HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-12-16 GMAC Minutes Game Management Advisory Commission
County of Hawai'i
Minutes
Meeting Date: December 16, 2025
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Place: Zoom and In-Person 25 Aupuni Ctr., Ste. 1501, Hilo HI
LT: The GMAC meeting will come to order. Today is Tuesday, December 16 at 9:13 a.m.and
this meeting being held in the Puna conference room at Hilo County Building and on Zoom.
Fi rst...For those who,just a reminder for those who are in person, please turn your cell
phones to silent or off, and for everyone who, is online. Please mute your microphones until
you are called.Anyone,just a reminder,anyone who willfully disrupts this meeting may be
kicked out and removed. Mahalo. I would like to get to Agenda item number 1. Roll call? By
districts, district 1?Aye. District 2?Aye. District 3?Aye. District 4?Aye. District... Nine.
Alright.We have a quorum. Moving on to Agenda item number 2.
1. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL:
District 1 - Robert Duerr(12131126)—Aye- In-person
District 2—Taysen Wong Chong(12131127)—Present—in-person
District 3—Leomana Turalde(12131125)-Aye—In-person
District 4—Brian Ley(12131125)—Present—In-person
District 5-Vacant
District 6—Vacant
District 7—Abel Aquino(12131126)—Absent
District 8—Courtney Okumura(12131125)- Excused
District 9—Justin Ackerman (12131128)—Present, in-person
Quorum Established with 5 in attendance.
STAFF: Sinclair Salas-Ferguson, Deputy Attorney, Corporation Counsel, in-person:
Micah Alameda-Boards&Commission, in-person
Barbara Kossow,Administrative Specialist—via Zoom
LT: Moving onto Agenda Item#2 Statements from the public on any of our agenda items today.
Just a reminder,you can raise your hand before any of the agenda items,wait till the end, or
you can testify on any item right now. Okay, no testimony seen. Moving forward,
2. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS:
Interested people who want to provide oral testimony on any agenda item may do so now,
or at the time the specific agenda item is called, or at the sole discretion of the Chair.
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: November 18, 2025
ACTION ITEM:
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LT: Agenda item number 3, approval of the minutes. So, we all got emailed the minutes. Just
going, all in favor of passing the minutes, say aye. Anyone not in favor? None taken, so
minutes passed,thank you. Moving onto Agenda Item Number 4,Commissioner Reports by
District.We can start off with District 1.
4. COMMISSIONER'S DISTRICT REPORTS:
a. Each Commissioner will provide updates and share concerns about their
respective districts; Commissioners to decide on whether to add those
topics at the next meeting and to invite the public to provide testimonies and
presentations at their meeting. Permitted Interaction Groups maybe created
at this time. There will otherwise be no discussion or voting, which will be
reserved for when it is itemized on a future agenda.
RD: District 1, Robert Duerr, Makahanaloa of... How about Nui, they're purchasing two 40-acre
lots. Looks like a done deal. Past escrow, so they're just waiting for the final, set up for it.
Also, Blake has a request to the Commission to, give,to see if, Corp Counsel can give a legal
opinion on a, access problem. Seems a House... fortheirSMA permit, said theywere going
to have... allow access. However, they haven't been allowing access. Blake says the
problem now is, the final approval will come, and they're worried, if the final approval
happens, that they're never going to get access. So, he's asking Corp Counsel to give heads
up. The FADS I heard from Warren Cortez initially, were going to replace him, at first of the
year. Lack of funding, end of 2026. So, that's... that's really... for example, one FAD,
Pepeekeo FAD,was a$4 million pounds aggregator. So,with that missing,you can see how
much food is not going on the table, or going and getting food becomes a lot harder. Once
again, Ho'omula initiative for essential commu nity-d riven fish regulations around the island.
If you know somebody who's interested,or you'd like to be on the commission. And,contact,
DAR, or you can see Ryan Okano, who's at the DAR building in the state building up there.
That is all I have.
BL: Brian Ley, District 4.What about Pittman funds for the FADS?
RD: This is something that the GMAC can look into. What is this money? Where is the fund,
and what is this money?And is it possible for alternatives? Can we as a community set
funds,set FADS for a lot less,you know,what the states are on. So... That's not where it's at.
??: Did UH use to own those?
RD: Yeah, UH... It might be the first of past the meeting.Are the people who got the contract.So
that's a little weird,too. The other sideline is what they're saying is environments don't...
environmentalists also haven't pushed back, because they don't like the fact that when you
lose a FAD, now you get rope on the bottom of the ocean.So,there may be more,you know,
lack of funding.There may be some issues that need to be investigated.
BL: So, if the Coast Guard can put a buoy out there and it never moves, I don't see why we can't.
Better chains. Better buoy.
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RD: Yeah. A lot of the local guys who put their own money into this really have it down. One
fellow in particular, Brian Patriz, really studied this and has it down. It just needs another
look at.
JA: And that'd be the thing, I mean, I used to fish on Oahu all the time, and half the family
worked over there. Visual and aggravating devices.And,they end up becoming a hazard to
NAS,the problem with them, even when they become loose.And that's the thing,just need
to get a better system.We'll call it Coast Guard Recruit,that theyjust become a hazard to
NAS.
RD: Yeah.And, little sensors,when it comes off station,you get a sensor, and you know it's off
station, so it's not... there's ways around it, seems like...Problems with fewwages in the
state.
LT: Anyone? None?Okay.We can move on. District number 2.
TC: Taysen Wong Chong, I'm from District 2, in the past month, I also heard stories, I know a few
hunters, including my cousin them as well.Anywhere from Waikea, Upper Waikea Forest
Reserve. I've heard two stories in Kulani recently, and the guys who illegally get access to
them all along hunting.They've been losing dogs to that, rabies. Rabies,yeah. Last night,
another example, my cousin called me kind of late, lost 3 dogs. She doesn't know if
it's...either Upper Waikea or, Kulani, but that's where she's been in the past week, but I told
her when they hunt, she said it was Upper Waikea Forest Reserve. Her dogs will die within
48 hours, right?
?? Whoa,wow.
TC: She lost 3.from Sunday. So,that's the big thing, I don't know if the DLNR can even tackle
that somehow. I don't know.That seems to be a problem. Still getting the complaints of the
cats at Liliuokalani,you know,that's the normal thing. But the feeding, I noticed the feeding
had gone down, though. I guess when the rule changes, I noticed a lot less people feeding
cats down there, and a lot less rubbish. I think that's a good thing. And,yeah,just a whole
touch base on the fires on Mana Road. I guess I'm involved guys that lease land up thereon
the Hawaiian Homes part, theyjustdon't... Nobody can point fingers, right? But that's just a
concern.Also,they've been saying that some guys have been cutting fences as well. Upon
the topside,and they've been losing cattle as well, so now, a mixture of... I don't know if it's
done on purpose or not,to get more cattle in for the guys who are hunting the cattle up
there, I don't know. But that's just my latest update. It's kind of crazy,though, on the cattle
cutting fence. I was told in less than 3,400 feet;there were 6 holes cut in the fence. A
fence, quad size, so you know this guy's coming in...Yeah,that was this past month.
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?? inaudible Yeah,that's what I told him. I was like, choke out, cellular choke hammer, so you
can get,yeah, notifications.
TC Yeah, so that's what I have for my report.
LT: Okay, I think that we should invent on...
RD: Jason,you know,the reports from, Mana Road, should we let DOCARE, should we,you
know, come out of this commission and say, hey,we're... this is what we're hearing.Yeah.
Are you guys hearing the same things? What are we gonna do about it?
TC: Yeah,for sure. I mean, I definitely think so, because, like. I know some of the guys,they're
pulling an all nightery, like, oh, my guy's not a game over that, but to me, it's like, at the end
of the day the guys'fences that's getting cut,they're fellow hunters as well. So,technically,
we gotta help protect them,you know?Yeah. So, rather than the so called...Yeah,to me as
a guy, but vultures, so you're still cutting somebody's property at the end of the day, and I
don't even do that,you know, so, like,why would...Yeah,yeah.
BL: Yeah, I've reported there was a group of people that were poaching sheep on Mana Road,
and the response I got,well, its Hawaiian Homeland,so we really need a little sketchy, kind
of like it's a free-for-all wild,wild west out there. Nobody wants to take responsibility and go
afterthese people. Yeah. Oh,they're stealingfrom basically everybody.
TC: Yeah, and that's a decent, that's why I just wanted to add in that comment, is where, like, I
had a few conversations with people. I get its Hawaiian Homelands, but that fence line is
also somebody's pocket money and time, putting up a fence.
RD: Robert Duerr District 1; 1 thinkwe just need to get this, like, on record. Like, have them say,
no more top story, have them say, because essentially,you call the police,they're not gonna
go, hey, it's Hawaiian Homeland,we can't go.What is DOCARE's responsibility? Yeah, and
if poachers are taking community property animals.
JA: Exactly.Yeah.Yeah, that's even our responsibility to use their law enforcement arms, and...
Oh,at least that.Yeah.
TC: Yeah. Oh,and another one to add to that,yeah,two more rams,also. Body left when I first
went in. Ram's head's gone,whole body there, and they were obviously rams and just go on,
so... It's just sad to see that. I honestly think it's young guys. Some of the grand pictures,
you know, but it's still you hunting, if you're gonna do stuff like that.That's it.
LT: That's it.Any more discussion?Okay, none,seen. Moving forward, District 3, Leomana, I got
a couple of updates for District 3,starting with Keaukaha,the whole... speaking of Hawaiian
homes.There are a couple of properties on the borderline of the Homestead in Keaukaha up
against 4 miles that, I guess they redid the fence line from the beach all the way to the
airport, so there's a herd of about 30 pigs just running loose in Homestead, on the beach for
the past two weeks,just trying to figure out where to go,yeah? So, I just wanted to make
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that notable,just in case you guys got family members down there driving.They're usually
about around 4 miles by where the Nene Drive,walks. I still didn't get an update from... the
sewer plant and... and trying to get the exhaust pipe moved into Puna, behind the mac nuts.
And other than that, it's just the same thing.When it rains,the pigs come out alongside
Panaewa stretch. Sometimes they're in the middle of the road, usually, between 4 a.m. and
6 a.m.and then the same times in the evenings. But other than that,just same things
happen in Hilo. Thank you. Literally. And we can move forward to District Number 4.
BL: Brian Ley, District 4, not a lot to report. Pigs are doing good. Still got our fishing hole.And
one thing somebody, Stanley, asked me to bring up was that the Boy Scout camp is up for
sale. And he was saying that we should put a thing in,a letter, maybe we can do that today,
since we have corporate council,to recommend to the county that the county buys the Boy
Scout camp, because it already has an existing Firearm range that the state approved funds
for several years ago that we don't knowwhat ever happened to him, but the legislator did
pass a thing for this big island of Hawaii to have a gun range, and money was appropriated
for it, and we just kind of lost steam on that, so I don't know if we can all, since we got
enough people here,vote,write a quick letter to the county saying,you know, it's all
possible that we buy the Boy Scout camp and use state funds for the firearm range, and the
county can lease it back to the Boy Scouts or other groups, since we already have a...
Facility all set up for all that stuff. And the second thing would be speaking on pages,you
know, once again. Can we vote on having the county sue and the state for not following the
laws on sufficient habitat, because we've all seen the habitat and the game animals failing
down, and it's a state law, but the DLNR is supposed to be supplying quality habitat, and
they're not doing it, and I think the county needs to step up and make the state do what it's
supposed to be doing. If we can vote on that and put a resolution that,you know,send a
thing to the county to... do that, and that's all I have to report. Okay.Yeah,thank you very
much.
