SNIPE HUNT

SNIPE HUNT: When it comes to playing the middle ground in the old “corruption vs. incompetence” game, the Kaua`i Department of Public Works (DPW) has had years of practical experience in befuddling the naturally befuddled county council.

If we had a dollar every time we had to ask of the county engineer and his underlings “are you crooked or just stupid” we’d be able to afford a new computer to replace the 2001 dinosaur on which we do our daily hunt and peck.

So it comes as no surprise that request for the scheduled executive session (ES) on the plastic bag ban ordinance that we wrote about Wednesday was a result of the usual inability of the DPW to do their job.

Although County Attorney (CA) Al Castillo was his usual cryptic self Wednesday in requesting an ES to tell the council about some sort of imagined liability contained in the current ordinance, the council, amazingly enough- refused to go behind closed doors to discuss what most called pubic policy.

But through questioning the reason Castillo was there in the first place became obvious- despite having a year and a half to promulgate Chapter 91 administrative rules to flesh out the details of the ban, the DPW hadn’t even begun the process and were now arguing about what the “intent” of the bill was instead of just reading and implementing it.

Actually, as member of the public pointed out, the intent of the ordinance was actually written into the bill which say it’s designed to move people to use cloth bags.

The council ended up “requesting the presence” of a DPW representative at next week’s pubic works committee meeting to explain why they haven’t begun the process that usually takes a few months, considering that the ordinance takes effect next January.

Part of the problem comes from the fact that rather than banning plastic bags entirely the ordinance was designed allow “biodegradable” plastic bags specifically banning ones that contain “polymers derived from fossil fuels”.

But, in fact, as it stands today nobody makes plastic bags that don’t contain fossil fuel polymers. And there is no standard as to what a “biodegradable plastic bag” is anyway which is why the council came up with their own definition of what they were banning.

We suspect that Castillo’s “liability” problem is that while the bill allows the use of certain plastic bags it makes it impossible to obtain bags that meet the standard.

It would be like allowing the use of cell phones while driving but only if they were made on the moon. Although someday there may be some moon-manufactured cell phone it ain’t gonna happen an time soon.

We also suspect that this was precisely why the supermarkets and the Chamber of Commerce lobbied so hard- and successfully- to allow for “biodegradable plastic”, knowing that there was no such thing and that they could come back close to the deadline and threaten a lawsuit with a CA that’s always doing everything he can to influence pubic policy when someone comes up with some cockamamie legal argument.

But, as we said, the fault really lies with the DPW which has shunned promulgating “ad rules” for years... sometimes decades.

We’re still waiting for the regulations for the infamous grubbing and grading (G&G) rules to flesh out the way they handle violations of the ordinance that was passed following the extensive “Developers Gone Wild” hearings in the late 90’s and early ’00’s.

At the time it became apparent to an astonished council that there was no official process for enforcing G&G violations and decisions were being made arbitrarily and capriciously... or not at all.

One of the problems in that was that DPW officials claimed they were unable to check out complaints of violations of the ordinance that was in place at the time. That conveniently allowed them to ignore violations at the instructions of then Mayor Maryann Kusaka who has been extensively alleged to have instructed the DPW to ignore violations by the likes of “friends of Maryanne” Jimmy Pflueger and Tom McCloskey.

Of course that led to the Ka Loko dam break and the county’s multi-million dollar settlement apparently for ignoring violations that led to it.

But guess what? Although the council included many things in the G&G bill itself that would normally be done through administrative rules they couldn’t really be expected to do it all,

They got guarantees from DPW that the rules would be done in six months from passage. And the last time we checked there still aren’t any.

The DPW was actually scheduled for a management audit more than once. In fact prior to that there was an aborted attempt at a charter section 3.17 council official investigation of the massive department.

Those half-hearted efforts- done only in response to public political pressure- eventually led to the establishment of the new Office of the County Auditor where, many hoped, the first order of business would be to look into the incompetence (or is it corruption?) of the DPW.

But as yet, it doesn’t even seem to appear on the radar screen of former Deputy County clerk and now Auditor, Ernie Passion.

The problem seems to come down to this attitude on the council that once they pass a new law they not only expect but are confident that the administration will, actually enforce it.

The fact that that is rarely the case has gotta make you ask whether the council too is corrupt or just incompetent in their administrative oversight role.

