Maui County Charter Amendments Community Workshop

Kalana o Maui (Maui County Building) building. Photo by Wendy Osher.

By Wendy Osher

Maui Economic Opportunity hosts a community workshop focused on charter amendments that will appear on the November 6th General Election Ballot.

The workshop was organized in part by Maui County Council Member and Policy Committee Chair G. Riki Hokama, the County Committee on the Status of Women, and MEO.

The workshop will run from 11 a.m. to noon on Thursday October 18th at the MEO Family Center in Wailuku.

Participants are asked to bring their own brown-bag lunch; bottled water will be provided.

Those interested in attending should RSVP by October 15, 2012 to [email protected] or call 249-2990.

The Charter Commission and County Council 2012 Proposed Charter Amendment ballot questions include the following:

• Council Terms: Should Section 3-2.5 and Article 15 of the Charter be amended to lengthen the terms of Council Members from two (2) to four (4) years, with term limits of three (3) consecutive terms, whether such terms are two (2) or four (4) years, beginning on January 2, 2015, with terms to be staggered?
• Ocean Rescue and Safety: Should Section 8-7.4 of the Charter be amended to assign shoreline and ocean rescue and safety to the Department of Fire and Public Safety?
• County Auditor: Should the Charter be amended to establish an independent Office of the County Auditor, to provide for the appointment and removal of an independent County Auditor by the County Council, to define the County Auditor’s duties and powers in order to increase accountability and efficiency of County operations, to attach the Cost of Government Commission as an advisory board to the County Auditor, and to make other clarifying, conforming, transitional, and related amendments?
• Interactive Communication: Should Article 3, County Council, of the Charter be amended to require interactive communications access for public testimony at all County Council and County Council committee meetings for the residents of Hana, Lana’i, Moloka’i and other geographic areas as the Council deems appropriate and reasonable?
• Charter Revision Publication: Should Article 14 of the Charter be amended to add a new section to require that the Maui County Charter be revised and published to include all new significant amendments adopted?
• Council Residency Requirement: Should Section 3-3 of the Charter be amended to increase the time period for residency requirements in the County of Maui, and from the area which the person seeks to be elected from 90 days to 1 year before a candidate for council files nomination papers?
• Mayor Residency Requirement: Should Section 7-3 of the Charter be amended to increase the time period for residency requirement in the County of Maui from 90 days to 1 year before a candidate for Mayor files nomination papers?
• Environmental Management: Should Section 8-15.3 of the Charter be amended to add the following to the Powers, Duties and Functions of the Director of the Department of Environmental Management: Guide efforts to optimize opportunities for environmental, natural resource protection, sustainability, conservation, and restoration?
• Annual Evaluation: Should Chapters 7 (Department of Fire and Public Safety), 9 (Department of Personnel Services), 12 (Department of Police), and 13 (Department of Liquor Control) of Article 8 of the Charter be amended to provide consistency in the process in which the various commissions of the listed departments that appoint its directors or chiefs handle the evaluation and removal of its directors or chiefs?
• Preamble: Should the Preamble of the Charter be amended to add that the people of the County of Maui being mindful of their Hawaiian history, heritage and culture and uniqueness as a four island County shall dedicate their efforts to fulfill the philosophy decreed by the Hawaii Stata motto, “Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono,” [“The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.”]?
• Unexpired Term: Shall the Charter be amended to clarify that a council member who fills a vacancy in office for the remainder of an unexpired term shall not have the remainder of the unexpired term counted towards the maximum number of consecutive terms the council member may serve?