LT: Any discussion? None seen? Okay, move forward, it can last for the day. Justin Akerman in
District 9,
JA: Justin Akerman District 9: Only thing to report,we just talked about it was the weak
numbers in birds,and to throw on top of that, red spiney are low as well,that I'm hearing.
But on the Boy Scout Camp purchase, meeting with James Hustace on the 5th of January,
and we were going to be discussing the shooting range as well, so I'll throw that in there, as
an option for a,at least an interim solution,an easy interim solution to that, because that is
a huge problem that provides a lot of opportunity for the county. So,whether it's archery for
KP, archery for adults,we don't have any of those opportunities That are sanctioned on the
island, like we do on other islands,and with us being 10 times larger than any other island,
don't have anything. So,which is a huge shame, and a major loss.Yeah, for sure.And it
could also be huge revenue for the island if theywere to take an opportunity for it, or,
ecotourism.So,just missed opportunities.
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LT: Well,thank you very much, Leomana District 3; My only discussion on this idea is someone,
there's a lot of firearms incidents lately, and that's why I've been pushing with Micah to see if
we can get some of our funding to support updating our firearms knowledge,the laws, and
our training. Because someone was shot at the facility,yeah, kid, and he died.So, kind of
with the letter, I'm kind of thinking we should push out firearm safety awareness and some
sort of, not just, hey,we want a letter,to buy something because there's a gun range, but,
you know,we can have some community awareness. I'm... there's just a lot of shooting
going on, and even yesterday,there's a big one, so I'm like, oh, I got to try and, see if we can
get the commission to kind of lead Hawaii County in handling these kind of situations with
guns, because we are the people who have the most guns.Anyway,that was just my,
Mana'o.Thank you for the update.
??: Almost got the line.Yeah,the truth.Yeah.That's sad,that's a couple years ago,yeah.
LT: Okay, moving forward to our next agenda item,we've been waiting for these updates all
year. I'm super excited to get presentations, especially from the people who got all the
information. So,our next agenda item is Agenda item number 5, Presentations.5A,Joshua
Pang Ching,Wildlife Biologist, Game Section, Hawaii Department of Land and Natural
Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife,will provide an update on game birds on Hawaii
Island. Sir,thank you for joining us. And...just checking if you hear us.
5. PRESENTATION:
a. Joshua Pang-Ching,Wildlife Biologist, Game Section, Hawai'i Department of
Land Natural resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife will provide an
update on game birds on Hawai'i Island.
JC: Josh Pang-Ching:Sorry I wasn't able tojoin in person. I had some,field plans today,that I
couldn't get out of, so...Yeah, Robert,we talked about kind of just providing an update on
2025-2026, Gamebird season so far has been going from, what we've been experiencing,
what we've been talking to guys in the field, numbers we've been seeing, results,you know,
all that good stuff, I mostly have, some stuff to report back from Mauna Kea, parts of Mauna
Kea,and then Kapapala, so... :Yeah, Kapapala, Cooperative Game Management Area, Unit
J, has been really good.You know,we've... that's where our East Hawaii program has
focused, a lot of our game bird release efforts,from the chucker's and pheasants that our
program rears and releases, our... a lot of our efforts are focused out there.We've been
seeing good results,you know, birds have been being harvested by hunters on release birds,
and we've also been seeing some promising results of retention of birds. Over the years,
there's been a handful of birds that have come out, a handful of roosters, ringneck roosters,
that have come out,this season that were released. Two years ago. So, it's promising,
they've been surviving. Hunters have been seeing a lot of the hens that we've released, and
that's really the valuable one that we want to see survive, is the hens, because they'll go into
spring to reproduce.And on that note,we had two birds so far,two confirmed birds so far
that were wild, born pheasants that came out of Kapapala. So, any pheasants that have
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come out of Kapapala area product of our release efforts from the past 3 and a half years.
We did a shorter one four years ago, but... So that's promising, and then on the trucker side
we've been releasing truckers out there for the past 3 years. Hunters have harvested some
wild borne chucker's, same thing, chucker's that have been surviving out there for the past 3
years.They've been seeing real wild birds out there, so that's promising with the chucker's.
And then every other bird that's out there has been, coming out.There's been turkeys,
plenty of Franklins, Khalii. Kapapala is a trickier place to hunt,a lot of the population of
hunters that come out there are regulars.We get a lot of new guys that come out, and they'll
try it for a day or two, and it's different from hunting Mauna Kea, so a lot of the guys that
stick around and find success, and keep coming back, so... they've been happy so far,
turkeys have been coming out, Khalii, Erkels.They've been having to deal with some of the
fallout from past eruptions, particularly, I think it was eruption number 36 that,the wind
direction during that eruption brought a lot of tephra and pele's hair across the ranch. I think
that it was back in October. So,the hunters having to hunt around that. So,we've been
getting some rain out there, so I think that helps a little bit with the deterioration of that
material, but it's kind of just breaks it up and kind of stays in the grass,so it's still there. But
the hunters are hunting around that, and some are okaywith it, some have decided to not
hunt Kapapala because of it, but so far,we're having good turnout.We work that check
station, every hunt day, and shout out to the Big Island, I think they're called the Big Island
Archery Club, has been helping us a lot with volunteer days, manning the check station, and
talking to hunters and stuff, so they've been a great help It was quite the zoo up there,
openingweekend. Plenty of guys were out and about,guys were up there real early to stake
out their spot.We were kind of projecting that it was going to be a better-than-normal
season, because we had the right time of rain in the right part of the mountains.We had
good rains in the spring this year,which had good flush of growth in some of the plants that
the birds like, at the right time when they're have chicks on the ground, or are sitting on
eggs, or,you know,trying to breed. So,there's good food at the right time.We had a real dry
summer,which I think might have limited the population a little bit.We were seeing a lot of
chicks at the right time,so they kind of got out of the harder part of being a chick and being a
mom raising birds,when there was good feed,going into the dry season.So,that to me had
helped with... some of the birds... I mean, I've been going on parts of Mauna Kea everyweek
either Wednesday or Thursday, I'll limit out on Franklins every day and have been seeing a
lot more quails on the mountain, more than last year,for sure.And some other hunters I
talked to share the same sentiment. I mean, I saw a covey of quails 2 weeks ago that maybe
40, 50 birds strong. I didn't get a shot at him, but that was my fault, not my dog's fault. Parts
of the mountjust kind of drying up now,we haven't had rain in a while, so it's kind of dry.
Parts of the mount, and the grass is thick, as normal, so... I heard some good things coming
out of Puuwaawaa,too.That side, Puuwaawaa,West Hawaii, has been getting a lot of
regular rain throughout the year, and I don't know if anybody's been out to Puuwaawaa, but
it's green all the way up to the top. Puuwaawaa is on the west coast of,west side of
Hualalai, for those that don't know.And,yeah, super green out therewith good birds,tricky
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birds, but, hard to pin down, but,good birds,you know, nice,good, plenty of black Franklins
and stuff out there.We're hoping that PTA... I don't know if PTA has opened yet this bird
season. Hopefully theywill open,too.That's kind of it so far, a quick update on Game Bird
season.Anybody have any questions.
LT: 0kay...Mahalo
BL: Brian Ley District 4, 1 hate to argue with you, but I don't see what you're talking about. I've
been hunting Mauna Kea for 15 years, and we've got deserts where it used to be just birds
galore. I went out Sunday;we only saw 21 birds.Ten,twelve years ago, before October, I
would go out for half a day and put up a hundred and something birds. I see no turkeys, I see
no quail, I see no chucker.These areas that used to be highly productive, is nothing, and I
think a lot of that is... did anybody ever do an EA on those new fencing you put in? Because I
noticed when you guys put that new fencing with the smaller mesh. The bird hunting is
just...non-existent. I hunted, off R1 by the... started at the waterer, right past R10, and
worked toward the eucalyptus trees.and just put up two birds.And I mean,two Urkel, and
that was it. I mean,five, six years ago. I would go down there,there would be turkeys and
pheasant, and chucker left and right, and if I went by myself, I would have a limit by 8
o'clock, and I'm not even seeing these birds.And, up above R1 by that little valley by, I call it,
Parker Ranch House. It's on the Parker side.That little valley in there used to be loaded
with...with birds, and I've hunted it twice now, and can't even put up one bird. So, I don't
know if there's any correlation, but I see these fences going up, and the birds can't get
through them.So, I don't know if they fly over and don't come back, or what the deal is. 1,
you know, like I keep saying,you know, it's habitat.There's no reason we don't have the
massive amount of chucker's, because there's really no predators. I've seen 5 cat tracks this
season, and there is no excuse for there not being the birds that there were 8, 10 years ago, I
don't know.That's my two cents worth for somebody who's been up there every season for
15 years, so that's all I gotta say.Thank you.
JC: Joshua Pang-Ching here, DLNR.Yeah,there's no hiding that it's different now, and I'm not
comparing this year to how it was 20 years ago. I mean, everything across the board, and
even on private land,you talk to people, like my boss has. He has contacts with Palani
Ranch, and he said, a place like Palani Ranch that doesn't get hunted by the public, in any
degree,they probably have some in-house hunt... bird hunting, I would imagine, but they've
seen population decreases. Even Parker Ranch,you talk to guys that go Parker Ranch,
they've seen populations decrease. On a ranch that gets stocked and guys payto hunt.
There's literally only 20-something, 21 members, 22 members, in the park around Hui, and
they've seen loss of chucker's on their side, loss of quails for a place that is actively grazed.
They must release pheasants every year to keep up with the demand from the HUI,weather,
and its things. It could be things that are out of our control, right?Collective drought across
the island.We see that in evidence of increasing fire risk, and,without even getting on the
subject of fuel load, butjust increasing drought,and you see that in a lot of places on the
mountain.And so, but to your first point,the question, Brian,with the fence, I don't think... 1
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mean,there was an EA without knowing it, intimately. I mean, I know with the way these big
fences work,there's always an EA that goes through, I don't think game birds are part of
the EA, I imagine? I mean, maybe...well,they might be, because EAs usually touch on a lot
of things, but Game birds not being well protected species, maybe they might not. I could
look into that and get you an actual solid answer, but the fence material on the most part
around the mountain is pretty much the same specs. It's small on the bottom,taller on the
top. Birds can fly, but yes, it is small. Like you said,they fly, but they are small. On the
bottom for something like a Franklin. I'm always surprised when we fence these water units,
how small of a wire that these birds can get through. I mean,we're not using a smaller eye
fence,wire on to keep pigs out of the fence, these watering units, but I'm always surprised at
how small of a hole a Franklin can fit his body through, and just their ability to fly back over. I
mean,they are driven by water. So, I was just saying that I think this year,you know, last year
was kind of a worse year, and I think this year was a better year than last year. I don't think
it's better than 20 years ago, I think nobody would say that, but yeah.
BL: Brian, District 4, back to what we were saying,why is it not the DLNR looking into it? I mean,
if they know that there's an issue and the populations are crashing,why isn't somebody
looking into it besides the fact that it's non-native and they don't care?
JC: Joshua Pang-Ching, here again.Yeah, I mean,we are trying to look into it. It's hard to do it on
a big...you know, I...we were trying to do some diet stuff last year to see what gamers are
reading on a landscape,and we had surprisingly,or not surprisingly, pretty poor feedback
from, like, input from hunters.You know,we did.We were trying to do a crop analysis, kind
of just look at... and we're not trying to reinvent the wheel,this is not new science, it's stuff
that,they did in the 90s, looking at crops, and it's,...we'd set it up where hunters could drop
off their crops at hunting check stations. I had a QR code posted at all the check stations.
