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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN GREDC 2020/09/01 2018-2020 Committee on Governmental Relations and Economic Development 26th Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii September 1, 2020 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Governmental Relations and Economic ORDER: Development was called to order at 1:01 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 Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member (via videoconference from Kona) Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member Ms. Valerie Poindexter, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member (via videoconference from Kona) Absent& Excused: Ms. Karen Eoff, 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. 405.1: REPORT OF SISTER CITY ACTIVITIES: JULY 1, 2019 TO JUNE 30, 2020 From Executive Assistant and Sister City Protocol Officer, Rose Bautista, dated August 6, 2020, submitting the above report pursuant to Section 2-166 of the Hawaii County Code. Motion to Close File: Ms. Poindexter moved to close file on Comm. 405.1. Seconded by Mr. Richards. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Aloha, Ms. Bautista. Great to see you, you have the floor. GREDC-26 September 1,2020 MS. BAUTISTA: Sure. Thank you, very much. And good afternoon everyone. First of all, I just want to thank the opportunity to be here today. Especially to Mayor Kim, for allowing me to be the Sister City Protocol Officer for the past four years. As you know, this will be our last report for this Administration. But I also would like to acknowledge the numerous people, actually I don't like to mention individual names. But it's important that I mention certain organizations, and individuals who have been very instrumental in making sure the Sister City program continues. So I would like to give a shout-out to the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industries, to Hui Okinawa, to the Japanese Community Association of Hawaii, the Kiwanis Club of East Hawaii, the Friends of NELHA (Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority), and the Big Island Filipino Community Counsel. And there are three individuals that I feel I need to mention, because without them I don't think we'd be on top of a lot of activities that we did. And those names are Ms. Amy Aoyagi, who has been very instrumental for several years. Way before my time. And she has retired from Kobayashi Travel after numerous years. And they were the one took a lot of the trips especially to the Japanese Sister Cities. So I just wanted to acknowledge her for all her commitment throughout all these years. Also Mr. Dwayne Mukai and Mr. Tommy Goya, who constantly used to come to my office and visit me,remind me what to do, who's coming, how to prepare and all of that. So I just want to thank them for assisting me, and making sure that all the activities moved smoothly. And of course you members of the Council for being supportive, and I ask you to continue to be supportive in this program. So just to give you a little overview of the Sister City—and I hope you have a copy of the report that was prepared by our office, and you may be able toI don't know if you had time to look it over, but I'll just mention some things about it. We have 11 sister cities that remain active. Three of them have not been active for more than three years, and those are Ormoc City of the Philippines, Gokseong County of South Korea, and La Reunion, France. There was also one sister city that we thought was a sister city, but it turns out they were not, and that's Sao Miguel, Portugal. And I'd like to have Council Woman Poindexter kind of go over it in a little bit, after I do my presentation. There were also several cities that have come forward, met our office and all want to be part of the sister city program. But because of the amount of—certain cities in particular countries, for example Japan for one. Several of them came forward and we had to limit it because they were fairly represented. We also had someone from China, someone from Korea, but the challenges were basically trying to get the community support organizations to come forward and provide that support for these various sister cities. So that was a challenge. Page 2 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 All in all, it's an incredible program, as I said. But this year has been a little bit different in that COVID-19 came to be. And with that, there were several activities that we couldn't pursue. For example, Nago City, we had to cancel the May 2020 celebration of the 100'h anniversary of Hawaii Okinawa immigration to Hawaii, and they were supposed to visit Mayor Kim as well. That had to be canceled. The Shibukawa City, or Ikaho exchange, and that comes with the Merrie Monarch activities, and because of the cancelation of Merrie Monarch, they weren't able to come, nor we were able to go. There was also the Sumoto City activity that was planned, and that was to celebrate the 20'h anniversary of our sister city relationship. Unfortunately, that had to be canceled, as well as the Kumejima exchange programs. We have students go there annually and that also canceled. Last on the list is Cabugao. Mayor Cobangbang was supposed to come here to attend the sister city expo that was planned. A huge, planned activity on Oahu, and he was excited when we saw him in October, only to cancel that activity as well. So needless to say, COVID-19 drastically affected a lot of the activities all planned. I also want to share with you some of the benefits of the sister city relationship that were discovered throughout this four years that I've been working with this program. Besides the obvious, the economic, cultural and educational exchanges, there's also all these opportunities we get to experience by meeting visiting and learning about other places and meeting unbelievable people and their culture. But to me what was most important of it all when participating, and I hope the same goes to all of you who had the opportunity to participate, is the personal growth and experience that comes with it. If you really take the opportunity to immerse yourself in what the exchange program is all about, you get to find and experience and discover a lot of things, not only about yourself, but also your culture, your family, and all the things that you think wouldn't surface. So I encourage all of you to participate in any sister exchange that will be coming in the future. What I mean by that is, and this comes with the experience that we've had recently, and I think it was mostly because of what Council Woman Poindexter shared with us, and that is the finding of her family. That was an incredible, incredible experience in that how this exchange allowed us to discover