How cool is that? Nicholas D. Hawaii In Your Inbox spinner. Thank you! You'll receive your first newsletter soon! Love Hawaii? Get more stories delivered right to your email. Your e-mail: Sign Up. Amount of community input sought by Parker trustees: zero.
The beach was resold Feb. The new owner made a 54 percent return in four years. Was Parker's sale prudent? Yes, Parker trustees say. The cash-poor trust was forced to sell many pieces of land at fire-sale prices in the mids to pay operating costs and debt.
Sales made directly to a purchaser were done "only after a thorough review of the market price," the trustees say in their written response to PBN questions. Not good enough, Hammon says. The trust should have sought beneficiaries' input and waited for a better price. Hammon's words ring true in Waimea. In her report to the attorney general, Hammon, founder of Hawaii Montessori Schools, charges that Parker trustees:. Have failed to disclose accurate, detailed financial information to beneficiaries, and have failed to seek beneficiary input for important decisions including hiring of key personnel and real estate sales.
Authorized construction of an executive headquarters in the early s, during the trust's most difficult financial period.
The headquarters' amenities include marble, koa fixtures, plate-glass windows. They say Richard Smart planned the building before he died. But they concede that, "in retrospect, construction in the early s could have been delayed. Have made repeated missteps in managing the trust's land assets. Besides partaking in real estate sales that, to Hammon, appear hasty, the trust neglected to vigorously pursue retail tenants for Parker Ranch Center -- which was spottily occupied for years -- and thus cost the trust millions of dollars in cash flow, Hammon argues.
Trustees say new tenants were not sought for Parker Ranch Center because property manager Chaney Brooks recommended against it. Have made repeated missteps in managing day-to-day affairs at the ranch. In sum, Hammon says, Parker Ranch Trust has been managed in a manner inconsistent with standard nonprofit practices. She cites state law and draws on her experience as a nonprofit school administrator.
The trustees' missteps thus "require a thorough investigation into their trusteeship," she says. Such views are not held by everyone in Waimea.
Some observers say Parker critics hold unrealistic expectations, which linger from the days when Richard Smart was Waimea's most prominent philanthropist.
The trust, unlike Smart, is burdened by its duty to its beneficiaries; rather than putting the community first -- as Smart often did -- it must put those beneficiaries first, a distinction that is lost on many Waimea people, resident Richard N. West says.
When he died, that had to change, but the expectations of the community may not have changed. Instead of asking Parker trustees to recreate an entitlement-era past, residents should accept the trust's wish to be an interested, but not all-giving, player in the community, says Peter Young, president of the Waimea Community Association.
Still, Parker trustees should be more open with beneficiaries and seek more advice from Waimea residents, says Herbert "Monty" Richards, a longtime Big Island rancher.
Richards this year was appointed to the board of directors of Parker Ranch Inc. You've got to find common ground, and work with community leaders to ensure tranquility and progress.
Parker trustees promise to open up to the community, and to seek more input from Parker beneficiary organizations -- whose officers in the past had to sign nondisclosure agreements just to view the trust's publicly available financial information.
As an example, he points to new weekly meetings to update Waimea residents on the Parker Ranch Center renovation. The trust's beneficiaries are also starting to desire more input in important Parker Ranch decisions -- particularly real estate decisions, says Charlie Campbell, the Parker School board member. In a recent meeting with beneficiaries, Parker trustees agreed to seek beneficiaries' input on future land sales -- a step in the right direction, Campbell says. After all, the trustees are just like all of us: They live here, in a small town, and don't want stones thrown at them.
After 42 years as a ranch hand and animal doctor, Dr. So when his count of the Parker Ranch cattle herd at Keaumuku was more than cows short, he knew something was wrong. Bergin had come to Keaumuku in to conduct blood tests on the 3,cow local herd, which was grazing on drought-wizened pastures. He ended up testing 3, cows. The rest, cowboys told him, had been "put down" because they were starving to death. By year's end, dozens of the Keaumuku cows had died due to the drought, Bergin says, citing interviews with cowboys.
But Parker Ranch, on its animal health report for the year, listed 33 cattle deaths for its entire ranch operations, of which the Keaumuku herd is one fraction. Parker officials say Bergin's statements are "misleading," though they acknowledge that problems exist in the ranch's cattle death reporting system -- and that its reports required "adjustments" upon further review.
Bergin, however, maintains the ranch was "shining" the numbers. Cowboys and Bergin -- who has acted as a public voice for cowboys' complaints --say improper ranch management has caused numerous such calamities at the ranch. Despite the crippling pressures of drought, low cattle prices and poor finances, the ranch could have avoided most of these problems, Bergin and the ranch employees say.
Parker trustees ack-nowledge making some ranching mistakes. They confirm conflicts between managers and some of the ranch's 25 cowboys, and promise to solve the problems "by improving communication with employees, providing educational opportunities and classes If you do not agree with any part of these terms and conditions, you should not use this website.
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Published by: John C. Hills near Waimea Kamuela Town. Parker Ranch Center The Parker Ranch Center, on Mamalahoa Highway 19 in Waimea offers a trip back through time at the small museum which chronicles the evolution of the Hawaiian cowboy. The museum is open Monday thru Saturday 9 a. Parker Ranch Historic Homes If you are interested in seeing how the ranch owners spent their days and nights take a side trip to the Parker Ranch Historic homes, Mana Hale and Pu'uopelu.
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