HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN COUNCIL 2021-11-03 2020-2022 Hawaii County Council
261h Session
Hawaii County Building
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii
November 3, 2021
INVOCATION: Reverend Katlin McCallister of Church of the Holy Apostles gave the morning's
invocation.
CALL TO The regular meeting of the Hawaii County Council was called to order at
ORDER: 1:00 p.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 (via videoconference)
Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member(in-person and via videoconference)
Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member
Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member
Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member
Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member (came in later)
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-26 November 3,2021
Colehour Bondera: Res. 223-21 (Comm. 421), in support.
(representing Kona Coffee (See Comm. 421.9)
Farmers Association)
Bruce Corker: Res. 223-21 (Comm. 421), in support.
(See Comm. 421.11)
James Monk: Res. 223-21 (Comm. 421), in support.
(representing Kona Coffee (See Comm. 421.17)
Farmers Association)
Roger Kaiwi: Res. 223-21 (Comm. 421), in opposition.
(representing Kona Coffee Council (See Comm. 421.13)
and Hawaii Coffee in Kona)
Rabbi Rachel Short: Res. 259-21 (Comm. 484), 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 October 6,
of Minutes: 2021. Seconded by Mr. Richards and carried by the
(Approved) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business,
CATIONS: Communications.
Comm. 459: NOMINATION OF LEHUANANI AH NEE TO THE REDISTRICTING
COMMISSION
From Mayor Mitchell D. Roth, dated October 14, 2021, requesting the Council's
review and confirmation.
Waived: GOREDC
Requires Council
Confirmation by: November 28, 2021 (Section 134(k),
Hawaii County Charter)
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to confirm the appointment of
Ms. Lehuanani Ah Nee to the Redistricting Commission.
Seconded by Mr. Inaba.
(Note: At this time, Executive Assistant to the Mayor Pomaika`i
Bartolome and nominee Lehuanani Ah Nee came forward to address the
members of the Council.)
Vote on The motion to confirm the appointment of Ms. Lehuanani
Comm. 459: Ah Nee to the Redistricting Commission was carried by the
(Approved) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
(Council Members spoke in favor of the appointment and Chair David thanked
Ms. Ah Nee for her dedication.)
CHR. DAVID: Unanimous confirmation. Congratulations, Ms. Ah Nee. You
have been confirmed to the Redistricting Commission, and thank you for being
here. All right.
MS. AH NEE: Mahalo nui.
CHR. DAVID: Can we move on to the "Order of Resolutions," 223-21? And
then, I'm going to take three other bills out of order, okay. Thank you.
ORDER OF The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Order of
RESOLUTIONS: Resolutions.
Res. 223-21: URGES THE HAWAII STATE LEGISLATURE TO AMEND COFFEE
LABELING REQUIREMENTS FOR BLENDS OF GEOGRAPHICALLY
NAMED HAWAII-GROWN COFFEE
Seeks amendments to State law to increase the minimum amount of Hawai`i-
grown coffee from 10 to 51 percent and to identify the geographic origin and
corresponding percentage of coffee grown outside of Hawaii in blended coffees
labeled as Hawaii-grown.
Reference: Comm. 421
Intr. by: Mr. Inaba
Approve: GOREDC-17
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
Motion to Approve: Mr. Inaba moved to adopt Res. 223-21 and Governmental
Operations, Relations and Economic Development
Committee Report No. 17. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Inaba.
MR. INABA: Thank you. I think we had a pretty meaningful discussion in
committees two weeks ago. And in light of testimony that we received today, I
think it's beneficial to our farmers who are strictly farmers to have this resolution
passed. And as we know, it's a step in the right direction, and I just ask for your
continued support in getting this resolution passed. And as one of our testifiers
shared, I will be reaching out beyond the transmittal of this resolution, if approved
by the Council, to our legislators at the State so that we can hopefully actually see
some action here. So, thank you very much.
CHR. DAVID: Mahalo for that, Mr. Inaba. Anyone else?
Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder? Ms. Kierkiewicz?
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I would like to say something.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to thank
Mr. Inaba for bringing this forward. I mean, you've obviously touched a chord
with the community in Kona. I think it's a long time in coming for this ask. And
Mr. Chung was very strong in his comment to just say, "Just go for it to the
100 percent level," and I have to agree. And I would hope the Legislature
watches these videos and understands the resolution.
And one of the testifiers did comment, "It's a resolution,"but resolutions can
speak for the community and the Council and really push the Legislature to do
more. So, congratulations and good job and well-done inputting this resolution
forward. And I hope the Legislature is listening and hears the want from the
community for this. And just a good job overall. Mahalo. Thank you, Chair, I
yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. I'm going to go to
Mr. Richards and then Mr. Chung. Mr. Richards.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, I've got the floor, right?
CHR. DAVID: Yes.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. First of all, thanks, Chair, and thank you, Mr. Inaba.
This is all about agriculture. And I can appreciate some of the comments made
concerning the business aspect, but this is what we're talking about: The business
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
aspect of agriculture. As everybody on this Council knows, I've paid very close
attention to agriculture and studying ag (agriculture) economics, the economy of
agriculture. There are sectors that, in the 1970s, received about 30 cents on the
dollar of the retail dollar back to the farmer/ranch. Today, it's about 16 cents. So,
it's been cut in half.
And if agriculture is going to survive, we have to get more of the retail dollar
back to the actual commodity producer, whether it's coffee, banana, taro, cattle
doesn't matter. And so, this is a step in the right direction. Now, I'm mindful of
the business side, but this is the business side. If we want generational
agriculture, we have to support generational agriculture. So, well-done, Holeka.
Right on. Chair, I'm definitely supporting and I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Mr. Chung, you want to go? You
want to go first? Okay, he'll defer to you. Thank you.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. And I, too, want to congratulate Mr. Inaba for
advancing this resolution. And actually, we have our agricultural expert and our
farmers, but I do just want to speak specifically to what makes Hawaii special
and Kona special. And it hurts a little that people will capitalize on our special
places. And what you're doing, Mr. Inaba, is keeping that for us and keeping that
for our moku, for our island, and for our generations. So, I will be supporting this
resolution wholeheartedly. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Chung, go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Of course I support this; 1100 percent support it. But I don't
know if I saidI think I'm going to have to check the recordI don't think I
suggested that 100 percent of the coffee be used in order to qualify for this. I
think you said that, right?
CHR. DAVID: I did.
MR. CHUNG: But two speakers attribute it to me too. I think I just said, "I
support you hundred percent." Yeah. Just wanted to correct the record, yeah.
CHR. DAVID: Duly noted. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair?
CHR. DAVID: Oh, go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Thanks for hollering out; we
can't see you that's why.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, thank you. No worries. I just wanted to mahalo nui
Council Member Inaba. Congratulations on this. I'm going to be supporting it
wholeheartedly. I appreciate you advocating for the farmers in your community
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
because they work incredibly hard to maintain integrity of their product. So,
happy to do what I can on the State side to be advocating for this at the State
Legislature this coming session. Thank you, Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Seeing none, okay
then I'm going to—for the record, I was the one that said, "If it's not a hundred
percent then it's not Kona." And this is a great step. Mahalo, Mr. Inaba, coming
from coffee farmers like yourself, your family, and mine.
The economics that Mr. Richards spoke of, we need to keep our family farmers
doing coffee. The family farmers that have been totally eliminated from keeping
up with the generational farming due to cost, due to the expense of taking care of
the bugs and all the diseases that they have to work with, and then the price per
pound for selling their coffee, $2 will not even pay you back for your labor. I'm
sorry. That doesn't translate. Two dollars a pound will not do it, will not cover it.
And after you processI wish everybody could process and get 40, 50 bucks a
pound because that's what coffee goes for right now. But our local small farmers
cannot do that because it's too cost-prohibitive for them except large processors.
