Kauai
County Councilman Ross Kagawa missed eight of the 11 budget sessions that led to Friday's decision-making on the
2015-16 spending bill.
A review
of budget hearing minutes and excuse memorandums showed that Ross skipped the departmental review meetings held on March
27 and 31, as well as April 2, 7, 9, 13, 14 and 16. And he left at noon on one of the three days he did attend.
Council
Chair Mel Rapozo and Councilman Gary Hooser each missed two and a half sessions. Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura missed about 90 minutes of one session. None of the other Council members missed any budget sessions, which typically last a full day.
The
sessions include a revenue projection for the county and presentations by 18 county departments, where they defend
their budget requests and discuss their objectives for the coming
year. A review of the minutes showed that Councilmembers questioned department heads and staff at length about spending
practices and upcoming needs.
Ross was
present only for the sessions with the departments of finance and parks and recreation, and for the first of two sessions with the department of public works and its capital improvements budget.
Yet he
participated vigorously in Council discussions on Thursday and Friday that
led to adopting the county's budget. He also advanced what he described
as a “bold” proposal to cut $1 million from a post-employment
benefits fund.
That
proposal died, with Budget Committee Chair Arryl Kaneshiro casting
the swing vote against it.
Hooser, who recently launched his re-election bid with a promise to keep "property taxes for homeowners from going up once again,” failed to convince any of his colleagues to impose a property tax cut, which would've added $1.3 million to the budget
shortfall.
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29 comments:
Ross is double dipping, working for the state and the county full-time at the same time. Earning two pensions also?
Ross still looks out for Kauai people. ALL of the people.
He is not gallivanting over to foreign Chocolate Factories.
Finally, we are seeing a Council that works for the people. Congratulations Mr Kualii, your pursuit of where the money goes and to whom, is a good thing. You speak to the point.
The budget is essentially, taxing the people to high heaven, to pay our County workers. Just think, the private sector could do all of the jobs more efficiently with 30 percent fewer people. Not an attack on the County workers, but the system has no accountability and just feeds the unions.
The end of this is inevitable, Some day the bill will be due.
So our kids who will end up in Yukimura Apartment cluster ghettos will be burdened with the debt. The County will get you via property tax, a possible GET increase and the endless increase in cost of all Fees and Permits.
Between Da Hoos, JoAnn, Jay F and The Mayor we will pay over 500K per year in pensions and real health care costs...just for 4 people. Great Gobs of Cash Batman, they be gettin' money for nothin' and fame for free. Who says there ain't no free lunch?
Ross went on a trip to London on the taxpayers dime. For the people.
In my mind there are primary priorities the County should concentrate above all others: Affordable housing and improving traffic. Everything else can wait until these two are adequately addressed.
We do not elect people, who get paid by our money that the government takes from us, to skip 75% of the meetings. Outrageous. Who cares which people he supports. He gotta show up for work!
Until this report I was a Kagawa supporter.
If comment number 1 is true and he also has another job, and is missing this many meeting at his county job, it could almost be construed as a theft. Paying our tax money to someone to miss meetings and then show up and argue just the politics of a budget at the end is a disappointing waste of our tax dollars. Why don't we just fire him and give Mr. Rapozo two votes - we get the same results without paying Mr. Kagawa to play hookey from work that way.
Ross is an honorable man, and the council is a part time job, so now and historicaly, councilmembers have other jobs. That he is a teacher is good, and the only conflict is budget time. Don't you think the minutes and meeting summaries as well as the televised meetings and reading the materials presented gets him up to speed ?
He was the top vote getter along with Mel, so obviously his voters think he is doing a good job.
There is no problem with double dipping if you are doing a good job. But if you're impotent then there's a problem.
I quintuple dip into the federal system as a federal employee, a federal contract employee, as a reservist/national guard, disabled vet and received the GI Bill.
