
CITY MONTHLY REPORTS:
Executive Secretary’s Report – Joan Manke reported the following:
Neighborhood Commission Office (NCO) Staff – Gloria Gaines has filled the Neighborhood Assistant position that was vacated by Peter Salbiejo.
Complaints Update – Bryan Mick reported that there are 22 pending complaints for 2009, which was broken down by Neighborhood Boards:
· Makakilo/Kapolei/Honokai Hale NB No. 34 has nine (9) complaints; five (5) complaints from previous years.
· Ewa NB No. 23 has four (4) complaints.
· Koolauloa NB No. 28 has four (4) complaints.
· Kailua NB No. 31 has three (3) complaints.
The following two (2) complaints or “requests for review” were received under the new plan:
·
· Ewa NB No. 23 – an issue relating to the residency of a newly appointed board member not living within the district. An inquiry was sent to the board member asking for verification of residence (driver’s license/voter registration), which confirmed the board member’s residence within the district.
Sunshine Law Training – The training session was held at Mission Memorial on October 29, 2009, with 61 board members in attendance. There are approximately 100 board members remaining to receive training. A video of the training session from the June 20, 2009 Installation will be posted for information on the NCO website that can be used as a good tool to review. At the moment, language included in the ordinance does not allow for online training certification, therefore the Administration must certify that a board member has received the training. The NCO is supportive of the neighborhood boards that wish to pursue having the language changed in the ordinance to allow for online training.
A future Sunshine Law training date will be set. The training is for members who have not been trained in the preceding two (2) calendar years.
Questions, comments and concerns followed:
· It was noted that there were no Commissioners, Office of Information Practices (OIP) or Corporation Counsel (COR) staff present to address questions at the Installation ceremony. As Chapter 92 of the Sunshine Law is a legal document, it was felt that the attendees needed to be able to ask for clarification and interpretation. Otherwise, the board members cannot be considered as having been trained.
Commission Chair – No report at this time.
PUBLIC CONCERNS:
Downtown Neighborhood Board No. 13 – Matusow raised a concern with the NCO minute-taking format being used by the board’s Neighborhood Assistant (NA). The board prefers that the minutes reflect the name of the individual making the statement versus the description of “a resident”. Chair Lavoie of the Downtown Neighborhood Board No. 13 communicated to the NA about the board’s preference in the naming of residents in the board’s meeting minutes.
Maunawili Community Association (MCA) Request – As secretary of the MCA, Ure made a request on September 30 that the MCA be placed on the mailing list to receive the agenda and minutes for Neighborhood Boards No. 1, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32. The MCA is comprised of 410 households and has a lot of interest in and assists with the interaction amongst other community associations on the windward side. Mick will follow up with Ure’s request.
Participation on Neighborhood Board Committees
A member of the audience questioned whether a formal complaint should be filed against a Chair for denying a board member active participation on no more than two (2) board committees as it would be stretching a board members ability too much. It was noted that the Chair declared this a board policy when it really is an opinion of the Chair.
Other Items for the Commission’s Follow Through – The following items were noted for the Commissioners information and review:
· Mailing List Issues
· Guidebook Update (index not yet complete)
· Status of a number of Training Projects
· No recent action on Audit Matrix
· No recent meetings of the Budget Committee
· Complaints (lack of informal complaint process)
· Conference of Chairs (one should be held soon as the last one was held in August 2008)
· Reapportionment process will follow 2010 Census (Reapportionment may fall within the NB system demographic review)
· Concurrent Service Issue of Commissioners (
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Regular Meeting – The Regular Meeting minutes of September 28, 2009 was APPROVED as CIRCULATED.
EXECUTIVE SESSION:
With no objections, the Commissioners entered into Executive Session pursuant to Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 92-4 & 92-5(a)(4) & (8) for the purpose of consulting with the Neighborhood Commission's Legal Counsel on questions and issues pertaining to the Commission's powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and liabilities in relation to the review and approval of Executive Session minutes for April 20, 2009 and September 28, 2009.
Executive Session convened at 7:35 p.m. and ended at 7:43 p.m., at which time agenda items continued.
COMMISSION BUSINESS:
Filling of vacant seat(s) on the Kalihi-Palama Neighborhood Board No. 15 pursuant to Section 2-14-104(e) of the 2008 Neighborhood Plan – Manke explained that the Kalihi-Palama NB continue to have difficulty with achieving a quorum of ten board members due to member absences. The board has not been able to conduct its business for five consecutive months since the new term began in July 2009. The board has 19 seats of which 10 are filled.