So, thank you, Mr. Inaba, and I hope we get to see more coffee farmers getting
back into farming and support our agriculture that way. So, all those in favor of
approving Resolution 223-21, please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 223-21: The motion to adopt Res. 223-21 and Governmental
(Adopted) Operations, Relations and Economic Development
Committee Report No. 17 was carried by the following
voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David–9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much. Now, can we just move to Bills 86, 87,
and 88 because we have Police Department personnel here?
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-26 November 3,2021
Bill 86: 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 —Hawai`i County Police Department
Roadblock Program account($64,917.10); and appropriates the same to the
Hawaii County Police Department Roadblock Program account, for a total
appropriation of$424,917.10. Funds would be used to reduce the number of
drivers operating a vehicle while impaired.
Reference: Comm. 468
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 86 on first
reading. Seconded by Mr. Richards.
CHR. DAVID: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: The bill is very straightforward. It's our
first reading at Council. I believe we have someone from the department here.
CHR. DAVID: Yes, we do.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Okay.
CHR. DAVID: I will ask.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: If you could.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead. Thank you.
(Note: At this time, Program Manager Torey Keltner, Police Department,
came forward to address the members of the Council.)
CHR. DAVID: Would you please identify yourself for the record?
MR. KELTNER: Gladly.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you.
MR. KELTNER: Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the Council. My name
is Torey Keltner. I'm the Program Manager of Traffic Services for the Hawaii
Police Department.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Would you just explain this Federal grant? It's self-
explanatory but I want to give you an opportunity to maybe just
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
MR. KELTNER: Yeah, gladly. As we all know, the enforcement of impaired
driving is critically important to the safety of the community here on the
Big Island. Unfortunately, we've seen an uptick in the number of fatalities we've
had over the last year. At the Hawai`i Police Department, we take it very
seriously. This is an avenue for us to have an impact. Some of the increase in
funding that we've asked for is that we're actually increasing the number of
operations so that we'll have more officers out in larger quantities and higher
numbers.
And one of the things that we did is a study was conducted withI guess it was
two years ago now—identifying what roads we have in the County where there's
high fatalities, high injury crashes. And those also were areas where we were
finding that we'd get higher numbers of impaired driving. And so, those are the
focus of where we're going to be doing a lot of these, also into the tributaries that
feed into them so that we can get to those before they get to an area where crashes
occur commonly. So, that is kind of the crux of the majority of the increase in
that.
As you see in there, there's many different forms of training that we'll be sending
officers and staff from the Police Department to. One of the things that we're
proud of, this last year we actually hosted and staffed a DRE instructor school.
And DRE is a Drug Recognition Expert school. It wasn't just that we trained
DRE officers; we actually trained the instructors here on the island, and that was
held over in Kona. And we had officers that were advanced instructors that
participated in that. We actually brought in instructors from the other counties to
help fund it and help make sure that we had everything that we need to do to get it
done. And that's a big part of what we can do with this.
Unfortunately, we do see fairly significant numbers of people that are impaired
both with alcohol and drugs—medications and illegal drugs, both. And so,
providing officers that kind of training to go along with the ARIDE(Advanced
Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement) training, which is another drug
recognition course that really helps them identify the people that have committed
those kinds of offenses and so they can actually investigate and thoroughly do
that.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you so much. Questions, Council Members?
Ms. Kierkiewicz, you have any questions?
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: No, Chair, but I do want to mahalo Torey for all of the
hard work that he does for the department. He manages a number of programs.
So,just appreciate his constant hustle for our County. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Mahalo. Ms. Villegas, go ahead.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah,just a quick question. Vice on the Kona side, were they
involved in this training? Members from the Vice Department? Or how does
that—?
MR. KELTNER: This is typically for patrol officers.
MS. VILLEGAS: Patrol officers, okay.
MR. KELTNER: Yeah, we do have officers in crossover things at times, but this
is particularly for officers that are going to be out in traffic involved in that. Now,
there are many times where they do work together. If there's a case or something
out there, that information is particularly with the supervisors. They definitely
work together to get things taken care of.
MS. VILLEGAS: Good flow between. And it's so interesting that this is such a
prevalent issue. I mean, obviously drunk driving has been decades of work on
this. But as we, as a country and a state and a county navigating the opioid crisis
and other pharmaceutical drugs and how that can affect people, not just illegal
narcotics and whatnot. So, thank you for bringing our County up to this standard
of excellence and providing the training for our officers that's so necessary for
them to do the job and stay safe and keep our community safe. I appreciate it.
MR. KELTNER: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Anyone else? Seeing none, well thank
you, Mr. Kelder, yeah?
MR. KELTNER Keltner, yes.
CHR. DAVID: Keltner. Thank you.
MR. KELTNER: Yes, ma'am.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you for being here. All right, Council Members, all those
in favor of approving Bill 86 at first reading,please say "aye."
Vote on Bill 86: The motion to pass Bill 86 on first reading was carried by
(Approved) the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David–9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
Bill 87: 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 —Distracted Driving Project account
($97,880.80); and appropriates the same to the Hawaii County Police
Department's Distracted Driving Project account, for a total appropriation of
$171,880.80. Funds would be used to reduce the number of drivers using
electronic devices while operating a vehicle.
Reference: Comm. 469
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 87 on first
reading. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy.
(Note: At this time, Program Manager Torey Keltner, Police Department,
came forward to address the members of the Council.)
CHR. DAVID: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Again, pretty self-
explanatory. And, Mr. Keltner, could fill us in a little bit if you so choose if
there's any questions from the Council.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Would you like to say something or just open
yourself to questions?
MR. KELTNER: Madam Chair, I would actually like to say something here.
CHR. DAVID: Sure, thank you.
MR. KELTNER: We've actually identified that the distracted driving is a serious
problem as well. And it's something that, personally, I can see that it's such an
easy thing to stop happening is if we can just get people to stop being distracted
with their cellphones, you know, all the stuff that goes on in your car.
So, we've actually increased this by a pretty high percentage. There's 30 more
projects, operations that we'll be doing across the island, which is a significant
number. And we've added an additional body to those projects to increase the
presence of law enforcement in those areas so that we can bring that back down.
We'll also really want to put out a message and education to the community about
this to try to get a better buy-in and participation and driving safe, and not using
that so it doesn't come to them getting citations and arrested and that. It's a
significant thing we can change.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
And why I would speak so, I guess, passionately about this is recently I had an
opportunity to talk to a family where the mother was killed two years ago. And
the girls came up they're a family of teenage girls, and unfortunately, several of
them were in the car when the crash occurred they came up with a couple of
slogans. And one of them that stuck with me is that this isn't new information.
And so you'll see the—if you've seen sign-waving things, we have: "There's no
excuses"that's one that came out—and "This isn't new information." So, if
you remember that when you see us out doing sign-waving and stuff, it came
from teenage girls who lost their mothers. So, thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you for that, Mr. Keltner. Ms. Villegas, go ahead.
MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah, I just happened to, over the lunch break, see on social
media a post from somebody in Kona saying that the Police Department is out
with traps for distracted driving with cellphones. And they clarified in the post
that it is just holding your cellphone is grounds for a $300 ticket, essentially.
MR. KELTNER: That's correct.
MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah. So, anyway, I just thought it was interesting that this
just came across. So, the community is, hopefully, already becoming that much
more aware and holding themselves that much more accountable for the ways that
we behave on the road. Sometimes, I think we've gotten so addicted to
multitasking that even just being in traffic is almost, like, boring when you could
be adding something else. And so, I appreciate the reminder and the
encouragement, and to really have that pause and recognize the irreparable
damage that can be done when we are distracted, and we could really accidentally
hurt one another and we don't want to do that. So, thank you for your work on
this important project.
