HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN FC 2019/04/16/17/18 2018-2020 (Budget and Program Reviews) Special Meeting of the Committee on Finance
Stn Session
Hawaii County Building
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii
April 16, 2019
CALL TO The special meeting of the Committee on Finance was called to order at
ORDER: 9:04 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Maile Medeiros David,
Chair.
ROLL CALL:
Present: Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Chair
Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Vice Chair
Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member
Ms. Karen Eoff, Member
Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member
Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member
Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member
Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member
Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member
STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business,
FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items.
PUBLIC ON
AGENDA ITEMS: The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by
the Chair:
Debra Smith: Bill 30 (Comm. 117), comment.
Stefen Buchta: Bill 30 (Comm. 117); and
Bill 31 (Comm. 118), comment.
Jaerick Medeiros Garcia: Bill 30 (Comm. 117), comment.
Dwight J. Vicente: Bill 30 (Comm. 117), comment.
Smiley Burrows: Bill 30 (Comm. 117), comment.
Bernadette Sabath: Bill 30 (Comm. 117), comment.
Abolghassem Abraham Sadegh: Bill 30 (Comm. 117); and
Bill 31 (Comm. 118), comment.
FC-8 April 16,2019
CHR. DAVID: I believe that closes our public testimony segment.
RECOGNITION CHR. DAVID: Before we move forward, I really would like to recognize two
OF FOREIGN people in our audience who are here. Her name is Muftuna, and her sponsor is
EXCHANGE Allison Coker. Stand up, please. Ms. Muftuna is an exchange student at
STUDENT: Konawaena High School, and I understand she's from Turkmenistan. She, I'm
told, speaks six languages. She made the trip here because she wanted to observe
our process and how we conduct business here. So, welcome. You may come up
front and sit if you would like. Okay? And so, yes, welcome. Awesome. Thank
you.
BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business,
ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances.
CHR. DAVID: Okay, Mr. Clerk, I think we're ready. Please, Bill 30.
Bill 30: ESTABLISHES AN OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF
HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2019, TO JUNE 30, 2020
From Mayor Harry Kim, dated March 1, 2019, transmitting for consideration the
proposed Operating Budget for the County of Hawaii for the Fiscal Year ending
June 30, 2020. This balanced budget includes estimated revenues and
appropriations of$573,538,123; which represents a proposed 10.7 percent
increase compared to the 2018-2019 fiscal year Operating Budget.
Reference: Comm. 117
Intr. by: Ms. David (B/R)
and
Comm. 117.1: From Finance Director Deanna S. Sako, dated March 1, 2019, transmitting reports
entitled, Departmental& Agencies'Six Month Progress Report on Program
Objectives for Fiscal Year 2018-2019 and Final Status Report on Program
Objectives for Fiscal Year 2017-2018.
Bill 31: RELATES TO PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF
FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2019, TO JUNE 30, 2020
From Mayor Harry Kim, dated March 1, 2019, transmitting the proposed Capital
Budget for FY 2019-2020, and the Capital Improvements Program for the next six
years from Fiscal Year 2019-2020 to 2024-2025,which includes 39 projects
requiring a total appropriation of$159,690,000. Approximately $99.1 million are
intended to be funded in whole or part by bonds, $56.5 million to be funded by
the State Revolving Loan Fund or State Capital Improvement Projects, $3.5
million to be funded by federal funds, and $590,000 to be funded by Fair Share
Contributions.
Reference: Comm. 118
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Intr. by: Ms. David (B/R)
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Please, may I have a motion to approve
Bill 30 and all related communications?
Motion to Approve: Ms. Poindexter moved to recommend passage of Bill 30 on
first reading. Seconded by Ms. Eoff.
(Note: The vote on Bill 30 will be taken at the end of the three-day session.)
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. May I have a motion,please, to approve Bill No. 31,
the proposed capital budget?
Motion to Approve: Ms. Poindexter moved to recommend passage of Bill 31
on first reading. Seconded by Mr. Richards.
(Note: The vote on Bill 31 will be taken at the end of the three-day session.)
CHR. DAVID: Right now, Council Members, we are going to start with the
departmental reviews.
DEPARTMENTAL The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next item on the agenda,
BUDGET AND Departmental Budget and Program Reviews.
PROGRAM
REVIEWS:
(1) Mayor—Overview of the Operating and Capital Budgets and Programs:
(Note: At this time, Mayor Harry Kim came forward to address the
members of the Committee.)
CHR. DAVID: Welcome, Mr. Mayor. Go ahead whenever you're ready.
MAYOR KIM: Good morning.
CHR. DAVID: Good morning.
MAYOR KIM: Thank you very much for the opportunity to present this budget.
We had a department head meeting this morning just to review what was going to
happen this morning and from here on after in regards to the budget we submitted
to you and your responsibilities and authority in responding to that proposal.
A brief background was given in regards to the past three years with all that. This
is the third budget we submitted to the County Council. And truthfully, for
myself in the realization of time, my mind is still back in the beginning of the
eruption. It's hard to imagine that was many months ago.
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In regards to the department heads and preparing a presentation to you, the
following was stated, a brief background on the first budget we submitted to you
upon taking this office job. Several reviews were made by the Finance Director,
the Finance Department, on where we were. Because, as you know, you come in
on December, and the budget process begins the day you come in. And realizing
that all the news that we got from the Finance Department was a negative one in
regards to finances.
Departments were instructed in regards to "no growth," instructed"cut,"
instructed "cut again." Then, the harsh decision of, "If you cut any more now,
you will cut into services, therefore manpower." The decision was made that we
will do the very unpleasant thing of submitting to the County Council at that time
the request to increase the property tax. As you know, it was an across-the-board
type of increase to raise a few million dollars to balance the budget rather than cut
more services. That included the property tax rates with the Council approving it
with adjustments. And all it was, was to raise a few million dollars to balance our
budget. We had very little increase of any kind in regards to personnel.
In the second year, the budget was a little better in regards to shortages. No
increase was made in regards to property tax that time. Very little increase in
regards to any kind of services per department.
And now comes the third year, which I think was possibly the hardest, maybe not
the hardest compared to the first year because it included property tax. But in
regards to you and where we were, the Council gave the approval in regards to
proceeding with the GET (General Excise Tax)tax, which we're very grateful for
because we know that was not a very easy thing to do.
And the second thing that you had to do of all the things besides the GET would
be the fuel tax, and that was right after the GET, as you know. And there was an
increase that was badly needed. It was stated that you had the difficult decision of
another fuel tax increase over the GET, but that was the first time in 30 years. It
was a whole "catch-up" game.
With all that, I think it's almost pleasant to be here before you today in regards to
this year's proposal, because of the steps taken by the County Council as far as
unpleasant decisions and help at the legislative level, especially of the GET. Each
department was told to present to you, as openly as possible, their budget and to
justify their budget to you for review and adjustment if necessary.
I need the Council to understand our process and will let the departments take it.
This morning it was emphasized to them that I will tell the Council that each
department is given the responsibility to submit to the Administration and justify
their needs for this coming budget year. It is not the Administration that tells the
departments what their priorities are and what their needs are. They know their
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needs better than I do. And that was done. So, each department will justify to
you why those increases were made and what they are for.
Hopefully this budget year we will even have the possibility, it just depends on
the economy so much, you know, on the supplementary budget, if there is one.
But I think, at the very minimum, what is being presented to you is what will be
for the next fiscal year. We understand your authority and responsibility of
reviewing our proposal. Ours is a proposal to you. So, thank you very much for
your work.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Council Members, do you have any questions at this
point? No? Mahalo, Mayor, for coming.
MAYOR KIM: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Now, I'd like to call up the Department of Finance. Ms. Sako, go
ahead.
(2) Finance Department and(3) Miscellaneous (debt service, benefits, etc.)
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako and Deputy Director
Steven Hunt came forward to address the members of the Committee.)
CHR. DAVID: Director Sako, if you could introduce your members with you.
Thank you.
MS. SAKO: Good morning.
CHR. DAVID: Good morning.
MS. SAKO: Deanna Sako, Director of Finance, and with me is our Deputy
Director Steve Hunt. And we have our division heads behind us who could be
here today. Kay Oshiro leads our Accounts Division; she was not able to make it.
We have Ted Schrey in Budget; Sebastian Calaway, our Purchasing Agent;
Hamana Ventura in Property Management; Lisa Miura and Keita Jo, our
Administrator and Assistant Administrator for Real Property Tax; Chris Nakano,
our Treasurer; Naomi O'Dellactually, did she make it? Okay. She frequently
has to be in court, so I wasn't positive—with Vehicle Registration and Licensing
Division. And Daniel Chun with Risk Management.
CHR. DAVID: Welcome, everybody.
MS. SAKO: So, yeah, we're here to answer any questions you have. Our
Finance budget really didn't change much from last year. It's pretty much the
same total,just a few dollars larger for a few pay increases and a couple of other
things. But the budget, as a whole, did change. And one of the topics we're
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covering right now also is the Miscellaneous section. So, I wanted to walk
through our short presentation.
(Note: At this time, Ms. Sako provided a PowerPoint presentation to the
members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please
see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office
or navigate to the Council's video archives online in the County's
webpages at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A hard copy of the presentation is
made a part of the record, see Comm. 117.9.)
MS. SAKO: So that's the end of our short presentation, but we're happy to
answer any questions you might have.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Director. Council Members, questions for
Director Sako and Finance? Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Good morning, Finance. How are you?
MS. SAKO: Good morning.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: My question is, what happened in 2011 that
caused our employee overall costs to go up by 300 percent in the last nine years?
Just for my information.
MS. SAKO: There's a variety of things that happened. Some of it is just the
totals—let me go back up to that slide.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's an interesting slide. Thank you. For
2011, we had a four percent drop, and then it has just continued to rise since then.
MS. SAKO: Yeah, so, in basically 2011, we were still paying 100 percent of the
ARC (Annual Required Contribution). In fiscal year 12 and 13 is when basically
we had to deal with, other than the recession, a lot of it caught up with us. So, at
that time, GASB 45 (Governmental Accounting Standards Board) was not, you
know, we didn't have to make those payments. It wasn't mandated yet by HRS
(Hawai`i Revised Statutes). The Legislature hadn't set that. So, it's the same
thing as OPEB, or Other Post-Employment Benefits. And it's the medical
insurance for the retirees, basically.
MR. HUNT: Just to clarify too, ARC is the Annual Required Contribution, and
it's actually two parts. One is the pay-as-you-go part, which the County has
always paid. The other is the catch-up. And the catch-up is what became
mandated, and it was staged in over a period of time and that was starting at
20 percent, 40 percent, bringing us up to 100 percent. So, we're now paying both
the pay-as-you-go to make sure that there's adequate funding for current
employees, but also addressing the unfunded liability of those retirees.
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MS. SAKO: But we still had options back in fiscal year 2012 and 2013 when we
had to deal with the recession. And so, we chose not to make that additional or
catch-up payment. Like you said, we still paid the required contribution for the
pay-as-you-go portion. But fiscal year 15 is when Act 268 kicked in, and we
were mandated to pay the additional catch-up portion. And it was phased in
20 percent the first year, then 40, 60, 80, and 100—so that now in fiscal
year 2019, the current year we're in, it was the first year we are mandated to pay
that 100 percent of the catch-up portion. And there's kind of almost like a"no
going back now"because it is in the law that we have to do that.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go
ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Good morning, Deanna.
MS. SAKO: Good morning.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Good morning, Finance team. Thank you for your hard
work on this. Do we as a County have a strategic plan? A vision? Not looking
for a mission statement from the Charter. I'm looking for what's the vision for
the Big Island 5, 10, 20 years from now.
MS. SAKO: I'm not sure we have one.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MS. SAKO: I mean written, anyway.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So, I just wonder what guides the development of our
budget if we don't have a vision for the future. And I wonder if we can start to
position the way we do business by budgeting for outcomes. If we identify where
we want to, I feel we can better align the services that all of the departments do to
achieve those outcomes.
MS. SAKO: So, each Administration obviously might have a different
perspective on the budget, and that's kind of what leads where the
Administration's budget comes from. But in addition, each department does have
their goals and objectives, which some of them I don't know if you would call it
the same version of outcomes, but they do have goals and things they want to
meet. And that's the significant part. I left mine back on the chair—I got tired of
carrying it around but the program budget that was presented to you does have a
section for each department with a lot of their criteria and metrics that they want
to meet.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Wouldn't you agree, though, that some departments have
shared goals and objectives? And rather than doing something twice, if we start
to budget for outcomes, we can have them work in better collaboration, thus
creating more lean government and efficiencies. Can you elaborate on how we
could possibly achieve that? I mean, do departments talk often on how they can
better work together, and what are we as a County doing to sort of encourage that
collaboration?
MS. SAKO: So, departments do talk. They work together on projects. I think it
depends on what, let's see, what kind of problem maybe is taking place at the
time. I think they do work collaboratively. Are there areas they could share
services additionally? There may be. We've tried in the past. Sometimes, those
have gotten held up with union issues. So, it's not to say that people haven't
tried, I think. But I think we can look at different ways to do that. But I think this
Administration, the department heads probably do work together more closely
than at other times. But each one also has their own projects that they're focused
on.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Is your team looking at various creative financing
resources, public-private partnerships beyond what we currently do? I mean, I
think about our Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy in our General
Plan. I think those are visioning documents, but I think there needs to be one
overall plan that aligns all of those resources. But clearly, we certainly don't want
to just increase taxes to pay for things. What can we do to start incentivizing the
private sector to invest in some of the programs or services that we will all benefit
from?
MS. SAKO: So, the public-private partnerships are definitely important, and I
think they're one of the new things up and coming. But at the same time, we have
to be cautious as to how we work together because it's still the public's money.
So, with the public or the private partnerships investing in the government, that
works out well. We have to be cautious that then those same government
facilities don't get used for private purposes, especially if they're bond funded.
So, we continue to work with bond counsel and our attorneys to make sure we
don't run afoul of any of those laws. But we do have people, attorneys looking at
those type of things to see what would work in the future.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Is there anything in particular right now, specific projects
that you can share with us, that's being investigated right now?
MS. SAKO: There have been different proposals made to us, but the rate of
return was definitely too generous maybe on the private side. What they wanted
was something we couldn't afford. We could do it cheaper using our General
Obligation Bond borrowing rate than what they intended to make off of the
government.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, switching gears here. How do you think we can
make our budget more understandable to the average person? Is there a way
where we canI mean, it's very transparent. You can go through Laserfiche and
access all of these documents. But whether or not you have the time to thumb
through all of the pages and make sense of all the numbers, that remains to be
seen. How can we present this information in a much more layman's manner?
That way, the community can track where the budget is, where all of the money is
going, and how we are using those funds to achieve the outcomes that we desire.
MS. SAKO: So, maybe I'm not following the question. There's definitely a lot
of summaries in the front of the budget ordinance trying to make it simpler for
everyone to see what goes by fund to each department and each type of
expenditure.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Is there any way that we can work with IT (Information
Technology) to identify where exactly we are right now at this point in time with
the budget? With all the various funds and expenditures that we have, I would
like to be able to go online and see where we are. Similar to, like, the pie chart
that you presented me, but you know, if I'm three months into the budget, I want
to see where we are with our spending and track all of that.
MS. SAKO: So, we do have the Monthly Budget Status Report, which does show
that. If you're asking for that to be more
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: It's a list of numbers, but it's not—
MS.
otMS. SAKO: Pictorial—is that what you're asking?
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes, and something that the public is able to access.
Because, I think, if you've heard over the last few months, we have a lot of
members of the community coming in wanting transparency. And so, I just feel
this is a way for us to really show them where all of the dollars are going in a very
easy-to-understand manner.
MS. SAKO: We can look at that.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I mean, we're all one team. I'm not trying to tell you how
to do your job, but I certainly feel that if we talk about how we can better serve
the public together, I mean, this is going to be a win-win for all.
MS. SAKO: Yes, pie charts. I heard.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, that's it for now. Thank you, Chair.
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CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Ms. Lee Loy, go
ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Deanna, for being here.
Ms. Kierkiewicz is right in line with the questioning that I had, because I'm
looking at this final fiscal year and the total employee fringe. We're getting to
what appears to be a very unsustainable model. And so, my question is in line
with what Ms. Kierkiewicz is asking, is we need to start shifting to a better model.
How do we do that? I have some ideas. I think my biggest challenge is this is my
third year getting the budget, and it's coming to us in the exact same manner. So,
we end up back at status quo.
And so, when we talk about performance measurables, deliverables, output versus
outcome, and maybe it's not for this year—which is why I wanted an ad hoc
committeeI think we need to start framing the questions back to your
departments about delivering us a budget that demonstrates the difference
between an output and an outcome. Because, then we can help craft a budget that
truly services the public.
So, I did have a similar question and maybe you did answer it, but I do want to
ask how does your budget or this overall County budget create collaboration
across other departments to have more government effectiveness and efficiency?
I think Ms. Kierkiewicz asked that question. So going forward and maybe
pinging all the other departments, this is the type of questioning that will come
from this end of the dais. Again, she also asked who are you partnering with to
bridge the gaps and leverage resources. Again, pinging the departments. I hope
you folks are listening; this is the questioning that's going to come from this side
of the dais.
But more importantly, I want to hear how their budget demonstrates the
framework for meeting the mission, because that's where they're at. They have
mission statements and then they give us a budget. So, I want to hear how the
budget meets that mission and delivers services to the public. So, really, there
wasn't a real big question in there just`cause Ashley asked it. But, you know,
setting the tempo for all the departments coming forward, that's what I'm going to
need to hear. Thank you, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Chung, go ahead—Chair Chung,
I'm sorry.
MR. CHUNG: Good morning.
MS. SAKO: Good morning.
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MR. CHUNG: I think it's somewhat good planning on the part of Ms. David that
she put you guys right after the Mayor because a lot of his presentation relates to
what you guys do, right?
MS. SAKO: Right.
MR. CHUNG: So, I mean,just for the public's sake, you know that$60 million
which we hope to get approved today, it's not factored into the budget that we're
looking at right now, right?
MS. SAKO: No, it's not.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah. So, it's going to come in later on.
MS. SAKO: Right.
MR. CHUNG: So, what do you guys plan to do? I mean, I know it's been the
subject of a lot of talk over the last few months, but generally speaking, where are
you going to pocket these monies?
MS. SAKO: So, the $20 million was, as you might recall from the ordinance, it's
in the General Fund in an overall account. So, as the plan materializes, basically
when they get the recovery plan back, they get the risk assessment back and all of
these pieces, that they can better fine-tune what they want to use the different
pieces for.
MR. CHUNG: Okay. Then, they'll be appropriated in different places.
MS. SAKO: Yes.
MR. CHUNG: Okay. And we don't have to worry about the $40 million.
MS. SAKO: Yeah, because that's just the match for the permanent work.
MR. CHUNG: Okay, good. And then, let's look at this pie chart. General Fund
Expenditures. You talked about the Mass Transit, only grants. Why is it like
that? Educate me.
MS. SAKO: In the General FundI think I totally messed this up but in the
General Fund, so Mass Transit is basically now split primarily between General
Excise Tax Fund, and they still have some money in the Highway Fund. But we
didn't think it was appropriate to put the Mass Transit grants in the Excise Tax
Fund or the Highway Fund,just because those have very specific purposes.
Primarily, the General Excise Tax Fund, we want to be able to for the public to
know that it's just the General Excise Tax money and where it's being spent.
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MR. CHUNG: Okay. So, wouldn't it have been more useful to also provide a
listing of the different funds? And the reason that I ask that, it's no big deal but
just for the public's information, we increased the GET and ostensibly one of the
main reasons for that was to beef up the Mass Transit system, right?
MS. SAKO: Yeah.
MR. CHUNG: So, at least if there was something here that could at least
demonstrate how much that has increased—well, it wouldn't be up to you guys to
explain what it's going to be used for. It would certainly be Brenda's
responsibility. But at least some kind of graphic that would show that, instead of
just a .8 percent portion of a pie, only grants.
MS. SAKO: Right. Just from the General Fund portion, right.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, okay. I mean, that's just a suggestion. And this other thing
about the you had projected something out to 2021 on something, or 2022.
From 2017-2022, total increase debt service, $10 million. But that is basically
from 2017
MS. SAKO: All the way to 2022, yeah.
MR. CHUNG: Okay. So, we're anticipating a bond float?
MS. SAKO: More than likely in the next year or so, based on expenditures. So
right now, some of the projects going on are all the Parks and Rec's
(Recreation's)projects as well as a lot of sewer projects, landfill closures. So,
this also includes the SRF (State Revolving Fund) loans as well.
MR. CHUNG: Okay. More or less, how much can we go up to safely?
MS. SAKO: Well, right now when we're doing the debt service projections,
we're actually projecting based on what's already been approved and what's
going to the rate it's being expended. Because, we borrow as we need it, not
right when it's authorized. So, like, the Prosecuting Attorney's building's already
been authorized and is in the midst of construction. So, as we need funding to
borrow, we'll go out for that.
MR. CHUNG: Okay. Maybe if you guys could also engage the Council in this
because, you know, I mean, it can't only be an Administration-driven initiative.
MS. SAKO: Yeah. So,just to clarify, yes, if we were to go out and ask for
additional bond authorization, definitely we'll engage the Council. We're talking
about the bond authorizations that already got approved that we might actually
have to issue
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MR. CHUNG: Well, we're talking about a newI'm talking about a
MS. SAKO: Yes. So, for that definitely we can.
MR. CHUNG: New bond issuance.
MS. SAKO: Yeah.
MR. CHUNG: I know Ms. Eoff has expressed some desire to have the third
phase of Ane K. (Keohokalole), right? And maybe that can be, like, a matching
type of situation. Mr. Richards has his Waikoloa intersection, and other members
of this body might have some of those projects as well that would really help out
their communities.
I think for the first time, and thank you very much, all of you guys and
particularly Finance, for providing us your supplemental budget requests. Just for
everyone's information, these supplemental budget requests are things that are
submitted to the Administration as part of their budget development process.
We've never actually had these bits of information, but it's really instructive and
it gets to what Ms. Lee Loy was talking about, you know, moving forward. It
certainly doesn't allow us to have all of the information that we would like to look
into the future and try to move our budget and our County in a forward manner,
but at least it gives us some ideas as to what each of the departments would like
over and above its status-quo instructions.
So, I just wanted to ask you guys a few questions, only on two things. This new
cashiering system, what is that? I mean, is it something that's going ?
MS. SAKO: So, we have one right now. And what happens is that it's reaching
its end of life, and it's no longer serviced by the vendor. So, we need a cashiering
system basically, that allows us to record all of our cash receipts and then submit
it into our accounting system. So right now it's still a manual process we do with
treasury receipts that's entered into the current system, which then uploads into
our accounting system but as receipts are entered into the system. But because
the vendor is no longer going to support that software, we're going to have to get
a different software to be able to do that.
MR. CHUNG: And is this something that could greatly improve the efficiency of
your operations?
MS. SAKO: Yes. We believe there's been a lot of newer and increased
efficiency since the last software was bought in 2003.
MR. CHUNG: Oh, that's a long time. Yeah, okay. And this other one, five new
VRL (Vehicle Registration and Licensing Division) hybrid clerks, and then you
prefaced it by saying something about saying, "public facing offices within the
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County and the existing staff have simply not been able to keep pace with the
demands placed upon them," and then you have "disgruntled customers." And I
think we've all seen
MS. SAKO: I think you all have called us with disgruntled customer stories, yes.
MR. CHUNG: So how, I mean, could this greatly improve that situation too?
MS. SAKO: It definitely would. We are in one of the highest years of licenses.
Everybody has to renew every eight years. It doesn't mean they are evenly
spaced out over that eight-year period. But we do have a lot of licenses. We are
in the peak year. But at the same time, as you all know, the requirements to get
your driver's license has increased greatly. The REAL ID Act has made it very
cumbersome for some people. So, it just takes longer and the process as well. So,
we're hopeful that additional staff would make it better.
One of the things we plan for or sometimes don't plan for is all the vacation and
leaves people will take, either planned or unplanned. And so, that's really where
we kind of fall behind. It's extremely hard also, to keep the Kona office fully
staffed. We compete heavily with the hotels. So, that would definitely be an area
that would help.
MR. CHUNG: Last question. We increased the GET another quarter percent,
right?
MS. SAKO: Yes, we did.
MR. CHUNG: Was that factored into this budget?
MS. SAKO: No, it hadn't happened yet. So, that will be coming in with the May
budget.
MR. CHUNG: Okay. Conceivably, depending on how far we want to stretch the
use of those funds, because they have to be for transportation-related matters,
right?
MS. SAKO: Correct.
MR. CHUNG: I don't think the Legislature
MS. SAKO: It hasn't.
MR. CHUNG: It hasn't yet.
MS. SAKO: We believe it's in conference, yeah.
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MR. CHUNG: Yeah, okay, well, we're hopeful but if they don't give us that
flexibility, we could use some of those monies for these types of matters, right?
Transportation?
MS. SAKO: We have been investigating that, yes.
MR. CHUNG: Okay. All right. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Chair Chung. Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. Thanks, Deanna. I think the tone you
know, some of the questioning coming forward, and I think it is great that you
guys are coming right after the Mayor to deliver the talk story. Springboarding
off of what Chair Chung has said, we're expecting the May budget, which is
going to be some changes coming forward. I too, as you well know, have pressed
hard for an ad hoc committee because of the stutter steps that we go through with
this budgeting process. And we keep having to try and plug things together
individually rather than collectively, which I think would be far better going
forward.
Looking at the by the way, I do appreciate getting the ERS (Employee
Retirement System) information to us. It's also in your PowerPoint. Looking at
rough numbers, the percentage-wise of it concerning the total budget is creeping
up, and I understand the reasons why that's happening. I guess it comes back to,
you heard me say this last year, the silo that we lock ourselves into and looking
for ways of becoming more efficient. Because that's the complaints coming out
of my district and what's become—but looking for more efficiency and not
having redundancy of efforts. And I'm struggling right now because I don't know
how we are going to get there under this current budget process.
I think there are things that we can do better, and I appreciate the fact that the
departments do have conversations. But the proposed budget at$573 (million)
and change is a 25 percent growth over when I first took office, and that bothers
me that we're not being more critical of the process.
And so, as we go through this, I'm not going to go down to the line item right
now. I don't think that serves anybody's purpose. I've had my meetings with
probably half of the departments so far. What I'm looking for is a way to have
better conversations and thereby find those efficiencies that we keep talking about
but we don't seem to be actually having the right conversations.
I appreciate Ms. Kierkiewicz's initiative to go for the ad hoc, but the problem is
we're doing the same thing again. That's probably more of a comment than a
question. But we're not seeking those synergies. And if we can save money, that
means we can spend more money in areas that we need it. And so, I appreciate
the fact of, what'd you say, a 2003 software package looking to change? Great.
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But there's other areas, and I've said this before, our payroll process is still done
by paper. Why? Why don't we change? So, anyway, I'm going to leave that at
this. I'm going to listen to a lot of conversations and then I'll have lots of
questions. So, at this point, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Ms. Eoff, go ahead.
MS. EOFF: Thank you. Just a couple of observations and questions. Trying to
increase our revenue and the idea of public-private partnerships not always being
doable, but how about—it seems to me that we are increasing our grants coming
in, and I don't know if each department is focused on that now more than before.
But it just seems to me that we've heard of a lot more larger grants coming into
the County, which would be probably one really good way for us to increase
revenues without taxing our taxpayers.
MS. SAKO: No, definitely. We continue to look for grant opportunities. We
always have to be careful that we're not supplanting with expenditures we
currently have. But we're always watching for those opportunities. One is like
the wastewater grant. I think it came already, but it might be next week at your
meetings. But it's actually only a 25 percent grant with a 75 percent match on our
part, but it was something we were going to do anyway. So, then, why not take
that 25 percent? Typically, if we were going to go and do a new project, maybe
25-75 isn't good, but on something where we were going to do it anyway, then
we're definitely looking for all those types of opportunities.
MS. EOFF: Thank you. I also want to thank Chairman Chung for initiating a
process so that we could see the supplemental budget requests. I think it will help
us when we speak to each department individually because it seems like,
oftentimes in the past, department heads are kind of shy to let us know what they
may need because they're afraid that we'll take it from someone else.
MS. SAKO: Yes.
MS. EOFF: So, I think it helps us to see that. And thank you for that, Mr. Chung.
One other thing I thought was interesting this past year leading up to this budget
is that we have created some new special funds that are generating income from
their own, I don't know how you say it, but from the users. So, that is really
helpful. Another observation I just wanted to mention was with the driver's
licensing. Oftentimes, it's embarrassing to walk by on my way to work
MS. SAKO: I know you have a great view from your office. I'm sorry.
MS. EOFF: We have a long line of sort of unhappy customers over there. It's not
all the time but most of the time. But not too long ago, the Mayor of Kaua`i came
to our island and he said hello to us. I asked him what he was here for, and he
said to look at our DMV(Department of Motor Vehicles) situation. And I was
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like, oh, he's going to be critical of that. And he said, "No, you guys are
awesome." So, I guess on Kauai it may be even worse. So, we're not the only
island that suffers from long lines at—
MS.
tMS. SAKO: We all have to follow the same rules, yes.
MS. EOFF: I was kind of shocked. I thought when he said that's what he was
visiting here for, he was going to try and help us. But no, he was trying to see
what we were doing better. So, anyways, right now I don't have any more real
questions, I guess. This is a lot to absorb. And this, right now, is more of our
time to listen to the departments' presentations. But thank you, all, for being here.
And I wanted to just say thank you to everyone in your department, too who are
willing to take our calls because a lot of us aren't, this isn't our expert field. So,
getting to understand things better, like when Lisa and Keita Jo came to talk to us,
it was really helpful just to be able to ask questions in private and get some
insights into how that's another area where I think we've come a ways, is
looking at the real property tax, and not just the fairness but where we're missing
out on some income. So, right now, I feel like that's what you guys have been
doing is finding lost income and bringing it back into the budget. Because, we
know some of those fixed costs with the fringe benefits, etcetera, are not going to
go away.
MS. SAKO: Right.
MS. EOFF: We can't do anything about it. So, we have to generate more
revenue somehow. Not hurting the taxpayers is some of the things I was just
thinking about I feel like you guys are focused on.
MS. SAKO: Right.
MS. EOFF: So I just wanted to say thank you to the Finance Department.
MS. SAKO: Thank you. All of the divisions work very hard, whether it's to find
ways to enhance revenues or to find ways to save. Sebastian and his team have
also looked at more joint purchasing agreements with other counties and the State
to get that purchasing power to save all of us money statewide.
MS. EOFF: Thank you. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Eoff. We're going to go to Ms. Poindexter.
MS. POINDEXTER: I, basically, don't have any questions at this point because
you know me, I'm always calling. I just want to say thank you for all of you for
being just available anytime I have questions or concerns. And even from our
constituents in that I need to get back to them, you've always been there, open
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door,just quickly getting back to addressing stuff. I can send Hamana something
and then, in ten minutes, I'll get something back that he goes and researches
because some of the community members were looking for information. But all
of you I've been in touch with. So, I just want to say thank you for being so
available.
MS. SAKO: You're welcome. Thanks.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Poindexter. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I want to just second that from all the
members here. Thank you for your hard work. I don't know how you put
together a budget of this size. I have a hard enough time balancing my own
checkbook. So, thank you. I have one more question, though. I talked to Steve.
We had a meeting in Kona, and we talked about CIP (Capital Improvement
Project) allotments that were actually over what we knew we would get to by the
end of the year. What part of our CIP budget is over estimated this year, or is that
a number that you actually have?
MR. HUNT: Refresh my memory here. On the CIP overages, you're talking
about over expending or having excess CIP available?
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I believe last year we had somewhere in the
range of$1 In to $19 million worth of over-allotted CIP expenditures. I might be
saying that wrong. But the idea was that we knew we had CIP projects we
weren't going to get to, and they were still on the budget holding a place for
money but we knew we wouldn't spend it. So, what do we have this year?
MR. HUNT: You're talking about lapses that occur within the CIP budget,
whether they be reprogrammed or whether they're continued for that project if it,
you know, gets delayed but gets back on course in the following fiscal year. Is
that the question?
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I think so.
MS. SAKO: So, a lot of our projects for the capital budget are actually, I think I
heard someone say "wish list," and they are. So, it kind of does hold a place,
though. We know it's an important project. We know we need to do it, but
there's not enough funding for it yet and there are other projects that actually have
some funding.
So, many of the ones that are lapsing are the ones that never got funding, and
those are some of the ones that are being re-appropriated again in the coming
year. Some may have allotments that they're not going to get to. And then, those
would lapse and go back into the funding source to be re-allotted again in the
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future year. But I'm not sure if you had a question on a specific project or if I'm
explaining it well.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Not so much for specific projects. It was
more the idea that we're placeholding money for projects that we knew we
weren't going to be able to get to.
MS. SAKO: I think it's not actually placeholding money. I don't think there's
money actually tied to it. I think it's just a project so that we don't forget about it
and we do know it's important.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And if there were funds like that
being held and we did have things we could do quicker and faster with the same
amount of money or less, I would like to see it put towards those projects that
are
MS. SAKO: Definitely, yeah.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: More easily accomplished. Who is
Hamana? Hamana, thank you. I've emailed you a few times. I've never put a
face to him. So, yes. Sorry, so, yeah
MS. SAKO: No, but I agree with you. I mean, we don't want a project just kind
of sitting on funds if it's not going to move. But sometimes if it's, let's say, a
grant, that's the only project that we can utilize it on. But if it's in a different
funding source and it wasn't specific for that project, then we definitely agree.
We want the funds being put to good use and not just sitting there. I think most of
the projects that are lapsing never did get funded. It's just a holding bucket.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. I'm going to go to
Ms. Kierkiewicz, were you first? Okay, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I'm just sitting here listening, Deanna,
and I just feel really impressed by your ability to answer all of our questions with
so much detail and thought and meaning. And I just feel really lucky that we, as a
County, have you and your team. So, I just want to say that. And I know that you
have bent over backwards in many situations to help me help the constituents of
District 4. So, I want to make sure that you know that.
I have a few existential sort of questions. But before I get to those, I have two
technical ones. In taking a look at our Fund Balance, is there any way that some
of that money could be used to increase our contingency relief funds as Council
Members? I hear stories of back in the day when Council Members had, like,
$100,000 to give. And so, it's hard having stepped into this position of only
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having $15,000 to be able to support work in the community. So, I just wonder if
any thought's been given to that.
MS. SAKO: I also remember when it was zero, but just to put reality in here too,
okay. But, yes, Fund Balance is one of the areas we're looking at. And when we
do the March budget, we're still kind of early in the year. So, it's one of those
things we try to predict what the June 30 Fund Balance is going to be. And so, we
still have staff working on that. We still have a couple of weeks to go before we
present the May budget. And so, it is one of the areas that we're looking at as a
potential revenue source that may be increased.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. That's great to hear. The other technical question I
have is, there's a lot of articles coming out about a potential recession, slowing
down of the economy. And so, I wonder because there is a little bit of room to
push our ability to leverage bonds and debt service as a County. I mean, is that
consideration in the crafting of future budgets where we invest in critical
infrastructure because it's cheaper to do it then because of the recession that we're
in? And by doing that, we could then stimulate local economy.
