Regents' meeting deemed improper

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

The University of Hawai'i Board of Regents violated the state's "sunshine law" when one of its committees went into closed session last summer to discuss the evaluation process of UH President Evan Dobelle, according to a formal opinion from the Office of Information Practices.

The OIP letter, dated Feb. 18, said the committee didn't provide proper notice outside the meeting door, changed its agenda in executive session to add the president's evaluation, and violated Dobelle's rights by not allowing him the opportunity to have the process in public.

In a statement, Dobelle said the OIP findings were a vindication of what he has said all along, "that the meetings were improperly noticed, improperly held (and) denied my rights and those of the public."

According to OIP director Leslie Kondo, in a letter to Regents chairwoman Patricia Lee, the board should have discussed the process for the president's evaluation in an open public meeting and given the president an opportunity to choose to have the discussion public, as well as offering other individuals the opportunity to testify.

"Based ... upon the Legislature's declaration, that the discussions, deliberations and decisions of a board should be conducted as openly as possible, we agree that the committee's procedure in amending the agenda, denied President Dobelle and the public the opportunity to participate in the committee's evaluation," the letter said.

"Sunshine laws" are intended to protect public access to information.

The remedy Kondo suggests is having the board offer the president the opportunity now to open the minutes of those meetings to the public — after removing the names of individuals interviewed.

"We generally recommend that the board redo the action that was taken in violation of the statute," wrote Kondo. "In this case, however, we do not believe it is reasonable or practical to suggest that the committee redo the matters relating to President Dobelle's evaluation.

"If President Dobelle indicates that he would not have requested that his evaluation be considered in a meeting open to the public, we do not believe that any remedial action is necessary."

Dobelle has 10 days to file a request to make the minutes public, according to the OIP. But Kondo said that if the president makes that choice, it would affect another legal opinion his office is working on regarding whether making the evaluation itself public is an invasion of the president's privacy rights.

"If he were to say, 'I want it disclosed,' that would be a factor in our looking at the written evaluation," Kondo said.

Kondo made a distinction between discussions of the evaluation and discussions concerning the process of conducting it — which is all the OIP looked at in Wednesday's opinion.

In a meeting of the Regents' personnel committee last week, convened to finalize the president's evaluation, the committee gave the president the opportunity then to open that meeting to the public and Dobelle declined.

At the time, UH spokeswoman Carolyn Tanaka said, he turned the offer down "because he didn't know what was on the agenda or was going to be discussed specifically."

During the evaluation process last summer, regents offered an undisclosed number of people confidentiality to be interviewed, and have subsequently refused to release their names.

Kondo said these people were guaranteed confidentiality, and that guarantee has to be respected. But he also suggested that the regents contact those who provided input regarding Dobelle's job performance and ask if their identities and statements continue to require confidentiality now.

Reached for additional comment, Dobelle said he would like to move on, just as the committee said it wants to after its meeting last week.

"If the board wants it pau, then I want it pau," he said.

"I look forward to an open process in the future, based on mutually agreed-to goals and expectations, consistent with OIP policy, and in compliance with state sunshine laws."

The board expects to discuss the coming third-year evaluation in an open meeting today.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.