CHARTER AMENDMENTS / KAUAI
Kauai voters asked to decide slew of administrative issues
The Kauai County Charter Commission has offered 15 proposals to be voted on Nov. 7.
Seven of the proposals involve boards and commissions in the county, while three relate to the members of the Kauai County Council.
The board and commission amendments would create a new fire commission, add two board members to all commissions and change how and when members on the cost control and salary commissions are chosen. The members, like the rest of the county administrative boards, would be picked by the mayor and approved by the County Council to staggered three-year terms if the amendments pass.
Also, the Charter Commission, which is supposed to disband after the election, would continue to serve for the next 10 years. Each decade, according to the current charter, the commission is put together to look into changing the Kauai Charter and then disbands after its work is done.
In another proposed amendment, a board and commission administrator would be created to assist in providing training education and operational support to the rest of the boards.
The Kauai salary commission would actually set salaries, if another amendment passes. Currently the board only makes nonbinding recommendations on the salaries of major county officials.
The Council-related amendments would, if passed, limit councilmembers to four two-year terms and prohibit them from voting when they have a conflict of interest, unless their vote is needed for a quorum. Currently, they only need announce they have a conflict, and then can vote on the issue. Another amendment proposes that three members of the Council be voted from districts in 2008, while four remain at-large seats.
Two other proposed amendments would reduce the percentage of voters needed, from 20 percent of those registered in the last election to just 5 percent, to sign recall petitions for county officials and initiatives and referendums for charter amendments.
The last three amendments would create a separate parks and recreation administrative department, remove the requirement that the county engineer be a licensed engineer, and change the title of the mayor's second-in-command from administrative assistant to managing director.
Proposed changes to Kauai County Charter
1. Shall the parks and recreation function, which is currently performed by divisions of the Offices of Community Assistance and the Department of Public Works, be instead performed by a newly created Department of Parks and Recreation?
2. Shall the term of office for councilmembers be limited to four consecutive elected two-year terms, beginning with the 2008 general election?
3. Effective 2008, shall three of the seven councilmembers be elected by districts, with one member residing in and elected from each of three districts that shall be established by an apportionment commission to be appointed in 2007, and four of the seven councilmembers elected at-large, and shall 2011 and every tenth year thereafter be a reapportionment year?
4. Shall the Charter Commission, which is currently formed every ten years to study and review the operations of county government and propose amendments to the Charter, instead be established for a period of ten years beginning in 2007 and ending in 2017, and thereafter, revert to being formed every ten years?
5. Shall the findings of the Salary Commission establishing salaries for all councilmembers and county officers and employees who are exempt from civil service become effective, unless rejected in whole or in part, by a vote of five or more members of the Council?
6. Shall there be a Boards And Commissions Administrator and any necessary staff to assist in providing training, education, administrative and operational support to the various county boards and commissions?
7. Shall all boards and commissions established by Charter consist of seven members, including the Police Commission, Civil Service Commission, Liquor Commission, and the Board of Ethics?
8. Shall all members of boards and commissions established by Charter serve staggered terms of three years, including the Cost Control Commission, whose members currently serve terms ending at the same time as the Mayor, and the Salary Commissions, whose members currently serve terms ending at the same time as the Council?
9. Shall all members of boards and commissions established by Charter be appointed by the Mayor and approved by the County Council, including the Cost Control and Salary Commissions?
10. Shall there be a Fire Commission consisting of seven members who shall appoint and remove the fire chief, review and make recommendations relating to the Fire Department's annual budget and operations and hear complaints of citizens concerning the department or its personnel?
11. Should the requirement that each initiative and referendum petition be signed by not less than 20 percent of the number of eligible voters in the last general election be reduced to 5 percent of eligible voters?
12. Shall the requirement that each recall petition be signed by not less than 20 percent of the voters registered in the last general election be reduced to 5 percent?
13. Shall the Code of Ethics be amended to prohibit councilmembers from voting on a matter in which the councilmember has a conflict of interest unless the councilmember's participation is required for a quorum and subsequent vote?
14. Shall the requirement that the County Engineer be a registered engineer be removed from the Charter?
15. Shall the title of Administrative Assistant be changed to Managing Director?
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