Friday, July 3, 1998

Kiyuna: HHSAA
needed quorum

The former director says
the board should have
postponed its vote

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

The man who directed the Hawaii High School Athletic Association for nearly two decades said the selection of a new executive director should not have taken place without a quorum.

"If a decision is rendered by the HHSAA executive board without a quorum, then it's not a decision," said 62-year-old Ed Kiyuna, who was executive secretary of the HHSAA for 19 years.

"What they should've done was postpone the selection until they had a quorum."

Kiyuna was contacted by the Star-Bulletin for his comments last night. It is the first time he has spoken to the press about the HHSAA since his retirement two years ago.

The newspaper reported on Monday that Hana High athletic director Curtis Saiki, an unsuccessful finalist for the executive director position, saw only three of the five regular executive board members present on June 22, when Keith Amemiya was chosen for the job.

Amemiya is a 32-year-old attorney with no athletic administrative background. He succeeds interim director Hank Kibota on Aug. 1.

The HHSAA constitution states that "four regular" members of the executive board must be present for a quorum.

Kiyuna said the selection of a new executive director to lead the HHSAA into the next millennium would seem to demand such a quorum.

"To make a decision with four of five is a lot more meaningful than doing it with three of five," said Kiyuna.

Kahuku High principal Lea Albert and Big Island Interscholastic Federation executive secretary Roy Fujimoto reportedly sat in at the selection meeting.

Albert is the incoming vice president of the 21-school Oahu Interscholastic Association, but did not officially hold that title prior to July 1. The OIA had no vice-president.

Her unofficial status at the time raises doubt about whether or not she should have been allowed to vote in place of regular board member Norman Minehira (Leilehua High School principal).

Albert said she is bound by HHSAA guidelines not to divulge anything about the meeting.

Despite repeated attempts, the Star-Bulletin could not reach Minehira to find out why he missed the meeting.

Fujimoto was apparently at the selection meeting in place of regular board member Jane Uyehara (Laupahoehoe principal), who was on the mainland.

But Fujimoto is listed as an "ex-officio" member of the HHSAA.

The HHSAA constitution states, "Ex-officio members shall carry no vote."

HHSAA president Anthony Ramos said at a press conference after the board made its choice for executive director that it was "unanimous."

The regular members of the board who were present were Ramos, Waimea principal Wallace Kawane and Baldwin principal Wallace Fujii.

Kiyuna lost out in 1996 to Dwight Toyama when he applied to become the first full-time and permanent executive director of the autonomous HHSAA.

The association was officially released from the control of the Board of Education on July 1, 1995, and Kiyuna became its interim director through June 1996.

He was not chosen as a finalist among seven candidates for the job two years ago, and charged the board with "collusion." Kiyuna threatened to sue but never followed through.