NCO received correspondence from six (6) interested individuals to fill vacancies in the following Subdistricts (SD):
- SD 1 – one (1) vacancy; Deanna Aiko, Cy Phang, and Penelope Tukimaka.
- SD 2 – four (4) vacancies; Pauni Nagaseu-Escue, Jadelyn Neal, and Shane Yaw.
- SD 3 – four (4) vacancies; no interested individuals.
Cardy Fang, Vice Chair of the Kalihi-Palama Neighborhood Board No. 15, was in attendance and requested the Commission’s assistance to appoint several members to the board. Discussion continued focusing on possible suggestions to help the board to achieve quorum.
The Chair pointed out that the Commission received previous advisement from Corporation Counsel (COR) on the number of individuals that can be appointed to a board. It was the opinion of COR to appoint the fewest number possible in order for the board to achieve quorum. Therefore, the Chair made a recommendation to proceed into Executive Session to discuss this issue further with advisement from Legal Counsel.
Young moved, and Mobley seconded, for the Commissioners to enter into Executive Session pursuant to Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 92-4 & 92-5(a)(4) & (8) for the purpose of consulting with the Neighborhood Commission's Legal Counsel on questions and issues pertaining to the Commission's powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and liabilities in relation to the number of individuals that can be appointed to the Kalihi-Palama Neighborhood Board No. 15.
Executive Session convened at 8:00 p.m. and ended at 8:15 p.m., at which time agenda items continued.
Young moved, and Mobley seconded, to appoint the following three candidates to the Kalihi-Palama Neighborhood Board No. 15: Pauni Naguseu-Escue, Jadelyn Neal, and Shane Yaw. MOTION PASSED BY UNANIMOUS CONSENT, 5-0-0 (AYE: Bailey, Finley, Mobley, Stubbs, and Young).
The NCO will follow up with the appointed members (Naguseu-Eseu, Neal, Yaw) to take the oath of office as soon as possible.
Agenda Template Evaluations following 6-month Trial Period – The 6-month pilot project ended on October 31st and the Neighborhood Commission (NC) will begin collecting comments. The neighborhood boards can utilize their own agenda format, which the NCO will timestamp. The next step is evaluation so that the NC can determine whether to continue agenda template, revise agenda template or no agenda template. Chair Bailey made a recommendation to leave the final format of the evaluation form to the NCO.
Both written and verbal testimony was received and duly noted from the following Neighborhood Board Chairs/Members:
· Chair
· Chair Kim, Manoa NB No. 7
· SD 3 1st Vice Chair Heinrich,
· Chair Lockwood, McCully/Moiliili NB No. 8
· Chair Finley,
· Chair Young, Nuuanu NB No. 12
· Chair Lavoie, Downtown NB No. 13
· Chair Stubbs, Liliha/Puunui/Alewa/Kamehameha Heights NB No. 14
· SD 4 3rd Vice Chair Mobley,
REPORTS:
Budget Committee (Sylvia Young, Ron Mobley and Bob Finley) – Commissioner Young announced that the Budget Committee last met on July 29, 2009, in which the Committee made some proposals in the Budget that could possibly be cost savings. The Budget Committee recommended that the NC receive and post the “Proposed Budget Changes” on the NCO website. A letter will be sent to the Neighborhood Boards soliciting feedback by a specific date to be determined by the Commission Chair.
Mobley moved, and Young seconded, for the Neighborhood Commission to receive and post the Budget Committee’s “Proposed Budget Changes” report on the NCO website to solicit comments from the Neighborhood Boards by a date to be determined by the Commission Chair. MOTION PASSED BY UNANIMOUS CONSENT, 5-0-0 (AYE: Bailey, Finley, Mobley, Stubbs, Young).
Neighborhood Plan Committee (NPC) – Committee of the Whole – Committee Chair Finley announced that the NPC met on October 26, 2010. Not having had sufficient amount of time to review the NPC minutes, an update will be provided at the next regular Commission meeting.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Next Regular Meeting – The Commission will meet on Monday, January 25, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. at Honolulu Hale, Council Meeting Room.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 8:55 p.m.
Submitted by:
Linnie Pascual
Neighborhood Assistant