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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN PRPSC 2021/09/07 2020-2022 Committee on Parks and Recreation and Public Safety 14th Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii September 7, 2021 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Parks and Recreation and Public ORDER: Safety was called to order at 2:17 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung. Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member (came in later) Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member(via videoconference from Waimea) Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member Absent& Excused: Ms. Maile Medeiros David, 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. INABA: Mahalo. There being no testimony we will close public testimony at this time, and move on to Communication 364. COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 364: REQUESTS A DISCUSSION WITH THE ADMINISTRATION, THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT, AND THE HAWAII POLICE DEPARTMENT REGARDING ANIMAL CONTROL SERVICE PROVIDERS AND THE CURRENT CONTRACT STATUS From Council Member Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, dated August 17, 2021. Motion to Close File: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to close file on Comm. 364. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz. PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 CHR. INABA: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. I just want thank the Members of the Administration present today, for coming. I've just got a lot of concerns in the community over the animal control services contract, like we lost our previous service provider HRR Hawaii Rainbow Rangers, and just getting a lot of phone calls. And just wanted to provide an opportunity for you folks to speak, for us to learn and share ideas if any. Council Members in Kona and Waimea, we have Chief Ferreira here, Managing Director Lord, and Director Sako, in the Hilo Chambers if you have questions. Moment of Silence: My questions really are a contract status, current status, and then, you know, what the community who's doing a lot of turmoil needs to do. And I would like to preface with just a brief moment of silence if we could. I found out today that one of the recent, in HPP (Hawaiian Paradise Park) we had a mauling by a pack of dogs, and one of the elderly ladies who was in that group of three people actually passed away today. So I want to take a brief moment of silence, before we talk about this just to honor her ohana. So if we could, Chair? Okay, mahalo. I think it's important to just—it helps us to kind of guide what direction we need to go. Obviously we have room for improvement, and this has been trying on the community. I'm not expecting a lot of outcomes today, but just trying to catch up on where we stand. So if you could, let's start off and just give us a current status, Chief (Note: At this time, Chief of Police Paul Ferreira came forward to address the members of the Committee.) CHIEF FERREIRA: Excuse me, I'm going to lose the mask, if that's okay. We are more than six feet, so I'm hoping it is. Okay, good afternoon Council Members. Paul Ferreira, Police Chief. I'm here to give you an update on the current animal control services, not so much a contract but the services that are being provided. It goes without saying you all are aware that as of July 1st° we terminated the contract with Hawaii Rainbow Rangers. We did extend with them for an additional month, to help us care for the animals that were within the facilities. Specifically the Kea`au, Waimea, and the Kona facility. Rainbow Rangers stood with us, as far as giving us assistance in those three areas. Since then, we've terminated all contracts with Hawaii Rainbow Rangers effective August 1, 2021. We have been putting together and providing animal control services with contract employees since July 1st. In July we hired a Director Regina Serrano, and three animal control officers one based out of Waimea, one based out of Kona, and one based out of Hilo, east side perhaps. Since then we've extended contracts to 12 individuals, across the island. Right now we have animal control officers in east side, four; we have three kennel techs on the east side; we have a Page 2 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 director on the west side, we have two animal control officers on the west side, and one kennel tech. So we have extended those contracts. All of these contract were 89-day contracts. We're in discussion right now, what is the best way to go forward, because it has been a daunting task on my staff, County Finance, Public Works, all of the entities involved. I need to recognize Major Aimee Wana, and the Director Regina Serrano, that we did hire. They pretty much stood up a department in and of itself,providing these animal control services. They couldn't have done it without the assistance from our Human Resources, our Finance Division, the County's Finance Division, the County's Human Resources Section, and the County's Public Works. All of these entities are in play right now,just to continue the animal control services that we have. We've been able to stand up services in West Hawaii, at the old animal controls shelter across from the Police Station. We since acquired what used to be Pampered Pooched Kennels up in, they say Mountain View, I say Glenwood, some people say Volcano, it's by Akatsuka Farms. So we've stood up that facility. We're able to lease it on a long-term basis. So right now we're working and providing the animal control services, that was our initial goal. We are looking at how do we go from here? There's been recommendations coming in from Humane Society, other entities, other animal groups. Saying you need to standup an entity within the county, you need to standup nonprofits on the other side. But animal groups should remain with the county. Is this the best way to go forward? It may be. But in the interim we need to standup the animal control entity within the county, to address the current situation, going forward. And we have done that,with what we have. We're looking at the contracts that we're doing, and if you look at employment right now 89-day contracts, there's no future. There's no, "Where do I get these workers from?" We've had people apply, we've had people who left because of that simple fact. So we're looking at adjusting that, can we adjust it to a one-year contract? Because that probably would take us that long to get everything established. So we're in those discussions going forward. Where do we go from here? That is still a question. That is still something that is needing to be discussed. The Corporation Counsel, Elizabeth Strance, has set up a working group, a discussion group. They've had I believe two meetings,pretty much discussing the current situation. How do we deal with providing current services? And if you look at it right