2023__10_17 GMAC Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Representative Chris Todd before the legislative session and what Chris Todd did was essentially give up an outline of how the legislative session moved, what the contact protocol was and some of the bottle necks of like what to expect and so with that in place then I went with – to the organization of Wailoa River and Reed’s Bay Boating and Users’ Association 501 c(3) and then through that organization then went and said or worked with the former senator Laura Acasio into her office we pulled together with DOBOR what they had on their records for money in hand and what they needed for critical funding. And the most critical funding project was the river mouth at Wailoa is sand and has been compromised by sand so there’s trouble getting out of the river and sail boats can’t get out at all… AA: And every so many years they go in and they dreg it all out, right? RD: Right. So essentially what happened is – I guess the whole point of this is – what the issue becomes is then the issue is all of the parts to the issue and history of the issue. So essentially what happens is – sand comes down the Wailuku River and moves towards Sui San and the river mouth depositing sand. So Army Corps built a groin which essentially is just a little wall and the groin catches sand and the theory was – dig the sand out and sand doesn’t go around the groin but by not maintaining the groin sand then just deposits behind the groin filling in the river mouth and it essentially then what becomes the issue is then it now becomes a major project – now it’s like a 2 million dollar project because you essentially have to go to Honolulu, get a barge, get a excavator on a barge – it becomes a real big issue. So essentially Senator Inouye is head of Water & Land. Water & Land is essentially the committee that in both the House and the Senate that control all land and water issues: pig hunting, lobsters, dredging, TMT, I mean, it’s a huge issue. So she’s a friend of hunter use – of GMAC. So essentially, Lorraine met with Wailoa Association and other boaters also lobby. One of the voters who lobbied – we partnered – and we partner with HFACT – HFACT is on the Kona side, Phil Fernandez – a group of about 300 people, Hawaii Fishing and Cultural and Tradition. And they’re a major impact at the legislature and in issues – so they would be really interested in lobsters – this is what they follow in the Kona bays – so one of the fellows HFACT put together – Lorraine was in town – we met with Lorraine. Lorraine came and walked – did the walk through. So essentially what – and she was there with the manager – now what happens is – you’ve received the funding from DOBOR – you’ve received the funding and now the funding’s been approved – and now it’s in a pot somewhere – now you got to make sure that the same funding that was approved is actually what they’re seeing and then now it’s coming across to actually to what’s the work going to entail. What the problem becomes is in all of this mix – Lahaina has happened. So Lahaina has taken – so DOBOR is now not in the office. DOBOR, in fact, boating – some would say, is never in the office. But now with Lahaina they’re on vacation out of the office – not on vacation but they’re – so the problem is, the problem is two-fold. Lahaina – boating is – every ramp in every harbor in the State is provided by the Boating Special Fund – the Boating Special Fund is the fund that was created in early 50s to make sure that Hawaii users to the ocean have access in a sustainable way. So that fund was a sustainable fund – and so essentially, the Kailua, you know, is, is… ?: Uh-huh… RD: …yeah, Keauhou – Keauhou is not a, you know, Wailoa – there’s 13 harbors in the State and many of them are just like – they’re not making, OK, you know, Kawaihae – so the big harbors: Lahaina… 28