MIN CHARTER 2019-08-08 (2018-2020)

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Hawai`i County Charter Commission -14 August 8, 2019 CHR. ADAMS: Thank you. Deborah. DEBORAH WARD: Communication Nos. 35.51 and 35.52, commenting. MS. WARD: Good morning. Thank you for hearing from all of us. Oh my goodness, time's out in the last minute, okay, come on... okay, so, I am here today representing Sierra Club because so many of the people who wanted to come today are not able to come for various family reasons and others. Sierra Club would like to commend you for all the work you have undertaken and for continuing to listen to our testimony as we offer what we consider solutions to the challenges that the County faces and we appreciate the attention given by the County Council to the specifics of the Charter amendments that you forwarded to them. And for their proposed wording on CA -18. As you know, our members are involved with a number of the non -profits that care for the PONC community... uh, County purchased lands, and they struggle daily with some of the difficulties and constraints of the current system, and some contemplate the possibility of taking on more responsibility for the land but are aware that without compensation, the board members can only commit so much time and committed energy. I was speaking with a group that had very long time ago, probably 10 years now, proposed to be involved with the road to the sea purchase, the Kahuku purchase that was made back maybe... well we started it about five years ago and they were discussing yesterday how much more they could take on, whether it would be something that they could do to manage the trash at the coastline and so forth, but a lot of the discussion focused around "okay, how much can we really commit to before we make this proposal and how much you know, what are the capacities of our members to do this work." And you know, it is an ongoing discussion. They are serious, they mean well, they want to do a good job, but they are concerned about how much they can really commit to, and so you know, this is sort of an ongoing discussion with several non-profit groups that I work with. We do ask that you consider taking the Council's amendment and incorporating it into CA -18. We also ask that you please consider accepting the amendment offered by the Council, let's see, to... well, they didn't offer the amendment, but we do ask that you name a specific position in CA -19, to be paid for with PONC funds within the Finance Department, to reduce the County cost that the County bares for the management and oversight of PONC lands and this would benefit the County by reducing the burden of the salary currently paid by... within the County budget, and we... but we do object to the vague wording that currently would pay for staff not specifically assigned to PONC work and that is our concern. So I would like to thank you very much for your time and for all the work you've done. Mahalo. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you. Are there any other testifiers in Kona? Page 9