now, I believe you all received a copy of the priority calls, the information sheet that we provided to the community. We're handling Priority 1 calls, dangerous dogs, injured animals, case animals that we need to recover because of a police action. We're limiting to that. We have Priority 2 calls, where people want to turn in strays, they want to turn in lost pets, or they have lost pets. We're partnering with nonprofit agencies, for assistance. Page 3 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 Our staff has gone out and using technology, I believe it's off the top I can't remember the exact name of it. Where you can go online and post pictures of your animal that you've lost, or post pictures of the animals that you've found, and ask the public's assistance in identifying the owners, or helping you to find your lost pets. Right now that is again, a service that we should be providing, but we can't we don't have the staff nor do we have the facilities. We would love to go back to the point where we can say okay, yeah, bring in your strays, bring in your animals if we had the facility to put them in. We're not going to go ahead, and create a problem for us. We have identified the phone numbers that you can call for animal control services, they are responding 24/7. You brought up the very, very, tragic incident that occurred in Paradise Park. Our animal control officers were called, responded, and the dogs involved were confiscated that same day, that same morning that it happened. So we did have services that needed to be there, in place at that time. So all of these things have been going on, this is what we're focusing on right now. We need to start moving forward, and focusing more on how we can get ahead. Where are we going with this? And like I said, we have no resources, so we're depending on the people that we've contracted to help us and my staff. I have Major Aimee Wana who is working this full time, all her other duties is being scattered about everyone else. And we have dedicated individuals from our Finance and our HR also is helping full time. So again, it's a move going forward, but this is a status of it right now. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I know police-wise, officer-wise, presence is not 100 percent. Just because we're dealing with COVID, you have a lot of work duties for the officers in the field. So do you have enough men and women to be able to handle the calls for animal control services, as well as normal duties? CHIEF FERREIRA: My simple answer to that, I don't have enough officers to handle all the duties we do have. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. That's kind of what I expected. CHIEF FERREIRA: That's a loaded question. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: It is a loaded question, but it's real because you basically doing double duty now. You're handling animal control, and you're handling normal calls. Dispatch is covering all animal control calls at this time? CHIEF FERREIRA: No, we've given numbers out, that's been posted on our website. On August 27h we put out a media release, explaining to the community where we are with the animal control contract. The numbers you can all if you Page 4 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 have a vicious dog, if you have to report something outside of an emergency. We also have information on the Pet Love website. And other partners that we've gone in with that can help finding lost dogs or animals and help you to turn over animals if they need to. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Seems most basic though, call a non-emergency number and report whatever is going on. That seems to be kind of the general guide. CHIEF FERREIRA: Yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah. CHIEF FERREIRA: And if it's involving something else, our dispatchers have the same information and they can refer the caller to one of the services. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: But I think that's good. Honestly, I think that having dispatch involved, because now you're incorporating police and animal control at the same time which I think is a huge bonus. Not sure if that was the way it was done previously, but I think that's a huge step up. CHIEF FERREIRA: I believe dispatch was always a go to, if anyone has a problem out there that police—dispatch is there 24/7, so they're going to call. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I think right now kind of the necessity going to be the mother of invention, yeah. What kind of plan are we looking at? You talking about 90-day contracts, how many days you have before the end of these contracts? CHIEF FERREIRA: Well under the emergency procurement, we can go two 89- day contract cycles. We're looking beyond that. Is it going to be accomplished in 89-days? Truthfully? No. So what we're going to have to be looking at, is can we do a one-year contract with these individuals? Just so that we can get everything stabilized, and move forward from there. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And I was looking over the code, this has been kind of a pet-peeve of mine just trying to wrap my head around how to make this better. Since I walked into the office, I've had dog attacks in Hawaiian Acres, we had one in HPP. We revised the contract two years ago, and went out to bid maybe was two years, year and a half, something like that. But we revised the contract. Here we are today, you know, that didn't work. Not that the contract isn't working, but it just needs to be adjusted. But I was looking over the code, and I believe we can have multiple nonprofits working for us to do animal control. Just putting this out there, because I think we have a lot of really amazing providers. But as we're seeing, island-wide Page 5 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 coverage for one entity is hard. Whereas all these providers have been doing a great job, and they come in for different funding already. They come in for individual contingency funds, they come in for the nonprofit grant in aid. Would it be possible for all these multiple nonprofits who exist: Aloha `Ilio, Humane Society, there's folks in Kona who do this as well,to bring them all on as animal control contract providers of some sort. CHIEF FERREIRA: That is something that we're looking at. Right now we partner with Hawaii Island Humane Society in HAKA (Hawai`i Animal Kuleana Alliance) to take in animals turn the animals over to. We have other nonprofits that have been adopting animals, as we come across them. That is a model that we're looking at as well, but you need to separate the animal control part of it, verses the animal care or the humane side of it. Where the animal control involving the issuing of citations, investigations that go on, and the recovery of animals from case animals investigations. Or people turning in lost or found animals, where we have a 48-hour window that we have to maintain custody of the animal so that we can try and find the owner. All the models show that you need to separate that from the animal care side, what happens to the animal after the 48-hours? Who's going to take care of this animal after the 48 hour ends, and it needs immediate care? Do we adopt it out? We discussed that, can we put out an RFP (Request for Proposal)? Can we ask for proposals from the different entities, the different nonprofits across the island? Not necessarily one specific entity, because w've shown them that doesn't work nobody's going to bid on one entire island. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Oh we did, Hawaii Island Humane Society. CHIEF FERREIRA: At one time. But even Humane Society all the hard work that they did, they were having difficulties. Because again, they were taking care of the entire island, as opposed to just having one part of it or one portion of the contract. So all of that is part of the discussion right now, what are we looking at? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, that's good. CHR. INABA: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, I'm going to give our colleagues a chance. Is it okay if I come back to you? Or are you going to wrap it up? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, come back to me. CHR. INABA: Okay, thank you. Mr. Chung. MR. CHUNG: Hey, Chief. So when can we expect a new contract to be put in place? Page 6 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 CHIEF FERREIRA: I don't know that we're going to go out with a new contract, for the entire package. Because we're going to have to look at it. MR. CHUNG: Okay. How about this then, how much longer do you think the Police Department is going to be handling this responsibility? CHIEF FERREIRA: If it was up to me? MR. CHUNG: Yeah. CHIEF FERREIRA: Ends tomorrow. MR. CHUNG: Yeah, okay. But we know it's not going to end tomorrow, so I mean you know,just a reasonable prognosis. CHIEF FERREIRA: I don't foresee the Police Department getting out of it. MR. CHUNG: Oh, okay. CHIEF FERREIRA: One way or another. I'm probably going to be the first person to say it doesn't belong with us, but I'm also a realist. Where does it belong? Who is it going to go to? It used to sit with Finance Division, it doesn't belong there. It was there because of the amount of money that is processed. Does it belong with Pubic Works? They have their own problems. Where does it belong? Because of the enforcement piece, they're going to throw it on the cops, because the law enforcement part of it. Is it necessarily right to be there? If it was only dealing with the animal control officers, badging them and having them do the investigations, have them go out and issue the citations, no problem. But part of that has to be there. Intake of the animals is part of Charter. So do we have another entity that's going to do that? Just by listening to everything that's going on with our department right now in providing these services, we could standup a separate department in and of itself just to handle the needs that I hear. Because aside from just taking in animals, or issuing citations, or doing investigations, there's also the part where we have to provide veterinary services for the animals that are brought in. We take in animals, we take in puppies, or we take any dogs they have to be checked for parvo. Before any one of these groups are going to except this animal, we have to check them. Before the animal can be released, we have spay and neuter them. So we have to have veterinary services out there, so we're looking at can we contract veterinary services in the interim? Fortunately for us we've had a lot of volunteers. But everybody's heart is big, but sooner or later the wallet is going to judge what can they do, what can't they do? So, we're also looking at how do we compensate these individuals within procurement rules? Making sure that we're following all procurement guidelines. So you're asking me, when do I foresee Page 7 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 this going away from the Police Department? Not for the next year, I guarantee you. MR. CHUNG: Okay, alright. So we should at least expect you guys to be directly involved, not indirectly. CHIEF FERREIRA: And going beyond that, I still see us being involved. MR. CHUNG: Yeah, okay. Well then let me ask you this, I mean you kind of answered your own question with your own internal dialog. But if you ruled the world, where would you put this? Who should be assigned the task of overseeing this animal control contract? CHIEF FERREIRA: The County Council. You asked for it. You've got representation around the island. No, realistically again, you could standup an individual department within the county specific to this. One model doesn't fit under any of the existing departments. So it falls to the police, because of the enforcement piece of it. You know, you could say it falls on Public Works, because they have to pick up the dead animals, but not really. It belongs with Finance because of all the money it involves. Deanna wants to stab me in the back right now. But it doesn't. Just the money part,just the contract itself maybe you get Finance involved. But as far as managing the contract? No. MR. CHUNG: And you know, this message was given to me by my assistant, and this is from a person that J and I used to work with many years ago, Marge Bartelt. I think I know what the answer is going to be from you, but she called and requested to be sure that the unfortunate death of the person in Hawaiian Paradise Park is part of the discussion during this segment. But are you at liberty to talk about it, right now? I mean it indicates you know, I guess it's a news article says that the criminal investigation section is still investigating the incident, and will forward the results when it is completed to prosecutor. So I guess you're not at liberty to talk about it, are you? CHIEF FERREIRA: No, it's an ongoing investigation. And with the death of the victim, now it changes the dynamics. MR. CHUNG: Yeah, okay. CHIEF FERREIRA: Now what kind of crimes are associated with, what kind of charges can come up, is still going to be pending. MR. CHUNG: Well, there was just a request to bring that up. CHIEF FERREIRA: That just occurred yesterday. Page 8 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 MR. CHUNG: Yeah, alright. Okay, thanks. And again, hey Chief, I said it before I really appreciate you coming here. A lot of times we hear from some of our departments, no offense to them. But after they answer the questions, we're still like scratching our heads going what the hell these guys talking about. But at you, you real straight up. Whether we like the answer or not, that's beside the point. CHIEF FERREIRA: I hope I'm answering the questions, and giving you information you want or need. Again, if I don't know it, and if I don't have the answer, I'm going to say I don't know it and I'm going to find out. MR. CHUNG: And that's all we expect, right? Alright thanks, Chief. CHR. INABA: Mahalo, Mr. Chung. We're going to go to Mr. Richards, in Waimea. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. Aloha Chief. CHIEF FERREIRA: Good afternoon, sir. MR. RICHARDS: Okay. I wanted to weigh in, Chief did a great explanation of what's been going on with the conversations. As was articulated, Judge Strance has put together a working group to work on the overall animal control issue. I just wanted to kind of flesh out some of that. I sit on that working group, with the rest of the members. And as the Chief pointed out one of the challenges with animal control there's an enforcement side, and right now the best fit I guess as we can come up with is underneath the Police Department from that standpoint. And what's been also articulated as far as separating animal control from the animal rescue, animal welfare side, those are actually two separate entities. And what the working group is putting together replicating, templating, what we're doing with animal control off of other jurisdictions that actually have that separate. And then do the same thing as far as the Chief pointed out, partnering with our on-island rescue groups or welfare groups however you want to articulate them to go forward. And once we've gone through the control side, either taking strays or vicious dog whatever then move on to the next step. The working group has also been dealing with the injured animals, and there's a priority list and I think all the Council Members have received it. It has been articulated and put out on what the control is doing right now, as far as attending to animals. So Council Members, please look at that, and communicate that to your constituents so they know how to handle things going forward. Unfortunately part of the—going through all of this there's been a little bit of misinformation, or maybe even disinformation coming forth. A great site for getting information is the hawaiipolice.com which is our police force website. Page 9 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 And underneath services they have the animal control services, that's where contact information as the Chief referenced, as far as recording lost animals. Apparently a press release was doctored and they had changed some of the data on it, and that was circulated around. So it's unfortunate. But again, for accurate information please go with the hawaiipolice.com,which is again, our police force's website. Now to what the Chief is talking about, yeah, we're working going forward and there's ongoing conversations with, like I said those other jurisdictions. From what we're finding sorry Chief, but many of the jurisdictions have animal control under their police or sheriff force. And the reason being is exactly the Chief is articulating is that enforcement portion that we need to go forward with that, then we have to get into how we hold these animals. I know right now we have a tremendous number what they refer to as case animals, meaning animals that are being held as evidence going forward. And that poses an issue for our county as well, meaning there's quite a few animals in that, and we're having to deal with that at that point. The expectation, as Chief pointed out, the spay/neuter program which is to me a paramount going forward with this. We as a county have to continue funding that, and how we do that is that's again, part of the conversation. I believe funding will probably go to these partnerships that we developed, and at what level not exactly sure. But that's a conversation that we definitely need to have going forward as well. The overall intent is to take care of the island animals that are causing issues for us. Matt, that saddens me about the woman we lost, I can't tell you how much that is. More of the fact that we need even a stronger animal control than we've had previously to this point. And with that again, a lot of conversations going on, we are meeting biweekly right now with the conversation in the working group. But there are many, many, conversations going on outside that to bring the information back to the group. I agree with the Chief, I don't think we're going to have a very clear direction until probably six months into this. But it's still going to take a little bit longer, to get the whole thing set up going forward after that. I think we're in a good direction, I think we have a good template or framework to start building on. There's still a lot of decisions to be made, and I agree that I think we need to look at year contracts so we can get a lot of work done. The 89-day contracts are okay, and I get why they exist. But I think we have to go forward if we're going to stand this thing up. We have to commit to it and commit to it pretty hard, to get the type of control that I believe we need for this county in going forward. So with that Chair, I think I've touched on some of the big points and then I can answer questions as well. I don't know, Chief, is there anything else that I've missed you wanted me to touch on? Page 10 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 CHIEF FERREIRA: No, all good. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Ms. Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. And thank you Chief, and Mr. Richards, for being involved in these conversations. I had a couple of questions from constituents that I wanted to get responses from. But before I do I just wanted lend my general support to this model of having an enforcement end, and then having a care end. That's seems to make a lot of sense moving forward, and as Councilman Richards says it's been modeled effectively in other jurisdictions. Also wanted to lend support if the discussion goes in this direction for increasing perhaps some of the fees associated with getting animals back that have been taken because they were misbehaving or whatnot. Obviously all of this cost a lot of money, and I hope that is part of the process so that some of those deterrents are, you know, have the strength have the strength behind them. One of the things that was in the press release you sent out and thank you for that, was about checking for microchipping. This is a question coming from one of our constituents. How can somebody check if an animal been microchipped, and if they have their own animals where can they go to get them microchipped? CHIEF FERREIRA: As it was put out on that flyer that went out as far as microchipping, you can call our animal control officers and they provide you information and guidance. They can also direct to veterinarians, your veterinarian can do it. They can identify with it. The information is uploaded into the data base, if the animal exists and there is an address associated, so be it we can find it. Some of them don't. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. So if folks want to get their pets microchipped they should? CHIEF FERREIRA: It would be through a veterinarian. MS. KIMBALL: Through a veterinarian, thank you. Then the second question, in the past Rainbow Rangers did offer some spay and neuter certificates. Is that something that's still going to be offered in some way? CHIEF FERREIRA: We were looking at spay and neuter program, as far as how does it apply, and how does it work? As far as giving out the coupons, was the coupon sufficient enough for them to, I guess cover the cost of the vets were having put out or having to deal with? We have been discussing with looking at putting out RFP, or putting out some kind of proposal. Can we get vendors to bid for it, bid for that services, because right now we don't have anything there. But again, when we take in animal and if we're going to release an animal for adoption, that animal has to be spayed or neutered. Unless there's, you know, some kind of reason that they're going to keep the animal for breeding or Page 11 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 something of that nature. But again, there's a cost associated with who covers that cost. Right now, the county used to have a spay and neuter program, but I know the Council provides funding through grant in aid or even through contingency funds for some of these programs which is still in existence, but we are looking at that as well. That is something that like Dr. Richards pointed out, that's something that needs to be in there, that's something that needs to be continued. One of our problems that we have, and the Council is more aware of this than I am, but when we need to take in funds, we have to have an avenue to show that it was expended and how it was expended. There is no, right now, account set up where we're able to take in funds for loaning of cages or traps for people, for doing spay and neuter, for doing licensing, those types of services. That's what a licensing portion of this right now is being undertaken by County Finance, and Vehicle Registration and Licensing Division. Because we don't have the mechanism in place for us to accept funds, and expend funds for that program. And all of the people that we've contracted, or we're bringing on like Regina, she's an awesome person, she's very well informed. Unfortunately she was working under nonprofit groups, so there's a difference where nonprofit groups can take in money and the county can't, or they take in donations and the county can't. So she's having to learn the process, the county process of procurement, or how does finances work, how do we deal with that? And having done this for a while, county government is so—or I should say, put so many roadblocks out there and for very good reasons, that it's very difficult to keep moving around out there, that nonprofits don't have that issue where they can take in donations then help with spay and neutering, then help with feeding the animals. So all of these come into play as well. That's why I said from the very beginning, when we were looking at this we had to look at standing up an entire department. With a clerical staff, with financial staff, with a HR staff, to do all this. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chief. So if you do implement a program in the future that would help with spay/neuter certificates, where should folks go to the website that Council Member Richards mentioned? CHIEF FERREIRA: And anything that we do that is associated with animal control, we will be putting out a media blast, and we can send it to the Council as well to make sure you can get it out to your constituents if that's what you want. MS. KIMBALL: Great, thank you. Director Sako, since you're here I don't know if you have anything to add to what the Chief was saying about our ability to except donations for this area. Just want to give you the opportunity to say something, if you got anything to contribute to that. Page 12 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 (Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. SAKO: Thanks for the opportunity. I think one of things is, you know, when we did that resolution to accept donations, that we're not going to be capitalized. It was with this kind of thing in mind if people donate food or other supplies, and whatnot, or cash and those types of things, and we'll be reporting those to Council quarterly. I think police is one of the ones that does have a donation account set up, the revenue and expenditure, so that they can expend those funds. If not we would come with a separate appropriation, so they could spend those donations. I think if they do get bigger things or permanent items, let's say kennel types or the transport cage or something like that, then we'll probably have to bring that separately to Council. But it's a work in progress, and you know, we'll make sure we get all the right paper work to Council. MS. KIMBALL: Well, thanks. And please let us know, if there's anything we can do to facilitate and assist. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Council Member Kimball. I want to just check in Kona real quick, Council Member Villegas? Nope, nothing at this time. Okay, we'll go back for our second round, starting off again, with Mr. Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Deanna, I have a question about the contract or the finances behind the contract. We have the contract and I know it was $1.8 million, I think was the HR contract. MS. SAKO: We budgeted $1.9, but yeah, it was a little less than that. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And I think somewhere down the line, I think it was $2.1 million that was originally budgeted that's the placeholder for what can be contracted. Is that correct? MS. SAKO: Well not any more. The current budget is just under $2 million a year. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then what is that funding doing right now? MS. SAKO: That's paying for these temporary animal control officers and the other costs: leasing space at the location in Mountain View, all of those types of things. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. How many spaces are we leasing currently? Page 13 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 CHIEF FERREIRA: Just one. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Just the one. I did funny story, I had a constituent call me and say there's a DPW (Department of Public Works)vehicle doing work on a private parcel on Volcano, and I want to know what the hell is going on. And I called around and eventually I figured out that I think it was, I couldn't confirm or deny. But it was the facility, yeah. Okay, so we're using them to pay for the services we're offering right now in this regards. Okay. When was the committee set up? CHIEF FERREIRA: For? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: The working group. CHIEF FERREIRA: That was set up by Corporation Counsel, Corporation Counsel Strance. I don't sit on the committee. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, how long ago? CHIEF FERREIRA: I think they only had two meetings, if I'm not mistaken. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So people calling in from the community and they want to know where we are status-wise, who do I direct them to? CHIEF FERREIRA: You can direct them to my office, and I'll make sure that somebody from my office will let them know. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. CHIEF FERREIRA: If they want to send an email we're answering emails, we're answering calls. And if necessary we'll have somebody respond to them, and talk to them directly. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Who's on the working group right now? CHIEF FERREIRA: I don't know, Dr. Richards may be you can you answer that part. MR. RICHARDS: The whole group, and Judge Strance is best to answer that one. But she wanted to keep just County employed people currently. I'm sitting on it, she is, and Major Wana is sitting on it. I think someone from Finance, Deanna, do you have someone there? I've done it all by phone calls, so I'm not actually looking at the people. Page 14 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 MS. SAKO: We do, Finance has a couple people on it, yes. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, okay. And it's again, keeping it county people right now before they open it up. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I'm asking, have a lot of community groups who are wanting to organize, or wanting to participate, or have ideas. Get people from nonprofits who want to know what's going on, or how they can help. So I will then direct them all to . CHIEF FERREIRA: Yup. You can direct them to me. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: To Chief? CHIEF FERREIRA: Yes. And we'll get them information, or we'll direct them to Regina or Major Wana to respond. And the nonprofits, a lot of nonprofits have been talking to them as well. They have come up with ideas, how to best go forward, what kind of recommendations they can make. One of the cautions that I've got to throw out there, even I told Major Wana and Regina, one of the cautions we've got to throw out there, if we put out any kind of request for proposal any kind of request for bid, we have to make sure that the nonprofits that have been chiming in are not going to be bidding. Otherwise we may violate procurement rules. Now as far as just giving us suggestions on how to go about it it's one thing, but if they start chiming in and saying "Okay, this is what you need in your RFP, this is the details that you need." Now we'll be crossing the line into procurement violations, and I personally don't want to go to jail for that, so I'm very cautious about it. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Understood. I'm looking at the way we did yesterday we talked about not bottlenecking the problem, for getting funds out to the people who needed rental assistance. And so utilizing a number of different nonprofit service providers, in the same sense. Something like that I think would work really well. CHIEF FERREIRA: And we've had a number of community groups, individuals, that have come forward said, "Okay, they know about this program working in this community maybe you guys should take a look at that." Maybe you guys should look at the model that was done years ago, somebody suggested maybe you should look at that. And all of this is looked at, and all these is taken into account. Like I said, the primary focus this past month and half or two months, has been getting the animal control services out there to the community. Because when we severed the contract with HR it completely ended. Prior to that the services were sketchy, but when we severed it completely ended at part of the services. So we needed to make sure that we could get out there and we could respond to the calls Page 15 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 for the community service. And primarily was responding to vicious dogs, primarily responding to loose animals, or dangerous animals, and responding to whatever the immediate need was. If it was an injured animal, or what we need to take care of. Give you an idea. During August they took in 127 animals under this new contract. So now these are animals, dogs, cats, goats, and whatever else strays you might have,pigs or what have you. But this is just animals that we responded to calls for services. This is not people turning in animals. Occasionally they did pick-up a couple, but it's primarily the animal control officers going out there and capturing these. So that's the kind of services that we need to get. And I stand corrected in the Kona facility we have a director, two animal control officers, and one kennel tech. On the east side we have four animal control officers, and four kennel techs they are taking care of it. Now this is providing 24/7 operations, so at night the animal control officers are on call. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Well I appreciate the update. I'd be interested to see what the working group comes back with. If you couldI'm going to reach out to Judge Strance, I think I emailed you just a few weeks back just to ask if I can help just putting that out there again. But I like that you have some kind of a plan, and thank you for communicating with us. The community needs it. My neighborhood watch groups are asking, and I'm leaning on my Officer Bryson Miyose today who's been updating us. And just good to be in the know. And then for our community groups, I just want to make sure our communities are safe. Like what we've just been through, they need to know as well. Please keep us updated, so we can share the information. Thank you, thank you for your time. CHR. INABA: Mahalo. Mr. Chung. MR. CHUNG: Deanna, what were you talking about the way of getting those donations over fast-tracking them? MS. SAKO: So one or two meetings ago, we presented the resolution to accept all non-capitalized, or items that don't fall under the capitalization policy. Just to accept them and then report, kind of like the one you did for Sierra Foundation. We've kind of modeled it off of that. So that— MR. hatMR. CHUNG: Okay. So there's a catch-all for everything? MS. SAKO: Yeah, it's a catch all so that, you know, like police and other departments didn't have to wait to be able to use the items as well. MR. CHUNG: Terrific. Okay, good. In as much as you guys going probably be tasked with this responsibility for a while. Page 16 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 CHIEF FERREIRA: That's why I appreciate all the work of Major Wana, and Regina, and their staff as well as Finance has been doing it. Because Regina is well aware of all the opportunities that are out there, and she's gotten donations for food, kennels, cages, things of that nature. And she's gone out of her way to make sure that this program is going to work, that we're servicing the community the way animals should be treated. So again, I'm very appreciative of what she's able to do, and get out there. So anything that Finance can do to help us get the donations and move it along, would be great. CHR. INABA: Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. Thank you, Chief, Deanna, for being here. I had a couple questions, but I kind of wanted to start with that priority that you guys have outlined a priority. Is it possible for us to get like social media tiles? I think it helps with communicating to the larger community that you guys are tasked with. Priority 1, which is vicious dogs those types of things; and Priority 2, and Priority 3, it's kind of up to community. I think that would be super helpful. And if you could just outline those priorities for us, Chief, so that we can communicate that out to the larger island. CHIEF FERREIRA: Okay, I'm not sure what you mean about outline. But the fact sheet that you have MS. LEE LOY: Yes. CHIEF FERREIRA: We did publish it as well, on our website. And normally when we publish anything on our website, it also goes out on Facebook and Instagram, one of the two. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, so I know you got Denise over there as your PIO (Public Information Officer), and I think if we could create social media tiles around that I just know when the contract ended with Hawaii Rainbow Rangers. Every single Council Member pushed out their own social media the borrowing the language that you guys had to reach out to the island. CHIEF FERREIRA: Okay, as you can tell, I'm kind of ignorant when it comes to Facebook and those social media sites. I will talk to Denise about what you just said, and see what she can do for me. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah. I understand you have plenty stars. CHIEF FERREIRA: No, I'm that old, and I can get in trouble all by myself I don't need help by putting anything on Facebook or social media. MS. LEE LOY: So I kind of wanted to walk into the 89-day contract that I think is incredibly helpful to us right now. It just jumped into the gap, right? We found Page 17 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 ourselves at a place where, Oh, my god, the contract that we had negotiated just isn't serving community and then we used the 89-day contract as a gap filler. Is there way's to adjust that 89-day contract to start falling forward and adjust some of the short-term mid-term and long range plans? Where it doesn't necessarily fit, right now. And I'm looking at Deanna, and I think you get me, right Deanna? Like that 89-day contract has been satisfied, but now we're trying to mitigate future concerns. Is there a way to use that process? MS. SAKO: That's why the Chief mentioned, you know, we want to extend some of the 89-day hires into like maybe one year. Because we know it's going to take a little bit of time to really work out exactly what we want to put in the RFP going forward. So we definitely want to make sure our services, you know, are continued, and then add as they can. We're still trying to analyze, like what it takes every month. You know, this is the first time we're having to incur these costs. You know, normally we have a vendor that does it. So you know, trying to add up to see how much they have available, to see if additional staffing can be brought on board. MS. LEE LOY: Great. And I'm hoping that concurrently or parallel, because we have experienced in nonprofit grant and aid so many people who are filling the void with spay/neuter programs. And how do we encourage that support with like a future contract? How do we balance that? I think—and I ask that question because community sees the way we use public money, and they want to know that what we pay for, we're getting results. How do we balance that between the 89-day contract, future contracts, and then couching that with nonprofit grant and aid funds in the future? CHIEF FERREIRA: Well I don't know how you'd marry up to the nonprofit grant and aid funds, but we have had discussions as far as the spay/neuter program. There are several groups out there that provide spay/neuter clinics. They'll go out to an area I believe like, you know, how Hawaiian Ocean View, they go out there with a mobile van or what have you, and they'll perform the spay and neuter services. And that's where in the past some of them were getting coupons, some were getting the funding through the grant and aid. We are looking at, is that a way that we can go out and put out RFP for various vendors at one time? Like you say, it's not limited to one entity but put it out for multiple entities. Now you know, if we putting out request for proposal, we're stuck with the lowest bidder, and that's it. But can we—similar to what we discussed with my staff how we handle the tow contracts, can we do it by sections, by individual areas, can we do for West Hawaii, can we do it for Kona, North Kohala, and have you. All of that is being discussed as we speak, not necessarily with the working group but with my staff and the working group we have within house. How do we keep these services going, and how do we get the biggest bang for the buck, because we are dealing Page 18 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 with county funds. And again, that is where we have to be very careful, because it is county funds, because it is public funds, how we expend it? MS. LEE LOY: Yeah. And I can appreciate that,the biggest bang for our buck, right? Whether we couch it as priority funding, right? We take all of these nonprofit organizations who are addressing spay/neuter, and providing solutions. We've had this conversation in our nonprofit grant and aid committee, we want to elevate nonprofits who are providing solutions. So how do we kind of couch people who are providing solutions, and providing the taxpayer the biggest bang for our buck? And I would really appreciate some kind of feedback from your stakeholder group, on how we can do that better. I think that would go an incredibly long way to demonstrate back to our community that we are being mindful of our taxpayer's funds. MS. SAKO: I just respond real briefly in that, you know, the nonprofits I think they're so used to getting grants, but you know, they're welcome to bid on everything the county puts out. So you know, we do want to get the best bang for the buck, and I think that's kind of what the Chief is talking about in that you know, getting proposals from the different nonprofits or the vet clinics or whoever wants to do it to be able to provide these spay/neuter services. MS. LEE LOY: And my final question, Chief. And this came from a constituent, I think they just want to understand how many facilities are open as far as receiving animals? I think there was four that you mentioned, Waimea, Hilo, Kona, but some of them are not open. And it's through that— CHIEF hatCHIEF FERREIRA: Right now, we only have two facilities that are county managed. The one at Kealakehe across the Police Station, and that's a county facility the old animal control under the Hawaii Island Humane Society, and also under