We had the QR code on Outer Spatial for people who could just submit a picture of their
crop.What bird they shot,where they shot it, and even roughlywhere on the mountain.The
ability people could drop off, crops,to our office. I even put my phone number on the
release and said, hey,you got crops? For myself, I clean my birds at home.Throwyour crops
in the freezer, call me, and I'll come pickyou up after...you know, I'm not going to come and
pick up one crop, but if you can save for a couple weeks or the whole season, I'll come pick
it up at the end of the season. I think we had maybe 4 hunters from Kapo Paula and a couple
from Mauna Kea that turned in.We had less than a dozen. Hunters that turned in their
crops. So, not that they're to blame, but that was one thing we tried to do, and we didn't
repeat it this year. I mean,we're kind of doing our own little... I mean, I look at my crops take
down the information of what I should, but...You know,disease elsewhere, maybe
sampling,we try to talk to hunters to see if they're seeing anythingweird when they're
handling the bird,any sort of abnormalities,the external physical features...That might
indicate some sort of disease. I think I might have mentioned this at the last meeting, but
we have on the Palila side of what our office is up to.We have some people on the mountain
looking at the insect population.There's a theory that a lot of these insects that would have,
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from the Palila side would have helped Palila survive. might be missing, and we're kind of...
I'm interested in that, because, like, maybe these same insects that you don't see on the
mountain for whatever reason, drought, maybe they're missing there, native plant that they
pollinate are gone.That might... could also, allude to why game birds aren't out there?
Maybe these insects that would provide high level of protein, are gone, so... It's tough on a
landscape scale to really look at these things, but, I mean,there's no hiding that the habitat
is different now than it was 20, 30 years ago.
JA: So, hey,Josh,just in District 9; If we can correlate insects to the lack of, Palila.You know, is
redirecting the aerial eradication money to better insects an option? That's also nice.
JC: I don't know,yeah, and I don't know what that would take on the game. Insects for game
birds, insects for all birds are great.Yeah, I don't know what. I think right now they're trying
to look at what's out there, maybe what's missing. And potentially what's causing that. And
it's just one, it's... may or may not be the smoking gun, probably not. Collective, it's probably
a collective,you know, lists of issues that have led to both Gamers and Palila, alike,
Likewise, but different, so... From my side, I'm trying to see if it might help suggest
potentially what's limiting a limiting resource of the information.
JA: Yeah, I mean,40 years of aerial eradication hasn't changed the Palila count. How much
money have we spent doing that?
JC: Yeah. I don't know. I could bring on the Palila biologists.
JA: Yeah, I mean, I'm just as an avid hunter. It pains me to see all that happening and taking
away opportunity,when it's not working. For the reason stated. I'm off my soapbox.
JC: Hey, sir, any more questions?
TC: Yeah,Josh, I was gonna add to that, Josh. Taysen District 2. Is there a possibility to learn,
like, notjust the insects, but,you know,a lot of these drier areas,yeah, maybe some of that
money can be used to add waters. How often do you guys, like, maintain the waters, by
chance?Just out of curiosity.
JC: Yeah,Joshua Pang Ching here, DLNR, DOFA.Yeah,the Game Bird Water Units, I mean,
we've been increasing our... not capacity, but our frequency of checking on the water units.
We did kind of a big push earlier this year of...we had maps of water units,went to every
single one of them, kind of came up with a list of things that needed to be addressed at each
one, and we're kind of checking those things off.And then,for the ones that are functional,
you'll... between, our East Hawaii program and our West Hawaii program,to give them some
credit,they've been...we've been going around, and you just...we just check on them,
check the water bowl, make sure it's... it's working, make sure the tank has water.These
water units don't... unless it has a leak, major leak, malfunction, in their normal functional
capacity,they don't really lose a lot of water. I mean, for those of you who've been on the
mountain,you see the water bowl, it's, couple cups of water that fills it up, and then, it
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doesn't... they're shaded, sot hey don't lose a lot from, evaporation and the heat of...
dryness and heat of the day. So,we go and check on them, and we're starting to every year,
we're trying to build more. We built 3 this year on Pumalee,and we renovated another one,
we changed the roof,cleaned the intake,changed the gutters,you know,on one, on Kimole,
Brian,and that was,that was the gulch were you talking about, Kimole, Kimole Gulch,
Kimole Hill,and the gulch that goes down to... Kimola Cabin in Parker Ranch.We repaired
one out there.Yeah, building more.We're kind of trying to set a goal and meet our goal of
building4 new ones everyyear.Wewerejustup on Mauna Kea yesterday puttingthe
foundation for another one out on the northeast side of the mountain on Pumali. And back
to water,these water units provide supplemental water for the birds to drink, but the greater
impact of the drought increases the habitat, but this helps game birds provide them
supplemental water, and we've been having real good luckwith these,we've been deploying
these things with that,trade name.They call them flock blocks, seed blocks.They have
different names when you find them in the store, but it's basically like a mineral block, but
for game birds. It's got, like, calcium, seeds, all kinds of good stuff for them, and... We've
been putting in a lot of these water units, and the birds,they love it.They crack it,they
pound those things,especially the Franklins,so, having some good luck at that.We'll buy a
whole pallet through Miranda's, and then we'll go around the mountains, spawn at each
water unit. Every time we go to check each water unit,we'll deploy these, blocks, and we've
been finding the birds love them, so...
TC: Tayson District 2,the mosquito releases, is it happening here?
JC: No. Not yet....
TC: It's happened on the other islands.
JC: I believe so, Kauai especially.
TC: I'm just curious if you heard any results on what has happened with that. The reason why I
asked that is I'm curious about knowing because I do know that's some big effort that
they're just pushing, and there's a lot of money that went into that situation.What is the
percentage of success. Is it even worth the money?So, I don't know if you know, or could
touch base on that, even though it's another island, because I know they're going to talk
about it if it does well.They're gonna expand to other islands, so I'm wondering,the time
and money cost, is it even worth it?
JC: Yeah,Josh here, DLNR.Yes, I don't know, I could tell you a little bit about how it works, but I
don't know too much about the details. You can reach out to our office if you want, and
then one of our biologists that are more intimate on it could...
TC: Okay.Yeah, I just was curious about that. I know it's not here, but I just was wondering,
because I know one day if it was successful, supposedly it would make its way here,
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and...I'm just curious to know, like,without even...be successful, or would it even be
a disaster? I mean, honestly.
JC: Yeah, shoot, sorry, I wish I could provide more details, but yeah, I don't... I'm not...
TC: No worry
JC: Not in my portfolio,that project.Sorry.
TC: Yeah, no worries at all. I'm just curious.Thank you, bro.
JC: Yeah,easy.
BL: Brian Ley District 4. Hey, I forgot to say it earlier.Thank you for being here. I know, I bad you
guys all the time, but you, Ian, and Kanalu, I think you guys are wonderful people and
everything. My issue is what's coming down from Honolulu, and I don't take it as a personal
attack on you guys. I know you guys are trying and actually trying to help the game animals
and stuff like that, and I know it's Honolulu that's holding you guys back and holding your
jobs over your head if you say too many things that don't ring with,the thing.The last
question is,when are you guys going to start building those waterers in the Patila-critical
habitat? I know I sent you an email about the stacks of pipe and gravel out there,and you
said you guys were gonna build waters out there.And another thing,this is my personal
observation. Since you guys killed the majority of the pigs last year, I noticed that the birds
in that area are way down. I was hunting there twice, and last year,where there were a lot of
birds, in relationship to the amount of pigs and the pig trails and the pig rooting's, I noticed a
huge decline in the bird populations in the areas I was hunting in there, and I was wondering
if you guys are gonna still open it up for the dogs to go in there and get rid of the rest of the
pigs in that fenced area?
JC: Hey, how's it,Josh again, DLNR.Yeah,thanks foryour sentiment, Brian.Yeah, I don't take
any of it personally. I appreciate positive and negative criticism on either side. I mean, it
helps,you guys are extra eyes and ears on the field and gives us an idea of what hunters are
thinking and seeing, and what theywant.We are civil servants, and you guys are the civil,
so... happy to hear it. Water units in old tau lee Old Laolis.Yeah,we had some hiccups with
the PO,with our procurement office in Oahu, but from what Ian told me, it sounds like
we finally got the PO in place so that the, contractor could start building. To bring
people up to speed,we're building four of these larger-than-normal water units,watering
units in,orwater catchments, in,Toei Mitigation Area,formerly known as, Lao Ranch.They
are planned to be 5,000-gallon capacity, structures,4 of them, in there. It's, at the forefront
is to have water on the mountain, both for fire and forwatering game birds,within there.So,
hoping that the contractor can start to... sounds like we finally got our... our purchase order
approved. And then on the pig side,we haven't opened it up this year, pig hunting,we're
hoping to do it in January. Last year,we did this special pig hunt in two areas to let hunters in
with dogs to help reduce the pigs in these managed areas. I do share the same sentiment,
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Brian,that I do,you know,this... I don't like running into pigs in my bird dog, but... I do like
the...the pig dinging and thejust moving around helps,you know, beat the grass up, I don't
know,with the lack of birds in there, I do talk to a lot of guys, and they're saying, I mean,the
pheasants were, like, great this year. I mean,we're seeing a lot of chicks. In there, I would
actually share the opposite sentiment. I feel like I mean, directly or indirectly, I felt like there
were more,way more pheasants in there than we did last year. I mean,when we did our bird
surveys in October, I did... I did a transect that,transect line that came from through kind of
the longest two points through that,that unit, and I... I put up 21 roosters and 12 hens. I was
pretty impressed with how much presents there were, but,that place is always, not...
Impressed me for... Franklins, I've always felt like there weren't that many Franklins in there
compared to outside, but... No,we don't...we're probably only going to do the pig hunt
maybe in January at this point. If we do... if we do it.There was... there was some interest, a
lot of interest in it from the public. People had called again, asking if it was gonna be open,
so... Okay,
BL: Brian, District 4. Hey, since you were on Wednesday and Thursday, and I usually try to hunt
on a Wednesday, maybe, off record,we can meet up on the mountain to discuss some
things. I don't know if you...what side of Mauna Kea you hunt on, but,you know, if you want
to collaborate and meet on the side one day up there,that would be nice,just to put it out.
JC: Sounds good. Yeah. No,we're. Oh,what, halfway through the season, so we got some time
to go, but the end comes up quick, so...
BL: Yeah.
JC: I'll throw all your time.
BL: Alright,sounds good. I'm all finished with my spewing.
LT: All right, hey, aloha, Leomana, District 3,thank you very much.Just closing up, I got a
couple of quick questions,first question is, how can we tell if the birds are wild or released?
Are you guys banning them and another one is about the predator populations in your areas
of operations,are you using the same traps as, NARS? And...We asked about the block,
yeah.And another one, last... maybe last month, I saw an update about the bird flu. In
Hawaii again, I don't know if you know anything about the flu, but those are my last three
questions.
JC: Okay.Joshua here again.Yeah, first one,what was it?Yes, release birds,yes,we do band...
Our birds,we were using a colored zip tie that is meant for putting on birds.We used those
in the past years,we tried to stick with... color coordination between different years, and
then this year, but we had some mixed results on retention of bands over the years.Some
bands were falling off,forwhatever reason. So,this year, our program switched to metal
bands.We got this custom,they're pretty cheap, but these stamped metal bands. It says
DOFAW, D-O-F-A-W, and each band has a unique number.We've used those this year on
both chucker's and pheasants. So that they stay on.That's how we tell if there's a pheasant
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that has lost a band. How can we tell if it's a released bird or a wild bird. For pheasants,
especially,we use in...when they're in captivity. We put on this thing called,we call it a
peeper,or a blinder... It's this thing we put on the bird's face to keep it from pecking each
other,to limit their predatory nature. Theyjust peck each other.They're not nice to each
other so we put them on.There's a pin that goes through their nose, and so if it's a reared
bird that has lost its band,we just look, if you can see through its two nostrils,that was a
bird that we had raised. So,that's one pretty foolproof way with the roosters to tell.Whether
it was released or not. The bird flu, I only knowwhatwe get in the news and stuff.We
haven't heard much. I mean,we're just kind of aware and keeping an eye out. 1 knowthere
was a case recently on Oahu, a native wetland bird.We've been,within our department
across the state, people have been getting trained on how to handle birds that could
potentially have highly pathogenic avian influenza, sanitation, proper protocols, PPE, stuff
like that. So, people trained on each island to handle it, and it's a joint effort between DLNR
and Department of Health, maybe Department of Ag, different animal people involved with
dealingwith these animals and animal diseases. Did I miss anything?
