Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-01-08
An NTOlERABLE ATTITUDE

81 civil SERVICE COMMISSION mas come 10 the pOlnJ
+ where it is intolerable. 1t has passed being
4 merely ridiculous, even passed petty irritation.
4 Under the law of the last Legislature the may
or must do one of three things:
He must allow the present personnel of
the commission to stand unchanged 2-He must
reappoint the commissioners. 3-He must
make new appointments to. the commission.
Under the Interpretation of Deputy City At
torney Weaver the mayor cannot even allow the
commission to stand unchanged. He must re-
appoint the members or nafnenew ones.
The statute Of 1918, creating the commission,
says: -
ct shall be the duty of the mayor of the city
and county of Honolulu on or before the first
day Of January in every year to appoint, with
the approval of the board of supervisors, a board
Of police and fire commissioners, to be known as
the Honolulu Civil Service Commission"
The mayor named six months ago the COM
mission which has since been serving Shortly
before the close Of 1913, the question arose to
whether new appointments must be made before
January /, 1914, or whether the present board
could serve out full year in office-a years
term being implied by the language of the act.
The mayor sought official legal advice from
Deputy Attorney Weaver who replied in part
0s follows:
~Act 81 is not clear in the matter. r am of the
opinion that study Of the act the date Of its
going into effect lApr 4. 1919 shows at least
Intention to provide for the appointment Of commits
sioners on January Of each year. The power is ,
given to make the appointment before II convenient
DO not think that appointment TO serve. made
Immediately after the act was passed, in any way
extends beyond or into term the next appoint
nent on January OF each year sss
.The act does not state expressly what the term /
shall be. how the interval from April 4, 1913 to
January i 1914 shall be provided for That interval
Is passed. There is no question Of that think
there Is implication that the term is year to
commence January Of each year" P. :
The act thus makes it obligatory on the may
6f to name new commission each year and the
citys legal adviser holds that the appointments
should be made on or before January of each
year ~ i
What is Mayor Ferns attitude? /
In the first place he has neither named a new
commission nor stated that he will allow the
present commission to stand, though he has let
It be known that he is dissatisfied with the COM
mission he himself named six months ago
In the second place, he has given anything
but q clesr-cut reply to questions as to what he
is going to do. On January he said that the
old commission had gone out Of existence and
he did not intend to name q new one-that the
commission had spent thousand dollars and
not been worth the money. On January 6 when
supervisor asked him as to his intentions re-
farding the board he gave an tequivocal reply
which meant nothing
The people of Honolulu have a right to know
where their mayor stands on questions of this
kind. 1t is not matter for future speculation.
January has come and gone and the mayor has
not lived up to the plain provisions of the law
as interpreted by the cityis adviser.
Mayor Fern is not authorized to pass upon
whether or not the commission has been good
thing for Honolulu. That question does not af
feet his plain duty one way or the other. The
Star. Bulletin feels now, as it has said before,
that the commission. has done good work and
has laid the groundplan for'much more good
work. But even if it had done bad work it would
not be proper for the mayor to discontinue the
commission. 1t would be his duty to change its
membership.
The deputy attorney holds that the present
commission has no real powers after January 1.
tits necessary for the mayor to take some kind
Of action.
What he should do is plain. He should reap
point the present commissioners or name new
members of the board. Z.
Otherwise he is derelict in his sworn duty
81 What are you going to do, Mr.. Mayor?