Organizations/issues: West Hawaii Fisheries Council, Kona Outdoor Circle, Kona Chamber of Commerce, The Kohala Center Board of Directors, and many more

Marni Herkes counts "dedicated meeting goer" as one of her many responsibilities. Currently her favorite meetings to attend are those of the West Hawai'i Fisheries Council.

The council acts as liason between fishing communities and the Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Aquatic Resources to create sustainable fishing plans.

"Council meetings are very structured, but there are some very exciting conversations that go on and there's always a lot of information because it's a stakeholder group," said Herkes.

Her interest in environmental and cultural conservation is nothing new. Throughout her career, Herkes pushed for beautification projects, marine conservation, building restoration and responsible community development.

Although Herkes recently retired as executive director of the Kona Chamber of Commerce she remains busy as ever.

"People need to do more than write a letter to the editor or tell a neighbor,"said Herkes. "People need to get involved. A lot of things are possible with the Internet. Many organizations post their minutes online. Read over the minutes and if you take issue with something write to the organization or become a member."

Q: What needs improvement in Kona?

COMMUNITY COHESIVENESS

"We need to get together and decide what we want our community to look like.

A Kona Community Development Plan will address and help improve cultural, social and infrastructure issues.

The cohesive plan is something we haven't had. We've done piece-meal planning and a lot of these plans are from the past. We need to plan for the community we have as opposed to the one we thought we were gonna have.

... The County chose a planner on June 17, yet they haven't told the community who that planner is or what their plans are.

That's been a disappointment but I'm sure that the County government will eventually let the community in the planning process."