HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN COUNCIL 2021-06-02 2020-2022 Hawaii County Council
151h Session
Hawaii County Building
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii
June 2, 2021
INVOCATION: Kahu Charlie Kama of Hale Pule Ke Ola Hou gave the morning's invocation.
CALL TO The regular meeting of the Hawaii County Council was called to order at
ORDER: 9:00 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Chair.
ROLL CALL:
Present: Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Chair
Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Vice Chair
Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member
Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member
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
PLEDGE OF The Chair directed the Council to the next order of business, Pledge of
ALLEGIANCE: Allegiance.
(At this time, Ms. Lee Loy led the Council in the Pledge of
Allegiance.)
PETITIONS, The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Petitions,
MEMORIALS, Memorials, Certificates of Merit, and Expressions of Condolence.
CERTIFICATES
OF MERIT, AND (There were none.)
EXPRESSIONS OF
CONDOLENCE:
STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business,
FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items.
PUBLIC ON
AGENDA ITEMS: (There were none.)
APPROVAL The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Approval
OF MINUTES: of Minutes.
Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
Vote on Approval Mr. Inaba moved to approve the Minutes of May 5, 2021.
of Minutes: Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy and carried by the following
(Approved) voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business,
CATIONS: Communications.
Comm. 271: REQUESTS APPROVAL OF A DONATION OF 60 MELIN HATS
From Finance Director Deanna Sako, dated May 13, 2021. The donation from the
Hawaiian Lifeguard Association, valued at approximately $3,540, would be used by
the Hawaii Fire Department's Ocean Safety Division.
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to approve the donation
of 60 melin hats. Seconded by Ms. Villegas.
CHR. DAVID: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, this was waived out of finance.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: This was waived from my Finance
Committee to Council to expedite the donation.
CHR. DAVID: All right. Any other discussion, Council Members? Seeing none,
all those in favor of filing Communication 271,please say "aye."
Vote on Comm. 271: The motion to approve the donation of 60 melin hats was
(Approved) carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
ORDER OF The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Order of
RESOLUTIONS: Resolutions.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
Res. 131-21: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A
DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED
FUND ACCOUNT FOR PARK MAINTENANCE AND/OR IMPROVEMENT
PROJECTS AT VARIOUS FACILITIES IN COUNCIL DISTRICT 2
Transfers $25,860 from the Clerk-Council Services —Contingency Relief account
(Council District 2); and credits to the Department of Parks and Recreation,
Transfer to Capital Projects Fund-General account.
Reference: Comm. 264
Intr. by: Mr. Chung
Vote on Res. 131-21: Mr. Chung moved to adopt Res. 131-21. Seconded by
(Adopted) Ms. Lee Loy and carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Res. 132-21: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A
DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED
FUND ACCOUNT TO PURCHASE MATERIALS FOR REPAIRS AND
MAINTENANCE OF THE MAKA`EO WALKING PATH AT THE OLD KONA
AIRPORT PARK
Transfers $1,000 from the Clerk-Council Services —Contingency Relief account
(Council District 7); and credits to the Department of Parks and Recreation,
Friends of the Park account.
Reference: Comm. 265
Intr. by: Ms. Villegas
Motion to Approve: Ms. Villegas moved to adopt Res. 132-21. Seconded by
Mr. Inaba.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Villegas.
MS. VILLEGAS: I just ask for the support of my colleagues. And I want to
express my gratitude to Maurice Messina and his work with a nonprofit
organization that does a lot of amazing work down at Maka`eo. That walking
path has been a real collaborative labor of love for many people in the
community, and I'm really excited to be able to contribute so they can purchase
some tools that are necessary for them to continue to doing their work.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in
favor of approving Resolution 132-21, please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 132-21: The motion to adopt Res. 132-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David–9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Res. 133-21: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A
DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED
FUND ACCOUNT FOR EXPENSES RELATED TO THE 2021 FOURTH OF
JULY CELEBRATION IN HILO
Transfers $2,000 from the Clerk-Council Services –Contingency Relief account
(Council District 2); and credits to the Department of Parks and Recreation,
Culture and Education Other Current Expenses account.
Reference: Comm. 266
Intr. by: Mr. Chung
Motion to Approve: Mr. Chung moved to adopt Res. 133-21. Seconded by
Ms. Lee Loy.
CHR. DAVID: Any discussion, Mr. Chung?
MR. CHUNG: Yeah. I was contacted by Roxcie Waltjen asking if I could give
some monies to the Parks and Recreation Fourth of July Celebration. I'm very
happy to do it. This is an event, which, historically, has been one that has brought
the community together, people from all walks of life to celebrate our nation's
independence, right. But in this time of COVID (coronavirus disease), I have to
ask Director Maurice Messina if he could come up here and please explain. I
mean, if I need to take this off, fine; if we want to move forward, that's fine. But
I'd like to know what you guys have in store. What's the plan on this one?
(Note: At this time, Parks and Recreation Director Maurice Messina came
forward to address the members of the Council.)
MR. MESSINA: Good morning, Council. Maurice Messina, Director of Parks
and Recreation. So, this has been up in the air for quite a while. As you all know,
we canceled last year's fireworks festivities—Hilo, Kona. After speaking with
the Mayor and his Administration, the Department of Health, Fire Department,
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
Civil Defense, looking at our numbers and the Mayor noticing our vaccination
rates and our low counts, he felt that we could move forward with an abbreviated
celebration this year. So, we're going to have the Hilo Bay Blast, and we're also
going to have something in Kona as well.
But there's going to be a lot of different things that are not going to happen this
year. We're not going to be doing the car show this year. We're not going to be
doing all the keiki activities this year that rolls up to it. Instead of prolonged
hours and hours of road closures, we're only going to go from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
this year.
And the only activity that we have other than the fireworks display, which will go
off at 8 o'clock in Hilo and in Kona, is that we're going to have a dress rehearsal
by the County Band at Mo`oheau Bandstand. That's going to be at 7 p.m. We're
going to have HPD (Hawai`i Police Department), DOCARE (Division of
Conservation and Resources Enforcement) officers monitoring the entire time.
There's not going to be any parking in our County parks' grass areas. We're
actually going to keep all of our parks open until 9 o'clock that night to allow
people to access the parking areas. It will also help us out with the community
policing officers and other officers clearing out the parks after the fireworks
displays are done.
In Kona, we are going to have it this year. We weren't able to get the barge, that
we normally have it. The barge came out to around $70,000 this year because
they had to ship it from either Maui or Oahu. So instead, we worked with
Chief Todd in the Fire Department to see if we could go off of the Old A's
airport, which they did back in 2008. We sat down with them; they approved our
plan.
So, what we're going to do is we're actually going to keep Old A's closed for the
entire day of July 4h. It's a lot easier to do that than try to get everybody out
who's been there all day for the fireworks. We're going to keep it closed for the
duration of the fireworks. And it's going to be between the middle and the end of
the pier, but we believe that can also be successful. They told us that because of
the way the offshore breezes go there, we don't have too much of a fire concern.
But we're going to have some volunteer Fire Department folks out there and a
few others out there to help keep it safe.
So, with all the support that we're getting from HPD, DOCARE, Civil Defense
in fact, Civil Defense is going to have their command station set up at the
Kamehameha statue area in case anything happens and we have to—like if there's
an emergency or something like that and we have to evacuate people out of the
area. So, with all that, we think that we can do a real good and safe Fourth of July
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
Celebration. And we're working on a press release right now so all the public
will know exactly the do's and the don'ts, what's available, what's not available.
And we look forward to it.
MR. CHUNG: Thank you, Maurice.
CHR. DAVID: You pau? Okay. Anyone else? Oh, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mo. Thank you, Mr. Chung, for
doing this. I've always wanted to see our Fourth of July Celebration bigger and
better. What do you mean by "abbreviated"?
MR. MESSINA: We normally have road closures. Well, the "abbreviated" is we
don't have the car show. We don't have all of the activities and events leading up
to the Fourth of July fireworks.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: But the actual fireworks themselves are
abbreviated or just everything else going on?
MR. MESSINA: Correct.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, beautiful, thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Villegas, go ahead.
MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah,just a quick question for clarification. Old Airport is
where the fireworks will go off in Kona. So, will it be on the strip, the Old
Airport ?
MR. MESSINA: Yeah, so, it'll be on the strip, yes.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. I'm sorry, I think you accidentally said "pier," and all
of a sudden I thought I was confusing it and we were going for the pier.
MR. MESSINA: Sorry.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, so, it will be out on the strip.
MR. MESSINA: Correct.
MS. VILLEGAS: Great location. Thank you.
MR. MESSINA: And just to let you know, we did look at the pier as well; spoke
to DLNR (Department of Land and Natural Resources) about that. But with the
boats and with the little halau that's right next to it, not a good idea.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MS. VILLEGAS: Kind of risk-reward. Yeah, I think you picked a great location.
And thank you for your creativity and determination to find a way to do it, and for
not spending $70,000 to bring the barge. I appreciate that.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair, and mahalo, Council Member Chung,
for supporting this. Having grown up on Hawaii Island, this was something that
my parents looked forward to taking me to. And I really appreciated the
opportunity to take my kids to view the fireworks display, go to the barbecue
event, and engage in all the activities.
Mo, I just want a little bit of clarification here. Because of COVID, are we
allowing folks to kind of pop up tents along Bayfront? Like, where are folks
supposed to be? Are they going to have to remain in their cars and view the
fireworks display from their vehicles? What does that look like?
MR. MESSINA: Originally, that was the thought. But just common sense tells
you if you're driving through Hilo, you can't see an airplane above you in your
car. So, that wasn't a good idea. With the Governor loosening the mask mandate
for outdoors and with the amount of Police officers and other officers that we're
going to have on hand, we're going to allow people to basically migrate. No
tents, no canopies, anything like that. It's just going to be if you want to bring
your lawn chair, you can bring your lawn chair; but it's going to be just you as an
individual watching with your family or watching with your friends.
And we ask that everybody still continue to social distance as best as you can.
And if you feel you're in an uncomfortable situation, please put on your mask.
But we're following all of the current mask mandates and social distancing and
gathering mandates that are already in the emergency proclamations and
(inaudible).
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Got it. You mentioned the events from six to ten but parks
close at nine. So, what's happening between nine and ten that folks have to look
forward to? Are we coordinating anything?
MR. MESSINA: No. That's just giving everybody enough time to clear out and
for us to get the barricades off the roads by 10 o'clock.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Got it. Perfect. When the press release goes out, I think it
would be really helpful for the Hilo and Kona events to create a map of locations
folks can be at just so that folks know and we can sort of alleviate congestion
where possible.
MR. MESSINA: No, we'll be very specific. I just didn't want to go over the
pages that I have in front of me today.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: No, that's great. You're super on it. Thank you again for
your hard work in making this happen. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Seeing none, all
those in favor of approving Resolution 133-21,please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 133-21: The motion to adopt Res. 133-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Mr. Chung, go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, Madam Chairman, I'd like to make a motion to waive the
five-day holdover on this matter as well as my 131-21, and maybe even
Ms. Villegas's 132-21 if we're allowed. I don't want to touch her resolution, but
if she's okay, maybe we could just waive that five-day holdover for all three. Is
that okay?
MR. HENRICKS: You have to waive reconsideration after a matter's adopted.
MR. CHUNG: Hmm?
MR. HENRICKS: It can only be waived after a matter's adopted.
MR. CHUNG: Right.
MR. HENRICKS: So, as of now, only 133 has been adopted by the Council.
MR. CHUNG: What about 131 and 132?
CHR. DAVID: We voted on
MR. HENRICKS: Did that pass?
CHR. DAVID: Yes.
MR. HENRICKS: I didn't know which ones you're talking about.
MR. CHUNG: The first three.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
CHR. DAVID: Yeah. They all passed.
MR. HENRICKS: Oh, okay, I didn't hear numbers, excuse me.
CHR. DAVID: Ms. Villegas.
MS. VILLEGAS: Yes, thank you, Mr. Chung. I appreciate you pointing that out.
MR. CHUNG: Do we do all three together?
MR. HENRICKS: 131, 132, 133.
CHR. DAVID: Yes.
Vote on Motion to Mr. Chung moved to suspend Council Rule 15 to waive the
Suspend Council 5-day hold for reconsideration on Resolutions 131-21,
Rules: 132-21, and 133-21. Seconded by Ms. Villegas and carried
(Approved) by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Res. 137-21: AUTHORIZES THE PAYMENT OF FUNDS OF A LATER FISCAL YEAR
AND OF MORE THAN ONE FISCAL YEAR FOR A MULTI-YEAR LEASE OF
REAL PROPERTY FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF LIQUOR CONTROL
Authorizes the Mayor to enter into a four-year, eleven-month lease agreement with
an option for an additional four years and eleven months with Puna Plantation
Hawaii, Limited, for approximately 2,162 square feet of office space at
Hanama Place in Kona.
Reference: Comm. 272
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 137-21.
Seconded by Mr. Inaba.
CHR. DAVID: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. This item was waived
from Council to expedite the processoh, sorry, waived from Committee. And
then we have the Director, Mr. Takase, here. You want to come up, Director?
(Note: At this time, Liquor Control Director Gerald Takase came forward
to address the members of the Council.)
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: The resolution's fairly self-explanatory, but
if you could just briefly summarize for us.
MR. TAKASE: Thank you, members of the Council. Gerald Takase, Department
of Liquor Control. As, I think, you're all aware of now, we are going to be
relocating out of West Hawaii Civic Center. And this is the lease to move to our
new location, which is, ironically, our old location back at Hanama Place, and it
actually kind of looks the same. So, we're trying to this is just to approve the
multi-year lease.
I didn't attach the actual copy of the lease because Puna Plantation had asked that
it be kept confidential. But let me just say that we got a pretty good rate, so we're
pretty happy with the results. And I can disclose to you guys privately, give you
guys detail.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Takase. Chair, I yield for
any further comments by the Council.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Takase. Thank you, Council Member.
Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Thanks, Chair. Just a quick question. Four years, eleven
months? I mean, that's a weird one.
MR. TAKASE: If you hit five years, you've got to record your lease; and I guess
they would save on recording fees. That was the reason.
MR. RICHARDS: Got it. Okay. I figured there was some answer there. All
right, Chair. Thank you. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you for that, Mr. Richards. Ms. Lee Loy, did you have
your light on? No? Okay, anyone else? Seeing none, thank you, Mr. Takase.
MR. TAKASE: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: All those in favor of approving Resolution 137-21, please say
Ic aye.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
Vote on Res. 137-21: The motion to adopt Res. 137-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Res. 138-21: AUTHORIZES THE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN
AGREEMENT WITH THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE
TREASURY
Allows for the receipt of$39,141,538 of Federally-derived funds over a two-year
period, which would be used to provide resources to support response efforts,
address economic fallout, and assist with recovery in relation to the COVID-19
pandemic.
Reference: Comm. 275
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
(Note: Comm. 275.2, from Finance Director Deanna Sako dated June 2, 2021,
transmitting a list of how Hawaii County would spend $19,570,769 received
from the United States Department of the Treasury, was circulated.)
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 138-21.
Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: This item was waived to Council as well,
and Ms. Sako is here if the Council has questions. I do have a few questions
myself. Ms. Sako, could you come forward?
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Council.)
MS. SAKO: Good morning. Before you ask, can I just clarify we were really late
turning in our communication this morning. So, if that hasn't been passed out to
the Council, I did bring copies.
MS. VILLEGAS: Got it.
MS. SAKO: Okay.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That is Communication 275.2, correct?
Okay. So, the questions I have were there's an accompanying bill, Bill 43.
Correct?
MS. SAKO: Yes.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And appropriating $19.5 million to support
COVID recovery efforts.
MS. SAKO: Yes.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And then that is half.