LT: Leomana -Nope that was it.
BL: Brian District for... since we brought up the trap.
JC: Traps,yeah, sorry, I missed the traps.
BL: Well, my question is, I noticed that the live traps are still there. How often do they check
those in case there is a cat in there? How often do they check the live traps?
JC: I imagine they would check them, I mean, if it's anything like our program,we check them
every day, every other day.That program that's doing the live trapping on Mauna Kea, they
work Monday through Thursday, so I imagine they're checking them ...every other day at the
minimum.And they're live trapping, as you can imagine, because, Hunting, right?You don't
want any, kill traps.And the live traps do offer an increased level of success. I don't know,
and cats are more likely to go into a live trap than a dark box. But so,the live traps can be
very handy, but they are more time consuming, because you gotta check them often. But
yeah,sorry, Leomana you're questioning about the traps. We are using some of the traps
you saw when you guys went out with NARS would be some of the body grip traps,AT220s,
those automated traps,we use those.Yeah,we all kind of use a mix of the same things.We
don't in our trapping at Kapapala,we don't do the footplate: style trigger that Mauna Kea
does,on Mauna Kea, because,we're trapping in the ranch, so... and the ranch has,their
ranch dogs,so our traps are,we make them dog-proof, so they're not a walk-in style trap like
Mauna Kea's.
TC: Taysen here, but I have one more question,Josh. Oh,what is that rabies called again?
Pseudo. Pseudo rabies,yeah? Does it affect game animals, including the birds.
JC: I don't think so. I mean, even the pigs have it, and they survive. But it's so it gets unlimited
knowledge of it once it gets transferred to...The dog... or humans,you know, humans can get
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it too, but I had... I lost some dogs to pseudo rabies,too, a couple years ago, so yeah, it's...
it's no joke.Yes.
TC: Does it affect the sheep, cattle, or anything like that in a lethal way? By chance?
JC: Not that I know of my understanding is you will get it from contact with the blood or meat,
and consumption of either,consumption or,you know, like,open wound contact,what is it
called? Mucus membrane type thing. So, I imagine something like a grazerwould be, least
likely to get it. It's more most prevalent in pig populations,yeah, so...
TC: Yeah. Another thing that, let's bring up my thought of training is, like,you know how it's like, I
guess. How saliva is DNA transmitted as well, right?So, I'm just curious to, let's say,what if
an infected pig drank from a waterhole and, like,a bird or sheep or something drunk from
that same waterhole?Could it be transmitted that way as well, and affected? That's my
question too.
JC: Yeah, maybe. I mean, I'm sorry, I'm not a disease expert, but I know... I think it was Molokai, I
heard that when...well,this different disease, but, like, brucellosis, like the water, it was,
like,water that was connecting...The deer and the cattle,yeah, potentially, I can see where
your line of thought is going,yeah, I mean, Yeah, I don't know.That's a good question.
Right.
BL District 4.Any idea how the pseudo rabies infected the animals on this island?
JC: No, I don't. I mean, there was a really good, study of it by, USDA APHIS,Animal Plant Health
Inspections services. Awhile back,they did, in the early 2000s,they did this big sampling
survey across all the islands, and, unfortunately,they've kind of found varying levels of
pseudo rabies across the whole island. I would like to know that as well,yeah, I'll look into
it.
BL: Yeah, because that seems like that would be a Department of Agriculture if they're dropping
the ball, because like you said, if we're living on an island,they didn't cross over from a
neighboring state.Yeah.So...
RD: Chair, Duerr District 1,to just,comment on that.Taysen,we had Dr. Kim Kozuma,who's a
vet at, I think she was Department of Health. She spoke to us just about these issues a
couple of years ago. It might be time to bring her back.She was really on this,yeah.
TC: Okay, okay,yeah, definitely.Thank you.
LT: Oh,Josh,Well, hey Josh, Mahalo Nui. Right on, Josh.Thank you for coming.
JC: Yeah, no problem.Thank you,guys,for having me. I apologize again for not being there in
person, but,yeah, mahalo again. I always enjoy our conversations.
LT: Yeah, no worries.Just a side note,this is our last official meeting. I don't know how, if we're
gonna be around for the next one or two, but,for, us three right here.And so,this is probably
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the last meeting that we're gonna have with you. I just wanted to say thank you. I know the
last 5 years,you've been in here couple times and always gave us updates on the... the
birds,which is a big issue on our island, so I just appreciate it.Thankyou very much.
JC: Oh, no problem,yeah,well, look forward to seeingyou guys out and about,and Brian,out in
the field, so...
LT: We'll stay in touch.Yes, sir.
JC: Josh Pang-Ching: Mahalo.
6. OLD BUSINESS:
a. GMAC development of an informational/marketing brochure design markups
for Commissioners to consider. Commissioner Aquino
LT: Okay, mahalo,yes. Okay, thankyou guys.That was, presentation. Mahalo Nui.We can
move forward to agenda item number 6, Old... Okay, before we move forward, I just wanted
to check if we have any public testimony. I see we had somebodyjoin us, in the meantime
during the presentation, on any agenda items. Okay, none seen. We can move forward to
agenda item number 6, Old Business. GMAC development of an informational marketing
brochure Design Markups,for commissioners to consider.This is actually supposed to be
had by Commissioner Aquino. I know at the last meeting we talked about coins, brochures,
information pamphlets and some kind of recruitment, advertising and marketing. Anybody
got any comments? We can table this to the next meeting.
RD: I have one comment from, Let's call it a GMAC follower,whose question was, is this even in
our Kuleana? Is this something that GMAC should be doing? Is it something we should be
worried about?And are we getting misdirected by going down this line.
LT: This, advertising?
RD: Yeah,yeah, building a brochure, and then, so I just thought I'd throwthat out.
LT: Well, I think... For myself, before I joined GMAC, I didn't even know GMAC existed. I got a
phone call by one of the local hunters,one of the older gentlemen, and he was like,this
thing is, game commission, and we need... It's young guys to join.And I said, okay,what do
they do?Where do they meet? Who I gotta talk to?And that was kind of my, introduction
into the Game Commission and the GMAC, and... I know growing up, I went to the fair, and
they had the archery on the inside, but I never knew who put that on. And so,these are just
kind of, like, I grew up in Hilo, and it... the GMAC was around my whole life, but yet I never
knew about it until the day I joined. So, I'm kind of like, oh, how do I... Do we need to send
representatives out? How do we recruit? Because I got a phone call, I don't know how
everybody else got into the commission.And then just kind of setting up... for me, it
was kind of more setting up pathways of PSAs, you know, like public service
announcement, like the pseudo-rabies,and then kind of having, because we...: my Mana'o
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was,we were created by the community, so I know we talked up, but how often do we all
talk down to the community,you know, like... I went to the mayor's office,we talk to DLNR
about how many. We go out to the fair,to the games,to anywhere. Igo out zero times. So,
for me, I never had good help or opportunities that people were like, oh,yeah, hey, GMAC, I
want to be the next District 3 Commissioner, it was always... oh, I don't know if I can
dedicate time in. So even the recruiting from my end is just rough.And I was kind of worried,
I mean, our ability to kind of promote that, so I mean, oh, I don't... I got a big social media
following, and even with that, people don't respond to, like, oh,yeah, I would love to be a
commissioner. Oh,very cool. So that's kind of where I was coming from.
BO: Brian Ogawa,a public person...Whatyou're talking about is exposure. I was thinking, like, if
you get events like the fair, but we don't have... Fair enough. Like, maybe the Tokunaga
tournament,where they get the ...,you get on tables?Yeah,that's a good idea.Yeah.Any,
like, any type of tournament,yeah, like a boxing club. I mean,Ashley's thing would be a
great spot.
LT: Yeah, so I know we talked about getting a tent and a table with our tablecloths and then
stuff like that, and the issue came up with who's gonna hold the stuff. Like, all of our actual
physical material.The chair can have it,whoever the chair is, but that's something that I
knowwhen Abraham was,the chair,we wanted to get a pop tent and tables, and we're like,
okay,well,well,you hold it.
RD: Chair, District 1 Duerr; One issue we have with this commission is Sunshine Law,and then
the other issue we have that we've seen is, dealing through the county for approval, or for a
signature, or forwhat have you. Nani Pogline,former chair of GMAC, had a notion of doing a
side a non-profit, community-based Friends of GMAC. And then in Friends of GMAC,
because the problem is how do we get our outreach? If we build asocial media from this
commission, it's in control of the county.We cross...we... it may not be the place where we
want to be. So, Nani had that suggestion, and quite frankly, I think that's the way we want to
go.Yeah.That we go...
JA: Yeah,yeah, I think having that hunting hui or,the outdoor hui is an easier way to go, because
there's no restriction on that.And then having them feed on the community and the input is
easier than us trying to solicit input. Right. Them getting input, or them having a tent, or
having,you know, getting the input is easier than us trying to get it as an advisory
commission governed by the county, because of all that sunshine law.
RD: Right, absolutely,yeah.
BL: Brian Ley From District 4, speaking of which,when are we having our night meetings.We
keep discussing that, and I know that would help quite a bit if we could get back at our night
thing,as far as getting people to be commissioners and the public support, because 9 to 11
on a Tuesday is hard to get a lot of people unless you're...
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RD: Well,that being said, and I don't know where old business was,a letter to the mayor,talking
about the missed meetings that we had that,that Cody, Corp Counsel helped GMAC put it. I
have a final draft.The final paragraph of that letter, and quite frankly, Mr. Sinclair, because
it's not on... though it was old business, and it's not on the agenda, can we discuss this,
where are we with this?
SSF: Yeah,you gotta put it on the agenda, sorry. I don't see it on the agenda.
BK: Chair. Hi,this is Barbara.Those letters are printed out for Leomana to sign. Sheila should
have brought that downstairs to you, Leomana. So, after the meeting I just need your
signature.
LT: Okay,thankyou.
BK: So,don't leave after the meeting, okay, so we can talk.
RD: One question, Barbara, about the missed meetings, Cody wanted to specify the meetings.
Did she... and there was one...there were four meetings.The fourth meetingwas when;
Corp Council Sylvia Wan canceled our meeting and presentation which was against
Sunshine Law.Though we didn't have a quorum,we still could have had a presentation. So,
there were actually four, and not three, as you stated,yesterday. However, my question is,
are those, Codywanted those missed meetings inserted in the letter,of which I did. Did... is
the letter that...Yeah, is the letterthat Leomana is to sign, are those meetings inserted?
BK: No, I was just gonna do an attachment. But yeah,we can do this offline since it's not on the
agenda. Okay. It was on the last agenda, so it's...
RD: You know,which is a bigger issue,that essentially when something goes on the agenda, and
it stays on the agenda.That if it's old business, in fact, if, like,the mayor's... the fact that the
mayor's,the mayor's letter came up on the agenda, and the fact that it wasn't stated on the
agenda is eliminating from its ability to be, proceeded,that when we put a business item on
the agenda. New business. It stays on the agenda as old business until it is resolved or
removed by the chair or the Commission.
BK: Okay,well, I thought you all removed that,with the approval of doing the letter.
