HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN COUNCIL 2021-10-06 2020-2022 Hawaii County Council
241h Session
Hawaii County Building
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii
October 6, 2021
INVOCATION: Rimban Kazunori Takahashi of Honpa Hongwanji Hilo Betsuin gave the
morning's invocation.
CALL TO The regular meeting of the Hawaii County Council was called to order at
ORDER: 9:00 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Chair.
ROLL CALL:
Present: Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Chair
Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Vice Chair
Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member
Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member
Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member
Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member
Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member
Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member (came in later)
Absent& Excused: Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member
PLEDGE OF The Chair directed the Council to the next order of business, Pledge of
ALLEGIANCE: Allegiance.
(At this time, Mr. Henricks led the Council in the Pledge of
Allegiance.)
PETITIONS, The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Petitions,
MEMORIALS, Memorials, Certificates of Merit, and Expressions of Condolence.
CERTIFICATES
OF MERIT, AND (There were none.)
EXPRESSIONS OF
CONDOLENCE:
STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business,
FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items.
PUBLIC ON
AGENDA ITEMS: The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by
the Chair:
Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
Shantee Brown: Res. 209-21 (Comm. 403); and
Res. 210-21 (Comm. 404), in support.
Evan Lam: Res. 209-21 (Comm. 403); and
(representing Circle Pack Hawaii) Res. 210-21 (Comm. 404), in support.
APPROVAL The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Approval
OF MINUTES: of Minutes.
Vote on Approval Ms. Lee Loy moved to approve the Minutes of
of Minutes: September 8, 2021. Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried by
(Approved) the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, and Chair David–7.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Members Richards and Villegas –2.
Excused: None.
Vote on Approval Ms. Lee Loy moved to approve the Minutes of
of Minutes: September 22, 2021. Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried
(Approved) by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, and Chair David–7.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Members Richards and Villegas –2.
Excused: None.
COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business,
CATIONS: Communications.
(There were none.)
CHR. DAVID: Can we—let me see. I see an officer here in the room. Which
items are you here for? Can we take Reso. (Resolution) 216, Mr. Clerk?
Change Order As directed by the Chair and with no objection from the Council Members, the
of Business: following items were taken out of order:
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
Res. 216-21: AUTHORIZES THE ACCEPTANCE OF A DONATION OF A LIVE FIND
TRACKING K9 WITH K9 AND HANDLER TRAINING TO THE HAWAII
POLICE DEPARTMENT
The donation from Hawaii Island K9 Association, valued at approximately
$16,000, would be used to assist emergency responders in tracking missing
children and endangered adults.
Reference: Comm. 411
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 216-21.
Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Mr. Pauole, you want to
go ahead today and explain what we have in front of us, and the need and request
for the waiver as well?
(Note: At this time, Police Lieutenant Robert Pauole came forward to
address the members of the Council.)
MR. PAUOLE: Sure. So, we have our dog Falcon right now who is
CHR. DAVID: Excuse me. Could you identify yourself for the record?
MR. PAUOLE: Oh, I'm sorry. Lieutenant Robert Pauole from the Hawaii
Police Department.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you.
MR. PAUOLE: I work out of the Juvenile Aid Section for Area 1.
CHR. DAVID: Mahalo.
MR. PAUOLE: And we've been working on this donation for a new live tracking
dog. Our present dog Falcon is at the retirement age. I think he's eight, nine
years old. And we received the donation from Hawaii K9 Association for, I
think it was, 16,000 for not just the dog but also for training and bringing that dog
here from Houston.
I've just been in the unit for three months now. I transferred from South Kohala.
But in the short period of time, I was able to go out and do some of the training
because they train every week with the dog, and I've got an idea of what exactly it
does. And we have a lot of people think that, based on what they see on TV
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
(television), they think the dogs are, you know,just something like this, but in
actuality it's not easy. But it is very helpful. And the dog, Falcon, he gets tired
quicker. However, he still eventually, during the training exercises, finds what
he's looking for. And the newer dogs, we've got one in Kona. The dog's name is
Argo, who I have heard his reputation is (inaudible) it and coming—we're
hearing a lot about this dog, and we're hoping to get a dog similar to that.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Very nice. So what happens to—what is the
dog's name again, sorry? The one that's—Falcon?
MR. PAUOLE: The one that's retired?
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yup.
MR. PAUOLE: Or going to retire? Falcon.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Falcon.
MR. PAUOLE: Yeah.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: What happens to Falcon now?
MR. PAUOLE: Falcon's going to go to his original K9 handler. I think he's
Sergeant Stender. He's in, now, Hilo Patrol. So, normally what we do is we ask
the first K9 handler and then any subsequent K9 handler that the dog went
through if they want to keep the dog as a pet. And we didn't have to ask much
further; he's going to stay with the Sergeant.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Very good. And this is a donation to the
department for both the dog and the training, again like you said.
MR. PAUOLE: Yes.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And I noticed it said its purpose was to track
missing children and endangered adults. Correct?
MR. PAUOLE: Yes. So, if we get a callout, it all depends on how long the
person has been gone. As long as we have some kind of article of clothing or
item that the dog can use as tracking and we have a location where that person
was last seen, those are things that are basically minimum requirements that are
needed to start a track.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Good. I'm glad to hear it. Thank you for
going through what it took to get this done, and I think it's a great opportunity for
our County. So, mahalo.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MR. PAUOLE: Yes.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? Any
discussion? Thank you so much for that explanation and the reasons why we had
to expedite this. And thank you for being here.
MR. PAUOLE: Sure. I just wanted to, on record, on behalf of Police Chief
Paul Ferreira, we want to thank the Hawaii K9 Association as well as Council
Members here today. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Perfect. Thank you very much. And let the record show, before
we take a vote, that Ms. Villegas has joined us. Good morning. All those in favor
of approving Resolution 216-21, please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 216-21: The motion to adopt Res. 216-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: I see Fire Chief here, I believe, for 217 and 218. Fire Chief is
here. Can we take those too?
Res. 217-21: AUTHORIZES THE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN
AGREEMENT WITH THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
AGENCY
Allows for the receipt of$3,511,641 in Federally-derived funds, to be used to fund
six Fire Captain and three Fire Fighter positions for three years.
Reference: Comm. 412
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 217-21.
Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: The next two resolutions were waived to
Council on both 217 and 218. We are talking about 217 at this moment.
Chief Todd is here. Chief, will you come up?
(Note: At this time, Fire Chief Kazuo Todd came forward to address the
members of the Council.)
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: The first resolution we're looking at is the
acceptance of$3.5 million in funding through a grant to fund nine HFD (Hawai`i
Fire Department)positions for three years. Chief Todd, if you could just kind of
elaborate a little bit for this—and this was waived to Council, I guess.
MR. TODD: Yeah, so basically this was a SAFER(Staffing For Adequate Fire
and Emergency Response) grant, and it's something that the FEMA (Federal
Emergency Management Agency)programs at the national level, through the
Assistance to Firefighters Grant system, has. And what it does is it allows them
to, basically, help departments start up and start the initial cost of adding a
position.
As you know, four of our stations in the island do not have a supervisory captain
that manages the operations for that station. Over time, we have added positions
as we had funding. So, originally many of these stations had one personnel
working to supply that district with fire protection originally, and it was usually
just a driver. And quickly, they realized that just having a driver on a truck with
actually no help was really hard to get work done. So, we later on added, like, a
firefighter things like that, but we still haven't actually staffed our stations to
any normal standard that you'd find in the rest of the United States. And in fact,
our average fire station is staffed at about half the level of most fire stations in the
State of Hawaii or in the nation in terms of total firefighter to be responding that
are paid. So, this helps us in that direction.
FEMA's willing to pay for it for the first three years, and we'll get some captains
on two out of the four stations in terms of—because there's three shifts per
station. So, it takes three captains at a station to add a position. And so, two out
of the four stations will now have a captain to bring order and hopefully manage
major incidents that are going on within those districts. And then, we also get a
firefighter position, which I believe will be heading out to one of the areas where
we're a little bit short on firefighter coverage as well.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then, which stations are these
cited for?
MR. TODD: So, my understanding right now, in terms of operational need, the
goal is to take it to Laupahoehoe Fire Station and Ocean View Fire Station. And
then the reason for that is, while we also have Waikoloa Fire Station, which
doesn't have a captain, and Hawaiian Paradise Park, which doesn't have a
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
captain, the Waikoloa Fire Station has a battalion chief that's stationed out of it
that can assist sometimes on those operational needs. And they do have
Station 14, which is not too far away. Station 18, which is Hawaiian Paradise
Park, has two nearby stationsKea`au and Pahoa—which are often coming in
second-in to assist with the calls there.
Both Laupahoehoe and Ocean View are very far from their nearest second-in
responding stations. And as such, having that additional supervisory skilled
captain on-site to make some of those commanding decisions is an important
aspect for them.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Understood. And is there a correlation
between what we've seen on the Mana Road fires and the Hamakua fires with this
funding?
MR. TODD: I'd like to say so but they just, on the national level, decided to
dump a little bit more money into the SAFER grant system. And so, we got lucky
enough to receive an award for that. There isn't actually a tie between the two.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, fair enough. I mean, this is a great
start. I think both Police and Fire do not staff to the levels we see normally across
the United States, which is, I think, to our detriment. So, I'm glad to see this
funding coming in and the increase in positions. I'm going to yield for now. We
can go to the next one.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Mr. Chung, go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Good morning, Chief. Thank you. Congratulations on this grant.
Now, I'm assuming all of these are additional positions, right? I mean, it's kind
of surmised from the context of your statements. I just did some basic
calculations on this thing, and I know it's a little bit more complicated than that,
but for each of these nine positions, average about 130,000 a year. That includes
all the benefits and everything, right. So, this is the total cost to the County for
the
MR. TODD: Yes. So, basically, the SAFER grant covers pretty much everything
except overtime to staff that position.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah right, okay.
MR. TODD: So, they're covering the fringe benefits and other things like that,
yeah.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MR. CHUNG: Right, okay. Then, it's also safe to assume that after three years
passes, we're going to continue, right?
MR. TODD: Yes. Well, we are on the hook to.
MR. CHUNG: It would be the County will now absorb the cost of these things,
right?
MR. TODD: Correct.
MR. CHUNG: Okay,just wanted to put that on the record, yeah, which is a good
thing. But as long as everybody's aware that that's the nature of these types of
grants, right. A lot of times, you create positions, then we're on the hook to kind
of continue it, yeah.
MR. TODD: Yes.
MR. CHUNG: All right. But thank you and congratulations.
MR. TODD: Thank you very much.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Ms. Kierkiewicz and then Ms. Kimball.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Council Member Chung asked one of
my questions. The second question that I had was, are we prohibited from going
after this particular grant again in order to secure additional funding for positions
that we have a need for at other stations?
MR. TODD: I don't believe so. However, obviously when they're racking and
stacking on the national level, if you've already got one, your odds are probably
going to be shifted down to the bottom. And I'd have to double-check. I don't
believe there's anything that would stop us from using SAFER to add some
additional positions. The biggest issue is more talking with Deanna over at
Finance and finding out, like, "Hey, is the Mayor and Finance able to incur these
costs three years down the road? How are we looking fiscally," and things like
that.
So, in previous years, there's been SAFER money that we could have applied for,
but we didn't because the fiscal picture of the departments or the County itself
didn't look like we'd be able to, basically, absorb that cost. Because, part of the
agreement with the Federal government when we accept these grants is that we're
going to get the funding for three years, but we have to maintain those positions
after that point. And so, before we even are allowed to apply for these grants,
we've got to go and talk with Deanna and the Mayor and say, "Hey, this is what
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
we'd like to do. Can the County support it? And this is why and this is what we
need it for," and things like that. And so, it's a partnership between us and the
Administration for the County as a whole, and before we go down this road.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Got it. So, you have to get Deanna's approval—she's here
in the gallery before you can even apply. Awesome. Thank you. And then, so
the stations that you called out staffing, those are just for captains? Or the
firefighters as well?
MR. TODD: At this time, I'm not a hundred percent sure where we're putting the
firefighter. We're still in hot debate, as there's more than one station that would
like that position. Initially, the grant had been written to maybe apply that to the
Laupahoehoe Fire Station, but constraints in the size of the station, it really isn't
going to really fit four people inside there.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: It's tiny.
MR. TODD: It's just a little bit tight, unless we start putting in bunk beds and
whatnot. So, it's a little bit difficult. So, right now, I think one of the priority
stations right now might be Waiakea Fire Station. It would allow us to have a
rescue person. And that rescue person, basically, would cover the entire east side
of the island in terms of going out and doing rescues and stuff like that. So, we
get a good bang for the buck because they're out there doing search and rescue or
hanging off the helicopter or diving under the water. So, their area of response is
pretty wide.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And once you make a determination of where
you're going to have these positions, will you include that in your monthly report
that you send to the Council? Those are helpful.