MR. KELTNER: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in
favor of approving Bill 87 at first reading, please say "aye."
Vote on Bill 87: The motion to pass Bill 87 on first reading was carried by
(Approved) the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David–9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
Bill 88: 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 –Speed Enforcement account($8,020);
and appropriates the same to the Hawaii County Police Department's Speed
Enforcement account, for a total appropriation of$254,020. Funds would be used
to fund operations focused on speed enforcement.
Reference: Comm. 470
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 88 on first
reading. Seconded by Mr. Inaba.
(Note: At this time, Program Manager Torey Keltner, Police Department,
came forward to address the members of the Council.)
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Let's just cut to the chase. This is great
funding for the County, as the last two bills are as well. Mr. Keltner, anything to
add to this grant?
MR. KELTNER: Yes, sir, I do. Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you.
MR. KELTNER: With this, as far as an increase, it's an $8,000 increase in this.
But one of the focuses for this is that we're actually going to purchase ten new
radar units that have front and rear radar antennas. Predominantyly in the
department, we have, as many people have seen, that the officers are out and they
have a handheld radar, which they stop and they put the radar out the window and
they get speeds that way. They can do it when they're going forward, but they're
not able to get the speeds from the rear. And our Traffic Enforcement Unit
officers have these dual antenna radars, and they're out driving those.
So, the intent is to buy new ones that we can give to the traffic enforcement
officers and take the ten that they have, and give those out to the districts so they
can then use those in another—with other officers that are high-traffic officers in
those areas. So, it'll help have a greater enforcement effort for the officers that
are out in the field.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much for that. Any questions, Council
Members? No? All right, all those in favor of approving Bill 88 at first reading,
please say "aye."
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
Vote on Bill 88: The motion to pass Bill 88 on first reading was carried by
(Approved) the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball,
Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Lee Loy — 1.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Keltner, for being here. You are
excused, too, as well.
MR. KELTNER: Thank you. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.
CHR. DAVID: All right, I think we can go straight to the top, Mr. Clerk.
Return to Order The Chair directed the Council to return to the order of business.
of Business:
Res. 241-21: URGES THE OFFICE OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
TO CONDUCT A STUDY ON THE COUNTY'S INCLUSIONARY ZONING
POLICIES, PURSUANT TO SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 3, AND TO
DEVELOP A STRATEGIC ROADMAP FOR HOUSING DEVELOPMENT ON
HAWAII ISLAND
Requests the development of the zoning policy report and strategic plan to
facilitate housing program adjustments and potential amendments to County
housing law.
Reference: Comm. 441
Intr. by: Ms. Kierkiewicz and Ms. Lee Loy
Approve: GOREDC-18
Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to adopt Res. 241-21 and
Governmental Operations, Relations and Economic
Development Committee Report No. 18. Seconded by
Mr. Inaba.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. We had a robust discussion in Committee, so
just asking for everyone's continued support. I am tracking testimony of
suggestions for the Office of Housing to consider other things as part of the
roadmap. And so, our Housing Administrator, while not here today, she fully
supports exploring that and is happy to provide a report based on the timeline that
we've set in the resolution. So, mahalo nui. I believe we might have Director of
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
Planning Zendo Kern on Zoom to provide any other remarks or answer questions
that folks might have. Housing and Planning do work in close partnership with
one another. Thank you, Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else have any questions?
Director Kern, if you wanted to add something, go right ahead. If not, I'm going
to take the vote. Okay. All right, then, all those in favor of approving
Resolution 241, please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 241-21: The motion to adopt Res. 241-21 and Governmental
(Adopted) Operations, Relations and Economic Development
Committee Report No. 18 was carried by the following
voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Clerk.
Res. 247-21: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A
DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED
FUND ACCOUNT TO PURCHASE WREATHS FOR THE WEST HAWAII
VETERANS CEMETERY-PU'U HO`OMAHA O NA POB KOA O HAWAII
KOMOHANA FOR THE NATIONAL WREATHS ACROSS AMERICA DAY
Transfers $1,000 from the Clerk-Council Services —Contingency Relief account
(Council District 7); and credits to the Department of Parks and Recreation,
Administration Other Current Expenses account.
Reference: Comm. 451
Intr. by: Ms. Villegas
Motion to Approve: Ms. Villegas moved to adopt Res. 247-21. Seconded by
Mr. Inaba.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Villegas.
MS. VILLEGAS: I just want to ask for my colleagues' support for the wreaths at
the West Hawaii Veterans Cemetery. This is kind of a post-funding but getting it
all processed. So, I'm really grateful for everything they do at that facility in
honoring those who serve our country.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Anyone else? Okay, Mr. Kaneali`i-
Kleinfelder, if you have something to say please yell out, okay. Thank you. All
those in favor of approving Resolution 247-21,please say "aye."
Vote on Res. 247-21: The motion to adopt Res. 247-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Res. 248-21: 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 HAWAII COUNTY
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY COUNCIL FOR ITS CITRIC ACID VOUCHER
PROGRAM FOR COQUI FROG PREVENTION AND ERADICATION
Transfers $2,500 from the Clerk-Council Services —Contingency Relief account
(Council District 4); and credits to the Department of Research and Development,
Agriculture Other Current Expenses account.
Reference: Comm. 452
Intr. by: Ms. Kierkiewicz
Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to adopt Res. 248-21. Seconded
by Mr. Richards.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Joining my colleagues in supporting R&D's
(Research and Development's) efforts to get these vouchers out to community.
As Council Member Chung, I think, stated before, we don't know if this is
actually working; it might be. But really, it's a great exercise in community
coming together, especially during these times of COVID (coronavirus disease)
when we're really hungry for interaction. So, happy to do my part for District 4.
Looking for everyone's support. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Anyone else? Clarification, Mr. Chung? No? Okay.
All right. All those in favor of approving Resolution 248-21, please say "aye."
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
Vote on Res. 248-21: The motion to adopt Res. 248-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Res. 249-21: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A
DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED
FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO HAWAII WILDFIRE
MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION TO SUPPORT THE COMMENCEMENT
OF A FIREWISE USA®PROGRAM IN THE HAMAKUA COMMUNITY
Transfers $2,000 from the Clerk-Council Services —Contingency Relief account
(Council District 1); and credits to the Hawaii Fire Department, Fire Protection
Other Current Expenses account.
Reference: Comm. 457
Intr. by: Ms. Kimball
Motion to Approve: Ms. Kimball moved to adopt Res. 249-21. Seconded by
Ms. Lee Loy.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kimball.
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. I'm sure all of us are aware of the wonderful
work that the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization does. And we're just
thrilled to partner with them and the Fire Department to offer the Firewise
program for the Hamakua community. Certainly, it lightened interest after the
Pa`auilo fire, but I'm really glad we can help support this program. Their meeting
will be on November 9h, their initial meeting. So,just looking for everyone's
support for this great program.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in
favor of approving Resolution 249-21, please say "aye."
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
Vote on Res. 249-21: The motion to adopt Res. 249-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Res. 250-21: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A
DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED
FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO HO`OLA VETERAN
SERVICES FOR ITS HAWAII FARM-TO-CAR PROGRAM
Transfers $1,500 from the Clerk-Council Services —Contingency Relief account
(Council District 5); and credits to the Department of Research and Development,
Business Development account.
Reference: Comm. 458
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 250-21.
Seconded by Mr. Inaba.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Many of us are aware of
Ho`61a Farms. They're an amazing group and the directors of that program are
also quite amazing in their own way. I just want to provide some support from
my end. And realizing that they serve our veterans and they're supporting ag, it is
just a really neat kind of multidisciplinary nonprofit and I appreciate the
opportunity. Thank you, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? Seeing
none, all those in favor of approving Resolution 250-21, please say "aye."
