Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN GOREDC 2021/08/17 2020-2022 Committee on Governmental Operations, Relations, and Economic Development 13th Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawai i August 17, 2021 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Governmental Operations, Relations, ORDER: and Economic Development was called to order at 1:35 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Chair Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Vice Chair Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member (via videoconference from Hilo) Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member (came in later) Absent& Excused: Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: (There were none.) CHR. KIMBALL: With that I will close public testimony and go to the items on the agenda. Mr. Clerk, let's take things out of order and take Comm. 359 first please? 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: COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 359: REQUESTS A PRESENTATION BY LEA HONG, HAWAIIAN ISLANDS STATE DIRECTOR OF THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LANDS REGARDING THE SENTINEL LANDSCAPE PARTNERSHIP From Council Chair Maile David, dated August 4, 2021. GOREDC-13 August 17,2021 Motion to Close File: Ms. David moved to close file on Comm. 359. Seconded by Mr. Richards. CHR. KIMBALL: Ms. David, would you like to kick us off? MS. DAVID: Thank you very much, Chair. Aloha and welcome. And Lea, thank you for being here today and for your participation. I just would like to give a brief background regarding why I brought this communication forward. Ms. Hong reached out to me a week or two ago. And basically, we had a Zoom meeting and she did a presentation regarding the Sentinel Landscape Partnerships. And when she was done, she asked or notified to me that she was reaching out to the respective Mayors, Council Chairs, and Vice Chairs of all the islands for a support letter regarding this designation. So, I explained to Ms. Hong that as the Council Chair, given the fact that this is going to be an island-wide designation, I felt it's only fair that I have her present to all of us, because each of us represent a district of this island. So, she was willing to do it, and I thank her very much. And I think we can go ahead with the presentation. Ms. Hong, go right ahead. We can see you. Anytime you're ready. (Note: At this time, Lea Hong, representing Trust for Public Lands came forward and provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of subject presentation, see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is made a part of the record, see Comm. 359.) MS. HONG: So this is a potentially very powerful designation that could drive a lot more beneficial federal funding to the island, and I would hope that the Council would support this and perhaps provide a letter of support. MS. DAVID: Thank you. Ms. Hong, are you done? MS. HONG: Yes, any questions? MS. DAVID: Yes, thank you. I'm going to yield for now for questions from my colleagues, and if you could be around to answer some questions still? Thank you. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member David. And thank you Ms. Hong for your presentation. Any questions from my colleagues? Council Member Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you Chair, and thanks for that presentation. It's interesting and timely. You mentioned wildfire, and I've been playing with that for the last couple of weeks. And I'm curious about this partnership. You talk Page 2 GOREDC-13 August 17,2021 about conservation easements. And are these in perpetuity or are these for a contract timeline? Little unclear as far as how this actually goes together. I like the concept but the details I'm kind of curious on. MS. HONG: Well typically the conservation easements authorized by the REPI (Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration)program must be in perpetuity. So there are some conservation easement programs under the NRCS (Natural Resource Conservation Service) that are term-limited that are finite period of time. But the REPI funding, the conservation easements need to be perpetual. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, and then the fact that you have three departments. Who takes point? How do you start having conversations? MS. HONG: Oh, yeah, good question, and I'm sorry I didn't cover this. So if the proposal is successful, and we should know by December whether or not the proposal is successful, we do get about$100,000 of funding to hire a full-time coordinator. The Trust for Public Lands has an obligation to raise a matching sum for the coordinator and, you know, support kind of stuff because it's not all salary. So if we do successfully get a designation, we would hire a full-time coordinator housed within The Trust for Public Lands. CHR. KIMBALL: Ms. Hong, we kind of lost your connection. I'm not sure if it's on your end or our end. If you go back a sentence of two. Thank you. MS. HONG: Okay. Yeah,just to be clear, if the designation is successful, The Trust for Public Lands will get $100,000. We have to raise another $100,000 of matching money. But then we would hire a coordinator housed within The Trust for Public Lands to coordinate between the three Federal agencies, as well as work with all the partners. The State,the County, the different NGO (Non- Governmental Organizations)partners to try to really prioritize and try to get as much funding as possible to these areas. MR. RICHARDS: You dropped out when you said, "Get funding to these areas." Then you stopped. MS. HONG: No, no, that's it. I'm sorry if I sounded like I was trailing there. MR. RICHARDS: And then so, for conservation easement, who's actually granting that? MS. HONG: So, conservation easements are a completely voluntary process. The private landowner has to say, "Yes, I am willing to grant a conservation easement over my land." Typically, the entity that is the buyer of the conservation easement or the owner of the conservation easement is a land trust or Page 3 GOREDC-13 August 17,2021 a County, or a public agency. It depends on the program. It depends on, you know, the situation. MR. RICHARDS: So but, in this situation where you have three Federal agencies, would it be the land trust here? Is that what I'm hearing? MS. HONG: Again, it depends. MR. RICHARDS: Okay. MS. HONG: But for example, under the NRCS Agricultural Conservation Easement program, if a private landowner wanted to put a conservation easement on their land, it would be Hawaii Island Land Trust that would own and monitor the conservation easement. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, and then these conservation easements, are they boilerplate or are they tailored to each individual piece of land? MS. HONG: They are tailored to each individual piece of land. There are common clauses that are included in every conservation easement that are required by the program, but that they are tailored by every individual situation. MR. RICHARDS: Okay. That's a good start. Okay, thanks very much Chair, I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Okay, Mr. Richards. Anyone else with questions for Ms. Hong? Alright, seeing none, thank you so much for being here. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Chair? CHR. KIMBALL: Yes, go ahead Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Apologies, I didn't see your light on over there. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: No, no, thank you Ms. Kimball. Thank you very much Lea for being here today. Let me just take the case of the area that was circled on the map, you know, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa;the Pohakuloa training area. What would that look like? I mean these being large conservation parcels that are owned by, you know, DLNR (Department of Land and Natural Resources) or leased by the Army. I mean, what does that look like as far as this public trust? If I'm not asking that correctly, you know, I apologize. But it's interesting what you're saying. Page 4 GOREDC-13 August 17,2021 MS. HONG: So I'm not sure what your question is, but the funding that would be available primarily is for private landowners in some respect. These sort of voluntary private landowner programs under, you know, USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the preservation of threatened and endangered species. However, you know, some of the money could be used for projects like watershed restoration or fencing. You know, like for example, bird habitat or plants, or bird species kind of habitat mitigation projects on State land. I do understand that, of course, there is the very controversial Pohakuloa lease renegotiation coming up. But this program has nothing to do with that. If that is the question, this program has nothing to do with the Pohakuloa lease renegotiation. It is one way, though for, you know, the County of Hawaii to benefit. And obviously, the military has had a ton of negative impacts on our islands. And this is one way to try, you know, get some positive result with the military contributing as well as these other forestry and wildlife programs to benefit the islands. But again, this has no connection to the lease renegotiations. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you, I yield for now. But I appreciate your time today, Lea. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Thank you so much for the presentation. Sorry if I glazed over. Maybe you covered this, but I'm just curious how this program could dovetail with our current PONC (Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission)program here at the County. Are there ways in which they could be paired together and further support community efforts? MS. HONG: For sure, right? So if, you know, for example if there was an overlapping of a project. Sort of like, you know, in the Kohala Coast, that the PONC program has ranked and recommends to this Council for funding. These programs, or specifically the military program, could provide, you know, matching funding so that the County isn't expending 100 percent of its PONC funds on the purchase of that property if the County was buying it. So, yes, it can serve as a match for lands under consideration by the PONC Commission. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: That's perfect. Excellent to know. Always looking to find ways in which we can be leveraging and pooling our resources. Thank you. Chair, I yield. Page 5 GOREDC-13 August 17,2021 CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I have a follow-up, if there's nothing else. CHR. KIMBALL: Go ahead, Matt. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. So the letter of support that's being asked for, what would that do? As far as for the agency. MS. HONG: Well, I think the letter of support that I was requesting is just sort of a letter of support of the designation in general. And I think the one from the Mayor that I was requesting was like, he would be willing to provide a point of contact if the designation was successful to participate in sort of steering committee meetings, which I think will be about quarterly, but with sort of interim communications in between the meetings. You know, I was also requesting, if the Council does see fit, like sort of a message or resolution to the PONC Commission, saying you know, we hope you will consider projects that have matching money from this program, you know, favorably in your ranking process. I mean, I wouldn't maybe go so far as directing them to do it, but you know,just sort of some kind of communication from the Council saying we hope you, as a commission, take this into account. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Any final questions? MS. DAVID: Thank you, Chair. Ms. Hong, could you explain again the public input process in this designation stage right now? I think we talked about that and then that would be coming later? MS. HONG: Yeah, there's really, you know, because this is just an agreement between the three Federal agencies and it's under a sort of existing programs, there isn't a lot of, I guess, required community engagement. And really, I think the military is depending on The Trust for Public Lands to kind of try to get out there and let people know about this program. Which is why, you know, we're going around the talking to the different Mayors; talking to the different Council bodies; coordinating with U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Forest Service, and NRCS. As well as coordinating with our NGO partners and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. And I think that process is going to be, you know, a work-in-process as we go along. Because, you know, it's tough to engage the community when we don't have any money. We don't have