Inaudible:
BK: I don't want to holdup the meeting,Sinclair,so...
b. GMAC 2025 First Quarter Report on its activities. Chair Turalde
LT: We can talk about that right when we adjourn,yeah?Okay. Okay,we're gonna table that to
the ending of the meeting.Thank you very much. And we're still on their marketing
brochures. Okay,yes,just to close up the marketing brochures.We can keep that on.
Commissioner Aquino can comeback and talk to us about that. I just wanted to get my
manao out there and respond to your question. Sure, marketing wasn't my biggest, my
strongest point to get people here, but that's why we put that on there,so we can get all of
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our minds on it. Okay,we can move forward. Old business, number 613,first quarter report
on its activity, chair tour all day. Sorry, I... I thought I emailed this. I... I have my first quarter
report. I tried to email it to you again. Okay, oh, sorry about that,we're gonna move back.
Before we move about the quarter report,we're gonna go to Dexter.
SSF: Dexter,you gotta unmute. That's the...
DE: Dexter Egdamin: Sorry, I had my cell phone on mute.
LT: We're here. Yep,we got two.Which item do you want?
DE: What I wanted to say is that... Bob... Hit it on the nose is what my concern was.What... if you
guys stop and read. What is the Commission's purpose? And the Commission's purpose, is
to;Advise,county,state,and federal... departments on issues pertaining to subsistence
hunting,fishing, gathering, and cultural rights. Now, all of these otherthings you guys add in
there,as far as medals and awareness for the public and all that,where does that fit in?
Because way backwhen,when the fish... the sheep were first getting eradicated, People
got... notice of what is going on, and we just spread it. There wasn't any commission to
take care of that or whatever. We wanted something done,we just protested. But now... I
see all of these things as, like,the formation of this commission. Initially, I could name
people that had the right intent and...They got out of it, because nothing really got done and
that is an actual truth that you guys got to be aware of. So, I think, in my opinion, if you
spend effort... What areas of concern are really pertainingto Subsistence, hunting,fishing,
gathering, and cultural rights. That you guys are addressing! Then you're not doingwhat
you're supposed to be doing. Okay, so as far as getting coins and medals and all of that,
yeah,that's fine, but that should be put on the back burner. And the present problems that
you guys don't know about. which you guys should be spending the time to find a solution
to those problems that you guys are addressing. At the same time,go ahead and write up
the letter that you want it sent out to the proper channels. That's what I've been coming to
these meetings for. I wanted to see or hear about the letters that you guys have been writing
to the appropriate people. And what kind of response did you get? It seems to me that I
haven't heard anything, and the response they been getting is like getting speakers to come
and tell you something. And that's it. But what have you cured? What have you advised?
The different agencies about. Which is supposed to be your number one priority. So... I...
my suggestion would be, in my... defense of what I'm asking for is that I've been involved
with this thing you guys have right now. A lot of you, I don't know, and I've been involved in
the hunting community for decades. And involved with mitigations and mitigations for
all kinds of different problems. But we, at that time,were concerned about specific issues.
So, I'd like to see you guys. If you want to get out there. And let the public know who you
are. Get out specific letters to a specific agency. Have them resolved and then take those
results and let the public know. I think you'd be more productive that way, instead of just
doing your term, and then you get voted out, and then somebody else has got to come in
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and do it again, and everything's getting lost in the process. I don'twant to take up too
much of you guys'time, but basically,that's what I got to say.Thank you.
LT: Thank you,sir.Thank you, Dexter. Mahalo for always being here,and your words are always,
good advice to us over here.Thank you. Okay, moving forward to agenda item number 613,
for the first quarter report. I have... I think I... maybe the email should have worked. I have
the first quarter report,that was supposed to be turned in a long time ago. It doesn't really
have anything on it, because it's from the majority of the months that we're missing,we
missed our meetings.
BK: Chair, may I speak?This is Barbara.
LT: Yes.
BK: We had January 21 st meeting,we had February 18th meeting. March 18th,we had no
quorum, and this is the first meeting that Sylvia Wan came back on this commission. I'm
gonna go right through. On April 15th,we had a meeting. May 20th, it was a canceled
meeting due to a technical problem that we could not hook up. On June 17,we had a
meeting. July 1st,we had a special meeting. On July 15th,we had a regular meeting.
August 19th,we had an online posting error with the agenda. Cancellation of the meeting.
Sinclair,you were at that meeting. On September 16th,we had a meeting. On October 21 st,
we had a meeting. November 18th,we had a meeting.We have 3 missed meetings
according to my records.There are minutes for all of the ones that I mentioned,you should
have a handout there todaywith the meeting dates of 2025.
LT: Ye p.
BK: Okay. Robert,that's the meeting that Sylvia did not allow you folks to speak to just
continue to meet without a quorum.That's the meeting you're talking about. So, I only have
3 meetings, not 4 cancelled meetings.
RD: District 1, Duerr.A court... an opinion from Corp Counsel. At the March meeting,when we
had a speaker, Chuck Flaherty,talking about the general plan and the presenter was able to
present, and will, and there, and we didn't have a quorum, and Sylvia canceled the meeting.
To the objection of Commissioner Ley,who said,a meeting can go forward without quorum
and the presentation,with then the provide that a report is prepared for the next meeting,
and the report of the presentation is given to the full commission. Is that how you see
Sunshine Law?And was that meeting in March... did Sylvia Wan, improperly cancel a
presentation?
SSF: I'lljust say that if you don't have quorum,you can still take presentations.
RD: Thankyou.
LT: Okay, moving forward, I just wanted to check if,you were able to... I'm sorry, I use Docs,the
app to write all of my reports, and I send it out to people. I don't know if they get it or not,
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but...I have the report, right herein front of me. I tried to email it out again, I don't know, I
just wanted to double check if you might have gotten it.
c. The Commission intends to discuss topics for future GMAC agenda
presentations. Chair Turalde
BK: No, I haven't gotten it. Just go ahead and leave a copy therefor Sheila. Sheila will get it to
me.
SSF: Okay, but you can kinda...Because the commission's got to vote on it,yeah, so you can kind
of just...Is it short?You could just read it really quickto get the vote to approve it or include
something or exclude something.
LT: Okay, I can actually freaking... Or can you all, like...Yeah, I mean, suits.Yeah, kalamai my... I
don't know what apps other people use. I use... from college, I used Doc's app, and if I... I
know that if I send that through email, maybe some people don't get them sometimes.
RD: Chair Duerr, District 1, In old businesses, Okay. Unfortunately, Barbara,you know,
fortunately, maybe for Barbara,that she's retiring. Unfortunately for us,we're goingto lose
our secretary. This brings us to an issue of, like, howwe're goingto... howwe're goingto
operate with,with agendas,with...with, minutes,and with, lining up presenters,and just
the basic administrative duties of this commission. Do we have a plan for this? Is there a
replacement, Barbara, foryou?
BK: Not that I know of.This is a question for Micah when he comes back.
RD: Duerr, District 1,We seem to be going into,you know,one,we're losing commissioners,
we're losing a secretary, and we're moving into the future. So,we've got 3 months.This is
something that I think... One, a normal... Corp Council, maybe you can help me. Does
every commission do a transcript for minutes, or are there secretaries who will do minutes
that are brief and to the point?
SSF: So,yeah, it depends. Some commissions have verbatim transcripts, some just summarize,
and that's okay. Sunshine Law says you can put verbatim, oryou can do summaries.
TC: Okay, I have a question. Anybody got approved for 90 days?
??: They extended 90 days.
LT: Ye p,
RD: 90 days is normal.
LT: Yu P.
RD: There's not a replacement?The Commission moves forward 90 days?
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SSF: Yeah,so... and all of this is not an agenda,so you guys can talk about this.afterwards with
Micah, individually,whether... because how many people are turning out?2, 1
thought...probably three.
RD: Who's the third? No, I got one more year.Yeah, it's just you.
LT: Oh,okay.
BK: Actually, it's 3, so would be, Cortney as well.
LT: Oh, Cortney...
RD: Yeah,which brings the issue...which is a whole other issue of, like...
LT: Yeah.
TC: Barbara, a question,what about Cortney's husband?
BK: I don't know.That has not gone to Council as yet. I believe Council will only take 5
nominations at a time, per month. And that's where Micah is today. So, he's doing
introductions,forvarious... other boards and commissions, I don't know which ones he's
doing. I didn't look at the agenda. But that's a Micah question as well.
LT: Thank you.Yeah.We can wait till he comes back and ask that question.
SC: So,you guys are still on the first quarter report.
LT: First quarter report. I'm just gonna move forward while they look over it and then come back
after all of us are done to take a vote on that. Moving forward, agenda item, old business,
agenda item 6C,the Commission intends to discuss topics for future GMAC agenda
presentations. I think we have a list of our presentations already with 4 people lined up,
right?
RD: Ashley is set for next month.
LT: Okay.Thank you.
RD: U.S. Fish and Wildlife has not gotten back.That's been a black hole.Yeah.
LT: Yeah.
JA: Yesh, I'm still waiting on PTA.Theywere...yeah, PTA has got me on the do not return email
list.
RD: Chair Duerr, District 1; Do we need to have a letter coming out of this commission,going
maybe to the command post of PTA and maybe to the head of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Hawaii
going, hey, listen,we want somebody to show up.
JA: Let me try one more method. Okay. Let me do that.
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LT: Okay,yep. No. Okay, shoot, I think, I mean, if we don't get anything new on topic right now,
we got,Ashley on the back burner, and then we can get a presentation by Pohakuloa...
RD: Is this one we're bringing,the FAD system in the State of Hawaii.The question that I have
here is, do we need to have a docket? So,for example,when we...when we at this
commission say, hey, here's our presentation, here's our presenters. Does that... do they
need to have a docket? Do we need to go into a docket so that we don't have to rehash this,
so that our agenda can actually show who, in fact, is on the docket for presenting?
SSF: What do you mean by docket?
RD: So,for example, PTA was to be lined up last month,they couldn't schedule it,then it's on
the agenda and gets deferred, so we're not constantly, like,when it...when PTA is not on the
agenda,we're constantly going, oh,we gotta go to... We gotta take a motion,we gotta put it
on the agenda next month. It's on the... PTA comes on the agenda; it stays on the agenda
until it's taken off. U.S. Fish and Wildlife is on the agenda for a presentation, and it's
deferred until it's locked in.
SSF: That's up to you guys. It's a simple ministerial thing, how you guys want to do the agenda. If
you want to leave it on the agenda until they show up,that's fine.
RD: We're not, like, constantly, reinventing the wheel.Yeah, so that's...
SSF: You know,you guys are gonna elect a chair and a new chair,so they can decide how to do
that.
RD: Another question for Corp Council. So,does the chair essentially control the agenda?
SSF: Well, generally,yeah,the chair, but you guys don't have specific rules on that.That's why
you guys have this, 6C to discuss about what to put on the agenda. So that's what you guys
are doing right now.What do you want on the agenda?
RD: If the chair... find something that he wants to put on the agenda. Can the chair put it on the
agenda?And then, along with Sunshine Law, 6-day notice out.
SSF: As long as it's relevant to you guys'vision and everything like that. It's not inappropriate or
illegal or whatever.Yeah.
RD: Okay,good.
SSF: So yeah, did you guys wanna add anything to this next agenda, or...
RD: Well, let's just look at today's action items. Dr. Kazumo with pseudo rabies, she's also avian.
She was a bursillotus. She's an expert on animal diseases. She'd be one. She spoke here
before. FADS...you know,getting somebody to talk money on what the FAD situation is,
and is there a way to the future? And then...
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SSF: So,you guys should vote on each of those,whether you guys as a group wanted that to be
on the next agenda.
RD: Right.The other thing that came up today, action item, is Boy Scout.A letter to somebody
on the Boy Scout camp.
BL: The county to purchase the place.
