HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN FC 2021/09/21 2020-2022Committee on Finance
19th Session
West Hawaii Civic Center
74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
September 21, 2021
CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Finance was called to order at
ORDER: 1:15 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Kona, by Mr. Matt Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder,
Chair.
ROLL CALL:
Present: Mr. Matt Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder, Chair (via videoconference from Hilo)
Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Vice Chair
Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member (came in later)
Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member
Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member (via videoconference from Hilo)
Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member
Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards III, Member
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 KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Mr. Clerk, let's just go ahead to the
first order of business. Actually, you know what? Sorry, we're going to take
Resolution 199-21 out of order. We have Chief Kazuo Todd here. So if you
could read in Resolution 199-21, sir.
Change Order As directed by the Chair and with no objection from the Council Members,
of Business: the following item was taken out of order:
Res. 199-21: CREATES ONE NEW INFORMATION SYSTEMS ANALYST IV
POSITION FOR THE HAWAII COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT
The position would provide direct island -wide technological support to the Fire
Department.
Reference: Comm. 388
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R)
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September 21, 2021
Motion to Approve: Mr. Inaba moved to recommend adoption of Res. 199-21.
Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz.
(Note: At this time, Fire Chief Kazuo Todd came forward to address the
members of the Committee.)
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Joining us today, we have Chief Todd.
Chief, if you could just give us a quick overview of Resolution 199. Go ahead
when you're ready.
CHIEF TODD: Okay, so Resolution 199 is to add a System Analyst IV position,
basically an IT (Information Technology) position within the Hawaii Fire
Department.
Currently, over the last decade or so, we've seen a dramatic increase in the
amount of technical applications that are coming in to the department, and IT
itself is probably being overwhelmed to some extent by all the other departments.
They are also bringing in a variety of computers, and tech supplies, and things
like that.
Primarily for this is we have a 911 Dispatch Center, which runs 24 hours a
day, seven days a week, and has a variety of computer systems in there that are
critical in nature and need to be maintained. So Police manages by having their
own IT department, which first response is always going to be the 9-1-1 dispatch
as well, but they also support some of the other Police Department programs.
So as of last year, in December, we spent about $400,000 to mobile data
terminals. Mobile data terminals are laptops basically, but they come with
mounting docks, charging Wi-Fi antennas and everything else that hook into the
vehicles, and these—all the data terminals bring data into the vehicle as we're
responding to the scene. So we see mapping, we see hydrant locations. We can
get the details that are being typed as the dispatcher is typing them. But part and
partial of that is they—computers need to get installed, and there is a lot of IT
support that has to happen on the backend. So while we picked up the laptops,
we're still waiting on IT to free up time to allow us to get all the programming
done so we can get them launched. This IT position would help to support that,
and allow us to move forward in a timely fashion, and also deal with any issues in
our current fleet of over 300 computers.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Thank you, Chief, for that
brief overview. Council Members, any questions? Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Aloha, Chief. Great to see you. Just
have a question because I'm looking at the B-52. If you could just give me a
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ballpark estimate for what this particular analyst position is going to be costing us
on an annual basis.
CHIEF TODD: I do not have that form in front of me. But it was the base
amount, as I believe, the entry level for the Analyst IV position.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Director Sako, I hate to put you on the spot, but you
have like budget books and everything categorized in that mind of yours, it's
amazing. Can you provide us a quick range? I'm just really curious. Because
it's a Level IV position, yeah?
CHIEF TODD: Yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: It's kind of high.
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MS. SAKO: Probably in the $50,000 to $70,000 range.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MS. SAKO: Because it depends if we hire someone who has experienced already
or a brand new person.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. So there's some wiggle -room here, right? Where
you could build the capacity of the individual and this position potentially?
CHIEF TODD: So, yeah. It kind of depends. Like if one of the IT—we'd open
this up. But if someone from IT applied for it, then they'll be coming over with
their salary, which would maybe put them at the higher end. If we hire, and
someone externally comes in, they come in at the base level and hopefully are
capable of doing the job. And, we'll go from there.
MS. SAKO: And of course if no one qualifies, in the worse -case scenario, he
would reallocate down to fill, and then train, and move them back up.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Director Sako, you're supportive of this?
MS. SAKO: Yes, we have. We did have discussions prior to this, as well.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, I just want to make sure everything pencils out.
Okay, so deploying of the computers—and I see a lot of different programs and
processes that are described here: ArcGIS (Aeronautical Reconnaissance
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Coverage Geographic Information System), Mobile Data Terminals. All kinds of
stuff I haven't even heard of before.
CHIEF TODD: Yeah, I kind of do that myself mostly now.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Pulse Point, Bryx, I know what that is. Okay, so they
would be the main person to serve as support for your department for all of these
programs and processes?
CHIEF TODD: Basically yeah, they would be a launching point for anything
technical.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
CHIEF TODD: Ideally, you know, in the long run we would like to look at kind
of match up with what Police is doing. They have some specialized needs like the
Bodycam Program, which has an additional IT position. But I believe they're at
three or four IT positions.
MS. SAKO: They were at three. Yeah, they may be at four now.
CHIEF TODD: So relatively speaking, there isn't a lot difference in terms of our
IT versus their IT needs. The primary reason they were able to launch their own
IT program was they couldn't allow the regular IT people to see their stuff
because of potential legal ramifications. So everyone who is in their IT
department needed to get background checks and other things like that. And so
because of that, they were able to launch their own IT department.
But when we talk about like a technical basis, there is not a lot of difference
between us and Police in terms of emergency response. We're tying into the
same systems and have similar needs in terms of what we need set up.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, that's really helpful. And just—final question, after
they get all these laptops deployed, and you kind of created this cadence for how
they're going to continuously support the department, where do you want this
position to go? I mean, how can it help to increase HFD's (Hawai`i Fire
Department) brands within the community?
CHIEF TODD: So in the long -run what I'm looking to do is there are a lot of
technical programs that we haven't launched that we need. A good example is the
Mana Road fire, which happened recently.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes.
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CHIEF TODD: You know, when I talk about ArcGIS, and the GPS (Global
Positioning System) tracking, and everything else, that's one of the major areas
I'd like to take our department in.
Currently, we have a lot of area of where we could grow in terms of our
Command Post, the ability to have real-time data, and abilities out in the field,
and so I'm trying to push forward in that direction, which would be a lot of
research and a lot of technical stuff and probably a multi-year project. But the
goal would be when we're on -scene on one of these major fires, is to have all the
resources we have, whether it be a bulldozer, that's a private company; a water
truck, that's County; a fire truck or anything else, to have a GPS coordinate, to
have that be dropping in our GPS mapping to be able to see kind of some history
of where they've gone and when they come back so that we can figure out where
the dozers are and what lines they've cut, relative to where we know the fire is,
and to bring actual technology into our decision-making in the field so that we're
able better serve the community.
You know, we lost three homes over in the Pu`ukapu region, and while our
personnel were out there doing their best they possibly could, we can't help but
wonder like, well, if we had drones, if we had other things, would then be able to
better to respond because we would be able to forecast where the fire was going
faster and more efficiently.
And so, supporting those kind of programs and supporting the implementation of
a GIS (Geographical Information System), and GPS, and whatnot into our
department is going to require some technical expertise and time, which no one
currently in the department has.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I think once you set up that infrastructure, it's going to be
so incredibly helpful as we face future emergencies and disasters. I like where
you're going with this, Chief. I'm going to be supporting your resolution. Thank
you, Chair. I yield.
CHIEF TODD: Thank you very much.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. In Kona, any
discussion for Chief Todd?
MR. BROWN: No one at this time, Chair.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Okay, hearing none. We have
a motion on the floor to forward Resolution 199-21 with a forward
recommendation to Council, all in favor?
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Vote on Res. 199-21: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 199-21
(Approved) 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.
Return to Order The Chair directed the Committee to return to the order of business.
of Business:
COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business,
CATIONS: Communications.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, let's take Communication 31.9,
please.
Comm. 31.19: REPORT OF CHANGE ORDERS AUTHORIZED: AUGUST 1 —15, 2021
From Finance Director Deanna Sako, dated August 23, 2021, transmitting the
above report pursuant to Hawaii County Code Section 2-12.3.
Motion to Close File: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to close file on Comm. 31.19.
Seconded by Mr. Inaba.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead. I believe you
had a question for the Chief on this Order.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, thank you, Chair, for the latitude here. Chief Todd,
since I have you here, just taking a look at this report of Change Orders, and there
is professional services for the HPP (Hawaiian Paradise Park) Fire Station, some
additions, some modifications to comply with ADA (Americans with Disabilities
Act) accessibility. Just wondering if you could share a little more about that, and
maybe even provide us with a sense of where we are with the improvements for
that particular station. It barely fits three, four grown men, and with the medic
being there, an additional staffing, right, to ensure that we are meeting those
NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) standards. Really tight. So just
looking to understand where we are with this project.
CHIEF. TODD: So, I wish I could give you a really good, detailed answer.
Originally we were looking at January to get the stuff going and construction and
whatnot, but there's been some change overs in staffing within DPW (Department
of Public Works), and things have been shuffled. They're starting to pick back up
again, as things are, I guess, evening out, but I do not know that we're on
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schedule to where we were. My understanding isI had a talk with one of my
Assistant Chiefs who had been bringing it up, and it seems like things had started
to get picked up again, and hopefully we're maybe only a month or two behind
original schedule. But that's my understanding at the time.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. I really appreciate the honesty and the
transparency here. If there's anything that I can do to help push on my end,
please let me know. Thank you, Chair. I yield.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Any further
discussion on Communication 31.19? Hearing none, we have a motion on the
floor to close file on Communication 31.19, all in favor?
Vote on Comm. 31.19: The motion to close file on Comm. 31.19 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: Mr. Clerk, I would like to jump now to
Resolution
MS. LEE LOY: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder?
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Shall I go ahead?
MS. LEE LOY: We have Riley Saito here in the Kona Chambers. He's here for
Resolution 204-21.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. I'm going to go
ahead with Resolutions 200 through 204 next, and then we'll bet to Riley Saito.
I also have Glenn Sako and Director Adams here in the Hilo Chambers. So,
Mr. Clerk, please proceed with Resolution 200.
Change Order As directed by the Chair and with no objection from the Council Members,
of Business: the following items were taken out of order:
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Res. 200-21: AUTHORIZES THE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN
AGREEMENT WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII
Provides $15,000 from the Department of Research and Development to the
University of Hawaii to fund its "Prevention and Management of Little Fire
Ants in Farms" program.
Reference: Comm. 389
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R)
Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to recommend adoption of
Res. 200-21. Seconded by Mr. Richards.
(Note: At this time, Research and Development Director Douglas Adams,
Deputy Director Riley Saito, and Economic Development Specialist III
Glenn Sako came forward to address the members of the Committee.)
CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: We have Mr. Sako and Director Adams in
Hilo Chambers today. Gentlemen, go ahead, if you want to give a brief description
of what this is. And we have a number of resolutions coming, so go ahead.
MR. SAKO: Good afternoon, I'm Glenn Sako, Economic Development
Specialist III, with the Research and Development. So this project is being put on
by the Hawaii Ant Lab, and what they're doing is they're improving their
communication with the general public through various media sources. They
want to compile a stakeholder list of commercial farms and agritourism
businesses. They're going to be conducting one-on-one site visits and follow-ups
to work with commercial operations, and also developing educational material for
these farmers and to improve their prevention and management of the little fire
ant. The little fire ants continues to be a problem in which affects both the public
and commercial operations, and they hope to work with at least 12 operations.
CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, sir. Director, anything to add?
MR. ADAMS: Thanks. This is Doug Adams, Director of Research and
Development. I would just add that you don't see all the innovation grants, just
the ones that we are working with the resolutions for because of the
intergovernmental part of this. But this is the part of the work on invasive species
that is included as a part of the innovation grants that came. So this one of several
that are going to be trying to focus on that area. Thanks.
CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Director. Thank you,
Mr. Sako. I appreciate you guys doing this. I have these guys in my yard, and
they're all throughout Puna and across the island. They're an irritation, to say the
least, and really appreciate what you are guys doing. Anything to help our
farmers and homeowners to deal with this.
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And also. really like there's a pamphlet in the front on dealing with little fire
ants. I think they put out the same documentation, is that correct?
MR. SAKO: That's correct. Our department printed out a whole list of those
publications to be made available.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I was looking through it last time I was in
Council, and I just really appreciate the information. All in one spot: how to mix
Tengo, how it works, you know, just the whole thing. How to bait, how to spray,
everything, and just why you do what. So they can help out people, just get ahold
on this thing. They're horrible.
MR. SAKO: The material was developed by the Hawaii Ant Lab, and with their
permission we printed it out to be made available.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Awesome. Very good reference material.
Council, any discussion on Resolution 200-21?
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I have a question.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Mahalo, Glenn. Thank you,
Director Adams, for being here. Clarifying question on something you said,
Glenn. Hawaii Ant Lab is going to be generating a list of farms and ag
businesses? Are they starting from scratch, or do we have existing lists that we
can be leveraging?
MR. SAKO: I believeI cannot explain for them, but this is what they had
written out in their project proposal.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MR. SAKO: But we do know that they have been working with some base
organizations and farms already.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And you said about a dozen folks around the island
is the targeted reach?
MR. SAKO: That's correct.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. So you're looking at them as potentially being
these pilot programs to further test different solutions that are coming out of the
lab?
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MR. SAKO: They have some new chemicals that has been approved for use.
Some of them have you know, they have just done some of the work in the
laboratory, and they would like to see how that would also work out in the field.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MR. SAKO: But also, whenever—especially dealing with farmers, they like to
have that one-on-one out in the field versus a videotape, to try to tell them, you
know, explain what would be most effective. So, this is their outreach.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Great. Thank you for those further details. And this
would be for a one-year term?
MR. SAKO: Correct.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: This project?
MR. SAKO: Okay, great. Thank you. Chair, I yield.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. In Kona, any
questions for the Director or for Mr. Sako?
MR. BROWN: Not at this time, Chair.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Brown. Okay, with no
more discussion, we have a motion on the floor to forward Resolution 200-21 to
Council with a favorable recommendation. All in favor?
Vote on Res. 200-21: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 200-21 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: Resolution 201, please.
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Res. 201-21: AUTHORIZES THE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN
AGREEMENT WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII
Provides $21,166 from the Department of Research and Development to the
University of Hawaii to fund its "Examining Korean Natural Farming in
Hawaii Floriculture and Foliage – Year 2" program.
Reference: Comm. 390
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R)
Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to recommend adoption of
Res. 201-21. Seconded by Mr. Inaba.
CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Director, Mr. Sako, go ahead.
MR. SAKO: Thank you. So the ornamental industry has been heavily dependent
on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Over the years, that has been one of the
standard practices. However, with the concern about the environment, the
impacts on the environment, the rising cost of these fertilizers and pesticides,
there has been a movement towards what would be considered sustainable
agriculture and a less harmful or a safer method of raising these export plants.
So this Korean Natural Farming, which has been around for a few years, has been
basically a backyard methodology, but now it's going and start moving into the
commercial operations. We have one organic macadamia nut producer in Kohala,
who has used this method, but now we're finally getting it into the ornamental
industry.
So this is the second year for researching the impact on anthuriums. And also,
this year they've added the Kentia palm, which is another major export product,
and want to see how—if they can improve the pest -resistance, and using the
Korean Natural Farming methodology.
CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Very neat, thank you. Director, you have
anything to add? Okay. Council Members, any questions?
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, I have a question, or comment.
CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Okay, Mr. Chung, go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, thank you. This really isn't completely on topic. You
know, the leaders in Korean farming techniques really came from Gokseong, and
that's a Sister City of ours.
Former Council Member Fresh Onishi went over there two years, and I would
really urge if you guys are interested in this type of farming techniques, go to
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Gokseong, Korea. I mean, it is after all the Sister City. I'm not saying go right
now, during COVID (Coronavirus Disease), but as soon as things open up, if you
guys are interested, I would strongly urge you guys to go. Mr. Onishi said it was
a great experience. Very educational.
MR. ADAMS: Thank you, Council Member.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Chung.
MS. VILLEGAS: Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder?
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Go ahead, Ms. Villegas.
MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah, I want to express my gratitude for bringing this forward.
As some of you may remember, I have some strong feelings and beliefs in regard
to the use of pesticides and herbicides on public properties; and while County
government doesn't have any real direct authority over what happens on private
properties and in the agricultural industry, I just feel that this is really exciting
news.
I am heartened to see our County recognizing these different practices, and
embracing the much the needed opportunity to move away from some of the
synthetic herbicides, and pesticides, and other farming things that are harming the
resilience and regenerative capacities of our soils, and exploring these new
methods.
So I just want to thank you guys for bringing this forward. I am excited to
support it, and I really look forward to hearing how things progress and continue
to improve the regenerative agricultural goals of our County. So thank you so
much. I yield.
MR. ADAMS: Thank you, Council Member. I would just add that, of course,
this is science; so this is testing, this is the pilot. There are no guarantees
necessarily as to the results. But we are heartened that when we offer these
opportunities up for funds to support these innovative tests, that there are folks
that are going to take them up to see if they're going to work. And you're
absolutely correct, and I know you've had these conversations with members of
the department, as well. It's about behaviors; if we're going to be living in a
climate -action focused era moving forward, we have to do these things that turn
out to be `aina-friendly.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, all. Ms. Villegas, do you
yield?
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MS. VILLEGAS: My apologies, yes I do yield. But first, I'd like to say thank
you, Mr. Adams. I am very hopeful that as we continue to navigate the path of
science, I see this also as part of returning to the wisdom of our host cultures.
And in Korea, they have been navigating successful farming practices without the
use of synthetic materials or reliance on corporate enterprises funded by major
petroleum companies for many, many years. So I'm really excited to see where
this goes, and hopeful that it shows promise. So with that, I yield.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mahalo, Ms. Villegas. Anyone else in
Kona? Okay, Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Mahalo nui, Glenn. I remember
something similar coming forward last year related to this. And so my wondering
is, is it possible to get some sort of impact report or summary of the progress
made during year one, and how that's maybe influenced how this program is
being delivered for year two? Just really curious about what the findings are,
what worked, what didn't. That way, if it's filed with Council, it's out there in the
public. Folks check out our documents all the time. The Tribune may run a story,
and it may attract some folks that are, hey, looking for more information that they
could potentially incorporate into their organization and practice. So, possible to
get an impact report for year one?
MR. SAKO: I can request it. However, be aware that anthurium is a
slow-growing plant, and they're starting from scratch. And so basically the way
how they will judge the impact of this project is on the health of the plant, the
number of stems or flowers that it produces, and the quality.
Then, because it is an export crop, they need to see whether these anthuriums
stems can be shipped, would pass quarantine inspection, meaning that it wouldn't
have any of the quarantine pest on it. So that's a little bit further down the road.
However, I can the researcher to deliver a progress report.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, anything that might be available, just so that we can
see what sort of return on investment these grants are having for the County.
MR. ADAMS: And then, Council Member, of course we do have the final
reports from the first year, and so that would be another thing that would be
available. From that first year, we have their final report.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah.
MR. ADAMS: So it's not just a progress now, because obviously this contract
has not actually started yet.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Great. Thank you, Director. I appreciate that. And, you
know, Council Members have contingency relief money, and if it is something
that you are passionate about it, you know, it's certainly something that we can
support. So thank you for the information. I yield. Thank you.
CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Any further
discussion, Council? Okay, hearing none. I just really appreciate you guys both
putting this forward and working through the paperwork on the backend to get it
to us today. I think it's a very neat opportunity to look at different ways of
farming, and soil building, and in a more holistic approach, like here B-52 says.
As far as floriculture, it's a huge industry here, and we have to support. I mean,
this is local sustainable businesses. If we can get that moving and get them away
from needing to buy fertilizer, using what we have already on -island. So thank
you for the opportunity. Yeah, okay.
No further discussion being seen, we have a motion on the floor for
Resolution 201-21 to be forwarded to Council with a favorable recommendation.
All in favor?
Vote on Res. 201-21: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 201-21 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 KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Please, forward to Resolution 202-21.
Res. 202-21: AUTHORIZES THE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN
AGREEMENT WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII
Provides $21,200.10 from the Department of Research and Development to the
University of Hawaii to fund its "Evaluating Garlic Production in Hawaii
County" program.
Reference: Comm. 391
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R)
Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to recommend adoption of
Res. 202-21. Seconded by Mr. Richards.
CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: If you could, gentlemen, again?
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MR. SAKO: Sure. So garlic is a wildly -used spice. According to this national
statistics, the per capita consumption is about two pounds per person, per year,
with a value of about $5.6 million.
In the earlier part of this year, there was an article in the Honolulu Star Advertiser
about garlic being produced on Oahu and Maui, and this extension agent,
Jensen Ueda, with the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources,
was the lead person on that project. And basically, there are few farmers who are
growing garlic, and they were receiving about $6 to $7 per pound for their fresh
garlic.
There are some garlic that's being grown here. It's under—it's being called
garlic, but my understanding is that it is elephant garlic, which is not a true garlic.
So now they're trying to bring in these varieties and hope that they can become
adaptable. So it's a little tricky trying to grow garlic here because of the need for
a very cold temperature to trigger the response from the bulb.
So there is going to be an effort to grow garlic at three locations on this island,
and to determine which varieties are working the best and, you know, the steps to
get it to produce an economic yield so that, perhaps, we can establish a small
garlic industry here, also. And I can say for certain that in my household we
exceed the two pounds per person consumption of garlic a year.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Sako. I appreciate it. I
second that; I think we use way more than two pounds a year. Ms. Kierkiewicz,
go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Thanks for those details. I'm just curious; so
those three locations, out in the actual field or are these going to be controlled
climate, say at UH (University of Hawai`i)?
MR. SAKO: It is going to be out in the field. One is located on Komohana
Street, at the Komohana Research and Education Center. Another one is at theI
think it was out at I know one is out in Lalamilo Farmlots, and I'm sorry, about
the third one. It's at the Kona Cooperative Extension Office. I'm sorry, yeah. So
basically around the island.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, and I think we would all be curious about what
comes about this particular project, you know, and if this is a potential viable
industry for our County. So, keep us posted.
MR. SAKO: Sure.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Chair, I yield.
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September 21, 2021
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone in
Kona?
MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, Richards.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Thanks, Chair. Glenn, interesting and intriguing. Are you
talking story about possibly developing an export market?
MR. SAKO: Well, might be a little early for that. We will have to see, based on
the production and what lies out there. We'll let the industry determine that.
MR. RICHARDS: Yeah. And then you said it has to hit a certain cool
temperature to trigger the formation. is that what I understood correctly?
MR. SAKO: That is correct. In fact, they will probably have the bulbs in a
refrigerator at this point, because the time for planting is coming up.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, the reason I ask is becauseI think you and I discussed
this years ago, the—out at NELHA (Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii
Authority) with the cold water coming up from deep, and I know there's been
experimentation running those pipelines through the soil for condensation to
attract moisture for irrigation, I'm just wondering if that might be a way that we
could actually chill the soil as well, and thereby trigger this. So, interesting. I'll
follow up with you later, Glenn. So thanks, Chair, I yield.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Richards.
MR. ADAMS: If I may, Mr. Chair. I would just add that anything for export,
currently in these kind of areas, is the premium and the branding piece, right?
And so I agree, of course, with Glenn that we're pretty early in this process. But
ultimately for it to be successful against products that have usually cost less
because of the labor aspects and the transportation concerns we have, there would
have to be a premium aspect to this for it to be successful.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Director. Any discussion in
Kona? Okay, hearing none. Again, just thank you. Thank you for bringing this
forward.
