HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN FC 2021/05/04 2020-2022Committee on Finance
loth Session
West Hawaii Civic Center
74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A
Kailua-Kona, Hawai i
May 4, 2021
CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Finance was called to order at
ORDER: 3:14 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Mr. Matt
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Chair.
ROLL CALL:
Present: Mr.
Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Chair
Ms.
Heather L. Kimball, Vice Chair
Mr.
Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member
Ms.
Maile Medeiros David, Member
Mr.
Holeka Goro Inaba, Member
Ms.
Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member
Ms.
Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member
Mr.
Herbert M. "Tim" Richards III, Member
Ms.
Rebecca Villegas, 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: The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when
called by the Chair:
Sandra Demoruelle
Jerry Warren:
Patrice MacDonald:
Jim Hoffman:
Susann Tita:
John Briski:
Bill 22 (Comm. 104), comment.
(see Comm. 104.3)
Bill 22 (Comm. 104), comment.
(see Comm. 104.4)
Res. 105-21 (Comm. 217), in opposition.
Res. 105-21 (Comm. 217), in support.
Res. 105-21 (Comm. 217), in opposition.
Res. 105-21 (Comm.217), in support.
FC -10 May 4, 2021
CHR KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, that concludes our testimony from
the public, I'm going to close public testimony. And let's go right to our first
order of business Communication, Mr. Clerk.
COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business,
CATIONS: Communications.
Comm. 28.2: THIRD QUARTER REALLOCATION REPORT: JANUARY — MARCH 2021
From Human Resources Director William V. Brilhante Jr., dated April 15, 2021.
Vote on Comm. 28.2: Ms. David moved to close file on Comm. 28.2. Seconded by
Filed Ms. Villegas and carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Chung David, Inaba,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards,
Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder — 9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Comm. 30.8: REPORT OF FUND TRANSFERS AUTHORIZED: MARCH 16 — 31, 2021
From Controller Kay Oshiro, dated April 6, 2021.
Motion to Close File: Ms. David moved to close file on Comm. 30.8. Seconded by
Mr. Richards.
CHR KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: We have Director Sako in Hilo today. Any
comments or questions on Communication 30.8?
MR. INABA: Chair?
CHR KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Mr. Inaba, go ahead.
MR. INABA: Deanna, can you come to the table, please?
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MS. SAKO: Good afternoon.
MR. INABA: Aloha. I have question if you could explain to us the Police
transfer, I think this is after the fact. But just there's a million dollars going from
Various Salary and Wages, to Admin Salary and Wages. Could you just explain
that for us, please?
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May 4, 2021
MS. SAKO: I'm pretty sure, and I'm reading this just to double check. But we
budget the recruits with the Admin in those temporary positions, and so—or
sorry, we list recruits in the temporary positons in Admin. But the budget for
those positions, is actually in the vacant positions in the various districts. So this
is that transfer, to move the money in the various districts to Admin to cover the
cost of the recruits for the current class. There could be one or two more yet, I'm
not sure if this would cover the whole year. But that's our way of funding the
recruits, is with the vacant positions.
MR. INABA: Okay, thank you. And then the next one for the PONC (Public
Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission) it's seems
it's moving from Maintenance Fund, to perhaps the normal fund. I' m just
wondering how is this working, is it because we hit the $3 million cap that—
MS. SAKO: We have, yes. This is actually—and it's not truthfully going from
the fund, but it's the transfer to the fund. But because the Maintenance Fund,
we've hit the cap, we do not need to transfer any more this year. And so we're
going to use that excess, to fund the amount for the PONC transfer.
MR. INABA: Okay. So we put in, what two percent into the PONC fund. Is this
part of that two percent, or we've hit the $3 million cap for the Maintenance Fund
so this is in addition to the already two percent.
MS. SAKO: Actually part of the two percent, we collected more in Real Property
Tax than we budgeted. So instead of doing an additional appropriation, we're just
using the extra appropriation we have available in the Transfer to PONC
Maintenance Fund.
MR. INABA: As part of the two percent required.
MS. SAKO: Right. To make sure we're paying the two percent of the full
amount collected.
MR. INABA: Okay. That answers my questions, thank you. Chair, I yield.
Thanks, Deanna.
MS. SAKO: No problem.
CHR KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Any other
questions from the Council? Okay. Deanna, I have one question regarding the
Department of Environmental Management Solid Waste Division Transfer.
MS. SAKO: Okay.
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CHR KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: The $180,000 and the reason was for
purchasing two used transfer trailers.
MS. SAKO: Correct. We were actually leasing them, and so we realized it was
cheaper to buy them than to continually lease them from another company on the
island, that owned the trailers. So they were willing to sell them to us, and
overtime we're actually saving quite a bit money by doing that.
CHR KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, and this is for theI was reading
the summary of why, I didn't quite understand what they were saying. The
division is currently having to rent two trailers, to allow greenwaste to be
collected and transported to WHOF which is the West Hawaii Organics Facility.
MS. SAKO: Right.
CHR KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: And then by purchasing, they'll be able to
continue greenwaste collection at the Kealakehe transfer station.
MS. SAKO: They will be able to, but the ultimate reason for doing this was it's
the same two trailers, and then instead of paying monthly rental amounts, we're
now actually the owners of those and we won't have to worry about paying
anything in the future. So over time, we're actually saving quite a bit of money.
CHR KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, that's good to hear. Now the next
question, the following requested a transfer from Public Works. Was to purchase
two used vehicles looks like it was whited-out and rewritten as used.
MS. SAKO: I think it was a typo, yeah.
CHR KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: So a total of $60,000, so $30,000 used
vehicle was a pretty good price for a used vehicle. Do you know what we
purchased?
MS. SAKO: I'm not sure exactly what we purchased, but it was a lot cheaper
than what we're paying for a new vehicles. Because with cost of metal and other
materials are very high right now, so our vehicle quotes have been coming in
extremely high. So we've been trying our best to buy used vehicles.
CHR KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you for being fiscally
responsible, I appreciate that. Okay, that's all the questions for now. Appreciate
It.
MS. SAKO: Thank you.
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CHR KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Deanna. Any further
questions? Seeing none, all in favor of closing file on Communication 30.8.
Vote on Comm. 30.8: The motion to close file on Comm. 30.8 was carried by
Filed the following voice vote:
Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder — 8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Committee Member Chung — 1.
Excused: None.
Comm. 31.10 REPORT OF CHANGE ORDERS AUTHORIZED: MARCH 16-31, 2021
From Finance Director Deanna Sako, dated April 7, 2021, transmitting the
Above report pursuant to Hawaii County Code Section 2-12.3.
Vote on Comm. 31.10: Mr. Inaba moved to close file on Comm. 30.10. Seconded by
Filed Ms. David and carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Inaba,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards,
Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder — 9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Next communication, please.
Comm. 84.1: THIRD QUARTER REPORT OF PERSONS EMPLOYED UNDER A
CONTRACT FOR LESS THAN 90 DAYS: JANUARY 1 — MARCH 312021
From Human Resources Director William V. Brilhante, Jr., dated April 1, 2021
transmitting the above report pursuant to Section 2-12.5 of the Hawai` i County
Code.
Motion to Close File: Mr. Inaba moved to close file on Comm. 84.1. Seconded by
Ms. David.
CHR KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Any discussion Council? Seeing
Mr. Inaba, go ahead.
MR. INABA: Yeah. I just wanted to clarify here when we get this report. It
gives us the hourly rate, and contract duration but not the total amount. So is
Director Mansour in Hilo, or anyone in Hilo able to give us the full amount for
this contract?
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CHR KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Usually Mr. Brilhante covers these, and he
was going to be present. Is he in Hilo today, I cannot see everybody. Mr. Brown,
I see you coming up.
MR. BROWN: Good afternoon, Chairman. Director Brilhante is not in the
chamber at this time.
MR. INABA: Okay.
CHR KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: He's not online either, I apologize. We did
discuss this with him, though. Do you want to postpone this to the next meeting
to discuss, or do a follow up email?
MR. INABA: Is there something that we might be able to get, when we get these
reports? Oh, Mr. Brilhante, is not here to answer that question.
CHR KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Deanna, can you help us a little bit?