ACTION ITEM:
RD: So,do we need to make, Duerr District 1; 1 make a motion that, on the presentations,we
find somebody, speak on the FAD, program, for Hawaii Island.
LT: Leomana District 2, 1 second the motion. Can I second the motion?Okay, shoot,yep.
Discussion,we had it.
BK: This is Barbara,would you repeat the motion? I missed it. I couldn't hear it.
RD: Duerr District 1,a motion that we seek a person from the state of Hawaii to talk to us about
the FAD, Fish Aggravation Device system, on the Big Island. Money, history, budget,and
where we're going from here.
SSF: Repeat that, so presentation from State of Hawaii about the FISH Aggregation device, FAD,
the FAD system. The whole thing.So, a presentation from the state of Hawaii about the Fish
Aggregation Device, FAD,to talk about the history, budget,and future of the FAD program.
So, I'm just writing this down, Barbara, so I can email it to you.
BK: Thankyou.
SSF: Did you guys vote on that?
LT: Yes. No, no,we don't.All in favor?Aye. No nays. Motion passes.
BK: Okay,the motion was by Robert, and who's second?
LT: District 3, Leomana.
BK: Okay,thankyou.
LT: Thank you. District 3, Leomana; I'm actually,for all of our action items and keeping a list of
the motions that we gotta make before this meeting is gonna end soon.We got 20 more
minutes, and we're just working through this stuff, okay.
TC: Do we need to make a motion on that letter?
LT: Yeah, I got, so far, I got the... the letters,then still yet our... travel,the trip,the classes,things
coming up.
RD: The presentation,the letter...Yeah.
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LT: Yep.Yeah,
ACTION ITEM:
TC: (Taysen) I would like to make a motion to advise the countyto maybe, like, orwe can draw
up a letterto the county, advisingthem to maybe partake ortake overthe Boy Scout Camp,
to, like,you know, mitigate,somehow,access to the public for the shooting range,and
whatever angles we gotta take to have that happen,yeah, before itjust being, like, land or...
some wrong entity taking it,you know what I mean?
LT: Should we summarize that as in Hawaii County by the Boy Scout?Yeah. Okay.
SSF: Discussion of whether to issue a letter to the county,asking the county to obtain access
rights to the Boy Scout camp for firearms?
BL: I guess public purchase,yeah, purchase... Purchase it because it actually has a working,
firearm range on it.
SSF: Purchase the range,or just purchase access, because...
BL: We want to purchase the Boy Scout camp,yeah, the county purposes of fire range and
other facilities that are there.
SSF: And Waimea, to facilitate...What's the Boy Scout camp?
RD: Well,this will help us get the full details.
SSF: Yeah.So,discussion of whether to issue a letter to the county, asking the county to
purchase the Boy Scout camp in Waimea to...what was it?To prove... to secure... existing
firearm range. Oh, existing to, Boy Scout camp in Waimea to... sorry. Yeah, to purchase a
Boy Scout camp in Waimea, including the firing range. Because that's really what you guys
want, right, is the firing range. Because there might be something in there where you're like,
okay, maybe you can just purchase legal access for the public to use the firing range,you
know,to purchase the whole thing. Firearm and archery range.
JA: Oh, it could also be archery, it could be... all those things we don't have.Yeah,firearm, and
archery, range. Firearm and archery range.
LT: Leomana, District 3. Do we want to come with a pre-written letter,and then we can
rearrange it at the next meeting?
RD: We need a second on that...
SC: Yeah, I believe we do. Okay, so the motion is what to put on the agenda next? meeting,
discussion of whether to issue a letter to the county, asking the county to purchase the Boy
Scout camp in Waimea. Including the firearm and archery range.
RD: Yes.Yeah. Second? Duerr to second.
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LT: There's a motion, and there's a second. Discussion is on the table. My only thought is that if
we come to discuss the letter next meeting,then it'll be drafted at the next meeting, and
then we gotta edit, and then vote. No. Gotta pick three.
RD: No, can we...Chair Duerr, District Board, a comment on that,too. Corp Council. If we come
with a drafted letter next meetingthatwe can use as a draft and respond to it.
LT: And edit,yeah.At the next meeting,can we send it out, next meeting?
SSF: Yeah, make it simple...
ACTION ITEM:
LT: Okay,and then we can add all that technical stuff again.Yeah, okay, there you go. Okay, all
in favor say aye.Aye. No nays, motion passes,thank you. Okay,that was for that one.
RD: One other action item that we talked about was DOCARE. Do we need to have DOCARE
come back in on some of these issues?
LT: Yes.
RD: Or do we write them a letter, or should they present?
TC: I believe someone here coming in will be allowed.When we're reading letters,we don't
remember.
LT: Maybe, like, a presentation in February,where we can have the whole meeting,just to go
back and forth, because we got flyers. We got to change it up,the ag properties,we got the
ocean,the beaches,the SMAs coming up,the access, right?Yeah, so we got the
Makahanaloa access zoning,we can talk to them about.
TC: Yeah. It would be, like, issues in general.Yeah.
SSF: Did you guys'finish reading the first quarter report?
ACTION ITEM:
LT: Yeah. Okay, all right, Leomana, District 3, going back to the first quarter report, all the
commissioners had a chance to look over it, and we're just gonna take a vote if the report
passes.All in favor, aye.Aye. Any nays? None. Letter(report) passes,thank you.
RD: Chair Robert Duerr did good on that one.
LT: Thank you for it.You know,that's why when I was finishing it, I was like, I cannot believe they
didn't get it. I stayed up a couple days.You know, I was reading all of the minutes, and I'm
like,oh...
SSF: So, are you guys done with 6C?
26
LT: 6C,thank you.Yep, moving forward, agenda item number 7, new business! 7a, Budget,
Office of the Management will provide an update on our budget.
7. NEW BUSINESS:
a. Budget: Office of Management will provide an update.
I got an email, I don't know if you guys saw in the email,that our budget was a little more
than$4,000, it was$4,000, like... $4,100. 120-something. 22,yeah. I was like 25. So right
now, currently, our budget is basically$4,122. The budget was... to me, it's for... I got told it
was for gas, paperwork, and the logistics behind this meeting. In the past,we've gone to
O'ahu,we traveled to Kona, the money paid for our lunch and dinner sometimes for the
meetings, and if it's anything out of scope of, printing receipts, refunding gas,or meals,then
we have to get it approved by the managing director,which is Bill.We already had our trip to
O'ahu last year to the legislature opening, and so far, a lot of our things have gotten
approved that we wanted to do. Our budget,that's where I was thinking of getting the tent
from.All of our marketing funds that we need to do marketing to recruit people.Also,our
budget can go towards, I was talking with Micah about this,towards professional
development of commissioners,towards things like, going to,what's it called,the
conservation conference, or hunting conference, or Management Conference. So that's in
the scope of our professional development as a commissioner. And that's why I even put on
top here, oh, I wanted to get us up to date with ourweapons training and all of the new
updated laws. I reached out to Armed Aloha last week, and they're open to giving us a
special class. if we want to go as a group, or if we want to go as individuals, giving us an
update on the weapons class, because I know the laws have changed, and like I said,we
have a lot of shootings going on. Sorry,what was the...The budget, okay,yeah, so this is just
my idea about what we can use the budget for,and this is for the future commissioners,
because, I mean,we're out already, but I wanted to get this started so that waywe can get
professional development, so we can get people who know the laws behind the guns
coming up, and... all of this stuff.
SSF: Leomana,are you guys going to hold over for 90 days?
LT: I think I'm... I'm probably going to, because I'm having issues recruiting someone from my
district, so... I know, like,just leave.Yeah.
BL: [Inaudible]
JA: Well, based on how quickly the council's getting people approved.
TC: I've been verbally trying to get people in other districts to try and jump on, but,you know,
including, like, influencers. It's supposedly talk the talk, but they not walking,you know.
LT: Okay,just closing agenda item number 7A.
SSF: So that one's done.
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LT: That was done,that was just an update of our number4122.And then kind of understanding
where we can go with our funds, and how we can spend it,whose approvals we need.And
then we probably got to work through all of that with Micah,too, because Aunty Barbara,
she was the head, and I advised me on all of this, and she's out, so...whoever's, coming up
next,we can clean that up with them,too. So,thank you. Moving forward, agenda item 713,
discussion and decision-making draft GMAC 2025 second and third quarter reports.
b. Discussion and Decision Making: Draft GMAC 2025 second and third quarter
reports.
RD: I'll cut to the chase, I can do that, and then I'll add the fourth quarter. Okay.
LT: O kay.
RD: So, I'll try to have up until the fourth quarter for next meeting.
SSF: Okay,so that stays on for next meeting,then.
LT: Yup. Okay, moving forward, how much time we got?
BL: 10 minutes.
LT: 10 minutes. Let me just look... This is a GMAC procedure.You can always use our GMAC
course for calendar year. Regarding...
BK: Well,we started late, so I think you have a little more time.
c. Election of Chair and Vice Chair. Tabled to end of New Business, see page 39.
LT: Oh,okay,we can go overtime,yes. Jeez, I don't know. I'm gonna table number C to the last
agenda item, so we can hold that off. So, moving election of the chair and vice chair to the
ending of the meeting. Going down to 7D,discussion regarding GMAC procedures for
issuing advice to county and state and federal agencies. I feel like that's a long discussion,
maybe 20 minutes.
d. Discussion regarding GMAC's procedures for issuing advice to County,State,
and Federal agencies.
JA: Well, procedure's only writing letters.Yeah,writing letters,that's where we're stuck. Right,
letters. Letters.
RD: My question is this. If we say... if we bring a letter to the commission that's ready to go. Do
we sign the letter,and then... Drop it off to the mayor, and whatever happens to the mayor,
we don't care. And we mail it out ourselves,too, so that a copy goes, so we know a copy
went to it. Because, quite frankly, do we know that anything has gone out? Do we know that
anybody's read anything? I thinkwe need to control our little world as well as we can
control it. That's my two cents on it. Is that a problem? If we bring a letter in, essentially...
where we've kind of been at it,that they've got to go to the mayor, and the mayor approves it,
and then it goes out. The mayor, quite frankly,the mayor should be CC'd,which would be a
28
courtesy, but for him to approve anything that this commission drafts and sends out. I
mean, is... is that appropriate?
SSF: So,they have... the mayor's office has administrative control over this board, so I think the
past practice was you guys draft a letter,you guys want to send it to somebody, it goes to
the mayor's office,they okay it,they send it out. It's my understanding. Like, if you guys
were to say something inflammatory on behalf of the county or something absolutely crazy,
my understanding is that they would,comeback to you guys and say, hey you know,edit
this or whatever.This is not good, sending this out on behalf of the county. So that's my
understanding of it. I think that... maybe you guys... no one's followed up...
RD: Duerr, District 1. Is it on behalf of the county, or in fact. We are in fact, a separate...we're a
chartered a separate, entity? And the, and the,and the,and the...
SSF: No, no.
LT: We're under the Office of the Mayor.
SSF: Yeah,you guys are county, officials although you're not paid,you're a representative for the
county.
RD: Okay, I got it.
SSF: And this is a county commission established by Charter, so... Under the administrative
control of the mayor. I don't see you guys ever sending out anything that the mayor guys
would veto,you know what I mean?You guys are... that would be, like,you know, personal
attacks. Hey,something that would cause liabilityto the county,something,say, libelous,
or,you know,something like that. Like,oh you know,this person,you know,something
c ra zy.
RD: So, here's another question. So,you know, I'm a writer, I have a newsletter. If a letter is
passed by the Commission. Is that then in the public record?And can that... and that in,
open for public...
