Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 12, 1 December 1997 — 'What it lies in our power to do, it also lies in our power not to do.' Aristotle [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

'What it lies in our power to do, it also lies in our power not to do.' Aristotle

IN THE short term that I have been a trustee, I detected the crux of the intemal problem that plagues the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to be caused by the imposition of hasty legislation to control our management. In 1990, the laws conceming the authority to manage OHA's soon-to-be-received weakh were amended to add the controlling statute that the administrator, hired by the Board of Tmstees, would be given a free hand to HIRE AND FIRE ALL EMPLOYEES. He was exempted ffom even reporting to the fiduciarily liable tmstees. This was a eoup for those who envisioned circumventing the elected trastees by placing their own people as keepers of the Hawaiian treasury. The provision in HRS 1012 was interpreted by the BOT counsel to mean the board had no say at all. Compounding the problem was that the law also said an administrator could be hired by a majority of five votes but could only be removed by six votes. It is almost impossible to remove an uncooperative or uncommunicative manager who answers to another boss. The

position of administrator pays an annual salary of $85,003, a car allowanee and a $10,000 protocol fund; yet this highly paid employee cannot be held accountable unless six strong tmstees agree. So far, we have five. How would you react as a tmstee to find that you have no control over whom the administrator hires or fires? When the last administrator was terminated, the board was given a legal opinion that it could not release the two deputies hired by that administrator, because only an administrator could release them and we had terminated the administrator. The tmstees had no supervisory power over the deputies eaining $72,500 eaeh.

This bizarre management logic is devastating to this office. We tried to change the law last year to no avail. Tmstees and self-serving employees at OHA reveled in the power they accmed. Anyone knows that hiring is a game of ehanee. Smooth talkers dupe us every day. The proof of the pudding reveals absolute evidence of capability after the first six months. The problems created a bloated, belching administrative mess I eall OHA's administrative abomination. Why keep the books? Just spend. With the assistance of the BOT, one-man mle has thrived. A board is superfluous when the administrator ean ignore the tmstees' need to know. Why respect or defer to a Board of Trastees that cannot touch you, and to whieh you are not accountable? The dedicated employees were ffustrated, and the sell-out employees became preening peacocks barking at intmders who neared their territorial boundaries. This situation is a problem to correct. Senior officers, deputies and administrators must be accountable to the trastees. Without the knowledge of tmstees, employees should not be allowed to: • transfer $10 million out of state treasury to a private bank; • hire four employees at a eombined salary of $278,000 a year

without BOT concurrence; • allow senior officers to ignore Board of Tmstee decisions and implement their own plan. The list is horrific, the chore overwhelming, but the ffagile eoalition of five is determined to put our j house in order. We will bring on: • temporary work forces to shore up neglected areas; • a group of mini auditors that will flush out the unaccounted financial disarray; • a group of researchers and legal help that will update bylaws, pohcies, etc., last amended in 1989 and 1991; • a budget analyst to set up a bona fide budget process where extravagant spending prevails. We will include you beneficiaries as Tmstee Machado asks for your mana'o during these critical days. The first financial report to beneficiaries since 1980 was finally posted. We hope to convert the format of Ka Wai Ola o OHA so it will tell you what we are doing. We must spend sums to put our our house in order. Remember, it has been neglected for the last six years. Aloha. If you want a copy of the Deloitte Touche audit for the past 10 years eall Carol Foote at 594- 1 872. ■

' TRUSTEE MESSAGES

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