Either way it’s the public that has to suffer through it.

THE DAMAGE DONE

THE DAMAGE DONE: We often feel a wave of ambivalence come over us when a true buffoon runs for office. On one hand we’re terrified that this moron might actually get elected but on the other it would provide us endless material.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Duke Aiona is the kind of twit that, if the prospect of his incumbency weren’t so scary, we’d love to have to kick around.

Last night we’re watching KITV’s six o’clock news and there’s the big Dookie on the screen and Denby Fawcett is reporting that despite the fact that Aiona has spent eight years promoting flu vaccines he himself doesn’t get them.

After running down his numerous “get your shots” PR efforts over the years the on air story had this quote in explanation from Aiona.

"I have never really been vaccinated in the past and I guess I am a creature of habit and I seem to take care of myself fairly well, exercising and dieting and I do brag about that," said Aiona on Tuesday.

But for some reason Fawcett leaves out a quote that appears only in the print version of the story at KITV’s web site.

Aiona said he is neutral about the information about flu shots.

"I have read the literature on it, I have read the science on it and I say it has some merit to it and I am not convinced that vaccines are more beneficial that harmful. But I don't think in any way my personal views hamper our efforts to get people to get vaccinated. I encourage people to get vaccinated," said Aiona.

Are you freakin’ kidding us? It’s downright scary to think this dim-witted church-addict might just be deciding issues based on Leviticus instead of Lister.

Not everyone needs a flu shot- not everyone comes into contact with a lot of people. But Aiona is currently crisscrossing the state shaking every hand, kissing every baby and hugging every tutu he can get his hands on, spreading germs with a paint roller.

You never know with these bible thumpers- maybe when it comes to infectious disease transmission he eschews the germ “theory” in favor of demonic possession.

But think of the fun in four years of ridicule. We couldn’t ask for more.

WHERE’S DOROTHY LAMOURE WHEN YOU NEED HER

WHERE’S DOROTHY LAMOURE WHEN YOU NEED HER: One thing you’ve got to give the guardians at the gates of county council information: they don’t need Bing and Bob to guide us down the Road to Ignorance.

When it comes to using underhanded and unscrupulous methodologies that are rarely deciphered in time to do anything about it, they take a back seat to none.

But the clues are there for any forensic document reader if you know what to look for and are ready to do a little work to find out what the heck is going on.

So last Thursday when we received and examined the agenda for today’s council meeting this stood out as an executive session (ES) item begging for explanation and exposition.

The meat of it reads:

The Office of the County Attorney requests an executive session with the Council to discuss legal issues pertaining to the implementation of Ordinance 885.

Of course no one knows what ordinance 885 is.

When a bill becomes an ordinance it is given a number. But since the Kaua`i County Code essentially remains a secret document- with no on-line version and the only way to see it being to request it by number even though finding out the number is nearly impossible- with the topic, for the uninitiated, remaining meaningless.

They also cleverly post the agenda late on Thursdays, often after official office hours, so with “furlough Fridays” the earliest one can call and find out anything is Mondays, a mere 48 hours before the meeting. That makes notifying others- so as to gather a crowd to testify- a Herculean effort.

But apparently one of those that worked tirelessly to see the bill that became Ordinance 885 pass also actually reads each week’s agenda and wondered, with us, what 885 was all about.

We’ll let Pat Gegan’s letter to the mayor and the council (edited for spelling) speak for itself since we could not say it better.

Subject: Kauai's Bag Bill Under Attack???? HELP!

Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 17:48:52 -0400

Dear Zerowasters, Apollo Kauai Members, County Council Members and Honorable Mayor:

After pulling up the Council agenda last night and a quick call to Council Services this AM for clarification (since Kauai County doesn't want to make it too easy for citizens to get info by putting OUR information on the internet....) I began to get worried.........

I am confused and concerned by tomorrow's Council Agenda, specifically the Executive Session item #2. The item in question is Ordinance #885 which is the Plastic Bag Ban that is scheduled to be in place starting this January when Maui is also doing the same.

Why is an executive session needed to discuss the Plastic Bag Ban??? As I recall the issue was deferred multiple times as the county attorney and the council were trying to find the "correct" language for the definition of what constitutes a "plastic bag". Now - Only 3 months before implementation - the attorney and council want to meet behind closed doors to discuss this issue. What could be the "...powers, duties, privileges, immunities and/or liabilities of the council as they relate to this agenda item."? It has been over a year since the bill passed and the ordinance was signed.