MR. TODD: Yes. So, you guys should be seeing my next monthly report here in
the next week/week and a half here. The Fire Commission meeting for this month
has been canceled. We lost our secretary because she retired. So, there was no
secretary to manage all the logistics in the back end. So, I think the Fire
Commission and the Police Commission meetings this month have been canceled
until they figure out who's the replacement. But my report will still be coming
out, and you guys will all get emailed what's going on in the Fire Department.
It was actually a really good month for the Fire Department in terms of
accomplishments primarily because it's the first month I've been Fire Chief that
we've had no major disasters that had to suck up all my time. So, we're actually
able to focus in on a bunch of other things, and we've got some real good
progress going on a bunch of the projects that I've really been emphasizing since
the beginning of the year.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Great. Chief, we look forward to reading the report.
Thank you so much. And I just want to mahalo you and your department for
being so proactive, especially Chief Ian Smith who I know was taking a huge lead
in writing and securing the SAFER grant. So, mahalo nui, Chief Smith and Fire
One for all of your k6kua in securing resources for the department. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Go ahead, Ms. Kimball.
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. I just want to reiterate the statement of my
colleagues: Congratulations and thank you to you and your staff for the initiative
in going after this grant. I had the same kind of line of questioning. Are there
other grant opportunities to continue this beyond the SAFER grant that we can
pursue once the three years is up?
MR. TODD: In terms of paying for the salaries?
MS. KIMBALL: Yeah.
MR. TODD: I don't believe so. But there's a variety of grants that are done on
the national level. The sad part is Chief Smith is occasionally writing grants for
us and things like that. And we're looking in the professional services side of
things to just get people to handle all this stuff because there's so many grants we
just don't have the time to write for, which would, I think, probably make a huge
difference in what we're able to do. But we just don't have the personnel to just
dedicate to only making sure we're writing to every grant every year kind of a
thing.
So, while there's definitely opportunity out there, I'll be honest and say we're not
tackling every opportunity just because of lack of time to devote to it. A lot of
these grants that do get written, it's on personal time. Our chiefs are sitting at
home going, "Arrgh, I need to type this up," or something like that. And Ian's
amazing. He just is one of our huge workhorses out there, obviously because you
guys have probably all met him at some point as he came to ask you for stuff or
whatever. But yeah, there's not SAFER's one of the few ones that will pay for
salaries and wages.
Most of the AFG (Assistance to Firefighters Grant) stuff is going after, like, a
specific thing. So, like this year, we'd also ask for extractors. So, one of the big
pushes on the national level is to provide, basically, very expensive washing
machines that are designed to remove the carcinogenic byproducts of fire from
firefighters' gear without damaging the gear. There's an expended PTFE
(Polytetrafluoroethylene) layer that's inside the gear. It's a water membrane.
And if you guys are ever interested, we could do a demonstration of how it works.
But it's designed to pull water away from the skin.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
One of the issues with fire gear back in the day is it needed to be waterproof
where water couldn't get in. But it also needs to take water away from the skin
because any water from your sweat that's sitting next to skin has a tendency to
turn into steam and start burning people. So, one of the consistent things that
happens in fires is firefighters get steam burns. And the problem with the water
against the skin is it retains heat better than air does, and so that's the problem.
And so, gear needs to be designed to suck away as much moisture from the skin.
It helps with cooling. It helps with their ability to stay in the fire longer. It keeps
them safer. But the barrier has to be one way. And a washing machine that
works too quickly or spins too fast will put holes in the very expensive $1,800
sets of gear that I give to each one of my firefighters—two sets.
So, there's $3,600 worth of jackets and pants just two jackets, two pants that I
give to every firefighter. And washing those is expensive. So, we're trying to
provide extractors to have cleaning because we only have two on the island right
now. But we just got word, I think this morning, that we did not get that grant.
Maybe because we got the SAFER one. Maybe because the big emphasis this
year was to try and provide, kind of, COVID (coronavirus disease) relief-type
things. So, a lot of money went towards that instead of cancer reduction.
MS. KIMBALL: Well, thank you, Chief. I always learn something when you
come to present before us. I just want to just also acknowledge that the
Laupahoehoe chief position is something that the community has wanted filled
desperately for a long time. So, definitely appreciate the inclusion of that with
this grant. So, thank you, Chief. I yield, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Anyone else? Questions? Okay.
Thank you. Thank you, Chief, for that explanation and forI think you'd want to
hang around because we have another one to take care of. And thank you so
much for the position at Ocean View. That's a really needed position out there.
So, yeah, thank you so much for all that you're doing. All right, Council
Members, all those in favor of approving Resolution 217-21, please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 217-21: The motion to adopt Res. 217-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David–8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards – 1.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: I think we can move on to Resolution 218 since Chief is here.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
Res. 218-21: CREATES TWO NEW FIRE CAPTAIN AND THREE NEW FIRE FIGHTER
POSITIONS FOR THE HAWAII FIRE DEPARTMENT
Reference: Comm. 413
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 218-21.
Seconded by Mr. Inaba.
(Note: At this time, Fire Chief Kazuo Todd came forward to address the
members of the Council.)
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you very much, Chair. Chief Todd is
here as well. We just had a fairly in-depth discussion on this. This is actually the
creation of the positions via resolution. Chief, if you would.
MR. TODD: So, we already had some unfunded captain positions that had been
created in the past. So, some of those are being reallocated to be put on the books
as now funded, and we'll be filling in the positions. But we did need to create
some new positions that didn't exist on the books yet that will now be funded.
So, that's what Reso. 218-21 is for.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chief. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Anyone—Ms. Kierkiewicz, did you want to say
something? No? Okay. All right, seeing none, no other discussion. All those in
favor of approving Resolution 218-21, please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 218-21: The motion to adopt Res. 218-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David–8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards – 1.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: I believe there is Bill 73. We should take that and put the Fire
Department back to work, yeah.
MR. TODD: Oh, also Reso. 199-21.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
CHR. DAVID: Right. Oh, Resolution
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: We discussed that. If you want to discuss it
again, we discussed it in Committee.
MR. TODD: That(inaudible)?
CHR. DAVID: Yeah.
MR. TODD: Then, no problem.
CHR. DAVID: Okay, we're going to move, then,to Bill 73, Mr. Clerk.
Bill 73: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 21-38, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING
BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDING JUNE 30, 2022
Appropriates revenues in the Federal —Fire Management Assistance Grant—Mana
Road Fire account($1,000,000); and appropriates the same to the Fire
Management Assistance Grant—Mana Road Fire account. Funds would be used
for costs associated with the Mana Road fire that occurred in August 2021.
Reference: Comm. 409
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 73 on first
reading. Seconded by Ms. Villegas.
(Note: At this time, Fire Chief Kazuo Todd came forward to address the
members of the Council.)
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: We have the Chief here. Chief Todd, if you
could just run through this. This is a bill, obviously, but this is for the Mana Road
fire. Just discuss impacts, how this funding will help the department.
MR. TODD: So, essentially, the million dollars is pretty much just to pay the
equipment costs. Part of the process of fighting the Mana Road fire, we brought
in, I think at the peak, around 27 dozers to try and contain the fire to stop it going
into Waikoloa. And the bills for those and the water tankers and the supervisors
and a variety of private equipment and helicopters and everything else totaled up
to about a million dollars.
Now, a bunch of this is fronting the money, and a lot of it will come back to the
FMAG (Fire Management Assistance Grant) as we file through them, as that's a
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
75/25 cost-share for the Fire Management Assistance Grant that we did apply for.
But the FMAG is also limited by certain days. Once we hit a certain containment
amount, they cut off funding and they don't fund prior to. So, there's still some
discussion going on on what will actually get reimbursed. So, some of that cost is
going to be ours. But while we're discussing that, one of the benefits of the
volunteer fire program is that all the hours of every volunteer that was on-scene
can be counted towards our cost-share.
So, we actually can save and earn some money with our volunteer program. I
wanted to point that out there because when we do get these FMAGs and things
like that, they're counted as long as we adequately are doing the paperwork
process. And so, we'll end up with more money.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Good. Thank you. Thank you for doing
this. Again, this is just an interesting start of our year. And if you guys take this
on for all our firefighters and our volunteer firefighters, I just appreciate their
efforts. And this funding is needed to help us kind of balance that back out.
MR. TODD: Yeah. Just to throw in there too, I mean, it's a million bucks, right,
which is kind of you're like, "Holy cow! That's a lot of money!" But relatively
speaking, that million dollars we spent there, I think when we were talking with
Civil Defense and they were looking at the value of potential savings, we're in the
billions of dollars; that if we actually let the fire get to Waikoloa, if we hadn't had
all that equipment there to stop it, the infrastructure loss and whatnot that we
would've potentially seen inside the Waikoloa region if the fire hadn't been able
to transition that far would have been traumatic and makes this million dollars
look like chump change. So, while I'm never happy to spend that kind of money
on anything, it is definitely well-spent.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I agree. There's a lot of homes and people
depended on you, and you guys did very good. So, mahalo for your efforts again.
I think we're going to be seeing this more, yeah. So, this is where all that climate
change and sustainability really starts to kick in. And our discussions at that level
need to be very strong because this is what we're going to be looking at more and
more, yeah. Okay, thank you, Chief. I yield, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go
ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Chief, I just had a wondering. So, my
understanding of FMAG is it's based on the terminology, right, like how much
you can get reimbursed for. So, when you say a disaster or fire is "under control"
versus "contained," can you explain the difference?
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MR. TODD: So, in this case, for the FMAG, it is a containment number. And I
believe (inaudible) while, but when we were doing the paperwork, I think it was
75 percent contained, is their magic number for, "Well, sounds like you guys got
it and good luck."
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Because, that's when they stop any reimbursement for
Federal dollars.
MR. TODD: So, the premise—and I get it from where they're coming from. It's
the concept of when it's beyond your ability to handle on a local level and you're
going to need that extra dollars, you're going to be calling in people from all over
the place. It's also probably beyond the local level to pay for everything that
they're going to need to handle that. But if we don't stop it at the local level, it
could transition to other localities, and this makes more sense in California and
other places. But the Federal government is there to support and help us to bridge
that gap.
So, in this particular case, once it started threatening communities and we had to
call for evacuations, FMAG was approved thanks to Deanna because she was
the one who initiated that, and we would have no money if she hadn't. But we
did the paperwork; we got that in and it was approved. And we're able to, now,
basically recover some of those costs, which I think last year our dozer costs were
around 90 grand to give you guys a comparison in terms of where we stand just
off of one fire versus our entire year last year. So, it is a dramatic cost, and that
was just one fire this year. It cost us a million dollars.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And then remind me again, how many days is this
covering? Four days?
MR. TODD: The FMAG itself, I think, covers—and Deanna
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: This particular fire.
MR. TODD: Yeah. Deanna might need to correct me, but I believe it was about
four days in the middle of the fire.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Just four.
MR. TODD: Mhm.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And if we find in those four days there is more that needs
to be reimbursed for, can we go back and ask for more? Deanna's nodding yes.
Is that your understanding as well?
MR. TODD: Yes. So
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MS. SAKO (from audience): Before we close out.
MR. TODD: Yeah, before we close out the final—and that can take a
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Before we close out. So, there's a window of time in
which we can submit claims for the fire.
MR. TODD: Yes, well, because they understand it takes a while for even the
billing to come through and things like that.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, you mentioned the dozers. Who activated them?
Folks just show up? Do they call you? Who's in charge of incident command?
MR. TODD: So, in this particular case, I have battalion chiefs that are on the
scene that are managing the incident. And so, for many of those dozers, they
were called in by us. Some of the dozers—when I say there's 27, some of those
dozers were people just showing up. And so, they had volunteered their services
and things like that. And we don't have bills from most of them, although one of
them did send a bill. So, we're still doing our due diligence on our side to
determine whether or not they had been officially activated or how that's going to
work, or where the payment comes from and things like that.
I'd like to say that this is well-planned and implemented on our end from the Fire
Department, but we often don't fight 40,000-acre brush fires. And so, this was a
little bit beyond our normal scope of operations. Normally, it's actually a pretty
simple thing: We're calling in one or two dozer companies; they come, they give
us the bill, we call it a day.
One of my biggest issues on this particular fire was the scope in terms of what our
battalion chief was expected to be able to track was beyond anything they've ever
done before. And it takes probably just one person working fulltime, 24/7,just to
track the number of resources we had on-scene. We had, I think at the peak,
27 dozers, probably another 20 water tankers, and just, I think, like, 140 pieces of
equipment on-scene at any given time. We had eight or nine choppers in the air at
a given time. So,just the sheer amount of equipment. All this stuff was, like,
really a little bit beyond the norm for us.
And so, we're working on our end to try and—because we recognize this is
something that might become a lot more common, how do we better implement
management on the higher end for our department? So, I recently sat down with
the five agencies on the island that do fight fire to talk about radio inoperability
because we did have some issues with just talking with each other on-scene. And
so, we started the first meeting, and we have fixed some of the issues already, and
we're moving on with that.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
And I'm also looking to add an IT (Information Technology)position to my
department for reasons of being able to bring more of the GIS/GPS (Geographic
Information System/Global Positioning System) kind of solutions on-scene and
radio inoperability problems and other things like that so that when we roll out to
these larger scenes, we have the technology to back the operations that we're
trying to achieve out there. And so, I feel like I'm going down a rabbit hole, but it
is a work in progress right now. We're trying to improve and get better at how we
bring out resources and how much they charge and everything else.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Is it a requirement to produce an after-action report?
