RESOLUTION 24-1, APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS TO THE INDEPENDENT NOMINATION BOARD (GREAT-17)
MAJOR ITEMS TO BE CONSIDERED: January 9, 2023
1. This board will become the most important County board or commission, even more important than the Maui Planning Commission because it will impact so many County government aspects.
2. Nomination board not only recommends members for boards/commissions, but also 4 senior County executives.
3. Identify excellent community members to serve as volunteers, but also to be able to assess the professional qualifications of and make recommendations for four senior managers.
4. Board and commission member terms end on March 31. Board will have the bulk of its work done every December + January so as to meet the Mayor’s deadline to make his/her nominations to the County Council. Concurrently, right after an election the Mayor will need to staff all of the senior executive/manager positions. Usually around the November + December time period.
5. During the year when there is a vacancy, this Nomination Board will be called into action to replace the vacancy.
6. For the County’s 33 boards and commissions, it will be necessary for the nomination board to have the ability to not only screen those who have applied, but also it should have the authority to recruit people for particular positions. This will mean there should be a budget for advertising and publicity.
7. Important to have a very skilled staff member in the Management Office to assist in the Board’s operations.
8. The following is a summary description of what the board will be doing:
A) Publicizing the need for residents to volunteer.
B) Coordinate with the Department of Personal Services to recruit applicants for each managerial positions (Corp Counsel, County Auditor, County Clerk, + Prosecuting Attorney).
C) The Board will come up with two or three names whom the Board will recommend to the mayor for Mayor’s decision nominate to the County Council for their eventual approval.
9. It will be necessary to protect both the community’s “right for transparency” and the applicant’s “right for privacy” by establishing certain rules to keep certain procedures private. This may necessitate working with the Office of Information Practices to establish appropriate procedures. The State’s Judicial Selection Commission may serve as a model to protecting the applicant’s “right for privacy”.
Whilst I am not totally opposed to tourism on Molokai I believe that it will benefit the economy if it is introduced slowly and with controls that ensure visitors are not allowed unsupervised access to sacred and spiritual sites and that the county of Maui plays it's part by providing trained personnel to ensure that the controls are implemented much like Fish and Game on the mainland continually monitor hunters and fishermen for their licenses. The county of Maui must also play their part in providing sufficient toilet facilities and ensuring that these facilities are constantly serviced.. With regard to the installation of a single applicant to position whereby that person can proceed with his own agenda be it for or against tourism is very short sighted and needs to investigared thoroughly with the possibility of re-advertising the position, if it waas published and the public were aware that a position was vacant. This application haas to be posted by all available media to that ALL the people in Molokai are able to either apply if qualified or to made recommendations of persons that they believe would be successful candidates. I believe that sdhort notice meetings and rushed through agendas are tot
My name is Glenn Teves and I'm a Hoolehua homesteader. I'm only one of two people who served on the last two Molokai Community Plan Advisory Committees, which I believe is a major commitment to the future of Molokai with several hundred hours of meetings sometimes late into the night.
I'm concerned about Mr. Stephenson's character and motivations. On the last advisory committee which he served on, he focused on protecting Monsanto, now Bayer and shooting down anything that even appeared to be in conflict with the companies goals. This even included promoting organic agriculture on Molokai. He forgot about the needs of the greater Molokai community. He even pushed for and advocated for his own development projects including a townhouse development in Manila Camp, which was ultimately shot down by the committee. It appears that he served to benefit himself and his family. His wife is the lobbyist for Bayer.
I believe he will be conflicted in this committee and will focus on things that benefit him and those close to him. This is ethically wrong and therefore he should not be allowed to serve on this committee. We need someone who can recognize conflict of interest and he has proven he's unable to do this.
I oppose the appointment of Robert Stephenson to the Molokai seat of the Maui County Independent Nomination Board. Relators shouldn't be allowed to represent the communities they are profiting off of.
I am writing to officially voice my opposition to the appointment of Robert Andrew Stephenson to the Independent Nomination Board. The people of Molokai deserve better than another political appointment of someone who doesn't have our best interests in mind.
As a longtime resident of Molokai and as a disabled combat veteran who put my life on the line in the name of democracy, I am appalled by the lack of transparency in the nomination process for Maui County's Independent Nomination Board. I am writing to officially state my opposition to the nomination of Robert Andrew Stephenson for this position. I have never met, seen, or even heard of this man. Who is he, besides, as a quick search of his name on Google tells us, a relator working for Hawai’i Life, profiting from the sale of ʻāina?
