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It's very unique in the state. Nobody else in the state has this, and I think Bank of <br />Hawai `i sees the value in this and they've offered it to other municipalities. <br />DILL: Okay, thank you, sir. To back up a little bit, you mentioned that during your <br />selection process, you needed to constantly be under advisement in terms of compliance <br />with SEC regulations, bank regulations, IRS regulations. You had Corp Counsel on staff, <br />or on the team here? <br />OKUMOTO: We have Corp Counsel, but this is a very specialized area of law. We hire <br />a bond counsel, and the bond counsel is a person that's recognized, that has experience <br />in these matters. Also, this had to get by the bank attorneys, too. So on the bank's side, I <br />think they had a more difficult time trying to convince their senior management about this <br />product. Our director we could see the benefit right off the bat, so I didn't have this <br />problem with our side, but there was much more due diligence on the bank's side. And <br />they went through a rigorous process on their side. <br />DILL: One more question again, one more question, sorry. You said there are more <br />than six you investigated more than six different financial institutions? <br />OKUMOTO: Right. <br />DILL: Okay. I'll save my question for later. Questions, board members? <br />BALSIS: I was going to ask you with the same first of all, if I'm correct, you had a <br />consultant which advised you on a variety of solutions to issue short -term notes while <br />waiting -- to do your expenditures prior to actually getting the money for the long -term <br />stuff <br />OKUMOTO: That's correct. <br />BALSIS: Okay, and when you're looking at these short -term facilities, the consultant <br />then said this would be the best way to go. <br />OKUMOTO: That's correct. <br />BALSIS: When you decided on that as being a way to go, did you discuss that way with <br />other institutions besides Bank of Hawai `i? <br />OKUMOTO: When we talked to First Hawaiian, First Hawaiian we told them we were <br />doing this, and they wanted to see what they could do. And after taking a look at it, they <br />said no, we can't deal with the tax- exempt maybe taxable, but not tax - exempt. The <br />other smaller institutions they just don't have the capability. Right now in fact, as far <br />as investments, the only they're the only two financial institutions in the state that will <br />take our deposits, because these other ones have capital restrictions, so a lot of the <br />investments go outside the state. But as far as tax- exempt, you're talking about a double <br />tax exemption, so if you're going to do something, it's going to make sense to do it in the <br />state of Hawai `i. <br />