MR. TODD: They're working on one right now.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Is it possible for us to get a copy of that? I'll
submit a communication for a formal presentation here. And the reason why is
my colleagues have touched upon this in the past: We're going to see more
natural disasters by way of fire and hurricanes because of climate-change impacts.
So, I'm just curious about what are we doing to learn from these incidences and
improve our operations, not just as a County, but how we're working in
collaboration with community. I've seen many disasters where people are just
showing up to give stuff—not really coordinated. And so, I think that there is a
way in which we can be a bit more collaborative and strategic in how we deploy
these resources because they're finite. And we're going to be seeing these
disasters more often. So, if it's okay with you, I'd like to invite you to come to
the Council and present the AAR (after-action report) for this particular incident.
MR. TODD: So, the AAR we're working on right now, I don't know that there's
a defined written report that'll come out about it. It's more we gather all the
players, and we sit down and we run through a lot of stuff. I will see what comes
out of that and see what we can put together for you in terms of a presentation or
something. Note, some of this falls under the realm of Civil Defense as they are
the ones who are setting up the EOC (Emergency Operations Center) and doing
the upper-level management for things that are being done in the background.
And while this was a fire, if it's a tsunami or hurricane or things like that, they're
that central force that's supposed to take care of the organization and
management. And while field operations—in this case, because it's a fire or the
Fire Department, some of those aspects that you're talking about fall under their
jurisdictional kind of responsibility, as opposed to fires.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, I'll be in touch with you and Talmadge on this. We
have budget coming up next year, so we're just trying to get a sense of what we
need to prepare ourselves for.
MR. TODD: Yeah, the Fire Department needs, like, 30-more million. No?
Okay. I just thought I'd throw that in.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Don't push your luck today, Fire One.
MR. TODD: Okay.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: But I also think we're going to be a little more curious
around the radio piece, the communication. You talked about folks being there
on-site fighting the fire and there being, maybe, trouble communicating what's
happening there to the EOC.
MR. TODD: Yeah, so
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: You don't need to get into it now, but I think another
conversation about—
MR.
boutMR. TODD: Okay, yeah. We'll sit down and have a good conversation about it.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Our radio system island-wide and the challenges our police
and firefighters are facing. Okay. Chair, I really appreciate the latitude on this
one. Thank you. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Fire One. Actually, I need
Deanna. Deanna, Fire mentioned some of the reimbursables for not only
volunteer personnel but also private volunteers, and I almost find it interesting.
I'm sitting in Tim's seat today, and he was really boots-on-the-ground for us out
at Puukapu. And how do those in our homestead community, specifically
Puukapu and Waimea homesteads there was a lot of volunteerism, a lot of
private people who moved into Puukapu to help. And when the fire shifted, fire
personnel, everybody went to Waikoloa and they stood the line. How do we get
their time, their volunteerism, and the private donations that they had with dozers
and water trucks kind of wrapped up into this?
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Council.)
MS. SAKO: So, I don't know if we were actively collecting that data at the time
of the fire. But if someone would coordinate an effort to get a list for us, that
would help offset the cost. And then, there's also been donations given for the
fire as well. So, if there's some things like fuel and whatnot that we need to
reimburse, I think the intention is to utilize that funding for that as well.
MS. LEE LOY: Great. Thank you for that because there's actually two
communities that began to collect a lot of that information, and then they turned it
over to Civil Defense because Civil Defense came out and started to do that.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MS. SAKO: Oh, okay.
MS. LEE LOY: So, they do have a list of individuals
MS. SAKO: Okay, great. I can check with them.
MS. LEE LOY: And private donors. And I know this might not seem like a lot,
but for them, they're up to about$100,000 in time. Also, too, as our Fire
personnel moved over to Waikoloa, it was just them 24/7. And so, if that's okay.
And I'm going to leave it to Tim. I'm going to volunteer Tim right now, but he
has a lot of that information, along with his staff, and if they can shove that over
to you. Because, I'm hoping to widen that window, as Ms. Kierkiewicz talked
about, right, to make sure we really are capturing the true cost of the largest
wildfire the State has ever seen. And so, I really would love to see that and then
we can build that into future funding or opportunities for more funding, especially
in our rural communities.
MS. SAKO: Yeah. And this was an unusual fire for us also. It's much more
difficult to qualify for FMAG now. So, without the evacuation of people, we
usually wouldn't qualify. So, we're fortunate that this fire did qualify.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, and along those lines, too,we're trying to leverage
different assets in the community. Because there is a homestead community that
was impacted by this fire, we're trying to find other avenues for funding that
maybe not necessarily the County can get. But as a homestead community,
through the Federal government and their recognition through their Federal act,
that they might be in a better position to access additional funding.
So, maybe we can just put all of our stakeholders at the table and try and leverage
as much as we can through what really was maybe for intense days. But I know
for Puukapu, it was probably closer to three weeks, if not a month, watching the
hot spots. Thank you. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Ms. Kierkiewicz orI'm going to go
to Ms. Kimball first. Go ahead.
MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, I actually just had a quick question following up for
either the Chief or Director Sako. Is there a standard template or guidelines on
what we need to collect either from—as far as donations or volunteer time to
allow them to qualify as our contribution? Is that something that can be shared
with us so we have that information?
MS. SAKO: For all disasters, HI-EMA (Hawai`i Emergency Management
Agency) does have a form. So, I can have Kay get that out to the Council
Members just, I mean, so you're aware.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, thank you. It's better to have it ahead of time and make
sure we're collecting that. Thank you, Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Just a follow-up question because
Council Member Lee Loy got me thinking about the money piece and all the
community donations. We saw a lot of folks setting up Venmos and GoFundMes
and things for the fire. And so, it made me think about when the eruption
happened in 2018, there was also the flooding in Kauai. HCF (Hawai`i
Community Foundation) had set up the different Strong Funds for the islands.
And so, Deanna, I was just wondering, is this a place that we can send community
to make those donations? But the question I have is, is that mechanism flexible
enough so that if there is an immediate need that needs to be supported, there's a
way for us to tap that fund? Or is it too restrictive in how it's set up?
MS. SAKO: That's always a good location to put it. I think sometimes it can be
restrictive. It depends on what we want to use it for, and it depends on if it's
going to private citizens where we're trying to reimburse people who may have
donated time and materials. So, each situation is a little bit different.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So, would you say, then
MS. SAKO: But it's always a possibility.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: But the Strong Fund, then, might be more appropriate for
recovery, not necessarily real-time emergency response.
MS. SAKO: That's what I'm thinking right now, yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Thank you for the clarification. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Seeing none, thank
you, Director Sako. All those in favor of approving Bill 73 at first reading,please
say "aye."
Vote on Bill 73: The motion to pass Bill 73 on first reading was carried by
(Approved) the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
Page 20
Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
CHR. DAVID: There's a companion reso. to Bill 73, but there was a lot of
discussion on that. I'm going to take it after I do Bill 74 since Chief is still here.
Can we move to Bill 74?
Bill 74: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 21-38, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING
BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDING JUNE 30, 2022
Appropriates revenues in the Federal —Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency
Response account($487,728); and appropriates the same to the Staffing for
Adequate Fire and Emergency Response account. Funds would be used to fund six
Fire Captain and three Fire Fighter positions for three years.
Reference: Comm. 412
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 74 on first
reading. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz.
(Note: At this time, Fire Chief Kazuo Todd came forward to address the
members of the Council.)
CHR. DAVID: Any more discussion, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder?
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Okay, Chief, go ahead.
MR. TODD: If I'm not mistaken, this is basically just the funding we need to pay
their salaries until the end of this fiscal year.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Okay, and this is through the SAFER grant
again, yeah?
MR. TODD: Yes.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you. Thank you, Chief. Chair,
I yield for now.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Any other questions for Chief? No? All right, all
those in favor of approving Bill 74 at first reading,please say "aye."
Page 21
Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
Vote on Bill 74: The motion to pass Bill 74 on first reading was carried by
(Approved) the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Okay. We're going to take up Bill [sic] 214 later because it's
already been discussed, unless you want me to do it right now. Okay. Then you
can go ahead. Thank you for being here, Chief. I understand we have some
people outside right now.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. Resolution 220oh, and
CHR. DAVID: 212?
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah.
CHR. DAVID: Yes. Resolution 212, Mr. Clerk,please. Sorry for jumping
around all morning.
Res. 212-21: AUTHORIZES THE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN
AGREEMENT WITH THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF
AGRICULTURE
Allows for the receipt of$225,000 in Federally-derived funds, to be used to
provide technical assistance and capacity building for community collaboration in
implementing the Kilauea Recovery and Resilience Plan.
Reference: Comm. 407
Intr. by: Ms. Kierkiewicz
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to adopt Res. 212-21. Seconded
by Ms. Lee Loy.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. If you could feel my heart race, oh my
goodness, I'm so excited! There was a Federal grant opportunity through USDA
(United States Department of Agriculture). I attended a webinar. It's called the
Rural Placemaking Innovation Challenge and happy to say that we were awarded
it. We're one of 18 municipalities across the country to be getting this funding.
So, it's really exciting. It was the first Federal grant I ever wrote and was happy
Page 22
Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
to do it in partnership with the recovery team, Bob Agres, who is now our Deputy
at R&D (Research and Development), and also our Recovery Officer
Douglas Nam Le. So, Douglas, if you want to come forward?
(Note: At this time, Disaster Recovery Officer Douglas Le, Planning
Department, came forward to address the members of the Council.)
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Why this is really exciting is because all of the work that
we had been building with community through our resilience capacity areas and
our action teams, now we have a pot of money to help us fund activations and the
demonstration projects that we have built into this two-year project. And why this
particular grant is exciting is it's not just money to the County. There is going to
be active participation from the USDA. It's a cooperative agreement, is what I'm
understanding the terminology is. And so, there will be someone from USDA,
part of our activations, and working with us as County and community to build up
capacity so that, at the end of two years, more of our community members are
able to go after really critical grant dollars that are out there.
So,just really excited about this. I'm currently kind of administering a lot of this
with Douglas personally. So, it'll be great to have an extra set of hands to help us
coordinate a lot of the back-end pieces that are required to make this grant really
successful. So, mahalo nui for allowing us to waive this to Council so that we can
get this money to work and support our kupuna community, which has just been
through so much. But this is certainly a really exciting time and investment in our
collective work to build that recovery and preparedness and resilience. So, thank
you, Chair, I yield. And Douglas and I are available to answer any questions
folks might have about this grant. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Any other Council Members have
anything? No?
MS. KIMBALL: Chair, I just want to
CHR. DAVID: Oh, go ahead, Ms. Kimball.
MS. KIMBALL: Say congratulations to Ms. Kierkiewicz and the team and the
recovery group. This is exciting to see some Federal money come in for this.
And congratulations on your first Federal grant. I hope you'll teach the rest of us
how to do it. Thanks, Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball, and thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz.
Would you like to say something,please, Mr. Le?
MR. LE: Sure. Good morning, Chair
CHR. DAVID: Good morning.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MR. LE: Members of the Council. Really—sorry, this one's really bad in terms
of voice.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead.
MR. LE: If you'll oblige. I'm Douglas Nam Le, Disaster Recovery Officer with
our County. This is a very exciting moment. These types of resources don't often
come to our island. So, I know that the USDA will be announcing the slate of
grants in a couple weeks. It's really exciting to make this investment into our
Puna community. And we are really excited to bring this type of capital to our
community as well.
This grant really came about through our implementation of the Kilauea Recovery
and Resilience Plan. This plan that was released in December 2020, that really
framed its implementation around building structures, what we call "resilience
capacity areas,"to bring folks in the County partners in government and
members of our communities together in areas of critical importance—cultural
resilience, economic resilience, the resilience of the natural environment, the built
environment, and also among young people.
And so, we set a course to tackle this work even before this grant materialized.
But the opportunity to secure this funding not only brings financial capital to
support the work, but also some of the human capital that Council
Member Kierkiewicz spoke to: the resources of the USDA. And I actually think
it's very exciting that it's this partnership across all aspects of County, not only
our recovery team and the Council District 4 representative of Puna, but also
Research and Development, kind of this really important nexus that these USDA-
type resources can fill the gap of.
So,just really excited to focus on implementation and to not only have a financial
investment in our community, but also the knowledge, the technical assistance
that we're really trying to build just for our communities, and really execute on
this vision of resilience that we set down upon when we started the recovery
conversation following the 2018 eruption. So, I appreciate your support on the
resolution and the ordinance, and very much appreciate Finance Chair and
Council Chair for your obliging the urgency of securing this grant.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Nam Le. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to say one more thing.
