2022 Report of the Cost of Government Commission

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PUBLIC ACCESS, OPEN SPACE, AND NATURAL RESOURCES (PONQ EXPENDITURES RECOMMENDATIONS: After speaking with members of the Public access, Open space, Natural resource Commission (PONC) and related Maintenance Fund, Commissioners and long-time advocates gave our COGC permitted interaction group (PIG) the following recommendations to improve productivity and efficiency in the operations of this Commission, the acquisition of new lands, and the Maintenance Fund: 1. Hire additional PONC staff. 2. Allow for more flexibility in meetings, both remote and in -person options should be available. Have twice per year submission dates for Maintenance Fund Grants and the 2% Land Fund. 4. Seeking matching funds should be part of the job of the commission and ideally in tandem with County of Hawaii Research and Development. 5. Continued allowance for `unwilling seller' properties to be part of the listed PONC properties. 6. Update and increase transparency of the PONC website. EVALUATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS: 1. Hiring of dedicated PONC Staff: Hiring of two permanent and dedicated staff to assist the PONC Commissioners with their duties and the related administrative tasks associated with land or easement purchases, grant writing and maintenance of the PONC lands. One staff member, provided for in the County Code, is paid by the Department of Finance and the other position is paid for from the 2% Land Fund as voters approved in 2020. Currently, personnel from the Finance Department are used on an ad hoc basis, where a dedicated team would be significantly more effective in carrying out the goals and mission of PONC/PONC Maintenance Fund. 2. Allowing for more flexibility in meetings: As some expressed a desire for more frequent meetings and/or for a remote/virtual meeting option, we believe that hybrid meetings should be an option. However, we also see the value in having in -person meetings for truly allowing the Commissioners to be engaged with public testifiers and for public service groups to present their case in a way that has the most impact. We suggest that the option to meet more frequently via Zoom is 20 2022 Cost of Govemment Commission —County of Hawai'i - Final Report