SSF: All of this is public. Right. So, I think the process is, is you guys, howeveryou want to draft
the letter,you can bring a letter here,you can draft it right here, keep it short and simple.The
people that are reading it, if they're busy,you know,they're just gonna wanna... read a few
highlights,three things,4 things. Long, dense letters don't get as much traction, in my
experience,with these types of busy stakeholders. So I think you guys come, draft your
letter,whatever communication you want to get to the right people,and then my
understanding is that you guys sent it to Barbara, and then she would send it to the
administration, so thatjust was the issue that needed to be cleared up today, because I
don't thinkyou guys understood how that happened, how that letter actuallywent out,
especially based on what you just said. 1,you know,you guys don't even know if there's
something sent out, so I think Micah and Barbara could probably clarify that.
29
TC: Taysen,just use another question on to follow up on that. Let's say,the departments that
the letters are sent out to, and let's saywe have a discussion in the future, even if it's a one-
on-one, oh yeah,we at the GMAC have sent out a letter to you folks. Is there a way that we
can find out on what date that letterwas sent to them, so that I can say, GMAC has sent out
a letter to you folks on this date, did you guys receive it?
RD: Is there a log?
TC: Yeah, let's,you know, like,we keep saying the date from here, it left the room, but I would
like to give the date that it left the office.
RD: Like a postmark date.
TC: Right.Yeah. Letter dated,whatever, sent on this date.Yeah.
SSF: Barbara, are you here?
BK: Yes, I'm there. So,when a letter is drafted like the two letters are delivered to you today.
Then they get mailed out.When they get filed,they get scanned in. It's mailed out.
BK: The chair keeps a copy.
Inaudible:
BK: If anyone else wants a copy of the letter that goes out,we can send it to you as well.
RD: Is there... Barbara, is there a mail log?
BK: I'm not sure if there's a mail log that is kept.
SSF: Barbara,who's actually sending the letter? Is that you?
BK: Yeah,that would be me.
SSF: Oh,there you go, Barbara's actually sending the letter, and, like, do you... Get approval from
the mayor's office to send these letters, or do you just send them?
BK: What I do is I send the letter into the Mayor's Office:The managing directors,secretary,or
someone there,that the mayor needs to review. And then get the go-ahead to send it out,
and it's mailed out from the head office, if the mayor hasn't seen it,yes.
SSF: Sorry to interrupt you, Barbara. In that approval process,when you send it to the mayor's
office,that's, like, a one-or two-day term.
BK: I will send it to head office. And then the mayor or Bill Brilhante will review, and then it's
mailed out.
SSF: So maybe what we can do for the Commission is when a letter is mailed out, maybe... We
could just...this is just an idea.You could blind copy them,oryou could... or we could...
Just put that letter on the agenda next time and say this letterwas sent out,on this date or
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whatever, if you want to look at it again.That way, everybody knows it was being... it's up to
you guys how you guys want to do that. But that's maybe a suggestion,just so you know, it
went out. For refresher,this went out.
RD: Yeah, Barbara, another question.
RD: Barbara,we send a letter out, and a response comes in,where does it go? Where does,
like,someone says to GMAC,what address do they send,and...
BK: So, it goes to,the head office address, or it may come to Kona, because we have Mayor's
office here as well. So,those letters get scanned in. If I receive a letter from GMAC, I will
scan it, and I will send it to the chairperson.
SSF: Oh,to be added as a correspondence.
BK: Yes.
SSF: So, is that something you guys want to do whenever you get a return letter, add it on the
agenda as a correspondence?
RD: Yep, I would think so.
LT: Ye p.
SSF: And then,yeah,there's a...
BK: I've had letters in the past come through, and I sent them to the chairperson, and I would
ask,would you like that on the agenda?And normally...well, not with this chair, but in the
past. Those,correspondence was not shared within the meeting. But it did go to the
Chairperson.Yeah.
SSF: Okay,yeah,so sounds like going forward,you know,do you guys want those,
correspondence coming back and being on the agenda as a matter of practice?
LT: Yes,as a correspondence.That makes sense. Operating procedure,yeah. And we know it's
a clean closeout,we can...yeah.
TC: Barbara, I'm busting brains today,foryour last day,the next person...
BK: I can't hearyou, because I guess you're far away from the microphone. Go ahead.
TC: Taysen District 2, I'm gonna repeat, Barbara,we'll bust your brains a little bit today, since
it's the last time for you, but..
BK: O kay.
TC: The person taking over for you, is this the call that would be for them as well, in the future?
BK: Sorry,this is gonna be...
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SSF: Barbara, he's asking if,whoever takes over for you is going to be aware of how you have been
running this, and the things they're talking about today, about the correspondence and the
letters.And would it continue to be protocol? Will that continue on with the next question?
BK: I would hope so, because it's, it's really standard, right,for the different boards and
commissions.
LT: Yeah.
BK: But anyway,yes, I'm available.They can always call me. My cell phone number will remain
the same, so whatever cell phone number you have, that is really my personal cell phone
number.
TC: Barbara, are you sure you want to say that? I might be calling you,you know.
BK: That's fine.
SSF: And you know...When you guys get a new secretary,you guys can put this on the agenda
item and discuss all of this with them.
LT: Yeah. Okay.
BK: Yeah, so I do want to share that a lot of this information is on ourwebsite under Boards and
Commission, okay? Even the correspondence is under there.
RD: Chair, District 1, Duerr, one thingwe've never really had is, like, a Sunshine Law class
briefing,you know, so,we've kind of just been, like, going, bootstrap. I mean, that might be
something that is, helpful for us.
LT: Yeah.
RD: Either taking time in a meeting, or maybe over a couple of meetings, might be helpful forthe
public, orwhat have you.Yeah,we can...
LT: I know, ... Leomana District 3, 1 know that,when we lost Sylvia,when we lost Ms.Wan , I
had to do a training session just to get updated on my knowledge and kind of correct the
miss training I got, so I think that we can all benefit from, kind of, like, half an hour to an hour
of just...
TC: Oh,yeah,that was the one that she did that little,short training.
LT: Yeah,
TC: Where I had to do the executive session, and then sit down, and...Yeah.Yeah.
SSF: Yeah,we can do that.We can do bits and pieces,just one item, a meeting, or a
comprehensive one, it's really up to you guys. When do you guys want to do that?
LT: Can we... do we have a preference if, Leomana District 3, do we have a preference if we
want to do it with Sinclair? I mean,the Corp Counsel we got is good,they're all amazing,
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but...You know?Yeah, sure.You've been here often while I'm covering. It's funny,though,
there's a funny announcement, too, I'll make at the end of it. Okay, I'm just asking...
SSF: So that one's done, right?
e. Discussion regarding GMAC's goals for calendar year 2026.
LT: Yep. So, moving forward from D to Agenda Item 7E, discussion regarding GMAC goal for
calendar year 2026.
SSF: 11:30 as far as we can take.
LT: Okay, let's just clean this out, and we're good. Okay,just general goals regarding 2026.
Some brainstorm ideas. My main goal for 2026, starting right now, is recruitment.Two of us,
three of us,are out.We can only get... Probably one person in every two months, because
the commissions and the standards of them accepting. So, recruitment is on there. Other
goals are returning to the ledge and go network with the people and telling them our issues.
Weapons updates, professionalism, developmental training, quarterly in person meetups.
Whether that is to go hunt,to go fish, or learn something new from each other. I was thinking
about cleaning fish. Let's all get together down the aina, and let's all go over
cleaning fish, and how we can tell if the fish is poisoned, how the fish is sick, and
kind of get the information from experts. That was kind of like a quarterly or biannual
meetup. One thing I reallywant to do,you know,this is a personal thing for me, and I know
we're all affected by this, but Big Island, a lot of our hunters are on drugs. More than half.
Most of my friends, Plenty of people I know,so for me to promote guns,weapons, hunting, I
also gotta... for myself, I personally have to promote drug awareness, safety classes,
weapons handling, community outreach, and to me,those two things go in hand, and I
cannot do one without the other,so, That was kind of my... For next year,at least one rally,
whether it be, Guns awareness, or drug awareness, because that's what we deal with as the
hunting community,weapons and drugs a lot. But that's kind of my brainstorm ideas for
calendaryear.
BL Brain Ley District4.Yeah, beating my broken drum one more time, is getting the county to
file a lawsuit against a State or quality habitat.That would include... Control fire burns. On
the,you know,for the goat habitat, not only,you know. It's for the county's safety,too.
Everyone's screaming about drought situations.We need to address this issue on fire
hazards, and quality habitat is the number one source, is we burn this fountain grass to
bring in the goats and lessen the fire load, and like you said, quality habitat on Mauna Kea,
bring the sheep back. It's a State thing.We fought hard in the legislature to get this law
passed,and as I said,the DLNR and a lot of these state officials,theyjust ignore laws that
we have passed, and somebody needs to hold them accountable. like I said, I'd like to see
the county, because the county has sued the state before over eradication programs and
stuff, so it's not wishful thinking on my point. It's been done in the past.
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RD: Duerr District 1, maybe that needs to go on the agenda, how does Corp Council interact
with a commission if there's alleged legal problems. Like,we have that letter today from
Blake McNaughton on, legal access.You know,your issues on neglect,so maybe Corp
Council... that'd be a good one for Corp Council to just kind of, like. It's just Sunshine law.
BL: How we go about writing a proposal to the mayor, saying, look,we've... this is our issues,
this is the problem,the county is suffering from the state not doing its job.
SSF: So yeah,the mayor,the administration decides who to sue, how to initiate a suit. County
Council, if we're settling for... if we're being sued,they have the authority to settle things,
so... Do you guys want the administration to take legal action,you guys could write a letter
to them.
BL: Okay, shoot.Well, it's like I said, maybe we have a meeting where you could write it out,
where we could post why we want the state to be sued for these reasons,fire hazard,fire
mitigation, and stuff like that.
SSF: Yeah, I mean,
BL: Just notjust a thing to the state,you know.
RD: Robert Duerr district 1,one thing is, like, a consultation. Like,forthe mountain,the federal
jurisdiction. standingwas with Sierra Club, to have a consultation with Sierra Club
to see, has... have things changed, and does the order need to be amended?
SSF: So,yeah, I'm not sure exactlywhat you guys are talking about, but I'm here to assist you
guys in your guys' meetings. I'm not a litigator, like, I'm not an attorney that you can hire to go
and sue somebody,that's just not in my authority or my direction, but...
JA: Well, I think the biggest one was, how do you petition the county to sue the state, because
the state's not doing what they're chartered to do?
SSF: Yeah, I mean,there's various ways...
JA: Yeah, so that's the clear definition of what's being asked.
SSF: Yeah,so you guys can do that if you want to write a letter.
JA: Yep. Now, and would it be better for GMAC as a... 5-member charter right now. Orwould
you be better off having, a county... a petition of hunters come to that as well. Be like, hey,
we got a thousand hunters in the county to say, hey,this also,you know, not only is it us
wanting this, but here's also a thousand signatures from hunters saying the state...the
county needs to ask the state to do better on that. Does that bring more,you know,to the
fight?
SSF: I mean, I would assume so.You know,yeah, I mean, it's kind of like a gray area in how to get
things done kind of thing, and that's politics, right?
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JA: What are you talking about?Well, I mean, it's more constituents for,you know,the mayor
saying, hey, here's more constituents saying the state's not doing theirjob.We're not saying
the county's not, but we're asking the county to force the state to do the job.
SSF: Yeah, and that's kind of politics, right? Like, people...And,you know,that kind of thing, but
that's really up to you guys to... You know, if you want to ask the administration to initiate
something.
LT: Leomana, District 3, I've just taken notes of this,we're still under goals for next year, so just
adding the notes to... one of our goals for next year.
SSF: Do you want to have those goals for next year to be on the agenda next month to discuss?
LT: Yes, I'm gonna write this down on a calendar, and we can rearrange and discuss it next
month again.
