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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN FC 2021/09/07 2020-2022Committee on Finance 1811 Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii September 7, 2021 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Finance was called to order at ORDER: 11:40 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Mr. Matt Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Matt Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder, Chair Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards III, Member (via videoconference from Waimea) Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member (via videoconference from Kona) Absent & Excused: Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: COMMUNI- CATIONS: The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. The Chair called Dwight Vicente, who registered to speak and comment on Res. 191-21 (Comm. 368), and came forward when called. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mr. Clerk, if you could, take us to our first order of business today, Communication 31.8 The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Communications. Comm. 31.18: REPORT OF CHANGE ORDERS AUTHORIZED: JULY 16 — 31, 2021 From Finance Director Deanna Sako, dated August 5, 2021, transmitting the above report pursuant to Hawaii County Code Section 2-12.3. Motion to Close File: Ms. Lee Loy moved to close file on Comm. 31.18. Seconded by Ms. Kimball. FC -18 September 7, 2021 CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Any discussion, Council Members? Ms. Lee Loy. MR. RICHARDS: Chair? CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I'm going to take Ms. Lee Loy first, then I'll go to you Mr. Richards. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. (Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. LEE LOY: Thanks, Deanna. Under our Change Order of contracts, I'm just highlighting two. One is certified redemption center service in Waimea. That one is up 288 percent. And then similarly, redemption center services DEM (Department of Environmental Management, COH (County of Hawaii) is up 480 percent. Can you explain for us? MS. SAKO: So on the Change Order report, this one is a little long because we're exercising the new contracts for the current fiscal year. So a lot of them are exercising option years. And when we bid it out, sometimes there will be two -option year, sometimes three. I think these were longer, maybe four or five. So that's why the cumulative percentages are so high. The current year is 115 percent, which would reflect that we are paying 15 percent more than the original contract, but there are usually price escalations in the option bids. But those are the amounts they bid at the original time. MS. LEE LOY: Great. And then just for explanation purposes, we're still staying within the 100—or about 100 percent of that option year, but because it's over multiple years, the cumulative total— MS. SAKO: Right. MS. LEE LOY: Seems a bit— MS. SAKO: It goes up very high. MS. LEE LOY: Okay. Yeah, I think there's a bigger conversation, to talk about DEM and our recent adjustments to the closures, but that's not what's in front of us. But thank you, Deanna, for being here. I yield. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Richards. Page 2 FC -18 September 7, 2021 MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. Thanks, Deanna. Just a question. It looks like all the PTA (Pohakuloa Training Area) contracts, there's no original cost, there's no increase in cost. So what are we reviewing those for? Just as a procedural question. MS. SAKO: I believe that just how the interpretation of the County Code has been, that even though the price -term agreements are set up so that we can use them if we need to, but it may be zero. I mean, they're actually worded that way. We have always reported our Change Orders to the Council per the County Code. MR. RICHARDS: Okay. So just procedural, because there's no cost there. Alright, thanks for that. I yield. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Any other discussion, Council Members? Okay, seeing none. We have a motion on the floor to close file on Communication 31.18, all in favor? Vote on Comm. 31.18: The motion to close file on Comm. 30.12 was carried Filed by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder — 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member David — 1. Excused: None. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Moving on Resolution 191-21, please. ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. Res. 191-21: AUTHORIZES THE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH THE STATE OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Authorizes the Mayor to enter into an agreement for the Civil Defense Agency's use of two classrooms at Keaukaha Military Reserve to conduct daily operations during renovations to its permanent office. Reference: Comm. 368 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to recommend adoption of Res. 191-21. Seconded by Ms. Kimball. Page 3 FC -18 September 7, 2021 (Note: At this time, Civil Defense Administrator Talmadge Magno came forward to address the members of the Committee.) CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Council Members, discussion on Resolution 191-21. MR. BROWN: Excuse me, Chair? CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes? MR. BROWN: You do have Talmadge Magno on—looks like we have him on the Zoom call should anyone have questions, as well. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Beautiful. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Mr. Inaba, you have the floor. MR. INABA: Thank you, Chair. When did we go into these two classrooms? Was it in February? MR. MAGNO: Good morning. Well, we went into agreement February 1 st, and shortly moved into the classrooms. MR. INABA: Okay. And is this—sorry, still learning things—but is this common practice where we do agreements after it's already been in place? MR. MAGNO: Yeah. MR. INABA: Yes? MR. MAGNO: I guess upon determining that we needed to do agreements. In this case, we'll do them after -the -fact. (Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. SAKO: Good morning. Deanna Sako, Director of Finance. I believe what happened was that the current—the initial move was covered under the Governor's Proclamation. And so due to time was of the essence, when they finally got ready to do the construction, so we moved them out quickly. They've now completed the first term, which was however many months, and now this is for the second term. MR. INABA: Okay, thank you. MS. SAKO: But normally, yes, they would all come at the beginning. Page 4 FC -18 September 7, 2021 MR. INABA: Alright. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Good question, Mr. Inaba. Further questions by the Council? Okay, hearing none. Motion on the floor is to forward Resolution 191-21 to Council with a favorable recommendation. It's on the floor. All in favor? Vote on Res. 191-21: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 191-21 was (Approved) carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder — 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member David — 1. Excused: None. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you for being here, Director Magno. MR. MAGNO: Thanks for getting that approved. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, Mr. Clerk, Bill 62, please. BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances.. Bill 62: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 21-385 AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2022 Increases revenues in the Federal — Area Plan on Aging account ($1,327,797); and appropriates the same to the Area Plan on Aging account. Funds would be used to provide services outlined in the Older Americans Act of 1965 with a focus on alleviating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on seniors. Reference: Comm. 367 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder (B/R) Page 5 FC -18 September 7, 2021 Vote on Bill 62: Ms. Lee Loy moved to recommend passage of Bill 62 on (Approved) first reading. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder — 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member David — 1. Excused: None. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And then, final order of business, Bill No. 63. Bill 63: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 21-38, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2022 Appropriates revenues in the Federal — Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Supplemental 2 account ($23,720,000); and appropriates the same to the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Supplemental 2 account. Funds would be primarily used to support disaster relief and long-term recovery related to the 2018 Kilauea eruption. Reference: Comm. 369 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder (B/R) Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to recommend passage of Bill 63 on first reading. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Council Members, is there any discussion? For everyone's information, both in Kona and Waimea, we have Mr. Douglas Le and Mr. Zendo Kern here to answer your questions, if there may be any. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Yes, I would love if our Recovery Officer, Mr. Le, and Planning Director Zendo Kern could come forward, and just give us quick pulse -check of where we are. (Note: At this time, Planning Director Zendo Kern and Disaster Recovery Officer Douglas Le came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I know that this is the really third sort of tranche of funding dedicated to the buyout program that we are receiving from HUD (Housing and Urban Development), totaling over now $100 million. So just give Page 6 FC -18 September 7, 2021 us a sense of where we are, and update us on the Amended Action Plan that was submitted to HUD and approved, which allows you to continue using this $23 million to support the Buyout Program. MR. LE: Of course, good morning Chair and members of the Council. Douglas Nam Le, Disaster Recovery Officer with the Planning Department. The ordinance before you is to appropriate $23 million in these Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds for disaster recovery. As you all are very aware, in March of this year, the resolutions and appropriation ordinances to receive the first $83 million, that was allocated to the County for recovery from the 2018 Kilauea eruption, and the primary focus of these funds are for housing recovery efforts. You know, since then we have worked very diligently to do a survey, to kind of really poll the impacted properties and to see where folks are at now, nearly potentially three years after the eruption began. This $23 million is an additional allocation that HUD provided to the County in January of 2021. And we, from that point and time, initiated a process to update our Action Plan for the CDBG-DR (Community Development Block Grant — Disaster Recovery) funds. It was an essential amendment because it did receive the $23 million, that was the primary update. And we also cleaned up some additional language just because that Action Plan was written almost two years ago now. And we did do a 30 -day public comment period. We did receive a number of comments in the Action Plan that HUD approved in August. There is actually a summary of the comments we received as well as direct responses, that we document in the appendix of the Action Plan. All that is available on our website for folks to take a look at in terms of the changes and this final version that HUD has approved of the milestones to really secure this final tranche of $23 million, to get us to the 107 of CDBG-DR funds. We need the approved Action Plan, and now as with any grant funds the County receives, appropriation. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you for that. I mean, it's a huge understatement to say that you folks have been working really diligently. I mean, you have built this program from scratch and are administering the largest federal appropriation that this County has ever received. So mahalo nui, Douglas, to you and your team for your leadership in this. Just a quick sense of the comments you received for the substantial amendment. Generally supportive of the Voluntary Buyout Program? MR. LE: Yeah, that's correct. We received nine comments in total. The majority were in direct support of additional funds going to help as many people as we could, through this Voluntary Housing Buyout Program. We did receive a Page 7 FC -18 September 7, 2021 comment related to kind of how the space could be maintained, these acquired properties, after acquisition, which—you know, buy open space. One commenter talked about how she has a connection of these lands, and would not be pursuing a buyout, so really honored that aspect of that connection. And it is a voluntary program in all respects. And then, one commenter around infrastructure for housing with these DR (Disaster Recovery) funds. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, thank you. I know that you folks are in the process of sort of crunching numbers from Phase 1, closeout of the program. But by and large, I think that based on the housing data, that we captured it from that initial survey. It's really—it's not meeting but exceeding sort of the expectations you set out for all of the phases. Is that correct? MR. LE: That is correct. So we launched Phase 1, where primary homes were eligible, on April 30th of this year. You know, looking back at the data from the damage assessment, during and maybe following the eruption, we had quantified about 294 homeowner exemptions on the books, and that was really, at that point and time, the clearest indication of really that universe of primary homes, that would be all of Phase 1. Today we're just under 3 00 applications, and we have worked through intake for over half of them. I think everyone can imagine, we're dealing with people's lives, and lives that have really been disrupted over the passed few years. And so we are doing everything we can to make it as clear, and effective, and efficient of our process as possible. But we also are sensitive to the realties of people's lives. We try to be clear of the reality of federal funding. And kind of—how we design the program to be clear and effective. But this requires a lot of work. And really to the credit of our team who work day -in and day -out every day to really meet clients where they're at, help them and support them through this process. But also being really clear on—kind of the role of us, as kind of County staff, navigating this and administering the program and the information and kind of follow along that we also need to work on with the applicants themselves to get us over that finish line of closing, when the time comes. So right now we are at just under 300 active applicants for Phase 1. Phase 2 will open up for second homes, including homes that were long-term rentals, on November 1St; and then Phase 3, for undeveloped parcels, will open up in May of next year. You know, we've covered together some intentionality around being able to prioritize those that we serve of the greatest need. But also have data intelligence as folks move through this process. Anyone who did not apply in Phase 1 but is eligible with a primary home, would be able to apply again when Page 8 FC -18 September 7, 2021 Phase 2 opens, and likewise when Phase 3 opens. When we kicked off the program, we did open up a registration process for those future phases. In addition to the survey data and in addition to our real property data, we really wanted to get like a live -pulse check. To date, we have 75 registrations for Phase 2 and 68 registrations for Phase 3. You know, we're excited to be able to move this program forward, especially with Phase 1 given—and we've always understood that folks in the most challenged circumstances in the past few years would be served in this first phase. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thanks, Douglas. I think what those numbers illustrate for the registrations for Phases 2 and 3 is that people are really counting on this program. Just want to reiterate that registration is not a prerequisite to apply. What it really does is it ensures that folks are getting information as soon as it is available for those particular phases. Okay, I'm going to be supporting this. I'm going to ask my colleagues to do so, as well. I've put in a communication for Douglas and team to come and present how Phase 1 has sort of moved through this process and how we're teeing up for the subsequent phases that's going to be coming before us, I think in November, after we've sort of processed everything. That way we can do a deeper dive into how everything is developed and what we can be doing to support community. I know that folks are really interested in, what are we going to be doing with the properties? And I think it's really difficult to make those sort of decisions right now without the data that allows us to map out where those properties are. So we look forward to that conversation in a couple of months. Thank you again for all of your hard work. I appreciate it. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Thank you, Mr. Le. Council Members? Kona? Waimea? Mr. Kern, did you want to say something? MR. KERN: Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to say—Zendo Kern, your Planning Director—that the work that Douglas and his team has been doing is paramount. The fact that they have to build out the program, build out the operating procedures, get space, get copiers, get the tech together, and do all of it, and meet the level of service that set out that we intended to at the beginning, it has been huge. I just wanted to say that we meet to talk about this every single week. And the team that he's been working with and the team that are working on this are doing such a good job of really serving the community. It's not as fast as we would want it to be ever, but what had to be built there and how it's being administered right now is—we should be very proud as a County. That's what I'm saying. Thank you. Page 9 FC -18 September 7, 2021 CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Director. Mr. Chung, anything? You want to add anything? Okay. Just to share a quick story. I was asked yesterday what the most interesting thing is that I've done on the Council, and it took me a second. It caught me off guard, as a question by a community group. I told them to give me a minute and let me think about it. And I immediately followed up with, what are the most interesting thing that's happened on our island in the last five year? And I realize the most interesting that I've ever been part of is trying to recreate, and help, and figure out how to cover what we lost during the eruption, and during Iselle, and just what has happened in Puna, which is a lot of our homes were lost. Five years, and albeit I wasn't a Council Member for that long, but that has been the most interesting, probably aspect of this position and responsibility, I mean, my life. So mahalo to everything that you have done, Mr. Le, because you've been here from the beginning, and Ms. Kierkiewicz, for your continued efforts to really bring back what we can out in Puna. Just wanted to appreciate what you guys are doing so far. So thank you, Mr. Le for being here. Thank you, Director. Please continue to do the amazing job that you are doing. Okay, anything else? No further discussion. We have a motion on the floor, all in favor of forwarding Bill 63 to Council? Vote on Bill 63: The motion to recommend passage of Bill 63 on (Approved first reading was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kaneali `i- Kleinfelder — 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member David — 1. Excused: None. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That brings us to the end of our agenda. May I have a motion? Page 10 FC -18 September 7, 2021 ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 12:06 p.m. Ms. Lee Loy moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kdneali`i- Kleinfelder — 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member David — 1. Excused: None. CHR. KANEALI`1-KLEINFELDER: Mahalo. Approved: Mr. Matt Kaneali ` - Kleinfelder, Chair Finance Committe MK/na 67 / 9 Z/ (Date) Page 11