MR. INABA: I mean it justI think it would be beneficial to us, to know what
the total amount is when we get a report like this. Because we know the hourly
rate, we know the duration. But they could be working part-time, full-time it
doesn't specify here.
MS. SAKO: So I don't have that particular report in front of me right now. But
normally if there's an hourly rate, it's usually someone who is part-time and we're
paying them per hour. But it could be a variety of reasons, most of our 89 -day
contracts are on an hourly basis. They can, depending on the terms of the
contract, be allowed to work more or less. So each contract is a little bit different.
But also even if they are full-time if you multiply it out there's—like the way the
contract is written there's not a total dollar amount like our vendor contracts are.
Because these are actually employment contracts. So most of these employees
are not salaried, that's why there's not really a total contract amount. But we can
try and work with Human Resources to determine if we can add something like
part-time, or full-time or kind of what the intent is. Because there are some that
their intended to only work like 10 hours a week. So that might help you
understand it but in better context. Would that help?
MR. INABA: Yeah, I think so, just so we have some kind of gage to what their
kuleana is, and what capacity. Thank you.
MS. SAKO: Okay. I'll work with HR to see what's available.
MR. INABA: Okay, thank you, Director Sako. Chair, I yield.
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CHR KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Any further
questions? Mahalo, Deanna, for helping. Motion to close file on
Communication 84.1 is on the floor, all in favor of closing file on
Communication 84.1.
Vote on Comm. 84.1: The motion to close file on Comm. 84.1 was carried by
Filed the following voice vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Chung David, Inaba,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards,
Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder — 9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Before we read in the next one, I'm going
to let my Vice Chair, Heather Kimball take over as Chair for the meeting. So I
can further the discussion on Resolution 105-21. Please let the record reflect.
Relinquish Chair: At this time, the Chair relinquished the chair to Vice Chair Kimball.
ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. Mr. Clerk, can you please read in
Resolution 105-21.
ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business,
RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions.
Res. 105-21 INITIATES THE DESIGNATION OF AN IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT FOR
PERMANENT IMPROVEMENTS OF ROADWAYS IN THE HAWAIIAN
ACRES SUBDIVISION IN PUNA, HAWAII, IN ACCORDANCE WITH
CHAPTER 12 OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS
AMENDED), RELATING TO IMPROVEMENTS BY ASSESSMENTS
Directs the Director of the Department of Public Works to submit an assessment
report to the Council no later than September 1, 2021, which shall include all
information stipulated in Section 12-10(a) of the Hawaii County Code.
Reference: Comm. 217
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to recommend adoption of
Res. 105-21. Seconded by Inaba.
ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
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MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mrs. Kimball. So a quick back
story. Improving district process is laid out in Chapter 12 of our County Code.
Furthermore, the road standards that this gets us moving towards would be laid
out in Chapter 23. Back story, on the Code in Section 23, requires that private
roads be brought to a dedicable standard, which is what we call a minimum right
of way for any private subdivision platted or finalized before December 1966.
The reason for saying that is, that locks almost all the private subdivisions in
Puna, into being responsible for their own system of roadways.
In the case of Hawaiian Acres, their road dues are voluntary so it's up to them if
they want to pay their road dues. And furthermore, they have about 70 miles of
roadway. The roadway system right now, is in pretty bad shape. I drove road 1,
which is one of their paved roads. There's really right now two paved roads,
Road 8 and Road 1, that are the main access points in that link into the county
highway system or the state highway system. And Road 8 is a PEAR (Puna
Emergency Access Route), it is maintained by the county, but still owned by the
Hawaiian Acres Subdivision owners. Road 1 is maintained by the Hawaiian
Acres Road Corporation, which maintains the roads with the voluntary road dues.
So that's just a little back story for, where we stand with this resolution in front of
us today.
After multiple meetings with the community, and both with HACA (Hawaiian
Acres Community Association) and HARC (Hawaiian Acres Road Corporation),
they both came together and asked me to move forward with something we've
discussed for years, which is an improvement district. The improvement district
as I said before, is laid out in Chapter 12 in our County Code. There's different
ways of approaching it, but ultimately it is the selection of a geographical area or
street, whatever you want to call it. And within that geographical area we as a
county helped by doing a feasibility study, pulling the financing for a bond and
securing that bond. And then helping organize the project, whatever it might look
like, in this case a series of roadway improvements. And then it ultimately the
assessments fall back upon to the community to pay off in a form of a property
tax assessment.
So to be very upfront the cost of this improvement district will be borne by the
citizens of Hawaiian Acres. There are 4,000 lot owners in Hawaiian Acres.
Ultimately it comes down to starting this and having the discussion. There's
always going to be both sides of the fence. And I'm just here to help this move
along, and have the discussion.
You know, part of the issue that I've always run into, is when we discuss moving
forward on anything there's always people against and for, whatever it may be,
and some will sit right in the middle. And that's very hard to get through a public
meeting with everyone feeling hurt, so in this case the process laid out in Chapter
12 really is a public comment driven process. It's a long process, but it gets to
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where I think we need to go. Especially given the voluntary road dues in
Hawaiian Acres, and the state of the roads and the amount of roadways. It's
70 miles of roadway. And that's hard for even the county to take a look at, as far
as financial picture.
So I asked Fire Department to come today. Can I have one of you gentlemen or
both of you gentlemen come up, and just give me a little bit of your thoughts on
what this would mean to the Fire Department. Mr. Briski or Captain Briski from
the Police Department was here earlier, he just said, you know, basically first
responders will greatly benefit from this because they're having incidence where
they're unable to, or get to a home takes a very long time. So for the Fire
Department what would this mean to you for you know, an improvement district
or improvement of the roadways in Hawaiian Acres?
(Note: At this time, Assistant Fire Chief Darwin Okinaka came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MR. OKINAKA: Good afternoon. Darwin Okinaka, Assistant Fire Chief for the
Fire Department. Yeah, we just would like to echo Captain Briski's comments.
Anything that would provide better access, and egress for our units to respond in
emergencies will be positive for us. You know, we would like that. I understand
like what you mentioned, the challenges you might have to face with the property
owners. But you know, from our standpoint the better the roads are the better we
can access the properties. And then you know, another thing is access is one
thing, but if we have emergency medical services and we have to transport
patients, many times we have to even go slower if the roads are bad, you know, in
transport to make sure the patients are rightful cared for, in the back of the
ambulance. And so that in itself, Chief Smith might have some other information.
But you know, just in general it would be positive, and we would support it.
Thank you.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Sir. Mr. Smith, did you want to
add anything?
MR. SMITH: No, Sir, I have nothing else to add. Thank you.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. One of the testifiers in one of the
meetings, had mentioned that he actually did suffer a heartattack recently. And he
knew full well that he couldn't wait for the ambulance to get to his home, and his
wife drove him out to the main highway to meet the ambulance knowing that time
saved would be possibly his life. So I agree with you completely, it's definitely a
larger issue at hand, a public safety issue. Thank you, gentlemen.
Mr. Rodenhurst, I did ask you to join us today as well. If you could come up,
because ultimately this is going to be handed over to Public Works if it passes
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through the County Council. And as Director of Public Works I was hoping you
could give us your thoughts on this, you know, timeline, timeframe, what this
might mean to the community. And mahalo for your time today.
(Note: At this time, Public Works Director Ikaika Rodenhurst came
forward to address the members of the Committee.)
MR. RODENHURST: Yes. Mahalo, for reaching out and having me here for
this. Just full discloser before we start, I am a Hawaiian Acres resident. I have
consulted with Corporation Counsel, they feel at this time it's not a clear conflict
of interest. But if it would serve to provide transparency, I'm willing to go before
the Board of Ethics to get a decision from them, after this moving forward with
wherever this goes.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, I appreciate that, and thank you for
saying that. And for offering that information out, I personally am okay with
moving ahead on this. Just (inaudible) via discussion as a Public Works Director,
and if you want to mention how this makes you feel as a citizen of Hawaiian
Acres, you can. But let's just—as this is a Council initiated action with
community input, let's move forward on that end right now.