MS. SAKO: That is definitely one of the things. I think we try to do our projects
when construction costs are lowest. Clearly, now is not one of those times. But
we do try to do that. And we have a lot of projects coming up. As I mentioned
earlier, some of the debt service increase is for a lot of various projects. But
definitely a lot of sewer projects and SRF (State Revolving Fund)projects that are
coming up. So, it will kind of help to boost the economy, getting those done
during those times.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, great. Okay, the fun questions.
MS. SAKO: The existential, I think you said, yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes. So, you've been with the County for a number of
years. I always feel there's this fuzzy line between what's the government's
kuleana and what's community responsibility. Do you think the line is in the
right place? Do you think that government is doing enough, not enough, too
much?
MS. SAKO: Sometimes, it's not just government versus the community but the
various levels of government. We kind of have our assigned responsibilities so to
speak. Public safety is one of them. We have police and fire. We have roads. So
does the State. Things like that. We've noticed that Public Works is trying to
work more closely together with the State lately. But then we have other areas.
One of the areas is really the social programs that tend to fall more under the
State. But then, sometimes they don't do things, so we end up picking it up. And
that's where some of the challenges hit with our budget as well, where we have to
start to pick up other things, homeless and whatnot.
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Sharon Hirota, our homeless coordinator, is doing a lot. But also, at least right
now, the Governor has made available State funding. And so, that's been really
nice that she's going to be able to utilize that State funding to do the project.
Even though it may take some of our staff, at least the Governor is making those
funds available.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. The second question is, I realize that salaries,
wages, and benefits, those are beyond our control. Is there anything else that you
feel is beyond the County's control that you'd like to change? How do you think
you can influence that change?
MS. SAKO: I think I spent a lot of time thinking about salaries, wages, and
benefits because it's over 60 percent of the General Fund budget. So, let me think
about that, yeah, and get back to you on that.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. The final one is, in what ways is our government
like a business and in what ways is it different, and how do you think we could
just bring more business-mindedness to how we run County government? I think
we're opening up a Pandora's box when we talk about that because I feel like
there needs to be just a review and an overhaul of Code and HRS, but I'd love
your perspective on that, on what we could do right now.
MS. SAKO: I definitely came from business before the government, but there's
things that, I guess, everybody wants us to be more like a business, and
sometimes that works. Customer service, definitely. We should all have great
customer service. There's no doubt about that. But there's also things about
running a business and decisions you make when you run a business about being
profitable or not, that you have choices you can make that government doesn't
always have that same choice. We don't have a choice on whether or not we're
going to pay certain benefits or how much we pay our workers.
We have to work harder sometimes to make certain decisions and to make things
happen because we do have more maybe red tape or different things that we have
to work through to get things done. And so, there's good things and bad things
about that. So, yeah, I'm just trying to kind of think about it. But certain—do
things we have to do, like having police officers on every street or in every
community. Those types of things, they cost money. But at the same time, it's
not like if the police officer—if someone in the community doesn't think they're
solving enough crimes, we don't get to adjust their pay or charge someone less.
The system we have setup for most governments with taxes coming in to pay for
things is not quite the same as being in a business. But it doesn't mean we don't
try to save money when we can and run it that way.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Sure. I have a follow-up question to that. I mean, how do
we get the average person to begin to grapple with all of the information we have
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and understand that we have a lot of tough decisions we need to make? Because,
I mean, we see letters to the editor, we get emails, we get tagged on social media
posts about everything that government is doing wrong. I mean, there are only a
few constituents here in the audience that are here listening to these
conversations. So, how do we begin to get residents to understand this is what it's
like to be marching in the shoes of someone that's working in government?
MS. SAKO: I think we try to get the word out. A lot of people are not afraid to
give suggestions, and they're actually appreciative when I say, "Oh, yeah, we can
do that, but we can't do this because such and such prevents us from it." But not
everybody takes the time to do that. So, I guess it's just more public education or
outreach to be able to explain those types of things.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I just have to share. A constituent says they have a
suggestion for something, I'm like, "Great. Are you volunteering? Let's work
together." Anyway, thank you, Deanna. I yield, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. At the risk of further opening up
Councilwoman Kierkiewicz's Pandora's box, and again listening very closely and
carefully, one of the questions that was floated before me—and I like it—I'm not
sure what your take on it is, and that's why I'm going to pose the question. We
have our Fund Balances coming forward, unexpended budget line item, whatever
the case may be. We don't do it—at least I'm not aware of us doing it. But if a
department is able to put in cost-saving measures so they don't have to expend
their total budget, currently it goes back into the General Fund for the Fund
Balance. Correct?
MS. SAKO: Correct.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. So thinking outside of Pandora's box, is there a way to
reward those departments and let them keep that money to roll over for the next
budgetary year if they're trying to do something? And I don't want to press you
for an answer right now, but I will press you for an answer later. Because, if we
give directors latitude to implement cost savings, I think it's reasonable to allow
them to keep that cost savings to apply to something going forward. So like I
said, I won't ask you now but I will ask you later. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else? No? Okay. Almost
done, Ms. Sako. So, what I'd like to say since everyone is done, I have a
question. On the supplemental budget request that—thank you very much,
Chair Chung, for supplying this information. Procedurally, so you get all these
supplemental requests, and I notice at the bottom it's approved, the amount denied
or deferred. When in the budget process, do these things get reviewed and either
rejected or approved?
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MS. SAKO: There's a long process. Departments started submitting
supplemental budget requests back in November when they submitted their
budgets to us. So, we had meetings with each department in December and
January. And so, we were able to talk about them and kind of figure out the
impact it's having or how great the need is, so to speak. So, we're able to kind of
do that. Then, of course, each department prioritizes their own request, but then
the Mayor obviously helps to look at the overall need of the County. And so, this
year, definitely public safety has been on a lot of people's minds. We hear a lot
from the community. And so, that is why police got many of their supplemental
budget requests funded in the budget, and those are included in this March
budget.
So, as we go to balance May, if we have any additional funding, especially if the
GET flexibility bill passes at the Legislature, then we can look at more and we
would be able to include additional ones. But otherwise, it kind of goes back
almost to Mr. Richards' comments of, you know, if they have cost savings within
their department, they then could fund some of them themselves, basically.
CHR. DAVID: I see. And so, these forms are all blank. So, at what point would
we be able to see which ones were approved as far as the supplemental ones?
MS. SAKO: I don't know how good we are about filling out the bottom of those.
But, yeah, the ones we submitted from Finance were not the ones that have been
funded in any way, shape, or form.
CHR. DAVID: I see. Okay. That was just my question on process. Great.
Other than that, I really want to thank you and your staff for always being
available like we alwaysI think this Council really appreciates everything that
you folks do and are willing to answer our questions. I appreciate that very much.
So, thank you for your hard work, people. Thank you.
MS. SAKO: Thank you. Our budget team and Steve and I will be here for the
next few days with you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Great.
MS. SAKO: And even afterwards. I mean, our doors are always open.
CHR. DAVID: I'm sure we're going to have more questions as we go through
this, right? Okay. Mahalo, everybody, for being here; Department of Finance,
Deputy. Council Members, do we need a break? I think we do. We're in recess
for about five minutes. Thank you.
Recess: At 10:35 a.m., the Chair called for a recess.
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Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 10:50 a.m.
CHR. DAVID: I'm calling the Special Finance Committee out of recess.
(4) Planning Department:
CHR. DAVID: Right now, I'd like to call Planning Director Michael Yee to the
table. Go ahead with your presentation, Director. Deputy Director? No? You
may come up to the table.
(Note: At this time, Planning Director Michael Yee, Deputy Director
Duane Kanuha, and Administrative Services Officer Douglas Le came
forward to address the members of the Committee.)
CHR. DAVID: Aloha, Director. Please introduce your
MR. YEE: Aloha. Michael Yee, Planning Director. To my right here?
MR. LE: Aloha, Douglas Nam Le, Administrative Services Officer.
MR. KANUHA: Duane Kanuha, Deputy Planning Director.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha, welcome. All right, go ahead.
MR. YEE: Okay. My presentation's fairly short this year, but I do want to
answer a couple of questions that came up earlier, issues. One was Council
Member Kierkiewicz had asked Finance around is there a strategic plan. And
maybe not specifically as Deanna Sako had answered, but we have a plan. It's
called the General Plan, and that should be a guiding document.
So, I know the General Plan sits on your desk, on every other department head's
desk, right, as quick reference or as a big paper weight. But that is a guiding
document that we should be following in trying to give us direction. And then
CDPs, our Community Development Plans, are then aligned to it and so forth.
So, again, we're in the—one I'll gettowe are updating the General Plan. So, it
comes at an important time.
The other issue that was raised was around how do we involve community in
public process. Right? How do we increase their knowledge over government?
Boy, if we could answer that question, we would probably resolve a lot of issues
around the entire U.S.A. in terms of how communities struggle with community
engagement. Right? Especially in—maybe in a small town, it works better but
certainly on an island this size, it's much more difficult.
The last two budget hearings that I've come to, I've spent some time trying to
provide some information around community engagement and how we need to try
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and overhaul it here. And we're basically using the same system. And within the
same system, I would not call it the greatest community engagement that we can
have. We typically end up with the privileged folks that can get away during the
workday to testify or to participate in public processes.
So, we have a long way to go, but we need additional resources to have true
community engagement. But it doesn't say it doesn't happen either. There's a lot
going on. There's a lot going on in terms of lava recovery efforts in trying to
engage community around what those plans are. And all you can do is approach
it day to day to try to build that trust between community and government and try
to be as transparent as possible about the process. It's definitely a work in
progress. I don't know if trying to achieve world peace might be easier, but we'll
see.
(Note: At this time, Mr. Yee provided a PowerPoint presentation to the
members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please
see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office
or navigate to the Council's video archives online in the County's
webpages at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A hard copy of the presentation is
made a part of the record, see Comm. 117.6.)
MR. YEE: So that's just a quick wish list. There's a lot of detail with the
positions and stuff. That's why I brought Douglas out here, if you have any
questions for him too, that's his role.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Director. Douglas, do you want to say anything
before we go to questions? Okay. Council Members, questions? Ms. Poindexter.
MS. POINDEXTER: Your last comment, maybe if they increase our contingency
funds like Councilwoman Kierkiewicz had requested, maybe that's something
that we could help with. When you talk about meetings with the communities, we
could help fund some of the refreshments or something. Whether it's getting
some childcare or whatever it is, we could work with you in that way as well.
Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Poindexter. Anyone else for Planning?
Questions? Ms. Eoff, go ahead.
MS. EOFF: Doesn't Planning have some sort of role or obligation to prioritize
our Capital Improvement Projects? I didn't hear you talk about that, but as far as
I think I remember, that's one of your responsibilities.
MR. YEE: Yeah, so, the process is departments submit their Capital
Improvement Project requests to us. We prioritize and then send it off to the
Mayor and Finance. It's pretty much out of our hands from there.
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When I came into the position, I tinkered around with criteria and created a point
system to it, which you received last year, where we prioritized them generally
around greater alignment with the General Plan and CDP, of course, which is not
unlike a lot of other jurisdictions on the continent where you go through a very
specific selection kind of criteria, you award points, and then you fund a certain
amount of the projects. And that's fairly automatic. Here, it's basically I
prioritize them in some fashion, and I push it on to the Mayor and Finance to
make decisions around CIP allocations.
MS. EOFF: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Eoff. Anyone else? No? Oh, Ms. Kierkiewicz,
go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Hello, Director Yee, Deputy Kanuha, and Douglas. Nice
to see you. I really enjoy working with you and your department. Everyone at
Planning has been extremely helpful in my role as the Planning Committee Chair.
And so, I just want to mahalo you for that, and I appreciate seeing your wish list.
We as the Council are going to do everything that we can to try to make those
dreams become reality.
I just wanted to follow up on that point that you made earlier on about the guiding
document. Totally aware of our General Plan. I just wonder, we have so many
different plans. I would like to see one overarching document that coordinates
and aligns all of those plans. And so, I wonder because you have here, you know,
we're going to be having the overhaul of the General Plan and CDPs. How do we
start to incentivize action around that?
MR. YEE: Can you define "actions" a little bit for me?
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: If we take a look at where we want affordable housing or if
we want economic development centers or areas of recreation, well, that takes a
lot of capital to make happen. And I know that we have the Opportunity Zones
program, but that's only for Hilo and Kona. It doesn't extend to the rural areas of
our island. So, I just wonder if we as a County can create other incentives and
programs to encourage that sort of capital investment so that these plans don't just
sit on the shelf and are just a wish list, but we actually realize them in our
lifetime.
MR. YEE: So, I will quickly say it's not as if they sit on the shelves. I think a lot
of folks have this General Plan and other plans in mind as they approach their role
and whatever. It could be sewers, it could be roads. But frankly, in the two years
that I've been a part of the Administration, we've all operated in scarcity mode,
right? It's been under budget cuts. And so, the idea of trying to grow something
new has been very challenging. Hopefully, this new period we're walking into
with a little more revenue opens up opportunities for people to think.
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Not unusual to hear a planning director come up and say, "Hey, we need more
functional plans." I think that's what you're driving at is a more functional plan
around the housing strategies; a functional plan. And again, as I read a recent
headline like we don't need studies, we need something doneI'm a firm
believer of that too. So, waiting around for plans shouldn't necessarily be a call
for inaction. But folks the leadership has to show efforts around strategizing
around the things you're talking about, and how do we create that under this new
kind of paradigm that there's actually some resources, finally.
So, if there's issues around—and I know last week you had made a comment that,
and I wasn't here for it, that the Housing Administrator said there was a need for,
like, 9,000 units by 2025.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: 2025, yeah.
MR. YEE: And your question was, how do we get there, right? We don't need a
big fancy plan to start thinking about how do we get there, but we definitely have
to have some thought around how do we get there; what are the different options
that we have. And I do know we're doing a lot there.
The Administration has been very proactive around different strategies to bring on
more supply. You don't hear about them, you don't read about them, but there's a
lot of us working at different angles from, and you had mentioned, Land Trust
creating different rules around accessory dwelling units to changing zones to
rural. So, there's a variety of things that we're working on, it's just not written
down somewhere. And it's always helpful that, as Administration changes, it is
written down eventually. And that's what I mean by having some functional
plans, some strategies written down.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I think that's really helpful, and I think you hit the nail on
the head when you start to talk about changes in Administration, because people
term limit out. How do we ensure that we can all agree on where we need to go
and that vision doesn't become a political football depending on who's in power?
So I am aware of all of the work that you folks in the County are doing. So, I'm
glad you stated that because it often doesn't get reported on in the paper or made
into a video clip. So, thank you, Director. I yield, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Council Members?
Oh, Chair Chung.
MR. CHUNG: Very briefly and thanks, you guys, for the short presentation. I
just wanted to talk about that aspect of your budget that kind of stands out and has
to do with the monies that are going to be devoted to the short-term vacation
rentals. Can you kind of break everything down for us? I think it amounts to
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about$800,000, right? So, is that money that's the cost of operating this
program, or are we going to recoup it somehow or what? Explain.
MR. YEE: Yeah, Douglas will take it from here.
MR. LE: I'm happy to go into details, and please stop me if there are clarifying
questions that would be helpful.
CHR. DAVID: Douglas, can you please state your name for our staff,please?
MR. LE: Of course. Douglas Nam Le, Administrative Services Officer.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you.
MR. LE: While many in our department were working with Council on the
ordinance, my team was actually kind of running in the background trying to
understand how we would stand up the operational aspects of what would be
provided for in the Code. And so as a department,we've been working kind of
both tracks.
What the Code did was provide an enforcement fund. That is a new fund for the
County. And so, this fund operates like some of our other funds where revenue
generated stays in the account and is used for the specific purpose of the account
across fiscal years. So once that was clarified, and as our department started to
develop the rules that would kind of dictate how folks become registered, some of
the intricacies of the non-conforming use certificate and, I think, the complexities
behind some of our land use, we started to think about"so what can we expect"
and, entering this budget process, had to make some conservative assumptions
about what is out there.
I think for any of us who have been following this issue for the past few years and
especially a lot of the conversations that were generated around our own
ordinance and its passing, you know, some people say that there are as many as
15,000-16,000 vacation rental properties out there. Looking at the limited data
we have available to us, we confidently feel that there may be 15,000-
16,000 listings, but there are many platforms out there. Folks are smart about
their marketing, and they cross post.
We think confidently the actual number of properties of all kinds of types, both
hosted and unhosted, is probably closer to roughly around 8,000, plus or minus
1,000. I think if we had this conversation in about a month or two, I could be able
to give you much more definitive numbers and figures based on what the market
is bearing, right, like who is coming, who is registering, and what the context for
these operations are.
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But even if you take 8,000 as an assumption, and I'll get to answering your
question very shortly, we had to start kind of thinking about who's hosted, who's
unhosted. And so, basically the figures that you look at now, if we anticipate of
the 8,000 projected roughly about 3,000 come in to register because they are
unhosted, we anticipate some of that revenue coming in in this fiscal year. And
just a few weeks ago, we were discussing about adding some money into this
current fiscal year for us to start up operations. But that$800,000 in this fiscal
year and into next fiscal year is really an estimate. We don't anticipate running
the program on an annual basis to take a full $800,000. It really was this dual
exercise of capturing the revenue that we think we will receive and allocating
kind of conservatively and thoughtfully the expenses that we require to run this
program year in, year out.
Of course like with any new operation there are upfront costs. We'll have to build
out some workspace, get some equipment, buy some software to support
enforcement. So, things are a bit heavier in this first year of 2019-2020. But as
you look at some of our projections in out years, really what are the ongoing
recurring costs for the seven positions that we have requested through this,
including the fringe, you know, EUTF (Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust
Fund) and retirement benefits, and then some ongoing costs that we imagine that
we keep as good practice. So for example, the software which we will procure,
we have a price tag that we're budgeting for. But the procurement process will
met out what our annual costs will be in the next few months once we enter that
process. And even budgeting for something like a hearing officer.
I hate to jinx us by even mentioning it, but these issues will become complicated.
But as standard practice for our Planning Department budget, we do budget an
annual amount for a hearing officer should things ever go to a contested case.
And because this is a very specific short-term vacation rental use, we're holding
those monies too. If, say, we don't spend it in a given year, those monies get
repurposed within the fund.
So, that's been our overall approach. Things are high in this current year and the
early part of next fiscal year, because we are thinking about what is revenue and
what is expense. But they do level out in out years, after this rush of registrations
come in and we're able to start up our operations.
MR. CHUNG: So, everything is going to be driven by the revenues, or are you
guys going to have to be subsidized by the General Fund at the beginning?
MR. LE: So from what I understand because this is set up as a General Fund, we
have to be mindful of spending within our limit. If we have a windfall of cash in
the first year, we're able to spend that money as it goes on. But if we have a short
year or a big year, then we'll manage accordingly. There is the reality that we are
hiring positions through this fund. And so, we have to be thoughtful and as
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proactive as we can in terms of being able to meet our commitments once these
positions are fully hired with these funds.
MR. CHUNG: Okay. And these positions are going to be the ones enforcing
the
MR. LE: Yeah, supporting with enforcement. The enforcement just doesn't fall
on our inspectors. Right? We have folks in the front who really help to take
complaints, receive questions, process these. And our planners, as a team, and
our inspectors in both East and West Hawaii work together closely on
enforcement activities.
MR. CHUNG: Is there any possibility of hiring independent contractors or a
contractor to do some of that work, short of hiring more people? I am not saying
that I'm against the notion of hiring more people, but is that a possibility?
MR. LE: I wouldn't rule it out at this time, but I do have to say that is not a tool
that we have considered at this point. Perhaps like a lot of the ways we've had to
plan for this effort rolling out, we plan for what we think we can expect. And
should demands increase significantly, we can always adjust and we would work
with the Council to kind of exercise your authorities in supporting us in whatever
we need to change. But it's really hard to say at this point.
MR. CHUNG: Okay. But going forward, let's assume for argument's sake that
these seven positions were approved. So going forward, it will be sustainable
going forward? We're probably not going to need more employees, right? I
mean, I know it's very difficult to look into the future, but—
MR.
utMR. LE: That is not our goal. Our goal has been to kind of shape a program and
a staffing level for this budget season that is sustainable for the long term, much
like how we face challenges in our day-to-day work with our general funds within
the Planning Department. When demands peak in a certain area, we think about
how we reallocate resources and reprioritize the tasks that are assigned to our
team,just like every other department that is within our County family. And so,
we have to really look hard and deep six months, 12 months out from now when
we actually have information by which we have to make those decisions.
MR. CHUNG: I suppose, though, as long as the operations are funded entirely by
the revenues that are generated, it should be no problem, right?
MR. LE: Yeah.
MR. CHUNG: Okay, thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Chair Chung. I'm going to go to Ms. Eoff and then
Mr. Richards and then Ms. Villegas.
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MS. EOFF: I don't think Mr. Richards has had a chance to speak on this round.
CHR. DAVID: Oh, you did?
MS. EOFF: Yeah, I did already.
CHR. DAVID: Yes, Mr. Richards, go ahead. Thank you.
MR. RICHARDS: Thanks, Karen. Thank you, Chair. Thank you,
Councilwoman. You touched on the General Plan, and the CDPs were brought
up. I don't disagree that we need documents to help us, but would you
characterize the General Plan as a living document?
MR. LE: I would.
MR. RICHARDS: The reason I pose the question—and you and I and Michael
have had conversations around this going forward—we continue to evolve. And
if we took the General Plan strictly as it is going forward, since it's basically
written 15 years ago, we'd be kind of running up against a couple of walls, which
I want to bring up. One of the walls that our County is facing is we have trouble
getting our building permits through the process. Is that a shortness of resources?
And again, I'm not going to press you for a hard answer right now.
The problem is, as we talk about the recovery, as we talk about going forward, as
we talk about the need for housing, if we don't have a way of getting through the
process, we artificially slow down our economy. I was concerned about that
previously. I'm more concerned about it now. If we don't have some way of
speeding that up to get it through, I fear that's where we're going to be really
impacting our County. And again, we've had the philosophical conversation. I
believe government is there to facilitate and to try and make things work, as
opposed to just putting the brakes on everything. That is a philosophical
conversation to have amongst everyone.
But going forward, is it a resource thing that we need to give to Planning and
Public Works to make this whole process go quicker? Becauseagain, it's my
belief that if we have the economy, we will generate the resources to take care of
the community. But if we don't have that economy, we're going to be
shortsighted. So the question is, is it a resource problem?
MR. YEE: It would be foolish of me to say it's not partially a resource issue.
There could be more resources that could always do more. Whether or not it
makes us smarter will always be a question, right? And so, I can't speak for DPW
(Department of Public Works) and what they need and stuff. I don't want to put
all of our baskets on EnerGov because that's not where it rests. But we've been
working on a project for two years to implement a new permitting software. It's
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not important that it's the software that's coming in right now from a Planning
aspect but from an aspect that, in getting ready for it we've had to review our
processes within how we do permitting and within that, we've already found
some things that are changing and how we would improve that.
So, I think through this implementation of EnerGov, it forces us to know where
things could be inefficient or are inefficient and what changes are we making now
and not just waiting for EnerGov. So yes, I want to add that, from the very
beginning, one of the top priorities from the Mayor has been around improving
the permitting system. Clearly EnerGov was just one piece of the strategy. And
there's continual discussions around how to improve it, and that never ceases to
end it seems like. Thank you.
MR. RICHARDS: I told you I wouldn't press you hard today, but we're not pau
with these conversations. So at this point, I'm going to yield. But again, coming
back to the economy, which comes back to getting part of that which is the
building. So, we'll revisit that in the very near future. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. I'm going to go to Ms. Villegas.
MS. VILLEGAS: Aloha. Thank you for being here and taking the time to
explain things so eloquently. I also have appreciated my time with Planning and
your department and your patience and graciousness with the steep learning curve
of this new position for myself. I guess my question comes, and I don't know, I
think it kind of bookends what Council Member Richards was talking about. And
I guess,just from a broader perspective and it doesn't have to be exactly accurate,
but my question to you would be, we have a lot of properties that are already built
and already zoned under certain usages, and what would you say the percentage is
that is used for other businesses or capabilities? Let's say agricultural lots, for
example, being used for industrial purposes. Or residential areas being used for
commercial purposes.
Some of the things that I've been hearing from my constituents are concerns
about, if we enforce what were some of the laws that are already on the books,
would that provide our County with an opportunity for more equitable incomes
related on the current zonings that are out there? So,just in your experience,
because this is definitely your forte, do you see that as a larger problem? Would
it be helpful for more enforcement? Just kind of, how do you see that broader
perspective?
MR. YEE: I'm looking at my deputy because he has so many years of experience
through different administrations, that if he has a better perspective on that
response.
MR. KANUHA: I'm not sure I really understand what the question is here. Let
me see if I can repeat it. I think your question is, if there's more effort to bring
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into compliance activities that are happening on residential properties or
agricultural properties that maybe shouldn't be happening, that effort would
sustain more economic development in the areas that they should be happening.
Is that what you're asking?
MS. VILLEGAS: Close. Not necessarily economic development but a more
equitable tax base for what the properties are actually being used for.
MR. KANUHA: Oh, okay.
MS. VILLEGAS: One example would be the recent change for ag (agricultural)
lots under one acre now are being taxed as residential. So, I just hear from
different people saying, "Well, I know that property's being used for this,"but if I
look at the TMK (Tax Map Key) map, it's zoned and they're paying taxes based
on this other zoning. So, that becomes one of my questions about some
opportunities potentially for improvement in the County if, mind you I don't
know exactly how we do it, but I wondered from your perspectives if you would
say that is a major issue or a small percentage, or just kind of how you see that.
Because it's kind of on the other side of the economic growth we need to see
happening with the planning and permitting going through, but then also on the
backend how we're making sure that what's out there and what's really happening
is contributing to the appropriate tax zones, margins, amounts.
MR. YEE: Steve Hunt, Deputy for Finance,just stepped up. I think he probably
has a good response.
(Note: At this time, Finance Deputy Director Steven Hunt came forward
to address the members of the Committee.)
MR. HUNT: Sure.
MS. VILLEGAS: Hi, Steve.
MR. HUNT: Yes, Council Member, it is kind of crossing over into the Finance
area because now you're talking about taxation and real property taxes. So, to the
extent that the County of Hawaii taxes right now what is based on zoning and not
necessarily use, we did do an effort on Kauai where we changed the
classifications to use based as opposed to zoning based so that potentially if that
was a major paradigm shift in terms of taxation on use, that could be something
that would generate potentially more revenue for those more intensified uses. But
really, the Planning perspective, I guess, is really the compliance, whether they
should or be allowed to be using the property in that way. So, if compliance is
not going to be an effort and you really want to go the taxation route, then it
would require some changes in the ordinance to effectuate that.
MS. VILLEGAS: Great. Thank you for answering that for me. I appreciate it.
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MR. YEE: This is not answering your question, but I'm going to take the
opportunity to repeat something I said to a business class last week at UH
(University of Hawaii) Hilo. Their assignment was to talk about Bill 108, the
vacation rental bill, and its impacts. The stand I used that Kauai has been
providing a lot of testimony to the Leg (Legislature) on vacation rental bill stuff is
one out of 20 homes in Hawaii State is a vacation rental. One in seven homes on
Kauai is a vacation rental. That gets into is that, you know, what does that do to
communities when you have that kind of use that's clearly invading a residential
neighborhood or something, right? And that's the balance we try to find. How do
we not just be doing spot zoning? Are we really following a zoning for the
island? Are we being thoughtful?
There's a whole other layer that I shared with them. There's the difference
between what we see as planners and what we want to do, and politics. And the
efforts that it takes to create change that you want to have for Planning is a very
political machine to be able to do the things you really want to do. So, I just
wanted to share that with you.
MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. I appreciate your thoughtful answers. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Ms. Eoff, go ahead.
MS. EOFF: Oh, okay, thank you. I wanted to talk a little bit about the County's
priorities again and the beauty of the General Plan, and now the community
development plans. Because I think it was in 2008 when Mayor Kim and then,
I'm not sure if he was an executive assistant or what, but Roy Takemoto was to
implement this idea of creating community development plans, which was
basically to sort of decentralize government and bring it down to a level of the
communities, so that the different areas of our island could vision how they
wanted to see their districts developed. Where those priorities are, how to fund
them, where roads should be built, all of that. And so I think,philosophically, it
was a really important change for our County.
And now I see we're going through the General Plan review period. And my
understanding is that you will be trying to represent those community
development plans within the General Plan, so that we have a better way to carry
out those priorities. The other kind of thing that was set in place was, to do the
community development plans, we had steering committees and then those
morphed into action committees. So, now we have the CDP action committees
who are supposed to be tasked with this implementation.
I think that we're underutilizing these action committees. I know there's some
constraints maybe due to laws that we may need to change. But I would like to
see these community development plan action committees play a more important
and noticeable role in how we implement both the General Plan and the CDPs.
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So I don't know how to go about that, but I've felt that for a long time now and
I've attended, not lately, but I used to attend a lot of the CDP action committee
meetings in Kona. And I felt the frustration there that there'sI'm not sure if
they're caught up in process but I don't know how to better articulate their role in
this whole planning process for our future.
MR. YEE: So, I don't think there's a doubt in my mind that Mayor Kim was
attracted to my experience working with communities and wanting to have plans
come off the shelf in trying to help communities implement things. I came here
and found out there were just a lot less resources to do some things, and so it is
very challenging. So,just quickly, I think last year I talked about this at budget,
which was I've always dreamed that if I get to it, I'd really like to work with the
Mayor and with Finance, with you folks around, trying to create some kind of
community matching fund for community projects. Because if they only can rely
on CIP funds, the community projects will never rise high enough to get funded.
They can certainly go to you for smaller kind of requests through the funds that
you have, but these aren't significant large community projects. So, that would be
a dream of how—and then the action committees could actually help prioritize
those projects and work on those. So, that's one area.
I will say Sunshine Law is very restrictive. Now, Oahu has neighborhood groups
that don't follow Sunshine Law because of how they're set up, but they're not
necessarily the model either. We've looked at that, and they have constraints too.
You folks know I'm a huge proponent for equity. And so, I even get into this, a
little bit of rub, where trying to rely on the community development plans for
everything is great but I also want to then ensure that we have true community
engagement that really is part of that process that puts input into the development
plans. And as you know, the audiences typically don't differ too much between
who comes in front of you in Council and who we see at CDP meetings.
Somebody asked me recently at the South Kohala meeting, what would I really
have them work on for the next year and a half, because they were kind of putting
together their action plan. And I said, "If it was really my choice, you would
ditch everything you're doing right now, kind of this busy work you're doing,
around certain applications, and you'd just focus in a year and a half on
community engagement, on the networks, on building folks and the relationships
you're supposed to have out in the community. And when it's time to initiate the
CDP revisions, you have that trust with all the different communities within your
area, and you can then bring them into the process." And that could easily take a
year and a half. You can't just show up at a CDP rewrite and say, "Oh, come out
and participate." There's the lack of trust between true community folks and the
participating.
So, that would be a wish-list thing, but we're stuck in this system that we have.
And so, I try to make the best of it but I also give staff a lot of leeway to try to
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improve community engagement so we have as many different voices, especially
the marginalized voices, in the room.
MS. EOFF: Okay, thank you. And then before I yield, back to the vacation
rentals. So, this enforcement or this fund, this special fund that was created, I
would think that in this first six months, a lot of attention is going to be, and
resources, are going to be spent on registering and answering a lot of questions
and that kind of thing. But after this first six months, you won't see too many
more people registering except for those in legal zoning districts. So, that will
also change some of the income, right? Because, the nonconforming-use people
will just reregister every year, the $250. But the registration fee that everyone
will come up with in the first six months will diminish. So then, I guess fines and
those kinds of things is how you would say the fund would keep being
replenished?
MR. LE: Yes, that is correct. After this first six-month period, registrations don't
go away. But it will be folks in permitted zones who open new operations or
maybe they shut down at a certain point and they want to reopen. And then for
current nonconformance-use certificate fees and fines.
MR. YEE: And I'll leave you with the cliffhanger of what happens eventually
with hosted rentals and that whole ball of wax for registration on that end.
MS. EOFF: Okay. So, that same fund could be utilized or would that would
create—we'd have to create a new law. Okay, thank you. Thank you,
Madam Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Eoff. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, you can—he's
deferring to you, Ms. Poindexter. Go ahead.
MS. POINDEXTER: Okay. When you talked about community engagement and
the CDP, I think using us, Council Members, and each of us in our districts
instead of just relying on staff and trying to figure out how to do that because
we're at the grassroots level all the time, and at all the different community
association meetings. And maybe we could be groomed into how you would
want us to help with that community engagement with the CDP, and what are the
steps or some talking points that we could help to have them engage in it.
Because, we always talk about it in Hamakua. I know at our association
meetings, a lot of times we'd bring up CDPs. I just had a talk with our Pepe`ekeo
community about that and learning more about the CDP. So,just working closely
with us, and I would love to be of, I think, great help to your department.
MR. YEE: Thank you for that generous offer. Certainly, every Councilperson
has credibility within their communities and have touches with folks that
wouldn't necessarily come out. And we'd certainly want to do that, want to touch
with them. And in the end, it comes down to you making that introduction, trying
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to get them out, and the work that we have to do to instill that trust with them that
we're working for them. So, yes, if you can open those doors, we'll happily step
through.
MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah, and I think the upside to our community
development plan just being passed and not even an action committee yet, you
know, we're still making sure that we have involvement from all the different
communities throughout my coastline. I think we have an advantage to start that
engagement early on, yeah. So, making that a model for us. So, thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Poindexter.
MR. YEE: I wanted to make a quick comment on community development action
committees. I understand when the CDPs first got adopted starting back in 2008,
there was an administration change. And so, understand that for the most part the
action committees that had been in place when I came in had been functioning
under a different Administration than Mayor Kim. And so, you come in and you
try to review how things are operating under a different Administration. So, I
don't want to sit there and, like, bash the CDPs and the action committees. It's
just the adjustments you make over time. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Director. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Good morning, guys. I just wanted to ask if
any part of your budget has been pushed towards kind of fulfilling your mission
statement and taking into account global climate change, which we've touched on
a little bit. And I guess the world has actually decided that it's real now. Thank
you. But is there a part of your budget set aside to start dealing with that
long-range planning that you're talking about? Beccause there are manhours and
man time set in stone for that. And to deal with some of the things that have
come aware of recently regarding codes that could be updated and certain
chapters of our County Code that need revisions.
