Now that Harry Kim has become our next mayor, it is time to think about what changes the mayor should seek in his term of office. Some ideas I would suggest include:
1. Institute a strenuous ethics ordinance which separates the county and its employees for county contracts and requires a full public accounting of all monies spent in the name of official business. County paid for trips to the hostess bar should be a thing of the past. Department heads winning contracts to serve their own department should not be allowed. Governance should be separate from contracting. Transparency should be the rule for all government activities.
2. The assessor’s office should be professionalized. Hawaii is only one of four states that requires no training or continuing education of assessors. It is one of the few states which do not require the assessors to follow the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice in their valuations. These standards have a full section (Rule No. 6) devoted to assessing property and are meant to set the minimum standards for assessor’s valuations. While the state does not require assessors to follow USPAP or have educational training or continuing education in their field, there is no reason the county cannot mandate that their assessment office will follow these minimum standards and have trained assessment staff. There is currently not a single assessor working in this county that a bank would hire to value even a small strip shopping center much less a large shopping center or major resort such as the Four Seasons at Hualalai or the Hilton Waikoloa. The result is that assessments on more complex properties are likely to be understated because the assessor’s office will not want to be challenged on these valuations in front of the tax appeal board or the court and be shown to be less than competent for the task. This likely leaves the more modest properties carrying a higher burden of the tax load than they need to. It is long past time to bring this department into the modern age.
3. Department heads should be experts in the field of endeavor their department works in. Being an attorney does not make you an automatic expert in anything other than the law. Good governance requires competent leadership. The mayor should seek out the best qualified individuals and refrain from passing out patronage to past supporters. Those supporters and the rest of us will be much better served with highly competent department heads. The fire department should be headed by someone with experience in the fire department. The police department should be headed by a police veteran. The Office of Environmental Management should be headed by someone with experience in waste management and the science of waste management.
4. Roadways should be constructed based upon more professional planning than is occurring. The bypass intersection at the top of Napoopoo Road in Kealakekua appears to have been contracted as work in progress and designed on the fly. The lack of commitment to find a compromise to finish the Alii Bypass through Keauhou is unacceptable. Because of a lack of sufficient planning and outlook it is likely the county is foregoing millions of dollars in federal highway aid money. Federal aid money is our tax money. Because that money is not spent here, our tax money is then spent in Idaho or New Jersey providing those states better roads. The island’s population is not likely to stop its growth trend. This means new roads are needed and will continue to be needed.
This island’s population is growing rapidly. We are no longer a small place where everyone knows everyone. With roughly 190,000 people living on our island, the county government appropriates top $486 million. This is not a small sum. Professional conduct should be mandatory. Even a savings of 3 percent from these appropriations amounts to $14 million. I believe by professionalizing county governance and setting strict ethical rules in place, the county could save this amount and make governance fairer for everyone.
R. J. Kirchner is a SRA appraiser in Kailua-Kona.