MS. SAKO: Half.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, 39 million
MS. SAKO: We're getting half this year, and the second half will come
12 months later.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you. And then, I was looking
at the communication you had sent over—we did get it by the way. Good job.
But if you want to briefly run over this American Rescue Plan budget as far as the
first payment is related.
MS. SAKO: Okay. So, the first payment has to last us these next 12 months or
so. And we broke it out into the categories that are allowed by the bill. And so,
the first one is supporting the public health response. So, that's the roughly
4 million that you see there. For airport testing that we continue to do for the
month of May, any interisland travel monitoring, you know, the safe travels
program for interisland, the County's responsible for that. The State pays for
transpacific but we have to pay for the interisland.
The community testing, any of our staff costs, like with Civil Defense, PPE
(personal protective equipment), those types of things, then 7 million--4 million
for the jobs program and 3 million for small business and agriculture. And
Doug Adams is in Kona if you have any questions on that line item.
And then, one of the allowable things is to replace lost public sector revenue.
And we frequently forget about Department of Water Supply, but they are part of
the County. And so, they actually have experienced revenue shortfalls this year.
So, most of it is for them but also for the loss of State funding for the lifeguards at
the State beaches. The State was so kind as to say the County would pay for half
the cost this year. And then, investing in water and sewer infrastructure is one of
them. And we'd like 2 million to go to exploration of new water wells across the
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
island, and then also 3 million to invest in broadband infrastructure. And those
are the only two types of infrastructure items that were allowed. So, these are
kind of the main categories we're allowed to spend it on.
This money is not as flexible, shall we say, as the CARES (Coronavirus Aid,
Relief, and Economic Security) Act money was. It's a little bit more restrictive.
Some of the same other requirements, we have to still follow the Federal
procurement and all those types of things. But in addition, the categories are
much more restrictive and specific than the CARES Act was.
So, that all together adds up to $19,570,769. We do have longer to spend this.
So, if they're not able to finish like the well exploration in the next 12 months, we
do have additional time, like up to 2025. But the things like the public health
response, we believe that will be spent rather quickly in the coming year.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, so, we have until 2025 if the funds
are not expended within this fiscal year or the next. Okay. Thank you for briefly
kind of going over what items the—and this is the Mayor, yourself, everyone kind
of coming together?
MS. SAKO: Yeah. So, we kind of came together. Doug has laid out the
economic impact part and the broadband part. I think he's still open if there's
specific suggestions from the Council on how to do that. But some of the other
ones, like the lost public sector revenue, is actually a very specific formula that's
in the bill or act or whatever it's called, sorry. And so, water supply did that
calculation so that we can help them out.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then, as far as the first—when
we first had the CARES Act, it was very precise on where it could be spent. Is
this a little bit more general? Is there a list that you came by?
MS. SAKO: No, it's kind of precise. Yes, there is, actually, a several hundred-
page document that lists the requirements of that.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Very nice.
MS. SAKO: And the Frequently Asked Questions are coming out in revisions of
approximately two per week.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Just like the SBA (United States Small
Business Administration) loans and every other document that's come from the
feds so far. Okay.
MS. SAKO: Yeah, it's so fun. I'm just saying.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, so, 19.5 million to spend down this
year, but again 2025 is the time limit.
MS. SAKO: Yeah, when we have to spend it by.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And then, we have another half coming in
next fiscal year.
MS. SAKO: Twelve months from now, right.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Twelve months from now. And then, that
would have the same 2025 deadline?
MS. SAKO: I believe so, yeah.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay.
MS. SAKO: So, one of the things obviously we're concerned about is the crystal
ball being fuzzy. We don't know what travelers will bring or our own residents
may bring back; new strains coming up. What's going to happen to the economy?
Right now, it looks really good. We had a lot of visitor arrivals over the weekend,
but we obviously don't know what's going to happen coming forward. So, this is
our plan for the moment, and obviously, we're going to have to be able to adapt if
necessary.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And then, with the accompanying bill, I
mean, is there a way for the Council to move some of these funds to different
projects? Is this funding open for the Council to touch?
MS. SAKO: I mean, I think we've done kind of a good job of trying to lay out
the specific areas. But I think what I said was that if the Council has specific
ideas on the economic stimulus portion, otherwise we'll work on that, a more
detailed plan.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So, yes or no?
MS. SAKO: So, maybe we can hear what Doug has to say first—he's in Kona
and then yeah.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Doug, you want to brief us on what
your role is and what you're handling?
(Note: At this time, Research and Development Director Douglass Adams
came forward to address the members of the Council, via
videoconferencing from Kona.)
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MR. ADAMS: Thank you, Chair. When it comes to the economic piece, the
initial aspect here is to realize that this is not at the level of the CARES amount.
First of all, Doug Adams, Director of R&D (Research and Development). You
can hear me, correct?
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: We can hear you. Go ahead, sir.
MR. ADAMS: Okay. And so, the key for us is to get people back into jobs as
quickly as possible. We've had good economic news, relatively speaking, both
from the Council revenues and also the DBEDT's (Department of Business,
Economic Development and Tourism's)recent economic forecast, but we're still
at three to four times the unemployment rate that we're used to having that we
had before the pandemic. So,jobs is key for us.
As we took a look at this, the underlying factors seem to be the issue for us. And
so, the idea of looking at making sure that we have an expansion of our childcare
capacity, we think that there's an opportunity here to do that. The idea of looking
at what worked during the last year, whether it was the—we had a couple of
different programs: Aloha Connects Innovation, the KUPU program that we
know is also being looked at by the State Legislature in terms of funding. These
provided opportunities for folks. And to the extent that we can provide funding
with their ability to get people into jobs, we think that this is a good thing,
particularly in the areas that the American Rescue Plan focuses on, which does
include our hospitality sector as one of those areas. So, it's not all areas
necessarily, but that is one of the areas that the Federal act does say that we can
move funds into.
Small business and agriculture are the other issues that we want to make sure that
we have continued to push forward. We were able to provide some reimbursable
funds to small business last year. We'd like to make sure it looks like there are a
variety of ways for us to be able to fund small business, whether it's through
grants or loans. We're leaning towards the idea of loans because we think that
then allows the funds to be used again and again. We have to make sure that we
cross all the "t's" and dot the "i's"for that process. But that would allow us then
to make sure that our small businesses do not shutter but that they are able to get
back up and begin to build the diversity that we're looking for inside of our
economy as well.
And the same is true for our agricultural sector, our food system sector, making
sure that those folks also have, as we are building on the work that was done
during the pandemic, as we saw our food sector come together in a major way,
making sure we don't lose the momentum associated with that for both our
producers and our aggregators.
Literacy is a big piece of this. So, the idea of making sure that we use the folks
that are involved in either our SBDCs (Small Business Development Centers), our
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
HIplans, our other possible incubator and business literacy organizations, we want
to make sure that they're available and that we work together in canon to help
them help our small businesses come out of this pandemic, build jobs, even if a
small number. If we have a large number of small businesses and they increase
the number of jobs they have by one or two, that's a lot of people. And we need
to do that because we have lost a significant number of jobs in our economy.
And then, finally, the broadband infrastructure on the bottom. This is all about
equity. This is making sure that we understand that the infrastructure we've seen
in a number of places, this is one of the three types of infrastructure that these
funds will actually be allowed to be used for. And we think that this is an
excellent opportunity for us to extend to our areas that don't have infrastructure of
this kind in any meaningful way, the opportunity to do that. So, this helps us help
the folks that need it the most when it comes to the equitable aspects of the
broadband access. And I'll take any questions that you may have.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Adams. I appreciate that.
So, my only question—and I like that you guys have a plan going forward; that's
necessary. But my question does remain, can the Council discretionarily or
independently move these funds to areas that we see fit regardless of
administrative desire, I think, is the most clear way I can put that.
MS. SAKO: So, we're still going through the single audit for the CARES Act
funding, and we definitely have some challenges with that. So, I would prefer
that we not do the hundred thousand each, but I think what we're trying to say is
we're open to suggestions. And for programs, some Council Members have
already talked to me about specific programs they'd like to see, especially on the
economic portion. Some of these other categories, like the lost revenue and
whatnot, those were specific calculations. That's why the numbers are kind of
specific. So, we'd like to not see those numbers change. But definitely on the
economic piece, if Council Members have specific ideas, we're open to hearing
those.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Anything stopping us? Or what
would be the correct mode or legislative items to use if we wanted to proceed at
that level?
MS. SAKO: I'm sorry. To proceedso, like, to make suggestions?
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Correct. Just for the Council.
MS. SAKO: Yeah,just say it right now, I mean, or call me. I'm like, you know,
it's like, yeah,just share your ideas. I mean, I think we're open with it. I think
some of the other numbers are very specific calculations. But like we said, we
don't know what the next year is going to bring. So, if we do have to change and
suddenly we have to do more airport testing or more community testing or do
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
outreach for vaccinations or something, then we're going to have to shift a little
bit. But right now, we know that getting our economy up and running again is
one of the most important things.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I'm sure the community is going to
have questions of us, then, to help guide the conversation. Where do we find or
where can people find the document that's driving how these funds can be
expended?
MS. SAKO: It's all over the NACo (National Association of Counties) website
and it's all over the Treasury website. If you just search "american rescue plan
treasury guidance," every document comes up. Like I said, it's fairly specific in
what we can utilize it for. So, we cannot really support our County departments
like we did with the CARES Act for various things unless it's specifically related
to things like health and safety. So, maybe like keeping Summer Fun kids
protected is okay but buying equipment or whatever is not.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, so, we probably shouldn't buy
45 ATVs (all-terrain vehicles) for our Police Department like we saw on Oahu.
MS. SAKO: Yes, that's correct.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you very much,
Director Adams, Director Sako. Mahalo. I yield for questions from the Council.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Now, who was first? Was
it Ms. Lee Loy or ? Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. Oh, I'm sorry; my side vision is
off. Mr. Inaba, go ahead.
MR. INABA: Thank you, Deanna. For the first section, the supporting the public
health response, how much of that 4 million has already been spent since we're
through with the airport testing and community testing?
MS. SAKO: So, it's kind of community mobile testing as we follow up on
clusters going forward, but probably about half has been spent, maybe not quite
half.
MR. INABA: Okay, so, we're looking at the rest of those funds for mobile
testing, you said?
MS. SAKO: Mobile testing, PPE, the Civil Defense operations. They do have a
couple extra staff, contract hires up there helping out as well.
MR. INABA: Do we think that's going to sustain us the remaining funds will
sustain us through the end of the year or the end of these 12 months?
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MS. SAKO: We hope so. One of the things we're not positive on yet is the
interisland travel quarantines. So, even though the post-arrival testing has
stopped, the interisland safe travels people are monitoring that and looking at the
app and the test results. That is not completed yet.
MR. INABA: Okay, and these funds here would help to cover those expenses.
MS. SAKO: Yeah, would help to cover that as well, yes.
MR. INABA: Okay. For the exploration of new water wells, that$2 million, is
that going directly to DWS (Department of Water Supply)?
MS. SAKO: Yes. So, that would allow them to explore and determine what we
need, but it would probably take another 5 to 6 million to actually dig the well and
complete the well. However, if they can get it done quickly enough, then
hopefully there would be the stimulus money coming down from the Federal
government that would help to complete that.
MR. INABA: And this well is going to be where?
MS. SAKO: Mayor mentioned Kona side but I didn't get specific with Keith on
that. So, yeah, I can follow up on that.
MR. INABA: Okay, thank you. And then last question, Director Adams, for you:
Investing in broadband infrastructure, in talking about equity and getting
infrastructure to those without, who exactly are we talking about here? What
communities are we talking about?
MR. ADAMS: We're talking about the communities in Puna and Ka`u and
potentially in Hamakua, but particularly Lower Puna and Ka`u.
MR. INABA: Wonderful. Okay, thank you. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Ms. Kimball, go ahead.
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. And thank you, Director Sako, for being
here today and spelling this out for us. Holeka asked a lot of questions I had. As
far as the loss of revenue, two questions: Do you know, roughly, the portion of
this that is the water supply revenue and what is the lifeguard component? And is
that certain yet? Is that still on the Governor's desk to pull that lifeguard
revenue?
MS. SAKO: The State's outlook is much improved over what it was when they
passed the budget. So, I'm not sure of the exact status. But right now, the
revenue supply loss is $2,892,558, roughly 2.9 million.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MS. KIMBALL: Is attributed to, oh, the water supply
MS. SAKO: The water supply.
MS. KIMBALL: Okay, thank you. Is there any reserves set aside in this for
we've talked a little bit about the uncertainty and what if there's a third wave
and
MS. SAKO: Right. And so, part of it is like the loss of the State, the lifeguards
holding that on the side. Probably when we go out to do some of this economic
stimulus money, maybe not paying it all out right in the beginning, you know,
kind of phasing it in so that money would be set aside for later.
MS. KIMBALL: Director Adams, thank you also for being here. Just a follow-
up question. You talked about the equity piece with regard to the broadband.
Also wondering if you have any plans to add an equity lens to the jobs and
agricultural funding. This body did a job, the feminist recovery plan, as well as
previously adopted other lenses that do take into account equity. Any thoughts on
how you might include that in the way these funds are allocated?
MR. ADAMS: Thanks for the question, Council Member Kimball. I think that
the initial focus for us on childcare and increasing the childcare capacity is
actually associated with that equity lens. We don't have huge information within
the State and particularly within the County, but the fact is that the industries that
are doing well, such as construction, largely are male dominated. It's the
hospitality areas, for example, that we find are women workers. And the fact that
many of them may not be able to come back because of caring for children
because children are either at home or they're not at school or they're taking care
of(inaudible) and need to be cared for. We know that a lot of that is happening
around the country, and we anticipate that it's also happening here.
And so the idea of, at least in the childcare aspect, being able to identify that as an
underlying factor that we can at least begin to do something about. This is not a
lot of funds when it comes to trying to do that. But we think that if we can pick
one factor that we could actually make a difference on, this seems to be one of
those factors. And so, that lens was part of the idea of looking at childcare as
something to put the funds against.
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Director. And really appreciate that consideration
and thoughtfulness. I know we have, within the County, challenges because we
have staff that still have to stay home to take care of their families. And as you've
said, we have seen nationally a much more significant impact on the incomes of
women with respect to the COVID effects on the economy. So, really grateful to
you for considering that.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
And have just an ask that when the initial CARES fundings were distributed and
we had passed the feminist recovery plan, there really were not metrics kept on
how well we actually met that objective. So, as you're developing your program
here,just a request for the collection of some metrics so we can actually discuss
real numbers later on of how we've impacted the community in terms of an equity
lens.
I also wanted to ask, you mentioned aloha `aina connects, I'm sorry, Aloha
Innovation Connects and KUPU as two groups that you'd be working with. To
my knowledge, they don't really work directly with hospitality, but you had
talked about investing some of those funds in terms of getting people back to
work in the hospitality industry. Is there another partner you're working with, or
is that going to come directly out of the County?
MR. ADAMS: The way I understand it, Council Member, is that with the—first
of all, we have not approached either of those organizations specifically. That
would not be—we wouldn't be allowed to do that. But we know that they were
successful previously. We know that aloha connects innovation, the identification
of the sector that they would work in is dependent on the negotiation that we
would potentially have with them. And so, the idea of being able to add various
positions in our hospitality and our tourism sectors into their position load is
something we think that we could work through and work with.
So, you're correct in that they didn't focus on those things during the 2020 time
period. There's nothing that prevents us from having the conversation about them
helping us with our hospitality sector moving forward in 2021.