So, in a nutshell, we have the beautiful Kilauea Recovery and Resilience Plan that
Tetra Tech prepared. It cost the County a lot of money, almost$2 million—don't
want us to forget that. So, we have this plan but there's no strategy to take action.
And that's what we're doing through the resilience action teams, and that's what
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
this grant is supporting. It's supporting our ability as County and community to
take action together and to ensure that these efforts are sustained beyond the two-
year grant period.
And I would be remiss if I also didn't mahalo the folks that reviewed our grant:
Beth Dykstra, Diane Chadwick, Sulma Gandhi. Their keen eyes on this grant, our
submittal, were so critical in ensuring that we could provide a successful
application. So, thank you again to my colleagues for their support. And,
Douglas, as always, look forward to working with you on this next adventure. I
yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz, and thank you so much for your
help in securing these funds. Anyone else? Seeing none, all right, all those in
favor of approving Resolution 212-21, please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 212-21: The motion to adopt Res. 212-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Nam Le. Resolution 220-21, Mr. Clerk,please.
Page 25
Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
Res. 220-21: ACCEPTS THE DEDICATION OF THOSE CERTAIN ROADWAY LOTS
IDENTIFIED AS: LOT 67 (KUKUAU STREET)IDENTIFIED AS TAX MAP
KEY: 2-4-082:128; LOT 68 (KUKU STREET), IDENTIFIED AS TAX MAP
KEY: 2-4-082:129; LOT 69 (KILAKILA PLACE), IDENTIFIED AS TAX MAP
KEY: 2-4-082:130; LOT 70 (PALEKANA PLACE), IDENTIFIED AS TAX
MAP KEY: 2-4-082:131; LOT 71 (LUNA WAY), IDENTIFIED AS TAX MAP
KEY: 2-4-082:132; LOT 72 (WEST KAWAILANI STREET), IDENTIFIED AS
TAX MAP KEY: 2-4-082:133; AND LOT 73 (KUKU PLACE), IDENTIFIED
AS TAX MAP KEY: 2-4-082:134; TOGETHER WITH EASEMENTS
IDENTIFIED AS EASEMENT 1, BEING A PORTION OF LOT 4, IDENTIFIED
AS TAX MAP KEY: 2-4-082:065; EASEMENT 8, BEING A PORTION OF
LOT 18, IDENTIFIED AS TAX MAP KEY: 2-4-082:079; EASEMENT 41,
BEING A PORTION OF LOT 53, IDENTIFIED AS TAX MAP
KEY: 2-4-082:114; AND EASEMENT 54, BEING A PORTION OF LOT 65,
IDENTIFIED AS TAX MAP KEY: 2-4-082:126, SITUATED AT HILO
HILLSIDE ESTATES PHASE 2, KUKUAU 1 ST, SOUTH HILO, ISLAND AND
COUNTY OF HAWAII, STATE OF HAWAII, FROM MOANIALA
HOLDINGS, LLC
The landholder seeks to dedicate the roadways and all improvements for public
roadway purposes.
Reference: Comm. 415
Intr. by: Ms. Lee Loy (B/R)
Waived: PWMTC
Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Res. 220-21. Seconded by
Ms. Kimball.
(Note: At this time, Deputy Corporation Counsel Dalilah Schlueter came
forward to address the members of the Council, via videoconferencing.)
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, let me lead off on this matter because I'm the one who
requested a waiver. And I really do appreciate the cooperation of both you and
Ms. Lee Loy in this regard. This is kind of an unusual situation because this
would seem to advance the interest of a developer, which we don't do over here.
But it'sI really never had any communication with these developers. What
created the impetus for this request for a waiver was from several people who
wereI'm still kind of puzzled but either trying to purchase or trying to close
their purchase within this development.
I'm going to give you guys a slight primer on road dedications. And maybe
Ms. Schlueter, who's participating via, well, virtually, can confirm if this is still
the case, okay. Because, I used to handle the dedication deeds when I was at the
Corp. (Corporation) Counsel's office many years ago. Whenever you have a
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
development, the developer will prepare the deed, submit it to the Corporation
Counsel's office. The Corporation Counsel's office will then become the
receptacle for this measure. They will solicit input from the various departments
of the County, most importantly Public Works and Planning and, of course,
maybe also Department of Environmental Management. I'm sure also Fire and
other ones might be involved with that.
And I don't know how it's done now, but it used to sit in this little credenza in a
staff person's office, and it would await these responses to come in. And once
Public Works said the improvements are done to the satisfaction of the County,
and Planning said everything was okay and other department said it's okay, then
the Corporation Counsel would package a submission to the Council for
acceptance of those roadways.
Now in this one, I had been getting calls from a lot of people, again, who were
looking to close their dealI could be wrong in terms of how I'm characterizing
it, but a lot of people within the subdivision who had either purchased properties
or whatever—and asking when is this thing going to be dedicated. And I kind of
just let it go because we have to respect the process.
But finally, it got to a point where I had to call up Ms. Schlueter and I said,
"Could you please give me an update on this because I'm getting a lot of calls
over months now." And she said that—and correct me if I'mI don't want to
misstate anything that was said, but she said they had received the approvals, the
okays, from the Department of Public Works and Planning but were awaiting
something from DEM (Department of Environmental Management). They had
received it a while back, actually.
And then, so she followed up with DEMI'm not trying to throw DEM under the
bus or anything but it is what it is—and they still didn't respond. So, that being
the case, I just said, "You know what,just submit this thing already. We cannot
wait, I mean, because people are waiting for a department who hasn't been
responding. So, we may as well just go ahead, throw the cards on the table and
see how they land, but let's move this ahead already." And Ms. Schlueter did. I
really do appreciate your help on that and the follow through. But that's really
what happened here.
So, you guys can ask whatever questions you want ofI see the development
team here now. But that's why I asked for this thing to be moved. It's kind of
unusual. Usually, we let it go its course—go Committee, come here but it really
was the nonresponsiveness of one County agency no fault. Maybe they have a
reason for not responding, but—and I don't think they even have an involvement
in this thing, quite frankly.
If it was Public Works who was waiting, okay, cannot help; we've got to make
sure the roads are done to County-dedicable standards or whatever. But on this
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
one, I don't think DEM really had anything involved in this. So, they were
"waiting for Godot" on this matter. So, that's where we're at. So, you guys can
ask the development team whatever you want or Ms. Schlueter. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Mr. Inaba, go ahead.
MR. INABA: Thank you. Good morning, Dalilah. My question for you, in
regards to what Mr. Chung has just shared with us, whatoh, let me start first by
pointing out the land surveyor here is related to me. You'll see "Inaba" on all of
these pages—start with that. But I can make a fair decision. But, Dalilah, are you
aware of what specifically DEM was supposed to be giving their analysis or their
opinion on as it relates to this application before us?
MS. SCHLUETER: I can't specifically speak to what all they take into
consideration in their analysis of whether to comment or whether it's acceptable
to their department. I know that there was a number of drainage easements with
this property. So, their input could be relevant if there is any issue with that.
However, after the initial submission of this dedication deed and the next one that
will come up, DEM had submitted their response. And so, our office did send a
supplemental with their response, and there was no objection from DEM.
MR. INABA: Okay. And lastly, how long had it been from the time this was first
submitted until we are proceeding in the way we are right now?
MS. SCHLUETER: You'll have to give me a couple minutes to fully look at my
timeframe. I know that this has been this dedication as well as the next that
we'll see come up on the agenda, they've both been in progress for a while. And
the development team may be able to assist in this timeframe as well because it
does predate myself in the Office of Corporation Counsel. I know that there were
some various back-and-forths. There had been revisions to deeds as well.
So, it had gone through quite a process, as Council Member Chung did mention.
The deeds are provided to our office. They are reviewed. If there's additional
changes or additional work that's required to bring the roads or the easements to
the dedicable standards required by DPW (Department of Public Works), some of
the back-and-forth goes on at that point, as well as if there's any issues with the
deed itself—legal description, etcetera that needs to be revised and back-and-
forth.
So, like I said, this has been going on for a while, and I don't want to misspeak on
the date that the developer actually submitted to our office, but I can get that
information if you'd like if the developer doesn't have it.
Point of Information: MR. CHUNG: Just a point of information, if I may? A point of personal
privilege.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
CHR. DAVID: Yeah, your point, Mr. Chung. Go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Sometimes, these dedication deeds can be held for a long time
because it depends on how long it takes to finish the project and finish the
improvements. I think the more pertinent question would be, "When did Public
Works and Planning submit their approval, their okay, for the roadways,"because
this is what we're accepting, right.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you for your point.
MR. INABA: Yup, you folks can ask that after. Can we have the development
team up at the table,please?
(Note: At this time, Chris Brilhante, applicant; Sidney Fuke, planning
consultant; and Daryn Arai, applicant's representative, came forward to
address the members of the Council.)
MR. INABA: And if you could please just pull the mic close to you and press the
button, identify yourself. My question is, if you can just share a little bit, Council
Member Chung gave a pretty good idea, but I just want to know if we should
know anything more from you folks based on the work you've been doing with
our departments.
MR. FUKE: Good morning, Madam Chair, members of this Council. My name
is Sidney Fuke. I'm a planning consultant. I'm here because Chris asked me to
please come.
So,just to give you a little bit background, the normal subdivision process, as in
this case here, is that the subdivider would have to prepare construction plans.
And the construction plans have to be reviewed and approved by Public Works
relating to traffic, your drainage system, your roadway system. Also, the
Department of Water Supply reviews it. So, once the construction plans are done,
they're prepared and approved. Then the next step, before you can get final
subdivision approval in this situation, is that you have to make the improvements
in accordance with the approved construction drawing. So, in this situation here,
that was done.
So, prior to the Planning Department granting final subdivision approval in
January of 2021, Public Works, Water Department, all those cooperating
agencies, they went out to inspect. And they said, like, "Yes, everything is fine."
And based upon that, then the Planning Director said, "Okay, you can get final
subdivision approval." Then, according to what Mr. Arai prepared, he said, like,
in March of 2021, a few months later, they submitted the dedication deed
documents to the Corporation Counsel.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
So, generally at that time, it's kind of like a rudimentary process. You look at the
deed. You look at whether the easements are proper, so on and so forth, whether
it's stamped by the engineer Inaba Engineering or whomever. So, that's what
you do. But responsibly, the Corporation Counsel must go back again and ask
Public Works, "Can you go back and make sure the roads are improved and in
accordance; there's no deterioration?" They ask the same question of Water.
So, what happened was that then they had the inspection, and Public Works
comes back and says, like, "You know what, there's a punch list. There's more
things that need to be done." So, over time, maybe you might have had, like,
erosion. You may have had, like, illegal trespassing in that area that kind of bust
up the road or the drainage system. So, they say, like, "Developer, before we can
accept it, you have to now go back and make all of these improvements." So, this
is what they did. So then in July, Public Works said, "All of the things have been
done. All of the required punch list have been done." And so now, they're ready
for its dedication. So this is, like, in July and this is where we are right now.
So, the problem becomes the longer you wait, there's always the potential that
something else is going to happen. And then the Corporation Counsel or whoever
is going to ask Public Works, "Can you go out and go check again?" It becomes a
never-ending process. And so, usually the dedication by the Council is
acceptance, rather, is important for landowners because now the roads are in,
they're accepted, the post office can put out your mailbox in that area. So, that
becomes a critical component.
So, timing-wise, I appreciate what Mr. Chung is trying to do in terms of just
waiving it, because even though you're looking at two weeks, there's a possibility
between now and two weeks something else can happen. So, it becomes never-
ending.
MR. INABA: Okay, thank you, Mr. Fuke. Just wanted to double-check what's
happening on your end. And thank you, Council Member Chung, for uncovering
and getting this through quick for these folks. I'll be supporting.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Dalilah, I had a question for you. So,
whenever we have anything as Planning Committee members time extension,
rezone—in the background materials, it lists all the departments that were
engaged; folks that had comment, no comment, didn't respond. So, my question
is, for the road dedication piece, are you required to wait to hear from specific
departments before you can proceed or no?
MS. SCHLUETER: So, typically, we try to wait for them all to proceed,
regardless of whether it's apparent that they have an interest or whatnot. In this
situation, we verified that the dedication standard was up to speed with the
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
Department of Public Works. And generally, in order to accept a roadway, our
Code does specify that the roadway must be up to dedicable standards. So, their
approval is crucial as well as is the Planning Department because this is part of a
subdivision that had been approved by our County.
As I mentioned, there is a number of drainage easements. So, Department of
Water Supply was very important. DEM, we do like to have their approval, but it
was not a statutory requirement that DEM had approval in this situation.
However, we do try our best to make sure that if it does go by their department,
they do have an opportunity to review and comment. In this situation, as I
mentioned, they had not responded and we were having a challenge trying to
coordinate with somebody specifically to make sure that it was in the progress of
being reviewed for comment.
