2025-11-10 - Minutes DRAFT 2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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4. County Council PONC ad hoc committee discussion Council Member Michelle Galimba came forward to engage in a discussion with the commissioners regarding the PONC acquisition process Council Member Galimba opened the item. She said the ad hoc committee is focused on acquisitions, not stewardship. She asked for ideas to improve the acquisition process through code or charter changes. She said last year's bulk resolution prompted the committee. She questioned an ever-growing priority list with few removals and asked whether that was sound policy. She also asked what makes a good property for acquisition. She noted the Council changes code and charter, not internal rules. Chr. Rosam asked how the Council viewed a long running list. She asked if the growing list frustrated members. Council Member Galimba said the ad hoc group discussed the list with DCC Campbell. She said the list could become unwieldy. She floated a time limit idea, for example removing properties after ten years with an option to re-nominate. She acknowledged downsides because some acquisitions take a decade or more. Cmr. Chang agreed the list had become unwieldy and sometimes outdated. She proposed an annual ownership status update covering the last ten years. She said staff could flag properties to remove when ownership changed, land was covered by lava, or the State acquired the parcel. She suggested adding an annual column to note changes that support removal. Council Member Galimba said the Council lacked a process to remove items. She suggested possibly creating one by resolution. Cmr. Ward opposed bulk resolutions. She said a bulk vote could advance properties that narrowly passed commission scoring and that some site visits had revealed poor land management. She said bulk approval risked endorsing properties several commissioners would not support on a stand-alone vote. She gave examples where long timelines paid off, citing Honolulu Landing and Mahukona. She opposed automatic removal based on age alone and supported regular checks on owner willingness and nonprofit readiness. She asked why the mayor held the deciding vote. V. Chr. Crivello said bulk resolutions ignored the commission's scoring and field work. She said equalizing low and high scorers erased the guidance the scores provide to Council. She urged individual resolutions and use of the commission's reports. She said the current report pipeline delayed the mayor's report by months and risked losing properties to development. She supported changes that allow sharing reports electronically between meetings to cut time. Chr. Rosam supported exploring code or charter changes to allow report sharing outside of meetings, with voting kept in meetings, to remove about two months of delay. DCC Campbell said Sunshine Law and state law limit off-meeting actions. Ms. Kekai said legislative changes would be needed. DRAFT 2-Minutes of November 10, 2025 Page 15