any resources right now. We're just kind of proposing this application on a wind and a prayer. I mean, we're just hoping, Page 6 GOREDC-13 August 17,2021 "Please designate us." Right? And they haven't given us any money to do any of this preparation that we're doing of this proposal. You know, if we are designated a Sentinel Landscape, then I think there is going to be a much more robust attempt to engage the community and engage all the different sorts of stakeholders. Again, there are public input opportunities in all of the existing programs, right? So the NRCS, ACEP (Agricultural Conservation Easement Program). They work closely with all the Soil and Water Conservation District folks. The U.S. Forest Legacy program, they have a forest action plan and assessment of need that goes out for tremendous public input. That's reflected in the maps. You know, critical habitat designations by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife go through a huge public input process. So these existing programs and projects that go through these existing programs under the Sentinel Landscape partnership will go through the same public input process as all other projects. But this whole designation and application process, there isn't a formal sort of public input process other than me trying to reach out to everybody and trying to get people onboard and informed because we don't have any resources. We have zero money, funds, resources to do this. MS. DAVID: I see. Well, thank you for explaining that part, because I think it's an important part. And so Council Members, what I'd really prefer, because this affects this island island-wide, I would really like to leave it up to individual Council Members in individual districts to reach out to Ms. Hong. And if you so choose to support this, then I would feel comfortable as opposed to—at this late date, Ms. Hong, you understand that a Council action authorizing me to do a letter like you requested, would be better suited for a resolution. But there was no time to bring one forward. And so I'd prefer whoever would like to participate or support, would send a support letter; that we do that as individual Council Members. Is that okay, Ms. Hong? MS. HONG: Sure. I'm happy to send some draft language that can be distributed to the Council Members interested. And you know, they're free to edit as they see fit. And I do kind of need the letters signed by next week because we have to cement that proposal. MS. DAVID: I understand. You noted the timeframe that we were looking towards was very tight. And that's why I needed to get this communication on this meeting, so that at least, you know, my fellow Council Members can make that choice for themselves as they represent the districts of this island. So, I will leave that to you folks to contact Ms. Hong. Ms. Hong, I believe your information is on our hard copy of your PowerPoint. And then I will ask that Page 7 GOREDC-13 August 17,2021 each of the Council Members who desires to do a letter contact you and you can email them really quickly, your draft letter. MS. HONG: Thank you so much for this opportunity, Chair David and the rest of the Council, for listening to this proposal. MS. DAVID: Alright. Aloha, Ms. Hong MS. HONG: Aloha. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Before you sign off Ms. Hong, I would ask, could you send electronically, those additional maps that were included in your presentation but were not included in the hard-copy packet to Ms. David, so we can post for our records as well. MS. HONG: Okay, who should I send it to? To Chair David or to her assistant? CHR. KIMBALL: Chair David would be great. MS. HONG: Okay, thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Alright with that, let me just have the record reflect that Council Member Villegas is in the room. She was not here when we did roll call. So we'll go ahead and take the vote to close file on Comm. 359, all those in favor? Vote on Comm. 359: The motion to close file on Comm. 359 was carried by Filed the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Chung and Lee Loy—2. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: We'll move on to the next item please? Return to Order The Chair directed the Committee to return to the order of business. of Business: Comm. 170.2: REQUESTS A DISCUSSION REGARDING THE 2022 HAWAII STATE ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES' LEGISLATIVE PACKAGE From Council Member Heather L. Kimball, dated July 23, 2021. Page 8 GOREDC-13 August 17,2021 CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Can I have to motion please? Motion to Close File: Mr. Inaba moved to close file on Comm. 170.2. Seconded by Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. CHR. KIMBALL: If I may before we start discussion,just to place-set a little bit. It is that time of year again. If you recall from our budget sessions, we have continued to fund a position as a consultant with Jon Okudara to help us with the legislative process. At this stage, we are asking for each county to submit the list of items that they are interested in developing or supporting legislation around for the 2022 Legislative Session. So that is the order of business today, to discuss at a general level, the types of topics we'd like to advance in the 2022 Legislative Session. With that, would anyone like to begin the conversation? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Ms. Kimball? CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Please go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I mean over the last few years, I've watched this with interest. What is on the table right now, if anything, are there any legislative packages brought forward? Is there any legislation? You know, this is our chance to kind of discuss this. I mean where are we at right now in your eyes? CHR. KIMBALL: There are a few things that have been discussed in our meetings that I think we'll proceed this year through the HSAC (Hawai`i State Association of Counties)process which I'm happy to share. There are also a few things that didn't make it through all the way last session that are still alive or maybe revisited. A couple of these pertain to motor vehicle registrations and additional fees on rental vehicles. And having the County be given the authority to add additional registration fees for what are called U-drive motor vehicles or rental motor vehicles. So those