Coach’s five-year
contract approved

The UH regents don't disclose
June Jones' salary but say
Kirimitsu will earn $130,000

By Susan Kreifels
Star-Bulletin

The University of Hawaii Board of Regents approved a five-year appointment of head football coach June Jones today but did not disclose his salary because it was a union position, the regents said.

Jones' annual salary will range from $92,004 to $150,008, regents said. His contract will run through 2003.

Sources outside the university will boost his total compensation to about $400,000.

Eugene Imai, UH senior vice president, said the university will ask the Office of Information Practices if the law has been interpreted correctly regarding the illegality of disclosing Jones' exact salary because of "the high publicity and attention the salary has raised."

UH President Kenneth Mortimer said he hopes university officials can disclose the exact salary. "This is not a matter of choice," he said after the board meeting.

Regent Stanley Roehrig said he agreed with Mortimer. "The president leans to the side of being open," Roehrig said. "It's taxpayers' money."

But Roehrig said their actions must be prudent. "We need further evaluation on this. We have a relationship with public employees of the university that we have to maintain," Roehrig said.

The regents also approved a five-year appointment of former Judge Walter Kiri-mitsu as the university's general counsel. He will earn an annual salary of $130,008 and his appointment will run from Jan. 29 of this year to Jan. 28, 2004.

Kirimitsu's exact salary could be announced today because he is an executive appointment.

Kirimitsu resigned from the bench because of low salaries in the judiciary.

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UH officials question
club’s cash balance

By Susan Kreifels
Star-Bulletin

A University of Hawaii regent and UH President Kenneth Mortimer have questioned why an athletics booster organization carried a $2 million cash balance rather than give more to athletic programs.

An audit on intercollegiate athletics at UH-Manoa, required by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, showed Ahahui Koa Anuenue carried a cash balance of $2.1 million on July 1, 1997, and $2.07 million last June 30.

Cash receipts for that period equaled $937,227, with $984,781 spent on athletic programs.

Lily Yao, chairwoman of the regents' Committee on Finance, questioned the size of the cash balance in light of financial problems connected to UH's football season.

UH officials told regents that the cash generated money to cover the salary of the booster organization's executive director and its operations.

Mortimer also questioned the $2 million balance since the organization only had one staff member.

UH Athletic Director Hugh Yoshida said the cash balance is money that is invested to add to scholarship funds and cover operating expenses.

"It's just good business," he said. "We need to have cash to work with."

The audit, conducted by Akamine, Oyadomari & Kosaki CPAs Inc., "revealed no weaknesses or discrepancies in the design or operation of the internal control structure" of UH's three booster organizations.

According to the audit, the cash balance includes amounts invested in U.S. Treasury notes and marketable quitable securities.

Ahahui Koa Anuenue could not be reached yesterday.

A second group, Hui Kokua Kinipopo, showed a cash balance of $3,702 last June 30, down from $19,010 a year earlier. And the UH Foundation Booster Organization Accounts showed a balance of $348,889, up from $308,892.

In other action:

The Committee on Academic Affairs approved a Special Education Post-Baccalaureate Certificate within the College of Education at UH-Manoa.

The committee also approved a new master of science degree program in the Department of Kinesiology and Leisure Science in the College of Education at UH-Manoa.