I did try growing garlic in my house. It's not easy as you think it would be. I was
walking through some of the camps below Kurtistown, and I was watching the
guy plant each bulb in each container, and I was wondering how garlic grows here
and how well it does. Good to know that we're looking at it at least. And it's a
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huge use. I mean, our restaurant, we go through bags of that pre -peeled garlic. I
mean, like bags, bags of that stuff. So if there was an industry here, I think it
would be well -supported by local businesses and by the community, so great
opportunity.
Okay, with that, seeing no further discussion. We have a motion on the floor for
Resolution 202-21 to be forwarded to Council with a favorable recommendation.
All in favor?
Vote on Res. 202-21: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 202-21 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 KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Clerk, please move to Resolution 203-21.
Res. 203-21: AUTHORIZES THE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN
AGREEMENT WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII
Provides $25,000 from the Department of Research and Development to the
University of Hawaii to fund its "GoFarm Hawaii: Growing Sustainable
Farmers for Hawaii Island" program.
Reference: Comm. 392
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R)
Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to recommend adoption of
Res. 203-21. Seconded by Mr. Richards.
CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Any discussion, Council Members?
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, some details overview from Mr. Sako.
CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Oh, sorry.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: No
CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Go ahead,
Mr. Sako.
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September 21, 2021
MR. SAKO: So GoFarm Hawaii is a University of Hawaii College of Tropical
Agriculture and Human Resources program, and what they do is they work with
beginning farmers and also offer some ongoing education to aspiring and
established Hawaii Island farmers. In fact, Research and Development has
helped them to move to a site closer to Hilo, at the current site which is located
next to the Alae Cemetery, which is on Kamehameha Schools' land.
So this proposal would they're going to be emphasizing or teaching the cohort
seed -saving so that they can retain their own seeds; basic value-added food
production; scaling efficiency, in otherwards, when you're pulling from a small
garden plot moving up to a larger operation; and then also, working with them to
teach them the no -till and low -till, which would help with the soil health
management practices. Thank you.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Sako. Director?
MR. ADAMS: Yeah, every time I say something here, Mr. Chair, I think Glenn
is holding his breath. I think that the—we had the opportunity to actually go see
an event, about a month-and-a-half or so ago, out at the site. Just really
extraordinary efforts by both the instructors and the potential farmers, the
burgeoning farmers, and really working hard to—actually it was the end of July, it
was part of the Food Summit. And to see that work and just the you know, you
hate to say that you see joy on people's faces, even with masks, but it was clear
that folks really enjoyed what they were doing, plus they got the hard work that
was necessary.
So this program is an excellent program. And if we were able to scale it,
part of the issue, of course, is land, it's also instructors; but you could certainly
create—or have the opportunity to create more farmers, which we know is a
major issue for us, is where are the farmers going to come from. So this is aI'm
really excited about this particular project.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, well done. Well done, gentlemen.
And stemming from a conversation with Environmental Management, talking
about how disposable society's become, moving towards sustainable farming here
and getting more food going here helps for that issue. So, thank you. Council
Members, any discussion on Resolution 203?
MS. KIMBALL: May I? Heather.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Ms. Kimball, go ahead.
MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, thank you, Mr. Sako and Doug. This is a great program.
We were able to go, my staff and I, to one of their workshops, and just like you
said, people grinning ear -to -ear being out there in the dirt.
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September 21, 2021
I was just recently talking about the program, and you mentioned the land issue.
Very glad to see us supporting this program financially. Are there any
discussions, though, to open up some of the County ag lands that are not currently
being leased, and partnership with these folks?
MR. ADAMS: Council Member Kimball, no.
MS. KIMBALL: Okay, thank you. Is that something that is a possibility, or is it
just too challenging to make that arrangement because it's a government entity to
government entity?
MR. ADAMS: I'm not sure that that's the issue as much as it is, just a lot of
things on the plate. And so that idea of moving in that direction, you know,
frankly I don't think we've considered it that much.
MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Well, I—it's a great program, and definitely I know
that's one of the considerations, so maybe there's opportunity for us there. Thank
you, Chair. I yield.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Anyone else in
Kona?
MR. SAKO: Excuse me, may I make one more comment?
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes.
MR. SAKO: But my understanding is upon completion of this course, that they
will receive a certificate, which would qualify them to apply with the State Ag
Park.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Does that help, Ms. Kimball?
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. I understand, just in the last cohort, with that
arrangement they were only actually able to award two, I think, of the folks that
completed the program land to actually farm on. I know that's a pretty severe
shortage of land that's available for the folks once they've completed this
program.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. It's a very good
point. Any further discussion from Kona? Okay. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I'm curious about how the program is
being delivered. So it's administered by UH -Hilo staff?
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September 21, 2021
MR. SAKO: No, it's by the University of Hawaii at Manoa is the, I guess, the
employer of the farm manager and the program.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. So they employ farmers to then taken a cohort.
Once or twice a year with this $25,000?
MR. SAKO: I think it's once a year.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Once a year. And about how many folks are part of the
cohort? And any—like any requirements, or you just have to have an interest and
curiosity around ag?
MR. SAKO: No, what it is, obviously they have a limited amount of space. And
I'm sorry, I would have to get back to you on that.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And it's free for them to participate? So this $25,000
helps to offset those costs?
MR. SAKO: No, I believe that there is a tuition.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: There's a small tuition?
MR. SAKO: Yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Director Adams, do you happen to know?
MR. ADAMS: There's a tuition. I think it's $500 or $1,500. I'm forgetting
exactly. But it's in the amount—you know, that way you invest something so that
you're going to want to complete. At the time that we went to go see it, they had
completed one cohort, and they were getting ready, I think, to start a second
cohort.
MR. SAKO: That's correct.
MR. ADAMS: As a part of this.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Yeah, and them I'm glad, you know, the thing
about State ag parks came up, because that was the question I had, the
partnership. So are we taking a look at potentially, you know, engaging some of
our larger landowners to offer a plot for folks that are interested in farming?
MR. SAKO: You know, we get asked that question from time to time, people are
looking for land. The different entities have their requirements and what their
goals are, so I cannot speak for why some people are having difficulty, you know,
acquiring lands. But I do know that—you know, I will refer them to the major
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September 21, 2021
landowners, such as Kamehameha Schools, Olson Trust, even the State
Department of Land and Natural Resources. But like I hear complaints, still yet.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And Glenn, maybe if you have the data available at
your desk, maybe just sharing with Council Members what capacity some of our
State land parks are at; if they're 100 percent full, and what locations there might
be some availability of land for folks to cultivate.
MR. SAKO: Okay. Yeah, we do have an understanding that there are available
lots, well, it might appear to be available, it's just not being utilized. However,
my understanding is that some of them have long-term leases.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I see.
MR. SAKO: And that might be an issue that has to be dealt with.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. With the State?
MR. SAKO: Yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Got it. Okay. And then, Director, maybe you can speak to
the Food System's Plan that Hamakua Institute has done or is doing. Does it kind
of take a look at available lands for food production?
MR. ADAMS: As to specifically to your question, Council Member, I don't have
an answer to that.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MR. ADAMS: You want to think that would be part of it.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Right..
MR. ADAMS: But they're in the process of that being written, right? So we
have two plans right now. We have Emergency Food Plan.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Right.
MR. ADAMS: That they're working on.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah.
MR. ADAMS: And that's getting completed. And then the food study, and
ultimately the Food System Plan, so that's this plan, that is a long-term process.
That would, and I would think, would include what you're asking about.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, thank you. I appreciate that. And thenI mean,
Glenn, you know, Legislative Session is coming up, so if there are some roles,
policies, that need to be massaged, do let us know; and we can work with our
counterparts on the State side to move some bills forward this upcoming session.
MR. SAKO: Okay.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I yield.
CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Any further
discussion, Council? Okay, hearing none. Again, I appreciate your guys efforts
to get this done. Thank you. With that, we have a motion on the floor to forward
Resolution 203 to Council with a favorable recommendation. All in favor?
Vote on Res. 203-21: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 203-21 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 KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Let's go the last resolution for R&D
(Research and Development). It would be Resolution 204-21, Mr. Clerk.
Res. 204-21: AUTHORIZES THE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN
AGREEMENT WITH THE STATE OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF
EDUCATION
Provides $75,000 from the Department of Research and Development to
support Ka`u High and Pahala Elementary Schools Agri -preneurship Academy
proj ect.
Reference: Comm. 393
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder
Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to recommend adoption of
Res. 204-21. Seconded by Mr. Richards.
(Note: At this time, Research and Development Energy Specialist Riley
Saito came forward to address the members of the Committee.)
CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Gentlemen, if you could, last one.
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MR. ADAMS: So this will be Riley, who will be briefing this, and I'm going to
steal, I'm sure, a bit of thunder initially.
This is actually three different programs, three different projects, that were
applied for through the school in Pahala. And frankly, it's really exciting.
There's a variety of overlapping integration of the projects, and I'm really
interested to see where they go with this. So now having stolen Riley's thunder
from him, I'll have him take over.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mr. Saito, go ahead when you're ready.
MR. SAITO: Riley Saito, Energy Specialist, Research and Development with the
County of Hawaii. I'll take you on a journey of the three contracts.
So it's with a design -build by the students, of an approximately 25 by 55 -foot
structure. They'll have hands-on lessons on actually designing and hands-on
building of the structure, and they will open it to about 150 students to actually
have like a design kind of competition. So really getting their minds to work
toward standing up a structure that would be solar -ready. And so that structure
would then—
The second contract is to actually install a greenhouse structure that will actually
hold the solar panels and provide energy. They'll look at actually assisting in the
design, engineering, and what pieces. It would include solar panels, inverters, a
back-up generator, so they'll have three forms of energy back-up.
And then the third part of the actual use of the greenhouse, is to produce food
through aquaponics. And so you'll have circulators. Glenn has more information
as far as the aqua -food production, that really takes understanding of a dual use of
renewable energy in relation to food production, which is an awesome project.
Glenn, you want to go over the ag part?
MR. SAKO: The aquaponics involves both, in this case fish, probably tilapia, to
be raised, and then using its affluent to feed the lettuce that will be part of this
whole system, and so this closed -system then will continue in this circulation.
They plan to then harvest about 250 heads of lettuce a week, and to make it
available to the community as a food -drive. I guess we're going to—and
hopefully they'll get into their school system as a farm -to -school project someday.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you very much, gentlemen.
Council, any discussion? Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Director, you brought up innovation
grants, and I just want to make sure I'm squaring everything away correctly. So
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this particular resolution, is it in addition to the innovation grant that's been
awarded?
MR. ADAMS: So the resolution has to do—we're working with Department of
Education, right? So, it has to be this is a government to government thing.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MR. ADAMS: But this was applied for as an innovation grant. Three different
innovation grants in three different areas, and then what we did is we said, "These
are all this is really a single project in a single location designed to be integrated
and closed -system," as Glenn talked about. So, this is an innovation grant project.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Yeah, thanks for that clarification. And so is
the school going to be sort of administering this and collecting the data?
Where does that data then go? Because I see a lot of promise with this program.
This particular community down in Ka`u, I mean, they mobilized and were an
incredible resilience hub during COVID emergency response. And then earlier
this year—and so I'm just really excited about building up that momentum that
they started. And they're some they're a community to watch. So I'm just
curious as to who is monitoring. And as they progress, how do we further, you
know, connecting them with other resources that really allow them to scale up?
MR. ADAMS: So let me yeah, go ahead, Riley.
MR. SAITO: The three contracts, we're pretty much putting them into one, and
I'll be the primary contact with the school. I have some other thoughts too, that I
might work with them on. The atmosphere moisture capture, to produce the water
from air, utilizing the PV (photovoltaic) energy, things like that.
But as far as the end -output is actually the lettuce, I guess. So as far
as understanding how the nutritional mix within the aquaponic, you know, I
touched basis with Glenn for his expertise on that to see if there's a change in
productivity levels, you know, for 250 heads a week, or if we can get to 300, you
know, things like that. But it's really intriguing, I'll be on it. I look forward to it,
actually.