What could the issue be??? The ordinance allows no single use plastic bags with petroleum products to be given away in retail establishments . This was meeting the needs of what we wanted, 1) Less rubbish for the landfill that lasts for a long time w/o breaking down, 2) less opala flying around our garden Island and harming our wildlife, 3) No new feed for the floating Pacific plastic patch, and 4) less use of petroleum based products. Section 1 of the Ordinance below states it better than I can:

"The Council of the County of Kauai finds and declares that to preserve health, safety, welfare and the scenic beauty of Kauai, the distribution of plastic bags should be regulated and prohibited."

Seems very clear to me - I would like to believe that when the council and the mayor propose and sign a bill into an ordinance that the legislation has some meaning. Why hasn't Kauai county government taken an active role in the implementation of this legislation like Maui appears to (look at the Maui county website dealing with implementation of their bag ban - http://www.co.maui.hi.us/index.aspx?NID=1688 )?

Going forward:

-I will be at the council meeting tomorrow to address my concerns,

-I humbly would ask for others to let your council members know how you feel about the bag ban as it was signed - if you have time (see email addresses above),

-I personally vow to vote against any council member who tries to change the Ordinance or the implementation date as it stands (and I will actively try to influence others similarly) .

I would appreciate feedback. I am concerned especially since it is in executive session and can only hope my concerns are unfounded.

Humbly,
Pat Gegen

According to a source who spoke to a councilperson, County Attorney Al Castillo has now decided that his own language- which he insisted on during the council sessions on the bill- regarding the "no petroleum content" requirement is now somehow problematic.

Of course it’s too late for you to go down there and insist on a public airing of the issues involved or demand they leave the bill alone- by the time we post this the meeting will be over.

Why it’s almost as if they planned it that way.

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For those interested in more information on Waldorf “Wally” Wilson whereabouts and related issues, please read Joan Conrow’s interview today with KPD Chief Darryl Perry.

LOOK OUT KID, THEY KEEP IT ALL HID

LOOK OUT KID, THEY KEEP IT ALL HID: Trying to decipher the few Kaua`i county documents that are available at the web site is kind of like doing a Sudoku puzzle. They somehow add up to something but it takes a lot of work to figure out exactly what the sum is.

But since we committed yesterday to filling in the blanks through the use of the clues the county left, we’ve gotten a hold a text copy of what appears to be the thus-far “secret” proposed county charter amendments (see pp 12-18) we’ll all be voting on on November 2.

Apparently, although there’s no indication that they were ever approved by the Charter Review Commissions, a September 3 letter from County Clerk Peter Nakamura to state Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago transmitted seven questions, in time for them to be included on the actual ballot.

While they appear to be “official” we’ll have to wait and see when and if they were approved, not that the county won’t go ahead with them illegally anyway if they weren’t.

We’ll go over them briefly here with deeper analysis to come.

The first is the same old question that’s been asked and answered- in the negative- innumerable times but for some reason it’s on the ballot again. The ballot question reads

"Shall the term of office for councilmembers be extended from two to four years with a limit of two consecutive four year terms?"

When will these people accept that we like being able to recall our council every two years. They’re unaccountable enough already without only having to worry about the what the electorate thinks every four years.

We want to see an amendment saying that you can’t propose the same amendment more than once every 10 years.

The second is a response to the call for a county manager and eliminates the position of administrative assistant and creates a position of “Managing Director”.

The question on the ballot will be:

"Shall the Mayor's Administrative Assistant, whose title shall be changed to Managing Director, be required to have appropriate job qualifications and perform certain duties?"

Here’s the exact language to be added to the charter, describing those “job qualifications” and “duties”

The mayor shall appoint and may remove a managing director. The managing director shall be a citizen of the United States not less than thirty (30) years of age and a resident elector of the county at least three years immediately prior to his appointment. The managing director shall have at least five years experience in an administrative or managerial position with at least a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in public administration, business or a related field.

A. Powers, Duties and Functions. Except as otherwise provided and under the supervision of the Mayor, the managing director shall:

(1) Serve as the mayor's principal administrative aide.
(2) Oversee the administrative functioning of all administrative departments.
(3) Prescribe standards of administrative practice to be followed and evaluate the management and performance of all administrative departments under the director's oversight.
(4) Attend meetings of the council and its committees upon request and provide information and reports as they may require.
(5) Perform all other duties as required by the charter or assigned by the mayor.

