HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021 Redistricting Commisison Report (full report and exhibits)BRONSTEN-GLENN KOSSOW
Chair person
JAMES 1 USTACE
Vice Chairperson
2021
HAWAPI COUNTY
REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
December 21, 2021
Jon Henricks, County Clerk
Office of the County Clerk
Hawaii County Council
25 Aupuni Street, Suite 1402
Hilo, Hawai` i 96720
RE: 2021 Redistricting Commission Report
MEIZHU LUI
DWAYNE YOSHINA
LEHUANANT A..H NEE
JENNIFER YADAO
STEPHANIE BATH
AINA AKAMU
STEPHEN LOPEZ
Q n
= Q�
c
C-1) .-4
w -tz
CD C�- <
qn
The 2021 Hawaii County Redistricting Commission submits its Report to the County Clerk.
This report transmits the Final Redistricting Flan approved by the Commission and supporting
documentation pursuant to Hawaii County Code, Chapter 36 (2016 Edition, as amended), and
Hawaii County Charter, Article III, Section 3-17.
The Commission extends its appreciation to the citizens and organizations of Hawaii County for
their participation and input during the redistricting process.
Sincerely,
Bronsten-Glenn Kossow
Chairperson
Hawai `i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer
County of Hawaii
2021
1RIa.11ISTItI("PIN(;
COMMISISON
]REPORT
BRONSTEN-GLENN KOSSOW
Chairperson
JAMES HUSTACE
Vice Chairperson
2021
HAWAI`I COUNTY
REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
REPORT
MEIZHU LUI
DWAYNE YOSHINA
LEHUANANI AH NEE
JENNIFER YADAO
STEPHANIE BATH
AINA AKAMU
STEPHEN LOPEZ
The Hawai' i County Redistricting Commission consists of nine members representing each of
the current County Council Districts. Commission members are appointed by the Mayor and
confirmed by the County Council.
District 1 Commissioner:
Meizhu Lui
District 2 Commissioner:
Dwayne Yoshina
District 3 Commissioner:
Lehuanani Ah Nee
District 4 Commissioner:
Jennifer Yadao
District 5 Commissioner:
Stephanie Bath
District 6 Commissioner:
Aina Akamu
District 7 Commissioner:
Bronsten Glenn-Kossow (Chairperson)
District 8 Commissioner:
Stephen Lopez
District 9 Commissioner:
James Hustace (Vice -Chairperson)
The Commission is required to follow the provisions of both Hawaii County Charter, Article III,
Section 3-17 and Hawaii County Code, Chapter 36 (2016 Edition, as amended). Copies of these
Charter and Code sections are attached as EXHIBIT 1.
Commission proceedings adhered to the 2021 Hawaii County Redistricting Commission Rules
of Procedure, a copy of which is attached to this report as EXHIBIT 2.
Pursuant to Hawaii County Code Chapter 36, Article 6, Section 36-10, along with transmitting
its final redistricting plan, the Commission reports the following:
Hawai `i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer
2021 Redistricting Commission Report
(1) FINAL VOTE OF THE COMMISSION AS TO CHOICE OF FINAL PLAN.
The final vote of the Commission as to the adoption of the Final Redistricting Plan was
unanimous, 9-0.
(2) TOTAL PERMANENT RESIDENT POPULATION BASE USED BY THE
COMMISSION.
Page 2
The total permanent resident population used by the Redistricting Commission was 200,090.
This resident population number was determined by using the Total Population for Hawaii
County as determined by the United States Census of 2020 (200,629) and deleting 499
nonresident students and 40 nonresident military.
The criteria for the total permanent resident population base used by the Commission is set forth
in Hawaii County Code Chapter 36, Article 3, Section 36-4(2).
(3) TOTAL DEVIATION OF THE FINAL PLAN.
The total deviation in the final plan is: 9.98%.
(4) EACH PROPOSED COUNCIL DISTRICT'S POPULATION AND ASSOCIATED
DEVIATION.
As defined by Hawaii County Code Chapter 36, Section 36-1, the "ideal council district's
population" is 22,232 (the total permanent resident population divided by nine council districts).
COUNCIL DISTRICT
TOTAL POPULATION
DEVIATION
District 1
20,954
-5.75%
District 2
23,172
4.23%
District 3
23,120
3.99%
District 4
23,084
3.83%
District 5
23,147
4.12%
District 6
21,256
-4.39%
District 7
21,707
-2.36%
District 8
21,236
-4.48%
District 9
22,414
0.82%
(5) MAPS OF EACH COUNCIL DISTRICT AND WRITTEN DESCRIPTION OF
EACH COUNCIL DISTRICT'S BOUNDARY.
Maps of each Council District are attached as EXHIBIT 3.
Written descriptions of each Council District are attached as EXHIBIT 4.
2
2021 Redistricting Commission Report
(6) MAP OF THE ISLAND WITH ALL PROPOSED COUNCIL DISTRICTS.
A map of the County of Hawai' i showing all Council Districts is attached as EXHIBIT 5.
(7) JUSTIFICATION FOR ANY DIVERGENCE FROM REQUIREMENTS OR
CRITERIA.
The Commission did not diverge from any requirements or criteria.
(8) MINUTES OF ALL MEETINGS AND PUBLIC HEARINGS.
Page 3
Completed minutes of the 2021 Redistricting Commission Meetings are attached as EXHIBIT 6.
Meetings and hearings were conducted as follows:
MEETINGS
PUBLIC HEARINGS
PUBLIC HEARINGS ON
DRAFT PLAN
March 1, 2021
October 11, 2021 District 2
December 14, 2021 West Hawai' i
September 9, 2021
October 14, 2021 District 1
December 16, 2021 East Hawaii
September 23, 2021
October 18, 2021 District 3
September 30, 2021
October 21, 2021 District 4
October 14, 2021
October 25, 2021 District 5
October 28, 2021
October 28, 2021 District 6
November 12, 2021
November 1, 2021 District 7
November 23, 2021
(recessed and reconvened
November 29, 2021
November 4, 2021 District 8
December 9, 2021
November 8, 2021 District 9
December 17, 2021
December 21, 2021
Hawai'i Revised Statutes Chapter 92, Section 92-9 allows for minutes to be made available
within forty days after a commission meeting. In addition to complying with this requirement, to
accommodate the availability of timely public review of its proceedings, the 2021 Commission
utilized a YouTube channel. Beginning with its September 23, 2021 session, all meetings and
public hearings were livestreamed for the public. Archived videos were posted for playback of
sessions, in its entirety, within 24 hours of the meeting. The Commission intends to maintain its
YouTube channel through at least calendar year 2022 for public access in viewing all sessions.
3
2021 Redistricting Commission Report Page 4
(9) DOCUMENTATION FOR ACCEPTING OR REJECTING ALTERNATE PLANS.
The deadline for submission of an alternate plan was October 14, 2021.
Pursuant to Hawaii County Code Chapter 36, Article 5, the Commission determined this
deadline during its September 9, 2021 session, prior to the fourth meeting. The deadline was
publicly announced during an open session of the Commission and on the September 23, 2021
agenda.
As defined by the Code, the Commission received one Alternate Plan.
The plan adopted by the Redistricting Commission includes, in large part, portions of the
alternate plan recommended to the commission.
In addition, testimony and public input received from various community members throughout
the redistricting process were taken under consideration by the Commission within the extent of
its requirements to act within the parameters of the Charter and Code.
(10) ANY OTHER DATA USED BY THE COMMISSION.
The Commission did not use any other data or criteria in adopting the Final Redistricting Plan.
In addition to the required components for its report, the following are recommendations of the
2021 Redistricting Commission:
1) Amend Hawaii County Charter Section 3-17(e) to reverse the current order of public
hearings in such that there be one each in east and west Hawaii prior to completion of a
draft plan and nine hearings be held in each council district after the Commission selects
a draft plan. This would allow for more constructive feedback from the public. (For
further rationale, see Exhibit 7 — letters from Chairperson.)
2) Explore and enact applicable legislation that would provide oversight for future
commissions to adjust incarcerated individuals based on their residential address instead
of the incarcerated facility. (For further rationale, see Exhibit 7 — letters from
Chairperson.)
3) The County work with the State Office of Elections and United States Census Bureau to
address problematic census blocks identified by the Commission that result in data
irregularities and issues in applying boundary map lines. (For further details and
information, see Exhibit 7 — letters from Chairperson, Exhibit 8 — Census Block Issue
List, and Exhibit 9 — New District Boundaries and Communities of Interest,
additional comments section in submission by Vice -Chairperson Hustace.)
Supplemental to this report, Commissioners representing council districts 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, and 9
provided individual rationale statements for their respective areas. See: Exhibit 9 — New District
Boundaries and Communities of Interest.
F.
iW:u:110ii
HAWAII COUNTY CHARTER
Section 3-17
Section 3-17. County Redistricting Commission.
(a) There shall be a county redistricting commission which shall establish the boundaries of the council
districts.
(b) The initial redistricting commission shall consist of seven members, two of whom shall be residents of
the combined judicial districts of North and South Hilo, one from the judicial district of Puna, one from
the judicial district of Ka`u, one from the combined judicial districts of North and South Kona, one from
the combined judicial districts of North and South Kohala, and one from the judicial district of Hamakua.
The members shall be appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council in the manner prescribed in
Section 13-4.
(c) Each subsequent redistricting commission shall consist of nine members. Each of the nine council districts
shall be represented by a resident appointed from that district, as established by the previous redistricting
commission. The members shall be appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council in the manner
prescribed in Section 13-4.
(d) The year 1991 and every tenth year thereafter shall be redistricting years. The redistricting commission
shall be appointed and confirmed by July 1 of the year immediately preceding the redistricting year, and
shall file a redistricting plan with the county clerk by December 31 of the redistricting year. A report shall
be filed with the redistricting plan providing an explanation of the commission's reasoning for the plan
and how the plan complies with the criteria provided in subsection (g). The redistricting commission shall
be dissolved after the filing of the redistricting plan.
(e) Prior to completing a draft of the redistricting plan, the commission shall hold at least one public hearing
in each of the nine council districts. Upon completion of a draft redistricting plan, the commission shall
hold at least one public hearing in east Hawaii and one in west Hawaii.
(f) The county clerk shall furnish all necessary technical and secretarial services for the redistricting
commission. The council shall appropriate necessary funds to enable the commission to carry out its
duties.
(g) The redistricting commission shall adhere to the following criteria in establishing the boundaries of the
council districts:
(1) No district shall be drawn to unduly favor or penalize a person or political faction;
(2) Insofar as possible, districts should be contiguous and compact;
(3) District lines shall, where possible, follow permanent and easily recognizable features;
(4) Districts shall have approximately equal resident populations as required by applicable
constitutional provisions.
(h) The district boundaries as established by the redistricting commission shall be in effect at the first regularly
scheduled council election following the filing of the plan and for any subsequent council election. The
district boundaries in effect prior to the filing of the redistricting plan shall remain in effect during the
duration of the term of all councilmembers elected or appointed to represent such districts until the
expiration of the full term of such councilmembers, including any election held to fill an unexpired term
under Section 3-5.
(i) No member of the redistricting commission shall be eligible to become a candidate for election to the
County Council in the first election under any such redistricting plan.
Article 1. Definitions.
Section 36-1. Definitions.
Article 2. Training.
Section 36-2. Training.
Article 3. Redistricting Criteria.
Section 36-3. Established criteria.
Section 36-4. Additional criteria.
Article 4. Plan Deviations.
Section 36-5. Total deviation.
Section 36-6. Maximum council district deviation.
Article 5. Alternate Plan.
Section 36-7. Plan proposed by the public.
Section 36-8. Alternate plan consideration.
Section 36-9. Repealed.
Article 6. Final Plan.
Section 36-10. Written report.
Section 36-11. Challenges to the plan.
i SUPP. 5 (1-2019)
REDISTRICTING § 36-1
Article 1. Definitions.
Section 36-1. Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
"Bizarre council district shape" means a council district that is drawn to have a
very odd or grotesque shape, that has absurdities or is ridiculous in design, may cause
grotesque projections into another district, may add an area that defies logic as to why
it was included, or is so weird on its face that it is unexplainable on grounds other than
gerrymandering.
"Commission" means the redistricting commission.
"Commissioner" means one of the nine members of the commission, duly appointed
in the manner prescribed in section 13-4 of the Charter.
"Community of interest" or "community of common interest" means a group defined
by actual shared interests.
"Council district deviation" means the number of percentage points plus or minus
5.99 percent that a population assigned to a council district differs from that of an ideal
council district's population.
"Fracturing" or "cracking" means drawing council district lines so that a minority
population is broken up and spread among as many council districts as possible,
keeping them a minority in every council district, rather than permitting them to
concentrate their strength enough to elect representatives in some council districts.
"Gerrymander" means the process of drawing council districts with odd or bizarre
shapes to create an unfair advantage.
"Ideal council district's population" means the total number of the County's
permanent residents divided by the number of council districts.
"Minority population" means a group with similar demographics or characteristics
that may share but not be limited to: ethnicity, political preferences, a socio-economic
group, or a community of interest or community of common interest.
"One person, one vote" means using a benchmark against which the residents of the
County may measure democracy; the vote of each resident shall be as equally powerful
as practicable and the population shall be divided as equally as practicable as to the
County's permanent resident population so that each person and each interest has an
equal amount of representation in government.
"Packing" means drawing council district boundary lines so that the members of the
minority population are concentrated, or "packed," into as few council districts as
possible, resulting in a super -majority of that minority population in the packed council
district.
36-1 SUPP. 5 (1-2019)
MIM
HAwAi'i COUNTY CODE
"Permanent resident" for census purposes means a person who is domiciled in the
County for other than a temporary or transitory purpose. No person shall be deemed to
have gained or lost a residence simply because of a person's presence or absence in
compliance with military or naval orders of the United States, or while engaged in
aviation or navigation, or while a student at any institution of learning.
"Plan" means a redistricting plan proposed by the commission or any alternative
plan submitted by the public.
"Practicable" means reasonably capable of being accomplished, possible or feasible.
"Redistricting" means establishing the boundaries of the council districts, which
shall have approximately equal resident populations as required by applicable
constitutional provisions.
"Redistricting cycle" means that period of time when the United States Census
Bureau conducts a census of the population of the United States of America in the
census year followed by redistricting in the redistricting year, and culminates with the
next general election following redistricting.
"Region" means one of six geographical areas which includes: Puna, comprised of
Upper and Lower Puna; Kona, comprised of North and South Kona; Kohala, comprised
of North and South Kohala; Hilo, comprised of North and South Hilo; Ka'a; and
Hdmdkua.
"Socio- economic group" means a group that shares both economic and social
characteristics.
"Standard of fairness principles" means that the commission shall use honesty,
morality, and fairness in its decisions regarding redistricting.
"Total deviation" means the overall range used to measure the population equality
of a plan; the difference between the council district with the most negative percentage
deviation and the council district with the most positive percentage deviation.
"United States census year" means those years ending in the numeral zero such as
2010, 2020, etc.
"Vote dilution" means the limitation of the effectiveness of a particular group's vote
by political gerrymandering.
(2011, ord 11-29, see 2; am 2018, ord 18-98, see 2.)
Article 2. Training.
Section 36-2. Training.
Commissioners shall be trained in redistricting law and the code of ethics by the
office of the corporation counsel or its designated agent, and may be provided any other
training by appropriate personnel to enable the commission to be efficient and educated
on this topic.
(2011, ord 11-29, see 2.)
SUPP. 5 (1-2019) 36-2
REDISTRICTING § 36-3
Article 3. Redistricting Criteria.
Section 36-3. Established criteria.
The commission shall adhere to the criteria in establishing boundaries of the
council districts set forth in section 3-17, subsection (g) of the Charter.
(2011, ord 11-29, sec 2.)
Section 36-4. Additional criteria.
In addition to the established criteria, the commission shall also adhere to the
following criteria in establishing boundaries of the council districts:
(1) Council districts shall have approximately equal, permanent, resident
populations, as required by applicable constitutional provisions to prevent vote
dilution to the maximum degree practicable.
(2) Nonresident military personnel, nonresident military dependents, nonresident
students, and foreign nationals or aliens shall be excluded from the
permanent, resident population base used to calculate each proposed council
district's population and its deviations from an ideal council district's
population, if practicable.
(3) An ideal council district's population number shall be used to determine by
what percentage each council district's population deviates from the
population of an ideal council district.
(4) The number of council districts to which a region is entitled shall be
determined by adding together the permanent resident population according
to the United States census for the applicable United States census year
within each region and dividing that number by an ideal council district's
population.
(A) Fractional portions of such districts shall be rounded to the nearest
integer to determine the number of council districts required for that
region.
(B) Numbers from 0.10 to 0.49 shall be rounded down to the nearest integer.
Numbers from 0.50 to 0.99 shall be rounded up to the nearest integer.
(5) There shall be no partisanship or racism in drawing council district
boundaries.
(6) No council district shall be drawn to unduly favor or penalize an incumbent.
(7) Council district boundaries shall be drawn without regard to any incumbent's
residential location, any incumbent's ability to run for re-election in that
incumbent's current council district, or whether any incumbent faces another
incumbent for re-election.
(8) Community of interest or community of common interest shall be respected
and be kept together in the plan, if practicable.
(9) Council districts shall be drawn to be as compact as practicable while
maintaining the community or communities of interest.
36-3
31=
HAwAi'i COUNTY CODE
(10) The County shall use to the extent possible a reasonably current computer
mapping program and shall make the program accessible to the public, if
practicable.
(11) All parts of each council district shall be contiguous to the council district and
be reachable by roads internal to the council district.
(12) There shall be no gerrymandering for any reason.
(13) The drawing of bizarre council district shapes shall be avoided even if a
previous plan was designed using an odd, unusual, or illogical shape.
(14) There shall be no fracturing, packing, or cracking of council districts, if
practicable.
(15) The one person, one vote principle shall be used.
(16) If the commission establishes criteria in addition to those enumerated in the
Charter and this chapter, the commission shall use impartial criteria that
meet standard of fairness principles.
(17) If practicable, socio-economic criteria used in developing the plan, not
specifically set forth in this chapter, shall be identified, documented, and
approved by majority vote of the commission, before drawing proposed council
district boundaries. If practicable, socio-economic groups shall be kept
together.
(2011, ord 11-29, see 2.)
Article 4. Plan Deviations.
Section 36-5. Total deviation.
(a) The total deviation for the entire plan shall be less than ten percent.
(b) If a population of permanent residents must be assigned to a different council
district to ensure that the total deviation is less than ten percent and such
equalization involves reassigning any portion of a subdivision, the entire
subdivision shall be moved as a unit, if practicable.
(2011, ord 11-29, see 2.)
Section 36-6. Maximum council district deviation.
(a) The maximum council district deviation for a proposed council district shall not
exceed plus or minus 5.99 percent of an ideal council district's population.
(b) If practicable, documented, high -growth areas shall be drawn to receive the most
negative council district deviation percentage in the final plan so that as a high
growth area or district continues to increase in population between census years,
the council district's deviations may be equalized.
(2011, ord 11-29, see 2; am 2018, ord 18-98, see 3.)
SUPP. 5 (1-2019) 36-4
REDISTRICTING § 36-7
Article 5. Alternate Plan.
Section 36-7. Plan proposed by the public.
(a) Any resident or group of residents of the County shall have the right to propose an
alternate plan to the commission for review.
(b) The deadline for the submission of an alternate plan or plans shall be determined
by the fourth meeting of the commission and that date shall be publicly announced.
(c) Any proposed alternate plan shall be submitted to the commission at least eight
weeks prior to the deadline for the draft plan.
(2011, ord 11-29, see 2.)
Section 36-8. Alternate plan consideration.
(a) To be considered for commission review, the alternate plan shall include a
computerized map of the proposed council districts, the total population number
used to devise the plan, the total deviation not to exceed ten percent, and the
deviation for each council district not to exceed plus or minus 5.99 percent.
(b) An alternate plan shall be provided to the commission for discussion at public
hearings unless the commission formally rejects the alternate plan for just cause.
(c) Any alternate plan submitted for consideration that the commission has not
formally rejected for just cause during public hearings shall continue to be
considered by the commission for the remaining public hearings and meetings until
a final plan is selected.
(2011, ord 11-29, see 2; am 2018, ord 18-98, see 4.)
Section 36-9. Repealed.
(2011, ord 11-29, see 2; rep 2018, ord 18-98, see 5.)
Article 6. Final Plan.
Section 36-10. Written report.
(a) The commission shall submit a written report to the county clerk transmitting the
final plan chosen by the commission.
36-5 SUPP. 5 (1-2019)
36-10 HAwAi'i COUNTY CODE
(b) The written report shall include:
(1) The final vote of the commission as to its choice of plan;
(2) The total permanent, resident population base used by the commission;
(3) The total deviation of the final plan;
(4) Each proposed council district's population and its associated deviation;
(5) Maps of each council district and a written description of each council district's
boundary;
(6) A map of the island with all proposed council districts included;
(7) Justification for any divergence from any of these requirements or criteria or
any criteria added by the commission and, in addition:
(A) Divergence from or adding additional redistricting criteria shall require
formal adoption by the commission. The commission shall justify the
divergence or addition to the redistricting criteria at a duly noticed and
scheduled public meeting. Such justification and public meeting is to be
held prior to the commission's selection or determination of any council
district boundaries and before the deadline for filing an alternate plan or
plans, as the case may be;
(B) Written justification for divergence, criteria changes, and meeting
minutes shall be included with the submission of the final plan and shall
set forth the commission's rationale for divergences from or additions to
the redistricting criteria.
(8) Minutes of all meetings and hearings associated with the commission;
(9) Documentation in the commission's final report stating the reason any
alternate plan, whether accepted or not, was selected or rejected; and
(10) Any other data used by the commission in its deliberations.
(2011, ord 11-29, sec 2.)
Section 36-11. Challenges to the plan.
In the event of a successful court challenge of a plan, the commission shall continue
in operation and may assist the court in formulating a new plan unless a court of
competent jurisdiction determines otherwise.
(2011, ord 11-29, sec 2.)
36-6
EXHIBIT 2
2021 HAWAII COUNTY REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
RULES OF PROCEDURE
MEETINGS AND QUORUM
Regular Meetings. Unless otherwise designated in advance, the date, time
and place of regular meetings will be determined by a majority of the
Commission members.
b. Meeting Location. Meetings will be held at the Hawaii County Council
Chambers, 25 Aupuni Street, Hilo, Hawaii 96720, or at the Hawaii County
Council Chambers at the West Hawaii Civic Center, 75-5044 Ane
Keohokalole Highway, Building A, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740, or such
other location as the Commission may designate in advance.
Videoconferencing may be utilized, subject to availability and applicable
laws.
C. Special Meetings. Special meetings may be called by the Chairperson or
by a majority of the Commission.
i) The time, date, and place of such special meeting shall be
announced prior to adjournment of a regular meeting. If the
Commission is unable to announce a special meeting prior to the
adjournment of a regular meeting, written notice must be filed in
accordance with HRS § 92-7 and § 13-20(c) of the Hawaii County
Charter.
d. Executive Meetin&s. The Commission may hold a meeting closed to the
public for one or more of the purposes set forth in HRS § 92-5, or where
personal matters affecting the privacy of an individual are to be considered
and the individual involved requests a closed meeting to consider such
matter; however, any resultant official action shall be acted upon in an
open meeting in accordance with § 13-20(b) of the Hawaii County
Charter. An affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members present is
required to enter into executive session provided that the majority vote
constitutes a majority of the members to which the board is entitled. The
reason for holding a meeting closed to the public shall be recorded, and
entered into the minutes of the meeting.
Public Hearings. Prior to completing a draft Redistricting Plan, the
Commission is required to conduct nine public hearings, one hearing in
each of the nine Council Districts. Upon completion of a draft
Redistricting Plan, the Commission shall hold at least one public hearing
in east Hawaii and one in west Hawai` i. The Commission shall give
public notice, in accordance with HRS § 92-7 and Section 13-20(c),
Hawaii County Code, to inform the public of the time, place and subject
matter of the public hearing.
f. Committee Mcetin s. Reserved.
g. Quorum. The majority of the members to which the Commission is
entitled shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. In the
absence of a quorum, a meeting may not be convened except for the
purpose of either recessing the meeting to another date, time, and specific
location or publicly adjourning the meeting due to lack of quorum.
It ATTENDANCE
All Commission members shall attend all meetings unless excused by the
Chairperson. If a Commissioner wants to attend a meeting via
videoconference pursuant to HRS § 92-3.5, a written request must be
submitted to the Chairperson and approval obtained prior to the filing
deadline of the agenda for that meeting.
III. OFFICERS AND THEIR DUTIES
a. Officers. The officers of the Commission shall consist of a Chairperson, a
Vice -Chairperson.
Nomination and election of the Chairperson. As provided in Article XIII,
Section 13-4(h), Hawaii County Charter, a Chairperson of the
Commission shall be elected from its membership annually. Any member
of the Commission may be nominated as Chairperson and voted into the
position at the first meeting of the Redistricting Commission by a majority
of all members to which the Commission is entitled.
C. Duties and Powers of the Chairperson. The Chairperson of the
Commission shall be the presiding officer of the Commission and shall
have the right to vote, debate, and make motions as other members. It
shall be the duty of the chairperson to:
i. Maintain order and decorum and reasonably administer the receipt
of oral and written testimony in accordance with these rules;
ii. Set the meeting agenda, items requested in writing by
Commission members to be placed on an agenda within two
regularly scheduled; [Am. 04/10/09]
iii. Announce the business before the Commission in the order
prescribed by these rules and announce the results of any
Commission vote;
iv. When necessary or required, to sign and certify all official acts of
the Commission and all vouchers, purchase orders, etc., for
payment of expenditures of the Commission;
V. To appoint committees, and consultants when authorized by the
Commission, in accordance with applicable laws; and
vi. Serve as the chief spokesperson and representative for the
Commission before the public and the County government. All
official information shall be released through the Chairperson.
Duties and Powers of the Vice -Chairperson. It shall be the duty of the
Vice -Chairperson to:
i. Exercise all duties and powers of the Chairperson in the
Chairperson's absence;
ii. Assist the Chairperson as needed; and
iii. Perform other such duties as are prescribed by law or assigned by
the Commission.
IV. NOTICE
a. The Commission shall comply with all notice provisions of ITRS § 92-7
and Hawaii County Charter § 13-20(c).
b. Agenda Items Submitted by Commission Members. Commission
members may request, in writing to the Chairperson, that a particular issue
be placed on an upcoming agenda. All requests must be made at least 10
days in advance of the meeting date. Unless otherwise requested and
appropriate, agenda items submitted under t his section shall be placed
under the agenda heading "Communications." [Am. 04/10/09]
V. COMMITTEES
a. Reserved.
VI. VOTING
a. Method of Votin . There shall be five methods of voting:
i. By voice;
ii. By raising of hands;
iii. By rising;
iv. By unanimous consent; and
V. By roll call.
b. Voting Procedure. The method of voting shall be determined by the
Chairperson of the Commission provided that if a vote is not unanimous,
3
the Chairperson shall announce the names of those members voting in the
minority and those who are absent. If, however, a meeting is conducted
via videoconference pursuant to HRS § 92-3.5, voting on non -procedural
matters shall be conducted via roll call.
C. Abstentions. No member shall refrain from voting unless excused by the
Chairperson or is otherwise excused by law. Unless a member is excused
from voting, silence shall be recorded as an affirmative.
d. Rule of the Majority. Procedural matters, requests for information, and
internal Commission matters shall require the approval of a majority vote
of those present at any meeting. Voting on the submission of the final
plan shall require the approval of six (b) members of the Commission.
C. Reconsideration. A vote of the Commission may be reconsidered in
accordance with Robert's Rules of Order, 10th Edition and applicable
notice requirements.
VII. ORDER OF BUSINESS
a. The order of business shall be as follows:
i. Roll Call;
ii. Introduction of Guests;
iii. Statements from the Public;
iv. Approval of Minutes;
V. Communications;
vi. Order of the Day;
vii. Unfinished Business;
viii. Reports;
ix. Referrals for Executive Session; and
X. Adjournment.
b. Alterations to Order of Business. The order of business may be altered by
the Chairperson or by majority vote of the Commission.
VIII. PUBLIC STATEMENTS AND TESTIMONY
a. Written Testimony. Written testimonies shall be received for the record
on any agenda item. If possible, fourteen (14) written copies of the
testimony should be submitted for presentation to the Commission by
12:00 noon the previous business day of the meeting. Testimony received
after 12:00 noon shall still be received for the record and will be presented
to the Commission members as soon as practicable.
4
b. Oral Testimony. Members of the public who wish to provide oral
testimony shall abide by the following:
i. Persons wishing to present oral testimony on any agenda item shall
register with the secretary prior to the closing of statements from
the public at the call of the Chairperson, indicating the item on
which they wish to speak and their position, if any. Persons may
provide their name, address, and organization they represent, if
any;
ii. The Chairperson shall call the name of the person wishing to
speak, and all persons shall speak before a microphone, and be
informed that their statements will be recorded;
iii. Each person may speak for three (3) minutes for each agenda item
that they wish to speak on. At the discretion of the Chairperson,
any statements not relevant to an agenda item shall not be heard or
considered;
iv. No person will be allowed to speak more than once on the same
agenda item;
V. Any person wishing to speak on more than one agenda item shall
register separately for each agenda item;
vi. All statements are to be made to the Commission in general, and
not to any specific member;
vii. With the exception of public hearings, Commission members shall
refrain from making comments or asking questions of testifiers
during statements from the public;
viii. Written proposals regarding any alternate plans shall be submitted
as provided for in Ordinance No. 11-29;
ix. Written statements on issues before the Commission may be
deferred until such time as the subject matter referred to in the
statement appears on the Commission's agenda. if deferred, the
writer shall be informed when the issue will be on the agenda to
allow the writer the opportunity to address the Commission and
elaborate and/or provide clarity, should the writer so desire;
X. All members of the public shall extend proper courtesy and respect
to one another and to all Commission members and staff. All
persons shall be addressed by their surnames and no profanity or
abusive remarks will be allowed at any time. Any person who is
disrespectful to the Commission, staff or other members of the
public through disorderly or contemptuous behavior, or who
disrupts the exercise of any Commissioner's duty, may be removed
from the meeting at the discretion of the Chairperson; and
A. Any person who does not abide by these rules may be ruled out of
order by the Chairperson.
No Diminished Responsibility. Nothing in this rule shall diminish the
responsibility or the authority of the Chairperson to maintain order and
decorum.
IX. REDISTRICTING PLAN
a. Authority. The Redistricting Commission of the County of Hawaii shall
comply with the provisions of the following:
i. Section 3-17 of the Hawaii County Charter;
ii. The provisions of Ordinance No. 11-29, an Ordinance Establishing
a Chapter Relating to Redistricting. "Chapter 36 Redistricting.";
iii. All applicable Constitutional provisions and laws of the State of
Hawaii; and
iv. All applicable Constitutional provisions and laws of the United
State of America.
b. Deadlines. In order to ensure ample time to consider proposed
redistricting plans, to consider alternate plans, and to ensure for public
hearings as required under the Charter of the County of Hawaii, time for
the consideration of Alternate Plans as set forth in Hawai` i County
Ordinance No. 11-29, and the preparation and transmission of the written
report transmitting the Final Redistricting Plan to the Clerk of the County
of Hawaii, the draft of the Final Redistricting Plan shall be completed by
December 9, 202.1.
C. Draft Final Plan. Upon completion of the draft Redistricting Plan, the
Commission shall conduct two public hearings, one in west Hawaii and
one in East Hawaii.
d. Final Redistricting Plan. The Final Redistricting Plan and report shall be
submitted to the Cleric of the County of Hawaii no later than December
31, 2011.
X. ORDER AND DECORUM
a. A Commissioner must be recognized by the Chairperson before speaking.
The member shall address the Chairperson when recognized and shall
confine discussion to the question under debate and avoid personalities.
Any Commissioner who arrives late at a hearing or meeting shall refrain
from taking the Commission's time with questions and inquiries on
matters already discussed.
6
c. If any Commissioner behaves in a disorderly or contemptuous manner
during any session of the Commission or its Committees, the Chairperson
shall order such member to cease and shall preserve the peace. if the
Commissioner persists, the Chairperson shall order the offending
Commissioner removed from the meeting, and that Commissioner shall
not be permitted to be seated during the remainder of the session, except
upon approval of the Chairperson or by majority vote of the Commission.
d. All Commissioners shall extend proper courtesy and respect to one
another and to all persons speaking before the Commission. No profanity
or abusive remarks shall be allowed at any time in any meeting.
C. All persons shall be addressed by their surnames.
XI. PARLIAMENTARY AUTHORITY
Robert's Rules of Order. The rules of parliamentary authority, where not
inconsistent with these rules, shall be Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised,
IOth Edition.
XII. EXPENSES
Authorization. No member of the Commission shall incur any expense in which
the member intends to seek reimbursement from the Commission except with the
consent of the Chairperson.
XIII. PUBLIC ACCESS
Documents and Information. Any person may obtain information, or submit
requests for records by contacting the secretary to the Commission subject to
applicable laws. Copies of all official minutes, documents, agenda, procedures,
statements, or decisions shall be available from the secretary at such costs as may
be authorized by law. All official documents, agenda, procedures, statements or
decisions shall also be placed on the County of Hawaii website: co.hawaii.hi.us.
XIV. MINUTES
a. Generally. The Commission shall keep written minutes of all meetings.
Neither a full transcript nor a recording of the meeting is required, but the
written minutes shall give a true reflection of the matters discussed and the
views of the participants. The minutes shall include, but need not be
limited to:
The date, time, and place of the meeting;
7
ii. The members of the Commission recorded as either present or
absent;
iii. The substance of all matters proposed, discussed, or decided, and a
record, by individual member, of any votes taken; and
iv. Any other information that any member of the Commission
requests be included or reflected in the minutes.
Avaiiabili . The minutes shall be public records and shall be available
within thirty (30) days after the meeting except where such disclosure
would be inconsistent with Section 92-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, or
Section 13-20 of the Hawaii County Charter. Minutes of executive
meetings may be withheld only as long as their publication would defeat
the lawful purpose of the executive meeting.
XV. ATTORNEY AND SECRETARY TO THE COMMISSION
a. Attorney. The attorney for the Commission shall be appointed by the
Office of the Corporation Counsel, subject to confirmation by majority
vote of the entire membership of the Commission. All requests for legal
opinions shall be made through the Chairperson after discussion of the
matter at a properly noticed meeting. All legal opinions will be distributed
to the entire Commission and are subject to the attorney -client privilege.
The duties of the attorney are as follows:
i. Attend all meetings of the Commission and its Committees;
ii. Ensure compliance with all applicable open meeting laws, rules,
and procedural requirements;
iii. Provide legal research and opinions to the Commission; and
iv. Other duties as required.
b. Secretary. The secretary to the Commission shall be designated by the
County Cleric of the County of Hawaii, subject to confirmation by
majority vote of the entire membership of the Commission. All
assignments for the secretary shall be made through the Chairperson. The
duties of the secretary are as follows:
i. Take and transcribe all notes and minutes of the Commission and
Committee meetings;
ii. Prepare and post the meeting agenda;
iii. Securing and preparing the meeting location;
iv. Receive and distribute public testimony;
V. Set-up and break -down video-conferencing equipment when
required; and
vi. Other duties as assigned.
XVI. AMENDMENTS AND REVISIONS TO THE RULES OF PROCEDURE
Amendments. These rules may be amended at a regular meeting of the
Commission by an affirmative majority vote of the entire membership of
the Commission, provided that at least six (6) days advance notice of such
amendment(s) and meeting are first given to each member.
b. Revisions. Whenever changes to the rules are so extensive and general
that they are scattered throughout the rules such that an entirely new set of
rules, called a revision, is necessary, then such revision shall require the
adoption by a two-thirds affirmative vote of the entire membership of the
Commission. The notice requirement shall be the same as those for
amendments.
XVII. SEVERABILITY
In the event any rule contained herein is in conflict with the provisions of the U.S.
Constitution, Hawaii State Constitution, Hawaii Revised Statutes, Hawaii County
Charter, or the Hawai` i County Code, such rule shall be deemed invalid. Such invalidity
shall not affect other rules contained herein that can otherwise be given effect without the
invalid rule, and to this end these rules are severable.
These Rules of Procedure of the County Redistricting Commission were adopted by the
2021 County Redistricting Commission on March 1, 2021.
Chairperson, County Redistricting Commission
e
ti
Se&Aary to the Re Astri frog ommission
EXHIBIT 3
MAPS OF EACH
COUNCIL DISTRICT
\\o \ \ NO
\\\�\
t \ a N \ D
\
ti
1
I fit.
F
9
l
Hawaii County Council District 1
2.5 1.25 0 2.5 5 7.5 1 Miles
County of Hawaii
Council District Final Plan
December 21, 2021
County of Hawaii
Redistricting
Commission 2021
s
Hawaii County Council District 2
County of Hawaii
Council District Final Plan
December 21, 2021
1
County of Hawaii
Redistricting
Commission 2021
F
2.5 1.25 0 2.5 5 7.5 J
files
Hawaii County Council District 3
1.75 0.88 0 1.75 3.5 5.25 7
Miles
County of Hawaii
Council District Final Plan
December 21, 2021
3 ryjd
fl
b
County of Hawaii
Redistricting
Commission 2021
Hawaii County Council District 4
2.5 1.25 0 2.5 5 7.5 1Mlles
t
�
�.
s
�� � �t ems•
�-
pz
r
{f
E`
A
J i
lea✓ f
/
,
`z
tJf
Hawaii County Council District 5
1.25 0.63 0 1.25 2.5 3.75 �vliles
County of Hawaii County of Hawaii
Council District Final Plan Redistricting
December 21, 2021 Commission 2021
7
\\ f
J
- _________
--
� �
r
t i 1
d
v
'
{.M
1
i
v
ai n
A}
" t
Hawaii County Council District 6-
County of Hawaii
Council District Final Plan
December 21, 2021
2.5 1.25 0 2.5 5 7.5 1�
files
Countv of Hawaii
Redistricting
Commission 2021
4
t ;
2
i
i - '
i
i
v
7
i v
JA}
C'tt
T�
6
Hawaii County Council District 7
2.5 1.25 0 2.5 5 T5 10
Miles
County of Hawaii County of Hawaii
Council District Final Plan Redistricting
December 21. 2021 Commission 2021
Hawaii County Council District 9
County of Hawaii
Council District Final Plan County of Hawaii
December 21, 2021 Redistricting
2.5 1.25 0 2.5 5 7.5 1� Afiles Commission 2021
a
EXHIBIT 4
WRITTEN DESCRIPTIONS
OF EACH
COUNCIL DISTRICT
(For further information from what is provided in
this exhibit, please contact the County of Hawaii
Elections Division at 808-961-8277)
Council District 1
Beginning at the most northerly point of Council 1, thence southeasterly 67.99 miles along
Unnamed Boundary, thence westerly 0.36 miles along Pacific , thence southerly 1.11 miles along
Unnamed Boundary, thence southeasterly 0.04 miles along Hawaii Belt Road, thence
southwesterly 0.24 miles along Unnamed Shoreline, thence southwesterly 0.01 miles along
Wailuku River, thence northwesterly 0.10 miles along Wainaku Ave , thence westerly 2.40
miles along Amauulu Road, thence southwesterly 0.34 miles along Kupulani St, thence
southeasterly 0.80 miles along Maikalani St, thence southwesterly 0.28 miles along Unnamed
Local Road, thence westerly 0.37 miles along Waiau Stream , thence northwesterly 2.37 miles
along Unnamed Line, thence westerly 14.55 miles along Awehi Stream , thence southwesterly
0.59 miles along Mana Road, thence westerly 1.91 miles along Nukupahu Gulch, thence
northwesterly 0.37 miles along Waipahoehoe Gulch , thence northerly 4.28 miles along
Kahinahina Trail , thence northerly 3.51 miles along Kaaliali Trail , thence northwesterly 14.99
miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence northwesterly 1.66 miles along Mana Road,
thence northerly 0.17 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence northwesterly 4.26 miles along
Mana Road, thence northerly 1.31 miles along Mealani Road, thence westerly 0.92 miles along
Unnamed Boundary, thence northerly 0.69 miles along White Road, thence westerly 0.03 miles
along State Rte 19 , thence westerly 0.81 miles along Mamalahoa Hwy , thence northwesterly
0.04 miles along Puu Nani Drive, thence northwesterly 0.25 miles along Puu Nohea St , thence
northwesterly 0.38 miles along Puu Nani Drive , thence northeasterly 0.15 miles along Unnamed
Boundary, thence northwesterly 0.25 miles along Unnamed Line, thence northwesterly 9.04
miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence northerly 0.49 miles along Unnamed Property Line,
thence southwesterly 0.02 miles along Unnamed Line, thence northwesterly 1.68 miles along
Unnamed Boundary, thence northeasterly 0.39 miles along Unnamed Line, thence northwesterly
3.51 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence westerly 0.54 miles along Unnamed Property Line,
thence northerly 1.58 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence northerly 3.89 miles along
Honokea Stream , thence northeasterly 0.02 miles along Unnamed Line, thence northerly 0.57
miles along Honokea Stream , thence southeasterly 0.05 miles along Pacific , thence northerly
4.15 miles along Unnamed Boundary to the aforementioned point of beginning.
Council District 2
Beginning at the most northerly point of Council 2, thence southeasterly 3.87 miles along
Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence southerly 3.51 miles along Kaaliali Trail , thence southerly
4.28 miles along Kahinahina Trail , thence southeasterly 0.37 miles along Waipahoehoe Gulch,
thence easterly 1.91 miles along Nukupahu Gulch, thence northeasterly 0.59 miles along Mana
Road, thence easterly 14.55 miles along Awehi Stream , thence southeasterly 2.37 miles along
Unnamed Line, thence easterly 0.37 miles along Waiau Stream , thence northeasterly 0.28 miles
along Unnamed Local Road, thence northwesterly 0.80 miles along Maikalani St, thence
northeasterly 0.34 miles along Kupulani St, thence easterly 2.40 miles along Amauulu Road,
thence southeasterly 0.10 miles along Wainaku Ave , thence northeasterly 0.01 miles along
Wailuku River, thence northeasterly 0.24 miles along Unnamed Shoreline, thence northwesterly
0.04 miles along Hawaii Belt Road, thence northerly 1.11 miles along Unnamed Boundary,
thence easterly 0.36 miles along Pacific , thence southeasterly 1.52 miles along Unnamed
Boundary, thence easterly 0.02 miles along Hawaii Belt Road, thence southerly 1.06 miles along
Manono St, thence westerly 0.22 miles along E Lanikaula St, thence southwesterly 0.45 miles
along W Lanikaula St, thence southeasterly 0.29 miles along Kapiolani St, thence southwesterly
0.63 miles along W Kawili St, thence westerly 0.60 miles along W Puainako St, thence
southerly 1.40 miles along Komohana St, thence westerly 1.05 miles along Haihai St, thence
westerly 0.21 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence southwesterly 0.02 miles along Waiakea
Stream , thence westerly 1.84 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence southwesterly 0.52 miles
along Unnamed Property Line, thence westerly 13.96 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence
northwesterly 0.10 miles along Unnamed Local Road, thence northwesterly 0.88 miles along
Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence southwesterly 0.03 miles along Unnamed Local Road, thence
westerly 6.56 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence westerly 7.50 miles along Unnamed
Local Road, thence northerly 8.07 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence westerly 11.27 miles
along Unnamed Property Line, thence northwesterly 4.25 miles along Bobcat Trail , thence
northeasterly 1.19 miles along Unnamed Property Line, thence northeasterly 4.20 miles along
Unnamed Boundary, thence northeasterly 0.03 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence
northeasterly 4.76 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence northeasterly 0.01 miles along
Unnamed Local Road, thence westerly 0.01 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence
northerly 0.50 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence easterly 0.61 miles along Daniel K
Inouye Hwy , thence northerly 1.67 miles along Saddle Road, thence northeasterly 2.75 miles
along Unnamed Local Road, thence easterly 1.33 miles along Auwaiakeakua Gulch , thence
northeasterly 13.97 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail to the aforementioned point of
beginning.
Council District 3
Beginning at the most northerly point of Council 3, thence southerly 25.45 miles along Unnamed
Boundary, thence southeasterly 1.04 miles along Railroad Ave , thence southwesterly 1.40 miles
along Kaloli Drive, thence southeasterly 0.29 miles along Keaau Pahoa Road, thence
northwesterly 1.58 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence northeasterly 0.27 miles along
Pohaku Drive, thence northwesterly 0.54 miles along Keaau Pahoa Road, thence northwesterly
1.34 miles along Keaau Pahua Road, thence northwesterly 0.53 miles along Keaau Byp , thence
westerly 0.16 miles along Keaau Byp , thence northwesterly 0.24 miles along Keaau Pahua Road
, thence northwesterly 0.16 miles along Keaau Pahoa Road, thence westerly 0.49 miles along
Unnamed Boundary, thence northwesterly 0.04 miles along Unnamed Local Road, thence
westerly 0.08 miles along Old Volcano Road, thence northwesterly 0.01 miles along Unnamed
Local Road, thence northeasterly 0.74 miles along Hawaii Belt Road, thence northwesterly 1.56
miles along State Rte 11 , thence northwesterly 1.20 miles along Kanoelehua Ave, thence
southwesterly 0.02 miles along Mamaki St, thence northwesterly 0.21 miles along Hawaii Belt
Road, thence southwesterly 9.66 miles along Stainback Hwy , thence westerly 12.23 miles along
Unnamed Boundary, thence northwesterly 0.65 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence
northeasterly 16.15 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence northeasterly 0.52 miles along
Unnamed Property Line, thence easterly 1.84 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence
northeasterly 0.02 miles along Waiakea Stream , thence easterly 0.21 miles along Unnamed
Boundary, thence easterly 1.05 miles along Haihai St, thence northerly 1.40 miles along
Komohana St, thence easterly 0.60 miles along W Puainako St, thence northeasterly 0.63 miles
along W Kawili St, thence northwesterly 0.29 miles along Kapiolani St, thence northeasterly
0.45 miles along W Lanikaula St, thence easterly 0.22 miles along E Lanikaula St, thence
northerly 1.06 miles along Manono St, thence westerly 0.02 miles along Hawaii Belt Road,
thence northeasterly 8.67 miles along Unnamed Boundary to the aforementioned point of
beginning.
Council District 4
Beginning at the most northerly point of Council 4, thence southerly 45.68 miles along Unnamed
Boundary, thence easterly 0.19 miles along Pacific , thence westerly 18.15 miles along Unnamed
Boundary, thence northerly 1.21 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence easterly 15.91
miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence northeasterly 3.28 miles along Rock Wall , thence
northeasterly 1.02 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence northwesterly 2.65 miles along Keaau
Pahoa Road, thence northeasterly 1.40 miles along Kaloli Drive, thence northwesterly 1.04
miles along Railroad Ave, thence northeasterly 5.94 miles along Unnamed Boundary to the
aforementioned point of beginning.
Council District 5
Beginning at the most northerly point of Council 5, thence southeasterly 0.21 miles along Hawaii
Belt Road, thence northeasterly 0.02 miles along Mamaki St , thence southeasterly 1.20 miles
along Kanoelehua Ave , thence southeasterly 1.56 miles along State Rte 11 , thence
southwesterly 0.74 miles along Hawaii Belt Road, thence southeasterly 0.01 miles along
Unnamed Local Road, thence easterly 0.08 miles along Old Volcano Road, thence southeasterly
0.04 miles along Unnamed Local Road, thence easterly 0.49 miles along Unnamed Boundary,
thence southeasterly 0.16 miles along Keaau Pahoa Road, thence southeasterly 0.24 miles along
Keaau Pahua Road, thence easterly 0.16 miles along Keaau Byp , thence southeasterly 0.53
miles along Keaau Byp , thence southeasterly 1.34 miles along Keaau Pahua Road, thence
southeasterly 0.54 miles along Keaau Pahoa Road, thence southwesterly 0.27 miles along
Pohaku Drive, thence southeasterly 1.58 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence southeasterly
2.36 miles along Keaau Pahoa Road, thence southwesterly 1.02 miles along Unnamed
Boundary, thence southwesterly 3.28 miles along Rock Wall , thence westerly 13.89 miles along
Unnamed Boundary, thence southwesterly 0.99 miles along Old Volcano Road, thence
northwesterly 0.04 miles along Nahelenani St, thence southwesterly 0.33 miles along Hawaii
Belt Road, thence northerly 9.39 miles along Unnamed Property Line, thence northeasterly 7.51
miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence northeasterly 9.66 miles along Stainback Hwy to the
aforementioned point of beginning.
Council District 6
Beginning at the most northerly point of Council 6, thence southeasterly 0.43 miles along
Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence southeasterly 0.10 miles along Unnamed Local Road, thence
southerly 2.19 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence southeasterly 0.65 miles along Unnamed
Vehicular Trail, thence easterly 7.83 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence southerly 9.39
miles along Unnamed Property Line, thence northeasterly 0.33 miles along Hawaii Belt Road,
thence southeasterly 0.04 miles along Nahelenani St, thence northeasterly 0.99 miles along Old
Volcano Road, thence southwesterly 4.95 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence southerly
1.21 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence easterly 18.15 miles along Unnamed
Boundary, thence westerly 0.19 miles along Pacific , thence westerly 123.65 miles along
Unnamed Boundary, thence northeasterly 0.99 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence
southerly 0.05 miles along Old RR Grade , thence easterly 0.85 miles along Unnamed Vehicular
Trail, thence easterly 0.38 miles along Unnamed Local Road, thence northerly 0.10 miles along
Mamalahoa Hwy , thence easterly 1.03 miles along Trousseau Road, thence easterly 5.15 miles
along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence easterly 0.01 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence
southeasterly 1.57 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence easterly 0.87 miles along
Unnamed Boundary, thence easterly 7.29 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence
southeasterly 0.05 miles along Unnamed Local Road, thence easterly 26.18 miles along
Unnamed Boundary, thence northeasterly 0.23 miles along Mauna Loa Trail , thence northerly
3.04 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence easterly 7.50 miles along Unnamed Local Road,
thence easterly 6.56 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence northeasterly 0.03 miles along
Unnamed Local Road, thence easterly 0.46 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail to the
aforementioned point of beginning.
Council District 7
Beginning at the most northerly point of Council 7, thence southeasterly 12.40 miles along
Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence easterly 4.07 miles along Judd Trail , thence easterly 0.56
miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence southeasterly 0.15 miles along Unnamed
Boundary, thence northeasterly 0.03 miles along Unnamed Property Line, thence southeasterly
4.25 miles along Bobcat Trail , thence easterly 11.27 miles along Unnamed Property Line,
thence southerly 11.12 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence southwesterly 0.23 miles along
Mauna Loa Trail , thence westerly 26.18 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence northwesterly
0.05 miles along Unnamed Local Road, thence westerly 7.29 miles along Unnamed Vehicular
Trail, thence westerly 0.87 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence northwesterly 1.57 miles
along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence westerly 0.01 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence
westerly 5.15 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence westerly 1.03 miles along Trousseau
Road, thence southerly 0.10 miles along Mamalahoa Hwy , thence westerly 0.38 miles along
Unnamed Local Road, thence westerly 0.85 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence
northerly 0.05 miles along Old RR Grade, thence southwesterly 0.99 miles along Unnamed
Vehicular Trail, thence northwesterly 17.04 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence southerly
0.01 miles along Pacific , thence northeasterly 0.04 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence
easterly 0.83 miles along Kealakehe Pkwy , thence easterly 0.06 miles along Unnamed Local
Road, thence southeasterly 2.28 miles along State Rte 19 , thence southeasterly 0.65 miles along
State Rte 11 , thence southeasterly 0.52 miles along Queen Kaahumanu Hwy , thence easterly
1.19 miles along Nani Kailua Drive , thence northeasterly 0.13 miles along Pikake Place , thence
northerly 0.16 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence easterly 0.38 miles along Keaolani Drive
, thence easterly 0.12 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence northerly 0.92 miles along
Mamalahoa Hwy, thence northwesterly 0.03 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence
northwesterly 2.27 miles along Mamalahoa Hwy, thence easterly 5.40 miles along Unnamed
Vehicular Trail to the aforementioned point of beginning.
Council District 8
Beginning at the most northerly point of Council 8, thence easterly 1.16 miles along Unnamed
Boundary, thence southerly 0.09 miles along Pacific , thence northeasterly 0.15 miles along
Unnamed Shoreline, thence southeasterly 25.39 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence
westerly 0.56 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence westerly 4.07 miles along Judd Trail
, thence westerly 17.80 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence southeasterly 2.27 miles
along Mamalahoa Hwy, thence southeasterly 0.03 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence
southerly 0.92 miles along Mamalahoa Hwy, thence westerly 0.12 miles along Unnamed
Vehicular Trail, thence westerly 0.38 miles along Keaolani Drive , thence southerly 0.16 miles
along Unnamed Boundary, thence southwesterly 0.13 miles along Pikake Place , thence westerly
1.19 miles along Nani Kailua Drive, thence northwesterly 0.52 miles along Queen Kaahumanu
Hwy , thence northwesterly 0.65 miles along State Rte 11 , thence northwesterly 2.28 miles
along State Rte 19 , thence westerly 0.06 miles along Unnamed Local Road, thence westerly
0.83 miles along Kealakehe Pkwy , thence southwesterly 0.04 miles along Unnamed Boundary,
thence northerly 0.01 miles along Pacific , thence northeasterly 36.10 miles along Unnamed
Boundary to the aforementioned point of beginning.
Council District 9
Beginning at the most northerly point of Council 9, thence southeasterly 12.92 miles along
Unnamed Boundary, thence northwesterly 0.05 miles along Pacific , thence southerly 0.57 miles
along Honokea Stream , thence southwesterly 0.02 miles along Unnamed Line, thence southerly
3.89 miles along Honokea Stream , thence southerly 1.58 miles along Unnamed Boundary,
thence easterly 0.54 miles along Unnamed Property Line, thence southeasterly 3.51 miles along
Unnamed Boundary, thence southwesterly 0.39 miles along Unnamed Line, thence southeasterly
1.68 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence northeasterly 0.02 miles along Unnamed Line,
thence southerly 0.49 miles along Unnamed Property Line, thence southeasterly 9.04 miles along
Unnamed Boundary, thence southeasterly 0.25 miles along Unnamed Line, thence southwesterly
0.15 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence southeasterly 0.38 miles along Puu Nani Drive ,
thence southeasterly 0.25 miles along Puu Nohea St, thence southeasterly 0.04 miles along Puu
Nani Drive, thence easterly 0.81 miles along Mamalahoa Hwy , thence easterly 0.03 miles along
State Rte 19 , thence southerly 0.69 miles along White Road, thence easterly 0.92 miles along
Unnamed Boundary, thence southerly 1.31 miles along Mealani Road, thence southeasterly 4.26
miles along Mana Road, thence southerly 0.17 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence
southeasterly 1.66 miles along Mana Road, thence southerly 15.95 miles along Unnamed
Vehicular Trail, thence westerly 1.33 miles along Auwaiakeakua Gulch , thence southwesterly
2.75 miles along Unnamed Local Road, thence southerly 1.67 miles along Saddle Road, thence
westerly 0.61 miles along Daniel K Inouye Hwy, thence southerly 0.50 miles along Unnamed
Boundary, thence easterly 0.01 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence southwesterly 0.01
miles along Unnamed Local Road, thence southwesterly 4.76 miles along Unnamed Boundary,
thence southwesterly 0.03 miles along Unnamed Vehicular Trail, thence southwesterly 4.20
miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence southwesterly 1.23 miles along Unnamed Property Line,
thence northwesterly 25.54 miles along Unnamed Boundary, thence southwesterly 0.15 miles
along Unnamed Shoreline, thence northerly 0.09 miles along Pacific , thence northerly 50.62
miles along Unnamed Boundary to the aforementioned point of beginning.
EXHIBIT 5
2
Ce
1
Mountain Nex + �� Tkl Gma 1 BeacM1es
Jrer s wale
Roc Kry
v,
Hawaii County Council Districts County of gawaii County of Hawaii Council District Final Plan Redistricting
2021
Duember 21, 2021
6.25 3.13 0 6.25 12.5 18.75 2
files
EXHIBIT 6
MINUTES
Minutes for Commission meetings from March 1, 2021 to November 12, 2021 are
attached to this exhibit.
For the remaining minutes:
Hawai'i Revised Statutes Chapter 92, Section 92-9 allows for minutes to be made
available within forty days after a commission meeting. This statute affords more
time for remaining minutes beyond the deadline to submit this report.
Therefore, upon completion, minutes for the November 23, 2021 to December 21,
2021 sessions and all public hearings will be posted in the Commission's official
online repository.
Additionally, to accommodate the availability of timely public review of its
proceedings, the 2021 Commission utilized a YouTube channel. Beginning with its
September 23, 2021 session, all meetings and public hearings were livestreamed
for the public. Archived videos were posted for playback of sessions, in its
entirety, within 24 hours of the meeting. The Commission intends to maintain its
YouTube channel through at least calendar year 2022 for public access in viewing
all sessions. Search "COH Redistricting" in YouTube to access the channel and
view full videos of all sessions.
2021
HAWAI`I COUNTY
REDISTRICTING COMMISSION MINUTES
I" Session
Monday, March 1, 2021
County Council Chambers
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
ATTENDANCE:
Present: Mr. `Aina Akamu, Commissioner (via videoconference)
Ms. Stephanie Bath (via videoconference as an observer)
Mr. James Hustace, Commissioner
Mr. Bronsten-Glenn Kossow, Commissioner
Mr. Stephen Lopez, Commissioner
Mr. Meizhu Lui, Commissioner
Ms. Jennifer Yadao, Commissioner
Mr. Dwayne Yoshina, Commissioner
Also Present: Jeanette Aiello, Council Administrative Services Supervisor
P6maika`i Bartolome, Executive Assistant to the Mayor
Nicole Bello, Private Secretary to the County Clerk
Aaron Brown, Deputy County Clerk
Jon Henricks, County Clerk
Dennis Kauka Jr., Legislative Specialist / Secretary
Diana Mellon -Lacey, Deputy Corporation Counsel
Pat Nakamoto, Elections Program Administrator
Cori Saiki, Elections Program Specialist
CALL TO ORDER:
MELLON-LACEY: Good morning everyone. My name is Diana Mellon- Lacey. I'm
the Corporation Counsel working with you today, and I'd like to call the Hawaii County
Redistricting Commission Meeting to order. It's 10:03 a.m.
INTRODUCTION OF SUPPORT STAFF AND COMMISSIONERS
MELLON-LACEY: Our order of business today, and everyone has an agenda? Okay.
The first thing we'd like to do is introduction of support staff and Commissioners. I've
introduced myself. Can we have the rest of the support staff to introduce themselves?
We have Pat Nakamoto from the Elections Office.
NAKAMOTO: Hi, I'm Pat Nakamoto. I'm the Elections Program Administrator and our
office will help you with technical support. With me today is Cori Saiki. She is the
Elections Program Specialist for our office and we will both be providing technical
support to the Redistricting Commission. Thank you.
MELLON-LACEY: And, then we have Dennis.
KAUKA: Aloha everyone, my name is Dennis Kauka Jr. I'm a Legislative Specialist
with the Legislative Research Branch and I'll be the Secretary for the Commission and
your main contact person. I just want to thank and welcome all of you. Thank you for
working with us as we coordinated this first session today. I especially want to give a
thanks to Commissioners `Aina Akamu and Stephanie Bath who couldn't be here in
person today so we kind of had to work offline to get them sworn in separate ways but
thanks for their cooperation with that and to the Clerk's office for providing a lot of
support today. Thank you.
ROLL CALL
MELLON-LACEY: Okay so I'd like to do a roll call of the Commissioners. Meizhu Lui,
"Here," Jennifer Yadao, "Present," Dwayne Yoshina, "Here," Stephanie Bath, "As an
Observer." Thank you. `Aina Akamu, "Here via Zoom," Bronsten-Glenn Kossow,
"Here," Stephen Lopez, "Here," James Hustace "Present." Thank you and then I believe
we have a new nominee for District 3 but they have not been confirmed yet. Breeani
Sumera-Lee, are you in attendance? (Received no response.) I believe she was attending
as an observer but, thank you.
NOMINATIONS AND ELECTION OF OFFICERS
MELLON-LACEY: What I thought we would start with, because one of our first orders
of business in getting this commission up and rolling is for you to elect a Chair and Vice
Chair, would be for you each to introduce yourself and say a little bit about yourself and
your experience and your interest in serving on this Commission and if you're interested
in one of those positions, in being either the Chair or the Vice Chair of the Redistricting
Commission and to make this a little easier, I'm going to read the duties and powers of
the Chairperson and the Vice Chairperson so if you are interested, you'll know what
K
you'd be getting into. The Chairperson maintains order and decorum and reasonably
administers the receipt of oral and written testimony in accordance with the rules, sets the
meeting agenda, announces the business before the Commission in the order prescribed
and the results of any Commission vote and when necessary, or required, signs and
certifies all official acts of the Commission and all vouchers, purchase orders, etcetera for
payment of expenditures of the Commission, appoints committees and consultants when
authorized by the Commission, serves as the chief spokesperson and representative for
the Commission before the public and County government, and all official information is
released through the Chairperson. So, it's a fairly important, salient position to hold.
The Vice Chairperson exercises all duties and powers of the Chairperson in the
Chairperson's absence, assists the Chairperson as needed, and performs other such duties
as prescribed by law or signed by the Commission. So, that is in the present rules that we
have. Those are the descriptions of the positions. So, Meizhu would you like to start?
LUL Sure, ok great, yeah, really great to be here, I'm very happy to be serving on this
Commission and I think it is an important duty. I was formerly on the advisory
committee to the Office of Aging for more than 5 years and was the Chair of that so I
have to say right off, I don't think I want to be Chair of one again. Just in terms of the
community, I was on the board of the Hamakua Health Center for a number of years and
was one of the co -coordinators of a group called Hamakua Resistance that formed after
Donald Trump was elected. So yeah, that's a bit of my background and have been
involved in elections and stuff for quite a while. Thanks.
YOSHINA: Well, I am a retired State employee. I have an interest in elections. I have
no interest in serving as Chair or Co -Chair. I'm here for my intellectual curiosity and I
think I have some background in elections. I have recently served on the Hawaii County
Game Management Advisory Commission. So, that's about it. Thank you.
YADAO: Hi, I'm Jennifer Yadao, ILWU Business Agent and I decline the position of
Chair or Vice Chair.
MELLON-LACEY: Say a little bit about your interest in serving on this Commission.
YADAO: This is the first time I'm sitting on a board so I'm thankful for the opportunity.
BATH: Hi, I'm Stephanie Bath. I have been a resident of Puna for over 40 years. I
served on the Puna Community Development Plans Steering Committee and also on the
ad hoc committees for Mass Transit, Health and Safety, specifically connectivity and I
was lead over the transportation so I know the maps pretty well. I also serve on the State
Board of Massage Therapy currently and I'm a new Grandma for the first time. I decline
any position of Chair or Vice Chair at this time.
MELLON-LACEY: Sounds like you have a lot going on, Stephanie.
BATH: That's the reason!
K
MELLON-LACEY: And Stephanie, were you able to be sworn in?
BATH: We decided that just because it would be easier, I'm quarantining, I just got back
so what I'm going to do is probably Friday or Monday I'll get sworn in so I'm just an
observer today.
AKAMU: Aloha, nice to meet you all. My name is `Aina. I currently live in Na`alehu.
I'm born and raised there in Ka`u. I'm a high school teacher at Ka`u High School. I'm
also an instructor in Hawaiian Studies at Hawaii Community College. I'm also the
Secretary for our Hawaiian Civic Club of Ka`u. I steward the Ka`u makahiki grounds
which is one of the PONC properties located in Ka`u. I do a lot of community volunteer
work in working with our food hubs, currently in Ka`u, and Pahala, and in Na`alehu. I do
the Young Voter Registration Program for Ka`u High School to get the students
registered to vote. I'm happy to serve and represent Ka`u. Like the others, I'm really
busy with a lot of things so I respectfully decline to serve as Chair or Vice Chair. Mahalo
nui loa. Aloha.
KOSSOW: Aloha everybody, if you can go "Bronsten" for short. Thank you so much
for allowing us to be here today and get to discuss some good things for our community.
Currently, I'm the Operations Vice President for Paradise Helicopters. I'm also the
Business Development Manager for (indiscernible). My past Commission that I was a
part of was actually serving with Mr. Yoshina on the Game Management Advisory
Commission. I also served as Chair for a year. Other than that, I'm very fascinated about
the electoral process and very fascinated about the redistricting as well so much aloha to
all of you.
LOPEZ: Good morning, this is Steve here and I'm officially known in the County
through my Hawaiian given name, Kawena, so personally if we can, I'd prefer to use
that. I have been 25 years in Hawaii as a transplant from Bay Area California where I
retired from Hewlett Packard Company. I have been on the local board of the West
Hawaii Medical Center and CEO of Hawaii Knights of Columbus. I retired from HP as
I said. I have also retired from County, all on the Legislative side as a Council Aide,
Legislative Assistant, Legislative Specialist, and Deputy County Clerk. Most recently,
about a year ago, I think it was, maybe it was 2 years now, on the Liquor Commission
and I enjoy being a part of community service and what I have learned in the County and
through the County in contributing to our citizenry, the Redistricting Committee or
Commission, to me, was one that drew me particularly in light of the last 2 years if you
will or more, of how elections have been a problem, if you will, the things that are said,
the things that are done, gerrymandering and so on, so forth, all the issues that go into
what may contribute to a lopsided voting situation so I'd like to do my part here in
Hawaii to contribute to fair and equal elections. I think redistricting is one way to do
that. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Aloha kakou. My name is James Hustace. I was born on Oahu but grew
up in Waimea and so I've called Waimea my home for many years. I'm currently a
C!
teacher in Waimea but I also serve as the President of the Waimea Community
Association, and sit as the Chair of the South Kohala Traffic Safety Committee. I am
honored to be here and serve (Note: At this time, Pomaika `i Bartolome enters via video
conference) with the Commissioners and happy to be here and go through this process
with all of you and learn and support our communities across the Island and the County
and I'd be happy to serve as the leader role for this Commission. Thank you.
MELLON-LACEY: I believe that P6maika`i Bartolome has joined us. Is that correct?
Did you want to say a few words?
BARTOLOME: Hi, aloha, kala mai. Yes, I just wanted to introduce myself, my name is
P6maika`i Bartolome. I am the Executive Assistant to the Mayor and also lead with
Boards and Commissions. So, I heard you talking about Breeani a little bit earlier for
District 3. She will be going up for Committee review on the 16th and we are super
excited to be filling our Redistricting Commission so, mahalo, aloha to every single one
of you. Thank you so much, so very much, for your time, and your knowledge, and all
that you will be contributing to our Redistricting Commission. Aloha.
Election of Chairperson
MELLON-LACEY: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you all for introducing
yourselves and at this time, I`d like to open the floor to nomination and election of
officers. I believe that, if I didn't mishear, that Mr. Hustace has indicated interest in the
Chair position. Is that correct?
HUSTACE: Yes, just for clarification, last name is Hustace.
MELLON-LACEY: Hustace.
HUSTACE: Correct, yes, thank you, and yes, I'd be happy to serve in either of the seats.
I welcome competition of course.
MELLON-LACEY: Okay, well the floor is open for nominations.
LOPEZ: This is Steve Lopez here. I'd like to nominate Bronsten Kossow for Chair, and
James Hustace for Co -Chair.
MELLON-LACEY: Is there a second?
AKAMU: Aloha, this is `Aina. I second.
MELLON-LACEY: Any discussion?
LUL Are we still taking nominations?
61
MELLON-LACEY: Yes, we can take more nominations. Are there other nominations
on the floor?
LUL Oh, I just wasn't sure, Stephen, whether you were willing to serve in one of those
positions. Just a clarification please?
LOPEZ: I'd rather leave it to the younger staff here. They have more energy. Thank
you.
MELLON-LACEY: Are there any other nominations?
YOSHINA: I'd like to nominate Mr. Hustace for Chair and I know he refused but, `Aina
Akamu for Co -Chair.
MELLON-LACEY: And `Aina as Co -Chair?
YOSHINA: Yes.
MELLON-LACEY: Are there any other nominations at this time?
LUL Will we elect them separately?
MELLON-LACEY: Yes, I think since we have 2 in each category, that we would do
that. Are there any further nominations?
LOPEZ: Did we do second as we did in the first nomination?
MELLON-LACEY: Oh, I'm sorry. If I didn't get a second, I'm sorry. Is there a second
to the nomination of Mr. Hustace and Mr. Akamu?
LUL I'll second.
MELLON-LACEY: Thank you. Any other nominations at this time? (No response.)
Okay, then can I have a motion to close the nominations?
(Note: At this time, Commissioners were all in favor to close nominations).
MELLON-LACEY: Okay, the nominations are now closed. So, we have the nomination
of Mr. Kossow for Chair. All those in favor of Mr. Kossow as Chair? Let's see, I think
we should do a roll call vote on this.
Mr. Kossow as Chair carried the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Hustace, Kossow,
and Lopez.
Noes: Commissioners Lui, Yadao, and Yoshina.
1.1
MELLON-LACEY: So that's 4 ayes and 3 noes. And, we have 2 non -voters, so by my
determination, Mr. Kossow is Chair. Okay.
YOSHINA: Diana, who are the non -voters?
MELLON-LACEY: The non -voters are, Ms. Bath has not taken her oath so she's just
participating as an observer today, and we have the newly appointed, I'm so bad with
names, I'm so sorry.
LUL Breeani?
MELLON-LACEY: Yes. Breeani Sumera-Lee, but she has not been confirmed.
YOSHINA: Just a point of clarification.
MELLON-LACEY: I'm sorry?
YOSHINA: Point of clarification.
MELLON-LACEY: Yes, sir.
YOSHINA: Shouldn't we wait for those 2 other people to be on before we took a vote?
You have to constitute the entire Commission, right?
MELLON-LACEY: Yes. Well, you know, I guess if that's the Commission's position,
we could do that, but then we can't really —we can only do then, training because we
can't really —we don't really have awe don't have a leadership or the ability to adopt
the rules and all these things. So, it's...
YOSHINA: Well, I, you know, I think that for me, I would be more comfortable to wait
for the 2 additional people so that we have a fully constituted Commission.
LOPEZ: Steve, here.
MELLON-LACEY: Yes.
LOPEZ: Sending opinion. We're here. The agenda is set. We have business to conduct,
and as you so aptly said, we need to move on. We do have a quorum. So, the facts are
that. We have 2 that either notable to attend or cannot vote or whatever. Certainly, we'll
welcome them with open arms but we cannot hold up the progress of the Commission
Board. We're going to be under a strict timeline anyway, to proceed so I figure I would
just send an opinion.
MELLON-LACEY: Okay, Mr. Yoshina, are you making a motion to delay the voting?
N
YOSHINA: No, I'm just asking for clarification.
MELLON-LACEY: Okay, now I mean we have quorum so this group can conduct
Business and
YOSHINA: My point is that I think we should have the full Commission voting on this.
Now if, you know, if the majority says no, then I'll go along with that, but I think there
should be the full Commission voting on its Chair and Co -Chair.
MELLON-LACEY: Well, I can only defer to the Commission as far as that. We have a
quorum so from that standpoint, we can conduct business. So, if you wish to make that
as a motion then—
YOSHINA: Okay, point taken.
MELLON-LACEY: So, do you not wish to make the motion?
YOSHINA: Yes.
Election of Vice Chair
MELLON-LACEY: Okay, so then we would move on to vote for —we have 2
running for vice chair —or 2 nominated, Mr. Hustace and Mr. Akamu. So, with
respect to Mr. Hustace...
Mr. Hustace as Vice Chair carried the following
vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Kossow, Lopez,
Lui, Yadao, and Yoshina.
Noes: None.
Abstain: Commissioner Hustace.
MELLON-LACEY: So, we have 6 ayes, 1 abstaining. So, we have Mr. Kossow is our
Chair, and Mr. Hustace, our Vice Chair. Thank you very much and Mr. Kossow, I'll turn
the meeting over to you.
LUL Can I just ask one question of you, Diana?
MELLON-LACEY: Sure.
LUL I thought according to the rules that abstaining was considered a "yes"?
MELLON-LACEY: I have to —well you know we haven't adopted these rules.
LUL Okay.
E:3
MELLON-LACEY: But, sorry, and where did you read? Oh, here we go. No member
shall refrain from voting unless excused by the Chairperson —we didn't have one who
could excuse you —unless a member is excused from voting, silence shall be recorded as
an affirmative. Okay, then Mr. Hustace you have to vote for yourself, you're an aye. It's
unanimous.
LUL That's nice.
HUSTACE: Very well, I just, you know, according to Robert's Rules, abstention doesn't
really mean an affirmative, it just doesn't mean a no either, it just doesn't count as a yes
vote.
MELLON-LACEY: I understand and that's the way these current rules of procedure
read so
HUSTACE: Very well. I'll vote on the affirmative if that's clear.
MELLON-LACEY: But it wouldn't change the outcome.
HUSTACE: Understood.
Mr. Hustace as Vice Chair carried the following
amended vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Hustace, Kossow,
Lopez, Lui, Yadao, and Yoshina.
Noes: None.
Abstain: None.
STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS
MELLON-LACEY: So, Mr. Kossow are you prepared to take over?
KOSSOW: Yes.
MELLON-LACEY: I think we're on Statements from the Public at this point.
KOSSOW: Alright. Are there any statements from the public? Each person has about 3
minutes per item on the agenda.
MELLON-LACEY: Okay, I'm told there are no statements from the public at this time.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
01
KOSSOW: Okay, without seeing any members of the public, we will move over to
approval of the minutes and we didn't have this is our very first meeting so I think we
can —it's safe to pass through that. Any communications?
COMMUNICATIONS
MELLON-LACEY: Are there any communications? Mr. Kauka?
KAUKA: No, Mr. Chair.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
KOSSOW: No communications. And unfinished business —moving over to unfinished
business. We don't have any unfinished business because this is our first meeting.
Moving over to new business.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Adoption of the Rules of Procedure
KOSSOW: First item that we have is the adoption of the Rules of the Procedure —of
Procedure, and
MELLON-LACEY: So ... oh, sorry.
KOSSOW: Go ahead.
MELLON-LACEY: I just wanted to ask if everybody had received a copy of the Rules
of Procedure from 2011.
LUL Yes.
AKAMU: Yes, I received them.
LOPEZ: Kawena received them, yes.
MELLON-LACEY: Because that kind of, can work as our starting point and I'll hand it
back to you Mr. Chair.
KOSSOW: The only question I have with the Rules and Procedure is whether or not we
wanted to include Zoom conferencing on this Procedure since we have the whole
COVID-19 rules in place.
IK
MELLON-LACEY: And you know, the thing with that is that, our current ability to use
the Zoom and other Webex, other programs that we're using, and having the hearings in
this way, is really subject to the proclamation that the Governor has issued because
normally this wouldn't be permitted in quite the way that it is being permitted. So, I
don't know if we can really add it to our Procedure per say because I think it's going to
change, and I don't know how it will change. But as long as it's adopted by executive
order of the Governor, we would always be able to do that. Does that address your issue
Mr. Chair?
KOSSOW: Yeah, that address my issue. I was just concerned. I know that it is an
emergency proclamation and I don't know if we ourselves need to adopt the rules apart of
the 2011 Redistricting Commission, but since it's an emergency proc, we can just move
forward.
LUL A comment, which is in 1.B., it does say videoconferencing may be utilized.
LOPEZ: This is Kawena. I have a question please, guess I pose that to the Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Lopez is recognized.
LOPEZ: Under section Voting, number 6.C., Abstentions, we just went through that, but
there is a method we use in Hawaii, it's called kanalua, and I'm asking if we can
exercise kanalua during the voting process. May I explain? Do I need to explain? (No
response.) When a vote comes up and a voter states kanalua, what they're really saying
is please pass by me. At the end of the voting, that person is asked again to vote, aye or
nay, and if they say kanalua a second time, it's taken as a yes with reservation. That's the
way our County Council operates so, asking if that's what we can use in this
Commission. Chair?
KOSSOW: Is that a motion?
LOPEZ: Well I'm askingactually, I'm asking if that fits into this item at the
(indiscernible) and if you say no, then I would make it a motion.
KOSSOW: Does not um —oh are we allowed to have that within our Rules of the
Procedure? If that would be the overall question. I'm sure we can add it on to the 2020-
2021 Redistricting Commission as long as we ensure that we have a motion on the floor
and then a vote unless the attorney sees otherwise.
MELLON-LACEY: So, this is the these are the existing rules, and they were given to
you, you know, as a guide, and you can make whatever changes that you would like to, to
the rules, as long as they are, you know, reasonable. And, then if we're changing the
rules from the existing rules, we would have to follow the statutory process in Chapter 91
and we would have to have a public hearing, which we could do before the next meeting,
on those rules and fill out a public input and then we would be able to adopt those rules
with any changes.
11
KOSSOW: So these rules would be
YOSHINA: And that's what this is doing. I would move that we accept that into our
rules. We make the change to the rules. That's what—
KOSSOW: Motion by Mr. Yoshina to add in the kanalua vote onto the rules. Is there a
second?
LOPEZ: Second.
LUL Can I make an amendment to that? That it replace the C.—Abstentions.
KOSSOW: Can you repeat that again?
LUL Um, that it not be added but that it replace the current C.—Abstentions.
YOSHINA: So, as a maker of the motion, I agree with that.
MELLON-LACEY: You're amending your motion?
YOSHINA: I'm agreeing with that.
KOSSOW: Is there a second to that?
LOPEZ: I'm lost. I'm sorry. Following Robert's Rules of Orders, the first and second
on the floor has to be ratified before you can amend it. So, I'm not sure where we are.
HUSTACE: A point of order. In terms of adapting the rules and procedures, we first
need to make a motion for the Rules of Procedure document itself before we offer any
amendments to the document.
KOSSOW: Right. So, the procedure is currently on the floor right now. And then right
now, we are making amendments to it. So, Mr. Lopez, your amendment is on the floor
currently to change C. It was a motion by Mr. Yoshina, seconded by you, and then now
there is a 2nd amendment that's on the floor but we still need to finish the amendment that
is already on the table. Is there any other discussion that needs to be made for the 1st
amendment on proposed to —by Mr. Lopez?
AKAMU: I have a question. This is `Aina Akamu. In the Rules of Procedure, under
Amendments, A., it does stipulate that amendments need to be provided in advance and
then they can be voted on. So, I'm not sure if we need to accept the rules as they are and
then suggest amendments? Provide that 6 day notice and then vote upon them in order to
follow the Rules of Procedure. So, I just had a question about that.
Ida
MELLON-LACEY: Yes, this is Diana. I think it's a little bit of a conundrum because
you haven't adopted these rules, and so, you could do that. But, I don't think at this point
you're strictly bound by them because we haven't adopted them. You could do that, you
could adopt them as they are, and then move to make changes to them.
AKAMU: Yeah, I was just making sure that we don't do something that later we have to
undo. Thank you.
MELLON-LACEY: I understand.
KOSSOW: Diana, are you saying this is Bronson. Are you saying that the
amendments, if this works via —we can adopt whatever changes we want to. We don't
have to go through another session where we have to approve the rules and regs, right?
MELLON-LACEY: Um, no, Iif, according to the Hawaii Revised Statues in Chapter
91, then we would these rules exist right now. So, if this group is going change the
rules or make completely different rules, we would still have to have a public hearing and
allow for public comment on the rules before they could be formally adopted.
KOSSOW: So, no matter what, we still have to adopt these rules and then from there we
can take amendments for the next meeting.
YOSHINA: So, Bronsten, I'll just withdraw my motion.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina withdraws his motion.
MELLON-LACEY: Okay, this is a starting point, I guess I would say, so that would
probably be the most expeditious way of doing it. Because then you would have
something to work from, but it doesn't have to done that way if someone wanted to just
start all over again with these rules from the ground zero, you could do that.
YOSHINA: I think traditionally and historically, kanalua is part of the way we do
business in Hawaii so, you know, this, the discussion might be pointless. I'm not sure of
that. You're the attorney, so.
LUL Bronsten, would it help if I made a motion to accept the 2011 Rules of Procedure
and then we could amend from there? If so, I make that motion.
KOSSOW: I think that would be the easiest, yes. That would definitely be the easiest if
we just pass this
YOSHINA: Okay, second the motion.