MR. ADAMS: And let me just follow up on that, as well. This is not only thing
happening in Ka`u High, right. There are some activities with schools on Oahu
that had been brought by some of our business leaders, and they're doing some
work with Ka`u High, and Pahala as well, right? And so this work, the idea is,
what's the sustainable piece of this, right? Where does this go after a year of this
program? And it may be they're able to continue the program with support. But I
think the key here is that these kids then begin to see that they're part of
something that's really amazing. And we want to make sure that word gets out,
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September 21, 2021
because that then opens up potentially other floodgates for other activities there,
right?
So this is a true—in my mind this is a true pilot, with the idea of can we show
success here so that others see the opportunities to invest in this area, as well.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, absolutely. And I love the integration with the
students and building up that next sort of cadre of local farmers here on the island.
Love the concept. I mean, my uncle for a number of years, he converted a pool in
Pahoa. So we've got tilapia in there, and using the affluent to water moringa,
eggplant, and other things. So it certainly works, and it's exciting that this is
being duplicated around the island. This is certainly something to watch. Thank
you for this investment. Chair, I yield.
MR. SAKO: One more comment, if I may? I had the opportunity to go down
there and work on their School Garden Network Day. I might add that there is
other agricultural operations going on down there. They had eggplant, and I think
they were going to raise corn; and also, they had a small macadamia nut orchard
that is actually producing; and they wanted to work withI believe it was
Meadow Gold Dairies, selling their nuts to Meadow Gold Dairies as part of
Meadow Gold Dairies developing their macadamia nut milk, as part of their
purchases.
The neat thing is that for many years there was Ka`u Agribusiness, which was a
sugar plantation, but also a macadamia nut—actually one of the largest
macadamia nut operations from the former C. Brewer is located right next door.
And here's an opportunity for them to work with the industry to develop future
leaders for that operation. So there are a lot of things that can be spun off with
their overall program. Thank you.
MR. ADAMS: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would just conclude my comments here
with you'll see in here, I think, in a small version the integration that can occur,
right, ag specialist—and he's also helping, because our Food System Specialist
couldn't be here, so he's helping with that; and then our Energy Specialist, right?
All those things are being integrated across—on many of these projects, any of
the ones that you're not seeing, we're seeing that integration, as well. It's just an
indication of the department and what the department does in terms of taking a
look at and breaking down even the silos that exist within the specialties. So I
don't want them to listen to this, but I'm really proud of what they do.
MR. SAITO: Yeah, just a little more color. Like couple of years ago, Glenn
and I went to the site of the future solar farm on Parker Ranch, and we kind of
talked in concept about this exact thing that they're doing, a dual use of how
many of these photovoltaics, hydroponics for production of, I think Glenn said,
"lettuce." And so that's what we looked that.
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September 21, 2021
And then to have now an innovation grant applicant actually want to put it in
motion is just awesome. We can probably take data from this information,
lessons learned, and the knowledge-based advancement to the actual solar
developers for their consideration. Each of the 40 megawatt solar farms are like
200 to 248 acres So that's about it for me.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Thank you, all. Good job.
Ms. Kierkiewicz? No? Any further discussion in Kona?
MS. VILLEGAS: Yes, please, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Go ahead, Ms. Villegas.
MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Chair. Aloha, Riley. Thank you for being here. I
get excited when I see you because I know that it's going to have something to do
with continued improvement of our existing systems, out of the box thinking, and
really connecting to technologies, and processes, and opportunities that will bring
our County in so many ways right into that 21" century. I appreciate your
perseverance, your continued diligence, and your patience with your work and
how long sometimes it takes to get us where we need to go.
But I am so grateful for your vision. And I'm so grateful, once again, to
see another project that you are aligning the opportunities and what's available
through technologies to create new models and set new standards for what's
possible, and then could be replicated, especially working with young
people. So I think that is they are not only our future as a humanity, but
they also providing them with the tools and the resources, and encouraging that
type of thinking about possibilities and connecting them to those possibilities is
just profoundly impactful to the perpetual improvement of the way that—
Unfortunately,
hat
Unfortunately, we and some of those that have come before us have fallen short.
So thank you for your commitment to continue improvement. And I just really
appreciate you. I yield.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Villegas.
MS. KIMBALL: Chair? Heather.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Oh, Ms. Kimball. Go ahead.
MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, I just had a very quick question. Is the DOE (Department
of Education) getting—is school getting other funding from this, besides just from
us? Are they being supported by the State at all, as well?
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MR. SAITO: They have matching funds. Or actual in-kind, mainly in-kind, in
labor. But not in cash, no.
MS. KIMBALL: I would love to see some more State support behind this
program, as well. I'm glad we're supporting it. It seems very innovative and a
great way to bring, as Council Member Kierkiewicz said, the next generation in
on innovation and agriculture. But just wanted to see some—see what we were
doing with State support, as well. Thanks. I yield, Chair.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Kona, any more
discussion? Okay, hearing none. Well, I come from the solar field. This is an
amazing opportunity. I'm trying to do this in my backyard right now, but I just
have found very limited amount of time to set up an aquaponic system in the
backyard. But it is one of my lifetime goals.
So I'm glad to see that our youth in Ka`u and Pahala are being given this
opportunity. I think you're really planting a seed in the younger generation. Even
if it's just a couple of them that pick it up, start doing this at home, or they take it
into a business model that can be ran across the island, or to more of a
commercial model in parallel with a larger scale PV system like you were talking
about, it's an amazing opportunity. So, thank you very much.
Good discussion today from the Council. Any further discussion? Hearing none,
we have a motion on the floor to forward Resolution 204-21 to Council with a
favorable recommendation, all in favor?
Vote on Res. 204-21: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 204-21 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: If you could, sir thank you very
much, gentlemen. Thank you, Riley Saito in Kona. Mr. Clerk, will you please
go toI know we have Mr. Benner waiting for us. Communication 134.2, sir.
Comm. 134.2: SINGLE AUDIT OF FEDERAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2020
From County Auditor Tyler J. Benner, dated August 25, 2021, transmitting the
above report prepared by N&K CPAs, Inc., pursuant to Hawaii County Charter,
Section 10-13.
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September 21, 2021
; and
Comm. 134.3: From County Auditor Tyler J. Benner, dated August 25, 2021, transmitting
PowerPoint presentation materials to be displayed by N&K CPAs, Inc.
(Note: At this time, County Auditor Tyler J. Benner; and Audit Principal
Chad Funasaki and Assurance Services Division Senior Manager
Andrew Ho, both of N&K CPAs, Inc.; came forward to address the
members of the Committee.)
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mahalo, Mr. Clerk. May I have a motion,
Council?
Motion to Close File: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to close file on Comm. 134.2.
Seconded by Mr. Inaba.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER:
Mr. Benner, mahalo for waiting patiently
for us. I do appreciate your patience. If you could please summarize and go
through what's in front of us, both in Communications 134.2 and 134.3, and then
we'll go for questions from the Council after you presentation.
MR. BENNER: Pleased to be with you today. We have the pleasure of being
joined by our colleagues from N&K. N&K is the external audit entity contracted
to conduct our Annual Financial Audit and Single Audit of federal funds, as
required by Charter. They are currently headed in your four or five-year contract.
Usually the audits are submitted together, but the remote environment this year
necessitated that they be submitted separately.
Today's presentation is going to be an overview of the Single Financial Audit.
This audit has been posted to our site and is available for immediate viewing (see
Comm. 134.2). And so with that, I'm going to go ahead and turn the floor over to
Mr. Andrew (Ho) and Mr. Chad (Funasaki).
MR. FUNASAKL Yeah, good afternoon, Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
Finance Committee Members. Thank you for having us on this call. I'm
Chad Funasaki, and with me on the call is Andrew Ho, and we are from N&K
CPAs. And we're primarily just going to go through the results of the Single
Audit for Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2020, which was last year. It will be a
quick summary, and maybe it's more addressing any questions you may have
maybe after we're done.
(Note: At this time, Mr. Funasaki and Mr. Ho provided a PowerPoint
presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the subject
presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file
in the Clerk's Office, or the video archives online from the County's
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homepage at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A hard copy of the presentation is
made a part of the record, see Comm. 134.3.)
MR. FUNASAKL It's a fairly quick snapshot of the results. I guess it's more to
address any questions that Finance Committee members may have, and then we
would be happy to address any questions.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, mahalo, gentlemen. Mr. Benner, do
you want to add anything?
MR. BENNER: No, not for the audit that they conducted this year. The only
thing I might add is as we look into this coming year, because they were looking
at a small scope of the COVID Relief Funds, this year there's going to probably
be an expanded range that they may look at, and so we're just trying to prepare
Council that there may be some additional programs that will be added to that
audit, so we need to build in the elasticity for that.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, mahalo. Thank you,
Mr. Benner; thank you, gentlemen. Now before we get to far, I did want
to makeI need a motion to amend Communication 134.2 with the contents
of Communication 134.3.
Motion to Amend: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to amend the motion, to close file
on both Comms. 134.2 and 134.3. Seconded by Mr. Inaba.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mahalo. Thank you, Mr. Brown, for
bringing that to my attention.
MR. BROWN: Oh, excuse me, Chair.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes?
MR. BROWN: Instead of amending, because we read the communications in
at the same time, the motion could be to close file on both Comm. 134.2 and
Comm. 134.3, and we can kind of handle both communications at one time.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Mahalo, Mr. Clerk, excuse my
mistake. May I have a motion to close file on Communication 134.3?
Motion to Close File: Mr. Inaba moved to close file on Comm. 134.43.
Seconded by Ms. Kimball.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair, I'm wondering if the Clerk is recommending that
we amend the original motion, which is still on the floor, to include both of the
communications?
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September 21, 2021
MR. BROWN: If possible, please.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay.
MR. BROWN: I would appreciate it.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: May I amend my original motion? Thank you.
Amend Motion to Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to amend the motion to close file on
Close File: both Comms. 134.2 and 134.3. Seconded by Mr. Inaba.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, so we have a motion to close file
on Communications 134.2 and 134.3, by Ms. Kierkiewicz and a second by
Mr. Inaba.
MR. BROWN: Thank you.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Appreciate it.
Council, any discussion on the communications and the presentation that was
provided so far? Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Auditor Benner, and for the team
at N&K, you talked about doing a real quick snapshot audit of the COVID-19
Coronavirus Relief Fund. Can you talk a little bit more about this expanded scope
that you referred to, Auditor Benner? And maybe our Finance Director could
weigh-in here a little bit, too.
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: This was new money that the federal government created
and pushed out really quickly; lots of rules changing. And so how many years,
Deanna, are we going to be looking at reviewing these funds, potentially
responding to audits from federal government?
MS. SAKO: So the Single Audit that they presented to you is something done
annually.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Annually.
MS. SAKO: And so normally we have, let's say roughly $50 million of federal
expenditures each year; however, for fiscal year 2021 that they're starting on now,
that number is going to be much larger, probably more like $100 million, and then
subsequent years, as well. Because not only are we getting like the Coronavirus
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September 21, 2021
Relief, that we'll be discussing in a little while; we presented the report, but also,
you know, there's other federal money, including CDBG-DR (Community
Development Block Grant -Disaster Recovery) and, you know, Rescue Plan and
others, as well. So for Fiscal Year 2021, we kind of spent much of that, but that
will have a significant impact on Fiscal Year 2022. So I think the audit sizes will
continue to be larger, as the Auditor was saying.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And I'm sorry if this is a basic question, but where
you choose to focus, and again maybe this is for N&K, where you choose to
focus, is it random or is there a formula that you use to kind of determine which
particular programs?
MS. SAKO: They do have a risk-based assessment.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, got it.