How can Mayor Bissen even begin to pretend that this man represents the best interests of the people of Molokai? What qualifies him to represent Molokai in this position? As an unelected government official who no one even knew was in the running for this appointment, Stephenson would have tremendous power in shaping the future of Molokai. It's scary to think that such a position would be held by a man making his living by driving up home prices in Maui County and forcing more and more Hawaiians to move to the US.
I would have hoped that Maui County would have been far more careful to avoid blatantly obvious political appointments in the wake Herman Andaya proving to be completely incompetent in his appointed position as head of Maui Emergency Management. The people of Molokai and Maui County deserve better than this.
As a longtime resident of Molokai and as a disabled combat veteran who put my life on the line in the name of democracy, I am appalled by the lack of transparency in the nomination process for Maui County's Independent Nomination Board. I am writing to officially state my opposition to the nomination of Robert Andrew Stephenson for this position. I have never met, seen, or even heard of this man. Who is he, besides, as a quick search of his name on Google tells us, a relator working for Hawai’i Life, profiting from the sale of ʻāina?
How can Mayor Bissen even begin to pretend that this man represents the best interests of the people of Molokai? What qualifies him to represent Molokai in this position? As an unelected government official who no one even knew was in the running for this appointment, Stephenson would have tremendous power in shaping the future of Molokai. It's scary to think that such a position would be held by a man making his living by driving up home prices in Maui County and forcing more and more Hawaiians to move to the US.
I would have hoped that Maui County would have been far more careful to avoid blatantly obvious political appointments in the wake Herman Andaya proving to be completely incompetent in his appointed position as head of Maui Emergency Management. The people of Molokai and Maui County deserve better than this.
I oppose the nomination of Rob Stephenson to the Independent Nomination Board. His actions in the past have proven without doubt he is unwilling to work with, collaborate with, listen to or be responsive to Molokai’s entire community, focusing instead almost exclusively on serving a small pro-development & tourism minority without regard to impact on our local people. In this position, all checks and balances for upholding the voice of Molokai majority community would be lost. It feels intentional and corrupt. He should not represent our island as he already has proven unable to do in his prior position.
RESOLUTION 24-1, APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS TO THE INDEPENDENT NOMINATION BOARD (GREAT-17)
MAJOR ITEMS TO BE CONSIDERED: January 9, 2023
1. This board will become the most important County board or commission, even more important than the Maui Planning Commission because it will impact so many County government aspects.
2. Nomination board not only recommends members for boards/commissions, but also 4 senior County executives.
3. Identify excellent community members to serve as volunteers, but also to be able to assess the professional qualifications of and make recommendations for four senior managers.
4. Board and commission member terms end on March 31. Board will have the bulk of its work done every December + January so as to meet the Mayor’s deadline to make his/her nominations to the County Council. Concurrently, right after an election the Mayor will need to staff all of the senior executive/manager positions. Usually around the November + December time period.
5. During the year when there is a vacancy, this Nomination Board will be called into action to replace the vacancy.
6. For the County’s 33 boards and commissions, it will be necessary for the nomination board to have the ability to not only screen those who have applied, but also it should have the authority to recruit people for particular positions. This will mean there should be a budget for advertising and publicity.
7. Important to have a very skilled staff member in the Management Office to assist in the Board’s operations.
8. The following is a summary description of what the board will be doing:
A) Publicizing the need for residents to volunteer.
B) Coordinate with the Department of Personal Services to recruit applicants for each managerial positions (Corp Counsel, County Auditor, County Clerk, + Prosecuting Attorney).
C) The Board will come up with two or three names whom the Board will recommend to the mayor for Mayor’s decision nominate to the County Council for their eventual approval.
9. It will be necessary to protect both the community’s “right for transparency” and the applicant’s “right for privacy” by establishing certain rules to keep certain procedures private. This may necessitate working with the Office of Information Practices to establish appropriate procedures. The State’s Judicial Selection Commission may serve as a model to protecting the applicant’s “right for privacy”.
Dick Mayer
Whilst I am not totally opposed to tourism on Molokai I believe that it will benefit the economy if it is introduced slowly and with controls that ensure visitors are not allowed unsupervised access to sacred and spiritual sites and that the county of Maui plays it's part by providing trained personnel to ensure that the controls are implemented much like Fish and Game on the mainland continually monitor hunters and fishermen for their licenses. The county of Maui must also play their part in providing sufficient toilet facilities and ensuring that these facilities are constantly serviced.. With regard to the installation of a single applicant to position whereby that person can proceed with his own agenda be it for or against tourism is very short sighted and needs to investigared thoroughly with the possibility of re-advertising the position, if it waas published and the public were aware that a position was vacant. This application haas to be posted by all available media to that ALL the people in Molokai are able to either apply if qualified or to made recommendations of persons that they believe would be successful candidates. I believe that sdhort notice meetings and rushed through agendas are tot
Aloha Mai Kakou,
My name is Glenn Teves and I'm a Hoolehua homesteader. I'm only one of two people who served on the last two Molokai Community Plan Advisory Committees, which I believe is a major commitment to the future of Molokai with several hundred hours of meetings sometimes late into the night.