KOSSOW: Okay, motion was made by Ms. Lui, and seconded by Mr. Yoshina. Is there
any discussion? (No response.) Without hearing, without seeing anybody, do I have any
no votes for the passing of —the adoption of the Rules of Procedures?
191
LOPEZ: Yes. You asked for a no vote?
KOSSOW: No.
LOPEZ: No.
KOSSOW: Mr. Lopez votes no. And with that, that's 6 ayes and 1 no. Procedures are
adopted.
Ms. Lui moved to adopt the Rules of Procedure.
Seconded by Mr. Yoshina and carried by the
following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Hustace, Lui,
Yadao, Yoshina, and Chair Kossow.
Noes: Commissioner Lopez.
Abstain: None.
YOSHINA: So, I have a question.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: So, do we have to now add the thing about kanalua in there?
KOSSOW: Yes, so now the motion has been pushed forward. So, now we can put in an
amendment and then that amendment, a couple days, or by the time of the next meeting,
will need to go through the public statements.
YOSHINA: Okay, so I move that we include that provision in our rules. The provision,
the inclusion of the —the idea, the concept, of kanalua.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina motions to add on kanalua into the voting and Procedures. Is
there a second?
LOPEZ: Second.
KOSSOW: Seconded by Mr. Lopez. Is there any discussion? (No response.) Without
hearing or seeing any, is there any objections? (No response.) Amendment passes with
no objections.
Mr. Yoshina moved add on kanalua into the voting
and procedures. Seconded by Mr. Lopez and
carried by the following vote:
10
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Hustace, Lopez,
Lui, Yadao, Yoshina, and Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
Abstain: None.
KOSSOW: Is there any further amendments that need to be made, that anybody sees fit
in the Commission?
LUL Yes, I move that we remove then the Abstentions clause from the voting procedure
section of the rules because kanalua supersedes it.
KOSSOW: Motion is on the table to remove Abstentions from, what is this, 6.C.?
LUL It's 6.13. Oh, yeah, it's 6.C. Yeah.
KOSSOW: Of removing 6.C. from the rules that was recently adopted under
Abstentions. Is there a second?
LOPEZ: I have to second just to get into discussion, please. It's Kawena.
KOSSOW: Mr. Lopez seconds. Any discussion?
LOPEZ: Yes. I like the idea, but I'm not sure if this is —how this gets affected. Do we
need to go through the amendment process? In public hearing, such? Or are we adopting
rules to replace Abstentions with the kanalua concept? Can you clarify that please?
MELLON-LACEY: This is Diana. I'm sorry, I'm not sure I'm understanding your
question. I mean, all changes to the rules would be presentedI mean we would present
these rules and then the public would have the opportunity to comment on them, but that
would be true of any changes that we make.
LOPEZ: Alright. So, then we have adopted these rules.
MELLON-LACEY: Yes. We took a vote.
LOPEZ: We've already changed, from this moment forward, requires the amendment
process to kick in. One of which is, introduce brining in the kanalua concept and the
other is striking the Abstentions because of the kanalua concept. That's the way I'm
understanding where we are now. (Pause.) So, both of those motions would go into an
amendment process. Is that where we are?
MELLON-LACEY: Yes.
KOSSOW: From my understanding, it was going be to the next meeting
IR
MELLON-LACEY: Yes.
KOSSOW: And then we'll have a public hearing, and anybody that wanted to testify on
it, and then the next meeting, that's when the amendments would be adopted. Is that
correct?
MELLON-LACEY: Correct.
LOPEZ: Okay, thank you. That answers my question, but then begs the question, how
does this happen? Is our Secretary to do this? Do motion sponsors need to provide the
language? What's the mechanism here?
MELLON-LACEY: Okay, so the mechanism would be that the Abstention section
would be shown as lined out and then the move to include the concept of kanalua, we
would need specific language for that.
LOPEZ: Okay, where does that come from? Is this a charge of the Secretary? Do we
have a legislative support staff who does this?
MELLON-LACEY: No, this group would need to develop the language that they want it
to read like.
LUL Mr. Lopez, if you could suggest language, we could take a look at it right now.
The way you described it was fine.
LOPEZ: Okay, then I'll be —who do I submit that to?
KOSSOW: Me.
LOPEZ: The Chair. Thank you.
MELLON-LACEY: And from that, if it gets to the Secretary, then the Secretary can
make the changes and post those rules online, prior to the meeting.
KOSSOW: Okay, so now we wanted to remove —there's a motion on the table that's
current to remove 5.C.6.C., excuse me. Any further discussion? (No response.) Are
there any objections?
HUSTACE: Yes.
KOSSOW: One objection, and so it's 6 ayes, 1 no. Motion passes. Is there any other
amendments that we wish to push forward into the Rules? (No response.) Alright, we
will move forward to the Overview of redistricting program and timeline for receiving
data from the Census Bureau, and there's a presentation for that.
1[1
Ms. Lui moved to remove 6.C.Abstentions from
the Rules of Procedure. Seconded by Mr. Lopez
and carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Lopez, Lui,
Yadao, Yoshina, and Chair Kossow.
Noes: Commissioner Hustace.
Abstain: None.
2. Overview of redistricting program and timeline for receiving data from Census Bureau
Presentation by David Rosenbrock
ROSENBROCK: Hi, I'm David Rosenbrock I'm retired from the Office of Elections
after 25 years. I was a Project Manager on the State's 2001 and 2011 Reapportionment
Projects. I have also assisted the County of Hawaii in their preliminary sets ups for
those two reapportionments. And, I have a slide presentation.
(Reference: Comm. I - 2021-03-01 David J Rosenbrock: redistricting process
presentation)
Questions and Answers during Mr. Rosenbrock's presentation:
After viewing slide no. 6:
LOPEZ: So, I'm inferring then, that the other 8 districts are all at par, in this example?
ROSENBROCK: Well, they can all fluctuate between these 2 numbers. This number
could be here, or you know what I'm saying? It's either a plus side and a minus side,
basically.
LOPEZ: Where I'm getting lost is, 10 percent deviation of the target population. So, is
that island wide? Or district by district?
ROSENBROCK: It's district by district throughout the basic island unit. So, every one
of your districts will have to fall in this 10 percent range, whether it be plus or minus.
LOPEZ: Oh, ok, that clarified it. That statement. Thank you.
At the end of Mr. Rosenbrock's presentation:
LUL I have one question, which is, is there a number that would trigger the creation of a
new district?
ROSENBROCK: Well, that's, basically you have your number of districts already
established, right?
IVA
LUL Right.
ROSENBROCK: So, basically all you need to do is, once you get the data, right? Make
the extraction, and then just divide by 9. That sets your target for each district.
LUL As the population increases it doesn't necessarily mean that there would be any
new districts so 9 is set in stone?
ROSENBROCK: Yeah, but that's by your Charter.
LUL Ah.
ROSENBROCK: Now, for the States, your apportionment does make a difference
because it actually, I think, there's 6 or 7 States that are losing Representatives, and then
an equal number of States getting new members, right?
LUL Right.
ROSENBROCK: But, for you folks, you've already got 9 established in the Charter, and
so 9 it is.
HUSTACE: Mr. Rosenbrock, one question for you. If you could restate the targeted
timeline from the Federal government when they would deliver the data.
ROSENBROCK: Well, they haven't given it.
HUSTACE: Right, but you predicted a date in the 4' quarter. Is that correct?
ROSENBROCK: Yeah. Right now, they were supposed to give it to us at the end of
July. But they have since changed that to TBD, and the conversations I've heard is, it
could be the I" of September or the 30'h of September.
HUSTACE: And so, Chair, that does put us in a time crunch, because our plan, our final
plan documentation is due before the new year.
KOSSOW: Right, that's correct.
HUSTACE: Thank you.
YOSHINA: So, you mentioned non-resident military, and non-resident students. (Yes)
If I recollect correctly, the County ordinance also describes a couple of other cohorts in
there, that should not be counted. So, if we wanted those added in, would you be able to
do that?
IE:3
ROSENBROCK: I think yeah, we've also supported the County, so there's no reason
why we wouldn't support it this time.
YOSHINA: Okay, second question. A kind of description kind of thing. The layers that
you showed us, one layer was an actual photo, on which you superimposed the district
lines.
ROSENBROCK: That's correct.
YOSHINA: So, that's going to be available for us to see also?
ROSENBROCK: Absolutely. I'll just go through this right now so you can understand.
YOSHINA: Okay.
ROSENBROCK: This was part two, but we can go ahead a take a look.
YOSHINA: So, we have an option of either seeing an actual picture or a schematic.
ROSENBROCK: Actually, you have your choice of about seven.
YOSHINA: Okay, thank you.
ROSENBROCK: Right here. (Indiscernible). This is how you sign in and then you
have the Bing Maps, the Bing Hybrid, Terrain View, USA Topo Maps, Bing Maps Road,
the Imagery, and then Streets. So, all of these base maps lay underneath the census
blocks. Because, some places where you folks are, you know up in the up in the parks
and stuff, you need to take a look at it. And, the best way to look at it is, using one of
these vehicles. Sometimes, the Topo Map is good, sometimes the Streets are good, and
always the Imagery, to make sure you're not cutting up —cutting somebody in half.
YOSHINA: Okay, thank you.
ROSENBROCK: Uh huh.
LOPEZ: This is Kawena. I have a question. Given the delay in receiving the Census
data, apart from training, what kind of meaningful work can we accomplish in advance of
receiving the Census data? (No response.) David, did you hear me?
ROSENBROCK: Oh, I would suspect, not any. (Laughter.)
LOPEZ: I was afraid you'd say that.
ROSENBROCK: We had the same problem with the State.
LOPEZ: True.
IL01
ROSENBROCK: There's nothing to do. We're ready right now. If they dropped the
data today, we would be, within a week, ten days, have everybody extracted and the
software and everything set up for you folks and that's to go.
LOPEZ: Okay, well
ROSENBROCK: We do need some time to do the extraction.
LOPEZ: Thank you.
ROSENBROCK: Yeah. We'll do integrity checks to see if we got somebody duly
assigned, population summary, district broad count, maximum deviation check, null
assignment check and connectivity check. Right? So, as you're going through the
district creating, you can stop at any time, run these checks to make that everything is
working the way you suspect it.
LUL In the meantime, can we access somehow the existing maps of the different variety
that you said, so that we can really check out the existing lines?
ROSENBROCK: Yes.
LUL Great.
ROSENBROCK: You have these here, right? You have aerial maps, you have the Bing
Maps Hybrid, you have terrain maps, you have imagery, you have the Bing Maps for the
road, USA Topographical Maps, and then Streets. Just the Streets.
LUL Could I request that the Secretary send us the links or something so that we can do
it easily?
ROSENBROCK: It's inside the software.
LUL Oh, it's inside the software. So
ROSENBROCK: Yeah. As you're doing your creation, you'll overlay the Census
blocks on top of whichever of these maps that you choose. Alright?
LUL No, I was just asking whether we could look at existing ones from the last —what
exists now.
ROSENBROCK: Oh, um
MELLON-LACEY: I think Pat can address that.
LUL Oh, thank you. Pat's coming.
411
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui, we'll work with Elections to get that for you.
LUL Okay.
NAKAMOTO: Yes, we will be able to print out and send it to you or provide you a link
where you can go in and look at the maps.
LUL Beautiful. Thank you.
YOSHINA: David, this is Dwayne again. What data sets do you have in the system right
now? Do you have like 2011?
ROSENBROCK: Yeah, but I don't think we have the software for 2011. I know we
have the data, but the software is kind of expensive so as soon as we're done, I think
we've kept it up for 6 months, and then we let it go. It's very expensive.
YOSHINA: Okay, so there is no way for us to toy with the system right now with
additional, or newer data. It may not be up to date but, like for example, do you have the
interim data for —between 2011 and 2020?
ROSENBROCK: Well, we looked at trying to use the Community Survey data because
we don't have the block data, but so much of that is based on folks returning the
information to the Census. So, each one of those long forms that's got everything about
how much money you make, to you know —so a lot of people don't do it. They just don't
do it and then it really makes the data not compatible for doing reapportionment.
YOSHINA: Okay, so short answer is the data is kind of dated.
ROSENBROCK: Well, it's dated and it's incomplete.
YOSHINA: Okay.
ROSENBROCK: Now I think we do have the data from 2011. So, if you wanted to get
the software, you could start looking at it from that point of view. I think you'll want to
do that anyway when you create your plan. You'll want to bring up that 2011 data and
then look where you, you know, can make adjustments to the existing districts. You
know, based on the new populations.
YOSHINA: Okay. Excuse me, but do you have newer, more current data than 2011
or...? Because they have updates, right?
ROSENBROCK: Yeah, but the updates are basically updates to the metadata, not the,
necessarily the population count.
YOSHINA: Okay. Thank you.
21
ROSENBROCK: Anybody else?
LUL Yeah, I'm just curious, is the population count broken out by age at all?
ROSENBROCK: The block population base has got general data attached to it. That
would be race, I believe age, within ranges, right? So, 18 and below, and 25 to 18. It's
very general with the demographic information. Cause it's basically only to be used for
redistricting and based on the confidentiality of the people who have submitted the data,
we don't include that in the database, in the population database. It's just basic, raw
numbers.
LUL No, I understand. Just because we have in this island so many retirees and so on,
but concentrated in different places, the voting population, as opposed to the total
population, could be varied district by district.
ROSENBROCK: Oh, yes. Yes. We might get sent that data —it's in there. It just it's
in ranges. See, you don't want to be able to identify any minority group, or target group,
with the redistricting data. All you want to do with the redistricting data is redistrict.
And, if you have block counts and you have one Chinese person in the block, then that
pretty much identifies that person's information. So, we don't attach anything more than
the count and I think there's a general reference, and I think maybe by Census tract of the
ages.
HUSTACE: Mr. Chair if I may?
KOSSOW: Go ahead.
HUSTACE: Mr. Rosenbrock, could you speak at all to the —any concerns of the data
that you might have? The integrity of the data, as we've all witnessed over the last year
in concerns with the Census being collected and if there's any sort of expeditious delivery
of the data if there are concerns about that too. You alluded to a particular State suing the
Federal government (Yes.) for delivery of that data. Could you speak to just the overall
integrity of the data that you believe to be there?
ROSENBROCK: Well, I think the problem existed when the former administration
wanted to determine if they could remove non -citizens from the data. And, I think maybe
the Census Bureau, because the guy who runs it is appointed, pushed it on down the line
but that was going to be the way they went and then the Supreme Court told them, you
can't take those folks out. And, so now they're rushing to put those folks back in, and
make sure the data is more representative of what the former administration was wanting.
Now, Dwayne and I had this problem back in 2001. There were several folks who
wanted to have non-resident aliens removed from the data. And, uh, we went down to
at that time it was IMS—and we asked the guy, how do we locate these people. And, he
said, I don't know. You know, they're not —first of all, if they are undocumented,
they're undocumented. And, second of all, if they have a green card, they can go
Pia
anywhere they want. So, it makes it pretty impossible to accurately remove populations
based on somebody saying, oh those folks over there, over in that neighborhood, all of
them are over there. So, that's where this problem has arisen from. It's uhwe wanted
to take non -citizens out, which is not what the Census is about. It's a count of persons.
Not voters, not citizens, persons. Because every person needs to be represented. Unless
you're represented somewhere else, and that's the feeling of —if you're in Hawaii, it's if
you're represented somewhere else, you should be counted there and if you're not
counted there, that's your problem. We're only counting people who are here.
HUSTACE: Thank you for your explanation. And, could you touch on, if you have this
knowledge, what is the percentage that was that captured for Hawaii County? Has that
been shared?
ROSENBROCK: It's uhI think at the time there might have been less than 800.
HUSTACE: I'm sorry. For clarification, the total percentage of citizens that were
captured here on Hawaii County. What was that percentage out of a 100? What was the
total count? Percentage wise?
ROSENBROCK: You mean persons?
HUSTACE: Yes.
ROSENBROCK: Yeah. Um, I think it was roughly 110,000. I believe. I mean it's been
a long time.
HUSTACE: And, so I guess I'm just asking what percentage was the Census able to
capture of Hawai `i County? Did it hit a 90 percent threshold of capturing?
ROSENBROCK: Oh, I have no idea.
HUSTACE: Okay.
ROSENBROCK: Yeah, that'sI don't I
HUSTACE: Thank you.
ROSENBROCK: Whatever those guys do, it'sI would imagine it's pretty high.
Anything else? (No response.)
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Rosenbrock. Is there any other questions from the
Commissioners? (No response.) Alright, thank you very much.
ROSENBROCK: Okay, just so you know, if anything happens, we'll let Pat know, and
she'll let you know, and we'll get to work.
091
KOSSOW: Thank you.
ROSENBROCK: Thank you.
KOSSOW: Is Corporation Counsel still there?
MELLON-LACEY: Yes.
KOSSOW: I have just a question about the timeframe that we have now. It's shortened.
So, what happens if we don't finish by December 31 "? And, I noticed that we also have
to comply with the County Charter when it comes to alternate and final plans for public
hearing.
MELLON-LACEY: Right. I do not have an answer to your question today because you
know, we don't know when we're actually going to get the data and I am discussing that
with the Corporation Counsel and will be discussing that with the State as well. So, at
this time, we're you know, we're just trying to do the best we can with the information
that we do have.
KOSSOW: Thank you. I appreciate that.
MELLON-LACEY: Sorry, I can't give you a clearer answer right now. I recently found
out, you know, we were working around the idea that we thought we would have the data
much earlier.
KOSSOW: Yeah. It just shortens it up for us in trying to make sure that we comply with
the County Charter with all these uh—with the public forums. I just want to make sure
that we are doing right by the law.
MELLON-LACEY: Right, and we will today delve into the timeline and challenges a
little bit but, this is kind of news for all of us, disappointing news. In fact, we even talked
about should we go ahead and have the meeting, but we thought we should because you
know, you're on this Commission and you need to get started regardless of what it's
actually going to mean and be aware of what's —what's going on.
KOSSOW: I'm sure you're going to be talking about this very soon but I was curious if
there was a way for us to get training before the Census comes out, with the population
and numbers for each district. And, I was curious if we could get training from now
before then. That way we don't drag out anything and I think Mr. Yoshina talked a little
bit about that in his question.
MELLON-LACEY: Yes and we will explore that a little bit today. I'm wondering,
cause the next thing we have is an ethics presentation, because we are also charged with
having to make sure the board gets the training on the ethics and Sunshine Law, as well
as the redistricting, but I don't know if people would like a break before we go to the next
thing.
KOSSOW: Let's recess for 5 minutes.
(5 minute recess.)
3. County of Hawaii — Office of the Corporation Counsel
Presentation by Deputy Corporation Counsel
KOSSOW: Calling the Redistricting Commission back to order. Our next line on the
agenda as soon as —we have the Corporation Counsel?
YOSHIMOTO: Hi, good morning everyone! This is J Yoshimoto. Can you guys hear
me okay?
KOSSOW: Yes.
YOSHIMOTO: Okay, good, good. Okay, ready to proceed? (Pause.) Okay, hold on
one second. Let me start the screen share.
(Please note that during this time, Mr. Yoshimoto experienced technical difficulties.
Commissioner Kossow confirmed that the attendees could view Mr. Yoshimoto's
PowerPoint slide via Zoom.)
YOSHIMOTO: Okay, we are ready to proceed then. Good morning everyone, again.
My name is J Yoshimoto. I'm one of the Deputy Corporation Counsel's here for the
County of Hawaii. If at any time, anyone has any questions, please let me know. We'll
be able to answer the questions as we go through the presentation.
LOPEZ: J, this is Kawena. Are you our assigned Corp Counsel or are you just
presenting, making this presentation?
YOSHIMOTO: Oh, I'm just making this presentation specifically on ethics.
LOPEZ: Okay. So, we don't have —do we have an assigned Corp Counsel?
YOSHIMOTO: That would be Ms. Mellon -Lacey.
LOPEZ: Thank you.
YOSHIMOTO: Okay, thanks.
a. Ethics Code
Presentation by J Yoshimoto, Deputy Corporation Counsel
pu
Reference: Comm. 4 - 2021-03-01 Office ofthe Corporation Counsel: ethics training
There were no questions from attendees at the end of the presentation.
b. Sunshine Law
Presentation by Diana Mellon -Lacey, Deputy Corporation Counsel
Reference: Comm. 3 - 2021-03-01 Office ofthe Corporation Counsel: Sunshine Law
presentation
There were no questions from attendees at the end of the presentation.
C. Redistricting laws
MELLON-LACEY: I'm very sensitive about time because I think that we said this
meeting would be two and a half hours. Is that correct, Mr. Kauka? Yeah, and we're
already at 12:18. And so, what I would propose to do, in the interest of time since we had
some discussion of the redistricting laws, is to table that till the next meeting and do that
presentation then and have us move to the timeline and challenges. Because I know that
Ms. Nakamoto did a timeline projection and if I can ask her to come up. Would that be
amenable to the group? To do that at the next meeting on, more on the redistricting laws,
in the interest of time?
KOSSOW: Since this is on the agenda, we would need a motion
MELLON-LACEY: Yes.
KOSSOW: And then, seconded and move forward from there. So, is there a motion to
table this as recommended?
HUSTACE: So moved.
KOSSOW: Motioned by Mr. Hustace.
LOPEZ: Second.
KOSSOW: Seconded by Mr. Lopez. And then, is there any further disactually there's
no discussion on this one. Any opposition? (No response.) Passed with 7 ayes.
Redistricting laws is moved over to the next agenda for our next meeting. Next we have
Ms. Nakamoto about timeline and challenges.
LUL May I make one request which is to get the information like how to reach you all,
the support committee people? In case we have questions afterwards.
MELLON-LACEY: Sure. I'm sure we can do that.
U1.
LUL Okay. Thank you.
d. Timeline and challenges
NAKAMOTO: Hi. Pat Nakamoto. I tried to put together a draft timeline, worst case
scenario. We heard from Mr. Rosenbrock who provided us some information on when
we were expecting the Census data. Which was in July, but that has been moved back
and I think I heard him say maybe September I" or September 30''. So, I tried to put
together a timeline, but I didn't have the information. I think what I would need is for the
Commission to decide how they want to conduct their public hearings. There's, you
know, the Commission is supposed to have a draft plan taken out to the 9 Council
districts and then they would also need to take out the final plan to the west side of the
island and the east side of the island. So, I think the Commission would need to decide,
because we're doing it virtually, whether you want to have a public hearing for each of
the 9 districts, or if you want to combine them, or if you want to have one public hearing.
So, those are things that you would need to take into consideration before I could put
down a more accurate timeline. Not having that information, I did take the liberty of just
trying to get an idea, worst case scenario. I was looking at trying to get the final plan
presented to the County Clerk at least, at the latest by December 27. I think if we get the
data on September 30'' and we have a really, really tight window that we work in, we
may be able to get it done by December 27. And, that is of course, we would need to
take also into consideration, how long the vendor would take to extract the data that Mr.
Rosenbrock talked about. The non-resident, military, and students. If the vendor takes a
week, then we could probably move the December 27 up one week. Which would be
maybe December 20'h to turn in the final plan to the County Clerk. But, then again, that's
going to be determined on how we proceed with the public hearings. Okay, any
questions?
LUL Just in terms of the timeline, is there like a sense of what kinds of trainings we need
beforehand so that we could at least get that in place? And, in terms of the public
hearings, in some ways it depends on how much time we have.
NAKAMOTO: Right, yeah.
LUL So, it's hard to decide now.
NAKAMOTO: As far as the training, the software the Commission will be using for the
2021 redistricting, will probably be identical to what was used in 2011 or very, very
similar. It's a very user friendly software. We've used it, and so has the public. You
know, in the past, in the 2011 redistricting, the public was able to submit plans and as we
went around the island, there were several individuals who did submit a plan, and they
were not trained on the software. They went in and they just used the software.
LUL I'm not sure I could do that myself. (Laughter.)
M
NAKAMOTO: But, to answer your question, we will be having a training on the
software once it becomes available. We have nothing to train the Commissioners on up
until, until that time.
LUL Okay, so that's really it on training? Okay, interesting.
NAKAMOTO: But, we do have the training in our plan. In our schedule. Internal
schedule.
MELLON-LACEY: One question I know we discussed Pat, and that's availability of
computers and what this Commission needs. So, maybe could you address that?
NAKAMOTO: Yes. We are able to get computers for the Commissioners who need a
laptop. To draw up plans, you know, to create plans. So, what we wanted to know from
each Commissioner, and you folks don't have to give us this information right now, you
know, you can email our office and let us know, if you would like for us to purchase a
laptop computer so that you can, for you to use exclusively for the Redistricting
Commission plans. You know, you can just let us know and we would be able to do that.
KOSSOW: This is Bronsten. Is there a budget for that?
NAKAMOTO: Yes. The Commission has a budget. And, I wouldn't I can ask Cori to
tell meI don't know what exactly is in the budget, how much we have right now. We
haven't spent any money yet. (Pause. Pat asked Cori for a dollar amount away from the
microphone.) Okay, we would need to get back to you on that at the next meeting.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Quick question for Ms. Nakamoto. The budget, and this is the
Chair as well, the budget that's been appropriated for this particular board and
commission, that would also go to pay for the vendor and the software that's used for the
reapportionment of the data collection?
NAKAMOTO: Yes, that's correct.
KOSSOW: And, I think Mr. Rosenbrock eluded to the fact that it is costly?
NAKAMOTO: Yes, we will be paying the vendor for the to provide us with support,
which would include the training that will be provided to the Commissioners. But, as far
as the software itself, the State will be purchasing that and the County will be using the
software that pertains to the County of Hawai `i. So, we will not be paying for that
portion of the software.
KOSSOW: Thank you. And, sorry, second question to you Ms. Nakamoto. If the
Commissioner prefers to use a personal laptop, personal computer, how does that comply
with any sort of Sunshine Law issues or use of public information on our private
computers and private technology.
N-11
NAKAMOTO: Okay, I'm very fortunate to have our Deputy Corporation Counsel next
to me who can answer that question.
MELLON-LACEY: If you have a County computer, if you do get one that the County
purchases for your use, as I understand it, you wouldn't be keeping that computer. You
would have it to utilize during the course of this task, this Commission's task. So, you
could not use that based on your ethics presentation today, to send emails to your friends,
and go on, do social media. So, if you take one there it's going to be dedicated to that
with the software on it. You know, it's a little unclear to me what the plan is here
because the license for the software, I don't have the details on how many licenses we get
and what the limitations of those licenses are. I haven't seen that information. So, you
know, it may be, personally hearing this, I think it would the safest for everybody to have
a computer that the County purchases and it's dedicated to this task and the software is
put on that, the license is on it, then it's very clear that you couldn't possibly, or you
could possibly, but I mean, it's very clear it's not going to mix with your personal
business. Because, your ability to use this should only be for the work of this
Commission, and if you did put it on your own computer, if you would be allowed to do
that, and I think we would have to know what the vendor thought, you would not, it
would not be for the purposes of you, let's say your cousin in Santa Barbara calls you and
says, "Hey! I know you got this software on your computer and I want you to calculate
this for, you know, the district where I live based on whether I think this is fair or not."
That wouldn't be a permitted use. So, I'm not as clear. I haven't seen what these
agreements are supposed to be like with this software, but I think there's limitations. In
that regard, you'd probably be safest using a County computer.
KOSSOW: Thank you.
NAKAMOTO: Okay, as far as the license for the software, the State will purchase this
is just an example —maybe a hundred license and at any given time, the public, as well as
the Commissioners, would be able to sign in using a license, and you would create your
plan, and then you would save your plan. So, those license are meant to be shared.
LUL You mentioned, Pat, that actually members of the public could use it to submit
alternate plans and would therefore need to have access to it. So, it doesn't seem like it
would be such a problem to use your own computer.
MELLON-LACEY: Well, I guess what's not clear to me, you know, is whether we're
actually putting some kind of software on our own device or more likely, logging in to
something that they have. And, if it's the latter, and you're logging in then I would think
it would not be the same kind of problem, but it's hard to speak when you don't know
exactly how it works.
NAKAMOTO: That's how that's how it would be. You would log in. The public
would log in.
00.1
MELLON-LACEY: Well, then if you're logging in then I think it would be, yeah, more
possible.
KOSSOW: This is Bronsten. Does the logI'm just curious —does the log in forfeit
after a while? After usage and then it can go to another constituent or another
Commissioner to be used?
NAKAMOTO: Yes. You would log in, you would use the license as long as you want
to. You know, you would create your plan and then you would log off. You can save
your plan and then you can log on at another time and come back in and you know, start
working on your plan again.
KOSSOW: Thank you. And then my other just for the sake of time you brought up
timelines and what the Commission wanted or can do? Do you have a recommendation
of what we can or should do?
NAKAMOTO: No, I don't have a recommendation. I would just, you know, hope the
Commissioners would keep in mind whatever you folks decide to do, or how you want to
conduct the public hearings, that you keep in mind the very short window that we are
going to be working in. So, what I mean is like, you know, you could maybe combine
these public hearings. Because they are virtual, you know, you can look at doing it
different ways and Diana, you can correct me if I am wrong, you know, whether you
want to have one meeting, but it would be a really long meeting if we're going to be
presenting, you know, district one's plan, district two, you know, all the way up to district
nine. So, you may want to look at how you want to put this together.
KOSSOW: Was there a limit to how many meetings that needs to be done? Was there 9
separate meetings that needs to be taken?
NAKAMOTO: Yes.
KOSSOW: So, if you combine them, do you —would you just consider it as one
meeting? How does the wording work on that?
MELLON-LACEY: This is Diana. I have to look at that more carefully if that's what
this Commission wants to do. Cause the way that it's worded now, it's like each, you
would go, you were expected to go physically to each district and have a meeting in that
district. But, you know, as long as the virtual requirement remains in effect, and I don't
know when that will —if that will change. It would seem that you would be able to focus
it towards one or two districts and do it that way, but I would want to look at that more
carefully and you know, kind of get an opinion too about it because this is new territory.
The idea, the way the Code is written, is that you go to each location, each district, and
have it. I believe, I asked Pat about this because I haven't done this before, and she has.
And, I believe that they usually had them like, in a school cafeteria, or something. So,
you physically went to that location. If that is not going to be possible to do, then we're
going to have to look at alternatives.
011
YOSHINA: I have a related question.
MELLON-LACEY: Yes.
YOSHINA: And, possibly, there is no answer to this but
MELLON-LACEY: Okay.
YOSHINA: What if we don't get the information in a timely manner? So, what if in
September, the Census Bureau doesn't give us information?
MELLON-LACEY: Yeah, and that's a really good question, and again at this point you
know, I don't have an answer to that. I'm working with former Judge Elizabeth Strance,
our Corporation Counsel, on this issue, and I'm certain that we're going to be, or already
are, in contact with the Attorney General's Office at the State level to see what the State,
you know, has —is planning because I'm told that several of the other islands, you know,
they do it at -large so they don't have quite the same time constraints that we do with each
district. So, the onus is for us, a little bit bigger. And, I'd hope to have more information
and a clearer idea of when we can really expect this data in the near future, but right now,
I was quite dismayed, as dismayed as all of you are, when I heard it was going to be
possibly September.
YOSHINA: Okay. Thank you.
LOPEZ: This is Kawena. I have a question.
KOSSOW: Go ahead, Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Ladies, the subject of the laptop computer for business of the Commission in
drafting plans. One of the critical things among us, particularly being remote from each
other, is communication. So, would that laptop include our ability to email each other,
email members of the support staff for the Commission? Or is it just strictly for the plan?
Or have you thought about that?
MELLON-LACEY: Is it strictly for what? I'm sorry.
LUL The plan.
LOPEZ: For developing the
MELLON-LACEY: Oh, the plan. Well, it would be for the business of the Commission
so if it'sif you need to email Pat, let's say because you have a question about
something with the software so, then of course, that's totally appropriate because that's
part of the business. And, of course, as you saw from the Sunshine Law, you can't really
engage in private discussions with the members of the Commission outside of a meeting
31
with a lot of emailing, so that's somewhat limited anyway. Better to go through a staff
person, you know, if you wanted to get information out or something like that, or if you
have questions about how something works.
LUL Well, it maybe though that you are having an administrative question or something
like that, that doesn't really require all of your time, so in some ways it would be good if
we could communicate a little bit more. Those are not substantial questions, so again, if
we could have a list of the members and their email addresses, that would be really
helpful.
MELLON-LACEY: Yeah, I'm sure we'll be putting that together. I just cautioned
because sometimes the Sunshine Law gets inadvertently violated through a lot of
emailing so it is something you have to be careful about.
LUL We have nothing substantial to talk about until September.
MELLON-LACEY: At this point, yes. Well but, remember it isn't always reality, its
perception. You know, if people get the perception that the group is communicating and
not being out front about what they're doing, it can cause problems. In some ways, it's
harder in this virtual environment.
LOPEZ: So, to try to close my question, we would be able to use the laptop from the
County, that you propose, would have email ability so that we can talk that kind of
business?
MELLON-LACEY: In all honesty, I don't know how the laptop from the County would
be configured. Is that something you would know—
LOPEZ: Alright, it's a consideration then, at this point. Thank you.
NAKAMOTO: Yes, we can have it ready for you so that you folks would be able to
email our offices and we will provide you with our email addresses and telephone
numbers.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Are there any questions for Ms. Nakamoto? (No response.)
NAKAMOTO: If not, I wanted to go back to the question about the budget. I got the
information. Currently, in this fiscal year, there is ten -thousand dollars, and in the next
fiscal year, which begins on July 1st, there would be seventy-five thousand dollars for the
Commission's use. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you.
YOSHINA: So, we can have parties then. (Laughter.)
LUL We get to get a car with it. (Laughter.)
Kea
KOSSOW: Do you folks have a line item forI'm sorry, you're packing up —do you
folks have a line item that we can take a look at to see what the budget cost would be
going into —going into past July for just regular expenses, whether that's reimbursement
for driving or the consultations?
NAKAMOTO: Yes, we can get that information to you.
KOSSOW: Thank you.
MELLON-LACEY: And then, they would they have gotten or would get the forms for
mileage and anything of that nature.
NAKAMOTO: Yes, Dennis has already provided it.
LUL We already have that, yeah.
KOSSOW: Thank you.
NAKAMOTO: Thank you.
YOSHINA: So, Bronsten, before you continue, I just wanted clarification.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Yes, thanks. So, we're going to all get a contact list?
MELLON-LACEY: Yes.
YOSHINA: Okay.
KOSSOW: Is that something Dennis could provide?
YOSHINA: Yeah, yeah.
KOSSOW: I think he was the one that emailed everybody out.
YOSHINA: Okay, thank you.
4. Meetings
Discussion on location, frequency, and time of day for Commission meetings.
091
KOSSOW: Alright, moving over to New Business and Number 4, we have Meetings.
This includes discussion on location, frequency, and time of day for Commission
meetings. I open the floor.
LUL I guess, I move that we put that to the next meeting, whenever that might be,
although we because there's not really, yeah, much toI don't see that we have any
regular business at this moment.
LOPEZ: I support that because we have two more members coming on and their input to
that would be crucial. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Should we maintain at least a monthly connection though? I think the
previous Commission met at a monthly rate.
KOSSOW: If we meet monthly, then we would have to ensure that you know, the
building for East Side, and West Side, and gym capabilities are open and then we have to
work with the County staff on that. So, that's something to take into consideration if you
wanted to do a monthly basis. Am I right on that?
MELLON-LACEY: Well, the way meetings are structured now, it would be possible to
do everything virtually, for the moment.
KOSSOW: Okay.
MELLON-LACEY: So, that you wouldn't have to haveI think one of the primary
reasons they wanted to do this, this way, was to get everybody sworn in. But, in theory,
at least now, it could be done that way. Subject to change, of course.
KOSSOW: I think we should temporarily meet next month to complete the rules and
regulations that we passed through today. And then, maybe we'll get an update after you
know, 2 or 3 months, and we'll go month by month when it comes to awaiting the report
from the Census. How does everybody feel about that?
LUL Good.
LOPEZ: Agreed.
YOSHINA: I'm good with that.
KOSSOW: Okay. Alright. So, is there any dates or times that stands out to anybody?
LOPEZ: My preference would be Mondays. So, the next meeting would be April 5.
HUSTACE: I move that we meet on the first Monday of every month going forward.
011
KAUKA: Everyone, this is Dennis. If I could just offer something. The District 3
vacancy that the Mayor's Office submitted, for Breeani Sumera-Lee, I don't think it was
requestedI believe it's going to be on a Committee agenda for March 16. So, she
would not actually be confirmed until April 7, if you wanted her to participate as a seated
Commissioner for the next meeting, at that Council on April 7.
KOSSOW: April 7?
LUL So, why don't we do the following Monday, whatever it is after April 7 h?
KOSSOW: The 12''.
LOPEZ: Very good.
KOSSOW: Is there a motion on the floor for
HUSTACE: I amend my motion -Monday -to April 12''. Monday, April 12''.
KOSSOW: Yup. Motion is made my Mr. Hustace.
LOPEZ: Second.
KOSSOW: Second by Mr. Lopez. We already had some discussion on it. Any
objection?
LOPEZ: Yes.
KOSSOW: Oh, you want to set an objection?
LOPEZ: This is just a one-time schedule?
KOSSOW: Correct. This is just one-time.
LOPEZ: This is just one. Okay.
KOSSOW: This is just for the 17'h meeting. This isn't anything to do with the meetings
after that.
LOPEZ: Alright. Thank you.
LUL Good. Oh?
KOSSOW: Ms. Yadao?
YADAO: I have a work meeting that day.
KOSSOW: Okay.
MIP
LUL Should we push it back one more week? It's really not —there's no emergency
here.
KOSSOW: Yeah. So, we're scratching off the motion that's on the floor, and we're
pushing for April 19'. Is there a motion?
LUL So moved.
KOSSOW: Thank you. The motion was made by Ms. Lui.
LOPEZ: Second.
KOSSOW: Seconded by Mr. Lopez. Any discussion?
HUSTACE: I have a work meeting that day.
(Laughter.)
KOSSOW: Oh, great. Shall we shoot for May? How does Mondays the first Monday
of May. May 3ra.
LUI: Sounds good. So moved.
KOSSOW: Motion made by Ms. Lui.
YOSHINA: Second.
KOSSOW: Seconded by Mr. Yoshina. Any discussion?
HUSTACE: This will be held virtually, I'm assuming?
KOSSOW: This is going to be held virtually. Yes.
HUSTACE: Thank you.
KOSSOW: Any opposition?
MELLON-LACEY: I'm just throwing it out.
KOSSOW: Go ahead.
MELLON-LACEY: Are you thinking of doing the same time as this meeting or?
LUL Ten.
W.
KOSSOW: Yeah, that's what I was thinking since it's a standardized time here. Which
would be, 10 o'clock a.m. Any objections? (No response.) Alright, thank you very
much.
REPORTS
KOSSOW: Moving over to reports. I don't think we have any reports on hand `cause
this is our first meeting.
REFERRALS FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION
KOSSOW: Any referrals for executive session? I think that's going to be under
Corporation Counsel.
MELLON-LACEY: None.
KOSSOW: No referrals for executive session.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
KOSSOW: Do we have any announcements? (No response.)
ADJOURNMENT
KOSSOW: Without hearing any, is there a motion to adjourn?
HUSTACE: So moved.
LOPEZ: Second.
KOSSOW: Motion by Mr. Hustace. Seconded by Mr. Lopez. Any objections? (No
response.) No objections. The committee meeting is adjourned.
LUL Thank you.
MELLON-LACEY: Thank you.
AKAMU: Thank you, everybody.
LUL Thanks, Bronsten and James for stepping up.
Respectfully Submitted,
Nicole Bello, support staff to
the Commission
Approved on September 9, 202 1:
Mr. Bronsten-Glenn Kossow, Chair
Hawaii County Redistricting Commission
WQ
2021
HAWAI`I COUNTY
REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
2nd Session
Thursday, September 9, 2021
County Council Chambers
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
ATTENDANCE:
Present: Mr.
`Aina Akamu, Commissioner (via videoconference)
Ms.
Stephanie Bath, Commissioner
Mr.
James Hustace, Vice Chairperson
Mr.
Bronsten-Glenn Kossow, Chairperson
Mr.
Stephen Lopez, Commissioner
Mr.
Meizhu Lui, Commissioner
Ms.
Jennifer Yadao, Commissioner
Mr.
Dwayne Yoshina, Commissioner
Also Present: Diana Mellon -Lacey, Deputy Corporation Counsel
Pat Nakamoto, Elections Program Administrator
Cori Saiki, Elections Program Specialist I
Dennis Kauka Jr., Legislative Specialist / Secretary
Also Present via
Videoconference: Royce Jones, GDSI Hawaii
CALL TO ORDER:
KOSSOW: Aloha, everybody. Welcome to the 2nd session for the Hawaii County
Redistricting Commission. My name is Bronsten Kossow. I'm the Chairman of this
Commission. I'd like to start with a notice announcement. Because of the Coronavirus
Emergency and State and Federal guidance on large meetings or gatherings, and pursuant
to the Mayor's Proclamations regarding COVID-19, the Redistricting Commission
meetings are currently not open to the public to attend in -person and until further notice.
Members of the public may view or provide oral testimony via the Zoom platform by
requesting for this information as noticed on our posted agendas. Thank you for your
understanding. I now call this meeting to order, the time is 9:35 a.m., September 9th,
2021.
ROLL CALL
Re -introduction and welcome of new commissioners
KOSSOW: Let's start with a roll call and I'll ask the support staff to assist with the
Commission. When called upon, please indicate you as present and whether you are in
Hilo, West Hawaii, or participating remotely. Mr. Kauka?
KAUKA: Thank you. Commissioner Lui, "Present in Hilo," Commissioner Yoshina,
"Present in Hilo," Commissioner Sumera-Lee, (No response), Commissioner Yadao,
"Present in Hilo," Commissioner Bath, "Present in Hilo," Commissioner Akamu,
"Present online via Zoom," Commissioner Lopez, "Present in West Hawaii Civic
Center," Vice -Chair Hustace "Present, West Hawaii Civic Center," Chair Kossow,
"Present, Kona, West Hawaii Civic Center." Thank you. Chair, you have eight
Commissioners present.
KOSSOW: Thank you. We have quorum.
Commissioners, welcome. As a reminder, during this meeting we are working with
commissioners in multiple locations. So, the audio might be a little bit off, and we're
going to do our best, as much as possible. If you have issues, please go ahead, and talk to
the support staff as well. Please keep your microphones on mute unless you are speaking.
Commissioners in either chambers, your microphone can be activated by pressing the
button at the base. I won't be able to recognize you if the audio is not coming through so
to be sure to check if that's on first when speaking. As I am presiding from Kona,
Commissioners here with me, please turn on your light or get my attention to be
recognized, just wave your hand. For those in Hilo or who are remote, if you could just
get my attention, and I'll do my best to navigate around to different Commissioners. This
may be challenging for us to navigate, but we'll work through it and thank you in
advance for helping us with this.
Since it has been some time since our first meeting in March as we awaited data to work
with, my understanding is that we have a new Commissioner who was not yet confirmed
K
at that time. Ms. Sumera-Lee, who I don't think has arrived yet. Is that correct, Mr.
Kauka?
KAUKA: Yes, that's correct, Chair.
KOSSOW: Okay. When she gets in, we'll have her introduce herself.
KAUKA: Sure, thank you.
STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS
KOSSOW: Alright, at this time we're going to do statements from the public. Staff, can
you confirm the amount of testifiers we have currently?
KAUKA: Mr. Chair, we have four testifiers who requested to testify this morning.
KOSSOW: Okay. Before we get started with testimony, I understand that we have a
request from some testifiers that they be allowed to provide their statements after the
presentation we have scheduled to receive today. Without objections from
Commissioners, I'm going to allow that understanding that this may inform some of the
sentiments perhaps that we express. First though, I will ask if any members of the public
would prefer to offer their testimony now at this time, and before we begin the agenda, in
a moment I'll ask for that. Otherwise, we'll take testimony after item 4 under New
Business of our agenda.
Now, if any testifiers would prefer to speak now and not later, please unmute yourself
and say your name, only then I'll have staff guide after I make some indications. So,
anybody want to make a testimony?
SHANNON MATSON
MATSON: Aloha, Commissioners, this is Shannon Matson. I did not sign up to testify
but can I reserve the right to testify at the end or after item number 4 if I so choose? Is
that allowed?
KOSSOW: Yes, that's allowed.
MATSON: Okay. Mahalo.
KOSSOW: Any other testifiers? (No response.)
K
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
March 1, 2021, meeting — 1st session
KOSSOW: Okay. Our first order of business is to approve the minutes of our March 1"
2021, meeting, the first session. Commissioners, you should have this packet when it was
first posted. May I have a motion to approve?
Mr. Hustace moved to approve the minutes of the
March 1, 2021, Hawaii County Redistricting
Commission meeting. Seconded by Mr. Yoshina.
The motion to approve the minutes of the March 1,
2021 Hawaii County Redistricting Commission
meeting was carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Yadao, Yoshina, Vice Chair Hustace, and
Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
Absent: Commissioner Sumera-Lee.
KOSSOW: Motion is adopted. Minutes approved.
COMMUNICATIONS
None.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
None.
NEW BUSINESS
l . Status report on Commission budget
Office of Elections
KOSSOW: Alright, we're heading over to New Business. Next, we have the Office of
Election to provide an update on our Commission's budget. Commissioners you may
have Communication 10 from the staff. This is an expenditure report. Is the staff
currently available at the Council Chambers?
KAUKA: Yes, Chair. We have a member of the Elections Office at the table, Cori Saiki.
KOSSOW: Now that I'm looking at it, I don't think I have Communications 10 with me.
No. Mr. Kauka, could you forward the Communications 10 to the staff here in Kona?
EA
KAUKA: Yes, I can check in with them. It's up on our Public Documents. The print
didn't make it in the courier overnight to Kona, but we'll have that available and it is
posted to the Public Documents.
KOSSOW: Okay. Thank you.
KAUKA: Commissioners in Hilo have it. We'll work with them to provide the three of
you with prints.
SAIKL Okay. Currently, last fiscal year, we had a budget of $10,000 and then another
$10,000 was transferred from the leftover Charter Commission money, so we had a total
of $20,000. And the only expenditure we had was for $6,681 and that was for the ESRI
contract, for the software. So, this the current fiscal year budget, there's a $75,000 in
the budget right now. The only expense we're waiting the bill hasn't come yet —was for
the purchase of the 9 laptops, which came out to almost $10,500, but that's the only
expense that we so far have, coming out of this budget.
KOSSOW: Any Commissioners have any questions? Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Thank you, Commissioneruh, Chair. How did we get? I don't have the
budget in front of me so, I wish we would have had that before you sat down but how
did we get from $20,000, which you reported, less $4,681, to now $75K? There's a huge
jump there and I just wonder how we got that big jump? Where'd that money come from?
SAIKL The $75,000 is what was budgeted for in this fiscal year, fiscal year 21-22.
LOPEZ: Okay, but if that's the budget, then how do I reconcile the $10,000 left from
2021 Commission and the $10,000 supposedly 2021, I believe? That's another $20,000?
I'm just trying to get my math correct please.
SAIKL Okay. I'm not sure, canI'm not sure I'm understanding what you're asking.
LOPEZ: Okay. What I'm asking is, if $75,000 was budgeted for this Commission
SAIKL Yes.
LOPEZ: Where is the $20,000 that you brought up early, the 10 and 10? Is it in that
number already?
SAIKL No, that was last fiscal. That was in the June up until the June —ending of June
30'', 2021.
LOPEZ: Okay, and then monies left over from the previous Commission were $10,000?
SAIKL That was all in the last fiscal year.
61
LOPEZ: Oh. So, we have a total of $10,000 carry over, not 20?
SAIKL There is awe did requisition for it. So, the that $10,471 is —was requisitioned
in last fiscal year, but we haven't gotten billed for it yet. I have to check on what fiscal
year this money is going to come out from.
LOPEZ: Okay, but the bottom line, what do we have —so we have $75,000, less the
laptop expense coming in.
SAIKL Yes.
LOPEZ: And, we have a requisition for $10,400.
SAIKL The requisition is for the laptops. The only expense we have, right now, is the
$10,000.
LOPEZ: Okay, I apologize. I'm not coming through clearly enough. I'm trying to
understand if our budget is $75,000
SAIKL Yes.
LOPEZ: Is that the totals the total amount?
SAIKL That's the total budget.
LOPEZ: Okay. So, I should ignore your early comments about the $10,000 from last
year, and the $10,000 from 2011. Just —that really doesn't apply to the $75,000. Is that
correct?
SAIKL Yes.
LOPEZ: Okay. Okay. Thank you. We have $75,000 to work with, bottom line. Thank
you.
SAIKL Okay. Thank you.
LUL Chairman Kossow?
KOSSOW: Yes. Can you state your name so I can recognize you?
LUL It's Meizhu Lui, District 1. Oh, thank you. I guess, I'm confused too, just the way
that it's added up. You know, usually there is kind of an income line and an expenditure
line, so it's just confusing that there's 10,000 and then it's got adjusted 20,000 so that's I
guess, the 10 and 10. But then, below its 81 which isif we are appropriated 75,
shouldn't it be 95 and then you subtract the 6,0006,681? Anyway, I guess I'm just
confused, not that it matters too much.
1.1
SAIKL I'm sorry.
LUL Yeah, no, I'm just wondering why isn't the total, if there were two $10,000 adjusted
appropriations, why isn't that added to the $75,000 that was appropriated for this year?
So, wouldn't it be a $95,000 budget?
SAIKL No, it goes back into the General Fund at the end of the fiscal year.
LUL Oh. So, the $20,000, no not —the $20,000 went back in?
SAIKL Thirteen. $13,000.
LUL Thirteen.
SAIKL Because we had $20,000 and then there was a $6,681 expense for the ESRI
contract and so the balance was thirteen that goes back into the General Fund.
LUL I got it. Okay, so it's 75 and then we've got the 6,000. I got it. Alright, thank you.
SAIKL And then so, Commissioner Lopez?
LOPEZ: Here, yes.
SAIKL Okay, so, to clarify with you, the balance last fiscal year, we ended with $13,000,
that was left in the budget, that went in back into the General Fund. So, the $10,000 for
the laptops, will be coming out of this fiscal budget. So, we have the budget is $75,000,
less $10,471.47.
LOPEZ: Understood. Much clearer now. Thank you. I apologize, I didn't have the benefit
of this document that's on the screen. Thank you.
SAIKL Okay, thank you.
LUL Just one more question, sorry, Chairman Kossow. So, will there also be like
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui.
LUL Will there be also, a projected budget so we kind of know what we might spend this
on? What will the expenses be? `Cause I'm not sure.
MELLON-LACEY: I think that would depend on what's identified as needed to do the
job.
LUL You mean potential, I don't know, consultants? Like public meetings? I'm not sure
what they might be, just from last time.
rA
MELLON-LACEY: Yeah, I think there would be mileage if people attend meetings in
person—
KOSSOW: Can you put the mic on? We can't hear you over here.
MELLON-LACEY: Oh, I'm sorry, I do have it on but maybe I'm not speaking loud
KOSSOW: Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you.
MELLON-LACEY: This is Diana Mellon -Lacey, and I'm just surmising because I don't
know for sure, what things the Commission would identify that they need, but I know
that you can be reimbursed for mileage if you attend things in person. I believe you could
be reimbursed for lunches. There could be need for other equipment, or some consultant,
or something more to be done with the ESRI contract. Those are just things that would
come to my mind.
LUL I wonder if it would be possible to just get the budget from the 2011 Commission
just so that we could get a little sense of what it was that they spent the $60,000 on.
SAIKL I think that's something we can give you folks.
LUL Great, thank you.
KOSSOW: Mahalo.
BATH: Chair, this is Stephanie Bath.
KOSSOW: Go ahead, Ms. Bath.
BATH: Let's just hope we don't spend the money and it can go back into the General
Fund and we can do this as thrifty as possible.
HUSTACE: Chair, just a follow-up question.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Are the expenditure reports for the 2011 Commission in the Public
Documents folder? Question for staff.
KAUKA: I'm sorry, Mr. Hustace. I missed that question. This is Dennis. Can you say
that again?
HUSTACE: Yes. Are the expenditure reports from the 2011 Commission in the Public
Documents folder, so that we can review them?
E:3
KAUKA: Yeah, the 2011 Redistricting Commission repository is still available online.
I'm not sure if that specific document is there. I'd have to check, but we'll check on that
for you. I can point it out to the Commissioners if it's there, or we can work to locate it.
HUSTACE: Mahalo.
KOSSOW: Any other questions regarding the budget? (No response.) Thank you, I think
we're going to pass it over to Pat as well. I'm sorry Mr. Kauka, do you need time to set
up the video?
KAUKA: Yes, Chair, we may need just a couple minutes to get that set up.
KOSSOW: Okay, I'm going to do a five-minute recess.
(S-minute recess.)
2. Overview of census data
presentation by Royce Jones, GDSI Hawai `i (Please note, the meeting agenda stated that
Mr. David J Rosenbrock, State Reapportionment Project Manager, would be
presenting.)
KOSSOW: Alright, coming back from recess here, now I understand that Mr.
Rosenbrock is not here, and we're going to have Mr. Jones in place, is that correct?
JONES: Yes
KOSSOW: Okay, just going to make a note here on the agenda. So, Mr. Jones, if you
want to go ahead with your introduction. Thank you.
JONES: Okay, thanks. Yes, Royce Jones, I am supporting the Hawaii Reapportionment
Commission, the Statewide Commission, with all their mapping, and data, and actually,
the rooms look quite familiar, because 10 years ago, I was also supporting the
Commission and I came over there for presentations, both in Kona, and Hilo, in support
of redistricting and actually, 20 years ago. Dwayne will remember some of that. So, I've
been through this before and it's always an interesting process. So, right now, what we've
done because everything is Zoom and mic connection can be a bit unstable, I've recorded
a video that will present about the census data that's used by the online application and
then after the video, I'll be back, I can take any questions there are, and then the online
application itself will be a second video presentation, and I'll be around for both. So, if
you're ready on that end, Dennis or whoever's going to show the video?
(Please note, immediately prior to Mr. Jones' video presentation, the Commission
experienced technical difficulties.)
JONES (via recorded video presentation): Aloha! In this presentation, I'm going to talk
about census data, the population data we use for redistricting. This presentation and the
01
population data I'll be talking about is similar to others that I presented to the statewide
Hawaii Reapportionment Commission because much of it is similar information, but in
this presentation, I'll talk specifically about the County of Hawaii and the population
data for the council district redistricting.
Starts with the census itself, conducted every 10 years for the purposes of equal
representation. You can see some numbers here, through time, how the population has
grown. What we're really interested in here for our purposes for redistricting council
districts. The Census Bureau collects data a lot of different levels for a lot of different
purposes. For our purposes, we needed it at the lowest level, the most detailed level,
those are the census blocks, outlined in green there before, below. Everything else builds
off of census blocks. That's the data that we need. So, what are census blocks? Statewide,
Hawaii has 14,732 census blocks, that includes the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. Most
census blocks follow street boundaries. I put in a snippet there on the left. Each of those
purple polygons is a census block. In this case on Oahu, I have selected one, you can see
it highlighted in blue. Each of these is a census block. On the right hand side, you can see
a snippet from Hilo, and again, I've selected one in blue to show you the lines don't
always follow the streets. Most of the time they do, but they do follow other natural
features like in this case, streams, also ridges, other features.
Each one of these census blocks though, will contain population. However, in January,
we did receive the census blocks but it did not have population data. All we got were the
outline, so we knew where they were. We knew each block's uniquie identifier but we
did not have the population. The population we were waiting for is the P.L. 94-171
resident population base. That is the census reported resident population as of April 1 st,
2020. Indeed we did received that, August 12th of 2021, that census block level
information for Hawaii. We received it in what's called a legacy format. You may have
heard this so I thought I'd put in a couple slide to describe that. As you know, the census
is long delayed in being released. There will be a user-friendly release at the end of
September but the Census Bureau said, we'll release a legacy format in mid to late
August, most States may lack the capacity to tabulate this but if they do, they can get
started earlier, but we reaffirm we'll get the user-friendly one by September 30th. Well
we wanted to get ready early so we prepared, and we were able to read that legacy
format. Question did arise, but wait is that going to be the same numbers if we use the
legacy as the final in September? They clarified that on August 5th. The Census Bureau
said, yes, the numbers themselves, will be identical. So with that, we received the data on
August 12th. These are the numbers, both statewide, and by basic island unit. The State
Reapportionment Commission uses basic island units. You can see the breakdown there.
The basic island unit of Hawaii, with a federal population of 200,629 as of April 1st,
2020.
It's interesting to compare that with the 2010 federal population. We can see the growth
overall statewide, and within each of the basic island units. So that's where we see
Hawaii with a growth of 15,550. At the low end Kauai, 6,207. At the high end, O`ahu's
63,301. If we look at them as percentages, County of Hawaii is 8.4 percent. Actually
Kaua` i has the highest percentage, 9.25 percent. But with a smaller population, 9.25
IK
percent of a population of say 67,000, gives you about 6,000 increase. On the other end,
Oahu is down on the lower end, 6.64 pecent but with 953,000 people at 6.64 percent,
you end up with 63,000. Anyway, it's interesting to compare the numbers from 10 years
ago and see an overall growth rate statewide of about 7 percent.
Now, those are the federal numbers, and indeed those are the numbers that the State
Reapportionment Commission will be using for Congressional redistricting. But for our
purposes and State Senate, State House, and the Council, Hawaii Council, we will be
using the permanent resident population base. Which means we need to extract the non-
permanent residents. Those would be military and students that meet two criteria. These
criteria being that they were non -permanent as a primary miliary and universtiy student.
So what does that mean, non -permanent? Miliary declare a State othan than Hawaii as
their State of legal residence. That's what they tell the miliary. For the universities, they
pay out of State tuition and they have a permanent address outside Hawaii. The second
criteria is they were counted in the census. They needed to be here to be counted and so
that's where, both from the military and the students, we request that only the numbers
for those actually in Hawaii on April 1st, 2020, who would have been counted by the
census so that we can extract them from those census counts. So there you can see the
numbers, both military and students. Over 70,000 on Oahu, of course all the military
there is a big part of that number. But on the County of Hawaii, we do have 539 total for
the military, 499 non -permanent students, so for a total of 539. This is a map that shows
because we needed the census block level. So this is where, both the military and the
universities, provided residents' addresses so that we could locate those residences, the
census block that they're in, and remove those 539 from each census block, where they
were. You can see the legend that by and large, we only removed one or two from each
census block and they were scattered around the island. But you can see that the focus,
maybe not too suprising, is around Hilo of course, around UH where they majority of the
students are residing.
So, here are then, the numbers starting with the federal population numbers subtracting
out those non -permanent residents, leaves the County of Hawaii with a total population,
permanent resident population, of 200,090. So with 9 council districts, we want to know
what's the ideal if we had exactly equal representation in every district, what would be
that ideal population? Well with 9 districts, we divide 200,090 by 9 which gives you
22,232.22. If you round off, that gives you the ideal target population for each council
district in the County of Hawaii, as 22,232. And indeed, if you look at the software,
which I will be talking about next, the software does show that target. It shows a map of
the current boundaries. It shows the target, which is the ideal. It also will show then, what
is the population currently, that's where the starting point. There's the current population
of your council boundaries. How much does that deviate then from that ideal target? You
can see Council District 1 is actually a little bit below. In fact, 1,343 below, which also
translates over to 6.04 percent below. But if I look down further, I see oh there's one even
lower, Council 7 is 8.16 pecent below. In other words, not as much growth out there. But
if we also look for what's the highest percent, we see Council 5. Council 5 has grown by
11.22 percent higher than that target, that ideal target population. So this is where the
11
Commission's job is to start moving these district boundaries, census block by census
block, to get these populations of each council district closer to that 22,232.
Now, it's never going to be perfect. There's various reason of geography, and not
splitting communities. I think you'll be hearing about some of those guidelines later in
the meeting today. But the number that you're looking for, the ideal is 22,232. And one
of the other numbers then, is to look at the highest and the lowest. So this is where if we
look at Council 5 as the highest at 11.22, and Council 7 as the lowest at minus 8.16, that
is a total deviation, the difference between the two, of 19.38 percent. So a number you'll
hear is below 10 percent. That's what courts have upheld as a reasonable deviation.
Ideally, you'd make it even below that. And that's where as you're moving in the
application, you can monitor, as you move census blocks and assign them to different
council districts, you can immediately see the change in that district population and the
deviation percent, and you can kind of keep track then of the difference between the
highest and the smallest.
So that's a quick overview of the census data that is being used, and has been loaded. The
online application is available for use. I'll stop the video now and take any questions.
Thank you.
KOSSOW: Are there any questions from the Commissioners? Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. You talked about just the very beginning of your
presentation there —how current are the drawings of the census blocks?
JONES: Those are the 2020 census blocks.
HUSTACE: So my concern is, I've looked up the application a little bit, and I've seen
some —and I know you mentioned that there are cases that they do not —they don't really
conform to streets, and some boundaries, but I have come across some census blocks that
cross over roads and are going through different areas. And I've seen a couple on the map
already so I do have concerns about the blocks.
JONES: Well those are the blocks from the Census Bureau and I agree. Sometimes, you
wonder why did they do that. Sometimes there seems to be blocks that just run down the
middle of the street. There's other blocks that yeah particularly in the mauka areas, you
get some strangely shaped census blocks. I will tell you that the council district
boundaries are based on those 2020 census blocks, even though they were drawn based
on the 2010 census blocks. Now, 99.9 percent of the time, it's the same lines, but I did
notice a few areas `cause I'm the one who did create and did this assignment of the 2020
blocks to each of the council districts. There was like half a dozen places where a census
block split a boundary. But it wasn't very much and it was in very low population areas.
In fact, I think they were zero population areas. It was up in the real the areas that don't
have much population. So that is the shape, the areas, the census blocks, the official ones
that they release the counts by, that's what we have to use. I don't know if I've answered
your question, but plesae, ask more if I haven't.
IH,
HUSTACE: Well just as a geographer myself, you know we've been opt to use those
particular boundaries, right? Those roads, those ridgelines, those streams, and yet the
blocks are deviating from those boundaries.
JONES: You have to use the census blocks. That's what gets moved between districts. So
a census block could contain multiple streets. They are different shapes. Like I said, most
often, they follow a block like particular down in Hilo. But as you get into more rural
areas, they quite often follow ridgelines, sometimes follow streams. But each one has a
population, sometimes it's zero, right? Again, in the more remote areas where there is no
population. And there are blocks drawn but the population will be shown as zero.
KOSSOW and HUSTACE: Thank you.
JONES: Sure. Any other questions?
KOSSOW: Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Yes. Thank you, Chair. As a pool of curiostiy for me, for those that are Hawaii
residents, that are near to long-term incarcerated here or on the mainland, are they
included in the census? And where are they included? Place of residence or present
location? Can you speak to that?
JONES: Well I don't know. We have not looked at that in terms of breaking out
specifically the prison populations. So, no, I'm sorry I don't know the answer to that.
LOPEZ: Okay, thank you.
JONES: Anything else?
FORD: Mr. Chairman?
KOSSOW: Is that Ms. Ford?
FORD: Yes, Sir, it is. Are we allowed as the public members —are we allowed to ask
questions of Royce?
KOSSOW: Mr. Kauka? (No response.)
FORD: I'm sorry. I don't know if I got an answer. Is the public allowed to ask Royce
questions at this time?
KOSSOW: I think we're going to wait till the fourth, after the fourth agenda item, and
then you can ask questions at that time.
FORD: Thank you.
191
JONES: Yeah, I'll stick around. You bet. Hey, Brenda.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Jones. Any other questions from the Commissioners?
LUL Yes, Chair Kossow. I'm also curious, besides the incarcerated, the homeless
population?
JONES: Homeless are counted, yes.
LUL And are they put into a block where they were found?
JONES: Yeah, quite often it's like at beach parks and other places. Sometimes, they'll
beI mean, whichever census block they get counted in, they are counted there. Yes,
absoluetly.
LUL Thank you.
KOSSOW: I'm sorry, was that Ms. Lui?
LUL Yes, sorry.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Any other questions from the Commissioners?
YOSHINA: I have a question.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Thank you. Royce, good to see you again, but the question has to do with,
who determines these block boundaries and is there a process by which the residents of a
County can input into that process?
JONES: Well the Census does make the final determination, but they do work, I think,
with the counties. There is a process, I haven't been involved in, but a couple of years
before the census, they do share the boundaries that they're considering at the State, or
the State agency, and with the County agencies. I know I've talked with some County
folks on Maui before who were involved with this process. I don't really know, there
probably was someone there on Hawaii County also. But there is a mechanism to get
feedback back to the Census. Now, how those groups, if they seek anything from the
public, I've never been aware of that. That's something I could follow —David is more
familiar with that, David Rosenbrock. He's participated in those before and get feedback
back to the Census because sometimes they will draw some very strange lines and it's
helpful for them, because they don't always know either, right? But we know the local
geography better and can give them feedback, and they have changed their lines before
based on that feeback. I do know that. But I'll write a note to check with David and ask
10
him to provide more clarification. Boundary block review, I think, is the word that's
used. Boundary block review sounds right to me.
YOSHINA: Yeah, I think that's it, but thanks anyway.
KOSSOW: Do you have any other questions for Mr. Jones? (No response.) No questions.
Mr. Jones, would you be able to stay for thank you.
JONES: You bet. I think next up you've got the online application video which I also
made, so yeah I'll be here.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Actually, Mr. Jones, what I'll do is, I'll open it up for public
testimony —or not public testimony, but for the public to ask you questions. That way it
just stays a little fluid to the topic. So, Ms. Ford I understand that you had some questions
for Mr. Jones?
FORD: Yes, Sir. Thank you for allowing the questions at this time. Royce, I have asked
this question of Dennis, our Legislative Specialist, too. I asked him if he could please find
out if the last Redistricting Commission, or Reapportionment, as it was called at that
time, ever sent a letter to the Census Bureau and said, this particular census block number
whatever it is, needs to be split between point A and point B. I'm sure Dennis has not had
enough time to do that yet. But the question is, if they didn't send such a letter to the
Census Bureau, why not? Every Commission complains about these census blocks and
they do need to change every 10 years a little tiny bit but, we've got some that are
historic and they're just ridiculous. So, I'm looking for a letter from the last Commission
saying, this is what we think you should be doing and I have never even heard of this
other group that supposedly feeds information into the Census Burearu. So, can you
comment on that at all? Thank you.
JONES: Sure. I'm not aware if the previous Commission sent any letters but the
Boundary Block Review Committee would be the appropriate venue to bring that up with
Census Bureau. And again, I'll check with David to get more info. I'm not sure who
participated in that from Hawaii County but I do know that they solicit input from each
of the counties. So I can try and find out how that was handled and I don't know if they
have notes of the feedback. This is where I haven't been a part of that process but I can
find out. Yeah.
3. Demonstration of redistricting mapping tool
Presentation by ESRI
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Jones. Next we're going to do the demonstration of
redistricting mapping tools. Who's doing that presentation?
JONES: Yeah, I've recorded a video for that also.
KOSSOW: You're the man.
JONES: Only because I'm not sure about my internet bandwidth. This is actually a video
that I've created generically for anyone using the application. Whether for Council
redistricting, or for Statewide redistricting, or even Congressional redistricting. Actually,
the example that I use in the training is Congressional redistricting a smaller area here on
Oahu. But it's the exact same process that you would follow through there in the
County. If you've got the video queued up, you can go ahead and get it started. It takes
about 25 minutes because I go through the entire process from getting an ID, all the way
through opening a plan. Brenda shaking her head said, yes I've seen that you got one and
you've been making some plans. So, that's great! And then all the way through in the end
where you can submit a plan, right? Part of the idea is that it's the same data, the same
software tools that the Commission uses, the public has access to. So I go through that
all. It's about a 25 minute video, so are we ready to start that?
KAUKA: Yes, we are. Thank you Mr. RosenbrockI'm sorry, Royce. I'm sorry about
that.
JONES (via recorded video presentation): Aloha! Hawaii Redistricting Online is an
online application that will be used by the Hawaii Reapportionment Commission to
redistrict the Hawaii seats, the Congressional seats in the U.S. House, the Hawaii State
Senate, and Hawaii State House District. This set of tools and data are available for the
Commission, members of the Advisory Council, members of the general public, set of
data and tools to draw our redistricting plans. This video is intended for anyone wishing
to use the application. It will step through how to get a user account, because it does
require a login. How to then, use plan templates and open a plan, how to use the map
window and district windows. And the biggest one, how to assign census blocks to
districts because that's what redistricting is about, assigning census blocks to the different
legislative districts. We'll also talk about sharing your plan, reviewing your plan, and if
you like your plan, and would like to submit it to the Commission for it's consideration,
we'll talk about how to submit your plan.
First what it will look like when you come to the app, you will see a sign to sign in. If it's
your first time, you'll need to create a new account. If you're returning, you can use that
account infomration you've created, to login. But to get started, I'll show you how to
create a new account. So you'll click here, Create A New Account, which will open up a
window. I'm going to enlarge it so you can see it a little better and fill it in. So here you'll
put in your name, email address, you'll create a user name and a password. These are
ones that you know, that you make up. And then, you'll click the create button. You'll
see the okay if the account is successful. If someone else already has that username,
you'll be prompted to change your username. But if everything goes fine, you'll see User
Account Successfully Created, and you can click the okay button.
At that point, the app will log you in. This is managed by ESRI, the software, or the
online application software, is created by ESRI and the Office of Elections has supported
the Commission here in this. When you're signing in to use the online application, you're
actually signing in to this Office of Elections and ESRI website. So you'll put in the
1[1
username and password that you just created, and then click sign in. The first time you do
this, you'll be prompted for a security question and answer. Just like in other online
applications, there's a variety of choices for the security question. Choose the question of
your choice, and provide an answer. Once you've done that, go ahead, click the okay
button. Once again, this is an application with ESRI and Office of Elections, and it wants
to make sure you're going to sign in to this application using your user account and you
click yes, allow. There's a usual agreement, licensing agreements. Read through the
whole thing if you want. If you want to use the app, go down and click agree. And that
opens the application, at which point you see a choice of template plans. At this point, we
have two template plans to choose from. They're both for the Congressional. A blank
plan where—
JONES leaking over the recorded video): There's acutally four now. I don't know if
you can hear me, but you will see two council ones on their now, since I made the video.
JONES (via recorded video presentation): neither of the two Hawaii Congressional
districts. The second plan is the current plan. So we've taken the current district
boundaries, for Districts 1 and 2, and assigned all census blocks to whatever their current
boundary is. So that's the plan we're going to go ahead and open. That's the only two we
have right now but we do, in the future, right now we anticipate September 1 Oth, we
should have then, the template plans for the State Senate and State House by basic island
unit. So similiar to what you'll see today for the Congressional, you'll be able to start if
you're interested more in doing State Senate on Maui say, you could go in and choose
one of those templates and start working on your own plan. The difference between blank
and current, a lot of times people have found in the past, and when I've worked with past
commissions, that it's easier to start from the current districts and adjust them, then to
start from blank. But you have both choices and you can choose whichever you want.
Also looking to the future, at some point, the Commission will propose a set of plans that
will go out for public hearing. At the time that happens, those proposed plans will also
become available in Hawaii Redistricting Online. And there again, past experiences
show, this is where we get the most use of the online application. Once the Commission
has proposed a plan, members of the public go in and start with one of those proposed
plans and then start suggesting other changes they'd like to see the Commission make.
Right now, there's only two to get started, Congressional. And we're going to go ahead
and use the current because again, that's the one that I think most people find most
useful. Starting from the current districts, I'll select that template, current, and click the
okay button. When I do that, then the application itself opens. We see a map, we see
some district information down below. We see a set of tools, so there's different tabs as
we go. This is the file tab with a set of tools on it. One will use first, is the save as when
we want to take a plan and save it as our own. You'll also in the future, might use save.
As you're making changes, you'll want to save those changes. You may also want to use
open. You may have multiple plans you're working with. You'll want to save one, open
another. So this file tab is one you'll use for managing the plans that you have.
IVA
There is a learn tab with some help on how to use the application. Again, we've created
this video for people in Hawaii, but ESRI does have very extensive help online for all
the different tools and you'll have access to that from this learn tab. The next tab is the
view tab. So this is an imporant one because this is where you can configure what you're
going to see in the map window, and also what you're going to see in the districts
window. So we see right now our district boundary, CD 1, Congressional District 1, is
most of southern Oahu. Congressional District 2, is the rest of Oahu and the other basic
island units in Hawaii. The plan itself zooms into the area where there actually is a
boundary where we might be making changes. Now again, you can move to other areas
and propose other changes, but the starting point, this is the current district boundary. So
one thing I find quite useful right away in this view window, I like to see my target
because this based on the 2020 census information, the Federal population base, the P.L.
94-171 data, and the ideal population would be each of these two districts at 727,636
people. Using the 2020 data, in the total it shows us how many are actually in each
district. Again, based on that 2020, you can see how it has changed now. They've grown
to where there's 2,000 additional people in Congressional District 1, and 2,000 fewer in
Congressional District 2, meaning Congressional District 1 has grown slightly faster than
Congressional District 2. Showing the target values is something I find handy to do. I like
to see those down in the districts window. You don't have to do it but it's something I
find useful so I pointed it out to you.
The other one down in the districts window is to look at your total deviation is the
difference between the largest and the smallest. So here we see for the existing current
district boundaries with the 2020 population, we have a total deviation of 0.6 percent, the
difference between our highest and the lowest. Now interestingly, that's lower than the
one percent threshold that courts have upheld for a Federal plan. So in theory, no changes
need to be made but in practice, generally, we try to get those as low as possible. And so
that's what we're going to do in this exercise. I'm just going to try some things, try some
census blocks. I'm going to show you how the tools work to see if we can get that
deviation down below 0.6 percent. Interesting to compare, this was the plan from 10
years ago, the Congressional plan. At that time, based on the population at that time, the
ideal was 608,151. Quite a bit below, right? Our new target is higher because we've had
population growth. But they did get their plan deviation down to 0.1 percent. So ours is
0.6 percent. We're quite a ways above that so let's see if we can get that down a little bit.
In doing so, I'll share with you some of the different tools available in Hawaii
Redistricting Online.
That moves us to the create tab. This is the main tab where we can change district
assignments, move around on our map, do different things. So we're going to spend quite
a bit of time here on the create tab and the different tools on the create tab. So first is the
map window itself and a set of tools from managing the map window. There is a little
hand there, that's the pan tool. So if you have that as your active tool, and you can see the
little orange halo around it, the little box around it, shows that it's active. And you click
and drag on your map. You can move the map around. So you want to see an area a little
bit north or south, east/west, mauka/makai, you can use that pan and drag your map to
different areas. So that's a useful tool. Another one that's useful is this zoom tool. If I
IE:3
make that the active tool, I can go down on my map and click an area to zoom into. So
here you can see down in the map, I've drawn a little red box. I'm using this zoom tool to
zoom in to that area I've identified in the red box `cause I'm looking at seeing if there's
changes we can make in the Ko Olina area, to just slightly change this boundary and
bring our deviations down. So I go ahead and click that box and you can see it zooms my
map window to the extent of that box. So now we can see even more closely that
boundary between CD and CD2. The other thing we see is now we can see the outlines
of the block boundaries. I'm going to go back a minute. If you look in the tools in the red
box up above it says, display level block. That means that each of those polygons, those
areas in light black, each of those is a census block. I'm going to go back one slide. When
we were zoomed out, notice there weren't as many of those black areas, black polygons.
That's because if we look up above at display level, there it was set to the block group.
That's were the census has a hierarchy of census tracts, census block groups, and the
most detailed, the level we need to work at, are the census blocks. So it will automatically
change that as you zoom in and out so that you see the appropriate geography. But this is
the geography census blocks that we need to look at when we're assigning blocks to
districts. And that's what we're going to do next because that's this whole set of
redistricting tools and I'm going to show you several of them.
We mentioned that Congressional District 1 has about 2,000 more people than 2, which
means we need to take some of these census blocks and assign them then to Census
District 2 so we can get those populations near or equal and bring down that total
deviation. So you can see a whole set of tools there are. First of all, under district, I've set
it to Congressional 2. Any blocks that I identify, and I'll show you how to identify them
in a moment, I want to make them part of CD2, Congressional District 2. So let's look at
the first one. Oh, before we do, we should remember, as we are redistricting, there are a
whole set of redistricting guidelines that the Commission will be following and that
members of the public, if they are creating plans, should also follow where practicable.
We've taked about these in other presentations. Here's a quick summary of not only the
total deviation, which is the main number we look at, but also compactness, that they're
contiguous and that they preserve socio-economic communities. So with that, let's start
assigning some census blocks.
The first tool I'm going to show you is just basically a click tool. You click on a block,
and it will change that block to the district that you've choosen. I've choosen District 2
up above Congressional 2 so on the map, I've pointed an arrow. That's where I'm going
to go click using this tool and it will just be a single click. We can see the color changes
so that census block has now been assigned to Congressional District 2. And if we look
down below, we see the deviation percent, there was a small number of people in that
census block that brought the population a little more in the balance instead of 0.6, we've
brought our total deviation down to 0.56. So that's one of the tools, I want to kind of
move across and show you some of the other ones, so I'm going to do this in pieces.
The next tool, which is actually one that I use alot, is the select by rectangle. So in this
case, rather than just a single click, you're going to do a double-click. The first click will
be the upper corner of the rectangle. The second click will be lower corner of the
IF'7
rectangle. Here I'm going to draw a rectangle, using this as my active tool, around this
area which will then identify all the census blocks that touch that rectangle, and assign
them to Congressional 2 since that's our district that we've choosen up above. So I'll go
ahead and do that. Once again, we see the colors change. Down below we see our
deviation has gotten even better. Now the excess population in Congressional 1 is only a
1,000 over the ideal and that total deviation is down to 0.3 percent. So that's the rectangle
tool. Let's continue looking at the tools.
The next one over is select by polygon. Sometimes it's an irregular shape, not just a
rectangle that you want to select all the blocks in there. So in this particular case, I'm
going to draw a polygon. And this is where again, I choose that as my tool. I click on
each of the corners, each of the vertices of my polygon. And when I'm at the last one,
I'm going to double-click. As soon as I double-click, once again, I'll see the colors on the
map change because those blocks are now assigned to CD2. Then we look down to the
deviations, and we look and we say, oh it's still 0.3 but look what happened, we actually
took out too many, now it's the opposite case. Before, Congressional 1 still had a surplus
about a thousand over. Now it's a thousand below. So maybe that wasn't such a good
idea and that's where these tools are good `cause you can try things.
If it's not good, that is another button in here that's quite useful because I'm seeing my
deviations are going like this. Okay maybe I better use, yes indeed, there is an undo
button. I click the undo button and it undoes that last change. You can keep on going
back until you last saved the plan and do undo and redo. I just did one undo so now we're
back to where there is still about a thousand people in Congressional District 1. We're
about a thousand over that ideal population. So I'm looking at the map here and I can see
on the map Ko Olina and it looks like we've kind of split it in two here. And again, that's
one of our guidelines is not to split communities in two. So I am going to use that
rectangle tool. I see where it says Ko Olina golf club. I'm going to use the rectangle tool
to grab a few more of those but not that kind of separate area up above. And indeed I see
now, I'm like whoa that really made a difference. My total deviation is down to 0.08
percent. Our District 1 is only 300 above that ideal population. This is looking pretty
good but it actually still looks like we've split that Ko Olina community.
So I'm going to show you one more tool here and this is the line tool or polyline tool.
Here, similar to the polygon, rather than doing an entire polygon, we just do a line but it
can have multiple vertices. So I'll click at each one of the corners, each one of the
vertices. And when I'm done, I'll double-click and as soon as I double-click, I'll see
those districts change and now I have included all the census blocks that cover Ko Olina.
And look at that, my deviation is even better. Now we're down to just under 200
additional in Congressional District 1 and just 200 under for a total deviation of 0.06
percent. That is pretty darn good and in fact, if I go back compare, that's even lower than
their final plan. So I like this but I need to check some things, right? So before I do, I
want to save this as my own plan becuase right now I'm still working with that template
plan that I started with. Which I can't save changes to that, right. That's the template that
everyone uses. So I need to use save as. So I've gone back to the file tab and I'm going to
click save as. I'm going to make this my own plan. So with save as, I'm going to give it a
41]
name. I call it Congressional Ko Olina to CD2. This Congressional plan proves the total
plan deviation to 0.06 percent by moving blocks around Ko Olina from CD to CD2.
Okay, and then I click the okay button. I notice up on top, the name of the plan has
changed. It is now my plan, Congressional Ko Olina to CD2. And I can continue working
on it if I want.
