MIN CHARTER 2019-02-08 (2018-2020)

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Hawai`i County Charter Commission -8 February 8, 2019 CHR. ADAMS: Commissioner Bergin. MR. BERGIN: If it is possible, Kit it was the ending of your statement that I did miss. I got the part about trekking along the ocean there (inaudible), but your finishing statement, I got a little distracted. Could you... MR. ROEHRIG: Which part? I don't know, when we got kicked out of the water for surfing? MR. BERGIN: No, it was actually your summary line. MR. ROEHRIG: You're asking me to remember what I said... MS. GALIMBA: It will be in the minutes. MR, BERGIN: Yeah, you know, I think I know what you said, but I didn't want to paraphrase or say it incorrectly, so I am going to step back from that. The point that I am at is this, Commissioner Hamano speaks to reality and the ability of our County leadership to be able to have the flexibility to respond to the matter of fact and frank situation that this island is in financially, and I am not exaggerating, I am not getting emotional, but a day doesn't go by where I don't say a prayer for everybody in Puna for what they have been through. We have got... I put myself in their position of no longer having a home or even the access to what was my home. These are extraordinary times. In extraordinary times we have to take an extraordinary degree of flexibility in how we look at how our County will weather this storm. Granted the State, granted the Federal, this is huge. On the other hand, I will speak to the fact that we have had many, many points of testimony and I made it a habit to read them. Unfortunately many of them were repetitive and they kept with the same misspelling mistakes so I carried on with the realization that that was just a copy of it. Nevertheless, people took the time to submit it. But until Fred Cachola came along, for the first time did we ever hear someone point to the very, very ancient findings of old Hawai`i and how badly they need to be preserved, and it is not just true of North Kohala, it is true of all of the islands. And this opportunity would be one that would be empowered to focus on preservation of many of those artifacts and findings. That is the first I heard of this PONC dedication being toward specific cultural target areas and I was very moved by that. At the end of the day, I want to keep listening. I am not ready to make a decision. I am troubled between both sides of the affair. The fiscal responsibility of our County leadership and the fact that PONC is motherhood and apple pie. We all want that. Can our County continue to help repair the position we are in without some greater degree of financial flexibility? Thank you. CHR. ADAMS: Commissioner Hopkins. Page 36