are likely to come back. Another one would be regarding the liability of lifeguards and their employing counties from tort-liability providing they are acting in the surface of their lifeguard duties. That's been something that's been kicked around a lot, and got fairly close last time. We have a couple of things with respect to Sunshine Law. I'll be working closely with Council Member Waters of the City and County of Honolulu. And meeting in the very term with some of the open government civic engagement groups. We actually want to have the conversations early on with them and get their support. Some of these were proposed last session and didn't make much headway. Page 9 GOREDC-13 August 17,2021 An additional one that was proposed last year and will probably be returning is an opportunity to allow public-private partnerships for wastewater. It was something that didn't go very far last year. It needs a lot more work. We've already engaged in some initial conversations around that. Those are the primary ones that are from the 2021 Session that are still around and will probably in some form or another, remain part of the package. Council Member Kelly King got in touch with my office. She's particularly interested in Council Member Kierkiewicz's Green Corps Jobs resolution and the subsequent Bill 1176 Job Corps pilot program. Looking at maybe including an expansion of that in the HSAC package. And then another area would be a study of enhanced producer responsibility. For those of you who are not familiar, this would be some sort of financial responsibility on the producers of recyclable materials for their full life cycle. It's something that was introduced last session by Representative Lowen. It was kind of the first foray into that conversation. Hoping to see that advance into the 2022 session in the form of a study at this point. So I hope that answers your question pretty comprehensively. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That does. Thank you Ms. Kimball. How much time do we have to put stuff together? Where are we at with the submittal? What's our timeline? CHR. KIMBALL: We have a very tight timeline. Next week, the 26h is our next HSAC meeting. That is the first date for submission of ideas to the larger body. You know, we want to have stuff in progress by the fall. And so, I mean it's best if it can get it on the list today, but within the next week. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I mean when you say, ideas submitted, you know, maybe today or within the next week, you're talking about just the generic idea or you want like a finished piece of legislation? CHR. KIMBALL: No, no,just a generic idea. What I would do is I will take the list that we generate today to the HSAC Executive Committee. We as a whole will whittle down the ones that we think are our top priorities. And then we will work together with the various Council Members and Reps. to develop the legislation. So at this point, we're looking primarily for ideas. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And these ideas would be shifted more towards, you know, what the counties think would be beneficial for them with the State or in participation with legislation changes at the State level as well? Page 10 GOREDC-13 August 17,2021 CHR. KIMBALL: Primarily the scope of HSAC is to support legislation that benefits the counties in forms of either revenue or greater autonomy. So you can interpret that as narrowly or as broadly as you choose. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I like it. Okay, I have a few ideas. Who do I talk to? CHR. KIMBALL: You can call my office. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Perfect. Thank you Ms. Kimball, I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. Anyone else? Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thanks Chair. So I'm sitting here listening to this and one of the things we struggle with here in the County, you talking about revenue, is revenue coming from the State. And we know we all lost our TAT (Transient Accommodation Tax) allocation. And I know they're running on, I think it was a $750 million surplus coming forth. The counties are struggling right now, we know that. It always comes back to the funding for our different programs. And I'm just wondering if this would be the time with the surplus that they have to put forth, and using Mr. Chung's words, kind of an omnibus package, that will help us take care of things like funding for our lifeguards and things along those lines. I've got to flesh this out a little bit better, I think, but it comes back to funding for the programs that would be helped supported by some of that funding that we lost. So I'll flesh that out and you and I can kind of craft it a little bit further. But it comes back to funding and supporting the County through that funding for these programs. Thanks Chair, I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Alright, thank you Mr. Richards. Anyone else? Okay, with that I'll just close by reiterating that, even if we have things that are part of the legislative process in 2022 that are not part of our package, again, if they do pertain to revenue and greater autonomy for the counties, we often pick them up or add them. So as we get into the 2022 Session, we will be trying to do a better job of making sure everyone is being able to keep tabs on those types of legislation in addition to those that are in our package. If there are other items that folks want to share with my office, please feel free to do so. And with that, I'll close discussion on this and move to the vote. Page 11 GOREDC-13 August 17,2021 Vote on Comm. 170.2: The motion to close file on Comm. 170.2 was carried by (Filed) the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Chung and Lee Loy—2. Excused: None. ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Order RESOLUTIONS: of Resolutions. (There were none.) BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. (There were none.) CHR. KIMBALL: May I have a motion to adjourn? ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 2:23 p.m., Mr. Richards moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Chung and Lee Loy—2. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: We are adjourned. Mahalo. Approved: CLI411/4ACI g(VIA M . Heather L. K mball, Chair (Date) Government Operations, Relations, and Economic Development Committee HK/dt Page 12