I'm concerned about Mr. Stephenson's character and motivations. On the last advisory committee which he served on, he focused on protecting Monsanto, now Bayer and shooting down anything that even appeared to be in conflict with the companies goals. This even included promoting organic agriculture on Molokai. He forgot about the needs of the greater Molokai community. He even pushed for and advocated for his own development projects including a townhouse development in Manila Camp, which was ultimately shot down by the committee. It appears that he served to benefit himself and his family. His wife is the lobbyist for Bayer.
I believe he will be conflicted in this committee and will focus on things that benefit him and those close to him. This is ethically wrong and therefore he should not be allowed to serve on this committee. We need someone who can recognize conflict of interest and he has proven he's unable to do this.
Mahalo for this opportunity to provide testimony,
Glenn I. Teves
I oppose the appointment of Robert Stephenson to the Molokai seat of the Maui County Independent Nomination Board. Relators shouldn't be allowed to represent the communities they are profiting off of.
Nahid Mobed
Kaunakakai, Hawaii
I am writing to officially voice my opposition to the appointment of Robert Andrew Stephenson to the Independent Nomination Board. The people of Molokai deserve better than another political appointment of someone who doesn't have our best interests in mind.
Bahar Yaghoubi
Molokai
As a longtime resident of Molokai and as a disabled combat veteran who put my life on the line in the name of democracy, I am appalled by the lack of transparency in the nomination process for Maui County's Independent Nomination Board. I am writing to officially state my opposition to the nomination of Robert Andrew Stephenson for this position. I have never met, seen, or even heard of this man. Who is he, besides, as a quick search of his name on Google tells us, a relator working for Hawai’i Life, profiting from the sale of ʻāina?
How can Mayor Bissen even begin to pretend that this man represents the best interests of the people of Molokai? What qualifies him to represent Molokai in this position? As an unelected government official who no one even knew was in the running for this appointment, Stephenson would have tremendous power in shaping the future of Molokai. It's scary to think that such a position would be held by a man making his living by driving up home prices in Maui County and forcing more and more Hawaiians to move to the US.
I would have hoped that Maui County would have been far more careful to avoid blatantly obvious political appointments in the wake Herman Andaya proving to be completely incompetent in his appointed position as head of Maui Emergency Management. The people of Molokai and Maui County deserve better than this.
Jason Robert Mizula
Kaunakakai, HI
As a longtime resident of Molokai and as a disabled combat veteran who put my life on the line in the name of democracy, I am appalled by the lack of transparency in the nomination process for Maui County's Independent Nomination Board. I am writing to officially state my opposition to the nomination of Robert Andrew Stephenson for this position. I have never met, seen, or even heard of this man. Who is he, besides, as a quick search of his name on Google tells us, a relator working for Hawai’i Life, profiting from the sale of ʻāina?
How can Mayor Bissen even begin to pretend that this man represents the best interests of the people of Molokai? What qualifies him to represent Molokai in this position? As an unelected government official who no one even knew was in the running for this appointment, Stephenson would have tremendous power in shaping the future of Molokai. It's scary to think that such a position would be held by a man making his living by driving up home prices in Maui County and forcing more and more Hawaiians to move to the US.
I would have hoped that Maui County would have been far more careful to avoid blatantly obvious political appointments in the wake Herman Andaya proving to be completely incompetent in his appointed position as head of Maui Emergency Management. The people of Molokai and Maui County deserve better than this.
Jason Robert Mizula
Kaunakakai, HI
I oppose the nomination of Rob Stephenson to the Independent Nomination Board. His actions in the past have proven without doubt he is unwilling to work with, collaborate with, listen to or be responsive to Molokai’s entire community, focusing instead almost exclusively on serving a small pro-development & tourism minority without regard to impact on our local people. In this position, all checks and balances for upholding the voice of Molokai majority community would be lost. It feels intentional and corrupt. He should not represent our island as he already has proven unable to do in his prior position.
I oppose the nomination of Rob Stephenson to the Independent Nomination Board.