And because of the time factor and the number of constituents that were
concerned, we went ahead and made the decision to put this forward to you folks,
even though at that time we did not have the DEM approval. The DEM response
came in as, "No comment" on September 15'', which a supplement was provided
to Council with that effect just to make sure that you had all of the information in
front of you.
And just in case, after the last questions from Council Member Inaba, I did double
check on the dates of our approvals from the different departments. Planning
Department did provide their comment on April 21s; Department of Public
Works, July 13''; and Department of Water Supply, July 15'h of 2021.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, we see all those dates here in the transmittals. I
just—it's unacceptable. Six months. Environmental Management is asked to
comment back in March. Six months later, I don't know what kind of haranguing
happened, but they finally did. And I just wonder if, as you move forward,
Dalilah, with securing comment from departments, maybe you are giving them a
deadline, I don't know, but giving them a deadline to respond if they have issues.
And if we're not hearing anything from them, all right, we're just going to
proceed. But let's not keep hanging these things up. At this point, it's just
inexcusable. It's really embarrassing.
Who were youI'm sorry. I don't mean to poke here, but Environmental
Management, are you coordinating with the department heads? Are they sending
you to the division chief? Like, what's happening?
MS. SCHLUETER: So, when we initiate this process, we go through a typical
protocol. I've got a legal technician in our office that assists me with some of the
administrative matters, and she takes it and submits it to the administrative team
at DEM. She also does certain follow ups. And in this situation, since we
weren't hearing anything, the next steps that I took were to attempt to make some
phone calls over there. And one of the things that I did is I coordinated with my
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
counterpart in our office who does represent DEM, and I asked her to make some
phone calls and see what we could do to light a fire and get this reviewed. And I
believe that was the result that—it was those steps made by my colleague that
finally got this reviewed.
At this point in time with the dedication deeds that I've handled, this has been the
one that seems like we've had the most challenges with so far, getting that review
done. And definitely taking this into account and keeping it in mind for future
dedication deeds to maybe start making those phone calls and trying to light fires
a little bit earlier on in the process.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, I mean, it's part of their job to do, right. It shouldn't
have to resort to these types of measures of constantly badgering folks to just
review and get it done. Thanks, Dalilah.
Sid, Daryn, great to see you guys. So, now that this is before us, assuming it gets
approved, you guys have everything you need, then, to advance forward with
continuing with Phase 2 of Hilo Hillside.
MR. ARAI: Thank you very much. Daryn Arai, Planning Consultant. Phases 2
and 3 have received final subdivision approval. There's a few other procedural
things that need to be taken care of at the State level, but basically, that hopefully
can be expected very shortly. So, it's really a matter of getting all the ducks lined
up. And this is a very important part because until this happens and the road is
dedicated, you may go up there now, it's gated just for safety and liability
purposes. And that does hamper the overall process. So, your efforts here today
are very much appreciated.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Nothing that we need to do as the Council anymore
related to this project. This is the last piece.
MR. ARAI: Just for the County, yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, and then you're just going to be dealing with the
State. Good luck. Yeah.
MR. ARAI: Thank you.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Okay, that's helpful. Thank you for pushing for
this, Council Member Chung. I was getting calls, too, but I'm like, "I'm not your
rep (representative). Call Aaron." Anyway, thanks for all your efforts. Oh,
sorry. Sir, you wanted to ?
MR. BRILHANTE: Is it okay?
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, absolutely, but could you introduce yourself for the
record, please?
MR. BRILHANTE: Sure.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Please turn on your mic. Hit the button at the
base. There you go.
MR. BRILHANTE: I'm Chris Brilhante and I'm the developer for the project. I
took it over in January of this year. And I just wanted to apologize to Aaron for
what he had to go through. And I know that people have their reasons why they
proceeded the way they thought necessary, but it was a very small group of
people that had made a deal for a small portion of the lots in Hilo Hillside years
ago. And they're very anxious, of course, and very frustrated that things are
taking so long.
And when I repeatedly told them to please just respect the process, let it go
throughI didn't want to bother anybody, not knowing that we just had one
department that wasn't responding. But they took it upon themselves, without my
knowledge, to ask Aaron for his assistance. And I didn't want to put him in an
awkward position and have to be here today asking for things to be moving along
and not following the proper procedures. As a developer and as a development
group, we definitely respect that. But I do appreciate Aaron's effort and Aaron
getting to the bottom of things and moving this along. So, I just wanted to
apologize, but I also wanted to thank him very much for his efforts. And, Susan,
thank you.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Mr. Brilhante, I don't think you need to apologize. Yes,
we have a process, but we've got to make sure the process is working for
community. So, I think it's great that folks called. And Council Member Chung,
he's always curious. He just has this really nice way of going about things that is
always just very sweet and curious. So, thank you. I'll be supporting this
measure. Chair, I yield.
MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you very much.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Brilhante, and thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz.
Mr. Chung, go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, and really no reason to either thank me or apologize to
anyone. And even those people who were calling, I will say they were quite
pleasant. So, it wasn't a bad type of experience. It's just something that when I
learned about it and learned more about it from Dalilah, it's something that we
kind of dropped the ball, yeah. And not trying to point fingers at any agency.
That's not good either. But let me ask one question, though. Is there a sewer line
in your subdivision? That would be really the only reason why DEM would get
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
involved, right, I mean, not with the drainage easements because that would be
Highway Maintenance, Public Works, right? So, wouldn't that be the only reason
for them to get involved?
MR. FUKE: That is correct. There is no sewer line within the project. So, from
a construction standpoint, there is no need for DEM to kind of sign off on it.
MR. CHUNG: Right.
MR. FUKE: However, as a general practice, however, say if you're doing a
subdivision that's maybe not sewer but then you may have, like, a sewer easement
that leads to the main road, then I think that has to be reflected in the dedication
deed document. And so, what Corporation Counsel is doing, I think rightfully so,
is just ask DEM, "You've got any pilikia with the project?" And simple, you
know, "yes," "no." But the short answer is no sewer in the project.
MR. CHUNG: And really, I mean, I'm not trying to criticize DEM because it
happens, right, but if it were something significant, let's say that you guys had a
sewer line, I would never have made this request to either Maile or Sue. No way.
We'd just let it run its course. But there was no reason for the holdup. All the
main components had given their okay months ago, and that's why I thought it
was probably the right thing to do to make that request. And I really do apologize
to you guys on behalf of the County for you guys having to wait on this. But
thank you. Thanks, everybody.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Anyone else? Seeing none, well, I just
want to thank you folks for your patience. It all worked out in the end because of
Mr. Chung's great—yeah, and having us become aware that this is something that
maybe is a simple fix for later on. Because if a department doesn't have anything
to do with a proposed development, it should be an automatic "No comment.
Doesn't apply to us" or something like that—simple, yeah. But maybe we'll all
learn something from this.
And if the departments are listening, maybe someone can be assigned to these
non-issue things and get the comments back as soon as possible. But anyway, all
in all I think it worked out for everybody and thanks for Mr. Chung. And I really
saw the need in waiving this because this is an important thing and no fault of
anyone, much less you guys, okay. So, on that, all those in favor of approving
Bill—what are we doing—Resolution 220-21, please say "aye."
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
Vote on Res. 220-21: The motion to adopt Res. 220-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: And I think the other resolution, basically we'll—if you want to
stay for it, fine. If not, we're going to take it up right now. Mr. Clerk,
Resolution 221.
Res. 221-21: ACCEPTS THE DEDICATION OF THOSE CERTAIN ROADWAY LOTS
IDENTIFIED AS: LOT 22 (KALULU STREET), IDENTIFIED AS TAX MAP
KEY: 2-4-082:155; LOTS 23 AND 24 (KUPULAU ROAD), IDENTIFIED AS
TAX MAP KEY: 2-4-082:156; AND LOT 25 (KINI NANI PLACE),
IDENTIFIED AS TAX MAP KEY: 2-4-082:157, SITUATED AT HILO
HILLSIDE ESTATES PHASE 3, KUKUAU 1 ST, SOUTH HILO, ISLAND AND
COUNTY OF HAWAII, STATE OF HAWAII, FROM MOANIALA
HOLDINGS, LLC
The landholder seeks to dedicate the roadways and all improvements for public
roadway purposes.
Reference: Comm. 416
Intr. by: Ms. Lee Loy (B/R)
Waived: PWMTC
Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Res. 221-21. Seconded by
Mr. Inaba.
(Note: At this time, Deputy Corporation Counsel Dalilah Schlueter came
forward to address the members of the Council, via videoconferencing.)
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy.
MS. LEE LOY: Just ask for everyone's support.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Mr. Chung, no other comments? Okay, all right.
Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Dalilah, I have a
question. If there was no comment from DEM or from any one of the
departments, what is the process? I mean, can we proceed? Are we not allowed
to proceed? I'm just wondering more about this process itself.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MS. SCHLUETER: When we receive no comments, that's perceived as a
response—like in this situation, the no comment. What we are concerned about
as when we receive any comments, particularly negative or objections to the
acceptance, generally if we were to receive a comment that was not an approval
or no comment, it would mean that there is an additional requirement. We
generally would go back to the developer at that point in time to address whatever
that department's concerns were.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So, let's just say, hypothetically,
Public Works didn't respond, we would just proceed with the dedication?
MS. SCHLUETER: In the situation of Public Works, it wouldn't work that way.
My office would not respond to—transmit to you folks for approval if Department
of Public Works did not respond. It's far beyond our legal scope of knowledge to
know if that roadway is up to dedicable standards and whether we could even
accept it as a County. If we were in a strange situation where Department of
Public Works wouldn't respond to a dedication of a roadway, then I would be on
the phone with members of Engineer, members of Traffic, and the Director
himself to find out what the holdup and what the problem was.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you. I just was wrapping my
head around the process a little bit.
MS. SCHLUETER: If I can help a little bit—
MR.
itMR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Is there a requirement that we have to wait
for all departments to respond before we can proceed?
MS. SCHLUETER: It's more of an internal procedure because we need to make
sure that we are accepting something that doesn't have problems, that doesn't
have an issue that, maybe as an attorney looking at the paper, I wouldn't know if
we've got an issue with a sewer or a drainage easement or whatnot. And that's
what our departments are there for. They're our subject-matter experts to tell us,
"This is okay. This is not. Here's our concerns."
So, our procedure when someone's coming to us with a dedication, most of the
time it's in conjunction with a larger project. They've already gone through
different subdivision approvals or whatnot. Sometimes, they come before our
planning commissions. Sometimes, the dedication of a road is a requirement or
it's part of the bigger plan. And once they come to my office, then there's others
in Planning and, potentially, Department of Public Works who have already
touched this project, approved something along the way.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
So, once it comes to me, I look at it and then we say, "Okay, we need all of our
departmental approvals." And then once we have that paper, once we have that
deed, that's when we seek all of the departmental approvals. And oftentimes,
that's assisted by the admin (administration) side at DPW as well.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you. That was helpful. The
second question: Why was this split into two different bills or two different
resolutions? I don't know who to ask of that.
MS. SCHLUETER: It's—and I could be incorrect—it's my understanding that
that was the developer's decision.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I think he's going to answer the
question. Thank you, Mr. Arai.
(Note: At this time, Daryn Arai, applicant's representative, came forward
to address the members of the Council.)
MR. ARAI: Thanks very much. The project is in two separate phases, and it was
perfected by two separate subdivision actions. Phase 2 received final subdivision
approval in May of last year. And in January of this year, that's when Phase 3 got
approved. So, it was kind of being built at two different times, so it was best to
just keep it separate and not necessarily consolidate it. So, it was a judgement
call_ I,personally, think it could have been done both ways. But the fact that it
was two separate actions, it was just best to keep it separate.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you for the explanation.
MR. ARAI: Sure.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you. Thank you, Dalilah.
Thank you, Mr. Arai. I yield, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Mr. Chung, go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, and just to expand on what Dalilah said, I mean, I think I
mentioned it at least one time during my initial talk, that if Public Works—see,
this is a dedication for a roadway. We are going to assume the ownership of a
roadway. If Public Works hadn't responded, there's no way that I would have
ever made that request of Maile or Sue—absolutely not—because that is the most
important component.
If it was taking a long time and if someone, either the developer or someone, had
called me and said, "Hey, this thing has been finished for a long time, and they
came and inspected five months ago,"then I would have called Dalilah and said,
"Hey, Dalilah, can you go and maybe follow up with Public Works and see
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
what's going on with this thing?" But it would not be appropriate for us to
entertain these resolutions without an approval from Public Works. That's the
most important department involved in this.
But there's no requirements that—there's nothing in the County Code that spells
out how a dedication, well, the dedication process. There are just other points in
the County Code that relate to it. For example, the roadways have to be built to
certain standards before they can be accepted. And then, there are other things
that relate to it, but not specifically within the process of a dedication-deed
procedure. So, yeah, Public Works is the most important. We couldn't have
moved without it. The other one, I don't know why they were taking a long time
because there was no involvement in it whatsoever. That's it.