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
Vote on Res. 250-21: The motion to adopt Res. 250-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Res. 253-21: AUTHORIZES THE ACCEPTANCE OF MONETARY AND OTHER
DONATIONS TO THE COUNTY OF HAWAII
The donations from various individuals and entities, valued at$66,200, would be
used for the "TEDxCountyofHawai`i: Local Insights Grow Global Solutions"
presentation that focuses on sustainability and resilience.
Reference: Comm. 472
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
(Note: Comm. 472.1, from Finance Director Deanna Sako dated November 3,
2021, transmitting proposed amendments to Res. 253-21, was circulated.)
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 253-21.
Seconded by Ms. Villegas.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: This is a follow-up from the Administration
regarding the discussion we had at Council previous. There have been some
changes to the resolution as well as a substantial list of the donations that occurred
by who for how much.
I do appreciate that the Administration was able to correct what was done in the
beginning and really clarify, for transparency's sake, what was happening and
who had donated, and just listing it in this way so we can see who was
contributing to the TEDx Talks that are coming up. It's very important.
Sustainability is a huge issue. But also maintaining transparency in government
will be even more so. So, I'm open to discussion. I'm hoping Deanna Sako is in
chambers if there's any questions from the Council Members. I just appreciate
seeing this put forward and I think, again, it really does help with the transparency
of what's going on. Thank you, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Council Members, any
questions for Ms. Sako? Mr. Inaba, go ahead.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
MR. INABA: Thank you. I just have a clarifying question. If I recall correctly,
in our Committee meeting this was going to be used for the TEDx and also—was
it another Sustainability Summit?
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Council.)
MS. SAKO: Initially, when we came in with the original appropriation, we
thought it might cover two. But I think the donations for TEDx were higher than
expected. So, these are all for TEDx, and we'll do a separate action for
Sustainability Summit in the future because that's not till Spring.
MR. INABA: Okay. And when that happens,just so we have a preview, it would
be a new line item in the budget again?
MS. SAKO: Yes. We'll set up a separate account.
MR. INABA: Okay, thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. I believe, Council Members, there's a
proposed amendment for Resolution 253-21 in your pink folder, brought forth by
the Finance Department. Director Sako, go ahead and explain.
MS. SAKO: So, we were
CHR. DAVID: Oh, wait. We need a motion, I'm sorry.
MS. SAKO: Oh, sorry.
Motion to Amend: Ms. Lee Loy moved to amend Res. 253-21 with the
contents of Comm. 472.1. Seconded by Mr. Inaba.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Director Sako.
MS. SAKO: Even when we think we have the most up-to-date information,
things are constantly changing as is what happened here. And so, we were
recently informed one of the donors has a very extensive process they have to
follow in order to make donations and wouldn't be able to meet the timelines, so
they would not be giving. So, we removed them from the list, and then we added
a new donation that came in.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Any questions on the amendment, Council
Members? Ms. Villegas, go ahead.
MS. VILLEGAS: Yes,please. I was hoping Corp. (Corporation) CounselJ,
could I ask you a couple questions about this?
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
(Note: At this time, Assistant Corporation Counsel J Yoshimoto came
forward to address the members of the Council.)
MS. VILLEGAS: And just to clarify, I am so deeply grateful for the work of
Kate Logan and taking the initiative in something that she wasn't really given a
template on how to do, and also for the generosity of a lot of the businesses we
have on the island. I recognize a lot of names and organizations that are
prominent and very active.
I just, from the optic standpoint, I just have some concerns about, in general, the
County hosting an event and then getting sponsors and it being in the Mayor's
office. And I'm not sure if you saw the conversation we had prior about this, but
the perception of it being kind of it's out of the norm and what that role is, or if
the Mayor's office is going to do a project like this, that they should fund it and to
leaveI mean, Kate's had to create this out of nothing.
But there just seems to be too much gray area here for me that creates—we don't
need to create any more mistrust in government or the crossing of lines that
somehow becomes marketing campaigns for people who are already in positions
and crosses lines of campaignI mean, we already have to abide by so many
campaign contribution restrictions, as Mr. Chung mentioned in our last meeting.
So I wonder, J, if you had any insights on this or, moving forward, how we can be
more clarified so I can be more comfortable, and that the Mayor's office is
protecting themselves from accidental misinterpretation.
MR. YOSHIMOTO: Okay. Good afternoon, everybody. J Yoshimoto, Assistant
Corporation Counsel. Okay. Council Member Villegas, there are a number of
questions you asked, so I'm going to answer them as I remember them. Let's see,
as far as the process itself, my thoughts are that the process is very transparent
because it's being run through the Council. And when you look at the purpose of
the funds, the purpose of the funds are for a public purpose. The public is invited
to attend. There's a lot of value that's being provided to the public.
And I think if the Council does support this and approves this, then it shows that
that component of the review process in terms of having this vetting that we're
doing now, having something that, again, is of value to the public—and I would
say that it's similar to other things that the Council does approve in terms of
appropriations, and the first thing that comes to mind is like your contingency
funds, right—there has to be a public purpose. It's vetted through. It's usually
run through either a particular department, things of that nature.
And as an example, Parks and Recreation, right, they have something that they
could use and whatnot, and then that would be the agency where the money is
appropriated through, right. But they're not—they don't come and—well, they
support, usually, the contingency request because it's something that's, again, a
need for the public, right.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
So, I view this process as very similar because it is a transparent process. The
Council now can see all of the donations being made. And of course, the actual
TEDx Talk speaks for itself as far as the content.
My other thought is that, moving forward, because there might be concerns on
behalf of the Council and members of the public in terms of the department in
which this is being run through, that it could be run through Research and
Development. That makes it logical in terms of the functions of that department.
That's something that can be addressed later on as well. Or it could be through
another nonprofit, again still sponsored by the County because the County has
supported good projects or good programs, again going back to the public
purpose, right.
So, as I see it, it could be done a little bit differently if everyone decides that's
what's necessary. But moving forward, I don't have any concerns as far as the
process, again because everything is out here. It's not like it's being done without
anybody knowing.
MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. I appreciate your clarification and your legal
expertise in making sure we cover bottoms and take this to the top. And perhaps
there is opportunity. I know that this Administration has stood up the
Sustainability Committee under R&D. So,perhaps there's opportunity for that
collaboration. I know Kate's doing an amazing job and really bringing forward a
lot of different stories of the people on our island who are doing good work.
Yeah.
I just thank you. I needed some clarification on that and a better understanding.
And I also thank Ms. Sako for your statement earlier about, well, they could have
done it a lot of different ways. And so, this seemed the most transparent and
honest. So, thank you for that and I really appreciate your time. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Mr. Chung, go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Deanna, I'm kind of curious. Who are these individuals at the top
of this donation list? Big donors, right: 7,000, 5,000, 5,000.
MS. SAKO: I am sorry. I don't know these people personally. But Kate might
be able to answer, and I can follow up with her. But yeah, I'm not sure exactly
who those people are.
MR. CHUNG: Okay. No, I mean, because they don't have addresses, yeah, on
this.
MS. SAKO: Yeah, if we didn't have the address at the time we had to submit, we
waited for a while but we weren't able to get all of them. So, we're continuing to
follow up so that we can send the thank yous as well.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
MR. CHUNG: I mean, we certainly—well, I certainly appreciate the
contribution, but we would like to know a little bit more about who's making
these donations, right, even if the purpose is a good purpose. I think we would be
asking that of any, really, any donation, right.
But anyway—and I was looking over this resolution, and I know what the purpose
was. The reason why, I think, both myself and Ms. Villegas are having a lot of
questions about it is we were absent when it was taken, right I mean, when the
vote was taken on this one. And it really was a well-intended resolution. I'm
talking about Resolution 176-21.
MS. SAKO: Yeah.