MR. YEE: My quick answer would be, it's not done in a robust manner by any
means in terms of our budget and how it's being reflected in terms of trying to
address climate change. I will say, though, we get significant funds: Coastal
Zone Management funds. We get other special grants; coastal erosion. And these
all feed into the impacts that we're going to see with sea-level rise and climate
change. And so, it's not to say we're not doing anything because we don't have
additional resources. We have some of that. But it's not as if I have been given,
like, half-a-million dollars to conduct a full coastal look at all around the island in
terms of sea-level rise. We're doing the key areas that we were funded for. So,
yeah, not done in a robust manner. No, I don't have like any new staff working
on climate change or anything.
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MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: What about other areas of our Code that you
said haven't been revised in a very long time? It could use a little sprucing up.
What about that?
MR. YEE: As it relates to climate change and sea-level rise
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Or in any area.
MR. YEE: Oh. I think, within my wish list, subdivision sits fairly high in
wanting to update. And I've kind of set the staff at a certain point, which is not in
the next year, I'd like to prioritize that. But regardless of the kind of resources if
we're given any for, let's say, a consultant to help. If we didn't, we'd probably
still have to try to pick it up and try to do it.
It just could take a while `cause then you're using existing resources, existing
staff to try to do something that takes a long time to do. But we don't have the
staffing level to just set down everything and send a team on to do an entire Code
change of the entire chapter, which is in the end what we would prefer. I mean,
Maui is in their process. They might have adopted already. But they just went
through a major overhaul change on their Code, and they had a consultant
working on it. I would love to have that kind of resource for us to be able to
launch into that.
But then once you touch my, you know, let's say Zoning Code, you're going to
end up touching on other sections for other departments. So, it's not this simple
"I can just do it in a vacuum" either.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: This might be important to set some funds
aside somewhere so you can start working on that because it's not going
anywhere. And it's going to continue to be a problem until we address it and
really set things in stone that we are going to require or not require.
MR. YEE: I'd love to have more funds to do more planning.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Mr. Chung. Chair Chung.
MR. CHUNG: Touching upon that matter of sea-level rise, maybe this is
something we can have a broader discussion on one day at the County Council
level. I've had some discussions with Chip Fletcher from the University of
Hawaii, right? And he's willing to come here and talk to us. But he actually is
of the opinion that the Big Island isn't in that bad shape. And then on the other
end of the spectrum, I mean—and what he said was, the dangerous part about
global warming for the Big Island will be the further impacts of hurricanes.
That's what we're woried about, yeah.
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But on the other end of the spectrum, I was told by a former DOT (Department of
Transportation) director that there was a study done that might overly alarmist,
but they said for Hilo for example, they're thinking that the coastal road has to be
built somewhere around Kino`ole Street. So, there's two schools of thought on
that, but really it's something that we at least should be discussing seriously. So
maybe at some point later on, we can
MR. YEE: Yes, I would agree having the different players that are looking at it.
And certainly Chip Fletcher and others are heavily involved on the climate
commission that I sit in on as the Planning Director for the island. Um, I just lost
it.
CHR. DAVID: It happens to the best of us. Don't worry about that. Thank you,
Director. Anyone else? No? Then I just have one question before you leave. In
your short-term vacation rental positions, you have two new positions for the
Land-Use Plans Checker, and then two for the Planning Inspector, and three new
positions for Planner III. Okay, I can understand the first two as far as being
related to the short-term vacation rental, but how do the Planner III positions
connect with the short-term vacation rental enforcement process?
MR. YEE: The Planner IIIs were mainly for, let's say, nonconforming-use
review. So, they would take those applications on. They would most likely
also—if there were appeals, contested cases, and this is some of the new thinking.
Usually, the Deputy or I show up for an appeals hearing. But in this case, there
could be so many of them, we'd want this person to be able to go and testify. And
that's not usually an intake person or an inspector.
CHR. DAVID: I see. So, that's a specialized position. So, you have three of
those, okay. Perfect. And then the Planning Inspector, they're the ones that go
out on the ground.
MR. YEE: Correct.
CHR. DAVID: Okay. And the checkers are basically to make sure all the forms
and stuff are
MR. YEE: Yeah.
CHR. DAVID: Okay. And then my final question would be, with these seven
positions, after your vacation rental, like Ms. Eoff stated, when it's all said and
done, your initial tally of how many we have and etcetera, would these new
positions be able to help with what's being discussed about the global warming?
Because once that all finishes up, once all the contested-case hearings are done,
you're going to have seven, basically, new staff people. Would they be able to be
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used to kind of fill that void as far as needing more staff to address some of those
things we're talking about?
MR. YEE: So, to maintain my credibility with the Department of Finance and
everybody else, I would say our estimate of seven employees is strictly for
vacation rentals. If there is excess capacity, I always have the ability to redirect
resources as necessary. But given that this, you know, the vacation rental whole
process is a wildcard right now, it's a better question that you'd ask me next year.
CHR. DAVID: Right. I understand that. So, your answer is well taken. But just
a thought, like a hopeful thought maybe later, yeah, personnel-wise.
MR. YEE: Yes. Quickly, I finally remembered my other thought, which was
Office of Sustainability. Oahu has one. It kind of coordinates resilience issues,
sustainability issues. Right now, we kind of divide some of the climate change,
sea-level rise between Research and Development, our department, and probably
a couple others that I don't even know about.
And so other jurisdictions tend to try to they've been specializing into a certain
Mayor's Office or a certain department that really coordinates those issues. Yes,
if we had great more funding and the Mayor or somebody really wanted to take a
look at a new team to really coordinate that, that probably would be of help. I'm
not suggesting that. Because we don't have that system, I've never really thought
about it. But that's whatclearly, Oahu has gone in that direction. So, I just
wanted to add that. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. That gives us some options to consider as we move
along with this. Council Members, I think if we're alloh, go. Of course you
can. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So, if at the end of six months you find,
then, if your positions were filled for the STVR(Short Term Vacation Rental)
extra people, if they were filled but you did find that you didn't actually need all
the staff members and you don't necessarily have a use for them afterwards, what
is the plan as far as staggering down or just maintaining and keeping the
positions? What is the there has to be some kind of thought there as far as what
you're going to do if you don't need the people. Or if you meet, in six months, all
the demands and you found yourself kind of with extra people who have extra
time on their hands, what is the plan?
MR. YEE: I think clearly the input I've gotten from other planning, from Kauai,
Maui, Oahu, the idea that we would be well-staffed at seven doesn't even
permeate our mindset that that can really occur. So, yes, I think we could
possibly fall short of needing exactly seven. I don't see it being two or even four.
And I guess, I'll be honest, I haven't really entertained that idea except, and
generally speaking, because I usually have to be very accountable to both the
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Mayor and to the Department of Finance and to you folks. And so, it's been
clearly articulated that this is for vacation rentals, what the funds are for. So, for
me to even say I could use it elsewhere, that's just not somewhere I want to go
right now.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Or if not elsewhere,just, I mean, do you
for me, I bring seven members on for a Friday night. At a certain point Friday
night, I'm going to look around and say, "I don't need seven people anymore.
You're phased, you're phased, you're phased, and you're next if it gets any
slower." Is there some kind of a thought process there?
MR. YEE: This is making a broad assumption but only because it's been brought
up by the rest of the Council as a round, a Part 2, you know, a bill for hosted
rentals. And if we got into hosted rentals, let's say, in a couple of years, that
would be another layer. And by then, we would kind of know what our additional
staffing levels would be. If we were overstaffed, maybe we'd need less on the
second bill; would be one guess, right. We could make adjustments then, too.
But I'm guessing.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Are we just about done?
If no more questions, gentlemen, thank you so much for your presentation and for
being here today and your patience. I will call this meeting into recess until 1:00,
I believe, no, 1:30. Okay, great. So, we're in recess. Mahalo, everybody.
Recess: At 11:51 a.m., the Chair called for a recess.
Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 1:32 p.m.
CHR. DAVID: Welcome back, Council Members. I'm taking the Special
Finance Committee out of recess right now, and welcome everybody back.
(5) Hawaii Fire Department:
CHR. DAVID: We're going to start with our Fire Department. Aloha, Chief.
Welcome. You can get seated and started. If you want to bring anyone else up to
the table with you, please do so, introduce yourself and go ahead.
(Note: At this time, Fire Chief Darren Rosario and Accountant
Melanio Lorenzo came forward to address the members of the
Committee.)
CHIEF ROSARIO: Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to present in
front all of you our budget for fiscal year 19 and 20 moving forward. With me
today, I just wanted to introduce the staff that's behind me. I have Deputy Fire
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Chief Lance Uchida; Assistant Fire Chief of Operations Division
Darwin Okinaka; Assistant Fire Chief of our Support Services Robert Perreira;
our Battalion Chief of our Emergency Medical Services Bureau Chris Honda;
Battalion Chief Kazuo Todd who is our Fire Auxiliary Services Officer, takes
care of our dispatch center, warehouse, and also our maintenance shop; Battalion
Chief Garrett Kim who is our Special Operations Battalion Chief in charge of
Water Safety, Ocean Safety Division, and our Rescue and HAZMAT (Hazardous
Materials) stations; and then also Accountant IV Melanio Lorenzo, our fiscal
officer.
CHR. DAVID: Welcome.
CHIEF ROSARIO: Sorry, I need to switch seats. So, I'm just going to do a real
brief presentation and then be open for questions from all of you. I know you
folks have a busy day and a busy week ahead of you. So, we're just going to talk
about our Hawaii Fire Department's fiscal year 2019-2020 operating budget.
(Note: At this time, Fire Chief Darren Rosario provided a PowerPoint
presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the
presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file
in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online in
the County's webpages at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A hard copy of the
presentation is made a part of the record, see Comm. 117.2. In addition,
Comm. 117.12 was discussed during the presentation.)
CHIEF ROSARIO: So in closing, I just want to say that we're all working really
hard as a department. I'm very proud of the men and women of our department
who are working diligently with the Mayor and our Finance Department to
provide for us. So I just basically gave you folks a snapshot of some of the areas
that if there's areas for consideration, we greatly would appreciate some help in
that. And at this time, I'm free to answer any of your questions that you have.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much, Chief. Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair; and thank you, Chief. I liked your
description about your lease-replacement program for the equipment coming
forward. I want you to expand for me on the, looks like, 12 positions in your
supplemental budget. Could you expand on that a little bit more and explain a
little bit more detail as far as the captain positions?
CHIEF ROSARIO: Thank you. These 12 positions are the positions required to
fill the four stations I talked about earlier, with the officer positions. We run a
24-hour shift with three platoons: A Platoon, B Platoon, and C Platoon. So, each
station will require three officers that work an independent 24-hour shift of
firefighters there. We decided to ask for the fire officer because that's the person
with the most experience, the leadership ability to run an incident. We could start
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off with giving those companies an extra firefighter, but really you need to start
with the proper supervision.
So, it's a large task to make these stations NFPA (National Fire Protection
Association) certified. But starting off with the officer is the first step there.
Along with that, there's a second page that gives the cost, and I know it's a large
cost. So, if there's consideration for even one of these companies getting the
proper officer that they need, we would greatly appreciate that as well. But the
12 positions is to cover those four stations with the three operating platoons.
MR. RICHARDS: I would assume that you have these because that's a
$1.2 million request I assume you have these prioritized. Can you share with us
what are your priorities as far as getting this staffed?
CHIEF ROSARIO: If I was to be honest, I would prioritize all of them equally
because it's hard to say where an incident will come in. But if I was to look at the
staffing currently at the Waikoloa Fire Station, that is our Battalion Chief's
headquarters. They had the extra firefighter there. As long as the Battalion Chief
is in the area, at least they have one person that's there.
Looking at call volume, I would say (Hawaiian) Paradise Park Fire Station would
be one of the leads. They're one of our busiest units on the bre side. And Ocean
View Fire Station, because of its remoteness, and it's one of our other high call
volumes for fires in that area, those would be the two leads that we could look at.
Laupahoehoe definitely also needs it too. That community is pretty resilient and a
lower call volume, but just keep in mind their next in companies are either Central
or Honoka`a Fire Station. And then Ocean View, if there's an incident in
Ocean View, the fire trucks for backup are coming from Pahala and
Captain Cook. So, a great deal of mileage in between. Waikoloa has a
South Kohala Fire Station just down the highway from there. Once again, it's our
battalion headquarters there.
So, if I had to say out of these four where our priority would be, I would have to
say Paradise Park because of the growth that's upcoming, also with the medic
coming in, and the call volume that they get.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, all right. I appreciate that. Paradise Park and
Ocean View, I mean, both have reasons why you could arguably put them on top,
and I hear that. Other question, Chief. In looking at your estimatesforgive me,
we've got so much paperwork in front of us—it looked like the projected, and
maybe you said this, but projected EMS (Emergency Medical Services) responses
are less than last year, and rescues less. Is that because of the volcano incident?
CHIEF ROSARIO: I did the projections based on the actual amount of calls up to
date and then divided it up among the 12 months. But generally, over the summer
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months and then also towards Thanksgiving through December are our busiest
months. So, there will be some increases there. I would think there would be
generally over close to 26,000 calls by the end of it. But the projection was based
on actual numbers so far.
MR. RICHARDS: And then prorated over
CHIEF ROSARIO: Over the 12 months.
MR. RICHARDS: So maybe we're just having a good year, then.
CHIEF ROSARIO: So far we're having a good year, yeah.
MR. RICHARDS: So, okay, we'll stop talking about it. Okay, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Go ahead, Ms. Poindexter.
MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah. I don't know if this goes to your Finance person, but
the Honoka`a Fire Station replacement and the re-appropriation, I know that was
going to lapse. So, are we ?
MR. LORENZO: We submitted the re-appropriation for 2019-2020.
MS. POINDEXTER: Okay, good because I was speaking with
Representative Mark Nakashima. So, I know that the ILWU (International
Longshore and Warehouse Union) is looking to sell their property in Honoka`a,
which is a large piece. I don't know if that would be a good location or not,
because it goes right from the intersection there and then you take a short left in
the intersection to the main highway is right there. So, that may be a good place.
And the other thing that I was thinking of, which I think I spoke with you about
before, is maybe the police station taking that, building a new station, which we
need one. And then Fire just building out from where that is if we break down the
old police station, which is right behind of you, and expand that way.
So, those are things to think about. And I'll talk with you more about that
possibility. But I'm glad it's going back in for reappropriation. Thank you.
CHIEF ROSARIO: Yes, thank you. That is one of the stations that, in the very-
near to foreseeable future, we'll need a replacement. And I thank you for
continuing on the conversation for that as well.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Poindexter. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Chief, and everyone for
being here. My spouse is a firefighter, so I know how hard you guys work and I
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appreciate your commitment to community, especially during all of the disasters
that our community faced last year. I just have a few questions. So, your total
proposed budget is about$48.7 million. What percentage of that goes to paying
the salaries and wages and benefits? I think it's higher than the typical average
for the rest of the County, right?
CHIEF ROSARIO: Yes. I'll yield to Melanio on that to correct me if I'm wrong,
but we're upwards of over 85 percent for salary and wages.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. So, that means you have about$12 or so million
dollars left for everything else: equipment, other incidentals, training.
CHIEF ROSARIO: Yeah, the OCE(Other Current Expenses), correct.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. So, I'm looking at the budget here, and it says that
we have, I think it's $8,000 that BC (Battalion Chief) Todd has every year to
spend for equipment?
CHIEF ROSARIO: Yes, for station equipment items that—because we work a
24-hour shift, it's almost where we're running a household. So basically, yeah,
it's $8,000 that's in there. He uses that to change out the appliances, standard
station equipment, tools, lawn mowers, stuff that's utilized to just run the fire
stations as well—and some of our firefighting equipment as well, too.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Can you provide me with a range of what that number
should look like? I'm sure you have a figure in mind. And I know that because
your department has a strategic plan, and that plan is based on data. And I
appreciate the innovative thinking that you put forward in creating this
lease-purchase program. So, I feel like you have a pulse on every single aspect of
your department. So, what should that equipment line item number look like?
CHIEF ROSARIO: Yeah, so in speaking with BC Todd and what he's seen as far
as the historical values and what Melanio had is, we came up with that$44,000
last year. And I'll just reach back to see if that's changed with any of his new
figures. So, about$1 million dollars—no. Roughly about$40,000 is what that is.
And then once in a while, there's a need to replace some of the higher ticket items
such as our extrication tools, which will run about$40,000 which is what he
mentioned. Those we've worked really hard to get grants for in light of the
budget that we had.
And we've been successful through the Sayre Foundation as well as some other
community events. In fact, the Sayre Foundation provided three sets of
extrication tools for the Waimea, Honoka`a, and I believe South Kohala area as
well. But those items, that's one item that can take it up there. But we work
closely within our budget to make sure that we're living within those means there.
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And then we also got another $96,000 from the Department of Transportation for
extrication tools as well.
So, the men and women that stand behind me and work for the department work
really hard for grants, and they've been really successful and I'm blessed to have
them on board. So, we're trying our side, too, to augment the financial shortfall
of the County as well. But I would say if we have this $44,000, that would cover
his basic needs for the station requirements that have been historically projected
over the years.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Because if not, I mean, what happens? Do firefighters
often pool their money together to purchase appliances, or are we having to fix
appliances and it ends up costing the County more in the long run to just put
band-aids on top of a problem?
CHIEF ROSARIO: Yeah, so I'll tell you that BC Todd does a great job in giving
us the figures that we spent"x" amount of dollars trying to repair this, say, range
or so forth; it's better off to be replaced. When we are short, we'll move monies
from other areas that, maybe, have a positive balance down to that area. Or if not,
we'll defer the replacement or repair for a later time. But the first step for us is
we'll move monies within the budget that's allowable to provide for the
equipment there. The next step is to defer it, and the third step is to try to find
someone else to help us pay for that.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Got it. So, you've got contingency plans. Thank you. I
can appreciate that. And then I just want to confirm, in taking a look at the
equipment for EMS, there was an increase in the budget over the 2017-18 fiscal
year. Is that because of the purchase of another ambulance?
CHIEF ROSARIO: Last year—we're in the process of replacing all of our AEDs
(Automatic External Defibrillators) and our life pack, our EKG
(Electrocardiogram) machines. So, I'm thinking that's where there was a large
increase.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: It's 5221.56. The allocation in 2017-18 was $116,000 and
then it increased to $286,000. Is that General Fund money or money from the
State?
MR. LORENZO: It's from the State.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, great. For additional ambulances.
MR. LORENZO: Yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Gotcha. Okay, and then I guess my last question is,
Council Member Richards had asked about those additional Fire Captain
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positions. So because we don't have those positions right now, FEOs (Fire
Equipment Operators) are TAing (Temporary Assignment)?
CHIEF ROSARIO: We have a supplemental agreement with the Hawaii Fire
Fighters Association. So, the next in command on that truck—so those stations
are staffed with a Fire Equipment Operator or a Sergeant, and a Firefighter. So,
the Sergeant gets an additional $2 an hour to do administrative office work, as
well as supervision.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, that's helpful. Thank you. Thank you, Chair, I
yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Council Members? Ms. Villegas,
go ahead.
MS. VILLEGAS: Aloha. Thank you for being here, and thank you for all you do
for our community islandwide. I just had a couple of questions here. In looking
at the budget presentation you went over and the numbers listed there, I just
wanted to confirm that the supplemental budget requests, were those included in
the number you have here, for the $48,724,458?
CHIEF ROSARIO: No. Those are supplementals. So, those are if approved by
this body or the Mayor or Finance, gets added to our budget.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, great. So, I just did some quick numbers because I
understand kind of a need for all of these things. So in just looking at those
numbers and doing a bit of math, what I was able to come up with is the
increase—if everything was allotted based on your supplemental—would be an
increase in the overall budget by $2.35 million. That was the total of all of those
other positions and the equipment. Thus, essentially increasing the budget
difference between last year and what's being requested for this year by
3.7 percent. So instead of a little under one percent, it would put it at about
3.7 percent. Okay, great. I just wanted to make sure that I
CHIEF ROSARIO: And to clarify, if you take the two apparatus, it'll say
$650,000, which is a Class A pumper's general cost. But these first two is where
we would do the apparatus replacement program. So, these were only if the
County decided to buy the equipment outright, pay for it upfront. So basically,
you could take out the amounts that are here, and allow the replacement lease
payments to go through, and it wouldn't add anything more to our budget for that.
So, you could take out almost this million-dollar total here because it pretty much
is already funded through the apparatus replacement program if that continues.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, great. And that cuts that in half, that extra ask. Okay,
great. I just wanted to make sure that I had all those numbers in there, because it
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seems reasonable when looking at the other departments and some of the
transitions and increases. So, thank you for confirming that.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair.
MS. LEE LOY: Oh, can I get a chance, please?
CHR. DAVID: Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see your light, dear. Can ?
MS. LEE LOY: He had one already.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay.
CHR. DAVID: Yes, I know he did. So, Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Chief, for being here. I want to
walk back to the fire apparatus, the aging of the fleet. And I get it; we've got to
replace our trucks. I just had a question on what does this do to the mechanical
tools that need to service the fleet? Are we going to be looking at needing
different types of tools because we have newer equipment?
CHIEF ROSARIO: That's an excellent question. The first thing is, with this new
equipment, it's reduced a lot of the repairs that have to be made, reduced the
amount of towing that has to be made. That is a large tow fee of approximately
$1,500 to $2,000, depending on where the apparatus is coming from. But as far
as new technology, definitely we're actively involved in the specifications of the
new apparatus. A lot of new technologies that come out, most of it on the realm
of electronics. So with the simple computer and a few computer programs, our
mechanics have gone to training funded by grants and in support with the Sayre
Foundation. And right now, no excruciating extra equipment is needed for all of
these new apparatus that we're bringing in.
Basically, it's down to the basics as far as repair and maintenance, and then just
the added aspect of the electronic functions that are added in, that they've been
able to do with the technologies. So, a good example is many of the newer trucks
we just purchased comes from a manufacturer in Pennsylvania. The onboard
system, much like a lot of our cars, is computer-generated. If there's an issue at
the station, there will be an electronic fault that will come out on the screen. The
mechanic just needs to call in, hook up a computer to the apparatus, and, all the
way from Pennsylvania remotely, their technicians will fix the electronic issue
that's going on. So, we've expanded our maintenance-shop personnel to the
vendor just through technology.
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MS. LEE LOY: And then, looking at your equipment funding, you have station
equipment funding. But I was more interested in the HAZMAT (Hazardous
Materials)-response equipment `cause you mentioned partnership with PGV
(Puna Geothermal Venture). And maybe this might be something you have to
look back to Mr. Kim for. I was wondering if, because a lot of your equipment is
driven by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), which I'm
assuming that all the other county firefighters have to adhere to, has there been
any cross-collaboration for a larger-capacity purchase through a price-term
agreement in which all the other counties who have to purchase equipment where
we would have bigger buying power, has any thought been given to that?
CHIEF ROSARIO: Yes, definitely a good question. Actually, we have a few
items that are on a power purchase agreement throughout the State that we utilize
for a lot of our fire equipment. I'm not really sure, but I believe although we just
replaced all of our HAZMAT-response suits, but those are items that are getting
placed on that as well. And in the future, we'll be able to purchase those large
items through that. The items that we're looking at here are like one item, one
item here. So, not large amounts as far as numbers, but just really costly as far as
equipment.
MS. LEE LOY: And those are those lifesaving tools that are really unique.
CHIEF ROSARIO: The detection too. So, most of our equipment got a lot of
work during the lower east rift zone. And I want to say that our partnering
agencies, whether private or governmental, really stepped up. We were low on a
lot of the detection equipment to expand the amount of people that are out there
and monitoring the gases that were coming out of the lava flow as well. So, we
got our hands on a lot of equipment that we could see the benefits for.
And then now, we've been working with the Planning Department to see if we
could utilize the PGV fund to purchase some of this equipment here. The thing
with that is it generally is something that has to be tied in to the PGV response,
which that would be one of the primary units that would be responding to any
type of release or anything down there. But I know he's working hard.
Chief Kim actually just started in this position, so he's getting overall a great
amount of information and so forth, but he's doing a great job.
MS. LEE LOY: And then for these types of HAZMAT-response equipment, is
there an expiration date? Because I know sometimes these air filters that you
folks use, they're only good for so long. And so,what does that lifespan look
like?
CHIEF ROSARIO: So, a good example is all of the suits that we replace are on a
ten-year cycle. I think I believe we spent about$80,000 to replace all of the suits,
different versions of Class A-, Class B-type suits. All of our detection equipment,
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a lot of the detection, what do you call it, pads that go into it is a one-time use.
So, if it's exposed, you've got to replace it as well.
Most of the equipment we have, it's time sensitive by technology and getting
outdated. I will say that if you would bring in a hazardous material specialist
from a department that's in a County or area that's well-funded, they'll say that
our equipment—and they have said, "Hey, this is really old equipment. We
replaced this five years ago." It doesn't mean that our equipment cannot do the
job. It just maybe takes a little longer to come up with the same results, versus
with newer technology it's pretty instantaneous.
Some of the things that he's been working on following up from his predecessor,
is that in the past maybe we had to buy five types of different gas monitors and
now we're bringing it into one monitor that would maybe examine an area for
multiple gases and so forth.
MS. LEE LOY: Now, I want to walk into the maintenance and repair because I
also heard you say you're going to pick a new apparatus over a coat of paint. But
I am generally concerned about the Pahala Fire Station and the condition of that.
What would that facility maintenance and repair look like? And I say that
because it's a very rural area and for it to fall into such disrepair is concerning.
Share with me your thoughts on specifically that Pahala Fire Station.
CHIEF ROSARIO: For a new fire station to meet the current needs and
requirements for a public safety facility, it runs anywhere between $7 million and
$11 million. We definitely would not need a large facility like we just purchased
for Haihai, but one thing we would always look at is the value of the dollar. So, I
always use this example: If you flew to Molokai and you looked at the Molokai
Fire Station, you would say, "My God, why did they build such a thing?" But
they're building out for 50 years. So, if you look at the Central Fire Station built
in 1934 or '35, I believe, those engineers had the foresight to say, "We're building
a station for 50-plus years." A large station that pretty much has done its job,just
needs a little help getting back on track.
When you look at the Honoka`a Fire Station, for example, probably it was just
built for a staffing when it initially had just one firefighter assigned there, and
then we slowly added on and grew it and grew it. But generally, if you were to
ask me if we're going to build something brand new, you want to build it with the
capacity for expansion that's needed in the area.
I only say I grew up in Ka`u because I spent every single summer vacation with
family in Ka`u. I just enjoyed being a part-time paniolo out there, fisherman. But
it really hasn't grown a lot. In fact, the population has gone down as
Parker Ranch has declined in the areas there. But a new facility would basically
just need two bays of firefighting, a simplified training room, office, kitchen, and
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living quarters. We don't need anything extravagant or anything there. But brand
new does cost money; I'd say closer to $7 million for even the simplest facility.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chief, for being here. Thank you for everything you
do. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Anyone else? Mr. Richards, that's
right. Thank you.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. Chief, you talked about going after grants.
Are you doing your own grant writing?
CHIEF ROSARIO: I do a lot of grants for the department, and I continued only
because once you get the knowledge and you know for a certain grant what the
flow is, it makes it a lot easier. And then we slowly bring in people to learn it and
take on that for the future. But I would say our department is made up of a lot of
volunteers working on active grants. We don't have a grant-writer position.
We're working towards—Deputy Chief Uchida is working on we're formulating
teams for all of these specialized things that we've been doing globally. So
putting together like a grant-writing team, someone to look over the grants.
But we've been really successful with the CDBG (Community Development
Block Grant) grant, not this year primarily because everything, for a great need, it
needs to go to housing for the homeless situation there. But a lot of our apparatus
did come from the CDBG grant for all of Ka`u, all of Puna. So, great with that.
We utilize the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program a lot. That's brought in
well over several million dollars to the County. The Sayre Foundation has been a
blessing to us; over $2 million in donations already and continues to be even
more. And very shortly, they're in the process of donating an apparatus to the
Fire Department in the next few months. So, we look forward to that.
Other small grants. The Department of Transportation's grants that we utilize.
We even go down to Walmart grants. Any grant that's out there, we have a team
that's looking for it all around.
MR. RICHARDS: Are you missing grants because of lack of staffing to write
them, or you're doing okay?
CHIEF ROSARIO: I would say as far as grant writing, we're doing okay because
all of us are doing that work there. To me, it's very rewarding work when you
get I wish I could write a grant for my own personal use, actually. They're
doing a great j ob. I mean, if we're looking at positions or anything like that,
there's a greater need in other areas of the department for positions and so forth.
I'm blessed to have a lot of people that are willing to go above and beyond their
normal work duties to try to bring in some money to our department.
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MR. RICHARDS: Okay. And the next questionChair, this is probably more
directed towards Finance. Deanna, could I ask you a question?
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MS. SAKO: Good afternoon.
MR. RICHARDS: Sorry, Deanna. This is more of a procedural. Chief was
talking about the lease-to-own equipment replacement program and asking for, to
be sure we have an approval of, what it sounds like, placeholding legislation so
we'd be sure we can approve the purchase coming forward. Is that the best way
to do that? Because if we know we have "x" amount of money budgeted for this
program, we know we're going to expend it. Is that the best way to do it? Is
there a better, procedurally easier ?
MS. SAKO: Right now, I don't remember how much is in the coming year but
they do have $1 million or so each year budgeted for equipment replacement.
And then each time,per the Charter, we come in with that resolution to approve
funding in future years. And he's right, it takes like a year-plus by the time we do
the procurement and the bids and verify the specs (specifications) and everything.
So, it could be that in the next year he doesn't even need any money, but it's up to
the Council to approve the resolution to move forward. But we've been doing
this for several years now. So on the list that was on the screen at least, there's
really only one that is, I think, not in the system yet, that H.O.V.E. (Hawaiian
Ocean View Estates) truck, right? Yeah. So, I mean, we have replaced many
over the last few years.
MR. RICHARDS: So, I guess it's a little twofold on the question. The way we
approve that, is that the easiest for Finance to deal with it going forward? But
then also, if we run into a year, because I know you've been playing catch up,
Chief, for a bunch of years now; we're just about caught up from what I'm
viewing. So, if we don't need equipment in the next fiscal year,per se, my
concern is that the easy way out is to then defund a portion of that, which will
start the whole problem again going forward. So, how do we—do you understand
what I'm trying to ask here?
MS. SAKO: Yeah, we can talk about like a revolving fund or something, but
we're trying to be fair to each department as well because they also have needs.
But in addition, I am pretty confident they're not going to run out of equipment to
replace because they still have several vehicles, type, I don't know, SUV (Sport
Utility Vehicle)-type things that are beyond their useful life as well.
MR. RICHARDS: I've been listening to what the Chief is talking about as far as
funding. And once we get into it, then the reality, our capital investment is going
to be consistent, which makes it easier on the County long-term going forward.
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MS. SAKO: Right.
MR. RICHARDS: As you pointed out, the maintenance costs go down, thereby
with those costs going down, overall we're in a better position. But I want to
protect that funding going forward so we don't inadvertently go down the wrong
path as just wondering if there's a simpler way for the funding. And you don't
have to give an answer on that at this point. Like I said, I'll ask you later.
MS. SAKO: Sure.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. Thanks, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Chair Chung, you had your light on.
Go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Thanks for coming.
CHIEF ROSARIO: Good afternoon. Thank you.
MR. CHUNG: I just had one question. Last year or so, we had that discussion
about the Battalion Chief salary and possibly moving it up from, I think it was
EM-3 to EM-5 or something. What ever happened to that? I really don't know. I
haven't been keeping up.
CHIEF ROSARIO: That's still in litigation as far as those that chose to go the
legal route on that. So, that pretty much suspended our ability to move forward
with any changes on that because there's still an active legal matter for that.
MR. CHUNG: So, the legal matter is holding up everything else? I mean, who's
driving that? Corp. (Corporation) Counsel or you guys?
CHIEF ROSARIO: We do everything with the recommendations of Corporation
Counsel because they're looking out for the County as well.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, but you were in favor of that, right?
CHIEF ROSARIO: Yeah. I'm in favor of adjusting the rates to match the
statewide. Well, I shouldn't say statewide because Kauai is even further behind
us. But it definitely improves our ability to retain and also promote people up to
the level.
MR. CHUNG: Right. Yeah, okay. Well, hopefully that can be resolved soon.
Thanks.
CHIEF ROSARIO: Thank you.
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CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Chair Chung. Anyone else? No? Okay. I think, if
everyone else is done, I just have one question on that budget amount. Chief or
maybe Melanio, the fire protection, which includes EMS (Emergency Medical
Services), the total amount is 42,128,218. Is that all salary and wages? Or is that
salary and wages and overtime, or ?
MR. LORENZO: Salaries and wages and funding for operations for EMS.
CHR. DAVID: Okay. All right. I think I've gotten my questions, I mean, I'm
going to yield at this time, and thank you folks for coming today and for all that
you folks do. Thank you very much.
CHIEF ROSARIO: Thank you, everyone, for the opportunity to answer your
folks' questions, and we're always available for follow-up questions as well.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you for the invitation. Council Members, any recess
before we start with Public Works?
MS. LEE LOY: Aging.
CHR. DAVID: I mean Aging, sorry. No? Let's go, okay. All right. Gentlemen,
we're going to start with the Office of Aging. Mahalo, everybody.
(6) Office of Aging
(Note: At this time, Aging and Disability Services Manager
Nicolas Los Banos and Administrative Services Assistant Christina Raine
came forward to address the members of the Committee.)
CHR. DAVID: Aloha and welcome. Can you please identify yourself?
MR. LOS BANOS: Aloha kakou. My name is Nick Los Banos, Aging and
Disability Services Manager for Hawaii County Office of Aging. This is my
colleague here, Christina Raine. She is our Administrative Services Assistant.
So, following Fire is a great place to be being that we're so tiny. I don't really
have anything really much to share today except for if you have a few questions.
But in general, we're here in place of Dr. Alameda who is at the Aging in
America conference. He actually had a presentation yesterday, which was really,
I think as long as I've been here for the ten years, the first time the Office of
Aging has been invited and accepted as a presenter at a national conference. He is
presenting on the East Rift Zone recovery efforts in partnership with
Brandee Menino from Hope Services is there, as well as Paul Norman from
Neighborhood Place of Puna. So, I heard it went really well yesterday. So, we're
really proud of that. So in his place, you have us.
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In general, our budget is pretty small, about$4.1 million overall. About
19 percent of that is County funded, salaries and wages being the biggest piece.
Like I said, I don't really have anything too much to share, but I'd love to hear
any questions that you might have. I know that Dr. Alameda was trying to make
it around to all of you. If you haven't had a visit,please let us know. We're more
than welcome to come and talk to you and your staff.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much. I believe Ms. Lee Loy has a question or
questions.
