Panels to ‘investigate’ GPAC issues

As the General Plan Advisory Committee labors over its review of the county's main planning document, the group has formed "investigative" subcommittees that meet in private.

County officials say that the "investigative review committees" fall under an exemption to state open-meetings laws that allows members of a government board to meet independently to investigate a matter pending before the board. The subcommittee has to be smaller than the quorum of the board, must have the scope of its investigation defined by the full board, and must present its findings at a regular public meeting, said Deputy Corporation Counsel James Giroux.

The General Plan committee formed investigative groups to review and compile comments from the public and committee members, and to make recommendations on how to incorporate those comments into the draft plan, said Long Range Planning Division Chief John Summers.

"The law allows them to meet without opening it up to the public," said Planning Director Jeff Hunt.

The state Sunshine Law, Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 92, requires meetings of public boards to be open to the public, allows the public to provide statements or information, and requires the agenda of all public meetings to be posted six days before the meeting is held.

The exception cited by Giroux, HRS 92-2.5, allows board members to be assigned to investigate a matter before the board, but provides that "deliberation and decision making on the matter investigated, if any, occurs only at a duly noticed meeting of the board held subsequent to the meeting at which the findings and recommendations of the investigation were presented to the board."

That is, any findings presented by an investigatory panel will require two public meetings of the board - first for presentation of findings and the second for deliberations on the findings.

Olowalu developer Bill Frampton said the investigatory meetings should be open, even if only for the public to observe.

"I respect the need to get work done, but the fact that something's closed is bound to raise concerns," he said.