I might want to, before I do anything else, check the integrity, run some of these checks
like looking for deviation and other things. So I click in the review tab. I can click check
integrity. It will go through a do a number of checks for us, including a maximum
deviation check and a bunch of others. If it does not pass some of them, you can click a
details button or a zoom to button. But in this case, everything looks good. I'll just click
the X and close that window. So it's passed those test. I may want to still share it with
some other people. Get their feedback on it but maybe, I'm ready right now. I like my
plan. I want to submit it to the Commission for their consideration, and I'm going to
move over to the submit tab where there is really only one tool, one button, and that is the
submit plan button. So before you click that, again, keep in mind these guidelines. The
plan, the Hawaii Reapportionment/Redistricting will follow these guidelines or the
Commission's plans will and plans from the public should, wherever practicable, follow
these same guideines. And when we submit in fact, those same integrity checks that we
did before in the review tab, as soon as you say I want to submit my plan, it will run those
same integrity checks. And if it does not pass one of them, you cannot yet submit the
plan. You'll have to go back and then fix things using those tools that I showed you. But
if everything passed, and we know it will because we already checked, then we go ahead
and click the okay button to continue submitting our plan.
Here it will ask —so it knows you name. You can change it if you want but by default put
your username and user email. The plan name is the one you gave it. And this is an
important part to fill in, explanation of the plan objectives. Why did you do this plan the
way you did? And in this case my objective lowered the total deviation by moving blocks
from Ko Olina from CD to CD2 and we lowered it to 0.06 percent. This is very helpful
as the Commission is reviewing these plans submitted from the public. These
explanations can really help as we're looking at those plans and comparing them with the
Commission's plans and other plans submitted by the public. So once you've filled in this
information, you go ahead and click submit plan. At that point, it wants to make sure. So
if you're sure you want to submit it, you're going to click okay because once you submit
it, it's locked in place because the Commission then, will need to to review it and start
working on it, comparing it to other plans. So we can't have it changing during that
process. So as soon as you click okay here, your plan is going to be locked. It cannot be
changed. And so I clicked okay, now it tells me that my plan's been submitted. If you
want to continue making changes, you save as to create a copy. So, I'll go ahead and
click okay which takes me back to my map. So if I want to continue exploring and try to
make something even better which would probably be pretty hard but, you never know.
Then I would click save as and this would becomeI'd give it a new name and I can
continue working with that plan. So that's a tour of the main tools you need to create a
plan, review that plan, and if you want, submit it to the Commission.
21
There is one more tool that I do find handy and that is back on the create tab. There's a
base map tool and you can change the base map. There's a number of different base maps
you can use. I find the imagery one, which I've chosen here, quite useful particulary if
I'm zoomed in and I'm looking at an area, I don't want to split a community or I don't
want a boundary going through a ridgeline, or you know, various different reasons, I'm
trying to follow the guidelines. Sometimes the imagery is quite helpful as you're trying to
understand they geography of an area and draw appropriate boundaries. And so with that,
I've shown you the basics of these tools for Hawaii Redistricting Online, how to create
your account, use plan templates, map window the districts window, the big one,
assigning census blocks, and then sharing, reviewing, and submitting your plans. Enjoy!
We look forward to seeing the plans that everyone comes up with. Mahalo.
JONES: Okay, so that was aactually brief —training video. It was 25 minutes. I tried to
cover the basics that you would need to be able to do a plan. I didn't coveroh, hang
onI'm not sure what's happening here. Can you hear me? Somebody give me a thumbs
up.
KOSSOW: Looks like staff is on it.
JONES: Okay. So, there we go. Okay. What was I saying? I lost my train of thought.
Well as you're working with the online application, we have added a few things since
I've made that video. So now when you zoom in and you see the census blocks, we
figured how to actually show you the population within that census block so you know
beforehand. When I made the video, we hadn't figured out how to do that yet and so you
just had to click and see the change. Now you can actually see the numbers beforehand.
We found that very helpful to be able to see those numbers. But other than that, I guess
oh I was saying that this is a short introduction. There are more tools. The ESRI site has
lots of detailed help if you want to dig into it more. But I think in the video, I covered the
basic steps that you would need to create a plan. So at this point, I guess I can take
questions.
KOSSOW: Any questions from the Commission? Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Just a question about when we use the, you know, just
when we're looking at the census tracts and the blocks and we use the identified tool, is
there a key or legend that tells us the code names for those fields? I mean I can kind of
understand some of them maybe but it's written in shortform there from the census.
JONES: Yeah, yeah, I know that tool is not the most user-friendly tool. That's for sure.
I'm not aware of any but, let me write a note. So you're using the identified tool and say,
clicking on a block, and it was giving
HUSTACE: It gives the basic demographics and the breakdown there but, there isn't a
key code for those.
Pia
JONES: Right. That would be the census itself, but that's a good idea. I could put
something online, a reference, that might be simplier to use than going to the census.gov
site. But I'll give it a look and see. Thanks for that feedback.
HUSTACE: Thank you.
KOSSOW: Any other questions from the Commission? Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. When we're looking at the block groups that are the
blocks, I think they're the blocks, around that go into the ocean basically. And if we are
changing those blocks, and block groups, on our maps that abut the ocean but they may
cause like a uncontiguous, you know, they break up the different boundaries between the
disticts, we may get an error. How do we deal with something like that?
JONES: Yeah, it shouldn't. I'd be interested to see if there was a case. Usually I've been
able to figure out a way to select the appropriate blocks. But you're right, everything's
got to be assigned to a block. Even those ocean blocks that are there and have zero
population, they still need to be assigned to a district. So generally, it doesn't matter, like
if the one right off shore is a different color. But you don't want little pieces off shore
because you're right, then it would trigger that error message. It would not pass the
intergrity test. But I've always been able to figure out a way around it. If you could
somehow get a screenshot to Pat or somebody who could get it on to me, I'd be glad to
look at it and see if I can help you figure it out. But yeah, those ocean blocks are —each
one does have to be assigned to a district. It seems strange but that's just the way it is, so
yeah.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Jones. Yeah it's just when you zoom into that block level,
the ocean blocks don't necessarily line up with the ones that are on there.
JONES: Right. Yeah, I know, yeah. That's where I'm getting plenty where the block
offshore overlaps two different districts. So it's got to be one color or the other `cause we
don't split blocks. And so I just choose, kind of, the dominant one in the area and just go
with that. That shouldn't cause it to trigger an error message. But certainly if you ended
up with little pieces out in the ocean that weren't the same, then that certainly would.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Jones.
KOSSOW: Any further questions for Mr. Jones? (No response from Commissioners.) Ms.
Ford, I'll come to you in just a second. Mr. Jones, I just have a quick question. I know
that there's some blocks that kind of um —or I'm looking at one for example, right now.
I'll just explain it to you. It kind of goes around a certain community. What I'll do is, I'll
screenshot this to you. But, in those cases, is that typically normal? I mean this is just one
example. I haven't done the entire island yet.
JONES: There are some very strangely shaped census blocks. As I've been going
through, looking at things, that kind of curl around areas. It's like, why did they make it
091
that way? I don't know. Some where, at some point in time, somebody thought that was a
good idea. Maybe it was larger and it got split into pieces. Yeah, there's some that are
very strange shapes. But that's where again, my main concern there is, I'm looking at it,
these strangely shaped blocks, is that they don't I don't end up splitting a community,
right? Or I don't end up cutting off a community from the rest of their district. And that's
where I find the imagery sometimes helpful also to turn on that imagery based map I
mentioned. Because sometimes if you're just looking, you don't really notice unless you
really zoom in. Whoops I just cut off those people from the rest of their district because
their road goes down through the neighboring district and that's one of these guidelines
that you need to keep in mind and avoid where practicable. So, yeah I'd be curious to see
if you can send it over.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Jones. Any other questions from the Commission? Yeah, Mr.
Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. And this kind of, you know, Mr. Jones, you've talked
about it before and then Ms. Ford brought it up about concerns about blocks and block
groups. We're kind of in a unique location here in Hawaii where we have all of these
predesignated corridors of land and tracts from land from our ahupua`a's. That were
already divided in kind of these equal divisons of the island but, when we incorporate
more modern technology with our road systems, we create different boundaries and sort
of things. There doesn't seem to be this cultural input in some of these blocks and block
groups. I have some concern about that.
JONES: Yeah, certainly that's the case. The ahupua`a boundaries are not one that's an
available layer to turn on. I don't know if that's something of interest. That's something I
could look to see, iff we could somehow add that, I'd have to figure out how. But yeah,
certainly the census blocks, from what I've seen yeah sometimes just because they
happen to follow a ridge, and that happens to be an ahupua`a boundary then yeah, they
happen to be the same. But particularly as you get down into the lower areas, the less
steep areas, where the ridges are not so well defined, where there really is that
community knowledge that knows where that boundary is. And that's an important role
too. Yes, it would be great if the census blocks could follow it. I think that would need to
be part of this block boundary review process but, that's also an area where we found,
and when I worked with past Commissions, it's very helpful to have the public input on
that. Because often times, you as Commissioners, we as technical people, we're drawing
these lines but we don't know every community. Right and that's where it's quite helpful
if someone sees what they consider a community to either, A) just give public verbal
testimony and describe (indiscernible) for where it is, or actually create a login on the
online application and show where it is and draw the map differently. But either way
that's valuable input from the public themselves. At least, that's been my experience in
the past work with Commissions.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Jones. I'd just like to say that we as Commissioners rely on
each other too. We don't know those individual communities, so as the 9 Commissioners,
we rely on each other. And of course, we are heavily going to rely on the public and
Pz1
public testimony to give us some ideas about these smaller communities we are not as
familiar with. Thank you, Mr. Jones.
JONES: Yup. You bet.
KOSSOW: Any other Commissioners? (No response.) Alright, Ms. Ford if you can just
keep your question pretty brief. I just want to move along to the next subject here.
FORD: Thank you. Royce, is there a way to project two maps simultaneously on the
screen so that we can look at the blocks on one, and maybe change the blocks on the
second one? Two side -by -sides instead of just the one.
JONES: I suspect in your browser you could. You could login twice. I'm pretty sure I've
done that. I've logged in twice. I'd have to test and see but I think I've done that. So then
you could —one tab would be one window and then pull the other one right and then
break it out as a separate window. I'll double-check and make sure. That's the only way I
know of. There's no tool that will put `em up side -by -side that I am aware of.
FORD: Thank you. Good suggestion. Thanks.
JONES: Sure.
KOSSOW: Mr. Jones, I guess my other question is, I saw the 2011 Redistricting
Commission map already available on here, as well as the blank map. Is there other maps
that will be available on the site?
JONES: Well for the County you mean, for the County Council. That would be up to you
as Commissioners, what else you want to put up there. At this point, as I mentioned in my
video, what the Statewide Commission generally does is, once they have a set of propsed
maps that are going to public hearing, then certainly those go up there. But you as
Commissioners may want to, as you're working, it's your maps, have those available for
the public to look at. You can certainly do that. I'm trying to think how best —we can
coordinate that through Pat and her group because that is something that I can help
facilitate if there are additional maps you want.
KOSSOW: I think that might be beneficial just to look at historical data as well, on what
other commissions had thought of, as far the boundary line. To Mr. Hustace's point
regarding historical ahupua`a, I know different commissions always have brought this up
since I can remember. So I just want to see what type of information the 2001
Commission had for example. I think that would be benefical.
JONES: Yeah. I can look at see what we have.
KOSSOW: Any other questions? (No response.) Thank you, Mr. Jones. I appreicate it.
JONES: You bet.
PA7
KOSSOW: And then we're heading over to Number 4 under New Business,
Communication 6: How to Draw District Plans That Will Stand Up in Court, and this is
from Deputy Corporation Counsel. Let me know when you folks are ready to go.
YOSHINA: Mr. Chair, this is Dwayne.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Can we take a break? Five minutes.
KOSSOW: Sure, five minute recess.
4. Communication 6: How to Draw Redistricting Plans That Will Stand Up in Court
From Deputy Corporation Council Diana M. Mellon -Lacey
KOSSOW: I'm calling the meeting back order. Is Corporation Counsel ready?
MELLON-LACEY: Yes, Chair, I'm ready.
KOSSOW: Okay, go right ahead.
MELLON-LACEY: Okay, so, in your packet, you got a copy of an article that's called,
"How to Draw Redistricting Plans That Will Stand Up in Court," and it's fairly involved,
it's fairly lengthy, it goes into quite a bit of detail, case law, and looks at it at various
levels. And what I wanted to do today, was just really briefly go over some key points,
primarily because it was quite a long time ago that we had our training. It was back in
March. And I know that the presenter today has gone over a lot of these critical issues so
I won't take up, you know, a lot of time doing this, but if there's a lot of interest, and if
anybody wants any of the cases that are cited in the article, I would be happy to pull them
down and make them available so, just shoot an email if there's anything you're
particularly interested in. Okay, but this article was by a man named Peter Wattson, and
he has done this for a number of years. I know they've used the same article back in 2011
and it was updated in 2021. So, essentially, you know that redistricting is the process of
changing the district boundaries so that the idea would be, you're trying to come up with
an equal number in each district. So, it's going to be the boundaries that have to change
to do that. And, it has the potential to be highly partisan because drafters in some cases
have wide discretion where boundaries will run, and creative drafting can give one parry
a significant advantage in elections. So, we redistrict because the population shifts, and
just as we saw today, we've had some population growth on our island that has changed
how the districts now line up. If everything was uniform, arguably we wouldn't need to
do this, but as we can see, we have to identify those districts that have grown faster or
slower and adjust accordingly.
So, the big issue, and I think we talked about it last time and it's in the Charter and our
Hawaii County Code, is this issue of gerrymandering. And gerrymandering is any
U1.
technique by which a political parry attempts to give itself an unfair advantage in
redistricting, and there's specific terms for these things. There's one called packing,
which is drawing your boundary lines so that voters who support candidates of a minority
parry are concentrated or packed into a few districts. And, then there's another one called
cracking, where you draw the district lines, so the voters are broken up. There's also
pairing and kidnapping. You can look at these in more detail in the paper, but they all
have a purpose, and that purpose is trying to determine where political minorities are
located and draw districts to sort of limit their ability to be successful in electing their
candidate.
So, there's mechanisms to control the gerrymandering, and we have a number of those in
our laws here. One is restricting who can draw plans, using a Commission rather than
incumbents. So, that's what we're doing here. We have restrictions on the data to be used
and in this case, we have to use the census population data. Also, using defined
procedures that include review by others, holding public hearings, which we're doing,
and getting input from public and having reviews before we adopt anything, and also
restrictions on the way the districts are drawn, such as, we heard about today, with the
contiguous territory, having them be compacted, not dividing communities of interest.
And, you even have the luxury of software that lets you know, right up front, beep -beep,
you can't do this. I didn't ask the question, but I was curious about overrides. Kind of
reminded me of trying to use one of those tax programs when you kind of don't fit what
they have in there.
But what helps a plan stand up in court? And there's a lot of information in that article,
but just to kind of briefly summarize, of course it's using the correct data, the counts from
the 2020 census. They talk about the fact you can't exclude undocumented persons in the
census because it's not limited to citizens, it counts persons. And then the military issue,
and our Hawaii County Code says that non-resident military personnel, dependents, non-
resident students, foreign nationals, or aliens, shall be excluded from the permanent
resident population base used to calculate each proposed council district's population,
and its deviations from an ideal council district's population if practicable.
Now, I think we were shown that military personnel data and student data had been
excluded from the census data that you get to work with. I don't know that we have a
way, easily, of doing that for undocumented persons or foreign nationals. Again, that
little thing at the bottom that says if practicable, is kind of our saving grace because if
you don't have a way to do it, then of course, you're limited and anytime you go and start
adjusting data, it could raise other problems if what you're using, the means you're using
to adjust it, are unreliable. So, that one is kind of out there as a question to me a little bit.
It could be something that the Commission asks or wants to get more information on, I
don't know.
The census geography —again, this is something where we've —we can see we have a
public law where we were supposed to have received this before April 1st in the year
ending in one, and here we are, what September 9th and we're still just getting up and
running. So, we kind of have an impediment right there. Whether that will pose a legal
M
challenge to us? I don't know, but it is a problem and you've seen the blocks of census
tracts and counties and you've heard about, today, some of the issues with those blocks.
Which again, it sounds like we're kind of stuck with, and I do recall, `cause I did look at
some of the information from the previous Commission's activities in 2011. I do recall
this issue of the blocks being raised at that time. And I believe that there was some
correspondence generated, I will check again and see what I can find and bring that
forward if it's not already online, but that's not a new problem. Yet, I don't think it's one
that you're able to resolve. Unless there's something that can be done that, I'm not aware
of.
But, again, we have the deviation issue that was talked about. Most courts have used what
statisticians call, the overall range, if you're familiar with that, to measure the population
equality of a redistricting plan. And that maximum deviation, or overall deviation, and
our County Code states that that shall be less than 10 percent. And then, the maximum
council district deviation, our County Code says that shall not exceed plus or minus, 5.99
percent of an ideal council district's population. So, remember that the ideal district's
population would be just dividing that number equally across all 9 districts. So, it's a 5.99
percent is our maximum per district.
Federal courts have used two different standards for judging redistricting plans. For
Congressional plans, it's strict equality. Their exception is to achieve some legitimate
state objective. Examples are making districts compact, we're respecting municipal
boundaries, preserving cores of prior districts, avoiding contests between incumbent
representatives. So, on a case -by -case basis, there is a possibility of exceptions, but
bottom line is you need to have a legitimate reason for it. Legislative plans based on the
equal protection clause of the 14'h Amendment a substantial equality of population
among various districts, which is generally less than 10 percent, unless there is a proof of
some kind of intentional discrimination. The exception would be some rational State
policy and so far, the only successful rational State policy has been respecting the
boundaries of political subdivisions.
Non-discrimination, this is probably more of an issue on the mainland than here but need
to make sure we are not discriminating against racial or linguistic minorities.
Redistricting plans have been opposed on the basis that they've discriminated against
specific ethnic groups and have bridged their right to vote by diluting the strength of their
population. The test is whether your plan will have the effect of diluting minority voting
strength and not whether it was inactive with an intent to discriminate.
With the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, you may consider race in
drawing districts, you should avoid drawing a racial gerrymander, particularly important
is to be aware of bizarre shapes of your districts. Reapportionment, this is a quote from
Justice O'Connor, "Reapportionment is one area in which appearances do matter." So,
you want to draw districts that are reasonably compact, and compactness is not just a
geometrical concept, but it is also political concept.
P4.11
Additional recommendations, of course, are to follow these traditional districting
principles which we heard about today from our presenter about compactness, continuity,
respect for political subdivisions. Do not attempt to draw a plan that would favor one
party over another. Avoid drawing districts with shapes so bizarre that they're open to
public ridicule. They just look ridiculous. Be prepared to defend your plan. If it comes
down to that, and your plan is challenged, you want to have good rationale for why you
think this is a good and supportable plan following the principles that we've gone over.
So that's really all that I had to present. If there's any questions, I'm happy to take `em.
KOSSOW: Any questions for Corporation Counsel?
LUL Chair Kossow?
KOSSOW: Yes.
LUL Meizhu Lui. This isn't really a question for Corporation Counsel but I'm wondering
about the inclusion of overseas military personnel. Have we gotten any data on that, or
will we?
JONES: There was a bunch of communication in order to obtain those numbers from
Department of Defense. I don't have all of that here with me. Office of Elections kind of
managed that communication. It worked for a long time going back and forth with the
military, and I remember that was one of the issues they talked about was where they get
counted. There's a whole set of rules that both the Census Bureau census uses. There are
some guidelines came out in 2018. I referred to it in one of my presentations for the full
Commission and that's basically what Office of Elections used in their communications
with the military. So, I'm sorry, I don't know that specific answer to your question, but
there was a lot of communication about that. Again, to make sure that we don't extract
people who weren't actually here, and that people do get counted who were here. I think
that would include I don't know if your question was addressing if they are Hawaii
military personnel overseas, it seems to me that they do get counted in Hawaii, I'm not
sure where, but yeah that is something that was looked at as part of determining those
counts.
LUL So, overseas would include people on the mainland. Is that right?
JONES: I would think so, yeah.
YOSHINA: So, Royce?
JONES: Yes.
YOSHINA: You just said they were counted? They are counted. Is that a comment you
made?
JONES: In which part? I'm sorry I didn't hear.
00.1
YOSHINA: When you ended your comments just now.
JONES: Yes.
YOSHINA: You said that it seems that they are counted.
JONES: Well, everyone gets counted somewhere. The question is where they get
counted. That's where there's a whole set of rules that the Bureau of Census uses for that.
YOSHINA: Okay, thank you.
JONES: Yeah.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina and Ms. Lui. Any other questions? (No response.)
No. Thank you, Corporation Counsel.
BATH: Chair? Hi, um...
KOSSOW: Yes.
BATH: Yeah, I had just one question.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: If people are hospitalized, during when their block is having the census taken, do
census workers go into the hospitals and determine each individual patient's residence?
How is that done?
JONES: I think if there are people who areI mean, they're permanently hospitalized, or
they're bed -ridden —they are in a hospital setting, there is a group quarters count the
census does. I mean, they are still counted there. The census wants to count as a general
rule, where do you sleep at night, right? And, so if by and large, most of the time, they
are sleeping in a hospital facility most of the year, that's where they'd be counted. If they
were only there for a couple of weeks, no, they'd be filling out a census form for where
they reside. If they don't get a census form, the census would go to homes, right? And
follow up. Of course, now you can file online also. But that's my understanding. Again,
I'm not the detail person on the census data so, but that's my understanding of how
people are counted in those kind of group residential facilities, whether it's military group
quarters, student group quarters, or in this case, hospital quarters like that, where they
really are. That is where they are, most of the time.
KOSSOW: Any other questions? Good? (No response.) Alright, we're moving over to
testifying because we moved that over to after —for here.
011
STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS (part 2)
KOSSOW: Testifiers, please note, you will have three minutes for each item on the
agenda to provide your statement. If you are speaking on multiple items, please indicate
when you're transitioning. Please wait to be unmuted and called upon. Testifier cameras
should remain off until called upon. If there any issues when you are called, after trying
for some time, we may move to a next testifier and then we'll come back to you. When
there's 30 seconds remaining, staff will indicate this is your time to summarize. Before
you speak, please state your name for the record and the item that you are testifying on.
Mr. Kauka?
BRENDA FORD
KAUKA: Thank you, Chair. Our first testifier is Ms. Brenda Ford, followed by Mr.
Chuck Flaherty, excuse me. Ms. Ford you can begin.
FORD: Thank you. My name is Brenda Ford. I represent myself. I have been involved
with watching the Commissions for the past 20 years. I've watched this is my third
Commission. One of the things I would like Corporation Counsel to check out, is this
pairing and kidnapping which seems to me, would be violating the do not favor, or
disfavor, incumbents rule, and that's all I'll say on that. In the Puna district, we all know
that lava has covered some of the roads and we need to know what roads there are. Mr.
Flaherty might have more information on this, but the Commission needs to know which
roads have been impacted, and the public who are involved in this should also be made
aware of that. That should be a document that we can all get. I have already submitted a
couple of plans, Brenda Ford 11, and Brenda Ford 12. I just want to tell ya, I'm not a
hundred percent satisfied with these plans, but I wanted to submit them because in one of
them, I divided Puna North/South, and in the other one, East/West. I remember in the
2011 redistricting, the Puna representatives were horrified to see Puna divided East/West,
so I wanted to show them, and show you, how it can be done. It's not perfect at this point,
but it's something for you to look at.
The shoreline blocks have already been discussed a little bit, but we've got blocks over
on the Kona side that snake up almost five to ten miles up the shoreline, when the rest of
the census blocks are in District A or District B, and we've got this snaky looking thing
that cannot be divided at this point and time. I'm asking this Commission, I don't know if
the last one actually wrote a letter to the Census Bureau, but I'm begging you to do that
and get these things cleaned up before the next census.
I also think that we should try to get the census blocks divided so that we can keep parks,
National Parks, and forest reserves, in a census block if it's possible, or a couple of
census blocks, and not have those parks split between District A and District B. So, it's
going to be up to you guys to actually do this in your final plan and send a letter,
identifying the census blocks that need to be split and exactly where.
31
The last thing I'd like to say at this point and time, is what happened in 2011. In 2011, an
illegal plan was designed. I'm sorry. In 2001, an illegal plan was designed. A group of us
challenged that plan because it went over 10 percent. Not much, but it violated the 10
percent rule, and so, we sued. We had to sue the County. We have to sue to get the
Commission's to do the right things. Of course, that Commission refused to do it. So, we
took it to the local court, and then they said, "Oh, it doesn't look too bad to me." We
took it to the State Supreme Court who admitted it was an illegal plan. They actually said
those words, "It's illegal, but it's only," and I quote, "a little bit illegal and so we're
gonna let it stand." That little, tiny flaw in the plan cost Puna a second council seat that
they deserved in 2001. For 10 years, until the 2011 Commission fixed the problem. It's so
important that you follow the rules and that you don't deviate just because you want to
deviate something when it's not necessary. Puna was disenfranchised from having a
second council seat and while that won't happen this time, I give you that example as
what can go wrong with a teensy-weensy little flaw. That's not legal. I'd also like to
have—
KAUKA: Ms. Ford, excuse me, three minutes have passed. If you could, please
summarize.
FORD: Thank you very much. I want to kind of end this by thanking the Chairperson for
allowing the public to ask questions as we go along so we don't have to go all the way
back to the beginning and drive everybody crazy. I really appreciate it and it's going to
be really important that we find out about those roads that have been covered by lava for
the entire Commission, and for the public, as soon as possible `cause it is going to impact
how we design some roads in the Puna area. Because it's not about designing the roads
on what was in past, or what will be in the future, for instance, is there going to get a new
road or a highway? We've got to design this on what exists there today. So, it's very
important that those lava covered roads be identified. Thank you very much for your
time. Thank you, Commissioners, and good luck.
The last thing I want to say is, Commissioners, before you start taking these plans and
just toss it from the pubic and tossing them out because you don't like the way they look,
start designing your own maps first, before you start looking at any of the public maps.
Do your own, and you'll find out how difficult it is. That's number one. And, number
two, you're the only one representing your district, and you're going to have to convince
the other Commissioners to go along with you. So, please start doing this design work
really fast. You're going to have to spend a lot of time doing it, but it's very important.
Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. I yield.
CHUCK FLAHERTY
KAUKA: Thank you, Ms. Ford. Our next testifier is Mr. Chuck Flaherty, followed by
Mr. Jacob Aki. Mr. Flaherty, you may begin. You may unmute yourself.
FLAHERTY: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can you hear me?
Kea
KOSSOW: We can hear you.
FLAHERTY: Thank you very much. Thank you, members of the Redistricting
Commission. My name is Chuck Flaherty. I also have been involved, as Brenda Ford, in
the —what was the Reapportionment Commission back in 2000, as well as the
Redistricting Commission in 2011, that process the amending of Hawaii County's laws
to get the standardization for redistricting more clearly set out in our laws. Including the
fact that a Reapportionment Commission who's on this Commission cannot run for
County Council office in the next election, or yeah. So, my biggest concerns at this point,
because we're obviously in the very early stages, I just would like for the Commission to
consider the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park as the most prominent geographical
feature on this island. If you look at the current District 6, it is huge. I mean, it extends,
it's a big —takes a long time to drive through it, and it's very difficult for the council
representative that's in that district. As such, I would hope that you would put Volcano
into a district that's on the Hilo side, rather than one that goes all the way around to
Kealakekua and Captain Cook, if only because of logistics. In addition to that, people in
Volcano have a closer socio-economic relationship with that's side of the island, than
they do to the west side of the island.
The other thing is, as Mrs. Ford pointed out, the road situation. I have asked for a list of
those roads that are impacted. I have not received that. I don't know if you all received
that or have asked for that. If or when I get that listing, I'll forward it to you so that you
have it. If you're able to get that, if that information could be somehow published to the
public, I'd appreciate it.
In addition, my other big concern is the non-resident population. So, I wasn't clear from
this meeting, how you're going to be able to take —identify, non-resident aliens, military
personnel, and students. So, if that information, or data, could be identified or the way in
which that data is identified in the census or if that information was actually captured, if
you could share that with the public as well, it would be very much appreciated so we can
be more clear about what the difficulties are, and the degree to which there may be errors
in the numbers. Other than that, good luck. I appreciate your volunteer service and I will
do what I can to assist this great effort. Thank you very much.
JACOB AKI
KAUKA: Thank you, Mr. Flaherty. Our next testifier is Mr. Jacob Aki, followed by Ms.
Shannon Matson. Mr. Aki, you may begin, and you may unmute yourself.
AKL Thank you. Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair, and members of the Hawaii County
Redistricting Commission. Mahalo for this opportunity to testify. My name is Jacob Aki
and I'm here today on behalf of Common Cause Hawaii. Common Cause Hawaii is a
non -partisan, non-profit grass roots organization dedicated to upholding the core values
of American democracy and ensuring a fair and transparent reapportionment and
redistricting process. We have submitted written testimony ahead of today's meeting, but
we would like to highlight a few major points. First, we request that, if it is not a part of
091
Rules of Procedure for the Hawaii County Redistricting Commission, Common Cause
suggests that as meetings are currently occurring remotely, they be recorded and made
publically available for later viewing. This will ensure a greater transparency for, and for
the pubic, to these Redistricting Commission meetings.
Secondly, we really appricate the Commission's willingness to allow the public to
provide testimony at the end of the agendas so that we can weigh in on matters that were
discussed during this meeting. Given the consequential matters that are discussed during
the meeting, allowing testimony at multiple points throughout the Commission meeting
allows for greater participation from the general public on this very, very important work.
Lastly, we request that the 2021 Hawaii County Redistricting Commission reallocate the
population of incarcerated persons to their place of residence prior to incarceration.
Including incarcerated persons in the population count for the district in which their
facility is located alters representational proportions and as a result, the voting powers of
residents. Without reallocation, the total population of prison districts, will contain fewer
eligible voters because prisoners in our State cannot vote. And thus, elected
representatives for those districts represent fewer voters than their colleagues in parts of
the State and County whose districts do not contain these facilities. We have attached
information to our testimony for the Commission to review on how to reallocate this data.
Mahalo for the opportunity to testify and I am available if there is any comments from the
Commission members. Thank you.
YOSHINA: So, I have a question then, of staff.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Yeah so, Dennis, do we have that in ourI think I have just a letter from
them.
KAUKA: Commissioner Yoshina, you're asking about the testimony from Common
Cause Hawaii? It's in the back.
YOSHINA: Yeah, I only have this.
KAUKA: Sorry, it looks like the attachment is not a part of the letter, but we'll provide
that. I know it's up on the website. I actually have copies on the black table there. Excuse
me, on the back table there. I'll provide that. I'll distribute it to Commissioners here and
then again, it's on the website.
YOSHINA: Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina and Mr. Kauka.
KAUKA: Mahalo, Mr. Aki. Our next testifier is Ms. Shannon Matson. Ms. Matson, you
may begin.
011
(Please note that during this time, Ms. Matson experienced technical difficulties.)
KOSSOW: I'm sorry, Ms. Matson. You have some technical difficulties, I think, on our
end. We can't hear you.
KAUKA: Mr. Chair, this is Dennis. It doesn't look like there is any audio issues on our
end. It may be a connectivity issue on Ms. Matson's. We can try to work with her, but I
don't have any other testifiers if you are willing to possibly move on and we can see if we
can work with Ms. Matson offline, and before the meeting adjourns, if she is able to offer
her testimony, I can alert you.
KOSSOW: Yup. Let's go ahead and do that. We'll move on, and then if she comes back
online, then we'll go ahead and take her testimony.
KAUKA: Thank you, and if Ms. Matson is able to hear us, we'll try to work with you on
the chat box and I'll have support staff contact —try to reach out. Actually, if I may just
check, Chair, before you close public testimony, if there's anyone left on the Zoom
platform who would like to speak that maybe did not sign up or indicate that they wanted
to testify today, they may say so now.
KOSSOW: Okay.
KAUKA: Okay, Mr. Chair, thank you. It doesn't seem there are any other testifiers, so
we'll try to work with Ms. Matson offline. Meanwhile, you may proceed. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. Next up on the agenda, under agenda item number 5,
Communication number 7 is proposed amendment. Commissioners to amend the rule and
the Corporation Counsel, we may need guidance on this. First, Mr. Lopez, I'll hand the
floor to you if you want to explain further with your language that you inputted into this.
LUL Chairperson Kossow, can I ask a question before we get to that item, regarding the
previous testimony?
KOSSOW: Sure. Yes.
LUL It seemed like there were a number of requests for information that we really need
to make, and I'm not exactly sure how to do that. For example, the data on the
incarcerated persons, it seems like that is an important issue and I would personally, I
don't know how to do it, but move to see if we can get that information. The overseas
military is another one where we don't have data and may just need to inquire as to how
to get it. And then the issue of the roads in Puna that were covered by lava. I mean those
are three requests for information that I think I would like to make anyway. I'm not sure
if I should make it in the form of a motion or whether it's the staff that would try to chase
that down for us, or what? So, if you could guide me, I would appreciate it.
K&7
KOSSOW: If we made this into a motionI agree with you. I think that we could put
this on to the table to gather more information, but I think as Mr. Jones kind of alluded,
he is open to bringing in some numbers. So, I think as long as we have a correspondence
with him regarding the needs, then we can shoot it to the Elections Division and to the
State as well to gather some of that numbers that you are requesting and the testifier's
requesting. I don't think it needs to be a motion.
LUL Oh, okay. Thank you. I mean I think in particularly incarcerated numbers are the
ones that will impact us the most.
KOSSOW: I agree. Any other comments?
YOSHINA: So, Mr. Chair, this is Dwayne again.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Yeah, I have a question. It's just for clarification here. Did we approve the
Rules of Procedure?
LUL Yes.
YOSHINA: We did? Okay. So, this item we're talking about coming up, is going to be an
amendment to that?
KOSSOW: That's correct because we already passed the Rules of the 2011 Commission
to this current Commission. And so now since we made an amendment that was passed in
the last Commission, we now have the actual language for it.
YOSHINA: Okay. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Mr. Chair, just a follow up from Commissioner Lui.
KOSSOW: Sorry, what was that?
HUSTACE: Can I follow up from Ms. Lui?
KOSSOW: Oh, go ahead, Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Could I just get a confirmation from staff, and our handlers, that that
information will be requested. Since we're not pursuing a formal motion here, but that we
can obtain that information so that we can make better judgement.
KOSSOW: I'll work with Mr. Kauka on that. This is the Chair.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair.
M.
KOSSOW: Alright, so we're going to move over to agenda number 5, Communication 7.
I would like to
SHANNON MATSON
KAUKA: Mr. Chair, this is Dennis. I'm very sorry to interrupt, but I've been alerted that
we may have Ms. Matson back online again, if we can check to see if she is able to offer
her testimony? Ms. Matson, are you able to come through now?
MATSON: I am, yes. Again, I'm so sorry. I don't know why I've been having so many
difficulties with this call but thank you. Yes, so I'm not sure if you heard one of my
questions was regarding the budget and what's happening with the laptops after this
redistricting project. And then, it's more of a comment than a question, but it's a request
that we not have these meetings scheduled the same time the State Redistricting
Commission is meeting. As you can all see, we're covering a lot of material here, it's a
long meeting and some of us are interested in the State process as well. So, we're about
to jump on another lengthy call on the same topic. So, I would really appreciate if that
could be taken into future consideration for your meeting planning. And I just wanted to
overall just mahalo you guys for so far this process seems much more transparent than at
the State level and I'm hoping it will stay that way and that we can also have adequate
times for public testimony on the maps that are going to be proposed considering that of
course, the timeline has been greatly condensed due to COVID and the late census data
that we received. So, that's all my testimony for now. Thank you so much for being so
accommodating with me today, and again, mahalo for all the work you're doing.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Matson. I guess I'll ask the question for her, where does the
computers go after this Commission meeting?
KAUKA: Mr. Chair, we have Pat coming up to the table to advise on that.
KOSSOW: Mahalo.
NAKAMOTO: Hi, I am Pat Nakamoto. I'm the Elections Program Administrator for the
County of Hawaii. As of right now, the laptops are on the Elections inventory. After the
Commission is done, the laptops will be made available, will be kept in the County, and
whoever, whichever agency or if the County Clerk's Office they will go for County
use, and we will transfer them to whichever department or division needs them.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Nakamoto. Okay, we're going to move overI'm sorry,
Dennis, do you have any more testifiers that popped in?
KAUKA: No, Mr. Chair.
S. Communication 7: proposed amendment to 2021 Hawaii County Redistricting
Commission Rules of Procedure VI, Voting
From Commissioner Stephen Lopez, proposing new language for section VI. c.;
Abstentions
KOSSOW: Okay, here comes third times a charm. We're moving over to Communication
number 7, proposed amendment to the 2021 Hawaii County Redistricting Commission
Rules of Procedure. And this was created by Commissioner Stephen Lopez after
proposing the language for section VI. c. under Abstentions. I would like to recognize
Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Thank you very much, Chair. I proposed this as a means of not being put in a
quick position to contemplate a decision when you're sitting on the fence or need a little
bit more time or consideration. It does follow County Council protocols and it gives just a
little bit more time for feedback and also for consideration. So, it's not something
strange. It's not something that's not used. And I just thought that this Commission could
use the same process. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Lopez. Is there any questions regarding the Communication?
MELLON-LACEY: Mr. Chair?
HUSTACE: I have a question, Chair.
KOSSOW: I'm going to go over to Corporation Counsel first, Mr. Hustace.
MELLON-LACEY: Thank you for acknowledging me. One thing I wanted to point out is
that our Rules, if we do want to make this change to the Rules, our Rules and the
statutory provision for changing rules, do not coincide. Because I think your Rules say
that you can change/amend rules, yeah this in XVL These Rules may be amended at a
regular meeting of the Commission by an affirmative majority vote of the entire
membership of the Commission, provided that at least six (6) days advance notice of such
amendment(s) and meeting are first given to each member. Okay, so that happened,
however, when you look at Hawaii Revised Statute 91-3`s Procedure for Adoption,
Amendment or Repeal of Rules, it requires that we give at least thirty days' notice of
what the proposed change is and have a public hearing so that the public would know
what the proposed change was and would have a chance to weigh in on it. And we
haven't done that because this didn't come out until I believe the 3rd. Am I correct,
Dennis? When this was communicated? It wasn't posted in advance or anything.
KAUKA: The proposed Rules change?
MELLON-LACEY: Yes.
KAUKA: It was posted with the agenda, as part of the agenda packet.
011
MELLON-LACEY: That would be the six days which complies with your internal rules,
but it does not comply with the statutory provision of 91-3. It says that that applies to
agencies, however in 91-1 of the Hawaii Revised Statute, an agency means state or
county board, commission, department, or officer authorized by law to make rules or to
adjudicate contested cases, and so, we do come under that definition of agency. So, that
was what I wanted to point out. I guess I would also like to just add quickly too that your
Rules as they stand under voting, do give the Chair discretion in how he handles voting,
and perhaps the latitude could be construed as already being contained there. I'm sorry.
It's item number VI of your Rules, Voting Procedure: The method of voting shall be
determined by the Chairperson of the Commission provided that if a vote is not
unanimous, the Chairperson shall announce the names of those members voting in the
minority, and those who are absent. It goes on from there, ultimately to say that you have
to vote, but the Chairperson could elect, I think, to provide more time if someone wasn't
ready to vote when they were called, if you want to enact something more quickly.
Otherwise, it would be my suggestion that we would have to table this for any kind of
vote until the next meeting, and actually have a brief public hearing, prior to that meeting,
to allow anyone who wanted to provide testimony about this rule change. To have that
opportunity, and so that we could post the proposed rule change 30 days prior to that
meeting. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Yes, thank you for that feedback. I propose that you take that under advisement,
Chair, under that latitude within the existing rule. It's rather annoying to me, excuse me.
We are under an extremely tight timeframe. We've been compressed into a very tight
timeline, and this was brought up in the —what was it the March meeting? March
meeting. I submitted language. It was vetted by Corporate Counsel. The language was
written here according to what that feedback was, and now we hear that we really wasted
all that time. Nothing happened because it got posted this late. I understand the comment
about the public hearing. I didn't realize that that was a requirement, but to come up to
wait till this time to bring this up, it's just —well to me it's annoying. That's all. Thank
you.
KOSSOW: I think we can put that into consideration when we do a voting procedure
under the Chair. And, I'll take that recommendation from Corporation Counsel. Is there
any other comment? Ms. Lui.
LUL Yeah. We've had extensive discussion of this in March and agreed with Mr. Lopez
and it was simply a matter of writing the language. So, since we all agreed with that and
the problem was that right now, the Rules say that if you abstain, that its counted as an
aye and I don't think the Chair has a right to change that. So, this is a somewhat
significant change in the Rules. I would just say that we table it until the next meeting,
and that we make it our first order of business, to vote on it.
KOSSOW: Does the public hearing —it can be during the Commission meeting?
001
MELLON-LACEY: Yes, as long as we post it 30 days prior to the next meeting. What
we would do is just have a public hearing right before this meeting. So, we would call it a
public hearing and then start this meeting after that so you would have had the public's
feedback. We can do the two
LUL at the same time.
MELLON-LACEY: simultaneously, pretty much. Yes.
YOSHINA: So, Diana? In practice, we could just do it under the Chair's authority. And
then, you know, like for example, today, we could accept the kanalua because at the end,
before we vote, that person has to decide what their position is, right?
MELLON-LACEY: That's correct.
YOSHINA: It's kind of a technicality. I happen to agree with Mr. Lopez. It's kind of
irritating, you know. I mean we had this discussion
MELLON-LACEY: I understand, and you know, to the extent that I bear any
responsibility, I apologize. I mean I had tried to schedule an earlier meeting that you
know didn't occur, and I understand.
YOSHINA: It's not about your responsibility, because practically speaking, we could
have kanalua under the authority of the Chair. And, in order for us to comply with State
law, we can have this posted and all of that, right? So, today
MELLON-LACEY: The Chair has that discretion. But you know, to make formal
changes to the Rules, I can only tell you that's the procedure.
YOSHINA: Right, so for today, I guess we could have a kanalua if we wanted to. Is that
correct? Under the Chair's discretion.
MELLON-LACEY: The Chair has discretion in the voting, correct. The procedure.
YOSHINA: Okay, thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. Any questions regarding Communication number
7? (No response.) I think we need a motion in order to table this until the next meeting
and then to do a formal public hearing in 30 days. In the meantime, I will do kanalua
based off of the Chair recommendation. Is there a motion for that? To table?
LUL Yes, I'll make that motion to table.
YOSHINA: I'll second that.
EAP]
KOSSOW: Motion by Ms. Lui, seconded by Mr. Yoshina. All in favor say —or any
discussion? Excuse me. (No response.) All in favor say aye. (Various Commissioners
responded with aye votes.) Any opposed, no? (No response.) There is 8 ayes.
Ms. Lui moved to table the proposed amendment to
the Rules of Procedure VI. Voting. Seconded by
Mr. Yoshina and carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Yadao, Yoshina, Vice Chair Hustace, and
Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
Absent: Commissioner Sumera-Lee.
6. Discussion of draft timeline and meeting schedule for Commission
KOSSOW: Moving on to agenda number 6, Discussion of draft timeline and meeting
schedule for Commission. Is Ms. Nakamoto available?
NAKAMOTO: Hi, Pat Nakamoto, Elections Program Administrator. The timeline is still
in draft form. It was revised on September 7th, and that's the copy that you folks have
with you today. I guess you folksI pretty much did the timeline just to give all of the
Commission members an idea. If we wanted to meet our deadline of December 31 st, this
is pretty much the dates that we would have to go by. They're flexible, these dates can
change but, it's a really short window we have, to do everything we need to do. So, I just
present it to you folks, and you folks can discuss it, or if you have any questions, but this
pretty much covers all of our legal requirements of the Commission.
MELLON-LACEY: And, if I can just add, I think one of the critical pieces is the setting
the timeline for the public to submit their draft plan. The deadline for that has to be set
and it has to be, what was it, 8 weeks prior? I'm sorry.
NAKAMOTO: So, the Commission, by your fourth meeting, you would need to set the
deadline for the alternate plan. And it needs to be 8 weeks before the final plan's
deadline.
LUL Question, wasn't the deadline extended to February? I think I heard that on
Common Cause did a program. The deadline rather than December 31 st wasn't it moved?
NAKAMOTO: The State Redistricting Commission did extend their deadline.
LUL The State did?
NAKAMOTO: The State. That's not the County.
E,I
LUL Not the County?
NAKAMOTO: No.
LUL Shoot.
MELLON-LACEY: I guess, you know, it comes down to this Commission's decision
what they want to do. I think that Ms. Nakamoto has worked diligently to try to frame
something that would possibly, if people feel that they could meet this timeline, enable us
to meet our deadline because of course, one always wants to try and meet one's
deadlines. If this isn't workable for the Commission, if the Commission thinks that this
would not be possible, then the Commission would need to come up with something that
they think would work for them. And, we would then need to make the Mayor and the
Council aware of it as a starting point because we would need to be working to get
something changed. As it stands right now, the County Charter requires it to be
completed by the end of the year end. That's where we sit right now, but this group has
to make a decision about what is realistic for them to be able to accomplish this and
accomplish it meaningfully.
BATH: So, you're saying that we are bound to have the final plan with the Clerk by
December 31 st based on the County Charter? So that's not negotiable right now?
MELLON-LACEY: That is what the County Charter requires.
BATH: Okay.
LUL But if it was changed at the State level, can it be changed at the County level as
well?
MELLON-LACEY: Well, that's what I'm saying. This group has to make a
determination about what they think they can accomplish. So, Ms. Nakamoto worked
very diligently to try to draft something and keep you within the boundaries and you can
see that it's quite ambitious. It requires a fair amount of effort, and you saw today, what
the software was like. I don't know if any of you have yet to get on board with the
software, start to use it, get any idea of what it will take you. I think the staff has actually
looked at places where the nine meetings could actually be held in the various districts,
assuming that we would be able to go forward with in -person meetings in those locations.
And, that's also in the Charter, requiring us to do that. So, I mean yes, that's what the
law says we should do. Of course, we got, you know, a very difficult task ahead of us
because we didn't get the data until very, very recently and you're just now being given
the opportunity to use this program. So, I'm saying, you know, this is what the law says, I
can't tell you, you know, you have a task to do, and it be up to you to say, to figure out
what you think you can do and whether it's doable in that timeframe for you or not. And,
I don't know the answer to that for this group. You know what I'm saying? And if you
don't think it is, then you need to come up with some kind of a plan because we would
E,K
have to present that. That's the best I can say, but as it stands now, that's what the law
says.
KOSSOW: Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Thank you for that legal awareness. I had no idea that we had that flexibility,
however it's unsuccessful or could be. Can we —do we have to haveI'm not sure. Are
we bound by Sunshine?
MELLON-LACEY: Yes, you are bound by Sunshine.
LOPEZ: Okay. So, could we I'm just brainstorming here —could we set up a
subcommittee that could get on this and maybe get it done in the next few days? To come
up with a recommendation on how we would approach this? Independent of meeting as a
group, and public meeting, and so on.
MELLON-LACEY: You could have, what is called, a permitted interaction group under
the Sunshine Law.
LOPEZ: Oh, PIG.
MELLON-LACEY: You know it has to be —consist of less members that a quorum, and
you have to state very specifically what it is that you're going to do, and everyone,
obviously, would have to agree. Then, you have to have a timeline and report back to the
full group of what you did and what you thought about it, but then it would then you
can't make any determination, it would have to come back to the full group for a vote.
And again, I think there's things like people figuring out how adept they are with using
the data, how much time they have to put in, many things to consider.
LOPEZ: So, following my thought there, I'm proposing, I'm not making a motion here,
that we form this PIG and have an extremely aggressive timeline to get it done in a week
at the most, and bring back a recommendation. And, it really needs to include Ms.
Nakamoto as a consultant, assuming she can't be on the group but as a consultant, to help
us wade through what's possible. It's not just my concern is not just my working on a
plan, and each of the Commissioners working on a plan independently, but all the plans
come in need to go through review and understanding. I just don't see how we're going
to accomplish this. So that's my I'm just throwing that out because I don't know how to
proceed with this. Thank you.
BATH: Chair?
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: Yeah. I'm really interested in hearing from all the Commissioners in seeing what
they think about this before we 86 this draft for the timeline.
C191
KOSSOW: I'm sorry. Did we lose you?
BATH: I was just —I'm interested in hearing what the other Commissioners feelings are
on this draft before we
KOSSOW: I've lost audio on your side. I think it's muted. (Pause while Commissioners
check their mics.) Oh, there you go. I can hear you guys now. Sorry about that. Go ahead.
BATH: Yeah, Chair, I'm really wanting to hear the other Commissioner's thoughts on
this, or feelings, before we 86 this draft timeline that energy got put into. I'd like to hear
what the others' feelings on it is before we move on with this permitted interactive group.
KOSSOW: Alright. Is there any Commissioners that have any thoughts on this? Mr.
Hustace.
HUSTACE: There may be some possibility if we are allowing on virtual technology. I'm
not sure the Rules state that —literally, it says that we need to have one hearing in each
of the 9 districts. Now I don't know what latitude we have with emergency rules and this
sort of reference and how long these will be in play but, maybe given, we could meet
virtually instead on some of these opportunities. That may give a little bit more flexibility
in our time of things so we're not motoring on the island basically. That's just one idea I
have.
LUL Chairperson Kossow, unless there's somebody else that wants to speak that hasn't
spoken, anybody?
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui.
LUL Yeah, I guess I'm feeling like, you know, as a Commission, we're going to want to
meet to look at the plans because we don't want 9 different plans submitted. We need one
plan, and I feel like in order to make this transparent, the public needs to have a chance to
look at our plan that we agree on before they start generating their own plans, otherwise
there will be way too many plans floating around in the next few weeks. So, I guess I'm
feeling like this timeline is too short. And, I would like to say that maybe we could ask
the mayor to let us extend until February to meet the same deadline as the State.
KOSSOW: Is that a —are you recommending or is that just a motion?
LUL Well I can turn it into a motion `cause that would give us a couple extra months
which would really be helpful because I think that just, you know, creating the plans is
one thing, but then to have us discuss it as a group and really come to some agreements
and horse -trade or whatever we're going to do and then have the public —we can't have
the public discussing a plan that doesn't exist in terms of the hearings. So, they'll need
time to digest that as well so that would give us, you know, a couple extra months to
operate. So, I would make that motion. As long as the State has done it, it seems like the
County could do it too.
MELLON-LACEY: Chair, I believe that you were kind of polling the members first so
perhaps that should be completed.
LUL Sure. So, I can hold that until others have spoken.
BATH: My concern is
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: Yeah, thank you. The only concern about this is getting the plans done in time for
October 8th to November 12th for the public hearings. It's kind of a crunch. That was my
only real concern about this timeline. And then, another consideration is comes the end of
November through January 1 st, I don't know about Kona side, but Hilo, kind of my
experience in the past, is gets into the holiday kind of a thing, and not a whole lot of
focus gets done there. So, presenting the possibility of extending and letting our public
hearings happen after the new year might get more engagement from the community if
that works.
YOSHINA: I have a question here.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath, are you done?
BATH: Oh, yeah. Sorry. I'm done.
KOSSOW: Okay, Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Yeah. Practically speaking, for the Corp Counsel, is it possible to change the
date?
MELLON-LACEY: You know, I cannot tell you that. I mean, the State was able to get
something extended. The process by which this is done, I don't know, because it's never
happened before. But the Commission has to feel they can do what they need to do. So,
that's why I'm saying this. I mean, we can't —Ms. Nakamoto could draft a plan that
meets the criteria, but she can't say that you can do that because we don't know. I mean,
we're the body that has to perform.
YOSHINA: So, what I'm asking is, if the body decides that we need more time, what
kind of practical impacts does it have say, on the Elections staff?
NAKAMOTO: I wanted to step in, but I was waiting my turn. You know this draft
timeline, you have to keep in mind that while we're doing some of these items that are
listed, the public will be submitting their plans and we can go over their plans, the
Commission can review those plans. You know, we can schedule meetings, just to do
that, just to review plans and see which ones you folks want to work with or feel like
some may not be plans that you can agree to keep. So, within this timeframe, you will be
E,W
needing to schedule meetings to do that. As far as the question how we will be impacted
by an extension to the deadline, the State has extended normally our candidate filing
begins on February lst, or the first working day in February, we begin issuing nomination
papers. They have extended that deadline to March 1 st and because we follow State law,
all of the counties will be following that deadline. So, for 2022, we will begin issuing
nomination papers on March 1 st. The filing deadline will remain the same, it's just the
day that we start issuing nomination papers.
KOSSOW: Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Thank you for that, Ms. Nakamoto. So, therein lies the solution where we've got
a gateway. We do follow State plans so it's March lst for the candidate filings and there
is a process for requesting an extension, as we can follow the same model the State used,
we just need to know what that is. And then, we as a group need to agree that that's what
we want to do or don't want to do. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Any other questions from the Commissioners? (No response.) Okay. I think
my only question is, so the process that we talked about, if we move from the current
draft timeline, would be just push back just by a full month, is that correct? Because it's
February I" is the we want to do this before candidate filing or what is the I'm not
sure what the procedure for this and if we get an extension, what is the extension?
NAKAMOTO: I also would like to mention that, once the final plan is completed and
submitted to the County Clerk, the Elections staff will need to do what we call "re-
precincting". There will be new precinct lines and so that work all begins after —your -
the final plan is submitted. So, we need some time to do that work.
BATH: Also, this next election is going to be determined by these lines and you can't
have candidates filing if they don't know if they are in a particular district. So, thank you.
I get it.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Was that Ms. Bath?
BATH: Yes, it was. Sorry. I'm done.
KOSSOW: Thank you. I might sound a little optimistic, but I think we should stick with
the draft timeline. I think it's very well thought out. I know it's very crunched on time,
and we currently can meet via Zoom. I don't know when the Governor's orders changes
for that but we can do that. We can create these subcommittees, and I don't know how we
all feel about splitting up the work load, and then also working with the public as well.
But I think I feel a little bit more optimistic regarding the timeline.
MELLON-LACEY: I do want to point out, Mr. Chair, that the PIG thing is very limited.
It can't be like an ongoing thing. It has to be something that has a specific task. And so,
it's really discouraged. What is encouraged is meetings and people that allow for
interaction with the public. And it's very important in this process.
C[1
KOSSOW: Right, okay.
MELLON-LACEY: So, I mean everyone has the opportunity I think, to work directly
with the data, correct Pat? And they have laptops now. The recommendation is more
meetings to look at this and people working on it individually and bringing their plans. I
will also point out that when you do the meetings in the 9 districts, you're not supposed
to have a finalized plan when you go out there. In fact, you have to have these meetings
prior to this group finalizing a plan. I think what has been done in the past is that there's
been proposed plans, various proposed plans, that the public is given to look at, but it's
not supposed to be finalized at that point. It's not like you have something all done and
then now we're coming out to tell you what it's going to be. That's not done until the end
when you have the two meetings, one East, one West.
YOSHINA: Diana, this is Dwayne. What are the requirements —how much time do you
need or does the Commission need to go to the County Council to ask for an extension?
Because we have sort of countervailing demands now.
MELLON-LACEY: I think the first thing would be that this group would have to make
some kind of decision and generate a communication. But then, if you're going to do that,
and this is not an acceptable timeline, I think the group would have to come up with a
timeline. It couldn't just be something like we can't meet the deadline without some plan,
yeah? I think that would be problematic.
YOSHINA: And then it has to go through that process?
MELLON-LACEY: I think initially it would be appropriate for this group to let the
Mayor know if you think you can't meet it because the Mayor is the one who appointed
you and gave you this task to accomplish.
YOSHINA: Okay, thank you.
KOSSOW: Any other Commissioners that have any comments regarding this? (No
response.) If not, I think we need to make a decision whether or not we want to create a
communication or if we want to move forward with the current draft timeline. Mr.
Lopez?
LOPEZ: Yes, thank you Chair. Given that we're at decision point, I move that we draft a
letter to Mayor Roth, asking him to consider an alternative timeline which takes us out to,
what was it, February 1 st perhaps, February 3rd, I don't know what I heard, when the
State Redistricting Commission had an extension. But the same thing, whatever they
have, draft a letter to our Mayor, asking him to consider this revised timeline which we
would have to detail. That's my motion. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Mr. Lopez has a motion on the floor. I just need a second.
LUL I seconded it. Ms. Lui.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui. Thank you, Ms. Lui. Is there any discussion?
BATH: Yeah, it's Stephanie.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: We can go ahead and generate a communication to the Mayor, however we can
all try to focus on this timeline that's in front of us, this draft timeline, and try to make
this if possible, and just have that extension as a safety net. That would be another option.
Is that reasonable? That we just really do the crunch, do the work we need to as much as
we can and then have that communication out that we may need an extension, we're
hoping we don't, so that both options are there.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Bath. I think I agree with your idea. Just in the event that the
Mayor comes back and says no, or the Council says no, at least we have a timeline that
we fall back on. However, do we need to adopt the timeline the way it is? I think this is
like the focal point of the discussion.
NAKAMOTO: Can I just jump in? Before doing that, I would like to ask that if you all
consider these dates because especially for the deadline for the alternate plan `cause
that's 8 weeks before the final plan's deadline. If you're going to adopt it, then we're
going to have to stick to these dates.
MELLON-LACEY: I'm not sure I'm understanding —excuse me, this is Diana. I'm not
sure I'm understanding what you're asking Pat, but I know there's things that would have
to be done to make that timeline work, right? Like setting the deadline for the alternate
plan. That actually has to be done by your fourth meeting but of course, if we are setting
a deadline, the public needs to know it soon and those are issues because that would only
give people until October 14th to do it if we were planning to use this timeline. If I
understand correctly, it's kind of hard to be washy -washy. If you're going to dive in, you
kind of have to dive in and say you're going to try to meet it and we put this in motion or
else you come up with a different timeline. I don't know that —if s not really like the
Mayor can say yes or no, it's more like you're informing him because we would have an
issue with the Charter and so something more would have to be done. But at least he
would know that you felt you couldn't perform it under that timeline.
JONES: This is Royce. Could I add something in here?
KOSSOW: Go ahead, Mr. Jones.
JONES: Thank you. I'm sorry I have to jump off because the other Commission, the
Statewide Commission's getting ready to meet and I need to get on to that call, but just
one point of information, the courts did give them till February 27th, but the court also
said if you can do it sooner, do it sooner, and the current proposed schedule has the State
CE:3
Commission finishing by December 16th before the Christmas break. It's extremely
ambitious. I don't know if they'll be able to do it. I'll be supporting them all I can and
you folks too, but that's just so you got that piece of information. That is the current
schedule, as I said, I have to jump onto their current meeting. That may change at this
meeting, but right now, their current schedule is the Commission's work finishes by the
16th. At which point then, we staff have to generate reports, maps, and do all sorts of
other things, but the final plan is adopted by December 16th. I'm sorry I have to go but I
do need to get onto that other one.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Jones. We appreciate your time.
JONES: Yup. Welcome. Bye.
KOSSOW: So, the motion's still on the floor. Mr. Lopez, I see your hand raised here.
LOPEZ: Yes, we're still in discussion I believe. In my motion, I apologize I did not mean
to imply that we would submit a request to extend and not proceed. I agree with the
comments made that we need to do everything we can to hit this schedule. A lot of
work's gone into this. This is the law. We need to try our best to do this. But the key
word in context is try and we won't know until we're —we got waist deep in alligators, if
we'll hit it or not. My recommendation really was looking at a multiple, a two -pronged
approach. One, yes, we should adopt this pending a action to request the Mayor to hear
our petition to postpone or delay rather, reschedule until February 27 h. Using the
argument of what the State has done as some support. If we rush into this, we may create
an illegal plan just because we didn't have time, we had too many descending comments,
we couldn't hit the schedule, we rushed it through, and that's really a major concern for
me. So, again to clarify my motion, it was to do these in parallel. Yes, let's get started but
at the same time throw a request into the hopper to get us more time should we run into
difficulties, which I think we will. That's my opinion. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Chair, this is Mr. Hustace. I agree with that. We should carry on with this
draft plan, but I think we do need some sort of leniency if we have to go beyond, and I
think what the State Reapportionment Commission received from the Hawaii Supreme
Court, we may have to petition accordingly as well, just so that we have that in our back
pocket.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace. Thank you, Mr. Lopez. Mr. Lopez your —we're still
in discussion, but your motion is still on the table, but did you want to amend your
motion?
LOPEZ: Okay, yes for clarification certainly. Again, I'll restate the motion as I intended
it to be. That we proceed with this draft timeline in the interest of time, and good
conscience, but at the same time, we petition our Mayor Roth to consider an alternate
schedule which we need to propose to him in rapidly quick time. That's my motion.
EA01
KOSSOW: So, Mr. Lopez created his motion. Is there a second for this one? I'm sorry,
you withdrew that last motion, correct?
LOPEZ: Correct, thank you.
KOSSOW: Just for clarification on the minutes. Is there a second?
LUL I'll second it again.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Lui. Any further discussion? Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Mr. Chair, given the comment that Diana just made, that the courts indicated
to the State that it would still, I don't know if I'm misquoting this but, that the State, with
due diligence, tried to meet the deadlines set by law. Is that what they said?
MELLON-LACEY: Yes, that was what was said. That they were told that they could
have longer, but they should try to do it as quickly as possible. And of course, if you try
to meet your deadline, and you show a court that this is what we approved, and this is
what we tried to do but we're just not able to, of course it looks better than saying, we
just can't get it done. We're not even going to try. I believe that always would be better.
That is our law. It's just an unfortunate situation.
YOSHINA: Circumstance. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Any further discussion? (No response.) Alright, without hearing or seeing
none, the motion is on the table, proposed by Mr. Lopez to continue or to petition the
Mayor with a draft timeline and then we can continue on with the current timeline that
was created by Ms. Nakamoto, but not set in stone. Mr. Kauka, I would like to call the
roll, to do a roll vote.
KAUKA: Thank you, Chair. (Mr. Kauka proceeded with a roll call vote) Mr. Chair, you
have 8 ayes.
KOSSOW: Eight ayes, motion is adopted.
Mr. Lopez moved to petition the Mayor with a draft
timeline and continue the current timeline that was
created by Ms. Nakamoto. Seconded by Ms. Lui
and carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Yadao, Yoshina, Vice Chair Hustace, and
Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
Absent: Commissioner Sumera-Lee.
6711
REPORTS
None.
REFERRALS FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION
None.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
KOSSOW: Okay. Moving over to announcements. Does anybody have any
announcements?
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Just a general announcement to all the Commissioners, recommendation that
the computer that you received is a public computer, please don't use it for personal
purposes. Just a recommendation. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace. Any other announcements?
LUL Is there a time we're meeting again given our fast timeline here? I don't see any
meetings listed on this draft timeline.
MELLON-LACEY: I think that was left to the Commission to schedule.
LUL So just wondering, are we scheduling our next meeting, Chairman Kossow?
KOSSOW: Let's go ahead and do that after Dennis' --Dennis do you want to remind
about mileage and then we'll go back to discussing the next date for our meeting.
LUL Thanks.
KAUKA: Thank you, Chair. No big announcement on mileage. It's just that we'll
distribute the forms out to Commissioners, and you are entitled to be reimbursed for
mileage for to and from travel to commission activities. We'll work with our Finance
Department. I think I provided the mileage form at the first meeting, but we'll of course
supply that again. I got one request, and then you can provide that to me. Thanks, Mr.
Chair.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. Ms. Lui, and Commissioners, let's go ahead and
figure out the next meeting date.
MELLON-LACEY: Dennis, are we constricted
KOSSOW: Oh, go ahead. Is that Corporation Counsel?
51
MELLON-LACEY: Yes, I'm sorry. I just wanted to find out from Dennis if we were
constricted from specific dates for use of the rooms.
KAUKA: I'm going to step to grab the Council —the room calendar —but yes, logistically
for the use of these current spaces, the option to participate virtually is there, but to
coordinate the in -person attendance at these rooms would be at the availability of the
location. It's definitely not available when Council is in session, and I can check on those
exact dates as you deliberate, but also, the Clerk's Office does allow for use of the room
to other agencies as well, so I'll step out to grab that while you discuss.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Yes. In looking at meetings, we need to draft this alternate plan for the Mayor.
That's something that should be done post haste. I just want to throw that in there when
we're talking about meetings, and I suppose that it's a meeting of this body, right? For
Corp Counsel, do we have to give notice? We can't do it within a certain amount of time
because of the noticing process. Is that correct? How soon could we have this meeting?
MELLON-LACEY: The notice has to be given 6 days prior to a meeting with agenda.
LOPEZ: Okay, thank you. That's consideration for meeting on the development of an
alternate agenda. Thank you.
YOSHINA: Mr. Chair, this is Dwayne.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Yeah. I have a question on the —is someone responsible to draft this letter to
the mayor? Or do we have to vote on that, a letter?
KOSSOW: I think the idea of the letter has already been proposed, motioned, and we can
draft that letter. I can work with Mr. Kauka and Mr. Lopez, as it was his motion, to get
that communications to the Mayor.
YOSHINA: Okay. Thank you.
LUL Because Kona also has to be available, why don't you just give us a couple days?
Maybe what we should do is just say we would like to meet again in what, two weeks
maybe? Does that make sense to people? And then, you can give us a couple of times to
choose from since you have to coordinate with Kona as well.
BATH: Yeah, I'm not available on the 22nd. I have a state board meeting on that day
unless it's in the afternoon.
61%
LOPEZ: Two weeks out would be a good timeframe because it allows us to meet that 6-
day meeting deadline that we have to have.
KAUKA: Commissioners, this is Dennis. So, in two weeks from today, the Chamber
would not be available on September 21 and September 22, the Tuesday and Wednesday
of that week, two weeks out. And I stepped out when we were discussing the posting
timeframes, but yes, just to reiterate the agenda does need to be posted 6 days before we
determine the meeting, by the end of that date, for whenever the meeting is going to be
held. I think we want to, from 6 days, just kind of consider 2 days before that even, to
formulate the agenda so any items on the agenda should more or less be determined 8
days in advance. Although, officially, it has to be posted by 6 days.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. Also, don't forget too that we have a communications
that we tabled that would require 30 days. So, if we want to do the next meeting in two
weeks, we would have to table that communications once again until the 30 days is up.
MELLON-LACEY: Chair, that's correct. That would need 30 days. So that would be a
separate meeting or separate thing. I had thought you wanted to have a quicker meeting
for a specific purpose relative to planning and alternate timeline.
KOSSOW: I think that might be a better —I did just to do it specifically to the draft
timeline yeah, and not have anything else in that agenda. Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: How does September 22nd sit with anybody?
LUL That would be the 23rd
KOSSOW: I think Dennis stated that the 21" and 22nd° the Chambers are unavailable.
LOPEZ: Oh okay, those days. Alright, 24 h?
BATH: Chair? It's Stephanie.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: Yeah. If we're just going to be discussing this one item, could we just do a Zoom
meeting for that? Is that transparent enough or?
KOSSOW: Corporation Counsel?
MELLON-LACEY: This is Diana. Yes, you can do a Zoom meeting, but we have all the
same notice requirements. We can meet virtually at this time.
LUL I'm sorry, Chairperson Kossow. It seems like besides the timeline, we need to get
moving on the maps so probably some discussion of how people are doing would be
6V
good, questions that people have, people might have for each other in a neighboring
district. I think if we really wanna jump in, we've got to get started on that.
HUSTACE: Mr. Chair?
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: The other thing that came to mind and hearing from Corp Counsel and Ms.
Nakamoto, and the whole discussion about the 30 day notice and public hearings for
particular revisions and amendments to our Rules, the only concern I've had, and I don't
know how much leeway the Chair has in restructuring the meetings, in the sense that we
did for today, given that we've had communications and testifiers at different times
throughout the meeting, and given the Rules, the agendas, and draft agendas, typically
havea lot of you are probably familiar with other County commission meetings and
boards and the Council, that these statements are made at the top of the meeting, and not
at different times. So, another thing that I would bring to the Commission is maybe
another revision to the Rules, to allow for us to have testifiers, and statements from the
public at other times in the agenda. So, this is something else that could be discussed. I
think we talked about this time crunch, 30 days for the kanalua amendment, but this is
something else that we need to address in our meetings, and change the order of our
meetings, and how they are presented to the public, and when people can give testimony.
Maybe that needs to be changed too in our Rules.
KOSSOW: This is the Chair. Thank you, Mr. Hustace. I appreciate the comments. I
would like to structure that a little bit more for the testifiers, like we did today. I don't
know if we need to put that into the Rules, because it could be just the Chair's
recommendations or we can vote about it in the morning, or the beginning of the session.
That might be just aI don't know, is there anything regarding that, Diana?
MELLON-LACEY: Sorry, I'm looking at your Rules really quickly right now.
KAUKA: Diana, and Commissioners, this is Dennis. Sorry to interject. I'll just point out
the Rules, roman numeral VII, under Order of Business, letter b. It does seem to say that
alterations to order of business can be made by the Chairperson.
MELLON-LACEY: I mean generally the Chair does have that discretion; I was just
checking really quickly. I don't believe it says that they have to testify prior to the
meeting, I mean prior to your other business items. Sorry. That is something I think you
have flexibility to do, without a Rule change.
HUSTACE: Thank you and thank you Dennis for pointing that one out there. So that's
Order of Business VII. b., the alteration. I know that sometimes our meetings do run long,
like it was today a little bit, but it is possible, or maybe instances where the public is
unable to attend the length of the meeting, and give testimony at those particular items, so
we may have to gage that based upon the public that attends. Just putting that out there.
6'i!
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace. And now going back to the date. Mr. Kauka, did
you have any other dates available for the Chambers?
KAUKA: So, without the parameters of the dates just in two weeks out from this week,
those are the only two dates I mentioned, the Tuesday and Wednesday, September 21 and
22, that the Chamber locations will not be available. For the week after, it's available for
that entire week. So, the week of September 27.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Mr. Chair, can I propose September 23rd then as an availability for the other
Commissioners?
KOSSOW: I believe uh, was it Ms. Bath, that wasn't able to do the 23rd
BATH: I'm good on the 23rd. That's a good day.
KOSSOW: Okay. Alright. Everybody good with the 23rd? (Various Commissioners
respond saying yes.)
HUSTACE: Same start time, Chair?
KOSSOW: Same start time. What is it, 9:30?
HUSTACE: Nine -thirty today.
KOSSOW: Yup. We'll do 9:30.
KAUKA: Commissioners, this is Dennis. Chair? So, if I may suggest also, just to project
out, the deadlineI'm sorry, the agenda for a September 23 meeting would need to be
posted by September 17. That's a Friday before, at the end of the day. As we have started
to develop a flow here, if I may ask staff and Commissioners, if you have any agenda
items to propose, we work with the Chair to determine what will be on the agenda, and
perhaps you canI think the best flow is to send that to the general Redistricting
Commission email address. We should have some formality to it so I can prep the memo,
make sure it's okay with you, the (indiscernible) you're proposing, and then I'll just
formulate it that way. It's just going to one cohesive place and then we can work with the
Chair to develop the items. I'm just trying to be sure there's some structure to how we
take in the agenda items before. It would be helpful if those agenda items requests come
in at the latest by noon the day before the posting deadline, which means by Thursday,
September 16. I know that's just a week from today, but a request to get them up on the
agenda, posted on the Public Documents and become part of the official agenda packet
do take some time, at least a day and a half to comfortably be able to post it in time. So
again, to reiterate, what to be clear about is that a week from today, we would need to
have the agenda items submitted to the Chair.
617
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Kauka_ Any other announcements?
HUSTACE: Mr. Chair, there was a testifier who mentioned about the State
Reapportionment Commission too and I don't —I was looking on the website, I don't see
the meeting right now. I don't know when their next one is planned for, and you know, I
would agree with that, that we do try our best if people are interested in both the State
and the County level, to have those on different days. Looking back at their timeline, they
didn't really have a structure to when they are meeting. I think the days kind of varied as
well. They are probably based upon when their Commissioners could meet, so I think we
just have to take that into consideration too. I just hope for the best that we're not
planning for the same day but thank you.
ADJOURV MINT
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr_ Hustace. Any other announcements? (No response.) Is there a
motion to adjourn?
LOPEZ: So moved.
YOSHINA: I move to adjourn.
KOSSOW: Motion was made by Mr. Lopez, seconded by Mr. Yoshina. All in favor? Say
aye. (Commissioners say aye.) We are adjourned at 12:58 p.m. Thank you, everyone.
Respectfully Submitted,
� "-
Nicole Bello, support staff to
the Commission
Approved on
October 28, 2021
(date)
Mr. Bronsten-Glenn Kossow, Chair
Hawaii County Redistricting Commission
91
2021
HAWAI`I COUNTY
REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
DRAFT
3rd Session
Thursday, September 23, 2021
County Council Chambers
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
ATTENDANCE:
Present: Mr.
`Aina Akamu, Commissioner (via Zoom)
Ms.
Stephanie Bath, Commissioner
Mr.
James Hustace, Vice Chairperson
Mr.
Bronsten-Glenn Kossow, Chairperson
Mr.
Stephen Lopez, Commissioner
Mr.
Meizhu Lui, Commissioner (via Zoom)
Ms.
Breeani Sumera-Lee, Commissioner (via Zoom)
Ms.
Jennifer Yadao, Commissioner
Mr.
Dwayne Yoshina, Commissioner
Also Present: Diana Mellon -Lacey, Deputy Corporation Counsel
Pat Nakamoto, Elections Program Administrator
Cori Saiki, Elections Program Specialist I
Dennis Kauka Jr., Legislative Specialist / Secretary
CALL TO ORDER:
KOSSOW: Welcome to the Yd Session of the County of Hawaii Redistricting
Commission. Today is Thursday, September 23rd, 2021. My name is Bronsten. I'm the
Chairperson here. I'd like to start with a notice announcement that I'll read. Because of
the Coronavirus COVID-19 Emergency and State and Federal guidance on large
meetings and gatherings, and pursuant to the Mayor's Proclamations regarding COVID-
19, the Redistricting Commission meetings are currently not open to the public to attend
in -person until further notice. Members of the public may view or provide oral testimony
via the Zoom platform by requesting for this information as noticed on our posted
agendas. Thank you for your understanding. I now call this meeting to order. The time is
9:35 a.m.
ROLL CALL
Welcome of newly sworn -in Commissioner Sumera-Lee
KOSSOW: Let's start with a roll call. Commissioners, when you are called upon, please
indicate that you are present and whether you are in Hilo, Kona, or participating by
remote virtually. Mr. Kauka?
KAUKA: Thank you. Commissioner Lui, "Present and I'm Zooming in," Commissioner
Yoshina, "Here," and that's from Hilo. Commissioner Sumera-Lee, (No response),
Commissioner Yadao, "Present, Hilo," Commissioner Bath, "Present, Hilo,"
Commissioner Akamu, "Present via Zoom," Commissioner Lopez, "Present, Kona,"
Commissioner Hustace "Present in Kona," Chair Kossow, "Here, Kona." Thank you.
Chair, you have eight members present.
KOSSOW: Commissioners, thank you for being present today. As a reminder, during this
meeting we are working with Commissioners in multiple locations. The audio of the
meeting is being recorded so as much as possible, let's try to avoid overtalks as much as
possible. Please keep your microphones on mute unless you are speaking, and we ask that
for members of the public who are turned on as well. Commissioners in either chambers,
your microphone can be activated by pressing the button at the base. I won't be able to
recognize you if the audio is not coming through so be sure to check if that's on first
when speaking. As I am presiding from Kona, Commissioners here with me, please turn
on your light and get my attention so you can be recognized. For those in Hilo or remote,
we'll have to make a go for it so speak out with your name if you need be and I'll
recognize you. After I recognize your request to speak, please state your name for the
record. If you don't state your name first, we may interrupt to clarify who is speaking for
the minutes. Thank you all. And Mr. Kauka, Ms. Sumera-Lee is not here. Correct?
KAUKA: That's correct, Chair. She has not connected yet.
KOSSOW: Okay.
K
STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS
KOSSOW: We're going to move over to statements from the public. Staff, can you
confirm the amount of testifiers we currently have for today?
KAUKA: Thank you, Chair. We currently have two testifiers signed up. One has
requested to provide her testimony at the end of the agenda. So, at this time I'd like to
call upon Mr. Jacob Aki from Common Cause Hawaii. Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, if you
wanted to make an announcement first.
KOSSOW: Testifiers, please note, you will have three minutes for each item on the
agenda to provide your statement. If you are speaking on multiple items, please indicate
when you're transitioning. We kindly ask that you wait to be unmuted and called upon. If
there are issues when you are called, after trying for some time, we may have moved on
while staff tries to work with you offline and we'll try to get back to you. When there are
thirty seconds remaining, we may indicate this to you and ask that you summarize.
Before you speak, please state your name for the record and the item you are testifying
on. Mr. Kauka?
KAUKA: Thank you, Mr. Chair. The first testifier is Mr. Jacob Aki from Common Cause
Hawaii. Mr. Aki, you may unmute yourself and you have three minuues.
JACOB AKI
AKL Thank you. Aloha, Chair, Vice -Chair, and members of the Hawaii County
Commission. My name is Jacob Aki on behalf of Common Cause. Common Cause is a
non -partisan, non-profit, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values
of Amercian democracy and ensuring a fair and transparent reapportionment and
redistricting process. Common Cause would like to thank this Commission for taking our
requests from the last meeting into consideration. We are glad to see that the Commission
meeting is being streamed live on YouTube. And we also commend the Commission for
honoring the intent of the Sunshine Law and allowing public testimony not just at the
beginning, but at the end of the meeting as well. We have one item that we would like to
continue to urge the Commission to do, which is to count incarcerated people according
to their home addresses as of April 1, 2020, for the purposes of drawing council district
lines. Including incarcerated persons in the population count for the district in which their
facility is located alters representational preportions and as a result, the voting power of
residents. Counting Hawai'i`s incarcerated population according to their home addresses
will eliminate this particular issue and ensure an accurate and true reapportionment
process. We have attached information on how to do this but we would like to again,
thank the Commission for your hard work and for your dedication to this process. Thank
you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Aki. Mr. Kauka, is there any more testifers for today?
K
KAUKA: Mr. Chair, not at this time, but we do have participants who are connected and
we can open up if anyone tuned in would like to testify to say so now. (No response.)
Thank you, Chair. I think we can proceed.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
None.
COMMUNICATIONS
Communication 9.1
KOSSOW: Now, we move onto communications. Commissioners, these documents
should be part of your agenda packet in your folders. For Commissioners who are virtual,
if you were not able to retrieve your folder prior to today, hopefully you can view online
in Public Documents if needed. First is Communication 9.1. Mr. Kauka?
KAUKA: Communication 9.1 from Commissioner Lui for informational purposes:
transmitting petition from Attorney General to State Supreme Court to adjust deadines to
the State Reapportionment Commission.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Commissioner Lui, my understanding is that you just wanted to
have this available for the body as a reference. Would you like to say anything?
LUL No, it's just background information for what we talked about last time in terms of
possibly extending our deadline.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Commissioner Lui. Any Commissioners have any comments?
(No response.) No comments. Thank you, Commissioner. Alright, Commissioners, going
forward we'll take action to follow a communications on the agenda. There is no action
needed so may I have a motion and a second to file Communication 9.1?
Mr. Yoshina moved to file Communication 9.1.
Seconded by Ms. Bath.
The motion to file Communication 9.1 was carried
by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Yadao, Yoshina, Vice Chair Hustace, and
Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
Absent: Commissioner Sumera-Lee.
KOSSOW: Motion carries. That's 9 ayes. Next Communication 11, Mr. Kauka?
C!
KAUKA: Mr. Chair, sorry to interrupt. So, that was 8 ayes on the last count.
KOSSOW: Sorry, 8 ayes. Thank you.
LUL Can I just ask a question on that?
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui.
LUL I just wondered what happened in terms of writing to the Mayor's Office to see
whether it was possible to have that potential extension.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui, we'll definitely discuss that later on in the agenda.
LUL Oh, okay. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Let me just make sure we have that on here. If not, we can probably discuss it
in unfinished business. (Pause) Yeah, it's going to be on Number 2 of unfinished
business.
LUL Thank you.
Communication 11
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace. Mr. Kauka, Communication 11.
KAUKA: Communication 11 from Chairperson Kossow for review and informational
purposes: transmitting breakdown of current total census population within existing
council districts.
KOSSOW: Thank you. This is just one thing that we found on ESRI. It has the
population numbers per district utilizing the 2011 districts with the 2021 data. I just
wanted to make sure that everybody has a copy of that. You can also pull it up on ESRI
itself. Is there any comments regarding this Communication? (No response.) Okay. May I
have a motion and second to file Communication 11?
