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Ibarra: Yes. How it's set up is, the agenda states the meeting will be held at the place,
<br />and there are Commissioners who will appear by Zoom, so some are here who is on
<br />Zoom, and people come and testify in person or by Zoom.
<br />Takase: So they're saying, the State is doing it, how come we can't do it? Well, from
<br />what I see and what they've issued to us, we were not given that latitude, but you know,
<br />the State always treats the Counties a little differently, so it's like I don't know why. But,
<br />think it's something that we can bring up maybe through this and say that you know,
<br />we want to have that ability too. And you know, it's subject to discussion, maybe the
<br />Council will take it up and say as one of our packages, we want to have the ability to do
<br />that as well. We've kind of moved through COVID (coronavirus disease), we're kind of
<br />adept with setting up Zoom meetings now and having these facilities up. One of the
<br />reasons we're not meeting at our West Hawaii new office yet is because we don't have
<br />internet. So, we couldn't run Zoom out of there and we've been kind of harping on IT
<br />(Information Technology), but I don't know, they haven't done anything yet. But we do
<br />have the ability to do it, so it shouldn't be that bad. I know that you folks rather meet in
<br />person, and it's easier especially with talking to the applicants, but if like today's
<br />meeting, if Ron couldn't make it, we might of had to cancel. But he came through and
<br />we were able to complete our business. I'll bring that up with the Cost of Government,
<br />that that's one of the things that we want to look at.
<br />Thomas: Just to comment, the Sunshine Law is the Sunshine Law but it doesn't make
<br />sense to me that we would not be able to announce in advance that we would have
<br />some Commissioners participating via Zoom and the rest of the people will be in
<br />person, and also be the option for those applicants to either appear in person or by
<br />Zoom, given the fact that if we don't have a quorum and we have to cancel the meeting,
<br />we're also disrupting the business flow of all the applicants, and that seems an undue
<br />burden that's placed on our business community. And technology solves that problem
<br />instantly, and the Sunshine Law and the lack of appropriate announcements becomes a
<br />real liability.
<br />Smith: Thank you, Paula. Cody, you want to comment on that?
<br />Frenz: Yes, just wanted to follow up briefly. So, it's not that it can't be done, it's just
<br />that it's a little bit trickier and it requires more work by the Department. And, as you
<br />already touched on, technology is our friend and our foe in the sense that, under the
<br />Sunshine Law, amendments that passed earlier this year, should we lose an internet
<br />connection and it can't be restored within 30 minutes, you must cancel the meeting no
<br />matter how far in you are. So, there are pros and cons, so keep that in mind. If we
<br />have that option, and our Director has made arrangements and agendized it for
<br />Sunshine purposes as a hybrid, and they've sought out and found a physical location to
<br />accommodate those that may need the public access, which is required by the
<br />Sunshine Law, and then we lose the connection, we're back to square one. So, just
<br />keep that in mind, there are pros and cons to all of it, and it can be done, it's just trickier.
<br />Thomas: Thank you.
<br />MINUTES - LIQUOR COMMISSION MEETING - THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022 - KONA PAGE 24 OF 31
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