I just wanted to say thank you, though, to you guys because what Chris said really
is true. I've known Chris for a long time, but he never did bother me about this
thing. In fact, I didn't even know that you were the developer of this thing
because you took over, right, for this other guy Papas, right—who was the
developer. And that's the last time I had any kind of discussion, and it was with
Sidney because it had to do with some other nuance of this development that had
to be tied together. But since that time, nobody from the development team—and
I'm not trying to put down the development team because maybe that was their
job to kind of bother me but it really was from the affected landowners, yeah,
who had done it. And you guys really have the A-team on the development
consultant guys. So, I really wish you guys all the best. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Mahalo, Mr. Chung. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, thank you. Actually, I wasn't going to say anything
because everybody talked about it, but maybe Dalilah and then Council
Member Kierkiewicz. As we move through these different change-of-zone
applications, right, we have to satisfy the conditions of zoning. And so, to me,
there should be also this punch list of the after-action plan, for lack of a better
description, so that we can manage people's expectation.
And I understand what the developer is saying. We did this in two phases. One
subdivision was satisfied months prior to the connector, but then I think that's
where that critical path happened, was where Phase 1 connected to Phase 2 and
then Phase 2 connected to Phase 3. And so, it's almost on the County to make
sure that that piece, that connector piece is being elevated. So, maybe that's
something, Dalilah, we can work on kind of as a punch list separate and apart
from this work so that, going forward, future road dedications don't have to suffer
this long. Thank you, Chair, for the opportunity to find solutions, but I'll be
supporting this resolution. Thank you.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Anyone else? Seeing none, thank you,
gentlemen, for being here. All those in favor of approving Resolution 221-21,
please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 221-21: The motion to adopt Res. 221-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: All right, thank you. Aloha. Mr. Henricks, I think we can move
to the top of the agenda now. I don't see anybody waiting outside.
Return to Order The Chair directed the Council to return to the order of business.
of Business:
ORDER OF The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Order of
RESOLUTIONS: Resolutions.
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)
Approve: FC-75
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 199-21 and
Finance Committee Report No. 75. Seconded by
Mr. Inaba.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: We had a decent discussion about this item
in Committee. We do have the Chief here if anyone has questions. I yield, thank
you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of
approving Resolution 199-21, please say "aye."
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
Vote on Res. 199-21: The motion to adopt Res. 199-21 and Finance Committee
(Adopted) Report No. 75 was carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
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)
Approve: FC-76
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 200-21 and
Finance Committee Report No. 76. Seconded by
Ms. Lee Loy.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: The Director and his staff gave us a very
good explanation for the next five resolutions. I have no further questions. I
yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Any other comments? Seeing none, all those in
favor of approving Resolution 200-21, please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 200-21: The motion to adopt Res. 200-21 and Finance Committee
(Adopted) Report No. 76 was carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
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)
Approve: FC-77
(Note: Comm. 390.1, from Research and Development Director Douglass Adams
dated October 4, 2021, transmitting information relating to Resolution 201-21,
was circulated.)
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 201-21 and
Finance Committee Report No. 77. Seconded by
Ms. Kierkiewicz.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: I would like to make a note there was a
communication that was offered today. It's in your pinkie folder
Communication 390.1. It just submitted a little bit more information on the
Korean natural farming project from the Department of Research and
Development. I don't know if we need to amend Resolution 201 with this, but
it's just good information for everyone to have. I appreciate the department
putting this forward. With that, I haveClerk, do we need to amend the
resolution with the contents of the communication?
MR. HENRICKS: I think it's just informational.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Just informational?
MR. HENRICKS: Yeah, to help the Council with its deliberations.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I don't have any deliberations, but I
do appreciate the department putting this out. I yield, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go
ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I just want to mahalo Director Adams
and Glenn Sako, his team, for submitting this impact report because we, as a
Council, had initially approved funding to support this research last term. And so,
I appreciate the follow up and hope that we can continuously be in this habit of
getting impact reports so that we can see what the return on investment looks like.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
In looking at all the funding that we are going to be pushing out through R&D,
it's over $155,000 supporting food sustainability initiatives. So, I like the fact
that we're moving in this direction. The Mayor has hosted the Sustainability
Summit. Now we've got these TED talks, which is like Summit 2.0. And so, I
think we all get really excited about this talk-story, but we want to move into the
direction of"Let's put our money where our mouth is," and this is a step in that
direction. So,just appreciate R&D and all their efforts to move these initiatives
forward. Thanks, Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Seeing none, all
those in favor of approving Resolution 201-21,please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 201-21: The motion to adopt Res. 201-21 and Finance Committee
(Adopted) Report No. 77 was carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
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)
Approve: FC-78
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 202-21 and
Finance Committee Report No. 78. Seconded by
Ms. Lee Loy.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: I just want to make a funny note. I didn't
realize how much garlic we eat in our household. I know Glenn said the same
thing. But if this program took off, we're able to raise garlic here or grow garlic
here. I think this would be great for our County. So, I just appreciate everyone's
support. Mahalo.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of
approving Resolution 202-21, please say "aye."
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
Vote on Res. 202-21: The motion to adopt Res. 202-21 and Finance Committee
(Adopted) Report No. 78 was carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: I have a request. We're going to take a five-minute recess.
Okay? Thank you. We're in recess.
Recess: At 10:41 a.m., the Chair called for a recess.
Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 10:47 a.m.
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)
Approve: FC-79
Vote on Res. 203-21: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 203-21 and
(Adopted) Finance Committee Report No. 79. Seconded by Mr. Inaba
and carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy,
and Chair David—6.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Members Chung, Richards,
and Villegas —3.
Excused: None.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
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 project.
Reference: Comm. 393
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder
Approve: FC-80
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 204-21 and
Finance Committee Report No. 80. Seconded by
Mr. Inaba.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: I'm going to yield. This is more for your
district, some of your schools.
CHR. DAVID: I know.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: So, I am going to yield. And you were not
present at the meeting last time, but I'll let you speak on this one.
CHR. DAVID: Okay, thank you very much.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: I just really want to thank the Research and Development team
for these two definitely much-needed projects in my district, and just so grateful.
This is such an important project, so—and ask for your support. Anyone else?
Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I will be supporting this. I had an
opportunity to connect with Evan and his team. They're doing incredible stuff.
And so, I put them in touch with our recycling specialist at DEM
Sanne Berrig—and I asked if there was a way in which we could start to divert
some of the cardboard that's being delivered there to support the initiatives that
Evan and his team are doing in West Hawaii, South Hawaii, and around the
island. So, as soon as I hear more, I'll share with you folks because I love what
they're doing. It's decentralized. It's diverting waste from our waste stream.
And it's a way that, as one of the testifiers said, everybody can give back to `aina.
So, thank you for investing in our community. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Seeing none, all
those in favor of approving Resolution 204-21,please say "aye."
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
Vote on Res. 204-21: The motion to adopt Res. 204-21 and Finance Committee
(Adopted) Report No. 80 was carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy,
and Chair David—6.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Members Chung, Richards,
and Villegas —3.
Excused: None.
Res. 209-21: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A
DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED
FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO MA`ONA COMMUNITY
GARDEN TO ASSIST WITH EXPENSES RELATED TO ITS CARDBOARD
SHREDDING EVENTS IN COUNCIL DISTRICT 8
Transfers $2,000 from the Clerk-Council Services —Contingency Relief account
(Council District 8); and credits to the Department of Liquor Control, Public
Programs account.
Reference: Comm. 403
Intr. by: Mr. Inaba
Motion to Approve: Mr. Inaba moved to adopt Res. 209-21. Seconded by
Ms. Lee Loy.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Inaba.
MR. INABA: Thank you. Just ask for your support. These folks have already
gotten some of the activities going in North Kona and thankful for their
contribution to our community. Mahalo.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Anyone else? Before I take the vote, I
would really want to thank and say mahalo a nui to Chantal Chung who is the
founding member of Ma`ona in Honaunau, and she's been doing an excellent job.
And I really thank Shantee Brown and Evan Lam for actually carrying this on in
other districts because this is something very important, and they're doing really
good work down there. So, thank you for your support. All those in favor of
approving Resolution 210-21 [sic],please say "aye."
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
Vote on Res. 209-21: The motion to adopt Res. 209-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy,
and Chair David–6.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Members Chung, Richards,
and Villegas –3.
Excused: None.
MR. HENRICKS: That was 209.
CHR. DAVID: I'm sorry-209, I stand corrected. I'm moving forward too fast.
Now we're on 210.
Res. 210-21: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A
DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED
FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO MA`ONA COMMUNITY
GARDEN TO ASSIST WITH EXPENSES RELATED TO ITS CARDBOARD
SHREDDING EVENTS IN COUNCIL DISTRICT 6
Transfers $2,000 from the Clerk-Council Services –Contingency Relief account
(Council District 6); and credits to the Department of Liquor Control, Public
Programs account.
Reference: Comm. 404
Intr. by: Ms. David
Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Res. 210-21. Seconded by
Mr. Inaba.
CHR. DAVID: This isI'm going to hana hou what I just said for Mr. Inaba's
comments because I thought it was mine. We're both contributing to such a great
cause, and I appreciate your folks' support. All right, all those in favor of
approving Resolution 210-21, please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 210-21: The motion to adopt Res. 210-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy,
and Chair David–6.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Members Chung, Richards,
and Villegas –3.
Excused: None.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
Res. 213-21: AUTHORIZES THE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN
AGREEMENT WITH THE STATE OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF
DEFENSE, HAWAII EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
Allows for the receipt of$1,377,000 in Federally-derived funds, to be used to
purchase wastewater treatment facility generators.
Reference: Comm. 408
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 213-21.
Seconded by Mr. Inaba.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: This one is interesting and good, but
interesting. So, we have a grant. We have a matching $459,000 from the County.
I know we're in need of this kind of equipment. I am hoping someone from DEM
is here today to discuss this if the Council has any questions. I know we have
Deanna Sako here. We have someone on Zoom?
(Note: At this time, Environmental Management Director Ramzi Mansour
came forward to address the members of the Council, via
videoconferencing.)
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Ramzi there we go. Thank you for being
here today, Director. Can you hear us? Can we hear you? If you are talking, I
cannot hear you. Director? I think we're going to ask you to unmute if you can.
CHR. DAVID: Tell him to hit"star," "6" if he's on the phone.
MS. LEE LOY: "Star," "6" on the phone.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: "Star," "6" if you're on your phone, sir.
Okay. Well, you know what, Council Members, is there discussion on this? It is
a grant. Here's the County match. The equipment is needed. Chair, I'll yield for
now.
CHR. DAVID: Okay, thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Kimball, go
ahead.
MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, I do want to hear from DEM on this. This is a pretty
significant expenditure on our end for the matching funds, so I do want to know a
little bit more about what this is all about.
CHR. DAVID: There he is. There's Director.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MR. MANSOUR: Can you hear me? I'm sorry.
CHR. DAVID: Yes, we can now. Thank you.
MR. MANSOUR: Okay. Sorry. I had some difficulties, sorry.
CHR. DAVID: Ms. Kimball, go ahead.
MS. KIMBALL: Hi, Director. I just wanted to have you introduce this to us and
explain a little bit about the grant itself and the need for these generators.
MR. MANSOUR: Sure. Definitely. Thank you for the opportunity. This grant
was filed a few years back in trying to get some money to assist us in replacing
some of the generators to allow us to utilize these generators in case of
emergencies or force main breakage or sewer line spillings. So, the grant is to
allow us—it's going to be able to give us about four trailer-mounted generators to
service our waste treatment facilities—four of them—and the force mains.
And definitely with this equipment, we do need just to run our business in the
wastewater, and we appreciated that grant. And we're going to—once it's
approved, we're going to move forward and proceed with that position of these
generators. Thank you.
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Director. Will these be kept on-site at the
wastewater treatment facilities, or are you going to keep them in some other
location? I'm a little worried about security.
MR. MANSOUR: Yes. These will be located at each designated waste treatment
plant because they are funded to certain treatment plants. So, it's going to be
located at that facility.
MS. KIMBALL: Okay. What are your plans as far as ensuring their security at
those locations?
MR. MANSOUR: These waste treatment plants are secured. It has gates.
Nobody could come in unless somebody breaks through the chain-link fences.
But all our waste treatment facilities are secure with property fencing all the way
around it.
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Director. I appreciate the efforts to bring in these
needed pieces of equipment, and thanks for your answers to the questions. Chair,
I yield.
MR. MANSOUR: Thank you.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Anyone else? Mr. Kaneali`i-
Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Director, thank you for being here today.
The funding source from the County is bond, correct? It's what is listed on
here—or "other."
MR. MANSOUR: That's correct but I'll refer that to our Finance Director, I
think, if she's there.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Deanna, where are these funds coming
from?
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Council.)
MS. SAKO: So, this is the second or third one that these funds actually became
available because of the lava eruption back in 2018. Like every FEMA disaster,
then a mitigation portion is made available—and we actually applied for this
nearly two years ago. So, we are looking in to see if our $40-million loan from
the State can actually be used as a match, and if not, we'll put it in the next bond
ordinance.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So, funds from the 2018 eruption for
MS. SAKO: The mitigation funds that were made available because of the
2018 eruption.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: The mitigation funds.