MR. CHUNG: Right. But I think maybe if you could be the person to kind of use
discretion on what gets reported or what comes before the Council in the form of
a resolution, that would be much appreciated. Because I think, for me, what kind
of raised my concernwhat concerned me was that this donation went straight
into the Mayor's office, right, instead of General Fund and then maybe some
other appropriation there.
MS. SAKO: Yes, I did hear, two weeks ago, that that resolution will not be
applying to Mayor's office. Aha, I did hear that. Yes.
MR. CHUNG: All right. Okay. Thank you, Deanna.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Anyone else on this? Ms. Kierkiewicz,
go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. I just want to note, for the record, I really
appreciate Kate going to the website and making the differentiation between the
presenting partners and the sponsors because there was this perception of
potential pay-to-play. And so, now it's very clear. And she was able to explain to
us that if you speak, you can't contribute. So, that's really good to know.
I did a quick google, Councilman Chung, to get a sense of who these folks were
because I'm curious too; I don't know them. But it looks like Jasen and
Sagara Trautwein are with the Pet Alliance. Peter Schwartz Salesforce. And
then, Sandy Montenegro Littlefield is a Guatemalan-born businesswoman who
has global influence, innovator. So, really interesting that they have their eye on
investment in Hawaii.
I appreciate these details. It provides a lot more clarity. And I do appreciate
Kate's hard work in standing up these really inspiring conversations. I do hope
they translate into action. I really do because I can only stand to hear so much
inspiring talk before it gets a little bit old. And so, appreciate the hustle to secure
private dollars to make this happen.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
In my mind, it's not unlike what we, as Council Members, do when we host the
HSAC (Hawai`i State Association of Counties) Conference. I see a couple of
sponsors that are similar: HPM (HPM Building Supply), Hawaiian Electric, for
instance. And so again, thank you, Deanna, for providing this list.
And it sounds like when the next Sustainability Summit is going to be hosted,
we'll get a similar resolution that identifies all the folks that are contributing, and
there'll be a separate account where expenditures will be paid out of.
MS. SAKO: Yeah, that's the plan right now.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MS. SAKO: And we do understand that R&D has revamped or brought back to
life the Sustainability Commission. So, we may run into R&D. We'll see what
happens.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah. And maybe they can help to prioritize some of the
sustainability concepts that come out of these summits because I think there's a
lot of great work that's happening. Maybe some of these private donations can be
used to pilot some of the ideas before we scale it up on an island-wide level.
Anyway, thanks again for this information. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. And I really appreciate Corp. Counsel's
comments, Mr. Yoshimoto. I agree with you because I think this is about as
transparent as it can be. And I'm just curious. I do like the concept of having the
Summit. And even if we get one idea out of it, I think it is worth it.
But then, if we're talking about total transparency, there's a lot of names on here
that all of us probably know or have interactions with. And do we have to
disclose every time if something like this happens that we know them? Because,
this is a small County and everybody knows everybody.
So, I don't know if that's a question we need to put forth,just again in absolute
clearness of transparency. How do you like that? Is that something we have to
worry about? Because again, we know most of this. And I guess, J, I've got to
ask, yeah.
MR. YOSHIMOTO: All righty. Council Member Richards, so your question
you guys can hear me okay?
MR. RICHARDS: Yeah. Good.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
MR. YOSHIMOTO: So, your question, in terms of some public entities who are
donors for this particular resolution, and in fact any resolution, the fact that
they're known to the public in general, right, that's
MR. RICHARDS: Correct.
MR. YOSHIMOTO: The baseline. And your role as Council Members, as I
stated in my opinion, is that you're elected to make decisions, right. And as noted
several times before the Council that this, as of most communities, we do know
each other, right. So, I think the key test is, to answer your question, is whether
there is some type of financial interest which clearly can be seen or tracked.
But if it's in terms of just knowing who they are because of your position in the
community, their status in the community as far as their business dealings and
whatnot—say like, I mean, a store that employs or provides services for our
community, I don't see any issues related to conflicts of interest or ethics. Again,
we would look—we would always start with the Code of Ethics and see, in terms
of, again, things that are tangible, things that you can see, or personal
relationships that go, maybe, above and beyond but would be just a regular
relationship. When I say, "regular," meaning normal in terms of, again, your
position in the community, your position as a Council Member, and the fact that
you all deal with people on an everyday basis, right.
So, as I see it, I mean based on the information that I know, I don't see any issues.
But if you'd like, for the record I think it would be good to state, for the record,
that these or some of these companies are known in the community, and the
Council, as a whole, acknowledges the fact that they are, I don't want to say
representatives of the community, but they are in our community, and the body
doesn't have any issues in terms of approving this resolution, given that
relationship I mean.
So, that's what I would do now, I think, because that gives the public some
information and acknowledgement that the Council understands; to say that ABC
Company has stores here, there, and there or whatnot, right. Of course, this is the
opportunity for Council Members that if they do have a specific concern or they
want to make a disclosure, now would be the time to do that, and then address it
from there.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, I appreciate that, Mr. Yoshimoto. Because again, like
you said, we know everybody. And half of the names on there: We shop there,
we get the electricity from there. But the point is they're supporting a program
that truly in turn, hopefully, will something good come out of it for the County as
a whole. So, I just again, in this day and age,just being absolutely squeaky clear
that this is about the community and not any individual gains.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
MR. YOSHIMOTO: Correct, yes. And I think this conversation is good, again
for the public record as far as the Council having this discussion. And again if
there's an issue, someone should raise it. But hearing none, I think we can move
forward.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, thank you so much. Chair, I just wanted that for
clarification. So, thank you, Mr. Yoshimoto. Thank you, Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Mr. Chung.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, I've been kind of giving this a lot of thought, right. And
I'll vote in favor of this matter. I would like moreI wish I had more
information on these individuals, right. I don't think there's any ethical problems
here. And I certainly don't think that this is an ill-intentioned arrangement, but I
cannot help but think to myself—and this is something that I've thought about for
many years—we cannot lose sight of the kind of powerI hate to use the word
but power that our positions hold in the community, the Mayor especially.
And it could be who in their right mind is going to refuse if the Administration or
the Council Chair or somebody asks for a donation. And we cannot lose sight of
that. It's very difficult for people, especially, who may have some kind of
business with the County or may have to get an approval. I'm not just talking
elected officials. It could be line people as well. We just cannot lose sight of that.
So, this thing doesn't really sit well with me, but I know it wasn't intended to be a
bad thing. It's not an ethical violation. I'm just going to vote for it today, but just
keep that in the back of your guys' minds, yeah. It's really tough for people to
say no to government; State—can you imagine? Can you imagine Federal
government if somebody asked there? Just don't lose sight of that, that's all.
Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Ms. Kimball, go ahead.
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. I just want to concur with everything that
Council Member Chung just said. And I will support this, too, today, but I have a
little of the heartburn because the representative of the Administration,
Director Sako, who's here, doesn't know who these names are. And we all take
our jobs very seriously, and I appreciate Council Member Chung focusing on the
seriousness of our role as government officials.
And so, we're being asked to approve something without all of the information.
And I agree this is super well-intentioned. I don't think anything nefarious is
going on. However—and I wouldn't bring this up if it wasn't the first—it hadn't
happened multiple times, but we really should have somebody from the
Administration here who can fully respond to our questions. If I had Ms. Logan's
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
cellphone, I'd text her. But it's been something we've seen again and again that
the appropriate people to answer our questions, they know it's on the agenda, they
really should be here.
Thank you, Council Member Villegas. Council Member Villegas said she could
text her. But I think we're thankfully, we have Google and Council
Member Kierkiewicz was able to get us some answers. But I just wanted to speak
more generally to the fact that when these matters are put before us, especially
having to do with money, the appropriate people from the Administration should
be here to answer our questions. Thank you, Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Anyone else? Mr. Inaba, go ahead.