long lost relatives. Relatives we didn't know we had. And to go on that journey and find those relatives and see where they come from and how they live and how it is that we came to be, is an incredible experience and transformation. That was experienced, like I said, this last trip with Council Woman Poindexter, and I thank her for that, for finding her family. Because of that, we were able to visit someone that she wouldn't have known was part of their lives, where they could take us back in time to who they were, see how they live, what the culture is about, and the values that they have. While you're there, you begin to discover, "This is my roots. This is where I came from, and this is why I am who I am." Page 3 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 So it gives you a great appreciation of who you are and be grateful for where you came from. And I hope everyone takes those values with you when you do go onto these exchanges, and like I said, I encourage everything to do that and really feel your heart with appreciation for our ancestors, those that came before us. Because they paved the way for all of us. We're all immigrants, except for anyone here that's 100 percent Hawaiian, we're all immigrants. Our ancestors all came from somewhere. So it's important that we acknowledge and we honor and respect all of that. With that, that is something I just want to share with all of you, and again I am grateful for the experience that was given to me in this past four years in leading this program. Like I said, thank you so much, and I hope you do all continue to support the sister city relationship. I was going to ask if Council Woman Poindexter CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Rose. Thank you, we appreciate that. Anybody here have questions or comments? Ms. Poindexter, go ahead. MS. POINDEXTER: I just wanted to just explain a little bit about the Philippines trip and how that happened. We were going there to again, reestablish the Sister City relationship that we're supposed to have some type of activity, and continue to do what we wanted to do, was the museum for the Sakata Museum. And then we went there, and I guess the Federal Government had helped to get a temporary museum set up so we went there. And what just dropped in our lap is, while I was preparing to go to the Philippines I had a contact from someone from the Philippines, who was finding for me and as I was finding for my mom's lost brother. And they kind of disappeared from where they were, and they were in this place called Gonzaga. But what was so wonderful to hear was the story of our Sakadas, who a lot of them who didn't go back to get their families. And I wondered why, I thought my grandfather abandoned the family. So that's part of the trip with Romel DelaCruz, who's a historian with the Sakadas. Was trying to find out when the Sakadas didn't go back, what happen to their families. And just so happen was, one of my family members. And what they had explained, was that he couldn't come back and find her, he was looking for his wife. But because the war broke out—remember they were telling us the story. The war broke out, and they had to run. So my grandfather's wife at that time, they had the little boy. And she took him, and they had to walk on foot and go. I don't know, hundreds of miles over the mountain. MS. BAUTISTA: Thirty days. Page 4 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 MS. POINDEXTER: For 30 days. And a lot of them travelled on foot to get away, because of the war breaking out. And that's why a lot of the families were lost. So going toI was so grateful because we got to find out what really happened, and why so many of the families disappeared. So thank you for that. I just wanted to explain a little bit more on that. So that was an incredible journey, so thank you. And Ramel has documented all of that. Thank you. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you for sharing that moving and personal experience, Council Member Poindexter. Anybody else have questions or comments for Ms. Bautista? Mr. Kaneali'i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Rose. That was a very well-done presentation, and especially in light of this being the last presentation of this Administration on the sister city relationships. I think this is a great program that we do. And it offers a very good platform for members of government, and members of any county to meet and greet with members of another county. And I mean this case a sister city,but you have the chance to experience culture and people, and by having these relationships it's more than just visiting. It's getting to really experience their hometown, and understand where they come from. And then likewise when they come here, the same thing. And it's almost like having more of a family style relationship with another country, another city. And I really appreciate what that offers. For us, I mean we were able to go, it's in this report. But we were able to go, and visit the City of Shibukawa. And it was an amazing experience, a beautiful town, wonderful people. Japanese hospitality is out of this world, they're amazing. And I think it teaches us to remember when they come here and visit us that we need to take care of them in the same way. And I've said that before. I mean in the last time they thought of things they had the—every year there's a fish that runs in the rivers, and they cook the fish on a stick around the fire. But it's customary you have to eat the entire fish; so the head, the tail, the whole thing. I remember looking at them, and they were looking at me and they're like one bite. You know, I had to eat the whole fish, but you know, you wouldn't experience it otherwise. So I really appreciate what this program does. I mean they evenI think that was my first learned of Ms. Lee Loy's husband's retirement. And they were nice enough to do retirement kind of parties if you will, for us and for him. So it's just amazing what this can offer the community, and I hope this continues on. I know it will, but I hope there's more of a focus for us in the future for different Administrations. And for perpetuating what this offers to us and to our neighborhoods. Mahalo, for your report. And thank you for doing this. And I'm sorry this would be the last one for this Administration. MS. BAUTISTA: Thank you. Page 5 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Anyone else? Thank you, Rose. That was really well done, we really appreciate the very thorough presentation, but also what's contained in the report. Thank you very much for being the steward for this program for the last four years. I'm just wondering if any thought has been given around, how we begin to pivot. And further connect with a lot of our sister cities amidst COVID. I mean I don't think we're