Tag: Fiscal Responsibility

Help OHA reach its full potential: Look for Change

`Ano`ai kakou…  As the longest serving Trustee, it saddens me that OHA is no longer the proactive advocate for our beneficiaries that it once was.  When I was first elected to the board in 1990, OHA was at the forefront of many issues involving native rights, housing, education, and health.

Past Trustees were actively involved, spearheading major projects, and holding OHA’s Administration accountable.  Now everything seems, for want of a better term, “stagnant.”  While I’m sure the Board Chair can produce a long list of “great” things happening at OHA, to me it’s just all public relations fluff.  Make no mistake – This is not the OHA of old that used to get results.  I’m sure that every Trustee would agree that OHA could do more for our beneficiaries.  Much more.

So what’s the solution?  It’s simple: Restore the Board’s oversight over the Administration.  Right now, there are only THREE Trustees that are holding the Administration accountable:

  • The Asset & Resource Management Committee Chair, who oversees all of OHA’s fiscal, policy, economic development, land, and administrative matters;
  • The Beneficiary Advocacy & Empowerment Committee Chair, who has responsibility over federal and state legislation, on-going programs in health, housing, and education; and
  • Last, but not least, the Board Chair, who basically just acts as the liaison between the Administration and the Board instead of providing oversight and direction. In fact, the CEO has BANNED Trustees without committees from having direct contact with Administrative staff. All requests for information must go through the Chair’s office.

So basically, the rest of the Trustees have to depend on the three Trustees above for updates and reports at the board table – There are no other opportunities for us to get information.

We could easily increase the amount of Trustees providing oversight over the Administration by going back the five committee system.  Subject matters included (1) Land, (2) Policy & Planning, (3) Program Management, (4) Legislative & Government Affairs, and (5) Budget & Finance.  Bringing back these five committees would instantly double the amount of Trustees overseeing the Administration from three to six.

The increased oversight over the Administration would finally put an end to the frequent complaints by Trustees that they are not being kept in the loop or getting regular updates on important issues.

As many of my long time readers know, this is not a new proposal.  I pushed for this change last year but the current Board Chair decided to go in the opposite direction.  He actually got rid of the Land and Property committee!

OHA is simply too big for three Trustees to control the organization.  And, as a result, crucial information is able to stay hidden.  For example, under the old five committee structure, the Budget & Finance committee chair actually had the time to take our budget out to the community for comments and suggestions.  Every line litem of the budget was presented and none were hidden in “cost centers.”  Nothing could stay hidden in the budget with that much scrutiny.

So this election, seek change and elect new blood!  Ask OHA candidates what they think about how OHA is run.  Question them on their ideas to improve the office and the services we provide.  Vote wisely or we’ll continue to be stuck in the same stagnation for years to come.  Our beneficiaries deserve better!  Aloha Ke Akua.

The tail is wagging the dog at OHA

`Ano`ai kakou…  If you need something done, don’t bother talking to the Trustees anymore.  The Administration is running the show now.  We’re just rubber stamps that sign whatever is put in front of us.

When the year began I had high hope that OHA would finally become open and transparent.  Instead, it took just a half a year for the new Board Chair to take OHA a big leap backwards to the ultra-secret and consolidated power structure of the previous two Board Chairs.

PASSIVE TRUSTEES

I’ve always argued that being a Trustee is not about simply showing up at a few monthly meetings.  The people of Hawaii elected us in the hope that we would make their lives better.  Unfortunately, the current Board Leadership is more interested in tying our hands and muffling our voice.

LESS COMMITTEES = MORE PROBLEMS

It was bad enough that there were only three Trustee committees, but now we’re back to just two.  The current Chair might argue that it will improve efficiency but the truth is it leaves one more Trustee with much less to do.

For many years OHA operated effectively with five committees.  All of us worked hard and we were deeply involved in Hawaiian issues.  Five Trustees had the opportunity to be a committee chair and could focus on a specific issue and become experts in that field.  The five-committee system produced better Trustees.

The current two-committee system takes all the policy development out of our hands.  It encourages us to just show up for meetings every other week.  While we don’t really get to develop policy anymore, we certainly get all the blame when things don’t work out.

The Trustees are now dependent on the Administration to spoon feed us everything.  None of us ran for office just to keep some seats warm.  Good Trustees should be driven to find solutions to problems that are plaguing our people.

Instead, the Administration is taking advantage of the Board’s weakness to push their own agendas, such as producing strange cartoons and travelling all over the world (more on this in my next article).

You’ll probably hear the term “Ad Hoc” sub-committees as a way of trying to get more of us involved, but don’t be fooled.  They only make suggestions and are easy to ignore.  If you don’t believe me, I can show you a list of requests that the Board Chair and Administration ignored when I was the powerful ARM committee chair.  What results could a weaker sub-committee possibly produce?

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

Despite the recent changes to the committee structure, I will continue to push for more fiscal responsibility within OHA such as:

  • Limiting the Administration’s excessive international travel;
  • Encouraging Board Leadership to give Trustees meaningful work and allowing them to gain further financial experience;
  • Changing our spending policy limit to 4 ½ percent of the Trust Fund given the state of the current economy;
  • Conducting a full forensic audit of how every penny is spent at OHA; and
  • Making sure the Administration keeps its promise to get rid of the “Fiscal Reserve” slush fund.

These changes won’t come easy and I am sure to meet heavy resistance.  But like I said, I didn’t become a Trustee just to attend a bunch of meetings every month.  Aloha Ke Akua.