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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN GREDC 2020/08/18 2018-2020 Committee on Governmental Relations and Economic Development 25th Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii August 18, 2020 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Governmental Relations and Economic ORDER: Development was called to order at 1:30 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Chair Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member(came in later) Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member (via videoconference from Kona) Ms. Karen Eoff, Member (via videoconference from Kona) Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member (via videoconference from Kona) Absent& Excused: Ms. Valerie Poindexter, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: (There were none.) COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 659.8: REQUESTS AN UPDATE FROM THE MAYOR'S OFFICE REGARDING THE ADMINISTRATION'S UPCOMING PLANS AND PENDING PROJECTS From Council Member Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, dated August 5, 2020. Motion to Close File: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to close file on Comm. 659.8. Seconded by Mr. Richards. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. This is an ongoing communication that we have with the Mayor's Office,just to catch up and communicate and better effectively guide the county. I believe Roy is here, and GREDC-25 August 18,2020 has PowerPoint he'd like to present. Roy, if you want to come up? Thank you for being here today, good to see you. And mahalo for providing us with these updates. It's good for us and good for the community. So thank you. (Note: At this time, Managing Director Roy Takemoto came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. TAKEMOTO: Roy Takemoto, Managing Director. Thanks again for this opportunity to dialog. MS. VILLEGAS: Excuse me, Chair? Can I just interrupt? We can't hear on this side. Is it possible to put the microphone closer, and to maybe not have a mask on if Mr. Takemoto is comfortable with that? CHR KIERKIEWICZ: He doesn't have a mask on, but I will ask him to move the mic a bit closer. He is soft spoken. Roy, you're going to have to shout. Can you do a test, so that Kona can see if they can hear you? MR. TAKEMOTO: Kona can hear me now? MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah, thank you. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay,perfect. Thanks for letting us know. MR. TAKEMOTO: Okay, today will be quick for my part, and I'll open up for more questions from you folks. (Note: At this time, Managing Director Roy Takemoto referred to a bulleted list displayed on the projector screen. A copy of the document is made part of the record see Comm. 659.9) MR. TAKEMOTO: Today I would just like to highlight, what we would be focusing on for the remaining months of this term. Number one of course COVID-19, our continued focus, monitoring and response. And I can go into more details on what things that are pending. Okay, real quickly on COVID. One of the policies we're looking at—well first of all the Big Island has been doing terrific, the residents here. Although the numbers have been slowly rising, it's not really bad like how Oahu is and how Maui is developing. And that's mainly to the credit of the residents here who pay attention to the safe practices. But if we had to change, one of the first things we would change is probably the outdoor gathering size. Right now it's 100, and we would reduce it to whatever number, we're not sure. But the trigger for any kind of change would be based on of what we see in contact tracing. And so far, we haven't seen any evidence of gathering size in causing the positive cases, but of course we need to be one step Page 2 GREDC-25 August 18,2020 ahead of the game. So we're always kind of watching, to see if there are other factors that would cause us to consider changes. But one thing that we are doing is rather than shutting down entire like restaurants or bars if there is a problem. We go at the problem establishment, and go with education and prevention first. And if there is a continued violation, then we would send the police in. But we will try to kind of spot enforce, rather than lockdown an entire category of use. Other things that we are doing, is whenever there is a problem, like at the Kona Hospital or the dialysis, is we quickly go in with testing; mass testing. We know that at Kona Hospital we were able to test 500 in one day. And that's largely the credit of our Fire Department and other members of the taskforce, and the premier in other testing agencies that we work with. And of course on of the biggest key components that we need to control is the travelers, the incoming people who are potential carriers of the disease. So currently we as a county have stood up the monitoring of the inter-island travelers, and the state continues to have control over the transpacific travelers. And frankly that has been kind of a confusing kind of relationship, but we're working closely with the state to try and close any gaps between the two types of travelers and the systems set up for those two different types of travelers. MR. TAKEMOTO: So that's COVID, any questions on COVID? MR. RICHARDS: Chair, I've got a question. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Go ahead, Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Roy, thanks for being here. You know, you mentioned about groups gathering. What protocol should we follow? I was contacted by a constituent this past weekend. If we have something that there is of a concern, how do we go about notifying you, or notifying the police. What should we do? MR. TAKEMOTO: Yeah, the reports of possible, for lack of a better word, I'll just call it violations. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah. MR. TAKEMOTO: But first there's a non-emergency number at the police that the police would be the one to respond. But can always call the Civil Defense number, and they would either address it or they would call the police and have the police respond. But we've heard that there may be kind of busy signals, hard to get in. So one thing we need to look into is hotline kind of system, so we'll look into that. Page 3 GREDC-25 August 18,2020 MR. RICHARDS: And I appreciate that Roy. Because it comes down toI mean nobody wants to be a real hardliner. But by the same token, we don't want to be exploding like Oahu is right now. So I think we need to be mindful. And I think if people are aware of the fact that this will be handled, not confronted necessarily, but at least approached and examined. I think that would help us keep the lid on everything. I appreciate the hotline, probably a real good idea. MR. TAKEMOTO: Okay. MR. RICHARDS: Thanks, Chair. I yield. MR. TAKEMOTO: Okay, if no other questions on COVID? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes, I have question, Chair. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Matt, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Roy. So the numbers in Oahu are not the numbers here, but we are seeing I think a slow step-up in the amount of cases and that's what's worrying. And I've had some people say that we are at a tipping point right now. And maybe, you know,you can agree or not agree, but I tend more err on the side of caution What are we looking at in you know, actually this is—sorry I've got multiple things in my brain. So we've had gatherings in Puna that are large. And when the police go to check on these gatherings, if there's no event coordinator, then you basically have a group of people who are there of their own accord in a number of larger than 100, in an outdoor setting. In that case we tend to have a grey area now, because there's no one person to talk to, to say shut this event down. People are there enjoying within their own family, but the number is over 100. So in that grey area the police feel stuck because they can't really enforce. You know, who do they talk to? Who goes first, who gets a violation, who doesn't. And so that's been hard for the public to understand, because they see a large gathering. And usually not a problem, but during COVID it is an issue. So the public sees an issue, they report it, the police seem to have a hard time in being the authority or seeing where the violation would be, or who receives the violation. So do you have any clarification there or any good way forward at this point? MR. TAKEMOTO: Yeah. That particular situation where you have what looks like a large gathering, but there are separate groups. And the police has talked to Civil Defense about it, and that is a tough one where we're still trying to see how we're going to address those situations. That is one of the toughest enforcement situations where half the group seems to be in compliance, and maybe the other Page 4 GREDC-25 August 18,2020 half with no mask and larger than the 100. But usually they've been in like groups of 10 or less. Which is, you know, good. That's how it should be. But that's the confusion that we're dealing with, with these larger groups, is do we go back and kind of break them up into groups not more than 10 again. And not talk about an aggregate of whatever size 100, 50, or whatever, and just go back to 10. Those are the kind of stuff that we are looking at and talking closely with the enforcers. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Right. It may not be popular, but in regards to public health, you know, that is the kind of decisions we need to look at, I think. Yeah, I mean mostly I think too that some of the you know, when we issue a citation, what happens? If a citation is issued, you know, a member of the public gets a citation, then what happens from there? MR. TAKEMOTO: Like at the airport, one guy was arrested. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Are we prosecuting those cases? I mean this is going to be a hard—is it the full cycle? Yeah, you violate our emergency laws and then you get a citation and then you go to court? MR. TAKEMOTO: Yeah. The Prosecutor can better answer that. Where it goes from there. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That is the process. But I'm just wondering if we're actually prosecuting on the backend. MR. TAKEMOTO: Yeah, I can check if we are. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Or else we have no teeth in our laws, yeah. That's important. But it's hard, and I understand the kind of complexity. But I think the biggest issue that I've seen is the grey area for police. You know, a hotline would be wonderful, because calling the non-emergency line is great, but not quite specific enough. And they're already inundated as it is. And so yeah, eliminating any grey areas, and making it very clear to the public that we do have rules and we will enforce when we need to. Thank you, Roy. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Roy, you can continue with the presentation. MR. TAKEMOTO: Oh, okay. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah. No I was going to bring up similar questions to Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, so they were answered. Thank you. Page 5 GREDC-25 August 18,2020 MR. TAKEMOTO: Okay, moving on from COVID then. On the transition, so the only point I wanted to convey is that the cabinet stands ready to assisting coming Administration fully as they request. So the Mayor will also be asking each of the Directors to write up a report of any pending projects or matters that need to carry over. So just throwing that message out. And as far as the priority projects that I have discussed with this body previously, those we will continue to go full steam ahead. As best we can, accomplish as much as we can till the last day of our term. So if you're involved in any of those, then please keep on our tail and well try and get it done. But of those projects I wanted to highlight a few, which I just termed pivot projects. Which are considered projects that kind of change the way we do things. And some of these projects, because they involve so much change will of course have to carry over. But I hope if you believe in these types of projects, that you can help champion them in the next term that you serve. So one of these is in terms of affordable transportation. We're pushing forward two pilot transit hubs, Pahoa and Kona. But as we're doing these transit hubs we want them to be intermoto hubs, which means that there be a way to transfer between walking and bus, bike and bus,park and ride. So like on the bicycle the hubs of course will include bicycle storage. If you're riding your own bike, but we're also talking with Pat who is doing a bike share to plan bike share stations. Convenient to these proposed hubs. And part of that intermoto is, the way you pay. So one smart card can pay for the bus, the bike share, whatever. So those are kind of ideas that we're working on. If you have questions,just interrupt me. So I'm going to move to affordable housing. The ideas there that we're working on, that are a little different are in terms of increasing the rental inventory. Planning will be presenting a bill to you shortly on guest houses, but they're calling it something else. Something like an accessory structure. What we want to promote is for land people who—homeowners to either supplement their income or have space and willing to provide affordable rentals that they'll be able to build. Of course they can build in an ohana dwelling, but if you're on a cesspool a second unit triggers an upgrade from cesspool to septic. Which is expensive. So Planning is coming up with a clarification of the definition of a wet bar, which in essence will allow a kitchenette. A kitchenette is not a kitchen, the second dwelling unit is defined as a kitchen. So it will still be considered sort of like a guest house. But it would be something little bit more, where you could actually live in it as a renter. And it wouldn't trigger an upgrade to the cesspool. So you can look forward for a bill, coming from Planning on that. To better enable homeownership, to bring down the cost of homeownership to buy a home to a lower income level down to about 60 percent AMI(Area Median Income). We have discussed this concept before the community land trust, but that is something that we continue to explore. Page 6 GREDC-25 August 18,2020 This next concept, foster neighborliness. Pocket neighborhoods is a cluster of cottages, almost like if you grew up in plantation camps. These smaller homes were clustered around a park. Pocket neighborhoods is instead of a park, it's something smaller that maybe up to eight to twelve cottages clustered around this open-space, and the open-space serves as a social space where the neighbors just feel naturally drawn to interact with each other. There is a project being proposed in Hilo. That is actually going to be a pilot for this concept. So I hope this project succeeds in developing this idea, because I think it has a lot of potential for affordability. In a way that can be a mixed income, and a next generation-type of development. MS. LEE LOY: Chair? CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Yes, Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: I kind of want to dive into that. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: And just hoping to amplify, right. Some of the work that we'll be doing, going forward to partner with it. And you just spoke of it, which is this pocket neighborhoods. Is that similar to that Kauhale projects that I've heard from DHHL (Department of Hawaiian Home Lands), or Lieutenant Governor Josh Green. Is that the same concept, in which all these different units kind of are clustered together with shared access for other things? Is that the same thing? MR. TAKEMOTO: Yeah. That maybe a variation. This one, there's a book on it. So if wanted to go on Amazon and look it up,pocket neighborhoods. And in fact the project in Hilo is being designed by that author, Ross Chapin. The Kauhale concept is rental, or for homeless. This one is also rental, but if designed properly it can be a condo or even a fee simple smaller lot kind of concept. And this author has studied different ways of designing it. So there's a way to design it like the ideal number. If you exceed like 12 units, it kind of breaks the neighborliness kind of thing. So there's some factors that go into a well-designed pocket neighborhood, that I'm not sure if, you know, embraces totally. MS. LEE LOY: And then real quick as it relates to this concept, or Chapin's pocket neighborhoods. Is there any funding attached to this pilot program, in which we have to be mindful that monies, or resources are either on the table or may expire? MR. TAKEMOTO: No. They are meeting schedules. Page 7 GREDC-25 August 18,2020 MS. LEE LOY: Okay, great. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Matt, before you ask, I'm going to check if Kona has any questions. Ladies, do you guys have any questions for Roy so far? MS. DAVID: Not so far. Thank you. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, great. Thank you. Matt, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Roy, for the pocket neighborhoods is there any requirement, you know, regarding Ag land. We've seen the short-term vacation rental kind of process in regards to Ag land, but does this apply at all? Does the pocket neighbors have to fall into Urban, you know, designations or can it be anywhere? MR. TAKEMOTO: Interesting question. I think on Ag land there is a way to do it. Especially employee housing, definitely can do it. But an Ag project district, I not sure. Okay, so that one needs some creative thinking, because you would have to go below the minimum lot size of one acre if it's going to be a fee simple type of project. So I would have to think how you can do that. But this type of clustered housing on Ag land kind of can be married to another concept called agri-hood. Where you're using the agricultural lands to either provide the food for people living in that neighborhood, or to support like a restaurant or commercial uses; the farm to table kind of idea. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah. I'm seeing in my head, where you're talking about a communal area where they can all meet and socialize, but I'm seeing a garden in the middle of all the houses. MR. TAKEMOTO: Yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And that is a place where they can socialize, but also grow food. Could be possible on ag land, but under what you called agri-hood. MR. TAKEMOTO: Yeah, agri-hood. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Agri-hood. Okay, thank you. MR. TAKEMOTO: Okay so moving on then. One of the toughest ideas that we're trying to see if we can make some headway, is how do we incentivize affordable housing through financing regional infrastructure? The main constraint in terms of regional infrastructure like in Kona, is water. So water would be a key, a way to—we can subsidize a portion of a well say and use the public contributions to the financing of that well and use that as the subsidy for Page 8 GREDC-25 August 18,2020 affordable units. That's kind of like the big picture idea we're exploring. So Keith's theme at Water Supply we're kind of talking story there. But we also want to kind of see if we can add in other types of infrastructure, like the connector roads. or even sewer. So sometimes you need to not start simple, but you kind of got to go at the whole ball of wax. So this, one we're trying to hit it at all different angles, all different levels to see if we can find a way to crack that nut of region infrastructure, as related to affordable housing. So moving on from affordable housing. The other kind of change kind of project that we're looking at is what Sharon Hirota is working on in terms of one-stop assistance place. And in this case it's called the Financial Empowerment Center. So we're using COVID to do a pilot of this concept, and Sharon has secured funding from Bloomberg Foundation to, if it works at the pilot level, to scale it up. And the idea there is that this would be one place where people can go, not knowing what is available but just coming with their needs. Whether it's cannot pay the rent, cannot pay utilities; the need to find a job; need a better job;just come here. And they'll match up the assistance available, and help fill out the applications. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Roy, what's the number to call for that? MR. TAKEMOTO: Sharon is working on flyers. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, like an info sheet? Okay, and it will let us know who the partners are. MR. TAKEMOTO: Yeah. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, great. Thank you. MR. TAKEMOTO: And the other idea is a high-tech, high-touch type of concierge system, where the general public can come, either drop in, call, go on the website, email, information they need, complaints they have, report like puddles. But using the features built into our website, starting with that, to see how we can at least build the IT portion, to be able to intake and track these types of requests. MS. LEE LOY: Chair? CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Roy? MS. LEE LOY: Oh, sorry. Go ahead, I had a question about that. Page 9 GREDC-25 August 18,2020 CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. You know, this high-tech concierge system that's being tied to IT (Department of Information Technology), is that similar to like a dashboard that would be able to collect all that data. And then kind of put it in their respective lane, so that they can be