MS. SAKO: That's why, you know, one of the things we learned from the lava
disaster is more and more of our equipment needing to be mobile and have
wheels. So, that's why the radio equipment that's being replaced, we're trying to
put it on a trailer or have it be mobile, as well as many of these generators.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And these generators, what's the size
of these generators?
MR. MANSOUR: They vary in size. Eric, our Deputy Chief, is going to be
working on making sure we get the right sizing. I think they may have limited the
size because different waste treatment plants have different sizes based on the
flow that comes to it and the electricity that it uses.
MS. SAKO: So, I don't know if you guys remember maybe a year ago when we
were having power issues with the building and there was a generator parked
down at the other end of the building. That would be an example of a mobile
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
generator. And I'm just not—they do have numerous sizes at Wastewater. So,
I'm just not sure if that's comparable to each one,but that's kind of similar to
what they'll be requiring.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then just to askI mean, we're
talking about 2018 hazard mitigation funds, but there's no sewers in Puna.
MS. SAKO: No, there's not.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Is it a stupid question or am I ?
MS. SAKO: No. Every one in the State, actually, could have applied for
mitigation funding.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay.
MS. SAKO: So, it all goes through HI-EMA, and it doesn't have to be related to
lava at all.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay.
MS. SAKO: But we are very fortunate that that was a large disaster so more
mitigation funding than normal was made available.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then again, we have the funds
for this $450,000?
MS. SAKO: We either are going to use the $40 million if it's allowed by the
terms of the agreement, or we will put it in the upcoming bond ordinance.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Okay, thank you, Deanna. Thank
you, Director.
MS. SAKO: And this is one of several projects. I think there was one maybe last
time, and there'll be some more coming up.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you, Deanna.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Kierkiewicz and then
Ms. Kimball.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Deanna, clarify the question. So, this
1.8 from HI-EMA, my understanding was we had an allocation of about 6 million
for HAZMAT (hazardous materials). Is that a completely different funding pot?
Because, isn't there a plan being worked on for hazard mitigation that's due later
this year?
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MS. SAKO: Yes, there are numerous different funding streams.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MS. SAKO: So, there's the HUD (United States Department of Housing and
Urban Development) hazard mitigation that's also being on right now.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I see. Got it.
MS. SAKO: And then, each FEMA disaster there's also funding made available.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: To the entire region.
MS. SAKO: Region, yeah. Wherever.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Or regions that experience disasters in that Federally-
declared year.
MS. SAKO: Yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. That makes sense. I'm going to push back a little
bit on using 40 million that's dedicated to supporting Puna's recovery.
MS. SAKO: No, that's why we saidI mean, and we're looking to see the exact
terms. That money has been set aside for the match from FEMA. That's what
(inaudible) that was originally given for. And then FEMA didn't come through
and give as much money as we initially anticipated. So, we're just seeing what's
available.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Anticipated for what?
MS. SAKO: Like the parks and whatnot. I think it's been previously reported
that what we applied for and what was granted by FEMA was much less,
especially relating to parks.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. So, even with roads and water system, 40 million is
still there's going to be they're seeing leftover.
MS. SAKO: Yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Potentially.
MS. SAKO: Potentially. We're just looking at all of our funding sources. And
like I said, if not, it'll be in the next bond ordinance.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I mean, I hear you but I would rather look to other sources
just for transparency for community.
MS. SAKO: And that's fine. We can just ensure it's in the next ordinance.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah. And I would rather work with the Legislature or
Budget and Finance to revise that 40 million so that all of it can stay to support
the Puna community. Thank you.
MS. SAKO: And I think it is worded that way. It's just that it's for the various
matching of all the various Federal dollars.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah. I can appreciate the County wanting to be
resourceful, but I just have to protect the pot of money that we worked really hard
to secure for Puna.
MS. SAKO: Yeah. So, we'll just go with it in the next ordinance.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Ms. Kimball, go ahead.
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. Just one clarifying question: Given the locations of
where these will be and the fact that they're mobile, are the
MS. SAKO: Four of them are mobile.
MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, four of them are mobile. Are we able to relocate them to
other County facilities in the event of an emergency situation, or does the
agreement require that they've only got to be used for Wastewater?
MS. SAKO: I don't know that I looked at the agreement that detailed. Ramzi, do
you know if they can be utilized?
MR. MANSOUR: I also have not, to be honest with you, read it in detail. The
reason we got them mobile also was because these sewer pump stations are not
located within the facility. Therefore, we have to hook it to a truck and take it to
the pump stations. So, they allow us to move them from a waste treatment plant
to a pump station location.
MS. SAKO: Yeah so, I mean, definitely in times of disaster we've moved
generators where we've needed them, especially like the Civil Defense
generators. And then, the Wastewater generators have been moved to the
appropriate pump station or plant that's been in need.
MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, that's what I would expect, is
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MS. SAKO: But DEM has also been very generous, like when they loaned one to
us for when we had our problems here at the building. So, definitely DEM's
always been a team player with their generators.
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, DEM. Yeah, and then just looking at where these
are going to be installed, one of the concerns I always have for Hamakua is the
individual communities being isolated by a bridge closure. And so, knowing that
they'll be distributed in some of those areas and then we could potentially tap into
that would be helpful. Thank you. I yield, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I'm going to be voting "no" on this
today at first reading. And if we can get the Finance Director to come back to us
at second reading and just make assurances that money reserved for Puna will not
be used, then I'll be supporting the measure. Completely appreciate that this is
happening and want to make sure that these investments are made at our treatment
facilities, but not at the expense of the Puna community. So, thank you for
understanding. I yield.
MS. SAKO: So,just to clarify my earlier comment, after you said that I believe I
did say I'll ensure it's in the next bond ordinance. So, I believe I already stated
that. So, I just want to clarify because I don't want there being any misreporting
in the press.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. I will be voting "yes." Thank you, Director, for
making that clear for the record. I appreciate it.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Sako. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, thank you. This is listed on your
capital improvement sheet, or your "Project Data/Financial Impact Statement," as
a medium urgency. How many generators do you have currently?
MR. MANSOUR: Currently, we don't—some of the generators we have are not
functioning and we are limited. I don't have the exact number, but I know we
have that's why we put it as a replacement. But we were fortunate to hear back
from FEMA on these projects and these generators to get us back.
As you guys recall with the Hilo treatment plant, we had a consultant just
finalizing the assessment and we had a 17 percent life span on that facility. We
definitely need the generators to keep it going.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Do you know how many generators each
currently have?
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MR. MANSOUR: Not at this moment, no. I can you mean along the entire
island or just—? Each facility, by Code we have to have generators on standby in
case we have electricity outage. But the life span of that generator and the
assessment of it, I don't have. But each facility is supposed to have generators on
standby because it's mandated.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay.
MR. MANSOUR: But what happened is like Hilo, it's a 35-year-old plant. So,
that generator has never been replaced or changed.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So, you have on here there's eight
facilities that are listed.
MR. MANSOUR: Yeah. So, we have seven treatment plants that, by Code, we
have to have generators. Force pump station force main pump station also has
to have generators on standby. So, most of these generators, the life span already
passed through, and that's why we're getting these to replace the ones that already
are on its last breath.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. What happens to the old generators?
MR. MANSOUR: We're going to definitely find the right way to dispose of them
because they're not functioning, unless we could work with the community
somebody's because it has to go through either public auction or other
departments if they could bring them back to life and put the right equipment and
parts into it. But some of them we cannot even—they're outdated. We cannot
even find parts for them.
MS. SAKO: So, County Code has a process for how we dispose of all of our
equipment. And so, basically what Ramzi is saying is we're not sure we can
bring them to life. But just like our old vehicles that actually may be dead, dead,
dead, we still auction them off, and they do have value to other people who are
looking for those parts. They may have a semi-working generator, and they can
combine the two to get them to work. But we definitely will work with the other
County departments first to see if they have value or need to them.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's perfect. Good. Thank you, Chair, I
yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? Seeing
none, thank you, Director, for being here and, Ms. Sako, again also. All those in
favor of approving Resolution 213-21, please say "aye."
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
Vote on Res. 213-21: The motion to adopt Res. 213-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
Res. 214-21: AUTHORIZES THE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO
AGREEMENTS WITH THE HAWAII EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
AGENCY
Allows for the receipt of$1 million in Federally-derived funds, to be used for costs
associated with the Mana Road fire that occurred in August 2021.
Reference: Comm. 409
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 214-21.
Seconded by Mr. Inaba.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: I just wanted to say I appreciate the Chief
coming here today and just really discussing the importance of these funds, but
also what the department has done and their needs. And I do apologize to the
Council for asking Chair to take Bill 73 before hearing this resolution because
they tie in. But with that said, there was a lot on the agenda, and I just appreciate
the Chief coming down and telling us what's going on. So, I look for everyone's
support.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? Seeing
none, all those in favor of approving Resolution 214-21, please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 214-21: The motion to adopt Res. 214-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
Res. 215-21: AUTHORIZES THE ACCEPTANCE OF A DONATION OF ANIMAL
CONTROL SUPPLIES AND EQUIPMENT TO THE HAWAII POLICE
DEPARTMENT
The donation from Greater Good Charities, valued at approximately $55,000,
would be used for animal control services.
Reference: Comm. 410
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 215-21.
Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Chair, in front of us we have a sizable
donation from greater goods, and this was waived to Council to expedite the
movement and the donation. If there's any questions by the Council, I'd be
interested but I yield for now. I think this is a great opportunity for our Council.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing none, I just want to say mahalo
nui to Greater Good Charities for this donation. So, all those in favor of
approving Resolution 215-21, please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 215-21: The motion to adopt Res. 215-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
Res. 219-21: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A
DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED
FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO THE DANIEL R. SAYRE
MEMORIAL FOUNDATION TO PURCHASE WATER HOSE
ATTACHMENTS FOR THE HAWAII FIRE DEPARTMENT
Transfers $865.97 from the Clerk-Council Services —Contingency Relief account
(Council District 3); and credits to the Hawaii Fire Department, Fire Protection-
Other Current Expenses.
Reference: Comm. 414
Intr. by: Ms. Lee Loy
Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Res. 219-21. Seconded by
Mr. Inaba.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy.
MS. LEE LOY: I just ask for my colleagues' support.
CHR. DAVID: Mr. Chung.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, I wanted to thank Ms. Lee Loy and also Mr. Richards for a
similar resolution. But I have a question. This resolutionI'm kind of reading
it—it says that these contingency relief funds will be appropriated to the Fire
Department—well, it will go into a designated account to the Sayre Foundation
for the Fire Department. I'm just wondering how come it doesn't go straight to
the Fire Department. I mean—and thank the Sayres for initiating or something.
It's kind of like a convoluted process, right.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you for that question. This is related to the Mana Road
fire, and it was actually an emergency purchase that the Sayre Foundation actually
went ahead and purchased this pump for the community. And so, this was our
way of kind of bridging that gap. The Sayre Foundation really stepped up with
the purchase immediately when the community needed it.
MR. CHUNG: So, that is like reimbursing them. Oh, that's terrific. That's
correct?
MS. SAKO (from audience): That's my understanding.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, okay, that explains everything. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you for that, Mr. Chung, and, Ms. Lee Loy, for that
explanation. That's a great way of doing it. All right, anyone else? Seeing none,
all those in favor of approving Resolution 219-21,please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 219-21: The motion to adopt Res. 219-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David–7.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Members Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder
and Richards –2.
Excused: None.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
Res. 222-21: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A
DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED
FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO THE DANIEL R. SAYRE
MEMORIAL FOUNDATION TO PURCHASE WATER HOSE
ATTACHMENTS FOR THE HAWAII FIRE DEPARTMENT
Transfers $865.97 from the Clerk-Council Services –Contingency Relief account
(Council District 9); and credits to the Hawaii Fire Department, Fire Protection-
Other Current Expenses.
Reference: Comm. 418
Intr. by: Mr. Richards
Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Res. 222-21. Seconded by
Mr. Inaba.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy.
MS. LEE LOY: This was a partnership between myself and Mr. Richards.
Actually, the total cost was $1,700, and so we decided to split the amount. But
with that, I did want to ask Ms. Sako: Earlier today, we saw Resolution 214 and
then Bill 73, and I'm just wondering if these are the types of costs that could be
folded into the million dollars that was being secured.
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Council.)
MS. SAKO: So, that FEMA FMAG grant for the Mana Road fire is a little
different than our typical FEMA grants, and so it is to specifically fight the fire.
But of course we will explore all options of getting reimbursed.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you for that. And just for my colleagues, this particular
purchase—in Puukapu, they have a very rural water system, and the water
trucks—our fire trucks weren't able to connect. It's just different sized holes and
different sized pipes. And hopefully in the future we can begin to coordinate
21/2-inch pipes and the pumps that go with it.
