Communication No. 2019-02- Debbie Hecht PONC Report

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/ƚƒƒǒƓźĭğƷźƚƓ b ƚ͵ ЋЉЊВ Ώ ЉЋ 7. In 2012, to honor all the people who signed the petitions and worked so hard over the years, De bbie Hecht and Brenda Ford realized we needed to put the 2% Land Fund back on the ballot as a Charter Amendment, together with a 1/4% Maintenance Fund. We wanted to make sure the Council and Mayor y be undone by a vote of the people. Again, 63% of voters approved both measures. As part of the 2% Land Fund legislation, every property obtained with our taxpayer funds shall have a covenant that runs with the land stating that these lands are to be hel d in perpetuity for the citizens of the County of Hawaii and cannot be sold, traded, mortgaged etc. This has already blocked a potential land trade with the State of Hawaii. 8. The Maintenance Fund was clarified in the Hawaii County Code in 2016 to allow the PONC Commission to review Stewardship Grants and to recommend which grants to approve to the Director of Finance. GRASS ROOTS ORGANIZING PROCESS to pass the 3 ballot measures: During the Petition Initiative process, the Save Our Lands Citizen Committee ha d more than 100 people who collected signatures of more than 50 signatures each in 2006. The Committee has a 3,000 personal email list, which we use to inform our supporters, or if we need emails sent to elected officials, or to ask people to show up for public meetings or to lobbying their Council members. These 3,000 people were asked to contact their email list. They represent about 10% of the voting public on the island. (There have been approximately 100,000 voters registered for the County of Hawai i, usually about 33,000 of these registered voters actually vote, therefore 3,000 supporters is 10% of the vote.) Citizens have proposed 180 properties for acquisition: Puna area: 16 properties South Hilo area: 16 properties North Hilo: 7 properties Hamakua: 26 properties North Kohala: 29 properties South Kohala: 18 properties North Kona: 27 properties South Kona: 14 properties The Community recommends a property to the Public Access and Open Space Commission, here is the process a nd links to the application: http://records.co.hawaii.hi.us/weblink/1/edoc/84953/Process%20for%20Proper ty%20Acquis ition%20with%20Funds%20from%20the%20PONC%20Fund.pdf