2006-09-11 Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission Minutes (Kona Mtg)

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Mr. Caylor stated they had different opinions; which he thought was fair. Mr. Caylor stated he thought their Commission was established as an advisory commission and currently that was their role. Mr. Caylor stated he was in support of their Commission being advocates for accomplishing some of these things. Their County attorney had spoken to their Commission and recommended they go back to amend their Ordinance if they were seeking more authority; which was always a possibility however they were a County of laws therefore they had to operate within the laws. Mr. Caylor stated he thought advisory roles of the Commission was an appropriate role given they were trying to accomplish by making recommendations each year of priority projects and acquisitions. Mr. Caylor stated their Commission was frustrated by what they perceived as lack of movement on a lot of their recommendations. Mr. Caylor stated from what he's read and the discussions he's had with the Commissioners, there were a lot more public attendance at the Commission meetings. Because things happen politically, movement tends to be based on public desires. Mr. Caylor stated they need to think about how they could increase public awareness and get more public input to the items on the agenda. When the Charter amendment was passed in November of 2002, there was a huge amount of public support and awareness. In Mr. Caylor's opinion, they've faded a bit in the public's eye. Mr. Flores stated their Commission ended up with Finance and they get staffed by legal. Mr. Flores stated it hasn't been detrimental however with the stuff they were dealing with; a closer relationship with the Planning Department might work out more. Mr. Flores stated their Commission followed Kaua`i's template so he was wondering if they had a staff planner who did the research to verify the information. Ms. Blaich stated they did have an open space specialist which was independent of their funding. She stated their Council saw that for this to work, there needed to be this position; which has been refunded. Ms. Blaich stated this open space specialist was able to help them create the assessment form, bring back a presentation with a map and the key aspects of each of the nominated properties and that helped them deliberate further and break it down into categories. Ms. Blaich stated she liked the way our Commission gave a percentage of the score and she liked the way this Commission was keenly aware of the threat which helps them move. Ms. Blaich asked if being nested in the Finance Department helped to make the Commission more efficient when it came time to act upon an acquisition. Mr. Flores stated being under the Mayor's umbrella helped a lot because he's supportive. The department heads and staff have helped to move it along. Mr. Flores asked Ms. Blaich once they did the assessment and did the first list and they went for their second or third list, did they reassess the new ones or the previous nominations as well? Ms. Blaich stated they were in that process now. They've been really set back by not having a planner. They were in the process of writing their second report and going over the recommendations. In the meantime, their planner had looked at the primary recommendations that needed to be cleaned up. Ms. Blaich stated their original idea of 12