Mr. Hustace moved to file Communication 11.
Seconded by Mr. Yoshina.
The motion to file Communication 11 was carried
by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Yadao, Yoshina, Vice Chair Hustace, and
Chair Kossow.
67
Noes: None.
Absent: Commissioner Sumera-Lee.
KOSSOW: Thank you. That's 8 ayes.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
KOSSOW: We're moving onto unfinished business. Mr. Kauka?
KAUKA: Thank you. Unfinished business:
Update on census and mapping related information requested by Commission re ag rding
incarcerated persons, overseas military, and destroyed roads in the Puna District.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Commissioners, for this item, I'd like to point to Communication
12 which should also be in your folders and was distributed earlier. We have technical
support staff to the Commission present in Hilo to answer any questions. I believe if he's
not there already, we're trying to get a representative from the eruption recovery staff if
there are any questions on the Puna road situation. I'll open it up for any discussion.
KAUKA: Mr. Chair, this is Dennis. If I may first too, we do have in the Hilo Chamber
Disaster Recovery Officer, Douglas Nam Le.
KOSSOW: Okay, thank you. Is there any questions for Mr. Le? I'm sorry did you say he
was over Zoom or in the Chambers?
KAUKA: He's present with us in Hilo.
KOSSOW: Okay.
BATH: This is Stephanie Bath. I have a question.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: Good morning. So, out Kapoho side in the area where some lots were inundated,
there were people that were coming in, going over private roads, and walking into their
homes. The question arose earlier, how were they counted or were they counted? The
folks that are sort of in transition right now.
LE: Good morning. Douglas Le, Disaster Recovery Officer for the County. I appreciate
your question, Commissioner. I'm prepared to speak on the status of the restoration of the
public roads and some of our coordination on the private roads that were also inundated
by the 2018 eruption. I don't know if I can speak to how residents may have been
counted as part of the census. As you are all aware, and I think is very known within our
1.1
community, over 600 homes were destroyed as part of the eruption. Many folks had to
relocate in other parts of Puna, our island, and even kind of off -island as well. I can speak
to the roads but I unfortunately, I cannot speak to how individual households may have
been counted in the census. Including some of those households who are still accessing
their isolated properties in the Kapoho area.
BATH: Thank you. That's understandable.
KOSSOW: Is there any other questions for Mr. Le? Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Le. Really just a follow up, and you may not be able to
answer this. I think some of us are driving at the point of understanding, and better
understanding, impacts of the area, how people were counted, how the census blocks may
have changed in that area based upon the change of geographic boundaries, and road
boundaries. So, I guess, any sort of information to enlighten us would help.
LE: To the extent that I can help to answer that question, I'm not aware of the Census
Bureau adjusting any of the census tracts or the boundaries of the block groups as a result
of the 2018 eruption. I could work with the Clerk's Office staff supporting this
Commission to look into the issue. It is data I look at often in the performance of my
duties. I can speak to the road situation in terms of the deliberations of the Commission
and our broader communities are really grappling with. The major public arteries that
service lower Puna that were impacted by the eruption, Highway 132 has been restored as
of November 2019. Portions of Highway 137, the Red Road by MacKenzie and Isaac
Hale Beach Park, were also restored shortly after the end of the eruption on a temporary
basis. Our County's next steps are to restore Pohoiki Road, and particularly the upper
inundated portion. Also, Highway 137 from Four Corners at the Kapoho area, down to
Isaac Hale Beach Park. We know that these are pretty significant points of circulation for
our community members. There are critical for emergency evacuation purposes when
those needs arise. I also understand that they are pretty significant geographic markers in
terms of the work that's before the Commission. So, we are working to restore these
public roads, if that's helpful.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Le.
KOSSOW: Commissioners, any other questions for Mr. Le? (No response.) Okay. Thank
you, Mr. Le. We appreciate you coming in. At this time, Commissioners, may I have a
motion to close Item 1 of unfinished business and a second?
Ms. Bath moved to close Item 1.
Seconded by Ms. Lui.
HUSTACE: I have a question, Chair. If you don't mind. Just a comment on that since we
have a motion on the floor. Do we need to update Commissioners on the incarcerated
status of individuals for this item?
U
KOSSOW: I believe the incarcerated items are located —excuse me. You're right. Before
we move on with the motion we can continue to
HUSTACE: Well, the motion's on the floor, right. So, we can have some discussion.
KOSSOW: We would be able to have a discussion. Yes.
HUSTACE: If you don't mind.
KOSSOW: Absolutely. Is Elections staff available for the comment on incarcerated
persons and overseas military? I believe there was communication that was filed. Is that
Communication 12?
KAUKA: Mr. Chair, I don't think we have a communication filed but the Elections
Office staff member is available in Hilo.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace if you want to
HUSTACE: Sure. Thank you, Chair. Sorry to stall your motion there but with just some
discussion on the floor about it, if we could enlighten the Commissioners about any
updates with the incarcerated status of citizens, where they were counted. So, if Ms.
Nakamoto could share with the Commissioners about that information and what was
really determined by Mr. Jones in the redistricting tool that we have those numbers in
front of us. Thank you, Ms. Nakamoto, for joining us.
NAKAMOTO: Thank you. Patricia Nakamoto, Elections Program Administrator for the
County of Hawaii. I have been in contact with several individuals and agencies
regarding the incarcerated individuals when the census was taken. I spoke with the
warden at the Punahele facility, and I was told that a census taker was given access to the
facility and was able to assist the individuals there with completing the census forms. The
census forms were submitted to the Census Bureau. He was not aware of where these
individuals listed as their residence address. He did tell me that some of the individuals
are homeless and so they may have used the facility address or another address where
they spend most of their time. But he was not aware of any of the information that was on
the census form that was turned into the census taker.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Commissioners, any other questions?
BATH: Just a comment.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: Thank you. I thought I heard yesterday on NPR, a little story that the Federal
government is utilizing incarcerated individuals' jails, or wherever they are incarcerated,
as their address. I might have gotten it wrong but, is that true? Does anybody know if
E:3
that's true, that the Federal government is using the addresses of the facilities the
incarcerated are staying at? I might have heard it in error. I was just wondering.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui.
LUL I don't know if that's true or not but if it is, it's really not fair. I would not think that
we should do it the same way because there are large, incarcerated populations that
would increase the numbers in a certain district. And yet, in some of those States too,
there's felony disenfranchisement so that's not a good thing at all. But it seems like it's
not fair to the places where those people do have permanent homes because those would
have an undercount then. I guess after Ms. Nakamoto's report, I guess she's saying that
we don't have a way of finding out where the permanent homes are of those people on
the island. Is that correct?
NAKAMOTO: Yes, based on the information that was provided to me by the warden at
the Punahele facility. I did want to mention that I contacted the Department of Public
Safety on Oahu. And I was instructed to send an email and my questions to DBEDT. I
did that so I am waiting to hear back from them on some information that I had requested
like numbers. When I hear from them, I can also ask them if they have information on the
addresses of these individuals when the census was taken. I don't know what their answer
will be, but I can pose them with that question.
LUL Thank you.
BATH: Stephanie Bath.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: Yeah, I agree that it would be unfair. Based on what Director Nakamoto shared
with us about how some people might have put their home addresses rather than their
incarcerated addresses down. There's no controlled study involved so I think that if we
just go with their home addresses it would make sense.
YOSHINA: Mr. Chair, this is Dwayne.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Yeah, I'd like to have a clarification of our the Commission's
responsibilities, obligations, and authorities of this issue from Corp Counsel. I'm in favor
of doing that, what is being suggested but, I'm not too clear as to what the law says.
KOSSOW: Okay, is Corp Counsel there?
MELLON-LACEY: Yes, this is Diana Mellon -Lacey, Corp Counsel. I need to understand
specifically because I had some trouble hearing Ms. Nakamoto. What is being asked?
01
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina, would you like to repeat your question.
YOSHINA: My question is, what are our responsibilities, obligations, and authorities
under the County Charter or State law, to do what is being requested? I'm for doing it. I
just want to be clear that we have that authority.
MELLON-LACEY: I would like to request some time to just review this in more detail
and then do a communication to the Commission, please.
YOSHINA: It's okay with me. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui.
LUL I just wanted to make sure that that did not mean that Director Nakamoto would not
ask right away, the State, the question she had. Is Corporation Counsel okay with her
going ahead with that question while you're investigating?
MELLON-LACEY: Oh yes, absolutely. I didn't know you were asking me.
LUL That's no problem. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Do we have any other further discussion regarding unfinished business P
Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Just curious about this timeline here. Like we're in the crunch, the end of the
year, right? And we have communication from Common Cause talking about
incarcerated people and how to count them at home. We're curious about legality issues.
Mr. Yoshina brought that up. About how we can change the data, we'd have to vote on
changing that, I think, to allocate those people to the districts that they would call home,
if they do have a home that they called home on their census information. I kind of would
urge some expediency here with this. It would alter the maps that the public are dealing
with and that we're trying to tinker with as well. I don't know where this leaves us but I
would agree with this. We're not trying to gerrymander any prison districts so, just
curious how this would impact our timeline here.
NAKAMOTO: I just have a comment to make. I'm going to continue to ask DBEDT if
they can provide us the residence addresses for the individuals who are incarcerated in
our Hawaii County facilities at the time the census was taken. I'm assuming that that
information has already been provided to the Census Bureau. Because this is such a
transient population within these facilities, their information may have changed from the
time that that information was submitted to the Census Bureau. I don't know where that
leaves us. If they are able to provide us with the addresses, we would only have the
addresses at the time the census information was received by the individuals.
YOSHINA: Mr. Chair, this is Dwayne.
IM
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Yeah, I guess the essential question is, what data do we use to draw these
maps? I think we're rather constrained to use the data provided by the U.S. Census. All of
these requests that are coming in now, are nice to have but, I'm just wondering if we are
constrained under law to revise that data. I'm not certain if that is a clear statement or not.
Seems like if we are trying to include all of these different populations, is that in the
existing data? And when is that data locked in?
KOSSOW: Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Yes, I'll support that comment. I'll tell you where I'm at right now. Using the
ESRI tool, I spent a lot of time of course like anybody else, trying to align my
percentages and district boundaries and such. Then I get on these minutes with this
agenda. Then I get the existing council districts that just came in on the communication
that's in this package. Those are different from what's in ESRI. Then we're talking about
the incarcerated. So the census numbers are a continually moving target. I don't know,
personally, how to do my job. I don't know what numbers to use. I can't use the ESRI
review tool that tells you how you're doing against the percentage distributions because
those numbers are what's on paper. I'm hope I'm being clear because I'm really in a
quandary as to how I should be doing my job, and the work that I've already done. Seems
like it's fruitless at this point. What's already been done, excuse me. Thank you.
YOSHINA: Mr. Lopez, this is Dwayne.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: I think I will accept the responsibility for the requests for the 2011 maps with
the 2020 population numbers. I just wanted to see what that would look like. I apologize
if that caused any confusion but that was just for reference purposes.
KOSSOW: Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Thank you for that. I wasn't aware of that. It was not a fault or anything. I didn't
realize it was for reference purposes only. From your response, I feel secure in using the
ESRI numbers in doing the job that I need to do. Is that correct, from anybody?
YOSHINA: That's a 10-4 from me.
BATH: Ditto on that.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui.
LUL On the incarcerated, I wonder if could just get the number of people that were
incarcerated in the different sites because when we finish, we're not going to have an
exact, same number of people in each district. We know that there will be a little bit of
11
deviation. I think just knowing those numbers can help us a little bit. I don't know the
size of the incarcerated population so that would help, I think. I agree with the need to
move forward with due speed.
NAKAMOTO: This is Patricia Nakamoto, Elections Program Administrator. Ms. Lui,
can I just ask a question? When you say incarcerated from different sites, what exactly do
you mean? Here in the County of Hawaii, the different facilities that they were housed in
at the time the census was taken?
LUL Yes.
NAKAMOTO: Okay, thank you.
KOSSOW: Any other discussion? Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Ms. Lui, for that question. For Ms.
Nakamoto, is that a possibility to receive that information? Is that something that we
could obtain for our records?
NAKAMOTO: Yes. I will ask DBEDT if they have this information and if they have this
information, if they can provide it to us, and then I will provide it to the Commission.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Nakamoto.
KOSSOW: Any further questions regarding this? (No response.) The motion is still on
the table. I believe it was motioned by Ms. Bath and seconded by Ms. Lui, to close item 1
of unfinished business. If we don't hear any further discussions or questions, I'd like to
move forward. (No response.) Okay, all in favor say aye? (Various Commissioners
responded with aye votes.) All opposed? (No response.) Motion carries, 8 ayes. Moving
on to Item 2 of the agenda. Mr. Kauka.
KAUKA: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Before I read that in, I'd just like to advise you that
Commissioner Sumera-Lee has now connected and is joining us. Welcome.
KOSSOW: Does that mean we have 9 ayes? The last vote would be 9 ayes, correct?
KAUKA: That's correct.
KOSSOW: Was that before or after?
KAUKA: Before, yes.
KOSSOW: Okay, thank you.
The motion to close Item 1 of unfinished business
was carried by the following vote:
11a
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Sumera-Lee, Yadao, Yoshina, Vice Chair
Hustace, and Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
KOSSOW: Go ahead, Mr. Kauka, for Item 2.
KAUKA: Thank you. Unfinished business:
2. UDdate on consideration of a draft letter to Mavor Roth for this awareness of the current
time parameters facing the Commission in executing its duties. (Part 1)
KOSSOW: Thank you. Is there any discussion regarding the consideration for the draft
letter to Mayor Roth for the time parameters? Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Yes. Logically for me, wouldn't it make sense to address Item 3 before we
address Item 2? Item 3 is an important parcel of what would be contained in Item 2. Just
a comment.
KOSSOW: Okay. We can adjust the agenda item number to allow that to go first, as long
as everybody is okay with that. We'll table Item 2 to after Item 3. We'll go over to Item
3. Mr. Kauka, would you go ahead and read number 3, please.
BATH: Excuse me, Chair, this is Stephanie Bath.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: I don't know if it would be appropriate before we moved on, if we could have
Commissioner Sumera-Lee just give us a quick little introduction of herself so we are
more familiar with our team. Welcome, Commissioner. I don't know if that's appropriate.
KOSSOW: I was actually just going to do it right at the ending. You caught me. Why
don't we do that right now. Ms. Sumera-Lee, would you —are you on Zoom?
SUMERA-LEE: Okay. Sorry, I'm not good with speaking in front of people. Aloha! My
name is Breeani Sumera-Lee. I have been a part of the Keaukaha community for the last
9 years. My mom and I have a small store, Keaukaha General Store. Most recently, I've
been the manager at, used to be Hilo Seaside Hotel. It's now, new owners. So, I'm in our
Keaukaha community and I'm really grateful to be a part of this. I'm looking forward to
meeting you all. I can't see anyone really, but it's to e-meet everyone and I hope
everyone is being safe during COVID, and I look forward to being a commissioner with
you all. Mahalo.
191
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Sumera-Lee. Okay, moving over to Item 3. Mr. Kauka.
KAUKA: Thank you. Unfinished business:
3. Further review of the proposed timeline for the Commission to complete its work. The
Commission may revisit the timeline to explore and discuss options for extending
deadines if necessary.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Do we have any discussion? Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: It's my proposal that we try to extend at least 30 days, to the end of January. I
recognize the issue we run up against in February with the pulling of nominations, things
of that nature. We do have a lot of traction. I've used the tool. I'm not quite comfortable
with it. I have a lot of questions with some technical resource but, working independently
on that, I think I can get to where I need to get to. The issue in the timeline is the
compressed time for the various district meetings, very soon. I don't know how much
anybody will be ready to present or discuss any plans with the public at those meetings.
My suggestion is we run out 30 days and then work backward from that and establish a
new timeline. Not a motion, just a consideration for discussion. Thank you.
YOSHINA: I second that.
KOSSOW: Any further discussion for Item 3? Ms. Lui.
LUL Commissioner Lopez said he wasn't making a motion, but it was seconded. I'll turn
it into a motion if that's okay with Mr. Lopez and he can make it himself if he would like.
LOPEZ: Oh no. That's perfectly fine with me. I was hoping to get more discussion from
the Commissioners on maybe their opinions as to do we need to extend or not extend?
That consideration for me, continue to work on this timeline until such time as we do get
some relief, if we do, because we may not. No, the motion that you made is fine. Thank
you.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui.
LUL I do agree with it because I think if you were a community member, you might have
some issues in advance but you probably also want to just get a little bit of sense of what
changes could happen, even if they're not a concrete proposed plan. Rather than just
having the Commission sit there and listen, although that's the main goal, I'm sure that
people would also want to hear from the Commission.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui, would you mind articulating your motion?
LUL The motion was that we extend to the end of January, our timeline, that we finish by
the end of January. That's the gist of it. The rationale is really to make sure that the
district meetings happen as positive and timely a way as possible.
10
KOSSOW: Thank you. Motion is on the table to extend to the end of January and to give
leeway for the district meetings. Is there a second?
LOPEZ: Second.
KOSSOW: Seconded by Mr. Lopez. Any discussion? Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Just for clarification, this is a backup plan, correct? This is what you are
thinking Mr. Lopez, Ms. Lui? We gear towards December 31 ", but we have the 30-days
in our back pocket if we need it.
LUL Commissioner Lopez, do you want to speak to that first?
KOSSOW: Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Absolutely. I think the point for all of us, understanding the constraints we're
under and the needs to deliver, that we earnestly continue to work on the existing plan
and as Mr. Hustace pointed out, we petition and ask for an extension and it's the next best
case if we can't achieve the December 31". So I agree with all the comments made
positively, working towards December 3 1 " with the end of January as our drop -dead
date.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Lopez.
YOSHINA: Mr. Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Just a point of clarification here. There was motion made by Mr. Lopez that I
seconded—
KOSSOW: He actually didn't make the motion. He just wanted the discussion regarding
his question.
YOSHINA: Okay, 10-4
BATH: I have a question.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: Yeah so, based on looking at the timeline, we've got pretty much three weeks to
draw our lines and make our suggestions if we are going to be ready for the public
hearings. I wanted to check in with the other Commissioners and ask them if they are
comfortable with the tools and the programs and their ability to meet that three-week goal
and if not, what obstacles do we have that will help us achieve that during that timeline?
KOSSOW: Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Thank you. That's a great question because it puts us on the spot here. I
personally do not believe I can deliver a plan within three weeks unless I can get a
resource to work with me to answer some of my questions, my obstacles, why I can't get
from here to there, and what options do I have. I need somebody to hold my hand if you
will. Left the way it is, I don't have any confidence I can have a legal best -effort plan in
three weeks.
KOSSOW: I would like to also remind everybody that Item 1 on the new business, we
also have questions for support staff regarding the ESRI site and how to utilize the online
tool. So if you have any questions, we can take it there. Also, if you want to, we can also
set up a call into the support staff to ask them any questions as well. Is there any other
discussion? Ms. Lui.
LUL Yes, just thinking about Mr. Lopez's comment there too. Yeah, I mean my first try
didn't —it failed the test of validation there and so even if I were able to come up with
what I think is a good plan, if we all come up with plans, they'll be different. I'm
thinking in terms of our timeline, what are we going to cover in each meeting because
we're going to have a lot of discussion among each other as to the boundary lines of our
various districts. So, I'm just not sure what the process is. So we might be able to each
produce a plan in three weeks but that's not good enough.
KOSSOW: Mr. Akamu.
AKAMU: Mahalo, Chair Kossow. If I could, I'd like to ask the Commissioners to take a
look at the draft timeline that Mrs. Nakamoto had proposed at our last meeting. Taking a
look at that timeline, we do have five weeks in there for Commissioners and public to
create plans which is scheduled for September 9 h through October 13''. I would propose
that we add one month to that five weeks to extend the timeline for the public and the
Commissioners to create plans. That would push all the other dates out approximately by
one month. I would also ask if Mrs. Nakamoto would be able to help us to add that one
month in there. Also secondly, I'd like to suggest to the Commissioners that, I believe the
five weeks that we have for public hearings is enough time so I don't think we would
need to essentially extend time for those public hearings as I believe we'd probably be
doing them mostly virtually, probably. I'd just like to put that out there to see if we could
use that, to add the additional time. Secondly, I would like to ask a question of our
Corporation Counsel to see if they could assist us in drafting our letter and using the
Attorney General's petition as our basis for having the need to also extend our timeline
based on the State Reapportionment timeline being extended. So if we could that, and
align that with this request to the Mayor because I believe that's part of where our
authority lies and comes from. Just wanted to put that out there for thoughts and
discussion from our commissioners. Mahalo.
1[1
MELLON-LACEY: Mr. Chair? Mr. Chair, can you hear me? Sorry I had to come down
here. I was trying to do this remotely, but my audio went out. I've missed a whole chunk
here of what was going on.
KOSSOW: Well you actually came in at perfect timing.
MELLON-LACEY: When I walked in, I thought there was a motion on the floor. I'm not
sure if we've ever acted on that motion.
KOSSOW: There is currently a motion that's on the floor regarding to extend the
timeline to the end of January. That's the current motion on the floor and there is a
possible amendment, but it needs further discussion.
MELLON-LACEY: So if I can just clarify a couple of points. One thing I want to be sure
everybody is clear on is that, before you have a draft plan that this Commission has
completed, you're supposed to have finished all of the initial public hearings in each
district. When I look at this timeline, I think the September 9 h through October 131' is
kind of preliminary plan that people would be working on. I think the deadline that is
kind of critical, is the deadline for the alternate plan for the public which we've given as
October 14''. Their plans have to be finalized eight weeks prior to the final plan that this
body produces. When we start doing the community hearings, it's not anticipated that
you've locked into something and that's it. Because obviously, then you wouldn't be
open to other people's input. The other thing, and I'm a little confused what you're
asking, Mr. Akamu but, the Mayor can't give you the extension. The Council can't give
you the extension because it's in the Charter. The purpose of sending a letter to the
Mayor is really just to let him know. I've had preliminary discussions with the
Corporation Counsel, Judge Strance, regarding this. What was communicated to me from
my office is, people need to make an effort to try to meet this timeline because we
couldn't go forward with something to change the deadline and can't show that we're
actively trying to meet the deadline and a reason for the extension being necessary. So, if
this body wants to extend the timeline, then I would have to have that discussion that
you're requesting, Mr. Akamu, with Ms. Strance to determine what our office would do.
It would probably be something like writ of mandamus that was provided because it's not
something that the Mayor or the Council have the authority to give. It's in our Charter
and to change the Charter is a monumental undertaking so it could never be completed
prior to when this is due. It requires special action. I hope that helps.
YOSHINA: This is Dwayne.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Yes, thank you. So are you saying then that, assuming that everybody agrees,
we'd have to go to the Supreme Court for this?
MELLON-LACEY: Well, I think that we start with our local court. It has to be given by
the court because it's our Charter.
IVA
(Please note that during this time, there was an audio interference from the public.)
YOSHINA: I'm not trying to close off any discussion of the public on this but, is the
Commission allowed to go into executive session to kind of come to some agreement
about this or is that prohibited by law?
MELLON-LACEY: Well, not really because your deliberations should be public for most
purposes. If you think that there's reasons that you can't meet the deadlines, I think that
the public would have a right to hear those because the Charter is quite specific.
KOSSOW: I'm sorry, Diana. Can you put the mic a little bit closer?
MELLON-LACEY: Can you hear me? Okay. The Charter is quite specific on the
deadlines and so I think it would be important for the public to hear the reasons if this
group feels that it can't meet those. I'm not saying that there's a problem with it. There is
a tight timeline. I think it is something the public should participate in. I cannot see a
reason that you would be able to exclude them from that.
YOSHINA: Okay, thank you.
BATH: Chair, this is Stephanie.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: If you just let me entertain some thoughts here. Setting aside all dates, setting
aside the timeline, and focusing on what our goals are, I think we can all agree that the
Commissioners have the desire and the will to complete the task at hand and that we're
all committed. If we can have that as our baseline, what are the obstacles that are before
us? I know that I'm not secure with the tools. Would it be possible to have a live
workshop? A hands-on workshop or virtual workshop so we could all feel confident.
Cori's helped me over the phone, and it help immensely. But to have an in -person or
online, however we want to do it, workshop, and get our confidence up would be a first
step based on what I've heard. The second would be to have a work meeting. During the
Puna Community Development Plan, one of our goals was to identify connectivity
locations between subdivisions for redundancy—
KOSSOW: I'm sorry, Ms. Bath. We can't really hear you over here because we are
currently going through an alarm. I would like to break for recess for five minutes, and
then Ms. Bath, I will give you that time after the five minutes.
(Five minute recess.)
KOSSOW: I would like to call the meeting back in to order. Ms. Bath, you had the floor.
Ms. Bath, you're recognized.
IE:3
BATH: My first thought is for everybody to get confident, to be trained. That would be
the first point. Once we can all use the tools and are confident, some of us aren't quite
there yet, then we can start really doing the work efficiently. The second thing would be
to establish a work meeting where we're working together. During the Puna Community
Development Plan, what I was saying is, we were trying to identify connectivity locations
between subdivisions for redundancy. We did that as a committee. Then what we did
was, later on we had this prep fair, two prep fairs, and we put out the maps to the
community. They came in a marked up the maps. We brought the data back, we crunched
it and we resubmitted our plan to them. So, everybody was working together. What I'm
putting out, it doesn't have to be, but I'm putting out first, to get trained properly, and
then to have a work meeting where we're all working together so we're not at home
doing our plans, coming together, and the one district saying "No way! That's going to
mess up my district." We can't do that. Then we'd have to go back to the drawing board.
So, working together. And it is possible that the public could be involved in these work
meetings as well if that's allowable. What do you guys think?
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Bath. I do like your idea of a working meeting. This does
violate a Sunshine Law. We'd have to have a public —we'd have to be a very public
setting for us to do that. I think you kind of mentioned that, we'd all have to be physically
together, right that's what you're recommending?
BATH: That's correct.
HUSTACE: I think you touched on it earlier before our fire alarm here, and it really was
a question for Ms. Mellon -Lacey. I don't know if during your transition from being
virtual to being present in the room, you missed some of that information, but we are
still —and I would hope to speak for everyone here (indiscernible) that we are aiming
for this 3 1 " deadline of December. However, we are hoping have something in our back
pocket just in case we need additional time. I think our goal here is to really stick with the
timeline. Ms. Lui sent in the writ from the courts, or the Supreme Court, granting the
State Reapportionment Commission time and I think there's some hope that the other
Commissioners at the County level would be able to piggyback on that or be granted that
under emergency proclamation, and the delay of the census, these number of things that
have pushed us back and have caused some difficulty for us here. We're crunched for the
technical reasons, we're crunched because the data wasn't given to us, all these sorts of
things but I still believe that the rest of the Commissioners, and myself, we want to aim
for this deadline but are just looking for some sort of back up in case we need that
additional time to meet with community members and massage these plans.
MELLON-LACEY: I understand what you're asking. Isn't this on the floor as a motion,
or am I incorrect?
YOSHINA: That's correct. I call for a vote on the motion.
IF'7
KOSSOW: The motion is still on the floor, for clarification, as to extend to the end of
January. That's the current motion that's on the floor.
HUSTACE: Mr. Yoshina, you just called to question. Is that what you did there?
YOSHINA: Yes, I did.
KOSSOW: Mr. Akamu, do you still have your hand raised? There's still discussion on
the floor.
AKAMU: Yes, Chair, I do have my hand raised. It's my understanding from Corporation
Counsel that we do not have the authority to vote and extend the timeline. That we are
bound, by December 31 ". So understanding that we do want an extension, I think we
need to ask for relief from the courts specifically for our Commission. And I agree with
Commissioner Hustace, that what we're hoping is that Corporation Counsel can do that
legal work for us. That we can piggyback because the State Attorney General laid out all
of her arguments in her petition for why we need this relief. So, I'm not sure if it's
appropriate for us, or we have the authority, to vote to extend the deadline which is what
our motion is asking us to do, to extend the December 3 1 " deadline. According to
Corporation Counsel, we don't have the authority to do that for ourselves. We need to
seek relief from the courts. So, can I have clarification on that before I vote on this
motion in particular?
MELLON-LACEY: Mr. Akamu, this is Diana Mellon -Lacey. It won't become a fact if
you vote that you want to extend it but, it gives a timeline that you feel you could operate
in. What it would allow me to do is, take that further to see what our office could do to
effect it. So, it wouldn't be like you're voting to make that happen but it's what you want
to see happen. And that you would be asking our office to assist you to see how to make
that happen. Does that help?
AKAMU: Yes. Thank you very much.
KOSSOW: Mr. Kauka, please call the roll.
Ms. Lui moved to extend the timeline to the end of
January. Seconded by Mr. Lopez.
The motion to extend timeline to the end of January
was carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Sumera-Lee, Yadao, Yoshina, Vice Chair
Hustace, and Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
411
KAUKA: Thank you, Chair. You have 9 ayes.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Motion carries. Alright, so we're moving on to —we just finished
agenda Item Number 3. Moving on to agenda Item Number 2 which we previously
tabled. Mr. Kauka.
KAUKA: Thank you. Unfinished business:
2. Update on consideration of a draft letter to Mayor Roth for this awareness of the current
time parameters facing the Commission in executing its duties. (Part 2)
KOSSOW: Thank you. Any discussion? Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: As I'm reading the bullet point, which is stated, so really all this is, is to make
our Mayor aware of the situation and what we're requesting, and perhaps that we're
going to petition whoever the powers that be, to grant some extension. That's the essence
of this unfinished business point, is that correct?
MELLON-LACEY: Yes, that's correct. This is Diana Mellon -Lacey.
LOPEZ: Okay, so it's a courtesy thing. It's not because the Mayor can do anything.
KOSSOW: Any other discussion? (No response.) May I have a motion to close Item 2 of
unfinished business and a second?
Mr. Lopez moved to close Item 2.
Seconded by Mr. Yoshina.
The motion to close Item 2 of unfinished business
was carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Sumera-Lee, Yadao, Yoshina, Vice Chair
Hustace, and Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
KOSSOW: Motion carries. 9 ayes. Moving over to new business. Mr. Kauka.
NEW BUSINESS
KAUKA: New business item number:
21
Discussion with Commission technical support staff on any issues commissioners are
experiencing while utilizing the online redistrictingtool ool (ESRI) for creating mapping
fans at t s-Hredistrictin �.hawaii.esrien�cs.cony/re istrictin /in ex.htn�l. Commissioners
.............F..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
may use this opportunity to ask questions about the tool.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Commissioners, this is an opportunity for us to share any issues
we are experiencing so far with the online redistricting tool that the public is also able to
use, if they have been. It's understood that you are able to reach out at any time to
support staff if you have any questions along the way if you have started to use the
program. If there are any thoughts or questions, concerns, or issues, this is the time and
space for technical support staff in Hilo. Is there any discussion? Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Thank you. Thank you staff for being here. Before you leave the table, if you
would grant us the contact information for whoever it is we should be asking questions
of. For now, in taking my first stab at this, my first inclination was to try to get my
percentages within acceptable tolerance just by moving census blocks between districts. I
was really successful on the west side. I got `em all. I got all these green checkmarks.
Where I'm taking real gas is in trying to find a balance between Districts 2, 3, and 4. The
reason is that the census blocks that are within the district are too large to move into
another district without throwing it out of whack. For instance, in District 3 I've come up
with a negative 158. In District 2, I have a negative 317. But in 4, I have a positive 222.
Well, I can't move 222 or even a 150. The census blocks are like 1,400. How do I get
around this kind of dilemma when the adjoining census blocks are too big to try to get
some population movement within these narrow boundaries? Any help there? What are
my latitudes? I suppose.
SAIKL Commissioner Lopez, this is Cori from the Elections Division.
KOSSOW: Could you put your mic a little bit closer? Sorry.
SAIKL Can you hear me now?
KOSSOW: Loud and clear.
SAIKL We run into that problem too. Unfortunately, the census blocks cannot be split so
even when we're attempting to play with the maps and stuff like that, even we're running
into that problem. I really don't know how to fix that. I don't know if there is a fix for it.
LOPEZ: So we have to live with the deviation and justify it, of course.
SAIKL Yes.
LOPEZ: Oh, well that made my life easier. Thank you.
Pia
KOSSOW: I would like to also remind everybody too that this was also an issue in the
2011 Commission, when they were dealing with the census blocks as well. Mr. Lopez,
you yield?
LOPEZ: I yield. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Yield, okay. Ms. Bath.
BATH: One of the things I've come up against, and thank you so much, is that I'll start
working, I'll learn how to pan, or I'll learn how to use an arrow, and I'll get there and
then I'll be working some more and I'll have another question, and it's after hours or
something like that, and that's why I'm hoping that we could have a work meeting for
those who want to participate where we could beI'm more of a physical learning type
of person. The technology is wonderful, but I like the human interaction. I learn best from
that, and I can learn quick but if I have a second question that needs answering directly, I
don't want to have to keep calling, calling, calling. I was just wondering if we could have
that meeting available. A training for us as Commissioners. It's not a meeting where
we're doing anything but it's a training for the Commissioners to use the tool.
SAIKL I'm sure we could, yeah. We could schedule something.
BATH: Could we do that like soon? Because once we get over that obstacle and once, we
get confident, then we could take the next step in meeting this deadline. Until we do that,
I don't see how some of us are going to be able to do the work. I'll make myself available
24/7.
SAIKL That's fine with us. We're willing to do a training. You just have to let us know
the date and if all of the Commissioners want to be there or just a few of you. But that's
something we can do.
BATH: Great, I yield.
YOSHINA: This is Dwayne. I concur with that request. If you name a date and time, I'll
be there. Second question I have is for Mr. Lopez. The question is this, are your
deviations for Districts 1, 2, and 3, within the plus or minus 5?
LOPEZ: It's between 2, 3, and 4.
YOSHINA: Okay, 2, 3, and 4. I stand corrected. So are your deviations within the plus or
minus 5?
LOPEZ: One moment, let me look it up. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina, we'll come back to you if you yield, and then Ms. Lui?
YOSHINA: I yield.
091
KOSSOW: Thank you.
LUL Okay, we can come back to Mr. Lopez. My question was what is the order that is
best to do this in? Like Commissioner Lopez, I started with trying to get the deviations
down and moving population but that doesn't take into account, communities of interest
or natural boundaries and things like that. And I don't know them for every district either
so that makes it difficult. But I guess I was wondering, so like if you're first step is
looking at the deviations, and what's your second step so you manipulate more and then
more. I really liked James' question last time about the ahupua`a boundaries and taking a
look at that. It's not just the check that is available but it seems like there's other factors
that need to be checked. I'm not sure of the right sequence for trying to make a map. Just
in terms of looking at the map, Hilo obviously has the largest population but right now
it's split. I don't know whether can we make sort of larger changes or are we supposed to
kind of tinker at the boundaries of the different districts? If you consolidated Hilo for
example, it would make some big changes in District 2, 1, etcetera.
LOPEZ: Is that a question for me?
LUL That's for Cori or for Elections or whoever can answer. So, what are the best steps
to take in terms of creating a map? And how much latitude do we have, or should we
have, to change boundaries?
SAIKL Ms. Lui, this is Cori. Basically, when we're playing around and trying to draw
maps and stuff, we just pick a starting point. You know, where we want to start and then
we base it on the deviations, try to keep communities together, but I guess I really don't
have an answer to the steps of it. Maybe that's something that you folks can decide to do,
what steps you folks want to take but that's how we do it in the office.
LUL I just wonder of the other Commissioners, did anybody else start with anything
other than those deviations?
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Ms. Lui. At this point I've probably done
about three or four maps. I'm not happy with any of them, of course. But I went a couple
of different ways here. So, I've used different layers in there. I've used the ahupua`a's as
one to kind of see where things fall in. I've looked at the past districts as well. And it
would be great to see some of the older council districts too. I think we're able to see the
one from ten years ago, but I don't know about the one from twenty or thirty years ago.
I'm just kind of curious about those too. I've struggled a bit, 200,000 plus people on the
Big Island divided by 9. Is 9 the right number? I don't know. That's a bigger question for
another time. What I'm trying to say here is, I've gone a different route. I've loaded the
current template and done incremental changes between the districts. So, that's one way I
did it. Kind of shift this here and shift that there. I think a lot of you are in that realm right
now. I'm working on one, it's more of a drastic one and started with a blank template. So
it's a bit kind of crazy and chaotic but I started it from scratch and started building it from
nothing. I think when we have our public hearings, I'm going to be relying on you as
Commissioners, and friends and neighbors, to really understand what community needs
to be together. So, that's another part of it, is understanding, okay can I split this
community up? Where is this community best? Are these neighbors across the street? But
we also need to take into consideration those boundaries, right? A lot of these maps are
drawn off of those boundaries. Whether it was a stream boundary or arterial road
boundary. So, for example, Ms. Lui, a good example for you is, where District 1 and
District 2 meet at Wailuku River, right? So that's a clear geographic boundary. I think
other districts have that too. Some of them follow pretty close to ahupua`a lines. Some of
them are keeping communities together for the most part. However, you look at like a
major road, like Volcano Road, some of it splits some of those districts but that's how it's
kind of meant to be from my understanding. So, you have those major roadways and
major thoroughfares that divide those communities. And unfortunately, it divides them
but that's how they're drawn. They'd say everyone north of this road and everyone south
of this road is in a different district. So, I would really look at those major roadways and
the communities that —the other part of it that we need to consider to is, and we're
supposed to be as non -partisan as possible, but there is a political sway of giving certain
communities more votes at the council level, right? So that should be in the back of your
mind too to an extent. In just knowing that if you carve out different areas, you're giving
potentially more seats, so we want to be as fair as possible in trying to maintain that
balance between our very unique communities and making sure that they're represented.
So, that's the harder part. In my looking at the data, and I haven't gone as far down this
rabbit hole yet, but the data there in particularly when you click on the info topic and you
click on one of the census blocks or one of the census tracts, and this was my request to
Mr. Jones last time, was more of aI don't know if it's changed at all, but the key words
and the key code for some of the information of the census data that's on there, that
shows the demographic split about percentage of people that live in each of those census
tracts and census blocks. That's really something else that we should consider. There's a
lot there. All the things I mentioned, it's a lot of us to take in and consider and really try
and find a balance. But I hope that helps. So, you can make those incremental changes
between the districts or you canI don't know. Maybe there's something that the 9 of us
can come up with that's completely different than what we've seen. I don't know, it's
possible to divide the island in different ways. And something that's completely new but
it yet captures and represents all of our people equally somehow. Thanks.
YOSHINA: This is Dwayne.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: My approach is similar to Mr. Hustace's. I believe that the previous
redistricting and reapportionment panels discussed all of the political ramifications of
what they did. And so, assuming that and starting with the existing lines, because I
believe that the previous commissions have done that, that discussion. And so, I'm trying
to incrementally add or subtract from those existing lines. I'm very simple minded in that
approach. I'm being mindful of the communities, and I think the statistical data that Mr.
PA7
Hustace suggested he followed is a good plan to follow. I don't know if that's clarifying
but that's what I'm doing. Thank you. I yield.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui.
LUL First of all, I really thank James and hope that maybe you could be at the training
meeting given your background in GIS, that could be very helpful to us. It seemed like
you were saying there were two different approaches. One is this incremental approach
where you tinker at the boundaries, but another is a more radical rethinking of the
boundaries and that's why I was kind of trying to think about Hilo. My district, Council
1, extends into Hilo but people there I'm sure identify with Hilo as a community of
interest, also extend up into Waimea a bit, but yet I have to expand my boundaries. And
as you said, to the west of District 1, it's pretty empty so I can't really go that way. I just
think there's a lot for all of us to talk through.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina, you had a question for Mr. Lopez. Mr. Lopez, are you ready to
answer that question? And Mr. Yoshina, would you be able to re -ask that question.
LOPEZ: If I understood the question, yes, I'm ready. Let's see if I got it.
YOSHINA: I'm having a senior moment. Can you remind me what that was about?
LOPEZ: I think you were asking me about my percent deviations.
YOSHINA: Oh yeah, yeah. Okay. Thank you.
LOPEZ: Is that it? So, I can answer that?
YOSHINA: That's my question.
LOPEZ: Alright. In looking down the distribution on the ESRI map here, in Council 1,
I've got a 0.2 percent deviation or 45 people. In Council 2, I've got a minus 1.43. Council
3, I have a minus 0.71, and in 4 I have a 1.0.
YOSHINA: Okay, that's good for me. Thank you.
LOPEZ: Thank you. Now my approach, if I can continue that comment, my approach
was, first I wanted to see if I could get some kind of a reasonable deviation from district
to district, island wide. Based on what Ms. Saiki said this morning, I think I'm there. My
next attempt, because I don't know if I'm dividing a neighborhood in downtown Hilo, I
have no clue. So my next attempt was to go in and zoom in to try to find out, based on
what I'm seeing here, am I doing a radical change within a particular geographic
neighborhood. That's what I'll be doing next. Then the overriding concern, or rather
additional concern I have, is the comments we had at the last meeting, about the size of
District 6 and how we were asked to shift some populations so that it wasn't so huge for
U1.
the council district person to try to address that much geography. So that's another nut to
crack for me. I yield. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Lopez, for pointing that one out. I was looking at this, even
the current template where we have Council District 5 as over 11 percent, right? This is
mapping. So, the two districts that I've struggled with the most are the districts that
have —definitely District 1 is one of `em. It's just where people live, right? It's a
challenge of where people have lived, or where people have moved to, and where
development is happening, that it's going to drive some of these changes going forward
too. It's assuming this constant back and forth, and there are areas where you're very
familiar with where there isn't that development, there aren't those places people are
moving to. And I think, Ms. Lui, you see with District 1 for sure where there's kind of
wide openness between communities and there isn't. Especially with Council District 6
too, right? We had testifiers say that we don't like traversing across this huge district that
represents too many distinct areas on the west and the east side. Unfortunately, the
problem that I've had in correcting or fixing or adjusting the issues with Council 6, is that
I've made it even bigger. It covered the whole half, southern half of the island. It's an
issue of, the communities are very distinct. They're far apart from each other. There isn't
as much urban growth as we've seen in that area as we see in our core centers so there's a
big challenge there. Thank you.
BATH: It's Stephanie.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: So, I understand we're talking about the approaches that we took. In part, the
approach that I took first was, I looked at the map. I thought about the people and the
community because that's who we're serving. I started with District 5 because that's
where I live in upper Puna, well, middle upper Puna. And I immediately looked at
District 4 which I polarize too because of my community service and during the flows, I
was involved with Civil Defense. So, I kind of grounded out down there and got to meet
the communities and actually knocked on doors to advise people so I kind of knew the
area. When I looked at District 5, I immediately saw that Kalapana and that area where
the people polarized towards Council District 4, they come and go through Pahoa at the
very least, that's in my district and that felt really not right knowing the people down
there. There's also that big crack along the rift that geographically isolates us from that
area of District 5. So I looked at that and I was playing with the deviation and the
numbers and I took that one hunk off. It looks like, if it's a boot, it's like the toe area and
I gave it to District 4 which just skyrocketed their numbers. But it felt right to me, it felt
right for the people. Then I moved into Ka`u, which I'm also familiar with and kind of
played with that but the numbers were still really high in District 4. When we're talking
about people in communities, I think it's really important during this redistricting to get
that one right, especially with the changes. I looked to Council District 3 to try to figure
that one out and I couldn't move anything. I ended up taking Volcano and the upper Puna
M
subdivisions and giving it to Ka`u to bring our numbers down and they're not going to be
happy with that. Really, I have a question. What determines the number of districts on
our island? And do we have to be at around 22,000 in the districts? Is there any way that
we can create another district? Cause we were hoping for that, but it didn't happen.
Legally we cannot, yeah? I'm sensing that a lot of us are in the same dilemma. But I
wanted to hear from District 4 and see what's the scoop with, what's going on with you?
And what you're work is? Because it really impacts District 3, District 5, District 6. I
yield.
YADAO: I'm having the same problem moving stuff around too because when I do move
it, a lot of the areas, the numbers are big, so
KOSSOW: Ms. Yadao, could you put your microphone closer? Thank you.
YADAO: I'm having a hard time moving the boundaries around as well. `Cause when I
do move it, it creates a big increase.
BATH: HPP seems to be the big issue from what I've seen. Because the population
density in Hawaiian Paradise Park is so dense and they're a community, other than that
little bit that's to the other side of 130. And so, we're not supposed to split communities
but that would be the solution, but we cannot do that, yeah? I yield.
KOSSOW: Is there any other technical support questions? Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. One of the things I've been trying, and it might be worth
for all of us to tinker with this too, I kind of touched on this before about development
and more of the urban cores and the urban density in some of those areas, is to really
carve out —and I was looking at this in Hilo in particular, is carve out a district that is
very the urban core of Hilo. And so, the districts come around and sweep around that
district and take up those. Unfortunately, you still might be taking people from the Hilo
community that may call themselves part of the Hilo community, but to pick up some of
those smaller numbers, they need to grow incrementally and may have to sweep in from
the more mauka portions of Hilo. So, I've tried a couple of different things and every
time I shift them around, I have the districts kind of circulating around each other and
they keep moving and moving. But to move some of them, like Commissioner Bath, you
were talking about District 4 and kind of taking the Kapoho area, Kalapana, but maybe
they have to relinquish HPP then, and that becomes part of Council 3. They may have to
think in these drastic terms. I'm not sure if this is the right approach and I've sunk a lot of
hours into it just thinking about more larger scale changes. And there may be some
divisive comments and concerns about that but I'm just trying to take some more of the
rural areas that are less populated to districts that only need a couple more percentage
points to gain. So, just really looking at some of these urban core areas and seeing if they
could be districts within themselves and not sweep all the way up. So, if you look at
Council 2, it really sweeps up to the summits of Mauna Kea. Maybe there are political
reasons for that, but there's no one living there. Maybe it doesn't need to be a part of that
district. Because I also think about these districts, that they need to be more uniform in
N-11
scale to some extent. They can't be these weird irregular shapes and I will talk about this
in a moment a little bit later in the agenda, about the blocks. I have concerns about some
of the blocks, of course. But when we're dealing with these districts, you want to try and
keep them as uniform as possible without these weird cutouts and things like that.
Thanks.
YOSHINA: So, this is Dwayne.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Yeah, those are all block boundary descriptions. There's another place for
input on that. I think a work session that has been suggested is the way to go. I would
concur and I would like to have that done. I don't know if it's an appropriate comment at
this point. But to Mr. Hustace, and this is said with a lightness, you cannot really touch
District 2 because that's mine. (Laughter.) I will begrasp the levity of that statement.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina, for your comedy.
YOSHINA: I have a question of our Corp Counsel. We're talking like this now, and it's
an open session but, what's the limitations as to sharing maps and stuff like that?
MELLON-LACEY: I think that if two people can share and work together and share
information. But otherwise, it has to be done as a group. And even when we're talking
about training because the training is for business, there's no way around at learning to
use this as board business and it's going to engender conversation. Which is a
conversation you've been having today, and I think it's very good conversation. I think
when you think about all the dilemmas you're having trying to play with this data. And
then when you took example maps and went out in communities to have these hearings,
you're really going to get an earful from people about "No, you can't do that," or "This is
a great idea!". But it is a process and I really feel your dilemma with this short timeframe
that you're faced with, but even the training, I think you'd have to do with just two
Commissioners at a time.
BATH: Question.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: Thank you. If the training was broadcasted like this, where the public was, it was
totally transparent, our discussions were transparent, and the public actually got to be part
of the training so that they could learn how to use the tools effectively, would that be
okay? Would that be feasible?
MELLON-LACEY: If it's done publicly, and noticed as a public meeting, and the agenda
is for training, and the public can get out their computers and participate as well, then we
wouldn't have a Sunshine Law issue. But how hands-on would that be able to be? I don't
know because I don't know what the kind of training Cori would do would typically be
00.1
like. I can understand, when I saw the training we had at the second meeting, if you
didn't already know the program, that was probably a little hard to just into it. I'm not
equipped to answer that question other than to say if it's noticed as a meeting, public has
the opportunity to participate, and you're able to do an effective training that way, then
that's fine.
BATH: May I make a comment? It would seem to me, since this is a public process and
we are soliciting the public's input, that the public, if I wasn't on the Commission, I
would really appreciate having an opportunity to be taught how to use this program so
that I could give the input that we're soliciting from them as a Commission. So, it might
actually be a really good thing if we can do it.
MELLON-LACEY: I agree with you. I think if the public wants to do plans using this
software, training is probably critical for them as well.
KOSSOW: I'm sorry, Ms. Bath, you still have the floor. Ms. Lui also has a question.
BATH: Oh, I'm sorry. I yield.
KOSSOW: Okay, thank you.
LUL I was just going to ask Ms. Bath whether she wanted to make it in the form of a
motion that we schedule, as soon as practicable, this training session, giving a week for
the public to have notice of it.
BATH: So moved.
LUL Okay good, and I'll second it.
KOSSOW: I'm sorry, was that a motion by Ms. Bath, and then seconded by Ms. Lui.
Okay.
Ms. Bath moved to schedule a training session.
Seconded by Ms. Lui.
KOSSOW: So, is there any discussion? (No response.) I think the only question I have is
for Ms. Mellon -Lacey regarding the session timeline and if we schedule an education
session, would that hinder some of the proposed timelines that we already have?
MELLON-LACEY: I'm not sure I understand what you're asking.
KOSSOW: Correct me if I'm wrong, under the Charter we were supposed to complete
certain things by certain sessions. And I want to be sure that if we schedule an education
session as an agenda item meeting, that it doesn't mess up anything that's in our proposed
timeline.
011
MELLON-LACEY: Well by the 4 h Session, which would be your next meeting, you're
supposed to set the deadline for the draft plan, alternate plans, for the public. So that was
the most immediate thing and we've already set that. I thought you were asking if that
should be changed.
KOSSOW: No, no, no. I just wanted to know if, because I know that there was a session
that was required. I think that you're correct. It was the 4 h Session. I just want to make
sure that we have time to prepare for this education session.
MELLON-LACEY: We've already set that, so I think you're good there.
BATH: Chair, it's Stephanie.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: How many days do we need to post to the public? Is it 10 days prior to this
training to alert the public that we're going to be having this training?
MELLON-LACEY: Six days. It has to be posted 6 days prior to the meeting.
BATH: Six days from today?
MELLON-LACEY: Well, I don't know when you're setting the meeting. Six days from
the meeting.
BATH: Okay, well I'm just saying. Okay, did we vote on that motion?
KOSSOW: No, we're already in the motion. We're in discussion right now.
YOSHINA: This is Dwayne, Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Are these training sessions, meetings? Or are they just training sessions?
The second question I have related to that is, when you say the discussions are limited to
two people, that's at any one time but, can I talk to Stephanie on one day, and Ms. Lui on
another day and?
MELLON-LACEY: You can't have serial communications.
YOSHINA: Okay, clear, clear. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Is there any more discussion?
BATH: I was wondering if I could amend my motion to say that we schedule a meeting
and that meeting be scheduled for September 30''. I yield.
31
KOSSOW: Okay. So, there's an amendment to the motion, to schedule the meeting on
September 30''. There's a motion, so is there a second?
MELLON-LACEY: If I could interject something, this is Diana. That would mean that
the agenda for the meeting would have to be posted by tomorrow. I don't know if it's just
training or if you had any other things you'd want to consider but, Dennis would have to
be able to move very quicky so I think that would be something to check before we
proceed.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui.
LUL Just a clarification, I think this would just be a training session. To answer
Dwayne's comment, I don't think it will be required for everybody. Some people may not
need it. I think if we pose it as a training for those Commissioners who are interested, and
the general public, the agenda is simple. It's just a training on the tool.
KOSSOW: Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: From that comment, would we need quorum to hold the meeting?
LUL No. I don't think so.
LOPEZ: Corp Counsel.
MELLON-LACEY: As long as there is nothing going to be voted on, and it's just
training, then it could proceed without a quorum. But nothing could be put on there then
that would require any kind of vote or discussion.
LOPEZ: Great. I think that's what we're asking for. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: Checking with Dennis, is that doable?
KAUKA: Thank you, Ms. Bath. If it's the will of the Commission to have this meeting
on September 30, we can certainly do whatever is needed to have an agenda posted in
time, which would be by tomorrow. Provided the Chair reviews the agenda and we're
okay with it.
YOSHINA: This is Dwayne.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: I think we should call it the training session. I would not like to refer to this
as a meeting if it's just training.
Kea
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. I have a question. Is staff available for that day? I
know we're just throwing out the proposed date. I just want to make sure that the County
offices are available for that.
SAIKL Yes, I believe our staff is available on that day.
KOSSOW: Okay, so the motion is on the floor. Sorry, the amendment is on the floor. Mr.
Kauka, please call the roll for the amendment of the September 30'h meeting. Excuse me,
not a meeting, it's a training.
YOSHINA: Thank you.
The amendment for the September 30 training
was carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Sumera-Lee, Yadao, Yoshina, Vice Chair
Hustace, and Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
KAUKA: Thank you, Chair. You have 9 ayes.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. (At this time, a commissioner spoke away from the
mic.) Thank you for the clarification. So, we passed the amendment. Now we got to vote
on the main motion which was to schedule this training. So, the amendment was for
September 30''. Now, the actual motion here. Mr. Kauka, please call the roll.
The motion to schedule a training was carried by
the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Sumera-Lee, Yadao, Yoshina, Vice Chair
Hustace, and Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
KAUKA: Thank you, Chair. You have 9 ayes.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. Motion carries and the amendment carries. May I
have motion to close Item 1 of new business and a second?
HUSTACE: So moved.
091
LUL I have one more question.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui.
LUL I don't quite understand the numbers on the map. Are those the census numbers
because they're too small. I don't quite understand what the ratio is.
HUSTACE: I think I can help. Mr. Chair, if you don't mind.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: If you could clarify, Ms. Lui, which numbers you are looking at in
particular. Are you looking at the census, the number that kind of hides amongst the
census block or?
LUI: Yes, right. The census block numbers.
HUSTACE: So those, I think, are the citizens. Those are people. That's a count of
population within that census block.
LUL Oh, okay. It just seemed like, looking at my own area, it seemed really low. I don't
know if it's just that people didn't fill out the census or what. Yeah, okay.
HUSTACE: There is that possibility, I would assume. And then if you zoom out further,
you can adjust the zoom levels too. And we can talk about some of this at our training
session next week but yeah, you can zoom out to the tract so the blocks and blocks
groups. So you would see the numbers shift and change as you zoom in and out. On a
really, really microscale, you would see the smaller number based upon that individual
block and if you zoom out, you would see the numbers shift and change location. And it
should capture a larger number of all the blocks within that block group.
LUL Got it. So, it adds them up.
HUSTACE: Yes.
LUL Thanks.
KOSSOW: Sorry, is there any other questions for technical support staff? (No response.)
May I have a motion to close Item 1 of new business?
Mr. Hustace moved to close Item 1 of new business.
Seconded by Mr. Yoshina.
011
The motion to close Item 1 of new business was
carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Sumera-Lee, Yadao, Yoshina, Vice Chair
Hustace, and Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
KOSSOW: Motion carries. Mr. Kauka, new business number 2.
KAUKA: New business item:
2. Discussion on bublic hearings to be held by the Commission in accordance with Hawaii
County Charter Section 3-17(e). Requested by Commissioner Hustace, the Commission
may discuss how to approach the public hearings including, but not limited to,
compliance with current proclamations establishing COVID-19 protocols, public safety,
how to maximize participation, what alternative options are available, and utilizing
virtual and technological platforms.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. Vice chair Hustace, you are recognized.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. And thank you Mr. Kauka, for the explanation there. I did
request some time on the agenda to speak to this and I'm willing to answer as many
questions about this. But I really wanted to gage and poll the Commissioners on their
thoughts as we look at Ms. Nakamoto's timeline and really tackling those public
hearings. We had some discussion about this previously and I still carry a little concern
about the public safety for these public meetings. And there are a number of things in
this. There's the Mayor's recent proclamation of 10 individuals indoors, and 10 outdoors.
So my question is, if all 9 of us meet in a place, in a given district, and then we have one
staff member that joins us to facilitate or be there on hand, that means no public can be in
the space, right? If all of us show up, so there's that layer first. Then so where does the
public comment and offer guidance. So that's a problem with the numbers there. I don't
know if and when the proclamation will change. We don't know that, right. We have yet
to see some numbers from the Labor Day weekend, I think. So there still may be some
concerns about that and I don't know how each of you feel about all this, about safety
wise. Now given the fact that the sites are being determined and confirmed by our County
staff, I don't believe we can be meeting in the Department of Education facilities. Those
are not allowed for the public at the time. But there are, probably, other possibilities.
What I'm kind of curious to know is how you all feel about this. What I'm kind of
proposing here is that, and I think given the Governor's emergency proclamations and the
Mayor's proclamations, I think there is some leniency given to these rules for meeting. I
think Diana can chime in on this well, but given the fact that we can't meet in these
public spaces given the numbers, even our number of people that would be in the same
room, is there a possibility, and could we push for a possibility of meeting in a virtual
setting for each of the 9 districts? Now, to meet the needs of the community, particularly
MIP
the people that cannot connect and communicate with us virtually, is there a way we can
set up these satellite sites within each of those districts for that one given day, that one
given time, where we have a public hearing? That's where the public could go if they are
unable to zoom in or call in from their home location. So there would be a site still yet
established within the district but, we as Commissioners, don't necessarily have to be
there. That we could be in this virtual space. I do think it may give us greater opportunity
for public to provide input at any level. With a virtual aspect, I think that people can call
in. They'd be more secure doing it from a location that they are familiar with, their home,
or what have you. But there is that possibility of getting more public comment and
feedback. I just wanted to see how the Commissioners feel about it. I know it talks on a
number of different things there and I am welcome to hear some of the thoughts that our
Commissioners on this. Thank you.
MELLON-LACEY: Mr. Chair.
KOSSOW: Ms. Mellon -Lacey.
MELLON-LACEY: Yes. My concern is when you look at the Charter, on the section
cited there, that it states that we will hold at least one public hearing in each of the 9
council districts. I think even though, with the restrictions, one hearing should be held in
each 9 council district. I don't believe that every Commissioner has to necessarily attend
all nine. Of course, it's great if they can. There's nothing to preclude people from
attending virtually because that is allowed. But I don't know what the sites actually are
that are being looked at, and the capacity for that, but I have stressed that to the Elections
Office to see what can be done to try and make that possible. Because I think it would be
ideal if people can have both, the opportunity to attend virtually, but still that we could
entertain limited numbers in person for people, for whom that's not an option. Because
this is a very important process, and it only happens once every 10 years.
LUL Can we hear from the Election Commission as to what they were thinking?
NAKAMOTO: Hi, can you hear me? This is Pat.
KOSSOW: Yes, we can hear you.
NAKAMOTO: Okay, thank you. At this point right now, we are looking into it. We're
checking with the County IT Department to see what options are available to have these
virtual meetings in these areas that do not have good service, that cannot provide us with
that. I believe that some of the facilities that we do have reserved probably will not have
the capabilities to do a virtual meeting but we're looking to see if the IT Department can
provide us with some options that we could use. We should be having that information
soon and then we can pass it on to you folks. Then that way we would be able to do, like
Diana mentioned, in person or virtual meetings for the public hearings.
KOSSOW: Thanks, Ms. Nakamoto. Is there any other discussion? Mr. Hustace.
M.
HUSTACE: Sorry, Ms. Mellon -Lacey, the Governor's proclamations and the Mayor's
proclamations, don't they postpone some of these standing rules in terms of for the safety
of the community and the safety of the Commissioners?
MELLON-LACEY: Yes, they allow for virtual attendance. I'm not sure what your
specific question is. The emergency proclamations do allow for virtual attendance and
meetings can be held, just as we're doing here, some people in person, people at different
sites, and people even from their own personal locations. So yes, it allows for all of that.
HUSTACE: And how do we deal with the numbers that the Mayor says that we can only
have 10 individuals in a space. And Ms. Nakamoto is saying that some of these places
may not have the technical capabilities, so we need to find places that have the technical
capabilities. I know I want to go to all of these meetings. I want to meet all the people
and learn about all the different communities. So, if I really take my time to do this, and
if all the other Commissioners are there, we can't all be in the room. It's not possible.
MELLON-LACEY: Well, I understand and that's why Ms. Nakamoto is saying that their
looking at alternative means to be able to do virtual hearings. Either with probably some
kind of link, a temporary link, a cloud based link, if the facility doesn't have it. I don't
really know what's being looked at but that's my understanding. It's not to create a
hazardous situation.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui.
LUL Yeah, I feel like we're getting kind of contradictory things here. Like on the one
hand, the Charter says this, on the other hand, you've got the Sunshine Laws that want as
much participation as possible. If the spirit behind the Sunshine Laws is maximize
participation, I think that we should look at going into an all -virtual situation. It's not
worth the effort to me, to put together the in -persons spaces if in fact only 10 people can
be there and if half of them are Commissioners and staff. Even if not all of us go to each
one. So, I think just to be able to solicit other means of input would be good. I think both
Zoom and YouTube, for example, should be offered. Maybe there's a public service
announcement or something that could let people know how to put in their two sense. But
I guess I personally don't think it's worth it to try to do public meetings in spite of the
Charter. I mean, so much as we know, there's all kinds of things that are supposed to
happen according to Charter but they haven't because of COVID. And I don't think
we're in any different situation than any other agency.
BATH: Are you pau?
LUL I'm pau.
BATH: Okay, Chair?
KOSSOW: Is that Ms. Bath?
BATH: Yeah, it is.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath, you're recognized.
BATH: So, exclusion is very important and due to poor internet services, folks that don't
have the tools to use the internet, such as smartphones and computers, and the big senior
population that many, they aren't computer savvy or they don't know how, really, to
connect to the internet. These are all realities that I identified within our community and
obstacles that might exclude. I think that if we could somehow overlay the virtual with
having a space where people can come. Whether or not they come, at least we're making
ourselves available. I like the suggestion of having some public service announcement. I
actually had that in my notes of having articles. Maybe getting John Burnett or somebody
on this to write something. And having public service announcements over the radio for
people that don't have the privilege or the ability to read. Including the public in our
training, for those that have the privilege to be able to have tools and the ability to
understand the internet, will be good. It'll extend that participation to those people by
giving them more light and knowledge on how to use the program. These are all just
thoughts that I wanted to put out. Also, there's a possibility that, it's just a thought that
I've seen that was sort of lacking in the past, where meetings are held around dinner time,
when parents are doing homework or putting children down. Seniors, or people who have
visual impairments that don't like to drive in the dark, don't attend. There's mass transit
issues of people getting there. So that if we could have a site, and we could have these
public meetings extend throughout the day. I know it's going to take Commissioners'
commitment to this but even if we're there alone. Even if nobody shows up, if we create
a place where people can show up, either virtually or in -person, I think it would reach a
whole new level of county outreach and county participation that's been lacking up till
now in the meetings that I've participated in. I hope I got my thoughts across. I know I
presented a lot. Those are my thoughts. I yield.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. And thank you, Ms. Bath, for those comments about not
wanting to exclude people. I completely agree with you. I know across our island in the
County, we have connectivity issues with broadband. So, in my initial proposal, it was to
create, this is tech reliant, where there would be a place within that district, where we as
Commissioners, could be virtual or we're in the Hilo Chambers or the Kona Chambers,
but there is a physical place in that district that someone could go to and Zoom in on. So,
they would go to a meeting's place, that's really only for the public to go to, that are in
that district, to comment and offer feedback. Now, the Commissioner of that district
could be there. Sure, we could offer little things like that, but it would be a space where
we could be virtual, it could all be virtual, but there's a physical space in that district
where they go and can call in, if they don't have the tech capabilities at home. That was
really what I was kind of proposing there.
YOSHINA: So, this is Dwayne. I have a question.
R-11
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: I noticed that during the televising of County meetings, that satellite stations
from different districts, are able to submit both visual and verbal comments. And I'm
wondering how big those places are. (A Commissioner or staff member spoke away from
the mic.) Well, okay, I've been told it's small. I yield.
KOSSOW: Any further discussion? (No response.) May I have a motion to close Item 2
of new business and a second?
Mr. Lopez moved to close Item 2 of new business.
Seconded by Mr. Yoshina.
The motion to close Item 2 of new business was
carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Sumera-Lee, Yadao, Yoshina, and Chair
Kossow.
Noes: Vice Chair Hustace.
KOSSOW: Commissioners, we have 8 ayes, 1 no. Alright. Mr. Kauka, next item. Agenda
Item 3.
KAUKA: New business item:
3. Reauest for bublic and commissioners to document census block irregularities for
placement as notes in Final Plan. Upon completion of Commission, the recommendation
is to submit such findings to the Hawaii County Office of Elections and the State of
Hawaii Office of Elections for forwarding to the United States Census Bureau for their
consideration as suggestions.
KOSSOW: Commissioners, this is here as we heard sentiment from the public testimony
to more or less ensure this happens. I'd like to entertain any discussion. Perhaps we can
determine if this body wants to take any definitive motion, but I'll open it up for any
discussion. Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Okay, help me here for this, this is a senior moment also. Give me an example
of an irregularity, please. Anybody?
KOSSOW: An irregularity regarding like when the census blocks kind of looks like a U
and goes into another side of a community. There's some cases of that in Puna. And then
I have also seen some cases of that in the Mauna Lani area as well. So, that's what the
irregularities regarding the census blocks would be.
001
LOPEZ: Okay, so it could be a sliver that extends into another district or a wrap -around
effect.
KOSSOW: Wrap -around effect, yeah.
LOPEZ: Okay, thank you. Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thanks for putting this on the agenda. I've actually started kind of, and I
would encourage the other Commissioners to do something similar, is really just capture
as you go through the mapping process, and you come across ones that, as the Chair
mentioned, there are ones that kind of wrap -around or encompass. I mean we can
probably document all these in different veins and have reasoning for some of the
irregularities. We can probably see different ones like, "Hey, why is this census block
acting like this," "Why was it drawn like this?" What I'm trying to say is, I encourage
you to document these census blocks that you see that "Why was it drawn this way?". I
think we just need to document these irregularities basically. The ones that look odd. That
should not have been drawn maybe that way. Maybe as you go through comparing it with
the ahupua`a's or you look at different communities. I have seen some census blocks
cover two different residential streets. So, there are some bizarre things that I've seen
here where really it should have been, this is one distinct neighborhood so it should be its
own block. Why is it being calculated with another residential address and street? Not
like on a small scale. I'm talking about some of these places have larger numbers. There's
was one up mauka of Hilo I saw, that —okay, I can give an example here. I'll just read it
for the record here. It's block 150010208013001. This is above Hilo. There're 583
residents in that one block. The block snakes all the way down on its most eastern
terminus. It hugs Puainako but then if you go more mauka towards the Saddle Road, it
goes across Saddle Road and it encompasses two little census blocks and then there's
another one that kind of like Pac Man's it. It swallows that one there. So that's what I
would consider an irregularity. This frustrates me because when I'm trying to switch
things using geographic boundaries like DKI Highway, this one causes me problems
because it's jumping across the highway, and it should have been divided a little bit
differently there. And there's 583 people that live in that one census block so it really
sways it back and forth if I'm trying to have a district boundary in that area. So that's an
example that I saw. There are other ones on the Kona coast and some of them don't, as
Mr. Jones talked about, there are some up on the mauka portions that don't have any
populace but I'm still recording some of them as irregularities `cause they're crossing
some defined boundaries that we should be using. But there are some along the coastline
in Kona, as I was saying, that sweep maybe miles along the coast and yet they bypass
many other census blocks. So, if I wanted to draw the district and I throw this one in one
of the other districts, you have this long snake line across the coast and for me, that
doesn't make a whole lot of sense. So, that's where I'm trying to capture and document
some irregularities. Like we talked about, we can't make any action on these. I don't
know the legal parameters of splitting the census blocks at this point in time but, we think
we need to document these for the block review group that Mr. Jones talked about. So, I
encourage you to just see what you see and wonder why this covers across miles of the
E,9]
highway or many different residential areas when maybe it should have been divided
differently and it may have given us cleaner boundary lines or cleaner distinctions
between communities. So, just food for thought. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui.
LUL Well over 10 years, there might be new roads and new developments so people
living in places that they didn't live 10 years ago. I think what we said was that we can't
do anything about it now but, instead of letting it wait another 10 years in the next
Redistricting Commission, having to deal with these unwieldy blocks, if we could
document it and as I say, our responsibilities end after we're done with this drawing of
the boundaries but, it would be great to have something for people to work with over 10
years and hopefully make those changes before the next redistricting.
YOSHINA: So, Mr. Chair, is this a motion?
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Yeah, my question is that, is this Item 3 a motion now?
KOSSOW: I think we just primarily wanted to do discussion and then see if that
discussion would lead to a motion if we want to input it into the final plan.
YOSHINA: Okay, thank you.
KOSSOW: Any further discussion? Ms. Lui.
LUL Well, at this point, I don't think it's exactly a motion. It's not an actual item, but I
think if we could just sort of agree to encourage each other to keep track of these weird
blocks and then we can decide as we're finishing up. Because it won't be part of the plan
so, we can decide what to do with our data as we go through this process.
KOSSOW: Any further discussion? (No response.) May I have a motion to close Item 3
of new business and a second?
Mr. Hustace moved to close Item 3 of new business.
Seconded by Mr. Lopez.
The motion to close Item 3 of new business was
carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Sumera-Lee, Yadao, Yoshina, Vice Chair
Hustace, and Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
E,I
KOSSOW: Motion carries, 9 ayes.
STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS
KOSSOW: Mr. Kauka, I believe we have one more testifier. I pass it over to you.
KAUKA: Yes, Chair, thank you. I believe we still have Ms. Brenda Ford via virtual on
Zoom. Ms. Ford, thank you. You may begin.
BRENDA FORD
FORD: Thank you. I'm going to decline to testify today.
KAUKA: Thank you, Ms. Ford. Mr. Chair.
REPORTS
None.
REFERRALS FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION
None.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
KOSSOW: Bringing it over to announcements. First, we just want to use this opportunity
and make it apparent to the public within this venue that we'll be posting information in
other ways. Currently, just to let everybody know, we are live on YouTube so say hi to
all the YouTubers. And then the deadline to members of the public to submit alternate
plans is October 14'', 2021. Is there any other announcements from Commissioners or
staff? Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Just a question, Chair. Should we look ahead a schedule our next formal
meeting? Being that this is the only time we're able to vote if next time, we are
particularly focused on the training session. Should we look a little further ahead for our
next formal meeting?
KOSSOW: Yeah, I think that would be good. Is there any discussion regarding the next
meeting? Not the training session. I think Mr. Kauka is running to go check the calendar.
Mr. Lopez?
LOPEZ: Given that we have the public hearings which are to hear from the public, we
may not have distinct plans to deliver, but we do have to set a deadline for the alternate
plan, how about that day, October 14''? I yield. Or I'll make a motion. October 14''.
Thank you.
EA
KOSSOW: Alright, is there any discussion?
LOPEZ: Second. You need a second.
KOSSOW: Oh. Is there a second?
HUSTACE: I'll second that.
KOSSOW: Okay. Any discussion? I think, Mr. Kauka, are we available on the 14d'?
KAUKA: Mr. Chair, thank you. Yes, the Hilo Council Chamber is available.
KOSSOW: And Scott gives me the thumbs up so we're good in Kona.
KAUKA: Thank you. Thanks, Scott.
KOSSOW: Okay, and is staff available for that too?
KAUKA: Yes, Mr. Chair, we can make ourselves available. I'll just note that agenda
items would need to be submitted by Wednesday, October 6, at noon.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Any further discussion?
NAKAMOTO: Hi, this is Pat. I just wanted to mention something, and maybe Diana
would be able to best answer this but, if we're going to stick to the December 3 1 "
deadline and we don't have toI know there was discussion about adding another month
or 30 days to the Commission's to create the plan. Because that October 14d' date is
eight weeks before the December 0 date for the final draft plan. If we're going to adjust
that, if the draft plan is going to be any later, get pushed back, then what happens to the
eight weeks, Diana? The public would have more time to draw their plan.
KOSSOW: I'm sorry. So, for clarification purposes, you're planning on moving the
alternate plan draft date?
NAKAMOTO: Well, there was discussion about adding more time to create the plan.
And so, if we're going to do that, then some of these dates will be moved back so that
October 14d' date may not be the date.
MELLON-LACEY: This is Diana. It's difficult to do this in the hypothetical. We're
required to set a date for the alternate plans by the 4 h meeting. This is the 3rd meeting and
the next meeting, I guess, is a combined sort of training/meeting. I don't know if that
would count. I think we should leave it. If you're going to formally change the timeline
but we don't have approval, of any kind of official approval to do that so, I think we
should keep moving forward with the timeline we have at this time.
C191
NAKAMOTO: I was just wondering if there was some flexibility once we set that
October 14'h date as the alternate plan deadline if we decide to extend a month, add a
month into that timeline, if we could later on change that date?
MELLON-LACEY: I'm not sure of the answer to that at this time.
KOSSOW: Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: The motion included that we would work towards this plan because we don't
have an extension. We're processing an extension and it may, or may not, come. So, we
have to live by this plan, I believe. If things do come in and change then through the
action of the Commission, we can manipulate a change I suppose. I don't think it's a
hurdle we can't get over.
KOSSOW: Any further discussion? (No response.) Alright, the motion is still on the table
for October 14'', the date for the 4 h Session of this meeting. All in favor say aye?
Mr. Lopez moved to hold the 4 h Session on
October 14, 2021. Seconded by Mr. Hustace.
The motion to hold the 4 h Session on October 14,
2021 was carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Sumera-Lee, Yadao, Yoshina, Vice Chair
Hustace, and Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
KOSSOW: Motion carries. So, the meeting will be October 14', the same time as what
we are doing today. Is there any other announcements from the Commissioners? Ms. Lui.
LUL I have a question and just refresh my memory, did we ever vote on the kanalua
amendment to the rules and procedures? Did we do that last time, or did we postpone it?
KOSSOW: We did but —so the issue would have been to take it into a 30 day notice for
the public so we ended up making the discretion of the Chair, which is okay to do under
the current 2011 procedures which has already been passed. So as Chair, you can make a
kanalua vote, if you please.
LUL Oh, okay, so we didn't formally put it into the rules, and we left it up to the Chair.
KOSSOW: That's correct.
LUL I got you. Okay, thanks.
KOSSOW: Any further announcements?
KAUKA: Mr. Chair, this is Dennis. Just if I may submit to the Commission, for the
October 14'h meeting at 9:30, just because I've been approached with some questions, if
the Commission wants to consider establishing an end time for the meeting, I'm not sure
of the Commission's timeframes that they work with, within the timing, but you could set
an end time and kind of work within the parameters if the Commission wants to.
KOSSOW: Yeah, let's try to shoot for 12:00. How does everybody think about that? (A
Commissioner responded away from the microphone.) Try? Okay. Ambitious? Only eight
past right now.
LOPEZ: The way we have been going is ambitious but let's try.
KOSSOW: Dennis, let's try to do 12:00.
KAUKA: Sure. Just to note, we would actually indicate that on the agenda for the public
to try to expect that time. There's been some interest to know what the expected time that
we are working with on these meetings are.
KOSSOW: Okay, thank you. Alright, any other announcements? (No response.)
ADJOURNMENT
KOSSOW: Okay, thank you. Can I have a motion to adjourn?
HUSTACE: So moved.
KOSSOW: Motion by Mr. Hustace.
LOPEZ: Second.
KOSSOW: Seconded by Mr. Lopez. All in favor? Say aye. (Commissioners say aye.) All
opposed? (No response.) Motion carries. We are adjourned. 12:09.
LUL Mahalo.
AKAMU: Aloha.
E,R
Respectfully Submitted,
Nicole Bello, support staff to
the Commission
Approved on
November 12, 2021
(date)
Mr. Brousten-Glenn Kossow, Chair
Hawaii County Redistricting Commission
Cm
2021
HAWAI`I COUNTY
REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
DRAFT
4'h Session
Thursday, September 30, 2021
County Council Chambers
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
ATTENDANCE:
Present: Ms. Stephanie Bath, Commissioner
Mr. James Hustace, Vice Chairperson
Mr. Stephen Lopez, Commissioner (via videoconference)
Mr. Meizhu Lui, Commissioner
Ms. Jennifer Yadao, Commissioner
Mr. Dwayne Yoshina, Commissioner
Also Present: Jeanette Aiello, Council Administrative Services Supvr.
Relley Araceley, Legislative Info & Reference Tech
Debbie Ka`ahanui-Hoyohoy, Elections Assistant
Diana Mellon -Lacey, Deputy Corporation Counsel
Cori Saiki, Elections Program Specialist I
CALL TO ORDER:
HUSTACE: Aloha kakou. Welcome to the 4 h Session of the County of Hawaii
Redistricting Commission. Today is Thursday, September 30''. My name is James
Hustace, and I am your Vice -Chair. I'd like to start off with an announcement that I will
read. Because of the Coronavirus COVID-19 emergency and State and Federal guidance
on large meetings and gatherings and pursuant to the Mayor's proclamations regarding
COVID-19, the Redistricting Commission meetings are currently not open to the public
to attend in person and until further notice. Members of the public may view or provide
oral testimony via the Zoom platform by requesting for this information as noted in our
posted agendas. Thank you for your understanding. I will now call this meeting to order.
The time is 9:34 in the morning.
ROLL CALL
HUSTACE: I'd like to begin with a quick roll call of the Commissioners to see who's
here with us today. I can do the roll call here if that's okay. Please note if you are online
or what chamber you are in. We'll start off with Commissioner Lui, "Present in Hilo,"
Commissioner Yoshina, "Present in Hilo," Commissioner Sumera-Lee, (No response),
Commissioner Yadao, "Present," Commissioner Bath, "Present in Hilo," Commissioner
Akamu, (No response), Commissioner Lopez, (No response), and Commissioner
Kossow, (No response).
ARACELEY: Chair, I apologize. This is Relley. We were not able to hear there we go.
Commissioner from District 8, if you could just note that you are present.
LOPEZ: Yes. Lopez from District 8 on Zoom.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Commissioner. Good to see you on Zoom there. Okay, so that's
a quick attendance there. Thank you, everyone.
ANNOUNCEMENTS (Part 1)
HUSTACE: Going to read a little bit more here. As a reminder, during this meeting we
are working with Commissioners in multiple locations. The audio of the meeting is being
recorded so as much as possible, let's try to avoid overtalk as it becomes difficult to later
dictate the minutes. Please keep your microphones on mute unless you are speaking. And
we ask that for members of the public who are turned in as well. Commissioners in other
chambers, your microphone can be activated by pressing the button at the base. We won't
be able to recognize you if the audio is not coming through so be sure to check that it's
on before speaking. I'm the only one here in Kona today so for those in Hilo and over
remote, we'll have to make a go of it so please speak out with the name that you need to
be recognized and I'll do my best to navigate through this. I have to recognize you. If you
request to speak, please state your name for the recording dictation and proceed. If you
K
don't state your name first, we may interrupt you to clarify who is speaking for the
minutes. Thank you all.
So, today we have a very quick agenda. We only really have one item on the agenda. And
it should be noted that this session has been publicly announced to be an open training
session to really familiarize ourselves with the online redistricting tool provided by ESRI
for creating mapping plans. That link is noted on the agenda for today. The session is
open to Commissioners and interested members of the public. But please note that no
actions by the Commission will occur during today's session. Today is strictly a training
session for the Commissioners to help them familiarize themselves with the platform and
the application. As well as pose any questions to the Elections training staff if they may
need help to go through the software there. We may have people online viewing us. And
there may be people that chime in via Zoom. We will not be hearing any testimony today
regarding any actions. Members of the public, if you have questions, please identify
yourselves to the staff operating the Zoom platform and we will get to your questions
when we can. Today, most of this will be led by our training staff and our staff with the
Elections Office. That will be Cori and Debbie. They'll be leading most of this training
today. A number of our commissioners are in the Hilo Chambers, so they'll be there in -
person to assist you. And for Commissioners Lopez and myself here in Kona, we can be
guided online as best as possible and ask questions when we can. Any questions from the
Commissioners before wej begin today? (No response.) Okay, so I'd like to pass it over
to Cori and Debbie with the Elections Division office to really start this conversation off
and really go through step-by-step process of the software, the platform, and really help
to answer any questions that the Commissioners may have. Mahalo.
Please note, the training session was recorded and may be viewed on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQxDV FUwoM
The training session begins 8: 00 minutes into the recording.