MR. INABA: Thank you. I have a question. So, for this TEDx event, how is it
being marketed or promoted? Who is putting it on?
MS. SAKO: So, I'm probably not the right person to answer this, but it is
definitely out there. People are inviting each other to it. We hold the whatever
we had to buy the license or whatever to do it. But I don't think we're the only
ones, like, advertising it, so to speak, to invite people. So, hopefully Kate will be
down shortly, or if you want to table till later, that's fine too.
MR. INABA: Yeah, I think thank you, Director Sako, for answering what you
can. But again, Ms. Kimball's point is clear here that we need the people to
answer the questions. I guess let me just boil it down for myself: I would like to
have confirmation that the County of Hawaii is putting this on, and it's the
County of Hawai`i's name, not the Office of the Mayor. If it's the Office of the
Mayor, then everything that we've been talking about today, yeah, it's transparent
where the money came from. But then it's promoting the Mayor's office
specifically, and that's not what, regardless if those funds were solicited by the
office, I don't think that's right.
So, I'd like to know how that's going to play out. I can support it if it's the
County of Hawaii. If it's the Office of the Mayor, that goes counter to what
we've been talking about in terms of transparency and pay-to-play and all of that.
So, we'll wait for perhaps
CHR. DAVID: Then I'll take Ms.
MR. INABA: Okay. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, thank you. And thank you to the rest of my colleagues
because I was told a very long time ago you don't need the truth to start a scandal.
And no matter how well-intentioned all of this is, it's very challenging for us to
make any type of disclosure, whether it's there or not.
I think the other piece to this puzzle is, while we're accepting donations from
different individuals or business entities, there are a number of speakers who are
participating. And I see a lot of familiar faces there too. And so I, too, am
struggling with this transparency piece, how do we kind of maintain the integrity
of what is a very well-intentioned program while still balancing what we hope is
to have a bright line of integrity with the money that is passing through this dais
onto what is a very well-intentioned summit. So, Chair, those are my thoughts. I
yield at this time.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. And thank you, Ms. Logan, for being
here and Managing Director Lord. Who had a question? Was that you,
Ms. Kimball? Oh, Mr. Inaba, go ahead.
MR. INABA: Thank you. Whoever wants to answer these questions regarding
how the event is being—or who is hosting the event and how that's being
promoted.
(Note: At this time, Managing Director Lee Lord and Executive Assistant
to the Mayor Katherine Logan came forward to address the members of
the Council.)
MR. INABA: Okay. Good afternoon, Ms. Logan. Thank you for coming down.
We've kind of continued our conversation from committees. We now know who
the donors are for this event. We're still lacking some of the information as to
addresses and where these people are from. But my question is, yeah, how is this
event being promoted? Is it the County of Hawaii who is hosting it, or is it the
Office of the Mayor?
MS. LOGAN: The County of Hawaii.
MR. INABA: Okay. So, there's no mention anywhere in thank you letters, in
promotional materials prior to, during, or after of"the Office of the Mayor."
MS. LOGAN: Not to my knowledge. And I can skim through everything that
was created. It's all "County of Hawai`i."
MR. INABA: Great. Okay. Well, we've gone back and forth, and I can support
that because we just needed to be—if it's funds coming in to the County and the
County putting it on, then it's the County, not any one of our district offices or the
Office of the Mayor. So, thank you for coming down. And we didI'm not sure
if you folks were tuned in to the meeting thus far.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
MS. LOGAN: Yes.
MR. INABA: But Council Member Kimball put it forward very clear and straight
to the point, that we need people from the Administration who are answering
who should be answering the questions here before us when we have bills and
resolutions coming through this body. So, thank you for coming down.
MS. LOGAN: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Ms. Villegas, go ahead.
MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah. And just in feeling for you, I mean, you're an aide to
the Mayor. Correct? And so, you're putting all this together. And so, I would
like to see you be provided with a little more support from the Mayor himself or
from Mr. Lord because you're doing the work of the Mayor. So, my heart just
feels for you because you've had to field all these questions and all these
challenges.
And so, that would just be my request from the Mayor himself or from you,
Mr. Lord, that you guys have a broader knowledge of what's going on so you can
answer our questions as well. Because, somehow it feels unfair to be drilling you
for so many things when, essentially, you work for Mayor Roth. And so, the
things that you're doing are in representation of what he's asking you to do and
the work that he's putting forward. So,just for my own desire to see that
communication completely connected and you be allowed that level of protection
from the leader that you work for.
And so, I just thank you for all of your hard work on this and your good intention,
and your ability to elevate these conversations in our County. And I really look
forward to collaborating more. I know Heather and I are both incredibly
passionate, as are a number of other people on the Council, about—and long-term
activistcultural, environmental, social, and whatnot, and working more
collaboratively in bringing in some of the grassroots, long-time—people have had
their hands in the struggle and their hearts on the line for decades. And so,just
really combining all of that even more collectively.
So, thank you for all your hard work and your humility and honesty and
graciousness in navigating this because it's not like you were given a template. It
was like, "Here, do this project. But you don't have any money, and there's no
template and just figure it out." So, I'm grateful for your heart and your intention
and what you've been able to accomplish. And thank you for enduring these
questions because it does benefit our County moving forward as a whole. It's a
real learning opportunity for all of us for what's possible. Yeah. So, thank you
for that.
MS. LOGAN: Thank you.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
MS. VILLEGAS: I appreciate you. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Ms. Kimball, go ahead.
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. And thank you, Ms. Logan, for being here,
and Managing Director Lord for coming on down. I just want to reiterate what
my colleagues have said. We all agree that this is a well-intentioned effort and we
applaud you for everything that you've put into it. But I hope you can appreciate
the larger picture from our angle, which is we are putting our stamp of approval
on this and, therefore, are accountable to everyone. And that's why we wanted
the list in the first place, for that level of transparency.
So, I think we were able to get some answers from Council Member Kierkiewicz
having looked at some of these names. But maybe if you can speak to some of
the donors that are not organizations. And maybe to Council Member Chung's
point,just briefly talk a little bit about how these donations were solicited to
participate in this event.
MS. LOGAN: Sure. So, that particular list of individuals that was provided to
you came within less than a week. And so, the avenues that they reached out to
give were in a couple of different ways. There's a website for the event. And on
the sponsor page, prior to anyone giving, that box, in order to give, was what was
front and center. And so, people would submit that they wanted to participate,
and then I would reach out to them. And so, that was one way that multiple
people had ended up giving.
A second way was that I just sent, like, an email blast to my CRM (Customer
Relationship Management) as far as—and it was people who I have accumulated
since the Summit, in prior positions, to send out a general email "If you would
like to be a sponsor, please reach out." The other way was that we did tryI did
try and take a lot of lessons learned from the Summit, which was an 88-day event
to plan. So, there were some hiccups.
But really tried to involve all the districts. And so, one way to do that was to
create flyers. You may have seen them in the County Building. And so, in that
flyer,people then reached out. And so, one name on the list, Sandy Montenegro,
that flyer was at HPA (Hawai`i Preparatory Academy)—her daughter attends
there—and called and she had funds to give and supported this. So, it wasn't cold
calling people. It just sort of generated quite quickly.