going to be traveling to these different sister cities anytime soon. But I think it's important to continue to foster the dialog in those relationships, and are there ways we can be creative in kind of engaging one another. Any thoughts around that? MS. BAUTISTA: I'm sorry, I missed the first part of your ? CHR KIERKIEWICZ: About how we as County of Hawaii and our sister cities continue to work with one another despite COVID. And I know we can't travel. But one of the things I saw in here was like an art exchange program, so just thinking of things of that nature. Where we can still engage one another, and share culture and be in touch. MS. BAUTISTA: Well part of the things that we had discussed this morning also is, because we didn't spend a whole lot of money because of COVID it was suggested that perhaps we can even send parting gifts to them, you know, to those who were supposed to come. But with all this WebEx and you know, how you can do it with all these technologies that we have right now. Perhaps there's that would be, who knows maybe that will be the new normal, you know. Hopefully not, because you cannot replace the personal experience, you gain when you visit those countries. But during this time, I would imagine we can continue reaching out to them. Whether it's through technology, and all of that. It's something that we need to look into. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, yeah. I'll follow up with you. I just think it's really interesting, so much time was spent kind of cultivating and nurturing these relationships, you know, with our sister cities over the years. So just want to make sure we're continuing to, you know foster that. So I'll be in direct touch with you about ways you think we can move that forward. And I'm also thinking about, you know, ways that we can further strengthen our local economy. But also to kind of feed into the local economy of these different sister cities. You know, I think there's a lot we can learn from one another right now. As we just kind of pivot. Thank you. Page 6 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 MS. BAUTISTA: Yeah. Hopefully yeah, with that we hope COVID will end, and we'll be able continue on. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah. Anyway, thank you so much for this. Oh, Ms. Poindexter, go ahead. MS. POINDEXTER: Oh, I just have one question. I would say since you're going to be talking with Rose, I would suggest even bringing in somebody like Marlene Hapai, the Portuguese Chambers of Commerce, because that's what they were talking about. If they build you know, Frank DeLuz had left that land for them to have their cultural center there. And they're planning to have a video conferencing area where they can communicate with the Azores and Madeira and do that sister city relationship. Like you said, we thought we had a Sister established which it wasn't. So I was working on that, but COVID hit. But that could still be continued, should we do it through video conference and DocuSign. Where they can receive the documents there. We can live see them sign it and the documents get sent back, and Mayor signs it; and we do it via the video conference. I know the Portuguese Chamber is working on that, so that they establish that relationship with Madeira and Azores. So I've already started working with some people for them to be in contact with, so that would probably be the new norm. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: That's great information. Thank you so much. Thank you again, Rose. I don't see any other comments or questions from my colleagues, so thank you for your time today. MS. BAUTISTA: Thank you. Thank you very much. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: There is a motion on the floor to close file on Comm. 405.1. All in favor,please say "aye." Vote on Comm. 405.1: The motion to close file on Comm. 405.1 was carried by Filed the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Eoff— 1. Excused: None. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Mr. Clerk, when you're ready, the next communication please. Page 7 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 Comm. 1049: REQUESTS A DISCUSSION WITH THE COUNTY CLERK REGARDING THE FIRST ALL-MAIL ELECTION ON AUGUST 8, 2020 From Council Member Susan L. K. Lee Loy, dated August 18, 2020. Motion to Close File: Ms. Lee Loy moved to close file on Comm. 1049. Seconded by Ms. Poindexter. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. And thank you, Jon, for being here. As the communication outlined, you know, this was our first mail-in ballot season. And so I just wanted to take the time and to talk to our Clerk and share what the public you know, what it was like. The State of Hawaii passed Act 136 implementing elections by mail beginning with this 2020 election. And I think it went fantastic. But I just wanted to take the opportunity to have our Clerk kind of highlight what happen during our primary, maybe even give us a scorecard or grade us. Because I understand that of all the counties, Hawaii County had the highest voter turnout. Which is exactly what we were trying to achieve with the passing of this act. And then, you know, with the highlights come the lowlights. So I also know there was a little bit of a snag with the postal ballots kind of getting returned back to the sender and then maybe a third area. Mr. Clerk, if you could address just dates to look forward to. And then of course aside from the candidates that will be in your ballot, is a number of Charter questions. And so just to help the public and share all of that, go ahead and please take it away. (Note: At this time, County Clerk Jon Henricks came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. HENRICKS: Thank you. Jon Henricks, County Clerk. Members of the Committee on Governmental Relations Economic Development. Madam Chair, members in Kona. Thank you for this opportunity to be here today to go over some of those points. And please get me back on track with some of those questions if I linger to long anywhere or go astray, or points of interest. Yeah, Act 136, big change from our traditional elections, which provided I think, you know, many different opportunities for how people could vote. They could choose to vote by mail without having any reason whatsoever, we're one of the states that allowed for that for quite some time; they could walk in early and vote at regional polling places; or they could wait for elections day and vote at polling places situated in their communities. And part of this I think we had roughly 43 on the islands. So yeah, to go from those opportunities to essentially where I would say, you could say most voters if not all are placed into that first category of voting by mail. It was a big change. Page 8 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 