MR. RODENHURST: Yeah, and I will not be providing any comment as far as a
Hawaiian Acres' resident, it will be solely as Director of Public Works.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, that's good. So with that said, you
know, Public Works -wise this resolution directs the Public Works Department
Director to do a feasibility study. So your thoughts on that, as we open up this
discussion?
MR. RODENHURST: Yeah, so you know, obviously as we've discussed, this
concerns the dedicable standards of which we'd be able to accept the road. You
know, looking at some of the previous costs, as far as providing a report. One of
the one's that we looked at to provide a report, we used the Lono Kona, it was a
previous improvement district, to get an estimate as far as what cost it would have
to provide that report. And we came to the conclusion, or the estimate that it
would be about $233,000 per mile. And that includes—you know, we're looking
at land acquisition, we're looking at building in the right of way to the dedicable
standards. Looking at drainage, looking at any improvements to the roadways. If
there's a county road, intersections would need some street lights.
And dedicable standards for this area will require a right of way of 50 feet.
Currently, information that we have from maintenance, information that we have
from the area, is that there's a lot of these areas that don't have that. So there
would be some land acquisition required. As far as the road sections themselves,
they would require three inches of asphalt concrete, they would require four
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inches of crushed aggregate base course and six inches of crushed aggregate
subbase. This wouldn't be something with sidewalks obviously, but there would
be paved shoulders. And these are all on our standards for dedicable. Looking at
those costs, you know, and looking at our previous designs, and construction
contracts and projects we're looking at a design cost of about $1 million a mile.
And a construction cost up to $10 million a mile. That includes drainage
improvements and the street light improvements I talked about.
Now we talked about that there is approximately 73 miles of road in Hawaiian
Acres. You and I discussed previously about if there was an opportunity to have
just the letter roads and possibly Road 1 that right there is about 23 to 24 miles.
Still a fair amount of road, and that would cost a fair amount. You know, for the
report itself, looking at previous timelines, even for that 24 miles it could possibly
take up to two years for that report. But it all depends on the scope of work, and
how many miles we're looking at. So that some of the preliminary estimates, and
numbers that we have right now, going into, looking into getting a report on this.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. What was it $233,000 a mile number
you had quoted?
MR. RODENHURST: So that was extrapolated from an improvement district
that was made in Kona for, I believe it was sewer improvements. And that's what
we based that number off of. That was the cost to my understanding around there
per mile for that. And that included their report.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: That was for a design cost?
MR. RODENHURST: No, that's the report cost.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: That's for the feasibility report?
MR. RODENHURST: Correct.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Per mile?
MR. RODENHURST: Correct.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, so that can be pretty substantial then.
MR. RODENHURST: I mean of course you have economies of scale that could
possibly shave off some, but to be reasonable and conservative that's the unit cost
at this point.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then touching on the 50 -foot
right of way, why the 50 feet?
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MR. RODENHURST: So that's our standard detail, as our dedicable standards
for a minor road. That includes 10 foot travel lanes, five foot bike lanes and
10 foot shoulder swales.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: And why that definition of road, verses just
the minimum right of away. What's the thought behind that?
MR. RODENHURST: That's our minimum standards for minor streets. And
from there it goes up, if you go to business industrial collective streets, the right
of way increases to 66 feet. All the way up to primary arterial street, which is the
120 feet of right of way.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: And the minimum right of way as is a
24 foot roadway?
MR. RODENHURST: That's not a dedicable standards.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Not a dedicable standard?
MR. RODENHURST: Not as of September 2017 of this standard detail.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Wow. We have county roads that are barely
24 feet wide. That's interesting.
MR. RODENHURST: There are roads that were part of the county previous to
these dedicable standards, and we are also in the process of updating and
upgrading those roads to meet the current standards, pending funds and
availability.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, understood. Something I talked about
with Roy Takemoto last year was creating a variance to allow us to accept
roadways that would be a little bit slimmer, knowing full well that we're going to
run into width issues in some of the private subdivisions. And you know, what
kind of an option, you know, I'll just stop there. Is that an option?
MR. RODENHURST: I'm not aware of any variances put forth on our dedicable
standards in the past, as far as past practices. Some of the reasons we have these
dedicable standards are for foresight into maintenance costs, foresight in making
sure the roads that we do except are something that will last and we can preserve.
And that's the way they were engineered and designed. To enact a variance on
that would overhaul some of that design, and I'm not sure of the full process of
that at this point.
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May 4, 2021
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, something we can discuss later. Sc
I'll just summarize a little bit. About $1 million dollars for design per mile and
$10 million per mile build out was you had stated earlier. It that right?
MR. RODENHURST: Correct.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: And then prior to that, that $233,000 a mile
for design study is that included in that million dollars?
MR. RODENHURST: No, that's separate.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: That's separate, oh. Okay. Is there anyI
mean obviously this is expensive. And I'm not—for the community I always told
them from the beginning, we're not going to move forward with this unless we
understand the pricing, because I wouldn't buy a car, or a house or anything else
sight unseen and price unknown. And so this is just good to get this information
out, and understood so we can look at it, and see what's doable and what's not.
Just given the numbers that you've turned out so far, I'm going to say it's
expensive. Is there any kind of matching funds, funding source that we can pull
from. Mass Transit, GET (General Excise Tax), anything that can help us with a
project like this given this isI mean, I think we're in the range about 16,000
people, and you know, those are all property tax paying citizens of Hawaii
County.
MR. RODENHURST: I think that's a question that maybe Deanna would have a
better answer to. For me at this time, I'm not aware of any duty because this is
private roads that we would be bringing up to dedicable standards. But I would
default to Deanna, for the finance side of this.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Rodenhurst.
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MS. SAKO: Yeah, I think unfortunately because right now they're private roads
until such time as they're dedicated to the county, I don't believe we can use any
other funds. That doesn't mean there might not be other options, USDA (U. S.
Department of Agriculture) has helped us to fund some of our improvement
districts in the past especially in the lower income areas. Then they frequently
also have grant dollars to help supplement those loan dollars, but this isn't
something that, you know, we've talked to them about yet being that this is the
first time we're really seeing it.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Again, I brought this forward from
the community. The community was wanting to understand better how this
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would work. What the price structure look like, what the project look like. It
would be my desire to move this to Council, but not pass that until I get a feel
from the community and how they stand on this, just given the numbers that we
were given today. Open up for the Council as well, and yield for now and see
what other comments and questions may come up. Thank you so much for the
information, to this point. I yield.
ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. Chair, recognizes Council Member
Richards.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. And thanks Directors, for being there.
Ikaika, you mentioned 73 miles of potential road to be addressed, and upwards
between $5 million and $10 million per mile to get it to standard. Is that what I'm
hearing, is that correct?
MR. RODENHURST: Correct. And that includes the cost of drainage
improvements, any kind of traffic signal. And by the way, traffic signal also
means street light, not necessarily having a traffic light. So just to clear that up.
And the striping, and any signage improvements as well.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. So if I take this 73 miles, and multiply it by 10 million
that gets us over $700 million. Let's just take $100 million for now, for
calculation. And Deanna $100 million,—if we were to float a bond on that one,
what would the payback be and what would be—because we're talking about
4,000 properties. So what I'm looking for, is what kind of cost per lot it would be
if we're distributing it over 4,000 lots. I'm just trying to get a feeling of scale on
this.
MS. SAKO: So USDA will let us do a 35 -year loan, but let's say we can't do
that. And we have to use an improvement district bond, then the longest term
possible under State law is 25 years. And so just doing very simple math, it's
going to be over $100 a month per lot owner. Because typically the interest rates
on those bonds are not as low as the General Obligations (GO) Bonds that we
have. They're usually a little bit higher, because they're not secured or backed by
the county.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. So for a $100 million again, just to clarify $100 million
for 4,000 lots would be a little over $100 per lot per month. Correct, $1,200 a
year.
MS. SAKO: Yes.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. Alright. Okay, that puts it in scale for me. Chair, I
yield.
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ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. Council Member Lee Loy.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. I'm just trying to have a conversation, and I
appreciate Mr. Kaneali`i bringing that forward to chew on. And I think that's
where I want to start. Because at the end of this resolution it says to direct the
Department of Public Works to prepare and submit a report that assesses the
design. And so I just want to clarify some of the numbers. And if I heard
correctly was $238,000 per mile. Is that correct, Director Rodenhurst?