MS. KIMBALL: Great. Thank you for those clarifications. And thank you,
Chair, for the leeway to discuss this communication, which I think is actually
attached to Bill 43, but we might as well talk about some of it now. Thank you. I
yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. I believe it was Mr. Richards or—yeah,
go ahead, Mr. Richards.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. Thanks, directors. Doug, real quick. You
mentioned about the broadband access. And one of the things, I was attending the
WIR (Western Interstate Region)western region for NACo meeting last week,
and it's the middle mile they're talking about. That's the jargon that they use
when it comes to broadband availability. There appears to be a national
movement with the rural communities, the rural counties like us, that broadband is
there but it goes by. And it's not a high priority for the internet suppliers to wire
it in so people have access to it. And this came up in a conversation. Chair, I was
actually in South Kona, and apparently it's there but we just don't have access to
it because the cost of putting in the infrastructure to have access is higher than the
revenue that could be gleaned. So, it doesn't appear to be that high a priority.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
Let's get together because there may be a way to band with others because there's
a push towards this to get that equity that Ms. Kimball's talking about. It's there;
it's just we can't get to it. And that's almost worse than not having it there at all.
So, I'd like to work with you on that one, directors. Thanks, Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Mahalo, Director Sako,
Director Adams, for your work on this. There's a lot that I think we all want to
fund, but given it's just a fraction of what we received during CARES and a lot
longer to spend this money, I just really appreciated the focus here on identifying
where we could make a really deep and broad and long-lasting impact. And so, I
just really appreciate how strategic you were in identifying where these funds
could be spent.
Director Sako, on the water piece, I was just curious. We're using some of this
funding to supply lost revenue. I'm also aware of a utilities assistance program. I
mean, can that be used to help individuals pay for bills, or no because it's a
government entity? I'm just curious.
MS. SAKO: So, in a lot of the programs, originally we were not able to get back
any of our late payments for either wastewater or for water. So, basically, some
of the newer programs are allowing that. But many other people, like right now
in the rental assistance program, they're having great difficulty qualifying. They
have to show that they have a loss in income, and for many of them they haven't
because of the various programs that are out there. So, we have been trying our
best to try and recover any past-due payments for water or wastewater within the
realms of the law and not foreclosing and doing too much action right now. But
they do kind of need that revenue to be able to continue on.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Great, thank you for that clarification. I appreciate it.
Director Adams,just a couple questions for you, and mahalo nui for finding a way
to fund the Job Corps resolution that we had adopted earlier this year. I'm also
happy to report that Honolulu is doing the exact same thing. So, it's great that our
County's kind of leading the way on this.
I think the $4 million that we've kind of earmarked to support this program is
going to dovetail really nicely with the funding that the State had allocated for a
statewide program. So, really excited about that. And thank you for clarifying
that you're not working with any particular entity at this point, that you're just
elevating successful initiatives that we can be inspired by and potentially build off
of.
One question that I had related to small business, and maybe you can just provide
a little bit more information about the process for granting or making loans. And
the reason why I ask is because, oftentimes, the paperwork is so cumbersome and
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
difficult for folks to fill out. I was at Soontaree's last week grabbing some lunch,
and I asked her if she had taken advantage of some of the programs that were
available for restaurants and small business, and she said no because the
paperwork was too difficult. And this is a kupuna in a neck brace working by
herself in the restaurant, and I thought, "How do we make it easier for folks like
Soontaree to go after these types of funds?" So,just wondering if you have any
insight as to, like, the shape of this program that you're able to share at this point.
MR. ADAMS: The vision I have for this program has to do with"get it out as
quickly as possible and make it as unobtrusive as possible." Now, that may be
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Perfect. We're on the same page.
MR. ADAMS: A pipe dream but that's the idea.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I think you can make it happen, Director. Thank you.
MS. SAKO: All while staying within the confines of the law.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes, very restrictive confines of this funding. Thank you,
Director Sako. Director Adams,just one more question about the broadband
infrastructure piece. I know in the Governor's State of the State Address, he
mentioned Puna and Ka`u specifically about wanting to invest broadband
infrastructure there. Are we coordinating with the State to make sure that our
funds are just aligned?
MR. ADAMS: The work that's been done in terms of identifying where the
needs are, some of that information has already, as you know, come from this
island already. And so, what the State is doing, I think, is taking all and some of
the conversations that have occurred both in the Broadband Hui as well as
conversations that we've been able to have between the County and the State,
particularly DBEDT. And it's recognized that the areas where we don't have
great access, that's just not a surprise where those areas are.
So, to the extent that you may be asking are we in direct contact right this second
talking about how we're going to spend these $3 million on broadband, the
answer is no. But once we have an idea of what exactly we have available, then
yes, the answer will be we will be in contact with them to figure out what's the
best way to move this forward. I think that Council Member Richards is correct.
And in the conversations that I've had with members of the broadband industry
on the island as well, we have dark fiber that's out there. Part of this is figuring
out can we use any of this relatively small amount when you're talking about
infrastructure work; relatively, this small amount to influence the additional
spending so that we can increase the access in these other areas.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Great. Thank you, Director. Can any of this be used to
support digital literacy efforts?
MR. ADAMS: There's nothing that says that it can't. My concern would be that
when we start spending the money towards—if you're talking due to the literacy
in terms of products, I would like to have that conversation because I think that
we could use this funding better. If you're talking about it in terms of literacy as
we talk about other kinds of literacy, whether it be business literacy or financial
literacy, I think that the funds that we're talking about for business literacy,
actually the digital literacy piece is going to have to be a part of that. So, I think
some of those funds will actually help us with that.
I prefer—and I think that these infrastructure funds, these are specific to
infrastructure, if I'm not mistaken, in the law. And so, we are fairly constrained
by what we can spend the money on.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Got it. I meant the former—so much of our work as
government, private sector has shifted online, and some folks are able to adapt
pretty quickly. Others, like our keiki, having to do everything virtually, that was
very difficult. And so, if there are ways in which we can earmark some of these
funds to promote digital literacy for keiki through kupuna, I would love to have
that conversation with you. So, thank you.
MR. ADAMS: Council Member Kierkiewicz, if I could suggest, there are going
to be funds available that the Department of Education's going to have. And I
think that would be an excellent opportunity, particularly for our keiki, to have
access to some of those funds specifically for that digital literacy element.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. A little bit nervous about working with the State on
this piece because I know that very recently they had a digital literacy program
that they were pushing out through their Workforce Development Board, and the
folks that they were engaging to host the classes needed to have a master's
degree. And I just thought, "You need a master's degree to teach someone how to
use Google suite? Isn't this an opportunity to give our youth a job to show off
their skillset, potentially?" Anyway, I just think there are ways in which we can
be a bit more creative in how we deploy these funds.
Last thing, Director, if there is a way for the jobs program you mentioned
hospitality folks, ILWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Union),
thousand workers without a job because of COVIDif there is a way we can
weave in a badging and micro-credentialing program so that, as they are going
through this job program, they have a recognition of the skills and the knowledge
that they have obtained through this program, I think it helps to paint a better
picture of the type of skillsets and experiences someone brings to the workforce.
Anyway, I just wanted to put it out there. This gets me very excited as you can
tell. Thank you. Thank you, Chair, for the latitude. I yield.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Ms. Villegas, go ahead.
MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah,just a quick question was I see here it says investing in
water and sewer infrastructure. And then under, it says exploration of new water
wells. I just had some questions about the way that that will be just how to
spend and the prioritization between those two projects. Can you shed any light
on that?
MS. SAKO: Because we had roughly $2 million, that will barely make a dent in
our sewer infrastructure demands. So, we know we're going to have to need a lot
more than that, so we'd kind of like them to, like, design some of their projects
this year. We have found money for them to do that so that they'll be in line
either for the stimulus money coming down or next year's chunk of funding,
which, you know, it's really going to depend on where we're at. I mean,
potentially, if our economy has recovered and we're not doing airport testing or
testing anymore, maybe we'll be able to utilize the whole 19 million on
wastewater. So, the plan is really for in the second year to kind of help them. But
hopefully this year, they'll get their projects designed and planned so that we
really know how much money we're talking about.
MS. VILLEGAS: Fantastic. My ears perked up because
MS. SAKO: Sorry, yes, we didn't totally forget about them, yes.
MS. VILLEGAS: No worries. I just want to make sure, and I will completely
and humbly admit that I'm not aware of the issues of—well, the specific issues
around our water wells or the need to explore new drilling. But I know that with
the water issues statewide and things happening in the different courts, that those
are very touchy issues as we continue to navigate water rights in general. And as
we've had many conversations about our wastewater and the need to take care of
that on the front side before it comes out the backside and then we end up with
dirty water wells.
So, it's all connected but I just wanted to just kind of put in my two cents there to
make sure that we are very much prioritizing, and this may be the perfect
opportunity. I'm really excited to hear what you're saying, that they're putting
the plans together. Hopefully, there's some potential ESCO (energy service
company)partnerships in there so that we could stretch those dollars and stretch
our sewer infrastructure quite literally. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Anyone else? Seeing none, I want to
thank Director Adams there in Kona and Directoroh, I'm sorry. Go ahead,
Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Sorry, Chair. Thank you. I just wanted to
make a comment maybe for both directors. The recent RRF funding that was
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
released, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, there was a push to prioritize Native
Hawaiian or women-owned businesses, and I really appreciate that. And also
veterans, any businesses owned by veterans. And I appreciate that language
because in the first chunk of money that came out from the SBA, it was wide
open and you saw some large corporations come in and take millions of dollars.
But it took it out of the pockets of the small business owners, albeit our situation
here is very different when it comes to business. We don't have a lot of large
corporations here.
But when we look at doingI mean, I would prefer grants for businesses—it's
easier and it's more accessible versus a loan. I'm always going to say that. But
if we can prioritize that Native Hawaiian, women-owned, and veteran-owned
businesses can get the funding as a priority, versus larger businesses, I think that's
a great way of bolstering our community and really putting the money where it
needs to be. And that touches on what Ms. Kimball said earlier. Thank you for
mentioning that. But there's different aspects of that that can really help our
community. So, that would just be my note.
And I had one further question. Is any of this being earmarked for tourism?
MR. ADAMS: Depends on whichI guess I'm not sure I completely understand
that. To the extent that there is anything like an earmark, we are earmarking this
for jobs. And we know that there are 10,000 jobs that we have lost in the tourism
sector. So, we're trying to get people back to work.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you, Director.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you.
MS. SAKO: I probably should have started with it, but one of the specific bullets
on the front page of all the guidance is that a big part of it is to adjust the
inequities for both on the health and economic challenges during the pandemic.
So, that would definitely be part of all of it.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's good and that's partly why I asked.
But just stepping off what the RRF did, it wasI like the prioritization. It's very
helpful. Thank you. Thank you, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and directors. All right,
seeing no other discussion, I just wanted to repeat myself: Thank you,
Director Adams in Kona there and Director Sako. I just have one question before
I thank my Council Members for this very in-depth discussion about this
important funding. Can we, at any time, expect in all these different segments of
this funding, some kind of report from the department of an accounting of what
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
has been spent up to a certain period? I know it will depend on what moves
forward and that sort of thing, but I just wanted an idea if we can get an update on
how these funds are being spent as you go along.
MS. SAKO: Yeah, we can.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you.
MS. SAKO: We have to do the whole Federal and other reporting anyway. So,
yeah, we'll just send that down and let you know where it's available.
CHR. DAVID: Okay. Via communication would be fine,just an update. It
doesn't have to be anything formal, but just to keep us informed on how these
funds are being expended. Okay, thank you. Well, all those in favor of approving
Resolution 138-21, please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 138-21: The motion to adopt Res. 138-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
Vote on Motion to Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to suspend Council
Suspend Council Rule 15 to waive the 5-day hold for reconsideration.
Rules: Seconded by Ms. Villegas and carried by the following
(Approved) voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Return to CHR. DAVID: Can we just go back to 137, I believe, right? Yes. There was a
Res. 137-21: request for a waiver on that one. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Chair, mahalo.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
Vote on Motion to Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to suspend Council
Suspend Council Rule 15 to waive the 5-day hold for reconsideration of
Rules: Res. 137-21. Seconded by Ms. Villegas and carried by the
(Approved) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Okay.
MS. LEE LOY: Chair?
CHR. DAVID: Yes.
MS. LEE LOY: Maybe in an effort to keep the conversation around the
resolution that we just heard in context with the bill, is it possible for us to take up
Bill 43 now just to keep all of the conversations fluid based on what was shared
by Director Sako and Director Adams?
CHR. DAVID: Bill 41?
MS. LEE LOY: 43.
CHR. DAVID: Oh, 43.
MS. LEE LOY: I believe the companion bill for half of the funds that we were
just discussing.
CHR. DAVID: Okay, all right. I think we had a lot of discussion, so that makes
sense to take the bill right now. Mr. Clerk, is that okay? We can move to Bill 43
under first reading.
Change Order As directed by the Chair and with no objection from the Council Members, the
of Business: following item was taken out of order:
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
Bill 43: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 20-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING
BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDING JUNE 30, 2021
Appropriates revenues in the Federal Grants —Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal
Recovery Funds account($19,570,769); and appropriates the same to the
Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds account. Funds would be used
to provide resources to support response efforts, address economic fallout, and
assist with recovery in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reference: Comm. 275
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
(Note: Comm. 275.1, from Council Member Susan L. K. Lee Loy dated June 1,
2021, transmitting proposed amendments to Bill 43, was circulated.)
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 43 on first
reading. Seconded by Mr. Richards.
CHR. DAVID: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mahalo, Chair. We did have a good robust
discussion on Resolution 138-21. This is the bill to actually bring the funds in
and put them into an account in the County. I'm sure there will be questions
going forward, and I yield for any further questions.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair.
Motion to Amend: Ms. Lee Loy moved to amend Bill 43 with the contents of
Comm. 275.1 on first reading. Seconded by Mr. Richards.
CHR. DAVID: Okay, go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. Deanna and/or Director Adams, I just have some
questions around the mechanics of the bill. And I'm asking because the title of
the bill amends this current budget. Correct?
MS. SAKO: Correct.
MS. LEE LOY: Okay. Now, earlier, we talked about the spending of this money
is going to go over the course of a few years.
MS. SAKO: Well,primarily the 12 months but, yes, they have up to 2025.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MS. LEE LOY: Up to 2025, okay. So, as we amend the current budget—because
I get it; the money has to come someplace and the budget we have right now is
the one we're working with. How does this spill over or roll over or move into
our next budget cycle?
MS. SAKO: So, it's like any other grant that we get. Unfortunately or
fortunately, however you want to look at it, many of our grants do not align with
our fiscal year. So, they actually come in over the Federal fiscal year or whenever
it may be. So, we have a process to carry forward any grant money or private
contributions that do not lapse like how our normal funding does.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. For my colleagues, I wanted to explain this
amendment, and thanks, Amy, for getting a copy of it. Contents of
Communication 275.1 really begins to hone in on some of the conversations that
we had during the budget as far as where we wanted to see some focus of funding.
During our budget conversation, I promised this body a hybrid between the
budget and some of the goals and objectives related to getting funding to Police or
Fire or IT (Information Technology).
And so, this particular amendment, if I could ask everyone to focus in on
Exhibit A, identifies some key departments that I think—and, Deanna, you can
help me with this—focuses around the same themes in which this funding can be
used for but infuses it and directs it very specifically into the departments. So,
Exhibit A is about$50,000 for IT, which I think is within that broadband theme.
For Parks and Recreation, I kind of identified it for repair and maintenance and
some of the COVID efforts that have to happen at our parks. But I also heard this
body talk about childcare and Summer Fun activities, so I also think, again, it fits
into the theme that's $100,000 towards parks.
Public Works. I think this money, we talked a lot about EnerGov and I think this
actually fits right into the economic recovery piece that this funding is for.
Research and Development—and, Director Adams, sorry I didn't get this earlier
to you, but this definitely was a nod to Council Members Richards and Kimball
about agricultural programs and standing up what we know the Big Island to be,
which is truly the breadbasket of the State and infusing some monies around
farmer loans, food security, and business plans around that. Again, I think fits
into the economic recovery piece.