ANNOUNCEMENTS (Part 2)
HUSTACE: Just as an announcement here, and a reminder. Our next meeting is
scheduled for October 14''. And then for the public, this is also the deadline for plans to
be submitted. So please, I hope this opportunity helped you. There are some YouTube
videos that were shared on our past meetings that can help you with some of the steps as
well in guiding you through submitting maps and making your maps for the Commission
here. So, we appreciate you taking the time to do that and assist us and guiding us during
this time. Any other announcements from the Commissioners? (No response.) I'd also
like to thank the staff today. We had Cori Saiki, Debbie Ka`ahanui, Jeanette Aiello, and
Relley Araceley joining us today to assist with the tech side of things and walking the
Commissioners through some of these steps and helping answer the questions. So, we
appreciate your kokua in helping us through this process and making it easier for us. I
K
want to thank the Commissioners for joining today, those online and those in Hilo. Thank
you for being here in attendance and I look forward to seeing you at our next meeting.
ADJOUR NIENT
HUSTACE: I welcome a motion to close today's meeting.
YOSHINA: Move to close.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. Do I have a second?
BATH: Stephanie, second.
HUSTACE: Any objections? (No response.) Hearing none, today's meeting is closed at
11:34 a.m. Mahalo.
Respectfully Submitted,
IVV�U Y�
Nicole Bello, support staff to
the Commission
Approved on
November 12, 2021
(date)
Mr. Bronsten-Glenn Kossow, Chair
Hawaii County Redistricting Commission
51
2021
HAWAI`I COUNTY
REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
DRAFT
5'h Session
Thursday, October 14, 2021
County Council Chambers
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
ATTENDANCE:
Present: Mr.
`Aina Akamu, Commissioner (via Zoom)
Ms.
Stephanie Bath, Commissioner
Mr.
James Hustace, Vice Chairperson
Mr.
Bronsten-Glenn Kossow, Chairperson
Mr.
Stephen Lopez, Commissioner
Mr.
Meizhu Lui, Commissioner
Ms.
Jennifer Yadao, Commissioner
Mr.
Dwayne Yoshina, Commissioner
Also Present: Diana Mellon -Lacey, Deputy Corporation Counsel
Pat Nakamoto, Elections Program Administrator
Cori Saiki, Elections Program Specialist I
Dennis Kauka Jr., Legislative Specialist / Secretary
CALL TO ORDER:
HUSTACE: Aloha and welcome to the 5' Session of the County of Hawaii Redistricting
Commission. Today is Thursday, October 14'', 2021. My name is James Hustace, and I
am the Vice Chairperson. Our Chair has advised that he will either be joining us a little
later today or unable to attend so I'll be chairing for our meeting today. Just a brief
COVID announcement for our viewers and the Commissioners. Because of the
Coronavirus COVID-19 emergency and State and Federal guidance on large meetings or
gatherings and pursuant to the Mayor's proclamations regarding COVID-19, the
Redistricting Commission meetings are currently not open to the public to attend in
person until further notice. Members of the public may view or provide oral testimony
via the Zoom platform by requesting for this information as noticed on our posted
agendas. Thank you for your understanding. I will now call this meeting to order. The
time is 9:33 in the morning.
ROLL CALL
HUSTACE: Commissioners, when called upon please indicate that you are present and
whether you are in Hilo, Kona, or participating by remote virtually. Mr. Kauka?
KAUKA: Commissioner Lui, "Present in Hilo," Commissioner Yoshina, "Present in
Hilo," Commissioner Yadao, "Present in Hilo," Commissioner Bath, (No response),
Commissioner Akamu, "Present via Zoom," Commissioner Lopez, "Present, Kona",
Commissioner Hustace, "Present in Kona", Chair Kossow, (No response). Vice Chair,
you currently have six members present. I'm sorry, I'll just make a note. Ms. Bath has
actually just entered the Chamber and joined us, so we have seven members present.
HUSTACE: Wonderful. Thank you, Mr. Kauka. We do have quorum for today. And as a
reminder, during this meeting we are working with Commissioners in multiple locations.
The audio of the meeting is being recorded so as much as possible, let's try to avoid any
overtalk as that becomes difficult to later dictate the minutes for our meetings. Please
keep your microphones on mute unless you are speaking. And we ask that for members
of the public who are tuned in as well. Commissioners in either Chambers, your
microphone can be activated by pressing the button at the base. I won't be able to
recognize you if the audio is not coming through so be sure to check that it's on before
you start speaking. As I am presiding here in the Kona Chambers, and Commissioners
here with me, please turn your light on or get my attention to be recognized. And for
those in Hilo, or those who are remote, please indicate that you wish to speak by
mentioning your name and then I will recognize you and I'll do my best to navigate
through our conversations. After I recognize you, if you request to speak, please state
your name for our dictation purposes and then proceed with your inquiry. If you don't
state your name, we may have to interrupt you to clarify who is speaking for the
recording of the minutes. Thank you all.
K
STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS
HUSTACE: And for our testifiers, looking at our agenda today. We will grant you time
here, either at the beginning if you do not wish to stay with us for the duration of today's
meeting. I will also allow you an opportunity to speak after the Commissioners on posted
agenda items if you so wish. If you are speaking as a testifier on multiple items, please
indicate which item you are speaking to. We will kindly ask you to wait to be unmuted
and then we will call upon you. If there are issues when you are called, after trying some
time, we may have to move on while staff tries to work with you offline. And then we
will revisit with you. As providing testimony, you will have three minutes on each of the
items posted. When there are thirty seconds remaining in your allotted time, we will
indicate this to you and ask you to summarize. And before you speak, please state your
name for the record and item that you are testifying on. Mr. Kauka, do we have any
testifiers this morning?
KAUKA: Mr. Vice Chair, we currently have two testifiers who have registered, and both
have indicated they'd like to testify at this time. First is Mr. Jacob Aki from Common
Cause Hawaii. Mr. Aki, you may begin.
JACOB AKI
AKL Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair, and members of the Commission. My name is Jacob Aki
on behalf of Common Cause. Common Cause is a non -partisan, non-profit, grassroots
organization dedicated to upholding the core values of democracy and ensuring a fair and
transparent reapportionment and redistricting process. Common Cause offers a sincere
gratitude to this Commission for it's attempt to work to count incarcerated peoples
according to their home addresses as of April 1, 2020 for the purposes of drawing the
Council district lines. We ask that the Commission consider including this issue in your
final report with a prompt for the County Council to affect the Charter amendment
ensuring the fair and equitable count of incarcerated persons at their home address in
future rounds of the Hawaii County redistricting process. Common Cause also wants to
be sure that any proposed maps considered by the Commission will not dilute the voting
strength of the Native Hawaiian people. To this end, attached in our testimony, please
find a map showing the distribution of Native Hawaiian population on Hawaii Island
based on the American Community Survey, or also known as ACS. Unfortunately, the
U.S. census does not desegregate the data to that level so we are forced to use ACS as our
primary resource. But we want to also thank each and every one of you for the work that
you folks are doing. And I am available for comments if there are any questions. Thank
you.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Aki. Fellow Commissioners, do you have any questions for
Mr. Aki at this time? (No response.) Hearing none. Thank you, Mr. Aki. We appreciate
you joining us this morning. Mahalo.
AKL Thank you, Vice Chair.
K
HUSTACE: Mr. Kauka, I'll pass it back to you.
KAUKA: Mr. Vice Chair, our next testifier is Ms. Brenda Ford. Ms. Ford, thank you.
You may unmute and begin.
BRENDA FORD
FORD: Thank you. I have submitted this testimony at last meeting and this meeting. I'm
only going to read portions of A through H. The rest of it is a very explicit explanation of
how I designed the different Council Districts and why. My total deviation is about 3.5.
And in all cases, I followed the Hawaii County Code, Chapter 36, and the Hawaii
County Charter Section 3-17. Currently, the Commission does not know if the non-
resident military personnel and their dependents, non-resident students, and foreign
nationals are included in the population numbers or in what districts these people reside. I
must assume that these were extracted as they were in the last Redistricting, however that
needs to be verified. Additionally, the prisoner population is a mess and it's unknown if
this is going to be rectified or even if the State Reapportionment Commission is going to
be willing to rectify it. There are trails and roads that cannot be seen without enlarging
the ESRI maps out as maximum type enlargement. I have kept the census blocks in the
districts where roads and or trails are located. Sometimes the travel will start someplace
very far away, and you have to follow that trail all the way to its termination and that's
why the districts inside the interior of the island look the way they are. This is especially
true in District 2. I have not considered any incumbent Council Member where they live
or whether or not they are an incumbent. And that is per HCC Chapter 36-4, 6, and 7.
And the County Charter 3-17(f)(1). I've kept communities of interested together as
practicable per the County Code 36-4 number 8. I have kept the Council Districts as
compact as possible per Chapter 36-4(9). And while some districts have expanded in
geographic size, it was due to trying to keep parks, roads, and trails together for the
purpose of equalizing residents. Many of the census blocks on the interior of the island
have no residents so I relied on roads and trails for my decision per Chapter 36-4(11). I
believe that it's important for this Commission to identify every census block that needs
to be split. Coastlines, large populations, census blocks encircled by other census blocks,
etc. And make a list of those right now because once you submit your final plan, your job
is done. And I don't believe that I could be wrong, but I suspect that previous
Commissions have not submitted anything to the Federal Census Bureau Board. Do the
work on splitting or correcting the census blocks before you submit your final plan. If
there's any questions about my map, I'll be glad to answer any questions about it. It's
Brenda Ford 20 is the map number. And I believe there's somebody that had a question
about Kalapana and good luck with getting that into District 4 unless you want to split
Hawaiian Paradise Park, which I think there would be quite an uprising. There's about
14,000 people in that Subdivision. So, thank you for your term of service and if you have
any questions, give me a contact. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Ford for your testimony. Fellow Commissioners, any
questions for Ms. Ford at this time? (Pause.) Commissioner Lui, was that you?
C!
LUL Yes. I just wanted to thank Ms. Ford for submitting the map. It was very helpful just
in kind of providing a model of what we are supposed to be doing here, so I really
appreciated it, Ms. Ford.
HUSTACE: Yes, Ms. Ford?
FORD: Thank you. One thing I neglected to say is the Highways Act of 1892 declared
that all the ancient Hawaiian trails, roads, and things like that, are considered public
highways which is the reason I kept trails in the same district where they originated as
well as terminated. District 2 is the biggest problem out there. You'd have to enlarge the
map in order to see the trails. Thank you though for letting me speak.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Ford. Commissioners, any other input or questions?
BATH: Yes, Stephanie.
HUSTACE: Ms. Bath.
BATH: Brenda, I have a question.
FORD: Certainly. Go ahead.
BATH: So, what I understood you just said is you kept trails all in one district to keep
continuity of the trail, the whole trail, and they are considered highways in the State,
correct?
FORD: Yes.
BATH: So my question would be, how are you dealing with something like Highway 11
that starts in Hilo and transverses through a number of districts? If you're using that as
the model.
FORD: Highway 11, as we all know, circles the Island. It's the belt highway. There was
no way to keep it in one district, we all know that. It crosses every single district
except —no, every single district. There's no way to change that. If it was an ancient
Hawaiian trail, it's now a public highway as well as being an ancient Hawaiian trail. The
trails I'm talking about, most of them are on the interior of the Island. And if you go into
District 2 and just keep enlarging it, you'll see those trails appear. I tried to honor the
Hawaiians and the Highways Act of 1892.
BATH: Thank you.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Ford. Thank you, Commissioner Bath. Any other questions
from our Commissioners today? (No response.) Okay. Thank you, Ms. Ford for your
67
testimony this morning. We appreciate your diligence with this and supporting us. Okay
at this point, Mr. Kauka, we have no other testifiers this morning. Is that correct?
KAUKA: That's correct, Mr. Vice Chair.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
None.
COMMUNICATIONS
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. At this point, we will move onto Communications.
And Mr. Kauka, would you like to read these into the record, or shall I move through
them on the docket here?
KAUKA: Whatever you prefer. I'm happy to read them in.
Communication 15 and 15.1
HUSTACE: Okay, the first record here is Communication 15. This is from Ms. Sumera-
Lee: submitting resignation from District 3 seat which is a portion of South Hilo, portion
of Kea`au of the Redistricting Commission. And attached to this is Communication 15.1
from the Chair and myself as Vice Chair to Mayor Roth requesting that Commission
District 3 vacancy be filled. At this point, I will welcome any comments or discussion
about the matter here for Communication 15.
YOSHINA: Chair Hustace, Dwayne Yoshina.
HUSTACE: Yes, Commissioner Yoshina, please.
YOSHINA: I just want to know if there are any legal consequences to this seat being
unfilled. Either right now or for the duration.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. We can have Corporation Counsel answer that
question. At this point, we will continue forward with our eight filled seats. When it
comes to any sort of voting issues, we might have some of an issue if there is ever some
sort of a tie. But could we have Corporation Counsel answer Mr. Yoshina's question if
possible?
MELLON-LACEY: Good morning. This is Diana Mellon -Lacey, Deputy Corporation
Counsel. Can everyone hear me okay?
HUSTACE: Yes. Good morning, Ms. Mellon -Lacey. Thank you for joining us.
MELLON-LACEY: As I'm sure the group is aware, there are many Commissions and
Boards that require representation from each Council District. But there's also the rules
1.1
and procedures that as long as we are working with a quorum on any decisions made,
though it's regrettable to have any vacancies for an effort of this kind, we will be working
within the parameters of our rules and usual and customary practice in the County. So, I
don't foresee that there are any problems proceeding however, I am hoping that an effort
is made quickly to try and get a representative from District 3 to replace our vacancy.
YOSHINA: Thank you very much.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Mellon -Lacey. Commissioners, as you review those
Communications, the first one, Communication 15 is the letter directly from Ms. Sumera-
Lee and then the second one, as I mentioned, 15.1 is directed towards Mayor Roth in an
effort to fill that seat. And we did express some sense of urgency to fill this seat as well.
We're hoping to have all of the nine districts represented of course. You all know that the
timeline is tight here, so just trying to do our best to make sure that this is filled and that
the effort is gone into finding and filling that seat at a reasonable pace. Any other
questions or comments about Communication 15 and 15.1? (No response.) I'll give you a
moment if you need to look over it too. (Pause.) Any questions that come to mind or
issues with this Communication? (No response.) Okay, hearing none. I welcome a motion
to close the discussion for this Communication and file this Communication.
YOSHINA: So moved. Yoshina, District 2.
LOPEZ: Second. Lopez, District 8.
HUSTACE: Thank you for that motion. Motion from Mr. Yoshina that closes discussion.
Second from Mr. Lopez. Any further discussion on the motion? (No response.) Hearing
none. I'll make it easy here. If there are any votes in the negative, please make yourself
known. (No response.) Hearing no nays, motion carries, unanimous.
Mr. Yoshina moved to file Communication 15 and
15.1. Seconded by Mr. Lopez.
The motion to file Communication 15 and 15.1 was
carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Yadao, Yoshina, and Vice Chair Hustace.
Noes: None.
Absent: Chair Kossow.
Communication 17
HUSTACE: Okay, moving on to Communication 17. This is from the Elections Program
Administrator, Ms. Nakamoto: for review on information requested regarding the
U
processing of counting inmates. First if Ms. Nakamoto would like to share any other
information about this, I welcome her to the floor. Commissioners, if you have any
questions for Ms. Nakamoto, or regarding this issue, please make yourself known. Ms.
Nakamoto, did you want to add anything to this Communication here first?
NAKAMOTO: No. The Communication speaks for itself. If any of the Commissioners
have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them as best I can.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Nakamoto. I see a hand from Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Yes, thank you. My takeaway from this whole conversation and testimony is
that even though it may be a mess, it is what it is. As Ms. Nakamoto pointed out in her
testimony, is that my correct assessment? That it is what it is. It's a mess maybe but
there's nothing we can do to fix it. It's as reported in the census. Is that correct?
NAKAMOTO: Yes, as reported. When you say it's a mess, it is what it is.
LOPEZ: Exactly. I'm just citing testimony that was presented.
NAKAMOTO: Yeah, well that's one person's view.
LOPEZ: Okay.
NAKAMOTO: The counts were taken at what they call, the group quarters, the GQ. And
the count is associated with the address of that group quarter site.
LOPEZ: Okay, thank you.
NAKAMOTO: I think that was the concern, yeah, was what address the individuals that
were incarcerated, what address they were using. So clearly, it is defined there that it
would be associated with the GQ site.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Lopez. Thank you, Ms. Nakamoto. Any other questions
from the Commissioners about this? Any other thoughts?
LUL Yes, Vice Chair Hustace.
HUSTACE: Commissioner Lui.
LUL Do we have the breakdown of numbers of incarcerated people in the different sites
as of that date?
NAKAMOTO: As of that date, the only information that was provided, was that there
were 514 individuals counted in correctional facilities for adults in Hawaii County. But
no breakdown per site, no.
E:3
LUL I guess I feel like this is a big issue for just in terms of fairness. As we have stated
before, just in the history of the United States, districts often like to have prisons there
because they get more votes, more people in their districts, but often they can't even vote.
So I don't know if I should move or something, just that we write some kind of letter
asking that this not happen next time around, since we can't do anything about it this
time. That people be counted that way. I don't know if that can be done at the State level
or whether it's a federal issue or what. Do you have any sense about that?
NAKAMOTO: I'm going to ask Deputy Corporation Counsel Mellon -Lacey to come up
and maybe address that question.
LUL This has been going on since the Three -Fifths Rule for slavery.
NAKAMOTO: Commissioner Lui, my understanding is that there are states, and I'm
sorry I can get this Communication and provide it for the Commission, but there are
states that have adopted this provision and Hawaii is not one of those states. So
therefore, I think that at the State level, if the census data were adjusted, and contrary to
Ms. Ford's statement, I recall when we had the initial training, I believe that Mr. Jones
indicated that to the extent that it was possible, they had disaggregated the student and the
military, non-resident population from the data that we're using. So presumably,
something similar could be done at the State level if that decision were made. I believe
that Ms. Ford was suggesting that this Commission look at making a recommendation on
the order of what you are proposing.
LUL Thank you. So, Vice Chair Hustace, could I make a motion that we draft such a
letter recommending that the State revise its rules in terms of the counting of incarcerated
people?
HUSTACE: I'm going to have to defer to Mr. Kauka and Corporation Counsel. And if
we can throw that on the agenda right now.
LUL Okay.
HUSTACE: It is not an agendized item so I would assume that we need to add it to the
agenda as an item of new business at a future meeting.
MELLON-LACEY: Sorry, Mr. Vice Chair. Yes, that's correct.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Mellon -Lacey. So yes, Commissioner Lui, we will need to
request that if you'd be so inclined, to request this through the Chair and myself, and
through Mr. Kauka to get this on our next agenda. Would that be possible, Commissioner
Lui?
LUL Yes.
01
HUSTACE: Thank you. I appreciate your help with that. So Commissioner Lui will be
addressing the Chair and myself to agendize the opportunity for this Commission to
speak more broadly and set a recommendation that the State and authorities consider
these changes going forward. That's my understanding.
LUL Correct.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioners, any other questions about
Communication 17 here regarding counting of inmates and that processing of
information? (No response.) Okay.
YOSHINA: Chair Hustace?
HUSTACE: Yes, Commissioner Yoshina?
YOSHINA: I'd like to move to accept the Communication into record.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. Do I have a second?
LOPEZ: Lopez, second.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Lopez. Motion from Mr. Yoshina to close this
Communication and file. Second from Mr. Lopez. Any discussion about the motion? (No
response.) Hearing none. Those opposed, please make yourself known. (No response.)
Motion carries, unanimous. Thank you.
Mr. Yoshina moved to file Communication 17.
Seconded by Mr. Lopez.
The motion to file Communication 17 was carried
by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Yadao, Yoshina, and Vice Chair Hustace.
Noes: None.
Absent: Chair Kossow.
Communication 18
HUSTACE: Our next Communication, Communication 18. Communication from Deputy
Corporation Counsel Ms. Mellon -Lacey: advising the Commission of their authority and
parameters to adjust census data in redistricting map considerations. Commissioners, do
you have any questions or inquiries about Communication 18? (No response.) So, I'll
W]
read it here for the record if that's okay with everyone. So, this is a Communication from
Ms. Mellon -Lacey:
At this time, Vice Chair Hustace read Communication 18 from Diana M. Mellon -Lacey,
Deputy Corporation Counsel re: Adjustment of Census Data
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Mellon -Lacey for this testimony and this Communication.
Commissioners, any questions about this? (No response.) Okay. I think I put you all to
sleep. Sorry about that. I welcome a motion to close this Communication and file.
LOPEZ: Lopez, so moved.
BATH: Bath, second.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Lopez. Second from Ms. Bath. Any discussion on the
motion? (No response.) Hearing none. Call for a vote on this. Those opposed, please
make yourself known. (No response.) Hearing none. Motion carries, unanimous. Thank
you. Thank you, Ms. Mellon -Lacey.
Mr. Lopez moved to file Communication 18.
Seconded by Ms. Bath.
The motion to file Communication 18 was carried
by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Yadao, Yoshina, and Vice Chair Hustace.
Noes: None.
Absent: Chair Kossow.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
None.
NEW BUSINESS
HUSTACE: Okay. Moving to new business. I'd like to welcome Mr. Kauka to read these
through to the record and for the Commissioners.
KAUKA: Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. New business item:
Communication 16 — From Commissioner Lui, outreach to Native Hawaiian population
during redistricting process.
11
HUSTACE: Mr. Kauka, just a point of order here. Just looking over the agenda. It was
noted on here approval of minutes from our previous meeting. Though I don't seem to
have —are those in our file folder?
KAUKA: Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. No, there's no approval of minutes on this agenda.
From the meetings we've had recently and the sessions, the Commission has forty days to
post the minutes and prepare them, so they have not yet been completed, a draft, to offer
the Commission so we hope to have that at the next session.
HUSTACE: Okay, thank you for the clarification. I saw that on one of the agendas here
but not the other one, so I appreciate that. Apologies. Alright, back to new business here,
for Communication 16 from Commissioner Lui, outreach to Native Hawaiian population
during redistricting process. Ms. Lui, did you want to start us off here in the discussion?
LUL Yes. I just wanted to say that this is a community of interest of probably extreme
importance, particularly at this time in our Island's history. There's just been a lot of
motion as we all know, on the part of people from that community feeling that they often
are marginalized and left out of more mainstream processes. So, I thought it would be
very important for us to do particular outreach. I know that there are public meetings
scheduled and that's all fine but, I think that there should be a special effort made to
reach the Native Hawaiian population. That doesn't have to be a formal process. It could
be, I guess I just wanted to hear what other Commissioners thought in terms of whether
they agree with this, or whether there are things they can think of that they might be able
to do in their own districts.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Commissioner Lui. Commissioner Bath?
BATH: Yeah so, I think this is an issue, for me, it's been an issue in all of the community
service that I've done that's dealt with soliciting input from the general public. And
everybody, even if they're of an ethnicity that is one on the Island, everyone deserves to
be heard and to be given an opportunity to be heard. What I've done is, I've outreached
to my friends, my associates that are Native Hawaiian, part Hawaiian, and posed the
question to them. So, how come there's not a whole lot of input? Some of it is cultural.
My experience has been, if you ask, you'll receive. However, how do we outreach? It's
not practicable. It's not reasonable to go door knocking. The energy and the time is really
hard. I see it as a similar issue of how do we outreach to people without internet capacity?
At my place, we have a lousy signal and so, I find out about stuff after the fact sometime,
but the effort has been made. I've come to the conclusion, based on my own personal
experience, that it's our responsibility to stay informed. Just like if you go to court for a
traffic violation, and you say, "I didn't know". You're still held accountable. So, the
people I'm associated with in the Native Hawaiian community, are great people that are
just like any other population on the Island. Articulate, some are uneducated, it's just like
the rest of the population. And so, I hope that they will be proactive in speaking to us.
I'm asking them publicly now to please come out and testify. I'm actually begging them
to do this because I cannot, in District 5, with the energy that I have during a pandemic,
go out and seek them out. These are my friends, this is my community, I've interacted
IN
with them and just like any other community, there are people that will disengage, don't
want to give energy, or have their lives busy. The fact that they are Native Hawaiian does
not exclude them from the responsibility, if they want to be heard, to be heard. I hope
that doesn't offend anybody. I'm done.
BATH: Thank you, Commissioner Bath. Any other input from the Commissioners on this
topic? Considering communicating with our Native Hawaiian population, connecting
with them, any form of outreach. (Pause.)
LUL Vice Chair Hustace?
HUSTACE: Yes, Commissioner Lui.
LUL As we know, there are many processes that have taken place on this Island.
Obviously, we know the most recent ones, where people do feel that after things are
already done, their voices have not been heard. There particular interests have not been
met. I don't feel like it is like any other population. I just don't want us to be in the
position where once the new maps are drawn, there are people from that community in
particular who say, "We didn't know enough and our voices are not well represented in
this map," and it will be too late for anything to happen. I will take personal
responsibility for some outreach, not so much to individuals, but there are organizations
that I think that we should contact. And James, I believe perhaps you and I, in our
Districts, there is a large population, there are a lot of Hawaiian Homelands, and also
Hilo looks like. Obviously, it's a major place where people live and unfortunately we
don't have a District Commissioner there right now so I'm not quite sure what to do
about that. But anyway, that was my motivation for putting this on the agenda.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Lui. Commissioner Lopez, did you have something to say?
LOPEZ: Yes. Certainly, every ethnic or cultural population could voice the same
concern. So are we potentially opening a Pandora's box? Then we have voices from the
Hispanic community, we have voices from the Japanese community, the Chinese
community. Where do we, as public servants, address people as a whole and not as these
unique groups where everybody has the same responsibility to be involved? So that a
Person A has the same opportunity to understand what's happening through whatever
means they have available, as opposed to Citizen B who chooses to, or not, get involved
given the same opportunities or knowledge. I don't disagree with the precept; I'm just
concerned about singling out a particular group of people to provide additional aid.
Thank you.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Lopez. Ms. Bath, did you have any further comments?
BATH: Well yeah, I stand on what I said, however I what others put out and I have the
same concern. If we were to do something, maybe we can send something out to Alu
Like or something. It'd get put in their hands. But again, are we going to send one to the
Portuguese Chamber of Commerce? How are we going to deal with the large
191
Micronesian population? Do they even have an organization? So yeah, I stand with my
original thoughts. There are options if we want to go that route but I hear what the last
Commissioner said. I'm done.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Bath. Any input from fellow Commissioners? (No
response.) I'll just point out that we'll also be discussing in new business, opportunities
for social media outreach as well. So that could be an avenue and we'll discuss that
further in the agenda here. Any other thoughts from the Commissioners on this item? Ms.
Lui, did you want to add anything else to your item here under new business?
LUL No but I just do want to point out that it isn't a population like any other, like the
Chinese population or whatever. These are the original peoples that were, that a wrong
was done to and their voices are particularly important, I think. As I said, at this time,
there is some conflict between Native Hawaiians and rest of us, and anything that we can
do to mitigate those types of feelings I think would be great. That's all.
BATH: Bath.
HUSTACE: Yes, Ms. Bath.
BATH: I agree that there was injustice done. I've actually spoken to my friends and my
associates that are Hawaiian, and have said, "What are your feelings as a Hawaiian?".
I've done the outreach. I did that during the Community Development Plan. And what I
got was they don't have an issue with it and that there are a few people that do, that are
vocal. That number is growing. However, I did outreach to the Native Hawaiian people
of that genetic pool more than a few times. And that's what I got from the Native
Hawaiian community when I did the outreach. So, I'm not sureI don't know how to
deal with this issue. You know, it's very sensitive.
LUL Well just one last comment, which is that we know that the Native Hawaiian
population are at the bottom of the economic ladder when it comes to housing,
employment, incarceration, there numbers are terrible. Which says to me that it would be
great if they had better representation. These are not about the Hawaiian Homelands or
people in those communities. They're the people that are in the community at large. So, I
just have that concern but, if people feel that it is too much or unfair to single out that
population, of course, then we will just each do our own outreach as we see fit.
HUSTACE: Mr. Lopez?
LOPEZ: Yes, this is a highly volatile discussion. I want to be clear in my earlier
comment, that I do not at all disagree with Ms. Lui and her intention. My only concern is
that for whatever reasons that it could be construed as highly discriminatory to other
groups. So, we do it for one, we do it for all. That's really the decision and I'd rather we
do it for all. Treat everybody equally. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Lopez. Any further questions, input from the Commission?
10
KAUKA: Mr. Vice Chair, this is Dennis. There is a member of the public who testified,
Mr. Jacob Aki, that's requesting to make a brief statement if you're willing to accept
that?
HUSTACE: Absolutely. Mr. Aki, please join us.
AKL Aloha, Mr. Chair. Can you hear me?
HUSTACE: Yes. Thank you for joining us.
AKL Thank you to the Commissioners for that discussion. I just wanted to share that
Common Cause does, they do a community outreach session to various Native Hawaiian
groups. But Common Cause is also willing to help this Commission do some of that
outreach. We can do another outreach to the Native Hawaiian community. And if you do
have folks on your Island that you think would be great for this conversation, you can
send their names to me, and Common Cause would be willing to do another presentation.
We can also help the Commission with community outreach. We've done a number of
overview sessions to talk about this process. So, any help that Common Cause can be,
please do let us know. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Aki. Commissioners, any further thoughts on what Mr. Aki
presented or questions for Mr. Aki? Mr. Lopez?
LOPEZ: I'm very happy you spoke up, Mr. Aki. That's an excellent suggestion. We can
accomplish what Commissioner Lui wants to do and still maintain our allegiance to the
entire community as a whole. So, for us, to provide you with information that you would
then disseminate out to your particular population interests, I think is an excellent
suggestion. Thank you for that.
AKL Thank you. And yeah, some of the organizations that we did reach out to, we did an
earlier session for the Native Hawaiian community back in August. We had about thirty
people come on from organizations such as Kamehameha Schools, OHA, Council for
Native Hawaiian Advancement, but we are willing to do another community session for
the Native Hawaiian community. But to also address concerns about the overall need for
the public to be engaged on this process. This is something that Common Cause is very
passionate for. So, we would also be willing to help this Commission do a general
process overview for your folks' districts. So, we could do one for Hawaii Island or we
could do one for Kona and one for Hilo side. But whatever help we can be, please let me
know. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Aki. Commissioners, any other questions for Mr. Aki? Or
anything about this item here under new business? (No response.) Is there any action that
Commissioners would like to take regarding this issue here, in item number 1 under new
business? (No response.) I'll leave that question out there for you a moment here. And I
just want to add in that, you know as Commissioners, we've all sworn in, selected,
chosen by our community members to really sit in this seat. And I encourage you, what's
being proposed here too, but also encourage you to connect and communicate with your
neighbors and friends and your community members throughout whatever means or in
your wheelhouse to share about the redistricting effort. That's in a general sense, right? In
a very general sense speaking about this and I know a number of you have been out there
in the community already doing that. I keep encouraging you to do so. Regarding Mr.
Aki's proposal, is there action or motion that the Commission would like to take on
addressing any of this issue here?
LUL Vice Chair, I don't think there's any motion that's needed but, Mr. Aki, I will get in
touch with you as well.
AKI: Sounds good. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Aki. Thank you, Commissioner Lui.
BATH: Bath.
HUSTACE: Yes, Ms. Bath.
BATH: Mr. Aki, I have some names that I'll be submitting to you as well of Native
Hawaiians that might, may be interested or need resources.
AKL Thank you. I will put my email address in the chat.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Aki. I just want to make sure we're going down the right
path here. That we're above board and we're able to do this. Individually reach out to Mr.
Aki and Common Cause to share this information. Ms. Mellon -Lacey, is this an
appropriate matter?
MELLON-LACEY: The Commissioners certainly have the ability to outreach and work
with resources in their districts or Island wide to promote knowledge about this process
and encourage input. So as long as it's limited to that, I don't see a problem. If I'm
understanding correctly, the purpose is to outreach and make individual people, specific
populations, what have you, aware of this process and encourage them to participate by
attending community meetings, by providing input to the Commission, by expressing
their opinions about what they would like to see come out of this process, and all of that
is very appropriate and within the scope of Commissioners duties. So, I agree with Ms.
Lui, I don't think we need a specific agenda item for it if we're advocating some special
position or something, but that's not what I'm hearing so I want to make sure I
understand what is being proposed.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Mellon -Lacey. I just wanted to be clear there on the privy
and the responsibility for each of the Commissioners, and capabilities that each can do on
their own, at their own authority to do so. And not that it needs an action from the entire
board to pursue this agenda basically.
1[1
MELLON-LACEY: Yes, I would agree with that. The Commissioners are appointed to
represent their constituents. And in so far as they need to reach out for assistance from
others to better reach their constituents, I don't see a problem with it.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Mellon -Lacey. So, on that fact, I would encourage
Commissioners to do that due diligence and reach out to community members to engage
them in whatever capacity you have, in the time that we have as well. But I really
appreciate the support from groups like Common Cause, and Mr. Aki and the crew there
for encouraging us to do so and being an opportunity for us to connect and communicate
further.
BATH: Bath.
HUSTACE: Yes, Ms. Bath.
BATH: My main concern, what I was reflecting on, if this was something I felt
comfortable with doing was, first and foremost checking with the individuals before I
start giving out their names to people and making sure it's okay with them first. And then
following through, if it was okay with the Commission. But that was the only concern I
really had.
HUSTACE: Absolutely. Thank you, Ms. Bath. Yes, you just don't want to disseminate
peoples information but make sure that they are willing to support you in your efforts to
reach a larger population and connect in a greater capacity. So, thank you, Ms. Bath. Any
other thoughts on item business I here? (No response.) Okay, seeing none. I'd like to
move on to number 2 under new business. Mr. Kauka, if you could read this for the
record, please?
KAUKA: Thank you. New business item:
2. Discussion on placing Kalapana and areas of Lower Puna into Council District 4.
Requested by Commissioner Bath.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. Ms. Bath, I'll pass it right to you if you would like to
start us off on this discussion.
BATH: So, we've all been getting our feet wet in trying to figure out the software, and
how to use it, and the first thing that I did was I looked at Puna. What really struck out to
me, which I never really realized until now, was that on the map, Kalapana and lower
Puna is part of my District, District 5. And I always thought that they were District 4
because that population of people polarize towards lower Puna in order to go from home
to anywhere, they need to go through District 4, unless they take Chain of Craters Road.
During the two eruption events that I was active with, I was down there a lot and I got
more of a feel. And so when I saw this section of lower Puna that was in the upper Puna,
the District 5 area, it was like, was this a mistake? So, I have been working. That's one of
IVA
my primary first things, is to move that, those censuses blocks and there are two or three
little ones, that you have to zoom into to actually see, into District 4. Which brings the
numbers of District 4, up even more. And so there would need to be some juggling.
However, I really felt that that was one thing that had to be tended to. Today, having been
given insights by Ms. Ford about the trails and zooming in, and cultural sensitivities, I've
got to zoom out further and see what trails there are. Because from Wao Kele o Puna,
north of Wao Kele o Puna, is where I was putting the line. And I know that there are
hunting trails, other trails, and there might be older Hawaiian trails. However, there's that
big crack that separates the two districts. And so, when I was thinking about that before
we heard from Ms. Ford today, I thought I didn't know how they would transverse that.
So, I wanted to bring that up for discussion. The goal is to take that piece and move it
into District 4 and then make the adjustments necessary in District 4 to continue to bring
the numbers down. Considering what I've learned today that you might have already
known.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Bath. I have a couple of questions to start off here if you
don't mind, about your effort here. When you were making some adjustments on your
map, on your side, and adding Kalapana to District 4, did you also take in the whole
forest reserve, the Puna Forest Reserve too?
BATH: The Wao Kele o Puna?
HUSTACE: Yes.
BATH: I was playing with that `cause some of that we had had testimony about keeping
the Park all together. And so, I was playing with giving some of that to District 6, but that
didn't really affect the numbers, so I put that on hold `cause I wanted to focus on the
numbers first. The other thing was, I mean in other districts like Hamakua and other
districts, I was saying that when I was playing with it, just the geography element of it,
that some districts were being given a lot of open space and areas that already had open
space. And so I was trying to consider the balance in that as well. But the main thing, I
was starting out with the numbers and the actual community in the common sense
element of it. We're dealing with people here. Not just numbers for voting. Did that
answer your question?
HUSTACE: I actually have a bunch of questions for you, if you don't mind. The next
question is, when you're kind of looking at the forest reserve there, there were a couple of
census blocks within the forest reserve, right?
BATH: I think there were three.
HUSTACE: The one that just popped up into my head, it was the Kaimu-Makena
Homestead Road. There's one census block that just sits there in the middle of it. And so,
if you take the whole forest reserve and you put it in one district, or the other, you have
one census block that it basically has to go wherever the forest reserve goes. But, the
other ones that kind of eek into the forest reserve there, I guess you could say off of the
IE:3
western side of the Kalapana Road, would you put them with the forest reserve as well?
Or do they stay with the mauka portions?
BATH: I tried to bring my map up so that I could have it in front of me for this
discussion. I'm still having an issue with it. It's not here. If you can give me a minute, I
can bring it up and see. I think you mentioned one little piece, if when you clicked on
Wao Kele o Puna, that it went with that area. Is that correct?
HUSTACE: No. Well, it's a separate —so the Wao Kele o Puna Forest Reserve is an
entire monstrous census block, in my mind. I just want to state for the record that I've
come across too many census blocks that are way too big and have way too many
problems that I've documented on my own. But this is an issue where if you have a
census block that has census blocks within it, that should not be allowable. Like there
should have been a break in the census line, in my own personal. I know it's a forest
reserve, I know there's specifics about it, but there are other locations that we could
probably talk about today. So, I was just curious. You have this floating census block off
of Kaimu-Makena Homestead Road that has 24 residents. You have a pocket subdivision
off of, the street is One `Ele Road and Upper Puna Road. So, there's this pocket
subdivision that juts out of the western portion of the Kalapana Road. Do those
individuals feel that they should be associated with Kalapana and the more mauka
portion? Or should they be, I'm just putting these questions out there, right? And then
that's one question. The other question is, if you add that mauka portion of Kalapana
along Kapoho Road there, then that's twelve -hundred individuals. The census block
group that is associated with the Wao Kele o Puna Forest Reserve, is another thirteen -
hundred individuals. So, I'm just curious about your process. About if you add so many
of those individuals to Council 4, what did you take away from Council 4 to adjust?
BATH: Thank you. That's a great question. That's one of the reasons why I'm bringing
this up for discussion frankly. I want to apologize. I was multi -tasking. I was listening to
you. I was trying to bring up my map because although I know the area, and I knocked on
doors in the area with Civil Defense during the events, I didn't have keep names of
streets or subdivisions in my mind. So, I'm sorry that I can't help you on that. If you just
give me a minute, I'm trying to
HUSTACE: Yeah. Take your time please.
BATH: You know what, I yield to District 4 for this `cause it's her District that she's
representing so she might know more than I do on that. No?
HUSTACE: I'll welcome any Commissioner as to if you have any thoughts on this.
About making this adjustment to Council 4 and 5 and that boundary down to Kalapana,
and the Wao Kele o Puna Forest there. Any thoughts or troubles that the Commissioners
have had with this process of making those adjustments?
KAUKA: Mr. Vice Chair, this is Dennis in Hilo. I'm sorry to, but just to briefly interrupt,
he is visible there, but I should note for the record that Chair Kossow has joined us. So
IF'7
you now have seven members in attendance. Mr., Kossow joined for the record at 10:23
a.m. You may, of course, continue to chair the remainder of the meeting though. Thank
you.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. That would make eight of us here, correct?
KAUKA: I'm sorry. Thank you for correcting that. Yes, eight members in attendance.
HUSTACE: Wonderful. Well, thank you, Chair. Thank you, Mr. Kauka, and welcome,
Chair. Thanks for joining us. We'll continue this conversation, and Mr. Kossow, you can
jump in if you'd like to at any point if you have any thoughts on this. We'd welcome
your thoughts too. Really this is a discussion about those two census block groups and the
dividing line of Pahoa Kalapana Road. Those mauka portions right along the ocean there.
Any thoughts on any sort of process that the Commissioners took on this? Or if any made
any changes and were able to adjust accordingly?
YOSHINA: Mr. Chair, this is Dwayne.
HUSTACE: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Yeah. My opinion is that, that's why the Commissioners are here, right? I
mean, if you want to move it, you move it and you should have justification for that
move. And then, if the numbers work out, they work out. I'm not sure I understand why
the question is asked. I have to leave it to the Commissioner who is doing it, to just do it.
And justify it later. I hate to say it this way, but it seems to be a non -issue from my point
of view. Because if you think it should be that way, then you should do it. And then if
there are questions later, we can defend that later. So, you know.
BATH: Bath.
HUSTACE: Yes, Ms. Bath.
BATH: So, one of the reasons that I put it as an agenda item was because for
transparency, sunshine. Because I actually want to have a dialogue with other
Commissioners, specifically Commissioner from District 4, because it is her District, to
see what she's thinking. If we're all doing our own thing, I hear what you're saying, I
absolutely hear what you're saying. My concern is we're on a time crunch here and if
each of us come up with our own little ideas and things without having a dialogue, then
we're going to have to go through that dialogue in the I Ph hour and we are not going to
get the work done. We're not going to reach our deadline. And so, I think that it's
healthy, and it's appropriate, and that's why we're here. To have this dialogue specific to
this area. But this is not specific to this area. I've across this in other areas as well. But
this is the big one, so I would really like to hear, get input. And I hear what you're saying
Commissioner Yoshina. I hear ya. It's like what are we going to do with it when we get
to the I Ph hour? Are we going to be grappling with all of our personal submissions?
N1]
YOSHINA: So, thank you.
HUSTACE: Ms. Lui.
LUL Yeah, I guess I just have a question about process. Like how are we going to resolve
all these things? It shouldn't be sort of one -by -one. I appreciate what you did because you
had a big question. For example, I looked at Chair Kossow's submission. And it puts part
of Hilo, the part that's the Boiling Pots to the right of Waianuenue into District 1, but
that's clearly, people would identify more with Hilo. So, yeah, I need more people in my
District, but I don't want to take people who would have their interest more represented
by an urban area, as opposed to the more agricultural area which represents Hamakua.
Anyway, I'm just asking like, what is the process for us to go through these maps and
figure out why people are putting different census blocks where they're putting them, and
whether we agree and how to make it all come out with the right numbers. I would love
to expand into more agricultural areas, but there aren't any. So, I'm feeling a little stuck
and yeah, just wanted some guidance in terms of our process going forward. So, it isn't
like this little chunk versus that chunk, but what's the overall process? So I see that we
have dates suggested, but I don't know what's supposed to happen on those dates.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Lui. Mr. Lopez?
LOPEZ: Yes, thank you. I'm going to say that I don't have any depth of knowledge of
what Ms. Bath is referring to, other than to look at the map. And I can see the forest
reserve but when you start talking about lower Puna and the fissure and so and so forth,
I'm over in District 8 and I don't know the geography. I don't know the neighborhoods,
and that's true of every other District apart from my own. So, I was really, my approach,
was to take the census blocks and go to the target of distribution to where I didn't violate
the percentage deviation. And then I was hoping, really hoping, that in these public
hearings, that the people would come out and express their interest and concern. I mean,
they don't have to look at a map, they just have to come and say, this is the neighborhood
I live in, we associate with this or that, and please take that kind of thing into
consideration. Or maybe some inequities they may have felt in the last census
redistricting rather. So, I'm at a strong disadvantage in discussing the kinds of questions
this particular subject brought up. Call it my ignorance, call it whatever you like, but
there's no way I can comment. My understanding was that we, as Commissioners, would
work on trying to balance the census blocks, trying to balance the population, so we can't
be accused of gerrymandering, or providing interest to any particular incumbent or
candidate. And that's what I did, just strictly on population. Looking for the public to
come and tell me in these public hearings, how I might need to adjust those things. So,
this discussion of roads and trading census blocks with another district, well I don't think
that's in order anyway, but again, I can't comment on any of this discussion. Thank you.
21
HUSTACE: Commissioner, Lui?
LUL I just wondered if we might hear from Pat Nakamoto to let us know king of how
this was done last time because I'm still quite confused as to how we're supposed to get
to the place where we need to go. `Cause I agree with you, Commissioner Lopez, I don't
know your District for example so I can't comment on whatever you propose. So, I think
there is going to have to be some horse -trading.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Nakamoto.
NAKAMOTO: Hi. Pat Nakamoto, Elections Program Administrator. Okay, bear with me,
this was ten years ago, and my recollection is probably very, very fuzzy. What I recall
and taking into the consideration, the timeframe we're working in is an entirely different
timeframe than what we worked in in the past. I recall going to public hearings because at
that time there were alternate plans submitted and they were available. I remember and
we weren't we used the ESRI software, but everything wasn't done virtually. We
weren't under this COVID condition that we are now. I recall taking plans out to these
public hearings and people who attended the public hearings could view these plans.
Then it got down to where, the Commissioners narrowed down the plans. They looked at
all the different plans and they said, okay no we're not going to use these plans. And they
narrowed it down to a couple of plans, maybe two or three, that they could work with,
and they could adjust the lines. And then after that they had, I think it was after the two
meetings in Hilo and Kona, they narrowed it down further to one plan that they did some
tweaks on and they did it in a public setting, as I recall. They did the tweaks, they put in
their comments and worked on the plan until they were satisfied with it and that was the
plan that was submitted. So, that's sort of how I recall the process taking place.
LUL Well, given that the deadline was today, right, for the public to submit plans. Is that
correct?
NAKAMOTO: Yes, today was the deadline for the alternate plan.
LUL So, there's only one, Brenda Ford's.
NAKAMOTO: No, there's two.
LUL Two, one other one. So, we don't have, perhaps, as many different plans to look at
as the last Commission. Is that —do you think that's true?
NAKAMOTO: Yes, I think that's true.
LUL So, we got those two. And then we've got ones that we're all working on, but I
know I feel very flexible. It's not like I'm ready to submit a plan. I think I accidentally hit
Pia
the wrong button so it's in there, but it's not correct at all. So, maybe we need a slightly
different process here? I'm thinking that because —maybe we should on our different
meetings, kind of look at the boundaries between the different districts because what
happens in one is going to affect another. Like if you take Kalapana, that might mean that
she's going to have to give up some other part of District 4. So, maybe if we kind of take
a District at a time and tinker with those boundaries so that we can get the input of the
neighboring districts, I think that I know that would help me.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Lui. So, I'll jump to Mr. Lopez first.
LOPEZ: I think we have a process. It was explained to us in the very beginning, and I
think Ms. Ford actually demonstrated how it's supposed to work. You work on a plan,
yeah if you want to listen to other inputs to what you consider, that's perfectly legitimate
within your own space. This is what I think we should do, and this is my rationale why I
chose. You have to defend your plan and she did that very well. So, I think that's the
process and for us to try to do it by teaming up with another neighborhood district is just
to me, too foreign of a concept within the confines of trying to come up with an
independent plan that's justifiable. You submit it, and then it goes through the vetting
process against other plans. First thing, I think the process has been defined. It was
explained that way early on, to me as I heard it, and then demonstrated with Ms. Ford's
submittal. Thank you.
LUL So, I don't disagree with you, Commissioner Lopez, but given our truncated
timeframe, are you suggesting that we each submit a plan? And then we're still going to
have to work with people across districts, which is why we're all together, to figure out
whether those changed census blocks work for the other district.
LOPEZ: Well, I can't suggest that each of us submit a plan. That's an independent choice
to make. I know that in expressing the due diligence of my appointment to this
Commission, I dove in being trained on the product. I dove into meeting the first level of
criteria and I have that plan. I have not submitted it because I wanted to hear some more
public testimony in a public hearing about some things I may not have considered. And
so, as the process moves forward, that's where I'm going. Now I agree with you, we're in
an extremely protracted period of time so it's incumbent on us to be that much more
knowledgeable up to this point with the tools we have available so that we can ask the
questions or can hear testimony and then apply that to our own map. So, whether you
want to submit a plan or not as all of you individually, that's up to you. I intend to. Thank
you.
LUL I just wondered if Chair Kossow, or Vice Chair Hustace, could provide a little
leadership here. What are you thinking about our next steps?
091
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Lui. So, I first have a question for Ms. Nakamoto. I
submitted a number of maps. I know I was tinkering with them up until yesterday, so I
submitted them yesterday. What is the turnaround for Mr. Jones to put those in the shared
file?
NAKAMOTO: He does it daily so if you submitted it, I don't know what time you
submitted it yesterday, but whenever a plan gets submitted, we're notified that a plan was
submitted, and I didn't get a notification.
HUSTACE: Okay, yeah, I did submit. I actually submitted nine maps, so I apologize to
the Commissioners. I took it upon myself to, like a lot of you, to look at the different
districts, to adjust the numbers, to reach the deviation levels that we need to reach. While
also considering my own person knowledge of the district that I live in, the surrounding
districts, and also attending community meetings over time and hearing from you and the
things that you have said at our past meetings. So, I did create maps of my own. Some of
them are very different from each other. Some are very similar and just take little changes
here and there. I know we're deviating from this new business discussion but, it really is
this. It's moving things around between different current districts, right? And that
incremental approach to some degree, whereas there's more of a drastic approach to
others. Which could receive more uproar from community members but my, and Chair
Kossow, if you'd like to chime in here too, I can't see you on the screen on this end in
Kona but, I'll just kind of piece together my some of my thoughts here on us going
forward. We have a different timeline and a different total agenda that we have for the
next couple months here. We really only have a couple months. And I viewed the public
hearings, like for example we had one on Monday, and unfortunately, we did not have
anyone attend, right? Those of you that were able to attend realized that and recognized
that right away. That we did not have anyone from the public join us. Now this may have
been different from the past because while there may have been a deadline previously to
that, those public hearings, there was a map that would have been presented at those
public hearings. So, given the timeline we're in, I viewed currently, our timeline and
these public hearings as an opportunity to hear from the public about where they felt, they
feel what district they live, that they should be in, that what other aspects could be
incorporated in a district, those sort of things. So, I was just really looking at that as like
an overview of how our neighbors, and friends, and community members, would
incorporate or foresee their districts. That's what they kind of thoughts that they could
provide about that. That's what my personal reaction to these public hearings would've
is, since we don't really have maps to present. There are some maps that are viewable to
the public and those are the ones that were provided with testimony. So, the ones that
were delivered via Communication are in our Laserfiche file and the public can see those.
It's not like we're presenting them right at those public hearings but, we could if we want
to. And we can show the variety of maps that have come in. So, the deadline was today
for the public to submit. So, now it's really on us to take what we've been given and also
the thoughts that you have about maps that you've created. Submit those and we need to
Pz1
work on those. As we go through these public hearings, we need to take into account
those thoughts and make the changes accordingly. Let me look at the agenda quickly. The
upcoming meetings are really just an opportunity for the public to give us some guidance.
Maybe not necessarily on a map, but just some ideas about their districts. That's what I
see. We're going to have to use this time to draft a map from the input we've been given
and the stuff that we have. So, in a couple moments here, we'll look at some of the
alternate ones and talk about those. And maybe we could act on them and use them as a
template for those public hearings. That could be a possibility. Until we have a deadline
coming up where we have to finalize the draft plan, basically. That's the one we would
present to those large public hearings in December in Hilo and Kona. So, that's our
process right now. We need to look at the maps that have been submitted, take in account
the testimony input over these eight next public hearings. And then also our full meetings
that we will hold and incorporate those into our draft plan that we will present. I think
that's the right track. Chair Kossow, we're you able to chime in here on any thoughts?
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. Can you hear me okay?
HUSTACE: Yes, loud and clear. Thank you for joining us.
KOSSOW: No, thank you and of course, thank you so much for taking the time to preside
over this sitting today. Thank you for the Commissioners with regard to this discussion. I
kind of wanted to go back a little bit `cause I know we're steering away from the
discussion. I wanted to make a comment. I had my hand raised but it didn't go through
here on the Zoom. I had a comment regarding the Kalapana forest, the Wao Kele o Puna.
I did tinker around with it, Ms. Bath, and it's kind of hard to make that decision, right?
On whether or not we want to continue to put that into District 5 or District 4. It makes
more logical sense if it was District 4 because in regards to connectivity `cause the only
road that goes down there is going through District 4. But with that, as Mr. Vice Chair
has stated, there is going to be some cause of deviation from the other side. So, one of my
plans which I hopefully will submit today. I'm going to have to submit today. I'm hoping
to kind of address that in my third plan. I know Ms. Lui did talk about, and this is getting
off a little bit about the topic, but Ms. Lui did talk about the Hilo one. And I appreciate
this because District 7, and 8, and 9, might not know anything about District 2, or District
3. I did live within that area for two years when I was going to college at UH Hilo, but
you have to make up with all this deviations. And so that goes into my next point here is,
I think that once we get all the alternate plans in, we can really decide to vet on these
plans and then come up with an idea that is beneficial for all nine, or eight members of
the Commission. I think that's probablyI don't know if the other 2011 Commission has
done this but, and it might be in the next Commission meeting, that we'll pull up ESRI
and for one whole agenda item, we'll run through every single alternate plan and come up
with our own idea. It might take a couple of sessions in order for us to finally track down
on what we need to do but other than that, I yield, Mr. Vice Chair.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. It's good to see you.
PA7
MELLON-LACEY: Mr. Vice Chair?
HUSTACE: Yes. Ms. Bath, is that you?
MELLON-LACEY: No, this is Ms. Mellon -Lacey.
HUSTACE: Oh! Ms. Mellon -Lacey, thank you.
MELLON-LACEY: I just want to jump in here and say that we are deviating
considerably from our agenda and that if a discussion of the proper way for the
Commission to proceed in its business is wanted, then we need to put that onto the
agenda for your next meeting. But we are kind of deviating here from what's on our
agenda.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Mellon -Lacey, for correcting us there. So, we'll jump back
to item 2 then. Is there any further discussion?
BATH: Bath.
HUSTACE: Ms. Bath.
BATH: What my intent wasn't was to present this as an agenda item to petrissage
specifically, whether or not we were going to do this. I apologize if it was reflected on the
agenda as that. What my intent was, was to open this up as a discussion, this specific
issue that I came up with, to address it because I too put Boiling Pots in the Hamakua
Coast when I've been playing around with it. Puna is growing. I believe we have like a
third of the Island's population. We're massive and things are going to have to change.
And change is not always comfortable. Lines will have to be drawn and there will need to
be adjustments made and I understood that this was what our job was. And in this
particular case, it stuck out to me that this is a there's so many reasons to not have this
here. And so, I put it on the table, again I say for transparency. So, whoever's watching
this with the public can hear us having the discussion so that I could have a public
discussion with District 4 and what happened was, I'm not surprised with what happened
because this situation is going to surface in every major adjustment we make. Where
we're taking people from one district that might have lived in that district their whole life
and they're sticking them in District 2, from Puna to District 2. You're taking a person
from rural and putting them in a more urban. And so, that was my intent. The discussion
really was my intent. What are we going to do? How are we as a Commission going to
dialogue with one another? I can't emphasize that we have a time crunch. Now if the
process is in place, great let's do it and we can have a meeting. We'll just have a day
meeting and we'll just do the work. But I wanted this to be brought to the table so that
some light can be shown on it. It was not to petrissage my specific district and I apologize
if somehow it was agendized as that. So, I would like to withdraw any discussion specific
to whether or not Kalapana is going to go from District 5 to District 4 at this time. And
we can do that when we are working on it collectively now that I kind of get a feel that's
what we're going to be doing. Is that correct, Mr. Chair?
U1.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Bath. I understand you there. I was just curious about when
you made those adjustments. Like just thinking about how you did your adjustments.
How you made up that loss for other districts? That's all.
BATH: Could you say that again? I'm not—
HUSTACE: Yeah, no problem. Sorry about that. I was just curious because this was an
item and you wanted to talk about Kalapana, I was just curious because District 4 would
gain so many more, how you made up for that adjustment. That's all. So, I was just
curious about that, and I appreciate your input.
BATH: Yeah, thank you. As I said before, I saw the obvious problem with it. I made the
adjustment. I took the areas, the populations, I put them into District 4. You know, you
draw the little rectangle, and you click it. So now they are in District 4. So, that
adjustment was made, and it was good in my opinion, and it was necessary. I then looked
at District 4 and the numbers, which were right in front of me, and they had kind of
skyrocketed. I saw the adjustments and in the interest of time, I won't let you know who I
put where, what I put, but I will tell you that on one of my processes, Hawaiian Paradise
Park was no longer in Puna. And that's huge. That is huge. That was one of the viable
solutions. And Ka`u had expanded up the mountain. The adjustments were so radical, that
I was having a hard time with it and then I've reflected on the forty years that I've lived
in Puna, and the intensity of the process that I was going through currently was as intense
as the transformation of the place that I grew up in part of my life. And so, forty years
ago, there was one traffic light from Hilo to Puna. Now, it's multiple and there's a lot of
traffic. I don't want to take time to get into this, but things have changed. Things have
changed. And there's so many infrastructure problems that are happening. What we're
doing now is we're redrawing lines so that people on our Island can have fair
representation so that the level of service can be balanced on our Island. And it is way off
balanced in my district, and in District 4. And so, I wanted to make that statement
because that's what we're doing and it's going to be uncomfortable for people. And
Boiling Pots might have to be in Hamakua, you know, that's just the way it is. And the
public can have an opportunity to come and tell us what they want, and if they don't,
we're going to have to make some difficult, emotional decisions. People are going to be
emotionally impacted by this and culturally impacted by this. What are we supposed to
do? The world is changing. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Bath. Any other discussion on item number 2? (No
response.) Okay, hearing none. I'd like to close this discussion and call for a short recess.
Five minute recess. Thank you.
(Five-minute recess.)
HUSTACE: Okay, we'll call us back from recess. I'd like to move on to number 3 under
new business. Mr. Kauka, if you could read this into the record, please.
M
KAUKA: Thank you. New business item number:
3. Review of Alternate Plans submitted. The Commission may review, discuss, and consider
any alternate redistricting plans received from the public pursuant to Hawaii County
Code Chapter 36, Article 5.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. We do possibly have some testimony on this as well.
The reason this is under new business, and this will probably be an ongoing thing where
we review alternate plans that are submitted. The deadline for the public was today. So,
the plans that we receive from the public is what we've received. I do have some
technical issues for Elections Office staff but otherwise I'd like to spend some time here
looking at these documents. Commissioners, if you're in your application program with
the redistricting effort, there is a folder that we should all have access to called Shared
Plans. So, when you open a plan, you can select to share either one of your recent plans
or ones that you've saved and created or Shared Plans. The question that, I think Mr.
Lopez, you had a question about this?
LOPEZ: Well, I have been trying to find Ms. Ford's plans for some time, and finally,
asking a question today, I personally do not have that County of Hawaii tab under my
Shared Plans, so I do not see any of these.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Lopez. Are there any other Commissioners not seeing this
folder under their Shared Plans?
BATH: Bath. I'm trying to get out of a Create a Plan into where the option to be able to
see all of the plans.
LUL You go to File.
BATH: You go to File?
HUSTACE: I think regardless of if you're in a plan, I think you should be able to open a
new one on top of it without —it may give you an error saying, hey do you want to save
the work you've been doing? And you can cancel through that. As you probably see up
on the screen there, that's being projected for us, I think Mr. Lopez is having some
technical issues with the Shared Plans folder. I don't know if he is attached to that folder,
if he's been included. So, I want to make sure that all of the Commissioners are a part of
that. Is that a possibility? Do we know if all the Commissioners have access to this?
LUL Could you say that again? Which one?
HUSTACE: This is the Shared Plans. So, if you open up these are the plans that have
been submitted byso, Chair Kossow submitted one, and Ms. Ford submitted three, that
have been submitted to the Commission. They're sent in, Mr. Jones then shares them,
puts them into this folder, and that's how we have access to them. So, I would likeI'm
just checking to see if all the Commissioners have this folder.
P4.11
LUL Yes.
HUSTACE: Is it only Mr. Lopez who does not have access from my understanding then?
And can I check with the Elections Office to make sure that's remedied?
LOPEZ: Okay, thank you for bringing that up on my behalf. Just as a clarification
though, if Ms. Ford is still online here. I'm sure she told us that only look at Plan 20.
HUSTACE: That's correct, Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Okay, we can disregard 11, 12, so we don't spend a lot of time on that.
LUL We could delete them.
HUSTACE: Yes, could we open up plan number 20 from Ms. Ford and view it here in
this public setting? And you were also provided the Communication. Ms. Ford did
provide testimony this morning about this. You should have that document in front of
you that goes through her reasoning, the districts where she drew her boundaries. Is there
a particular that area that one Commissioner, or the Commission, would like to look at
and ask Ms. Ford questions of or just view in general? Mr. Lopez?
LOPEZ: Yes, well I can't look at this, but I'm interested in looking more at that review
where the deviations are shown. If you can, bring that line up so that we can see it all, all
the districts. You know what I'm talking about? That deviation review at the bottom by
district where it shows the percent, the deviation of district population. If we could see,
well, if I could see it all at once if you move the bar up.
HUSTACE: The request is just to enlarge the bottom half of that window so we could see
just a comparison of all the districts.
LOPEZ: Yeah, if you just go up to that line right above pop., and you move the bar up.
That way I can see all of the districts at one time. I'm just asking if I can see that since I
don't have the map. (Pause)
HUSTACE: Mr. Lopez's request is that we expand the bottom portion of the window so
that we can see all of the deviations together.
LOPEZ: So, pull that window up.
HUSTACE: That's okay. So, there's an option to expand it, make it even bigger, so that
we can see them all at one time.
SAIKL That, I'm not sure how to do. How do I
00.1
LOPEZ: See where that map is. See that down arrow at the bottom of the map? Right
below that there's a bar. Go down to the line. You passed it. Way too far. Go up, up, up,
up. Right there. Drag that up, up. Ah, thank you. Or a little higher because I see Brenda's
face there in the lower corner. Keep going. A little more. Okay, now you'll have to
drag —okay, thank you. That shows me a bird's eye view of however distributions are
done across the Island.
LUL Is Brenda on?
LOPEZ: Yes, I see her.
HUSTACE: Yes, she's here. Do you have a question for Ms. Ford, Ms. Lui?
LUL Yes. I'm just curious if she did the same thing that Chair Kossow did in terms of
moving the boundary of District 1 to Waianuenue Ave. as opposed to the river. And I'm
just wondering if you considered any other ways to expand District 1, Brenda?
FORD: Thank you very much for asking. I considered many different ways but because
of the deviations being so high, I had to drag it in. I've got to tell you, it killed me to have
to drag part of Hilo into District 1. It really did. It killed me to put Kalapana in District 5
because we all know it should be in District 4. But if you look at the last map, they had to
do exactly the same thing in Kalapana. It's a big problem and the person who said we're
going to have to make some hard decisions is absolutely correct. Now, I'm not saying that
my map is the perfect map because there's no such thing. However, you can look at the
boundaries and see maybe can we tweak `em here or there to make it a little less onerous
for people? Possibly. For the Council Districts over in 6, 7, and 8, I had to split
Kealakekua. I had to split Kailua-Kona. We just have to make tough decisions and you
want to make them as least horrible as you possibly can. You're just not going to get a
choice. I spent, I won't even tell you the number of days, and I'm talking eight hours plus
a day. Days. And I'm on Plan 20. You got my Plan 20. So, that's how much I had to
work on these because I kept rejecting a bunch of plans. The two that I don't want you to
look at today are 11 and 12, I think they are. I only submitted those so you could see how
you could divide Puna down the highway either north, south or east, west. But it doesn't
matter how you divide Puna, north, south, east, west, if you can't get the populations
right. As I mentioned earlier, Hawaiian Paradise Park is like 14,000 people. You do not
want to split Hawaiian Paradise Park, but you know what, it's your district and if you
guys decide that we need to split Hawaiian Paradise Park, then what you need to do is
agree on that and vote for it. And then you put into your final note, we divided Hawaiian
Paradise Park along this line because we wanted to get Kalapana. You think it's more
important to get Kalapana into District 4 and put a part of —half of Hawaiian Paradise
Park up in District 3, or District 2, or wherever, you have the right to do that. You just
have to be able to explain it in writing because if you wind up in court, that's going to be
the things that if you don't go over ten percent, you can do what you want. But if you go
over the ten percent, then you're going to be in court. So, don't look at my plan as the
absolute only way to do something. Do look at all the boundaries and see is there a way
that we can tweak this plan, or somebody else's plan who might have a better plan than
011
mine, how can we tweak it? I'll tell you, once you guys really get into the ESRI program
and start moving these blocks, huge blocks of people around, you're going to find out
really fast, it's not a fun thing to make these decisions. There are not fun decisions, and
you are going to offend probably just about everybody. Because as a Kona person, I did
everything to keep Kealakekua together. Couldn't do it.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Ford.
FORD: Yeah, thank you.
HUSTACE: If you stick with us here, we may have some other questions for you.
FORD: Sure, sure.
HUSTACE: Thank you. Commissioners, is there any other question about Ms. Ford's
map 20 here? Now I would encourage you, please Commissioners, to read Ms. Ford's
testimony and the document she provided. It's very detailed, very specific about the
boundaries and everything, and reasoning why. This is what we have to obtain, and these
are the reasons we need to provide, when we create our final map as a group here. Any
other thoughts on Ms. Ford's proposed plan here? Commissioners?
LUL Yeah, well, I guess I just don't know where to place these questions because I was
going to ask about why she didn't consider something else. But I think that may be later,
later down the road.
HUSTACE: Ms. Lui, is it specific to Ms. Ford's plan?
LUL Well, yes. But I understand her reasoning so I was just not sure whether I should
ask something specific. Well, let me just say it and you can discard it if you want. I just
wondered, you know there's also some new developments along the Daniel Inouye
Highway, and that area is only going to expand in terms of developments. And so, I was
wondering if instead of the Boiling Pots area that is so close to Hilo, whether these new
subdivisions that are more outlying might be an alternative. Did you think about that at
all?
FORD: I did not personally know about the new developments over there, but I will tell
you that, I'll use Kona as an example `cause I know Kona the best, but it applies to
everybody. We've got land masses, zoning changes, developments, and they all have
these five year terms that they are supposed to get something or fifty percent or
something, whatever it is now, completed. And we've had them there for thirty years. So,
if they are actively building, that's nice but there's nobody living there. You can't count
it.
LUL No, but there are people living in parts of it. I'm just saying that within the next ten
years, there'll be even more.
31
FORD: I absolutely agree with you. We've got the same problem all over, North Kona
especially. I'm from South Kona but North Kona especially is a big problem with that.
You're just going to have to make the hard decision, where to put these. As I mentioned
before, I had a very emotional problem for a couple of days over putting any part of Hilo
into District 1. The deviations were massive. I think it was like, I don't know, it seemed
like it was over ten or something like that. And once you move a boundary, it dominoes.
It's a domino effect. And so, what you do is, you got to consider how it impacts
everybody else. That's your job, to figure out how it's impacting everybody else. I'm
sure nobody in Kona is going to love my plan.
MELLON-LACEY: Mr. Chair?
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Ford. Ms. Bath?
MELLON-LACEY: No, this is Ms. Mellon -Lacey.
HUSTACE: Ms. Mellon -Lacey.
MELLON-LACEY: If I may, if we could keep the questions and responses to the
discussion of the plan. I'm not sure that it's at all appropriate for Ms. Ford to advise the
Commission on how to do their job. So, I would like to limit that discussion, please.
Thank you.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Mellon -Lacey. Any questions about the plan? Any technical
questions?
BATH: Bath.
HUSTACE: Ms. Bath. I apologize Commissioners, I only see one screen at a time so I
can't see who has hands up or what not so, please state your name for the record so that I
may call on you. Ms. Bath.
BATH: Yeah, a question for Ms. Ford. Number 21, under District 5. The last sentence,
she justifies that plan as this matches the 2011 Redistricting Map. And so, my question is,
or my understanding is, we're not trying to cut and paste. We know what the 2011
Redistricting Map is and there some changes that we're trying to make to that. So, the
fact that what you submitted matches the last map, is that something that you're trying to
use as a justification for keeping it the way it is or?
FORD: No.
BATH: Help me understand.
FORD: No. I'm sorry, number 21 was poorly worded. The only reason I said that
statement is because they had the same problem with Kalapana as you guys are having
right now. And that's what they had to do. That comment is just to say they had to do it in
Kea
2011. So, whatever you choose to do is up to you. I'm not trying to match anybody else's
map.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Ford. Did that clear up the question you had, Ms. Bath?
BATH: Yes, it did. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Commissioners, any other questions technically about this map here? (No
response.) Okay, hearing none. I encourage you to review the documentation from Ms.
Ford and take that into account as we are looking at maps here. You should also be able
to see the map up on your software application. Once again, I encourage and request that
Mr. Lopez has access to that folder. And if there are other Commissioners that are
experiencing that problem, please make yourself known and reach out to the Elections
Office so that you have access to those files. Thank you. At this time, I'd like to move on
to item number 4 under new business:
4. Review of Draft Plans. The Commission may review, discuss, and consider
redistricting plans submitted by Commissioners.
HUSTACE: This is an ongoing yes, Mr. Lopez, you had a question?
LOPEZ: Yes. It's very clear to me that today was the day, the deadline for the public to
submit plans but I did not imply from that it was, that the Commissioners could submit a
plan after today. Can I get a clarification on that, please? When's the last time that the
Commissioners can submit a plan?
HUSTACE: Ms. Nakamoto, are you able to answer that question?
MELLON-LACEY: This is Ms. Mellon -Lacey.
HUSTACE: Ms. Mellon -Lacey.
MELLON-LACEY: The deadline that you set for today is alternate plans from the public.
The Commission isn't barred from continuing to work on plans until the deadline for you
to submit your draft plan and then, even then you can still make changes. So, you can
keep working. That's for the public and I think the idea behind that is so that you get that
kind of input as your working on your own plans and trying to narrow down to a final
plan. And even if members of the public didn't submit a plan, there's nothing to prevent
them from continuing to provide public testimony throughout the process, that you can,
should, must, whatever consider in getting to a final plan. So, you're good.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Mellon -Lacey.
LOPEZ: Thank you very much for that. That stresses the advantage of public testimony
at these hearings. Thank you very much.
091
MELLON-LACEY: Welcome.
HUSTACE: Commissioners, this item will remain on our agenda going forward when we
review the plans that the Commissioners are submitting. Really the only one that we can
present today, if I'm not mistaken, is from Chair Kossow. Chair, are you able to, are you
still with us here today and do you want to speak at length about it now or? I'll leave it
up to you.
KOSSOW: I think I would like to wait till everybody else submits their plans. I want to
definitely talk with everybody in our next meeting as we go forward and then see how we
can all work together to make the big and tough decisions. Thank you, Vice Chair.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. And just so you know, people are probably taking a little
sneak peek at yours during this process.
KOSSOW: Figured so.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair, for submitting yours in a timely fashion there. So, as Mr.
Lopez asked, Commissioners please, if you see fit, submit some plans that you feel are
comfortable and you want to bring forth in front of the Commission to talk about. I
encourage you to do so. We can always make changes and edits along the way, but this
item on our agenda will remain here so that we can discuss the plans that the
Commissioners have proposed. Any other discussion about item number 4 under New
Business? (No response.) Okay, hearing none. Thank you very much. We'll move on to
Item Number 5 under New Business. Mr. Kauka, could you read this into the record,
please?
KAUKA: Yes, thank you. New business item number:
5. Discussion on budgetary means for advertisements and value of social media presence for
Commission activities. Requested by Chairperson Kossow.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. Chair Kossow, did you want to lead or start off
conversation here with us about this?
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. So basically, I've kind of heard in the beginning
of the meeting that what we have issues with is getting the word out. I did see, sort of a,
as we saw in our last public meeting, with nobody to testify, I want to be able to reach
out. We have to think about free ways to do so and I do believe that social media
platforms are a good way to do it. So, that's the reason for this Communication. But I did
see in the West Hawaii Today, and I believe I saw it in the Tribune -Herald, the meeting
posting as well. But I don't know to what extent it reaches to people. So, that's the
purpose of this Communication.
MA
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Commissioners, any thoughts on this topic here and
outreach? This is specifically about social media and let's try to keep the social media
focus here on this topic and any types of means of advertisement. Any thoughts on this?
BATH: Bath.
HUSTACE: Ms. Bath.
BATH: Social media is exclusive. It is exclusive to people that have an internet
connection and accessibility to social media. And so, I think it's good, a good way to
outreach to people. However, it is exclusive.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Bath. Mr. Lopez?
LOPEZ: Yes. Another vehicle, I believe it's Channel 54, where you can post notices. If
you don't have a TV of course, that's not going to help you. The other aspect is similar to
what we just had with the offer of Mr. Aki. Is we have leaders of different ethnic groups,
particularly throughout the various ethnic communities. So, maybe detailing who those
contacts are and reaching them to go out to their membership is another way.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Lopez. Chair, did you have a motion in mind? Did you want
to talk further with the Commissioners about this possibility? The only question I had
was our current financial status for the Commission and the cost that would incur from
social media.
BATH: Chair? Bath.
HUSTACE: Yes, Ms. Bath.
BATH: So, since the agenda item addresses solely financing for social media, then isn't it
true that we can't have a discussion about other options for advertising?
HUSTACE: That's correct.
BATH: And so, in order to vote on whether we should allot funds to this without talking
about other options that might require funding might be premature at this time. I'm just
putting that out.
HUSTACE: It was agendized just as social media so we would have a discussion solely
on social media. Ms. Mellon -Lacey?
MELLON-LACEY: Reading the agenda item it says, discussion on budgetary means for
advertisements and value of social media presence for Commission activities. So that
seems to allow room for discussion of advertisements as well as social media presence.
MIP
HUSTACE: Very well. Thank you, Ms. Mellon -Lacey. So, if we could specifically talk
about advertisement, social media as an opportunity, we can have that conversation here.
Ms. Bath, did you have anything else to add on that then?
BATH: Yeah, that's great that we can talk about this. Some years ago, I really tuned in to
something that was going on through the campaigns. I was hoping we could apply it to
the Community Development Plan outreach, which didn't happen. There were radio spots
where different ethnic, different languages were used to let people know that this
candidate was the one to vote for. And we might consider doing radio spots where we
could do it in Hawaiian. That the public hearings, and the input from the public is
requested at this time and do it in all these different languages. Keep it bulleted, keep it
brief, and give contacts on how they could do it. And then people that are illiterate can
chime in, people that are in their cars going shopping or whatever can get the message. I
really like doing the radio thing `cause even people that don't have internet can have
emergency radios that they can use. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Bath. Commissioners, any further discussion on this? (No
response.) I'll repose, restate my question about our current finances for the Commission
and what capability and capacity we have for advertisement.
LOPEZ: Let me just add on to Ms. Bath.
HUSTACE: Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Yes, Ms. Bath, thank you. I like the radio as a everybody, well I shouldn't say
everybody because maybe not, but using the radio. And what we're doing could become
under the guise of public service event. And these outlets do provide for some limited
free communication of that nature. So, when we're talking about budget and we're
talking about perhaps radio or even, oh I don't know, television. We don't have a local
television station but for radio, let's just limit at that for a moment. And it could come
under public service events, not a required budget expense. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Lopez.
KOSSOW: Mr. Vice Chair.
HUSTACE: Yes, Mr. Chair.
KOSSOW: I like the discussion and I like the idea of doing a radio announcement. But I
don't, you know one of those things is, you don't want to be stuck with just one thing.
You have to be pretty diverse and the reason why I say that is, people in my age bracket,
including myself, don't listen to the radio. And so, we have to get really, we have to be
pretty broad when it comes to our advertisements. And yeah, I yield.
M.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Ms. Nakamoto and Elections Office, would you be able to
provide us or Mr. Kauka, for that matter, would you provide us our current financial
status for the Commission?
SAIKL Hi, this is Cori. Right now, our budget, the balance is $74,789.22.
LUL That's a lot of advertising.
HUSTACE: I don't see it solely for advertising but I was just trying to think of a
proportion
LUL I was just kidding.
HUSTACE: No, I hear you. A proportion of what we could use for that and really a
question for Ms. Nakamoto and Cori is, did the previous Commission do any sort of this
outreach in using their budgetary finances to use paper printing and those sort of things?
NAKAMOTO: Yes, I believe they did. I wanted to mention, since we're talking about
advertising, because we do a lot of this during an election year. Last election we did print,
we did radio, we did television. We did do social media also. And so, there's several
ways that you can advertise. And you folks can decide the best means, the audience that
you're trying to reach, and how you want to go about doing it. And when you do some
advertising like radio, if you buy certain times because if you want to get the information
out, you want to do it during what they would consider their peak time, where their best
listening audience. They throw in PSAs, they give us some free time in addition to what
we're purchasing. With the newspaper, with the print ads, if you go online and you read
the electronic newspaper, they're —Cori can probably explain that one better.
SAIKL The newspapers give you an option for either hard copy, the regular, to advertise
in the newspaper, or they have combo packages where you can do both. Newspaper and
the e-edition. They would give us like the top, the banner, you know, on the top. They
work with you so that's what we did. We did it in both.
HUSTACE: Thank you. Commissioners, any questions? Mr. Lopez?
LOPEZ: Yeah, this is a wild hare's thought, but we have those phone broadcasts through
Nixle and through Civil Defense. Is there anything, any facility that may be out there for
us where they could be a vehicle? Just throwing it out because I know I get those things
regularly. And since I don't do social media, I listen to the radio a lot. That's my choice.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Lopez. So, the question was about kind of a text
communication and mass text messaging. Ms. Lui?
LUL Well, I think because as it has been noted, different people use different media to
get their information that we should do any, and all, and maybe I don't know that the
budget, how much it costs for the Election committee to do it in the past for other
elections. But what we want to advertise, I am assuming, is the two big meetings, the
Hilo, the one on each side of the Island, so it would be something that would come out in
the paper. Sometimes they repeat it, like West Hawaii news, they put it out several days
in a row, at least in the E- one that I read. So, can I just propose that we use any and all of
those means that they election —do we direct the Election committee to do those
advertisements, or do we do it? What's the process? But whatever it is, we should do it.
HUSTACE: So, I welcome that as motion if you'd be so inclined.
LUL Sure. I'll move that we use all of those methods that the Election committee has
used in the past and knows how to do.
HUSTACE: And do you mind clarifying, just for record, do you mind clarifying the types
of outreach and sources of media?
LUL Yeah. Radio, TV, newspapers, social media.
HUSTACE: Okay, so motion on the floor is to, with the help of the Elections Office,
outreach the community ahead of the two December meetings, the public hearing
meetings, using the sources of social media, newspaper, TV, radio spots. I think those are
the four. Did you have a figure in mind, Ms. Lui?
LUL No, I thought the Election committee would know what they spent in the past on
these campaigns.
HUSTACE: Ms. Nakamoto, would you be able to provide us, like a general range of
outreach, the cost?
NAKAMOTO: Off the top of our heads, we don't know but we can get that information
to you.
LUL So, was it around $10,000, for example? Somewhere in there or less or more?
SAIKL For TV advertising, if I recall correctly, just one news channel was about between
$8,000 and $10,000.
LUL Oh my gosh! Scratch the TV. Scratch TV. That's too much.
HUSTACE: Ms. Lui would like to withdraw TV from the motion. Chair, did you have a
question?
KOSSOW: Yeah, is there a possibility we can work with Na Leo too, regarding that
instead? I know that Ms. Lui brought up TV but if we worked with them instead, I'm sure
it'd be a little bit more cost efficient.
BATH: Bath.
011
HUSTACE: Yes, Ms. Bath.
BATH: I just have a general question. The local newspapers are pretty good about
communicating with the public. With the public, might need to be, I like to think
historically. I'm wondering if, that's their mission, right? To give news, important news
that's good. So, I'm wondering if Elections can somehow get together with the paper and
say, hey listen, this is what the public needs to know. It seems wrong to have to pay to get
the news out to the public. And so, that's one of the things that I'd like to do. And I don't
know if I can say that under the discussion of advertising.
HUSTACE: So, for the motion, yes, Ms. Mellon -Lacey.
MELLON-LACEY: As a point of order, we have a motion on the floor. And also, one
possibility might be a not to exceed a certain amount.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Mellon -Lacey for the clarification. Right. So, I'll restate the
motion. Motion was from Ms. Lui to use —and we might have to amend it because the
motion was to use TV, newspaper, social media, and radio. Did you have a figure in
mind, Ms. Lui, for your motion?
LUL Well, we have, I can't think what else we are going to spend all this money on. So, I
don't necessarily think we have to be too cheap. On the other hand, we don't want to
spend money uselessly. So, I guess I would say a maximum of, I don't know, and I'm
just going to ask Election if they think it's reasonable, no more than $12,000 say. Is that
reasonable?
SAIKL I would think what you folks needed to decide on is how often you wanted the
advertisement to go out. I know you stated that it was for the two public hearings, right?
And so, how far in advance did you want? That all plays in to the amount you're going to
pay.
HUSTACE: Commissioner Lui, any adjustments? So, the motion on the floor is for
$12,000 at the moment. Is that correct, Ms. Lui?