MR. LOS BANOS: Sure.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Nick, thanks for being here. And you're
right, Dr. Alameda was making his rounds, but some of this we do have to just
have for the record. So, I'm looking at your budget, and then you have program
expenditures. I see in the budget for 2018-2019 and then 2019-20, there seems to
be a big jump from salary and wages, operations and equipment. Can you share
with me, and I'm assuming it's because of the bargaining unit contracts and some
of the other things. But if we could just get some of that information for the rest
of my colleagues?
MR. LOS BANOS: Sure. Thank you for your question.
MS. RAINE: I can help with that. So, we did add some
CHR. DAVID: Excuse me, I'm sorry. Could you just identify yourself for the
record? Thank you.
MS. RAINE: Oh, I'm sorry. Christina Raine, Administrative Services. So, we
did have some new positions that were filled this past year, and so I think that
would account for a lot of it. Was it specifically in the program budget that you
were ?
MS. LEE LOY: It's on page 10 from your program expenditures.
MS. RAINE: Okay, yes. So, the majority of that would have been the salaries
and wages for the new positions. They were actually created, I believe, two years
ago but filled in this past year. And then also, the operations are just increases in
services that we're providing mostly through grants.
MS. LEE LOY: And then the equipment one. That one goes up another $40,000.
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MS. RAINE: So, we did add some computer equipment. We do have a pretty
robust database system that we use. I think it probably was related to that. But
that's really the only equipment. We don't have new vehicles or anything like
that, so it would have been based on computer equipment.
MS. LEE LOY: Some of the other questions that my other colleagues have asked
really is about creating synergies, and you just touched upon it with
transportation. So my kind of overarching question is, where in the budget does it
create this collaboration across other departments? Transportation is a big need
for our kupuna. Share with me how you guys are trying to create those synergies.
MS. RAINE: Go ahead.
MR. LOS BANOS: Great questions. So, one thing that has always been a little
bit of a confusion is the difference between the Office of Aging and the Elderly
Activities Division under Parks and Recreation. That just goes to show the
education, the efforts we have to increase. But in terms of the partnership there,
that's probably our biggest one. They are the providers of transportation through
our Title III, Older Americans Act, Federal dollars. So, they have essentially
handled that islandwide for anybody who is 60 and older. The nutrition program,
another program that is under the Elderly Activities Division, is also funded
through our Federal grants for your congregate-meal programsI'm not sure if
you've been to the one in your area—as well as our home-delivered meals. So,
that would be the two largest county to county type of partnership, driven by
those contracts of course, to do service.
MS. LEE LOY: You just mentioned the congregate-meal sites, and
Ms. Kierkiewicz has touched a lot upon strategic planning. We recognize that we
have an aging population. There's a lot of talk about the silver tsunami, and we
know it's already here. So, my question is, what strategic planning are you guys
doing to look at other congregate-meal sites? Because, I'm looking at the trend
just in Puna alone and the growth there. Share with me some of that strategic
thoughts going forward on providing meals, especially in our growing areas like
Puna.
MR. LOS BANOS: Sure. Okay, great question. So, like I think everybody
knows, the population is aging quickly and largely. As far as the congregate-meal
sites, those programs are really centered around, if you think about it, those
plantation-type of communities. Our elderly, I mean, I think about my mom who
is still working at the DMV(Department of Motor Vehicles), and she's in her 60s
and she's like, "I'm not going to go to that," right. So, we're trying to look at just
the different types of—the demographic is changing, right? The 60-plus folks
versus the 80-plus folks totally different cultures. Totally different needs in
terms of what they need socially or what they just want in general.
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In terms of those sites reallydefinitely, Puna is exploding out there.
Unfortunately for funding-wise, the Federal government has been pretty much the
same for as long as I've been here. So, it's tough to develop it from that
standpoint. So, answering the question that I think you've asked from a lot of
other departments is really looking at what kinds of things, if money wasn't an
issue, we would look at is definitely things like that.
You look at those people who participate in these congregate sites, they're the
folks that are just making it into their 60s. They're still very involved in the
community. And that's one of the biggest indicators of community health is
keeping people involved in their community. So, they talk a lot about those sites
being not really about the congregate meal as much as it is about just being with
others in their community, and really trying to keep that close-knit nature of what
our Big Island is known for.
In terms of strategic planning, we're actually still finishing our four-year plan that
we are required to do for the Federal and State government folks. And so, in
there, again, it's based on the funding we receive. So, it's really hard to say in
terms of how we would do it, but we definitely do the surveys out there. We have
a really great person representing that area on our Committee on Aging,
Frankie Stapleton. She did her surveys. So, that was really helpful.
So, we definitely know that the growth is out there. It's really hard to say as far
as development. It would have to be a perfect example of partnership with the
Elderly Activities Division because those are the folks that are going to staff it
and run those centers.
MS. LEE LOY: Sorry, Nick. I'm just going to lean in a little bit more, because I
hear what you're saying but I'm trying to get some tangible connection, right. So
when we look at a congregate-meal site I hear the funding piece, but I want to
hear if there's already a County asset that we could help bring some of that
Title III money to help enhance, one, a County asset that we already have, and
then increase capacity for it. Do you have any thoughts on that?
MR. LOS BANOS: I think it's—for example, Puna has the Kea`au site and then
the next one would be the Pahoa site. The next one after that would be Ka`u. So
I think it's just,part of it is the geographic nature, right? I mean, if we're looking
at where to put it, you folks know how different just HPP (Hawaiian Paradise
Park) is from further down in Pahoa. And so, it would be having to go to them
and really look at what our clientele wants, and where would be most
advantageous to them.
During the sheltering at the center in Pahoa, we moved it to the Ainaloa
Longhouse, and that was a huge issue for some people who are used to going to
that one site in Pahoa. So,just something small like that, which was temporary, it
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really goes to show we really would have to go to our people to ask them what
they would want and what would work for them. So, it's hard to say.
MS. LEE LOY: Has any thought been given toI get it. We've got to meet the
needs of them. Some of them can't drive. But overlaying that with our Mass
Transit Master Plan as we identify critical carrying routes. Has any thought been
given to that?
MR. LOS BANOS: I know that in the past we've tried to do that with Mass
Transit because it makes sense. I mean, a lot of the clientele riding the public
transportation through Mass Transit or ours sometimes cross over. It totally
makes sense. I think Mass Transit has had a lot of turnover. So, I think maybe
it's a good time to definitely revisit that because transportation is probably the
biggest thing we see in our surveys, and it's also very expensive. So, thank you
for that.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah,please go cross-collaborate with other agencies.
MR. LOS BANOS: I totally agree with you.
MS. LEE LOY: Okay. Thank you, Nick. You're off the hot seat.
MR. LOS BANOS: Oh, no. Any other questions, though? For you?
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, back on the hot seat.
MR. LOS BANOS: Okay, still warm.
MR. RICHARDS: Echoing, spring boarding, considering what Council
Woman Lee Loy was just talking about, your funding, you don't come in for
supplemental. I get it. Last year if you recall, we were having a conversation
about what they call the silver tsunami, and you said you've had some surveys.
So, looking at that. And we know our population is aging and we know our
population on the Big Island, the demographic is shifting where we're having a
larger percentage as I understood. That plays into future funding. And again,
echoing what was said, collaborating between other, like Mass Transit, because
we do know transportation is a big issue. Are you working on projections of what
that population of the junior kupuna age, right, and thereby senior kupuna-aged
people, what that's going to look like this year versus five years from now versus
ten years, as opposed to ten years previous? Do you have those numbers?
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MR. LOS BANOS: That's a great question, and I'm going to use that term
"junior kupuna"because you honestly will see that. The comment we hear often
when we introduce our services to someone who is maybe 60, 70 years old is,
"That's for the old people." Okay. But with that said, you do have a lot of people
in our community in their 90s and in their 100s. So, I get it. In terms of when I
started, there were about 43,000 people in that 60-plus age bracket. In about
20 years, it's going to be above 80,000. So, we definitely are looking at that.
A lot of our funding comes down via a type of formula. It's an intrastate funding
formula that they do across the entire State. So, it's essentially looking at certain
demographics, population changes. A lot of that comes from census as well.
That's how they divide the funding up in general.
As far as the silver tsunami, I think the thing that the State got excited about, I
remember maybe about seven years ago when that became the term, you're
looking at people who are aging into the aging population, 60-plus being that
threshold. They're not the ones that are going to be using a lot of these expensive,
high they're not going to be the ones with the high need. Right? These are
active folks in their 60s and 70s, and a lot of them into their 80s, who aren't going
to be needing those expensive daycare-type services, in-home hands-on types of
services.
But the Legislature did bump up, since I've been here, what's called "Kupuna
Care" funding. So, a majority of our State funding goes towards those types of
services because the funding that we get from the Federal government is quite
small when they chop it up to Hawaii County. So, the Legislature has already
looked at that, injecting a lot more money for those, for lack of a better term,
more frail individuals who really are trying to stay at home to stay in the
community with these services coming in versus being placed in a care home or a
skilled nursing facility, which costs thousands more per month.
So, in terms of projecting for that, that's what that four-year plan that I mentioned
is really looking at in four-year chunks. But the State Legislature has been really
supportive in general in terms of looking at what we might need across the State.
So, we're lucky about that.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. And the reason I bring it up is because we're not just
talking about this here. We're talking about what's going to happen two, three,
four years from now, and somebody from this Council will be sitting on that and
make those decisions. So, having that information. What has been stated by
Councilwoman Lee Loy? Good information affords us good decision-making?
And I ask that question, all kidding aside, because if we know that's coming
towards us, we can start better planning for that.
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MR. LOS BANOS: Yes, I definitely agree with you. We definitely will be
sending you folks our four-year plan, which has a lot of our projections for the
next four years.
MR. RICHARDS: I've looked at the four-year plan. An executive summary of
those numbers would be far better than the four-year plan.
MR. LOS BANOS: Okay. Maybe we'll tab the most important parts.
MR. RICHARDS: That would be helpful.
MR. LOS BANOS: Yeah, okay, no problem.
MR. RICHARDS: All right, thanks. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Hey, guys, nice to see you again.
MR. LOS BANOS: Hello again.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Are there any noticeable differences between the current
strategic plan and the one that you're crafting for the next four years in terms of
programs and services?
MR. LOS BANOS: Programs and services, not really. A lot of our initiatives are
decided together as a State. So, we work closely with the other offices of aging
across the State, really looking at what it is in general that we might need. It
really helps us go to the Legislature and ask, I guess, as a group so that not really
in terms of the initiatives. As far as specific programs, of course Hawaii County
has done a couple of things over the years that are not in line with, you know, not
necessarily because we're going against what the statewide group wants to do but
just answering to some of the things more specific to our island.
A blessing in disguise, all those disasters over the last few years really pushed us
to be creative and think innovatively about some of our programs. Right now,
we're—we did a couple of years of a contract with HOPE Services and working
with APS, Adult Protective Services, to look at folks who are getting discharged
out of hospitals with no place to go, right. So, elderly, you know, that revolving
door at the hospital. We did our paramedicine program with Hawaii Fire
Department, where they're going in to do almost like a beefed up safety check.
When somebody who is elderly, maybe you're not hearing from them or maybe
we know they got discharged and, who's checking on them? Sending somebody
out to do that with that medical expertise in case they find somebody who needs
that care.
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So, little things like that. We don't really have a lot in terms of our plan, but
internally, we do have some little things like that we've tried in the past and we
definitely will try in the future.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And the programs that you have in place now, are they
driven by what's needed in the community? Or are they created based on the kind
of money you're able to get from the Federal government?
MR. LOS BANOS: So, I'm going to say the majority of it is driven by the
funding source. So, the Older Americans Act and our Kupuna Care funding from
the State Legislature, they come down earmarked for specific services. So, it
would be up to any kind of administrative funds to do some of those other things.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So, I'm looking at this, the proposed operating budget.
And under program highlights, I see lots of numbers in terms of folks you were
able to serve. That doesn't really give me any perspective on what the issue is.
Do you have that information?
MR. LOS BANOS: The issue in terms of what the services are per ?
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Sure. Yeah, I mean, if there is a
MR. LOS BANOS: Okay. So, like an output versus outcome kind of thing?
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Exactly. Is that something that can be provided, or is it in
your strategic plan? These numbers are great, but in context of what you're
serving legal counsel, estimated to serve 380 individuals, but how many
islandwide actually needed help? Was it 5,000? Was it 10,000? Because, then
we look at 380 and we can see, okay, we're really not making a dent in the overall
issue.
MR. LOS BANOS: Right. Okay, so the first part, I'm going to say in terms of
just in general how we plan, we definitely look at what the outcome is versus the
output. I mean, we can transport 5 people or 500, but if it really got them that
access to something that they needed, that's a win.
One of the big things that is happening or across the health and human services
realm is really looking at patient-centered care. In the past, it was a lot of what
money do we have and what can it buy. That's still important to us. But I think
the biggest driver right now for a lot of what we do is what the people come to our
doors with, what they call us with. And it's changed a lot of how we work.
In terms of planning, the outcomes—one of the biggest populations we physically
work with or get calls with or talk to is our caregiver population. The elderly are
not the first people to raise their hands and say, "Help me. I'm losing my
independence." So, we get a lot of children, nieces, nephews, or just neighbors
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out of good, you know, the kindness of their heart calling in and trying to figure
out ways to help their family or friends.
So when you look at the outcome, it's really trying to get the community, I mean,
with whatever we have program-wise to do exactly that. It's like, you know, refer
your neighbor or tell us what you see. We can't be out there at all times. Really,
when you look at the example of legal services, I mean the biggest outcome there,
a majority of what we get are really to help people establish power of attorneys,
their wills to make sure their end-of-life planning is secure or at least in the hands
of somebody that they actually trust. And yet it does sound small, 380-something.
But again, a little bit of it is limited by funding.
We did change a little bit of our contract, how we did our contracting with Legal
Aid Society that's our current contractor to really look at what is the need.
We used to give them well, we gave them a price-term contract this past
contract year, which is a little different, right? We said, "For every hour you do
in terms of legal contact, we'll pay you `x' amount of dollars." So, it's really
shown the true need. Whereas before, capitating it at whatever the grant is, it
could be a little bit false, right, because they're trying to fit it in there.
So, a lot of those types of internally looking at the way we allocate our funding,
it's hard when it's needs based. But things like that really show us what is
actually out there.
One thing that we are doing a lot better on, I think, in the last couple of years is
really looking at needs versus what we can do. Having a waitlist is not
necessarily a bad thing, where in the past it was like, "No. Don't show them that
you can't afford it." But I'm from the, you know, we're thinking, "No, that's how
you prove that the need is growing." Right? So, internally,just changing the way
we look at how we fund things. I mean, that's always something we consider
now. And it's different for every service, I think. It's really hard to say. But in
general, it's just keeping the community healthy as possible.
One of the things they used to say from the Aging program's perspective is
"prevent." Prevent institutionalization. Right? But we have to be honest that
most people will get to a point where they need that care, right, that 24-hour
nursing care. But what we're doing is trying to figure out ways to keep services
in the home, whether it's formally through us, through maybe Department of
Human Services, or even just family, friends informally to see if we can keep
them home as long as possible. Right?
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So, knowing that the aging population is growing and
you're crafting these strategic plans, if the funds are limited from the Federal side,
I mean, what do you do? How do you address a growing problem with limited
resources? Is any thought being given to how we pay for that?
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MR. LOS BANOS: So, that's a good question. So again, I'm going to go back to
how the tsunami that's ebbing in right now is really those younger people who are
still active, still working, still volunteering, still playing softball and all those
things. Where the big cost comes in aside from transportation is really those
in-home services, those hands-on services that really keep people in their home as
long as possible.
Planning for that is really tough. Like I said, Legislature has been really trying to
fill that gap that we're missing from the Federal government unfortunately, the
Older Americans Act. We're lucky that it keeps getting reauthorized, but it
doesn't come down with a lot of extra funds. So, honestly, in the time I've been
here, it's really the State really picking up that and proving to the Legislature that
what we do is of value.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I see tremendous opportunity ahead of us right now. I
mean, we have junior kupuna becoming senior kupuna, right?
MR. LOS BANOS: Yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And you think about how you want to prevent them from
going into lifecare facilities. You want them to be as independent for as long as
possible. There's a lot of synergies that Ms. Lee Loy touched upon, but I think
we need to be more deliberate in thinking about. You've got the healthcare arena.
I mean, you've got folks that are in recreation, healthy eating. And I just feel that
there is a lot that can be done by your office to convene conversations with the
private sector and the community where we're all rowing in different canoes and
we're staying in our lane and we're doing our kuleana, but we're all rowing in the
same direction to that shared outcome.
MR. LOS BANOS: Right. And we do a lot of that. There are several
committees that I work on in terms of just improving healthcare systems in
general. I'm not sure if you folks know about the new law that was passed in
Hawaii where interdisciplinary teams can now work on cases unredacted if they
sign on to this agreement and the patient signs the okay in the beginning. That
really helps with flow in terms of if somebody comes out of the hospital, you have
five agencies going, "Hey, let's help him,"but it's like, "Well, wait. If we all do
it together, I think we can, you know, not just make it more streamlined for the
patient but save on cost." So, there are types of committees like that.
One of the biggest increases in patients we're seeing is really from those
discharges where you have hospitals, facilities looking for a place to put people.
Medical care, of course, is driven by insurance,payments. And so, when that
patient is hard to place, we get a referral and it's really tough because you have
somebody's life and safety on the other side, not necessarily—we don't look at
them as just another insurance claim. That's somebody's mom, somebody's
grandma. It's a little bit different. So, we are having conversations with facilities.
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Actually, a big part of what we do is working with the Medicaid providers
through the Department of Health and Human Services. So, they have equivalent
services to ours, and a lot of times our clients cross over. So, it's just even doing
that where if somebody contacts us, we do a little bit of work in the forefront to
say, "Hey, you know what? This is the appropriate service for you. Let's try and
get you in contact with them," instead of having them roam around and try to
figure it out on their own.
So, there are a lot of partnerships that we are doing out there with private
agencies, nonprofits, because we realize exactly that. Like these are the same
people. You can get a case and go, "I think I know who that is, because seven
agencies have already touched this person's life." So, yeah, we're definitely
working on committees like that.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, great. And I just hope that more resources and
programs are going to be put directly into communities that have big populations.
When you think about Puna or you think about Ka`u, rural, very difficult I
think—lots of barriers to access and critical services. So, even putting these
services on wheels. I know mobile health clinics are very popular these days.
The last question I had, back to program expenditures. It's not clear to me what's
actually funded from the General Fund versus the grant monies. So, are you able
to just kind of look at that and skim off the top of your head?
MR. LOS BANOS: Yes, sure.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Like equipment for instance. Is that coming out of
General Fund monies, or is that Federal grant money?
MS. RAINE: Probably everything is a mix of both. So, out of the General Fund,
about$742,000 is salaries and wages and then our operating expenses is only
about$19,000. So, that includes a little bit of equipment, like a photocopier, that
kind of thing. So, it is a mix. We do try to use the grant funds as we can. But
there's also items in our General Fund budget for committees. So, we have two
Mayor's committees. We have the Mayor's Committee on People with
Disabilities and the Mayor's Committee on Aging. And so, some of their
expenditures are also in our General Fund budget.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Do you go through IT for purchasing of your computer
equipment, or do you do that in-house?
MS. RAINE: We do that in-house. We do utilize the price-term agreements that
are part of the County Purchasing Department that we do most of it in-house.
We're fortunate that we have a data analyst. I tend to think"Information
Analyst" is his title. A lot of our stuff is driven by data, and so that's a very
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important position for our office. And so, he also assists with our computer buy,
he makes suggestions on things to buy and our network and everything.
Our network is actually outside of the County network. And then a few of us who
need access to FRESH (Fiscal and Resource Enterprise Software for Hawaii)
have County computers as well.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, I think there is about four different departments or
agencies that are outside of being managed by our IT department. I find that very
interesting. Anyway, those are all the questions I have. Thank you again for
being here. I appreciate it.
MR. LOS BANOS: Thank you. I appreciate the questions.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. Ms. Kierkiewicz just touched upon it, because we
have other departments who provide us the breakdown on where all the funding
streams are coming from. I've been roaming back and forth here looking
specifically for that information. So if you could retool your program
expenditures to show the breakouts of the General Fund, along with the various
grant funds, because I'm curious to know if we're expending all of the grant
funding or are we looking at Fund Balance carryover that's going to go especially
for the grants. Because, my primary question is, if there's a lot of money in our
grant funding that's getting carried over, why are we not spending it?
So, if you could retool that and maybe provide a memo back to this body
specifically with that. Because I know Ms. Kierkiewicz and myself are learning a
lot about grant funding and some of the restrictiveness of it. So when I hear you
folks kind of putting some of it to match with General Fund, I want to understand
how restrictive those grants are. So if you could just forward that to us. Thanks.
MR. LOS BANOS: Sure, definitely. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Anyone else for Office of Aging? No?
All right.
MR. LOS BANOS: I did want to close by—if I may?
CHR. DAVID: Sure.
MR. LOS BANOS: I just wanted to thank you folks for your support. May 3rd is
the Older Americans Month annual event. It's going to be at the Hapuna, what is
it called now, the Westin Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel I think it's called. It's
islandwide. We're busing folks out there. It's an amazing annual event that's
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held actually across the nation. We do it a little bit bigger I think. But thank you
for your folks' support financially or just your participation. We appreciate that.
In terms of collaboration, I just want to say one of the biggest things we're
pushing across the health and human services field is really having conversations
about end of life. Today is actually National Healthcare Decisions Day, meaning
review your advanced healthcare directives. It's a huge partnership that we've
taken on with community first, as well as Hawaii Care Choices, formerly known
as Hospice of Hilo. So, things like that, really a small document like that really
helps in your caregiving role. So, I encourage everybody to look at it today. So,
thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Mahalo nui.
CHR. DAVID: Mahalo, both of you, for being here today and for your
presentation. Thank you very much. Council Members, do we need a break
before Public Works? Five minutes? Okay. We're going to take a five-minute
recess. All right, we're in recess.
Recess: At 2:55 p.m., the Chair called for a recess.
Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 3:07 p.m.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha, Council Members. Welcome back to the Special Meeting
on the Committee of Finance. I'm taking this out of recess now.
(7) Public Works Department
CHR. DAVID: I'd like to call up Public Works Director Yamamoto and Deputy
Director Simeon.
(Note: At this time, Public Works Director David Yamamoto and Deputy
Director Allan Simeon came forward to address the members of the
Committee.)
CHR. DAVID: Good afternoon, gentlemen. So,please identify yourselves for
the record and then go ahead with your presentation.
MR. YAMAMOTO: Good afternoon. I'm David Yamamoto
CHR. DAVID: Welcome.
MR. YAMAMOTO: Director of Public Works.
MR. SIMEON: Allan Simeon, Deputy Director of Public Works. Hi.
CHR. DAVID: Hi. Aloha. Do you have a PowerPoint by the way?
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MR. YAMAMOTO: Yes.
CHR. DAVID: You do? All right. I'm going to take a quick recess so we can set
up your PowerPoint. Sorry. We're in recess.
Recess: At 3:08 p.m., the Chair called for a recess.
Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 3:10 p.m.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, staff. We are back on the record. Mr. Yamamoto,
you can go ahead. Your PowerPoint's ready for you.
(Note: At this time, Mr. Yamamoto provided a PowerPoint presentation
to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please
see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office
or navigate to the Council's video archives online in the County's
webpages at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A hard copy of the presentation is
made a part of the record, see Comm. 117.8.)
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Director. Deputy Simeon, do you want to say
anything before I ask for questions?
MR. SIMEON: Yes. So it's not in the slides. Basically, we have about
350-something filled positions, of which about 125 belongs to Highways
Division. We would like to make it clear that these same people who respond to
the lava and all emergencies are the same people doing our resurfacing and also
tending to other daily duties. Same thing with our Engineering and Building
Divisions. We only have a set number of people trying to get the building permits
done and also get their STIP (Statewide Transportation Improvement Program)
projects and CIP projects out so we can deliver to the community. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much. Council Members, any questions for
Public Works? Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Good morning. Good
afternoon, sorry. How do you guys prioritize STIP projects?
MR. SIMEON: Yeah, so for STIP projects, they have to be included on the STIP
list. So what we do is first of all, we have to prioritize as far as the projects. So
we have to look at what projects need to be tended to first, because the program
now is not like before where they allocate so many millions of dollars to our
island kind of automatically. Now we have to compete, per se, with the different
projects islandwide or statewide. For example, if DOT (Department of
Transportation) has a bridge that is more in need of the funding, guess which one
they will fund first.
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So as part of the prioritization, we have to show that we are managing our assets
properly. Part of that is the data collection program that we have availed to in
collecting data for our roadways. So for our STIP projects, which consists of
about 200 miles of our roadways, again those have to compete within the State
and also within the counties as far as funding.
So, once that is set, we submit that to DOT for funding so it gets onto the STIP
list. Also, the State DOT comes in to different islands and also present the STIP
program. And at that time, you can also present or suggest or recommend
projects that can be on the STIP. However, though, the initial has to come from
Engineering or Public Works for us to recommend those projects to the State
DOT for inclusion onto the STIP project.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then, sorry, as far as the
department, I mean, how are you with the size of your department, David? Do
you feel like there is too much in one department under one roof? Do you feel
that it could be divided in any way? Or do you feel, as the Director, you can keep
up with the needs of Building, Engineering, Highways, and everything? Or is it
I went to the All Highways meeting with Neil, and it was there's a lot of guys.
And he's taken care of a lot of roads. In my head, I'm trying to see if is there too
much going on in one division. That's what I'm asking.
MR. YAMAMOTO: One division?
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: In one department.
MR. YAMAMOTO: I'm not sure yet. I'm still trying to get a handle on
everything. But there is extremely a lot going on, and these disaster recovery
efforts and disaster responses just lends to the pile of things going on, and moving
parts that we have to manage. We try, though. We try our best.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you. As far as the Building
Department itself, is there an ask for more people to do permitting and to work
through permit review?
MR. YAMAMOTO: Yes. We asked for two additional plan review positions. I
think it originally was in a supplemental budget, but I think at this point, they
might be including it in the revised budget and it might be going in later on.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And if you were to get those two people,
would you say that we could expect permits to move faster through our County?
MR. YAMAMOTO: I would say it would move a lot faster through the Building
portion of the review process because we, you know, I can see the plans stacking
up and we then trying to get the employees to agree to work overtime to try and
get it down to a more manageable level. But it's a continuous battle of
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monitoring how much of a backlog we have at the plan review process. And so,
with these additional positions, we hope that we would be able to take care of that
backlog and be more proactive in being able to assist the applicants more in as far
as preparing their plans.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And as far as EnerGov, what is that?
That's already taken care of? That's in the budget adaptions and what we're
doing with it?
MR. YAMAMOTO: Yeah. EnerGov is delayed because it wasn't compatible
with our software. So, they upgraded the software and we're hoping that it's
going to alleviate the compatibility issues that were presented with the earlier
version. So, EnerGov is going to be, hopefully, now targeted for release at the
end of this year.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And financially, all the money's been taken
care of already?
MR. YAMAMOTO: Right.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: No more costs?
MR. YAMAMOTO: No.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, I yield. Thank you, David.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Poindexter, go ahead.
MS. POINDEXTER: Thank you, Madam Chair. David or Allan can answer this
question. I'm concerned about the permitting fees in several areas: grading,
stockpiling, and then we have the building permits. Because isn't it true that if
somebody cannot wait to build, they'll go ahead and just go build and then come
back for an "as built" and then pay? Do they pay double the permitting fee? Or
how does that work?
MR. YAMAMOTO: For work started without a permit, there is a permit fee. For
at least the building, it's double the fee for the building permit. And for electrical
and plumbing, I believe it's a hundred dollar additional fee for the electrical and
plumbing work that might—
MS.
ightMS. POINDEXTER: So, are we having a lot of that happen because people
cannot wait for their permits?
MR. YAMAMOTO: I'm not aware of a great deal of it, but a lot of times they
come in when they're trying to sell it and now the realtors are trying to get the
permitting process squared away.
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MS. POINDEXTER: I don't know the exact cost, but I was thinking even a little
lower. And when was the last time we looked at the building permitting fees,
grading and stockpiling fees? When was the last time we had an increase in that?
MR. YAMAMOTO: I can't remember when the last fee increase occurred. I
know it must be at least since they adopted the '91 Code, the UBC (Uniform
Building Code) Code, but—
MS.
utMS. POINDEXTER: And I think we've got to revisit that, because a lot of times
in government our fees are, you know, we don't look at it during our annual
reviews and then we wait like ten years and we go, "Oh, my God. We've got to
bring them up." Because, the costs have gone up,but we're not raising our cost
of the fees to be comparable to what our, you know, what we're absorbing is our
cost, right?
MR. YAMAMOTO: Yeah.
MS. POINDEXTER: And to me, if they're coming in, they're going to build first
because they cannot wait. To me, it's like an expediting fee that they should be
paying, which they're paying the double fee, which is still pretty low for them.
So, why not go build and then come back later on as an "as built" and go sell,
right? So, I want to look into that because that's where I think some of the
funding for positions that could help where our revenue source is. So, I think
we've got to start looking at those fees, but I'll check into that more.
One more question. I think it was several months back, you guys talked about
having a company look at assessing roads and how to prioritize. How is that
going? I don't see anything in this budget for that.
MR. YAMAMOTO: No, it's in progress. They started the survey work. They
didn't complete it, and they had left the island to, I guess, tend to another project.
But they intend to return in the fall to complete the roads that they didn't survey
yet.
MS. POINDEXTER: So, that contract was already entered into.
MR. YAMAMOTO: Yes.
MS. POINDEXTER: What was the cost of that? Is it—?
MR. YAMAMOTO: The contract was for $480,000.
MS. POINDEXTER: For the entire island.
MR. YAMAMOTO: For the entire island of mapping roughly 800 miles of road.
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MS. POINDEXTER: My concern there, and just so that you can note it with
these companies, we have different associations that have different road
committees within their associations. We also have, like, the Hamakua Safety
Committee Roads and you have the one in Waimea and all. I want to make sure
that they are talking to these people because we've done so much work in our
communities. I know that Tim probably goes to the Waimea one. I attend
Hamakua. I work with the associations and their road committees. I've taken
and God bless him, Neil has always been gracious enough to come and help us do
the assessments with them. I think it's been two years since I've done some.
But I want to make sure that the work we're doing in our communities and the
communities who know their roads best, yeah, have input on that. Because,
you're having, I don't know who's coming and where they're from, but they're
not familiar with some drainage issues that may cause undermining of the road,
that the community members may have some information that they may find
valuable to that. I find that's a lot of money too, so I don't know where you got
that money from. Did you have to cut someplace to take, to pay for that?
MR. YAMAMOTO: Well, it came out of the miscellaneous type of contract
services to fund this thing. And I think maybe in as far as what this particular
service does, it's a more objective survey where they're doing basically
photogrammetry type LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), and they're
basically taking a photograph of the entire route and then they go back and they
objectively grade the road based on cracks and striping, and
MS. POINDEXTER: Even with that, I still have concerns because, like I said, we
don't know what's causing some of the undermining, if there's runoff areas or
whatever. That the communities know best, yeah, what's happening, why the
flooding in the low-water crossings. And the people who are doing that
assessment may not be there at the troubled times, so they won't see as much.
They'll see some cracking in the road, "Oh, we've got to fix that road,"but they
may not know what's causing it, through waterflow or whatever.
MR. YAMAMOTO: Yeah. This survey is not designed to look at that particular
aspect.
MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah, but that's why it's important to know that. Because
if they're going to say, "Well, this road's got to be resurfaced," and you just
resurfaced it when actually the road's got to be cut in a different angle or
something for release of more water. You know what I'm saying? They need to
speak to the people who have been dealing with this for years. Because you can
come in, I mean, I'll give you a great example. Millions of dollars were spent at
Laupahoehoe Boat Harbor, and it didn't last. We wasted all that money. Then,
they came back in and said they're going to fix it. They came in, they tried, it
didn't work, they lost millions again. But instead of listening to the people who
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live there who told them, "No, the current is so bad that it's not going to work
there. You've got to leave it where it's at." So, all I'm saying is we need the
communities' input because they know their communities best. These people
don't live on this island,probably.
MR. YAMAMOTO: That would be dialogue to establish between the department
and these action groups.
MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah. Thank you. I just wanted that to be noted, though.
Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Poindexter. Now, I'm going to go to Ms. Eoff.
MS. EOFF: Thank you, Madam Chair. Regarding the STIP, the last I heard, the
Governor had a directive that STIP money was to be used for repair and
maintenance of existing roads and not really for new capacity building. Is that
still true?
MR. YAMAMOTO: Yup.
MR. SIMEON: Yes.
MS. EOFF: Any idea about how long (inaudible)?
MR. SIMEON: So, talking to our colleagues at DOT, that is still the directive.
So, we had put together in Engineering, four-year resurfacing projects throughout
the island for the roads that qualify for STIP money, yeah.
MS. EOFF: So, (inaudible)years—at least another four years, then we won't see
STIP money being used for new
MR. SIMEON: Resurfacing.
MS. EOFF: But not for new construction?
MR. SIMEON: Not for new, yeah. However, though, the reason why we had put
together a four-year program is sometimes there are monies that are not expended
in other states or other counties, and they call that their redistribution money. If
we have projects that are ready to go, shovel ready per se, then we can avail and
get benefit from those surplus monies. One, for example, is the Mamalahoa
Highway project that's going on now. So, after we got our portion for the STIP
year, they offered us another $13 million of redistribution money. That's why
we're able to get that project out in its entirety. So, we try to capitalize or do our
best to get those extra monies as best as we can.
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Also, working with DOT Hawaii here, because we are serving the same
community, we have an understanding that as long as we keep the money here for
our community. And I think we're good with that. So, we're coordinating with
DOT, Hawaii District.
MS. EOFF: Earlier, Mr. Chung noted that I've been a proponent and kind of
pushing for the Ane Keohokalole Phase III to be completed. And as you know,
the Palamanui development has constructed a portion that stubs out at Ka`iminani.
And then we have Phase II that stops at Hina Lani. So, we have that missing
segment, which is supposed to be part of the Mass Transit Master Plan as a trunk
route for the bus. And it would connect and provide a much-needed additional
alternative lateral road—definitely would help traffic flow. And I think within the
next five years, it's going to be really important that we start that. So, I know
we've talked about the awarding of a contract for plan and design. Is that in
progress still?
MR. SIMEON: No. The status of the project is we have a consultant who's
going to do the archeological survey. So, that is in place.
MS. EOFF: So, currently, they're conducting the archeological survey?
MR. SIMEON: Yeah, that's a contract that's on now. So, it's important to know
where the archeological resources are because that's what we're going to design
for, yeah.
MS. EOFF: Okay. And so, we can keep moving forward on those preliminary
steps so that we will be sort of shovel ready when the funds become available.
MR. SIMEON: Yes. And one way to also facilitate our new projects is to fund
the project design environmental with County money. Design it so that for
construction, it's eligible for the STIP projects.