MS. SAKO: As well as the size, and then every three years they have to look
at the major programs. So that's another thing that will be changing, is the
scope—or the amount for the major program, it was like $1.7 million I think
they said. And this coming year, our three percent will be a little bit bigger. But
still, a lot of programs will fall into that category, so we have been working with
them because we are anticipating having additional major programs for our Fiscal
Year 2021 and subsequent years.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Got it. Thank you so much, Deanna, for breaking that
down. And mahalo nui to the team for this extensive report. Thank you. I yield.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. In Kona, any
questions for the Director, for the consultants, or Mr. Benner? Okay, hearing
none. I did have one question. I'm looking over the scheduled expenditures, and
I noticed that they're fairly substantially lighter than the award amounts. And
excuse me if I missed your question, because I was getting a text. If you have
gone over this already and I missed it—but a lot of the federal expenditures versus
the federal program award amounts are substantially different.
MS. SAKO: So we do have to prepare it line -by-line for each award. Sometimes
it's multiple years, so some of them we may just be starting, and some we may
just be ending. And additionally a lot of them, awards are on a federal fiscal year,
but it's based on our current fiscal year, which is July 1st to June 30. So there
might be—one program may have three different awards going on at the same
time.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I mean, is it hard to add that data in
to this list so that we can at least see?
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MS. SAKO: This is a very specified list as provided by the U.S. Government and
Auditing Standards, so no, we're not going to modify what is required.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So—but it kind of leaves us in the
dark as far as where we are with the expenditure and the program, and the
timeline on the program?
MS. SAKO: So that you can see a little bit from the Monthly Budget Status
Report, yeah.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay.
MS. SAKO: But if there is significant concerns in that area, the auditors would
have brought it up as a finding.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Main thing, we spend the money we
get from the feds up front.
MS. SAKO: Oh, we do.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's my main concern. Okay. Okay,
thank you, Deanna. Yeah, I appreciate this. It's a yearly analysis. And thank
you, gentlemen, for your work. Mr. Benner, if nothing, shout out to you or any of
the other gentlemen on the call today.
Then we have no further discussion. Anything you want to add? Anyone
from Kona? Okay, seeing none. Mahalo, gentlemen. Mahalo for your
time. Appreciate it. We have a motion on the floor to close file on
Communications 134.2 and 134.3, all in favor?
Vote on Comms. 134.2 The motion to close file on Comms. 134.2 and 134.3
and 134.3: was carried by the following voice vote:
Filed
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 if we can go to the top, please.
MR. BENNER: Thank you, everyone.
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CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, gentlemen.
MR. BENNER: Take care. Thank you.
Return to Order The Chair directed the Committee to return to the order of business.
of Business:
COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business,
CATIONS: Communications.
(Note: Items in this category were taken up previously, out of order.)
Comm. 32.9: MONTHLY BUDGET STATUS REPORT FOR THE MONTH ENDED
MARCH 31, 2021
From Finance Director Deanna Sako, dated August 27, 2021, transmitting the
above report pursuant to Hawaii County Charter Section 6-6.3(h).
Vote on Comm. 32.9: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to close file on Comm. 32.9.
Filed Seconded by Mr. Richards 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: Moving on to Communication 32.10.
Comm. 32.10: MONTHLY BUDGET STATUS REPORT FOR THE MONTH ENDED
APRIL 30, 2021
From Finance Director Deanna Sako, dated August 27, 2021, transmitting the
above report pursuant to Hawaii County Charter Section 6-6.3(h).
Vote on Comm. 32.10: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to close file on Comm. 32.10.
Filed Seconded by Mr. Richards 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.
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Comm. 32.11
Motion to Close File
Vote on Comm. 32.11
Filed
Comm. 380:
September 21, 2021
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Communication 32.11, please.
MONTHLY BUDGET STATUS REPORT FOR THE MONTH ENDED
From Finance Director Deanna Sako, dated August 30, 2021, transmitting the
above report pursuant to Hawaii County Charter Section 6-6.3(h).
Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to close file on Comm. 32.11.
Seconded by Mr. Richards.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Any discussion, Council Members?
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I just wanted to mahalo Director Sako and her staff. We
have three of these summaries coming forward today, so mahalo nui for catching
up, and we look forward to seeing subsequent months in the upcoming meetings.
So thank you for working hard on these, we appreciate it. Mahalo, I yield.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Kona?
Hearing none. With that, we have a motion on the floor to close file on
Communication 32.11. All in favor say "aye."
The motion to close file on Comm. 32.10 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: And that brings us to Communication 380.
REQUESTS AN UPDATE FROM THE ADMINISTRATION REGARDING
SPENDING OF AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT FUNDS
From Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, dated September 1, 2021.
Motion to Close File: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to close file on Comm. 380.
Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Ms. Kierkiewicz, if you would?
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I wanted to call our Directors of
Finance and Research and Development to the Committee to just check in on the
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initial allocation of the little over $19 million that our County received. I know
there's a three-year spend -down time.
In June, Director Sako was kind enough to provide a quick sketch to the Council
as to how we saw kind of moving this money out into community. You know, I
get it, this is once in a generation -type of money that we are being provided, and
you have a lot to balance in terms of immediate relief, but also reinvestment and
helping assist with community recovery. And also, this added layer of for so long
we've had to pinch pennies, right? We've been stretched so thin, always really
squeezing everything. And now, there are tens of millions of dollars available,
through ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) money, through potential green
infrastructure money, other monies out there for USDA (United States
Department of Agriculture and EDA (Economic Development Administration).
So, just want to get on the same page. Some time has lapsed, and so I know you
folks are in communication with folks within the community, but I just thought it
would be good time to check in and see how have some of these priorities maybe
changed, and if there is an opportunity for Council Members and the community
to kind of weigh in before you finalize those decisions. So, thank you.
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MS. SAKO: So I worked on a wonderful PowerPoint for you all, and I actually
really liked the design, but we had a little network crash. And so, unfortunately
we don't have that this afternoon, but I did remember what I had on there.
So when we met in June, when we first appropriated the money, you know, we
had a plan, and we're still continuing to work on that plan. But as we go through
the process, some things have changed. Also in June, I think our daily case
counts were maybe one or two a day, and then we ramped up, and you know,
August saw an extremely high case counts. So all of that kind of leads into what
the money gets spent on.
But Communication, I think 275.2, had the original budget of how we're going to
be spending the funding, and that's still generally correct, But one of those pieces
was replacing lost public -sector revenue, the Department of Water Supply as well
as, you know, we have lost funding for lifeguard services, so we had hoped to use
some of the money for that. But as we went through the process, and we had to
fill out our interim report, there's a calculation you have to do, and it is
unfortunately not department by department, but countywide; and our calculation
showed that we're not able to use any of the money for lost revenue. So with real
property taxes or other revenue sources, we as a County, as a whole we're okay.
Unfortunately, it doesn't help Department of Water Supply that's semi-
autonomous. So we will do our best to find other ways to help them.
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September 21, 2021
So that leaves about $3.5 million to be kind of reallocated. And as the case counts
were going up, obviously we needed additional funding for public health and
safety. So some of that money got shifted to the first category. Or, we are
anticipating that, you know, going forward, the case counts will continue to ebb
and flow. You know, we don't know exactly what we're going to see, we don't
know what other variants will bring, so we did put more money in that category.
But that still leaves about $1.1 million that we haven't allocated or specified
where we're going to put that yet. Some of it will depend on what Doug's going
to talk about in a little while. But the other items, we're still planning on
spending in the same way, and have slowly spent it down.
We have to do quarterly reports. The first quarter report was due in October, so
we will move the expenses from the departments during the month of October
into that account, and then we'll have a better idea.
We did a lot of testing. You know, Civil Defense has been very active and
helping with vaccinations. So we thought we have to spend a lot more of our
money on testing. We were fortunate to piggyback on a State program to do
additional testing. So FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) will be
paying for testing for surveillance testing. But for community and those needing
employment as well, so that will be 100 percent covered by FEMA. There's
actually no match. So because we were able to—were successful in getting
signed up for that program, that will help us free up, well not free up, but not have
to use some of these funds for testing and make more available to the community.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Director. Is it possible to get copies of the
quarterly report that you're submitting to the federal government?
MS. SAKO: Yeah, probably a condensed version of it.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MS. SAKO: There is like 70 categories you report in, not all of which we use.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Very technical?
MS. SAKO: Yeah. But we can do some kind of condense reporting to you guys.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And I recall with COVID funding, there was that
dashboard setup so that we could see the dollars in community, literally by
zip code, on a weekly basis. And that was super hardcore, that reporting. But just
wondering if something is also being considered for ARPA (American Rescue
Plan Spending) funds to show direct impact in community at that level.
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September 21, 2021
MS. SAKO: So a lot of that was based on the different providers that participated
in the RFP (Request for Proposal). So I think it will depend on what programs are
selected in the coming RFP, and not as many dollars as what we have with
CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Right. Okay, thank you. Director Adams, just really
curious about the direction that R&D is sort of taking this money.
(Note: At this time, Research and Development Director Douglass Adams
came forward to address the members of the Committee.)
MR. ADAMS: Yeah, thank you, Council Member. When we came here in June,
we talked about the economic revitalization piece of this, and as you recall, we are
more limited with the use of the ARPA funds than we were with CARES fund,
right? So we're looking at the infrastructure, and the infrastructure that we can
look at was the broadband infrastructure. So that continues to be an area that we
are focused on.
We've had communications with a variety of vendors and providers, in particular
with Charter Spectrum and with Hawaiian Tel, because they provide the backbone
around the island, to kind of get a sense of where we could spend what it turns out
is really not that much money. And so we actually took a look at what if we put it
all together, would that matter? And it turns out, not so much.
But we do know that we want to do something. So in the conversation—and this
is a continuing conversation, but weI should just kind of walk through the
variety of broadband infrastructure activities that I'm aware of at the moment, not
all of which are tied to the ARPA funding. So for example, we know that we
have the NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration),
that the broadband hui and the broadband office submitted an application for back
in August for $20 million out of that $285 million tranche. We know that the
Consolidated Appropriations Act provided the opportunity for funding, that then
was provided to Hawaiian Tel for Lower Puna with that mesh network, so that's
under Public Works and State to provide that, along the State rights-of-way.
We know that Hawaiian Tel has purchased Sandwich Isles Communications.
That actually has opened up opportunities in fiber in our DHHL (Department of
Hawaiian Home Lands) lands, right? And then, we know that Hawaiian Tel has
just been purchased. Cincinnati Bell has been purchased by new owners, and that
part of their idea is frankly to go as universal as they can with fiber. And so we
know all of these things, which we didn't know back in June necessarily. Couple
of things we knew.
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September 21, 2021
And so in addition, you take a look at—we're looking at $3 million; we're
looking at unserved and underserved, that's a requirement for the use of this
infrastructure. And so we're looking at places where we can actually the
parlance is "close the donut hole." We know that we have a variety of donut
holes in terms of coverage around the island, and so we think that the funding that
we have can actually be used to take a look at some unserved or underserved
locations and close one or two of those with the relatively small amount that we
have. But it makes progress in those areas.
And then we continue to work with the State, and with the vendors and our
providers, to make sure that we are working around the island. We are waiting on
the final—for them to complete thein the National Park area, that final
dual -line, being able toI think the cabling is done, but the software is not
necessarily done, is the last I've heard on that. So once that's done, then we will
feel much better about the ability to provide broadband in a number of ways, not
just in cable or fiber, but also in these wireless and WiFi kind of capabilities,
tower capabilities, for a lot of areas. So, that's the broadband piece of that. Is
there a question, or you want me to continue?
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: No, that's great. Please continue.
MR. ADAMS: Okay. And the second thing has to do with the—we had allotted
a certain amount for what we considered to be important infrastructure for
childcare and early childhood education; activities, both in terms of increasing
capacity and improving quality.
In addition, we were looking at ways that we could get people back to work.