Hawaii Rainbow Rangers. The other facility is located up in Glenwood, Mountain View, I have difficulties it's by Akatsuka Farms and in my mind that's Glenwood. But the address is Mountain View. Anyway that is another facility that we're leasing. Right now we're not able to take in animals, we cannot have people coming to the facilities and say, "I want to drop off this dog and cat."But if somebody drops off an animal then we're not going to turn it away, naturally we're going to take it. But we're asking the community in that flyer that was sent out, for them to reach out to different organizations. Now we have mechanisms in place or through animal control officers who turn these animals over, who are adoptable, to different groups such as Hawaii Island Humane Society Cares. They come in and they look at the animals, and we can transfer them on adoption basis, what have you. But as far as the facilities that are direct control by the Police Department is only in Kealakehe, and in Glenwood. Now there's also talk about do we need a facility in Hawaiian Ocean View, do we need a facility in Ka`u, do we need a facility in Pahoa, do we need a site somewhere else? Is there a way that we can get some of the animal groups to Page 19 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 help us with that? That is also part of the discussion that we've been having. Can we compensate them, should they decide okay, they want to take in x amount of animals for whatever reason. All of that is on the table in discussions that we're having, me and my staff. What are we doing? And again, we're focusing right now on this snapshot of today, what's going on right now? And we're hoping that with the working group, they can come back with recommendations on a longer term. But again, we would be making recommendations as well, and say okay, this is how we're going about it, this is what we're looking at. Because we have to part of the thing we have to do is, we have ensure is that we continue to provide these services. I cannot just shut it down and say okay, let's form a group and let's discuss this and when we figure it out, we'll put on a contract or what have you. We have to deal with right now, what's happening. And that's the best way we've got going forward. And we're looking at, can we do contracts, can we do RFP's, can we do professional services contracts, where we can have a number of people that has helped us. Even with the veterinary services we're looking at, we have a zoo that has a veterinary services available, we're asking them what kind of input can you give us? MS. LEE LOY: Great. Chair, I have one last question. CHR. INABA: Can you make it quick, please. We have Mr. Richards, waiting. MS. LEE LOY: Clear the books. Have all the bills been paid under the previous contract? Because I think the last time we had conversation there was outstanding bills, and I just want to know we've cleared the decks. CHIEF FERREIRA: We've sent two demand letters to Hawaii Rainbow Rangers. One went out in July, they did make up some of the bills and they paid for some of the bills. Then the second one went out on August 22. We're withholding the final payment from Hawaii Rainbow Rangers until all this is satisfied. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. Chief, always love, love, love, love, your directness. Chair, I yield, CHR. INABA: Mahalo. Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. And just echo a few things that Chief said. Council, if we all look at the copy of Hawaii animal control fact sheet, that's the one came out of the Police Department. And it prioritizes what's going on right now with animal control, Priority 1, 2, and 3. And as I understand this going forward, we are dealing under animal control at Priority 1. Basically injured Page 20 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 animals or animals that are in immediate threat, or causing immediate threat. And so that's what we're dealing with right now. To speak to what the Chief had talked about Regina's work as far as receiving donations, phenomenal. The network and latticework of relationships that the animal control group with Regina at the helm right now is building, is huge. And we're getting lots of support into our county to help stand things up, and improve things over all. You know, listening very carefully to what the Council is talking about, we're talking about the use of public funds going forward. Again, I touched down at previously on the spay and neuter program. How that gets administered is like the Chief said, on the table right now. But the concern is as we turn these animals over from control over to rescue, we've got to have funding go with them if they're going to be spayed/neutered. So we have to put that somehow, to make sure that gets followed through. And then specifically to the veterinary services. We've been working on a program basically a telemedicine program, that we can enlist a group of veterinarians and us, you know, in this day and age of cell phones, and cameras, and videos, we can get things done and attend to the needs of animals. One of the biggest problems about our county is the size of the county, and having veterinary care be able to help these enforcement officers relatively quickly. This is a program—again, putting together, discuss this with the Board of Examiners for our State. And it's in accordance with and in alliance with what the AVMA American Veterinary Medical Association as far as telemedicine. So there's actually maybe a way we can increase the veterinary care for the immediate emergencies, while decrease the cost overall. Again, so that's a win-win for everybody. And these are all the programs that are on the table, and what we're trying to put together as a structure. So again, answering some of the questions where all this conversation is. A lot of progress has been made, and these things are slowly being rolled out. And with that Chair, I yield. CHR. INABA: Mahalo. Any last thoughts from Kona? Chief, Director Sako, anyone else? Okay, with that, mahalo Admin for being here. This brings us to the end of our agenda. We have a motion on the floor. All those in favor,please say "aye." Page 21 PRPSC-14 September 7,2021 Vote on Comm. 364: The motion to close file on Comm. 364 was carried (Filed) by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Chung, and David—2 Excused: None. ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. (There were none.) BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. (There were none.) ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 3:15 p.m., Ms. :Lee Loy moved to MENT: adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Ms. Kimball and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Chung, and David—2 Excused: None. CHR. INABA: This meeting is adjourned at 3:15 p.m., mahalo. Approved: 4111097 /6 es4/ Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair (Date) Parks and Recreation and Public Safety Committee HI/rk Page 22