For Fire, we heard concerns about the need for equipment and other things.
Again, $100,000 for Fire. County Clerk—and I don't want this to appear selfish
because this is part of our office, but I saw this fitting into the digital piece. This
particular chamber is in need of some digital upgrades, and I think it fits into the
transparency of government. I also recognize that this particular chamber is used
by many other boards and commissions. So, a little bit of funding in that way for
this particular room actually gets spread out across all of our departments, but
really driving in the ability for community to engage with government.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
And then, of course, $100,000 to Police. We heard during our budget cycle the
support of community policing and having monies kind of directed down into
community policing. I'm not sure if that quite fits, Deanna, but if there's
definitely ways where we can enhance some of that education,just some other
avenues for Police to utilize this money. I think what I've heard over the course
of the last month and a half by members who sit up here is this is some of the
areas that we really wanted to focus on. I welcome any feedback, especially from
Deanna. I think we talked about it a couple of weeks back and themes
MS. SAKO: So, there has been a lot going on and maybe I got confused between
the budget and this money, but a lot of the things on here—and I have been going
through some of the additional rules but I haven't read them all yet I don't know
that they're going to work and fit in. And that's one of the problems with this
particular Federal funding, is that it's kind of more specific and it's more
community. So, even the broadband piece is more community-oriented in getting
access. And we did do a lot of upgrades with, actually, the CARES funding as
well and the $3.5 million, which there's still (inaudible). So, we haven't seen all
the fruits of those benefits yet or the benefits yet, but hopefully soon.
I get where you're going, what you're trying to say, but I'm still concerned that
some of these things are not going to fit into the funding as spelled out. But I'm
willing to take a look at it between now and the next reading to see what might
actually qualify and what might not, especially in the areas of community policing
and whatnot. We have (inaudible) a lot to ensure that all of our firefighters and
police officers are protected when it comes to the pandemic, whether it's through
PPE or whatever. I am not sure what equipment for the Police Department might
be relevant to that. So, yeah, I'd like kind of an opportunity to look at this
between now and next reading to see what might qualify.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Deanna. Again, I tried really hard to elevate some of
the concerns that this Council had during the budget process and finding a way to
actually provide the type of funding we wanted. Chair,just a little bit—
CHR.
itCHR. DAVID: Go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. This really carves out just$570,000 of the 19.5 that
we're going to get. This is just short of 3 percent of the monies that we're about
to see, and 1.5 for this first 12-month cycle and over the whole 39 million that we
just discussed. This is how we have to do it, unfortunately. Because of the
Sunshine Law, this is the way we can have the conversation. I think there's room
for us here working with the Director of Finance because she did also say, "Tell
me right now what we would like to see." I would love to hear feedback from my
colleagues. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Who was first? Mr. Inaba, go ahead.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MR. INABA: Yeah, thank you, Sue, for bringing this forward. So, I might be a
little bit confused with regards to this. This is an accompanying bill to the reso
(resolution) that we just talked about. And this Exhibit A that you've worked to
identify certain areas in our County that need funding, is this a wish list? Or how
would you describe this best?
CHR. DAVID: Ms. Lee Loy.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. In times past,when the Council is receiving
funds, this is our way of directing back to the Administration the ways we want to
see the monies spent. In times past, specifically as it related to recovery money
for Puna, we saw some generous donations and we were able to kind of direct that
money right back into community. I wouldn't describe it as a wish list but really
a unified voice by this body that these are the areas we want to see improved upon
with some of this funding. I hope that answers your question.
MR. INABA: Thank you. Deanna, for this kind of funding, if it is in fact in line
with the spending that's allowed by the Federal government, is this a binding
document here? So, we approve it today, and if it is in fact in line with the
requirements, are you folks going to spend it like that? Or how does this play
out?
MS. SAKO: So, it can assess projects to be funded, and the one where we got a
little more specific on it was actually private donation money. So, it's a little
different than doing it with Federal funding. We have many Federal grants, all of
which come with a myriad of requirements. So, to have additional restrictions
placed on it that I'm really not sure comply with the rules we know about already,
much less the ones that are about to come out—but I am concerned about the
language identifying the list of projects to be funded. I think if we could have
something more general, that we would do our best if it qualifies.
I get the importance; we have talked about it. We've also tried to fund many of
these things, maybe not enough. Some departments are trying to still do things
with funding left from this fiscal year as well. So, many of these things, yeah, I'm
just very concerned that it's not going to qualify. And you know me; the last
thing I want to happen is, five years down the road, we have to pay this money
back because it didn't qualify under the rules of the grant.
MR. INABA: Okay. So, based on the way it's written right now, we're
identifying things to be funded and it's non-binding and this is just kind of
MS. SAKO: Well, I think it's binding.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MR. INABA: Okay, so, that's kind of my point. It sounds like we have our ideas
here and I think I support Sue's intention, and this is based on conversation we
had. So, how do we best proceed if we don't know for sure whether these funds
are going to be allowed to be spent in what is listed here in Exhibit A?
MS. SAKO: So, I did offer to try to spend more time researching it between now
and next reading—and I'm still happy to do that—and that's the best I can offer at
this moment.
MR. INABA: Okay. Thank you, Deanna, and thanks, Sue, for bringing this
forward. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. First of all, thanks, Sue, for bringing this
out to help kind of articulate direction that the Council is seeking to get some
funding. I fully support that. That being said, we as a Council need to be very
happy with our Director of Finance. Because if you recall back under the CARES
Act, we got the funding from the Feds and then they changed the rules halfway
through, and there was a risk for claw back and it could've put us in a bad
situation. Because Deanna was very specific of how we awarded funds, we were
in fine shape. And so, I listen very carefully to what our Director says about this.
Happy to explore this but you want kind of a pause button to make sure it's
compliant before we go forward.
So, I thinkagain, what Councilwoman Lee Loy pointed out, it's about 3 percent
of the 19 million, which is fine. And these are areas that we all know there's
funding needs throughout all the departments, and I have yet to sit on any
organization where they've said, "We have too much money." We're always
short of money. And so, I like the direction. I like these things articulated.
Parks and Rec. (Recreation) maintenance; we know we need that badly. IT; we
talked about the connectivity. We know we need that. But I think the point that's
being made—and I think we need to listen to the Director. I fully support this
amendment provided the Director says, "Yeah, it's compliant." So, I like the
direction but I do want to listen to Deanna. And I don't know what the metrics
are, but I want to support this as long as Deanna gives us the thumbs up. Thank
you, Chair. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Ms. Kimball, go ahead.
MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, thank you, Chair, and thank you, Sue, for taking the time
to put this together. I do think it represents the priorities we've sort of identified
as a body as we were having the budget discussions, and it represents, I think, an
alignment with what you've presented us with today, Deanna, in terms of some of
your plans. Certainly understand your concerns about compliance. I don't think
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
any of us want to have to come and pay this money back later on. So, appreciate
giving some time to just double-check that the language is appropriate, and maybe
it's just a little bit of tweaking. I think that there is alignment with the
communication you put forward to us today along with the Exhibit A. And it's
really probably just an issue of semantics and then I guess it's
MS. SAKO: No, I think there's definitely some overlap with small business and
farmers and things like that. That's not—but there's other certain words that
definitely jump out at me. And based on some of the things I've read, I'm really
not sure this particular funding source is going to be able to cover that.
MS. KIMBALL: Maybe you can speak to a little bit of how the interplay might
happen between the distribution of these funds, which might alleviate some of the
expenditures required within the budget so that if there is misalignment to the
Federal requirements for these monies—could you speak a little bit about how we
might negotiate a little bit of shifting around based on where ARP (American
Rescue Plan Act of 2021) money might go versus money budgeted for similar
programs?
MS. SAKO: So, we were able to have the flexibility with CARES, right. Like
lifeguards on the beach, we were able to—as they were warning and reminding
people, patrons to wear their masks and whatever,we were able to charge those
funds to CARES Act and free up some of their budget so that we could make up
for the funding the State didn't provide us. So, we were able to do things like
that.
This money is not as versatile or quite—does not have the same flexibility. And
so that's why, you know, even facility repair and some of those things are some of
the words that are bouncing out at me. And the broadband infrastructure is not
the same way. I think the CARES was more where we were supposed to get up
and go in with our own systems. And I think we did take advantage of that and
do quite a bit of enhancements, even though the switches haven't been turned on
yet so you can't all see that yet. There definitely will be a great improvement
once they are. So, it's things like that.
Also, some are like the PPE for Fire and Police. That is in ours as well. So, it's
not all of it but there's some specific wording that I just want the opportunity to
kind of work on. I don't think there's going to be the same freeing up of the
budget like there was with the CARES Act, so I am having a little bit more
trouble speaking to that in the coming year. But obviously, we try to charge
whatever we can to our Federal grants first. So, yeah.
MS. KIMBALL: What is your interpretation? For my colleagues, there's
something out there called the "interim final report,"which is the guidelines,
which seems like an oxymoron to me.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MS. SAKO: It is.
MS. KIMBALL: I have maybe a slightly different interpretation about the
components that have to do with building internal capacity, which is a lot of what
has been pulled out here in your exhibit, for example, within DPW (Department
of Public Works), also within the Clerk's department. How are you interpreting
that guideline from the Federal government?
MS. SAKO: That's why I want to go back and look at it because I read it but I
didn't bring it down with me. So, I want the opportunity to kind of line it up
based on the more general piece that I do have. Some of that is more—some of it
is okay but, like, some of the storage and those things, I just want to make sure
we're all in compliance.
MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, I appreciate that. Mr. Clerk, actually, what would your
guidance be on this in terms of process, seeing as we'll have another hearing on
this bill in two weeks. Would it be to postpone voting on the amendment or ?
MR. HENRICKS: No, you would need to deal with this amendment in order to
move this to second reading in some manner; to approve it, to defeat it, or the
motion could be withdrawn and that would preserve—withdrawing the motion
does not dispose of the communication itself. It just withdraws the motion for the
time being. So, those would be the three options that I could think of at this point
if the goal is to move the bill from first to second reading.
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you.
MR. HENRICKS: If that's not important, then you could postpone now and then
that would carry everything over back to first reading at our next regular meeting.
MS. KIMBALL: Okay, thank you, Clerk. And I,before doing anything, will
look forward to hearing from my other colleagues, but I do support what is being
presented here and also want to hear back from Finance about the alignment.
Thanks. I yield, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. And mahalo, Sue, for putting this
forward. I mean, I think that because we got the communication from the
Administration this morning, I appreciate you being really proactive and taking
what you heard from this body during the budget process and identifying ways we
can leverage the Federal funds to fill in the gap. So, thank you.
I am going to be supporting Deanna in having some time between now and the
next reading to figure out what fits. There's certainly some overlap. But I was
doing a preliminary review of the new FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) and
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
the information technology piece, which is so important to all of us—very
restrictive. So, thank you, Deanna, for taking a really close look at that to make
sure that we are in compliance with these ever-changing rules.
I hope that we can continue to have this discussion. And at the next reading, you
can come back and say, "You know what? Here's what we're able to do with this
initial sort of sketch of how we're going to be spending the monies,"potentially
making some changes based on the suggestions that were provided here in this
communication but also in other communications you might be having with
members of this Council. So, thank you, Director. Thank you, Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Everyone's done?
Sure. Oh, hang on. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. I appreciate this
amendment or this proposed amendment, Communication 275.1. Just stemming
from conversation yesterday and from listening to Deanna this morning, and I did
ask some specific questions about how the Council could direct these funds, and I
think Sue has found a way to direct the funding to where, I guess, the clearest way
to put it was where she thinks that it would be good to put towards. And I'd have
to agree with Deanna that some of these don't line up with what I think are
eligible uses of the funds.
But more so, I want this to be more of a community effort to guide this decision-
making, whether it's 1 percent or 20 percent of the 19 million that's coming in.
Also, I want to make sure that we take care of our community, and I know in a
roundabout way some of these will but the funds are to build community, take
care of extraneous government costs that have arisen due to COVID. And I think
these are a little vague or, in a very roundabout way, touching helping with the
effects of COVID on our community.
I won't be supporting this today because I feel like if we're going to have a
conversation about this, then everyone should be involved. We've had some
conversations regarding the budget, but given the Sunshine Law, we haven't been
able to discuss this in full until today. So with that said, I won't be supporting
this today. I appreciate the intent. And this was part of my reasoning in asking
Deanna how do we address where the funds go, and I think that was a fairly yes or
no answer before and this actually does direct funds to go to certain things. So,
having not gotten a real clear answer before on whether we can direct or not
direct, but being given this and saying that we can direct.
MS. SAKO: So, can I just say, yet again, I'm not saying the Council cannot
direct, but when it comes to Federal grants, we have so many rules that we have to
abide by that change throughout the grant term that really when funds have been
restricted before, it's been private donations and other sources. So, I really am
hesitant to get bound to something that we may or may not be able to uphold.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I appreciate that. That's where I was going
earlier, and that's why I was hoping for a very clear answer. And I think you're
giving it today to the best of your ability, given the different rules. And I'm
reading the Interim Final Rule right now. So, long story short, I won't be
supporting this today. I appreciate the intent. I think the intent is good, directing
the money to where this Council feels appropriate. I mean, really, we are playing
with funds that can be directed by the Council or can be directed by the Mayor.
That's the most obvious way I can put it. But with that said, I don't fully agree
with the list on Exhibit A, and just for that purpose I won't be supporting this
today. But again, I do appreciate the intent.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Mr. Inaba first and then
I'll go to Ms. Kimball.
MR. INABA: Okay. Director,just to be very clear, so, in two weeks when we
come back on this, will you know if the items in Exhibit A are in line with or not
yet?
MS. SAKO: Based on the guidance available as of that day. But as I have
mentioned, the FAQs have been updated about two times a week. So, yes.
MR. INABA: Okay.
MS. SAKO: I will do my best, but subject—I'm just saying. Even with the
CARES Act, there was a lot of continuing guidance throughout as that grant wore
on or that time period wore on. So, that's all I could say, is that we'll do it to the
best of our ability based on the guidance available at that time. But I can't say we
won't have to come in and amend. We've had to do that before with private
funds as well, based on exhibits that were attached. So, yeah, it could slow down
the process, but we might have to come in and amend as well.
MR. INABA: Okay, thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Ms. Kimball, go ahead.
MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, thank you. And again, thank you, Director. I just—
speaking
ustspeaking to the intent and the idea that we need to have a conversation about how
these monies should be allocated, I mean, that is the intent and this is the time to
do it. And I appreciate that you kind of took our conversation around the budget
and tried to present this in a way we could converse about this. Just to speak from
my own perspective and what I hear from folks, this is a pretty good—if we're
just talking proportional distribution of where some of these fundings could go
and I think—I hope that's the message that maybe, Deanna, you take, and
Director Adams, in terms of the R&D portion, is this attention that you
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
mentioned, the funding for food security and for farmers. I really would love to
see a piece of this funding be directed to grants for small farmers. Also building
that internal capacity.
We've really been to many pushed to the edge with some of our capacity in
terms of the COVID shutdown. And I think we've learned a lot about what we
need to do moving forward to stay nimble and to be transparent. And I think that
was a priority we identified. So, I look at this as a conversation starter and really
a capturing of Sue's perspective on what we talked about with the budget. And I
think this is the opportunity to share with Director Sako what some of our
visioning is about this expenditure or revenue coming in and then subsequent
expenditures. Thank you, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. I'll go to Ms. Villegas before I go back
to you. Yes, thank you. Ms. Villegas, go ahead.
MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah, I mean, such amazing points that have been made so far
in the conversation. And thank you, Mrs. Lee Loy, for your creativity in
identifying the funds. And I like that the amounts all added up to exactly the
570,769, leaving a clean 19 million for the other. But just in deference to
Deanna's concerns, it seems like today may be best toI'm not sure what the
step you'll want to take is, but to defer on the side of caution to make sure that, as
we navigate this process with these funds, that we participate in the most
appropriate way possible.