LUL Yes.
HUSTACE: Do I have a second on the motion? (No response.) No second, motion dies.
Any further discussion?
LUL Can I remake the motion without the money? I'm not sure what the problem was
but I would still like to
HUSTACE: I think for clarification and just for the public's sense of what we're
spending, I think we need to establish a value of not to exceed more than a certain value.
001
It just didn't have second. So, we need some activity from the Commissioners to push the
motion. That's all.
BATH: Bath. I second it for purpose of discussion.
HUSTACE: I need a new motion. Sorry.
LUL The motion is that we do a media campaign to advertise the two public meetings
that will be held in December to have the public discuss the proposed maps. And that we
use TV, and I agree with Bronsten's idea of Na Leo to make it a little more community -
based as well. And newspaper, radio, and social media. And perhaps we can wait until
next time to figure out the money. And discuss the details next time.
HUSTACE: Do I have a second on the motion?
YOSHINA: I second the motion. Dwayne.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. Any discussion about the motion? Motion is to
publicize, ahead of time, our two public hearings through the means of social media,
newspaper, radio, and television, for the purpose of encouraging outreach and gaining
attendance. Any further discussion? Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: I don't know how you can make this motion without setting a budgetary fix for
it. You don't know how much you're going to spend. What are you advertising in terms
of the amount on budget? And as Cori pointed out, what is the frequency of that? It's a
motion with an unending conclusion.
HUSTACE: Mr. Lopez, do you have an amendment to the motion to add any financial
limits to it?
LOPEZ: Yes. Oh, that's good. May I propose an amendment that we set our budget at
maximum of $20,000, not to exceed, and with the cooperation of Elections, that we set
out a plan to decide where and how we are going to spend. We also, in the motion, I
amend it further that we do not include names of outlets. I think to say that name Na Leo
in our motion is too specific. We should keep it generic at TV.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Lopez. Do I have a second on the amendment? To spend no
more than $20,000 and to work with the Office of Elections to set up a plan and a
budgetary process of spending this money efficiently and selectively for the sole purpose
of the two public hearings in December.
LOPEZ: And not mention any particular vendor.
HUSTACE: And to do the necessary out means of shopping for the best route without
yeah, selecting the names as we mention the motion. Do I have a second on this?
E,R]
KOSSOW: Second. Bronsten.
HUSTACE: Second from Mr. Kossow. Any discussion on the amendment?
BATH: Bath.
HUSTACE: Yes, Ms. Bath.
BATH: I accept, and I like the motion but I'm not comfortable with specifically stating
that the purpose of the money would be only for those two hearings. Those two public
hearings. It might be appropriate to start doing outreach before that so that people can
weigh in so when we have the public hearings, there's more input. So, I like the motion
but I think that that's being too specific on how the $20,000 is going to be spent.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Bath. Quick question for you, Ms. Bath. Just a question
about this, what other items would you want to publicize for?
BATH: I don't know if we have time and I think it would have been good if we had done
a little bit of advertising on the public hearings that we're getting this initial input on was.
And unfortunately, that didn't happen but it's not too late now to advertise for that
because people can testify at any of the public hearings right now. Even if they are not in
that district. I just don't know if we have the time to get that together `cause we're in
process right now.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Bath. Chair Kossow, you had a question?
KOSSOW: Yeah, I seconded it because I wanted to have a little bit more of a discussion
with Mr. Lopez. Were you under the impression that it was for all of the public hearings
that we have set? Or was it just for the two?
LOPEZ: No. My intention was across the board. For every public meeting that we have.
KOSSOW: That was my interpretation of your amendment too.
LOPEZ: Thank you.
HUSTACE: Thank you for the clarification. So, I think that addresses Ms. Bath's
question as well. If I'm not mistaken?
BATH: Yes.
HUSTACE: The capacity of the Commission and the events on going then. Is that what
I'm hearing from the Commission?
BATH: Bath. Absolutely. I didn't hear that. Thanks for the clarification.
EA
HUSTACE: No problem. And thank you, Chair, and Commissioner Lopez, for clarifying
that with me. So, the amendment is then to allot $20,000, to spend no more than $20,000
for the purpose of this advertisement campaign. Correct? Without the publicizing the
specifics of businesses but to really work within that boundaries of $20,000. Correct, Mr.
Lopez?
LOPEZ: Yes, correct. Thank you very much.
HUSTACE: So, the amendment was from Mr. Lopez. A second from Chair Kossow. Any
further discussion on the amendment?
YOSHINA: Yes. This is Dwayne. I'd like to ask a question of Corp Counsel.
HUSTACE: Please. Ms. Mellon -Lacey, when you're ready, Mr. Yoshina has a question
for you.
MELLON-LACEY: Yes, Mr. Yoshina?
YOSHINA: Okay, thanks. When I served on the Game Management Advisory
Commission, we tried to establish a social media presence under a different
administration. And we had some problems with that from the administration. So, do we
have similar problems under this administration? Or you knowledgeable about that?
MELLON-LACEY: I am aware of various Commissions wanting to establish social
media accounts for their activities and there have been some issues surrounding those.
I'm not understanding that that's what we're talking about here. What I'm understanding
we're talking about here is advertising.
YOSHINA: Okay, so you don't see any problems coming up?
MELLON-LACEY: I mean what we're talking about is just getting the word out about
what, when these meetings are being held, and encouraging people to attend and provide
input. Which I think is different than if the Commission set up its own social media site
and invited public interaction specifically on a social media site. I don't think that's what
we're doing. If that's what's being contemplated, I couldn't answer whether that would
be allowable or not. But I know it's run into issues. And you have to have someone to
monitor it and etcetera. But I don't think that's what we're talking about.
YOSHINA: Okay, thank you. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. I think we'd be working strictly with the Elections
Office to run these campaigns. That was my understanding of the initial motion. Any
other discussion about the amendment? (No response.) I'd like to call this to a vote then.
Any discussion? Mr. Lopez, you have a question?
E,K
LOPEZ: Yes. I didn't hear that as an amendment. We killed the first motion, and this was
a new motion.
HUSTACE: So, yours was an amendment of $20,000 to an additional motion from Ms.
Lui that was re -instigated. So, this is an amendment.
LOPEZ: Okay, I missed it. So, what is the amendment?
HUSTACE: Your amendment, Mr. Lopez, was to spend no more than $20,000 and work
with the Office of Elections to run this advertisement campaign. It's just additional
information to add on an initial motion from Ms. Lui. So, I'd like to call this to a vote if
there are no other discussion. Mr. Kauka, roll call vote please, on the amendment.
Mr. Lopez moved to amend the advertising
campaign motion. Seconded by Chair Kossow.
The motion to amend the advertising campaign was
carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Yadao, Yoshina, Vice Chair Hustace, and
Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
KAUKA: Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. You have 8 ayes.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. The amendment carries. So, the motion on the floor
here, the amended motion, is to work with the Elections Office to advertise or outreach to
the community our public hearings, the eight that are left in this rendition now, this
iteration, and also the two upcoming ones in December. And not to spend more than
$20,000 working with the Office of Elections as a Commission to build this campaign
and send this information out to the community. Any discussion on the amended motion?
KOSSOW: Mr. Vice Chair.
HUSTACE: Mr. Chair.
KOSSOW: Just for clarification, I just want to make sure that we're doing it right before
it gets entered into the record. But, it's for the entirety of our public hearings, correct?
And not just the two, right?
HUSTACE: That's correct. That's my understanding. All of our outreach, not just the
two in December, but all of the meetings that we have ongoing that are outreach to the
C191
public. Especially the public hearings, and the two larger hearings in December. Does
that make sense, Mr. Chair?
KOSSOW: Thank you. Yeah, that makes sense.
MELLON-LACEY: Excuse me, this is Ms. Mellon -Lacey.
HUSTACE: Yes, Ms. Mellon -Lacey.
MELLON-LACEY: I believe we voted, right? So, are weI don't think there's further
discussion at this point. We voted, right?
HUSTACE: No. I was holding the line just to see if there's any discussion about the
amended motion.
MELLON-LACEY: But we voted on it.
HUSTACE: On the amendment. Now we'll vote on the full motion.
MELLON-LACEY: Okay, thank you.
HUSTACE: Is that —alright. Any discussion on the full motion? The amended motion?
(Hearing none.) Roll call vote, Mr. Kauka.
NAKAMOTO: Can we ask a question?
HUSTACE: I'm sorry, who's speaking?
NAKAMOTO: This is Pat Nakamoto, the Elections Program Administrator.
HUSTACE: Yes, Ms. Nakamoto.
NAKAMOTO: We were wondering on the timeframe. Are we going to be working with
someone from the Commission to set these ads up? And what kind of information you
folks want in it and when you're looking at beginning the ads, having them run. Setting
up all the criteria for doing the advertisements.
HUSTACE: Thanks for the question, Ms. Nakamoto. Is there any discussion from the
Commissioners or questions or response to Ms. Nakamoto's question about a timeline?
Or how the Commission will interact with the Office of Elections on this campaign? Mr.
Lopez?
LOPEZ: If what you're looking for is a volunteer, I'll volunteer to work with you on that.
But my sense is that, having been through these advertising campaigns, knowing what the
outlets are, that you propose a outlets cost and then we draft the message. I mean if that's
the kind of coordination you're looking for, I'd be happy to help you or work with you on
that.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Lopez, for stepping up to help us with that. Any other
questions?
BATH: Bath.
HUSTACE: Yes, Ms. Bath.
BATH: I think that's a great idea. I'm just wondering how much time that's going to take
`cause we're in the process of doing the public hearings right now. So, if we're going to
take two weeks to do it, it'll be over, or most of it really.
HUSTACE: Ms. Lui.
LUL I was just going to say that in terms of the public hearings, I feel like the district
Commissioners from each district should help with outreach for those. I mean, mine's
over so I don't have anything. But they don't have to be Island wide obviously since
they're aimed at districts so those would be simpler, I would imagine. Maybe the district
Commissioners could work with you on those.
HUSTACE: Cori, did you have something to add into that?
SAIKL Yes. I believe for next week, the two public hearings next week, I think the
deadline has passed for the newspaper. Yeah, for the newspaper publications, they
normally have about a week. We need to submit all of our ads a week prior so I'm pretty
sure we're not going to make next week's public hearings won't be able to get published.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Cori. Mr. Lopez?
LOPEZ: Yes. You're speaking strictly of the printed media? Like newspaper?
SAIKL The print, for sure, I'm pretty sure about that one. The TV and the radio, I'm not
sure. We need to get in touch with them and then theyI know for Elections, there's a
script that they need to create for radio and I'm not even sure how the TV one will work
right now.
LOPEZ: Okay, then we just put the best effort we can given the timeframe. And I'm
willing to give you the time, what you need from my side.
HUSTACE: Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Lopez. Ms. Nakamoto, you had
something to add?
NAKAMOTO: Yes, I wanted to add, although we're going to probably have missed
maybe four or five public hearings, in the advertising, we could consider putting
E,R
information in there asking these districts that we have already completed the public
hearings, that they could still provide their testimony at the next hearing. We could still
include those districts that we've already completed the public hearings at.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Nakamoto. I hope Mr. Lopez's offer is appropriate and
works for you. And as a Commission, we can work through him to connect with you and
do that sort of business.
NAKAMOTO: Yes, we'll be in contact with Mr. Lopez. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Mahalo, Mr. Lopez. Any other discussion on the full motion? (No response.)
Okay, hearing none. Mr. Kauka, roll call vote, please. And if you could read the motion.
KAUKA: Thank you, Vice Chair. If I could yield to you to just kind of restate that
motion again for clarity since there was a lengthy discussion. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Absolutely. I'll do it to the best of my knowledge here. After this lengthy
discussion, I appreciate everyone's patience on this. The full motion and amended motion
is to spend no more than $20,000 to advertise our public hearings for the upcoming
months. However, we are able to get in on time and just to the community. Using social
media, print advertisements, the TV, and radio spots. Roll call vote, Mr. Kauka?
Ms. Lui motioned to have the Commission start an
advertising campaign. Seconded by Mr. Yoshina.
The motion to start the advertising campaign was
carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Yadao, Yoshina, Vice Chair Hustace, and
Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
KAUKA: Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. You have 8 ayes.
HUSTACE: Thank you, everyone. Motion carries. I'd like to move on to the last item
under new business.
KOSSOW: Mr. Vice Chair, I have one more thing for agenda item number 5. I just want
to make sure if there was all possibility, I know that it does talk about advertisements. I
know that the Mayor and the County Council has websites. Is there a possibility that we
can get communications or a form of advertisement in those websites as well? I'm sorry I
didn't get that as a clarification in any type of forum, but I figured it would be good to
discuss something like that. And I don't know who that gets directed to. So, I yield.
C[1
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a question back to you. You were thinking
specifically about the County of Hawai`i's website, or? (Response away from the mic)
Okay. And this would be probably on the Elections Office page or something like that?
KOSSOW: Correct.
HUSTACE: Any other discussion about what Chair Kossow has just mentioned here?
BATH: Bath.
HUSTACE: Yes, Ms. Bath.
BATH: That's a really great idea. What I'd encourage be done is not have the
information on the Elections site because I never go to the Elections site. I couldn't even
find the Elections site on the website. Is there any way that there can be like a flashing
banner when people go into the, maybe not that visible, but something that people didn't
have to click to see when they entered into the County website, that the information was
right there without having to click to any Departments or EPIC programs, or anything
like that? `Cause that's the input that I get from a lot of people. The site's hard to
transverse.
HUSTACE: Mr. Chair?
KOSSOW: Mr. Vice Chair, thank you. I think what if we just posed that question to IT
and if Elections or even if our staff would be able to provide that information for us. I
know that might be a little bit longer discussion if we can have like a banner or a pop-up
that goes into the system. But I don't know what the parameters are for utilizing the
County sites are. So, I yield.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ms. Nakamoto, is this a possibility to work with IT in
this capacity? Well, we don't have to have really a discussion on this but, is there a
possibility to do anymore on the County website to bring this to attention to the public?
KAUKA: Ms. Nakamoto is making her way, or actually I can speak to this.
HUSTACE: Thanks, Mr. Kauka.
KAUKA: Thank you. I appreciate that question and interest of having it featured on the
County website in a way that appears readily. The Office of the County Clerk definitely
has its own section, of course. And we can work with our staff to feature it on that end.
But to the idea of not having to click further and just have it at the main site on
hawai i county. gov, we can certainly work internally with our IT Department. I'm not sure
who makes those specific decisions but I'm happy to put in a request to them to see how
we can feature it up front as much as possible.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. Any other questions or discussion? Mr. Lopez?
LOPEZ: Yes, just further volunteering. Mr. Kauka, I'd be happy to work with you in
terms of getting the feedback and seeing how appropriate it would be, along with
Elections.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Lopez. Any other discussion? Ms. Lui?
LUL Many of our County Councilors have put out information to their constituents too.
As to things that are coming up, we could all contact those people. I know I contacted our
North Hilo community Council, and they've advertised the public hearings. So, there are
other places that where people disseminate information. Thank you, Ms. Lui. So, thank
you, Mr. Kauka. First, for posing that request to IT and County Clerk's Office to see if
that's a possibility and we'll connect more about that. And to Ms. Lui's point, I would
encourage the Commissioners to reach out to your current Council Member and see if
they could pose that question on their bulletin boards or calendars and their outreach
newsletters that they might have. Thank you, Ms. Lui. Chair Kossow, any further
discussion about item number 5?
KOSSOW: No further discussion and thank you for everybody's comments on it. Thank
you. I yield.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Chair.
KAUKA: Mr. Vice Chair, this is Dennis.
HUSTACE: Yes, Mr. Kauka?
KAUKA: I think this might just be an appropriate time for me to mention too, I'm not
sure how known this is by the Commissioners, but the support staff does maintain a list
of what we call, subscribers. These are people who, individuals in the community and the
public, who have expressed interest since the Commission began. Whether they have
requested agendas or phoned the Office of the Clerk to get information. And so, this list
currently has about twenty-two people and information is consistently sent to them
anytime we post anything new.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. That's good to know. And so, we can encourage
others to reach out to the Redistricting and you. The Redistricting office through
Elections to get on this email list as well. Thank you, Mr. Kauka. Alright, I'd like to
move on to item number 6 on new business. Mr. Kauka, if you could read this for the
record, please?
KAUKA: Thank you. New business item number:
CE:3
6. Projecting dates and times of Commission meetings for remainder of the term. Requested
by Chairperson Kossow, the Commission may review, discuss, and establish consensus
on proposals for scheduling regular session meetings up until dissolving.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. Does everybody have that Communication in front
of them? Alright. So, the proposed meeting dates are thank you, Chair Kossow, for
proposing these and at least getting this conversation going so we can look ahead. This
list proposes the following meeting dates: October 28 h, November 12d', November 24 h
December 9 h, and December 23rd. So, those would be dates of our full meetings. And it
gives, as you see, the spacing is more of less two weeks apart. And it gives staff an
opportunity to help get things on the agenda, agendize things and publish those that needs
to be out with a week's notice. Any discussion?
KOSSOW: Mr. Vice Chair.
HUSTACE: Yes, Mr. Chair.
KOSSOW: First of all, thank you for the discussion here. I know that we've had issues in
the past with the scheduling and the scheduling with the State Commission. So, I just
wanted to put this into our agenda as more of a discussion. And also, it's kind of hard to
go off of a whim after a Commission meeting to come up with a two weeks' notice.
Hence the reason why I'm not in the Chamber right now. I figured it would be best for
everybody to just have like a detailed plan over the next couple of weeks. I hope this
helps everybody in their future planning. I yield the floor.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Any discussion on Chair Kossow and what he's
presented to us?
KAUKA: Mr. Vice Chair, this is Dennis. If I may also.
HUSTACE: Yes, Mr. Kauka.
KAUKA: Thank you. To Chairperson Kossow's request to just sort of map out the next
two and a half months as much as possible, the calendar was offered as a visual and to lay
out potential dates for meetings. So that we could work forward towards them and then
some internal deadlines. It's in no where set in stone, but it was an effort to as much align
with the draft timeline that Ms. Nakamoto presented at the onset of the Commission. I did
want to make one note about a date we plotted there for November 24 as a proposed
meeting. I got word overnight that the West Hawaii Civic Center Council Chamber
actually would not be available on that date. So, an option would be to move that up to
November 23rd instead or participants that would normally attend via in -person and the
Chamber, could do so virtually, but we'd have the Hilo Chamber available. Just wanted
to make that correction as well. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. Maybe you could speak about each of these dates if
there are particulars about that pop-up for individuals. Well, we can start there, on the
E,01
November one since Mr. Kauka brought it up. If that's okay? Any discussion about that?
Would it be possible to move it to the 23rd? Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: The proposed meetings on the cover letter says December 23rd. So, maybe that's
just a slight of the hand here. Chair Kossow, can you comment on that? Oh, this is from
Dennis. I'm sorry.
KOSSOW: Sorry, Mr. Lopez. What was your question?
LOPEZ: Well, the cover letter from you to the Chair, has December 23. And then the
calendar, has it on also on the 23rd. I'm not understanding, you're seeing 24 h- Where is
this?
HUSTACE: So, that's the November meeting. November 24 h.
LOPEZ: Oh, November. Thank you. I'm off track here. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Chair, is there an issue if we move it to the November 23rd instead? So, both
Chambers are open.
KOSSOW: I have no issues, but I would like to hear from the other Commissioners.
HUSTACE: Commissioners, any thoughts on that specific one? We can go through each
one if we need to. But any thoughts on moving that one since there is a conflict with the
space?
LUL I like the 23rd better and I might say the same for December. The day before
Thanksgiving and the day before Christmas Eve is a little tight.
HUSTACE: Ms. Lui is proposing that Tuesday, November 23rd instead for that week of
Thanksgiving. Is that okay with everyone? Any conflicts or votes in the no on that? Any
negatives? We get pretty casual here, so we don't have to get too crazy, but okay. What if
we propose November 23rd then, for that week instead of the 24 h so we have both
Chambers? Okay. And then, Ms. Lui, to your other point, would anyone else like to add
on to that about that week in December? Any thoughts on that? Ms. Lui, proposed
December 22nd instead. Is that correct, Ms. Lui?
LUL Yes.
HUSTACE: Mr. Kauka, are the Chambers available on the 22nd
KAUKA: Yes, Mr. Vice Chair. I only have visual on the Hilo Chamber, and it is
available on the 22nd of December. If Scott might be listening or if you have someone
there in the Chamber who might be able to confirm there, or I can check backstage.
6711
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. Scott has mentioned that it's not available on the
22nd as the Council is using this Chamber.
KAUKA: Thank you. Thank you, Scott.
LUL I can do the 24 h. That's okay too. I don't know of what other people think.
HUSTACE: Yeah, so it looks like this Chamber is available on the 21", or the 23rd or the
24d'. Ms. Lui, did you have anything else on that?
LUL No. Either one of those dates is okay with me, 21" or 23rd
KOSSOW: Mr. Vice Chair.
HUSTACE: Yes, Mr. Chair.
KOSSOW: I'm sorry. Was Kona Chambers open you said, 21", 23rd, and 24 h?
HUSTACE: That's correct.
KOSSOW: We might want to just consider doing it a little bit before Christmas. I know
this probably —is thisI don't have the paperwork right here in front of me, but is that
the last Commission meeting that we have?
HUSTACE: It could possibly be the last one. We didn't propose one after the Christmas
holiday leading up to New Year's. Just looking at it, we may even have to meet then to
finalize all our report. We could use that final meeting to do so. I'm just thinking ahead.
The 23rd is a Thursday. That Friday is an observed holiday for the Christmas holiday.
LUL Can I propose that we meet on Tuesday, the 21 "? And make it an extended meeting
so that if we need more time, we really can spend time. And that's part of the reason I
think the 23rd would be tough. Our minds might be elsewhere.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Lui. Mr. Kauka, is the 21" available on the Hilo Chambers?
KAUKA: Yes, it is. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Okay. Mr. Chair, is that alright if we propose the 21" instead?
KOSSOW: Yeah, I agree. Anybody else have any objections to that?
HUSTACE: Any other discussion or objections or issues with the 21"? (No response.)
Okay.
LOPEZ: I have a question.
51
HUSTACE: Yes, Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: That week, the 20d' to the 23rd, has a dotted line, finalize plan. We're not
meeting for that period of time.
HUSTACE: No. I think it's just a time and a window that we should be finalizing on our
part.
LOPEZ: It's just for us to focus on?
HUSTACE: That's correct.
LOPEZ: Alright. Thank you.
LUL Bring your sleeping bag.
(Laughter.)
HUSTACE: Yeah. So, our proposed meetings are instead: October 28 h, November 12d',
November 23rd, December 9 h, and December 21". Any objections or other discussion
about these dates? (No response.) Okay. We will put these on the calendar then. Thank
you everyone for considering these dates and making time out of your schedule for these.
We know they fall during the holidays, so I appreciate the time you spend with the rest of
us doing this hard work. Any other discussion about that? (No response.) Okay. Thank
you everyone. That closes new business.
REPORTS
None.
REFERRALS FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION
None.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
HUSTACE: Do we have any announcements from the Commissioners? (No response.) I
don't see any hands up. I think the only one I wanted to share with everyone, let me go
back here. And this is really for the Commissioners and the public in general that are
listening in on this. We do have a set of upcoming public hearings. We have one this
evening, at 6 o'clock at the Honoka`a Sports Complex and Skate Park Gymnasium. This
is in Honoka`a, Thursday, October 14d'. So, this evening at 6 o'clock. We hope that you
can join us. Then our next meetings are also posted up in the Redistricting folder. All the
rest of them have been scheduled going forward. So, please look into that folder for that
information there. Any further discussion or annoucements? (No response.)
61%
ADJOURNMENT
LUI: Motion to adjourn.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Lui. Motion from Ms. Lui.
YOSHINA: Second. Dwayne.
HUSTACE: Second from Mr. Yoshina. Any objections? (No response.) Hearing none.
We'll close today's meeting at 12:30. Mahalo, everyone.
YOSHINA: Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, all.
Respectfully Submitted,
Nicole Bello, support staff to
the Commission
Approved on December 9, 2021
(date)
Mr. Bronsten-Glenn Kossow, Chair
Hawaii County Redistricting Commission
53
2021
HAWAI`I COUNTY
REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
DRAFT
6'h Session
Thursday, October 28, 2021
County Council Chambers
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
ATTENDANCE:
Present: Mr.
`Aina Akamu, Commissioner (via Zoom)
Ms.
Stephanie Bath, Commissioner
Mr.
James Hustace, Vice Chairperson
Mr.
Bronsten-Glenn Kossow, Chairperson
Mr.
Stephen Lopez, Commissioner
Mr.
Meizhu Lui, Commissioner (via Zoom)
Ms.
Jennifer Yadao, Commissioner
Mr.
Dwayne Yoshina, Commissioner
Also Present: Debbie Ka`ahanui-Hoyohoy, Elections Assistant
Diana Mellon -Lacey, Deputy Corporation Counsel (via Zoom)
Cori Saiki, Elections Program Specialist I
Dennis Kauka Jr., Legislative Specialist / Secretary
CALL TO ORDER:
KOSSOW: Aloha and welcome to the 6 h Session of the County of Hawaii Redistricting
Commission. Today is Thursday, October 28 h, 2021. My name is Bronsten, and I am the
Chairperson for this Commission. Our first announcement: Because of the Coronavirus
COVID-19 emergency and State and Federal guidance on large meetings or gatherings
and pursuant to the Mayor's proclamations regarding COVID-19, the Redistricting
Commission meetings are currently not open to the public to attend in person until further
notice. Members of the public may view or provide oral testimony via the Zoom platform
by requesting for this information as noticed on our posted agendas. Thank you for your
understanding. Calling this meeting to order. The time is 9:32 a.m.
ROLL CALL
KOSSOW: Commissioners, when called upon please indicate that you are present and
whether you are in Hilo, Kona, or participating by remote virtually. Mr. Kauka?
KAUKA: Thank you, Chair. Commissioner Lui, "Here by Zoom," Commissioner
Yoshina, "Here in Hilo, in -person," Commissioner Yadao, "Present, Hilo,"
Commissioner Bath, "Hilo Chambers, here," Commissioner Akamu, "Present via Zoom,"
Commissioner Lopez, "Present in Kona", Commissioner Hustace, "Present, Kona
Chambers", Chair Kossow, "Here, Kona." Thank you, Chair. You have eight members
present and we have quorum.
KOSSOW: Mahalo. As a reminder, during this meeting, we are working with
Commissioners in multiple locations. The audio of the meeting is being recorded so as
much as possible, let's try to avoid overtalk as that becomes difficult to later dictate the
minutes. Please keep your microphones on mute unless you are speaking. And we ask
that for members of the public who are tuned in as well. Commissioners in either
Chambers, your microphone can be activated by pressing the button at the base. I won't
be able to recognize you if the audio is not coming through so be sure to check if that's
on first before speaking. As I am presiding from Kona, Commissioners here with me,
please turn your light on or get my attention to be recognized. For those in Hilo, or
remote, please speak out with your name if you need to be recognized and I will do my
best to navigate. After I recognize you, please state your name for the recording
transcription and proceed. If you don't state your name first, I may interrupt you to
clarify who is speaking for the minutes. Thank you all.
STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS
KOSSOW: Now, moving over to statements from the public. Testifiers, please note, you
will have three minutes per each item on the agenda to provide your statement. If you are
speaking on multiple items, please indicate when you are transitioning. We kindly ask
that you wait until called upon to unmute yourself. If there are issues when you are
K
called, after trying some time, we may have to move on while staff tries to work with you
offline and we'll get back to you. When there are thirty seconds remaining, we may
indicate this to you and ask that you summarize. Please state your name for the record
and the item you are testifying on. Mr. Kauka?
KAUKA: Thank you, Chair. First, just as a note, all the written testimony that was
received up until this morning has been distributed to Commissioners as well. We have
four testifiers who registered. However, I only see two with us so far this morning. Our
first testifier is Ms. Patrice MacDonald. Followed by Ms. Brenda Ford. Ms. MacDonald,
you can unmute yourself and begin.
PATRICE MACDONALD
MACDONALD: I'm a little concerned. I have not been able to find any of the
information or the mapping. Although, our biggest concern is the lines drawn for
Districts 4 and 5. We want to be inclusive of the whole town and not part of the town.
Since HPP is in Kea`au, I'd like to see those lines redrawn. However, I would say that
Mr. Hustace's number 9 map, was the closest to our ideal. That's my opinion from
Hawaiian Acres and the few people who could access any of the materials, got together.
Mahalo.
KAUKA: Thank you, Ms. MacDonald. Our next testifier is Ms. Brenda. Thank you, Ms.
Ford. You may begin.
BRENDA FORD
FORD: Thank you very much. First, I want to say that I have made my map available to
the Commissioners. So, if you want to look at it, or copy it so that you can change
boundaries on it, it is available to you at this time. Also, I am going to be available for the
rest of the meeting for any questions, should you have any. Thank you very much.
KAUKA: Thank you, Ms. Ford. Chair, that's the last testifier we have with us currently.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. If any testifiers end up coming on to the Zoom
platform, just please let me know.
KAUKA: Thank you, Chair. I will.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
September 9, 2021 meeting 2"d session
KOSSOW: Moving over to approval of minutes. Commissioners, the minutes for the
September 9 h meeting were provided to you on October 22na
K
Mr. Hustace moved to approve the minutes of the
September 9, 2021, meeting. Seconded by Mr.
Lopez.
The motion to approve the minutes of the
September 9, 2021 meeting was carried by the
following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Yadao, Yoshina, Vice Chair Hustace, and
Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
KOSSOW: Motion carries to adopt the minutes.
REPORTS
KOSSOW: Moving over to reports. Commissioners, we're going to take an item out of
order on the agenda. I understand the Elections staff can provide the update on
advertising. Mr. Kauka?
KAUKA: Thank you.
Update on advertising and public outreach of public hearings
From Chairperson Kossow requesting an update by the County Elections Divison.
During its October 14, 2021 — 5th session, the Commission approved of no more
than $20,000 to advertise their public hearings using an social media, print,
television, and radio options as appropriate and feasible. The Commission may
receive an update on these efforts, including but not limited to platforms that will
be used, advertising plans that have been secured, timing, and any funds that have
been or will be spent towards this outreach.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Commissioners, you should have received Communication 20 for
this. Elections staff, would you like to comment on the current budget?
SAIKL So, the newspaper ads, and this is just for the current public hearings. We are
already in progress working with West Hawaii Today and the Tribune -Herald for the
December, the last two public hearings. The public hearing advertisement right now, in
the two newspapers will cost $2,220.63. For the radio advertisements, it's approximately
a thousand dollars: $998.95. Again, this is only for the current public hearings that we're
holding right now. The last two public hearings, the one on the east and west side of the
island, that's a different charge. That will be different. I don't have a price on those now
because I'm working with the newspapers and the radio.
KOSSOW: Mahalo. Any questions from the Commissioners? Mr. Hustace.
C!
HUSTACE: Just curious about our progress with of the other platforms, social media, or
television. If we've made any headway on those?
SAIKL No, not the social media. I know Dennis worked with, I believe, someone about
the website. Let me see if I can get him to
KAUKA: Thanks, Cori. Thank you, Commissioner Hustace. One aspect of social media
of the Office of the County Clerk's social media platforms and pages, we have been
posting the information on the public hearings there. I did reach out; I know there was a
request to have the public hearings more prominently featured on the County website,
basically, on the homepage. The idea was to have that maybe as a form of a banner where
you wouldn't have to click as much to get to the information on the dates. I did reach out
on October 15'h to the Mayor's Public Information Officer. He told me he could work on
it at that time. I did check in with him yesterday too. I don't yet see it on the website. But
thank you to Commissioner Lopez also, who offered some language on what that could
look like. Currently when you go to the County's homepage, it would be in the area
where they are currently advertising or featuring information on the new EPIC system.
So, the idea would be to temporarily have what's kind of like a floating banner to also
include our public hearings. I did let the Mayor's Public Information Officer know that
we are in the middle of the public hearings now and that this would be temporary and
then if we could start that up again when we do the other two after the draft plans are
completed. But so far, I haven't seen progress, so I'll continue to track that with him.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. Just a clarification on the social media side, it's just
solely being posted on the County Clerk's page. Is that correct?
KAUKA: That's correct.
HUSTACE: Could we boost it on there as well? Could we spend the advertisement
dollars we allotted for boosting it on that page too?
KAUKA: I could check into that. Sure.
HUSTACE: Just because we have this money allocated from our budget that, you know,
it could go further on the social media by spending a few dollars to boost it across the
island.
KAUKA: Okay. There are staff members within the Office of the County Clerk that
manage the social media pages and I'll have that discussion with them, on the boosting.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Kauka.
KAUKA: You're welcome.
KOSSOW: Mr. Lopez.
67
LOPEZ: Yes, thank you. I have seen from District 8 and District 7 both, in their Council
Member newsletters, prominently advertising these meetings. One of the feedbacks I
gave to both Dennis and to Cori, was that the advertising doesn't really, I mean they
advertise the meeting, but it doesn't really speak to the public as to what's the purpose of
it and why should they be interested. So, I gave them a couple of sentences as a
suggestion to add to those advertising. That somebody reads it, and it just doesn't say
what the meeting is, but it gives a little bit about what the purpose of it is and why it's
important to them, and how and why maybe they should get involved. So, I hope those
things got through. I know they did to Dennis. I don't know if Elections received that, but
I did send it to both. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Lopez. Any other Commissioners? (No response.) Okay.
We're moving over to unfinished business.
COMMUNICATIONS
None.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
KOSSOW: This is an ongoing item for map plans that are being proposed. Mr. Kauka?
KAUKA: Unfinished business:
Alternate Plans.
The Commission may review, discuss, and consider any alternate redistricting plans
received from the public pursuant to Hawaii County Code Chapter 36, Article 5.
KOSSOW: Commissioners, this is the time we can continue discussion on the one plan
that we have received, which is from Ms. Ford. Any questions or comments? We have
Ms. Ford on Zoom if you have any questions for her. (Pause.) Any questions for Ms.
Ford?
BATH: Stephanie.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: I'm having a challenge bringing up Ms. Ford's map on my computer.
KOSSOW: Okay. We'll take a minute to pull it up.
BATH: It's been loading for a long time. Maybe we could have somebody help here.
KAUKA: Chair, we also have staff in Hilo who are working on looking to project that
onto the screen.
1.1
KOSSOW: Okay. I'll give it a second. Thank you.
(Meeting paused.)
KAUKA: Chair, thank you for the time. It looks like we have the plan from Ms. Ford that
we're discussing now projected on the screen. Commissioners here have it on their
laptops as well if you want to proceed.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Kauka. Thank you, staff. Any Commissioners
would like to start it off?
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Yeah, I'll dive in here if we could have kind of an open conversation about
this map. I think we'll have a number of these conversations as we project the other
Commissioner maps up as well. I kind of like to look at different parts of Ms. Ford's
map. Just to have a kind of open conversation about this. I'd actually like to start where
Ms. Ford draws the boundary line between 8 and 9, just south of Waikoloa Village. I
know there's no one living in that tract of land, but to be —(During this time,
Commissioner Hustace paused to give direction to staffprojecting Ms. Ford's map on the
screen). Just south of Waikoloa Village there, as you can see on the screen, there's a big
empty tract of land. Just south of Waikoloa Road. Kind of in the midst of where the
Daniel K. Inouye Extension would have been or could be potentially someday down the
road. There is just a little bit further on your screen there. Just a little bit further down. I
would put that all in District 9. Personally, just to make it a contiguous stretch of land
there. So, you have kind of a defined boundary that connects the upper road and the lower
road. Just a little bit. You can zoom out or whatever you need to do to see that whole tract
of empty land there. You see that where it kind of pops in towards Waikoloa Village. I
would just put that —since there's no one living there it really wouldn't matter which way
you flip it but, I would just put it all in District 9 since you made that cut out towards
District 9. Okay, so that's one idea. Then I would like to go down towards Kona and
Kona proper towards the pier and Kailua Bay. I want to give props to Ms. Ford. One of
the District's she hit right on the nose with 22,232, but we'll get to that in a moment. I'm
just curious from the Commissioners representing our Kona areas, their thoughts on the
boundary between 7 and 8 here. We see all of Kailua Bay is in 7. I just need to know a
little bit more about their feelings on this and what residents would feel of the boundary
like this.
KOSSOW: Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Representing District 8, I think it's an extremely large deviation historically,
think that the Kailua town and the neighborhood surrounding it, including where the
Civic Center sits, has been in District 8 for so long that I think that it's too major of a
N
deviation for the pubic to accept one shot like this. I think District 7 goes too far into the
north and I'd prefer to see the district maintained within the boundaries of Kailua-Kona
and adjacent neighborhoods remain in District 8. I just think it's too far a deviation from
current. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Lopez.
KOSSOW: If I may.
HUSTACE: Please, Chair, of course.
KOSSOW: I represent District 7 which is just south of there. I know that splitting up
Nani Kailua is probably not the most ideal thing. Especially for our representative
representing one part of that subdivision than the other part. I probably would like to see
a little bit more, probably towards Hualalai Road which is that —if you go towards where
that 374 is, right below that, there's not many homes within that area so, if you push that
down, I'm sure that it would be a little bit more acceptable. That also runs through the
Wai`aha Streams as well. A very, very old road. Mr. Hustace?
HUSTACE: Thanks, Mr. Chair. Let's continue on down towards Captain Cook here. I
would just like to hear, of course Chair for Council 7 and Commissioner Akamu, I
believe, if you want to talk about some of these boundaries as well. Where it kind of juts
into the more makai portion of Kealakekua.
KOSSOW: This is Chair. Historically, in the 2011 Commission, they made Haleki`i
Street, I think the boundary line for 6 and 7. I know I've heard some concerns regarding
that, and I don't know if it would be warranted to sort of move 6 and 7 a little bit more
south past Kealakekua in between Captain Cook. I know I've heard some concerns
regarding Captain Cook as maybe the starting point because of the deviation for District
6. Mr. Hustace?
HUSTACE: Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm curious, Mr. Akamu, did you have any thoughts on
that kind of boundary line where 6 and 7 touch Kealakekua and Captain Cook area?
KOSSOW: Mr. Akamu.
AKAMU: Aloha. Thanks, Commissioner. I'm hoping that at our public meeting tonight,
we'll be able to get more public input. I do see that there's probably going to be some
challenges, especially with this area boundary, as well as for us, on the Volcano -side area
boundaries. So, this is one that I'm especially trying to see if we can get more of our
public input because I think it's going to present some challenges to move the boundary
there.
HUSTACE: Thanks, Mr. Akamu. I just kind of wanted to gage the thoughts of different
Commissioners as we go through this, and I appreciate Ms. Ford letting us use her map
for this kind of dialogue and discussion here. As Ms. Ford kind of mapped out here,
E:3
District 6 really maintains its large portion of the southern half of the island. As we'll
probably see on some of the other maps coming up later, that really the case. I think a lot
of the Commissioners have seen the challenges with District 6 just because of the
sparsely populated area and just the wide spread of individuals across a large tract of
land, right? So, that's the challenge we have. Anything of note that the Commissioners
wanted to talk about in where Ms. Ford has Council 4 and 5?
KOSSOW: Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Yes, thank you. In trying, I have to go back to a statement I made earlier where,
being on the west side of Hawaii, people talk about lower Puna, upper Puna, the town. I
really have no concept of what they're talking about. Even in public hearings, when these
statements are made, and I can't ask a question. So, when people say don't split up the
town, you have to understand that it's pretty common to you, but from the outside
looking in, I can discern what you're talking about. But I did notice, in this map, that, and
this is based on comment I heard in the public hearing, about Mountain View and
Kea`au. So, I guess I'm asking, and I noticed Ms. Ford put those in the same District 5, is
that the area referred to as "town"? And is it intended that they should be together as this
map portrays or does it just happen that way? Can anybody comment on that? The
terminology and those statements to help me understand what we are trying to do here in
this area.
BATH: Commissioner Bath.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: Thank you, Commissioner, for asking. I know it is challenging because there's
such diversity geographically on our island and culturally as well, in some communities.
I've lived in District 5 for forty years and have some connection with District 4 as well.
There are a number of things. As far as the word "town," in my community, when people
say they're going to town, that means they're going to Hilo. It doesn't mean that they're
going to Pahoa. It doesn't mean that they're going to Kea`au. Mountain View is a tiny
little historic village that offers —it doesn't offer much in terms of people going there to
shop. In public testimony, there were a few testimonies that pointed out that Pahoa
Village is split in half. So, the actual town of Pahoa is partially in District 5 and it's
partially in District 4, which is problematic. The testimonies are steering towards having
Pahoa as a town. If you can imagine Captain Cook or something being split down the
middle, there might be concern there. The other thing regarding Council District 4 is that
the Kalapana, the southeastern area that Ms. Ford has in District 5 is really part of lower
Puna. It's really part of District 4. In order to get, pretty much anywhere, unless you use
the Chain of Craters Road, you need to transverse through Pahoa. People in that area go
to Pahoa to do shopping, to do various things. To put that in District 5-well, there's a
question on whether that makes sense. The other that you might want to know, I mean if
District 4 wants to talk about district, I would yield to her. Commissioner, did you want
to give any input on District 4 for him or should I continue?
01
YADAO: I mean, what you're saying is, yeah, true but it's like, how would you adjust
the numbers to move that?
BATH: I was just giving out information, not talking about numbers right now. Just
giving him the other thing was the HPP issue which is huge. Did you want to address
that with him, or shall I continue? Yeah? Okay. So, the other thing is at the top left-hand
side of Ms. Ford's map, there's a subdivision, Hawaiian Paradise Park, which I think has
like 15,000 people in it. And their subdivision also extends over Highway 130 into the,
on this map, it's on to the other side of Highway 130. But they do polarize towards they
are a part of that community. So, that's what I have to say to kind of give you a
perspective on District 4. With District 5, which is my district, the Highway 11 is the
only road that we have going in and out of Puna and for people to get to Ka`u. There isn't
really any road redundancy in that area. In the Puna Community Development Plan,
they've remedied that but it's yet to be implemented. The implementation would involve
connectivity locations from Orchidland, which is, if you go from Highway 130, from
where Ms. Ford has District 4 going in to District 5, and you just draw a line up through
the center of the subdivisions, that's where the connectivity locations are going to be in a
staggered way. This will allow Police and emergency response vehicles to come through.
This has all been adopted in the implementation plan for the Puna Community
Development Plan. So, you go through Orchidland, headed towards the Ka`u district.
You go from Orchidland to Hawaiian Acres to Fern Acres. You got Eden Rock. You
have a number of subdivisions. What Ms. Ford has done, is she's taken Fern Forest and
she's put that into the Ka`u district and all the way up towards the Park. I can see that as a
concern in terms of the delivery of a level of service in that area. So, that has a concern in
terms of connectivity. Other than that, is that Mauna Loa Estates is in District 2 now?
Yeah, anyway, I don't want to make any comments on the plan itself. I just wanted to
give you a little more of an insight.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Commissioner Bath. Yeah, it had some challenges
KOSSOW: Hold on, Mr. Hustace. Mr. Lopez still had the floor so I just want to go back
to him and then I'll have you go.
LOPEZ: Thank you, Ms. Bath for that very good discussion of things that obviously, I'm
not aware of. Should you produce a map, I would be interested in seeing how you apply
these concepts that you just mentioned to that map. One thing that stuck out to me, that
you were talking about, you used the term Puna town. Can we bring up the map and
somebody point to where that is here? Again, I apologize for my ignorance.
BATH: I'm sorry. Did I say Puna town? I meant Pahoa town.
LOPEZ: Pahoa town. You did say Pahoa town. I'm sorry. Show me where that is. Can
somebody bring up a map? That could be the town that's being referred to in these public
hearings. Well, the one in District 6 anyways.
IM
BATH: Commissioner Bath. Actually, I think that Brenda did include all of Pahoa town
together here. It does look like it. I stand corrected.
LOPEZ: But geographically, point to me where this geography is. I see nothing that says
Pahoa town on the map. You can probably zoom out a little bit so that we could get a
bigger picture. Right here where it says Pahoa Village?
HUSTACE: So, right there where the road bends. Yeah. Right where it bends down. Sort
of that nook in the road where it splits off to Kalapana and Kapoho.
LOPEZ: Okay. I'm looking for that on this map here. Right in there? Where there's a
population of 313? So, in that neighborhood. Okay.
HUSTACE: Yeah, so it's split between the two there.
LOPEZ: Okay. Where it says Pahoa. Alright, thank you. That's close enough. I can go
dive into it. Thank you for that. I yield.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thanks, Chair. Sorry about that. Some of these challenges, we've all faced
with HPP, you know, well over 10,000 residents in there. I understand the connectivity
issue but we're trying to reach this number of 22,232 and around that, given the
deviation. It's hard with an area so densely populated too. It swings the district
boundaries so easily. While I think Ms. Ford hadn't intended to put Kalapana to be a part
of that district. And I understand what you're saying, Commissioner Bath. I think there
are some challenges of adding another 1,200 other people. Because of the distance
between HPP and Kalapana, it's just adding that many more people. It jumps the number
that much higher. So, I think there's some challenges there. Some of the issue that I had
here, was the boundary between 3 and 2, particularly the more mauka portions above
Kurtistown and Mountain View, up on the slopes there. Because if you're talking about
connectivity, Commissioner Bath, this is one of the issues that I had with one where,
these tracts and blocks are further distanced from Hilo but they only connectivity is
through Council 5 there. So, if you go down along the Volcano Road, the main highway,
that's how they access their property up in there. Let's see, well Stainback actually
connects that way. So, there are some connectivity. I see what Ms. Ford may have done
there. Okay, thank you.
YOSHINA: Chair Kossow?
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: If you're going to consider this map seriously, I would like to have some
time to look at the details for downtown Hilo which has been carved out of District 2.
The second concern I have is that kind of an innocuous point here but, the command in
control of Pohakuloa, I think, comes through military headquarters or that command
11
structure, which is in Hilo somewhere, Keaukaha I guess. And so, to put P6hakuloa in
District I sort of makes that more difficult for me. But I would like to look at this map a
little closer. Especially the downtown Hilo area. Seems like this map divides out the
downtown Hilo area from the mauka area of Hilo. I have some concerns about that.
LUL I just have a question as well.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina, did you yield?
YOSHINA: Yeah, I yield.
KOSSOW: Okay, thank you. Ms. Lui?
LUL I guess, Ms. Bath, you said that Pahoa town was not split. I don't know it very well,
but it looked like it was from the map. I don't know what the answer is there. And also, I
seem to remember, and I couldn't find it in the Communications that someone had
testified about the size of District 6 and perhaps moving Volcano, some of that area, into
either 5 or 2. I'm not sure. Does anybody else remember that? I yield.
KOSSOW: Yeah, I remember that. I think it was Mr. Flaherty that suggested the size of
District 6 was too big and so if we added a south part of, to combine Pahala into Volcano.
That was a possiblity.
HUSTACE: Mr. Kauka, a question for you, if you don't mind.
KAUKA: Yes, Mr. Hustace?
HUSTACE: The maps being projected up on the screen, these are being deposited on a
more public friendly site. Is that correct?
KAUKA: Correct, yes.
HUSTACE: Could you tell us a little about this?
KAUKA: I'm actually going to have Elections if Cori can explain where this map came
from. But it's a link that recently developed or actually, Debbie is at the table. We can
switch back to the other map though, if the Commissioners prefer, they were looking at.
This one I guess, may have a different, a more public interface.
KA`AHANUI-HOYOHOY: Okay. So, that map that you folks are seeing up right now is
what we had pulled from whoever drew out map plans and Erik with GIS had put this
together to make it public view, yeah?
HUSTACE: I guess my question is, where is this located on the County website?
11a
KAUKA: So, Mr. Hustace, we are working to have this link available. We sent it to a few
people who have inquired about it and we are working to have this link on the website
later today.
HUSTACE: Mahalo.
KOSSOW: Is there any other questions regarding Ms. Ford's plans? Or comments? Ms.
Lui?
LUL Yeah, I just have one which is about District 1. Actually, she follows the boundary
that you drew, Chair Kossow, along Waianuenue rather than the Wainaku River. In
thinking about this more, I think that does make sense. Even though those are areas that
probably relate more to Hilo, I'm not sure that there's any other option unless we grab
some of the subdivisions along the Saddle Road but that doesn't really make any more or
less sense than the other alternatives. So yeah, I'd be very open to that.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Lui. One of the things that I wanted to ask Mr. Hustace is, I
noticed that between District 1 and District 9 kind of splits, there's a Pu`u Kapu. Yeah,
one side of it is Pu`u Kapu. That is located, if somebody wants to scroll in towards
Waimea town. (Pause.) Right in the boundary line, right in this area here, the Pu`u Kapu
right there, and then right across the street is another part of Pu`u Kapu. So it kind of
divides the two. Do you have any comments on that?
HUSTACE: Thanks, Chair, for that question. If you don't mind I'm going to jump to Ms.
Lui's, to kind of build off of what Commissioner Lui said as well. This has been a
challenge, similar with District 6 and District 1, is this large expansive land and there's
fewer people to match this number of 22,232. So, in drawing my maps for District 1, I
either took more of Hilo or I took more of Waimea or a combination of the two, right?
There are people that was in Waimea that want all of Waimea in one district and
unfortunately, that would leave District 1 really shorthanded, and they'd have to take a lot
more of Hilo. So, I don't know if it's a balance between the two, taking a little more of
Waimea, a little more of Hilo, or a lot of one or the other. So, to answer your question,
Chair, some of the maps that I drew did consider Ms. Ford's as well where, she actually
used a geographic boundary to divide it here. So, she used a stream boundary here, right
on the outskirts of Kuhi6 Hale in Waimea. Right at the Mana Road junction. Now,
unfortunately all these people that live in this Mokuloa Subdivision, both Pu`u Nani
Subdivisions, that would be a big change for them. It's going to take them to come to
these meetings and really talk about that, what district they really want to be in. Because
I'm hearing that they want to be in the Waimea District but what is Waimea District?
Maybe because Waimea's growing as well, that it needs to have a split representation.
So, that's kind of up for conversation too. But yes, the Pu`u Kapu kind of, the large
original Pu`u Kapu Subdivision of Waimea, the eastern portion of Waimea, is being split
between the Belt Road. Similar to Ms. Ford, I used some of these larger streets as
boundaries on the Mauna Kea side. So, Mealani Road was an option. White Road's
another option. There are a lot of people that live in these kinds of areas that are kind of
cut there on the other side of Waipio, up on the north side of the Belt Road. That helped
191
District 1 to get it's numbers. I'm not sure what district they should really go in. I'm
trying to figure that out myself. I'd be grateful to hear from testimony from people from
this area that live in these communities. If I put all of those, you know, people have
always said in the past they wanted White Road to be that dividing line or even further.
That means District 1 going to have to take a lot more of Hilo. There's got to be about
another 2,000 people that live in that stretch of land there. So, District 1 would be short
that many more.
LUL Right. Right now, the boundary isI'm sorry, Chairman Kossow.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui.
LUL Yeah `cause right now the boundary is White Road, I believe. James, is that right? I
was wondering about Pu`u Kapu. Some of it is Hawaiian Homeland. Is it Hawaiian
Homelands across both, across that boundary line that Ms. Ford drew?
HUSTACE: Let's see. So, most of the Pu`u Kapu, that Hawaiian Homes where the fire
was earlier this year, most of that is in District 9, as shown on Ms. Ford's map. So, that's
on the south side of the Belt Road. There are some that are in District 1 though. So,
across Mealani Road. The current boundary, from my understanding, no, to my
knowledge rather, is White Road on the south side of the Belt Road. But, on the north
side, it actually is at (indiscernible) Drive. So, it actually, right now, it's a weird one.
Where it currently is, it's splits a subdivision. That's not I don't think that's
appropriate, where it splits a particular subdivision, right? So, what Ms. Ford has here is
she's trying to either move the whole subdivision in one way, or the other. That's what
we're talking about in the Kona areas too. Yeah so, I think what now it shows is like this
kind of jog in the line at White Road to Mealani, I think. Currently, I can't remember off
to show it but, yeah. Part of Pu`u Kapu, most of Pu`u Kapu Homelands are in District 9,
right now according to Ms. Ford's map.
LUL I see. Okay. Well, thank you for that clarification. I understand we may be getting a
new Commissioner from District 3 that is Native Hawaiian. And, I will hope that she
would comment on some of these Hawaiian Homeland issues.
BATH: Commissioner Bath.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: I have a general question. We're looking at changing, drawing some lines that are
going to shift one district into another district. I wanted to use the Hamakua south
boundary line at Waianuenue that's come up as a matter of discussion. What reason are
the Commissioners opposed or the public opposed to changing lines and putting
communities, for example, from Hilo into Hamakua by redefining the line at Waianuenue
instead of the river? What is the reason, other than historically, that that is not doable?
Because I can see that happening in a number of districts. Where we're going to need to
10
take people from one district and put them into another one. So, I'd like to have that
discussion on what the obstacles of doing that might be.
LUL Chair Kossow?
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath, are you?
BATH: I yield, yeah.
KOSSOW: Okay, thank you. Ms. Lui.
LUL Well, I think that for most of District 1, most of District 1 is quite rural and
agricultural. So that, people in Hilo don't necessarily have the same overriding interests
that people in most of the rest of the district have. Also, because they get their services
from Hilo, any issues relating to those kinds of things, whether it be infrastructure issues,
or service issues, it would be their interests would align more with Hilo town. So, that's
the problem. So, looking for the areas of least population in Hilo would be my way to go.
Does that answer your question?
BATH: Yeah, it answered it. I was just trying to understand `cause I also, when I was
playing around with the maps, used that as a boundary line. But there are some problems
with that apparently with community or historically?
LUL Right. Well, I mean some of the things along there are the Hilo Medical Center and
the, I don't know if they are State parks, but Boiling Pots and Rainbow Falls are there.
So, that's a little bit different than just Hilo town too. Yeah, it's not all that residential.
YOSHINA: Chair Kossow, this is Dwayne.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: My thoughts about this is that, and it goes probably contrary to what
Stephanie just said. Historically and traditionally, the line used to be on Wailuku River,
yeah. And so, my other thought on this is that, for Council District 1, if you're talking
about a rural lifestyle, perhaps not coming south, but going north would be more logical.
And I know that there are two council districts going, well if you considered Council 1,
you also have Council 9, which are two council districts which appear to want to move
that boundary south. But perhaps you could think about moving that boundary for District
1, north into Waimea. That's my thoughts. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Alright, any other discussion regarding Ms. Ford's map before we move on?
We have a lot more maps to go through.
BATH: Commissioner Bath.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: Looking at Ms. Ford's map and District 2, the new south border really cuts in to
the community in District 5. There's no connectivity with the block that has 598 people
in it, that whole area and District 2. That's definitely connecting along Highway 11 there,
all of those areas. I can't see the reason that that would make any sense, being put into
Council 2. The other thing I wanted to say is, I was looking at the Kalapana area. If we
were going to put it somewhere, it would make more sense to connect to it in Ka`u, than
it would with District 5. Because at least they have an in and out with the Chain of
Craters Road on that level if we're unable to put that into District 4, that might be an
option. `Cause it makes as much sense to have it in District 5 as it would in District 6. I
yield.
KOSSOW: Any other Commissioners regarding Ms. Ford's plan? (No response.) Okay.
We'll move on to —Mr. Hustace?
HUSTACE: Just a point of order, Chair. Did we have any Communications to file today?
KOSSOW: I think we moved from we're going to go through the Communication
KAUKA: Chair, if I may? This is Dennis.
KOSSOW: Mr. Kauka?
KAUKA: We did have a Communication from Ms. Lui, but that's under the New
Business category since it's drafted as a proposal for the Commission to consider.
KOSSOW: Thank you.
HUSTACE: There was also —we also received
KOSSOW: There's also a Communication, number 22, from Ms. Hunt that came in
today. Is that correct?
KAUKA: That's correct. That's a piece of public testimony.
KOSSOW: Okay. I think we only had Ms. Lui's, Mr. Hustace. Yeah.
HUSTACE: And that was just one —we still have to do one from the Delaney's?
KOSSOW: I mean, that's this one.
HUSTACE: I know it's testimony. I didn't—
KOSSOW: Oh, this one's testimony as well. Yeah.
HUSTACE: Okay.
1[1
KOSSOW: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
HUSTACE: Okay, thank you.
KOSSOW: Yeah.
HUSTACE: I apologize.
KOSSOW: The Communication for Ms. Lui is under New Business. Communication
17.1. Okay.
HUSTACE: Thanks, Chair.
KOSSOW: Any other questions or comments regarding Ms. Ford's plan? She's also on
the Zoom call so if we have any questions, we can ask her. (No response.) Okay, we're
going to move on to
MACDONALD: I have a question.
KOSSOW: I'm sorry. Can you state your name?
MACDONALD: Patrice MacDonald.
KOSSOW: Okay. Ms. MacDonald?
MACDONALD: It said raise hand. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to speak or not.
KOSSOW: Under public testimony, you can speak for three minutes on each item. So,
we'll give you three minutes if you'd like.
MACDONALD: I find Brenda Ford's map pretty good. I still have an issue with the fact
that Hawaiian Paradise Park is in the district of Kea`au which is now encompassed by
District 5. And I don't know if that's going to be brought up further in the other mapping
but, I would finesse that. Hawaiian Paradise Park, their district is the district of Kea`au.
Now we have Council District 5 in Kea`au to Hilo. That would be my only objection.
Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. MacDonald. I'm going to call a recess for five minutes.
Thank you.
(Five-minute recess.)
2. Draft plans.
The Commission may review, discuss, and consider any redistricting plans
submitted by Commissioners and work to develop or decide on its Draft Plan.
IVA
KOSSOW: Alright, calling the meeting back to order. Is everybody —looks like we have
three and then Ms. Lui. And Mr. Akamu is on Zoom. Yeah, okay. So, we just finished the
alternate plans. We're moving over to draft plans. This one's a little bit lengthier. This is
all the Commissioners that have submitted their plans. I believe we have one from
myself, one from Ms. Bath, one from Mr. Lopez, and about a hundred from Mr. Hustace.
(Laughter.) Why don't we go ahead and start with Mr. Hustace? Do the bulkiest one first.
I kind of liked Draft number 3 and Draft number 7. One of the concerns, and I would
probably like to yield to Ms. Bath, if she would, is Draft 3 is placing HPP and Orchidland
and `Ainaloa into one district. And then the second Puna district is kind of around that.
I'm not too sure where Orchidland kind of finishes. I thought it was at 40'h Avenue but, I
don't know. Ms. Bath, do you know?
BATH: Excuse me. Can you try wait? I'm trying to find the map that we're talking about
here.
KOSSOW: Looks like staff is pulling it up right now. But if you go to under open, and
then it's Draft number 3 by Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Chair, would you like me to dive in on this one?
KOSSOW: Yeah, go ahead.
HUSTACE: I'll override then. Okay. Well, this one, this map I submitted. Most of the
maps I submitted, and I do have another couple other maps in the works as well. But, of
the maps I submitted, this is the one that is my most drastic map I created. Because I took
into consideration how big Commissioner Akamu's District 6 was. You know, if you can
disregard the numbers of the districts, their numbers are the numbers. We can switch
those around later. So, I don't see a problem with that. But, you know, District 6
currently is very huge. We've had testifiers talk about how large the district is and how
the services are very split across the districts. So, this is the most drastic map I had here. I
made a lot of concessions on different parts of the map. So, if we want to start on the east
side of the island, this is where I talk about, or why Paradise Park has such a large
population base, that I had to find other areas around it that are of like mind and of like
service to be included in the same place. So, I did stretch across, sometimes what people
would call, the geographic boundary of that, of the 130 there, Highway 130. So, I did try,
to the best of my knowledge, to understand Orchidland and `Ainaloa Subdivisions are
and absorb those into the HPP area. So, it does stretch across the highway, but it got me
to that number. It's, you know, 96 short, but that's really darn close for an area that's
already that densely populated. I did try to use other particular boundaries in that area.
Now I know this draws an issue of contiguity, right? Where you have Council 4 all of a
sudden, goes all the way out to Kapoho and people to get to other parts of District 4
would have to go through a couple other districts. And then that, District 4, goes all the
way down and goes around Na`alehu on the south end of the island. But, this was kind of
where I was trying to think about, how can I split District 6? I was really kind of —this
was my impetus for this drawing and this draft plan here. In doing so, it did shift our
IE:3
Kona districts further north. It shifted everything else around. On the west side of the
island, our Kona districts shift north. And even the northern Kona district has to absorb
Waikoloa Village in this case. So that was another concession I had to make for this map.
Waimea becomes all one district with North Kohala. So, that's all in one district. But it
also takes out most of Honoka` a and that becomes part of a singular district there. I
understand this is a very challenging map. And then the district along the coast of
Hamakua had to go more into the mauka portions of Hilo town. So, on the east side there,
I took Council I as urban as possible for Hilo town in District I there. In Council 2, was
more of the mauka portions and it did have to wrap along the makai areas and Kea`au,
Kurtistown, and that sort. But I did try and use those boundaries as the roads as
connectivity as best as I could. I welcome some feedback on this. But that was really the
goal I had, was to trying to divide the districts more equally, geographically. Especially
the large southern district and this was kind of what I came up with. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace. I know this one was like a —and I know this is a
tough one. Because you're going to split up a community no matter what. And I know
when I was trying to create a map, kind of giving the Ka`u District its own area. And then
putting south, part of Kona, Miloli`i, into Kona, you're going to make some tough
decisions when it comes to splitting the north side of the island, or even on the Hilo side.
So, I know that was that can be very difficult. I will open up for a discussion on Mr.
Hustace's 3rd plan or if anyone wants to move over to his other plans.
BATH: Yeah. Commissioner Bath.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: Yeah. This is pretty interesting, what you did with Council District 3. I do want
to give some pretty strong input here. Hawaiian Acres Subdivision has been chopped up
into three different districts. You've got part in 3, you've got part in 4, and you've got
part in 2. The other thing is that, the people of Hawaiian Acres community, which is one
of the largest subdivisions on the island, polarize to get their mail in Mountain View.
Their children go to school in Mountain View, unless they are homeschooled or go to a
charter school. The people in Hawaiian Acres also polarize towards Kurtistown. Their
addresses are actually in Kurtistown, in lower Hawaiian Acres. And you've got that in
District 2. This is such chop suet' that I don't think it's going to fly. The other thing is
that South Road, Old South Road, North Road, Kurtistown, all of that is a basis of our
definite community and the Community Development Plan for Puna. And so, if we chop
this up the way that it's done, it's going to the implementation of the Community
Development Plan isn't going to be able to fly. So, I think you might want to reconsider
that. Mountain View, the North Pszyk Road, North Peck Road, all of that is —it's Puna.
And I don't see how that connects with District 2, other than the Volcano Highway. So,
little bit, actually, lot of concern on that one. I yield.
KOSSOW: Any other Commissioners? Mr. Lopez.
IL01
LOPEZ: Yes. My onlyI want to complement Commissioner Hustace on thinking
blowing up the box actually, thinking beyond the box. But he did address the situation in
District 6. And he mixed this up like it's going to completely redo our whole County
Council structure. And I'm sure they're —if anybody of them's looking at this, it's going
to be wild. Essentially, I just want to say thank you for introducing this because it is a
subject of discussion. Whether we like it or not, I really appreciate your thinking way
dramatically out of the box and giving us an extreme alternative. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Yeah, I just have a question. You have the Community Development Plans?
They're based on geographic districts, right? So, is there a possibility of knowing where
those lines are? (No response.) If no one has the answer, that's okay. Thank you, James,
for your map. I like this map.
LUL Meizhu. Can I, Commissioner Kossow?
KOSSOW: Yeah, Ms. Lui.
LUL Yeah. I mean I also like the idea of really changing a lot of things because things
have happened over many, many years and may not be working all that well. But, I
wanted to but I, you know, bow to certainly Ms. Bath's concerns about that particular
district. But I am glad that she brought up the Community Development Plans as well as
Commissioner Yoshina, because I think a lot of us are very committed to those plans
which are in effect and have the effect of law and will be hopefully implemented over the
next decade. So, I'm not exactly sure how that interacts with our redrawing these lines.
So, I guess I'm echoing the concern of both Ms. Bath and Mr. Yoshina on that one. I'm
not sure what to do with it because where I'm thinking, like Honoka`a is included in the
Hamakua Development Plan in a big way. So, if it was taken out and put into a district
with Waimea, which could make some sense, but I'm just not sure how it would affect
the plans, the Development Plans.
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Please correct me if I'm wrong, but those Development Plans are more
geographic based than political based. What we're drawing here are political lines or
political boundaries. So, I mean, District 9 currently, we have two Community
Development Plans. So, it's not —like those are geographic areas. They're not necessarily
determined by political boundaries. I could be wrong, and we need someone from the
Planning Department to clarify that.
LUL Yeah, okay. Thanks. That helps.
HUSTACE: Mr. Chair, one other thing.
41]
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: And I thank you for your comments on this and feedback. I do appreciate
them and I'm grateful to show such a drastic map here. You know, we've had some
testimony that is requesting more voting power in the Puna area. This map gives that,
right? Now there are potentially three voting blocks in that Puna area, that touch in that
area. I did try to use those boundaries. I know it looks kind of chop suet', like you
mentioned Commissioner Bath, in some of those areas. I was just trying to use some of
the geographic boundaries. There's a stream that runs through there. And then, used roads
that match along that stream. Some of the blocks don't line up because someone didn't
know how to draw up census blocks but that's another topic. Yeah, I had some difficulty
with that still and I think we'll talk about going forward. But yeah so I tried to use some
really clear boundary lines. I really value the input from the community on this and the
Commissioners that know these areas `cause that's going to help. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Alright. Any other questions for Mr. Hustace regarding his map number 3?
(No response.) Okay. The other one I wanted to point out, and Commissioners, you can
point out any other map from Mr. Hustace as well, was draft number 7. I thought it was a
little bit —it took Council 7 and 8 to different areas. It brings up a good question
regarding future growth, I think, in the next ten years. That's actually one of my
concerns. So, I know Mr. Lopez probably can comment on the growth of 8 and it's
continuing to grow. It's going to move northward. But it also doesn't give Waikoloa to
that Kona district. So, that's one of the other things I wanted to point out. Some parts of
HPP is split. I don't know if it can cause any issues between associations or subdivisions.
If you want to scroll down into that area there. Yeah, so right off the road there, that little
part is part of HPP. That was one of my concerns and I don't know if that —were you just
trying to get some numbers in there? Yeah. And then D2 and D3, District 2 and District 3
are split by Mohouli and Pu` ainako, the Daniel K. Inouye Highway. I thought that was
kind of clever to be honest with you because it's kind of hard to go through that line.
Especially with that census block and sometimes it would go over the line and just
becomes a geographical mess. But other than that, any comments on Draft 7? Mr.
Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thanks, Chair. I can speak to this a little further. Starting on, where I have
for Draft 7, Council's 4 and 5, where 5 had to take part of Hawaiian Paradise Park, that
was like a number thing. It would have pushed Council 4 well over the limit if I had to
keep you know, Ms. Bath, this has taken your ideas into consideration about having
Kalapana as a part of the Pahoa area, all the way up to HPP. Now, had I taken the entirety
of HPP, it would have put Council 4 well over the limit. I mean currently right now, it's
sitting at 3.8 percent over deviation. So, that's why I had to sacrifice some of it away
from Seat 4. But it takes all those makai portions, right? It takes all the way down to
Kalapana. It gets close to what you're talking about there. Of getting Kalapana and
Kapoho altogether, Pahoa altogether. I just couldn't make it work with all of HPP
together. That was the only problem. Going a little further towards the Hilo sideso, but
Council 4, sorry Council 5 in that case, eeks over both sides of the highway. Pushes as far
21
as it can to Volcano. Like the other maps I've submitted, these are, I would see as, more
of incremental change. The last one we looked at was very drastic change and kind of
threw it all in the wind. So, Seat's 3 and 2, as we move towards Hilo, these almost remind
me of ahupua`a's in a sense, where it wraps from the mountains to the sea. I used those
guiding principles. I used our modern urban boundaries of Saddle Road to divide 2 and 3
and very distinct roadway usage of Pu`ainak6. There was some difficultyso, the census
blocks out there on the makai portion of Council 3 are crazy. There are some really
weird, shaped ones and so trying to find a very contiguous shape was hard. But I really
tried to keep, in this one, the Hilo urban area, the urban area. Council 1 in this case, does
maintain that Waianuenue Avenue as we talked about before and pushing that boundary a
little bit closer to Hilo. As you move through District 1 to District 9, this is kind of
inspiration from Ms. Ford, and seeing those other boundaries with those waterways, the
streams. Mealani Road and not having these weird jogs in the line. Sorry, I know I'm
moving pretty quick here. Then also considering the testimony that we've received about
those living on the coast of District 9, particularly in the resort hub area. We've had
testimony that, there on this northern boundary of Council District 8, they have more of a
connection to the Waik6loa area, more to the resorts. So, I really tried to take those
testifiers and their consideration into account and find that boundary line. Just like Ms.
Ford did and use those contiguous lines of Saddle Road and so forth. I did have to move
District 6 further up into, past Kealakekua in this case though, to really get to those
numbers without pushing further towards Hilo. The stuff in the heart of the island, where
PTA is, I'm very comfortable changing a lot of those things. It's not really a populated
area. It's really more about what we've talked about at the very beginning of the
Commission work; About contiguous, connected, road usage. How do we get to these
places? That's why I had Council 2 wrap up on the north side of Saddle Road and
Council 3 on the south side, all those different things. They kind of meet there at the
center of the island, for the most part in the PTA area. Thanks.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace. Mr. Kauka, I believe Ms. Ford is still on and had a
question or wanted to make a comment?
KAUKA: Yes, Ms. Ford is using the raised hand feature. Ms. Ford, you can unmute
yourself.
FORD: I did. I just unmuted myself. Can you hear me?
KOSSOW: We can hear you.
FORD: Okay, thank you. I'm fascinated by these maps. Very, very interesting maps.
Nobody's map is going to be perfect, as we all know. We know the census blocks are
disgusting. So, I think these two maps have some very interesting things. The one thing I
really want to say, for everybody's map, is you got to make sure you could get from one
portion of "District X" to the other portion of "District X" with some connectivity. For
instance, I looked up and the different District 9 and District 1, and Hamakua is the only
way to get through to the Waipi`o Valley. Not by the highway, but the road through
Hamakua. Those things have to be taken into consideration every single time because
Pia
you're not supposed to leave one district, go out of a district, and then come back into the
district. Other than that, these are very interesting maps. They have some good features to
them. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Ford. Ms. Lui, do you mind muting yourself? I think we hear
your phone ringing. Is that you? Or is that somebody else?
LUL No.
KOSSOW: Is that us? No? Okay.
YOSHINA: Chair, that was me and I muted it.
KOSSOW: Oh okay. Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. Appreciate it. Any other questions or
comments for Mr. Hustace regarding his draft number 7?
BATH: Commissioner Bath.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: This map looks a lot more reasonable than the original one, which was kind of
radical and good for discussion. Thank you for your submissions. I yield.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Bath. Any other questions for Mr. Hustace? If not, I would
like to ask any Commissioners if they want to review any of his other maps right now.
We can pull that up. Or Mr. Hustace, if you want to, if something screams to you that you
want to talk about, you're more than welcomed to.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Maybe give it a moment. We can hear from the other
Commissioners about their maps. I'd be curious to learn more and then I can always jump
back to others that I might have.
KOSSOW: Absolutely. I'll go to mine. I submitted this one very, very early. There's
another one that's going to be popping out here soon. I wanted to do one prior to listening
to testimony and listening to other Commissioners. And then I wanted to do one
afterwards and see how I can make these changes. The one thing I don't like about this
map is the way District 5 goes kind of down that way. It kind of splits off Pahoa town,
which was what we've discussed earlier. But it's similar in style with Council District 9,
8, and 7, with Mr. Hustace's draft number 7. The other part to it was similar in style when
it comes to the Waianuenue area which is what Ms. Lui kind of pointed out earlier as
well. But yeah, any comments? (No response.) Good. I must've done a good job then.
(Laughter.) Okay. I believe Ms. Bath and Mr. Lopez also submitted some maps as well.
Can we take a look at those?
BATH: Ms. Bath here.
PAQ
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: I just wanted to make one comment about this map. Again, the District 5 is
running down into lower Puna, the old Kapoho area, and there's really no connectivity
from the upper to the lower area of that. So, we might want to just keep that in mind. That
the area out on the point there is really District 4, not District 5 as far as community and
accessibility.
KOSSOW: Are you talking about Kalapana?
BATH: Yeah, I'm talking about Kalapana and then it extends up towards the point there,
by where the flow took out Vacationland and Kapoho and all that. That area is all in
District 5 and that should remain in the same district as Leilani, HPP, or Hawaiian
Shores, Hawaiian Beaches, that general area. Just wanted to point that out. I yield.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Bath. Any other comments, questions?
HUSTACE: Mr. Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair, for taking the time to submit a map here. Could you tell
me a little bit about the division you made with 2 and 3? Of some of your thoughts there?
KOSSOW: So, I wanted to follow a roadway. This obviously is not perfect but, if you
can kind of scroll into that area. Are you specifically talking about Hilo town?
HUSTACE: Yeah, so just curious, of the neighborhoods and I'm not really familiar with
some of these neighborhoods up Kawailani, kind of on the more mauka areas. I know
its's hard, it's a numbers game. Where do we put this neighborhood? And trying to find
that really distinct roadway that divides them.
KOSSOW: Right. When I lived in Hilo for five years, one of things I think I kind of
remember is, the original 2011 map. And to the Commissioners from the east side, you
can correct me if I'm wrong, it kind of ran through some parts of town like that. And so, I
kind of wanted to do the same but I had to increase it in order for District 1 to be
accommodated into the Waianuenue side.
HUSTACE: Thank you. Another question I had for you, Chair, was on the west side of
the island. I think this is going to be pretty apparent and maybe I'm wrong, but those
testifiers that talked about the resort area. I had these in mind, Ms. Ford had it on her
map, and I think other Commissioners have it on theirs too, to really put those resort
areas together, that were in the Waikoloa Beach area. They were just kind of sticking out
there. The question I had was on the more in, just above Kailua Bay, and the
neighborhood that sticks out across Henry Street, between 7 and 8 there.
KOSSOW: I believe that's Malulani Gardens? Let's scroll down there.
HUSTACE: So, on the south side of Palani, across Henry. I know those are a lot of
commercial businesses in that area.
KOSSOW: So, one of the things I was trying to look at on this map specifically is to
have there's a road that cuts up through, actually it's a river that cuts through there, but
it separates the subdivision to Lowe's, the Lowe's area.
HUSTACE: Okay. So, it does stick out? Like it just cuts across —above?
KOSSOW: It goes up the stream. Or if you're from Kona, it's a dry bed.
HUSTACE: Does that one carve further up mauka then? Does it go above?
KOSSOW: So, that census block, unfortunately, kind of splits into Mamalahoa Highway,
which is the mauka road. You kind of see it up there. There's nothing above it, unless you
get up into that area of Mamalahoa, the (indiscernible) road.
HUSTACE: I think it's a strong map too. We're making these little adjustments. Because
of the first map, that you put up of mine, Chair, was a big change. It would take a lot of
people to really scrub their minds and think differently about what district they're in. The
numbers are one thing that are numerated for each of the districts. But that alone,
reimagine the whole layout, the political layout. So, I think also for the comfort level of
most of the public is to take incremental change, right? People don't like these drastic
changes and I appreciate that. I just wanted to show what is possible. I think what you've
done here is reasonable because you concluded Pahoa town. What were you mentioning
about Pahoa town earlier on?
KOSSOW: I wasn't able to get Pahoa town just generally in one district. But I think I'm
going to try to play around with that a little bit more to see if we can get that in there. The
other concern I have is kind of reflected of what Ms. Bath was kind of saying about the
lower part of Puna. And ensuring that Leilani and Kalapana are also included into that
one district. My concern is just how logistically the numbers the game is going to be
played out. I don't want to make it look like a little salamander or anything. I know that's
going to be an issue for everybody so.
HUSTACE: And Chair, `cause your numbers are looking really strong too. Right now,
what you have in Council 4, you're only 57 under but if you took into consideration the
forest reserve and those neighborhoods that abut the forest reserve, the Wao Kele o Puna
and then also down Kalapana, you're going to add another 2,500 people it looks like, just
off the top of my head. Not to mention, those that are included in the Pahoa town. So that
pushes you well beyond the deviation if started incorporating all those. I would imagine
you would have to make the changes on the HPP side or some concessions over there.
That's how I saw it on my second map, the one that was projected. So, thanks again,
PA7
Chair. This looks really good for incremental changes and making some adjustments
here. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you. I appreciate it. The other thing I would be kind of concerned
about, you know, we talked about it earlier, about splitting subdivisions and all that. HPP
is a very, very big area. One thing that I don't want to do is separate it. But I know that
other people in the public have some concerns regarding that, and I think had some
concerns earlier today, and written concerns. So, we'll have to take it into consideration
on what we can do best to serve that area. Any other questions? (No response.) Alright. Is
Ms. Bath or Mr. Lopez's map up on this site? Or do you have to go to another site? Or to
the ESRI site?
KAUKA: Chair, it's not on this site. The site that we've been looking at, our hopes was
that it was a better visibility for the public to view this during the meeting. I just received
this link yesterday but we can switch over to the ESRI to look at any other plans that
were submitted that way.
HUSTACE: Yeah. Let's give Mr. Hustace some time to review his hundred maps and
then we'll come back to him. If we want to hop over to ESRI real quick and then take a
look at Mr. Lopez's map, and then we'll also look at Ms. Bath's map as well. Thank you.
(Meeting paused.)
KOSSOW: Alright. Thank you, staff. I appreciate it. I'm going to give Mr. Lopez the
floor to talk about his map. Thank you, Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Thank you. I thought I'd put together an early draft of a plan that did very little
more than balance the population, trying to achieve within as far as below the maximum
deviation as I could. And that's what the result is. What I was looking for is to get, not
that people had visibility of the map, but more public testimony in the hearings from
why, what we should be paying attention to, how not to cut up a town, if you will. And
we haven't been very successful in getting a lot of public testimony yet. This map was an
attempt to just balance. I'm old school. I like straight lines which this is quite a chore to
try to get straight lines for the way the census blocks are drawn. I wanted to maintain the
integrity of what we have presently, and just balance population. So, there's not a lot of
drastic deviations, at least I don't think so. I'm interested in hearing any and all feedback
on east and west. But I did want to maintain in District 8 and District 7, I didn't want to
cut them up or make a drastic change there. Because in my understanding, there's a real
difference in, I don't know what the word is, but in the Kailua-Kona district, if you will,
our area, there's quite frankly, there's a lot of high end residential homes, a lot of
business, high concentration of money interest, if you will. And from residential
perspective, real estate, it is a large percentage, beside the Kohala Coast of the County
cash cow. But I saw Council District 7 as more rural. Not that there's a lot less money, I
mean there's large landowners in there. But with the rural aspect, I wanted to maintain
that thinking together from the urban aspect, if you will. That was my goal in trying to
maintain the balance between Council 8 and Council 7. I changed a lot of Council 9, I
U1.
believe. Again, for population and there was some testimony about keeping Waikoloa
Beach area into Council District 9. So, I tried to answer that, and I heard a lot of feedback
about not breaking up HPP, so I kept that intact. (Please note, there was an audio
interference at this time) Hello?
KOSSOW: Please mute your Zoom. Thank you.
LOPEZ: So essentially, that's it. I tried to keep it as simple as possible, balancing
population lines with the little bit of consideration that I had from public testimony and
my own personal interest in keeping Council District 7 in its persona, as well as District
8. Any questions, and comments? I'm interested in how I might have achieved the
interest of Council District 3, 4, and 5. Just because I've heard a lot of testimony in that
area.
KOSSOW: I'll start. Can you go up to the northern part of the island, real quick? I know
we wanted to get comments on the east side. But I wanted to zoom in to the northern part.
I didn't really look at this. Keep going north, Haw! side. I think one of my concerns is,
does it run through Kapa`au? Okay. One of my concerns for a district that splits up a
very, very rural community, specifically in here, there's no access way on the east side.
And so, if you zoom out just a little bit, you have to take the Kohala Mountain Road,
which is, I think, what you have the boundary line there and come down Haw! Road or
Kynnersley and then head into Kapa`au. Maybe the interest might be a little bit different
in this area than it would be in Hamakua. Which is, I think, where Council 1, it has on
your map. Can you zoom out again? Thank you. Yeah. Does it run into Waimea? This is
all one district into Waimea? (Response away from the microphone.) Oh okay, I see.