MS. EOFF: Oh, okay. And so, is that something that our GET (General Excise
Tax) Surcharge funds can help with? The extra monies that will be coming in?
MR. YAMAMOTO: I'm not sure on how the GET distribution is going to be
setup.
MS. EOFF: There's some affirmative head nodding in the back, but I'll take that
as a good sign. Anyways, I just don't want to let go of the forward momentum on
that, and I really thank you for the efforts you've put in thus far.
MR. SIMEON: No, thank you, because I think being proactive as far as
completing projects small scale, big scale, and medium scale. So, depending on
the money that comes in, we can put forward different projects that's ready to go.
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MS. EOFF: Thank you very much.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Eoff. Mr. Richards, go ahead and then I'm going
to go to Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. Thanks, Allan. Thanks, David, for being
here. A couple of different things I wanted to ask you. On your public safety
disaster, your fiscal year increase went from $500,000 to $1.7 million, so a
$1.25 increase. Can you articulate why the ask increase?
MR. YAMAMOTO: Actually, we were evaluating that, and we may redistribute
some of those funds into other areas. We still are assessing how much resources
we had needed for the disaster response that we did during Hurricane Lane and
the lava event. And that was probably part of the driving force in establishing
what is there now. So, we're going to refine it a little more by looking into that
and being able to be assured that we will have the necessary funding available to
respond to a disaster.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. So if I'm hearing you correctly, what it sounds like is,
based upon this last year's experience with volcano and hurricane and all that, it
triggered putting money in that but then you're rethinking that. Is that—?
MR. YAMAMOTO: We're going to fine tune it based on evaluating how much
resources it took to address the two disasters that we had and for being prepared
for the future.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. And shifting gears a little bit, on your Highway
Maintenance, you have $16.7 million listed. How many miles of paving, granted
because that's not all for paving, but how many miles of paving would you
conceivably do with that$16 million?
MR. YAMAMOTO: We are projecting an increase from 20-30 miles.
MR. RICHARDS: All right. And that doesn't include the STIP program. Is that
correct?
MR. YAMAMOTO: Yeah, that doesn't include the STIP.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. And then I did notice that the upper Waikoloa Road
was put on the STIP. Again, echoing my concern for that. Traffic has
substantially increased in that area. And so putting that forth I think is really
important because I'm concerned about that surface.
Shifting gears a little bit, and I do appreciate, Allan, what you're saying, what you
had mentioned, having shovel ready if money becomes available, we can jump on
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that. I think, what did I see, $6.7 million to get that done. Is there any
engineering that we have to do ahead of time or anything along those lines?
MR. SIMEON: Yes, engineering has to be done, but we're doing it in-house. We
have the capability of doing those projects in-house, except if there is—for some
reason, we need to consult or hire an environmental consultant for whatever
reason. But we don't foresee that being that the SMP (Special Maintenance
Program)project or program that DOT has is only resurfacing what is existing.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. And that's what we're talking about here. So okay, I
appreciate that. So, thank you. And then shifting gears a little bit. Listening to
the conversation concerning the building permits and EnerGov I think is the
computer program. The conversation we had, the information we received
previously, that would be coming online sometime this spring, and now, I think I
heard you say it looks like the end of the year. So, we were talking about a six-to
eight-month delay. Can you articulate on that?
My concern, and this is going back where, a little bit hard on housing, going be a
little bit hard on you guys too. This whole building permitting process, and it was
started a little bit in the conversation. Our economy needs help. We took quite a
hit economically last year, and part of that recovery is getting our construction,
getting our homes built. How do we facilitate getting that going quicker? And I
think Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder asked about the staffing and the backlog you
mentioned, David. Where are we with that? What resources are needed to get
that caught up so we're quite efficient? And this is something that we've batted
around for probably the last 18 months to two years, ever since I've been on the
Council.
We want to move the needle. We want to make a difference. So, I'm asking you
how do we do it, but I'm also telling you we've got to do this. So, talk to us.
Give us some information.
MR. YAMAMOTO: We've been long looking at how to address the building
permit process, and it's a complicated process being that there's multi-agencies
that participate in the review process. And each agency has its challenges in as
far as having to move the permit through their review. And for at least Building,
we've been focusing on what can Building do to facilitate its process or its part in
processing these permits. So, that's where the two plan review positions were
requested, and hopefully we'll get that.
EnerGov, as I mentioned, had discovered a software-compatibility issue with the
GIS (Geographic Information System) software that we currently run. So, they
had to upgrade the EnerGov software to be able to be compatible with the GIS
software. But without that, we didn't want to roll out an incomplete system that
both the public as well as the employees would be frustrated with, being that they
would have to work around the defect until it got upgraded. So, we decided to
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defer rolling it out and makeg sure that we have a working system that meets the
expectations before we put it live.
MR. RICHARDS: I'm a little bothered by the fact that there's incompatibility
between software. And I don't know who made the selection or when the
contract was done. And I appreciate the fact that the last thing we want to do is
have a computer program that slows us down further. I appreciate that. But the
expenditures for the computer program have been made. And, I guess, the
compatibility, is this a software thing that someone is fixing? Do you have people
dedicated to getting this done? Granted, anytime you start a new computer
program, there's a learning curve. I got that. But I'm aware of another situation
where the software is actually slowing down the process, and that bothers me.
Talk to us about this. Do you have dedicated staff that's actually going to get this
thing fixed, or is this nebulous? I'm a little uneasy with what you said.
MR. YAMAMOTO: Yeah, we have dedicated staff as well as IT and Planning.
They have a lot of staff working to address and correct the compatibility. And
they currently are, I think, in the process of testing. So, hopefully we'll get over
that hurdle, and we can get back on track and get our training, as well as being
able to roll this software out. That's the last thing.
We already experienced one software failure, and it was painful to go through.
When we initiated the MagNet software, it didn't live up to what we had
expected, and the staff got disenfranchised by its failure, as well as the public.
We're working one day and the next thing, they no longer have access to see what
the status of the permit is. So, it's very disheartening to go through that, and we
didn't want to repeat it. And that's why we're making sure that the new software
is fully functional and meeting our expectation before we roll it out.
MR. RICHARDS: When can we hear an update on what the status is? This is
now April. I'm thinking the first of June? I realize it's going to take you some
time to completely roll it out, but I don't want this thing to be on the back burner
if this is
MR. YAMAMOTO: Oh no, it's not on the back burner. I mean, IT is stressed
out and Planning and Building are stressed out trying to make up time as much as
possible to get it out sooner than later. But the primary objective is to make sure
it's working correctly before we roll it out.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, so I'd like to have an update to the Council as a whole
by, say, June 15'h as just a status update,just so we keep it on the forefront, or as
my Councilwoman said, "on the barbecue." Keep it moving forward. Okay, at
this point I'll yield. Thank you. I appreciate the information.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Ms. Kierkiewicz.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Yes, barbecue time. Let the grilling
begin. Thank you, guys, for being here. And I appreciate all the work that you
and your staff have done to support our island, and especially Puna during the
recent eruption. And one of my questions will be about lava recovery. But I want
to first go back to the Building Examiner positions that are being requested. So,
in taking a look at this operations budget, it says currently, that the Building
Division expenditures are $5.4 million. But then, I take a look at how much is
coming in for building permits, it's about$1.8 million. And I know that work is
also done to do inspections. Roughly, that adds up to about$270,000. So, the
expenses are $5.4, and the revenue is $2 million. So, I wonder if adding two
additional positions will help us to make up that$3 million gap and maybe create
like a sustainable funding of the Building Division through the permitting fees.
Or is there more revenue that comes in to support Building?
MR. YAMAMOTO: Actually, I think the building inspection part, their budget is
$3,169,000. I think you're looking at the Building
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Division?
MR. YAMAMOTO: Yeah, the Building Division, with more the Administration
side and the General Services, Repair and Maintenance. They are broken up
between inspection and Code compliance and then the other,just the General
Services.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: But still the expenditures are a bit more than what we're
bringing in.
MR. YAMAMOTO: Yes. It has never
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Penciled out evenly.
MR. YAMAMOTO: And we've been monitoring that in saying the permit fees
should at least pay for the program that runs the permit program. But I think what
the rationale behind not increasing the permit fee,being that Hawaii County has
the least expensive permit fees in the State, we wanted to improve the permit
process first.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, that makes sense. We have to improve ourselves to
justify the increases. When you were talking about STIP (Statewide
Transportation Improvement Program), Allan, I just wondered, you mentioned
that a lot of the studies and engineering are being done in-house. So, does that
mean that there are other projects and work that's not being done because time
and energy are focused on these plans? And I wonder what's the total cost in
preparing these plans and engineering studies so that they are shovel ready should
the money become available on the Fed side. And is that work reflected in your
budget?
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MR. SIMEON: I cannot tell you at this point how much exactly, what they
expended to get those projects out. And one reason why is that unless we have to
go through all the timesheets of the engineers to spend time for lava, (Hurricane)
Lane complaints, and STIP, I believe the Engineering budget that is in there is
reflective to what we can do for the capacity to get those projects out.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And you feel the Engineering budget is sufficient? I can't
help you if you don't tell me.
MR. SIMEON: Let me qualify. So, as far as the STIP projects with the
resurfacing projects, we believe we have the capacity and capability to get those
done, because those are simpler projects. It's basically surfacing projects.
However, with the advent of the lava and Lane, that had contributed a lot of
projects, in addition to the previous projects that we're doing and the complaints,
we do need help to get those done.
So for like permitting, environmental, bigger projects, we do need help from
consultants to get those projects out. Once FEMA (Federal Emergency
Management Agency) approves and obligates the lava and Lane projects, that's
when the real work begins, because we had to push out those projects within the
deadline. And we're hoping that we're going to get the help by then as well.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. That's helpful to know. And in looking at this
budget, Deanna correct me if I'm wrong, but it doesn't reflect all of the recovery
money that we should be expecting as a County. So potentially the budget's
going to grow to maybe over $600 million if we take into consideration money
from the State Leg. and the Federal government to support recovery. Because
we're at about$573 right now proposed, and it doesn't reflect the $60 million
from the State.
And the reason why I ask that is because probably what's going to get reported in
the news is here's this big budget, but I don't think people understand that we
have to run a balanced budget. So, every time that there is money coming in, we
also have to have an expenditure to match that.
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MS. SAKO: You're correct. It doesn't include the $60, but we're appropriating
that in the current fiscal year. So, it probably won't grow the fiscal year 2020
budget by $60 million, but there definitely will be additional funds added to that
for recovery, for other grants, for other purposes. And I think Public Works is
looking at adding additional—refunding some unfunded positions to help with the
hurricane and lava recovery as well.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And those would be temporary or permanent?
MS. SAKO: We're still evaluating that for the May budget.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, thank you. Allan, because you were touching on a
little bit for recovery,just a real quick overview, that way I can direct constituents
to watch the archived video, overview of work that your department is doing for
lava and Lane recovery and just the timeline for action. I know that a lot of folks
want restoration of(Highway) 132 like last year, but there is a very
comprehensive and complex process that we need to embark on to ensure that we
get full reimbursement for all of the work. So, not taking too much time but
really quickly, everything that's involved for temporary and then potentially
permanent restoration of roots and infrastructure related to lava and Lane.
MR. SIMEON: Let me start with the lava recovery as far as roads. But first I'll
have to qualify that Highway 132 is a Federal Highways project. And with that,
we had to comply with Federal requirements. So with Highway 132, and also all
the other roads that are inundated with lava, we currently have a contract and the
work has begun for the survey work. So after the survey work, we're going to
continue our design so that we can provide a detailed estimate to either FEMA or
Federal Highways.
Permitting is also ongoing. NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act)
categorical exclusion process for the Federal funding for Federal Highways is
ongoing. Our intent or our goal is to complete the temporary road for
Highway 132 up to October 5h to benefit for the Federal Highways' 100 percent
funding. Anything after that for the temporary work is all County money.
After that, we also have an alternative study to qualify the different, or to see what
are the different routes for 132. And based on that study, we either will make the
temporary road as a permanent road, and the Federal Highways would fund
80 percent of that. But if the study proposes a new route, then they would fund
80 percent of that new route, if that's the direction that we're going. So, that's
that. So again
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: That's very helpful. Thank you for sharing that. And in
regards to Lane, because the impacts were felt islandwide, and particularly upper
Hilo, Hamakua Coast area, similar process that you're going through to evaluate
damage to infrastructure and potentially what can be done to either improve or
create new for those communities?
MR. SIMEON: Yes. But before I go there, I just want to mention that for the
FEMA lava damaged roads, because we elected to avail of the 428 alternative
process project we are reminded that the money has to be obligated by FEMA
before we can do any work on those roads. Otherwise, we may jeopardize
funding by FEMA.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So, obligated in the sense that the Federal government
needs to approve those projects before we act on them. Because if we act before
they approve, then we may not get money.
MR. SIMEON: That's correct.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, got it.
MR. SIMEON: And now for Lane, yes, we are in the same process. So, we had
with FEMA and HI-EMA (Hawai`i Emergency Management Agency), with our
engineers and inspectors, they had gone to survey those damages. So, those were
sent to FEMA and also, again, we are waiting for their approval for those projects
before they can obligate the money. We are also working with NRCS (Natural
Resources Conservation Service) for the Pi`ihonua Levee and also with Army
Corps of Engineers for the Wailoa channel areas, yeah. So, we have a lot of
Federal organizations that we are working with in getting this recovery done.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. And it's islandwide recovery that we're
having to coordinate and work on. In the last few years, we've seen a lot of
natural disasters hit our island and just states and countries all around the world.
You've been with Public Works for a number of years. What percentage of your
time do you think has been spent on just responding to disasters and repairing
infrastructure? I mean, I'm sure it's been a sizable increase in the amount of time
you're spending on day-to-day operations and now shifting to how we help
communities recover and rebuild.
And I ask that because earlier today we had conversations around climate change
and ensuring that we have that lens on in making decisions. So, I just wonder
what's some of the strategic planning that your department is doing to consider
the effects of climate change and the frequency, intensity of more storms that are
bound to hit our island? Because if we know that's going to happen, then how do
we build in a way that is more resilient and prepared to handle disasters? Because
at the end of the day, it just costs so much to have to rebuild and recover.
MR. SIMEON: For example, for the Pi`ihonua Levee Restoration project, we
would include in the design some mitigation, similar to our bridges. It's
important for us to, again, be proactive. So the inspection for those bridges is
really necessary.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So does this budget reflect sort of that proactive work?
It's a lot cheaper, I think, to start identifying where our vulnerabilities and risks
are. So, does your budget reflect that proactive work?
MR. SIMEON: At least I know for one section that we are not, or it's not
reflected there. Our bridge section is technically composed of two people, and the
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responsibility is enormous. We have a responsibility to Federal Highways that we
have to make sure that 129 bridges islandwide that are in the National Bridge
Inventory have to be inspected biennially. And it's not just a, they call it a
"windshield" inspection. Because of what happened on the mainland for some
bridges there, they're really coming down to us. And the stake is, if we cannot
fulfill and do our part in getting these bridges inspected and properly maintained,
we're going to lose Federal funding. So, in addition
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: We certainly don't want that to happen.
MR. SIMEON: Yeah, I hope it doesn't have to happen. In addition to the
129 bridges, there are bridges that belong to us in the local roads or sugarcane
roads that we don't even have the chance to inspect those ones yet. And we need
to get an inventory of those bridges and inspect them so we know how to properly
prioritize those bridges as well.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, that was one of the other questions that I had. You
talked about increasing and paving and all the mileage, but do you have a formula
that you use to prioritize? Is it the age of the road or the traffic volume based on
population?
MR. SIMEON: So, with the program that we have contracted out, it will,per se,
rate the road because it can detect the cracks that are present in the pavement. Of
course, it will still need an engineer or us to be able to say, "We have to do our
due diligence to go out in the field." That is what this computer is saying or the
data is saying; that this is what's in the field. And again, that's the prioritization.
It's not going to give us everything, but it gives us some information and data so
that we can do a knowledgeable determination and prioritization of which one to
do first.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: That's great. I appreciate you being more data driven. I
had an opportunity to visit the servers and networks that are housed in Civil
Defense and at Aupuni Center. I was a bit disturbed by the server that our current
Building permitting process software is on, and nobody wants to touch it. It's
really scary. But I'm just wondering. For EnerGov, we're going to have a new
server and system to manage that software. Is that correct? We're not going to
try to put it on the existing server?
MR. YAMAMOTO: Correct. I believe the server is at its end of life anyway.
And as far as the computer room, though,part of the project that we're working
on for the 911 dispatch center is to design a computer center for IT to have all of
their servers and backup servers located at.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Which is a great idea because a lot of those systems are
actually in the tsunami inundation zones. So, it would be great to get that to
higher ground. I had a couple more questions. Does your budget reflect ways or
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projects that we as a County can better collaborate with the State on? My
colleague Council Member Sue Lee Loy, she introduced that resolution that
talked about projects the County and State can work on together under, like, up to
$2 million. So, I just wonder if you've identified potential collaboration
opportunities and perhaps the next iteration of the budget come May will reflect
some of those priorities. Maybe that's more of just a comment, and we can
simmer on that and look to including that in the next draft of the budget.
MR. SIMEON: One thing that we're looking at with working together with DOT
is the joint traffic center. So, hopefully we can better maintain and also
collaborate or coordinate our signal system, share the knowledge between the
two, our State and us, but basically just to be able to serve or make the signal
system better and serve the community better.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, great. My last question has to do with a pilot
project that the State Department of Transportation is introducing to the
community statewide. That's the road-usage charge. I know that there are states
along the western U.S. (United States) that have investigated this program
because they recognize that fuel taxes are not sustainable in the current form with
the electrification of vehicles and the fact that vehicles are much more fuel
efficient, yielding lesser tax revenue. So, I just wondered what you thought about
that potential project and if, down the road, we as a County may need to consider
just a change to the way we extract funds from vehicle usage and fuel tax.
MR. YAMAMOTO: I agree with having to look at alternative ways to generate
the funding to maintain the roadways, being that the trend is to go to electric
vehicles or alternative fuel vehicles. And the current fuel tax system will be
outdated at that time.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And we still have roads that we need to maintain, right?
MR. YAMAMOTO: Correct.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Well, thank you, guys. Chair, I yield for now.
Thanks.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. And there's two Council Members
that have not spoken yet. I'm going to go to Ms. Villegas, then Ms. Lee Loy, and
then back to Mr. Richards. Thank you. Go ahead, Ms. Villegas.
MS. VILLEGAS: Aloha. Thanks for being here,you guys. I just had a couple of
questions, because as I was going through the numbers here—and I realized that
you presented this PowerPoint presentation with the data in it. And I was
comparing it to the one that we were given, which is the proposed operating
budget for 2019-2020, specific to the expenditures. And I was getting a little bit
confused because the numbers didn't seem to jive. There was a lot of similarity,
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but I wondered if maybe I was missing something. So to start, if we went to this
slide, the General Fund by Function, which in total is the $18,542,776. Under
that, Engineering, which I was able to find in this overall budget, it's listed here as
the $2,358,347, but in the spreadsheet I have, it's listed as $1,832,446. So, with
the percentage increase listed here at 13 percent but the percentage listed here in
difference between last year at 1.37 percent.
MR. YAMAMOTO: Okay, Engineering Division consists of the Engineering
Division in the actual line items, as well as the Construction Inspection section.
And so, if you add the two, it should come out—
MS.
utMS. VILLEGAS: I don't see a Construction Inspection
MR. YAMAMOTO: It's toward the end of—it's on page 99 of the General Fund
budget.
MS. VILLEGAS: Maybe it just got—
MR.
otMR. YAMAMOTO: Yeah, it's separated. I'm not sure why it's like that, but—
MS.
utMS. VILLEGAS: Okay, and I'm sorry, would you repeat what that's called
again, because I don't—?
MR. YAMAMOTO: It's under Account No. 5231.
MS. VILLEGAS: 5231, and it's called?
MR. YAMAMOTO: Construction Inspection.
MS. VILLEGAS: Construction Inspection. Okay, so that would make up the
difference between that kind of$1,800,000 and the $2,300,000.
MR. YAMAMOTO: Yeah.
MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. And then, my other question goes to maintenance.
Here you have Building at$8,913,121. And then on the sheet I'm looking at, it
says, "Maintenance and Building Division," and the total estimate there for this
upcoming fiscal year is $5,743,626. Is there something missing?
MR. YAMAMOTO: Okay, similar situation.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, great.
MR. YAMAMOTO: If you look at Buildings, it is $5,743,000. And then if you
go to page 100, there's the Building Inspection
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MS. VILLEGAS: Building Inspection goes with that, okay.
MR. YAMAMOTO: Which is another $3,169,000.
MS. VILLEGAS: Right. Thank you. I thought it might be something like this,
but I just kind of wanted to ask the question. I also, then, had a question about,
going to the Highway Fund. I see here in this presentation we show the Highway
Fund as having the totals here are the $32 million and then going up next year to
the $38,627,000. In this spreadsheet, I've got$42 going to $47. Interestingly
enough, the change difference is the same amount of money. So, I'm assuming I
must be missing something else that goes into this Highway Fund.
MR. YAMAMOTO: Yeah, our Highway Fund budget that we reflect, it doesn't
include Mass Transit, $9.2 million.
MS. VILLEGAS: Mass Transit, okay. Okay, thank you. Okay, fantastic. That
just helps me understand where all those different things live and so that the
numbers all add up. My other question is, when we receive the supplemental
additions to the budget, one of the first—when I added up the amount here, I
wanted to make sure I got the appropriate amounts. And it looks as if there's
approximately $787,838 in supplemental requests in all the projects that are added
on here. Now, does that it just kind of all goes, when I'm adding up this is
this one, the supplemental budget request for a Building Plans Examiner,
Custodian Groundskeeper, extended cargo van with the high roof. Does that
sound about right for the amount that would be in that supplemental budget
request?
MR. YAMAMOTO: I didn't necessarily add it all, but if that's what it adds up to,
yeah, that would be our request.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, great. And then the only other question that I had,just
because the first sheet listed on here for some reason for the Building Plans
Examiner, the dates were off. This is July 2013 to June 2014, on the first sheet I
have here. And I just wanted to point that out because I wasn't sure if I should
add that in or not add that in. It might just be a typo, but I was just trying to get
my head around the totals.
MR. YAMAMOTO: The one I'm looking at says July 1st, 2019, to June 30.
MS. VILLEGAS: There's one that says that and then there's one right—
MR.
ightMR. YAMAMOTO: Yeah, I think that latter one, it's a different form. It's the
F-110 form versus this 201 .
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, you're right. That's exactly what it is.
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MR. YAMAMOTO: And I think that might have been an older submittal back
in—we've been asking for these positions since then.
MS. VILLEGAS: For a very long time. Okay, great. That makes sense. I just
didn't want to add it to the total. And then, my last comment or question would
be, and I guess request, is there's a lot of conversations in Kona, at District 7,
about traffic right now and many of the challenges we have with our roads. And I
was really heartened to talk to you guys the other day about sometimes building
more roads isn't the answer. Sometimes, timing our lights and the opportunity to
transition to more up-to-date technologies, so that our lights could be timed a little
better so the flow could work all together. And hopefully that would ease some of
the burden of major road projects for you guys, but it would also allow for more
efficient and fluid transportation in our communities. And I was really grateful to
hear that you're working with the State on a lot of those things. So I'm hopeful to
hear more reports about some of that coming up in the next year.
MR. YAMAMOTO: Well, Traffic Division has embarked on upgrading the
signal system. They're going to start with a pilot program on Moho`uli and, from
there, apply it elsewhere.
MS. VILLEGAS: Right. Pilot in Kona. Pilot away. Thank you. I appreciate
your helping me understand those numbers and what fits in where. And I also
want to say a thank you to Neil, Mr. Azevedo, and all the work that's been
happening on the west side and his crews. Thank you. Aloha. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, David. Thank you, Allan, for
being here. I actually wanted to go last just because I wanted to hear what my
other colleagues had to say, and I've been working very closely with this division.
But I'll start here, David. Because you mentioned there would be a refined
budget and then a second iteration and because of time, I'm going to be sending
you a memo to kind of create some high-level conversations around what this
body is trying to get to.
And basically, the questions are: How does your budget create collaboration
across other departments to have better effectiveness and efficiency; two, who are
you partnering with to bridge the gaps and leverage resources; three, how does
this budget—and this is for all the agencies—set the framework for your
department to meet its goals and missions; and then the fourth question is
something Ms. Kierkiewicz just touched upon, which is what type of management
tools or strategies do you use to address change. We talked about climate change
or even the fuel tax, right, how we're going to be using fuel tax and how we have
energy-efficiency vehicles.
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So, we want to hear the strategies for that. And I'll just put a pin in that. I'll send
you folks a memo. So, with the second iteration of the budget, that refined, if you
could provide that. Then we can all start this conversation with that high-level
part and a framework.
I do want to mention EnerGov. And part of this is we just have to get it on the
record. And I heard Mr. Richards talk about an update. So, I'll be putting that
forward. But my concern with EnerGov and what I don't see in this budget is
enough training for the implementation, which what I heard you say when we did
the MagNet system, frustrated the employees. And so, they didn't use the tool
because there wasn't enough training for it. So I want this department to give that
part of the budget some thought. Because we can give them a tool, but if they
don't know how to use it, then we're not creating the efficiencies and the
effectiveness or the cross-collaboration across the various pillars of agencies.
Unless you can point to that in the budget right now, David, about training for
implementation of EnerGov, is it there?
MR. YAMAMOTO: It's part of the contract with EnerGov that they provide the
training for employees. They also will have an online web-type training that they
can go back to and refresh the various tools that they have available. And I
believe we also would have where we can build our own tools.
MS. LEE LOY: The other point I think Ms. Poindexter and then Ms. Kierkiewicz
touched upon is the permitting fees, right. We're just not generating enough.
And I think you and I have some strategies on how to address that with the Admin
code review and some of the things we're doing. But if you could give some
thought on that permitting fee structure so, one, it has enough teeth in it to
discourage people from just building without a permit. Because, the violation is
actually cheaper, right? So, if you could give that some thought.
And then finally, I've been tracking Senate Bill 397, Draft 1, which requests kind
of a tax clearance for construction work at a threshold of$195,000. And I don't
know what the position of this department is on that one, but here we are building
a permit-system process, revising admin. code review, looking at an EnerGov
project, and now the State is stepping in with another threshold that puts another
piece into this building-permit process, which is a tax clearance from the
contractor prior to receiving a building permit.
MR. YAMAMOTO: We have access to DCCA's (Department of Commerce and
Consumer Affairs) site, and EnerGov is supposed to be able to access their
database to confirm contractor licensing as well as tax information.
MS. LEE LOY: I think my concern is the threshold of$195,000 is going to be a
400-square-foot tiny home. Right? It's going to be everybody. And so, how we
hope to improve the building-permit process, we're going to have this as one
more hurdle, and then we're going to have to do a workaround again. So, I kind
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of want, like bigger strategies, bigger thoughts, and then how that is implemented
in our budget so that we can really shift. Affordable housing is important to
everybody. It's good for families, but it's good for our economy. And that's
where we're trying to get to. So just again, all of these suggestions, I'll put them
in a memo. And with the second iteration of the budget, if you guys could help us
answer those questions. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy.
MS. LEE LOY: Sorry, I had one more question.
CHR. DAVID: Oh, go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Sorry. I did have one question. I was looking at the Public
Works Automotive budget. There's a program expenditure; it's on page 280. It's
for equipment. And the actual was somewhere at$44,000, and then budgeted, it
goes down to $100. I'm trying to understand why it went so far down.
MR. YAMAMOTO: What budget item was that?
MS. LEE LOY: It's the Automotive Division. You have program measurables
and then program expenditures. There's number of positions, salary and wages,
operations, and then there's a line item for equipment and it's budgeted for just
$100, from $44,000.
MR. YAMAMOTO: I'm not sure what was included in the previous budget.
Probably they were replacing some equipment that they had to in the previous
budget, and currently they now recognize that they don't need any additional
equipment to provide the service that they have to provide.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, David. Thank you, Allan. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Richards.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. Again,just a couple of comments, real
quick. Credit where credit is due. Public Works, the line of questioning is for a
good reason, the fact that your budget's in excess of$66 million. And so, we as a
group have the responsibility to have stewardship over that and ask the questions.
That being said, like I said credit where credit's due.
Before I get to that, I had a question on your Highway Maintenance. Under your
Administration, we have a whole bunch of vacant and unfunded positions.
What's the story on that? It looks like, essentially, a non-functioning area. Is that
something that we moved people out of? What's the story on that?
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MR. YAMAMOTO: I'm not familiar how they got there, but I assume it was due
to the budget shortfalls in the past. And as people retired or left, they unfunded
the position to balance the budget. Going forward, we're going to be looking at
our budget and evaluating between equipment and manpower to fulfill the
mission that we have in keeping our roadways safe, and in safe repair and
improving the roadways that we have. So we may be, as budget permits,
requesting to have these positions funded again.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, looking through the other positions in all the different
districts, there's some vacancies there and some unfunded. But I was just curious
because it seemed like almost a whole division. And I'd appreciate kind of a look
at that. Oh, Deanna's coming up; she must have an answer.
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MR. YAMAMOTO: Yeah, I'm not sure. I don't know. Deanna informs me that
they were temporary positions in the past.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay.
MS. SAKO: So,people temporarily assigned into them as needed.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. So, a pool to pull from. Okay, all right. That answers
that. And like I said, credit where credit's due. I do have to give you guys credit
in your road maintenance. I know Neil's in the room right now, but big kudos to
you guys. And when we talked about the increase of paving from 20 to 30 miles,
it doesn't sound like a lot. But if you look at the direction for the County, when
we took office, I think that the cycle of paving was once every 65 or 69 years.
And based upon those numbers, that actually drops it to about once every
30 years. That's still a long time, but it's cut in half.
And the roadwork that you've done, again Ms. Villegas, I need to echo that
because the work's been done. Neil, kudos to you guys. Kudos to Public Works
for getting that stuff done. And we're not to where I want to be, but cutting the
repaving time in half, that's huge. So again, thanks to you guys for getting that
done. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards.
MR. YAMAMOTO: We haven't gotten it done yet, but we're going to try.
MR. RICHARDS: As long as we keep trying. That's what I like.
CHR. DAVID: Awesome. Ms. Lee Loy.
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MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Maybe if I could call Deanna back up. And
partly because Ms. Kierkiewicz touched upon it with our $60 million from our
Legislature, but we also had $22 million from the Governor as a first, kind of,
infusion of money. And I'm not sure if this was asked earlier of you. Where is
that balance being spread around? Because I understood that that money was for
recovery overtime. I know this particular department had a lot of overtime, along
with Police and Fire. So tell me, yeah, where is that in all of this?
MS. SAKO: So, that money is in the General Fund in, I'm going to say, it's a
900 account so that all departments can—and so, as departments come close to
(inaudible), transfer the cost there. So, at the end of the year, they'll kind of have
one big cleanup to get it all in the right pot.
MS. LEE LOY: But some of it was restricted, right? I mean, some was way
more flexible, the first$12 (million) and then the $10; or $10 and $12, right? Is it
a fair assessment that, basically, the departments that could tap into the money
would be this one, Public Works, Police, Fire, and Parks?
MS. SAKO: Right. For whatever they don't get reimbursed by FEMA.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. All right, Council Members, anyone
else before we close? Okay. Well, you know what? The good thing about
speaking last is pretty much everybody said what I was thinking. Except
Director, I just have one question. This EnerGov, you said you are at a stopping
point right now, a holding point. Do you know about how long you're going to
take to get this thing fixed so that we can proceed?
MR. YAMAMOTO: I think they're in the process of testing the software to see if
it works.
CHR. DAVID: Timewise, we should be
MR. YAMAMOTO: Well, we're hoping they can stay on the revised schedule.
If not, accelerate it if they can. But, the IT (Information Technology) section is
it took a while to identify where the problem lied first, and that was part of the
problem for the delay.
CHR. DAVID: Is that going to cost us any more money for this ?
MR. YAMAMOTO: The only cost that it appears we're going to incur is having
to prolong the maintenance of the existing software.
CHR. DAVID: I see. Okay. All right. And like I said, thank you, Council
Members, because a lot of the questions have already been covered. And what I
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want to close with, is to say thank you, Director, Deputy Director, and especially
to your road division. And the reason I think we're all recognizing Neil and the
road division and your department, is because when people can see
improvements, even a one mile of road or a quarter mile of road in their rural
districts, they appreciate it, and they can see that something's being done. It's not
a lot. It's not what we really would like to see, but at least there's some progress
that can be seen by our constituents and that means a lot. So, I really want to
thank you folks for making the effort and doing this in an islandwide and
equitable manner. So, keep up the good work, and we'll see you next time.
Okay, so, thank you, everybody. I am going to place the special meeting of the
Finance Committee in recess until 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Mahalo. We're
in recess.
RECESS: At 4:35 p.m., the Chair declared the meeting in recess until 9:00 a.m., on April 17,
2019.
RECONVENE: The Special Meeting of the Committee on Finance was reconvened in the
Council Chambers, Hilo, at 9:00 a.m., Wednesday, April 17, 2019, by
Ms. Maile David, Chair
ROLL CALL:
Present: Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Chair
Ms. Karen Eoff, Vice Chair
Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member
Mr. Matt Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member
Ms. Ashley Kierkiewicz, Member
Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member
Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member
Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member
Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member
STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business,
FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items.
PUBLIC ON
AGENDA ITEMS: The Chair called Abelghassem Abraham Sadegh,who registered to speak to
comment on Bill 30 and Bill 31, came forward when called by the Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Alright, that concludes our public testimony for this morning, and
I think we can proceed with the Office of Prosecuting Attorney.
DEPARTMENTAL The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next item on the agenda,
BUDGET AND Departmental Budget and Program Reviews.
PROGRAM
REVIEWS:
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(1) Prosecuting Attorney Office:
CHR. DAVID: Mr. Roth,please come up and bring whoever you want to bring
up, and introduce your members and yourself,please. Thank you.
(Note: At this time, Prosecuting Attorney Mitch Roth and First Deputy
Prosecuting Attorney Dale Ross came forward to address the members of
the Committee.)
MR. ROTH: Good morning.
CHR. DAVID: Good morning.
MR. ROTH: So, thank you for having us here. I'd like to first off start by
introducing Dale Ross who is my First Deputy.
CHR. DAVID: Good morning. Aloha.
MR. ROTH: I have some other employees who are here. I've got to tell you, and
I say this every year and I truly mean it. I think we can back it up that we have
the hardest working office in the County.
I have Grant Nagata, our Accountant; and Lee Lord, who is our Fiscal Business
Manager. You know, couple of years ago when they did the audit and stuff, they
found that our accounting was actually gold standard.
I have Lisa Faulkner-Inouye, who runs our special projects; Debra Chai, who runs
our Victim Witness Program; and Chris (inaudible), who is the Head of our
District Court units.