But I see pathways here for creativity in utilizing the unique terminology used by
the Federal government and constantly changing, but being able to utilize that
play within their parameters of what's acceptable and still meet the needs of our
departments, which are always in need of more funding. So, thank you for your
creativity in looking at this and identifying these opportunities.
Thank you also, Deanna, for not being afraid to just say, "Hey, guys, I don't know
if we can do this yet," so we can move forward cautiously but with unified
direction and a collaborative mindset on what we hope to accomplish. Because
while this isn't I was really surprised, actually. In my mind, I was thinking this
funding was going to have a much broader, less restrictive spending. So, it's
interesting to hear that it's actually more restrictive because I thought the CARES
funding was about as wackadoodle as you could get. But, so, wow, as the game
continues. But we won't look a gift horse in the mouth.
MS. SAKO: I was just going to say that we're still very appreciative of
MS. VILLEGAS: We're very grateful and I get it because it is taxpayer money,
period. So, they have to be responsible for how they allocate and the parameters
that they attach to how the funds can be spent. But I appreciate the creative
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
thinking. It's all in how you tell the story, right? Even with funding sources. So,
thank you for that, to both of you, for helping us navigate this process without
tripping as often as possible. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Mahalo, Ms. Villegas. Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you and thank you to my colleagues and Deanna. I do
want to give it one more push because we have the budget tomorrow and had
come up with the hybrid based on some funding ways there. However, I am
heeding what Deanna is saying, but what I also hear her saying is this gives her a
jumping off point. And maybe there's some ways that we couched the descriptors
of the funding that she doesn't want to be bound to or let alone we're going to
bind ourselves and then find out that the funding can't be utilized for that.
MS. SAKO: My big fear is we spend it on one of these items and then it's
disallowed and then it's going to be me having to find it, not in general you guys.
MS. LEE LOY: Right.
MS. SAKO: So, yeah. No offense you guys but that's just being real.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, so, I'm going to translate a little. It's a lot more
flexibility. I think what we're doing is being way too descriptive on the
Exhibit A, specifically. If we just said something like 50,000 to IT, 50,000 to
DPW, a hundred to Parks, and then allow Deanna to make sure that the funds are
being spent within the guardrails of the recovery money, it gives us that
collaborative back and forth.
I do also want to point out—because Deanna touched on it, right I identified
revenues appropriated by this ordinance would go to these specific projects if we
could wiggle up some of that language. But I think the catch-all in this ordinance
is if it doesn't, it goes right back to the Administration to go and fund all the
different themes that was in the resolution. So, I hear what my colleagues are
saying. We want to figure out a way to get money into community. I think this is
the way.
I think I'm willing to work with Deanna and come up with some language where
we're still getting what we want out of it—well, everybody's getting what they
want. And then, also, in here is the reporting requirements. So, we're going to
see it come back. And I really don't want to see claw back, and so I'm trying to
balance that with the Sunshine Law and then some of the guardrails that we have.
I hear a lot of support. I think my challenge is I want to hook something onto this
bill with the true understanding that Deanna and I are going to work together to
create the language on this exhibit that gives the flexibility that she needs so we're
not having to pay this grant back in any shape or form. Those are my thoughts. I
yield.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Chung, go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Deanna, I've been trying to listen to this argument. So, you're
saying you're worried that this might be deemed improper and might j eopardize
the grant itself?
MS. SAKO: Well, the specific wording of some items, and maybe I'm not
remembering it correctly, but seems to be contradictory to some of the
information I've already read. So, I just want to make sure, like, we don't have
facility repair if that's—like, I'm just using that as an example but when that
might be specifically disallowed by the grant.
MR. CHUNG: Then you know what?
MS. SAKO: So, that Interim Final Rule is a little bit long. So, I just want a
chance to go back and review it.
MR. CHUNG: And certainly, we don't want anything to jeopardize the grant
itself. I think we're all on the same page on that. What I would suggest, then, if
people are in favor of this amendment, insert a severability clause in the bill. It's
not in there right now. Just put something like that in there, and I think we're
good to go.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Anyone else?
MS. VILLEGAS: A quick question.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead.
MS. VILLEGAS: Yes, Mr. Chung, could you help me understand what a
severability clause entails.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, severability clauses are actually in almost all of our bills,
but it's not in this one.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay.
MR. CHUNG: And all it says is that if anything in the bill is deemed to be illegal
or unenforceable or that kind of stuff, then it's deemed out. It's taken out.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, so, it's kind of like a security blanket disclaimer.
MR. CHUNG: Yes, exactly.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. Thank you. I was hoping that's what it meant.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MR. CHUNG: And it is in most of our bills.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, great. Okay, thank you. I appreciate that.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas, Mr. Chung. Anyone else? Okay,
Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: So, yeah, one last plea. Yes. I think this is sort of the way
forward. We have another reading. And I also don't want to delay this because
we also had a motion to the five-day holdover. We need to get this money in
our budget. We do. And so, I don't want to delay it.
But I trust Deanna. We're going to have a conversation. If the severability clause
helps, if it's relaxing some of the language on Exhibit A where we can actually
amend Exhibit A with a future Exhibit A, I'm willing to do the work. We're in
the homestretch, guys. We're three weeks out from this money coming in and
starting a new budget. And so, I really am going to ask for my colleagues'
support with the understanding there will be some more refinement later on.
Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Anyone else? Mr. Kaneali`i-
Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mahalo. And mahalo for our conversation
and, well, I guess we get a better grasp on this and the funding and the
requirements. I would caution against proceeding today without a final clear
document in front of us on what we're actually proceeding with. I'd like to see
the amendments come forward. So, my want would be to see a postponement or a
waiting process to see the final proposed amendment before saying yes or no.
MS. SAKO: Can I throw something out? I mean, one ofI think the thing that's
getting at me is the departments being listed, and I know it was to serve a specific
purpose. But some of the themes are the same, you know, building internal
capacity and generic amounts like that, or statements like that. I think there's
other departments in the County, too, who really had to scrimp and save last year
to make systems work. And so, I think it's being, like, almost too specific by
department. And I get if we have the severability or there is language if there's
extra money, but I think it'swe do have 19 departments. And I think selecting
only 8 maybe isn't the best message either. Sorry. I just had to get that off my
chest, I'm sorry.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Director. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I really think we need a couple more
weeks for Deanna and Director Adams to take a look at what Sue has put forward
in this exhibit to have conversations with us so that we have something very clean
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
and precise to vote on. My worry is—and Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder brought this
up as well—my worry is if we pass something today and it doesn't work,just
going be messy second reading. And I just really appreciate you being so
proactive in this.
We get budget tomorrow. Right? There's more amendments coming forward.
And I see where you're trying to fill budget gaps, but I just think let's have the
budget conversation again tomorrow so that we know with laser focus what other
things we need to be funding. So, that's just—it's my humble ask, Council
Member Lee Loy, that please don't pressure us to vote on this today. If we could
just get a couple more weeks to work with the Administration to refine something.
It's just my suggestion. Thank you. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Ms. Lee Loy.
Withdraw Motion MS. LEE LOY: All right, all right. Motion to withdraw Communication 275.1.
to Amend:
CHR. DAVID: Mahalo. Is there a second?
MR. HENRICKS: Madam Chair?
CHR. DAVID: Oh, no; no need. You just withdrew it. Thank you very much.
Okay, back to the main motion.
MR. HENRICKS: You recognize the motion as being withdrawn to amend?
CHR. DAVID: Yes. Motion it withdraw Communication 275.1 was made by
Ms. Lee Loy.
MR. HENRICKS: So, she's just withdrawing her motion to amend. The
communication is still alive, or intact or whatever the case may be,just to be clear
for the record.
CHR. DAVID: Okay,perfect. And then, we're back to Bill 43. And I didn't
even get to talk because you withdrew it. So, that's okay. Go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Thank you so much for the latitude. Thank
you, everyone, for the conversation. I think, with the budget coming up
tomorrow, I think I have a hybrid coming forward over there. So, we're going to
have to make some decisions there. But I really do appreciate the conversation. I
really appreciate the collaboration that's being put forth here. And, Deanna, if we
could, please. Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for allowing me this time to
help. All right, Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. And before we take the vote, I just
wanted to say my mahalo to everyone on this body for their respectful opinion
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
and Ms. Lee Loy's innovative creativity on this very complicated issue. I respect
Director Sako and Director Adams for their role in this, and especially you,
Ms. Sako, because I don't know what this County would do without your
knowledge and expertise in trying to cover our bases all the way around. And I
really respect that. So, we're going to work for another two weeks, yeah? Okay.
That said, all those in favor of approving Bill 43 at first reading,please say "aye."
Vote on Bill 43: The motion to pass Bill 43 on first reading was carried by
(Approved) the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Can weI think this is going to be finish our resolution and then
we can jump to yours really quick, okay? Mr. Clerk, Resolution yes? Oh, sure.
Oh, you did? I didn't even read my text. Okay, we're going to take a ten-minute
recess, okay? Thanks.
Recess: At 10:48 a.m., the Chair called for a recess.
Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 10:56 a.m.
CHR. DAVID: Right now, we're going to finish up, Mr. Clerk, with
Resolution 139-21, please.
Return to Order The Chair directed the Council to return to the order of business.
of Business:
Res. 139-21: CHANGES THE FUNDING SOURCE OF ONE ACCOUNTANT I POSITION
Funding formerly provided by a State grant would transition to the County for this
position within the Hawaii Fire Department.
Reference: Comm. 276
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 139-21.
Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you very much, Chair. This item was
waived from Committee to Council for discussion. We did have Fire Chief here
earlier, butoh, sorry, okay yeah, if you could come up. Just briefly kind of tell
us about this one so we can understand it better. Thank you for being here
today—and your name too.
(Note: At this time, Fire Accountant Nikol Lonokapu came forward to
address the members of the Council.)
CHR. DAVID: Just put your mic on.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Push the button on the base and pull it forward.
MS. LONOKAPU: Okay, hi, I'm Nikol Lonokapu. I'm the Accountant IV
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Pull it closer.
CHR. DAVID: Pull your mic.
MS. LONOKAPU: Oh, I'm sorry.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Sorry, it's so they can get the captioning,
and they can hear you and they can do the minutes afterwards.
MS. LONOKAPU: Okay. My name is Nikol Lonokapu. I'm the Accountant IV
for the Fire Department. And the reason why we brought this forward is because
this is a necessary position. It's within our EMS (Emergency Medical Services)
unit, which has its own budget of 21 million. So, we don't have any accounting
staff with that budget, so we use our existing staff to cover those expenditures.
So, the State unfunded it.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So, the State unfunded you and you're
funding the position.
MS. LONOKAPU: Yeah. So, right now, we're just trying to move it to County.
It's still unfunded so we're just going to be using any funds that are available
from vacancies and such.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you. Thank you for being
here today. I'm going to yield for any questions from the Council.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go
ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. And this is a question for Director Sako
or, Nikol, maybe you can answer this. I mean, we're getting funding from the
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
State to run our EMS. And so, that funding typically included money for this
partition to manage those funds? No, it didn't? I'd like clarification,please,
because it talked about reduction or
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Council.)
MS. SAKO: They do fund one position. And then, this was an additional
position that the department had really fought for, and it got funded for maybe
one or two years, and then the State unfunded it. But they do have some money.
I just wanted to clarify that, that they do fund some positions. But there's
definitely a need for staffing right now. With the challenges we talked about with
COVID and other issues, they really do need this position. So, it's critical to their
department.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And because now it's going to be mostly funded by the
County, are they doing more than just tracking the EMS funds? And what other
ways are they helping the department with accounting in that plan?
MS. SAKO: Just all programs.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: All programs?
MS. SAKO: Yeah, all programs.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, thanks for the clarification.
MS. SAKO: But some of it will be EMS.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay,perfect, thank you. Thank you, Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Seeing none, all
those in favor of approving Resolution 139-21,please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 139-21: The motion to adopt Res. 139-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And, Chair, could I make a motion to waive
the five-day hold on Resolution 139-21?
CHR. DAVID: Sure.
Vote on Motion to Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to suspend Council
Suspend Council Rule 15 to waive the 5-day hold for reconsideration.
Rules: Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following
(Approved) voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David–9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: And now, can we move on to—we're going to take some things
out of order. Bill 32, under second and final reading, could we take that one first?
Change Order As directed by the Chair and with no objection from the Council Members, the
of Business: following items were taken out of order:
Bill 32: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 04-149, WHICH RECLASSIFIED LANDS FROM
(Draft 2) AGRICULTURAL–5 ACRES (A-5a) TO SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL–
20,000 SQUARE FEET (RS-20) AT KALAOA IST AND 2ND, NORTH KONA,
HAWAII, COVERED BY TAX MAP KEY: 7-3-011:068
(Applicant: Ernest and Elizabeth Young) (Area: 1.8628 Acres)
The Leeward Planning Commission forwards its favorable recommendation to
approve this amendment, which would allow a five-year time extension to
Condition C (Time to Secure Final Subdivision Approval) and amend Condition L
(Fair Share Contributions). The property is located at the southwest corner of the
intersection of Mahilani Drive and Mamalahoa Highway.
Reference: Comm. 218.3
Intr. by: Ms. Kierkiewicz (B/R)
First Reading: May 19, 2021
Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to pass Bill 32, Draft 2, on second
and final reading. Seconded by Mr. Richards.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I believe the second draft reflects the
amendments that Council Member Inaba proposed at our last meeting. Read
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
through it. It's all there. The Youngs are on Zoom if we have any questions, but
I think we've had robust discussion with them during Committee and that first
reading. So,just looking for everyone's continued support. Members of the
Planning Department are here if we have additional questions. Thank you, I
yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else?
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Chair?
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I meant to make this comment last time and
I didn't and I apologize. But to the Youngs, the simple amendments I think we
spoke about during the discussion were in no way meant toward yourselves, and I
didn't clarify that when we were having the discussion. It was more just long-
standing business we'd been talking about. So, I just wanted to state that for the
record. And mahalo for being patient and working with us. Thank you, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? Seeing
none, all those in favor of approving Bill 32 at second and final reading,please
say "aye."
Vote on Bill 32: The motion to pass Bill 32, Draft 2, on second and final
Draft 2 reading was carried by the following voice vote:
(Adopted)
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Let's go to Bill 35. These are all being taken out of order by
request. So, Bill 35,please.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
Bill 35: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 09-138 WHICH RECLASSIFIED LANDS FROM
SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL– 10,000 SQUARE FEET (RS-10) TO
INDUSTRIAL-COMMERCIAL MIXED –20,000 SQUARE FEET (MCX-20) AT
WAIAKEA HOUSELOTS, WAIAKEA, SOUTH HILO, HAWAII, COVERED
BY TAX MAP KEY: 2-2-035:034
(Applicant: JP Automotive, LLC) (Area: 22,300 square feet)
The Windward Planning Commission forwards its favorable recommendation to
approve this amendment, which would allow a five-year time extension to
Condition D (Time to Complete Construction). The property is located at
513 Kalanikoa Street, Waiakea Houselots.
Reference: Comm. 234
Intr. by: Ms. Kierkiewicz (B/R)
Approve: PC-18
(Note: Comm. 234.2, from Council Member Holeka Goro Inaba dated May 26,
2021, transmitting proposed amendments to Bill 35, was circulated.)
Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to pass Bill 35 on first reading and
adopt Planning Committee Report No. 18. Seconded by
Mr. Inaba.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Again, we've had detailed
conversations about this particular bill, and I know that Council Member Inaba
has an amendment to this to be in alignment with what we are asking the Planning
Department to do going forward with conditions related to historical cultural
aspects. So, I'll defer to Mr. Inaba. Thank you, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Mr. Inaba, go ahead.