B. The salary for the managing director shall be set pursuant to Article
XXIX of this Charter.

Better than nothing.

The third is a new one on us and we’ll have to take a good look at it to figure it out. The question on the ballot asks:

"Shall the Charter provisions relating to centralized purchasing and disposition of surplus property be changed to conform with State law?"

The wording contains many additions and deletions and can be viewed on p 15 of the pdf linked above.

Number four is pretty self explanatory and the ballot question will read:

"Shall the dollar limit without competitive bidding for contracts with County officers, employees or firms in which an officer or employee has a substantial interest, be increased from $500 to $1,000?"

On first blush unless someone can make a pretty good case for it anything that makes corruption easier- as this would by allowing people to get paid twice as much by the county without triggering a competitive bid- $1000 rather than the current $500. If anything what's been called “the $500 loophole”- with the law having been avoided through serial $500 contracts- should be being plugged.

Number five is pretty self explanatory and reads:

"Shall the County extend from six months to one year the timeframe prohibiting the County from entering into a contract with a former County employee or a firm that is represented by a former County employee, for those contracts where the former County employee participated in the subject matter while employed with the County?"

This sounds like an improvement although we’d like to see two years or more to stop the “revolving door” which is one of the most corrupt of practices in the county and elsewhere.

Sixth is an amendment that apparently plugs a loophole on disclosures and asks

"Shall any employee delegated to act on behalf of the Director or Deputy Director of Finance be required to file a disclosure statement with the County Board of Ethics?"

We’re not sure what the problem is but apparently some in the finance department can act for the director and don’t have to disclose their potential conflicts of interest. It sounds good but we’ll have to take a good look at it in total.

Finally number seven is one we’ve been expecting and we’re ready to fight tooth and nail. It asks:

"Shall the time in which the County Board of Ethics has to render advisory opinions be extended from 30 days to 45 days, which opinions shall be binding on the Board, unless changed or revoked by the Board?"

The incompetence and even malfeasance of the Board of Ethics (BOE) has been well documented in this space (see left bar for our special report or click the link above for all our coverage of the BOE).

Why can't they make their decisions in a timely manner? To increase the time allotment just gives them more time to fumble and futz around trying to misread the plain reading of the charter and law. If they need to call special meetings, so be it. If they don’t have enough people for a quorum, get people who can show up.

An extra 15 days won’t really help these people. Thirty days has been plenty for over 40 years and it’s only the appointees under this and the last administration that seem to have a problem getting these advisory opinions done promptly instead of throwing the person- and sometimes the county- into a crisis because they can't decide what the law says... or more often just don’t want to deliver the bad news or are in the same conflict themselves.

Well that’s the seven- read ‘em and weep. Maybe sometime before the election we’ll get the official word.

WAAAIT FOR IT.....

WAAAIT FOR IT.....: The Hawai`i Government Employee’s Association (HGEA) endorsements are out (thanks to Ian Lind for posting them) and they say more about Kaua`i in who and what doesn’t appear in them than what does.

Glaringly absent is any endorsement in the 15th House district where incumbent “Democrat” Jimmy Tokioka is facing off against Republican Larry Fillhart, the quotes around Democrat possibly explaining the endorsement.

Tokioka was a Republican before switching when he ran for Ezra Kanoho’s old seat and voted like one during his days on the Kaua`i County Council.

While Dee Morikawa in the 16th and Mina Morita in the 14th got the nods apparently Tokioka didn’t even get the “just because you’re a Democrat now” pick.

In the council race only four of the five incumbents running were deemed acceptable with buffoonish business shill Dickie Chang failing to make the grade for obvious reasons.

Less obvious was why former Mayor and Councilperson JoAnn Yukimura didn’t make the list while everybody’s darling- including the usual big-bucks special-interests- newcomer Nadine Nakamura along with former Councilperson Mel Rapozo getting a checkmark.

Is it a long standing grudge from her mayoral days when she tried to shake the county workers out of their slumbers or her more recent attempts to make everybody happy and so pleasing no one?

But the one thing missing from the Kaua`i endorsements- something that’s listed for all the other islands- is their recommendations for county charter amendments.