HUSTACE: Chair, if I may have a
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: This is a question to Mr. Lopez. You kind of kept the boundaries similar on
the 1 and 9 side, yes? On the east side of Waimea. They look like they are now for the
most part.
LOPEZ: Yeah. I didn't try to make a lot of deviations, right.
HUSTACE: I think what Chair Kossow is saying that, you could almost switchI know
you were trying to get close to the number. You can almost trade out and give Council
District 9 back that census block group on Kapa`au. You know, we're talking about
connectivity, just to make sure that that's all in one. And then you could give back, down
in Kona on the south side of Kaloko Drive, back into one of the Kona districts. Just
`cause it kind of eeked back down into, you see that one part down at the bottom.
LOPEZ: So, grab some numbers from 9?
M
HUSTACE: Yeah, even if you're not —yeah and you give that section back to 8. Just
because District 9 doesn't really connect down there other than going through District 8
there. Otherwise, I think it's getting pretty close there. You can allow yourself some of
the deviation within that five percent for each district. It gives you some leniency to make
sure you're following the connectivity thing there with those districts.
LOPEZ: Okay. Thank you for that.
KOSSOW: Any other comments or questions for Mr. Lopez?
YOSHINA: Chair Kossow, this is Dwayne.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: I find this map to be very nice. I like this map. Primarily because the changes
from the 2011 districts are incrementally done. Makes it reasonable for me. I don't know
how it impacts the Puna district though. I haven't had time to look at that. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. Any other comments, questions?
LOPEZ: So, my observation of this map is that, and it goes back to a comment that
Commissioner Hustace made a while ago, it's we're not introducing a large change to the
public. So, it's kind of, apart from distributing the votes so that every district has an
equal, if you will, say. Very small change and the public, probably very little, would even
notice. Unless somebody finds something where I split up a neighborhood
inappropriately. But other than that, it's a slow and go. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Lopez.
YOSHINA: This is Dwayne again.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: I think that's the reason I like this. It's a reasonable way to go about
redistricting. The changes that are implemented doesn't upset much of anything. My
comment. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. Any other questions? (No response.) Alright. We'll
move over to Ms. Bath's. Ms. Bath, I will yield to you.
BATH: I submitted this map just to open up a dialogue. The main thing that I was
considering was the HPP population, initially. Then I decided, I wanted to look at the
numbers generally for each district, to have a balance there. So, I decided to go out of my
district and start the northern area in Kohala. I wanted to keep the rural community
together, having access in and out of the district. I took the public input, as far as
Waikoloa, the other night. We still fell short there. This isn't anything that has to be. It's
N-11
just what I was working with. You can see what I did with District 8, District 7. District 6
was a huge challenge. I included the Kalapana area in Pahoa, in the District 4 area. I also
put the Pahoa Village into District 4 per the public testimony and to give them a town,
have that district have a town. It was required to put some of the District 5 subdivisions
into District 6 to bring the numbers up. I tried to keep that, the area to the right of
Highway 11 intact because of the future connectivity out locations and projected need for
redundancy within District 5. And also, that redundancy connecting with District 4. The
big thing was I moved the whole HPP subdivision into District 3. I did that because of the
public feedback on HPP not wanting to be broken up. There is a bit of an arm that sticks
out. I couldn't get around that any other way, other than to do that. I used Highway 11 as
the boundary going into Hilo. As I'm approaching District 2, I was required to take some
of those subdivisions and give some to District 5 and District 4. Primarily, just to make
the numbers. When I reviewed the plan, everything checked out except for the
connectivity check. If anybody has any questions, I'll be happy to try to answer them.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Commissioner Bath, for submitting this. You said you had some
connectivity issues. I do note that there are —and I'm actually a little surprised that it let
you submit it if there were errors popping up. Because if you zoom in to where you have
Council 5, there is a small census block that runs along the roadway, indicating that it is
in Council 2. You can kind of see it there, just down a little bit on the screen. Right below
Council 6. And there's another one I noticed in —on the Kona side too. So, it's interesting
that the program didn't catch those, and didn't flag it for you.
BATH: That might be what the issue is.
HUSTACE: And if you click through that program, that process where it sends you those
flags, if you click next it will take you to like, you see that little line there, that's an error
that pops up. I guess the only concern I have on this one is arm that reaches into Hilo
from the Puna area. I know it's about you're trying to get the numbers there but, it really
reaches pretty far down into Hilo town there. The other question I had, you mentioned
about Waik6loa Resort residents. Did you want to put them into District 9 or District 8?
BATH: Try wait. Let me zoom out here.
HUSTACE: So, just there on the coast, up on the big screen, on the makai side of
Waik6loa Village, there's a yeah right there on the left there on your cursor yeah, that
area, that's all Waik6loa Resort area. Just curious if you wanted to connect them into
District 9 or District 8 there.
BATH: I believe I put them in District 8, but let me check.
HUSTACE: Yeah, so they're in District 8 now. I think the testifier said that they
identified themself more with the other resort area, just north of them.
00.1
BATH: Oh, is that right? I'll have to reread there.
HUSTACE: I believe so. I believe that was their testimony. That's what I took for
inspiration.
BATH: Okay. Thanks for pointing that out to me.
HUSTACE: Thank you.
BATH: So, I'm pau if anybody doesn't have any other questions.
KOSSOW: Any other questions for Ms. Bath? (No response.) Okay. We'll move on to
anybody else wanted to speak to any of the other ones before I hand it over to James? Mr.
Hustace? (No response.) Mr. Hustace, you have the floor.
HUSTACE: Thanks, Chair. Of the 9, I'm trying to find one that shows more incremental
change, but I'd like to jump to Draft number 9, just for an instant. And then maybe we
talk about this one just for a moment and then if we call for a recess, I can try to find one
that has more incremental change. This is one that is a bit more —it's not as drastic as
number 7 I'd put out. But this one has some significant changes. We can start with the
Waimea area actually, because this was a big change. Or it actually splits the town of
Waimea right at its crossroads. So, something different to think about. I split it at the
crossroads there, where the urban core of Waimea is. I know it splits the core of Waimea
but I tried to envision a different —you know, I have constituents that say I want all of
Waimea and the whole of Waimea in the same district. And I can't seem to make it
possible without shifting the boundary even further away from Waik6loa or further into
Hamakua. So, there's a challenge there. This was trying to find a more significant
dividing line of a community, rather than some rural roads. So, I took that into
consideration, the core of the town. Now, that means though that Council 1 shifts. Now
that I've taken that middle of Waimea, District 1 shifts a little further north. So, if you
look at the east end of District 1, you can see that the Hilo District of Council 2 now
moves into what is like Pauka`a and all the way up toI tried to find a clear boundary
line. I think it was Honoli`i. But that's where that kind of shifts. We've had testifiers,
we've even had Commissioners talk about, people that live in those outskirts of Hilo
identify themselves more with Hilo. And so, this was taking that into consideration and
shifting that district to capture those outskirt communities of Hilo. In doing so, Hilo
because that urban core but also some with outlying communities. Council 3 really
becomes this more mauka portion of Hilo, above Hilo, and doesn't touch any of the
water. Moving a little further east, towards 4 and 5, this is similar to some of the other
maps I tried to tinker with. The Hawaiian Paradise Park population issue, I pushed them.
I tried to keep them all on that north side of the highway, of 130. I know Pahoa town is
still divided a little bit, but it follows that line of Kapoho Road. And so, Kapoho is kind
of split, and those communities between 4 and 5, but it gives you the connectivity from 5.
Kurtistown, Kea`au, all the way down to Kapoho and Kalapana. Kind of creates an
interesting shape there. I think I just did some incremental changes for 6, in this case. I
may be mistaken here. So, on the west side, 6 really doesn't have really much of Captain
011
Cook. This is where I think I shifted some things and maybe 6 took more. Actually, it
took it more further in past towards Mountain View, basically. That's where I kind of
shifted 6, more to the east. So, that means 7 and 8 shifted south a little further. There's an
interesting boundary line between 8 and 9. We can go into more specifics about it but
that's just a general overlay. Thank you.
YOSHINA: So, Chair Kossow? This is Dwayne.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: What draft was this now? Nine?
LUL Nine.
YOSHINA: Thank you.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui.
LUL I feel like we're kind of coming down to some questions for almost every map and
maybe we can kind of figure out what those are, the question of HPP, the Waik6loa
Resorts. And then I guess for me, in Council 1, the question of whether shifting more
toward the south or the north or splitting the difference. I think in looking at this map,
James, I think I'm sort of moving toward thinking that moving north is better because
Hilo is just so Hilo and a lot of Waimea is more rural. Obviously as you know, we have a
lot more in common, work together off and on, on various things between Honoka`a and
Waimea. So anyway, just to flag, certain things just keep coming up as questions on all of
these maps. I yield.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Lui. Any Commissioners? The only thing I just ask, is can
you zoom in? I think that's a little bit north of downtown Kailua, right on the border of 8
and 7. I guess at Kalawa side. A little bit more up, sorry. On 8 and 9. Ok so we put
Palisades, I know Palisades is to the left. This census block is ridiculous. It's massive.
HUSTACE: Thanks, Chair, for pointing that out. This boundary line between —for this
particular map, this boundary line was very difficult. So, there's a census block if you just
zoom up just a little bit. This block is terrible. It actually encompasses about four or five
census blocks within it. But there are roads that cut down into it that there should have
been a break in the block here. I don't —this is, this one was the worst of one of the ones
I've seen. Because it goes all the way from the edge of Kaiminani, all the way to Kuki`o
Golf Course. In that block, there are 1,500 residents across miles of lava fields. It doesn't
make sense to me, this block. This is terrible. So, when I tried to draw this boundary line,
I almost threw my hands up because this is crazy. This one here. You can see it just north
of that, just in the pink area. There's a big block that says zero. It's all of that, just north
of that. You can select it with the identification tool, and you can see how big it is. Cori,
do you mind grabbing that with the identify tool? Just so the Commissioners can see that.
So, if you're on the create tab up on the upper bar. Yeah, if you click create and then
31
there's the ID tool. It's a little circle with an "I" in it. There's the hand, yeah that's the
one. If you could grab that and you can select the one block that I just want to identify to
the group here. So, it's in the pink area, just north of that one. So just got straight north
just a little bit, out of that block. Yup. Yup. Click that, right there. Okay now if you can
zoom out so people can just see this block and what I'm talking about. Yeah, that's a
problem. It goes all the way from Kaiminani all the way to Kuki`o Beach Club. Thank
you.
KOSSOW: Thank you for Mr. Hustace, for overcoming that. I know that's a little
difficult. If I remember correctly, Mr. Lopez can probably comment on it if he wants to,
but the Senate District for 4, runs right down Kaiminani. So, your left Senator also is
connected to Hamakua, and your right Senator is connected to Kona. They use Kaiminani
before, even though there's a very, very large population over there. Any other comments
on?
HUSTACE: Just to add to that, Chair. I would have used all the way up to Kaiminani, but
then it changes the population. So that's where I had to some things in that area to use as
a guiding line. I wish I could have used Kaiminani as that clear line. It's just that the
numbers wouldn't allow me to do so. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Any other questions or comments for Mr. Hustace?
BATH: Yeah, Stephanie here.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: As far as the zooming into the area of District 4, District 5, and District 6, again, I
wanted to point out that District 5 includes a lot of lower Puna and there's no
connectivity. It actually extends the Kalapana area into the former Kapoho
Vacationland's area, which is now lava flow. This map isolates and cuts off the Fern
Forest community, the Eden Roc community, all of that redundancy and connectivity. It
basically chops off the upper part of District 5 and gives it to Ka`u, and then gives us a
lower Puna District 4 portion for Council 5, which makes absolutely no sense. Because
Leilani and Kalapana definitely, as communities, polarize towards District 4. If we
needed to change something, it would make more sense to give the Kalapana area to
Ka`u, than to do what is suggested here. I appreciate your time and your efforts.
However, this is a problem for Council District 5. I yield.
KOSSOW: Any other comments or questions for Mr. Hustace regarding map number 9?
(No response.) Mr. Hustace, do you have any other maps you want to talk about?
HUSTACE: Thanks, Chair. If you give me moment just to look through some of these
that I could touch on.
Kea
KOSSOW: No worries. While we kind of wait, Ms. Bath, when you referred to some
parts of the communities up by District 6, I'm just curious, what was the communities
you say, that was broken up?
BATH: Well, the communities themselves weren't broken up. That's one of the things
that I appreciate about that, that communities were intact. However, if you can visualize
District 5, with Highway 11, the Volcano Highway, going from Kea`au, let's start at
Kea`au, to the National Park. In the discussion, the input was to keep the Park altogether.
So, going up from Kea`au to the Park, on the left-hand side of Highway 11, there are a
number of communities that are stacked on top of each other. Hawaiian Acres, I'm
talking about the district at this time. Hawaiian Acres is the widest of those communities
and that starts Kurtistown to Mountain View. And then, again, you're going from Kea`au
to the Park. Then from Mountain View on up, you have Fern Acres, Kopua Farm Lots,
Eden Roc, and Fern Forest. All of these communities attach to each other at their tops and
their bottoms. In the Community Development Plan, which was adopted by ordinance in
2018, connectivity locations were determined so that the communities can transverse
from one community to the next. Right now, we have to go off the Highway 11 to get to
the next community in most cases. What happens there is, the emergency responders
have to do the same thing. They have to go from one community out to the highway and
back in, which slows down their response time. So, if you can keep in your mind that
there are, as adopted by ordinance, connectivity locations going up to the top of those
subdivisions, in a staggered way. If you take out these subdivisions here, I mean Fern
Forest is definitely a Puna subdivision, a District 5 subdivision. So, at the very least, I
would encourage the Commission to adopt these subdivisions so that there is future
redundancy from lower Puna to upper Puna. It's a huge health and safety issue. We can
talk privately about the issue right now, at another time. So, that's real important to keep
those subdivisions in. Volcano Village may need to be given to Ka`u. It's just how it is.
But do you understand what I'm saying about to the left of Highway 11? It's important to
keep those together for redundancy and health and safety issues. Having a delivery of a
level of service to those areas, if they're split up between two districts, I'm not sure how
that level of service is going to be delivered. On the other side of Highway 11, from
Mountain View, if you look at South Kulani and that area, that also is an area up to Ihope
Road at the very least, that has a pretty big population of people that polarize towards
Mountain View and Kea`au. So to put that into Ka`u, it just doesn't ring true to me. Then
zooming back out, and giving us Leilani and lower Puna. Taking away the subdivisions
in upper Puna and giving us Leilani and lower Puna makes absolutely no sense at all. In
terms of community, in terms of connectivity, in terms of the delivery of the level of
service and infrastructure and representation for those areas. So, I'd just like to put that
out for you to reconsider with this map. I yield.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Bath. Any other comments? (No response.) Mr. Hustace, do
you have your other map?
HUSTACE: Could I request a recess?
KOSSOW: Yeah. Five-minute recess.
091
HUSTACE: Thank you.
(Five-minute recess.)
NEW BUSINESS
KOSSOW: Alright. Calling the meeting back to order. We're going to move over to new
business. Before we move over there, I would ask all the Commissioners to continue to
look at those maps. As well as the maps that are on the ESRI site. Just remember that, to
finalize the maps is December 9 h so let's make sure that we get those done. And then we
have two meetings in November. Alright heading over to new business. Mr. Kauka?
KAUKA: New business:
Communication 17.1 — Counting Incarcerated Hawaii Residents
From Commissioner Lui, proposes that the Commission write to State Election
Committee, Representatives, Senators, and authoritative entities asking for rule
changes that effect incarcerated people being counted in their self -designated
permanent residences.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui, you're recognized.
LUL Well, this is really a follow up from our last time's discussion. Where we all agreed
that incarcerated people should be counted at their residences so that it doesn't skew the
numbers in the places where prisons are located. But it was impossible to change the
numbers for this particular redistricting effort. I proposed that we simply write to our
Senators and Representatives to see whether they can change the legislation or pass some
kind of legislation before the next redistricting effort to make that change. Apparently,
some states already have that.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Lui. Is there any further discussion?
LOPEZ: I have a question.
KOSSOW: Mr. Lopez.
LOPEZ: Do we have a sense of how large a deviation this is presenting to Hawaii
County?
LUL We never were able to get really great numbers. I know the Election Department
tried but, if you look at the prisons and how much they can hold, I think it was like at
least 500 people, for example, in Hilo. So, some of those might have had a permanent
Hilo residence but a lot of them probably did not.
MA
LOPEZ: Thank you. So, about 500 is what we're talking about.
LUL That's kind of off the top of my head. I don't remember the exact numbers from the
Election Department's report.
KOSSOW: There's also a census block that goes all the way up to Kulani Prison. And
that's 176 incarcerated peoples there. Alright. Ms. Lui, did you want any action regarding
17.1?
LUL Can I make a motion that we do that?
KOSSOW: Okay. Go ahead and state your motion.
LUL I move that our Redistricting Commission write to our legislators at the State level
to ask them to write and pass legislation that would count incarcerated people at their
permanent residences and not in their place of incarceration.
KOSSOW: So, there's a motion on the table, motioned by Ms. Lui. Is there a second?
YOSHINA: Second.
KOSSOW: Seconded by Mr. Yoshina. Any discussion?
YOSHINA: Yeah, this is Dwayne.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: I think we should support this proposal because it is similar in spirit at least
to the questions we have with students at the universities and for military populations.
And they're counted at their residential addresses. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: I would encourage that we direct this letter to —and I know, Ms. Lui, in your
communication, you said the State Election Committee and to our State Representatives
and Senators. Then I would encourage it'd be directed to the Big Island delegation. Is that
correct?
LUL Yeah. That's a good amendment. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Does it need to be amended? It does say Representatives, Senators, and
authoritative figures, so.
HUSTACE: Just looking for specificity. Yeah.
K&7
KOSSOW: Yeah. I see. It's pretty generalized. So, I guess if you wanted to specify or
just do, you know, to everybody.
LUL Yeah. I'll leave it up to you, the Chair and the Vice Chair to decide on the best
people to receive it.
YOSHINA: Chair Kossow, this is Dwayne.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Does that include the Council as well?
LUL I don't think they have any jurisdiction over that.
YOSHINA: Okay. Thank you.
KOSSOW: I mean we could write it as more of like, by the way. So, the motion is still on
the table. Any other discussion? (No response.) Mr. Kauka, please call the roll.
Ms. Lui moved for the Commission to write to
legislators at the State level to ask them to draft and
pass legislation to count incarcerated people in their
self -designated permanent addresses. Seconded by
Mr. Yoshina.
The motion for the Commission to write to
legislators at the State level to ask them to draft and
pass legislation to count incarcerated people in their
self -designated permanent addresses was carried by
the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Lopez, Lui,
Yadao, Yoshina, Vice Chair Hustace, and
Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
KAUKA: Chair, thank you. You have eight ayes.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Motion carries.
REFERRALS FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION
None.
W.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
KOSSOW: Moving from new Business to announcements. There is remaining public
hearings prior to the completing of the draft redistricting plan. And we have, Thursday,
October 28th, today, at 6:00 p.m. and Rodney Yano Memorial Hall_ If anybody wants to
watch in on that, that's going to be on YouTube. Also if you want to testify on it, you can
notify Dennis. And Dennis, can you put the —kind of state what the email is there?
KAUKA: Sure, Chair. Yes. It's red:i_stric'ungcm.m,ission.� p�awaiico nty.#�Qy.
KOSSOW: Thank you.
KAUKA: All spelt out. You're welcome.
KOSSOW: And that's to get the Zoom link. And anybody that wants to testify via Zoom,
that's fine. Then we also have the in -person located at Rodney Yano Memorial Hall.
Which I believe is right across the street from Manago's if I remember correctly.
The next one after that is Monday, November 1st, 2021, 6:00 p.m. at Hale Halawai,
regarding District 7.
Thursday, November 4th, 2021, at the West Hawaii Civic Center Council Chamber. It
will be in here. That's going to be at 6:00 p.m.
Monday, November 8th, 2021. It's going to be at Waimea Community Center. Further
details are available on the public notices.
The tentative dates for public hearings upon completion of the draft redistricting plan,
which shall be one each in East Hawaii and West Hawaii. That's Tuesday, December
14th, 2021, and Thursday, December 16th, 2021. Further details will be provided, and
public testimony will be given.
If you wanted to take a look at the 3rd session from September 23rd, 2021, you can take a
look at the agenda. It has the YouTube link there, to take you back to that meeting.
Commissioners, any other announcements? Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. I just want to thank the staff for making this publicly
available via live on YouTube and allowing that possibility. And also, for providing those
remote sites for the public to attend these facilities to address the Commissioners. We are
grateful for the public taking time out of their evenings to visit with us and share their
mana`o. It helps us process these maps. Thank you, Chair.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Any other announcements? (No response.) Okay. Just to let
everybody know that if anybody has any questions regarding pulling up the ESRI site,
with getting on to the County site, they are more than welcome to call (808) 961-8020.
0�
Don't forget to put the 808 in there. Dennis will be able to help you out or you can email
the redistricting email as well. Any other announcements? (No response.) Okay.
ADJOURNMENT
KOSSOW: May I have a motion to adjourn?
LOPEZ: So moved.
KOSSOW: Motioned by Mr. Lopez.
YOSHINA: Second. Yoshina.
KOSSOW: Seconded by Mr. Yoshina. All in favor say aye. (Various Commissioners say
aye.) Motion is carried. This meeting is adjourned at 12:11 p.m. Thank you, guys. Aloha.
Approved on December 17, 2021
(date)
Mr. Bronsten-Glenn Kossow, Chair
Hawaii County Redistricting Commission
Respectfully Submitted,
Nicole Bello, support staff to
the Commission
m
2021
HAWAI`I COUNTY
REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
7'h Session
Friday, November 12, 2021
County Council Chambers
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
ATTENDANCE:
Present: Ms.
Lehuanani Ah Nee, Commissioner (via Zoom)
Mr.
`Aina Akamu, Commissioner (via Zoom)
Ms.
Stephanie Bath, Commissioner
Mr.
James Hustace, Vice Chairperson
Mr.
Bronsten-Glenn Kossow, Chairperson
Mr.
Meizhu Lui, Commissioner (joined later via Zoom)
Ms.
Jennifer Yadao, Commissioner
Mr.
Dwayne Yoshina, Commissioner
Also Present: Debbie Ka`ahanui-Hoyohoy, Elections Assistant
Diana Mellon -Lacey, Deputy Corporation Counsel
Pat Nakamoto, Elections Program Administrator
Cori Saiki, Elections Program Specialist I
Dennis Kauka Jr., Legislative Specialist / Secretary
CALL TO ORDER:
KOSSOW: Aloha and welcome to the 6 h [sic] Session of the County of Hawaii
Redistricting Commission. Today is Friday, November 12'', 2021. My name is Bronsten
Kossow. I'm the Chairperson for this Commission. First, I would like to express an
announcement here. Because of the Coronavirus emergency and State and Federal
guidance on large meetings or gatherings and pursuant to the Mayor's proclamations
regarding COVID-19, the Redistricting Commission meetings are currently not open to
the public to attend in person until further notice. Members of the public may view or
provide oral testimony via the Zoom platform by requesting for the information as
noticed on our posted agendas. Thank you for your understanding. I'm calling the
meeting to order. The time is 9:36 a.m.
ROLL CALL
Welcome new Commissioner Lehuanani Ah Nee. rebresenting Council District 3.
Commissioner Ah Nee was appointed by Mayor Roth on October 14, 2021 to fill
the District 3 vacancy and confirmed by the County Council on November 3,
2021. The Commission will welcome its new commissioner and Commissioner
Ah Nee may offer introductory comments on her background.
KOSSOW: Now, for roll call. We have a newly seated Commissioner, Ms. Ah Nee. I
would like to take this moment to congratulate her for coming on to the Commission. If
she wants to take two minutes just to introduce herself. I will give the floor to her.
AH NEE: Aloha mai kakou. My name is Lehuanani. (Commissioner Ah Nee began her
introduction in `olelo Hawai `i) Mahalo nui for having me here today. Aloha, my name is
Lehuanani Waipa Ah Nee and you can call me Lehua. I am born and raised in Keaukaha,
the Hawaiian Homestead Village of Keaukaha. I am currently a teacher at Ke Ana
La`ahana Public Charter School, teaching both photography and navigation, along with
genealogy of place and space, as well as historical preservation of our coastal areas in
Keaukaha. Born and raised here in Hilo, and forgive me, I stepped away from my
classroom because it is a school day for us. I was a Keaukaha Elementary student, then
went to Hilo High. So, proud graduate of Hilo High School, Class of '99. Graduated from
the University of Hawaii at Hilo with a degree in Anthropology. And then went on to get
my Master's in Photography and Fine Arts at Academy of Art University in San
Francisco. I'm very proud to be where I'm from. This is a very new space for me. So,
I've been trying to catch up on what the redistricting committee is about. And looking
through Chapter 23 and trying to understand and bring myself up to date on what's
already been in the role since prior to me coming on. I still have a little bit of catching up
to do. Still want to make sure that I have all my ducks in order and that I do proper
research on what this commission is about and what we can do to contribute to the whole
of Hawaii County. I hope that my service and my seat here at this redistricting
committee serves my `ohana, serves by kaiaulu, my community, and serves my Moku o
Keawe, so here on Hawaii Island. Aloha. Nice to meet you all.
K
KOSSOW: Mahalo nui, Ms. Ah Nee. Mr. Kauka, please call the roll.
KAUKA: Thank you, Chair. Just to clarify, welcome Commissioner Lehua. We are glad
to have you today. Certainly, Commissioner Lehua can participate in conversation and
dialogue today. Unfortunately, though, we have not been able to swear her in. To perform
her swearing into the Commission since she was confirmed by Council last week. So,
Commissioner Lehua just will not be able to vote today on the proceedings or make any
motions. Thank you. Roll call: Commissioner Lui, (No response), Commissioner
Yoshina "Here," Commissioner Yadao "Here," Commissioner Bath "Here,"
Commissioner Akamu, "Present via Zoom," Commissioner Lopez, "Excused" (per Chair
Kossow), Commissioner Hustace, "Present, Kona Chambers", Chair Kossow, "Present,
Hilo Chambers." Thank you, Chair. We have six Commissioners present and we have
quorum.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. As a reminder, during the meeting, we are working
with Commissioners in multiple locations. The audio of the meeting is being recorded so
as much as possible, let's try to avoid overtalk. It might be a little bit difficult to later
dictate in the minutes. Please keep your microphones on mute unless you are speaking.
And we ask for members of the public who are tuned in as well. Commissioners in either
Chambers, your microphone can be activated by pressing the button at the base. I won't
be able to recognize you if the audio is not coming through so be sure to check if that's
on first when speaking. As I am presiding from Hilo today, Commissioners here with me,
please turn your light on or get my attention to be recognized. For those in Kona, or on
Zoom, please speak out with your name if you need to be recognized and I will do my
best to navigate. After I recognize you, please state your name for the recording
transcription and proceed. If you don't state your name first, we may interrupt to clarify
who is speaking on the minutes. Thank you all.
STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS
KOSSOW: Now, for statements from the public. Testifiers, please note, you will have
three minutes for each item on the agenda to provide your statement. If you are speaking
on multiple items, please indicate when you are transitioning. We kindly ask that you
wait until called upon to unmute yourself. If there are issues when you are called, after
trying for some time, we may have to move on while staff tries to work with you offline
and we'll try to get back to you. When there are thirty seconds remaining, we may
indicate this to you and ask that you summarize. Before you speak, please state your
name for the record and the item you are testifying on. Mr. Kauka?
KAUKA: Thank you, Chair. This morning we have Ms. Brenda Ford joining us. Ms.
Ford, I'm not sure if you had testimony today but if you do, you may go ahead now and
unmute yourself. (No response.)
K
KOSSOW: Alright, Mr. Kauka, I'll go ahead and move on. If she does come back, then
we'll take her testimony.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
September 23, 2021 meeting 3rd session
September 30, 2021 meeting 4rh session (training)
KOSSOW: Moving over to approval of minutes. Commissioners, we have two sessions
of minutes. Both were provided to you and publicly posted last Friday, November 5 h.
May I have a motion to, first approve the September 23rd minutes and a second?
Mr. Hustace moved to approve the minutes of the
September 23, 2021, meeting. Seconded by Ms.
Bath.
The motion to approve the minutes of the
September 23, 2021 meeting was carried by the
following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Yadao,
Yoshina, Vice Chair Hustace, and Chair
Kossow.
Noes: None.
Absent: Commissioners Lopez and Lui.
KOSSOW: We're going to move over to the September 30'h. Can I get a motion to
approve the September 30d', which was our training session minutes? Can I get a motion
for that and a second?
Ms. Bath moved to approve the minutes of the
September 30, 2021, training session. Seconded by
Mr. Hustace.
The motion to approve the minutes of the
September 30, 2021 training session was carried by
the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Yadao,
Yoshina, Vice Chair Hustace, and Chair
Kossow.
Noes: None.
Absent: Commissioner Lopez and Lui.
KOSSOW: The minutes have been passed for September 30'h
C!
COMMUNICATIONS
KOSSOW: Commissioners, we have a couple of communications on today's schedule.
First, Dennis would you go ahead and read Communication 23?
KAUKA:
Communication 23
From Deputy Corporation Counsel Diana M. Mellon -Lacey: responding to an
inquiry from a commissioner regarding clarifications on the process for
considering an additional council district.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Commissioners. Do you have any questions for Ms. Mellon -
Lacey?
BATH: No questions, just thank you for clarifying that we would need to go through that
process as a Commission.
KOSSOW: Any other questions or comments? (No response.) Okay. I would like to get a
motion and second to close the file on Communication 23. Can I get a motion?
Mr. Yoshina moved to close the file on
Communication 23. Seconded by Ms. Bath.
The motion to close the file on Communication 23
was carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath Yadao,
Yoshina, Vice Chair Hustace, and Chair
Kossow.
Noes: None.
Absent: Commissioner Lopez and Lui.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Communication 23 is filed. Mr. Kauka?
KAUKA: Thank you.
Summary of comments received during public hearings
Pursuant to Section 3-17(e) of the Hawaii County Charter, the Commission shall
hold at least one public hearing in each of the nine council districts prior to
completing a draft of the redistricting plan.
KOSSOW: I'm opening this up for discussion. I'm sure everybody was able to get this.
When did you send that out, Dennis?
67
KAUKA: This was sent yesterday, Chair. It's Communication 24 which should also be in
packets for those who are present in the chambers.
KOSSOW: Do we have any discussion that we would like to discuss on Communication
24?
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: I first want to thank members of the public that attended these meetings and
took the time to join us at those nine public hearings. Their input is valued and
appreciated so, mahalo nui.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace. Any other discussion regarding Communication 24?
(No response.) May I have motion to close file on summary of comments received during
the public hearings? And we'll go ahead and move on.
Ms. Bath moved to close file on the summary.
Seconded by Mr. Yoshina.
The motion to close the file on the summary was
carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Bath, Yadao,
Yoshina, Vice Chair Hustace, and Chair
Kossow.
Noes: None.
Absent: Commissioner Lopez and Lui..
KOSSOW: Motion carries to close.
STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS (continued)
KOSSOW: Ms. Ford, I see that you are online. Would you like to testify?
BRENDA FORD
FORD: Yes, sir. Thank you. And my apologies. Every time I try to unmute, I got dropped
so, thank you. My comments today are going to be generic. I looked at many of the plans,
not all of them, however, there's one consistent flaw that I'm seeing in almost every plan
I look at. When you have two points inside of a district, in order to get from Point A to
Point B, you need to stay inside the district. That is, you cannot leave District 1 and drive
around to get to District 1 again. You have to have everything in District 1, accessible
within District 1. I noticed this problem, specifically up in current District 9, by trying to
1.1
add sections of Waimea area into District 1. You have to actually leave District 1 over in
Hilo, drive up Saddle Road to get to the districts over in Kohala. That's a problem. In
current District 5 and 6, 5 being where Kealakekua is, that area, and District 6 being
Ka`u, there's a central portion of current District 7, which is only accessible by current
District 7 and yet it has been added in on some of the plans to District 6 in Ka`u. You got
to look to where the roads are. That means you got to expand the maps a lot to see how
you get to all the different places. So, those problems exist all over. In almost every map
I'm finding problems, and I would recommend that you seriously expand those maps.
And look at where the roads are before you say, this is what should be, where it should
be. You've got to be able to have connectivity within your district. That's basically what
I want to say today. I'm available for any questions. I'm not going to speak on particular
maps. I think that's the Commission's job, for you to look at those maps in really, really
great detail. Thank you though for your time.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Ford.
NEW BUSINESS
KOSSOW: Commissioners, before we proceed, we've moving over to new business. I'd
like to suggest that we step out of order on our agenda. I thought it may make some sense
for us to move to new business, item 1, as indicated on the agenda. This is a really good
framework that we can start our discussions on. So, without any objection, I'd like to do
that. Then, we can take up our maps and wrap up with the timeline progress item. Thank
you. Mr. Kauka, if you can please read number 1 of new business. Unless anybody has
any objections? (No response.) Okay, Mr. Kauka.
KAUKA: Thank you, Chair. New business item:
1. Discussion on potential district changes, adjustments, and rationale regarding -the
Commission draft plan and report
Requested by Commissioner Bath, commissioners may discuss, share, and
exchange their thoughts and views about their respective and adjacent districts.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Commissioner Bath, for submitting this. If you want to go ahead
and start the discussion.
BATH: Thank you. One of the things that, for me, didn't occur, was the Commissioners
having a dialogue to understand about our individual districts. I've used the term Kona -
centric, but I'm Puna -centric. Whatever district we're in, we're focusing on that. I think
there's some expansion into other areas. I love Ka`u. My business was in Hilo for twenty-
six years. I have a sense of place and different things. But as Commissioners, we haven't
had that dialogue. The first question that I actually have, and I want to answer it to my
understanding, what is the point of the redistricting? I understand that it's to draw
political lines so that each district can be equally represented. It'd be politics equals
representation. The I got to thinking, well, what is the purpose of representation? In
rA
government, for me, that's to deliver a level of service to the communities that they're
serving, that they're representing. Ultimately, we're talking about, for me, when I look at
the lines, I'm looking at the ultimate goal is providing a level of service to each of the
districts that's fair. Puna has been sorely lacking. Especially upper Puna and a delivery of
those services. And it's changing because the demographics of it have changed. I think
that Patrice MacDonald had, in her testimony, mentioned that Hawaiian Acres, the census
wasn't accurate. I can believe that, but it is what it is and we're working with the census
numbers right now. I wanted to get an idea of what the other Commissioners'
understanding of this redistricting is. Because for me, it's level of service, particularly the
health and safety of our communities. Without health and without safety, it doesn't
matter how many `ohi`a trees we have if we're not alive to appreciate them. What's the
point? So, that's how I wanted to start the conversation or the dialogue with the other
Commissioners.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Commissioner Bath. She did ask a question to open it up to the
other Commissioners if anybody wants to take a jab at it or maybe think about it for a
second. But I think you summarized it pretty well. In the fact of redistricting is creating
the political boundary lines. It all really depends on the representation to it too. It is a
major decision to make, a boundary line, and the considerations you have to make. You
have diversified people, from rural to urban, to agriculture and so we have to make all
those considerations into ideally creating the redistricting maps in the next few weeks
here. Anybody else want to take a jab into the question?
HUSTACE: Chair, I can jump in on a couple things.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Commissioner Bath, for posing this question to the
Commissioners. I believe that it is strictly political boundaries that we're drawing here.
You're right, there is a balance we have to make for each of the districts so that they have
an equal and fair representation at the council level. I don't necessarily believe that it is
for a level of service. Indirectly it is, but that's not what we're doing here. We're drawing
political boundaries. These imaginary lines that divide up the County into these nine
districts that will then in turn give you a representative to provide you that level of
service. We're not here to carve up communities. Though, I know some sacrifices will
have to be made because the numbers don't quite fit in certain areas. For instance, we can
talk about District I for a second. That's definitely a challenge because that district is a
largely rural community, and it is wedged between Waimea and Hilo. The conversation
we need to have is, in those kind of instances, does it move one way or the other or a little
bit of both. This is what the last commission kind of dealt with too. While we've seen
population growth in some areas, it hasn't match in other communities. We have to make
some changes and some sacrifices to the boundary lines. Not all the public will be happy
with some of the changes we'll make. That's just something we have to acknowledge.
But we can try and do our best to keep the communities together where they are. Some
communities will have to be split or carved out in some places. It's just part of this
political boundary processing. We want to keep them together as much as possible for the
E:3
sake of their vote and their representation so that we're not diluting their voting power,
but we're keeping those blocks together. And that they would represent a strong voice to
that elected official that they so choose, at that time. It really is, this is political
boundaries we're drawing here, and I don't want to see these communities divided up.
I'm having a hard time in my district, in carving things up. But my neighboring districts,
they need more. There have to be some changes made and we have to shift these lines
around. At least that's where my train of thought is right now. I welcome thoughts from
other commissioners.
YOSHINA: Chair Kossow, this is Dwayne Yoshina.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: I have a question as to how immutable this concept of community is. If we
have to sacrifice community for a number, which is more important?
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina, is that a question to all the commissioners? Or is that a question
to
YOSHINA: It's a general discussion kind of question. I guess it comes down to a legal
interpretation of all of this. But if you have to make a choice, say between a basic island
unit and a number, what do you do? At least at the State level, it seems that they decided
that the basic island unit is more important than the conceptual model. I guess the
question comes down to a legal interpretation of that. So, is the community more
important than the deviation between the districts? Sorry, I think this needs a little bit
more discussion but that's as clear as I can get.
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. I think at some point when a community reaches a
certain threshold of population, that's where we have to make that split. You know, those
urban areas, they rightly so get more votes because the dense population in those areas.
The deviation that we're granted gives us an opportunity to be inclusive and try and
capture the entirety of a community. I think that's important, to use that deviation. We
may want to say, okay let's try and get to that 22,232 exactly, but that deviation grants us
an opportunity to make sure that whole community is within that vote and we're not
diluting them in another district.
YOSHINA: Thanks, James. If you have to put these different categories of law into a
spectrum, which one outweighs the other? Mr. Chair, you have the Corp Counsel.
KOSSOW: Ms. Mellon -Lacey.
01
MELLON-LACEY: According to the Code, section 36.4 says that: Ifpracticable, socio-
economic criteria used in developing the plan, not specifically set forth in this chapter,
shall be identified, documented, and approved by majority vote of the commission, before
drawing proposed council district boundaries. Ifpracticable, socio-economic groups
shall be kept together. I think you have the limitation that the program provides on the
maximum deviation and all but, you have latitude if you can justify it. If you decide that
you need to go over the deviation approved amount, but you have a reason, and you
believe that it justifies doing it, and this commission agrees on it, then you can do that. I
think the program can make it feel kind of mechanical, but you aren't locked in if you
have a reason. You have to have a rational basis. Some of these questions, they are
philosophical and there's not going to be a pat answer. It does bear looking at the
communities and what happens when you break certain ones up. What does it mean? I've
heard a lot of talk like, you can't split HPP but, I could think in my mind, well,
Department of Education has done that. They've split HPP in terms of where children go
to school. There's lots of things to look at and consider and there's not one right answer.
As long as you have the justification, and I think this is a very important dialogue today,
but it isn't like there's going to be someplace to go that's going to give you that definitive
answer. That is the right way to go. I think that we have, even today, the concern that
Commissioner Bath has expressed, about community and service. And then the viewpoint
of Mr. Hustace, that the focus needs to be more on the political component. So, you have
a continuum here and it's not like somebody's right and somebody's wrong. Generally, in
the law, courts consider if you come down to that, reasonable actions. If you have a
reason and it makes sense, it's defensible. If it's just kind of not making any sense, and
just arbitrary, that's when you get into trouble with things. This is a challenge to the
commission. And I think it's especially a challenge at this point in time because the
growth in our island has been really significant in certain areas and there's a lot of change
occurring. So, you have a difficult task here. I'm impressed with this discussion.
YOSHINA: I have an additional question. When you have to make these decisions, and
justify these decisions, how important is that one person, one vote? The constitutional
requirement.
MELLON-LACEY: It's difficult because I haven't found anything that suggests that
there are any particular weights attached to particular factors.
YOSHINA: Okay. So, for example, the State constitution says that we could have canoe
districts. And it's my understanding that our representatives have decided that the basic
island unit is more important than the canoe district. Is that right?
MELLON-LACEY: I really can't answer that.
YOSHINA: Okay. From what I'm gathering from your comment, if I believe that
community X is very important to remain X instead of XI and X2, as long as I can justify
that, it's okay.
IM
MELLON-LACEY: Yes. But this group has to agree. It's not one commissioner's
opinion.
YOSHINA: And at some point, somebody could challenge that, right?
MELLON-LACEY: Yes. That's the thing. That's why you have to have a justification for
the decisions that you make. But that's not to say that you can't be challenged on it. That
would remain to be seen.
YOSHINA: Thank you.
BATH: Chair, I have a question.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina, you yield?
YOSHINA: Yes.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: Thank you. Thank you for that information. That was most helpful.
MELLON-LACEY: You're welcome.
KOSSOW: Do we have any other discussion regarding new business P
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you. Yeah, just going back on my earlier points. It's important that,
when we're proposing these boundary lines and that we have these communities within
them, that once again, that their voice is not diluted. Some of these areas are going to be
large. We need to be cognizant that the representative that those people select are going
to have to represent all those different communities. And that there are going to be many
different voices in one. So, you don't want to dilute those voices whether it's our
homesteaders. I've had concern about that in our district, about not making sure that the
homesteads are divided. Of course, Ms. Bath, you're on the east side of the island, right?
About not dividing some of those communities. Just a chance that those voices aren't
diluted so that their representative has the full strength of the community going forward.
We're drawing these representational boundaries. These people have to be represented by
a single person going to the Council and they have to carry the voice of all those distinct
communities within them. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace. Ms. Bath.
11
BATH: What I'd like to do is, just give a little overview of my district. Jennifer, I'm
going to give little bit of an overview of District 4 and correct me if I need to be
corrected. District 5, as far as community, really encompasses from Volcano Village
down to Kea`au. But right now, Volcano Village is in Ka`u district and that is what it is.
One of the things that I wanted to share is that, I really can't talk about District 5 without
talking about District 4. Because District 5 actually extends down to Kalapana, and that
area down there. They are serviced by the Chain of Craters Road, which people don't use.
It's an emergency access route, sort of. Unless Pele takes it out, as she almost did. The
main trends are that they use Highway 130, and they use Pahoa as their town. Currently,
Pahoa is split. Now, I understand that the reason why Pahoa town, the actual town, is split
in half is because they needed to use that rule about areas not having to leave their
district. They had to remain in their district to transverse to the next district. So, Kalapana
and that area was put into District 5 and Pahoa town was split. These areas are definitely
lower Puna. So, that's a big one in District 5. Part of what should be District 4 is in our
community and they really polarize towards District 4. Another thing that I think is really
important to consider is, road redundancy and the lack of road redundancy both in upper
and lower Puna. You have 130 servicing District 4, and you have Highway 11 servicing
District 5. If something happens at Highway 11 then, District 6 gets cut off as well.
Because they can't transverse to their doctor's appointments in Hilo, if they choose to get
services in Hilo, rather than Kona. We're talking about people, and although we're
talking about representation, we're talking about levels of services and health of safety of
the people of Hawaii County. In the Community Development Plan, although this is
politics and not planning, I think that it's important to consider things like road
redundancy. If we split up the subdivisions to the north of Highway 11, if we split those
up, then we won't be able to have the redundancy and the connectivity that we're
seeking. So, that the Police and the Fire and the emergency responders can go from one
subdivision to the next without having to go out to Highway 11. I know this is a lot for
you Kona folks, I don't know if you're following Ka`u but, it's a huge issue for health
and safety. Currently what's happening with District 4, is that because of the congestion
down on Highway 130, people from HPP, from `Ainaloa, from lower Puna, are taking
`Ainaloa Boulevard and cutting up into District 5 and the flowing through private
subdivision roads onto Highway 11 causing congestion. So, road redundancy is really
needed. If we split up District 5, we're not going to be able to I'm concerned about
representation to have that happen. And again, whenever I talk about District 5, I always
think of District 6. Upper Puna has a lot of native rainforests. And, currently with the
development that's happening, we have County grubbing and grading laws. The grubbing
and grading laws are sort of not on the radar. What happens is, bulldozers come in and
they bulldoze the communities in upper Puna and the runoff floods everything down the
mountain from there. Causing a lot of problems for health and safety. I think we need to
really consider when we're drawing the lines, roads, and the level of service. I don't
agree that this is about politics. The only reason there's politics is because of people in
communities, and we need to keep them intact. The other thing as far as lower Puna is the
consideration of the (indiscernible), the road that part of it was built during the eruption
and having some redundancy for lower Puna. In the forty years that I've been here, I've
seen 130 shut down more times than I'd like to see and it's concerning that an ambulance
can't get through. It might seem like I'm going off track here, but I don't think that I am
IM,
because we're talking about communities, redundancy, and health and safety as we draw
these political lines for representatives who will in fact provide a level of service. Not just
for Puna, but the other districts on the island. I yield.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Bath. Any other discussion?
BATH: Chair, I'd really to hear from the other Commissioners about their districts. It's
important to me so that I'm not Puna -centric.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Bath. Is there any other Commissioners who would like to
talk about their district a little bit more? (No response.)
HUSTACE: Sorry about that, Chair. We lost connection over here in Kona.
KOSSOW: Sorry about that, Mr. Hustace. Right now, we're still on discussion 1. And to
summarize, Ms. Bath passionately discussed about the boundary lines and the overall
issues that Puna has, and what we should do. And so, she wanted to see if anybody else
would like to talk about their districts. Mr. Hustace, did you have anything for your
district?
HUSTACE: Thanks, Chair. I can jump to that in a second. I just wanted to go back and
ask Ms. Bath about something. You mentioned, right around when we cut off about
service and emergency service. I'm kind of struggling with this concept because, we're
not putting up a wall or any boundary, or any physical boundary that's preventing service
from going places. We're drawing a political boundary that either gives a community a
voice, or a different voice, and it's up to their representative and the person that they
select to give them the service that they need. And then, carve out the roads that they
want, make sure the emergency vehicles are going where they are supposed to be going,
but we're not preventing certain vehicles from going in different directions. That's why
I'm struggling with what you're saying.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace, are you yielding?
HUSTACE: Yes.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Any other Commissioners?
BATH: Chair.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: Was he trying to get clarification there? `Cause I can shed a little light on it, if
that's what he's asking.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace, was that a question?
191
HUSTACE: It's something I'm struggling with. We've had these topics and comments
brought up at previous meetings. I don't see that line of reason because the fire station,
we're not going to block off them from going to different districts. They have to go
where they have to go. The CDP is based on geographical boundaries, this is all political
based on representation. Trying to really find that equal representation, or as close to, as
possible. So that communities have their equal say at the Council Chambers. Thank you.
I yield.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace. Ms. Bath?
BATH: Okay. So, I'll give you an example of a political line that might affect the district.
We have a fire station, an emergency response. Beautiful new facility down in Pahoa.
And right now, logically speaking, the District 4 resources would need to service District
5 Kalapana. It makes more sense, if somebody's having a heart attack in Kalapana, for
Pahoa, District 4, to respond to that, rather than someone from Kea`au. I was talking to a
police officer who used to work in Puna, and now he's up Hamakua side, and he loves it.
He says the crime is really reduced. And I said, but you know what, just for purposes of
discussion, if the line for Hamakua was at Waianuenue, how would that affect you as an
officer? And he said, oh well, Hilo would respond to that. So, the resources within a
different district would be used to service an alternative district. That's just one example.
I'm having a hard time with this political lines thing. I'd love to get better understanding
about that. I yield.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Bath. If I'm not mistaken, and I'll just comment on this, is
that I think the police precincts areI think it's under the State that creates those
boundary lines. That's under my assumption. Because in Kona for example, they have
four different precincts and we don't really know who creates those boundary lines, for
example. I think I understand where you're coming from when it comes to political
boundary lines. But it is political in the sense that it's representing a people. It's
representing the people that's in that district. So, I think that's why they call it a political
boundary line. If that's what you're referring to versus politics being mixed into that.
That's a whole different subject, I think. Mr. Yoshina?
YOSHINA: So, that's why this is so interesting, right? That's why we're all here. I think
we have to struggle through all of these questions. It seems to me that one of the things
that we are lacking is that we've not had the opportunity to have these discussions. I
would have liked to have seen these discussions at the very beginning. You know, this is
just a comment. But we are here today. So, I think what we have to do is, we have to just
kind of be bold and draw the lines and then justify what we are doing. That's the best we
can do. And then put up with the complaints that we get, or people might be happy.
That's my comment. I yield.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. Is there any other discussion?
KAUKA: Chair, this is Dennis, if I may. I just wanted to point out, Commissioners, for
reference, Commissioner Lui did submit Communication 29 yesterday, which was
10
distributed. It's not labeled at the corner, but you'll see that as coming from her. It does
relate to this discussion. She did advise, Chair, that she may be joining our meeting late
today, so seeing as she hasn't been able to connect yet, I wanted to point that out for
Commissioners. My apologies, I failed to mention at the beginning during testimony, but
I should just for the record, refer you to written testimony that was received. Which is
Communications 25 from Hope Cermelj, Communication 26 from Patrice MacDonald,
27 from Juliette Tulang, 28 from Joanne Pocsidio (I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing that),
and Communication 30 form Christopher Czarnecki. Thank you, Chair.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. And thank you for bringing up Ms. Lui's testimony
here, or discussion regarding her district. She does detail kind of what our discussions are
here, when it comes to our philosophical beliefs in making some of these changes. She
also questions, I remember reading this yesterday, is whether or not District 1 should be a
part of Hilo or not, or versus Waimea. That discussion, obviously, we're probably going
to have a little bit more today when we create these maps. But it would be important to
note, I want everybody to know that, you're more than welcome to bring up anything that
you feel is right for our community. That's the bottom line. That's the bottom of our
philosophical idea of this Commission. I thank Mr. Yoshina. He's right with regards to
prepping the conversation a little bit. And thank you, Ms. Bath, for introducing this
discussion. It would be important to identify what our interests and issues are in our
communities. Then we can kind of move forward from here. I'll open it up for more
discussion. If anybody wants to talk about Ms. Lui's District 1 proposals. Or any other
Commissioners wishing to talk about their districts.
BATH: Chair.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: Are you suggesting that now we put our shoulders to the wheel and start making
proposals at this time?
KOSSOW: I think we can wait till we get over to the draft maps.
BATH: Okay.
KOSSOW: Any other discussion regarding 1?
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Is that Mr. Hustace?
HUSTACE: Yes, Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: A part of this conversation I think we should also make light, during the
public hearings, a lot of the requests —and you as Commissioners, heard from your
communities about we want this, we want this to be in our district, or this not to be in our
district. So, we have to consider those things and at the same time, when we have the
census data in front of us, and it shows these numbers. I hear there may be some
disagreements with what those numbers are, but these are the numbers we have in front
of us. This is what we have to work with. So, when we look at these numbers, and we
talked about changes in the past and whether they're drastic or incremental, right? The
truth is here that, like looking at Council 1, there are short 1,300 people to be on an equal
playing field with the other districts so that their members are, you know. Right now,
they'd be almost overrepresented with their 1,300 under their count there. Council 8 is
over. These numbers I don't think, were made very clear to the public at these public
hearings. Yes, I was grateful that that map was there at the public hearings, to see what
the current districts look like, with the current counts in them. But I don't think that
translates easily sometimes in seeing that, okay, this district is being under represented or
over represented. This is where we have to come down. I agree with Corp Counsel about
the potentiality of having and justifying these changes above the deviation or below that
deviation we're allowed. But I really don't want to take that risk too much and have those
challenges thrown against us. I think we can try our best to stay within the five percent
either way would be —I think we can do it. I think it's possible. Seeing the maps out there
that you've all created. But it's important to be very clear that some of these communities
and these districts have grown. Some have grown more than others and have not kept
pace. We've got to make sure that we are trying to get to this equal playing field for the
districts or the representation of our Hawaii County people. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace. Any further discussion before we close new
business?
BATH: Question for Mr. Hustace.
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: Mr. Hustace, a question. You just said that, to paraphrase what you said, we've
heard from communities during the public hearing. Do you feel satisfied that you've
heard from your community and other communities island wide during the public
hearings? Do you have a sense that you can make decisions based on the community's
input at this time? I yield.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Commissioner Bath. Unfortunately, I have to say no. I was
grateful to the people that did come to the public hearings and spend time with us. We did
try and spend, in some areas, there were people that had more to say, so we spent more
time with them. Which is wonderful. Sometimes the three minutes goes by pretty quickly
for the testifiers. Some of the communities, unfortunately, we didn't see anyone come. I
was very disheartened by that. I would love to hear from more of our community
members about how they see their boundary lines and their communities. And what they
know from the past commission that needs to be changed, right? That's always a good
1[1
tell of —they've lived in it for ten years plus. They've seen this iteration for ten years.
Maybe they see some edges that need to be shifted and unfortunately, I wish more had
attended. I am a little nervous that the two public hearings that are coming up, we may
have a lot more people and it may be overwhelming. I can't say but, it makes me a little
nervous about that. I'm grateful for the testimony that's been coming in through the email
process, through the staff, and Mr. Kauka. I know there were concerns at those public
hearings about, oh where are the maps? Where are the maps? They were up online. They
were not in the easiest of places to find. Whether through the map building software, or
on the website where they've been uploaded to, eventually. But there was kind of like a
hitch. Part of that is our process here, the delay of the census, like all these things have
compounded into a very difficult step for us here. I would have wished they would have
seen some more of these proposed maps and keyed on a couple things here and there.
Unfortunately, I wish more people would have attended and voiced their opinions. I
encourage them to do so, going forward through email testimony or joining these calls.
Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace. Any other discussion?
BATH: Yeah. I really apologize, but I don't apologize for speaking. There are many
people on this island that do not have internet access. It's a fact. And so, to even consider
that they would be able to access maps, which people who I know have been involved in
government and community process themselves, had issues with linking to. I really want
to speak for that silent community of people. Senior citizens that might not have the
capacity or the understanding and the knowledge to be able to transverse websites. These
are people in our community. These are voters. These are people that are involved in the
political process. I just need to say that for those people. That they don't have access to
the internet. I yield.
HUSTACE: Mr. Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Commissioner Bath, I don't doubt you at all. That is a big hiccup that we
have in our communities. That's why I wish we had these maps, either in a physical form
at those meetings or some other method of delivery to them. Even our current elected
officials, they have some capacity to connect with those communities as well. There is
some potential there. I'm just reaching out and hoping that larger community can come
together and work together on these different issues, and then provide input on this
process. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui, thank you for joining us.
LUL Thanks. Sorry, I'm late. Just wondering, on that point, will there be physical maps
available in the two meetings that we hold after there are maps proposed? I'm done.
IVA
NAKAMOTO: Good morning. Pat Nakamoto, Elections Administrator. We can have the
maps available. Whatever the Commission would like to have at the meetings, we'll
make it available. You would need to let us know in what format you want the maps.
LUL Thank you. I would request that we do have physical maps at those two big
meetings.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Lui. Any other discussion? (No response.) I believe Ms. Ford
wanted to ask a question. If we can just give her two minutes?
FORD: Thank you, Chair. First of all, thank you all of you, for allowing me to speak
beyond the initial testimony. But since I wrote the law, that you are now struggling with,
I feel like I can help a little bit. The reason I wrote the maximum deviation of ten percent,
is based on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said, anything that exceeds ten percent
maximum deviation is prima facie evidence of gerrymandering. So, when I think about
the law as defined by the Supreme Court, to me, that is the most important, the number
one thing you cannot do. I wrote in the plus or minus five percent deviation for the
districts, in order to force the commission, you, or any other commission, to try to
equalize the populations between districts. Forgive me for saying this publicly, but I had
to not consider the ancient Hawaiian boundaries. Because frankly, the U.S. Supreme
Court couldn't give you know what about our boundaries. We're all emotionally linked to
those boundaries, but the court system is not. I'm not saying it's not important, it is
important. Especially if people have emotional attachments to our boundaries. But the
first one is, you cannot exceed ten percent. Now, I do agree with Corporation Counsel.
As long as you do not exceed the ten percent maximum deviation, any other one of those
rules can be voted on by you to say, we're not going to adhere to Brenda's law of plus or
minus five percent. If you want to go seven percent here, and three percent there, as long
as you vote on it, put it in the records for a court to look at, then you're still good to go.
So, I agree with Corporation Counsel on that. Please don't think about the maximum
deviation going beyond ten percent. With those caveats, I agree with Corporation
Counsel. And thank you again. I'll try to keep getting involved in this. I've been doing
this now for twenty plus years and I get real passionate about it. Which is why I wrote the
law. By the way, the other reason I wrote the law, is because Puna got screwed in 2001.
I'm very, very concerned about Puna not getting screwed again. Okay but, with those
things said, you still have to make those tough decisions. Thank you. I apologize.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Ford. Do we have any other discussions from
Commissioners? Ms. Lui.
LUL Just a clarification. And I really appreciate Brenda's participation. Thank you so
much, Brenda. It's helpful for those of us who don't have experience like yours. Does
that apply to the rule about contiguousness? That might be a question for Corporation
Counsel. Thank you.
FORD: I'm willing to answer that question if the Chair recognizes me.
IE:3
KOSSOW: Ms. Ford if you can just be brief in your answer.
FORD: I'll be brief. You should talk to Corporation Counsel about that. I'm sure if there
was a very justifiable reason that would stand up in a court of law, not just the Supreme
Court, local law, then you could do it. But please trust your Corporation Counsel on that
question.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui, do you mind restating your question to Corporation Counsel?
LUL Ms. Ford mentioned that we could decide not to follow some of the guidelines that
were set down. I was wondering about the one on contiguity or whatever the word might
be. If there was a case where there was a community that was associated 1 but the census
blocks don't connect them. I was wondering if we could waive that rule.
KOSSOW: Thank you.
MELLON-LACEY: This is Diana Mellon -Lacey, Corporation Counsel. I think that is a
harder rule to waive because that is clearly stated as something we're supposed to be
striving for. But it's really hard to talk about hypotheticals. I think if you have a specific
plan in mind and you have a justification for it, we will have to look at it on a case -by -
case basis. That is a key factor of where the lines are drawn, is keeping the contiguity.
Sorry, I can't give a better answer than that on a hypothetical.
KOSSOW: Alright, I'd like to move on. We'll do a five-minute break here and then we'll
come back here at 10:47. Thank you.
(Five-minute recess.)
KOSSOW: Alright, calling the meeting back to order. I would like to go back to new
business 1. If we want to continue on with this conversation, I would recommend that we
table this for the next meeting. Or if we want to close this discussion, we can make a
motion to file it. Ms. Bath?
BATH: I'd like this discussion to be on the table throughout the whole process, until
we're done.
KOSSOW: Alright. We'll go ahead and table new business 1.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
KOSSOW: And then we'll go ahead and head over to unfinished business.
Commissioners, we're going to go ahead and continue to look at the map plans proposed
and submitted on ESRI, our online tool. For members of the pubic who may be viewing,
please note at any point of clarification, the Commission has not yet or developed or
made any conclusions on its draft plan to present yet. This is part of the process. Not
IF'7
every plan proposed may be considered. The best way to view these proposals is on the
website because you can zoom in specific parts of the maps to see what they ideas are in
this point. But nothing has yet been selected. The maps online are available on the link
that's posted on the agenda for today. It's linked to the Elections page website, or you
may call the Commission staff at the number listed on all of our materials. Now as we
proceed, and dive into the plans that we were considering, we'll get into timelines later
on today, I'd like to remind us of our timing ahead. Although, we are trying to settle on a
draft plan by December 9 h, we should note that sooner we are able to decide, the sooner
the public will be able to digest what we are presenting as our draft plan. If we can do this
sooner, we should try to. We should also note that the draft plan is not final. So, we
should keep that in mind as we go through these together and eventually start voting on
the plan. There will be two more public hearings, and other opportunities during our
meetings, for the public to weigh in. Then revisions can be made. So, all this considered
Commissioners, I'd like to lay out as a form of organization to our discussion, as we
review the plans going forward and Commissioners having a chance to review these.
Let's consider actual motions. I will entertain motions from any Commissioners to accept
any one of the plans submitted as our draft plan, and a second. We can then discuss the
merits of the plan and amend boundary lines or whatever we see to change and make and
take up a vote. This gives us an opportunity to foundation set one map and move forward
from there with some tweaks here and there. I'm hoping this method will center our
conversations to make progress on selecting one. Staff or Corporation Counsel are
present to provide clarity and guidance. We also have staff to project the map onto the
screen if any Commissioner wants to see any specific deviations or adjusting boundary
lines. And we can do that all live on the map. We can do that, and we can also save the
map too. Let's go ahead and focus on this discussion. I'd like to have one map become at
least a tentative draft plan before concluding today's meeting and we could even vote to
postpone action on the map, to work on it more in this next meeting. But we'll at least
have a working draft moving forward. Thank you. Mr. Kauka, go ahead with alternate
plans.
KAUKA: Thank you, Chair.
I. Alternate Plans.
The Commission may review, discuss, and consider any alternate redistricting
plans received from the public pursuant to Hawaii County Code Chapter 36,
Article 5. Plans proposed may be viewed at the link provided.
hItps.11tirc g.i jC" e10
KOSSOW: Alright, Commissioners. Although we've received one alternate plan from the
public, which is Ms. Ford's, this remains as an item so that we can continue to consider
the map proposed by Ms. Ford, as we deliberate on our draft plan. Are there any
comments, thoughts, or questions, about hers? Or if not, we can take up number 2 and get
into the plans by the members of this Commission. Ms. Lui?
LUL I agree with your process, Chair Kossow. But I think that it might help me, we've
heard from the public to some degree, but I don't know what the other Commissioners
41]
are thinking. I wondered if we could move the new business item of Ms. Bath's, where
each one of us can just say a few words about the concerns that we have, or that the
people in our district have. That would really help me consider the different plans
because I don't know enough about what other districts are thinking.
KOSSOW: Sorry, Ms. Lui. We actually had that discussion already.
LUL Oh, sorry! Oh, I missed it. Sorry. Okay.
KOSSOW: You actually came in right in the middle of it actually. So, you got a little
piece of it.
LUL Oh, okay. Sorry.
KOSSOW: Any other discussion before we move on to draft plans?
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Is Ms. Ford still online?
KOSSOW: Yes, she is.
HUSTACE: Thank you. I guess this question is really for her. As the single person that
has submitted a map for the Commission. The question I have is really about her thinking
and process for District 1. And where, Ms. Ford, you thought the best line should be and
why.
FORD: District 1. I based that just on trying to get the numbers even. I actually agree
with Mr. Yoshina, that the line should be farther north, to the river, to WaianuenueI
forget what the name of the river is all of a sudden. But you guys know what I'm talking
about.
HUSTACE: The Wailuku River.
FORD: So, I think that is good. That would make the numbers up in District 1 a little too
positive. But if you can make `em within that plus or minus five percent, it would be
good. But that was the only reason I drew the line below the river, south of the river, was
trying to get the numbers to be equalized. It's your choice what you want to do about
that.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Ms. Ford.
FORD: You're welcome.
21
KOSSOW: Any other discussion? Ms. Bath.
BATH: For purposes of discussion, can we move the line and get the line back to the
Wailuku River? Or somewhere there abouts? Just as a starting point. `Cause I did the
same thing with my plan. I stuck it down on Waianuenue just for the numbers. But there
is a lot of community there and history there. Would the Commissioners be okay with
moving the line back to the Wailuku River for now?
KOSSOW: Let's hop over to draft plans. Right now, we're talking about Ms. Ford's
alternate plan.
BATH: Oh, I'm sorry.
KOSSOW: And then we can entertain that question.
BATH: Oh, understood. I'm sorry.
KOSSOW: No worries. Any other questions for Ms. Ford on her plan? (No response.)
Thank you, Ms. Ford for being here. Let's go ahead and head over tooh, Ms. Bath?
Thank you.
BATH: Hi, Brenda? Brenda?
FORD: I'm here. Thank you.
BATH: Oh, hi. So, thank you for your acknowledgement about what happened to Puna.
I'm still seeing that District 5 includes —do you have Pahoa town intact on your plan?
FORD: I believe I do.
BATH: Yeah, it looks like you do.
FORD: That was what the last commission had to do to get these numbers to a reasonable
basis. And I totally understand lower Puna does not want to be part of upper Puna. I
totally understand that. You have huge geographic areas in current District 5 and not so
many people. And so, that's why that lower piece of lower Puna is attached in my plan to
District 4.
BATH: Okay. Yeah, because District 5 now goes —looking at this practically speaking,
District 5 now goes from District 4 all the way to like District 3.
FORD: Yeah, Kea`au or something.
BATH: Right. And then Volcano Village, in that whole area is stillyou've got Fern
Forest in Ka`u as well, I think. And that's kind of
Pia
FORD: That's based on numbers. In my opinion, the worst district is District 6. Volcano
wants to be part of the east side and we haven't been able to do that in, I don't know,
twenty years, I think. I forget what the map looks like in 2001. It's a really spread -out
district and everybody hates it, including the Council Members. `Cause that district runs
about a hundred miles across. So, it's really hard and it's got multiple communities.
You've got south Kona, you've got Ka`u, you got part of District 5, I mean, it's a mess.
And I hope one of you can do something better. I really do but that district is huge. And
you see how, you're looking at my map number 12. That's not a map you should be
looking at. You should be at my map number 20. Okay? And even though my map 20
see on the Council District 7, how compact it is? But that district, the census block to the
east of Council District 7, there's no way to get there except through Council District 7.
So, that's an error on my drawing. That needs to be corrected. The reason that 7 gets
spread out across to the center of the island, does that help you at all?
BATH: I'm still trying to find plan 20 here. So, on your plan 20, do you have Fern Forest
in Ka`u?
FORD: I can't move your cursor, so I don't know.
BATH: Okay, I found your plan. Try wait.
FORD: Okay, you see how it goes up? District 6 goes way up into the central part of the
island. That's actually a flaw in my plan. The reason is, I equalized numbers but to the
east now. Directly to the east of where the cursor is, that district, you can't get to that
section. There's mostly just trails up there by the way. You can't get there without going
through District 7. So, it's a flaw. I had the same flaw that I'm chastising you guys about.
So, it's really hard to do this. So, all of that up there, needs to go into District 7.
BATH: Brenda, Steph again. I'm kind of confused about you taking Fern Acres out of
upper Puna `cause that's huge. That's a huge —
FORD: Would you ask Dennis to move over to Fern Acres? (During this time, Ms. Ford,
and Chair Kossow were directing staff to project Fern Acres on the screen.) Fern Acres
is right in that area, and I put it into 5. Beth [sic], are we centered into the area that you
want to talk about?
BATH: Yes. So, where the purple has that little point coming down. If you keep going
down, those rectangles there, are to the southeast are Fern Forest. That's a huge part of
the community.
FORD: It is a huge part of the community, and I did this based on numbers.
BATH: Got it. So, that's the same issue that we're having with Waianuenue.
FORD: Absolutely.
091
BATH: But I wanted to emphasize to the commission that that's definitely a no-go.
FORD: Well, it may be a no-go. If you've designed your own map, you're going to find
out that things that all of us agree are no-go's, you're stuck with them. Not necessarily on
my map, on your maps. Because you've got to be within those deviations.
BATH: Thank you.
FORD: You're welcome.
KOSSOW: Any further discussion from Commissioners regarding the alternate maps? If
not, I would like to move over to our draft plans. (No response.) Okay. Thank you very
much. Moving over to draft plans. Mr. Kauka?
KAUKA: Thank you. Unfinished business:
2. Draft plans.
The Commission may review, discuss, and consider any redistricting plans
submitted by Commissioners and work to develop or decide on its Draft Plan.
Plans proposed may be viewed at the link provided. hips: //crrc isj (l e,10
KOSSOW: Thank you. And thank you staff for helping us with considering and
discussing and playing around with these maps there. Perhaps it's easiest if I just go by
district to see what everybody's thoughts are on specific maps they want to see. Unless
anybody has a proposal of how we should do this flow. I know that Commissioner
Hustace, myself, and Commissioner Bath had proposed maps since the last commission
meeting. So, perhaps we can start with one of us three and just talk about that map first
before we move on to any other discussion. So, Ms. Bath, would you want to
BATH: Could you do yours first?
KOSSOW: Do mine first? We'll do —Mr. Hustace would you like to do yours first?
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. I actually have two maps that were submitted prior to
today's meeting. I don't know if both of them are available though.
KOSSOW: Okay. I did see one.
HUSTACE: That was a concern I had. That yesterday was a holiday so that some of this
work wasn't carried over to today's meeting. The one that wasn't available at our last
meeting was my draft number 10, but there was a draft number 11 as well that was
submitted.
KOSSOW: Looks like draft number 10 is available.
HUSTACE: So, this one, I took into consideration the testimony on the east side of the
island. So, if we want to start over there. In keeping lower Puna together. So, you can see
in that purple area, the light purple on the right side of the map, of the screen. However, I
did have to carve up HPP a little bit, and that's for the numbers. I think had I included all
of HPP, I think it would have been well beyond the deviation we're allowed. Other than
that, I think this one, just some incremental changes around the edges. So, that was one of
the bigger ones of 4 and 5. Let's see what else I can talk about here. The Hilo one, the
boundary of 1 of 2, that's still up for discussion. Happy to make adjustments there, even
moving it further north. I think my map 11 shows that too. A lot of the discussion from
community members and feedback I've received from those that reside in District 1, and
District 9, is that District 1 has a more, you know, it's greater in rural capacity, ag land.
The communities closer to Hilo really connect with Hilo. So, I'm trying to find a good
balance somewhere there. And it's difficult with the census blocks. I've been trying to
find some good breaking points in District 1, for those communities that would call Hilo
more of their base. Other than that, let's see. District 9 on its own, given the numbers we
have right now, District 9 really didn't have to change that much. So, even if I left the
eastern boundary of District 9 more or less the same, I did kind of keep Mealani Road as
a carving point, rather than a weird jog in the line at White Road, and then Mealani. I'm
trying to keep the homestead there as intact as possible but there still are some that are on
the east side of Mealani. The other one, the other testimony we've received over time,
and numerous times, is to include on the western side of District 9, those resort nodes and
resort areas, have a greater connection to the Waik6loa area. So, all on the coast, I've put
those with the communities that they call their base. So, all the Mauna Lani Resort,
Waik6loa Beach Resort, they all have a stronger connection to the Waik6loa Village area.
There was a pretty clear breaking line just south of Waik6loa Village, so I've used that.
There is more openness and expanse where, in the future potentially, there could be a
highway that connects where the DKI connects to the upper road, Mamalahoa Highway
down to Queen Ka`ahumanu Highway. So, there potentially could be another census
block and break in that area, in that vast space there, south of Waik6loa Road. On this
one, I do have Council 8 pushing up in to the center of the island, up to PTA. Just kind of
that connectivity we were talking about, of roadways. I think I had to push some of these
districts down a little bit more here too. I wasn't really a fan of the weird cut out between
7 and 6. So, I pushed 7 and captured a little bit more of 6 on that side. So, I think in that
essence, I pushed 6 a little bit further into Hilo if I'm not mistaken on this map. Yeah, I
did push a little further. That's kind of an overall layout of that one. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace. Any discussion? Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: I have a question. What part of 6 did you push into District 2?
HUSTACE: It looks like, you know, because on the western side of District 6, I gave
more of the Kealakekua mauka area and makai area to District 7. So, 6, if I'm not
mistaken, I did this one a little while ago now. Six I pushed a little further along Highway
11, towards Mountain View side.
YOSHINA: Okay. I'll take a look at that.
PA7
HUSTACE: Not all the way to Mountain View but, approaching that direction. I just had
to pick up some more voters in that area.
KOSSOW: I would say, Mr. Hustace, your map looks eerily like one of my maps that I
created. If we can scroll down to District 6 and 7, right on the coastline. I know that this
is a problem. Now, there's a census block that goes from Ka`awaloa, where the edge of
Kealakekua, and it goes all the way in to the 116kuli`a Development. Is that the reasoning
why 7 runs all the way to Ka`awaloa?
HUSTACE: Yeah, that's a census block issue. And if we pursue something like this, I
would move to break the census block up. There's no one that lives in that one, so we
need to have a clear carving line in that census block. There's even a pinch point, just
below the club there. I don't know why
KOSSOW: There's actually an old road that runs through there. I'm surprised it didn't
split that census block up because it's a public easement.
HUSTACE: That's a good question, Chair.
KOSSOW: In my map, the only thing different between 7 and 6 here, is that the —one of
the connectivity I saw for District 7, was to ensure that Ali`i Drive is all within that one
district. So, if you zoom in right into the Ali`i Bypass, or Mamalahoa Bypass, that's the
fork in the road. It goes down to Napo`opo`o, and then it goes down to Ka`u, and then if
you turn left, it goes into Kainaliu. So, Ali`i Drive is the one that's on the left there. I
would like to see Council 7 have all of Ali`i Drive. So, it continues from that location and
goes all the way down to Palani. Which I think, part of the north side Ali`i Drive, when
you go to Kamakahonu, is under Council District 8. At the very least, Kuakini Highway
can be a part of Council 8. That's what I think for connectivity for Council 7 on your
map. When we're talking about, for example, parks and stuff, one of the issues that was
brought up in my community, was that the Old Kona Airport, Kekuaokalani Gym and
that complex, has been in District 7, but that line kind of ran through it. And so, a lot of
the funding issues, because Council 7 has way more County parks and facilities than
Council 8, even though the Civic Center is in Council 8, and Veterans 3. So, that's
something to consider, Mr. Hustace. I just wanted to see, is your 1 and 2, is that boundary
line on the river or is that Waianuenue?
HUSTACE: That one's on Waianuenue but I'm happy to change that one. Just trying to
find a good balance there. On this iteration, it's on Waianuenue.
KOSSOW: Okay. Thank you for proposing the map, Mr. Hustace. Is there any other
discussion or any other questions for Mr. Hustace? Ms. Bath.
BATH: Are you aware that the town of Kurtistown and the community extends from
about North Road to Huina Road? That's the main road really in Kurtistown. So,
basically what you've done by using the Highway 11 as a dividing point, which I can
U1.
understand the reason that you might do that, not knowing the community. The whole
area from North Road at the very least, all the way up North Kulani, that whole area in
Mountain View, Ihope Road, all of that is Moutain View community. So, you've split the
communities of Mountain View and Kurtistown and there's a concern there. I like what
you've done with Pahoa though and I think it's really a positive thing that you've kept
Fern Forest intact. But I'm wondering if we could something somehow with getting
Mountain View and Kurtistown back into Mountain View and Kurtistown. `Cause
they've been removed from their towns. I'm thinking Stainback Highway would be the
division line, not Highway 11, in that area. I yield.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Bath. Any other discussion on Mr. Hustace's? Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: Just some clarification, what map number is this?
KOSSOW: This is draft number 10.
YOSHINA: Okay.
KOSSOW: I think it says COH Draft 10-JH.
YOSHINA: Okay, thank you. I have a comment to make, actually a question here.
Commissioner Hustace, if you took some of Meizhu's recommendations for moving the
southern district line, northward up the coast to Honoli`i or one of the streams between
Hilo and Honoli`i, what impact would that have on the population figures? And then the
second question was about your change in you included part of Council District 7,
Mountain View area into Council District 2. I'll take a look at those maps on my own
but, it seems kind of incongruous for that to happen. I don't know where the line is.
Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. Any other discussion? (No response.) Okay. Let's
go ahead and move on to another draft plan. We'll go over to District 5. Ms. Bath?
BATH: Are we on the one that's "Submission With Each District Giving"?
KOSSOW: That's what it looks like, yes.
BATH: Okay, yeah. I guess, any questions from anybody on this? This was for pure
discussion and fairness, is the reason that I drew this up this way. I don't think that it's
necessarily something that's going to be. I just wanted to open up a conversation.
KOSSOW: There was one part of it that I really like the Kona districts. I think those are
great. The Council District 3 proposal, I kind of wanted to hear from Mr. Yoshina and
then Ms. Ah Nee if she's still on. `Cause I have the same issue with breaking parts of the
neighborhoods in Hilo. I did the same thing, breaking up HPP a little bit. Sort of what
you have done. I just wanted to hear any comments from those commissioners.
MA
YOSHINA: My comment is that, I like the proposal made by Ms. Meizhu, of moving the
northern council line for Hilo up the coast. I'm not too certain what that does on the
southern side but, her proposal makes sense to me. I don't know what it does to
population figures. Beyond that, you know, the only thing that I have to add is that,
historically and traditionally, Hilo meant something to the people. To move the council
district lines out to Mountain View and places, I really have to look at that. That's my
comment. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina.
HUSTACE: Mr. Chair?
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: This is titled, Submission With Each District Giving. Is that correct?
KOSSOW: You are correct.
HUSTACE: I don't understand how the system's not flagging errors on this one. For
instance, outside of Mountain View, there are census blocks that are being encompassed
by Council 6. And down in Wao Kele o Puna Forest Reserve, some of the Council Seat 4
are in the middle of nowhere in Council 5. So, this is a tech question, for maybe Mr.
Jones as well, and Elections Office. I don't understand why this is not being flagged here.
KOSSOW: You're talking about the connectivity check, right? On the integrity.
HUSTACE: Yes.
KOSSOW: Okay. Ms. Bath.
BATH: Because Wao Kele o Puna encompasses those few little subdivisions down in
what I'm proposing here in District 4, that would be something we would want to talk
about if we did that as a reasonable action that would be defendable. Because in fact,
those little subdivisions can access through Wao Kele o Puna and they polarize towards
Pahoa Village. And that's the reason they appear like they are in the middle of nowhere.
When I did do my check, that was the only thing that didn't check out correctly on this
one. It's cited District 5 and District 6 so, I think that that's probably what it is and I'm
ready to defend this. Just because of community. Did that give you any clarification? I'm
not sure what you're talking about, higher up.
HUSTACE: The roadso, looking at the boundary between 4 and 5, down by Kaimu,
right? There's that oneso, there's one census block.
BATH: Yes, correct.
N-11
HUSTACE: But there are roads around it, you know. Are there other residents around
there? Or do they only live in that census block because the roads jut out, Upper Puna
Road, Kaimu-Makena Homestead Road. And the forest reserve, it says that that whole
block has 237 residents, in that whole block. So, wouldn't it be justification for you to
take whole block as part of 4 then?
BATH: We could. However, we have to draw the line somewhere. I think I might have
made an error here. Give me a second.
HUSTACE: The census blocks, they're only accurate to a sense because there are people
that live just outside of that block too. So, you might be forgetting the people that live
down the road from that block.
BATH: Yeah, I'm definitely not forgetting those people. Wao Kele o Puna could be put
into District 4, I don't have a problem with that. That's just going to raise the numbers a
little bit more. The main thing is whatever we need to do to get lower Puna into lower
Puna. I think that this would definitely be reasonable and justifiable without any question,
especially because of the lava flow and everything that's coming down there.
HUSTACE: Then the other location I had questions about was at the boundary of 5 and
6, right outside of Mountain View. This may have fight as well.
BATH: Okay. So, that's Mauna Loa Estates. Okay, I see what you're saying there. Yeah,
those are just some communities that —if s the way they did the census block.
HUSTACE: Right. So, should we take that whole block around it then? Because that's
part of that community, right?
BATH: Right, right, yeah. So, what are you suggesting? Taking it to Stainback Highway
or?
HUSTACE: Well, this is a difficult one I've had problems with too because if you take
Chair, is it possible to make some edits here, live on the map?
KOSSOW: Are we capable of doing that? (Chair Kossow received a response away from
the microphone.) Oh, that's cool. Okay.
HUSTACE: If we could unlock those groups there. Then if you zoom in, you can see like
the roadways go beyond those census blocks. So, I'm sure people live down the road
from the small blocks that have been carved out.
BATH: I think I tried doing that, and they way that it's done, the census blocks make it
challenging.
HUSTACE: So, you have to unlock those. On the lower panel
00.1
BATH: Yeah, I've got `em unlocked.
HUSTACE: I'm sorry, Commissioner Bath, for our staff that's managing the map up on
the screen.
BATH: Oh, I'm sorry.
(Meeting paused while staff managed the map projected onto the screen.)
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace, what was your request, is to take that whole census block and
move it to 6?
HUSTACE: Sorry. Thanks, Chair. The request was to make that large block that
encompasses those small communities along Komo Street, that is that larger blue one,
and throw it into Council 5, along with the ones I think you just turned into 6.
KOSSOW: And then, you wanted the one that was a little bit more up, yeah?
HUSTACE: Sorry, those were supposed to all be in 5.