Because as we remember, we were very concerned about the relatively high
unemployment rate that we had. Well, as we learned through the Spring, Summer
time -period, that was a much more complex situation than we anticipated. So we
continue to have—we had a drop in our unemployment rate, but it continued to be
relatively high, and yet we had jobs that weren't being filled. And so as we, along
with the rest of the nation, were trying to figure out how is that possible, we began
to see that there were a lot nuance in a lot of different areas. Our ability to
provide $3 or $4 million that was going to solve that, just didn't seem to make
sense.
So we reevaluated the jobs piece of that and said, is there a larger amount that we
can put into the childcare, early childhood education side of things, where we
could actually make a big difference moving forward? And so we've had several
conversations, and we are in the process of putting together, frankly an RFI
(Request for Information), that will allow us to work on what we think are the two
main ways forward with this funding, which are facilities improvement and
workforce development for the certification piece.
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September 21, 2021
So the workforce development is actually—we had the ability to leverage
current workforce development programs as well as the funding that we
have from ARPA, and then tie the—and then work on the facilities piece.
And we have some decisions to make: where do we go with the larger
childcare providers, home-based providers, or a combination of those things.
And part of that is going to be dependent on where we can get the biggest bang
for the buck, I think. And so that process, we're in the middle of those kind of
conversations, about what makes the most sense as we move forward. Because
we know that—and they're having these conversations in Washington D.C., as we
know.
The amount of money that you can put in to childcare capacity as a local
government or as a big government. It's just going to be the benefits are just
incredible, right? Benefits or the kids, benefits for parents, benefits for society,
benefits for businesses, and benefits for the local economy. So we need to do
something. We think that that's—we have an opportunity here to do something.
And so we're moving out, but in a way that's going to allow us—we want to be
deliberate and smart about this work.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So, staying on the child-care piece. Curious to know how
much of the ARPA funding you're looking to position to support increasing
capacity and improving quality of childcare and early childhood education.
MR. ADAMS: $7 million.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: All $7 million?
MR. ADAMS: Yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: To help families with kids, five and under?
MR. ADAMS: So we've got 12,000 children five and under on the island. We
have 3,600 childcare seats on the island. The math doesn't work. We need to
increase the number of seats that we have. We need to make it available around
the island, because it's not just in two locations. We're not an urban area, so
we're trying to figure out how do we do that, as well. But we need to get—we
need to provide more capacity, but it needs to be quality capacity, so parents feel
good about it and the childcare provider themselves feel good about it.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And who were you talking to, to kind of get a temperature
check on potential providers?
MR. ADAMS: Well, the providers themselves are—we know who the providers
themselves are, right? And so additional providers would be something that we
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would be working with our Workforce Development Board folks on, in addition
to our early childhood action strategy folks.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Early Childhood Action Strategy folks, that's County or
State?
MR. ADAMS: That's a nonprofit organization, right.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MR. ADAMS: So they are connected to—it's a State—it's statewide, but it is a
nonprofit organization.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, I think you mean HCAN (Hawai`i Children Action
Network). Okay, Hawaii Childhood Network or something.
MR. ADAMS: Probably do.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And so what about childcare for `ohana that have
kids going to school but there is a lack of after school program capacity? Say
Kama`aina Kids or—you have other vendors available, and I'm thinking of the Y
(Young Men's Christian Association or Young Women's Christian Association),
but the transportation piece is missing. And I'm wondering is this an opportunity
to leverage a resource, early -on bus system?
MR. ADAMS: Right.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And bring some keiki from the various schools over to
afterschool childcare providers so that families aren't having to leave work early
to pick up kids and go home.
MR. ADAMS: There are a variety of measures here. You'll appreciate that if I
disburse funds you know, if the funds gets disbursed in too many directions,
then we won't necessarily be able to make any type of big push in any of these
areas. I know that housing is a key piece of this, as well as the transportation
piece. I appreciate the concern about the transportation and the after school. I
think this isI think what we're looking for is the larger piece of taking care of
the ones that are not yet in school, right. This is the infant to five range that we're
focused with this, because we think that it opens up the labor pool in a lot of
ways, from an economic perspective.
So we will have—we will continue to have opportunities to look at funding for
the different issue areas that we have. This focus right now that we're looking at
is to try and take as big as swing at this particular issue if we can at a local area,
to try and make a real difference.
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MS. SAKO: So we do understand your concerns about after school care.
Director Andoh is off -island and recently got back. So we do want to ensure that
our bus system can do that, given some of our federal restrictions on that, but
finding a way, you know, to make it accessible.
One of the pieces I didn't get to mention yet is, there was another portion of the
Rescue Plan that was for non -entitlement units. And $43 million was allocated to
the State of Hawaii for local governments. Like the City of Hilo, but as we all
know, that's not a government that exists. So we thought we were going to lose
that funding, but our Congressional Delegation fought hard for us, and Hawaii
was able to receive it. City and County of Honolulu fell under a different
category, so the first tranche of that for our County of Hawaii was $10.5 million
that we just received, so we will be coming in to appropriate that, as well. So,
there will be additional funds available for things like that.
And we're just trying to figure out if it's something that Hele-On, we can use it
for, like we did work out a system with DOE. So it's just making sure we follow
all of the federal laws we still have to comply with, or if we need to find another
way to make that happen.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you for that. I just wanted to get clarification. And
$10 million from that $43 million pot you mentioned is going to be directed.
MS. SAKO: That's the first tranche for this year.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MS. SAKO: And then we'll get another $10 million next year.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, so our total allocation then is looking more towards
like $60 million in ARPA money?
MS. SAKO: Nineteen, nineteen, and twenty, yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So there's potential then to invest that $10 million in
things like economic revitalization? Because I hear you, Director, on the
childcare piece, but I want to make sure when we are getting kids into childcare,
that their moms and dads are able to show up for jobs of the future, right? So I
just I really want to emphasize that point.
I worked my ass off to get $5 million from the State through HB 1176 (House
Bill). DLNR (Department of Land and Natural Resources) has selected a
vendor. They're going to be rolling out with a communication soon. So we've
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got green jobs going to be activated across the State. And I'd just like to, as you
talked about, braid these capital funds together and make these dollars go further.
So if there are ways in which can position some of that money to support
economic growth, tenants that you support and that you have pushed forth
through the sustainability conversations in the Summit, let's take a real hard look
at that. Because again, once in a generation -type money and we've got to make
these really smart decisions in our future. Thank you. I yield for now.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone in
Kona have any questions for the Directors?
MS. LEE LOY: Yes, please.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Yes, thank you. And thank you for honing in on that,
Ms. Kierkiewicz.
And, Deanna, so I really wanted to touch in to that $10.5 million that's coming
now, and then the next tranche, which will be next year, and understand those
guardrails a little bit better. Because as Ms. Kierkiewicz is kind of talking about
transportation and after school careI'm also looking at ways that we can align
our nonprofit partners in our nonprofit grant-in-aid for the next fiscal year, so
could you elaborate a little bit about the $10 million and what those guardrails
look like?
MS. SAKO: So it looks like it's going to be the same requirements as the current
State and local government Recovery Plan, and so it does have to support the
public health response, address the negative economic impact caused by COVID.
And definitely, the underserved population is one of the areas. We're not going to
qualify again for the lost public sector revenue—and then serving the hardest hit
communities and families.
So it's making sure all of these things we want to do actually fit into one of the
categories that they already have. You know, and that's been our challenge, it's
not as liberal or as easygoing as the CARES Act money was. Definitely, the
public heath part of it, that part is a little easier to tie things into, you know, based
on all the webinars and everything we've been listening to. But some of the
economic portion, we just want to make sure we're doing it the right way.
MS. LEE LOY: Great, Deanna. You know, if we could maybe continue this
conversation as we head into the next budget cycle, and then the next round of
nonprofit grant-in-aid. Because like Ms. Kierkiewicz said, "braiding all of this
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funding together," because I think it actually matches up with what Doug is
saying, about priority funding.
Over time, we've given a little bit to a lot of people and haven't had the biggest
kind of impact that we want to have; whereas if we priority fund in certain areas,
we'll actually begin to see, you know, the impact, and the change, and the
solutions for community that everyone is asking for, which then leads us into the
economic revitalization that these funds is actually springboarding us into.
So, thank you for all of that information. And, Deanna, we'll go ahead and reach
out and think through some of that for our future nonprofit grant-in-aid with the
next budget cycle. I yield.
MS. SAKO: Yeah, that sounds good, because those will have to be advertised
soon. There is—it's actually the next communication. But definitely, we have
also gotten other grants for like dislocated workers or others. That can help more
with the training aspect of it, as well.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah. You know, there's just a wealth of information. Actually,
the nonprofits in our community is doing so much, and it would be just huge for
us if we could just get them aligned better with these goals. And I can see how
we can actually amplify the give to our programs but line them up for success.
Thank you.
MR. ADAMS: If I may, Chair? Just toI don't think this is really a tangent. I
think this goes to the directness here. Part of what, as a department, and hopefully
in support of the County, we're trying to do is—it's our responsibility to make
sure that the infrastructure is the foundation. There's going to be lots of things
that are going to be done, whether it's by the private sector or the nonprofit sector.
And our responsibility is to make that the foundation in infrastructure is provided.
And so when I think about these, the funds that we have been provided here, I
think about it in that sense, right, for providing a foundation for the variety of
other activities that really good people, good-hearted, really want to get things
done in a variety of ways because of the way our economic cycle works, or
economic network works, can do that. And so that's kind of what drives this kind
of sense of let's try and move in large muscle -movement kind of ways if we have
the capacity to do—if we've been given the capacity to do that. That's where I'm
kind of coming from with these particular provisos, I guess. Thank you for that.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. In Kona, any
further discussion?
MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, Chair. It's Heather.
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September 21, 2021
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Go ahead, Ms. Kimball.
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. Just a couple of clarifying questions.
Deanna, could you expand upon the qualifications for the lost public sector
revenue and why we didn't qualify for that?
MS. SAKO: There's a very specific formula; and you put all your numbers
in, including historically what our annual increase was. You know, based when
the before COVID started, and when we did all of that, because our real
property tax values have been going up, we didn't qualify for that piece. It's
unfortunate that Department of Water Supply is kind of subject to that, To being
a component unit of the County, basically they don't stand by themselves, so we
weren't able to give them that lost revenue.
But through the Renters Assistance Program, homeowners assistance, and some
of the other programs we have going on, we are hopeful that those programs will
be able to help their customers be able to pay some of the past due bills.
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Director. Do you have a rough idea of how much
lost there was in DWS (Department of Water Supply)?
MS. SAKO: Yeah, I do, just a second. Well, when they did the calculation just
for themselves, if they were just—if they were able to apply, it was $2.9 million.
MS. KIMBALL: So our property taxes collection seem to be okay. No lost
revenue there. How about GE (General Excise) and fuel tax?
MS. SAKO: So fuel tax was down. It's recovering now. I don't recall if we've
quite made it back to pre-COVID, but it's getting very close. GE tax, we had
estimated that we would have a 25 percent reduction, and it was not as significant
as that, but definitely it wasn't the same as if tourism had been at its normal level.
MS. KIMBALL: Great. Thank you. Thanks for that. And then, Director
Adams, I just didn't hear a couple of things. How many seats did you say we
have available for the 12 and under for childcare—for the—it was 12,000 needed.
And how many available?
MR. ADAMS: Right, so it's under six.
MS. KIMBALL: Under six?
MR. ADAMS: Right.
MS. KIMBALL: Okay.
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September 21, 2021
MR. ADAMS: And so 3,600 childcare seat capacity at the moment.
MS. KIMBALL: Okay. And the workforce development fund program that you
were talking about is exclusively workforce development in the childcare sector?
MR. ADAMS: It is not. We have the three programs that are the standard
program. But the ability to apply the childcare support I believe those things are
a part of that, including the disability portion that Director Sako talked about.
MS. KIMBALL: Okay, great. Thank you. I'm also going to just close here by
volunteering my Legislative Aid Jennifer. Well, I'm volun-tolding, telling her.
