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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN PRPSC 2021/01/05 2020-2022Committee on Parks and Recreation and Public Safety Committee l't Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawai i January 5, 2021 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Parks and Recreation and Public ORDER: Safety was called to order at 9:02 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair (via videoconference from Kona) Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member (via videoconference from Kona) Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member (via videoconference from Kona) STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: CC)N4N4T TNT - CATIONS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. (There were none.) CHR. INABA: Mahalo. So at this time we're going to close public testimony, and I'm going to ask that you please read in Communication 42. The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Communications. PRPSC-1 Comm. 42 Motion to Approve: January 5, 2021 APPOINTMENT OF MAURICE C. MESSINA AS PARKS AND RECREATION DIRECTOR From Mayor Mitchell D. Roth, dated December 8, 2020, requesting the Council's review and confirmation. Requires Council Confirmation by: February 5, 2021 (Section 13-8, Hawaii County Charter) Ms. Villegas moved to recommend confirmation of the appointment of Maurice C. Messina as Director of the Department of Parks and Recreation. Seconded by Ms. David. CHR. INABA: I believe we have Mayor Roth at the Hilo chambers. Mayor Roth I'll hand it over to you for the introduction. (Note: At this time Mayor Mitchell D. Roth came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MAYOR ROTH: Thank you Chair Inaba, and all the members of the County Council. It's a great pleasure to be here today, bringing forward our different cabinet members, starting off with Maurice Messina. If I may just real quickly talk about the process that almost all of the cabinet members were selected. We did not just go out and say I'm choosing friends. What I did was, I went to the community, and I picked several people from the community to help go through the resumes and applications and then also do the interviews. So I was not involved with the interviews in the beginning, I did not put my foot on the gas nor on the brake for any of the people who were selected. The people who were on the interview committees came from around the island, so it wasn't just a Hilo based, Kona based, Puna based, Waimea based, but a kind of every place based. So it was the effort to do this was to make sure that the whole island really got a voice, and we weren't just choosing friends or people who donated to my campaign. The process, and if you talk to the people who went through these interviews was a pretty gruelling process. And I think we came out with the best cabinet that we could possibly come out with, and I'm very proud of the decisions that the group made. I can tell you that I did do interviews afterwards. I talked to the people that they had selected, and to the one I went with what the group selected in just about every committee had a unanimous selection as far as what we did. So I think this is something different than what we usually do. And so I know there's people who have different things that they're testifying, and they're upset with some things thinking that there was pave play. Lot of the people in the cabinet who I Page 2 PRPSC-1 January 5, 2021 chose didn't, you know, contribute to my campaign. So that wasn't a thing that made any difference to me. The other thing that happened is some of the people who were chosen weren't even on my, you know, on my campaign pushing for me during the campaign. That wasn't what was important for me, what was important is that we have a county that is moving forward working together and making positive change. Treating the people the way we want to be treated, making sure that we're striving to build a county that helps people thrive and succeed. With that I have our first candidate and that is the Parks. And I'm very proud that the cabinet chose or the group chose Mo, and then I was able to choose him and confirm my choice. And now you get to confirm this choice. Maurice Messina, otherwise known as "Mo." I've known him for several years. He first came to the county when we hired him at the Prosecutor's Office, to be in charge of the asset forfeiture. Kind of group there, working on asset forfeiture. He also had the job of supervising various interns, and volunteers that came through the office. He did some training for Prosecutor's as well as Police Officers, and others in our community at the Prosecutor's Office. He was then stolen from me by Parks and Rec, where he became the Deputy Director of Parks and Rec. And got a real good taste of what was going on over there, and when he left we had lots of great stories. And then he was stolen by Mayor Kim to become Chief of Staff. I don't hold that against him. You know, he went up there, and it just shows that quality rises to the top. Mr. Messina has 19 years as a combat veteran. He was in the Navy, and he supervised various different teams in the Navy. Came to Hawaii Island, was on a couple of boards, actually I think was the head of couple of boards mainly working with education and activities for youth. I am quite proud, and I think this county should quite proud to have Maurice Messina as our Parks Director. And talking to the people who work at Parks, as I've been going out and talking to different people. There's excitement in there, there's excitement of positive change. We know that we have lots of issues with our Parks, lot of problems and Mo's already hitting the ground running looking at solutions on how we fix those things. And so unless you have further questions for me, I'd like to bring up Maurice Messina and turn him over to you for questioning. MR. MESSINA: Good morning. CHR. INABA: Mahalo. We can start with questions and discussion in Hilo. Any Council Members there? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair Inaba, this is Ashley. CHR. INABA: Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead. Page 3 PRPSC-1 January 5, 2021 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. And thank you, Mitch, for taking the time to provide insight into the process of how you selected your cabinet members. I don't think it's been done before. I think it's truly an innovated approach and in engaging community and putting power into people's hands, and helping them help you arrive to these decisions. I just wanted to say that, so thank you for explaining. Mo, first thank you for your service to our country and to our county. I've always really enjoyed working with you. You have a positive attitude and a can -do attitude, which I really appreciate. You don't see road blocks, you just see possibilities. So thank you. I just have a couple of questions for you. In your CV (Curriculum Vitae) when you were Deputy Director of Parks and Rec we had the 2018 lava eruption, and you ran an incredibly smooth operation at the shelter. One of the best run I've ever see. I'm just wondering are you going to be taking that experience and leveraging it, and creating more spaces of resiliency that could be activated in times of disaster around the island. What are your plans on leveraging our county assets to be more adaptable and nimble, to meet the ongoing challenges and needs of our community? MR MESSINA: Well I can tell that we have had conversations with Civil Defense about that. How too, like right now when we look at for instance a shelter like that when we look at disasters when they strike, right now the only pre -impact shelter we have in the county as far as county facilities, county facilities is our Pahala gym. So all of our facilities are basically post -impact facilities. And this was one of those times during the eruption, that we could actually use one of our facilities because it wasn't a hurricane coming in or anything like that. And so we used mostly all the like DOE (Department of Education) facilities for pre -impact. Mayor Kim did not want to take the kids out of school, so that's why we used that gym. After the lava was finished everything, the shelter was closed. What we did is we had a team meeting up at Mauna Kea Park with all the people who ran the shelter. We did lessons learned, we needed a set plan of actions and milestones in case something like that ever happened again. A lot of our people in Recreation Department are American Red Cross certified to run shelters, we also work closely with the American Red Cross. So there are some plans. I'm not sure exactly what Civil Defense, where they are with those, about, you know, can we harden other facilities within our island. But we are 100 percent of working with whoever brings that to the table. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Awesome. Thank you. My second question is related to initiative solutions, and public-private partnerships. I mean we know that we are going to be in a world of hurt this coming and future budget cycles, at least for the foreseeable future. Where are we with the sponsorship program? I know that was something that was talked about at Council during my first term, but I just see it as a way for us to be partnering with community so that we're taking care of our Page 4 PRPSC-1 January 5, 2021 public assets. Can you comment on that, and other solutions that you are looking at to bring to the table? MR. MESSINA: Okay, so first of with the public private partnerships. Just yesterday we met with three swim teams that run throughout the island, Pahoa pool, Kawamoto pool, and KCAC pool. And they brought in a real good presentation about how we can partner with them, they can help raise funds to fix certain aspects of our pools. And we saw that as nothing but a win-win all the way around. We're waiting on their letter to request a letter of commitment, and then we're going to do that letter of commitment to let them know we're going to work with them. We did the same thing with skate parks, public partnerships. Limited county resources right now, so we need to leverage our community to help us with that. As far as the sponsorship bill, I think maybe the second day I was back in parks we went ahead and created our core group of people who were going to be running that sponsorship bill. Who could be working with Sue on that, you know, the creator of the bill. And we see that as again, another positive, positive thing for us you know, looking at our budget shortfalls. And we're very, very tight right now in our department with our budget. So this sponsorship program will help us. And if there's also a way we can figure out a way we can keep that money in that facility that is sponsored, that is something else that we're going to be pushing for a lot. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Awesome. Thank you, Mo. I'm going to be supporting your nomination to this position. I appreciate your hard work ethic, again, your positive attitude. And I think people are really excited. They've always been excited to be working around, you know, in Parks. But I think you really empower people, and that's really important. So thank you. Chair, I yield. CHR. INABA: Mahalo. And happy belated birthday to you Ms. Kierkiewicz. I'd like to also clarify that the motion on the table currently is to forward to Council, a favorable recommendation not to approve today. Anyone else in Hilo comments or questions? MS. KIMBALL: Chair Inaba, this is Council Member Kimball. CHR. INABA: Ms. Kimball, go ahead. MS. KIMBALL: Hi, good morning Maurice, nice to see you again. First of all I just want to comment, Mr. Roth, I do also appreciate the thorough process that you went through to select candidates to put before us today. And I do recognize the importance of separation of power, and the autonomy of the executive branch to propose a cabinet that shares their values and they feel comfortable working with. I will also express that I think that it's our responsibility as the Legislative Page 5 PRPSC-1 January 5, 2021 Branch to ensure that all of your candidates meet the basic qualifications, and the ability to fulfill our duties. So that would be our responsibility today. Mr. Messina, my interactions with you have been positive and very constructive so far, I wanted to share with the rest of the Council that we had a brief meeting in my office. And I said, two days from now we're going to do a field trip to see a couple pools in my district, can you come? And Mo was gracious enough to show up, and spend quite a bit of time with me at both of those facilities. So we have agreed that the transparency and communication is key to successfully moving forward. Describe any changes or improvements that you plan to make within the department to improve communications, both with us the Council and the public at large. CHR. INABA: Mo, is your mic on? MR. MESSINA: Sorry, okay, thank you. So those of you that have worked with me, I believe that you understand my communication philosophy. And it is always to try and call you back as soon as you call me or text me, you email me and I try to make it out there and help you guys out as much as I can. As far as communication within the department, I think the biggest key is actually getting out there. Being everywhere, not just being in Hilo -centric. I've already got it scheduled on my calendar, for every week I'm not in Hilo. And then when my Deputy comes on board, there's going to be two of us to where at least twice a week one of us will be all throughout the island meeting with everybody. You know, because a lot of times you have a worker say like they are power mower operator. They may see something wrong, they may be having issues, but they may also not feel that they want to bring it all the way up to chain of command. So sometimes when you're able to go out there and just stop the guy as he's mowing, just check on him maybe give him a cold Gatorade ask him how's it going, how's his family doing. You find out a lot more. And then, you know, when they do bring up problems, you also ask them, you know, does your supervisor know this, has they made aware of this? But making sure everybody knows they can talk to you, is very, very important. And that's the number one key for communication. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Maurice. In your response to Ms. Kierkiewicz, you did talk about the value of public-private partnerships. I wonder if you have any thoughts about how we can take greater advantage of Friends of the Parks agreements, and also your position on usage fees for facilities. MR. MESSINA: Okay, so the first part of the question, we've already started putting together a list of all active, and inactive Friends of the Parks' MOA's (Memorandum of Agreement) and MOU's (Memorandum of Understanding) that we have. Those that old or that we just have sitting on the books, what that's going to do maybe it'll stop somebody else from having a Friends of the Park Page 6 PRPSC-1 January 5, 2021 because they hear that there's already one at another facility. So first thing we got to do, is we got to clean all that up to find out exactly what we do and what we do not have. As far as fees and things of that nature, there are some ideas but I'd rather speak with the Mayor and his team first about, you know, those ideas that we have to make sure the right messaging, and the right protocols are in place before we do anything like that. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. You former role, you were involved heavily as Deputy Director with the eruption response with the 2018. What lessons learned from that experience do you think you can take moving forward, particularly in response to COVID recovery. MR. MESSINA: It was a bit of a shell shock at first, when that happened. I mean you know, there were rumblings but we didn't know how big it was going to be. In fact I went online and I bought a book on how to run a shelter, and it didn't come in till about a week after the evacuation. And that was actually how to run a homeless shelter, so I got the wrong book. But the things that we've learned from that is, right off the get go you need to know exactly who's in there, who's not in there, who do we need to get in there? We learned lessons like Mr. Richards, within I think was maybe the second or third day we ask for his help. Like we've got a lot of animals here, a lot of animals that maybe were not in the best conditions before they came in there. Him coming out, Lieutenant Governor Josh Green coming out helping with the people that are in there. Making sure that you use your entire community resources that you have. And then, you know, like the hub was set up alongside the shelter, another thing that I would do differently is I should have created a partnership with the hub the first day. And so what we did is, we had some duplication of services going on where if we could have been more of partnership I think we could have helped a lot more in that area as well. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Just one final question then, has to do with perceptions of county liability, access to open space. We have a lot of beautiful open space here on Hawaii Island, but very little of it is actually available for public use for walking trails, biking and things like that. What is your vision moving forward to improve the access to open space for the public? MR. MESSINA: Well if it's brought up that access to open space is not happening, first thing we do is we look at it and we go find out what's going on. You know, there's some changes in the PONC (Public Access, Open Space, and Natural Resources Commission) stewardship program that I think are positive that is going to allow us to do a little bit more out there, a little bit more maintenance a little bit more upkeep. Page 7 PRPSC-1 January 5, 2021 I think really a lot of it does depend on public input, if the public is telling us that there's not access somewhere that's the first thing we got to do is find out and look at it. But I mean that is the law, and so we follow the law on that. MS. KIMBALL: Great. Thank you so much for your time, I appreciate it. MR. MESSINA: Yes, thank you. MS. KIMBALL: I yield, Chair. CHR. INABA: Mahalo, Ms. Kimball. MS. LEE LOY: Chair Inaba? CHR. INABA: Hi Sue, is that you? MS. LEE LOY: Yes, it is. CHR. INABA: Okay, go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Good morning Mo, thank you for being here. MR. MESSINA: Good morning. MS. LEE LOY: I do think you are an excellent fit, for this department. So thank you for, you know, going through process as Mayor described. I did want to bounce back a little bit to two things my previous colleagues talked about, which was the sponsorship agreement. And I'm very excited about it, because that's some tools we put in the tool belt. And it really is an opportunity to create those public-private partnerships, but what I wanted to do is dovetail that into who your deputy choice is. And some of the skillsets that she brings to the table to help amplify not only the sponsorship agreement, the pubic -private partnership but some of the skillsets she's going to be bringing forward. Could you share a little bit about that, please? MR. MESSINA: Definitely. So Michelle Hiraishi, she's the current CEO of Ark of Hilo. I worked with her for maybe a year, or two at the Prosecutor's Office and she used to run Hui Malama Hawaiian Health Care System. Michelle was basically a no-brainer pick, once I brought it up to Mayor Roth. The words out of his mouth was, I love Michelle. Michelle is—she checked all the boxes for me. I thought that it would be good for our department, not to have the exact same person as the Director and Deputy. I was looking for a female, I was looking for somebody with military background. She's an ex -military officer, who specialties were Human Resources and Personnel. She understands the parks, Ark of Hilo takes care of a few of our parks, they take care of all our buildings so she understands that aspect of it. Page 8 PRPSC-1 January 5, 2021 And she has a great grant writing background, which isI mean you all understand what our budget is going to be. So having her being able to come in with this grant writing background, finding where there's money to fix our parks, fix our pools, fix our cemetery's everything that we have that's not working right now. She can come in, and she can help us get that off the ground. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Mo, for really laying that foundation. All too often we talk a lot about our strengths and we forget about our weaknesses. So I really appreciate you picking a deputy that will fill that gap, and then bring more to what touches every single member of our community which is our Parks Department. I also wanted to talk a little bit about again, something that my fellow colleague brought up which is our open spaces. And how we provide opportunities to be in those spaces. And I was just wondering, and you don't have to have a right answer for this one. There's other opportunities with new innovative composting toilets, those types of things. And I was just wondering if you have given any thought to some of those types of tools, that aren't necessarily traditional in our county parks and county assets that could actually serve as rest facilities that we could still utilize these open spaces or go back to some of our other park facilities in which we're not using as much water, we're being very innovative. I just wanted to hear some thoughts around just some of our more environmentally friendly ideas out there. MR. MESSINA: So as far as the composting toilets, I believe that some of the state beaches right now they have that. My understanding is they're about $10,000 to $12,000 I think to get off the ground. Something like that I would have to talk with our plumbers, with our park caretakers, and also talk with the state about, you know, what's the good and what's the bad of this? And what do I do with that compostable waste, once it's finished. Can I bring something in that I actually have, repair parts for on the island. And so that's the conversation I need to have with our guys, but, you know, we're open for discussion on that. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Mo. That's exactly where I wanted to go, is really, you know, sky's the limit. And we can still have all kinds of conversation about new innovative solutions. I will be supporting your nomination, and thank you for stepping up for all of us. MR. MESSINA: Thank you, Sue. I appreciate it. MS. LEE LOY: Chair, I yield. CHR. INABA: Mahalo, Ms. Lee Loy. Anyone else in Hilo? MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, Chair Inaba, Richards. CHR. INABA: Mr. Richards, go ahead. Page 9 PRPSC-1 January 5, 2021 MR. RICHARDS: Okay, thank you, Chair. Aloha, Mo. Mo eluded to—when he and I first started working quite extensively together had to do with that 2018 lava flow. And I have to acknowledge your organization on that. Mo, setting up a relief center and housing, but also including the animals, which is why Mo called me in to look at the herd health aspect of all the animals in the facility. What it did though, was give me the opportunity to review what was going on, because I was there twice a week for months. And I got to see what was going on, and so that level of organization I admired. One of the things I always checked on was the bathrooms, and were they clean, were they acceptable and they were always top notch. So I commend you on that Mo. I know one of the big things that we've learned out of that was that doing something like that including animals was out of the box. And so I commend for being able to get that done, but we also learned that having a shelter there damaged our facility quite a bit. Which leads into the next question I have is, maintenance and repair. And we're not going to go down in the details on this, but as you know and we've worked on a lot of things over the years. Maintenance and repairs is going to be a big thing coming forth, and we've seen that up and down the coastline. In District 1, I know Heather got issues, you know, we have issues in my district, but I also know funding is a big deal. And probably the question I want to know is, how do we communicate and there prioritize going forward? And you and I have talked about a lot of different projects, and some stuff gets sidelined. I understand that, but as you know our budget is going to be challenged but our needs for the maintenance and repair. So you have insight in thoughts, and I appreciate the donations and the private -public partnerships, I think that's all great. But communicating, because as a Council Member in District 9, people talk to me a lot about the parks and how do we go forward? Are you going to set up a communication tree for us, so we can get things in an orderly deal? And I just propose that to you Mo. MR. MESSINA: Okay, thanks, Tim. So first thing I want to go real quick back to what you were talking about, about the cleanliness of the bathrooms at the shelter. That was the team that we had out there, and those guys were just so committed. In fact one of the gentlemen who was in charge of cleaning those bathrooms everyday has advanced up, and I believe he's now TA (temporary assigned) in Kona supervisor position. MR. RICHARDS: Awesome. MR.MESSINA: So that just shows within the department when you do have that commitment, you know, there are opportunities out there for you. As far as—so what we're seeing throughout the nation right now, is that one of the first things that's taking a hit are our park maintenance budgets as municipalities county, cities. They start looking at ways to trim their budgets. One of the first thing that Page 10 PRPSC-1 January 5, 2021 is going is, maintenance of our parks. And so it's my job to make sure that the Administration is aware if we have any shortfalls. And right now our parks maintenance budget is about $10 million. That seems like a lot of money, but when you look at how many facilities that we have and all the upkeep and the repair for this aging infrastructure that we have it's not really that much money. So it's my job to make sure that, number one I communicate with the Administration