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you for that. And I think that probably gives all of us a
little more comfort in the idea, especially in light of what Council Member Chung
was talking about, about the influence of government and contributions. I don't
have any further questions for you at this time. But I just, since you're here,
Managing Director Lee Lord, I hope you hear kind of the ask is if we have these
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
things that come before us, if we can make sure to have the appropriate people to
respond to any questions in the future, whether it's this or something else; that's
much appreciated from the Council. Thank you, Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Anyone else? Mr. Chung, go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, I just wanted to really talk about what Holeka brought up
too. I think those were real important questions that he had: Is this the County of
Hawaii, or is this the Office of the Mayor? I'm kind of looking at something that
was from our own County website, yeah, because this is kind of akin to the
Sustainability Summit, right. We're going to be doing the same thing, right. So,
just kind of keep in mind what's been said today because this thing says, this is
for last year, the County of Hawai`i's Office of the Mayor hosted a free virtual
Sustainability Summit, yeah. So,just, I don't want to nitpick, but just keep that in
the back of your mind when you guys are writing all of your literature, yeah. It's
the County of Hawaii.
MS. LOGAN: Thank you so much. For the Summit, again that was in the first
88 days, and I didn't have a marketer so I definitely made some mistakes. But
trying to learn from those mistakes, I think that this event, because it is a global
event, we have registrants from 11 different countries right now. So, it is putting
our island on the map. So, trying to learn from those mistakes. And moving
forward, I'll be sure to not—
MR.
otMR. CHUNG: It wasn't a bad just, you know, now you know what our
concerns are, yeah. I'll just also say this: Like, for example, we have
discretionary funds. And as much as we tell, I know everyone here tells the
people who are receiving these funds, "Look, it's not from me," or"It's not from
Holeka. It's from the County of Hawai`i." They still, cannot help, they'll thank
Holeka or me or whoever else individually, but it makes all of us feel
uncomfortable, too, because it's really not from us as individuals. It's from the
County ofHawai`i. And so, that's why we think the Office of the Mayor should
have that same kind of feeling, too, right.
MS. LOGAN: Absolutely.
MR. CHUNG: That's all. Thank you.
MS. LOGAN: Yeah, I agree.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Anyone else? Seeing none, well, thank
you for coming down and for being available for questions, Ms. Logan and
Director Lord. All right, all those in favor of approving Resolutionoh, no, the
amendment. We're on the amendment. All those in favor of approving amending
Resolution 253 with the contents of Communication 472.1, please say "aye."
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Res. 253-21 with the contents of
Amend: Comm. 472.1 was carried by the following voice vote:
(Approved)
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Vote on Motion to Ms. Lee Loy moved to suspend Council Rule 24 to waive
Suspend Council the holdover for the substantive amendment of
Rules: Res. 253-21. Seconded by Mr. Richards and carried by the
(Approved) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Vote on Res. 253-21: The motion to adopt Res. 253-21, as amended to Draft 2,
Draft 2 was carried by the following voice vote:
(Adopted)
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Mahalo.
MS. LOGAN: Thank you, Council.
MS. KIMBALL: Chair, since we have Ms. Logan here, maybe we should take
the complementary bill, which I believe is 76.
CHR. DAVID: Sure. Mr. Clerk.
Change Order As directed by the Chair and with no objection from the Council Members, the
of Business: following item was taken out of order:
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
Bill 76: 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 Office of Management Private Contributions account
($100,000); and appropriates the same to the Office of Management Miscellaneous
Private Contributions account to allow the County to efficiently accept and expend
private contributions.
Reference: Comm. 443
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
Postponed: October 20, 2021
and
Comm. 443.1: From Finance Director Deanna Sako, dated October 21, 2021, transmitting a
proposed amendment to Bill 76.
(Note: There is a motion by Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, seconded by Mr. Richards,
to pass Bill 76 on first reading.)
Motion to Amend: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to amend Bill 76 with the
contents of Comm. 443.1. Seconded by Mr. Richards.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: It looks like it's a very simple amendment to
the bill to outline. This is for the TEDx event. But Ms. Sako is in the chambers.
If you could, Ms. Sako, in case I missed something.
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Council.)
MS. SAKO: So, after the concern last time, we just submitted, basically, retitling
the account to "Office of Management Miscellaneous Private Contributions –
TEDx." So, it'll be surrounding this TEDx event.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Thank you very much, Ms. Sako. And I do
appreciate the Administration working to—listens to the Council and then taking
into account our considerations so quickly. Ms. David, I yield for now. Thank
you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Anyone else, Council Members? Ms. Kimball, go
ahead.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. And thank you, Director Sako, for making the
changes that this body requested. I'd like to hear from you or Ms. Logan, at this
point, about where we are as far as expenditures, and what are the items that we
are paying and expected to pay with regard to putting on this TEDx event.
(Note: At this time, Executive Assistant to the Mayor Katherine Logan
came forward to address the members of the Council.)
MS. LOGAN: Thank you. So, I can provide a final accounting, but I'm still
waiting on invoices. The fundraising and the event, in and of itself, were being
planned simultaneously because of the short runway. Majority of the costs are
filming, editing, marketing, and that is inclusive of things like the flyers that we
discussed, etcetera.
And then, primarily my costs right now are mostly filming. So, all the speakers
are being filmed independently. Everyone had an opportunity to do practice
sessions because these are living forever, and they can get over 2 million views.
So, we wanted everyone to be really polished. So again, at this point in time,
majority of everything has been filming, marketing, and editing. And there'll be
other costs incurred, but I can't really speak to that yet until all of that comes in.
MS. KIMBALL: Okay, thank you. And is there a TEDx licensing fee that we
have to pay as well?
MS. LOGAN: It's free.
MS. KIMBALL: Oh, it is. Okay.
MS. LOGAN: Yeah. So, TEDx events are typically very difficult to put on, and
they can be super costly. You need toa timed one, you need to pay to do it.
These countdown events, as this is called, is kind of a work-around to be able to
provide schools and municipalities like this to be able to talk about climate
change since it affects all of us. And so, there was no fee for the license,just
approval.
MS. KIMBALL: I actually have a question, Director Sako question, but maybe
you can respond. Is the filming provided for by the TEDx folks, or is that
somebody locally that's doing the filming for us?
MS. LOGAN: No, locally. So then, you film independently. There's a lot of
parameters that they provide too. So, you have to adhere to everything: letter
size, behind you, what you make the studio look like. And then you provide that
footage to them of the specs (specifications) and quality. And then it lives on
their channel.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
The way that this event has been packaged or envisioned is ten speakers that all
have something unique to offer. And so, the day of the 13'h is like a watch parry
where all ten speakers will be sort of lined up, but the talks themselves are
independent and standalone on that platform.
MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. My last question just had to do with procurement
policies, and how have we been able to comply with that. Or do we not have to,
for some reason—and again, I think this is a Director Sako question.
MS. SAKO: I think, as we stated at the last meeting also, Mayor's office does
have to comply with procurement. Some of the things, there are exemptions and
whatnot, but they have to follow procurement policy like everybody else. So,
they've been working with Purchasing to get all of that documented.
MS. KIMBALL: So, everything has been vetted out as needed and—okay, great,
thank you. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Anyone else? Seeing none, then, on
the motion to amend Bill 76 with the contents of Communication 443.1, all those
in favor please say "aye."
Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 76 with the contents of
Amend: Comm. 443.1 was carried by the following voice vote:
(Approved)
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David–9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Vote on Bill 76: The motion to pass Bill 76, as amended to Draft 2, on first
Draft 2 reading was carried by the following voice vote:
(Approved)
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David–9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Okay, I guess we can go back to—thank you. Thank you for
being here.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
Return to Order The Chair directed the Council to return to the order of business.
of Business:
Res. 259-21: SUPPORTS THE PROCLAMATION OF MAYOR MITCHELL D. ROTH
RECOGNIZING THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER 2021 AS "FAMILY COURT
AWARENESS MONTH" IN THE COUNTY OF HAWAII
Reference: Comm. 484
Intr. by: Ms. David
Waived: GOREDC
Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Res. 259-21. Seconded by
Mr. Inaba.