MR. INABA: Mahalo.
Motion to Amend: Mr. Inaba moved to amend Bill 35 with the contents of
Comm. 234.2. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Inaba.
MR. INABA: Yeah, similar to Bill—what was that-32, same edits. This is in
Section J,just to remove the term "unlikely." So, it just reads, "In the event that
surface or subsurface historic resources . . . " and so forth. And then later to add
the applicant shall cease work in the vicinity of the area if those types of resources
are found. So,just to clear up and clarify the language there. And like Council
Member Kierkiewicz said, the Planning Department will be taking care of these
moving forward. So, it will come to us makaukau. Thank you.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Anyone else? Seeing none, on the motion
to amend Bill 35 with the contents of Communication 234.2, please say "aye."
Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 35 with the contents of
Amend: Comm. 234.2 was carried by the following voice vote:
(Approved)
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Back to the main motion, Bill 35 as amended. Any discussion?
Seeing none, all right all those in favor of approving Bill 35, as amended with
Communication 234.2,please say "aye."
Vote on Bill 35: The motion to pass Bill 35, as amended to Draft 2, on first
Draft 2 reading and adopt Planning Committee Report No. 18 was
(Approved) carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Okay. Just the next one, Bill 36.
Bill 36: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 723 WHICH RECLASSIFIED LANDS FROM
SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL(RS-10) TO NEIGHBORHOOD
COMMERCIAL (CN-10) AT WAIAKEA, SOUTH HILO, HAWAII, COVERED
BY TAX MAP KEY: 2-2-041:PORTION OF 75
(Applicant: Kelly Ka ig moto) (Area: 9,425 square feet)
The Windward Planning Commission forwards its favorable recommendation to
approve this amendment, which would repeal all conditions of approval while
retaining the Neighborhood Commercial district classification to allow for the
development of a retail building. The property is located at 2169 Kino`ole Street,
Waiakea Homestead Lots.
Reference: Comm. 235
Intr. by: Ms. Kierkiewicz (B/R)
Approve: PC-19
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to pass Bill 36 on first reading and
adopt Planning Committee Report No. 19. Seconded by
Ms. Lee Loy.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Again, we had a robust discussion
about this particular application in Committee. And I do want to note, for the
record, that Mrs. Kelly Kagimoto is here in Council Chambers, as is her
representative Mr. Darren Arai. Members of the Planning Department are also
here if we have any questions for them about this ordinance. Thank you, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Any other discussion, Council
Members? No? Well, thank you for being here and for your patience this
morning. I'm sorry. But all those in favor, please say "aye" in approving Bill 36.
Vote on Bill 36: The motion to pass Bill 36 on first reading and adopt
(Approved) Planning Committee Report No. 19 was carried by the
following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. And then, let's jump back to Bill 34 under bills for
first reading, and I think that will take us completely out of order. Thank you,
Darren.
Return to Order The Chair directed the Council to return to the order of business.
of Business:
BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Bills for
ORDINANCES Ordinances (First Reading).
(FIRST READING):
(Note: Items in this category were taken up previously, out of order.)
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
Bill 34: AMENDS SECTION 25-8-33 (CITY OF HILO ZONE MAP), ARTICLE 8,
CHAPTER 25 (ZONING CODE) OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983
(2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), BY CHANGING THE DISTRICT
CLASSIFICATION FROM OPEN TO INDUSTRIAL—COMMERCIAL
MIXED —20,000 SQUARE FEET (MCX-20) AT PIOPIO, WAIAKEA,
HAWAII, COVERED BY TAX MAP KEYS: 2-2-001:008, 017, 018, 019, 024,
030, AND 034 (Applicants: M. Anderson and N. Pi`ianaia Trusts; and Kapoho
Properties, LLC) (Area: 3.29 acres)
The Windward Planning Commission forwards its favorable recommendation and
concurs with the Planning Director's request to approve the removal of the
affordable housing condition (J). The applicants are proposing to consolidate and
subdivide the existing seven separate parcels into four separate parcels. The
property is located at Old Hilo Iron Works property located at 1280 Kamehameha
Avenue.
Reference: Comm. 233
Intr. by: Ms. Kierkiewicz (B/R)
Approve: PC-17
(Note: Comm. 233.2, from Council Members Heather L. Kimball and
Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder dated June 1, 2021, transmitting proposed
amendments to Bill 34, was circulated.)
Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to pass Bill 34 on first reading and
adopt Planning Committee Report No. 17. Seconded by
Ms. Lee Loy.
CHR. DAVID: Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. We have members of the Planning
Department here. We also have the applicant Garth Yamanaka available to
answer any questions. I know that there is a proposed amendment via
communication that I'll speak to later but just interested in learning a bit more, as
is the applicant. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Any other discussion? Seeing noneoh,
Ms. Kimball, go ahead.
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair.
Motion to Amend: Ms. Kimball moved to amend Bill 34 with the contents of
Comm. 233.2. Seconded by Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
CHR. DAVID: Ms. KierkiewiczI mean, Ms. Kimball, go ahead.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. And again, looking forward to robust
discussion around this amendment. It's really the outgrowth of the discussion that
we had in the first hearing of this bill in Committee, which was a desire to really
honor the original intention of designating these parcels as open space. And
through the process of rezoning, this is our one chance to add some additional
conditions.
I just want to mahalo the Planning Department, Zendo, and Deputy
Director Darrow for helping us with the language, which I should put the caveat
on there: "Does not indicate support." They are taking a neutral position on this
today, and I'm sure they can share some of their thoughts on it. But they did help
us draft this so that it was appropriate in terms of typically worded conditions.
So, there's really two things that we're looking at here. One is the designation of
the space along the river to ultimately be designated as a pathwaya walking
path. Looking at these solutions, we were trying to find things that were fair, that
were not overly burdensome to the property owner, and that were really a
reasonable community benefit and really valued, like I said, the historical
designation of this as open space. So, that's Condition K.
And then, Condition L would add a 2 percent contribution in terms of a
community benefit at the sale of the lots at some future point. And that would be
sent to Parks and Rec. for beautification of the surrounding areas.
We really look at this as a unique place in Hilo. Again, love the Iron Works
building myself. Can just envision dinner at an outdoor cafe along that river with
a nice promenade in front. I think it could be something that would be beneficial
both to the community and to the owners and add to the overall aesthetics and
value of the property. Thank you, Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder then
Mr. Inaba then Mr. Richards.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. I'm going to echo
everything that Ms. Kimball said. And I wanted to mahalo her for kind of putting
forward an amendment from the both of us that reflected what our thoughts
should be and really to clarify that this is our one chance. It may not come back
in front of the Council. Actually, it won't come back in front of the Council;
that's what we learned after discussion with the Director and the Planning Deputy
Director.
I feel that it's part of our responsibility as Council Members to set clear intention
and as well make decisions that benefit the community; and not just now, but for
generations to come. And this amendment does that, and it does it in a way that
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
benefits the people of the County and works with the applicant to ensure that
we're creating a space that is accessible, usable, and enjoyable by the community
but also works wellI feel works well with the proposed land use.
And really taking into account what Ms. Kimball had said earlier, which is
requesting a change of zone from open to commercial. That's a fairly substantial
change. So, this is a very nice blend, I feel, of what this place could be, its best
uses, as well as a long-term community benefit.
So, I look forward to everyone's support, comments, questions. But I feel this is a
great step going forward. And this could apply to other projects as well as we
move forward into the future. So, mahalo for the time, Chair. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Now, Mr. Inaba, go
ahead.
MR. INABA: Thank you. We have the—sir, are you the applicant? Could you
come to the table, please? And first, I want to say mahalo to Council
Members Kimball and Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. This is, to me, responsible as we go
through changes of zoning or any type of process when it comes to our land to be
responsible. And I just wanted to get your folks' mana`o, as the landowners, on
these amendments. And if you could introduce yourself, please.
(Note: At this time, Garth Yamanaka, applicant's representative, came
forward to address the members of the Council.)
MR. YAMANAKA: Garth Yamanaka, representing the applicants for the Iron
Works property on Bill 34. Appreciate the work put into this, but we'll have to
disagree that we think this is the right thing to do. There's multiple reasons for
that, and I'm open to the discussion in having this today. I can go through
there's some things that are mixed in here, so I don't know if we want to address
one at a time. Or what would be the best situation here?
MR. INABA: Yeah, if you want to go with Section K, or the amendment K.
MR. YAMANAKA: So, part of the reason why I brought up the history of the
property was to give people an idea of what was going on and the reasoning for
things happening. This property's been there for a hundred years. It's an existing
use. We're not a new development. The impacts that, or the fair share that you're
trying to implement here is something you would normally do on a new
development. Nothing's changing over there.
And so, it doesn't really make sense to start a precedence like this where we're
going to start disincentivizing people to develop here. I mean, we can't talk on
one hand that we want people to invest, we want housing, we want things, and
then any chance we get we're going to disincentivize them to come here and do it.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
We're more than willing to work with the County on Section K, but that should
happen through the SMA (Special Management Area)process, not through a
rezoning approval. It feels like a taking, and anytime you have a taking, there
should be some compensation for that. But like I said, we're more than willing to
work with the County on something like this. We just don't think this is the
avenue to do it. More than willingI said that the last time to you. I'm more
than willing. We're definitely willing to meet with you and talk to you about
what can be done on this.
There's a lot of liability down there along the river. It's not a place we want
people to be going without a plan in place. And just to say this is a condition on
rezoning and you have to maintain the property, what are we maintaining?
There's a lot of work to be done over there. There's a huge cost. We've been
working a long time to keep the homeless out because we've been dealing with
that. We've been dealing with people breaking in. And it's not something we
want to invite without a big plan in place, and it's not I don't think it's a place
that the County wants people just walking around with no plan in place.
It can be a dangerous place. It's not a there's no stable bank, especially after
huge rains and things. You could have areas where people could fall in. So,
there's a big cost to that. That's Section K. Again, we believe it should be taken
care of in the SMA process. We think that's more of an appropriate place.
And there's a word here, "new construction." We would kind of want that to be
explained better. Does that mean expansion of the improvements, or are we
talking about any type of construction taking place there? If it's construction that
triggers the SMA, then that makes sense because that's where it should take place.
And we don't see why it needs to be attached to the rezoning because you'll have
a chance at the SMA process to introduce these conditions.
Going to Section L, we also believe this is a taking. This is a very dangerous
precedent to be setting here. Two percent of gross sales? I mean, we've invested
so much money in the property. You're going to take 2 percent of all the money
we've invested in the property? Again, it makes more sense if this is new
development. You're going to have them pay their fair share upon something
they're going to build. This has been existing for over a hundred years. If we put
in a million dollars in the property last year, now you get 2 percent of that million
dollars? It doesn't make any sense. It is a taking.
And that was brought up in the Banyan Drive committee meeting. The use was in
place prior to the tsunami. The zoning of open was applied. That was a taking at
that place. At that time period, that was a taking without compensation. This
whole time, we're paying taxes as if we're industrial use. We're paying as if
we're industrial use. We paid $30,000 in property tax last year as industrial use,
not as an open use. So, we're already paying a fair share of tax on the property.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
And so, for us, we don't feel this is very fair to be adding something like this.
And I would ask Corp. (Corporation) Counsel if this is something that is legal to
do in the first place as well. We would like to hear from them on that.
Again, it's a very dangerous precedent to be sending to developers. Do you want
people to come here and invest in Hawaii? And something like that, it's a very
disincentive for people to do that.
MR. INABA: All right, thank you, Mr. Yamanaka. Any other mana`o on these
two amendments?
MR. YAMANAKA: I have other things and they'll probably come to me.
Maybe if you guys have questions, it may be better.
MR. INABA: Okay. Can I call up Corporation Counsel? I have a question
regarding Mr. Yamanaka's mana`o of this being a potential taking.
(Note: At this time, Corporation Counsel Elizabeth Strance came forward
to address the members of the Council.)
MS. STRANCE: Good morning. Elizabeth Strance, Corporation Counsel. I hear
the concerns that are being raised; I think they're significant concerns. I'm not
prepared to give a legal opinion on them because it's stated as something that
members would like to do in the future. I think our office should take some time
to look at the amendments and provide a thoughtful and detailed opinion rather
than me trying to say something off the cuff.
MR. INABA: Got it. Okay, thank you. And I just want to share my support,
again, of this type of amendment. I want to make sure that we're within the law.
And I ask these questions because I really want to know. I think this is more than
fair. And I think sometimes when we have one shot like that, we need to take it.
And as long as we're within our right and we're within the law, it would be smart
and it would be responsible for this body to support amendments like this. So,
I'm going to yield for now.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. I disagree. I don't think I can express it as
articulately as Mr. Yamanaka can, but the first thing when I read this, as soon as I
went through it I thought it was a taking as well. And with all respect to my
fellow Council Members, I get it if we're talking about new development. We're
talking about, as was stated, a hundred years old. And we have a building that's
been tsunami tested, what, twice now?
After our last meeting, I went by the property to go look at the riverbank, and that
is not conducive to any type of walk the way it is. Potentially, it could be
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developed at quite a substantial cost, but that shouldn't be borne by the
landowner. That's not something that they're looking into. I know the little
businesses that are in those buildings, and they're not about a cafe.
Ms. Kimball, I agree with you, it would be kind of cool to have something like
that there, but that's not incumbent upon these landowners to develop that. And I
don't think that we should shackle them with something like this. Now, I do
understand the intent of going forward looking to the long term, 50 years from
now, and it might be really kind of a cool thing to have along that, but not at their
expense. And I don't think that that's fair to them.
What they're trying to do is take seven properties and consolidate, re-subdivide to
become compliant. And I know there's an open designation. I forget the details
of that, but they're trying to come in compliancy with what we as a County want,
yet we're going to punish them for them coming into compliancy. And so, I don't
agree with that.
Sure, it would be fun to have a walkway along there, but it raises the concern for
the homelessness issue and then security. If we're going to mandate this, are we
going to also supply the management of that? And I would suggest that this
Council can't say we would. So, I don't think that's fair.
I also disagree with tacking on the 2 percent taking of value from the landowner.
And the reasonI mean, again I get it; we have very tight budgets here. New
development, sure. Fair share, I'm with you. But when you're talking about
some organization, some group that's coming in to just fix a problem that we are
happy they're coming to fix, and now we're going to punish them for coming in
and becoming compliant, I don't see that that's fair.
So, I understand the intent. And if this was a brand-new development, if they
were taking everything down and going forward, I would be open to entertaining
some sort of conversation about that. But we're talking about long-standing little
businesses, and this is an undue burdensome task that we're trying to put upon
them.
The real property tax, they paid $30,000 for three acres or whatever it is right
now. That's a staggering amount for a relatively small piece of property. And so,
though, I understand what we're trying to do as a Council, and I support the fair
share for new development, but playing catch-up this way is not fair to the
landowner and I don't think that's the direction we want to go. And something
that was also stated, I don't think this is a good precedence to start setting right
now. That's not the direction this County needs to go, and that's not the message
we want to send to outside investors. So, with that, Chair, I yield. I will not
support this.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Who was first? Was it—okay,
Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Mr. Yamanaka, I have a question just
for the record. This particular amendment, were you engaged by either Council
Member Kimball or Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder prior to its introduction?
MR. YAMANAKA: No, I just found out about this late yesterday evening.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. I mean no disrespect here but there's a process, you
guys. When Council Member Inaba had issues with Palamanui, when Council
Member Villegas had issues with Puaa-Suffolk, they worked in partnership with
the applicant to address those concerns. And I really wish that were the approach
and the route that was taken because we've really blindsided this applicant who is
trying to do the right thing. And this is punishment for trying to do the right
thing. We want to make it easier for small businesses to thrive, but doing stuff
like this makes it hard for them to even exist. So, I'm a bit disappointed. I cannot
be supporting this.