to let them know; and number two, you guys aren't hit over the head when there's something happening at one of your facilities, and all of a sudden it has to close down and that's the first time you're hearing about it. So that communication, Heather just as you were talking about communication, is very important that I communicate with you guys. So what we're doing right now, is we're doing a complete inventory of everything we have in the parks system. We've already started that, everything down to every toilet urinal everything that we have. And then what's its status, is it broken is it in need of repair? And then things that do need to be repaired, we got to make sure we repair them with things that are available on our island to fix them when they break. Right now some of our guys have to go and we have to order parts from off island, because the fixture we can't find any parts on our island. So number one, Administration is aware; and number two, you guys are aware and then we work together to figure out how we can make it MR. RICHARDS: Okay, and I appreciate that. Like I said, probably more than anything else you touched on it is your ability to communicate. And I think we a Council, totally appreciate that level of communication so we can help you help us. And I think that's important going forward. So we're not going to get into the weeds concerning what's broken in our districts, but I know we all have lists. I will eagerly anticipate your list, so we can compare notes. And I also look forward to getting a few things already on the table fixed. So with that, I'm going to definitely be supporting your nomination. Chair, I yield. MR. MESSINA: Thank you, Tim. CHR. INABA: Mahalo, Mr. Richards. Anyone else in Hilo? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Chair, can I go please? CHR. INABA: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Mo, good morning. MR. MESSINA: Good morning. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Pleasure to see you here this morning, and stepping into this position. I mean it's not something that's new to you. But I'm excited to have you in the Director position, because from everything that I've Page 11 PRPSC-1 January 5, 2021 seen in the past you are very communicative, you go out of your way to help; you listen; and you get things done. And you are expeditious in getting things done. My biggest ask would be for funds that Council Members apply to parks as a department from our continuous relief or from other sources. I'd love to see all those used to their fullest, so we don't have to do the tracking and wonder where they've gone. And I have a few outstanding that I'll be working with you on to finish and finalize for the community. But other than that I'm excited to have you take this position. And Mitch you've done a wonderful job picking Mo. And thank you for explaining your vetting process, this morning. Although I don't think that applied to Mo, I think that was more for some of the other appointments that you're considering. Yeah, there's just been numerous times you've been very helpful, and for that I appreciate you and I'm glad you're here. I don't have too many negative things at all, because you've always been positive and helpful. From the Farmer's Market in Pahoa, to the recent Christmas sites at Liliuokalani Gardens. You're just an amazing individual and having a chance to read over your resume reminded me of some of the past things that I did not know about you. So glad to have you here, and thank you and look forward to seeing what you can do of course as you mentioned with funding. To make sure that the Parks and Rec facilities can be—what I think they should be which is the shinning jewel of this county. We live in a very beautiful place, we have beautiful park facilities. And I think our community—if our community is going to prosper, then I think Parks and Rec needs to shine. Because if our parks facilities shine and are beautiful, then people are happy. Especially during COVID and we can go and exercise outside, and enjoy our facilities and you are now the Director of that. Please give Mo everything that he needs, because that's justI always thought Parks and Rec is probably the most interesting and beautiful aspect of our county. Thank you, Mo. I look forward to working with you. MR. MESSINA: Thank you. And just for the record, yes, I did go through the exact same process. Yeah, went through the interviews and everything just like everyone else. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I didn't see a lot of negative recommendations against you, in my email. You know, as considered as some of the other ones that's what I was speaking to, I think Mitch was speaking to that as well. Thank you, Mo. MR. MESSINA: Yes, Sir. CHR. INABA: Mahalo. Anyone else in Hilo? Page 12 PRPSC-1 January 5, 2021 MR. CHUNG: Mr. Chairman? CHR. INABA: Mr. Chung, go ahead. MR. CHUNG: Yeah. Good morning, and Mitch, Mayor Roth, thank you very much for this appointment and the others. Maurice has proven himself over the last four years, to be what I consider one of the finest examples of what a public servant should be. And I don't use that phrase or term loosely. You know, Maurice you've heard it from my colleagues this morning, you've always been