KOSSOW: Oh, 5. Yeah, yeah. So, that whole census block goes to 5. (Chair Kossow and
Vice Chair Hustace gave directions to staff managing the projected map)
BATH: Chair, that looks much better. I don't know the reason that I didn't do that. And
then, if you go down towards `Ainaloa, if you go east to the right, and you have `Ainaloa
Subdivision, and there's that one census block that has 13 people. That one was supposed
to go into 4.
HUSTACE: Before we move to the east, if you could switch that large blue census block.
The number is, I probably shouldn't give you the number. It might confuse you. But it
has 598 yeah, if you could switch that to Council 5. And then there's a little blue one,
yeah that one needs to go too. Commissioner Bath, could you talk to us about, you said
there was another one t000h, oh, so the other proposal was, look at Ms. Bath's map
here.
BATH: Yeah. So, if you go to the very east where —just a minute here.
HUSTACE: Well, let's put Wao Kele o Puna Forest Reserve in Seat 4, if you don't mind.
BATH: That's exactly right. That's exactly correct.
HUSTACE: Please, yes. The Forest Reserve in Seat 4.
BATH: `Cause the folks in 5 could still access it from their district so I don't think
011
HUSTACE: Unfortunately, there's a techincal issue with that. I've had many problems
too. Sometimes when you select the forest reserve, it also takes parts that are in the Park
for some reason. Just depends on what level macro zoom you're in on the map.
KOSSOW: Unfortunately, you have to zoom in all the way, and then that's how you can
get the split.
HUSTACE: Yeah. There's something wrong with that. Those census blocks are like
linked together. (Vice Chair Hustace gave directions to staff managing the map) Great.
Then there's another one just above Pahoa town.
BATH: Oh, yeah. It's a little tiny. I see that.
HUSTACE: Yeah. There's one like just —so, if you zoom in Cori, towards Pahoa, there's
a small little one that has zero population. Yeah. (Chair Kossow and Vice Chair Hustace
continued to give directions to staff managing the map projected onto the screen.) Ms.
Bath, you mentioned the one just north there too, that had 13 in it. Right off of Kea`au
Road.
BATH: I just did an integrity check and all of them check out without correction. Hold
on, let me get back there. So, if you go to the east of where 5 and 4 meet—
HUSTACE: Did you want to throw in that one green block first, right along the highway
there?
BATH: Yeah, I think it had 13 folks in it.
HUSTACE: Yeah. So, Cori, if you could that one in 4 as well. Just south a little bit.
Sorry. (Vice Chair Hustace gave further direction to staff managing the map) And then,
Commissioner Bath, if you could talk to us about the four or five census blocks that push
over from HPP into Orchidland.
BATH: Yeah. I'm just doing a check here. Just a minute. Okay. Yeah so, I want to
disclose, I love HPP, I've spent a lot of time down there, however, with the population
density and the increased everyday new driveways, and homes, are being built down
there, until we were to get another district, we're going to need to do something. And
Corp Counsel mentioned today that the school districts are actually broken up in HPP,
which I wasn't aware of. I'm assuming that's somewhere around Maku`u or not, but I'd
have to check that. It's reasonable to split it up. The other thing is with the Puna Mauka,
the redundancy of another road going in there, which is definitely on the books, that road
would connect actually, from HPP into District 3 anyway. So, there would be some
connectivity between the two districts, `cause that's going to be huge. I put Kaloli Point
in there, into District 3, because that's a community within itself in HPP. They have their
own cert teams. It's really hard for me to do this but it had to be done. So, I yield. If you
have any questions, I can try to help. I was just looking at the numbers.
31
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: The question I had was actually more specific on the four or five census
blocks just east of the Kea`au-Pahoa Road. So, Highway 130, you see where the red cuts
into the green?
BATH: Yeah. So, that's actually HPP. Those four census blocks are part of HPP.
HUSTACE: Okay. Good to know. They don't cut any further back into Orchidland, it
really cuts at that line at Pohaku Circle?
BATH: Correct, from what I understand.
HUSTACE: Chair, could I ask another question?
KOSSOW: Yeah. Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Could I gage the tempature of our Commissioners for Council's 4 and 5 on
this iteration here? And get their feedback on how does this feel overall. You don't have
to go into too much detail but, if you looked at how 4 and 5 are settled here, what does
that, how does that make you feel? What would your community members say about
something like this? Thank you.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: I'm okay with that, the corrections. Makes sense.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. Any other Commissioners? Ms. Yadao.
YADAO: I like it. I think it looks good.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Yadao. Any other Commissioners?
BATH: I can definitely live this with the corrections, yeah. I think that the community
would think it was reasonable.
KOSSOW: Alright. Is there any other discussion regarding Ms. Bath's proposed map?
(No response.) Okay. Mr. Hustace, you said you had one more map, correct? Is that plan
11?
HUSTACE: That's correct.
Kea
KOSSOW: Okay. If we can pull up Mr. Hustace's plan 11 and then I have also, a plan
called BK12 or BK Draft 12 or something like that. Mr. Hustace, what was your plan
name?
HUSTACE: It should read Draft 11. But I don't know ifthat's why I was curious, I
don't think it made the transition from Mr. Jones to our Elections Office.
KOSSOW: Try and go to recent plans. No. (Meeting paused while staff tried to pull up
Vice Chair Hustace's Draft 11.) Sorry, Mr. Hustace, we didn't get plan 11 in here yet. I
guess if his didn't make it through, I don't think mine made it through either but, it's
called BK Draft 12. Okay. Well, Mr. Hustace, why don't you go ahead and maybe just
discuss what the plan is, that you had.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. I'll just pull it up, one second here. It might be hard to
visualize it but, it was something I revisited back with my third, I think it was my third,
draft map. I'd actually be curious to hear from Commissioner Akamu about this. In
regards to splitting Seat 6. And you know, that large geographic district that is
challenging for, as we hear, for our contituents, all the way to elected officials. So, I tried
to attempt something else. Kind of a different iteration of what was my draft 3, in
splitting the large southern district in half. I know this pushes a little bit further into Hilo
and there are some population challenges there. So, it's hard to kind of show it to you
here but, that was kind of part of it. So, that was on the southern half of the island. On the
northern side of the island, I was trying to take into consideration the input and feedback
from community members, and our discussions about what was Council Seat 1, and 2,
and that kind of boundary and pushing it further north. And trying to include as many of
those communities along the Hamakua Coast that have a great affiliation for the Hilo
community and where they kind of mostly commute from. If I'm not mistaken, my
boundary was around in between Pa`auilo and Laupahoehoe. So, that's where I kind of
drew that boundary. That means it pushed Council Seat —the numbers are the numbers,
but it pushed that, what was 1, further up towards North Kohala, and incorporated the
core of Waimea, it excluded Waik6loa Village. So, it did do a lot of shifting. It's really
hard to kind of talk to you through it here. But that was kind of the impetus there.
Revisting that idea of splitting the large geographic boundaries for Council Seat 6 as it
stands. And trying to find a place of like a proper geographic boundary up on Hamakua
where it could be divided and those people commute and have a connection to the Hilo
community. Thank you, Chair.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace, for the visual. And then just briefly on mine, it
looks kind of like your draft 10, and also I made some considerations with Ms. Bath's. I
think the only exception is I didn't know that portion was HPP, that was right against
Orchidland. So, I'll have to revisit that. Because we moved HPP a little bit over, there
was a way to get the Wailuku River at the boundary line between Council 1 and Council
2. The only concern I had, and I wish I will be able to show this to you, Mr. Hustace, but
Pu`u Kapu would be the boundary line between Council 1 and Council 9. So, I know that
might be a little bit more of an issue. Acutally, that's pretty similar to what I have, but
yeah.
091
HUSTACE: Chair, just a question on that.
KOSSOW: Yes.
HUSTACE: Do you know which road? You probably have the map right in front of you
on your own computer. What was the boundary line you had on the Pu`u Kapu area? The
homestead.
KOSSOW: I tried to use Mana Road as they boundary line, on the mauka side towards
Mauna Kea.
BATH: Excuse me Chair, what map are we viewing right now?
KOSSOW: We weren't able to get the maps up here so, we're kind of just talking about
our ideal map.
BATH: Oh, okay.
KOSSOW: Then I also used the census block of Mokuola Drive [sic] on the left-hand
side. And that kind of cuts right into the watershed.
HUSTACE: Chair, if you don't mind.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: The Mokuloa, I've looked at that one. I think Ms. Ford had an iteration on
one of her maps, or a couple of maps, used that Mokuloa. So, in the Waimea area, on the
boundary between 9 and 1. That is Mokuloa Subdivision, was one of those ones that
switched to Council 1 as in some iterations and options. It might be possible to use that
stream though, right next to it there, as another possible boundary. The only concern I've
had, I've heard from the residents in Waimea that, and this is an issue with Mana Road
because there are homesteaders on both sides of Mana Road. So, you'd be kind of
splitting the homestead and kind of diluting that voice. I have some concerns about that
and I have been struggling where to put that line as well. I don't know where the best
place is in that sense. But Mana Road is a good boundary line but it does divide that
community.
KOSSOW: Yeah, I was worried about that as well. I haven't heard anybody from Pu`u
Kapu. Have you?
HUSTACE: Not yet really. But from Waimea residents, that was a concern about
splitting up Pu`u Kapu and the homestead there.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace. Part of my other draft that I probably would have to
revisit is, I split Ka`upulehu in half. To give you a gage of where that is, it's Four
MA
Seasons area, located north of the airport, about 15 minutes out heading north. So, I kind
of split one part of Kuki`o down into Council 8, and Council 9 would have more of the
Four Seasons and Kuki`o Phase 3 into that district. Also, I considered Pu`u Wa`awa`a, I
believe this is Pu`u Wa`awa`a and Pu`u Anahulu into Council 9. Because I think they
share the same values as far as ranching and agriculture, versus Council 8 which is
mostly residential. Other than that, that was the summary of my map. Is there any other
discussions? Or do we want to look at any other maps?
HUSTACE: Chair, just a question on that.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you. I wish we had like a whiteboard, I could draw this up on all this
stuff but I look forward to seeing the maps as well. The Pu`u Wa`awa`a, Pu`u Anahulu
area, there's some grotesque census blocks that really span up into Hualalai basically.
So, how did you manage those when you're putting Pu`u Wa`awa`a, Pu`u Anahulu into
seat 9?
KOSSOW: So, the backside of Hualalai, into Ahua`umi, that's all —would be part of
Council 9. And then after considering that, I considered connectivity to Pohakuloa. And
so, at that part of Pohakuloa is also in Council 9. Actually, kind of similar to that map
right there. That census block is pretty ridiculous but it just goes into the backside which
is all primarily ranch land. (Pause) Oh you got it! Perfect. So, Mr. Hustace, this is your
map here, Draft 11.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Mr. Jones may have been listening in. Going back to what
you were saying, did you want to revisit this, Chair?
KOSSOW: Sorry, Mr. Hustace, what was your question?
HUSTACE: Now that we have the visuals, did you want to use these as a template here
and talk about these?
KOSSOW: Yes. Yes, please.
HUSTACE: Okay. As I've mentioned before, I'd love to hear from Commissioner
Akamu about the split of the southern half, if that's okay. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace.
AKAMU: Chair Kossow?
KOSSOW: Mr. Akamu.
AKAMU: This is perhaps the most difficult map, so I hope we don't select this one as the
one to which we start our discussions and our moving things around it. I understand why
K&7
this is done. But to approach with the thought of, let's split up the southern district, is
going to cause a lot of problems among the people of the southern district. Especially
when you're talking about socio-economically and keeping these communities together. I
think that's really important. Also, interestingly, talking to the people of Ka`u, regardless
of how the lines are drawn, it's not going to change the people's feelings and their
connections to the place. And the boundaries that they recognize traditionally in these
areas. So, I mean if this is the map that we do decide to use as our anchor, with which we
start, I think there will be a lot of changes and deviations. I do think as much as possible,
trying to communities out near Glenwood, Fern Forest, etcetera, more connected to the
Puna, Kea`au, and Hilo area. That's what I've heard from people in that community and
they're definitely much more connected. They probably never drive down to Pahala.
Similarly, people in the Ocean View community, probably never get across to Pahala. So,
it is a big huge district but, essentially the community of the south, I believe, would like
to stay together as a community of the south. Our State Representatives are already split
similarly. It does provide some challenges when the communities of Pahala and Na`alehu
are split. In particular, because of the plantation connection, as well as the connection
using the Old Cane Haul Road at the top that connects both of those communities. Also,
because of a lot of the PONC projects that are in the lower portions of Ka`u, like at
Keolaka`a, Kaunamano, Waikapuna. It would be definitely easier to keep it all under the
purview of one council member, rather than splitting them apart. It has been a big desire
of the Ka`u community to preserve this longest stretch of undeveloped coastline in
Hawaii. And so, that's also important in terms of preservation efforts and working with
our council members for PONC funding, etcetera. But otherwise, whatever the map is, I
think we'll have a lot more further discussions about how to tweak it. I think what's most
important is whatever our draft map becomes, we do have to work on getting hard copies
out to the communities. Similar to what Commissioner Bath had shared about the
communities of Puna, the communities out here in Ka`u need to be able to go to the
public library, or the post office, or somewhere nearby and pick up hard copies of these
items. So, whatever we can do to make sure that we do make those drafts available and
gather as much community input at that point, will be really important. But I thank,
Commissioner Hustace. I've looked at looked at all of your different maps and you've
definitely put a lot of thought into it. There are also some really interesting ideas for some
of the northern parts of the islands that I've seen incorporated. But, hopefully we'll find a
nice happy medium between all of the districts. And that's why I'm here, is just to listen,
to put in the time, so that we can come to the best for our districts, as well as for our
island. So, thank you. I yield.
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Akamu. Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Commissioner Akamu. I value your input
and guidance here. It's good to know those sentiments and feelings. Yeah, these are just,
you know, proposed ideas of seeing how it's possible to, with such a large geographical
district, to give those areas equal representation. But, I value your guidance. Thank you.
W.
And Chair, if you don't mind, I could talk a little bit more about this one, if you'd like to
have me.
KOSSOW: Go ahead, Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: So, I wanted to talk about Council's 1 and 2, and trying to talk about I had
some difficulty finding where a good boundary line would be here, along Hamakua. So,
in this instance, I took just east of Pa`auilo, and that became more of the Hilo -based side
of the Hamakua District. I've heard conversations about south Laupahoehoe. I couldn't
really find a good census line in there, so I'd have to go back and look again, and do
another iteration. But, that's some of the communities members have talked about
Laupahoehoe and south Laupahoehoe as the area that would be more connected to the
Hilo side. That's one possibility, but this one is more about east of Pa`auilo and then that
becomes kind of the north Hawaii district there. From Pa`auilo all the way to the core of
Waimea and then up to Haw! and Kapa`au. Unfortunately, there could be some potential
little changes here in this area. I know it puts a lot of the area, people that connect with
Waimea, along Kawaihae Road, in a separate district. Some of them may have more of a
coastal connection, and so I connected with the Waikoloa Village area, all the way down
to resort hubs, and all the way down to north Kona and the airport. So, some of this
boundary is similar to the House Seat, to an extent. Particularly with Kaloko Drive and
that area. I'm trying to follow some of those House Seat lines as well. Really, Council
Seat 8, what I have here is really, really carved into a very urban core of the Kona area,
Kailua-Kona area. Unfortunately, I had to take kind of the upper portions, and this could
switch based upon some of the numbers. I have to look at them again. It could be possible
to take the Holualoa area and put that into the Council 8 as well. But they are in kind of
this western side of the southern half. Just a possibility. Just wanted to put that out there,
some ideas. Thank you, Chair.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace. Is there any discussion on Mr. Hustace's draft 11
here? Mr. Yoshina. Thank you.
YOSHINA: I just want to make sure that that map is going to be put on our inventory
here, `cause I don't see it here.
KOSSOW: I think it might have gone on right now so you probably have to refresh it.
YOSHINA: Oh, okay. Thank you.
KOSSOW: But yes, it will be on there. Any other discussion?
LUL Yes, I have a comment.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui.
LUL I feel like this one goes under the category of a more radical change. And again, I'm
not too sure how much of change people are ready for. I know for District 1, I wanted to
move it up farther, to have the southern boundary father north, but this goes much too far.
There's a community of interest along those agricultural communities that many camps
along there, from Pa`auilo down much further. So, yeah, I think these changes are
probably too drastic. Just wanted to say that I felt like we didn't discuss it today but, there
was some support in the community from the testimony, for Commissioner Lopez's plan.
And, I know for me, in Council 1, he does move it up farther, the District 1 boundary, he
does move it up farther south than both Waianuenue and the Wailuku River, which is
good. Not as far as Honoli`i, which was my suggestion, but he does get it up that far. So,
I don't know, I guess in some ways I would be in favor of using —his plan might be one
that we look at as a basis. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Any other discussion? Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: I would second that suggestion that we look at Mr. Lopez's map as well.
KOSSOW: Alright. I'm going to call for a five-minute recess, and then we'll come back
and we'll look at Mr.oh we have one more map to look at, and then Mr. Lopez's. And
we'll hop back into there. So, five-minute recess and we'll get back at 12:13. Thank you.
(Five-minute recess.)
KOSSOW: Alright, calling the meeting back to order. We're going to go over to —oh
yeah, we'll do my draft and then we'll look at Mr. Lopez's draft. I know there was some
public testimony regarding that and some commissioners wanted to look into that as well.
Alright so, this was one of my draft plans and out of consideration for Wailuku River. So,
if we can scroll down into between District 1 and District 2. I wanted to ensure that we
could get Wailuku River in Council District 2 as the boundary line. So, that's what shows
here. This one is "BK Draft 12". Now, in order for me to do this, I had to make some
changes around Council 4 and 5. So, if we can scroll down into there. I tried to do
something similar to Ms. Bath's proposed plan. I'm not too excited about that, what it is
currently. And then also considering that part of HPP that you just pointed out earlier. It's
something I'll have to consider as well. If you scroll down a little bit more, I did put
lower Puna into one whole district so, that allows that. Now I didn't think about Volcano.
And I know Commissioner Hustace brought this up, but splitting one side as Wao Kele o
Puna and the other side should be District 6 really, for the Volcano portion. If you go
over to, if you can scroll up just a little bit more. I did see the need to put Kurtistown and
the upper part of Puna all into one district. I kind of followed Commissioner Bath's plan.
If you scroll in to towards Volcano, I wanted to make sure that a little bit towards the
boundary between District 6 and District 5 in the Volcano areaI wanted to make sure
that we weren't splitting up too much of the community within this area. So, that's where
I could find like the point, and looking through Google Maps I didn't really see any
homes within that area. But I'm sure there is, because I think that's a roadway. Go ahead
and zoom out and head over to the other side of District 6 and 7. Zoom in towards
Kealakekua Bay. So, this is similar to James, Mr. Hustace. That one census block goes all
the way into Ka`awaloa, and then there's like a little sliver, and then it goes all the way
up to 116kuli`a. So, we're just going to have to live with that. That part would be in
011
Council 7. I tried to get all of Ali`i Drive into Council 7. So, it goes right against the
roadway there, and then you can follow it all the way to town, Kona proper. And then, so
when you get into there, Kamakahonu, which is the King Kamehameha Resort area,
would be in Council 7. And then if you scroll down towards Kuakini Highway, right in
the center there (Chair Kossow gave further directions to staff managing his projected
draft.) So, I followed Kuakini Highway at the split portion of town. Then it cuts up
through Hualalai Road and then, part of Hualalai Road, there's an old river that runs
through there. So, Hualalai Road, then it goes into the river, and it goes straight up
towards the mauka side. That's what you see in that boundary line there. Then, let's go
into Council District 9. James, Mr. Hustace, this is what I was talking about with Pu`u
Anahulu. I know it looks a little like a cloud. But, the Pu`u Anahulu kind of is all in one
census block. So, I wanted to ensure that at least that area could be part of District 9. And
then it also includes part of Pohakuloa, which is similar to what Ms. Ford had in her plans
as well. Then, if you scroll all the way to 1 and 9, it's going to be up in Hamakua. And
then, I ran into the same thing with Ms. Bath, in her map, and I used the Mana Road. It
runs through Pu`u Kapu and I don't remember what that road is in that area. But to
summarize, that would be that map. Any questions?
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: Thank you. Thank you for your submission here. While we were on our
break here, I was kind of tinkering with kind of the Hilo boundary between 1 and 2. It's
not particular with your map, Chair. It's just the conversation we've been having if you
don't mind. Shifting Council 2 further north, like even up to Honoli`i, added a great deal
of representation. I was trying to take into consideration Commissioner Bath's ideas. If I
didn't change what we had in her iteration, it gave Seat 2 way too many to give any other
seat adjacent to it. I'm just kind of struggling in that area right now.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace. It is a difficult decision to sort of make. I know that
if we moved Council 2 into Honoli`i, I believe you would have to move Council 1 a little
bit more into Council 9. And then, Council 9 would have to move a little bit more into
Council 8. I think there was, if I remember, one of your draft plans actually kind of did
that. Where the end product was that it went into the Palisades area from North Kona.
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: What is a reasonable concession Council Seat 4 needs to make. If you move
Seat 4 further up into Hamakua, in the Honoli`i area, what can you remove from it to give
to Seat 3? `Cause Seat 3 is the only one that's adjacent to it. It can only connect to Seat 3
on its southern half. This can be a caution for the other commissioners too, from Seat's 2
and 3. What would you give away to Seat 3? You know, we're talking about moving up
to Honoli`i, and having that boundary for Council Seat 2. What can you give away
001
logically? It's gaining a lot of people when you move up north into those areas. So,
you're going to have to go quite a bit to 3, and then 3 gains a lot. If we're set in our ways
about Seat 4 and 5, then we're at an impasse. I can't seem to see where those boundaries
are then.
LUL Commissioner Kossow?
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui? Or I'm sorry, Mr. Hustace, do you yield?
HUSTACE: Yes. Thank you, Chair.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Ms. Lui?
LUL Well, I was thinking too that Hilo, right now, really is in three different districts. It
would be nice to have it in two. And there's no neat boundary in Hilo that makes a lot of
sense so, I could see Council 2 giving up a part of Hilo without too much pain. But, then
of course, you've got 3, which is already large. Also, just to say, that when I tried to
tinker with the Honoli`i boundary then, of course, I had to go into Waimea more. I took
almost all of Waimea, and then, of course, that messed up District 9. So, I got kind of
stuck there, I have to say. So yeah, in a way that's kind of why I'm looking at
Commissioner Lopez's map. Which goes up further than Wailuku, as I said, but doesn't
go as far as Honoli`i. But then it means, there's less changes that need to be made on the
northern boundary.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Lui. Do you yield?
LUL Yeah, I yield.
KOSSOW: I'm going to pass it over to Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: I just want to say that it's painful for everybody, right? Not just 2 or 3, or 1
and 2. I'd just like to throw that in. There is another comment that I made earlier in
earlier meetings but, Pohakuloa being in District 9, we should consider the fact that the
command and control of the military is in District either 2 or 3. So, to put Pohakuloa in 9,
and there's not much population there, so you should either connect it to 2 or 3. It's just a
comment. I'd like to say that District 2 is not up for grabs. It has a large population, and
historically and traditionally, it is a community. So, we should consider all of that as we
try to subdivide. I think that if there was some way to just sit down and massage all of
these different plans, we'd come up with something. Because all of the comments I
heard, made a lot of sense. We just have to —like a good bakery, you know, kind of
knead it together. I'm sure we can come up with something. Thank you. I yield.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. Any other discussion? Ms. Bath.
E,R]
BATH: One thing that I like about your plan that I didn't include, is you have those three
or four census blocks along Stainback Highway in Council 5. That's a lot cleaner. So,
thank you for that. That looks good.
KOSSOW: It makes it straight too.
BATH: Yeah, yeah. And Stainback might be used as a redundancy group, and so that,
yeah. Good job. I yield.
KOSSOW: Any other discussion? (No response.) Okay. Some of the commissioners
wanted to discuss Mr. Lopez's. If you want to head over to there. Ms. Lui?
LUL Well, I didn't necessarily want to discuss it again. I'm just thinking that, are we
down to the point where we're going to choose a couple to kind of work off of? I yield.
KOSSOW: Well, there was multiple people that requested to see it again. So, I'm just
going to have it open, and then from there we can discuss what we want to do for the
draft plans and go from there. (At this time, Chair Kossow gave directions to staff
managing the map projected onto the screen.) Sorry, I'm just looking at refreshing my
memory here about where his boundary lines were. But I think I got a little bit of a gist of
it. Does anybody have any comments that they would like to make to Mr. Lopez's plan
here? I know there was a few over the comments that we made earlier, but is there any
other discussion?
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: I don't want to dive too much into this without Mr. Lopez here. That's the
only concern I have. There are a couple of things that stand out for me, that there aren't
some clear boundaries between —like if you're looking, what you have up on the screen
right now, at the Wailuku area, some of the blocks on the other side of the Wailuku River
have gone into it. So, what makes you say we should take this one versus that one? Are
we just saying like that touch Wailuku River or are we using some boundary there?
`Cause there's one that's not and then there's some that are. In that particular area, I just
had some questions about. Also, when we're talking about connectivity. If you go up to
North Hawaii, outside of Kapa`au, that large block group there. You know, Ms. Ford
was on the call. We talked about having to go through different districts to get someplace.
So, if you're in Honoka`a, in District 1, and you want to go up to other parts of District 1,
you'd have to cross out to District 9, through Waimea town to get to Kapa`au. And
Kapa`au is even split away from its majority parts in this area. So, that's a question I had
about that. And then also in, at the southside of District 9, where it touches District 8,
same case here. You would be traveling along the Belt Road. You would cross through
District 8 to get to areas mauka of Kona in District 9. So, if you look a little bit south on
the map there, you can see that you go along the upper road, Highway 11, you travel
E,I
through 8 to get back down to 9. I don't know if those residents affiliate themselves more
with Kona, or more with Waimea.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace, do you yield?
HUSTACE: Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Ms. Lui.
LUL Just in terms of the District 1 boundary, his map does speak to the concern of
residents from Pi`ihonua who said that there was a community that goes across the
Wailuku River and that they didn't want that split up. There's some camps that they
wanted to keep together there. And also, relating to the church on the other side. So, I
think that that boundary does take that into account. It's not so much of a road or
something like that, it's more a community boundary. I would prefer a few of those
census blocks to move up that are on the shoreline but anyway, that's the explanation for
that part of your question. I agree with you on District 9. Especially that I don't really
agree with the way that that's drawn. But I believe there was one other comment from
somebody from District 4 or 5. Maybe you remember, Ms. Bath, who liked his map for
the boundaries for District 4 and 5. Anyway, I yield.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Lui. Ms. Bath.
BATH: No offense, Mr. Lopez, but this map for Puna is a mess. It chops up upper Puna,
puts Fern Forest into Ka`u. It takes District 5 and puts it out into the lava field, out to
Kapoho. Which is defintely lower Puna, and yeah. I'm not sure about this one. I yield.
KOSSOW: Thank you. So, going into some of the other maps, we should probably
consider the Council 1, `cause there's some really good positive things from that.
Comments that we received, and some Commissioners agree with that. So, when we
create our maps, maybe we can come back to this. I do agree, Council 9 goes into a part
of Kona that might not associate themselves with parts of Waimea or North Kohala. But
it does run into State Rep. 7, which is the current district. It looks similar to that. Any
other discussions? (No response.) Okay, we'll go ahead and move on. I just want to check
on everybody's timing. Is everybody able to stay within the next hour? By 1 o'clock?
Okay. Ms. Lui.
LUL I'm running out of juice because I got out of my appointment and I'm sitting at
Starbucks. So, I'm not plugged in. If I disappear, that's why.
YOSHINA: So, I'm good.
KOSSOW: Okay, thank you. So, it'd be two members down by 1. Where does that leave
us? Four commissioners? (Meeting logistics discussion away from the microphone.)
We'll go ahead and move on to maybe using some of our draft plans that we've already
created and then kind of discussing how we want to move going back and forth. Similar
EA
to what we did to Ms. Bath's plan. Do we want to do a blank slate? Or should we take a
draft? Any approach is good with me. You want to do my draft? (Response away from
the microphone.) Okay. We'll go back to my draft. And we can change this around,
right? Okay. So, I guess whoever wants to go first in making some changes on it. (No
response.) Okay, the first one was between Council 4 and 5, right next to HPP. Ms. Bath,
you suggested that one part of HPP, which is to the left there, where it's in Council 5, that
should be in the HPP portion, correct? So, I think that's six census blocks.
(Commissioner Bath responded away from the microphone.) Four? Okay. That's 5 to 4,
and then, I believe your map also included a portion of HPP, the Hilo side of HPP into 4,
correct?
BATH: That would be just to adjust numbers. Yeah.
KOSSOW: Okay.
LUL I'm sorry. Is this BK Draft Plan 2?
KOSSOW: What draft is this? Plan 12.
BATH: Oh, hold on. I'm in the wrong plan.
LUL I'm trying to pull it up on my other thing so that I can mess with it, and I can't get
it. Has it not been put up yet on the
KOSSOW: It's the one that's currently up on the screen right now. Although, it says
Kawena's 8 Plan, which is weird.
LUL Okay, wait a minute. That's 10/27. No. I was trying to open it separately, sorry. My
other screen.
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: It seems that there's some technical issue because when I try to load a new
map, it's keeping the name of the previous map up in the yellow bar at the top. So, I've
tried to load your map up on my computer and it still shows the previous map that I had.
So, for some reason it's doing that.
KOSSOW: Oh, interesting. Ms. Bath, one of the considerations I wanted to see was, in
your map you kind of went down HPP towards the road. I think that's probably a better
balance than what I have, where it just goes straight down the road. Just take it very
increment
BATH: Just taking a portion of it?
C191
KOSSOW: Correct, correct.
BATH: That's what I did. Just try to minimize.
KOSSOW: Yeah. I agree with that. Even though part of Council 3 would be going all the
way down to the ocean, at least a portion of it would be in Council District 4.
BATH: So, we're talking about —I'm having a brain moment —the Point. Kaloli Point is
what I had.
KOSSOW: Kaloli, yes. Yes.
BATH: So, you're suggesting putting Kaloli into District 3?
KOSSOW: Correct.
BATH: So, in other words, utilizing my map for the change?
KOSSOW: Correct.
BATH: Okay. Do you have that in your head?
KOSSOW: Kind of. Well, we can change it right now.
BATH: Okay. (Chair Kossow and Commissioner Bath gave directions to staff managing
the projected map.) And then, you're suggesting that we would adjust the numbers by
adding some of those census blocks that are closer to 130.
KOSSOW: Correct.
BATH: Okay.
KOSSOW: If you go back to the 130 road, a few of those census blocks can go into
Council District 4, from the top there, to make the deviation correct. Okay, we're in the
deviation now.
BATH: Chair, I think I have the wrong map up, because my numbers are showing that 5
is in deficit, and 4 is above. I think I might be dealing with that technical issue.
KOSSOW: Okay. Is that the same map?
BATH: I'm not sure.
KOSSOW: Did anybody else have any comments on changing this map up? (No
response.) Could you scroll to Council 5 and 6, towards Volcano? I wanted to make sure
that was the same as Ms. Bath's. Yeah, okay, that is. And then Ms. Lui, the Honoli`i
possible deviation that you were considering, do you know the estimated amount it would
be? Of a deviation that would be? I don't know if the question came up earlier.
LUL Well, when I did it on the thing that I sent, I had also changed some things around
up in the Waimea area. So, therefore the deviation was fine. But like I say, it messed up
District 9, and probably 2. So, yeah, I didn't really do the whole map which I should have
done. But I'm finding this difficult to do, if when I can't get the map up separately on my
own screen. It's kind of hard to follow.
BATH: Chair?
KOSSOW: Ms. Bath.
BATH: I'm looking at the numbers for Ka`u, and it seems like it's in deficit with what I
see. Am I looking at the wrong map?
KOSSOW: Yes. It is in deficit.
BATH: At like, over a thousand? Is that right?
KOSSOW: That's correct.
BATH: Okay.
LUL Five (5) is in deficit too.
BATH: Yeah, I see that.
KOSSOW: So, Council 6 would have to go a little bit more north into Kona to alleviate
some of the pressure from going into Council 5. What was the other one that was in
deficit? Council 5. Thank you.
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: So, I've taken the consideration of fellow commissioners, and Commissioner
Lui, about Honoli`i. So, using your map as a template, and adding all the census blocks
up to Honoli`i Stream into Council 2, that puts Council 2 at seventeen percent over.
KOSSOW: Okay, thank you.
HUSTACE: So, as I posed before, what parts of then Council 2, do we give to Council 3?
Giving the fact that Council 3, in this iteration, is already at six hundred over, about three
percent. Thank you.
E,R
YOSHINA: So, Mr. Hustace, what if you move that northern boundary of District 2 from
Honoli`i southward to let's say, another river or another gulch south of Honoli`i? I don't
have a map here, I'm just out of the system.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Commissioner Yoshina. I'm just looking at it now. I'm trying to
see if there's another clear dividing line. `Cause you're at Honoli`i, the next is Wainaku
and then you're at Wailuku basically.
KOSSOW: Ms. Lui.
LUL Well, there was the road that Commissioner Lopez used. Where is it here? Which
was another possibility. I'm having trouble finding it. Sorry.
HUSTACE: Chair, I think that's `Ohai Street and `Amauulu.
LUL `Amauulu. Yeah, that's right.
KOSSOW: I think the problem too, is the census blocks are very big, and they're very
mauka-makai. I don't know if it would be possible to get it up to Honoli `i. However,
there is Kaiwiki Stream, might be a possibility, but I think the census block above it, will
make it go around it. If that makes any sense.
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: That's exactly a problem that I'm having. So, when I draw up to `Amauulu
Road, I have to have a weird jog in the line at —what is this name of the street here
Kanoa Street. Right off of the Mamalahoa Highway, then it kind of jogs into `Ohai and
`Amauulu. However, when you go more mauka, up into the upper reaches of `Amauulu,
there's a census block that touches `Amauulu all the way to Honoli`i. It kind of wraps
around Wainaku from the more mauka portions. So, that's a problem. Thank you.
YOSHINA: Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: I don't have my map here so, I can take a look at that but between now and
our next meeting.
KOSSOW: Okay.
YOSHINA: Okay.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. Ms. Lui?
C[1
LUL Just one comment before I leave because my battery is just gone. I think that for
some of us in more rural areas, the connectivity thing, many times we only have one way
in and out to the Belt Road. And so, to get to the next group over, even though we're very
close as a gulch or something, that really isn't a big concern in terms of the sense of
community being together. So, anyway, I'm sorry my battery is gone so I'll see you all
on the 23rd and I'll look for instructions as to what to do between now and then. Thank
you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Ms. Lui.
BATH: Chair, I accidentally shut down. Can you thank everybody? I've got to hele on
too.
KOSSOW: Will do. Thank you, Ms. Bath. Any other deviations we wish to see on this
Draft 12?
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: I've been tinkering here as we're talking and trying to add these blocks in
quickly to give you an idea of the deviation. When we push Council 2 to Honoli`i, we're
about 17 over. When we're about in the `Amauulu, in this current iteration, just kind of
stretching it up a little bit north past Wailuku River, we're now over seven percent. So,
it's not, you know, it's ten percent less but, you know, 1,600 people have been added
when we push into the communities on the other side of Wailuku. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace. I guess the other issue to it is as we move, and
we've reiterated the question, if we slowly move it into Council District 2, up into a little
bit more north, what do we have to move from Council District 3? It might jeopardize the
other council districts in Puna. So, I guess I'm having a little bit of a struggle trying to
change the maps around here on that. Do we have any other discussion? (No response.)
KAUKA: Chair, this is Dennis.
KOSSOW: Mr. Kauka.
KAUKA: Thanks. Just as a form of guidance for the commissioners to consider as we
move forward, and the Elections staff and Corp Counsel can help guide on what our
capacities are on the technical side and just in the parliamentary sense. But being that it
seems we've made progress today on looking at one map, the Commission may want to
consider a motion to adopt this as its draft plan. Postpone that to the next meeting, to
continue working on it. And that way, we have one iteration of a plan that we seem to be
gathering around to make adjustments at the next meeting with. To the extent that we can
preserve this, I think, on the system.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Kauka, for the clarification. So, I think I would like to see
maybe two maps. So, that way we can just actively change out the boundary lines and we
can go forward with working with it in the next commission meeting. It will probably
take the majority of the time. I guess I'm looking for a motion, whether or not we want to
adopt this one, and possibly another one. And we'll call it adopting a working plan. (No
response.) Okay. I guess we'll just hold off for now for moving this into a working plan
for maybe the next meeting. It's probably the best suggestion we can probably do and just
postpone it for now. With that being said, we probably can just move right on to New
Business. Under New Business number 2.
KAUKA: Chair, just before we move on to the next item. Just for clarity, we, the
Commission, has no singular plan as a collective that they are considering at this
moment. So, on the next meeting, it will be again, just a review of all the draft plans that
are submitted. And that's fine? Just to be clear.
KOSSOW: Yeah.
KAUKA: Okay.
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: I move we work off of Kossow Draft 12 as our working plan.
KOSSOW: Okay, motion's on the floor to work on Kossow draft plan number 12. Is
there a second?
YOSHINA: Just for discussion, because I need to have clarification. What map is number
12?
KOSSOW: I guess we're not really in a discussion mode. We have to second it in order
to get into discussion.
YOSHINA: Okay. I second the motion.
KOSSOW: Okay. We're open now for discussion, Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: So, who's map is CD12? I mean the map 12?
KOSSOW: Map 12 is my plan.
YOSHINA: Your plan. Yeah, but you had two plans, right?
KOSSOW: Yeah. So, it's 12 not 2.
CE:3
YOSHINA: Twelve (12) not 2, okay.
KOSSOW: Any further discussion? (No response.) Okay. Mr. Kauka, would you like to
call the roll?
KAUKA: Okay, I'm going to ask Corp Counsel to just help guide this, just to be clear.
But I believe just to be sure, the motion is to adopt Kossow Draft Plan 2, as the
Commission draft plan. Do we want a motion though now, to postpone that? So, that it
can be adjusted further at the next meeting? I think that if we're adopting it now, it
becomes the draft plan.
HUSTACE: Move to table.
KOSSOW: Motion is tabled.
MELLON-LACEY: This is Diana Mellon -Lacey, Corp Counsel. I thought I understood
that it was to adopt it as a working plan. So, I suppose if we clarify it's a working plan for
further modification, then it wouldn't be considered a final plan.
KOSSOW: I'm sorry. Mr. Hustace, your motion did say the words "working plan",
correct?
HUSTACE: That's correct.
KOSSOW: Yeah, so it is a working plan. Yeah.
MELLON-LACEY: Then I think it's okay.
KOSSOW: Okay, thank you.
MELLON-LACEY: And it was 12, not 2, Mr. Kauka said too, but it's BK12, just to be
clear.
KOSSOW: Correct.
MELLON-LACEY: Okay.
HUSTACE: And I think under a guidance, it was tabled for discussion for next time as
well. I know it's only a working plan, but it tabled for future business, correct?
KOSSOW: Either way, we can bring it back to the floor so that we can work on this map
as our working map. What are you thinking it is, Mr. Hustace?
E,01
HUSTACE: I just thought there was the challenge, the motion on whether it was, so I just
wanted to be sure that we could keep it on the agenda. I know it's a working plan but if
we table it so that it's picked up next time. Either way is fine with me.
KOSSOW: Oh, okay. So, yeah, basically this would just be the working plan, working
draft. So, it would be on the agenda no matter what until we get a two-thirds vote for the
final product, from my understanding.
HUSTACE: Fair enough. Then, I can rescind the table, and keep it active on the floor if
we want, and have more discussion, and then call for a vote.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Hustace, for that. Just to clarify, motion is still on the table.
This is for a working plan. It will be on the agenda for the next couple of times. It was
motioned by Mr. Hustace. Seconded by Mr. Yoshina. Do we have any further discussion?
(No response.) Without hearing any, Mr. Kauka, please call the roll.
Mr. Hustace moved for the Commission to select
Kossow draft plan number 12 (BK12) as their
working plan. Seconded by Mr. Yoshina.
The motion for the Commission to select Kossow
draft plan number 12 (BK12) as their working plan
was carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Yadao, Yoshina,
Vice Chair Hustace, and Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
Absent: Commissioners Bath, Lopez, and Lui.
KAUKA: Thank you, Chair, you have five ayes.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Kauka. Motion carries.
YOSHINA: Just one point of clarification on this.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: I'm sorry but this working plan 12, does that include all of the changes that
we discussed?
KOSSOW: I believe we can put those changes into place.
YOSHINA: Ms. Bath had a number of things that she wanted. So, all that is included?
67i7
KOSSOW: We were just working on that. Do we know if that got saved? (Chair Kossow
received a response away from the microphone.) It didn't save. Okay. Is there a way that
that could be saved? Or is that something that—? (Chair Kossow received a response
away from the microphone.) I have to make those changes. Okay, I'll work with Ms. Bath
on that.
YOSHINA: With that understanding, I still vote aye.
KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. So, do we have anything else regarding the draft
plans? If not, I'm going to move over to New Business.
HUSTACE: Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Hustace.
HUSTACE: I move we work with a second plan as well. And I would like to propose my
own, draft number 9 I think, as a possibility.
KOSSOW: Alright. Okay, motion's on the table to add a second working draft, draft
number 9. Is there a second?
YOSHINA: Second.
KOSSOW: Seconded by Mr. Yoshina. Is there any discussion?
YOSHINA: I have a question for Commissioner Hustace. Can you kind of describe that
again, for me? What was that plan 9?
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina. This one, it's up on the screen now as well, I think.
This one has some issues with Council's 4 and 5, that I want to address. But it tackles
some of the possibility of a northern point. I think it is Honoli`i. This one kind of tackles
that idea of a Honoli`i boundary for Council Seat 2. But therefore, it pushes Council Seat
I deeper into Waimea. And Council 9, actually goes all the way to the State House
boundary in northern Kona. But, open to discussion about this one.
YOSHINA: Okay, thank you.
HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Yoshina.
KOSSOW: Any other discussion? (No response.) Mr. Kauka, please call the roll.
Mr. Hustace moved for the Commission to select
his draft plan number 9 as their second working
plan. Seconded by Mr. Yoshina.
51
The motion for the Commission to select Vice Chair
Hustace's draft plan number 9 as their second
working plan was carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Commissioners Akamu, Yadao, Yoshina,
Vice Chair Hustace, and Chair Kossow.
Noes: None.
Absent: Commissioners Bath, Lopez, and Lui.
KAUKA: Chair, you have five ayes.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Is there any other discussion regarding the draft plans? (No
response.) Okay.
NEW BUSINESS (part 2)
KOSSOW: Commissioners, this brings us to our last item. Back to New Business number
2. Mr. Kauka.
KAUKA: New business item:
2. Update of progress on the request of Corporation Counsel to petition for an extension of
time for the Commission to submit its final redistricting plan
KOSSOW: Thank you. Commissioner Lopez is not present today, and he's requested
this. Perhaps Deputy Corporation Counsel could provide clarity. Ms. Mellon Lacey,
thank you.
MELLON-LACEY: Yes. This is Diana Mellon -Lacey of Corporation Counsel. I know
that the Commission did vote that they wanted to explore the possibility of extending the
deadline to the end of January, for the map to be submitted.
KOSSOW: I'm sorry. Go ahead and turn on your mic.
MELLON-LACEY: Oh. It is on, I think. Maybe I'm not speaking into it well enough. Is
that better?
KOSSOW: Yeah, that's better.
MELLON-LACEY: So, I know that the Commission voted to explore the possibility of
extending the deadline to the end of January, while at the same time, trying to continue
with the draft timeline that was developed by the Elections Office. I did discuss this with
the Corporation Counsel, Ms. Strance. Really, there's not a way to change the deadline
and the —it's not like someone has the authority to give you the right to not meet the
61%
deadline. I believe that the letter was drafted and provided to the mayor that this
Commission felt that it was challenging to try and meet this deadline. But at this time, we
don't know whether you'll be able to meet it or not, and you have to make best efforts. If
you are unable to meet it, you're unable to meet it and we'll have to deal with that. But
it's not like there's a person that can say, okay you don't have to meet it. You have to
continue to make the very best effort that you can, to do so. Really, the Charter doesn't
have any statements in it about what happens if you don't meet a deadline. But it's not
good for the County as a governing body because it's governed by its Charter, when we
fail to meet deadlines. So, that's the update that I have.
KOSSOW: I'm curious, what happens if we don't meet the deadline?
MELLON-LACEY: Well, you would still have to finish. I mean, you would have to try
to finish it as quickly as you could. That's what I'm saying. There isn't any specific
penalty contained in the Charter document itself, if a deadline is missed. From the
standpoint of government, if we were a County that missed deadlines on a regular basis,
it could affect our credibility, or perhaps ability to obtain monies, or you know, because
we don't look like we run ourselves properly. Clearly, in a situation like this, it would be
mitigating reasons, but the best thing to do is do our very best to try and meet it. If we are
unable to for some reason, then when we get closer, we'll certainly make the Mayor and
people aware of the difficulty. But I think at this time, this Commission is progressing,
and I believe the Commission could meet it. It's not like I would say, oh there's no way.
But that's a question the Commission has to consider. Because just as you'll have to
carefully have justification for your plan, and why you do what you do, if you are unable
to meet it, we'll have to have justification for that. At the end of the day, I think
producing that plan could pose real burdens for staff too, over the holidays. From what I
understand, people are very prepared to put in this effort to try and produce the product.
So, that's about all that I can say. It's not like somebody's going to come out and do
something horrible to you if you fail to meet it. But we would have to continue to make
the best effort to get it out as quickly as we could. But we don't want a bad product
either. So, here we are.
KOSSOW: Thank you. Is there any other questions for Ms. Mellon -Lacey? (No
response.) Alright. Thank you, Ms. Mellon -Lacey. Appreciate it.
YOSHINA: Mr. Chair.
KOSSOW: Mr. Yoshina.
YOSHINA: I just have a comment. I think we should all, all us Commission guys, should
just commit to getting it done by the deadline. I think we should do that, and I think we
can. We're on a good track right now. Thank you.
KOSSOW: Thank you.
6V
REPORTS
None.
REFERRALS FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION
None.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
KOSSOW: Alright, Mr. Kauka, if you can go ahead and read the announcements.
KAUKA: Sure. Thank you, Chair. Our announcements today are that the next regular
meeting of the Commission is scheduled for Tuesday, November 23, at 9.30 a.m. The
Commission has sent an internal deadline of December 9, to determine its draft plan. The
tentative dates for public hearings upon completion of the draft redistricting plan, which
shall be one each in East Hawaii and West Hawaii. These tentative dates are Tuesday,
December Id, and Thursday, December Ib. Further details will be provided and publicly
posted when we confirm that. Just as a continued announcement, archived videos of past
Commission sessions from the September 23 meeting, are all available on the
Commission's YouTube channel. An easy way to find that on YouTube is to search
"COH Redistricting_" That's all the staff has, Chair. If any other Commissioners have any
announcements.
KOSSOW: Is there any other announcements from the Commission? (No response.)
ADJOURNMENT
KOSSOW: May I have a motion to adjourn?
YOSHINA: Move to adjourn,
KOSSOW! Motioned by Mr. Yoshina.
YADAO: Second.
KOSSOW: Seconded by Ms Yadao. All in favor say aye_ (Various Commissioners say
aye.) Okay. This meeting is now adjourned at 1:20 p.m. Thank you, everybody.
Respectfully Submitted,
Nicole Bello, support staff to
the Commission
EXHIBIT 7
LETTERS
FROM
THE CHAIRPERSON
BRONSTEN-GLENN KOSSOW
Chairperson
JAMES HUSTACE
Vice Chairperson
2021
HAWAI`I COUNTY
REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
TO: Jon Henricks, County Clerk
Diana Mellon -Lacey, Corporation Counsel
FROM: Bronsten Kossow, Commission Chairperson
DATE: December 23, 2021
SUBJECT: Inclusion for the final report.
Aloha Mai Kakou,
MEIZHU LUI
DWAYNE YOSHINA
LEHUA AH NEE
JENNIFER YADAO
STEPHANIE BATH
AINA AKAMU
STEPHEN LOPEZ
The following notes are experiences for which the 2021 Hawaii County Redistricting
Commission had faced. To resonate the similar tones from past commissions on learning curves
as we complete the final plan, while also recognizing our ability to best serve our communities
across Hawaii Island in an impartial manner.
The commission had faced an unusual year that will be forever marked in our history.
Due to the pandemic, much of our data had been delayed by as much as eight months by the
United States Census Bureau. Most of the commission's work began in the month of September
and progressed to complete by December 31s', along with mandated eleven public hearings. The
commission found it a learning experience, especially to that within the Hawai `i County Code
and Charter, the use of the software program platform, ESRI, and overcoming the Census Block
irregularities.
It was important for the commission to hear the community and with the help of the
public hearings it gave the commission an opportunity to grow in intellect on the county's issues.
However, the commissions concern stemmed toward the language of Hawaii County Charter
Section 3-17 (e), which is an important section to go through the democratic process. The
commission recommended that based off the language it be reversed, that the east Hawaii and
west Hawaii meetings be first, and the nine public hearings at the council districts be after the
completion of a single draft plan.
Hawai `i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer
Further Hawaii County Charter Section 3-17 (e) state: "Prior to completing a draft of
the redistricting plan, the commission shall hold at least one public hearing in each of the
nine council districts. Upon completion of a draft redistricting plan, the commission shall
hold at least one public hearing in east Hawai `i and one in west Hawai `i. "
Within the few months into the redistricting process, the commission was made aware
from public testimony and community initiative groups that census blocks contained positive
populations in regions where our county/state incarcerated facilities are located. Having
conveyed that the State of Hawaii will be placing a criteria for the State Reapportionment
Commission, the commission had appropriately requested the council to amend the charter and
code to provide oversight for future commissions on adjusting incarcerated individuals based on
their home address instead of the incarcerated facility.
The ESRI software program initially had been clunky in terms of user experience, some
commissioners relied heavily on other commissioners who were more technologically advanced.
Understandably so, however, we would recommend that the training for the software be in an
open session along with the public to understand the process of redistricting, census blocks,
deviations, law binding requirements, and the ESRI-user software component. The lack of
alternate plans from the public prior to the deadline had been frustrating due to only one
submission.
Due to the growing concern of census block irregulates the commission found that the
blocks were troublesome at best. As an example, in North Kona there is a census block that
includes portions of ranch and conservation lands and heads about 3 miles into lower portions of
Loloa Dr, Ahikawa Dr, Ahulani Dr, and Kaiminani Dr. Another issue is north of Hilo, a census
block that runs from mauka of Pi'ihonua and wraps toward the mauka portion down toward
Honoli'i. There are active letters to the State Elections office to provide clarity on how the
census block irregulates be adjusted by the United States Census Bureau.
Another concern as chair, has been active / incumbent elected officials commenting on
the process and deliberation to the redistricting commission. My worry is for our future
commission work, as this important democratic process need to be held with a high regard and to
ensure commissioners can discern and adjust changes to the maps without fear of retribution or
interference from elected officials.
Hawaii County Code Chapter 36-4 (6-7) "No council district shall be drawn to unduly
favor or penalize an incumbent. Council district boundaries shall be drawn without
regard to any incumbent's residential location, any incumbent's ability to run for re-
election in that incumbent's current council district, or whether any incumbent faces
another incumbent for re-election. "
As chair, I appreciated the impartial -democratic process of ensuring our communities can
be best represented, our nine commissioners worked hard on solving tough challenges
throughout this year. I'm also thankful for all who have been able to attend the commission
meetings/hearings from the public and the testimony they provided truly helped the commission
make better judgement as we created the political boundary. I am indebted with gratitude to our
community.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the staff at the Office of Elections, the Office of
the County Clerk, and Corporation Counsel for the back -end assistance, preparations for our
sessions, being able to answer all of questions, and assisting our public hearings. Thank you to
Former Mayor Harry Kim and Mayor Mitchell Roth for providing quality commissioners who
represented their community well and enthusiastically. I am especially grateful to Mayor Roth
and his staff in assisting our needs throughout the process.
`O au iho no me ke aloha pumehana,
Bronsten Kossow
Chair, 2021 Redistricting Commission
County of Hawaii
BRONSTEN-GLENN KOSSOW
Chairperson
JAMES HUSTACE
Vice Chairperson
2021
HAWAI`I COUNTY
REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
DATE: December 15, 2021
TO: Scott T. Nago, Chief Elections Officer
Office of Elections
802 Lehua Avenue
Pearl City, Hawaii 96782
FROM: Bronsten Kossow, Commission Chairperson
CC: Members of the Redistricting Commission
Commission staff
MEIZHU LUI
DWAYNE YOSHINA
LEHUANANI AH NEE
JENNIFER YADAO
STEPHANIE BATH
AINA AKAMU
STEPHEN LOPEZ
SUBJECT: Requesting information regarding census blocks irregularities and incarcerated
individuals.
Aloha Mr. Nago,
As chair of the Hawai'i County Redistricting Commission, I would like to thank you and
your staff for providing information previously to our commission.
Our commission requests more information regarding the process for the census block
irregularities; this includes any pertinent information on the process of which the United States
Census Bureau will take to justify and resolve matters of the census block irregularities,
timelines of such changes that takes place, and any State or local officials to review the changes
made by the Bureau. We have numerous census block irregularities that we will submit through
our final report, however considering the 2011 Redistricting it seemed that the issues of such
blocks had not taken place. (See Exhibit A)
Further, the County Redistricting Commission is prepared to open communications with
the County Council to amend its charter regarding the count for incarcerated individuals based
off their home address versus the incarcerated facility. How will the elections office decipher the
census data to the home address? (See Exhibit B)
Mahalo Nui Loa,
Bronsten Kossow
Redistricting Commission, Chair
Hawaii County
Hawai `i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer
Exhibit A
Census Block Irregularities
0
r
Exhibit B
Incarcerated Census Blocks
BRONSTEN-GLENN KOSSOW
Chairperson
JAMES HUSTACE
Vice Chairperson
2021
HAWAI`I COUNTY
REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
DATE: December 15, 2021
TO: Maile Medeiros David, County Council Chair
FROM: Bronsten Kossow, Commission Chairperson
CC: Members of the Hawaii County Council
Members of the Redistricting Commission
Commission staff
SUBJECT: Requesting charter amendments.
Aloha Chair Maile David,
MEIZHU LUI
DWAYNE YOSHINA
JENNIFER YADAO
STEPHANIE BATH
AINA AKAMU
STEPHEN LOPEZ
The 2021 Hawaii County Redistricting Commission is further providing the County
Council information and request to review and amend the Hawaii County Charter.
Further Hawaii County Charter Section 3-17 (e) state: "Prior to completing a draft of
the redistricting plan, the commission shall hold at least one public hearing in each of the nine
council districts. Upon completion of a draft redistricting plan, the commission shall hold at
least one public hearing in east Hawai `i and one in west Hawai `i. "
The Redistricting Commission found HCC Section 3-17 (e) problematic as the language
require the commission to hold nine (9) public hearings prior to a draft plan, additionally to have
two public hearings after the completion of the draft. The commission requests a swap to have
the public hearing in east Hawaii and one in west Hawaii first, then one public hearing in each
of the nine council districts after the completion of the draft, equally distributing public interests.
Example language: "Prior to completing a draft of the redistricting plan, the commission
shall hold at least one public hearing in east Hawai `i and one in west Hawai `i. Upon the
completion of the draft redistricting plan, the commission shall hold at least one public
hearing in each of the nine council districts. "
The Redistricting Commission recognize the importance of providing equal
representation across it's nine (9) districts. The commission found that incarcerated people(s)
Hawai `i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer
were counted based in the incarcerated facilities versus by their home addresses. This has been a
longstanding issue across the United States as prison populations increase while prison towns are
gerrymandered to have maximum deviations with low voter turnouts. In the State of Hawaii
current incarcerated individuals are not allowed to vote while current prison area's such as
Council District's 2 & 3 incorporate an extra few 100's of incarcerated individuals. The State of
Hawaii Legislature will provide language for the State Reapportionment Commission to use
home addresses over the incarcerated facilities. The County Redistricting Commission requests
the Council to do the same and further adding language to HCC Section 3-17 that will provide
necessary oversight and data to the next commission.
Proposed Hawaii County Charter Section 3-17 (i) "Incarcerated individuals shall be
counted by the address prior to being incarcerated. "
It is understood that the Council would need to create a charter amendment and made
available for a referendum, we highly support that initiative to provide our commission with
clear oversight and protect our local democratic process.
Mahalo Nui Loa,
Bronsten Kossow
Redistricting Commission, Chair
Hawaii County
EXHIBIT 8 - CENSUS BLOCK ISSUE LIST
Block Number
County
Place
Issues
150010215131025
Hawaii
Kaiminani
Size. Encircles other blocks. Spans across mulitple subdivisions.
150010218002051
Hawaii
North Kohala
Size. Encircles other blocks. Spans across mulitple subdivisions.
150010218002032
Hawaii
North Kohala
Size. Encircles other blocks. Spans across mulitple subdivisions.
150010215131003
Hawaii
North Kona
Size. Encircles other blocks.
150010217062087
Hawaii
Saddle Road
Spans across arterial road.
150010215021009
Hawaii
Honalo
Size. Encircles other blocks. Spans across mulitple subdivisions.
150010215023000
Hawaii
Holualoa
Size. Encircles other blocks. Spans across mulitple subdivisions.
150010213003033
Hawaii
South Kona
Irregular shape.
150010213003038
Hawaii
Kau
Irregular shape.
150010213003019
Hawaii
South Kona
Size. Encircles other blocks. Spans across mulitple subdivisions.
150010212043060
Hawaii
Kau
Irregular shape. Encircles other blocks.
150010211071001
Hawaii
Puna
Size. Encircles other blocks. Spans across mulitple subdivisions.
150010211013002
Hawaii
Puna
Irregular shape. Encircles other blocks.
150010211011001
Hawaii
Puna
Irregular shape. Encircles other blocks.
150010202021002
Hawaii
Hamakua
Size. Irregular shape. Spans across mutliple communities.
150010208013001
Hawaii
Hilo
Irregular shape. Encircles other blocks. Spans across arterial road.
150010210113002
Hawaii
Mountain View
Size. Irregular shape. Encircles other blocks. Spans across mulitple subdivisions.
150010210141001
Hawaii
Hawaiian Paradise Park
Spans across multiple subdivision roadways.
150010210173024
Hawaii
Mauna Loa Estates
Irregular shape.
150010210112006
Hawaii
Volcano
Size. Irregular shape.
150010215122001
Hawaii
Kaiminani
Size. Encircles other blocks. Spans across mulitple subdivisions.
150010215022001
Hawaii
Kaloko
Size. Irregular shape. Spans across mutliple subdivisions.
150010218002006
Hawaii
North Kohala
Size.
150010217052001
Hawaii
Waimea
Size. Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010217051016
Hawaii
Waimea
Size. Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010217062081
Hawaii
Saddle Road
Spans across arterial road.
150010217062079
Hawaii
Saddle Road
Spans across arterial road.
150010217062078
Hawaii
Saddle Road
Spans across arterial road.
150010217062074
Hawaii
Saddle Road
Spans across arterial road.
150010220001108
Hawaii
Saddle Road
Spans across arterial road.
150010202021035
Hawaii
Saddle Road
Irregular shape. Spans across arterial road.
150010217051003
Hawaii
North Kohala
Size. Irregular shape.
150010217073001
Hawaii
Kawaihae
Size. Encircles other blocks. Spans across mulitple communities.
150010217072001
Hawaii
Waikoloa Village
Size. Encircles other blocks. Spans across multiple subdivision roadways.
150010217082001
Hawaii
Waikoloa Village
Size. Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivision roadways.
150010217083005
Hawaii
Waikoloa Village
Size. Encircles other blocks. Spans across mulitple subdivisions.
150010215022009
Hawaii
Puuanahulu
Size. Irregular shape. Encircles other blocks. Spans across mulitple subdivision roadways.
150010212034017
Hawaii
Kau
Size. Irregular shape.
150010221021001
Hawaii
Hamakua
Size. Irregular shape. Spans across mutliple communities.
150010201003020
Hawaii
Hamakua
Size. Irregular shape. Spans across mutliple communities.
150010217061014
Hawaii
Waimea
Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010210132009
Hawaii
Kurtistown
Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivisions and roadways.
150010210132006
Hawaii
Keaau
Size. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010206001003
Hawaii
Hilo
Size. Irregular shape.
150010206001004
Hawaii
Hilo
Size. Irregular shape.
150010208012010
Hawaii
Hilo
Size. Irregular shape. Encircles other blocks. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010208025001
Hawaii
Hilo
Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010208023001
Hawaii
Hilo
Size. Encircles other blocks. Spans across mulitple subdivisions.
150010208012001
Hawaii
Hilo
Size. Encircles other blocks. Spans across mulitple subdivisions.
150010208021003
Hawaii
Hilo
Spans across mulitple subdivisions.
150010203001005
Hawaii
Hilo
Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010210171018
Hawaii
Eden Roc
Irregular shape.
150010216051000
Hawaii
Kailua
Size. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010216053005
Hawaii
Kailua
Size. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010216062005
Hawaii
Kailua
Size. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010215042003
Hawaii
Kaiminani
Size. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010217051022
Hawaii
Waimea
Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010217083000
Hawaii
Waikoloa Village
Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivision roadways.
150010210034002
Hawaii
Tiki Gardens
Irregular shape.
150010210112002
Hawaii
Volcano
I rregu lar shape.
150010215042040
Hawaii
Kailua
Size. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010217052004
Hawaii
Waimea
I Size. Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010217052005
Hawaii
Waimea
Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010217051026
Hawaii
Waimea
Size.
150010217053005
Hawaii
Waimea
Size. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010217062001
Hawaii
Waimea
Size. Irregular shape.
150010217051015
Hawaii
Waimea
Size. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010217051012
Hawaii
Waimea
Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010217061016
Hawaii
Waimea
Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010217061004
Hawaii
Waimea
Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010217061007
Hawaii
Waimea
Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010201002019
Hawaii
Hamakua
Size. Irregular shape.
150010211082006
Hawaii
Hawaiian Beaches
Size. Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivision roadways.
150010211081006
Hawaii
Hawaiian Beaches
Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivision roadways.
150010211082037
Hawaii
Hawaiian Beaches
Size. Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivision roadways.
150010211081022
Hawaii
Hawaiian Beaches
Size. Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivision roadways.
150010210151000
Hawaii
Hawaiian Paradise Park
Spans across multiple subdivision roadways.
150010210152001
Hawaii
Hawaiian Paradise Park
Spans across multiple subdivision roadways.
150010210161038
Hawaii
Hawaiian Acres
Size.
150010210162000
Hawaii
Fern Acres
Size.
150010210162010
Hawaii
Fern Acres
Irregular shape.
150010210172008
Hawaii
Fern Forest
Irregular shape.
150010213004001
Hawaii
South Kona
Size. Irregular shape.
150010213004006
Hawaii
South Kona
Size. Irregular shape.
150010215021016
Hawaii
South Kona
Size. Irregular shape.
150010215102001
Hawaii
Kahaluu-Keauhou
Size. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010215103002
Hawaii
Kahaluu-Keauhou
Size. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010215111005
Hawaii
Kahaluu-Keauhou
Size. Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010215104007
Hawaii
Kahaluu-Keauhou
Size. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010215021001
Hawaii
Holualoa
Size. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010216072004
Hawaii
Kailua
Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010216072000
Hawaii
Holualoa
Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010216061007
Hawaii
Kailua
Size. Irregular shape. Encircles other blocks. Spans across mulitple subdivisions.
150010215022023
Hawaii
Kaloko
Size. Irregular shape.
150010215121005
Hawaii
Kaiminani
Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010215132002
Hawaii
Kaiminani
Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010217073012
Hawaii
Waikoloa Village
Size.
150010217081011
Hawaii
North Kohala
Size. Spans across multiple communities.
150010218004001
Hawaii
North Kohala
Size. Irregular shape.
150010218002003
Hawaii
North Kohala
Irregular shape.
150010210132003
Hawaii
Keaau
Irregualr shape. Encircles other blocks.
150010211013002
Hawaii
Puna
Size. Irregular shape. Encirles other blocks.
150010212031070
Hawaii
Kau
Size. Irregular shape.
150010212031008
Hawaii
Kau
Size.
150010213003035
Hawaii
Kau
Size. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010213003050
Hawaii
Kau
Size. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010213004016
Hawaii
Kau
Size. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010213004010
Hawaii
Kau
Size. Encircles other blocks. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010213004007
Hawaii
Kau
Size. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010213004008
Hawaii
Kau
Size.
150010213001001
Hawaii
Honaunau-Napoopoo
Size. Irregular shape.
150010214022006
Hawaii
Kealakekua
Size. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010215042030
Hawaii
Kailua
I rregu lar shape.
150010215042031
Hawaii
Kailua
I rregu lar shape.
150010215041002
Hawaii
Kailua
I rregu lar shape.
150010208011006
Hawaii
Hilo
Size. Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivisions and roadways.
150010208013008
Hawaii
Hilo
Size.
150010208024002
Hawaii
Hilo
Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010207011003
Hawaii
Hilo
Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivision roadways.
150010207013005
Hawaii
Hilo
Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010208011000
Hawaii
Hilo
Spans across multiple subdivisions.
150010206004036
Hawaii
Hilo
Spans across waterway.
150010206002018
Hawaii
Hilo
Size. Irregular shape.
150010209005000
Hawaii
Hilo
Size. Irregular shape. Spans across multiple subdivision roadways.
150010214021014 Hawaii South Kona Size. Irregular shape.
Al� r-L
EXHIBIT 9
NEW DISTRICT BOUNDARIES
AND
COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST
(individual commissioner statements)
BRONSTEN-GLENN KOSSOW
Chairperson
JAMES HUSTACE
Vice Chairperson
2021
HAWAI`I COUNTY
REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
Meizhu Lui, Commissioner, District 1
Rationale for D1 Boundaries
Southern boundary changes:
MEIZHU LUI
DWAYNE YOSHINA
LEHUANANI AH NEE
JENNIFER YADAO
STEPHANIE BATH
AINA AKAMU
STEPHEN LOPEZ
* Both the D1 and D2 Commissioners would have liked to draw the
boundary at Honoli'i stream and to put Wainaku and Kawili into the Hilo
district (D2), but that wasn't possible due to the deviation requirements.
As it is, D1 has the largest negative deviation (the fewest people) so we
could not move a lot of people out of D1 into D2 without breaking the
Redistricting law - or seriously dividing Waimea.
* That said, we did move the boundary up from the Wailuku River to
Amaulu Rd. Public testimony asked that we not use the Wailuku River as
the boundary as it has been in the 2010 map, because that divides the
Pi'ihonua community which has camps on both sides of the River.
* Keeping the areas north of Amaulu and east of the highway from Amaulu
at Wainaku Drive down to the Wailuku River was our most reasonable
option for two reasons: 1) people there are already in D1, and 2)
Wainaku and Kawili are already part of the Hamakua Community
Development Plan (based on judicial districts) and so already share
interests with D1.
Northern boundary changes
* Because D1 had to add population, we had to move the boundary
between D1 and D9 farther into Waimea. Waimea residents did not
want Waimea split, and both the D1 and D9 Commissioners tried to
divide Waimea as little as possible. The old boundary was White Road;
the new boundary moves D1 westward from White Road to to Pu'u
Nohea Road, adding the streets on the north side of the beltway. By
Hawai `i County is an Equal Opportunitv Provider and Employer
Lui
Page 2
keeping D1's population as low as the legal limits allow, we were able to
take as little of Waimea as possible.
* Because urban residents in Hilo have little in common with Hamakua,
and because Hamakua and Waimea share agricultural interests, the
choice was to incorporate this small section of Waimea instead of
moving D1 farther into Hilo.
* The new map keeps DHHL and Hawaiian homelands areas together in
D9, which was another of our goals.
BRONSTEN-GLENN KOSSOW
Chairperson
JAMES HUSTACE
Vice Chairperson
2021
HAWAI`I COUNTY
REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
Dwayne Yoshina, Commissioner, District 2
Redistricting Commission, County of Hawaii
Council District 2
MEIZHU LUI
DWAYNE YOSHINA
LEHUANANI AH NEE
JENNIFER YADAO
STEPHANIE BATH
AINA AKAMU
STEPHEN LOPEZ
A Redistricting Plan results from a combination of parts. The framework is established by the US Codes,
State statutes, and County ordinances. Interpretations of these laws come from our courts. The
"structure" is further defined by the citizens and the Redistricting Commission.
Essentially, the County's Population must be divided into nine approximately equal parts; or failing that
within specified deviations of the equal parts. This is so that the principle of "one person, one vote" is
realized and respected.
Given this "broad" understanding, districts were "drawn" for CD2. This meant finding agreement
primarily between commission members of CD1 and CD3; creating council districts with populations
which fell within the parameters noted.
CD1 and CD2 Boundary
The community of Piihonua was made whole, which reflects a request from that community. This was
accomplished by moving the boundary between CD1 and CD2 to Amaula Road from the Wailuku River.
This also helped to minimize the northward movement of CD1 boundary into CD9 (Waimea).
CD2 and CD3 Boundary
The boundary between CD2 and CD3 between these districts remains generally unchanged save for a
move of the Univerity of Hawaii, Hilo and the University Heights subdivision from CD3 into CD2. This
change was done to meet a request from the Keaukaha and Panaewa communities to be kept together.
The move, created the population "space" in CD3 so that these DHHL communities could be one.
CD2 and CD9 Pohakuloa Training Area
Finally, it was agreed that the Pohakuloa Training Area should be included as part of CD 2 for "Command
and Control" relationships with the Keaukaha Military Reservation.
It was a privilege to have worked with the commission members. Special appreciation to the various
county staff who assisted the commission seamlessly, professionally, and competently. We are
fortunate to have had their service/assistance. Aloha and mahalo!
Hawai `i County is an Equal Opportunitv Provider and Employer
BRONSTEN-GLENN KOSSOW
Chairperson
JAMES HUSTACE
Vice Chairperson
2021
HAWAI`I COUNTY
REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
Stephanie Bath, Commissioner, District 5
District 5 rationale for mapping
MEIZHU LUI
DWAYNE YOSHINA
LEHUANANI AH NEE
JENNIFER YADAO
STEPHANIE BATH
AINA AKAMU
STEPHEN LOPEZ
District 5 has included much of lower Puna. This area issues are more aligned with district 4. The
adjustment was made to put this area in dis 4 where it belongs. This allows district 5 to be focused more
in upper Puna where there are common issues.
Pahoa town now has 1 rep. It is not split.
Public input steered towards this.
Additionally the county council rep was required to travel to area of lower Puna to represent them
District 5 resources were used in the area which aligns more with dis 4
Wai o kele o Puna was referred to as being owned by dis 5.
In fact it's steward is office of Hawaiian affair.
Moving it into dis 4 will not significantly effect district 5. It will not effect activities within Wai o kele o
Puna boundaries.
What it will do is cleanly include some of the splintered census blocks.
Which are located within it.
Highway 130 boundary remains the same
4 HPP census blocks were included in dis 4 so that HPP is split between 2 rather than 3 districts
Community input and the strength of our voice and representation would be maximized for district 5 if
all communities up to HVNP including volcano village were in dis 5
Unfortunately deviations disallowed the district from reclaiming the communities as hoped for.
Oshiro road and aloha estates are splintered census blocks. The issues they deal with are aligned with
dis 5
They have been included.
Stain back highway has been used as a boundary. This roadway has potential of serving as a redundant
roadway when 11 is blocked.
Keaau town is now in Dis 3 due to deviation adjustments.
District 5's populations are higher because the voice of the substandard subdivisions needed to remain
the together to incur voice.
Hawai `i County is an Equal Opportunitv Provider and Employer
BRONSTEN-GLENN KOSSOW
Chairperson
JAMES HUSTACE
Vice Chairperson
2021
HAWAI`I COUNTY
REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
Bronsten Kossow, Chairperson and Commissioner, District 7
Aloha Mai Kakou,
MEIZHU LUI
DWAYNE YOSHINA
LEHUANANI AH NEE
JENNIFER YADAO
STEPHANIE BATH
AINA AKAMU
STEPHEN LOPEZ
The 2021 Hawaii County Redistricting Commission approved "CoH Working doc 1-6"
on 21 December 2021 with a vote of 9-0.
Council District 7 boundaries include:
North boundaries concluded with testimony to ensure Kailua Village Business
Improvement district. To accommodate the numbers between District 7 and District 8 a portion
of Nani Kailua and mauka of H6lualoa were incorporated into District 7. Census block
irregularities caused tremendous issues especially within Kona proper.
• South Honok6hau Harbor and Kealakehe parkway to the intersection of
Queen Ka`ahumanu highway.
West (or makai) of Queen Ka`ahumanu highway from Kealakehe parkway
intersection to Nani Kailua drive.
• Nani Kailua drive to Pikake place.
• Keolani road to Mamalahoa highway (Highway 180).
• Mamalahoa highway to Palani junction.
East boundaries are mountainous portions.
• Mauka of Honua`ula, H61ualoa, and Keauhou.
West Boundaries:
• Boarders ocean front.
South boundaries were established to provide continuity between District 6 & 7. The new district
pushes northward as population deviations in District 6 were relatively low to the required
deviation:
• Pa`aoao point and runs through the Mamalahoa by-pass road (Ali`i by-
pass road).
• Mamalahoa by-pass road to an old jeep road connecting (between Tide
lane and Lehuula Kai street) to Hawaii Belt road.
• Hawai`i Belt road heading north to an easement before Trousseau road.
• Mauka of Honalo and M5'ihi.
Council District 7's deviation is-2.36%, -525 population, 21,707 population.
`O au iho n6 me ke aloha pumehana,
Hawai `i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer
BRONSTEN-GLENN KOSSOW
Chairperson
JAMES HUSTACE
Vice Chairperson
2021
HAWAI`I COUNTY
REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
Stephen Kawena Lopez, Commissioner, District 8
2021 Redistricting Commission
MEIZHU LUI
DWAYNE YOSHINA
LEHUANANI AH NEE
JENNIFER YADAO
STEPHANIE BATH
AINA AKAMU
STEPHEN LOPEZ
The tinkering of the national census in the Fall of 2020 created greatly contributed to a late start. Not
getting census data to begin our process until September 2021 we were way behind from the start.
Thinking this was a mathematical solution and that we could still accomplish our goal for end of year —
WRONG! The many constraints made aware to me in census blocks, natural dividers, neighborhoods of
common interest, contiguous borders and many more impediments further compounded by specific
area public concern brought a new realization. The legal and emotional constraints presented seemed,
at times, insurmountable and I learned a great deal of many island places that were equally important as
any other location. For me, this new awareness will serve me well in further appreciation of an island
community.
At 24,234 residents, District 8 was 9.01% or 2,002 residents above the target 22,232 population for the
2011 Redistricting process. Only District 5 had a greater growth in population and several Districts had
negative. Those districts adjoining District 8 are District 7 at -8.5% and District 9 at .33% growth. This
meant that as the island districts struggled to gain some semblance of equity District 7 had to push into
current District 8 areas and District 1 (adjoining District 9) had to push into District 9 to yield population
for the East Hawaii districts that were negative growth, i.e. a domino effect.
As population density changes, growth brings change not always pleasing to everyone and compromise
becomes paramount as I and my fellow commissioners worked very hard to accomplish. Of equal effort
were those unsung hero's from Clerks office, Legislative Research Branch, Elections, Corp Counsel who
contributed equally to address and solve our obstacles and arrive at a solution. One that, while not
perfect, turned out to be the most equitable mathematically and addressed many emotional testimony.
Mahalo nui for all those who testified on any position. It is this participation that greatly helped me and,
I believe, this commission to serve the best interests of Hawaii Island.
Hawai `i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer
BRONSTEN-GLENN KOSSOW
Chairperson
JAMES HUSTACE
Vice Chairperson
2021
HAWAI`I COUNTY
REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
MEIZHU LUI
DWAYNE YOSHINA
LEHUANANI AH NEE
JENNIFER YADAO
STEPHANIE BATH
AINA AKAMU
STEPHEN LOPEZ
James Hustace, County of Hawai'i 2021 Redistricting Commission Vice -Chair and District 9
Commissioner
District 9 Boundary Changes:
The 2021 Redistricting Commission received early testimony requesting contiguity for the
Waikoloa Beach Resort communities. Early steps were taken to make this change happen and
incorporate this community together. Unfortunately, this community was split away from its
neighboring parts in the last redistricting effort. This also created a clear boundary line between
District 9 and District 8 to the south.
The populations and the road connectivity (or lack thereof) of the communities across the
geographic regions of North and South Kohala, including, but not limited to Waikoloa Village,
Puako, Kawaihae, Hawi, Kapa'au, and Waimea, prevent the possibility of keeping the residents
of Waimea in one singular district. Given the population breakdown under the 2021
Redistricting guidelines, the total residents of these North and South Kohala communities
would greatly exceed the parameters and deviation restrictions set forth by the County of
Hawai'i Code.
Knowing that Waimea needs to be split given its location and relationship to District 1 and
the Hamakua communities, early draft maps proposed giving more of Waimea to District 1 for
the purpose of addressing District 1's population deficit. This would have also provided
residents in the eastern portion of Waimea, that had previously been in District 1, more
Waimea residents of like mind and with similar needs. Testimony provided during the process
requested that Waimea not be split, however, communities in the southern portion of the
district cannot be easily split nor provide enough of a population count to offset the population
density of east Waimea. It was therefore determined that only slight changes should be made
along the District 9 and District 1 boundary. This would maintain as much consistency as
possible for residents and communities.
The total population of District 9 in its 2011 iteration met the criteria of the 2021 effort and
would not be required to change greatly unless dictated by the shift of other districts around
the County, and this would keep pace with maintaining a consistent and practiced boundary.
The change at the District 9 and District 1 boundary was dependent on the census blocks along
Mamalahoa Highway. Unfortunately, the census blocks in this area are irregular and tend to
divide subdivisions at inconsistent points. For instance, the stream boundary used in the 2011
plan that had split the Pu'u Nani subdivisions was not an option in 2021. To assist District 1 with
Hawai'i County is an Equal Opportunitv Provider and Employer
Hustace
Page 2
its population deficit and limit the splitting of Waimea further, this boundary line shifted to the
edge of the Pu'u Nani subdivision.
The plan also places the upper reaches of the Kohala Watershed Forest Reserve in one
singular district and maintains similar boundaries along the eastern edge in an effort to keep
the Pu'ukapu Hawaiian Homelands together, which was an agreed upon priority.
Additional Comments:
Included in 2021 Final Report is a sample of the census blocks that posed challenges to the
redistricting process. Census blocks saw little to no change from the 2011 County of Hawai'i
Redistricting Plan. These static census blocks continue to cause issues with their size, irregular
shapes, spans across different communities, spans across multiple subdivisions, and even
instances of crossing over roadways and other physical boundaries. Until these issues are
addressed, the redistricting process will be impeded by an inability to create clear boundary
lines and limit the generation of new map options for consideration. With population growth
centralized in specific areas across the County, current political districts will continue to be
stressed and pushed towards the limits as allowed by the County of Hawai'i Code. This will
require a new approach to generating these divisions, and the problems with the census blocks
will need to be addressed in order to reach future goals. It is to the understanding of the 2021
Commission that these census blocks and any irregularities could be addressed in five years, at
the midpoint between the decennial censuses. It will require community members to return to
this topic well before the 2031 Redistricting Commission and present their findings and even
request adjustments to the appropriate agency.
Among the challenges relating to the census blocks, additional constraints can determine
the outcome of the process. Beyond keeping communities of interest together, these additional
constraints include deviation limits and maintaining a balance of representation across the
County. Further, districts must follow contiguity and connectivity guidelines. All parts of one
district must be accessible by road without passing through another district. These limitations
were adhered to when generating a final product.
Throughout the 2021 redistricting process and given the late start due to the delay in the
census data, the County of Hawai'i Redistricting Commission sought out and made public
transparency one of its top goals. Given the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic,
the Commission pushed for and were supported by County agencies to provide a venue in
which the public could attend and provide testimony. The Commission was able to broadcast
and record its meetings, and for the scheduled public hearings, members of the public were
presented multiple options to participate. Further, the monies allocated toward the
Commission were predominantly used for the purpose of advertising the opportunities for the
public to comment and provide feedback on the process. It was the wish of the Commission to
have the public involved in the redistricting effort and contribute towards an end goal. The
2021 Commission also encouraged future redistricting work to incorporate more training
opportunities with the mapping software, as well as informational sessions that would provide
the necessary tools of understanding the purpose of redistricting and the constraints and
challenges that can impact the process for benefit of educating future commissioners and
members of the public.