CHR. DAVID: Good morning. Welcome.
MR. ROTH: I'd like to start and really just thank all of you. Especially, I'd like
to thank Ashley and all the other Council Members that got a chance to come and
talk to us. This is my seventh budget, and I think this is the first time that we've
had Council Members come to talk to us about our budget, and I think it was
something that was, for me, one of the best experiences I have had, to kind of go
over and learn things that I thought we knew. We assumed we knew, and I
assumed that you knew. There were so many good comments that I learned, and
so many good things.
One of the things that we talked about—I'm going to share about our office in a
few moments but we talked about things like knowing what kind of overtime
there is in a department, knowing about what the supplemental requests are, what
the goals and objectives for each of the offices are. When Sue Lee Loy came,
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because her husband is a police officer, she asked about our computer system,
which sets us off on a whole different track. We looked at the new system that
the Police have put in and how it's affected and impacted our office.
There were a whole bunch of things that came out. Every one of you that came
has great things. I sincerely apologize, and I have apologized to most of you who
didn't get a chance. But I think it's so important for government, for us, to be
communicating and talking to each other, and in doing so, you know, completely
open, and honestly, and transparently. So, I just wanted to thank those of you that
came because it reallyI think it was making a difference this year in the budget.
I think about my personal mission statement, is to improve the quality of life for
the community and for my family. My deputies, when I first took over, I made
sure that everybody had a mission statement.
The other thing I asked for was a philosophy. My personal philosophy on the
office is we do God's work. That's not a religious thing that anybody has to
believe. I think He's the boss, and that kind of guides your judgement and things
like that. I bring this up because it's like a compass. I think about the Council,
you're kind of like in a canoe. You're leading the canoe for the County. And it's
important that everybody is communicating with everybody. I know we have
certain things that came up when we talked, that prevented you from really having
good conversations. The Sunshine Law has good reasons for being there, but it
creates some other difficulties. So, I just really want to start with that.
The mission with of the Prosecutors Office is we pursue justice with integrity and
commitment. Aaron asked, excuse me, Councilman Chung asked me if we can do
some slides. So, I have some slides for you guys,
(Note: At this time, Mr. Roth and Ms. Ross provided a PowerPoint
presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the
presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file
in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online in
the County's webpages at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A hard copy of the
presentation is made a part of the record, see Comm. 117.10.)
MR. ROTH: So, I want to thank you, and I'll leave it up to open to questions, if
you have any questions.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Roth.
MR. ROTH: Thank you. First Deputy, would you like to say something,
Ms. Ross?
MS. ROSS: Well, thank you very much for your attention. I concur with
Mr. Roth about our hardworking clerical staff and the pressures they've been
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under for many years. Because as the Judiciary and Police have improved
technologies and added all these computerized systems, the brunt of that work, the
task, goes to our clerical staff. And it has consequences then for the attorneys
when they're not able to keep up. So, thank you very much for your attention.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much for that explanation, and Mr. Roth, too.
Council Members, opening for questions? Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Mitch, first of all, thank you. That was a great overview. A
succinct, good, bad, and the ugly, describing. And I appreciate the fact, sitting
down and talking story with you about coming forth and what we're going to do
and couple of things that you and I have kicked around and talked about. On your
presentation, you talked about the overtime. Put a number, as far as total cost of
that overtime.
MR. ROTH: I think as of last week, it was like $75,000 for this fiscal year. But
you have to realize that you have CTO (Compensatory Time Off). If we ask
people to come in, we have to pay them cash. But you can only get your CTO up
to a certain amount.
MR. RICHARDS: CTO means?
MR. ROTH: Unpaid Compensation Time off. Comp Time Off, yeah.
MR. RICHARDS: Comp Time Off, okay. Alright. So, go ahead.
MR. ROTH: So yeah, I think the cash value, Grant, was it 70 something? About
$75,000 so far this year.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. For me, more concerning than the cash side, is also the
burnout side. What kind of hours are people logging on that? Or, like you said,
they're not logging hours because they just want to get the job done.
MR. ROTH: Put it this way, I would say that most nights, if you drive by eight,
nine, ten o'clock in the evening by the County building, you will see cars at my
office. Our Clerks, I know that a bunch of them will be there probably till seven,
eight o'clock. Coming in at seven in the morning. The burnout is real. And
when you have people who are coming in sick on a weekend because they feel
they have to get stuff done, me, it's my hugest concern right now. We've lost a
lot of people. People tell us, "I love working here." It's a grinder.
You know, for the deputies, a lot of people expect it from the Deputy Prosecutors.
But it's not uncommon for them. Oftentimes they'll go out and they'll come back
in at 10 o'clock. I get calls couple of times a week from the alarm company
because someone has forgotten to set the alarm. I don't know if they do that just
to remind me, "Hey, you better do something because we're here." But it's a
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huge concern. We've had some significant stress issues this year. I've just got to
put it that way.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. If you look at fiscal 2017, to 2018, to 2019, what is the
change? Is it more difficult cases? Is it less computer support? You mentioned
that your computers are antiquated. Is it a combination of it all? What is it?
MR. ROTH: So there's some big combinations. I think right now, and I'm trying
to put this as politically correct as I can, right now we're going through a huge
learning curve with the Police system. Like I said, when I surveyed my
employees, anywhere from three minutes to three hours a case. When you get
17,000 cases in a year, you're starting to talk some significant time.
Now, my hope is our new system, will go online in the summer, late summer, and
it hopefully will take some of those problems out. And I've got to say the Police
have been working on their end, getting their people trained, and working with
their vendor. To some extent, it's getting a little bit better. But, that's been a big
issue.
The courts, as Dale said, the court's changing their system for electronic filing.
And stuff that we would be doing that would take us a lot less time, we're now
doing their work, as well. So, there's some big issues there.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, we'll explore that a little bit further. Because again
looking at your numbers, relatively speaking, I don't know if it's statistically
important or not, but you're numerically declining a little bit as far as the total
police reports. But your overtime is skyrocketing, so I'll come back to look at
that a little bit.
You and I also talked about getting ahold of the youth and getting them on
a different path, and if that crosses over to some of other supports, and Council
Woman Lee Loy has mentioned this in the past, the synergies between what we
as a County can do. You know, one of the things we found in working through
the GIA (Grant-In-Aid), and I think we talked about this, we have problematic
kids. The big problem is they're just hungry, so then they start acting out and
thereby—and so what are you doing to seek collaboration between other groups,
other departments? You know, rather than having a kid get in trouble, let's put
them at the parks and have them, whatever, help out. You mentioned the Camp
Agape.
MR. ROTH: I've been helping out with Camp Agape. I also sit on the board for
the Boys and Girls Club. So very thankful for the Council in helping out both of
those programs. Lisa, you want to come up?
(Note: At this time, Program Manager Lisa Faulkner-Inouye came
forward to address the members of the Committee.)
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MR. ROTH: This is Lisa Faulkner-Inouye. As Special Projects Coordinator,
works on a lot of our youth issues.
MS. FAULKNER-INOUYE: Hi, so
CHR. DAVID: Excuse me, can you just identify yourself for the record for our
staff.
MS. FAULKNER-INOUYE: Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Lisa Faulkner-Inouye.
I am a Program Manager at the Prosecutors Office. I supervise two people.
We have a team of three, of the Crime Prevention and Justice Assistants Group
within the office. We're the only personnel in the office that focus our efforts not
on the actual justice system itself, we don't have access to cases, but we work
with the community, in collaboration with the community, to address specifically
but not—specifically these but not excluding others, would be domestics violence,
sexual assaults, substance abuse,juvenile justice, and many other initiatives that
come through the office. One of the key pieces of our job is to collaborate and
build partnerships island-wide because we are island-wide positions.
Earlier you had asked Mitch what hisI believe,what his philosophy was, and I
just wanted to share, mine is positive youth development, and prevention, and
keeping kids from entering the system or further penetrating it, if they're in.
MR. ROTH: I'm sorry, can you talk about some of the training you guys just did?
MS. FAULKNER-INOUYE: Sure, okay. So we have funding through the
State. We just did four trainings, two on each side of the island, and they were
on opioid, specifically on opioid prevention, collaboration, and coalition building.
But also, heavily on the positive youth development piece, and that's increasing
exactly what it says, "Increasing the positive factors in youths' lives which helps
decrease the chances of them getting them involved in the system."
MR. ROTH: So Lisa actually has put on some several of these different trainings
and different functions. By the way,just to put a face to a name, when you guys
do your contingency funds to help groups out in the community, it's generally
Lisa that's working with those groups to make sure that things are going on. For
example, Committee on the Status of Women is another one of the groups that
comes under our office. This month they have their real women essay contest, so
Lisa is working with them to put that on. I would say—it's fair to say maybe
every month there's something. There's some kind of conference or something
that deals that youth that you guys are dealing with.
MS. FAULKNER-INOUYE: Right. We don't direct services to youths, but we
help enhance the capacity of people in the community that do. We provide them
with trainings on suicide prevention; we just sent a contingency that includes two
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School Resource Officers. One in Hamakua, because I understand not too long
ago there was a rash of these suicides in Honoka`a. So we sent the School
Resource Officer from there and the underserved community in Pahoa, along with
Hawaii Fire Department, Catholic Charities, their foster parent trainer, and
several others. And we went to a statewide suicide prevention conference to help
increase everyone's knowledge of how to better serve youth and families.
MR. RICHARDS: And the funding for that, you said State? Is it all State, most
of that total budget?
MS. FAULKNER-INOUYE: For that piece, it is. It's Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Division, out of the Department of Health. We have contracts. Each County gets
a contract to build a capacity of prevention systems in their county, so we use
those funds to
MR. RICHARDS: How much?
MS. FAULKNER-INOUYE: $110,000 a year.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. Are you partnering up with—you did mention some
others. I know Kahua Pa`a Mua, out of Kohala was doing a teen suicide program.
Have you dealt with them?
MS. FAULKNER-INOUYE: I believe they were represented at the training, but I
haven't dealt with them specifically. So a lot of the things we do that aren't in our
normal course of job on a daily basis, is as things pop up, we'll go and participate
or help out. And it could be that I just haven't connected with them right away.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. I just asked the question, because again we're trying to
seek that synergy that you keep hearing us talk about.
MS. FAULKNER-INOUYE: If I may add?
MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, go ahead.
MS. FAULKNER-INOUYE: If you any of you folks feel the need that you know
someone that I should be in contact with or our unit should be in contact with,
please, definitely forward to us. There's so many great people in this County, and
we just can't—we meet as many as we can and obviously, we wouldn't know
everybody. So, please.
MR. RICHARDS: Shifting gears a little bit. Mitch, you and I discussed this. I
appreciate that; thanks for the insight there. But kind on the same lines, we talked
about that news report coming out of Seattle, the Seattle dying and the
decriminalizing of some things in effort to cut down crime, but actually it
enhanced crime. The direction as far as that goes, and you know, we've all heard
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the allegations; the police do their job and then they don't get punished. I
appreciate what you call it, "smart sentencing."
MR. ROTH: Smart sentencing.
MR. RICHARDS: Can you just make a few comments on that,please?
MR. ROTH: About some of the
MR. RICHARDS: Let me stop you for a second. For the Council, there's a news
documentary, it's called Seattle's Dying. It's a real interesting thing because it
talks about a community struggling with drug addiction and all, and I'd suggest
watching. But go ahead, Mitch.
MR. ROTH: Unfortunately, a lot of those decisions, again, are being made at the
State level. You know, start with the legalization of marijuana. A lot of people
think about just smoking a joint or something like that. So if you go back to the
80s or 90s, when some of us were younger, the THC (Tetra Hydra Cannabinol)
level was about three to five percent in there. Currently, a marijuana cigarette
may be like 25 percent. The biggest problem, we're just dealing with our schools.
I don't know if you heard this, stridents vaping. So what does vaping have to do
with marijuana? Well, there's now ways of getting marijuana, THC, into the vape
pens that's going to be close to 90-95 percent THC, and we're starting to see kids
go into the emergency room from our schools. Because we're making some
decisions, we're making some very dangerous decisions, I think. That would
really need to be thought through a little bit more.
I think a lot of the issues and how we handle them, I think a lot of those laws on
the State side are affecting us or impacting us. But it's an opportunity for us to
work closer together and build up better collaborations and start to think smarter
about what's going to happen, the ramifications.
We're starting to see you know, if you look at our homeless issues here, we
have those ramifications now.
MR. RICHARDS: Chair, I'm going to yield right now because I'm dominating
the conversation. I want to hear from my colleagues. Thanks. Thanks, Mitch.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Mitch, for being here. Again, I
really appreciated our conversation. I think more importantly, you get it. We're
trying to shift the vernacular, output versus outcome, measurable/deliverables.
And I really appreciate that philosophy coming forward.
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I do have just a few questions. How does this budget create that collaboration that
you talked about? I know that's a tough one. And if you don't have the answer
now, there's going to be a supplemental budget or a second pass at this. So if
that's something you want to write for this body, that's fine.
MR. ROTH: You know, I generally come here
MS. LEE LOY: So the collaboration because what we're looking for is the
collaboration which creates the effectiveness, which creates the efficiency. And
then I'm going to take you into one area that I think you and I know very well,
called the Kilmann ProgramI mean, the Spillman Program.
MR. ROTH: Spillman Program, yeah.
MS. LEE LOY: So why don't you start there?
MR. ROTH: I don't know so much about how the budget I know in the pass
years, and I realize that there are 17 departments, and everybody has their needs.
If I start taking away from somebody's needs, I'm impacting other agencies.
Mr. Richards brought up—right now I have people that are in distress because
their workload is as it is. And I think we really need to look into that, and make
some changes.
MS. LEE LOY: And thank you. Because it's that honest conversation that you
talked about. We've got to have them. We have to talk about our deficiencies so
that we can make meaningful change.
So I want to dive into that computer system, because I know it very intimately
through my husband's work. So we're seeing that not only the police officer side
entering this data as it's being transferred over for your folk's work, you know, to
address the next steps there. How do we create better context between what the
Police Department is doing and inputting of their data, which I understand to be
seven different screens, which then has to be transferred over to you folks, not to
mention the various databases that hold all of this information? How do we get
there? Where is that in this budget? And how do I look for it in the Police
Officer's budget or do we drive with IT (Information of Technology)?
MR. ROTH: You know, it's a very difficult question that you're asking. Let
me say this, I think the police are as frustrated as we are. You'll have to ask
them about that. I will say that there have been some people at the Police
Department who have been going above and beyond. One that jumps out tome
is Joanne Tallet, who has been taking our calls and trying to help in whatever way
she can. Major Andrew Burian has been doing the same. I think they're
sympathetic of our situation.
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But I think, really, what it screams out for the future is leadership. We need to be
talking about these things and planning these things a lot better in the future. Not
to be in the situation and then say, "Okay, now what do we do?" I appreciate
Chief Ferreira. I think he's been trying to do what he can at this stage. But you
have to remember, this system has been in play for many years. It just went
online recently.
I really don't know how to give you a great answer on this. I would hope that
their vendor would start really getting more involved. I'm not saying that they
haven't been, but I think they need to realize that it's impacting us everywhere,
the officers, the prosecutors, and the court.
MS. LEE LOY: Share with me again the survey of clerical staff, and how much
work this Spillman you know I want to call it something else this program is
adding.
MR. ROTH: So when you came to our office, right, you asked the question,
and I felt the best way to do that was to bring in someone who is a legitimate
end-user. We asked three questions. And the questions were: Does this help
you., yes or no? And she said "no." Does it save you time or does it add more
time to your work? "Oh, it adds more time." How much does it add? She said it
could be up to 20 minutes a case. At that time, I had already known that we were
having issues, but I didn't know quite how bad it was. So I sent a survey to the
whole office, asking the same questions. You know, kind of leaving it open for
them to go either way, and pretty much everybody said, "Not helping."
There were some highlights in there. You know, we've got pictures in there now,
so that's a good thing. The one that really got me was between three minutes and
three hours per case. It really explains the overtime, you know, the picture. I
don't think—when the Police put this in, that wasn't their goal. I think that their
vendor may eventually get this program into a place where we're saving time.
We're just not there yet.
MS. LEE LOY: So that leads me to the next question. Because one of the needs
that you mentioned was a Legal Edge Case Management System.
MR. ROTH: We were actually working on that. We had grant funds, and we had
some County funds, I believe. It might have been the County funds to put that in.
So we've been working with our vendor for the last year, year-and-a-half.
They're at the point where they're working with the Spillman vendors because we
need them to work together. You know, ideally, those things are costing a bunch
of keystrokes. I'd be able to take some of those out. But I haven't seen it yet.
MS. LEE LOY: So yeah, I guess the question is, is there enough money for the
training piece? Because we're hearing that with other departments, right?
They're trying to move into a more efficient, EnerGov system or whatever; and as
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people have to start using them or relearning the inputting system, there's just
never enough training budget, so they get frustrated. Is there enough money in
our training budget?
MR. ROTH: In our contract with them, we have in-person and we have taped
training, as well. So that isI believe we are the end-users of our system, so we
pretty much just—in our department. So at this point, we still haven't seen an end
product. We've seen early versions of it. Very promising, but they're telling us
that in our contract we do have training that is budgeted in as well as taped team
training.
MS. LEE LOY: This is my final question, because I really appreciate the
philosophy of trying to catch them upstream, which leads into Lisa's work with
the collaboration piece. I've attended some of that training, and the invitation of
all the various community stakeholders at that meeting.
Just putting it out there, because we have our own nonprofit grant-in-aid, and we
see a whole lot of need there. Just your thoughts on having someone from your
office sit in as an ex-officio, where we could actually maybe amend or legislate,
because that's what this body does, right; a different policy piece where someone
like Lisa could sit in as an ex-officio during that process to glean out the various
synergies on how we're touching youth, with various people who are asking for
help to feed our youth, to provide afterschool programs with our youth, then build
in the educational piece that somebody else is doing. I've got you on a hot seat.
MR. ROTH: I don't know what Lisa's going to say about this, but I like it. I
think it's a great idea. I know as we went through the refinements of the
contingency, what needs to be done. I think that you guys have changed your
process to amend it to what our process is. She's very smart. Sounds like a really
good idea. I'm looking back at her, though.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah. She's smiling, though. She is, I tell you.
MR. ROTH: Okay.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, and that's something I think over the last three years that
I've sat on the nonprofit grant-in-aid committee, is how we're having those
agencies come in and demonstrate to us what their ask is, what their mission is,
how they're meeting it. And then the very next year, "We gave you money, what
did you achieve,"right, "What's your impact statement; how are you moving the
needle?" And so I kind of want to pull that back rather than, you know, more at a
Google level. But Lisa is smiling, so I'm going to work on that.
MR. ROTH: That's good. And I just got to tell you, it would probably be
invaluable for you to hear some of the feedback from the contingency funds that
she has to give you. I kind of assumed before, and I'm not going to assume
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anything because I've been proven wrong before in my assumptions. But I think
her insight is invaluable to you.
MS. LEE LOY: Then we get across, right? The pillars and the silos, and we get
to the collaboration piece.
MR. ROTH: Absolutely.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you so much. I really appreciate all the work your office
does. I know my husband and his buddies pour a lot of it into you folks. So I
really appreciate all the work you and your staff does. Thank you.
MR. ROTH: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Chung, go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Good morning, Mitch, Dale.
MR. ROTH: Good morning.
MR. CHUNG: And thank you very much for inviting me and others to that
meeting or to meet with you and your staff. With regard to my request to have a
PowerPoint presentation, it was intended for us to just have some visual aids. I
remember last year you came without any visual aids.
MR. ROTH: That's pretty visual.
MR. CHUNG: Well, right. This is enough. But it's kind of good for the
viewing public, I guess, right? Because last year you were rattling off all of
these statistics and it was really, really difficult for us to digest. It was almost
like a Rodney Dangerfield, you know, where you're kind of laughing at things
that he said two minutes ago. Because we're still trying to digest, right, all of
these things. So thank you very much for these visuals.
I want to continue talking about the records management system that was
implemented by the Police Department because that seems to be something that's
tied into our budget in overtime. When did that thing start going online?
MR. ROTH: I think October of last year.
MR. CHUNG: October of last year. Okay then—let's see, that's what explains
this spike here?
MR. ROTH: Yes, one of the things that explains that spike.
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MR. CHUNG: Okay. And how often do you get together with the Police Chief
on this matter?
MR. ROTH: On this matter?
MR. CHUNG: Yeah.
MR. ROTH: We've had meetings. We meet quarterly with the Police. So we
have a command meeting, where we meet with the Chief. We talk about our
issues and their issues.
We knew it was coming on. We were asking for training, you know, for a while.
We wanted to make sure that we had very similar to what we had before, where
the police were bringing the data over to us. I think it is kind of like the
conversations we had with Council. We assumed that we're going to get the same
kind of information, delivered in the same way. I think they assumed similar, that
it was going to be coming over to us in the same way. I think that was more of an
issue. Then there's issues with how intuitive the system is. So if you ask more of
a question, you need to
MR. CHUNG: So I mean, how what kind of in-depth discussion have you had
with the Police Chief in trying to improve the system, the interagency system?
MR. ROTH: So we have regular conversations, not so much with the Chief. He's
put Major Burian in charge.
MS. ROSS: I'm sorry for interrupting, but I'm the point of contact with
Major Burian on Spillman issues. We have conversations with him on a weekly
basis.
MR. ROTH: Sometimes daily.
MS. ROSS: We're always bringing one issue or another to his attention.
MR. CHUNG: But it seems that it's a systems problem then that won't get solved
in anytime soon?
MS. ROSS: And it's a human problem because you have everyone who touches
the system might not have done it correctly, or whatever. There's an issue, so it's
a training and human problem, as well. At this point, there's going to be changes
upcoming when the two systems integrate. We're in the process of getting to the
point integration; but for now,prior to integration the method of how we
communicate with the system is really cumbersome and hard to manage.
MR. CHUNG: I guess what's troubling for me, perhaps others here, is that these
systems are intended to improve efficiency. But from what you've told us, it's
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not. I mean, very clearly, it's not. But you did say we may get to a point where it
does make things easier. Do you anticipate that? Or is just going to be ?
MR. ROTH: I do anticipate that eventually happening. So let me give you what I
think are some of the positives that system will be able to have. They'll have
crime maps, so they'll be able to see where certain crimes are Napping, where
things are—and we'll be able to get, hopefully, some of that information. I don't
think that we have that at this stage.
There will be some things that the police were looking for that they didn't have in
their last system, that I think will be positives. I don't know if they have that for
them right now. For us, on our part, right now it's just a very difficult learning
curve.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, and that's what I'm looking at because it relates to
overtime.
MR. ROTH: Right.
MR. CHUNG: I have no doubt. Well, there should be no doubt that the system
will improve operations, maybe not making it more efficient but providing more
information. But as it relates to your overtime situation, what do you anticipate?
Will we get to a point where things will balance out and that steep curve will level
out or will it continue?
MR. ROTH: Well, if we continue to staff our staff at the current rate, it's never
going to balance out. I mean, we're going to continue to have severe overtime
issues because we just don't have enough people to do the tasks at hand.
MR. CHUNG: Right.
MR. ROTH: And when you talk about efficiency—you know, the court loves
their system because it makes the courts work more efficient by putting it on our
backs.
MR. CHUNG: Right. So, Mitch, so basically the situation will not improve as it
relates to your workload. You don't anticipate that happening then? If something
is happening at the Police Department the way they operated, and then it
translates to less work at your office, it's not going to happen.
MR. ROTH: I'll have to say I do see some changes. I don't know what degree,
though. So, we're talking about degrees. One, they're working on training their
people to better use the system. If they were completely trained and proficient in
their system, it will make our lives a little bit easier. Will it be as efficient as we
were in the past? I don't know. But if we're having to look for discovery in
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multiple different sources rather in one place, then no, it's not going to make our
lives easier.
MR. CHUNG: So systemically it won't improve the situation. The reason why I
ask that is
MR. ROTH: Well, I think it's degrees.
MR. CHUNG: This graphic and this situation makes for a compelling argument
for you to get more clerical staff, okay. But if it's anticipated that things will
normalize themselves, once the police start to understand this a little bit better,
then we'd be foolish to add more staffing when you won't need it, say a year or
two from now.
MR. ROTH: Okay, so it's not just one piece. It's not just Spillman. Spillman is
a big part of this. I don't think it's whether it's going to normalize or not; I think
we're talking about degrees. I don't think it's going to be as efficient as we were
before. That's part of your question.
MR. CHUNG: You've got to give us a better picture.
MR. ROTH: I can't tell you because I don't know what changes they're going to
be doing. I know that they're constantly working on changes.
MR. CHUNG: How about this? You know, I don't want to belabor the point.
When the Police Department comes up, can the two of you come back? Would
that be possible?
MR. ROTH: When are they coming back?
CHR. DAVID: 1:30 this afternoon.
MR. ROTH: I could probably come, yeah, for a little bit today.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah. Okay, and maybe we can have a better discussion.
Because this is really important, I think. I mean, as it affects your operations. It's
something that's not within your department, something outside that's creating
some impacts within your department. So that's something I think I'd like to get
a better handle on.
Lastly, and maybe we don't have to go on long discussion on this one too, but you
mentioned legalization of recreational marijuana.
MR. ROTH: As a for instance, yes.
MR. CHUNG: Huh?
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MR. ROTH: As a for instance of other issues.
MR. CHUNG: Right, right, right. If we had to take a guess, this is something
that's on the horizon already, right, the State of Hawaii. So I'm just wondering,
what kinds of input the law enforcement community is providing to our legislators
in that regard? I mean, to take to look at thing proactively, since it's happening,
we may as well do it on our terms and provide input as to how would we like to
see it done. Is that happening on the State level?
MR. ROTH: Absolutely. Absolutely.
MR. CHUNG: Okay.
MR. ROTH: I just came back from a conference, and one of the things I saw was
this whole thing on vaping. We knew that Hawaii County, for example, has just
disproportionate amount of vaping going on. We have over—about 50 percent of
our kids vaping. The highest rate in the nation is on Hawaii County. What I
didn't know is how easy it is for them to put THC and get high on these vape
things that they're doing. I didn't realize, and I don't know if you realize this, the
way they're marketing the vape juice—looks like they're bubble-gum flavor. It
looks they're putting it in like apple boxes, things that little kids would be
interested in. And they're very successful, billions of dollars are going to vapes.
It's a huge business.
MR. CHUNG: Since we're talking about vaping then, why do you suppose we
have the highest percentage in the nation? Have any guesses?
MR. ROTH: I would say that I think we have a community that kind of is
pretty open to recreational drugs. You know, we have marijuana. But I think
people are looking at this.
MR. CHUNG: We have the highest marijuana use in the nation?
MR. ROTH: I don't know if we have the highest marijuana use. I know we have
a very high marijuana usage in schools. If you look at our school rates, we have a
very high rate of marijuana, drug use comparatively to—excuse me, I think
they're accepting a vision of a joint that has—I'll even go with the 25 percent.
Not a cartridge that has 90-something percent THC, that's focused at, you know,
like a methamphetamine high. I don't think that people see that. I don't think
people are saying, "Oh, that's what we want to legalize." But that's what's
happening in our State.
MR. CHUNG: Well, maybe Joe guys can join in a lawsuit to go and sue the
manufacturers. Right, Joe?
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MR. ROTH: You got a great idea.
MR. CHUNG: Okay, thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Mitch, Dale, all the staff
that are here. You know, you're actually the first department head that I visited in
my string of meetings with the various departments. I'm always impressed by
your positivity and recognizing even in difficult situations, opportunities. And I
just want to commend you for your work on the various cold cases over the years.
As I sat here listening to you speak, and Lisa, I'm just thinking about the work
that we've done over the years, you folks are all incredibly dedicated and
proactive. And despite all of the stress and pressure that comes with being in that
office, you're there because you're so dedicated and committed to the mission of
creating a safer and healthy community. So I just want to say that I'm very
moved and proud of the work that you do.
So in taking a look at your budget, about$10.7 million, I noticed that your grant
revenue was actually pretty high. When you compare it ratio to other
departments, it's about$2.9 million. Do you have a grant writer on staff? How
do you get all that money? You're sitting there laughing, Dale. It's just extra
work you're doing?
MR. ROTH: Right now, we have a temporary one. Most of those grants are, like
Dale, Lea, Grant, Suzanne Tiapula, Lisa, Debra; there are a lot of us that are
working. Because you don't have enough, you go look for more. So that's what
we've done. We've been very lucky to obtain funding in other places.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Well, thank you for your continued work on that front. In
listening to my colleagues discuss the Spillman system, I think it just brings to
light this bigger issue that we as a County are facing. I know that—in hearing
your presentation, it's very clear that your office budgets for outcomes. You
know what the goals are. You know the metrics, the measurable that you need to
be hitting, so you align your resources to meet those goals. But it seems like there
just needs to be a framework for the entire County to be doing things that way.
Because you've pointed out systemic issues that we have, where you have a
system that you're having to live with but not necessarily had any input in the
creation or the curation of. So I just think that we need to be doing things
smarter.
MR. ROTH: I agree.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: This is why people lose faith and trust in government. If it
requires an overhaul and changing of codes, I mean, I think we need to start
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having those tough conversations and not be afraid of change. I mean, oftentimes
change can be a good thing. We just have to be open to it.
I want to go into a couple of details that you brought up. You mentioned
strangulation cases. My understanding is there was a bill at the Legislature to
define this in the HRS (Hawai`i Revised Statutes). What happened to that? Did
that fail?
MR. ROTH: It's actually defined in the HRS.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. There was something that you wanted to add,
because my understanding was in strangulation cases there's an increase of those
individuals then committing crimes or killing police officers. Correct?
MR. ROTH: That's correct.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MR. ROTH: So strangulation, I believe what the bill looked at, was the covering
of the mouth and covering up breathing, as part of strangulation. If a person can't
breathe, that's going to lead them suffocating and stuff. Right now, you have to
block the airways. It would just help with the definition; so when a jury looks at
it, they understand what we're talking about. And I think it did fail this year.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: It did fail. Do you know why? I mean, it seems like a
no-brainer, and this is a way where we can further protect our community.
MR. ROTH: You want me to do this, don't you? The explanation of our
Legislature
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: You're the one that said we should have these open, honest
conversation, so I want it all on the record.
MR. ROTH: We have that legislative building with the motive water. That
motive water is charged with negative ions that suck the common sense. You
know, that's . Sorry.
You know, this year was difficult year for us to be at the Legislature. We just
didn't have our personnel. Generally, the Prosecutors' Offices rely on the
Honolulu Prosecutor's Office to carry the water. And unfortunately there were a
lot of things happening at the Honolulu Prosecutor's Office this year.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And they've lost a lot of credibility, yeah.
MR. ROTH: Yeah, I think they have.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Asset forfeitures.
MR. ROTH: Yes?
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So, I'm a bit concerned. Because we get$200,000 as a
County right now, and it may not—
MR.
otMR. RICHARDS: Yeah, we budget$200,000.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: We budget$200,000. But typically how much are we
receiving as a County?
MR. ROTH: It could be about$50,000 to $200,000.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So are we potentially in jeopardy of losing these funds?
MR. ROTH: All of it.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: All of it. This is critical because it provides training,
vehicles, surveillance, cameras, and bullet-proof vests. And so all of the money
could potentially go to the State General Fund rather than to the counties. Is that
my understanding?
MR. ROTH: The way this will probably work, is the Police will forfeit the
property, it will go to the Feds. The Feds will take the property and then give the
Police money.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So it goes to the Police Department?
MR. ROTH: So partial to the Police,partial to the Feds. We won't be doing the
work, so we won't be getting any of the funds.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And then there's also change in—so no longer just
providing probable cause but needing a conviction?
MR. ROTH: Correct.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Okay, so making things even more difficult.
MR. ROTH: Yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: How can we better support Lisa's work? I mean, I know
that we need to increase the collaboration that we do in the community. You
know, I care very much about our island home because I have kids, and I want to
make sure that they have the best possible experience growing up. I want that for
all children. I mean, I take one to two days out of my month to visit the various
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schools throughout the district, and I talk story with the kids, or I read them a
book, because I want them to see that someone in my position cares. Oftentimes
that's such a huge thing for them because they don't have someone in their life
that cares.
MR. ROTH: Right. You know, and I thought what we did this year by starting
those meetings. I really encourage all of you to come meet people in the various
agencies, like Lisa spends—all of you should really have a pretty good
relationship with her because all of you have contingency funds pretty much
going through our office. I know that we're not the only office that does
contingency funds, but I'm pretty sure almost all of you bring contingency funds
through Lisa. A lot of the great work that we get to do, we get to do because of
your contingency funds.
Does that make sense to you? So when she's running people down to get funds,
and her frustrations and stuff like that, you guys don't get to hear about those
things, but she makes some great recommendations. I'm still not looking at her
because I'm causing her more work. She stays on weekends after work, too,
oftentimes. But yeah, I think, really not just with our department but with all
departments, continue what you started and going to meet with departments.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, I have a few more questions. A couple of them are
technical and they have to do with your supplementals. So I was reviewing them
and just doing some quick math. Is the total about$315,000-ish that you're
looking for?
MR. ROTH: I think if you add the supplemental you have in your hand, the
answer is yes, he says.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And then the technology upgrades that you mentioned in
your slide, that's beyond what is requested in the supplemental? I just want to
be
MR. ROTH: Those are beyond.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, I just want to be clear on what your needs are.
MR. ROTH: I've got toI'm hopeful. We've been having conversations with
the Attorney Generals. I had to go to a meeting the other day, and just kind of
digress again, and they were talking about having to return some of their money,
so we said, "Wait, wait, wait, let me see if we can make that work." And so, we
may be able to get some of our computers from there. But like our big switches
and stuff like that that our tech guys are talking about, probably not. We are also
looking for other ways of getting some of those things. But yes, we need them.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And then the last question that I have is regarding
squatters. You and I have had conversations over the months about some code
changes I'd like to be introducing, that would basically capture contact
information for the various real property tax profiles to make it easier to verify if
the individual that's on the property is a renter or really shouldn't be there. But is
that enough? I mean, what else do we need to be doing from the County side and
even on the State side to better address this issue with some real teeth?
MR. ROTH: So thank you for bringing that up. I just want to bring this up to all
the Council Members, because I think that is one of the ways that we can make a
big difference on squatters, but on other issues.
Right now, what she's talking about, is our County tax collects information if you
own a house. Generally, it's the address where you can get in contact with the
people. So what I was talking to Ashley about, was why don't make it that you
not only have to give the house but you have to give a telephone number where
you can be contacted. And then if someone else—like an emergency contact,
when the police go out for squatters, the owner's not there, how do they know
who the owner is? They need to show the owner didn't give them permission.
But if you had this system that allowed us to collect numbersI think about—We
just had a Civil Defense emergency. How does Civil Defense get in touch with
anybody? You can map all the houses in that area. Send out a text message or
something saying, "This is a Civil Defense emergency. A house is on fire,
firemen go out there, how do they know if the owners are there, or everybody's
there, or who's supposed to be there? They're able to contact the owner.