there; you've always been responsive and responsible. Even on weekends, you know, we don't like to call you on weekends but, you know, during COVID sometimes we got to get answers quick, right. And you were always there, yeah. And you know, you're just such a wealth of information, a go -to guy. I'm just really excited to see you in this position, you know how I feel about you, right, Maurice, we've talked many times before. So I don't want to belabor the point. I just want to make one comment though, and it somehow relates to what Matt has just spoken about. And I think you know, what I'm going to get at, right. It's the exercise circuit equipment that I provided contingency relief funds four years ago, this is the worst example of government I've ever seen, really. Okay, so now that you're in the saddle—and you know, it's not really specific to District 2. This is something especially during COVID that could be applied island -wide, it was intended to be an impetus to start things going. Can you make sure that it happens, not just for the district, for island -wide? I really think it's something that could be done. The money was there four years ago, I don't know what happened. I heard a lot of excuses and promises, not from you. It was kind of ridiculous. MR. MESSINA: Right. A while ago when I said, the second thing I did was work on the sponsorship bill. The first thing I did was, exercise equipment for Aaron Chung where is that at? MR. CHUNG: Really it's not for—really as I said was intended to be the impetus for an island -wide program. MR. MESSINA: Yep. MR. CHUNG: Yeah. Just circuits throughout, you know, the various parts of the island, so people can get out there and do stuff, right. MR. MESSINA: Yep. It's works at Mauna Kea Rec area. MR. CHUNG: Yeah. But it doesn't have to be those really, really nice pieces of equipment, they could just put telephone pole stumps. You know, and just allow people to do stuff around the downtown area and then other places. I know Page 13 PRPSC-1 January 5, 2021 you're going to do it, I have no question in my mind that you're going to make this thing come through. MR. MESSINA: Yep. MR. CHUNG: Yeah. Thanks, Maurice. Congratulations all of you. CHR. INABA: Mahalo, Mr. Chung. Council Chair, David. MS. DAVID: Good morning. And Mr. Messina from Kona welcome to this confirmation meeting, and I really have to agree with every single thing that my colleagues have said, especially the comment from Vice Chair Chung, who just made. And for me you have been not only the prime example of how government service and deep attitude that people representing our community should have. It was very refreshing to meet you for the very first time, and when I realized that whenever I had a question you responded immediately. And I can tell you in all my dealings, in the years of service that has never happened to me before. And so for me, you're not only the perfect example of what government representatives should be. But I think also, that you represent how we can solve our issues, not by thinking about it but by making real efforts to find ways of doing things to improve our situation. I have every confidence in you Mr. Messina, and I really want to thank you that you have never let me down no matter what the situation was. In fact you've always impressed me in your ability to respond immediately. I was expecting it but you always amazed me. And so I really have a great deal of respect for you, and I have no doubt that your role in this position is going to be a huge, huge benefit to this county. Especially in the Parks and Recreation Department. I also just want to say, in closing that your minimum requirements is cause that you shall have minimum of five years and an administrative capacity. You have well exceeded that based on your resume, Mr. Messina. And so I am whole-heartedly supporting you based not only on your resume, but on your track record and your ability to be very equitable and fair in all of your decision makings. So I am very proud and happy to support your confirmation. And mahalo. MR. MESSINA: Thank you. MS. DAVID: I yield. CHR. INABA: Mahalo, Ms. David. Ms. Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Mahalo, Chair Inaba. Aloha, Mo, thanks for being here today. In my first term I had a number of different opportunities to work with you, in Page 14 PRPSC-1 January 5, 2021 different capacities. Both with Parks and Rec, and then as you transitioned into the Mayor's Office. The terms that come to mind when I think of working with you Mo, are dedicated, diligent, humble, accessible, and responsive. And I could go on and on, with a number of different terms. And even when we haven't seen eye to eye, and we've had some challenges, the line of communication has remained open. And the goal of a positive solution has always remained the absolute priority, and I thank you for that. And when I think of servant leadership, and I think of somebody there to support the people that you are put in charge of leading I have no doubt that you are going to benefit our Parks and Rec Department by that style of leadership. I look forward to working together, to ensure the equitable allocation of what resources we do have as a county between the parks on the west and east side of our island. I