And from the start, my feeling was that the key to, if you want to call it successful election, would be education. We can never assume that people are following what the Legislature is doing. People have a lot going on in their lives. So I thought that education was going to be critical, and I feel confident in saying that, you know, the State Office of Elections took the lead. Mr. Scott Nago, our Chief Elections Officer, the guy was everywhere, I couldn't escape him. He was on the radio, he was on television, he was in the newspaper, he was writing columns and I say that with all due respect. I think he took the lead, and his message, you know, he did a good job in having a succinct, clear message of what voters expect. And I think a lot of the results if you will, so of speak, are attributed to the State understanding how important it was to get information out to let voters know about this really big change on how we do things. We did see a surge, I would call it if you will, in registration actually as well. We had an increase of over 9,000 people registering for this election. And in previous years we saw numbers around, you know, 3,000 more; in the previous election about 5,000 more; in 2014, 2,000. So almost a doubling if you will, of registered voters. Hard to say why. But that's not due to elections by mail, that's people who were registering to vote either during the course of this process, or prior to it and getting their ballots in the mail. You know, you really don't know why, but that brought our number up to over 120,000 registered voters on this county. Not all of them got ballots in the mail, some people registered at the voter service centers and voted there. But you know. I believe what we put out 120,000 ballots. So I'll just be blunt, some people would say it wasn't a successful election. Because that means that, you know, we had 60 some-odd thousand people vote, well 50,000 some-odd people didn't. So I won't ever say like an election successful, or not. What I would say, is when we give people an opportunity to vote and we provide them with education, and we put all the infrastructure out there that we possibly can for them to complete that process. Then that is a successful election. And again, credit goes to State Office of Elections for not only for the education but having a focus and providing infrastructure. And of course Pat Nakamoto and her team here locally following along the lines with education and just having a plan, you know. I realize that there were calls out there for us to do certain things in different ways, all well-meaning, all appropriate and reasonable. But there's one group of people that's responsible for putting a plan together, implementing it and being accountable for it. And I have no doubt, and the numbers do bear out, you know, that it was a good plan, it was a good program. And it was executed carefully and thoughtfully. So again, you look at 54 percent roughly of registered voters, voting. An increase of 21,000 votes since the previous primary election, which is just about a 50 Page 9 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 percent increase. It's inspiring in some ways. Could it be more? Yes. We do see larger turnouts in states that do vote by mail, or again, in other states have really high percentages. So I'm expecting the general to go up. I don't know it depends, there's a lot of variables. But just that level of increase again, it tells it'sit was nice to see from this perspective. To see people interested, you know, for whatever reasons. I don't care why. I don't know why, we'll never know what the individual interest level was. But it was great to see that level of interest. And then again, the execution on the back end to fulfill that interest by making sure that people's votes counted. There were some issues along the way, of course there always will be. I got to see firsthand though, how some of those issues are resolved. And I tell you the people in that office over there, they don't hope things go well and they don't tell people sorry when things don't go well. They find a way to make it work for them. Up until the last minute I saw people legally, lawfully and appropriately help people get their votes in when they had run into problems, you know, throughout the course, when the traditional methods didn't work for them for some reason or another. Whether it was through some fault of their own, or maybe something that was out of their control. That makes me feel good. When I see people rise to that level of responsibility, and again, do everything that's appropriate and legal. But you know, when it comes to issues with the postal service, 65,000 votes, 59,000 by mail. They did their jobs. Every time,no, but they did their jobs. And I'm very reluctant to make any criticisms, whether they're about individual circumstances or systemic. Because first of all, I don't work there. I don't know what kind of challenges they face. And I don't know about success rates. We really don't have an exactly clear picture, on sometimes when these circumstances happen. Some of them were publicized, like voters receiving their ballots back in the mail after they voted them. Not a great thing. Most of those incidents were resolved. There was time to do that when the system when the ballots go out, but before quote, unquote, Election Day. But again, the numbers say, the postal service did their jobs. And another thing that's very important for me is, I want people to have confidence in the postal service. In order for elections by mail to work, the way it's supposed to work or the way we believed it worked the first time. People need to have confidence in it. Now that being said, because there are some, you know, concerns, we actually received correspondence at the national level from postal service urging us to urge voters to turn in their ballots, one week before. That's a longer duration than we typically urge voters. In talking with State Office of Elections, that's going to be their approach this time when they do education for voters is to urge people to—if they're going to use the mail, to mail their ballots at least a week prior to the election days. Page 10 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 I'm confident that U. S. Postal Service will be there to do its job in the general election. You know, as far as what resources we provide, I'm hesitant to commit to anything on the record today because there's still time to come before the general election, and there's, you know, things to workout. But we will try to do more, when it comes to the resources that are under our control. And getting people access to voting services, things of that nature. More to come on that, I would say. And you know, again, we understand our responsibility to share