MIN CHARTER 2018-12-14 (2018-2020)

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Hawai`i County Charter Commission -6 December 14, 2018 MR. RUEDY: Our last testifier here today is Susan Dursin to comment on Communication No. 24. State your name. SUSAN DURSIN: Communication No. 24 in comment. MS. DURSIN: I am Susan Dursin from South Kona and I would like to thank the members of the Charter Commission for their service and also send out a big thank you to those people who have served or are presently serving on the PONC Commission. They have done a great deal to further voter's wishes. I am opposed to reducing or capping amounts for land acquisition. The voters who passed the Charter Amendments had the long view. They did not have a time horizon of ten or twenty years. They were looking way, way down the road to future generations and hoping to protect this land, important parcels, open space for future generations. Yes, the fund may accumulate. It has. It may accumulate even further, but without having good sized funding in there you can't hope to act quickly when a very valuable piece becomes available, nor can you attract matching funds especially if the amounts are not secure. In any case, I would also ask that the ad hoc committee be allowed to continue its review of the Charter Amendments relating to PONC. Yes, they did do work, but I think their work isn't done. As far as I can see, there was no interview of commission members, or staff members, of organizations trying to apply or who have already applied and received grants, maintenance and management grants, and then no conversation with organizations that have great experience in land conservation. So let's look and see whether they could continue the review. There is plenty of time within the Charter Commission's timeframe. There is no doubt that PONC could be administered more effectively of course, but I think it does come down to process as Cory pointed out. There are so many steps, time consuming steps and so, from the very beginning, the fact that it was in Parks and Recreation who had their plate really full and may have had some bias, inherent bias toward the PONC and so yes, let's move it to finance, but beyond that, we need dedicated staff that can focus on acquiring property, on managing and maintaining it and also in talking to these groups that are interested in providing some matching funds. MR. RUEDY: Please summarize. MS. DURSIN: Thank you. Thank you very much and please, I appreciate your listening to us and listening to our suggestions. CHR. ADAMS: Thank you for your testimony. At this time we will move back in to Hilo. Deborah Ward. DEBORAH WARD: Communication No. 21 -Proposal No. CA -7 in opposition and Communication No. 24- Proposal No. CA -9 in support. Page 13