I also want to get mana`o from the Planning Department because there was a
statement made around the Planning Department being neutral. I'd like to hear
the engagement, the involvement, Director, Deputy, whoever else on your staff,
how those conversations progressed. And what something like this can mean, not
just for Iron Works but how we take up any potential request for rezone or
anything moving forward.
(Note: At this time, Planning Director Zendo Kern came forward to
address the members of the Council.)
MR. KERN: Good morning. Good morning, Madam Chair, members of the
County Council_ Zendo Kern, Planning Director,present. So, we had been asked
by Council Member Kimball to basically look at the language. More or less, it
was already there. The framework of it was there, so I had staff just put it into a
format that was somewhat plain language. Sent that back. In doing that and
reviewing those conditions at that time, it was done in a neutral standpoint of
here's the language for her to present. And then yesterday—we mentioned it
brieflyI have some challenges around some of the framework, so figured out
we'd probably have a discussion about this to go through the process.
So, on the access side of it, usually the SMA is the area for that. I think that's a
place to have that conversation with the applicant and come up with something, if
it's there, that would work for both parties. So, I'm not going to speak to that one
too much unless you have more pointed questions. The bigger challenge that I
see is around the second condition with the 2 percent. What I'm seeing is a bit of
a trend of wanting to have some type of impact, some type of fair share going on,
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
right. We're hearing this multiple times throughout the last few months. And I
think that's a conversation that, if the Council wants to have it, that it needs to be
done on a stand-alone basis and work that out.
My concern around anytime you put a percentage on something is you're getting
into the mechanisms of their business matters. So, it's an assumption that the
2 percent possibly is based on some type of uplift or some type of increase of
value, generally speaking. That's not always the case because there's oftentimes
somebody will do a rezoning or do a project. And let's say the market changes
and then the market shifts and it goes down, and the person needs to sell. They
could be selling at a loss. Do they still need to pay 2 percent? That gets quite
tricky. If you're basing that percentage off of the concept that you have an uplift,
and let's say they lose money, do you give the applicant money back as a
possibility? Does it go both ways?
So, I am very challenged around the percentage side of it, where if it's going to be
done in some way, I really—it's tricky. I don't think this is the right project to do
it. I feel like there's a legacy zoning here, what Mr. Yamanaka said about the
County coming over and saying, "Now, you're this,"when it was there, and
they're just really trying to do a housekeeping matter. I see where the
conversation's going, right, but I just think this is not the application to do it on.
That being said, if you are moving towards more of the impact fee conversation,
again I think it's an ongoing conversation. And anytime it's attached to
percentage, I get concerned about it. It should be an understandable amount that
the applicant is—kind of like how we do with fair share for residential, you know
what it is. Like right now, it's around 15,000. You know it's going to increase
based on the Consumer Price Index over the years. So, you know what that is.
So, I've been challenged around that, and I thinkI knew it was coming up. So, I
was thinking about it a lot last night and this morning. And just again, I feel,
personally, that this housekeeping matter should be taken care of. You guys
should talk about the access points on it. And a greater discussion around the
general vibe around how do we do this is really important.
One of the challenges that we have is affordability, and how do we get living
wages up. And living wages up, we need economic growth. Economic growth
comes from a generally supportive commercial mindset within the urban cores.
There are some cities that give tax breaks, gives incentives for businesses to come
in. So, it's a fine balance.
When we're looking at the basic fair share for the residential, we realize it's
bedrooms. We realize it's cars, it's people. Commercial by itself doesn't
necessarily create the impact. It provides a service to those families or residential
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units that are living in the area. But again, that's kind of a much bigger
conversation that I'm sure we'll probably be having over the next few months.
But in this case, it's tricky.
I do understand where the premise of that came from, and I think it was a little bit
of a different deal at that point in time. But I won't get into anything outside of
that. So, I think it's a healthy discussion. I think if we take it—and that's what
we had talked about the other morning, is that, like, it's a healthy discussion,
right. We're going to get into this, and that will work things through. So, at this
point in time, we came from a neutral place and provided that, and then when I
look at it from this side of it, I have a lot of heartburn around it. So, I'm happy to
elaborate further and answer other questions.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: That was very detailed. Thank you, Director. And I
hadn't thought about where the 2 percent would apply, right. It's assumed that
the businesses are making a profit. But if there's an economic downturn, if there
is a recession, if there's a huge loss, would it still apply? So, it's really tricky to
navigate.
MR. KERN: Correct. And how much money did they spend on the building?
Like right now, you could be budgeting "x,"but with the increase on materials,
you're coming out with"y." And all of a sudden, something that a person thought
might pencil doesn't even pencil but they're forced to do it, right. So, there's all
these behind-the-scenes personal deal elements that it's not the government's job,
in my mind, in my opinion, to get involved in that side of it. We want to look at it
in a fair, impartial manner that we can be responsible and apply it broadly over
many different types of applications. And again, this one is very unique in that
they're trying to come in for housekeeping. And technically, they don't need to
be here; they could still be operating. That's my two cents.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. I know it was mentioned that the original
desire for this space was to be open space, but the urbanI think it was the
amended urban renewal plan—mentioned that can continue to operate as
industrial for a period of 35 years, I think, and then it would expire should
mitigation measures not be completed. And so, clearly, no mitigation measures
happened because it kind of reverted back to open. But if there is a desire to
develop or do anything, I'm assuming that those measures have to be put in place.
I just wanted to clarify that, right, because it's, sure, open but really it's been and
continues to be industrial. That whole area was industrial.
MR. KERN: Correct. Yeah, it's like legacy zoning, right? It's always been used
there. It has been used. You can put something on top of it and, you know, does
that constitute a taking? That's not my place to opine on that. I'd be curious what
Corporation Counsel has to say around that type of situation.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, thank you. I mean, I appreciate the nature of this
conversation and do agree that we need to have discussions around impact fees
and different incentives. But I don't feel comfortable sticking it to the
Yamanakas or this applicant. I don't think it's fair, especially because this is a
housekeeping measure. I don't want to be overly burdensome. So, I can't
support this in this situation. So, I apologize, but I think that if any type of work
is going to be done to amend these ordinances, I just advise you to please work in
partnership with the applicants that are going to be the ones that are implementing
this down the road. So, thank you, Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Ms. Villegas, go ahead.
MS. VILLEGAS: Sure. Thank you, Ms. Kimball and Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
for taking an opportunity to think outside the box and to try and incorporate
impact fees with older developments. And newer developments, it's already
included there.
I have a couple of quick questions and statements. Essentially, I will be deferring
to the advice of Corp. Counsel because there is the possibility that this gets us in
some hot water legally. Intention, conversation, great. Fantastic. Thank you for
doing this. But essentially, I would feel uncomfortable to vote to pass this today
without confirmation from Corp. Counsel that we're not opening a whole can of
worms, per say. However, I do have a quick question. While this is just cleanup,
sort of recordkeeping in transitioning the designation of this property, does it
increase the value of the land in general?
MR. YAMANAKA: Well, there's two ways to look at this, I believe. I'm an
appraiser and I've been in commercial real estate and real estate for over 20 years
now. We've been assessed as if we're industrial. So, I think they have it around
3.9 million right now, which I think would probably be a reasonable price. And
so, that's what we're paying taxes on right now. So, if you want to base the value
and say you're adding value, well, I would ask you what are you adding on to it
because I think that's a reasonable price. And if we sold it as open, I would say
we may be paying too much taxes based off of the zoning, if you were going to
get a market appraisal on that.
So, we feel like we've been paying more than our share for all this time. But I
would ask what would be the value added and why would—if you guys are going
to take this conversation down the road on an existing property, why wouldn't
you look at it from that point of view of what you did add, not the whole project
as is?
MS. VILLEGAS: Well, I guess my question relates to, so, you're doing
housekeeping but essentially wasn't in the first—and remind me—wasn't in the
first conversations we had about this, this also related to your ability to get certain
insurance because it needed to be under the certain zoning officially?
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MR. YAMANAKA: It's more the financing
MS. VILLEGAS: Financing, I'm sorry. Financing, okay.
MR. YAMANAKA: That is affected because of the nonconforming use. And so,
that affects the demand for tenants, demand for potential buyers of the property
down the road. And so, that does affect the demand because they'll have a hard
time getting the financing.
MS. VILLEGAS: So, anytime anything is more legal and more like all the "I's"
are dotted and the "T's" are crossed, especially with a legacy project that's been
owned by the same family for a hundred years?
MR. YAMANAKA: No.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. But the property's been there in this capacity.
MR. YAMANAKA: It's a historical property in terms of what it meant to the
community of Hilo over the past hundred years.
MS. VILLEGAS: Right, okay. So, my general statement being by passing the
change of zoning, the property does become more valuable. You're also taking
seven units, transitioning it in general historically. That does increase the value
potential for something.
MR. YAMANAKA: So then from our perspective, if we look at it from this
perspective, that when the zoning was taken away, you decreased the value. That
would be considered, in our opinion, a taking without the compensation. You
made it harder for us to do business by doing that. You made it harder for us to
invest in the property by doing that.
MS. VILLEGAS: Who did?
MR. YAMANAKA: The County, by making the open zoning. And so, from our
perspective, that would be considered a taking. This is bringing us back to even
or to whole in our opinion.
MS. VILLEGAS: Of course it's your opinion and I respect that. That's your job
also to represent that opinion, and I in no way am negating it. I'm just trying to
wrap my head around and also make those statements that just acknowledge the
value of the property. And historically, in my time serving on this Council, when
we change zoning or continue certain zonings, it maintains a certain value of a
property. That's just what I—and that's all good.
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MR. YAMANAKA: A second part would be we're decreasing the amount of
lots, which could be considered decreasing the total value of what the property
was.
MS. VILLEGAS: I don't see values of properties in Hawaii decreasing in any
capacity right now.
MR. YAMANAKA: The understanding
MS. VILLEGAS: They're doing nothing but going up.
MR. YAMANAKA: That when you have seven lots or eight lots, versus four, the
eight lots are worth more than the four lots. So, in that sense, by giving back four
lots, we'd be giving back some value in that aspect as well.
MS. VILLEGAS: I would respectfully disagree but we can agree to disagree on
that. The one thing that I guess for me was—and I'll admit—was a bit of a
trigger, this constant statement about—and, mind you, this piece of legislation is
something that we're going to have to take a look at because we're not sure on the
legality but I feel really strongly about statements about disincentivizing,
implying that by requiring or asking for more responsibility of our developer
partners and property owners, whether or not they're new developers or they own
existing properties, that we're disincentivizing investment in our community and
in our County. It's been proven over and over and over again that we are one of
the best places in the world, in the country to be. And we have incredible influx
of interested people.
And just from a value standpoint, I just feel really strongly about that. And I am
always grateful. It sounds like your organization and the group that owns this
property have been incredible community partners for a hundred years or there
wouldn't be the legacy of that property.
I had the privilege of working with a company that took it upon themselves to
continually invest in infrastructure of the industrial area in Kona and pay forward
impact fees without the requirement of government requiring it. But it was just
kind of an investment in that. And I just recently was able to meet with a
developer on something who was already taking the initiatives to put in that extra.
And so, I just want to really caution us on ever using that disclaimer that by
adding more potential expenses at a certain timeframe, that we're disincentivizing
anybody. I think that we are, then, valuing our communities, our infrastructure,
and the needs for equitable contribution. And it concerns me because it creates a
fear-based thing. And I think that some of the struggles we face as a County are
based on—are operating from a fear base of"Oh,no, if we ask them for this,
they're going to say no and they're not going to bring their money, or they're not
going to want to do business here," and I think the opposite is true.
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And our opportunity as Council Members here is to value this place, obviously
within the confines of the law, and make sure that we continue to set that
precedent and that we are attracting compatible businesses and developers who
are willing to put in that extra and go that extra mile.
So, this isn't directly based to you. This is just the opportunity to state this
because that disincentivizing piece is my own personal trigger when it comes to
that. So, we appreciate partnerships.
MR. YAMANAKA: I don't mean to be disrespectful on that part of it. It's just
other places outside of Hawaii, they try to—when they want something to be
filled, they try to lessen the burden. For us on something like this, I don't know
anybody who looks around that area and says the parks need to be more beautiful.
They look at our building. And so, by taking away 2 percent, that's money we
could be putting into our building instead of the parks. And I think the majority
of people would say we need it more than the parks.
MS. VILLEGAS: Well, if it were legal, I'd say can you put it into the parks in
Kona because we could use a little bit of that funding. But I appreciate this
opportunity to have this conversation and your gracious communication skills and
style. So, thank you for that and thank you to my colleagues for the courage to
broach this topic and subject. And hopefully, as we continue to navigate these
kinds of things, we can continue to work with Planning for how to incorporate
this in a legal manner within the confines of the law to work with legacy projects
and older facilities and buildings, and how, yeah, as they become refurbished and
increase in value, there is still that contribution and collaborative work together.
So, thank you for that. Thank you for hearing me out. I appreciate it.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Anyone else? Ms. Lee Loy and then
I'll go to Ms. Kimball if your light was going to go on.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, thank you. With Judge Strance, I had a whole bunch of
questions in my head. So, I really cannot support this amendment at this time. In
my head, I have spot zoning, contract zoning. I don't know how we condition an
SMA through a change of zone. I have so many legal questions, so I'm not going
to be supporting this amendment at this time. It just doesn't—It don't work.
I think what I do want to clarify for the record is what I'm hearing is this building
has been paying real property tax rate at a commercial price point while being
zoned. And so, this was a compliance issue. It's not making any sense to me that
this historic building, this thing that has been part of the Hilo community, which
has been forever in industrial use and then, through some processes, went through
open, right, and they're just trying to get back there. This is not the project to
have conversations around some of what's being proposed.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
I also have challenges with the 2 percent. I think it's arbitrary and capricious
without hooking it onto something like the Consumer Price Index or something
that's known to everyone. And the biggest exception or the greatest concern I
have about this is this access to the river. There already is an abundance of access
to that river. This is not a situation where new development is coming in, and
they're looking for pathways to the shoreline. It's already there. And right
adjacent to that is the State. And across the river is the Wailoa boat ramp.
There's so much access already to that place. This is not a place where there was
none, and we're trying to establish an easement. That's not what's happening
here.
But I do—Judge Strance, if you could get some thoughts around the legality of
these amendments? I'm not going to be supporting it at this time. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Ms. Kimball, go ahead.
MS. KIMBALL: I'll take my second stab at this. First of all, I'll take
responsibility for the chiding from my colleague,which is deserved. I would say
that, Mr. Yamanaka, we spoke on the phone, and I thought we had a good
conversation. And this was not meant, by any means, to be aggressive or
confrontational. You're the victim of a bill going through during budget cycle on
a holiday weekend. That's all I can say.
And so, I look forward—when we had the conversation and the hearing in
Committee on this bill, it sounded like there was some amenable there were
some things on your side that you would be willing to consider, like an open
space, like a pathway here. My understanding—and somebody from the Planning
Department can clarify for me that currently there are buildings that pretty much
go right up to the river. Because of the open space designation, if those buildings
were to be removed or fall down or whatever, that would be designated as
become automatically open space, essentially. Right? For the record, the
Director is nodding his head.
And so, I think that's why, at least as far as Condition K, the trigger was at the
point of the SMA because we don't recognize you've got buildings there right
now. It couldn't become open space right now because there's something in the
way. But at the point at some later date when those buildings are removed and it
becomes open, that's where the SMA would come into play.
Originally, I had wording about demolition, and the Planning Department advised
me that that would not be appropriate because there's not—I'm not sure of exact
wording here but—demolition is no longer considered development under SMA
review. So, it wouldn't have been appropriate to put it at that point. So, it made
sense to put it at the SMA application stage.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
So, I hear what my colleagues are saying about this is not new development, but
it's not the same as just rehabilitation either because of that fact that if those
buildings were demolished, it would revert to open space. So, that's why the
SMA is the trigger here and recognizing that we don't get a chance to chime in on
the SMA. Really, this is our only shot, so that's why putting this in the
conversation now.