The reasons apparently is, incredibly enough, in an election that is five weeks from tomorrow the county has not finalize and announced the changes proposed by the Charter Review Commission.

A check of the CRC’s web page finds nothing, as does a check of the county’s elections page. To find the proposed amendments that will have apparently gotten final approval at today’s CRC meeting, one has to look at the agenda for the meeting since the last meeting minutes posted are those of July 26th.

It’s usually confusing enough to figure out what the charter amendments say and mean, as evidenced by last election’s trick question that removed the county’s “stricter than the state’s” sunshine guidelines under the guise of “conforming to the state sunshine law” (wmphasis added).

If this year’s questions don’t appear soon in the “newspaper of record” soon we’ll be doing their job for them again later this week- notwithstanding the way they hilariously and inappropriately editorialized this weekend about how they:

continue to utilize our resources to the best of our ability in our ongoing effort to hold our elected officials and other powerful players accountable (and) recognize the wide-ranging role the local newspaper plays in the community and we consider this responsibility of utmost importance.

Between the county and the local newspaper it’s apparently a race to the bottom to see who can best keep us un and ill-informed.

CHECKING FOR LEAKS

CHECKING FOR LEAKS: You know it’s a slow news day when Starvertiser political reporter Derrick DePledge’s blog has nothing better to talk about than the latest phony web site scam site from GOP wacko Eric Ryan.

But, although you have to look for it, the first article from new local newspaper reporter Vanessa Van Voorhis (wasn’t that a character in Archie comics?) has a few revelations.

The first is that she has obviously got the message as to why the last business “reporter” (note the position has been downgraded from “editor”) Coco Zickos was fired so, as her first entry she scrambled her butt down to the Lihu`e Business Association’s monthly meeting, the type of thing Zickos admitted she neglected to do enough of during her stint, saying it was reason #1 for her exit.

But then there’s the end of the article in which Van Voorhis is listed as business AND environmental editor, the latter of which, according to Zickos, was added to her job description at her request- a position which she was told she spent too much time on at the expense of the former.

But the big news, if true, is buried in the 10th paragraph and 325 words into the piece covering a talk by Department of Water (DOW) Manager and Chief Engineer David Craddick.

After talking about projects and pipes and other mundane stuff we hear a statistic that can’t possibly be right- but then again might be.

Quoting Craddick, Van Voorhis writes:

DOW is Kaua`i Island Utility Cooperative’s No. 1 customer, using approximately 40 percent of all KIUC’s generation.

Forty percent?.. of all the electricity used on the island? That raises way too many mind-boggling questions.

Something has got to be haywire, especially since for years we’ve been told by the water department that gravity-fed, natural springs are the primary source of our water and that, other than the new surface water in Lihu`e, it’s the way the rest of the island gets its water.

But it appears it might be so because she also writes

When asked about the option of solar-driven energy for pumps, Craddick said it would “require acres and acres of solar panels to power just one pump,” and is therefore not a feasible option.

Now we don’t have an engineering degree but what kind of pump needs “acres and acres of solar panels”- or 3/5th of the islands electricity output- to run?

Then, as if it were almost a joke, the penultimate paragraph in the article reads:

(Craddick) added that customers should anticipate about a 25-percent increase in water bills over the next three years. “We’re doing a rate study right now,” he said, “and we should have the results November or December. Then we’ll know what we need to do.”

Psst... we’ve got a suggestion- start with finding some more efficient pumps. Or at least tell us whose brother-in-law is supplying them.

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Update: According to two people the article by Vanessa Van Voorhis in yesterday’s local newspaper quoting Department of Water Chief Engineer David Craddick as saying that “40 percent of all KIUC’s generation” is factually incorrect, as we suspected.

Dr. Carl Berg who attended the meeting wrote to say that actually:

My notes from that meeting say (the) County is biggest single consumer of electricity, using 10% of what is produced and 40% of County's use is by Water Dept. That is a lot different.(Craddick) did say it would take a lot of solar panels to drive a pump and that solar is no good at night. He did mention net-metering. Also talked about hydroelectric from surface water source. But he concluded that DOW is really dependent on KIUC.

