Dear Ms. McGeachy, This is in response to a debate or forum on a West Hawaii County. I represented West Hawaii ( Kau, N & S. Kohala and N. & S. Kona) on the Board of Supervisors from 1954 to 1962.I lived then in South Kona. In 1962 I was elected Chairman and Executive Officer of the County of Hawaii by the whole county, even though I had previously only been elected by 1/3 of the population or West Hawaii. Because the county seat was Hilo, I had to move to Hilo to do this job. This was the forerunner of Mayor because it was a full time job running the County Administration. At that time Hilo had 2/3 of the population and West Hawaii 1/3, but we had three Supervisors from West Hawaii and three from East Hawaii.The Chairman was elected at large. We were governed by the State Legislature and when I first got elected as a Supervisor, we could not even set our real property tax assessments. I have seen real progress over the years to give the counties more home rule, but when we finally got permission from the legislature to establish Couny Charters and changed to the present Mayor-Council system, the representation was based on population. After a couple of changes we finally went to Districts to be sure that people had a chance to be represented by people who live in and understand the needs of their district. I was for that system. With West Hawaii's growth, particularly in the Konas and Kohalas, you now have more representation on the County Council.
I have always been a proponent of home rule and local control and one of my first bills since being elected to the State Legislature in 2000 was to force the legislature to come up with a plan and rules for other local governments, such a villages, townships or municipalities. Our 1978 Constitutional Convention wrote this into our Constitution but up to today the legislature has not established a process by which it could be done. I think you would find more state wide support of a some form of municipal government because Kailua, Hawaii on Oahu has the same concerns as you.
I would be happy to discuss other reasons, but I suggest that you study more of Hawaii's history to understand the difficulties of changing our top down form of government, which has its roots in Hawaii's transformation from a Monarchy to a Republic. Our history is different from other places on the mainland.
_______________ Representative Helene H. Hale State Capitol, Room 331 Honolulu, HI 96813 tel (808) 586-6530 fax (808) 586-6531 from Hilo toll-free 974-4000 ext. 6-6530
4 comments:
It is time for a change. The way it has been done has become an excuse for the continued discrimintion against services for Kona residents. We need our own city goverment that decides what is best for the west side. We are different with different needs than the east side of the island. We should be able to contorl the tax dollars we pay for the benifit of our area.,
I love what Madam Hale has said here. I remember her running for office from South Kona. I mean she lived way out in the boonies of South Kona and she got in. Then she ran for County Chairman and got in too. The first woman too. My mom loved her. She was and still is brilliant as seen in her response. She is right, before anyone talks of splitting the county learn Hawaii's political history first and learn it from the right people like Ms. Hale.
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