MR. RODENHURST: Two hundred thirty three thousand per mile.
MS. LEE LOY: Per mile. So if you were to assess 70 miles, right, I heard that
information about there. We're looking at $16.1 million just to an assessment, is
that like correct math at this point?
MR. RODENHURST: There would be some economy a scale of that, but at this
point that is the estimated cost.
MS. LEE LOY: So $16 million just to do a study, or an assessment. Okay.
MS. SAKO: So you know, we're using the Lono Kona improvement district,
which is one of the more recent ones. And that study was done, about seven or
eight years ago it was completed. And that was a relatively small area, and a
small district. So something of this scale, we haven't had to do before so that's
why we're kind of unsure. And we were only informed recently about this, so
perhaps between now and the next meeting we might be able to get better
information for the Council.
MS. LEE LOY: Okay. And then, you know, we talked about design guidelines
and what we would have to build. And again, Mr. Kaneali`i said, it's going to be
expensive. I kind of just want to start saying the numbers out loud, and I
understand that they are just estimates at this point. So about $11 million per
mile, right, with all the improvements 50 -foot right of ways, drainage, right? So
$11 million, so times 70. Deanna, I see you with you calculator.
MS. SAKO: Yeah, I'm doing the math. So times 77 miles, yup. And you want
to know how much that would be?
MS. LEE LOY: Yes, please.
MS. SAKO: So about $9,000 a year, or $750 a month per lot owner.
MS. LEE LOY: And what would be the total cost, of building out 77 miles?
MS. SAKO: So the total cost would be about seven, well a little over.
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MS. LEE LOY: About eight?
MS. SAKO: Eight hundred and forty seven million dollars.
MS. LEE LOY: Okay. So $16 million to do the study, if we are in a perfect
world $800 million to build it.
MS. SAKO: Yeah.
MS. LEE LOY: Director Rodenhurst, you've mentioned land acquisitions
because we have a lot of private landowners. Just an estimated timeline about
condemnation and land acquisitions. What's the timeline for something like that?
MR. RODENHURST: It is hard to scale, because this would be for a large
demand to the properties. It would be the roads themselves, as well as the
individual property owners as we increase the right of way.
MS. SAKO: So it's probably—you know, our department typically helps with
some of that, and I think just to do the survey work alone is going to take a while.
But it would depend how many different property owners and lots we're dealing
with. And that's going to take quite a bit of time. We typically try to negotiate
with the property owners first, to avoid the condemnation. But ultimately if we
have to, we will go to court. And at the time we go to court, we have to put the
deposit down so we will need the money in hand.
MS. LEE LOY: Great, thank you. You know, again, I know Mr. Kaneali`i is
trying to put something out just to have a conversation around. And I'm just
going to borrow from Mr. Richards, it's not ready for primetime. And something
else that Ms. Kierkiewicz mentioned a couple meetings ago, about smallify. And
I really think that I would rather see a resolution that identifies a specific critical
roadway system. I would appreciate like metes and bounds descriptions, so that
people can come forward with testimony that is sound and not guessing. I was
really challenged by one of the testifiers, or a few, who actually called in to
question Exhibit A and the legitimacy and authenticity of the survey. And
without authenticating some of that, it's really challenging to pass a resolution
that attaches it as an exhibit.
And I personally as a member of this Council, want to see information that is
sound but also certified. So to attach an exhibit that's being called into question,
causes me to pause, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. And it's not that I don't trust it, I
think if we provided credentials that it was authenticated, and that the landowners
actually did at these response and percentages, it would go a long way to further
the conversation and legitimize some of, you know, what needs to happen. This
is a long process. And personally, I still can't get pass, these are private roadways
and how we overcome that. So at this time it's a challenge for me to support this
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resolution, without more defined information, a defined area or just, you know, a
defined roadway itself. With that, Chair, I yield.
ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. I'm not sure
who is first over here. Council Member Chung, go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Thanks. So Deanna and Ikaika, are you telling me that this study
that's being called for in this resolution is going to cost $200,000 a mile? Cannot
be.
MS. SAKO: We're saying that by the next meeting we can try and get better
information. All we have to go by is the Lono Kona one, which had about a mile
of road was $232,000. And had much fewer lots than this one did. So you know,
we're just saying that's the high-end, and we will try and get better information
between now and the next meeting. You know, because we didn't have a lot of
advance notice of this resolution coming forward.
MR. CHUNG: Oh.
MR. RODENHURST: For me, the scope really helps determine what level of
study we can do. Depending on what roads, you know, each road is unique and
what level of upkeep it is also what level of drainage is required. Those kind of
factors, really change how much work goes into these. And having a scope
identified of which particular roads, and to what extent on those roads need to be
brought forth on this. It would help us to get a more accurate estimate for the
feasibility study, and the subsequent design and construction cost.
MR. CHUNG: But cannot be anywhere close to $200,000 a mile, right, just for a
study.
MS. SAKO: Right, we would hope not. So that's why we said, we'd offer to get
more information.
MR. CHUNG: I'd give you like $2,000 a mile maybe or something like that. All
you've got to do is look at the miles, figure out what's the dedicable standards
multiply it and maybe take into consideration some grading. But of course I'm
not an engineer, but cannot be $200,000. I want that job, right? Holy smokes.
But anyway having said that, we know that this is going to be a costly project. I
mean, notwithstanding the cost of just assessing it. Which I think cannot be
$200,000 a mile, absolutely unacceptable to me.
But as far as I'm concerned, you know, if Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder feels that this
is something that can benefit his community and he wants to pursue it. I'm
supporting it. Might become kind of cost prohibited at some point for the
residents, not so much for the county. But you know, we don't want to frontload
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money that we're going to be throwing away either, right, if it's going to cost
$200 some -odd thousand dollars a mile. That would be ridiculous, we can't
afford that. But yeah, I mean it's worth at least exploring.
You know, I have to travel on Road F for some strange reason kind of often, and
that is a bad, bad road, you know. But what I hear from those residents over
there, they're not looking for paved roads, they just want better maintenance of
the road. And that's where, you know, I have some ideas how we can do this
from a county's perspective. But nobody listens to me. Anyway, but I'll support
this for now. Thank you.
ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. Council Member Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Matt. I really appreciate
the nature of this conversation. Sucks to have homeowners association where
fees are voluntary, right. We have a whole slew of issues with our owners
associations, a lot of big problems there. So thank you, I appreciate you bringing
this forward.
You know, I'm with Sue in really honing in on which specific roads should be
looked at for an improvement district. Just kind of hearing the numbers playout
from Director Sako, Director Rodenhurst. I do think they are quite large, I hope
we get more fine numbers next committee meeting. But do think it's important,
you know, given how little resources we have. We are really deliberate around
articulating which specific roads we're going to target first. Deanna, could you
provide some insight into the improvement district revolving fund, assuming
that's going to be tapped to finance this initial step. Okay, sorry, go ahead.
MS. SAKO: I was going to say there is roughly about $400,000 in that fund.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, little to get started. In the event that a feasibility
study is done, we're fronting the cost for this or is this something that the
residents of the area are going to have to pay the county back for? Just
wondering, because it is called a revolving fund.
MS. SAKO: Yes, it is called a revolving fund. However the Chapter 12 does say
that either the county or the affected owners may advance the cost. So if the
owners advance the cost, then they can get credit against the assessments if the
improvement district moves forward.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And so let's say we front the cost as the county,
community reviews the results. Turns out to be too expensive, not feasible, we
just eat the cost of that study?
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MS. SAKO: Right. We would basically deplete the improvement district
revolving fund.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And so a then no opportunities for other communities, say
in my district or Chair David's district to do assessments.
MS. SAKO: Right, we would have to find another funding source.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Yeah, I mean given how limited funds, they're in
that revolving fund. I think it's important to maybe put a pin in this and really
think hard on, you know, which roads specifically their community would like
improved. Mr. Kaneali` i-Kleinfelder, you know, happy to support this, but I do
think it needs a bit refinement considering how stretched we are with our
resources. Thank you, I yield.
ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. Anyone else? Chair David, go ahead.
MS. DAVID: Yes, thank you, Chair Kimball. So I think a lot of my questions
have been answered just by the other Council Members inquires. So Deanna,
improvement districts in the end, after this preliminary process is over, then it
goes out to the owners, public hearing and all of that. And then that's when the
51 percent comes in?
MS. SAKO: Yes. So because this is a Council initiated process, there are
multiple public hearings. But the main one is when we send out letters to each of
the lot owners, and then it's actually kind of worded a little bit differently. That
50 percent have to file a protest that they do not want to move forward. So you
would need 2,000 lot owners, to come in and say we do not want to move
forward.
MS. DAVID: I see. But that process, I'm just getting clarity because of the water
improvement district and the village improvement district that we did prior.
These costs that we're talking about, have to be borne first then?
MS. SAKO: They do, and to such time as a bond is issued, yes.
MS. DAVID: And so whether the total cost for all of these, the assessments and
the study, that will eventually, if the lot owners agree to the improvement district,
those costs, if we don't get any funding sources to help with this, then that gets
tagged on to the amount that these homeowners will have to pay monthly?
MS. SAKO: That's correct.
MS. DAVID: Okay. Well I think in that situation, I think it seems like it's a
huge, huge financial undertaking right now, even if we do the study. I support
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any kind of improvement districts. But I think with this one, honing it down to
something that's not going to in the long run hamstring the owners to an amount
that's going to be very, very, to me, unaffordable. The water improvement
district, the people were very concerned that they had to pay $30 a month more on
their water bill. And so this kind of capital improvement, I think their
contributions, if we don't hone it down upfront, is going to be huge. And then
we're going to be out, several millions of dollars doing the study. And when
those final numbers come through, then we depend on the owners of these lots to
decide whether they want to move forward or not.
So I think any improvement district is a good idea, but I think we need to kind of
figure out how much of this is really necessary at this point and time. Because the
cost is going to be the cost is depended upon how much we do upfront, right? If
we don't designate a certain area specifically for that improvement district to see
how that works.
So anyway that's just my thoughts, the idea is good. But I think I'm just thinking
long run, and what the people are going to be ending up. The possibility of what
they have to be paying in the long run might be out of reach and unaffordable.
Anyway that's my two cents. And I yield.
ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair David. Matt, go ahead.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ma'am. Thank you, Chair. Just
for everybody, there was some testimony in the beginning that, you know, there
was negative towards the community survey that was sent out by the community
association. But there was a survey that was sent out, I can attest to that. And I
worked with them to help them to just kind of shape what that looked like. In the
back of the resolution is an exhibit, and on that exhibit they had, of 1,400 mailers
that were sent out, 700 responded who were positive about the improvement
district. Which is about 80 percent of them. Seven hundred and fourteen
responses were recorded from those ballots, which were not to move ahead with
the project, but more just a form of baseline to understanding what the community
wanted. Which I thought was important.
Of those 714, roughly 550 were positive about it. But there were four options
really, that were presented, and the majority of the folks voted for the option two
which would be for all lettered roads and that including Road 1. So for those of
you who may have questioned, you know, that this is too much, you know, agree.
I think from the beginning we all agreed this is too big of a scope, at 70 miles of
roadway. And from what I understood from county projects, it's a million dollars
a mile to pave a road. So the $10 million, is 10 times that I've heard in the past as
far as repaving. But for dedicable road standards. But I also was going by the
understanding that in minimum right of way standard it's in this table in
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Section 23-86 it says minimum right of way, which is dedicable standard
according to the county. Not a 50 -foot right of way. So that was news to me.
But with 285 people voting for option two, which will be the all letter roads,
including Road 1. And the question of whether improved gravel roads could be
done. So I think that really limits down the scope. So without getting too crazy
about numbers today, and throwing out huge giant numbers to scare people away.
But keeping this within an affordable range for the folks, and full understanding
we just came out of the pandemic, and this was brought up last year. So we didn't
move ahead until last year, just because we hit COVID. It's not the right time.
Even now, it's worrisome. And I told everyone from the beginning there's going
to be a cost. But again, would you move forward if you didn't know the cost here
the principle of your mortgage payment, no. You want to know how much it's
going to cost you. So the point of this is, just to understand what that's going to
be for the citizens who live here.
And the other half is, we will not touch private roads made or platted by this
county before 1966. If you're a private subdivision owner, you're on your own.
That is the message from the county, if you look at our Code in Section 23.
That's clear as day, so for me we don't provide a lot of options these massive
sprawling unimproved subdivisions that we help create in the 40's to the 60's.
But now collect property taxes from, that's in every single one of our districts. So
when we look at how we're going to help, there's not a lot of options for our
community especially ones where it's voluntary road dues. You have mandatory
road dues, they've made headway they have paved roads. But voluntary road
dues, you're seeing a really poorly designed roadway system and the community
can barely keep up with the roadways that they have. Even if that just means
gravel.
So therefore the improvement district, you know, as Roy and I talked about.
Sorry just straight from the point, it's something I've come to learn on my first
term and looking for solutions. This is the solution that could work for the
community. Given that, you know, Mr. Rodenhurst, that we saw the 285 people
voting for option two, that's just letter roads and Road 1. And we discussed that,
yesterday between our phone call. I think we should nail it down to that
framework, as far as the project scope. That amount of miles of roadway, and not
get carried away with questions on what 70 miles of roadway will cost. Because
of course it's going to be expensive, and it's scary. And if that was the intention,
then we should not do that. Because I want be very clear, but I want to provide a
good number.
I also want to say mahalo to Mr. Chung for saying you got to give me a break,
$233,000 a mile to study something. That just cannot—he said it the best, cannot
be. And it's true, I cannot believe that. And also just please check into this,
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50 -feet right of way. Because there's a minimum right of way standard, which we
used to call an agricultural right of way. And we've moved it to the minimum
right of way, in that table in Section 23. So I want to understand why we cannot
use a smaller right of way for these roads, especially if they're not, you know,
arterial collectors. And I'm not an engineer, I don't understand the differences.
But these are not, you know, transporting thousands of people.
So I just wanted to clarify some of that for everyone, so we can get a feel for the
scope. You know, what the thought was behind the survey that was sent out.
And the amount of people who responded positively or negatively. You know,
the negative ones were 122 people out of 714, saying no. And there is about
12 testimonies in support written that were submitted, actually there was two that
was negative. So those odds—what I'm looking at is a lot of people really want
this to happen, and some don't. And you're going to find that anywhere probably
in your communities too. That's just to clarify.
So Mr. Rodenhurst please use option two, which we've discussed as our basis for
the amount of miles in that study. And please take a hard look at that mile for the
study cost, I think that is incredible excessive. You know, to be nice about it.
MR. RODENHURST: So to cover the talk about the minimum widths, isn't the
minimum widths for our agriculture roads, that's 23-41. Under 23-86 which
details the requirements for dedicable streets, I believe it's under, sorry I'm
reading it off from this. It's under that Section 23-86 where it's based off of our
current standards. And that's what I put forward here today, with the 50 -foot
right of way including those widths, and that's for dedicable standards. The
minimum right of ways for those roads on 20-41, I'll have to go and look into that
further for you.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, I'd like to know if that's a possibility,
because that would take away the need for condemnation and property
acquisition. And it still falls into our table of acceptable right of way widths.
And that's what I think we should be designing this around. And again, I'm not
an engineer, but that makes sense to me given the amount of traffic on these
roads, and what would be useful for the community and to be cost effective. I'll
discuss more to with Roy Takemoto, and get a feel for his thoughts on the
variance and how that process would work. Because he was really the genius
behind this, and helping me understand this project a lot.
MR. RODENHURST: I would like to caution against the dedicable standards in
changing the variance on that. These are designed for a reason, to provide the
purposes necessary for the traffic that they're going see as well as the
maintenance cost further down the line. And how do we preserve our county
roads, so we don't have increase maintenance cost later on. And for other
engineer reasons as well depending on drainage, and depending on availability for
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the traffic flow that we're seeing. So there's other things beyond just right of way
consideration, which is consideration for what kind of traffic is going to be on
these roads.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Understood, thank you.
ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Matt, I'm going to go to Council Member Chung
now, yeah. Council Member Chung, go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Thank you. And you know, I apologize to my colleagues, if I'm
asking the same question again. But either I heard wrong, or I asked the question
wrong or my question was answered incorrectly. But at the bottom of this
resolution it calls for the Director of the Department Public Works to prepare and
submit your report. Did I hear correctly that the report will cost $200,000 a mile?
Cannot be right, I mean is that what I heard?
MS. SAKO: So again, we said the only thing we have to base it on is the Lono
Kona improvement district, which is the most recent one, and their report
$233,000. And was covered approximately a mile. That was a very small
improvement district.
MR. CHUNG: And that was the county's end? The county paid for that?
MS. SAKO: The County fronted the money from the improvement district
Revolving Fund, and then got reimbursed when the bond was issued.
MR. CHUNG: Okay. This is how I think it's supposed to work, okay, and it's
only my opinion. The county will do an assessment which complies with the
provisions contained in Section 12-10(a). And those called for very preliminary
types of studies, or assessments so that we can get a preliminary cost estimate for
how much this is going to be. Because I think the $200,000 per mile, applies to
the design aspects. Generally about, you know, quarter of the construction cost,
right. And I think that's where we might be hung up, yeah, because I've got to
believe it's only going to take like about $5,000 and that's still $5,000 out of the
county's money, I mean coffers, but I just think it's not going to take too much
time on part of the department to just come up with preliminary numbers, so that
we have a good idea as to how much this is going to cost per assessed unit.
That's the main thing, that's what we're trying to accomplish right now. So that
the people who are going to have to bear the burden of paying this thing at least
have some idea as to how much this is going to cost, what they're going to get for
what they're paying for, and then they can make a good decision, as to whether
they want it or not. But that's only my two cents. But I think I'm kind of correct
on this, because cannot be. If not no sense have improvement district ordinance
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already. Because it's going to be cost prohibitive, because the county cannot
front that kind of money. So just kind of think about it. Thank you.
ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Go ahead, Matt.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Heather. Thanks for the
latitude. Again, I completely agree with Aaron. Moving forward, let's use option
two please. I'd like to move this forward to Council but it will not go any further
with this until we are comfortable with what those costs look like. And that's the
commitment I made to the community. Again, the community asked to bring this
forward. And I will not move forward with this until it's settled, and we kind of
see what it's going to look like. I cannot do that in good conscience. So using
option two, can you please come back to the Council in two weeks, and give us a
number on what we're looking at with a number for the miles of road we're
looking at through option two for the study.
And then if you can give a better basis for that cost for the project, that would be
good. But again, the study is really what starts us off, and what we need to
understand now. Behind that study is a long lengthy public process that is a lot
deeper than what we're discussing at this moment. So that's my desire for today.
And I really appreciate today's discussion, some things are new to me, some
things are not. And I learned a lot. Mahalo, for everyone's input. And thank you
for the latitude, Chair.
ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Sure.
MR. RODENHURST: I can provide the mileage for that.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: You have the miles right now?
MR. RODENHURST: Yes.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: What is the miles for the option two?
MR. RODENHURST: What we have right now, the preliminary of B, C, D, E, F,
G, and Road 1 is approximately 23 miles.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: So that would be what we're calling option
two that was in the survey that was sent out, that received the most votes
positively?
MR. RODENHURST: Correct.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: It would be a 23 mile
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MR. RODENHURST: Twenty-three and a little bit. I think its 23.1 miles, so
approximately 23 miles.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: So the numbers that were thrown around
earlier kind of—we just call that garbage right now. Because we never were
approaching the entire system of roadways being improved by the community. It
was this, series of roadways that had the most votes. So I'm just going to stick to
that. So we'll call it 23 miles of roadway. Still understanding it's a very large
number, but until we have some solid numbers in front of us, I don't want to say
no, at this point. So mahalo, Mr. Rodenhurst. I appreciate you helping us kind of
understanding this better. And thank you, Deanna.
MS. SAKO: So Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, I think it would really help if the
resolution was amended because the reason those big numbers get thrown out is
it's very general, the resolution. And it appears to apply to entire subdivision,
which is the 73 or 77 miles of road. So at some point I think it would be very
beneficial to amend the resolution, so that it's clear as to what we're talking
about. But we will try and get better estimates between now and the next
meeting.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: I can work on amending the resolution. I
think the discussion needs to happen, and I've found sometimes it's good to just
get the discussion moving and then amend as we need to.
ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Matt, let me pass it on to Council Lee Loy, and
Council Member Inaba who's been patiently waiting. Go ahead, Sue.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah. And Deanna just mentioned it. You know, we have a
duty to pass the words in front of us. And although I'm hearing wonderful
conversation, what we're being asked to do is, do it this way and then we'll let the
paperwork catch up later on. And why I continue to stand by, you know, we need
to refine what we're asking the department to do. And I really would appreciate
it, because it manages the expectation whereby we can hold the department
accountable. And then there's some actionable items around that, that
Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder can take back to his community. I really would want to
see this held in committee, refine to a place where everybody is getting good
information to make good decisions. That was my thoughts, and Deanna
mentioned it just now. So thank you.
ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Inaba, go ahead.
MR. INABA: Director Rodenhurst, are we going be able to get the
comprehensive numbers that Council Member Chung has kind of been talking
about. Not just per mile, but per the lot as well? Because if we can'tI don't
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think we should put the pressure on—if it was going to take so much money are
you going to be able to get that to us in two weeks or do we need more time?
MR. RODENHURST: If I'm not mistaken, I was requested to get a more refined
reporting cost for that feasibility study. Not the final report numbers, from that
report in two weeks. Is that correct? I guess that's where I'm a little bit confused
at this point.
MR. INABA: Maybe I'm confused too. What are we talking about? Are we
trying to get more concrete numbers, or are we just trying to get simple numbers
to give us an idea?
MR. RODENHURST: Because my understanding of what Council Member
Chung asked, is to get a more refined reporting number on this. Which in turn,
you know, if we're able to feasibly do the report. We'd be able to get a more
refined design cost, and more refined construction cost. These preliminary
estimates, very early preliminary estimates, are based off of a lot of unforeseen
and unknowns at this time. Like I mentioned there may be some drain
improvements need to be made, whether it be drywells or what not. The roads are
at varying conditions that would have to be confirmed. We've talked about the
right of way, dedicable standards, what kind of land acquisitions we would have,
how many properties that we would be affecting. There are a lot of unknowns at
this time.
And while we are zeroing in on the scope with the, you know the 23 miles of road
there still leaves a lot to be considered for this. And that's where that feasibility
comes in, and like Deanna mentioned we haven't had an improvement district like
this in recent times. I think this previous one the Lono Kona one was 2013, so
that's where we're basing these numbers off of the feasibility. And yes, it does
seem like a very high price, we're trying to figure if there's anything that would
make this a little bit more zeroed in on at this point. And happy to have a
discussion about zeroing the scope in to get those out there.
MR. INABA: Okay, thank you. And Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder has clarified that
preliminaryI guess my question is in two weeks are we going to have an
updated—it's not going to be $200,000 anymore we're going to have an updated
number. Is that right?
MR. RODENHURST: I can't confirm what the change is going to be, but we can
look and see what's possible. As far as making sure this price is either justified,
or providing how we can get a price that's lower than that.
MR. INABA: Alright, thank you. Chair, I yield.
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May 4, 2021
ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. And before I recognize Mr. Chung, I'm
going to do a little engineer translation. When looking at Section 12-10, and what
would be described in the study, the language in there is actually quite vague, and
I can see how depending on how you interpreted this is a very preliminary, broad
study without a lot of investment. Or it could actually be interpreted to be
something where you're going out and you're doing surveys and you're doing
designs, and you're doing drawings. Having worked with engineers quite a bit
when they're given situations that are vague, they're going to estimate it the way
high-end. I think that's what we're seeing here.
So I'm going to pass it to Mr. Chung. But I do believe that as we discuss this
further, in addition to specifying the amount of roads that you actually want to
look at. We actually need to define this study, and scope of work a little bit
better. And it's all going to be dependent on how much uncertainty you're
willing to except in the estimates. If it's just very high 30,000 foot you think it's
necessary, then the scope of work is going to be a little lighter. With that I'll pass
it to Mr. Chung.
