Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 12, Number 10, 1 October 1995 — Six tivstees voted to terminate Administrator [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Six tivstees voted to terminate Administrator

by Billie Beamer Trustee-at-large Six trustees voted to terminate Administrator as of August 31, 1995, with a month's severance pay. Rowena Akana, At Large YES Billie Beamer, At Large YES A. Frenchy DeSoto, At Large YES Clayton Hee, Chair, Oahu YES Kinau Boyd Kamalii, At-Large YES Moses Keale Sr. Kauai YES Abraham Aiona NO Samuel Kealoha, Molokai ABSENT TRUSTEES ARE ADMONISHED TO GET OUR ACT TOGETHER. THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT WE ARE DOING. SO WHAT DO YOU WANT? A "KAPULU" OR A CREDIBLE OPERATION? OHA will have had 7 Administrators in 15 years. Maybe trustees should deliberate on the candidate's management expertise instead of his political connections. Who will manage our trust of $200 million is the

most important decision required of trustees. Yes, five trustees voted to terminate the administrator, not on the basis of my minority report, but on the basis of their own assessment of his performance, some of their concerns were enumerated in my minority dissent circulated on August 16, whieh is now called "Garbage" by the Chairman whose motivation is questionable. But it isn't my Garbage, it is the smelly muek collected during his Chairmanship. So, on August 30, trustees tired of the inefficiencies, voted for termination. What were the prominent reasons? • Accountability, $10 million was taken from our accounts and invested without Board awareness. In too many instances the administrator acted with the Chairman and the Vice-chairman without informing the other seven trustees. • Mismanagement, failure to monitor THE Educational Scholarship Foundation that

squandered $180,000. That's enough for 9,000 student tutorial hours at $20 per hour! • Ignoring Board authority, this time the Administrator and deputy transfered $500,000 to the poorly man-

aged Foundation. Who knows what THEY will do with the manuahi $200,000, equivalent to 10,000 tutoriaI student hours. • Employees ignore budget limits and spend at will. The irresponsible supplementary budget is sought to correct a 7.6 million shortfall. • Chronic Lateness, the 95-97

supplement was received August 30, 4 months overdue, when the fiscal year started in July 1, 1995. • Of course everyone likes Santa claus, but we needed an adminstrator. In the end, his considerable PR skills wene inadequate to overcome the management crisis. in fact it was compounded. Program and

officer evaluations, internal eontrols, or regular financial reporting do not exist. THE DAYS ARE GONE, WHERE TRUSTEES WERE KEPT DUMB, UNINFORMED AND COMPLI ANT FOLLOWERS OF THE Chairman and the Vice chair. The fiduciary obligation for NINE trustees to monitor administrative decisions cannot be

delegated. We will change the law that gives the Administrator and cohorts the right to hire and fire, changed in 1990 for the purpose of control. Also the nonsense that we hire with five votes and need six

to fire, is "garbage" whieh breeds insubordination. The question is, what role did trustees play in these unauthorized and imprudent acts? When Vernal Lindsey stood in testimony and called for the two trustees who were accomplices in the mishandling of funds to "stand up and share the blame," there

was nary a stir īn the room. Carpenter is now suing the deep pockets of OHA for a claimed illegal termination. That's for the court to decide. But, I weleome the opportunity to reveal more OHA problems in depositions. THERE ARE NINE VOTES ON OHA'S BOARD, NOT TWO OR FIVE. AS FIDU-

CIARIES WE MAY HIRE ATTORNEYS, AUDITORS, INVESTIGATORS, AND IF NECESSARY WE MUST CALL FOR PROSECUT!ON OR FOR COURT JUDGEMENTS TO PROTECT OUR TRUST ASSETS AND OHA'S CREDIBILITY. POPULAR? NO! BUT RESPONSIBLE? YES! Call Roy Ah Nee, 594-1899 for copies of the minority report.