She's actually getting a tooth pulled today, so not today. But her expertise is
actually in Early Childhood Development and helping to set up programs for
governmental agencies. She'd probably love to contribute in some way, if she
could. It is her passion. Thank you, Chair. That's all, I yield.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Anyone else in
Kona? Okay, hearing none. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Just a couple more follow-up questions.
Last Council, we adopted Resolution 680-20. There was testimony that was
submitted by Farrah -Marie Gomes. She's Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs at
UH -Hilo, also a member of the Committee on Status of Women. Last Council
meeting, we had Dr. Mihaela Ryer come before us and provide a Status of
Women report. And so I bring that up because they're women. They're working
moms, right, many of them. And so as you begin to kind of shape this childcare
program because I've heard a lot of "I think" in your presentation, Director
Adams. Engage these ladies to help you pull together those data sets and create
programs that really make a difference in the lives of working moms in our
community.
Happy to do those email introductions. They haven't been engaged to date. I
know that there's a lot swirling around. But they meet monthly, and I think just a
quick check-in, sort of pulse -check conversation with them, they would certainly
appreciate the ability to share their mana`o.
MR. ADAMS: Will do.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And the last thing I hadI always love growing the
pie. You know, we have these funds available from federal government, but I'm
just curious around discussions with private sector, with philanthropy even, to
figure out—these are some key investments that we want to make. There might
be some second tier, things that we're taking a look at. I don't know. And so
what sort of discussions are happening to sort of grow the pie?
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September 21, 2021
MR. ADAMS: So from my perspective, the growing the pie piece usually is in
services as opposed to infrastructure. And so when government shows up and
says, "We're going to be providing infrastructure," that's when we begin to see
the philanthropy and the other types of nonprofit kind of funds that may come in,
and even from private sector. And typically it's based on, "How can we help with
the services that are going to be on the foundation or the infrastructure?"
So I haven't had, obviously, any personal conversations with anybody but I know
that conversations can occur, and people are interested in trying to make this
island a better island for all of its residents, so those conversations are ongoing.
In this particular area, I have not had any particular conversations because I've
been frankly focused on making sure we get this piece right.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, of course. And, Director, I just want to clarify when
you say "infrastructure," it's not always the physical -built environment. You're
talking about social human infrastructure, right?
MR. ADAMS: Oh, yeah.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, just want to make sure because that term gets
used—
MR. ADAMS: A lot.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: In both ways, pretty often.
MR. ADAMS: It is. We have an economic ecology that we're talking about.
And we know that for that economy to work, that system to work, there's an
infrastructure that needs to be part of it. And so that's why I focus on this initial
piece, which is, if you want to see the labor pool, the labor force, we have to make
sure that our kids are being taken care of. It has to happen.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. I mean, as you know, I'm very passionate about
economic development. Just a couple of weeks ago, Chung Chang, Deputy
Director of DBEDT (Department of Business and Economic Development and
Tourism) reached out to my office. Chair Marie Gomes and I, we chaired the
Vibrant Hawaii Economy Stream, and so they were really interested in the work
we did to craft the CEDS (Comprehensive Economic Data Strategy).
And so, I've got another follow-up call with Len Higashi, Head of HTDC (Hawaii
Technology Development Centers. They're looking to really sink their teeth into
investments around tech. And so I just share that with you because you talked
about putting those capital stacks together and our money being able to go a little
bit further, if we match it up with some of our State partners.
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MR. ADAMS: So those State partners, obviously we're having the same
conversations. We've had them with Len, Gwen, and Wayne from HTDC, as
well. You know that the Economic Development Administration has put out
these Build Back Regional Challenge as well as these grant opportunities, so we
are going to be submitting. And we've been talking with other folks, State and
other agencies, that are interested in submitting as well, by the middle of October.
So this is all part of, how do we make sure that we have not missed this once in a
generation funding stream that's coming in a variety of ways.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah. Well, always here to help. Not really get in the
way, but I certainly want to help. I've on -trained to those arenas, as well. So I
want to make sure that I'm circling back with you, Director Adams, Director
Sako, so that we're on the page, and we can really move some great things
forward for our County.
MR. ADAMS: Mahalo.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Chair, I yield.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Any further
discussion from Kona? Okay, seeing none. I'm just going to circle back real
quick. So we got about $60 million from the feds for ARPA, correct?
MS. SAKO: Yes, but it's half this year, half next year, and it has to be spent by
December 31, 2024. And we are not anticipating any other funds of this type. So
not has to be spent by 2024, but also has to last till 2024.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then uses. Just high-level uses;
I mean, testing, what we talked about today
MS. SAKO: Yeah, sorry. That was on the last PowerPoint.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And I'm sorry you didn't get to share your
PowerPoint. It would have been nice.
MS. SAKO: I know. I'll transmit it later. So primarily, public health response;
testing vaccinations, that kind of thing, as well as Public Safety staff to support
that. Then adjusting the negative economic impacts caused by the public health
emergency, including delivering assistance to workers and families such as the
unemployment insurance; supporting small businesses; speeding the recovery of
tourism, travel, and the hospitality sectors; and rebuilding the public sector
capacity. And there are some more specific criteria.
And then, servicing the hardest-hit communities and families. Really addressing
health disparities and social determinants of health, investment in housing and
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neighborhoods, all those type of things; and somewhereI must have skipped
over the mental health piece, as well. The lost public sector revenue that we don't
qualify for, and then investing in the water and sewer infrastructure as well as the
broadband infrastructure that Director Adams talked about earlier.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you. And that's pretty broad.
MS. SAKO: It's broad as long as you can make it to COVID. So some pieces are
easier said than done.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay.
MS. SAKO: But they keep coming out with new FAQs. You know, as different
jurisdictions think of different programs, then they're adjusting those one -by -one.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. What are we doing for small
businesses? So I'm watching it on town, I'm watching Moa, I'm watching
myself as a small business owner. They're up and down. Some are choosing to
close, or moving towards a take-out model because they're worried about staff.
Our business, we closed the restaurant just because we were concerned about the
numbers of cases. What do we have in store for small business?
MR. ADAMS: So part of this goes to some of these other opportunities that we
are seeing out there. So we know that we haven't really put a huge amount of
funds into the hospitality sector, from ARPA, even though it was available,
primarily because we were seeing it begin to come back, particular over the
summer time period. And then of course, we had the Delta variant, that caused us
to take a sudden pause. That in and of itself was what we saw beginning to help
with some of the small businesses. They were beginning to come back up.
We haven't actually seen the huge issues associated with retail, from a number's
perspective. Those actually have been okay over time. The key for us was
getting people back into work and getting them back into jobs. So we're looking
at—what we're looking at in that regard has to do with trying to make sure that
we get the hospitality sector through this. We knew it was going to have a
shoulder coming down. And that we also can help them with that request
capability. We know that those numbers that the numbers that we've had, have
not been coming from our visitors, by and large. And then also to—and so
making sure that we're able to have them to continue to be able to operate. That
way they don't have to lay off the workers that they have there—and it doesn't
have affect the restaurants, for example, as much.
On the other job side of things, then we have seen that the—our employment the
DLIR (Department of Labor and Industrial Relations) folks in unemployment are
now requiring, through the Hire Night Hawaii website, that if you want to
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receive unemployment, you have to demonstrate that you in fact reached out three
different folks in terms of checking on employment opportunities. That is
actually now the case, after the 5�' of September. And we are anticipating—for
example, we will have a vision of that through our own American Job Center
piece, where we'll see folks begin to try and come in for some of that training and
some of those opportunities to find work.
So, we haven't seen that yet. We're anticipating seeing that open in the next
couple of weeks, maybe a month. And then the funding that we have within the
Workforce Development Board and the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act
programs, we still have funding in 2019, 2020, and 2021. So those funds will
be—we want to spend those things down. So we will be looking to do that,
whether it's the job fairs on this side and on the west side, making sure that
owners understand, and entrepreneurs understand, that they have an opportunity
to hire folks. And making sure that we can put those, the people that need to
work and the people that want to hire, we can get them together. So that's kind of
the focus there.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. One thing that I've noticed is
missing from, at least the State side, is grants through some of the technology
guys. I want to say DBEDT was doing grants to help manufacturers purchase
equipment, or at least do some matching, and those funds are gone right now.
The State didn't refill their ability to do that, funding -wise.
MR. ADAMS: So there is some funding, but the way that's there's funding
through something called the SSBCI (State Small Business Credit Initiative),
and I apologize, I'm not going to necessarily remember the acronym. But it's
$57 million that came from the federal government through the ARPA. One
of the ARPA lanes into HTDC, in DBEDT. And they have a three -prong
approach to get the funding out. It's primarily going to be through loans or a fund
of funds, is another prong. And we have had conversations with them, as they
have because they're just getting money now, and they're just figuring out the
right way for them to be able to push it out.
So we're working them to make sure that our folks have access to that funding.
We are also working with the SBA (Small Business Association) and the SBDC
(Small Business Development Center) groups that we have on this island to make
sure that our small businesses also have access to the funds that they have.
We know that the EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loans) funds have been
plussed-up, so there are emergency funds there making sure that our folks, our
small businesses, are connected with ESBA (Entrepreneur and Small Business
Alliance) for access to that. It's important.
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September 21, 2021
You know, that there's a third tranche of the PPP (Paycheck Protection Program)
for small businesses, as well, so those funds are also available. And that
information continues to be put out there, and put out there, and put out there.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, I had stress about those (inaudible)
loans, EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loan), long-term loan; PPP, short-term
loan, you know, forgiveness, you know, qualifiable. Just take that into
consideration. I pushed that from the beginning. Make sure it lifts some small
grants for the businesses. I mean, we are limiting—or they're choosing to limit
how much business they can take in, because they're concerned about the safety
of their staff, and we saw that from DEM (Department of Environmental
Management), you know, closing on behalf of the community, and then having to
reopen. But the business owners really don't have that—there's no County
funding on the back -end to hold them open.
MR. ADAMS: Yep.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER:
MR. ADAMS: And I would just indicate, Mr. Chair, that there's not likely to be
County funding. We just don't have enough to support 22,000 small businesses,
right? We just don't have enough.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Well, maybe look at—think about a
piece of it for your small business community. I'm not saying keep them open,
but they're important. They both yeah.
MR. ADAMS: I will always say that's the case. That's obviously the case. The
question is you're picking and choosing at that point, right? You're picking and
choosing because you don't enough to support 22,000 small businesses. So, now
you're picking and choosing. So the idea is can we do these other things that are
going to be also helpful from leveraging the opportunities that are out there?
That's what we're focusing on right now.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Switching gears a little bit, testing. We're
running testing on behalf of the County right now at a fairly large scale. Cost -
wise that's—it's—
MS. SAKO: That's the one that's being paid for 100 percent by FEMA.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Honolulu is offering free testing
kits to their citizens right now. We are not applicable for that program. Is there
any way that we can do that from Hawaii County to help alleviate the strain on
the testing sites that we're doing, but also to help the community figure out if they
do or don't have COVID, and release some of that stress on some of the `ohanas?
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MS. SAKO: So we can look into that program. But you also have to make sure
that the tests can be processed accordingly, too. So we can look into it, but right
now, no. We have made available many more of community testing sites through
the Free Surveillance Program, so the sites are not as busy as they were during the
height of it. So we can look at it for the next time, you know, when the counts
might peak again. But, yeah.
MR. ADAMS: If I may, on that particular regard? I hesitate to do this because I
am not Jason Dela Cruz, but I heard him say to this specific question that DOH
(Department of Health) is not all that excited about the home -testing kits because
it doesn't allow them specifically to know about the testing. They don't
necessarily get the results. So our ability to kind of track the information that
comes from there is limited. Plus, the quality of those tests versus the other ones
that are being held through the testing sites is—let's just say it's not the same.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Understood. I think it does allow the
community to find out if they are positive for COVID, or negative, and it will
relieve some of the stress without having to visit a testing site.