Hearing all of the concerns about legality here and the concerns about the
2 percent, I want to give my colleagues an additional chance to respond to what I
just said, and the applicant and the Planning Department as well. I'm going to
request that Corp. Counsel really focus on (Condition) K and the legality of that.
I'm willing to forego—and I'll let Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder who co-introduced
this with meI'm willing to forego (Condition) L but I do want to continue to
pursue together a way to make K happen or at least the intent of K happen.
So, I know you've already reached out to Matt, Mr. Yamanaka, about meeting
with the two of us, and I think that's appropriate at this time. And hopefully,
you're open to having that discussion with us. And then again, I would like the
input of Corp. Counsel as well. I don't want us to do anything that would provide
challenges.
MR. YAMANAKA: I'm very open to the discussion on K. Again, I'd hate for it
to be attached to this because I think there's a lot to talk about on liability on our
end, and if the County's even taking any liability on any of that and how do we
even develop that section because we're also going to be dealing with the State on
anything done. And so, some of the ideas we have, I mean, that's what we could
discuss of what we had planned to do. And maybe that—I'm hoping it can be
done separate from this. And we're very open to it. We think it can be very
beneficial to both sides but it depends, right. It all depends on what the intent of
what you're trying to do here. Because, we do have real concerns for our tenants
and for the security of the property when you just open it up like that.
MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, I heard and appreciate those concerns. So, I hope we can
have a dialogue around the whole issue. I continue to feel like there are reasons
that this is unique, in my mind, to this property. I'm not trying to use you as a test
case—maybe a little bit with the 2 percent stuff, that's why I'm willing to step
back on it.
But as far as the open space along the river and that riparian area—and granted,
it's such a degraded riparian area—and the fact that it was open space and it
would have persisted as open space should the buildings demolish, this is really
specific to your project. And so, I'm hoping we can work together to get that
condition in a shape that we can all be amenable to.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
So, putting it out there that, barring any further comments, I would withdraw this
amendment. But I want to give my colleagues any opportunity to chime in,
including you, Chair, before I make that motion.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Thank you for the
conversation. This is good. Part of the reasoning behind this was to open up the
discussion. I just want to touch on a few things. Completely open to it and this
really is a negotiation. We're talking about a property that's managed by yourself
and some property owners that have been longstanding in our community. And
balancing what our role is as a Council, what we can and cannot do, but making
sure that, at the end of the day, what we've created out of this ordinance is
something that benefits our community and yourselves all in one. And I think
that this is a great start to having that conversation. And if we don't get started,
then we'll never get anywhere. So, are we stuck to this? No. Can we negotiate
and find a way through this? I think so.
I, too, am open to maybe foregoing Condition L. I would, you know,just to
remember that the funds would be put into Parks and Recreation, which is
beautification of our community. And as we're seeing, we're already developing
and creating a nice walkable pathway system for Downtown Hilo. And this really
fits well into that overall scheme of what we're shooting for as far as a long-term
picture for Downtown Hilo and our waterways: Wailoa park, Bayfront, Suisan.
There's something beautiful that we can do there if we all work together. That's
what I think this is driving at more than anything.
Looking over taxes, I just want to touch on this a little bit. Right now, you're
paying industrial rates for your taxes. Correct? There's no difference between
commercial and industrial, correct? As far as taxation is
MR. YAMANAKA: I'm not sure if the rates are different.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: It's 10.70,proposed.
MR. YAMANAKA: Okay, yeah.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So, same thing. So, industrial, commercial,
you're going to get taxed the same. There may be often some aspect of that, but
our tax rate, as set by the County, is the same for industrial or commercial.
MR. YAMANAKA: Versus open, though.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Versus open. But right now, you're being
taxed as industrial. I was going through all your different properties (inaudible).
Okay. So, same thing. So, you're not going to see a huge increase in our taxes is
what I'm driving at.
MR. YAMANAKA: I would hope not.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I don't think so. Another thing to
consider today iswe went back and forth on itnew subdivisions have a fair
share requirement. This is not a new subdivision, but we do have something
called a community benefit assessment. It's legal. It's within our realm to do.
Unless I'm off—and correct me if I'm wrong because I'm still learning but we
have a community benefit assessment, and that is something that we can do by the
County Council through legislation. And stop me if I'm wrong, yeah. Zendo, am
I on track so far? Because, I'm going through our emails that we had
Ms. Strance, Mr. Kern, and myself and Ms. Kimball.
MR. KERN: Zendo Kern, Planning Director. That conversation, we have
Corporation Counsel discussing that with you. I'm not comfortable making that
statement at this time. We currently have a practice in place for the fair share
contribution for residential units on rezonings. That's not codified and I think
there is a massive potentiality of issues pushing beyond that. Not to say you guys
aren't going to have that conversation, you're not going to talk with Corporation
Counsel about it and go there, but I am not comfortable sitting here as the
Director and saying thumbs up, green light to you on that. I think there's a lot of
complexity to that that I think is part of the ongoing conversation.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I would say that in the discussions
between Corporation Counsel regarding Section 2-162.1, there are procedures for
accepting money securities, personal property, real property derived from
community benefit assessments or conditions of land use approvals. So, I think
this fits into this section and that using this section as a basis for our ability to do a
community benefit assessment would work. And in this amendment, I feel that it
fits well into this again. And I'm open to being wrong. I could be totally wrong,
but that's where I feel this sits.
So, with that in mind, I'm just doing that so the Council can kind of understand
this wasn't willy-nilly come up with something and throw it at the Yamanakas.
But more so, how do we work within the realms of what we can and cannot do as
a Council with Code sections to back us up and create something that does good
for the community? And that's really where I appreciated what Ms. Kimball had
brought forward and that I was willing to throw my name onto because I like this;
this is good.
And going forward, we should be looking at this, and not to deter investment but
to create beautiful community that our kids are going to enjoy down the line.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
Also, that we have to stress about how much it's going to cost because for the
kids and for our island, what we leave behind us as a legacy, that's what our focus
should be. And I understand there's costs built into that, but if we don't start
doing it now and we don't get started, we don't have the conversation, we're
never going to get there. So, those are my thoughts and thank you for the latitude,
Chair. I appreciate it. And thank you, Ms. Kimball, for helping put this forward
and making sure that we got to this point. Thank you, Council.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Any other comments? If
not, I will indulgeoh, okay, thank you. And thank you for that, Ms. Kimball
and Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. The discussion was veryoh, Mr. Richards, go
ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Yeah,just a quick one, Chair, thanks. And, Ms. Kimball, I
don't disagree with what your intent was; I think it's honorable and noble. But I
don't think it's directed right when we assign debt to a private landowner that's
trying to do housekeeping. And having a walkway in front, sure, but then we'd
pay for it and not them. If that's truly a value for this Council, then we should
pay for it as the Council and not assign the debt to them. And what I'm hearing is
they're open to a conversation, which is great, but I don't think we should be
assigning them incurring debt that they're going to have to come forth with that.
And I would politely disagree with reducing the number of lots does not equate
your value because the more smaller the lots you have, the more it's valued. And
he is an appraiser, so I'm going to take his opinion with that.
And finally, when it comes to the economy, our economy is struggling. I made a
comment two weeks ago about we're still down about 25 percent, probably not
quite that much right now. But outside investment for businesses in this County
is struggling. There's been a lot of real estate and people do want to be here—and
I do agree with that—but not for business because we make it tough on people.
So, with that, Ms. Kimball, I do appreciate your intent in your direction and what
you're about to do. So, thanks, Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Okay, is everyone done? Okay, I just wanted to say
thank you to Ms. Kimball and Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder for their attempts in
trying to assess some equity across the board on issues that really have a big part
in our decision-making process. However, and with respect to processes, I do
believe that what we have before us is very questionable in implementing, and
this body's responsibility in carrying forward an amendment that will have some
long-term precedent settings for not only you but for other family businesses that
this precedence will set.
And I think these things—and that's why I value what Corp. Counsel is going to
opine on this because if we want to implement something like this as legislators,
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
there is another route that we can do that's within the Code. And our job as
legislators can create law and ordinances that will be very equitable and fair for
everybody and across the board.
So, for me, this piecemeal kind of conditioning is something that I have not
supported in all my community activism years because process for me is
everything because it prevents us or anyone from addressing issues on a
piecemeal basis because of what's happening at that time. But I think, in my old
age, we have to think big as far as impacts in our decision-making. I really agree
with your intention, but for me sitting here as a legislator, I see so many things
that will be detrimental to not only this applicant but to our community in general
if we do things on a piecemeal basis like this.
So, I totally agree we need to do something, but we need to either create a
2 percent, I percent, whatever, for future development if that's where we want to
go, but there's a process for that. There's also a process for this Condition K also,
and I really respect and anxiously await Corp. Counsel's input. So, that's all I
have to say, and I really thank everybody for their input. This has been very
educational. Thank you. I yield. I yield to myself. Ms. Kimball, go ahead.
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. And I do appreciate maybeI don't know if
Jon's having a heart attack over there because of our process here but I wanted
to give you a chance to chime in. And I'm so thankful for your comments
because I think this actually pertains to some of the conversations we were having
yesterday about action committees and the need to move stuff out of rules, the
need to move stuff out of individual subdivision rezoning ordinances and get it
codified into the Code. And I could not agree more that that's where our real
work is. So, I really want to mahalo you for raising that point.
At this time, again, thank you to all my colleagues for the really thoughtful
insight. Thank you, Mr. Yamanaka, for your participation. Thank you for being
here today. And thank you to the Planning Department for your help on the
original language and, hopefully, future help on improving this. Ms. Strance,
we'll talk after about some of the things that I'm hoping you can respond to.
So, at this time with the feedback from my colleagues, I'll make the motion to
withdraw or I'll withdraw the motion, and we'll present something hopefully a
little cleaner at next hearing.
Withdraw Motion Ms. Kimball withdrew her motion to amend Bill 34 with
to Amend: the contents of Comm. 233.2.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much, Ms. Kimball. Anyone else? The motion's
withdrawn. We're back to the main motion, Mr. Clerk. No further discussion, all
those in favor of approving Bill 34 at first reading,please say "aye."
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
Vote on Bill 34: The motion to pass Bill 34 on first reading and adopt
(Approved) Planning Committee Report No. 17 was carried by the
following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Mr. Yamanaka, thank you very much. Director, Deputy, thank
you for being here and your patience. Aloha. Okay, Mr. Clerk, where are we?
Bill 41 maybe? Okay.
Bill 41: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 20-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING
BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDING JUNE 30, 2021
Appropriates revenues in the Federal Grants —2020 Emergency Management
Performance Grant Program COVID-19 Supplemental account($50,000);
and appropriates the same to the 2020 Emergency Management Performance Grant
Program COVID-19 Supplemental account. Funds would be used to develop an
emergency food plan for Hawaii Island.
Reference: Comm. 273
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 41 on first
reading. Seconded by Mr. Richards.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you very much, Chair. This was
brought forward by Civil Defense. Maybe, Deanna, if there's any questions that
the Council may have, if you could speak to them,please. I do not have but I
look forward to any questions that come forth.
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Council.)
MS. SAKO: Our Civil Defense Administrator was here earlier, but some of the
conversations have taken a little longer than he expected and he was called away,
but I'm happy to answer any questions.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Director. Any questions? No? All right, that was
easy. All those in favor of approving Bill 41 at first reading, please say "aye."
Vote on Bill 41: The motion to pass Bill 41 on first reading was carried by
(Approved) the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Bill 42: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 20-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING
BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDING JUNE 30, 2021
Appropriates revenues in the Federal —Emergency Rent Assistance 2 COVID-19
account($12,000,000); and appropriates the same to the Emergency Rent
Assistance 2 COVID-19 account($10,500,000) and the Emergency Rent
Assistance 2 Administration COVID-19 account($1,500,000). Funds would be
used for rent, utilities, and other housing expenses in relation to the COVID-19
pandemic.
Reference: Comm. 274
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 42 on first
reading. Seconded by Ms. Villegas.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: We had a good conversation about this last
time. Look forward to everyone's support.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. All those in favor of approving Bill 42, please say
Ic aye.
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
Vote on Bill 42: The motion to pass Bill 42 on first reading was carried by
(Approved) the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
ORDER OF The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Order of
THE DAY the Day (Second or Final Reading).
(SECOND OR
FINAL READING): (Note: Bill 32, Draft 2, was taken up previously, out of order.)
Bill 37: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 20-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING
BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDING JUNE 30, 2021
Increases revenues in the Fund Balance Reserved for Liquor Control account
($35,000); and appropriates the same to the Liquor Control-Equipment account.
Funds would be used to purchase furniture for the Department of Liquor Control's
new West Hawaii office location.
Reference: Comm. 250
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
First Reading: May 19, 2021
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 37 on second
and final reading. Seconded by Mr. Inaba.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, if you choose.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I have no questions, Chair. Thank you very
much.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of
approving Bill 37 at second and final reading, please say "aye."
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
Vote on Bill 37: The motion to pass Bill 37 on second and final reading was
(Adopted) carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards,
Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Chung— 1.
Excused: None.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Chair, if I may, can I make a motion to
waive the five-day hold,per the Liquor Control Department, on Bill 37?
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. You sure can.
Vote on Motion to Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to suspend Council
Suspend Council Rule 15 to waive the 5-day hold for reconsideration.
Rules: Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried by the following voice
(Approved) vote:
Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards,
Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Chung— 1.
Excused: None.
Bill 38: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 20-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING
BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDING JUNE 30, 2021
Increases revenues in the Real Property Tax Penalties account($168,750);
and appropriates the same to the Transfer to Public Access/Open Space
Preservation Fund account($150,000), and the Transfer to Public Access/Open
Space Preservation Maintenance Fund account($18,750).
Reference: Comm. 254
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
First Reading: May 19, 2021
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
Vote on Bill 38: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 38 on second
(Adopted) and final reading. Seconded by Mr. Richards and carried
by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards,
Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Chung— 1.
Excused: None.
Bill 39: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 20-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING
BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDING JUNE 30, 2021
Appropriates revenues in the Office of Management Private Contribution account
($42,300); and appropriates the same to the County of Hawaii Sustainability
Program account. Funds would be used towards costs and expenses of the Hawaii
Island Sustainability Summit.
Reference: Comm. 255
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
First Reading: May 19, 2021
Vote on Bill 39: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 39 on second
(Adopted) and final reading. Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried by
the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards,
Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Chung— 1.
Excused: None.
Bill 40: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 20-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING
BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDING JUNE 30, 2021
Increases revenues in the Transfer from General Fund account($6,000);
and appropriates the same to the Homeless Taskforce account. Funds would be
used to assist with outreach and engagement services in West Hawaii.
Reference: Comm. 256
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
First Reading: May 19, 2021
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Hawaii County Council-15 June 2,2021
Vote on Bill 40: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 40 on second
(Adopted) and final reading. Seconded by Ms. Villegas and carried
by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards,
Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Chung— 1.
Excused: None.
REPORTS: The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Reports.
(There were none.)
REFERRALS FOR The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Referrals
EXECUTIVE for Executive Session.
SESSION:
(There were none.)
OTHER The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Other
BUSINESS: Business.
(There were none.)
ANNOUNCE- The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business,
MENTS: Announcements.
(There were none.)
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Hawaii Count\ Council-15 June '''. ?021
ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 12:15 p.m., Ms. Lee Loy moved to adjourn the
MENT: meeting. Seconded by Mr. Richards and carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards.
Villegas, and Chair David — 8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Chung — 1.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: We are adjourned. Mahalo, everybody.
Council Approval: JUL 0 7 2021
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