Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 35, Number 3, 1 March 2018 — Making OHA Accountable: A Challenging Task [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Making OHA Accountable: A Challenging Task

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n light of the State Audit of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs that was published this past February, I wanted to

share my mana'o and the patl for whieh I hope to see OH,-4

pursue. First and foremost, the board is taking swift action tc ensure the policies whieh goverr this agency are revised, updated and tightened in order to have more Board control and oversight. It is obvious that here at OHA, there ean be no room for personal judgments to be made over how our funds are disbursed. We must ensure the improved policies and procedures that will be developed and agreed upon dictate the disbursements of 1 f

our funds. This is our fiduciary mandate. As the Chairperson of the Committee on Resource Management (RM), we have done many things that were already in the works prior to the release of the final state audit. We approved the formation of our Fiscal Sustainability Plan and the working groups that are collaborating in many capacities to ensure the security and longevity of our linaneial assets of the Native Hawaiian Trust Fund. The RM Committee passed Action Item (AI) RM 18-01 approving an amendment to the OHA Board of Trustees Executive Policy Manual, whieh limits the discretion of the budget adjustments made by the CEO from 10 percent of the operating budget to the lesser of $100,000 or 5 percent of eaeh expenditure category. This promotes better budget forecasting and more accountability to the Board for these types of budget adjustments. The RM Committee also took action on February 2 1 st to put a moratorium on any Fiscal Reserve spending. During my service as the Resource Management Chair in the last 1 Vi years, there has not been any Fiscal Reserve spending. Chair Machado also has put a moratorium in plaee on all Trustee Allowanee spending. These moratoriums are put in plaee until we ean develop

and pass improved policies that will ensure minimal room for personal discretion and are in alignment with our mis-

sion, to better the conditions of Hawaiians. The RM Committee has also gone to great lengths in requesting the financial records and other documents of our Limited Liability Corporations for the purpose of an internal audit OHA is currently conducting. As the Board of Trustees, our mandate and fiduciary duties include our subsidiaries as well. The RM Committee requested formally that the managers of the LLCs provide these documents to the

Financial Audit Negotiating Committee for the purpose of our internal audit. As I have explained before, this internal audit will serve to look more in depth at the issues regarding our procurement and contracts. I ean also assure you that in light of any misconduct or alarming findings that the audit may discover, the Board of Trustees will take continued action to clarify accountability, transparency and take whatever corrective action necessary. I wanted to address my Trustee allowanee contribution to the Mayor Arakawa Community Kokua Fund of $350 or the purchase of two tickets to its fundraiser. The Kokua fund is a 501c3 non-profit organization that provides financial assistance to individuals or groups who are in dire need. Their work is admirable with helping the direct needs of the people and organizations of Maui. I found it worthy to support such an organization that has this kind of impact on our community. I want to assure you that none of the Trustee allowances were made to any poliīieal candidates. It is my sincere hope that the commitments made above will improve the service that we as your Trustees should be rendering you, our Lāhui. Mahalo nui loa! ■

i Carmen "Hulu" > Lindsey : TrustEE, Maui