MR. ADAMS: What DOH would tell you, Mr. Chair, is that if you popped
positive on one of those, then you should go get tested. So it doesn't necessarily
alleviate it. It means that you need to go to the site.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: It could be the difference of three or five
days of hoping you don't have it while you go around your business in town, and
knowing you now you have it, instead of wondering if you, and then going to the
testing site to confirm that you do. And if other counties are doing it, I would say
they probably had a reason to do that, especially given our numbers right now.
Alright, understood. Understood, but I think it's more of a preemptive approach
versus a reactive approach.
MS. SAKO: So keep in mind, we are also trying to minimize false positives and
false negatives, which have an even more significant impact on our community.
So that's why before we roll out any program, we're going to talk to Department
of Health and make sure everybody's comfortable.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, yeah. Okay, thank you for sharing.
Those were some of my questions I had. I think—I appreciate Ms. Kierkiewicz
bringing this up today. Any further discussion from Council Members in Kona?
MR. BROWN: None here, Chair.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Brown. Okay,
seeing no further discussion, mahalo for your time today. We do have one
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Vote on Comm. 380
Filed
September 21, 2021
more communication for Ms. Sako. All in favor of closing file on
Communication 380?
The motion to close file on Comm. 380 was carried by the
following voice vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Chung, Inaba,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Villegas, and
Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder – 7.
Noes: None.
Absent: Committee Members David and Richards – 2.
Excused: None.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, our last order of business.
Communication 387, please.
Comm. 387: REQUESTS AN UPDATE FROM THE ADMINISTRATION REGARDING
ALL COVID-19 RELATED EXPENDITURES
From Council Member Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, dated September 3, 2021.
(Note: Comm. 387. 1, from Finance Director Deanna Sako dated
September 21, 2021, transmitting additional information, was circulated.)
Motion to Close File: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to close file on Comm. 387.
Seconded by Mr. Inaba.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I'll just go ahead. Sorry, I know this is
mine. Alright, this has been milling around my brain for a little while, and I
wanted to get it out to Ms. Sako, and just really put in front of us the different
funding sources—where the funds have been expended. I know there were a little
bit more information than you had shared with us; but again, we had that server
crash this morning, which disrupted both the last communication and this one, as
well. If you could, just run through this real briefly. I think the communication
speaks for itself. I'm not wanting to dive to deeply into it. I just want you to give
us a nice visual aid for where the funds went, what they've been used for, and let
us wrap our heads around that.
MS. SAKO: I believe we transmittedI think it's Communication 387.1. And
so, really we've been trying to track all of the different COVID funding that's
been coming in, that's been brought before the Council. So this sheet does not
include that $10.5 million for NEU (Non -Entitlement Units) we will be bringing
forward shortly.
But this is every grant that we've gotten. And so, you know, Elections was able
to get a COVID-19 Response grant, R&D got the Health Literacy grant for
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September 21, 2021
$3 million. So each one of these are the sit -here; some are large, some are small.
We've been very successful with CDBG (Community Development Block Grant)
funding. Each line is a separate sub -recipient, that they're tracking. And then
WIOA (Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act) has gotten additional
funding as well as HAP (Housing Assistance Program), which is the Section 8
program. And then various funding, even with HAP, to help like their tenants and
customers of that program, as well as the Emergency Rental Assistance Program,
known as ERAP. And then, ERAP 11, and then now the Homeowner Assistance
Program. So, all types of funding that's been coming in.
And then we try to break it out by fiscal year as terms of what was expended.
And then there's also the column for encumbered. So earlier when we were
talking about the Federal Single Audit, just for COVID alone, we had
$90.6 million of expenditures in Fiscal Year 2021. So that's just to help put into
perspective as compared to last year's $56 million in total federal expenditures.
So this is only related to COVID. This doesn't include CBDG-DR or Lava
Recovery money, or any of the federal, you know, highway money that we might
be using. Transit has also been very successful in terms of COVID, as well.
They've gotten on several grants to help with that, also.
So trying to show what's been encumbered, what's been expended, and the
different amounts there. No amount is too small. We've definitely accepted
anything and everything that's been coming our way. Several departments have
applied for additional funding, for like supplies or different things; some to make
the work environment safer.
So happy to answer any questions you might have. But the CARES Act was the
larger one that came through the State. And then I'm trying to find on here the
$19 million is the Corona state and local fiscal recovery funds, which is what we
were just talking about in the last communication.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Thank you, Deanna, for
putting this together on such short notice. And then when you can, please send us
over the other documents that had—as well as the PowerPoint from the last—
MS.
ast
MS. SAKO: Yeah, we'll get that up and going, and download and send it over.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. I think the two tie in really
nicely together. I will yield for now for any questions from the rest of the
Council members, if there are any. If not, I just have a couple questions, and we
can go from there. Council Members?
MS. KIMBALL: Chair, this is Heather.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Go ahead, Ms. Kimball.
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MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. Director Sako, what iswe obviously still have a
lot of funds in the Rental Assistance Program. Has there been any discussions
with the feds about being able to shift some of that now that we're getting the
mortgage, the Homeowners Assistance Program, or is it just it's got to be used
for that?
MS. SAKO: The ERAP program that came to the U.S. Department of Treasury
was very specific, and so hopefully we will get that all expended in time. Then
there some money that came to the State, and that is what we're utilizing for the
Homeowners Assistance Program.
MS. KIMBALL: What is the timeline on expending the rental assistance the
ERAP funds?
MS. SAKO: I'm going to have to go find out from Housing. I believe that the
first tranche, which was the $27 million and the $3 million, was coming up soon,
and then the second portion, we have longer to spend that. I can find out from
Housing, and let you know for sure.
MS. KIMBALL: That's okay. I can touch base with them. Just I hate to see that
money evaporate if we can't get it out there. I mean, obviously we're all
continuing to push the availability of that program.
MS. SAKO: So that was one of the programs that had some significant rules
attached to it. You had to show you had a loss or a need caused by the pandemic,
and then you had to show that you were behind and bring all your bills in. But all
of this also has to—we have to show that there's no duplication of benefits, and I
think that sometimes where it starts to get difficult with all the overlapping
programs.
MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, understood. And then you mentioned earlier, when we
were talking about the $19 million from ERAP, there's still about $1.3 million, I
believe, in reserve, or it's not specifically designated for some purpose. You
know, we've talked a little bit already before about just we're still on uncertain
times, you know. We could have yet another wave. Is that a comfortable amount
for you to hold in reserves for another—if we needed to?
MS. SAKO: Yeah. Because we did increase the public safety portion by a couple
million, so it's okay for now. I think that part of that too, was I knew that we
were also getting the NEU money, and then we'll get the second tranche next
year, as well.
MS. KIMBALL: Okay.
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MS. SAKO: You know, anything can happen at any time is what we learned the
last couple of months.
MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, of course. And I think it's important that it keeps
ourselves in a position where we can be flexible and pivot as we need to. Thank
you, Chair. That's all I have. I yield.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Kona, any
further questions? Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Mahalo nui, Deanna, to you and your
staff for putting this matrix together. Just curious, all of these different pots and
streams of money have different timeframes for spend -down. Is that why there's
this kind of shaded -colored coding going on? Can you explain that?
MS. SAKO: Yeah, in some cases we've got like Part 1 and Part 2. And the
second line of the shading is where the totals are for both. It actually might have
been appropriated to the same account number, so we just couldn't separate the
two pieces that we may have gotten, so we combined them.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, that's the highlight. That's the same item. Two
appropriations, and then second one is the total of what was received?
MS. SAKO: Yes, correct.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And with any of the remaining balance, we've
never had to give a single dollar back to federal government, have we?
MS. SAKO: No. And when we're saying "remaining balance" here, that's just
the portion that hasn't been encumbered or committed to any one thing yet, but it
will be spent by the deadline. The only that I think we have had concerns, and
after talking to Director Kunz I'm not as concerned, she has a plan, you know, to
get it all spent down. but, you know the ERAP has been some of the more
difficult money to spend. But I think they are looking at other ways that are
allowable—still are allowable under the program to spend down all of that
funding. And she had a very specific plan, when I talked to her last.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Is that the only program you're concerned about, us not
being able to spend in time?
MS. SAKO: That was the only one that's come to mind, yes. I think all the other
programs, they pretty much have either purchased, or have something on order, or
the deadline is farther out, so we still have time.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Very significant amount of money that's come
to our County here, and the pot keeps on growing. Thank you, Deanna. I
appreciate this communication coming forward, and having this really helpful,
one -sheet on everything that's going to come forward and where we are in terms
of the spend -down. Thank you, Chair. I yield.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Any further
discussion? Okay.
I'm just going to summarize real fast. We had about $168 million come in, yeah,
which is extremely, I mean, it's huge. And then we have a remaining balance
throughout all these funds, which have, you know, some of them have different
timelines and deadlines, but we have about $61.3 million. And like you said, we
have substantial amounts ina lot of the ERAP. I mean, can ERAP—is there any
way to wrap that into different programs? I know it's very specific, but in
different forms of rentals, or leases? Business owners, I've always said from the
beginning.
MS. SAKO: So that is the piece, that Director Kunz has a very specific plan to
spend down. And unfortunately I didn't bring that with me, but we have had
discussions. So they looked at the various ways they can spend it, which are,
again, limited, you know, being they have to follow the rules set forth by the
Treasury. But within the rules, they are finding ways to spend it down and help as
many people as possible.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then, some of—does the ERAP
also cover utilities? Because, I mean, it's kind of here crisscrossing between the
two in some of the programs.
MS. SAKO: I'm pretty sure that is the one that covers the utilities, you know,
whether it's electricity. I think that one even covers water. You know, early on
the government—the utilities were not allowed any reimbursement, like sewer,
water, those type of things.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Like the municipality,
MS. SAKO: Municipality -type of things. But now under ERAP, they are able to.
So we would just encourage everyone to apply. I think the vendor has seen a
significant number of people come through the program, but either having to
show that your reduction in income was COVID-related, or making sure you
didn't have duplication of benefits, or being able to produce everything you
needed to produce. It's been challenging, but they are definitely working hard.
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CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then just another reminder for
everyone to really push out to the family, I mean, through all our different social
media, the newspaper.
MS. SAKO: Yeah, please let people know. Yeah.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Just please push out this information that
there is funding there for members of the community, if they're struggling. You
don't have to be humble. Just come in and apply, and see if we can help them
out, yeah?
MS. SAKO: Yep.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: It's part of the utilities, if they can cover
municipalities, or utilities covered by government like water, does that help
balance what Water is seeing as far as—Department of Water Supply is seeing as
a loss?
MS. SAKO: I'm not sure the total amount they've got, but we are hoping that
through this program that would help them to get reimburse for any lost revenue.
In addition to the Homeowner Assistance Program as well, because homeowners
might be behind there, also.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Okay, thank you for putting this
together. Please provide the other documentation as well, within the next couple
of days. And then, I may follow-up with this in a month or so, or two months or
so. But thank you for putting it together and being here all day.
Council Members, if there's no further discussion, we have a motion on the floor
to close file on Communication 387.
Vote on Comm. 387: The motion to close file on Comm. 387 was carried by the
Filed following voice vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Inaba, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Villegas, and
Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder – 6.
Noes: None.
Absent: Committee Members Chung, David,
and Richards – 3.
Excused: None.
ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business,
RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions.
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FC -19 September 21, 2021
(Note: Items in this category were taken up previously, out of order.)
BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business,
ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances..
(There were none.)
CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That brings us to the end of our agenda.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Motion to adjourn.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz.
ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 3:35 p.m. Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to adjourn
MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Inaba, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Villegas, and
Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder — 6.
Noes: None.
Absent: Committee Members Chung, David,
and Richards — 3.
Excused: None.
CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mahalo very much for joining us today,
and have a wonderful afternoon. Thank you, Mr. Clerk.
Approved:
Mr. Matt Ka eali`i- Klei felder, Chair (Date)
Finance Committer
MK/na
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