2026-02-05 Liquor Commission Minutes Kona

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Waltjen: I know they're going through a lot of changes in personnel in terms of the officers who you know, was taking care of all of the issues with getting the final inspections done, and I think that's been kind of challenging for them. Recently we've been working with this Gerard Kalani, and he's been trying to get everything done. Honestly, I think it had something to do with the hood and getting certain things in place, I can't remember off the top, but I know they are going through EPIC (Electronic Processing & Information Center) and I know whatever he was providing to EPIC (Electronic Processing & Information Center) it might get kicked back, so then they gotta resubmit things. Morifuji: So, it's not the County inspectors or anything like that is holding you back, it's something they're not complying with? Waltjen: No, I think it's a mixture of both, I think for them it's challenging to do like the online EPIC (Electronic Processing & Information Center) route of applying for a final inspection. Everybody is volunteers you know and so, you know it's challenging for them to do it electronically as well, so I think it's both, I think it's a combination of both. But, I do know that they are actively trying to get things in compliance so they can get the final inspections done. Okabe: So, Commissioner Greenwell, your concern is that we should what, we should write a letter to them that there is a concern on the Commission's side? Greenwell: Well, I think the issue is that we've talked about this in the past, that they do have maybe legitimate excuses, but can we give them a permanent license, or can we give them something more permanent so they don't have to keep coming back? And they write a letter, or they fill out an application for a whole month in advance, and like I said, I have last month's agenda here, we approved for December 1st through the 31 St, and then January 1 St through the 31 St, and now we're approving 1 St through the 28t" of February. They're going to be back here for March and April and so on? Waltjen: Even if we and I have to double check, but I think we issued them a temporary liquor license obviously for the entire year so they could work through getting their final inspections done, but a game permit would have to be submitted anyway even if they had the permanent license. If they have any type of event or games that mimic gambling, every time they have that they have to submit an Application for Game Permit even if they have their permanent license, this has to be submitted. Greenwell: Okay, maybe that adds some clarity to it, it just seems that they keep popping up every meeting, every month. I mean, I don't know if that's how we're going to continue doing it, so be it but it's just that they keep popping up for the whole month, it's not for specific dates like some of the others, they apply for the whole month. Maybe somebody else has another suggestion, I don't know. Okabe: Well, I think Director you can just communicate that there was some concern, that's all. MINUTES -LIQUOR COMMISSION MEETING - THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2026 - KONA PAGE 22 OF 29