information in a timely way and broadcast it. Again, because the only way this works, is if people know what's going on. We don't want to wait for them to call us, and ask us questions about what options they have available. What requirements are in front of them? I feel fairly confident. You know, there may be more registration too, that might be an issue as well. There might be more interest in the general election. Although, you know, at 122,000 registered voters, we're pretty much up there percentage wise. You know,just to give you a little breakdown too, as far as we talked about how the votes came in. Again, vast majority 91 plus percent came in through the mail, of the 65,000 plus votes that we counted. Little over 5,000 came in, through those drop boxes that were placed around the island. Over the course of the six days that they were available. Five days before election and the election day, so about 5,000 plus. And then at the two voter service centers, we had about 1,200 people that voted there so just over one percent. So with those numbers in mind, and then the increase that we saw, you know, the roughly 50 percent increase in voting from the previous primary, you know, I believe that the general purpose of Act 136 was to put ballots in people's hands and for them to do something with it. There was some talk about cost cutting, but I don't know if that's really important when it comes to elections. You know, elections cost money, and its money well spent. I think the purpose was to put ballots into people's hand and say, hey here's a ballot, educate yourself. Learn about the candidates, learn about the issues, and then use it. And you know, I believe that happened. And it's elections by mail, and then the numbers bare out that 90 percent plus using the mail system effectively to cast their ballot. And we want to keep that going. So any program changes, light touches at best. I think it would be—we want to be responsible. You know, something works, light touches to improve it. But carefully consider it touches. It's far from broken so fixes are not, I don't think, in order. MS. LEE LOY: So Jon lets walk into, you know dates to look forward too. Primary election we had a number of dates, and you shared, you know, returning the ballots. MR. HENRICKS: Mm-hmm. Page 11 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 MS. LEE LOY: But we also have another cycle where they can register to vote, you know, what are those deadlines looking like? MR. HENRICKS: Mm-hmm MS. LEE LOY: And then, you know, we have charter amendment questions that will appear in this mail-out. And just any education around that, and how to educate voters. I think it's a good thing. I've been part of charter amendment questions, and a lot of time the voters during the general election they spend a lot of time reading the question in the polling booth. MR. HENRICKS: Mm-hmm. MS. LEE LOY: But now that they'll get it, they'll actually have time to read it, and make a decision. So just some dates to look forward to, and then the charter questions that would be on the ballot. MR. HENRICKS: You know what, that brings up a good point and I want to circle back and just wanted to share some just talking to people that had never voted before. Getting their ballots in the mail, and the comments I got from them. This is anecdotal, this is just people I talk to: friends, community people. They were just really impressed with the product. They thought that the layout was really professional, the instructions were simple. They felt confident when they got the ballot that they would know what to do. How to complete the process. And I believe that will continue, for new people that enter into the general election as well. As far as dates and things, the key thing to look for is those inserts that the State Office of Elections provided. And they're going to work on that too. There was some messaging that maybe could have been improved a little bit, you know, there's always little areas that can be improved and we've had discussions about that. So we're looking for a little bit clear messaging, as far as when people should expect to receive their ballots. We don't want to tire our hands too much on that because I think as evidenced, especially when you consider that we want to give people time with charter amendment questions and things to do a lot of research, that when the ballots are ready by in-large, it's healthy to deliver them to the voters to give them that time. And that's also just in case they have any issues they encounter along the way. You know, a spoiled ballot, a lost ballot. You know, any issues of the postal service. Every day that you give voters is an extra day for them not only to contemplate their choices, but it's also more time to deal with any issues that may arise. Which doesn't happen for most voters, but it happens. So that's something that I'll leave for that process as far as specific dates. It would include deadline to register, when you should expect your ballot, Page 12 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 when voter's service centers will be open and where they are, when the drop boxes will be available and where that would be. You know, and I can share a little bit about that. You know, there was some discussions about drop boxes, and when they're made available. And you know, it's been made clear to us by the State, that it views the laws to be favoring the allowance of opening them sooner than we did and they're actually encouraging us to do so. So no commitments now obviously, because it's too far away. But it's something we're looking at. But that's where the information is, it's in that I found thoseI have like five of those. I collected everyone I got, because of how many they put out. But I love the saturation, I love it. I think that with information like this, you're not going to kind of hit somebody over the head with it too, until they go like, "I don't even want to vote anymore,"because you just— it's ustit's not like that. You know, it's the more times you can put the information out there, and really put it on the community and saturate the community with that information and give them something they can hang on to, the better. And with regard to charter amendments, same thing for us. I agree having the ability to get your ballots soon, you know, and right now our understanding is that, you know, the candidates will fit on one side and questions on the other. So we're anticipating one page ballot, which is really encouraging. There will be 16 questions that the Charter Commission will be placing before the election. But to have the time with that and be able to study the issues, because I'm hearing stories about people, and like it's different now. You don't even have to go sit at your computer, you can sit anywhere you