So it was the only way I could figure that we can get that information. Because
the problem with squatters that we have is we never know who the owners are.
The police don't know who the owners are. It's very difficult for them to make a
case. The idea was allow them to capture that information and use that
information not only for squatters but for other information in the County. If
they're behind in their taxes, send them a text saying, "Hey, you're behind. Your
house is going to be auctioned off," or something like that. So there are a lot of
other uses. I appreciate you bringing that up.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah. And thinking about that. It's beyond just
emergencies, you know, natural disaster sort of alerts. We have Albizzia, which
is a big problem in Puna and around the island, and so this is another way where
we can follow-up with the owner and start to enforce some of the laws that we
have on the books to mitigate that invasive species.
You know, that's all I have. I just again want to thank you so much for all of your
hard work and for being here and for answering the tough questions that the
Council has put forth with. A lot of great thought. Thank you. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Mahalo. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
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MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Hi, you guys. Chair, I
have a question for you.
CHR. DAVID: For me? Go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: When we have these meetings, because I'm
new to this, are we to stay on point to the budget or is anything and everything
fair game?
CHR. DAVID: We normally stick to the budget questions, but I think what
they're talking about relates to the budget in one respect or another. So, I'll let
you
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I was just wondering, because we have so
many smart and well-paid people in this room. As we've gone through this, I
want to make sure we use everyone's time efficiently. So just for me, thank you.
I was wondering of doing being too far-reaching in the things that we think
about every day but aren't necessarily related to your budget.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you for your question.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. So I think what Tim Richards
touched on earlier, your total police reports referred to the Prosecutor's Office
have gone down since 2014. And your total cases have decreased as well, but we
are increasing the budget for your department.
MR. ROTH: You can look at it that way, however
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: But if he touched on it and I looked at it,just
from looking at your visuals, I got that really quickly. I may not be right. I may
be wrong. I don't know, but I'm asking the question.
MR. ROTH: Sure. It doesn't necessarily mean that the amount of cases that each
deputy is handling is different. These are the amount of cases that come into our
office. All of those cases are screened. Not every case that comes into our office
that's screened will actually be prosecuted. Before we prosecute a case, we have
to believe that we can prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt.
The other thing that we've been doing in the last several years, is that we've
been moving into someactually, more and more complex cases, a lot of the cold
cases. Like reviewing the SAKI(Sexual Assault Kit Initiative) grants, those cases
aren't new coming into our office. We're going back and you know, we have a
program, where we're looking at those.
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We've actually started doing some of those cold case, sex assault cases, as well.
Cases are going down a little bit, but also you have to understand where those
cases are going down. A lot of those are in the Family Court Juvenile room.
That's generally one deputy on each side, you know, actually in each of the three
courts: Waimea, Kona, and Hilo. Probably the biggest drops have been in
juvenile crimes rather than in the adult courts. We're still seeing a lot of cases.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So, in case number, maybe like your
police reports coming in too you may have gone down. Total cases that you're
handling may go down. But you're starting to work on other cases in the
background, as well?
MR. ROTH: Right. So I would say that each deputy is still working on as many
cases. Everybody is handling all that they can handle right now.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then you had some, I mean,
substantially, from 2017-2018 to 2019-2020, we're looking at a pretty big change
across the board. What is that? It's about$1.9 million from 2017-2018 to now,
our estimated for 2019-2020. What are the raises? Oh not the raises, what are the
increases going to get us?
MR. ROTH: I'm sorry, I'm not—
MR.
otMR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I'm just looking at the general. The
General Fund expenditures to Prosecuting Attorney, we went from $8.4 million in
2017-2018 fiscal to $10.3 million in 2019-2010 fiscal year.
MR. ROTH: So I think that part of that was the Salary Commission raised the
deputies and myself. A lot of those people hadn't had raises for a long time.
We also received a couple of extra positions on State funding grants. For
example, on our VOCA (Victim Of Crime Act) grant, Restore of Justice. How
many people did we get for the VOCA grant? How many did we get? So we
have four about four Restore of Justice. Also, we had some Victim Witness
bodies that came in. And also a grant, like the Agriculture Investigator, that was
also grant funded. So that were different funds that came in.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And your grant revenues did increase
substantially too, right?
MR. ROTH: So I think that's where you're going to see most of the increase.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Budget 2018-2019, looks like we're
going about$260,000 for Prosecuting Attorney. The basics, Salary & Wages,
OCE (Other Current Expense),just from this last fiscal year, the year we're in,
right, this next fiscal year, that is mostly ?
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MR. ROTH: So it's that's about$200,000, you say?
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: $260,000,just overall from your totals in
2018-2019 to 2019-2020.
MR. ROTH: So part of that are the union raises; part of that are the other raises
that the Salary Commission put in.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So kind of the same, because we're
getting that from a lot of different departments, too.
MR. ROTH: Right.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then we talked about computers
and getting Microsoft operating software on your computers. Where are you with
that?
MR. ROTH: So, I went to this meeting the other day. They had these funds, and
so we're asking them for money for money, the AGs' (Attorney Generals) for
money, that they were going to turn back. And it looks promising. We haven't
gotten a complete yes yet, but it looks promising that we're going to get the funds
from there. But right now, what he's talking about is we have computers that are
sitting and can't be used because we don't have licenses in our office. So we're
we don't just take no for an answer. We look other places. You want to give us
some money? We'll take the money. But we're trying to find it anyway we can.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Just speaking to efficiency, I
mean, from the moment I mean, the first meeting I had with you, and from a lot
of other departments, in my ideal sense of the world is that all of the departments
and all of government would all talk to each other and communicate well with
each other. It keeps coming up and we keep touching on it that we don't do that.
I understand that there are some areas we could be better at. I think that goes
government wide.
MR. ROTH: Absolutely.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: It would even go between our offices. And
you touched on the Sunshine Law. So there are many ways we can get better. I
appreciate any efforts that you and your department implement to get us better
and get us more efficient. That's just I think that's just a given. If we want to
work towards that as a Council, that's wonderful. But that should just be a given
in government. So I'm just saying that's not really for you. That's just for
everybody. So, thank you. And I really appreciate what you guys are doing.
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MR. ROTH: Thank you, too. You're one of the people that came in, and I think
we had some really good conversations and it made me think a lot. So, I really
appreciate that.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: You opened my eyes too to a lot of the
things. And I know different people. I know Lee, you know, you're at Relay for
Life every year; and Lisa, I've been waiting on you for like 15 years, 10 years,
since I met you and your husband. And I've just got you to know you and other
people, so I just appreciate the people that you brought today. Thank you.
MR. ROTH: Thanks.
CHR. DAVID: Mahalo, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Mr. Chung, go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, thanks. You know, I actually had a few comments.
But before I do make those comments, I wanted to introduce to everyone here
Riki Hokama from Maui County. Riki, can you please stand up?
Riki is a former Council Chair from Maui County and also served a long time as
their Budget and Finance Committee Chair. He was the architect of—oh, right,
thank you very much—and he has a long-time relationship with Ms. Poindexter.
Thank you very much. NACo president. First time in history, I think, that a
Hawaii person was elected President of the National Association of Counties.
Unprecedented.
We invited him here, first so that he could observe our departmental reviews, and
also to provide some input. Because he is the architect of the Maui budgeting
process, which from all accounts is the standard throughout the State. I don't
know if we want to go as far as how he's taking it. Maybe we can develop some
kind of hybrid.
But at the same time, we invited him so that he could talk to some of the Council
Members. Particularly, he's going to be meeting with Mr. Richards and
Ms. Kierkiewicz after our session today. But he's available to anyone else who
wants to speak to him. But we just don't want to run afoul of our Sunshine Law,
okay. But he's here as an observer and as a resource. And we really do thank
him for accepting our invitation. Thank you, Riki, for coming.
With regard to Mr. Kaneali`i-KI einfelder's question about, you know, how far
afield we can go. You know, this process is actually a Departmental Budget and
Program Review, so you can actually go as far as you want to in terms of talking
the various departments about their programs. Really, this whole process, one the
reasons why we have this in place, it's to satisfy one of the Charter requirements
that, well, requires us to have, I think, it's yearly program reviews. It doesn't
necessarily mean you have to ask the departments every single question regarding
every single program that they have, but it's intended to satisfy that. So you can
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go as far afield as you want, yeah. Also, I think there's a provision in the Charter
that says that if the programs prove to be, lack of a better term, useless, then you
stop funding, yeah?
And then with regard to the squatter issue, I wanted to thank you guys; and thank
you, Ashley, for bringing that up, because your office has really been proactive in
that regard. Maurice Messina was actually heading that thing up and he would
frequently you talk about communication, he would frequently call me because
I had some problems in my district, too. We really miss him, but he continues to
communicate with us as Deputy Parks and Recreation Director. He's fabulous.
MR. ROTH: We miss him on my side, too.
MR. CHUNG: He's really good. And that is an idea, the one that you had
brought up, that he talked about early on, as well, and it's a good idea. But one
thing there's one weakness to that, a lot of these squatters are identifying
foreclosed properties. It's difficult getting the okay from the lender. We found
out that to be a problem.
MR. ROTH: It's huge.
MR. CHUNG: But I know you guys are going to work on it.
MR. ROTH: But if the lender had to put their phone number where they can be
contacted, that would be great because even finding the lenders are difficult.
MR. CHUNG: Sometimes the lenders have a realtor here.
MR. ROTH: If they had to have an on-island rep,that would be great.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, but these realtors, they don't have the yeah, so that's
something we can work on, we can make that a requirement. But once it gets into
the foreclosure mode, it's like a real period of limbo, right?
MR. ROTH: It really is.
MR. CHUNG: So that's something we want to talk about. And then, you
touched upon it earlier, and Ashley did too, the Career Criminal Division.
MR. ROTH: Yeah.
MR. CHUNG: The Prosecutors Office. I guess what you might have been
alluding to was the situation that's going on statewide and certainly we're not
going to be mentioning names here. But you and I talked about it, and your staff
did. It's so important and you guys are doing a fantastic job in maintaining the
public trust. Because statewide, you know, the situation on Oahu has really
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struck to the core of the public's trust in law enforcement, the Prosecutor's Office.
But I wanted to state publicly that you guys are doing a really good job in that
regard. So thank you, Mitch.
MR. ROTH: Thank you.
MR. CHUNG: And keep it up. Alright.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Eoff, and then I'm going to Mr. Richards.
MS. EOFF: I think Mr. Richards had a quick question before I
CHR. DAVID: Before you go? Okay, Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you. Thanks, Council Woman Eoff. Real quick,
Mitch. You've touched on it. The number of cases coming in, slight decline;
overtime, going up. Is your backlog increasing or decreasing? You're throwing
in the cold cases here, which is great, which I want to by the way, commend you
for that. Especially some of the old rape cases and all that, that's great you're
going back. But what are we doing with the backlog?
MR. ROTH: So our Screening Unit, they still have a lot of cases. It's hard to say
what's going on with any one case. I got a call yesterday from the news about a
specific case that happened a couple of months ago; our office got it. It's in
screening. The deputy looked at the case. It just came to our office about a
month ago, and he just looked at it. It hadn't got up to the top of his pile, but I
asked him to take a look. That case is going to go back to the Police for further
investigation. So sometimes cases can go back and forth several times.
A well-known case that's happening in Waimea, where we've probably gone back
and forth with the Police a couple of times. Not that they're not doing anything,
but we're getting experts to take a look. So some of those cases can sit for a little
while, and we only have a number of people that can review them.
MR. RICHARDS: I got that. But what I'm saying is the backlog with all this
overtime, are you starting to catch up at all or is it growing?
MR. ROTH: Not really.
MR. RICHARDS: Not really, okay. That was the question that I just wanted to
clarify.
MR. ROTH: Because it takes longer to get the information. I guess that's what
I'm trying to say.
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MR. RICHARDS: That's one of my questions. But I do want to commend you,
and Council Chair, it was very good. Just as a statement, isn't it great that
we have a Prosecuting Attorney who's expanding efforts to have programs
where we end up trying to keep people from being prosecuted, meaning keeping
youths out? So I just wanted to make that comment. Okay, I yield back to
Council Woman Eoff.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Ms. Eoff, go ahead.
MS. EOFF: Thank you, Madam Chair. Earlier, Chairman Chung touched on this.
I just feel like we need a little bit more discussion around these issues with
switching to new software programs, either the incompatibility or the learning
curve, or whatever it is. But you're not the first department that's come to us with
this issue, yesterday we heard from Public Works and Planning.
I'm just wondering how we get past this. There seem to be vague answers, like
no real timeline for it and no real knowledge of what the solution actually is. But
in your case, it's caused more overtime than you already were experiencing,
which is the case load. And now, Mr. Chung's asking if you were to resolve the
software program issues, will you really need more staff? I think you're saying
yes, because you already had backlog issues.
MR. ROTH: Yes, we had backlog before.
MS. EOFF: And I'm sure that's the same in the other departments. But getting
back to this problem with adapting to new software, whether it's our old systems
not being able to handle or whether it's learning curve, I really don't have an
answer that I've heard substantial yet. But is this somewhere we go to IT
(Information Technology) for help? Do we bring in professionals? What is your
take on it?
MR. ROTH: I think with this system, hindsight it's always 20/20. I think one of
the things that would have been great to happen is for us to be in on the planning
process and talking, because it affects us.
You know, when we look at leadership, which I think is super important in this
County, we need to start looking at how your decision today is going to affect
everybody else. So your decision—for example, in our department how that's
going to affect another department down the way. And we have our executive
staff meetings, for example. We talk about things that are happening in Victim
Witness that are going to impact the deputies, so they have a chance to be a part
of that. So on this one I think, in hindsight, if we were more hands-on in the
planning and designing of that, I think that would have been very helpful.
With our current system, we've had several divisions actually working with our
designer. You know, we don't have what we want, but everybody had a kind of a
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say of what we want, how we want it to operate, and how we want it to function.
I think as we're planning future projects, whether it would be for Finance or for
any department, people just need to look at how this is going to impact the final
user.
With every adversity, there's an equal or greater opportunity. This is a great
learning experience for us. We're about to put in a system. We want to make
sure that we don't have some of those things happen. It's caused us to maybe
slow down. My staff will tell you oftentimes when I make decisions quick and I
want to move a little bit quickly because I am impatient sometimes, but
sometimes you have to slow down to get what you really want. Sometimes what
you think you want really isn't what you really want.
MS. EOFF: And I know Mr. Chung asked you to come back later so that we
could have a little bit of a dialogue between you and the Police Department about
that. Yeah, it just seems like a sort of a prevalent issue that we have in the County
right now, not just your department, with transitioning, and how that sets us back.
MR. ROTH: And I'll say this again, in defense of Chief, I think he's really trying
to get things done differently. And I don't think it's his fault either, I think a lot
of these decisions were made, you know
MS. EOFF: We all know that. I mean, in the computer age, you know, there's a
steep learning curve in anything, advances. And it's going to provide us
efficiency later, but to get there, I guess, is a struggle. It hits financially and
overtaxes your employees. So yeah, I'm not really sure what the answer is. I'm
just noticing the theme. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Eoff. Anyone else before we move on?
MR. ROTH: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Roth, and Dale Ross, and your staff, for coming.
And I think what I'm hearing—and thank you, Council Members, for your input
and questions regarding this whole process.
The things you're experiencing are real because it affects everybody in this room,
and their families, and their children. And I think what I'm seeing is not the the
issue is coordinating everyone, all the agencies, in getting something that will
work for everyone. I found it really surprising that you because you would be
the end-user in this system, that your department, you know, could not have an
input in what your needs would be.
So this is a real eye-opening budget review process, I think, for everyone because
I think we're trying to address some issues that have been ongoing for many
years, long before we got on this Council. I think in the past we've been trying to
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resolve it piecemeal, but I think the though process now is, I think, we are all
connected; and if we do not perform connected, then we're going to keep doing
the same thing.
I think your department is the most critical because what happens or the result of
what you do can make or break how we operate this County, too.
MR. ROTH: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: So I think we have to be equitable in how address everybody's
needs. Because that's our difficulty right now. Everybody's needs are very
important. So, I really thank you folks for opening our eyes.
MR. ROTH: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: I kind of regret that I didn't have a chance to talk to you, but I
think we had a very great conversation today among my colleagues. And so let's
work together. If you need anything, I think this is the time for us to really
decide. If you need people, and that will get your department to the point where
you are not strugglingI understand the overtime. I really do. I worked one year
for a judge, and I swear, I know what you're talking about. It's the hardest work,
and it's not something that you can say "I'll do it tomorrow." It has to be done
because everything else depends on you. The police depend on you. The jail
depends on you. Because if you don't get that paperwork done, nothing's going
to happen. The court can't say, "I'll be back in a half hour because the
paperwork's not done." So, I get that, and that's why I really understand and I'm
very sensitive to what your issues are. Thank you very much.
MR. ROTH: Thank you very much.
CHR. DAVID: We're going to take a recess. Alright, we're in recess for five
minutes. Thank you.
Recess: At 11:03 a.m., the Chair called for a recess.
Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 11:16 a.m.
(2) Human Resources_
CHR. DAVID: Aloha, Council Members. Welcome back. I'm taking the
Special Finance Committee out of recess, and right now we have the next
department which is Department of Human Resources. Director Brilhante,please
introduce yourself and staff,please, who have joined us this morning.
(Note: At this time, Human Resources Director William V. Brilhante, Jr.,
came forward to address the members of the Committee.)
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CHR. DAVID:
MR. BRILHANTE: Hi, Committee Chair David. Council Chair Chung I'm
hoping will join us soon.
CHR. DAVID: He will. He'll be right back.
MR. BRILHANTE: And the other Council Members, good morning. I'm
William Brilhante. I'm the Director for the Department of Human Resources.
Today I'm fortunate to introduce to you my very hardworking staff. I have a bone
to pick with Mitch as to which department is the hardest working, but we'll
discuss that at a later time.
CHR. DAVID: Yes.
MR. BRILHANTE: He took long enough—he took enough of your time already.
I'm hoping that the call for lunch reduces the number of questions you have for
me.
MR. RICHARDS: Let's just clarify this, the hardest working staff is ours.
MR. BRILHANTE: We're all equally hardworking.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you.
MR. BRILHANTE: Anyway, Ms. Dee Ann Sadayasu is here today. If she could
wave to you?
CHR. DAVID: Aloha.
MR. BRILHANTE: She's the manager over our Administrative Services
department, and she is primarily responsible for ensuring that all the employee
paperwork, salary adjustments,pay raises, retro-pay adjustments, you know,
union contracts are finalized and adopted. She's also in charge of ensuring that
the employees have proper notice of benefits, whether it be flexible spending or
proper health care, and they process the retirement papers and the like, so she's a
valuable member to the County, countywide.
Second, we have Ms. Jennie Sakamoto. She has recently been promoted to the
position of our Professional Development Manager, so she held the position
for, I would say close to eight years—six years, where she was the manager
for Classification and Pay Division. But now she's doing somewhat both.
She spends about 50 percent of her time as to Classification and Pay, and
Professional Development.
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One of the things that I'm very fortunate and very appreciative to announce, is
that one of the areas that has been raised over and over again you know, every
time I went to a meeting with the Mayor or meetings with various department
heads, was the initiation of a new manager's training supervisory training
program. Jennie, right now, is overseeing that program.
We have 31 mid-level managers and supervisors within the County who attend a
bi-monthly training session, which Jennie, again, supervises. Our staff comes in,
gives lectures and they provide discussion in various topic areas, from labor
relations to conducting employee evaluations, as well as conducting proper
investigations. We also have discussions with conducting proper recruitment,
examinations, and just all of the various components and aspects of being, I guess
the word is successful, in being a manager or supervisor.
I think that when we look at attrition within the County, you know, there's a lot of
senior employees who have an enormous amount of institutional knowledge,
which were classified as the baby-boomer generation. As they move on to the
next stage of their life, which is retirement, a lot of that institutional knowledge is
lost. As our new managers, younger managers, younger employees get promoted,
then again there's that necessity for continued education, and that's what this
supervisory training program is, affording the County employees.
Everything I hear today is all positive. The attendees of the class are very
appreciative and very happy that we're providing this training, and I thank Jennie
for that. At the completion of the session, each of the successful participants will
receive a certification and acknowledgment that they have successfully completed
the program. Next up, we Ms. Lee Botelho.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha. Welcome.
MR. BRILHANTE: She is our Labor Relations Division head; and by labor
relations, if you want to get just a general background of what labor relations is,
watch a soap opera. When you're done, that's labor relations. Joking, it's not
that bad. But she does a lot of the Collective Bargaining contract interpretations.
She answers questions for employees, for department heads, for managers; and
fortunately for me, she's well-versed in each of the various Collective Bargaining
agreements, and I appreciate that. After Lee, we have Ms. Julie Rawlins. She's
here today.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha. Welcome.
MR. BRILHANTE: Ms. Rawlins, again, she's the EOO (Equal Opportunity
Officer) ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Division manager. She
addresses all of the various departments concerns as it relates to ADA issues, as it
relates to reasonable accommodations, also as it relates to discrimination, whether
it be—whether or not an employee is being discriminated or whether a member of
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the public is being discriminated, because for whatever reason they're not able to
avail themselves to governmental services. So she has a broad spectrum of
clientele.
Following Julie, I'm happy to announce that Mr. Waylen Leopoldino has rejoined
the County. He had a stint for a while in San Francisco, and he was enjoying the
nightlife, enjoying the beautiful area, you know, the various environmental
beauties of San Francisco, you know, the Golden Gate Bridge. When
Ms. Cabanas, who was with the County for several, maybe four decades, when
she announced her retirement, I thought it was a position that we would have a
very hard time filling. You know, Waylen's name came to mind, and when I
offered him the position, I thought no way would he want to come back from San
Francisco. But he said, `Bill, I'll take it,"you know, quickly. So I said, "Oh,
why"? He said, "Because I want to work for you." No, I'm joking. I wish that
was the case. He said "Despite you, I want to work for HR."
After that, we have Mr. Ryan Chong. He's the head of our Health and Safety
Section within the County. His primary responsibility is you know, we're
implementing a county-wide safety program. He's helped established a safety
committee with DEM (Department of Environmental Management), for example,
when there's an accident or some type of injury involving County workers, he's
responsible to ensure that either himself or his staff goes and does an
investigation. It's not to look for "Oh, who's at fault, who's wrong." It's just to
find out what happened and what steps we can take to prevent it from happening
again. You know, that's what he's tasked with, and he does a phenomenal job. I
wish he would ensure his safety a little bit better as he limps through here. But
other than that, again I appreciate.
And the newest member to my managerial staff is Ms. Sommer Tokehiro.
She is our Workers Compensation Supervising Adjuster. Although she's not
currently at a management level, we're working our way towards getting her that
position to be there. She oversees the various and numerous challenges of the
Workers Compensation Division or Section. She's only been with us for two
weeks, so every day I go, and I check, and I make sure, "Oh, you came back, you
came back, thank you." But thank you very much for joining our team, Sommer.
I'm fortunate because, in my opinion, I have the ability to oversee the most
important aspect I feel of the County, and that's management of our most valuable
resource, and that is the Human Resources. That's our employees. Each of our
employees are incredibly valuable. That's my mindset and that's the foundation
for which we work, is that we treat them as being valued employees. You know,
no different than a parent. You wish the best for your parent. You go out of your
way to ensure that you wish the best for your kids. You go out of your way to
ensure that your kids have the best opportunities, but there are times when they
run astray. Just because we have corrective action or we have to investigate an
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accident as to how we can prevent it, we don't throw them aside, we don't
disregard them. We continue to treat them and protect them as valued employees.
The second thing we do, is we are the resource for each of the departments. You
know, as we draft the Form 13s, as we provide advice as it relates to labor
relations, as we do the professional development, or the workers compensation, or
the health and safety, or the ADA-EOO components. You know, we're there
providing services to our clients, and our clients are the various department heads,
deputies, managers, supervisors, employees, and to a certain extent, you know,
members of the public.
So, I'm fortunate to serve in this capacity. Our budget this year, nothing of
significance. It's pretty much status quo from last year. Again like I said, I am
really fortunate because I have such a fiscally responsible management staff. I'm
not too sure too many other departments can say that. But my managers here, the
reason I asked them to come is because they ensure that we are fiscally
responsible. I think as a County entity, as part of the administration, but most
importantly as it relates to being fiduciaries of the public trust as it relates to
taxpayers' monies, I think that's a key component and it's very important going
forward. I want to thank each of them for affording us that stance. Other than
that, I'm happy to answer any questions.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you so much, Mr. Brilhante. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Mr. Brilhante. I absolutely agree,
you have assembled an amazing team with just a bandwidth of skillsets, from
workers compensation to employee training. I just have to pause for a moment
and appreciate what a great attitude you have. Because you guys are the
touchpoint of people who we want to come into the County; and then once they're
in the County, you are that touchpoint again as they move through their processes
as employees. It is my philosophy that I want the County to be an employer of
choice. That people choose to work for the County because they're proud to
serve our community.
With that being said, I have a question regarding—and it's more of a broad
question. Because we keep hearing from other departments they can't keep talent
in their respective divisions, whatever technical trade or as they move up the
scale, because of pay, right? Can you give me some of your thoughts on that?
Because I also feel that there needs to be some rebranding. People take jobs for
all kinds of reasons and pay is not necessarily the main one. So how do we
rebrand or re-message that you might not be getting what you want by way of a
paycheck, but you get a whole bunch other support, or you get weekends off, or
you get holidays off. Share with me some of your thoughts.
MR. BRILHANTE: Council Member Lee Loy, thank you very much for the kind
words prior to your question. As it relates to your question, that is a challenge.
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Historically, as it relates to government employees and government entities, for
the most part there's an issue as to whether or not—you know, how big can the
scale be, sliding scale as it relates to salary and wages? For the most part, as it
relates to wages, I have to comply and I have to play within the framework of the
Civil Service Law, that's codified in the HRS 76 (Hawai`i Revised Statutes). You
know, I'm one of the few departments, where my duties, responsibilities, and
what I can and can't do, are specifically identified in the HRS, and I have to
ensure that we're in constant compliance.
The second thing that relates to your question, salary and wages aren't something
that I come up with. I don't sit back in my office and sit down and say, "Oh, how
much am I going to pay this guy or how much am I going to pay that guy"?
Again, the HRS identifies bargaining units, which are the specific and sole
representative for several classifications or majority of our employees.
We have SHOPO (State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers) for Police,
HFFA (Hawai`i Fire Fighters Association) for Fire, HGEA (Hawai`i Government
Employees Association) for our white-collar or clerical staff, and then we have
UPW (United Public Workers), generally for our blue-collar staff and some
blue-collar supervisors. As I alluded to earlier, they collectively bargain for their
salaries. We have a salary schedule, which is codified in each of the Collective
Bargaining agreements. Currently, we have two unions who are under a four-year
agreement, and we have two unions who are coming up with—we're currently
negotiating for a new two-year agreement because their CBA (Collective
Bargaining Agreement) will expire in June of 2019, this year. So, those are the
parameters that we set.
And then, we also have compensation procedures within the County that we've
adopted, and over time, we've tweaked here and there. But for the most part, we
haven't had major changes to that because we're bound by rules and regulations
as it relates to compensation. The only area where we have some latitude outside
of Collective Bargaining, is where it relates to our mid-level managers or
excluded managers. Again, I'm somewhat bound by the regulations as set forth in
the HRS, where I can give them no less than their Collective Bargaining
counterparts. So if the HGEA (Hawai`i Government Employee Association)
worker gets an annual raise come July 1st of this year, then the EMs (Excluded
Managerial) gets no less than, so their raises are set.
And then the only other class which we kind of have discretion is, regarding the
department heads, deputies, Council Members, and the administration, and their
salary is set by the Salary Commission. Again, I'm an ex-officio member, so I sit
on the commission, but I can't give any testimony. I can give recommendations,
but I don't participate in any of the voting process. We're there more for
informational purposes, logistical reasons, and needs.
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Rebranding, that's a millennial word. But that's what we're dealing with, we're
dealing with millennials. Salary, you're right. Salary might not be the most
important aspect as to whether or not a highly well-qualified individual takes a
job. So one of the things you know,just recently I've had a discussion with my
staff—and they're all going to make frowning, mad faces at me because I'm
bringing this up but one of the things we're kicking around, and it came to my
knowledge that we're the only County that doesn't offer our staff some type of
flexible work schedule.
So one of the things that I'm looking at with my staff is developing a pilot
program within my department, where maybe look at a four-ten week, where we
have our staff work four days a week, ten hours a day. It equates to a 40-hour
work week; same as five days a week at eight hours. But it affords an additional
day within the week to take, you know, do something with your kids, or do
something just for some mental health release. You know, go fishing, or jump on
the tennis court, hit the ball around. It doesn't matter, whatever it does, but it will
afford them that opportunity to have some personal free time during the week. So
you know what, that's something that we're kicking around as it relates to, you
know, kind of rebranding.
And you're right, fortunately, historically, when we look at jobs like firefighters
and the like, even Public Works, we do an entry level labor recruitment, or with
Parks and Rec, Park Caretaker or something like that, we have an incredibly high
number of applicants. So we know that there is a desire for a lot of the
community to want to come and work for the County. The reason for that is
oftentimes government sector salaries, and I see it because I give the reports to the
Salary Commission, oftentimes government sector employees, when it relates to
their private sector counterparts, for example take Mr. Kamelamela as an attorney,
the government sector employees are significantly paid less than the private
counterparts. So what do we have to offer? You know what we do, we have
benefits to offer, which a lot of the attorneys or a lot of the private sector
employees don't get.
I think we have one of the best Employees Retirement System out of any
employer in the State. We offer incredible medical coverage. We have flexible
spending. Those are the components or the areas that I feel that we need to bring
out to the forefront. And we need to say, "Hey look, this is what you get. Yeah,
you might get this salary, maybe it's not top dollar, but look, you get these other
alternatives," and some of them involve cost. But something like a flexible
four-ten work schedule, really, what's the cost with that? You know, we're still
going to be open five days and serve the public. So I hope that is a good
response. Thank you.
MS. LEE LOY: Absolutely. It's that innovative thinking, right? I don't know
about a millennial, but we all have changing needs with our families, so to have
some levels or degrees of flexibility becomes advantageous, right? It's how you
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package that and how you brand that. So I do, I really appreciate hearing just
some thought-provoking suggestions that maybe we can start some pilot
programs.
Because also too, the workday is very different from what it used to be; 7:45 to
4:30 is not enough. So that's why we have a robust web system where people are
working late at night. So having this idea of a four-ten work week, where
someone would be available at 5:00 when somebody else is getting off at 4:30
actually serves the public better, right? I think there are opportunities there. So, I
really appreciate that thought.
I'm going to step into a supplemental budget request that you had. You had two.
One was for Workers Compensation, an SR-11 position; and then a second one
for a Clerk III. One is a legal mandate, and I just wanted to understand that one
better.
MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you for bringing up the supplemental submittal.
Actually, I have three supplemental submittals. I should have one for an Account
Clerk, which would be through Workers Compensation section; I have one for a
Clerk III, which would be in our Health and Safety; and the third one should be
for a Clerk III, which would be in our general HR department.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah. And I just wanted to understand the difference, because
the justification for your Account Clerk for your Workers Compensation and the
Health and Safety said legal mandate. The box checked was legal mandate.
MR. BRILHANTE: Yeah, I see that.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah.
MR. BRILHANTE: And I thinkI have Dee Ann here, Ms. Sadayasu, to explain
maybe more in detail. But my general understanding is, the reason that box was
checked is because we are, as a County, we are legally mandated to manage the
Workers Compensation Division. As these claims come forward, again under the
HRS (Hawai`i Revised Statutes), we are required to process these claims, required
to establish a treatment plan, report all the injuries to DLIR (Department of Labor
and Industrial Relations), and the like. My understand is as it relates to Workers
Compensation and Health and Safety, that's why that box is checked, is we're
legally mandated to administer the Workers Compensation program per the HRS.
But the reason for those two positions is, when it comes to workers compensation,
we've—Ryan, maybe you can correct me—we've transferred over to us maybe
about 15, 20 years ago, the management responsibility? Yeah, maybe a little
longer. But prior to that, the State administered the Workers Compensation
program. And as employees got injured, we forwarded that information to the
State, and they processed everything, and they did all the legal requirements.
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Then it transferred to the County. So, we established a Workers Compensation
Division. It was during Mike Ben's time, and I'm sure that they were really
happy that they were getting that additional responsibility. What's happened is,
when I came in, to me, my opinion was that it was an area in which we could
tighten our belts and we could better manage the system or the process and the
procedures and the requirements fiscally.
As you look in my budget, Workers Compensation has a budget of about
$2.1 million, and you know what, that's nothing. But the offshoot of that, or the
unintended consequences of that, is as the County is evaluated annually, you
know, as it relates to our bond ratings and our fiscal soundness. Workers
compensation and the amount of liability or potential exposure we have in our
Workers Compensation Division is calculated into that assessment as to how
strong the fiscal soundness of the County is.
So each year our Workers Compensation Division is audited by an independent
auditing entity that comes in. They look at our expenses, they look at our
outstanding liability, they look at our exposures, and they make a determination as
to whether or not we are properly managing that program. As it relates to that,
we've had four individuals in that department for a significant number of years.
My assessment of the situation is that in order to be fiscally responsible,
we're talking millions, we're so short-staffed that we're throwing away
millions to save thousands.
And I think, through the evaluationI had my Classification and Pay staff come
in to conduct an internal audit of the Workers Compensation Division. They
came up with recommendations, they identified areas in which we could better
improve the management of that division, and in reliance on that and in
cooperation with them and sitting down and having all of my executive staff
together, we came up with a reorganizational plan for the Workers Compensation
Division. Part of that reorganizational plan is the identification of an additional
Account Clerk to specifically be tasked, the primary responsibility will be to
conduct the monthly audits, monthly reconciliation, as well as assist with the
annual reconciliation as it relates to our expenditures, our liabilities, and our
exposures. So, that's the rationale for this position.
The Clerk III position for Health and Safety, the rationale for that is, what I did
was again part of that reorganizational structure was I took a manager who was
overseeing both Workers Compensation and Health and Safety, Ryan, and I
transitioned him over to be the manager for the Health and Safety Division. So
now, Health and Safety, the creation of a countywide safety program, you know,
risk management assessments through, you know, accident investigations; how
can we look at reducing reoccurring accidents and the like.
You know, training. Ryan also gets involves with—when OSHA (Occupational
Safety and Health Administration) in and does their investigation or inspection of
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one of our facilities, either Ryan or his assistant Doug McCormick goes there, and
they accompany the inspection, they address the OSHA concerns as it goes down
the road. If we get a violation notice, they respond to the notice, you know, with
the departments. And finally, they provide the annual required trainings for our
employees.
