Exhibit 7 - Letters from the Chairperson

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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. "