SSF: I got an email draft to Barbara, ceasingyou with the new businesses that you guys
voted on, and then the old businesses. Put this on there,yeah. So, I'll send it to you,
and you can add whatever you want. Okay, Barbara.
BK: Okay, thank you.
LT: Thankyou. What was that in the discussion regarding sending?Okay, GMAC regarding
goals for next year. Okay, and this is a kind of goals thing is like a running idea, so it's not
kind of like this meeting, next meeting, it's whenever people got goals. Moving forward,
agenda item number 7F,discussion regarding sending GMAC representatives to the opening
day of the legislature(January 21, 2026).
f. Discussion regarding sending a GMAC representative to the opening day of
the State legislature.
ACTION ITEM:
RD: Hi, Chair, Robert Duerr District one. I make a motion. I will make a motion that we send
GMAC sends representatives to the opening day.
LT: Leomana, District 3, 1 second the motion.We have a motion on the table;we have a
second. Discussion. I can start.Who wants to go? Be out. I can start.Who wants to go? Be
out.
BL: February, I start work earlier this year.
JA: That's how long it is.You two guys want to let go?
LT: Leomana District 3; Sure,you know, it was a good experience going last year. It was cool,
right when we walked up,we walked in with the mayor,and Bill,and from there, it was kind
of like,from the airport,you know,Team Hawaii County,and we went through the whole
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building,we met everyone,we went across the street to DLNR,we talked to everyone that
we needed to talk to from the heads of all departments,to the reps,to...the county council
was there,you know, so I think it's a good opportunity for us. And we make a statement by
being there,you know?Yeah,that was the biggest one.We make a statement, like, oh, look,
GMAC is here,oh,they gotta be doing big things,so...
ACTION ITEM:
RD: Okay, I'd like to make an amendment to the motion, that we send Leomana and Taysen to
the opening day of the legislature.What is the opening time?
JA: Second that.
LT: Okay,we have a motion,we have a second.
LT: Discussion is being had.
BK: Who made the second?
JA: Justin District 9.
BK: Thankyou.
LT: It doesn't matter,we can just vote yes or no,yeah, right now.We gotta get it moving.Yep.
Okay, all in favor, say aye.Aye. Not in favor? No nays. Motion passes.All ayes.Yes, sir.Thank
you very much.
SSF: Wednesday,January 21 st.
LT: Okay, moving forward, moving forward to agenda Item 7F, discussion regarding sending
GMAC Represent...
SSF: Sorry, one caveat on that, the two people gotta report back.Yep.The next meeting.
BK: Could I also state that, Leomana,you need to see the Managing Director for approval, so do
you have time after the meeting, so we can get it going.Thank you.
LT: Leomana District 3, it's the same process as last year,yeah?Go, have a meetingwith Bill.
BK: Yes.
LT: Okay,thankyou.So,discussion regarding 7-g, regarding recruitment of people to fill vacant
GMAC seats. Okay, agenda item 7... Nope,yep.
RD: Chair, District 1 Duerr,can...
LT: We add one more.
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ACTION ITEM:
RD: Yeah, Commissioner Ley finds that his schedule is available.We can add...This is a new
motion. I am making a motion that we also,allow Commissioner Ley to join the
commissioners at the legislature.
JA: Justin, District 9,second.
LT: Discussion, I got a question. Do we need to create a pig, so that way we three?
SSF: Two or more, but less than a quorum can go.
LT: Okay, so it's right there.That's the three. Okay, all in favor of the adjusted motion?Aye.Aye.
Any nays? No nays. Motion passes.Thankyou very much. Okay. 7G.We have already
discussed that.
BK: I'm sorry,who did the second on that one?
JA: Justin District 9.
BK: Okay,thankyou.
g. Discussion regarding recruitment of people to fill vacant GMAC seats. SSF:
7G,you guys are done with that discussion regarding recruitment.
h. Discussion on 2026 meeting schedule.
LT: Yup, discussion on 2026 is not gonna be on the agenda,yeah. Yeah. Meeting schedule. So,
discussion of 2026 meeting schedule. Sorry,this had to do with,we are losing our secretary,
and then... So,what Micah told me was, because we're losing our secretary,they don't have
one for now, so Micah has to fill the position, but because he also does Council,we have to
move our meeting days not to a council meeting days, and that's where I told him, okay,
well, give us the nighttime meetings again. So that was kind of the discussion with the... I
was hoping Micah would be here, but he can... Figure it out for us, I guess he's going to have
to just be here January.
SSF: You want to put that on the next meeting,then?
LT: Yes, please.
BK: And then also, Chair,you have, Councilwoman Ashleywill be your presenter, and usually
it's a council meeting day on Tuesday.
LT: For her?
BK: Yes.
RD: I know she said she's okay with that. She said she was okay, but if we need a change,we'll
get back with her.
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LT: Yep,she will. Discussion recruit,okay.So that was the meeting.We can put the meeting on
the next agenda item, and Micah can clear that off, and then...We'll have...yeah,they'll
figure it out.Just be here.
i. Certificate of Appreciation to outgoing commissioners:Office of Management. Moving
forward,7-i, Certificate of Appreciation to Outgoing Commissioners. I think that was
supposed to be done by Micah as well. We can just do it.Are we staying for the... I'm
staying for the next 2 months.You're going to be on Tuesday? Yep,we can table that to the
next meeting. Okay.Yeah, because then that's for us anyway. Alright, 1, 2, okay, for the last
one,okay. Last agenda item of the day, agenda item number 7,seat election of the Vice
Chair and the Chair. Okay, I can go first.
SC: Oh,you got"J"still.
j. Discuss finding Solutions for Hilo Banyan Drive Isles fishing spot wall disrepair.
LT: Oh,7J. Discussing fighting solutions for Hilo Bay Banyan Drive and the fishing spot wall
disrepair.
RD: Guys, I shared with Taysen, so 1,was able to get... Parks and Rec does control it, and then
Parks and Rec have a form that you fill out saying, hey,we got a problem. So,that was... I
guess that's gonna be on next month, or do we just fill it out and go?
JA: Well,you should take that form and post it at Tokunagas'so everyone knows.Yeah,that's a
form.
RD: Okay,yeah,that's a good idea.
JA: And then put it on your social media, so guys know, because if they don't know,they don't
know.
JA: Yeah,that's a good idea. Gotta get it out there.
RD: Yeah,
LT: Leomana District 3,when we come up with that form,we can have it printed over here in our
office. Just so we don't need to print them ourselves.
SSF: So,you guys want this on the next agenda, discussions to find solutions for Hilo Banyan
Drive Isles,fishing spot, and wall disrepair?
LT: Can we come backwith a letter or a form?
SSC: I'll just leave it on.
LT: Yeah, okay,thankyou. I was thinking that,are we ready?That was7J.
Return to 7-Item C: Election of Chair and Vice Chair:
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LT: Okay,going back to agenda item number 7C, election of Chair and Vice Chair,are we ready?
Okay. Mahalo, everybody,this is a killer two years. No speech.Anyway.... How do we vote?
We just vote.
SCL: Well,you gotta, nominate. Nominate?Yeah, somebody nominates somebody,they accept
the nomination. Okay. It's open for nominations right now for Chair.
LT: Okay, I want to start this discussion for chair, I'm gonna nominate you. We're gonna
nominate Bob.
RD: Thankyou, butyou knowwhat? I mean, I'm an old guy. I've done this before.What I would
like to defer is the nomination forthe chair,forTaysen. I just I think Youngblood...And then
we support, and I'm totally willing to support.Yes, sir.And it looks like we may need some
kind of secretary. So do basic minutes,so we can come to a meeting,we have minutes.
Okay.And then I've been helping with the presentation. I like being in the background. You
know, so my nomination, I defer,thankyou.
LT: Okay, my nomination got deflected,yes. No, I want you to knowwhen I came... you helped
me out a lot,you got a lot of energy,you know all of the stuff that I want to know, and I'm like,
man. So, I feel like...You know, Brah,we're therefor you, Brah.
RD: Hawaiians.
LT: And that's why I must nominate you,just because of that,that uncle respect,you know?
And I knew that you were gonna do this,that's why I had, oh, I'll talk first. I knew that you
were gonna do that,so...
RD: I really appreciate it.
LT: Yeah. I second that nomination for Taysen, by the way. I don't need to ask him if he accepts.
Do you accept the nomination?
TC: I accept. Can I say something,though?
LT: Yeah,of course.
TC: So, like,wait, my question is,would nominations be only for people in the room?
SC: Yeah,you gotta be a member.
LT: It's only us right now.
TC: Okay, okay, I just got it. Yeah, I mean,Abel?Abel,you got any objections.Yeah,yeah, I think
so.That was just a random question. I accept.
LT: No, it's good.
TC: Yeah, I had to ask any question.
SSF: So now you guys gotta vote on it.
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LT: Okay,there's a motion to nominate District 2 to chair?There's a second.All in favor, say aye.
Aye.
SSF: Congratulations.
LT: No nays! Nomination passes.
?? And he's in the fight.
BL Do the vice chair now.
LT: Ye p.
BL: There's one other guy left.
LT: And really,when I was thinking about this guy, I was like, I don't... he's... he probably had
enough leading teams and paperwork up his alley, so that... but,yes, I'd definitely nominate
you (Justin)for vice chair. Please.
BL: Second.
JA: Well, as the only man left standing.You could nominate Bob, but he would just defer?
RD: Yeah,that's right.
ACTION ITEM:
LT: You got a year.Thank you, sir.All right, so we accept the nomination.All in favor?Aye. No
Nays. Nomination passes.Thank you,guys,very much. Okay,you guys got it from here.
RD: Hey,one last thing. Barbara! Barbara,we had a party for you!
BK: Oh, hey.
RD: Hey,we appreciate you, and now the next thing is, how do we get this to you?
BK: Take it upstairs. So, going back, so who's the chair?Vice Chair?
BL: Justin!
?? Justin,okay.
?? Right.
BK: And who made that motion? Because I can't hear it. Okay, and second?
?? There was invisible.
BK: Brian.
?? Right, okay. Right.
BK: Got it. I got it.
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LT: And then announcements.
BK: Yes.
LT: Leomana, District 3, no longer the chair. Moving on. To agenda item number 8A.
Announcements. Next meeting,January 20th.Wait,when is the opening day?January.
Thank you. Let me see. Oh,we're meeting and then going to Oahu,yes! Let's go! You guys
have all your meetings in Evening,yeah?Yup, right there. And I think since he's the vice
chair, he decided he's gonna come to Hilo every time now.
8. ANNOUNCEMENTS:
SSF: Cody resigned,so her last day is January 31 st.
LT: O h,wow!
SSF: She's gonna go to the prosecutor's office, so I don't know who's gonna be your guys' next
Corp Counsel.
LT: Four already.
RD: Whatelse,you got for us?
SSF: I did, but I was just kind of... it was just kind of funny, because I keep showing up over here. I
didn't know I was going to be here till 9 am. They called, because it wasn't on Cody's
calendar.She was somewhere else, and so theyjust, like, oh, come cover.
LT: Hey, it looks like you're the new one.
SSF: Even if you get a new one, I might pop in anyway,you know, I might...When they quit. Or
when they quit.
RD: Once we scare them off.
SSF: Okay, but I'll ask Sylvia if she wants to come back.
??: Give her our aloha.We better make a motion.
9. ADJOURNMENT:
LT: Leomana District 3, I'll make a motion to adjourn this meeting right now at 11.23 AM.
??: Leomana motion and Brian,second.
LT: There's a motion, there's a second. Discussion.All in favor, aye.Aye. No nays. Motion
passes.Thankyou,guys,for the amazing meeting.
Respectfully submitted by,
Barbara Kossow
Secretary
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