MR. CHUNG: Well I don't know if Mr. Inaba's question was answered, I was
just going to address that. But addressing the Chair's statements, this has to be
very broad. The reason for that is, the whole purpose behind the improvement
district arrangement was that almost all of the cost, if not all, were going to be
borne by those properties that are within the assessment district. Therefore
there's not going to be any, you know, our cost to the general public. And the
only that the county would put it up, would be its full faith in credit. Because
we're going to be issuing bonds on this thing.
So what I'm thinking, I mean the only thing that Mr. Rodenhurst and Deanna can
do from now until the time that this either goes to the committee next time, or full
Council is to now reassess the option B, or C or whatever it is that, you know,
we're looking at. And say there are now 24 miles, and you know, x amount of
graded areas. But that's all they can do, they cannot move through with a study
per this resolution until the resolution is adopted. And that study in my mind, is
going to take months. You know, it's not going to take a lot of investment on the
part of the county, but it's going to probably be done in-house. And if it costs a
lot, then they would have to come back to us for an appropriation.
I'm sure it can be done in-house, just looking at what's provided for in the County
Code. But it would take, I would think a least five months. And then they come
back with their report. Then I think another resolution has to be passed, which is
going to create the—or I think from there maybe they're be noticed kinds of
provisions. I don t know how this thing is going to work, but something else has
to be done later on. But I don't think we're going to get anything specific, and
when I say specific I mean generally specific, next meeting. We're looking
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months down the line, and it's after the resolution is adopted. That's all I have to
say. Thank you.
ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Richards.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you. And I guess I'm a little stuck on the dollars, and
cents of this. I support the intent of trying to get this done, and I was thinking
about it this actually goes back to Jen Ruggles and I had this conversation
four-plus years ago. Or maybe not quite that long, maybe four. Concerning
doing this, but it never got beyond anything.
And I hear what Finance is saying, I hear what Public Works is saying. I want to
support it, but I also don't want to sign up the community for something that
maybe they're not ready to get signed up for. And I hear what Mr. Chung is
saying about it, I think I would prefer to see this stay in committee, get a few
more guardrails around it, every pun intended, and yet some idea of what the
scope of it's going to be, coming back with Mr. Rodenhurst information as well as
maybe a little bit better understanding of the scope. Because I want to support it,
with those numbers when we go to Council and that's where we're going to have
a lot of input form the community depending what they're saying. So that's my
mindset right now, I'd like to hold it in committee, get those data points in place
and then take it out from there. So Chair, I yield. Thank you.
ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Richards. Any final
thoughts? Alright, I will just chime in one more time. I agree that I think we
need to spend a little more time with this in committee. Personally just define that
scope a little better and in terms of Section 12-10 what you're really looking for at
this point. Again, it can interpreted fairly broadly in terms of what their
requirements of the study was if you're just reading that text, you know, straight
on. So at this point this is their motion to defer, to either the call of the Chair or a
specific date, decision making on this resolution.
MR. INABA: Yeah. I want to make a motion to postpone to the call of the Chair,
so we can hopefully have—or Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder can hopefully have more
discussion with Public Works and Finance. And maybe even at that time, iron out
the amendments to the resolution.
Motion to Postpone: Mr. Inaba moved to postpone Res. 105-21 to the call of the
Chair. Seconded by Mr. Richards.
ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Any discussion on the postponement? Council
Member, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: I appreciate the concern for slowing it down,
and holding it. At the same time it would then have to move it forward to Council
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May 4, 2021
anyway. As Mr. Chung described, and as I read through Chapter 12 and maybe
some of you should brush up on Chapter 12. It can't go anywhere, and this is just
the preliminary study step. Until it passes through us, and the study begins. So
without it being approved at Council, it's stuck. So moving it forward to Council
holding it in Council, deferring it, it just feels very circular. I'd like to move it
ahead. I'll be voting against this motion. But expressly, this will not move pass
the final goal in my eyes, until we can better understand what the cost are. For
me we've laid out pretty well where this is going to sit, what the subdivision has
defined as the scope of their project. We've discussed that today.
And without this being passed, it's just a basis of a feasibility study. If you read
that section, it just lays that out. I mean there's not really a lot of movement, in
that improvement district section of code. It's laid out piece by piece what
happens. It's a pretty long process, the beginning is the feasibility study. There
isn't a lot of precedent on this happening, as there's not a lot of base what we do
on. I'm open to amending pieces and parts of this as I discussed with
Mr. Rodenhurst. But for me, what I think is proper is to move this forward to
Council. And then hold it at Council without—if you guys don't feel comfortable
moving it past, having a final vote.
We're not locked into anything, by moving it ahead to Council. The only thing
that this does is approve us moving forward with feasibility study. And I'm going
to hold true to my community and to you guys, that we will not finalize the vote
on this at Council if it gets there, until we're comfortable with the pricing
structure that we're going to see for the scope of the project. Because ultimately
it's the people of Hawaiian Acres who will be paying this off, and I don't want to
burden them heavily. And this is not easy to come to, and I understand that the
folks are going to bear the cost, you know, so I don't take this lightly.
But with everything, you know, said today, I'd like to move this ahead to Council,
and not defer and putting a holding pattern whatever is going to be said. I'd like
to just move it ahead, and hold it at Council so that we can move on it when we're
ready. That's my two cents, mahalo.
ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Any other
comments on the deferral? I'll just make a comment. I think it's just a difference
of philosophy that if something still in progress it should sit in committee rather
than move to Council. And I think this is still a work in progress. And I'll give
you an example. You say that Chapter 12 specifies things pretty clearly. I would
disagree. So 12-10(a), paragraph (2), "The general character and extent of any
improvement to be proposed" shall be included in the report. When you say
"general character," you know, what does that mean? That could mean any level
of detail, right.
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So without us specifying at what level of detail we need to make decisions about
this particular case. I think that's why you see this astronomical cost for the
study, because that's so ill defined in the code. And good reason right, because
it's going to be fluid to every project to what level you need to examine sort of
these things to make a decision. That's just my position in terms of where this
needs to be worked on and why. Icertainly no objections, you know,
considering this for your community. Clearly it's something that's very important
for discussion, and that's not the position I'm taking as point of opposition to the
concept. It's just really just a need I think to massage a little bit more.
With that, any other comments? We'll take the vote on the deferral. All of those
in favor of deferring to the call of the Chair?
Vote on Motion The motion to postpone Res. 105-21 to the call of the
to Postpone: Chair was carried by the following roll call vote:
(Approved)
Ayes: Committee Members Chung, Inaba,
Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Richards, and
Acting Chair Kimball — 6.
Noes: Committee Members David, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
and Villegas — 3.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: With that, I will yield the chair back to Council
Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
Relinquish Chair: At this time, the Acting Chair Kimball relinquished the chair to Chair
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Let the record
reflect I've taken back over as Chair of the Finance Committee. Okay, Mr. Clerk,
next order of business, please.
Res. 109-21: AUTHORIZES THE PAYMENT OF FUNDS OF A LATER FISCAL YEAR
AND OF MORE THAN ONE FISCAL YEAR FOR AN EXTENSION OF A
MULTI-YEAR LEASE OF REAL PROPERTY FOR THE COUNTY OF
HAWAII POLICE DEPARTMENT WAREHOUSE IN KEA`AU, DISTRICT
OF PUNA
Authorizes the Mayor to enter into a four-year lease extension for 12,000 square
feet of warehouse space.
Reference: Comm. 223
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R)
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Motion to Approve: Mr. Richards moved to recommend adoption of Res. 109-21.
Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: We have Deanna Sako in Hilo to answer
any questions. And mahalo for every one of you for your patients, I know you've
been waiting. I believe we also have Officer Amaral in Hilo as well to discuss
this, being a Police Department lease for the Police warehouse in Shipman
Industrial. Can you please give us a little background on the project and what's
going on and then if there's any questions we can go with the Council's questions.