just have a quick question. To find out if you have, and if you don't have the answers now that's fine but I'd love to follow-up later about how the maintenance projects would be prioritized. I love that you created this inventory, I know that prior Council Member Val Poindexter put a lot of effort into cataloging all the parks themselves, and the different districts that they fall into. And just that you're taking this initiative to really get to know the facilities that you'll be responsible for, really makes my heart feel much more comfortable, confident, and secure in possibility of continued improvements. But I'm wondering if you have any current plans on how those projects would be prioritized. MR. MESSINA: So just off the top of my head. Obviously safety is the number one priority. If there's a safety issue at the facility that work order should be put to the top. If we can get away from closing either that playground, or whatever it is and just get out there and fix it and remove the safety hazard that's the first. Second is usage, you know, how many people are actually using this facility. You know, that would probably bring up a priority. The other ones I'd have to sit and think about that, and talk with my maintenance folks, parks maintenance manager, and our park planner to help devise that. But that's something I can get to you, I can let you know how we—actually to all you guys, to let you know how we'd be prioritizing that. MS. VILLEGAS: Fantastic. Thank you so much I've had some opportunities to meet with the different management teams of the parks here on the westside, especially related to our county pool here in Kona. So we have some great opportunities for improvement there. My other question relates to your prioritization of the two pilot projects that were supposed to be kind of activated, and they're the two herbicide free parks. The work that we committed to as a county with beyond pesticides, and transitioning those parks to be herbicide free. And I just want to you don't have to go into it right now. I just want to make sure that's part of your programming planning, and I look forward to having more conversations about those transitions. Page 15 PRPSC-1 Vote on Comm. 42 (Approved) January 5, 2021 MR. MESSINA: Yes, it is. And we need to have a good long conversation about that. Everything's been moving forward as far as in the Parks Department as far as cataloging where herbicides are being sprayed. The times, weather conditions, and all that stuff, and so I'd like to sit down with you and go over that. MS. VILLEGAS: That would be great, because that's something that I've heard of for years but still never seen the catalog. So I think we have incredible opportunities to transition these parks with partnerships from an organization that's willing to hold our hand, pro-bono, to transition a lot of the issues that we're seeing in these parks, specifically relates to use of herbicides and fertilizers and that fact that the soil there is dead. And so getting healthy microbiomes back in that soil will allow for us to transition to healthier maintenance, and make it easier for those teams and those crews out there that toil and toil to try and keep those grassy grounds. They're green, but it's not necessarily with the grass they want. So I look forward to working closely with you, this next term and identifying the ways and the means and the process to make sure that these projects that we committed as a county come to fruition. So thank you Mo, I support your appointment to this position whole heartedly. I also wanted to concur with Chair David, in having looked through the requirements based on the Charter. What the qualifications are, that the director shall have a minimum of five years of experience of administrative capacity and you by far exceed that qualification and requirement. Thank you for your willingness to continue to serve. MR. MESSINA: Thank you, Rebecca. CHR. INABA: Mahalo. Any other discussions? Okay. Mahalo Mo, for accepting this position. And we're very grateful and lucky to have you lead this department. So at this time, I'll take the vote. All in favor of forwarding to Council with a favorable recommendation the appointment of Mr. Messina as Director of Parks and Recreation please say "aye." The motion to recommend confirmation of the appointment of Mr. Maurice C. Messina as Director of the Department of Parks and Recreation was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Inaba — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. Page 16 PPIPSC-1 January 5, 2021 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 business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. (There were none.) CHR. INABA: Okay, this brings us to the end of our agenda. ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 9:49 a.m., Ms. David moved to MENT: adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Ms. Villegas and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kaneali `i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Inaba — 9. Noes: None, Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. RICHARD S : Meeting is adjourned at 9:49 a.m. Mahalo Nui. Approved: 1r46;1eFGG4oro1naba, Chair (Date) Parks and Recreation and Public Safety Committee HI/rk Page 17