But this purchase actually was that adaptor piece for the residents of Puukapu to
begin to fill a water truck that was donated by a private construction industry so
that as our firefighters moved over to Waikoloa, they could actually still begin or
still continue to fight the fire in Puukapu with this connector with a donated
private water truck. And it really did provide a lot of peace of mind for them,
especially in the evenings when the wind just really picks up in Puukapu.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
And so I do appreciate, Deanna, if we could look at how we can maybe get that
reimbursed through that grant, and then put you in touch with the residents of
Puukapu who did volunteer a lot during that fire. So, Chair, thank you. I yield
and I do appreciate everyone's support.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those
in favor of approving Resolution 222-21,please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 222-21: The motion to adopt Res. 222-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—7.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Members Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder
and Richards —2.
Excused: None.
BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Bills for
ORDINANCES Ordinances (First Reading).
(FIRST READING):
(Note: Items in this category were taken up previously, out of order.)
Bill 66: AMENDS CHAPTER 15, ARTICLE 7, SECTION 15-63, OF THE HAWAII
COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO THE
VETERANS ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Replaces "chairman" and "vice chairman"with"chairperson" and "vice
chairperson" and requires the chairperson to have served in the United States
Uniformed Services.
Reference: Comm. 386
Intr. by: Mr. Inaba and Ms. Lee Loy
Approve: PRPSC-19
Motion to Approve: Mr. Inaba moved to pass Bill 66 on first reading and adopt
Parks and Recreation and Public Safety Committee Report
No. 19. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Inaba.
MR. INABA: Yeah, thank you. We had some discussion about this in
Committee. And as Mr. Clerk kind of read it, it's a very simple bill;just changing
to be more inclusive and to ensure that, due to a potential increase in size of the
committee with non-service members, that the chairperson of this advisory
committee be a former service member for the United States Uniformed Services.
So, we look forward to your support. Mahalo.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
CHR. DAVID: Mahalo, Mr. Inaba. Ms. Lee Loy, anything to add? Seeing none,
all those in favor of approving Bill 66 at first reading, please say "aye."
Vote on Bill 66: The motion to pass Bill 66 on first reading and adopt Parks
(Approved) and Recreation and Public Safety Committee Report No. 19
was carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David–7.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Members Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder
and Richards –2.
Excused: None.
Bill 71: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 21-38, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING
BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDING JUNE 30, 2022
Appropriates revenues in the Federal –Rural Placemaking Innovation Challenge
account($225,000); and appropriates the same to the Rural Placemaking
Innovation Challenge account. Funds would be used to provide technical
assistance and capacity building for community collaboration in implementing the
Kilauea Recovery and Resilience Plan.
Reference: Comm. 407
Intr. by: Ms. Kierkiewicz
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to pass Bill 71 on first reading.
Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I have nothing to add. This is the
companion measure to Resolution 212-21, which we adopted earlier. So,just
asking everyone for their continued support. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. And I wanted to save my time to congratulate
Ms. Kierkiewicz for her hustle this is straight hustle—of securing these funds,
but also as Ms. Kimball mentioned, teach us how. I think when you applied for
this grant, it's also going to be very valuable to us in our grant-in-aid process and
how we set that up in a very electronic format. So,just hinting at some good
things to come from our nonprofit grant-in-aid committee. But again,
congratulations, Ms. Kierkiewicz.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy, and congratulations, Ms. Kierkiewicz,
also. Go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair, I just wanted to add,while this money is absolutely
supporting Puna in its recovery and resilience, what this does is it unlocks
additional resources for our County. There's a lot of funding through USDA.
And with this direct connection to them, this is huge for all of Hawaii Island. So,
take a look at what needs to happen in your communities and let's start working
together in partnership with community to secure more Federal dollars because
they're out there. Thank you. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Seeing none, all
those in favor of approving Bill 71 at first reading,please say "aye."
Vote on Bill 71: The motion to pass Bill 71 on first reading was carried by
(Approved) the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—6.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
and Richards —3.
Excused: None.
Bill 72: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 21-39, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO PUBLIC
IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
JULY 1, 2021, TO JUNE 30, 2022
Adds the following Environmental Management Wastewater Treatment Facilities,
Generators projects to the Capital Budget: Federal Emergency Management
Agency ($1,377,000) and County ($459,000). Funds for this project shall be
provided from General Obligation Bonds, Capital Projects Fund—Fund Balance
and/or Other Sources ($459,000) and Federal Grants Receivable ($1,377,000), to
be used to purchase wastewater treatment facility generators.
Reference: Comm. 408
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
Note: Requires 2/3 vote of the entire
membership to amend,pursuant to
Section 10-6(e), Hawai`i County Charter
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 72 on first
reading. Seconded by Ms. Kimball.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Thank you for the second, Ms. Kimball. I
do have some questions about this I'd have to say. I'll be following up with the
Director for a list of generators we currently have. I know this is a grant. It's a
County match as well. Just looking to understand the importance of this for our
County. With that, I yield, Chair. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? Seeing
none, all those in favor of approving Bill 72 at first reading,please say "aye."
Vote on Bill 72: The motion to pass Bill 72 on first reading was carried by
(Approved) the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
ORDER OF The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Order of
THE DAY the Day (Second or Final Reading).
(SECOND OR
FINAL READING):
Bill 62: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 21-38, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING
BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDING JUNE 30, 2022
Increases revenues in the Federal —Area Plan on Aging account($1,327,797); and
appropriates the same to the Area Plan on Aging account. Funds would be used to
provide services outlined in the Older Americans Act of 1965 with a focus on
alleviating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on seniors.
Reference: Comm. 367
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
First Reading: September 22, 2021
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 62 on second
and final reading. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: I was just actually discussing this with
Mr. Farr. He's been outside this morning waiting patiently. I just wanted to say
mahalo for waiting. And he did say this funding is incredibly important for our
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
seniors, and they're doing all they can to utilize this funding to its utmost. So,
look forward to everyone's support and just wanted to appreciate him in waiting
and being patient outside.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. And, yes, thank you for
his patience. I didn't realize he was waiting outside. If not, I would have taken
this up sooner. Okay, all those in favor of approving Bill 62 at second and final
reading, please say "aye."
Vote on Bill 62: The motion to pass Bill 62 on second and final reading was
(Adopted) carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
Bill 63: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 21-38, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING
BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDING JUNE 30, 2022
Appropriates revenues in the Federal —Community Development Block Grant
Disaster Recovery Supplemental 2 account($23,720,000); and appropriates the
same to the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery
Supplemental 2 account. Funds would be primarily used to support disaster relief
and long-term recovery related to the 2018 Kilauea eruption.
Reference: Comm. 369
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
First Reading: September 22, 2021
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 63 on second
and final reading. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: There was good discussion at Committee
and at previous Council with our recovery team on this item. I look forward to
everyone's support. I yield, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. This is an additional tranche of funding
to support the Voluntary Housing Buyout Program that's currently being
administered by the recovery team. I've asked them to come before Council next
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
year to give us a full accounting on how these funds will be spent. I think there is
still questions in community lingering around: If there's leftover HUD money
from this program, what is it going to be programmed for? So, we'll have time
and space for community to kind of weigh in and for us to answer questions as
well.
Again, this is one of the largest Federal, if not the largest, Federal allocation
we've received as a County. So, really important that we stay on this and ensure
that every dollar is well spent because if we want to go after other Federal funds,
they're going to be looking at how this program was administered. So, fully
support this and looking for my colleagues' support as well. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Seeing none, all
those in favor of approving Bill 63 at second and final reading,please say "aye."
Vote on Bill 63: The motion to pass Bill 63 on second and final reading was
(Adopted) carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
Bill 67: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 21-38, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING
BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDING JUNE 30, 2022
Appropriates revenues in the Federal —Hazard Mitigation Grant Program—
Hawai`i Police Department account($162,190.50); and appropriates the same to
the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program —Hawai`i Police Department account.
Funds would be used for drainage improvements to mitigate flooding impact to the
Police Department's Public Safety Building located at 349 Kapiolani Street.
Reference: Comm. 396
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
First Reading: September 22, 2021
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
Vote on Bill 67: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 67 on second
(Adopted) and final reading. Seconded by Ms. Villegas and carried
by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
Bill 68: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 21-38, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING
BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDING JUNE 30, 2022
Appropriates revenues in the Federal —2021 Hawaii Island Homeowner
Assistance Program —Administration account($39,500); and appropriates the
same to the 2021 Hawaii Island Homeowner Assistance Program —
Administration account. Funds would be used to implement a homeowner
assistance fund program for households impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reference: Comm. 398
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder
First Reading: September 22, 2021
Vote on Bill 68: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 68 on second
(Adopted) and final reading. Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried by
the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
Bill 69: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 21-38, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING
BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDING JUNE 30, 2022
Increases revenues in the Federal Grants —Rural Transit Assistance Program
account($20,000); and appropriates the same to the Rural Transit Assistance
Program account, for a total appropriation of$30,000. Funds would be used by
Mass Transit staff to attend the Zero Emission Bus Conference.
Reference: Comm. 399
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder
First Reading: September 22, 2021
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 69 on second
and final reading. Seconded by Mr. Inaba.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Our interim director, Mr. Andoh, discussed
with us briefly,just post-Council meeting,just how important this was and why.
Although it's training and travel, it's really specific to them getting ahead of this
zero emissions bus, which is a requirement for our State and the direction that
we're heading. So, I just appreciate him just explaining what it's for and getting
passed. Training and travel, it's not for fun; it's really to get us ahead of the
curve. So, I appreciate what he's doing for our County as a whole, and I think
he's doing a great job. Thank you, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? Seeing
none, all those in favor of approving Bill 69 at second and final reading,please
say "aye."
Vote on Bill 69: The motion to pass Bill 69 on second and final reading was
(Adopted) carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
Bill 70: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 21-38, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING
BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDING JUNE 30, 2022
Appropriates revenues in the Federal —Hazard Mitigation Grant Program—
Climate Change Adaptation account($75,000); and appropriates the same to the
Hazard Mitigation Grant Program—Climate Change Adaptation account. Funds
would be used to identify climate change impacts and develop mitigation
measures, action priorities, and an implementation plan.
Reference: Comm. 400
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder
First Reading: September 22, 2021
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 70 on second
and final reading. Seconded by Ms. Villegas.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I don't have any further discussion. This is
incredibly important and I just mahalo our departments for getting ahead of the
curve, like I said previously. Thank you, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of
approving Bill 70 at second and final reading, please say "aye."
Vote on Bill 70: The motion to pass Bill 70 on second and final reading was
(Adopted) carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
REPORTS: The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Reports.
PC-30 NOMINATION OF MELISSA LEILANI DEMELLO TO THE PUNA
(Comm. 383): COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE
Requires Council
Confirmation by: October 16, 2021 (Section 13-4(k),
Hawaii County Charter)
Vote on PC-30: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Planning Committee Report
(Adopted) No. 30. Seconded by Ms. Villegas and carried by the
following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
PC-31 NOMINATION OF KANOE WILSON TO THE PUNA COMMUNITY
(Comm. 384): DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE
Requires Council
Confirmation by: October 16, 2021 (Section 13-4(k),
Hawaii County Charter)
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Hawaii County Council-24 October 6,2021
Vote on PC-31: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to adopt Planning Committee
(Adopted) Report No. 31. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy and carried by
the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
PC-32 NOMINATION OF FAYLENE MAHINA PAISHON-DUARTE TO THE
(Comm. 385): LEEWARD PLANNING COMMISSION
Requires Council
Confirmation by: October 16, 2021 (Section 13-4(k),
Hawaii County Charter)
Motion to Approve: Mr. Inaba moved to adopt Planning Committee Report
No. 32. Seconded by Ms. Villegas.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Inaba.
MR. INABA: I ask for our continued support for this nominee to the Leeward
Planning Commission. Mahalo.
CHR. DAVID: Mahalo. Ms. Villegas, go ahead.
MS. VILLEGAS: Super excited. Super grateful. And really looking forward to
having her as a member on this important commission and her continued
leadership and guidance in our community in this capacity.
CHR. DAVID: Mahalo, Ms. Villegas. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in
favor of approving the nomination of Faylene Mahina Paishon-Duarte to the
Leeward Planning Commission, please say "aye."
Vote on PC-32: The motion to adopt Planning Committee Report No. 32
(Adopted) was carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards — 1.
Excused: None.
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Hawai`i County Council-24 October 6,2021
REFERRALS FOR The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Referrals
EXECUTIVE for Executive Session.
SESSION:
(There were none.)
OTHER The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Other
BUSINESS: Business.
(There were none.)
ANNOUNCE- The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business,
MENTS: Announcements.
(There were none.)
CHR. DAVID: I believe we've gotten to the end of our agenda.
MR. HENRICKS: The slate is clean.
CHR. DAVID: The slate is clean. Awesome.
ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 11:33 a.m., Ms. Lee Loy moved to adjourn the
MENT: meeting. Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair David— 8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Richards— 1.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, everyone. We are adjourned.
Council Approval: NOV 0 3 2021
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