MIN CHARTER 2019-03-29 (2018-2020) - Public Hearing

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Hawai`i County Charter Commission — Public Hearing March 29, 2019 that the County will not lose this valuable resource due to bungling. As you know the half percent fund can be used for buying tools and equipment. I was recently made aware of a situation where a group of volunteers working in Waipi`o Valley needed to use a chipper that had been purchased with PONC maintenance funds, however when they asked for it somebody at Parks and Recreation refused to give it to them, saying that it was being saved for another project, clearly volunteers must compete with professional land maintenance staff for resources. That would not happen if Finance was in charge. Further, volunteer groups are advocating for funds to be used for necessary construction. For example, if there is evidence that a property is being ruined because there is no public toilet available, then the funds should be able to finance a composting or a port -a -potty. I trust that the Commission will take seriously, concerns expressed by volunteers who are giving their time to improve lands for all of us. If maintenance funds can be used to correct these deficiencies, then they should be used and not stockpiled. I would like to see more non -profits being awarded grants and less nit picking. Mahalo for letting me testify. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you. If I could ask Keoni Fox to please come up. Okay thanks. Sir. TOMISLAV GRACANIN: Proposal No. CA -9 and CA -18 in support and Proposal No. CA -8 in opposition. MS. GRACANIN: Good evening and I really appreciate you all coming on a Friday evening to hear our comments. That's dedication. Thanks a lot. In the interest of full disclosure, I am here for myself however I am the Chairman of the Cave Conservancy of Hawai`i and I am very interested in conserving properties that contain all kinds of resources of Hawai`i, natural history as well as cultural history. Cave Conservancy protects over 80 acres that contain lava tubes and their resources, native plants and animals, cultural remains, mineral features, and cave adapted animal life, as well as fossil and rare animal fossils that are now... well, fossil remains and remains of now almost extinct animals. These and more resources, similar resources are protected by PONC lands that have been purchased recently. For example at Kawa Bay and in the Kahuku-Kai region of Ocean View and Kali especially contains a lot of cultural resources because this is the area where the Hawaiians first arrived and the archaeology here is important to the entire State. Consequently, I very much support CA -9 as well as CA -18 and for CA -9 I am very interested in seeing that a manager is put in place for the PONC lands. That is employed by the Department of Finance and who is dedicated to the advancement of those interests of the PONC and as well as evaluating new properties for purchase. On CA -18 right now the County has a great deal going with lots of volunteers doing lots of work at their own expense and they... well, I know because I participate. We remove garbage, invasive plants, we do resource evaluation, including native plants, animals, cultural features, and the Page 11