CHR. DAVID: If anyone is okay with me proceeding? Okay. Thank you. This
resolution was brought forward to my attention, and basically, we really had to
get this done at the last hour. And thank you, Clerk's office, for doing this
because the proclamation basically establishes November as the month
proclaiming Family Court Awareness Month. So, it's very self-explanatory. I
really would like to thank Rabbi Rachel for her testimony on how this was
developed. And the resolution, the proclamation attached to this explains it very
well.
And I just want to say that, given the issues that our families have faced with
COVID and within our court systems, this is very important to recognize that
month. And I would like to ask my colleagues for their support on this. So, I will
yield for now. Any discussion, Council Members? Seeing noneoh, Mr. Chung,
go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah. I support this, of course. But I want to point out, though,
on its face this looks really good, right; Family Court Awareness Month. But the
underpinnings of this awareness month came from this divorce and custody action
that occurred, I think, in the Mainland. And it's a movement, yeah. It was done
by this person Tina Swithin, I think. And so, if you look at this proclamation by
the Mayor, what it says is it honors the 100-plus children in the United States who
have been murdered by a parent after a custody court rejected a plea for
protection. That's really the impetus for this thing. It's not a broad, you know,
let's support the family courts of the United States. It's something that—it's a
movement. Basically, it's a movement.
And then, Rabbi Rachel made a comment that kind of caught my attention too.
Another part of either that movement or a separate movement is to have children
represented by an attorney, as opposed to a guardian ad litem. And it's kind of
funny because I just got appointed, for the first time in my entire career, as an
attorney for a child,just recently. And I was in a therapeutic session with this
child, and I had to explain, I had to get out of my normal mindset and I had to
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
explain to this kid that"I've got to do your bidding pretty much, yeah, as long as
it's legal. I'm not here to look after your best interest. If you tell me something,
I'm going to have to do it." Kind of odd when you're talking to, like, a 12-year-
old kid like that. Very difficult. J, you know, right? I mean, he's worked in that
system too. Very difficult.
But there's that movement. It's kind ofI'm not saying it's a real good
movement either, you know. But just so that we're clear on what the impetus was
for this proclamation. It was from a custody battle. This lady was allegedly in an
abusive situation dealing with what she claims to be a narcissistic partner. And
that's what this thing is all about. It's not an alI-encompassing resolution to
support and make people aware of the family court system. It's a little bit more
limited than that. I support it but just be aware of that. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Anyone else? I just want to thank you, as our sitting attorney and
your experience in family court. When I read the proclamation, that flagged some
concern because—and that's why I didn't put that statement in my "WHEREAS"
because I think what I wanted to focus on is the education part of it, and support
the fact that we need to recognize November. But I purposely left that out
because I think the training and the best interest of the children in general in
family court cases is very sensitive. And that's why.
So, I appreciate you folks, and especially you, Mr. Chung, because you are very
experienced in this area. And so, I appreciate your knowledge and what you've
brought forward to make us aware of what we're actually deciding on today. So,
anyone else? All right, all those in favor of approving Resolution 259-21, please
say "aye."
Vote on Res. 259-21: The motion to adopt Res. 259-21 was carried by the
(Adopted) following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David–9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
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.)
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
Bill 75: AMENDS CHAPTER 14, ARTICLE 1, OF THE HAWAII COUNTY
CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO ALCOHOLIC
BEVERAGES
Prohibits the consumption of alcohol at H6naunau Boat Ramp and makes other
clerical changes.
Reference: Comm. 422
Intr. by: Ms. David
Approve: PRPSC-20
Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to pass Bill 75 on first reading and
adopt Parks and Recreation and Public Safety Committee
Report No. 20. Seconded by Mr. Inaba.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. If it's okay, I want to just say we had a
great discussion of this bill at committees, and I just ask for your continued
support for this. Mahalo. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of
approving Bill 75 at first reading, please say "aye."
Vote on Bill 75: The motion to pass Bill 75 on first reading and adopt Parks
(Approved) and Recreation and Public Safety Committee Report No. 20
was carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Bill 80: AMENDS CHAPTER 2, OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983
(2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO EXPENDITURES FROM
FUND FOR THE WORKFORCE INNOVATION AND OPPORTUNITY ACT
PROGRAM
Provides a clerical amendment with no change to policy or function.
Reference: Comm. 448
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Approve: FC-82
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 80 on first
reading and adopt Finance Committee Report No. 82.
Seconded by Ms. Villegas.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: I believe our discussion at committees was
very fulfilling, if you would. If there's further questions from the Council, I'd be
interested to hear them.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Any other discussion on this one? Seeing none, all
those in favor of approving Bill 80 at first reading,please say "aye."
Vote on Bill 80: The motion to pass Bill 80 on first reading and adopt
(Approved) Finance Committee Report No. 82 was carried by the
following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Bill 85: 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 State Grants —Coffee Berry Borer Pesticide Subsidy
Program account($300,000); and appropriates the same to the Department of
Research and Development's Coffee Berry Borer Pesticide Subsidy Program
account. Funds would be used to assist coffee farmers by offsetting the cost of
fungicides used to control Coffee Leaf Rust.
Reference: Comm. 467
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
Waived: FC
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 85 on first
reading. Seconded by Ms. Villegas.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: I just was thinking about our conversations
today for Resolution 223-21 from Mr. Inaba. And I think this is another reason
for us to further support our coffee industry here, is the continued agricultural
impacts that we're seeing from growth and from pests and from rust and from all
these different things that affect our ag industry. So, I look forward to everyone's
support on this. Mr. SakoMr. not Ms. SakoMr. Glenn Sako was really the
key component for this. So, if there are questions, he would be the key person to
ask. Thank you. I yield.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? Seeing
none, all those in favor of approving Bill 85 at first reading,please say "aye."
Vote on Bill 85: The motion to pass Bill 85 on first reading was carried by
(Approved) the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
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 77: 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 —Emergency Rent Assistance Program
COVID-19 (ERA1 PT) account($6,110,000); and appropriates the same to the
Emergency Rent Assistance Program COVID-19 (ERA1 PT) ($5,499,000) and
Administration ($611,000) accounts. Funds would be used to assist families who
are at risk of becoming homeless or experiencing housing instability due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Reference: Comm. 445
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
First Reading: October 20, 2021
Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 77 on second
and final reading. Seconded by Ms. Villegas.
CHR. DAVID: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: I don't have any further discussion. These
are great funds, much-needed for our County. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: All right, thank you very much. Anyone else? Seeing none, all
those in favor of approving Bill 77 at second and final reading,please say "aye."
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
Vote on Bill 77: The motion to pass Bill 77 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, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Bill 78: 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 —Federal Emergency Management Agency —
COVID-19 account($3,250,000); and appropriates the same to the Federal
Emergency Management Agency —COVID-19 account. Funds would be used to
execute emergency response and protective measures related to the COVID-19
pandemic.
Reference: Comm. 446
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
First Reading: October 20, 2021
Vote on Bill 78: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 78 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, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
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Hawaii County Council-26 November 3,2021
Bill 79: 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 —Volunteer Fire Assistance account
($107,637); and appropriates the same to the Volunteer Fire Assistance—Federal
account, for a total appropriation of$197,637. Funds would be used to provide
training and equipment to the Hawaii Fire Department.
Reference: Comm. 447
Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R)
First Reading: October 20, 2021
Vote on Bill 79: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 79 on second
(Adopted) and final reading. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy and carried
by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards,
Villegas, and Chair David—8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Chung— 1.
Excused: None.
REPORTS: The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Reports.
(There were none.)
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.
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Hawai`i County Council-26 November 3,2021
ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 2:57 p.m., Ms. Lee Loy moved to adjourn the
MENT: meeting. Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards,
Villegas, and Chair David— 8.
Noes: None.
Absent: Council Member Chung— 1.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you so much, Council Members. We're adjourned.
Council Approval: DEC 0 8 2021
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