Two hours into the Kailua Neighborhood Board meeting July 7, the neighborhood assistant stood up and announced she was leaving.

The assistant, Rachel Glanstein, is a city employee who takes minutes and gives procedural advice to the boards during monthly meetings.

"It was very disruptive," said Kailua board chairwoman Kathy Bryant-Hunter. "It really angered the board, too, because it was a very difficult meeting and we were in the middle of a lot of important discussion and debate and trying to move along in the agenda."

The cause of the board's discontent is a change in rules limiting the hours of the neighborhood assistants at city neighborhood board meetings, implemented by Neighborhood Commission Office executive secretary Baybee Hufana-Ablan. The new rules have drawn a quick, negative reaction at some of the 32 boards on O'ahu.

Glanstein told Bryant-Hunter that she had been directed by her supervisor to leave the meeting after two hours, and started collecting the name plates that identify board members. Kailua's meetings average 2.9 hours a month and the members were taken by surprise.

The rules were implemented July 1.

Hufana-Ablan has instructed the neighborhood assistants to limit the minutes, and to summarize meetings instead of recording everything verbatim. She has asked the board chairpersons to move elected officials to the top of their agendas, and in some cases change their meeting days. She says the changes are part of her effort to speed up meetings, increase community participation and save the city money.

Several board members say they don't understand the changes and don't believe they will work.

"We need official communication ... so we can understand what the heck is going on and for what reason," said Cynthia Rezentes, chairwoman of the Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board. "There are so many different facets of this thing that are leading to major frustration."

The community boards are a part of city government that get volunteers involved at the community level by making recommendations to local agencies.

The Neighborhood Commission, a volunteer group that oversees the boards, will discuss the issues at its next meeting Aug. 9.

Several boards have lined up against the changes, passing motions in opposition. Some board chairpersons are calling for an official audit of the neighborhood board system, which was put on hold earlier this year by the City Council, before any more changes are made.

"Before you make such radical changes that are a major imposition on the boards and the community, at least explain it," said Bryant-Hunter. "If you can give us a good rationale, we will engage you in the discussion, but we haven't had any discussion. It has been very one-way. All we want is to discuss these decisions and decide if they are in the best interests of the neighborhood board system."

Hufana-Ablan said the new rules were announced during an April meeting with all board chairpersons and published in the commission's June newsletter. She is writing an after-the-fact letter to the boards explaining the changes and will discuss the rules during a meeting in September.

"I should have given a letter to all the board chairs to be more formal," she said. "I thought because it has already been said over and over, that was enough. My intention is to make something better."

In her monthly newsletter, Hufana-Ablan said the time restriction for assistants will reduce overtime pay for meetings that run on for hours. She said summarizing the minutes is now policy and will take effect immediately. The move will save the city in two ways — worker time in transcribing notes and money on paper, she said.

"Summarize the minutes, but give a full reflection of the meetings," Hufana-Ablan said. "You don't have to be verbatim. If there are any motions or discussion you have to identify that person. That is their training."

Rezentes said it is very important for the minutes to be complete and accurate as a record and for people to read who cannot attend the meetings.

She said if the neighborhood assistant leaves the meeting, a board member must take over recording the minutes, effectively removing them from participating in any discussions.

The Neighborhood Commission Office has six full-time neighborhood assistants who cover up to six boards each a month.

"Where is all this time going?" Rezentes asked. "What are they doing that they cannot sit at a board meeting and take the minutes?"

The Wai'anae meetings average 3.1 hours a month, she said, and cutting an hour will not increase participation.

"The Wai'anae board typically is standing room only," Rezentes said. "The problem becomes one of attempting to serve our customers, who are our constituents; the issues brought up before our board; and comply with the Sunshine Law, which says everybody who wants to speak on whatever is on the agenda has the right to speak. We can set a limit, and we try, but within reason (we) let people speak their minds."

Hufana-Ablan said the bottom line is she has the authority to make the changes and would like the boards to give them a chance.

"When it comes to the boards, I cannot mandate, I cannot tell them what to do, how to conduct business," she said. "The only thing I can give directives to is my staff."