I had outstanding performances and was well liked by non racists. I worked hard and earned every cent that was paid to me. I never cheated the system and gave 110% to my country and federal government.
If I hadn't joined the military, I would not have had the opportunities.
Young people of Kauai, join the military. You'll have the chance to travel, learn about different cultures, be trained to standard, earn benefits, learn about honor and respect, serve a great nation and your country, get educated and earn certificates and degrees, better possibility for a federal job/career, and most important get off the island and realize how much beautiful Kauai is when you leave and come home.
It was the best decision I have ever made in my lifetime. The brother and sisterhood lasts until the end of your time and continues with every generation that serves.
Ross gets NO FREE PASS! He should have been at the budget meetings, as well as every council member.
Show some respect to your hard working constituents and be leaders that you were chosen to be. If not then resign your position and let a person from Kauai take charge.
Councilman Kagawa is abrasive and generally dismissive of opposing views. Presenting his opinions is painfully difficult for him to express, and equally painful for me to listen to. A teacher, you say?? Poor kids. In observing his mannerisms during Council meetings, I wonder if has may have some anger management issues.
Ross can use his sick & vacation days to miss DOE responsibilities and attend to council matters. All legal; no foul there. He's gotta prioritize his days off or else Mr Hamada will have to find another driving instructor. Can't just cruise like before.
Ross shouldn't have missed so many meetings but he's still a good councilman. At least he missed to teach the kids not to promote himself like Hoosier.
Good reporting again by Joan. She plays no favorites. I feel like I can trust what I read on this blog.
Joan no decisions were made on those meetings. Please do attendance for all meetings, Those budget hearing meetings are a joke, welcome to the Joanne show.
You guys all make county council seem like an easy job. Put your name in, you can see how popular you really are.
Oh. No decisions then no need go. I get it. Better to work your state job and pull in pay for two full time government jobs. Pretty sweet.
Its an easy job when you no show up fo work.
I watched the final days of the decision making hearings on TV and saw that Ross was well informed of the issues. Unlike Joanne who seemed to be lost, Ross was very deliberate. I assume that he kept up to speed even though he missed some meetings. Say what you want about Ross but he still is a productive member of the council, which is more than I can say about some of the others.
Two government jobs. Two government retirements. When Ross leaves this world he must be headed to HGEA heaven. Sweet!
State and county share the same retirement system.
Easy money.
County of Kauai workers display it everyday.
2 hours to travel to job site, stop by store or fast food, then 1 hour lunch, the 2 hours travel back to base 1 hour prior to shift ends to BS.
How much work really gets done?
Job security like the 5 years it took these idiots to fix the 3 mile stretch in Lihue.
5 F$&@ing Years!!!!!!
No you can't use sick days to go work your other job, especially when the other job is televised.
There's a reason why Joanne didn't make it as an attorney. Like Hooser, she has a very limited capacity for facts, history, finance and economic plus a retarded capacity for logic.
Finally some equal coverage of council members. Mahalo :) Ross isn't even there when he is "there". So sad people cant see that he is not competent, even more sad people don't think council is important enough he should be required to be there.
10:47. Look at the last election results the voters believe he is far more competant than yukimura, hooser, and chock so basically you're the incompetant one do us all a favor and move back to the mainland.
If you go by election results to judge competency, how do you explain Bush serving not one, but two terms?
One day the vocal minority will understand that the silent majority is what matters and make things happen. Get real people.
10:07 stupid ass question. Just look at the damn results and here's a question for your dumb ass. Why is kagawa so far ahead of Hooser, a former state senator and yukimura, a former mayor?
7:17 because stupid asses like you are allowed to vote.
8:25am Oh my the elitist Haole mentality is speaking. Do you have a swash sticker Hi Hitler? MOVE BACK TO THE MAINLAND, WE DON'T WANT YOU HERE!
9:37 born and raised here. I have pretty much every ethnic gene in my makeup. Maybe that's why I'm not a bigoted dumbass like you.
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