2014-11-06 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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there are a lot of elderly that need hard copies and as the population ages; this will be an increasingly important item. Ms. Kelly summarized by saying that at the moment there is a small percentage, but as technology advances, there will be a lot of elderly out there without resources. Ms. Kierkiewicz stated she understood where Mr. Mitchell was coming from with the recommendation and suggested having a County operator number for people to call and questions or be directed to correct place. Mr. Mitchell said the County already has an issue with help desks. Ms. Kelly suggested developing and implementing a survey to see how many people do not have online access. Ms. Kierkiewicz stated surveys are expensive. Ms. Kelly suggested having the question put on the next voting ballot. Ms. Kierkiewicz stated it is an interesting idea, but doesn’t think there will be an accurate count because this year the County had the lowest voter turnout in Hawai‘i history, with fifty-two percent of voters showing up. Mr. Mitchell suggested saying to investigate, develop and possible implement a top ten list of County forms. Ms. Kierkiewicz stated she’s not comfortable creating kiosks. Mr. Espejo understands that it is a matter of getting the information out to the public. He suggested asking agencies that are already established such as Aging or WIC to be able to put necessary County information on their pamphlets they hand out to reach the type of people Mr. Mitchell really wants to help. Ms. Maddox stated it is a matter of making sure that organizations such as the Office of Aging have access to the information in their publications. Mr. Perry stated the Department of Water Supply has a thing called the lock box, where you pay your bill by sending it online directly to the bank. He stated there are fees involved, but it saves on manpower. Ms. Kierkiewicz suggested having a sign posted at various departments informing the public of the different things that can be accessed online. Ms. Maddox stated Mr. Mitchell has noted all the input and will reword the recommendation. Ms. Garson confirmed that this recommendation would be removed from the next agenda and Mr. Mitchell will reword it. Mr. Mitchell agreed and thanked everyone for their suggestions. D. Add a bus line for the Kona-Kealakehe-Airport corridor. This region also includes the Hawai‘i County Civic Center, Honokohau Harbor, the new Kaiser Permanente building, and the planned West Hawai‘i Community College at Palamanui, on schedule to open for the fall of 2015 to serve approximately 700 students. Mr. Mitchell reported that bus ridership for Hawai‘i County amounted to 1.1 million passenger trips; there were two buses bought, however it hasn’t been decided where those buses were going. Queen K highway has been widened with federal and state dollars and Phase 2, which the Governor released about $4.2-$4.3 million dollars, is scheduled to begin soon. He stated the traffic is brutal and in the last two years a connector road was built and another road was built near the high school; very significant activities that cost enormous amounts of money and the question is, what is the County doing to help and adding a bus line would help the situation. The bus line would serve Hawaiian Homes, the high school and nearby intermediate and elementary school, serves the West Hawai‘i Civic Center, the new Kaiser building, Honokōhau Harbor and the airport. Mr. Espejo thinks that bus line is needed. Ms. Kierkiewicz 11