COM 0363.001 2018-2020 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Hawaii County Council- 2 December 18,2002 MR. KIM: Excuse me—thank you Members of the Council. In the back, also, is Ben Henderson—he is staff that we worked very closely with. Thank you both. Having this on the agenda,at this time, with the General Council for two reasons—One, it gives me a chance to—and for those that did, I thank you so much—to thank Ray Soon. I think it will not be very long where people will realize how much this man has done for this job—now that the hoopla of the politics is over and the election is over—we can say this freely. This--Cayetano picked a great person for the Hawaiian Homes Department. He did a good job in April of the Year 2000. Prior to that, I called him because, ironically, one of our friends of Pat, from Keaukaha—and met with him, shortly after taking office—and in discussing some of the problems of the Hawaiiana issue, this was brought up. And he stated, very clearly whatever—get things done—clarify it. And I think that was a word Mr. Ray Soon used. This is, primarily, to clarify our roles. I think this has eliminated some of the real confusion areas in regards to the—especially, Building Code and Permit system. If I may read,just in part, of this letter on April 2nd, 2002: "Members of my Administration, I have met with Ray Soon, Chair, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and his staff for the following reasons: To establish a working relationship between the Hawaiian Homes, the County of Hawai'i, and to discuss issues of mutual concern and develop a Memorandum of Agreement that addresses these concerns." And it took us all of this time, in regards to get where we are. I'm proud of what has been accomplished. And as Mr. Soon said—we still have areas that need to be resolved. I thank them for giving us all of the back taxes in the sum of$506,583.13. And, hopefully, this Agreement, also, as Mr. Ray Soon stated—will minimize problems of delinquent taxes in the future—and those things that need to be clarified. As to Members of the Council, to approve this with a "favorable"— I thank Mr. Chung for changing of his vote and statement of why. In closing, I have met Ray Soon in April of 2001. Since that time, we've met a few times in community meetings and (inaudible). This guy's a special person. I think we're lucky to have him. I think the State's lucky to have him—the County was lucky to have Page 48