One day after former Mayor Billy Kenoi left office, the county Board of Ethics on Tuesday closed the book on his admitted misuse of his county-issued purchasing card by unanimously approving an advisory opinion acknowledging his admission and his promise that it won’t happen again.
The board doesn’t have the authority to levy penalties. For county officers such as the mayor and others who can be removed from office only by impeachment, the board can send a letter to the County Council advising it of violations it found.
With Kenoi now out of office, the issue likely is moot.
Kenoi, who didn’t attend the meeting, couldn’t be reached by press time Tuesday.
But his attorney, Richard Sing, put this statement on the record in a stipulation to the board at a Nov. 10 meeting, according to meeting minutes released Tuesday: “We would propose that the respondent would agree and stipulate that the county of Hawaii purchasing card procedures were violated and that it won’t happen again.”
The board debated the wording of the advisory opinion Tuesday before voting, but made only technical changes to the document.
Vice Chairman Ken Goodenow objected to the wording containing Kenoi’s admission.
“Our jurisdiction isn’t to say whether the pCard policy was violated or not,” Goodenow said. “… It’s our job to say whether it violated the ethics code.”
But board member Doug Adams said the inclusion of the stipulation was appropriate because it was in the stipulated facts section of the advisory opinion, not the board’s findings.
“This phrase is not a judgment by this board,” Adams said. “It’s a fact.”
The advisory opinion does contain the language that the board found the former mayor’s action violated the section of the ethics code prohibiting “using county property or personnel for other than a public activity or purpose.“
The complaint was filed in early 2015 by Lanric Hyland after Big Island newspapers reported the mayor used his pCard at hostess bars and for such personal purchases as a surfboard and bicycle.
The board delayed action until after a criminal trial on felony theft and other charges was completed Nov. 1. A jury cleared Kenoi of all charges.
During trial, the state attorney general’s office argued that Kenoi committed theft or other offenses by using the pCard for 15 charges it said were personal or involved hundreds of dollars worth of alcohol. One included a hotel stay at Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel for a nephew as a wedding present.
Kenoi reimbursed the county for 14 of the charges, including the hotel stay, throughout a period of months or years.
In total, Kenoi reimbursed the county for nearly $32,000 of his $130,000 in pCard charges. His attorneys argued some of those reimbursements were for legitimate county business.
Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.