And Ken Taylor confirmed that statistic and added other information writing that:

The county overall, is KIUC biggest or #1 customer at about 10% of the total production. Of that, DOW uses about 40-50%, sewers use about 20%. I talked to Walt Barnes who is an electrical engineer about how much solar would be needed to run a 75 hp pump motor. His calculations showed only about 1 acre of solar would be needed. This happened after David had made this same comment at another meeting last fall. I questioned David's numbers because I have read where water districts in Cal. have been installing more and more solar. I think the problem come in getting the pump started, which can be done by using KIUC to start them, then automatically change over. I'm checking with some others on this. I asked the question that started this conversation at yesterdays meeting.

NEW BLOOD ON THE TRACKS

NEW BLOOD ON THE TRACKS: Today’s announcement that two- count ‘em two- actual college graduates with journalism degrees have been employed by the local newspaper comes as a shocking yet pleasant surprise... sort of.

While it’s nice to see real journalists hired- Vanessa Van Voorhis covering “business” and Andrea Frainier, “lifestyle”- it doesn’t change the fact that the more newsy government and police reporters are a little- or maybe a lot- less professional, although the government reporter Leo Azambuja has shown some improvement.

Though unfortunately that hasn’t led him to obtain the kind of expertise possessed his predecessor Mike Levine- no shame there- we still sometimes wonder whether he’s even trying.

In all fairness his editor Nathan Eagle could have made sure coverage of the ethically-challenged and oft incompetent Board Of Ethics (BOE) continued when Levine left for big city climes. But apparently neither Eagle nor Azambuja seem interested in covering BOE meetings and more importantly continuing Levine’s quest for BOE documents beyond replacing Levine’s name with Azambuja’s at their document-containing “Sunshine” web page.

But lucky live Kaua`i and not Bell California where the lack of citizen oversight led to obscene salaries for county officials.

Next time you see the trolls start criticizing our “nitpickers” remember that the only news we’ve been getting about the BOE lately has come from Horace Stoessel whose latest report on the BOE’s September 17 meeting- in the form of an as yet unpublished letter to the editor- describes the latest round of fear and loathing.

Here’s Horace’s report- see ya on the other side.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

In May Deputy County Attorney Mona Clark advised the Board of Ethics that County Code Section 3-1.7(d) absolutely prohibits the kinds of outside employment referenced in requests for advisory opinions involving four members of the Planning Department.

At its meeting on September 17 the Board reviewed a written opinion from Attorney Clark repeating and expanding the advice she gave in May and concluding: “It is the County Attorney’s opinion that an employee cannot create a work product for a private employer which the employee would reasonably expect the employer to submit to the Planning Department without a violation of K.C.C. 3-1.7 occurring.”

The Board acted accordingly and continued to set an example for other agencies by releasing the privileged opinion, which is available from the Office of Boards and Commissions.

I wish I could say that the quality of the May-to-September process leading to the Board’s decision matched the quality of the decision itself and the principled advice it was based on. However, the process left a trail of unanswered questions.

In light of the Charter requirement that a request for advisory opinion must be answered within thirty days, I think the most obvious question is, why did it take so long for the Board to answer this request, especially when its answer was based on the same advice it received on day one?

A short letter like this cannot do justice to the question. Suffice to say that it leads to numerous other questions pertaining to policies (and lack of policies), procedures and communication (or lack of communication) involving the Mayor’s office and Planning, Personnel, and County Attorney offices as well as the Board of Ethics.

I do not question the motives or integrity of county employees. I do say that there is plenty of room for improving governmental processes. One way to improve the processes is for agencies and citizens to extend mutual respect to and expect mutual accountability from each other.

What Horace doesn’t mention here is that rather than doing their job in a timely manner the BOE’s notorious inability to read plain English has caused them to request that the charter commission- another body whose meetings have been unattended by local newspaper reporters since Levine left- submit a charter amendment to voters to give the BOE more time to futz around.

The announcement of this year’s charter amendments will be forthcoming presently but if this change, and one to allow the mayor to consolidate power by taking away the police, fire and planning commissions’ ability to hire and fire their respective department heads, are typical of their work this year an across the board “no” vote from the electorate would seem to be a no-brainer.

Whether the news that will allow people to make informed decisions on proposed charter changes will reach them through their “newspaper of record” is anyone’s guess.

But at least they’ll have timely and accurate information about who opened a new scissors and scotch tape store and whose baby lu`ua served the best malasadas in Waimea.