want in your home with your phone. Most people can, excuse me. And do the research they want to do, not only on candidates but on charter questions and different things of that nature. And we'll be putting out an insert in the paper that will have each ballot question, the summary of the proposal that was created by the commission itself, and then the full text of the amendment. So that people can see the how the charter would change if they voted yes. And just so people know too, for charter questions, we count yes or no votes. Unlike questions to amend the State Constitution where blank votes are factor into the equation. If there's more yes votes, then no votes, the amendment is approved. So if you care vote on it, yeah, either way. But they will have that time, and again, there's 16 questions coming forward and there will be more education on that. But I really want to emphasize that, you know, the educational portion that we work with the State on, it's very deliberate, it's a very well thought out program when it comes to timing of information that's provided, and how it's provided. And again, I'm, you know, very confident that the State working with the county and with Ms. Nakamoto in our election Office in tandem just did a really good job Page 13 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 with education. As I said, I think from the beginning to me that was going to be the key to this transition. You know, I always talk about having partners in this process, and one of our partners in this process is the voters. You know, we need to voters to do their part. But the only way they can is if we give them good information at the right times, in the right amounts. And if we even do, you know,just as well as we did on the first one, I'm confident that things will go well in the general election. MS. LEE LOY: Well Jon, again, like I said, for the first time I think the numbers really do pan out. This really was something that, you know, the voters took advantage of. Looking forward, I think it is promising to have candidates on one side and the questions on the other just to keep it to one sheet. Because the concern is if it's more than one, you know, getting all that information back into the envelope which then ends up at counting centers,just makes it awkward. So that's really promising to hear. One question I kind of want to touch on, is we received an email, you know,people requesting extra drop boxes. And I know maybe some of that is still really fluid, but what I heard today is you guys are looking at a number of other locations that could be possible sites. And that will be publicized, and kind of broadcast when those plans are firm? MR. HENRICKS: Yeah. And just to be clear, I don't want to put any sites or numbers out today. But it's not going to be that much more,just to be clear with people. You know, perfect world we'd have one,you know, every five miles where people wouldn't need to go far to use them. But the reality is, there's so much that goes into that as far as we want to make sure they're secure. You know, I don't think you ever want to sacrifice security for access. There's got to be a balance point, when it comes to handling people's ballots. And the more we expand ourselves when it comes access, we're kind of crossing that threshold and maybe compromising a person's security. Each person's ballot must be treated with the utmost respect, you know, and that's the concern there. And you know, they have to be collected every day, and you know, Hawaii County we have, you know,pretty rigid standards when it comes to, how we install the drop boxes and where we're willing to do it with our partners. To have a confidence that these are going to be locations that people can trust, that when they put their ballot in there it's going to go in there, people that are responsible are going to pick it up, it's going to be taken to the counting center it's going to be counted. So you know, expanding hopefully that requires again—we're going to need to have some things kind of fall our way. Let's just say that. But that information is forthcoming. And we understand the voters' desires from our resources, that's only natural. And what that tells us, you know, as Clerks we talk about things, and we came to the consensus that even though, you know, you're talking seven Page 14 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 percent of the votes came in. Is that a significant number? I don't know. Depends if you're one of that seven percent probably. But you know, as Clerks we all got the feeling I guess, that people like the drop boxes. I don't think they should take the place of vote by mail system, though. And I think one of the reasons why when you look at the law, and that the drop boxes are to be open five days before. That number means something to me. The purpose behind that was that it's that five days where maybe putting your ballot in the mail isn't your best bet anymore, right. So if you start to put a lot of drop boxes out there, and you start to open them up, you know really early again. It becomes a concern as far as being able to manage that, and how that affects the security on each person vote. But also it's not really elections by mail anymore. Because the purpose is to have people to be able to receive their ballot in the mail, fill it out in a convenient location that they have time to do so, put it back in the mail, for that mail to come to us and for us to count that ballot. And the numbers tell us that it worked, so light touches. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Jon. Again, I think it was wonderful. But you're right. I mean, congratulations to our squad in the Elections Office led by Pat Nakamoto. I mean theyI worked there, and you work late nights and all kinds of hours. And one thing we we're always curious about is when the results come out. And this year, you know, it was kind of timed just perfectly. There was an expectation, and it was met. And I think that drives home the confidence that you speak of, Jon. That if we expect a printout at a particular time, and it comes out at that time. That just builds the confidence in our electorate, and that their vote really does count. So again, congratulations, Jon. But really to Pat Nakamoto and her squad in the Elections Office, you know, my hats off to them. With that, Chair, I yield. MR. HENRICKS: I did have one of my notes here that, as far as I'm aware there is really no noticeable delay in the results coming in. Pretty much our standard three reports, even though it was vote by mail. We hope that continues. Of course it depends upon when people tend to turn things in. And I did want to touch on that. I can't give enough credit to the Elections team, I just will just say that,just watching them in action under Pat's leadership. And