I oppose the nominations of Ikaika Rodenhurst and Zendo Kern as directors of the Department of Public Works and the Planning Department, respectively. Neither of these nominees meets the qualifications of the County Charter. I do not know Mr. Rodenhurst, but I do know Mr. Kern from serving on the Council together.
As a County Council member of four consecutive terms, I have personal experience writing much legislation always in an attempt to clarify the law and either create new laws to protect the public and the county or remove improper laws. I also wrote many amendments to the council rules to prevent abuses by some Council Members who seemed to enjoy subverting other council members’ attempts to pass legislation.
First regarding Mr. Kern and previous history:
Bobbi Jean Leithead-Todd, attorney, was nominated as the director of Environmental Management. As a council member, I opposed this nomination on the basis of Charter requirements that she was not qualified because she was not an engineer nor did she hold any degree related to environmental management or science. Despite the fact that a law degree does not an engineer or scientist make, and in violation of the Charter requirements, she was confirmed. I voted “no.” I then sued her in her personal capacity forcing her to prove before a court her qualifications as an engineer or her educational attainments in the field of environmental management or science.
The county is legally prohibited from funding the defense of an employee when that employee has knowingly committed a crime or abused the law, or that employee is sued in their personal capacity. When this issue came before the council, I did speak against the county funding such a defense under the circumstances, and I recused myself from the vote to fund the defense since it was my lawsuit. Mr. Kern stated that since the council had confirmed her, it should vote to fund her defense. This vote to illegally fund her defense passed despite the fact that she was sued in her personal capacity.
In the case of Ms. Leithead-Todd, not only did Mr. Kern ignore my explanation that she took the nomination illegally, he ignored the law in voting to fund her defense. With this history, he cannot claim that he is unfamiliar with the Charter’s qualification laws for directors of some county departments.
I lost my case against Ms. Leithead-Todd in the District Court (DC), but I appealed to the state Supreme Court (SSC), which ruled in my favor, and sent the case back to the District Court explaining that the lower court had erred. The SSC ruled that the DC must use the definitions that my excellent attorney had explained to the DC. However, the DC judge retired from the bench without ever correcting his errors, and Ms. Leithead-Todd left office at the end of her term. However, the good news was that the SSC set a precedent that the laws must be upheld and the plain language of the law shall be observed.
At another time, the council had a nominee to one of the commissions. I opposed this nominee based on a history that I had with him. When it was my turn to speak, and I stated upfront that I was opposed to this nominee, five council members began to yell at me that this was a “he said-she said” issue before I ever explained the situation. I advised that that it was not “he said-she said,” and that I had witnesses to prove what I was about to say. Mr. Kern was in the group that yelled at me and opposed me speaking the truth. I was gaveled into silence and not allowed to present my information. Mr. Kern, the chairperson and at least three other council members denied my First Amendment right of free speech, which as an elected council member was in my opinion a far greater civil rights violation. I should have filed a Board of Ethics complaint, but I chose not to do so.
Therefore, I know that Mr. Kern does not possess the educational qualifications, the administrative qualifications, does not follow the law when it is in opposition to his will, lacks the understanding that the law must be upheld in its plain language, and cares nothing for civil rights, all of which he has repeatedly demonstrated to me.
Regarding Mr. Rodenhurst:
In Charter Section 6-2.2, director (Public Works), it plainly states that “the director shall be a registered professional engineer…” For those of us not familiar with the term, “registered professional engineer” (“P.E.”), requires more education, testing, and registration by a board. It is a more advanced standard for an engineer to meet than obtaining an engineering degree. Mr. Rodenhurst does not hold a P.E. degree. Additionally, he apparently does not have the administrative experience to head our Public Works department.
Of the many issues for which I fought so hard during those four terms as a council member was to get the county to follow the law and hire people who were qualified to help us fix the problems. You cannot do that with unqualified people at the top of the departments.
I have always objected to the county wasting taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars by spending it on employees who continue to violate laws, and when lawsuits occur, the county then defends such egregious actions with our tax dollars.
I request that all agencies of the county do not confirm these two nominees. Better yet, they should withdraw their applications and save the mayor from embarrassment.
Brenda Ford is a former Hawaii County Council member who represented South Kona from 2006 to 2014.