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MS. SAKO: This is just an extension of a lease, we've been leasing property and
you know, I think we've talked in the past about as we have to maintain evidence
the space to store that evidence increases. So we wanted to extend this lease for
additional amount of four years at site undisclosed on purpose. And so we're
happy to answer any question you might have.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mahalo. Any questions from the Council.
Okay. Well I appreciate your time, thank you for coming today. There are no
questions at this time. Motion is on the floor to forward Res. 109-21 to Council
for a favorable recommendation. All in favor?
Vote on Res. 109-21: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 109-21 was
(Approved) carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Chung David, Inaba,
Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and
Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder — 8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Kimball — 1.
Excused: None.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Next order, Bill 21.
BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business,
ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances.
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May 4, 2021
Bill 21: ESTABLISHES AN OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF
HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2021, TO JUNE 30, 2022
From Mayor Mitchell D. Roth, dated March 1, 2021. The balanced budget
includes estimated revenues and appropriations of $590,800,952; which
represents a proposed 0.8 percent increase compared to the Fiscal Year 2020-
2021 Operating Budget.
Reference: Comm. 103
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R)
Postponed: April 13, 2021
(Note: There is a motion by Mr. Inaba, seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz, to
recommend passage of Bill 21 on first reading.)
; and
Comm. 103.1: From Finance Director Deanna S. Sako, dated March 1, 2021, transmitting
reports entitled, Departmental & Agencies' Six Month Progress Report on
Program Objectives for Fiscal Year 2020-2021 and Final Status Report on
Program Objectives for Fiscal Year 2019-2020.
Vote on Bill 21
(Approved)
CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Is there any discussion on Bill 21?
Wonderful. Okay, seeing no discussion. All in favor of forwarding Bill 21 to
Council with a favorable recommendation?
The motion to recommend passage on Bill 21 on first
reading was carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Inaba,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards,
Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder — 9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
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May 4, 2021
Bill 22: RELATES TO PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF
FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1. 2021. TO JUNE 30. 2022
From Mayor Mitchell D. Roth, dated March 1, 2021, transmitting the proposed
Capital Budget for FY 2021-2022 and the Capital Improvements Program for
the next six years from Fiscal Year 2021-2022 to 2026-2027, which includes
66 projects requiring a total appropriation of $188.78 million. Approximately
$129.56 million are intended to be funded in whole or part by bonds, $3.1
million to be funded by Federal Grants, and $56.12 million to be funded by the
State Revolving Loan Fund or State Capital Improvement Projects.
Reference: Comm. 104
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R)
Postponed: April 13, 2021
(Note: There is a motion by Mr. Inaba, seconded by Ms. Kimball, to recommend
passage of Bill 22 on first reading.)
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mahalo, Mr. Clerk. Any discussion on
Bill 22, Council Members? No? Deanna, you still in the chambers in Hilo?
Thank you, Ma'am. I have a question for you Deanna.
MS. SAKO: Mm-hmm.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So this is our capital improvement budget,
correct?
MS. SAKO: Yes, it is.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: My question is, how is this Council
supposed to know what projects on this list will be done and what's not?
MS. SAKO: It's basically done by the ones that are noted that there's grant
funding, there's some that are noted that are fair share. Sorry, I didn't bring it
down with me. You know, there's different funding sources, those are kind
of—those come with funding so to speak. The others are not, and so it would all
depend if it's either something that can be funded by fuel tax, and you guys do
pass the fuel tax ordinances that do have the potential projects listed, within the
ordinance. And then you guys also pass the bond ordinances, which also have
specific projects listed.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Understood. And we have a long list of
projects that are both prioritized, and we show a funding source. But is this the
way it's always done, or we don't know what's going to happen and we just kind
of wander into our capital improvement budget and hope projects will get done?
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May 4, 2021
MS SAKO: Well I believe most Council Members work with the departments to
help identify it as a priority.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: But does identifying it as a priority mean
that it'll get funded?
MS. SAKO: It depends if there's a bond ordinance to pay for it or not.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And we have bond ordinances existing,
correct?
MS. SAKO: Yes.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And we have grants existing?
MS. SAKO: Yes, we do.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, so I'm guessing that we do know
some of these projects will be funded.
MS. SAKO: Yeah, there's various projects on the STIP (State Transportation
Improvement Projects) list and other lists.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Would it be possible to have a list of
capital improvement projects that will be funded this year submitted to this body?
MS. SAKO: You know, Planning is in charge of the capital budget. So you
know, each department is kind of tracking some of their own grants, so I don't
know how long it would take us to pull that together.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I mean you have a list in front of you, with
all the projects we've submitted as priorities. I can't give you a number, but
there's got to be less than 30 on here. And if the departments know which ones
they prioritize and we know which ones are funded it would be useful.
MS. SAKO: So in the front of the ordinance, when I said some are grant funded I
meant if you're talking specifically about those projects in the front of the
ordinance, it says that it supposed to be funded by a grant. It actually says Federal
Grant Funding above the project.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's fine. But again, back to which ones
will be funded this year. Or this coming fiscal year, and which ones will not be?
And is it possible to get a list of those projects, and get it to the Council?
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May 4, 2021
MS. SAKO: So if it's not federal funded, it's not State Revolving funded, then
no, we have not determined yet what other projects will be funded. Because we
have not come forth yet, with another bond ordinance to fund projects. That
process is taking place. I think I've mentioned that before, where we're trying to
prioritize the projects and prepare a bond ordinance to come forth to Council.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So at this point in time, we don't know
which one of these projects will be funded, is that what you're saying?
MS. SAKO: I am not going to make a blanket statement on every single project,
because the capital budget is prepared by planning so I don't have them all
memorized. But you know, there's definitely some projects are probably going to
have to fund. But you know, even some of these projects that are listed here are
just the planning or design fees, which we may or may not get to in the coming
year.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Because of our, you know, in constrained
fiscal position that we find ourselves in this year, I'm very interested to know
what projects that we will be proceeding on funding or not. And I do feel that we
know full well which projects we'll be funding, walking to the next fiscal year.
So if I can ask again, can I please have a list, whether it's through planning or
through finance, of the projects that we plan on funding this year through our
capital improvement projects list?
MS. SAKO: I can't answer that, no.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So that's a no or a yes, or you need time to
think about it?
MS. SAKO: I just said, we're preparing a bond ordinance and prioritizing the
projects. You're the one who said, you feel that we do know which projects
we're going to do. I tried to very nicely say we're not sure yet, which projects
we're going to do yet. So I don't know how to answer your question.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I'm looking for a little bit of clarity on
where we stand with our capital improvements, and I think it's to the best interest
of the county and to the Council to know.
MS. SAKO: So we have a new Administration, we just asked every department
to submit their priorities to us. Some are already on the last two fiscal years',
capital budgets because each budget is good for three years. So we have projects
that are ongoing, we have a new Administration is place, we just asked everyone
to prioritize it based on federal mandates. You know, you've heard the shape of
our sewer system, you've heard about the shape of our roads. So we just got that
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list from each of the departments, we're in the process of prioritizing it. But that
hasn't been completed yet.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: When will that be completed?
MS. SAKO: I'm not sure. I'm trying to get the budget in tomorrow, so after that.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So as soon as possible I'd like to
see a full list of what will be done. This coming fiscal year, expected. And not
just a prioritized list, because it doesn't mean anything or doesn't mean enough.
I'd like to see a little bit more clarity on what's going on. And I think it's good
for the Council to understand what will be done in the fiscal year what those
projected projects will be. And so if you know tomorrow, if you know in two
days, great. Submit them as soon as you have them so we can better understand
our budget.
Okay, thank you, Ms. Sako. Okay, motion is in front of us to forward Bill 22 to
Council for first reading. All in favor?
Vote on Bill 22: The motion to recommend passage on Bill 22 on first
(Approved) reading was carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Inaba,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards,
Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder — 9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I believe that brings us to the end of our
agenda. May I have a motion to adjourn, please?
ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 5:09 p.m. Ms. David moved to adjourn
MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Inaba,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards,
Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder — 9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Page 36
FC -10
CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: We are adjourned. Mahalo.
Approved:
Mr. Matt Kdneali`i- einfel
Finance Committee
MK/rk
Chair
G/q//q�
I (bate)
May 4, 2021
Page 37