again, it's hard because elections are a collective thing. You want to care about each individual vote, and you should, but it's a community event. But I've seen the care and the concern of the people that work in there for people, and their right to vote. And how they can help them in a way that is responsible, and effective. And just before we move on. I would say, you know, we do see comments from the community and letters to the editor, and other sources where, you know, there's claims or concerns about how ballots are handled once they're received, and about peoples votes not being secure. People knowing how they voted, and looking how they voted. And you know, I can assure people that's the furthest Page 15 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 thing from the truth. You know, if youI wish we could do a video of how when the ballots come in, and the kind of custody that is taken. The chain of custody and the security measures that are in place, but I don't think that's appropriate to show all of those things. But you know, I hope people would understand, you know, being in the counting center just too really observe, you know, my role on quote, unquote election night. You know, I even tried to help pick up a box for somebody, and they told me I couldn't. Because it's their job, and by me handling it I'm compromising the security. I'm the County Clerk, but they were right. So I said, excuse me, do your job. You know,just seeing the level the different people working very safely apart in a large room and what their roles were gives you goosebumps to see that level of care that people have. Everybody out there, you should have a 100 percent complete confidence that your ballot is going to be handled with the upmost respect, dignity, and privacy that it deserves, 100 percent. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Ms. Poindexter, you have your light on. MS. POINDEXTER: I just wanted to echo, you know, what was said about Pat Nakamoto and her Elections Division. And Clerk, that's one of the first things you've said. And I also want to say mahalo to the organizations who held forums that asked for education on the mail-in voting to be part of the forum. That was very, very, brilliant. Whoever decided to do that; that was brilliant. Because a lot of people tuned into the forums, and got educated on how we vote by mail. The other thing that I want to say is Jon, you haven't said much about yourself, of course you're not going to boast about yourself. But I'm going to say thank you for all you've done, because I had contacted you, I don't know how many times because of people calling me because of language barriers, and not being able to understand what they got, and you helping me out to give them some explanation. And even some who were really concerned about, you know, it's getting close to election primary, and I didn't get my ballot yet and they're kind of like almost freaking out. And then I called Jon and ask Jon if he can speak with them. And I got to just read what I got back from a text from a gentleman who spoke with you. He said, "Spoke with Jon this morning, top-notch guy. He eased by concerns." So I just want to say thank you to you for helping all of us I'm sure, with taking care of our constituents when we needed to. You didn't have to, you could of sent them to Elections Office or whatever. But you personally gave people phone calls to help ease their concern. So I just want to say mahalo to you as well. Thank you, Madam Chair. Page 16 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Ms. Poindexter. Ladies in Kona, did you have any questions or comments? MS. DAVID: No, Chair. That's okay. Not at this time. Thank you. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, thank you so much. And I did want to acknowledge that the head of Elections Office, Pat Nakamoto is here. Pat did you want to come forward and say anything? Okay, thank you. (Note: At this time, Elections Administrator Pat Nakamoto came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. NAKAMOTO: Thank you, all of you for all of your kind comments. And you know, the support that we received from all of you, you know, so that we were able to do our job. I did want to mention, some of what our office did. You know, Jon provided information on a lot of what the State did, to support our elections and voter registration. But the Elections Division did also do some voter ed., and I think that contributed in the increase in the voter registration numbers. You know, we did do a lot of media and print ads,which focus mainly on voter registration deadlines. We also did what we do every election year, which is a wiki-wiki voter registration drive. And we also have our voter registration forms online, which the staff gives out information for the public, you know, the staff provides the information to the public, so that—especially this year more than ever with COVID. You know, a lot of people didn't want to come into the office to register to vote. So that was something that we have also on our website. So I think all of that contributed to the increase in voter registration. And also, I didn't hear Jon mention, and he may have, about the Agilis that the County have put in so much MR. HENRICKS: I didn't talk about that. MS. NAKAMOTO: Oh, yeah. So Agilis our ballot sorting machine. And you know, there was a learning curve. It's a huge machine, but it did its job. You know, once we got the hang of it, it really did its job and it sped up the process. And I think another area that—you know, we kind of took a grassroots approach, you know, with trying to promote the all mail election. And we have put up banners, I hope you folks saw these banners along the highway in your community. And these banners were placed in strategic areas close to post offices, to remind voters to mail in their ballot. And I think that played an important role in voters turning in their absentee mail ballot. Because we did get called about the banners, which was you know, nice to hear that they did help to remind voters to mail in their ballots. The only other thing I wanted to say, is I really, really, feel I need to thank my staff. I mean they worked long hours, they put in hard work. I couldn't ask for a Page 17 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 more dedicated, you know, bunch of people to work with. And I'm very, very, proud for what they done, for this all mail election. And you know, Jon talks about partnership, you know, how we partner with other agencies. And I kind of hate doing this, because I don't want to forget anyone. But I really want to thank the Police Department, the Chief, for allowing us to place our drop boxes at their stations. IT (Department of Information Technology), you know, we call on them many times at the last minute for support, and IT has been there for us; and Public Works. Public Works they're the ones who go out with our warehouse staff, and put up the drop boxes. And they've done a lot of work for us, especially like setting up the basement for the Agilis. So I didn't want to leave anyone out, but I mean I want to be sure to thank all of them for their help. That's it. Unless you folks have any questions for me. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Yes, Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: Pat, thank you so much for being here. You know,putting this communication on the agenda, I had reached out to you. And we really began to reminisce about how elections and the elections process of ballots have evolved. You know, from sending out delivery teams, leaving at 3:00 a.m., to go out into these rural communities. Getting all the ballots out there. We began to reminisce, you know, years ago there was a horrible accident. And you know, the integrity of the voting process was at the core of so many decisions. But I wanted you to share one story that I don't think many people realize, many years back there was horrible flooding going on in Ka`u. So when we talk about partnerships,please share that story about a call that had to be made to National Guard. Please, share that story. I really want people to understand the lengths that the Election Office will go to, to protect people's rights to vote. And treat that ballot with dignity that it deserves. MS. NAKAMOTO: Oh, that takes me way back. I think it was in early 2000 maybe. Yeah, there was flooding on the island, and the road between I guess Ka`u or Pahala and Na`alehu. The road that always gets washed out over there, got washed out. And on election night there was no way, you know, like Sue had mentioned, or Council Member Lee Loy, mentioned that. But how critical it is to get the election results out to the community as soon as possible. And we had to make arrangements with the National Guard, who,you know, at that time was willing to help us to pick up ballots from the Ka`u High School and the Na`alehu precinct and fly the ballots in to us, and that's what we did. MS. LEE LOY: What Pat doesn't mention, this was before cell phones. And so she had to stand up phone lines in all these places. I mean the amount of work that went into people voting, and now where we are today. Again, Pat I cannot thank you enough, the team, the plan, and the execution of it; and the voter confidence that goes with it. Chair, with that I yield. Thank you, for being here. Page 18 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 MS. NAKAMOTO: Thank you. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Clerk. MR. HENRICKS: I just—that's such an important point, an important story. Again, going back to just making sure voters have confidence. I mean the confidence is generally exhibited in the numbers unto itself. But them just knowing, voters knowing that, you know, agencies that we typically don't work with, don't really have existing relationships, not because we don't want to, but because we don't, I believe it's because they understand. They understand that whatever they can do they should do to help, because of how important this is. And I think if people can understand it, as a voter that should give them more confidence that participation will be rewarded by their vote being counted. And them being part of the process. It's just, you know. Val the reason why I don't brag, is because I don't do much to be honest. I mean this is really something where I'm basically being asked to support their operations. My privilege is being to observe again, the process in seeing how people come together to work for a common cause. And again, those partnerships that exist between our vendors, you know, the voter's, lawmakers, the State, the different agencies that Pat had mentioned. Again,just a privilege to see that, it reminds you what community is all about. And how community really works when government, you know, and the public sector get together to do things that matter. So yeah, very, very privilege to be afforded a front row seat so to speak to be a part of that. I don't take it for granted. Thank you. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Thank you, Pat. There was never any doubt in my mind that you had this completely under control. I mean I think if you were stressed out or sweating, it clearly didn't show. I mean, I thought that you folks had a plan that you really thought out. And if you needed to make any adjustments you did so, but you were very careful about your recalibration. So thank you. Really,job well done. Thank you very much for this update, we really appreciate it. Please feel free to come back anytime to present this body and the public with more information. But I think we really appreciated the level of engagement that your office had, along with other partners in the community to just make sure that folks knew that it was all mail in system, and that they had a number of opportunities to do it. And to do so in a safe way. So thank you. MS. NAKAMOTO: Thank you. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: We have a motion on the floor to close file on Communication 1049. All in favor,please say "aye." Page 19 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 Vote on Comm. 1049: The motion to close file on Comm. 1049 was carried by Filed the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Eoff— 1. Excused: None. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: That takes us to the end of our agenda. 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.) CHR KIERKIEWICZ: I have a motion to adjourn on the table by Ms., oh, sorry, before we do that. I wanted to just acknowledge that we have Council Member elect, Holeka Inaba here with us today here in Hilo. Our future colleague on the Council. Holeka did you want to stand and just waive to everyone. Devan I don't know if you can—so Devan can zoom in on you. Give a cheerful waive. MR. INABA: Aloha. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Perfect. This is Holeka. Thank you so much, great to see you. There was a motion to the floor to adjourn by Ms. Lee Loy, second by Ms. Poindexter. All in favor please say "aye." Page 20 GREDC-26 September 1,2020 in no further business, at 2:03p.m., Ms. Lee Loymoved to adjourn ADJOURN- There being � MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Ms. Poindexter and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Eoff— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: The Committee on Governmental Relations and Economic Development is adjourned at 2:03 p.m. Thank you. Approved: 111111 ks, IP I))1.)4 ZO Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Chair (Date) Governmental Relations and Economic Development Committee AK/rk Page 21