addressed? MR. TAKEMOTO: Yeah. The dashboard would be tracking, I guess, the requests that comes in and the status. But it's the dashboard, that may be public facing, in terms of broader types of information. Like what CIP (Capital Improvement Projects)projects and where are they located, what is the status? An interface for that type of information, that is another initiative that the GIS (Geographical Information System)power users in the county have form a committee that we using that committee to explore this type of gathering, reporting; tracking; generating ideas. Whether it be a dashboard, webmap— yeah, there's a whole bunch of potential out there that this GIS committee is looking at. MS. LEE LOY: Okay. And then does that tie back to the Financial Empowerment Center? And I ask that because a number of people who normally didn't have to apply for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits or those types of things, those applications forms are long. And so, and Ms. Kierkiewicz understands this, like a universal intake form, is that also going to be developed between these two, one-stop information and assistance? MR. TAKEMOTO: It maybe two different systems. Part of the grant that Sharon got from Bloomberg, I think Bloomberg has developed an information intake tracking system. So she'll be kind of testing, and developing that system. Whereas the concierge system, is a system that we're looking through Granicus who developed the county's website. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Thank you, Roy. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, Roy, that's kind of where I was leading was, are there any products that Granicus currently offers that could be utilized to standup the 311 system? MR. TAKEMOTO: Yeah, they do. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And then you mentioned a GIS Committee coming to together to talk story. Is that just all appointed individuals, or is folks that are here within the county? MR. TAKEMOTO: No. On the contrary it's the guys who stay. Page 10 GREDC-25 August 18,2020 CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, perfect. MR. TAKEMOTO: It's the power users in the departments. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. I just want to make sure that the work carries forward. Great, thank you. And then Financial Empowerment Center, we're in the piloting phase at this point. And once we have a program in place that is successful, are you saying that there's potential additional funding from Bloomberg? MR. TAKEMOTO: Mm-hmm. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, great. Thank you. MR. TAKEMOTO: Okay, so moving from information to business. This is an idea that I discussed with Council Member Chung. A business improvement district, they'll be coupled with a parking benefit district. And we're working with downtown Hilo business people, and we hope to have something presented to the Council September, October or so. But this idea is, business improvement district which Kailua-Kona has, so downtown Hilo would be the second business improvement district. But the difference here is that when we set up this second business improvement district, we would want to authorize and enable the district association who would be managing the business improvement district. The district association is comprised of the landowners and tenants within the business improvement district. So empower them with the option to set up a parking benefit district. And a parking benefit district is a decision by this association to bring back paid parking within the boundaries of the district. The parking would be using county resources the on-street parking, and county parking lots. But the district association will be establishing the parking policies. Whether the rates to charge, whether to change the rates based on peak periods. Whether to allow the business owners to validate so that their customers pay no, or cheaper parking rates to incentivize business to their—incentivize their own businesses. And that the revenues from the parking would go back to the district, to benefit that district. So that is a pretty radical idea that, although a parking benefit district is a new idea being tried out in about two or three cities on the mainland. The idea of tying it into a business improvement district, where it would be governed by the businesses where the parking is being imposed, that is a new idea. Any questions on that? So hopefully September, October we can bring that idea to you. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Roy, these districts, the members that serve, are they identified and selected by association within that district or are they approved by Council? Page 11 GREDC-25 August 18,2020 MR. TAKEMOTO: No they are—so the membership is comprised of the people who pay the assessment. And they are the ones who select the CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Like a board? MR. TAKEMOTO: Like a board, yeah. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And they work in partnership with county? MR. TAKEMOTO: Yeah. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, great. Thank you. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Chair? CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Yes, Matt, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Can Pahoa participate in this, as well? MR. TAKEMOTO: Any town can set up a business improvement district. It's almost like a regular improvement district. It's a protest vote, if 51 percent protest against it, then it fails. But if there's no 51 percent, then the 100 percent of the properties within that boundary become members of the business improvement district and get assessed. So Pahoa, if they wanted to, they could set up their own business improvement district. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you. MR. TAKEMOTO: Okay the last idea I wanted to share with you is a public-private kind of idea, P3 (Public-Private Partnership). But this one is applied to how we change our county vehicular fleet to be renewable vehicles with a charging station. Whether or not the vehicles are owned by the county or a third parry, that's also something variable to be explored. But can you imagine us being able to just go through our phone and we need a car, and just like Uber or Lift and you get the car either brought to you or you somehow get access to that vehicle. So you wouldn't have all our white vehicles, parked in our county parking lot over the weekend. We just use the cars when we need it. And when we don't need it like on the weekends, this third parry can rent it out. So they'll be able to minimize the cost to the county, for our usage. And we'll be able to access electric vehicles. So that is an idea that Riley Saito at Research and Development, is pursing. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Sorry, I was going to ask it sounds like a Riley Saito project. Interesting, how far into that are you? Page 12 GREDC-25 August 18,2020 MR. TAKEMOTO: Actually we're looking to see whether or not the procurement at the state level, whether it's something that we can leverage off for us. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. MR. TAKEMOTO: And if it's not too good for us, then Riley has an RFP (Request for Proposals) ready to go for us to issue it for this county. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: He's ready either way? MR. TAKEMOTO: Yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And are they going to includeI think he discussed doing solar with battery storage for a, you know, a complete project. We have solar, battery storage, and electric vehicle charging in and off or even feeding back into the grid during the nighttime. Acting as a storage facility. MR. TAKEMOTO: That's a good question to ask Riley. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. That's what we discussed earlier in the year, yeah. Okay. Thank you, Roy. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Roy, its great hear this forward momentum on that idea. I remember talking to you about it in January, so it's good to hear that Riley is taking steps to make it a reality. One of the questions I had about this -3 concept is, you know, are we talking to the Community College and the University to ensure we're building up that educational pipeline, so that as these jobs come available we also have trained-up workforce. I just want to make sure that we're thinking about the whole ecosystem here. And you know, you talk about here, this pivot that we are all making. You know, we got that chance now to pivot and no longer work in silos, but be a bit more connected and coordinated. MR. TAKEMOTO: Good point. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Any other questions or comments for Roy? Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, no. Thank you Roy, for this. And like Ms. Kierkiewicz said, we were kind of hovering around this. A lot of this P3 concept, or just kind of attacking the problem from all different sectors. And she's absolutely right. These conversations were had with recovery, and with the lava money. And being able to accelerate through that teaching moments with this. I'm really excited. So thank you for this presentation. And yeah, Ms. Kierkiewicz, thank Page 13 GREDC-25 August 18,2020 you for being so forward thinking, from as far back as, you know, last year October, November. And Roy really, you know, standing ready to just finish strong. So thank you so much. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Roy can I get a follow up for COVID? I'm putting forward something to talk about a tracing application. And I'm putting that in radar now, it's ongoing issue of privacy regarding applications like that. But given where we stand with COVID, I just feel like we need to be offering as many solutions as we can. And I would like you to think about that, and if you haven't I mean I'm sure you've discussed it. But I don't know any options that we have right now, that we can use in our county for a tracing application. MR. TAKEMOTO: We're looking at one, you know, in terms of that resort bubble concept that I had talked about previously. That one uses a tracing app, yeah, to define geo fence and to alert. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: What about for the general public to use? MR. TAKEMOTO: The general public, there is another one that was presented to us that we're still exploring. Yeah, but like you said, it has to be at this point voluntary, yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Got to be voluntary, and the technology has to be good. And then I think that we need to be very forward thinking, and be proactive in regards to what's happening in Oahu. And I know you guys are thinking about it, but I'm just putting that on your radar. And I have something coming, I'm just—proactive would be the best word that I can use right now. MR. TAKEMOTO: Good, okay. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And given what we've seen from the state, I think we have some leaps to take as far as keeping everybody safe. And if they cannot, then we should. So just putting that on your radar. And thank you. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Ladies in Kona, any questions or comments for Roy? MS. DAVID: Not at this time. Thank you, Chair. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Chair Chung, go ahead. MR. CHUNG: Hey Roy, thank you very much for coming again. You know, I could say this, you know, a few months down the line, but you know, I really wanted to give you my personal message to both you and Maurice, really. I Page 14 GREDC-25 August 18,2020 mean, you know, Harry lost the election. But you know, I think I can safely speak for all of us here. That is in no way a reflection, of the good work that you and Maurice have been doing. You know, really you guys have done a bang-up job. And you know, you could of just come here and every month and just a few things, but it's been really informative. And you know, your subject matter very well. I respect you a lot Roy, you know, I just wanted to tell you that. And just, you know,just keep on doing the best you can, you know, until December, yeah. But I really appreciate all the time that you been putting for, you and Maurice. MR. TAKEMOTO: Thank you. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, I have to agree. I mean communication between the Admin and the Council really changed, when you and Mo kind of assumed leadership within the cabinet. So I have to echo those sentiments of Chair Chung. So thank you, Roy. Let us know how we can continue to support a lot of the projects that are important to us in our districts and to the county. I'm really interested in doing whatever I can, to move the needle on the affordable housing piece. We had that reso that we adopted this year, and you know, had it not been for COVID, I think we would have found money to move forward on that housing strategic plan. And so I'd like to connect with you a bit further, to talk about how we kind of make that happen with the time left, you know, we have together. Thank you. Alright seeing no other MS. EOFF: Chair, Kierkiewicz? CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Yes. MS. EOFF: I'm sorry. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Go ahead, Ms. Eoff is it? MS. EOFF: Yes. I did want to say something before, but you moved to the next item before I did. On the business improvement district idea, I just wanted to say that I think that utilizing that structure, is excellent in different communities. I think taking advantage of improvement in a certain area by the buy-in from the people who are most affected, or most likely to benefit may help solve some problems in the future with where we're going. So I really like the idea, I think that there's lot of potential there. So thank you Roy. I know you were instrumental in helping us create the first business improvement district here in Kona. And I think there's a lot to explore, with business improvement districts as well as the other water improvement districts and sewer. But business improvement districts is a great idea. And thank you very much for all the work that you do, and all the insights that you bring. I yield. Page 15 GREDC-25 August 18,2020 CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Anyone else? If not there is a motion on the floor to close file on Comm. 659.8, all in favor please say "aye." Vote on Comm. 659.8: The motion to close file on Comm. 659.8 was carried by Filed the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Poindexter— 1. Excused: None. ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. (There were none.) BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of ORDINANCES: business, Bills for Ordinances. (There were none.) ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 2:19 p.m., Ms. Lee Loy moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Richards and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Poindexter— 1. Excused: None. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: We are adjourned at 2:19 p.m. Thank you, everyone. Approved: Ms. Ashley Kierkiewicz, Chair (Date) Governmental Relations and Economic Development Committee AK/rk Page 16 GREDC-25 August 18,2020 CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Anyone else? If not there is a motion on the floor to close file on Comm. 659.8, all in favor please say "aye." Vote on Comm. 659.8: The motion to close file on Comm. 659.8 was carried by (Filed) the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Poindexter— 1. Excused: None. ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. (There were none.) BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of ORDINANCES: business, Bills for Ordinances. (There were none.) ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 2:19 p.m., Ms. Lee Loy moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Richards and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Poindexter— 1. Excused: None. We are adjourned at 2:19p.m. Thankyou, everyone. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: a � ry Appr' 101))112,04 Ms. Ashley Kierkiewicz, Chair (Date) Governmental Relations and Economic Development Committee AK/rk Page 16