For example, when we had the lava flow and we were sending police officers to
the roadblocks, to man the roadblocks at Leilani Estates or down in Pohoiki area,
they required respirators. And in order to dawn a respirator, you have to be
regulated. There's State and Federal regulations,where you have to be trained,
you have to be fit-tested. Ryan went to the Pahoa Police Station for almost a
two-week, you know, over a continued time of two weeks, a two-week duration,
and he went, and he performed the fit test for every single police officer that went
down and worked in the lava inundation area. That's just some of the resource
and responsibility that our Health and Safety Division performs.
Right now, I have Ryan, the Manager; and I have his assistant. I have absolutely
no clerical staff. So that's the rationale and the justification for this Clerk III, to
be assigned to the Health and Safety section in order to you know, as the
training comes up, they can do the logistical work for the training. They can
ensure that the attendees get their certification. They can ensure that, "Hey, this
guy was certified to be able to perform this task a year ago, and that certification
is expiring. We've got to bring him in for new training." They maintain the logs
and the records for each of the training and the like. That's the necessity for that
position.
And then the final Clerk III is for the HR staff, each of these managers. Right
now we have managers, we have specialists who serve under the manager, and we
have HR assistants or techs, but we only have one Account Clerk in our office.
The position request is for a clerk, to be able to assist the division heads with the
clerical responsibilities of their division. That's the necessity for that third
request under my supplemental submittals. Thank you.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Mr. Brilhante. I just leaned over to Ms. Kierkiewicz
and said I'm totaling geeking out on this. But more importantly, how you
underscored the importance of the risk and liabilities and how that directly
correlates to our bond rating. I think that is such a profound statement, for the rest
of my colleagues to hear how important the risk assessment part of what you folks
do directly relates to the solvency of the County. I cannot thank you enough for
underscoring that for this body.
I did have just one other point. Yeah, one other point to make. I wanted to walk
back to rebranding and looking at innovative ways. I think the other maybe food
for thought, is I may not be a millennial, but I have an aging parent and so that too
becomes a very important tool when people are looking at jobs and job
opportunities, is the flexibility to care for their aging parents. So just another
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innovative thought, if you guys are putting together pilot programs for different
work schedules or different work weeks, you know, that's one more tool you guys
might use to incentivize the ability to care for aging parents.
MR. BRILHANTE: Right.
MS. LEE LOY: So with that, Mr. Brilhante, I cannot thank you enough for all of
the information you shared today. But again, underscoring the importance of
what you folks do. It seems rather behind the scenes but it's a whole lot more
than that. So, thank you again. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. I'm going to go to Mr. Richards.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair; and thanks, Mr. Brilhante for being here. I
guess I'll come at it from a little bit different perspective since I'm not a
millennial, I am a territorial. Territorial, we were born in the territory. All
kidding aside, some of the training that you mentioned. I've talked to other
departments, and that's valuable, very valuable. I really do appreciate that.
Council Woman Lee Loy touched on retaining employees and the challenge on
that when we look at our conversation package. I don't disagree that having
benefits is a good thing but sometimes it's not enough a thing, so that's not a
solution we're going to come up with right here.
Work environment is probably the most important thing. I'm coming from a
private industry, you know that retains employees. When they like what they're
doing, and they appreciate. When they feel appreciated, that's what holds on to
our employees. I think we all strive in doing that.
One of the things that I am concerned on, yes hanging on to employees is very
important; because the cost of replacing an employee, most people don't realize
how expensive it is. I usually in my mind figure costs about one year's salary to
get a new person trained and running. If we had a high turnover, that's
problematic for all of us going forward.
One the of the challenges that's been coming to light, as we've gone through a lot
of these conversations. is obtaining new employees. Specifically, the long
circuitous procedural efforts we have to go through to enroll a new employee, and
sometimes it's so long that a window of opportunity passes. Can you speak to
that and give some insight? Are there ways to change this? Are there ways to
speed that up? Can you address that, please?
MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you, Councilman Richards, for the question. I think
when it relates—as I contemplate a response to it, you know, your question, I
always go back to what I recall and what I remember the Mayor telling me on my
first day of work, you know, when I got appointed about a year ago. The first
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morning I got confirmed, my appointment was confirmed with the Merit Appeals
Board, he called me into his office. He said, `Bill, I'm going to just ask you to do
one thing and that's all I'm going to ask you to do as manager. I'm not going to
tell you how to do your job, I'm not going to tell you where to do your job. But
I'm going to just ask you to do this. No matter what you do, follow the law.
Don't ever deviate from the law." You know, I find that to be very important and
very meaningful as I move forward.
So as we keep that in mind, we are, you know, as a department, like I said,
we're bound by the requirements of the HRS, the merit principle. The merit
principle is that we are tasked with ensuring that we hire the most qualified, the
best qualified candidate for a position. As we move forward with each
recruitment,part of that process is affording as many people as possible an
opportunity to be fully informed as to what the position is, what the pay is, and
what the requirements of the position are as we do the recruitment to, I guess, in
order for them to make a determination as to whether or not they want to submit
an application or not. So we have that, you know,where we have to make sure
that all the information as it relates to the position gets you know, the public is
notified of it, you know, going forward.
We're fortunate, where we have a software program, NeoGov, which
Mr. Leopoldino, you know, his division comes under managing that software
program. Now it's all on the internet, where all of our recruitments are conducted
electronically. That's a much faster process than the old paper: filling out the
application, carrying it into the HR office, and filing it. This is an electronic
filing. It's there once the recruitment opens up. Anybody can access the website
24/7. They fill out the application online. They submit it online. When the
application deadline closes, then applications are no longer accepted. And then,
the vetting process.
In addition to that, we also have a process where we have to properly vet each
of the applicants. Just because somebody says, "I did a, b, c, d, e, and f, and
therefore that makes me incredibly qualified to do this job. As a matter of fact, I
might be over-qualified." We still have to go in—our staff has to go in
and manually verify that, yeah, you did a, b, c, d, e, and f, and you should
receive proper credit or points for that level of experience. And so that's another
time-consuming component.
Then there's the interview process, where the appointing department has to
empanel an interview, you know, has to establish an interview panel, where they
come in and they have to be you know, there's requirements as to whether or
not the panel—your equal representation. You know, you're not one-sided where
you have all women with a male applicant, or vice-versa, all males with a female
applicant. So we all those legal components and requirements that we have to
ensure that the departments are complying when it relates to the interview
process, you know, the panel.
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And then after that, once an individual is selected as the most qualified individual,
then we have the requirements for reference checks, background checks. We
have to—we're required—we have to contact at least three previous employers or
points of reference that was identified. We have to ascertain, we have to inquire,
and we have to kind of ferret out as to what their thoughts and their opinions of
this employee were. Are there any red flags? Maybe some type of issues with
workplace violence. We don't know. But by law,we're required. Because if we
knew or we reasonably should have known that there was a red flag, then we had
to have acted accordingly. So that's another component of the recruitment
process that we have to comply with.
And then finally, comes with the offer and acceptance of the position, getting the
paperwork together. You're right, it is a long, drawn-out, arduous process, but
we are taking steps to try and shorten the time where the involvement of NeoGov,
our software service provider, is tremendous. That has cut down a lot of time.
We don't want to be at so much of the cutting-edge or the forefront of decisions
that we make in this process, where we expose ourselves to maybe, "Oh, we're
not doing it properly." You know, because oftentimes one of the litigious areas of
the HR arena is, "Oh, I didn't get this job because of this, or this, or this.
Something went wrong with the recruitment process." So that's something we
have to be mindful of. Going forward, we cannot make rash decisions. When we
come up with an idea, when we come up with some type of process that may
assist us in cutting down the amount of time because I tell you, I hear it just as
much as you hear it, you know, "Why does it take so long to bring this guy on
board"? I want to address that. But we have to address it in a reasonable and a
sound manner.
I'm glad Mr. Leopoldino is here hearing this because it's his division. You know,
going forward, those are discussions. We've had discussions like that in the past,
and we try to work with the departments as best we can. But we hope that there's
an understanding of the limitations that we have.
MR. RICHARDS: You know, I appreciate that explanation. My concern is that
opportunities go by us. Because you have someone come in, they like the job,
they're qualified, but the process is so arduous that they go, "You know what,
I've got to get a job and I can't wait six months to find out if I might get a job."
So I'll put that on your table, I'm not expecting a define answer. But I'd like to
see a metric going forward that we've reduced the days of between—and
whatever measurement we have there. Because, I think once again, retention is
very important, but if we are so slow in recruiting, some of our best applicants
may go by and say, "You know what, I've got this other offer." I appreciate what
you're saying, because yeah, we're trying to protect ourselves and make sure we
don't miss any glaring problem. But if we stretch it out so long, so we're so
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absolutely positively sure there's absolutely no problem whatsoever, we may
never hire anybody, and that's one of the problems. It's that balance, and I get it.
But I think that's a challenge and again agreeing with Council Woman Lee Loy,
our biggest asset is our people. Some of the phenomenal work I've seen out of
the County employees as a whole is remarkable. We want the right people, but I
don't want to miss the opportunity to get more remarkable people just because we
were slow at the process. So with that, I'll go ahead and yield. Thank you, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. And then, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Go
ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Director Brilhante and your
hardworking staff, for being here. It's very appreciated.
You know, I want to lean in a little bit on what Council Member Richards has
pointed out with the hiring process. I also wonder if requirements are too
stringent, and I bring that up because I've met a number of folks at the County.
We really do have incredible people working here, but they didn't get in on the
first time, and I thought what a loss. What a shame for that particular department
or the County had they not been hired on the second time. So just food for
thought, you don't really need to respond to that. But I just wonder if we can take
a look at making it a bit easier to maybe relax some of the requirements without
really comprising the kinds of qualities that we want to see in people working
here at the County.
I appreciate you painting a picture of the work that your department does, and I
think by having these supplementals, that helps to take a look at the budget, which
is very abstract, and the supplementals are now a set of glasses that bring the
picture into clearer focus. What's interesting to me is taking a looking at your
budget and the anticipation for the upcoming fiscal year, and it's actually down by
a few percentage points, so I'm confused that you've made cuts. But there are
requests that you made that weren't included in the budget proposal that was
offered to us, so can you just elaborate on that?
MR. BRILHANTE: Again, when we're talking, you know, the pennies,
the nickels, and the dimes of the budget, generally I'm going to refer to
Dee Ann Sadayasu. But just from my perusal and my understanding of why there
was a reduction, I think, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, the reduction was
primarily related to—and it was primarily, as I suspected and as I noticed, was
that the reason the budget was down a little bit is because we have a vacancy or
we had for a period of time two vacancies in our managerial staff level employees
which helped us significantly reduce the salary and wages portion of our
submittal, you know, for the budget. That's where that reduction is reflected.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I get that. But now you have additional money that could
fund these positions, so I'm just wondering why—I don't know who made the
decision for why these supplemental requests couldn't be included in the budget
because they seem very critical in ensuring that we reduce the risk in liability on
the County's end.
MR. BRILHANTE: Well, my off-the-cuff response is Ms. Sako doesn't let us
keep any additional money. I'm joking.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: She's shaking her head back there.
CHR. DAVID: There is a reason.
MR. BRILHANTE: No, no, no, I'll let—our original submittal was to—and
every department was requested to submit a budget which was status quo and a
second budget which would have been a three percent reduction. And you know
what, we felt that a status quo budget was within our—we could make it happen,
and so we submitted the status-quo budget. We were hoping that we would get a
second bite at the apple with a supplemental request, and that's why you see three
positions being attached to the supplemental request. You know, if you told me,
no, you're not going to get the supplemental request, quite honestly, that's where
we're at. And we'll make do, and my staff will make do, and our employees will
make do like how we've been doing in the past.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: But at what cost? I mean, I hear you. But I feel now we
are going to be burdening the staff that you already have and just causing more
stress, which leads into another question. I love the fact that Council Member
Lee Loy has brought up, how we're going to rebrand to really encourage folks to
be working at the County. It's more than just salaries, but it's believing in the
mission, and people working incredibly hard. Are there ways that—you know,
you're looking at the flex schedules, the four-tens. But what about instituting
wellness days, or as departments, as agencies,just working out?
I mean, yesterday I saw a group of individuals walk and block at 2:00 p.m.
Because we're having to dedicate so much of our time here at the County, doing
group yoga or Zumba, 30 minutes or something, we need to be able to take care of
ourselves so that we can take care of the community and the County. So again,
maybe this is another pilot program that you guys can look into, and I'm sure
maybe the Council would be happy to work in partnership to pilot that.
A Couple other questions. You know, my first exposure to the County was at
16 years old. I was an intern with Mayor Harry Kim, the first time he was in
office, and then when I was in college, I was a student helper at DEM
(Department of Environmental Management). Can you share a little bit more
about the Student Helper Program that's here at the County? Because we talk
about not just retaining the employees we have, but also building up the next
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generation, the next leadership workforce. I want to know what we're doing to
expose students and other individuals that are interested in working at the County
and being servant leaders.
MR. BRILHANTE: Yeah, one of the formal programs that we have within the
County is our CVE(Cooperative Vocational Education)program, where we
partnership with Hawaii Community College, and we actually identify specific
students who are taking whatever majors or whatever classes at Hawaii
Community College, and we offer them the opportunity to come and work with
various County departments. They come in, and they get paid salary. They set
their specific workday, and it goes hand-in-hand with the classes that they're
taking at the community college.
We had a gentleman last semester who came in from the community college, and
he was majoring in business. He was able to perform clerical work for our office.
I think the Department of Finance has a CVE student, and various departments
across the County have CVE opportunities. What we're finding is that although
we have this opportunity, we have this resource available, for whatever reason
we're not getting the level of interests from the college students that we've
obtained in the past.
That's another area that I've had discussions with our recruitment, Waylen. He
gets thrown under the bus. You know, he's the new guy back, over here. We
want to promote that program more. We want to see if we can expand that
program to incorporate the University of Hawaii–Hilo business students and
allow them to become formerly, you know, accepted into that program where it's
a formalized program with both the Community College and University of
Hawaii at Hilo. That's the formal process, the CVE program.
Informally, each department has the opportunity to bring in interns. I know the
Office of the Corporation Counsel; my understanding is each summer they bring
in two law clerks or interns. They're not licensed attorneys. They're current
students at—whether it be UH Manoa Law School—while I was there, we had
students from various mainland law schools, and they bring them in, they're paid,
they're full-time throughout the summer. They're assigned specific tasks, duties,
and responsibilities. They draft memos and memorandums, and they accompany
attorneys to hearings and commission meetings. You know, they just get a
breadth of what is out there. And you know what, there are some of the interns
we had previously I see at the Prosecutor's Office, or I see at the Public
Defender's Office. You know, that's more of an informal program that the
department has. So there's opportunities there.
Do we want to develop more of that? Definitely. You know, we're engaged in
discussions with UH-Hilo. We want to expand the CVE program, and we're
desirous of this. I had a call just a couple of weeks ago, where an engineer
student from the mainland is going to be a junior,well, she's a junior but she's
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going to be senior. But she wanted to intern at Public Works, you know, through
their Engineering Division over there. I contacted Mr. Simeon, and we were able
to set up something; where she's coming in for a phone interview, although she's
on the mainland now. We want more of those opportunities, because if we can
get these college students—and they're qualified students.
I know you started 16 years old; you were in high school. We want to, at as an
early in age as possible, we want to introduce them to the County. We want them
to say, "You know what, the County is a pretty good place to work." We want
them to say, "Oh, I can be challenged there. I can grow. I can plan for my future
through working with the County." It's through that exposure, I think. And that's
how we're going to develop our(inaudible).
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. It all has to do with
exposure. I think when they're here working behind the scenes, they see how
much County government actually does, and it does present opportunities for
them to elicit some creative thinking and to be part of the decision-making and
solutions.
The last thing that I want to ask you about; you know, over the last few months of
being a Council Member, I actually received a lot of handwritten letters in the
mail from County employees, you know, very anonymous, that have issues in the
various departments but don't feel safe or comfortable enough to bring up these
issues because of fear of retribution. So I wonder where your department is at
with a hotline or whistleblower program of some kind that would give people that
safe, secure place for them to be able to share what is on their minds. Because
really at the end of the day I think everybody's here, very hard working and really
here to serve the people, and they find ways in which the system could just be a
bit better, or things need to change. But they don't want to say anything because
they're afraid.
MR. BRILHANTE: And, you know, you're absolutely correct. No matter how
much I come here, and I expound on the virtues of how great it is working for the
County and what a great employer we are, and how wonderful your retirement is
going to be or your working conditions or your work schedule, well, that's all
irrelevant if somebody, one of our employees feels that they're uncomfortable
coming to work. To me, you know, the fear of retaliation or the fear of
retribution, there should be no place for that in the County.
With that being said, about six months ago or so we initiated you know, we
started an investigation into looking at how do the other jurisdictions address that
problem through the whistleblower. Because as you may or may not know, there
is a provision in the HRS that affords protections for whistleblowers. But
somebody's going to go and report malfeasance or somebody's who is doing
something wrong and, you know, what do they have, you know, what's left there?
They have their name on a piece of paper, and they're identifying a wrongdoer.
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We sat down, and this was when Ms. Cabanas was still with our office prior to her
retirement, and we started making phone calls. So we contacted the University of
Hawaii, we contacted the City and County of Honolulu, he contacted the State,
and we contacted other jurisdictions, and the information that came back to us is
that there is a third-parry entity who, of course for a fee, and that's always the
bugaboo, is that for fee they can go and create a hotline, which they would
manage 24/7; they have the whole anonymity, you know, involved with
somebody who reports something. There's currently a program within the City
and County of Honolulu. That program is established within each of the eight
University of Hawaii campuses, you know, even in the State. So, we've been in
discussion with that entity.
Again, at the end of the day it comes down to, you know, being able to one,
identify the resources available; two, engage in the contract with them, The
estimate for that cost is going to be between $20,000 to $24,000 a year for them to
monitor and establish the—monitor the hotline. Secondly, and I think most
importantly is, where should that reporting venue be? You know, do we put it in
the Mayor's Office? Do we put it in my office? Do we put it where? You know,
where does it get—where does that information—Where is the repository for that
information? Who's going to manage it? Who's going to say, "Oh, you know
what, this one, yeah, this one not so bad. That one, oh my goodness, we better
investigate." Who's going to make that determination? And who's going to be
able to ensure that the anonymity of the reporting parry is kept, and it's safe, and
it's sound, and it's not going to be leaked out, or it's not going to be given back to
the department head?
So we've identified some departments that we thought that it might be a good fit.
The Prosecutor's Office, unfortunately they seem to be overworked and
underpaid, if I was fishing enough attention to the presentation earlier. No but
realistically, their hands are full as it is. Their plate is loaded as it is. They have
items falling off the side of their plate. They're really resourceful in that they can
come up with grant funding. But wow, I think they're full, and I'm not sure how
much more they can take.
So one of the other entities we identified that might be able to assist is maybe the
Legislative Auditor's department. They did a fantastic job with some of the
departmental audits in the past. They seem to have a good grasp on the necessity,
the rationale, and the justification for ensuring confidentiality. But we're in
discussions again. You know, that's going to involve—okay, so we're paying the
$20,000 to $24,000 for the software monitoring. Oh, do we now need to establish
a new position, you know, for the department that's going to house this, a special
position? Yes, each of the other jurisdictions have created a special position to
manage the hotline, the investigation; you know, whether it be city or the
university.
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And so, those are some of the external decisions, and justification, and rationale
that we need to consider going forward. So, we're at that stage. You know, it's
tangible; it's in front of us. But, you know, the old adage, the devil's and the
details, so we're kind of going through the details right now.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Well, thank you for going through those details. I'm glad
that it's on your radar and that we're having these conversations. I'd like to
discuss it a little bit more as this budget develops. I don't if we're able to plug
that into this upcoming budget, but it's worth taking a look at. I just want to make
sure that—you know, our Civil Service workers who are boots on the ground,
who are having to execute on the various department and agency work, if they see
something that they have the ability to call it out and say something in a safe way
and in a way that is consistent and transparent and transcends administrations. I
don't want their concerns to fall on deaf ears or because they may or may not get
along with a department director or whoever their higher-up is. I just want to
make sure that we are able to capture those concerns and really investigate if
they're warranted.
MR. BRILHANTE: I appreciate hearing that.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah.
MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you so much for being here, and your staff again,
for all of your work. Thank you, Chair. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go
ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Hello, sir. Hello staff. I know that it's a
qualified team. A follow-up to what Ms. Kierkiewicz said. To protect the
employees, I've also heard the other side, which is when a head has an issue with
staff, it's very hard to deal with some of the problems they're having, whatever
the problem may be and for different reasons. Whether it's the Bargaining Unit,
they would have to deal with union, they would have to deal with. Whoever it is,
they have to deal with because there can be pressure that can be applied from the
backend, when they need to deal with an employee who should be doing a little
bit better than they do.
MR. BRILHANTE: Yes.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And that is in our best interest, to make sure
all of our employees are doing everything they can. When we start pinching
pennies on a budget, and as a business owner, I have to do that all the time. As a
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manager of a crew, I had to do that all of the time. What do we have in place to
help our heads and the bosses get people better every day?
MR. BRILHANTE: You know, you raise a great point, a great issue.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I'm sorry. It's almost lunch, so it doesn't
have to be a long answer.
MR. BRILHANTE: Sound like you've been talking to my staff. The thing they
say is never follow an attorney or someone who is Portuguese, right? So
unfortunately, I'm a Portuguese attorney.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I'm getting that. I've been listening to you
talk.
MR. BRILHANTE: You get what you get. So merit principle, two requirements:
higher the most qualified candidate for the position, and also part of the merit
principle is to ensure is that candidate performs his job up to the expectations and
to the satisfaction of the employer. So you're absolutely correct, there is a
requirement that an employee,just because they're hired with the County, that
doesn't mean they're done, they're good. You know, I'm going to serve my 25 or
30 years and I'm out the door. No, they have to perform their duties to the
expectation of the employer.
We have a process. What I've noticed when I was with Corp. Counsel, and these
employee issues came up, performance issues came up, you know, Hawaii is a
very union-friendly State. The unions in Hawaii are very powerful, dates back
all the way to the sugar cane days. It is what it is. You deal with it as it comes.
So with that in mind, there's a process and procedures that need to be followed to
the "t" as it relates to terminating or discharging an employee. And if any one of
those components are not specifically followed, the arbitrators in Hawaii will
kick your case out. And what that does, is it sends the employee back to the
department and it empowers them. It gives them even more a sense of—feeling
of more power that, "Oh, I can cruise now man. I get the decision behind me."
So, what that is—first thing we have to do is we noticed that JPRs, or Job
Performance Reviews, need to be conducted regularly. and they need to be
conducted efficiently and accurately. In Hawaii, everybody knows everybody,
right, so nobody wants to be the bad guy. Even though you have a worker who's
not performing to your level of expectation, you don't want to be the guy to ding
him because his kids, brothers, nephews may be your brother's best friend.
Because that's how it goes in Hawaii. That's one of the cultural components that
we have to deal with. Part of the training that Jennie does, is how to conduct a
proper job performance review for each of the employees.
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MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I was at that training. Or not the same one.
We had a harassment, the whole training session we did over at the Aupuni
Center.
MR. BRILHANTE: Aupuni Center, yeah. And that's why—first, is that
education component. Let our managers, and supervisors, and department heads
know what the requirements are. Train them so that they can sufficiently and
adequately perform those procedurals requirements, and then hopefully the
process will be smoother, and it would be more beneficial, and we will get the
desired results more. You know, and that's my answer to the question.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Do we have training for that for all of our
heads?
MR. BRILHANTE: We do. Well, we're developing training programs. As they
come up, we'll be sure to notify you if that is something that you're interested in.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay.
MR. BRILHANTE: And we do County notifications, as well.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Because to me the County is a really nice
place to work. Even with some of our lower-paying positions, you know, $16,
$17, $18 an hour, I've got guys working on the street who bust it every day make
$10.10 an hour, yeah. With all the benefits that we get here—my medical here
was wonderful, and I cannot complain. It's reallyI think the County is a very
wonderful place to work. So on the other side of that coin, is we should all work
just as hard for what we get.
MR. BRILHANTE: Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. I believe I don't see any
lights. Mr. Kaneali`i-KI einfelder's very, very loud expression that we have gone
over, and I really apologize for you having to wait and for your patience. I just
wanted to say thank you for the discussion from my colleagues because what was
brought up by Council Members Kierkiewicz and Lee Loy is very real, and so is
Mr. Kaneali`i-KI einfelder's comments.
I think your job is very difficult because you're the one that has to perform it
equitably. You set the standard, and you are very bound by the laws that guide
you on how you make these decisions. But regardless, these things are occurring.
I thank you folks for all your hard work. I don't know if we have a solution or an
answer yet, but I think the best we can do is try to achieve what they've described
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and also what Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder has. So I thank you, Director Brilhante,
and your staff. Thank you for being here today.
MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you very much for hosting us. My last parting word
is, I'm always available. If any of you have a question or just want to discuss
something,just give me a call or holler. I'll meet with you on a person-to-person
basis. We don't want to violate Sunshine Law.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you for that. Thank you for that reminder. So, Council
Members, we have two more departments that we're supposed to have done;
Chair Chung is shaking his head. Research and Development and Information of
Technology, I'm very sorry, but we're going to have to take a lunch hour. And
then we're going to come back and resume with Research and Development first
and then Department of Information Technology. I really apologize. But this is
very important, and the reason we're taking really long is because there's a lot of
information that we need to achieve from these reviews. Thank you so much for
your patience. I will take this meeting—come back at 1:00? Sure, 1:00, yeah,
that's fine. Is that okay, Diane (Ley)? Thank you. We'll be back here at 1:00.
We're in recess. Mahalo.
Recess: At 12:25 p.m., the Chair called for a recess.
Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 1:02 p.m.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha, Council Members. Welcome back. I'm calling the
Special Finance Committee meeting back to order. And we have on our agenda,
the Department of Research and Development.
(3) Research and Development:
(Note: At this time, Research and Development Director Diane Ley,
Deputy Director Ron Whitmore, Administrative Services Assistant
Lois Nishida came forward to address the members of the Committee.)
CHR. DAVID: So Director Ley, could you introduce the members present with
you?
MS. LEY: Yes.
CHR. DAVID: Proceed.
MS. LEY: Good after, Chair David and Committee members. My name is
Diane Ley. I'm the Director for the Department of Research and Development;
and with me today is Ron Whitmore, he is the Deputy Director; and Lois Nishida
is, I always have to look at her title, she is the Administrative Services Assistant.
Okay, alright.
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Okay, thank you for this opportunity to present an overview of our budget for
fiscal year 2019-2020. We'll quickly run through some slides, and then be happy
to answer any questions, if that's alright with you?
CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much. Sure.
(Note: At this time, Ms. Ley provided a PowerPoint presentation to the
members of the Committee. For viewing of the subject presentation,
please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's
Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online in the County's
webpages at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A hard copy of the presentation is
made a part of the record, see Comm. 117.3.)
MS. LEY: I think we're ready for questions.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Director. Questions, Council Members?
Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Hi, Diane. Hi, Ron. Sorry, what was your
name again? Lois? Nice to meet you. I think I've seen you before. Okay, Diane.
So I have a question for Steve, or Diane, or anyone who wants to answer. How
much do we spend on energy, for electric utilities in the County of Hawaii every
month? Or do you want to give me every year? I know it's in here somewhere in
here, but I'm having trouble finding it.
MS. LEY: If not, I know Ron has high-level overview, and
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Somewhere, I saw it.
MS. LEY: And some of the initiatives that we are working on to bring down the
cost of County's energy. Take it away, Ron, while they look for the numbers.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So while they're finding that beautiful
number, which is actually pretty high
MR. WHITMORE: Right, so—and I'd be surprised, actually, if it was on a single
line item. It's probably spread across multiple agencies.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes, I saw it.
MR. WHITMORE: Oh, really? Great. Yeah, so I don't have that figure at my
fingertips either. But we do no it's big.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes.
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MR. WHITMORE: I think we're the utilities largest customer.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And they probably love us for that.
MR. WHITMORE: They do, yeah. And we're actually a really good partner
with the utility. We have a lot of very (inaudible).
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, I love them, too.
MR. WHITMORE: But to get to what I think your point is, we're doing
everything we can through our energy program to reduce those costs.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, that was one of the main mission
statements.
MR. WHITMORE: Yeah, absolutely. And so we have a very close partnership
with Hawaii Energy, who we all pay for through our electric bills, to focus
specifically on energy efficiency. We have a partnership with them called
Strategic Energy Management. So we're taking a holistic look at County energy
use across all facilities to come up with a very strategic approach to reducing
costs.
In the near term, we are working very closely with several different agencies,
particularly the larger energy users to reduce some of their energy costs. A lot
can be done either for very low or no cost through existing rebate programs. So,
that's the efficiency side.
On the production side, you see throughout County facilities across the island
examples of our efforts at generating our own power. Solar panels on this
building, West Hawaii Civic Center, and the windmills pumping water in the
Waimea area. We continue to look for opportunities to help the County generate
its own power, and there's many opportunities for that. Increasing opportunities
as well to do that, specifically in the transportation side to support our Mass
Transit fleet.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I agree. I mean, we talked a little bit about
that, you know, combining of the Mass Transit or electric busses. There are a lot
of different we can go. So I really like that. It's necessary, and it's good. Two of
those put together is beautiful.
I do ask because I know the PV(photovoltaic) system on this building was not
working for about five months. Actually but when I came onboard, I just
happen to check the inverter one day and it was down, and so I started calling
around and then I realized that we knew that. I don't know that it's working yet,
so that's why I'm bringing it up. Because not only as part of going green—as far
the County's concern is important, but we need to make sure that we're upkeeping
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and checking the systems that we currently have so that we actually are saving
money the way we're supposed to.
I believe the system on the roof should provide $4,000 a month in savings, so
without it we're spending $4,000 more than we should. There was not check and
balance to see why we're paying HELCO (Hawai`i Electric Light Company)
$4,000 more than we were last month when it went down.
MR. WHITMORE: Yeah, and that's one of the things we end up looking at very
closely through this partnership with Hawaii Energy, is you begin to identify
those issues within County systems. Because quite frankly, it's not any single
individual's job to track on that sort of thing. Much of what our Energy Specialist
does is coordinate across County agencies, trying to identify those key people
who are actually getting the data, the information that would provide insight as to
whether there are systems that are not working properly the way they're designed
or whether it's big opportunities for energy efficiency or energy production
opportunities.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Agreed, so I really support anything you do
as far being more efficient. As far as energy is concerned, especially the County,
if we don't become the example then why would anybody else would want to
follow suit? And it really eliminates our sustainability on oil coming in. not that
we can get away from it for the time being, but we need to start doing it. Global
climate change, whatever you want to call it. We need to work towards it.
As far as some of your programs, which I realize I can talk about. Business
Developmentno, sorry, Energy. We've only used 50 percent of our budget as
of February, so we have another 50 percent of your budget which is $361,000 to
spend towards energy. I was looking in theI realized where I was looking for
this information was our Monthly Budget Status Report provided to us by the
Finance Department. So we only used 48 percent for Energy, R&D (Research
and Development). Let's make that 100.
We also have risk. I wanted to ask, what is Risk and Vulnerability Assessment
Volcanic Hazard for $225,000, we've used zero percent of?
MR. WHITMORE: I can answer both of those. Although, I'm not sure I've seen
the report you're looking at.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: You want to look at this?
MR. WHITMORE: But the energy line item for current fiscal year is $183,000,
in our Miscellaneous Contracts category. The 115 account?
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MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: This is our here, you want to take a look at
it? Here, try take a look at this. I like this report because it shows us where we're
at, and it shows how much of a percent of the fund we've actually used so far.
MR. WHITMORE: Oh, I see.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So they're maybe new programs. I was
guessing some of those are new programs, some of those are not. Some of those
are programs that we're supposed to be using in full. But either way, we haven't
touched some of those.
MR. WHITMORE: Yeah, so this not uncommon. And I'm not sure where the
$361,000 comes from, the adjusted appropriation. But the accurate budgeted
figure is the $185,000 or $183,000. So it's not uncommon for us to either make
grants or be in the process of procuring services to advance problematic goals.
But those contracts haven't yet been executed, so you don't see them reflected in
that report as encumbrances. So that just reflects a portion of what we would plan
to invest those energy dollars in for the fiscal year.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I guess my only concern is that we're
in February, so it gives you March, April, May, June. So you get four months left
to only use some of them, like 20-some percent or 48 percent. So to get the rest
of the way there in four months.
MR. WHITMORE: And some of them, like the example you gave, the risk
mitigation. That's part of the disaster recovery effort, and that's a single contract
that was executed last Thursday. So that money is now encumbered.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, beautiful. So, it's spent in full?
Done? Beautiful. And what about like Waimea? Waimea Needs Assessment.
MR. WHITMORE: I'm not sure which that's referring to.
MS. LEY: Is that the Waimea airport?
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: No, it's a separate one for $1,200.
MS. LEY: Oh, okay. That was a grant from the State. That contract should
have—Ron, if I ? So that was a request from the State Department of
Agriculture. The State had contracted with the Kohala Center to do an assessment
of farmers needs in that vicinity, in particular with focus on the Lalamilo Vacuum
Cooling Plant. So additional work was needed, and the State asked us, the
County, to receive the funds and then subcontract out the funds back to the
Kohala Center,just because it was a small amount, it was $10,000, and it was an
easier procurement process for them, if you will, than going back out and doing a
bid and then possibly getting a different contractor to finish that work.
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That report I believe is due at the end of this year. It's a very important report
because it's looking at, what are the projected needs for that agricultural
community moving forward in the future? We've got a lot of farmers that are
aging out, and we need to make sure that we are bringing on board State assets to
support new farmers as well as new systems, including making sure that we food
safety facilities available to farmers to be able to bring their products in,
repackage, and sending them out.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you for that. I misread it. Sorry, that
one actually been expended in full.
MS. LEY: Okay.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So, beautiful.
(Note: At this time, Deputy Finance Director Steve Hunt came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Steve, you got a number for me?
MR. HUNT: Yes, Council Member. For the record, Steve Hunt, Deputy Director
of Finance. In totality, about$13.7 million, the bulk of which is coming from
Highway Fund, and likely supporting the streetlights, most of which I believe had
been converted to LED (Light Emitting Diode), that's $9.45 million. Sewer, for
running the treatment plants, about$2.3 million. From General Fund, primarily
building some Parks and Recreation, that's another $1.45 million. And then from
all other, about another half-a-million. About$13.7 in rough numbers, and that's
budgeted.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's our budgeted?
MR. HUNT: Utilities.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And utilities in full or just our electric?
MR. HUNT: Electricity, I believe, but let me confer. But I believe that's correct.
Ted Schrey is coming to confirm what utilities incorporate
(Note: At this time, Budget Administrator Ted Schrey came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MR. SCHREY: Ted Schrey, Budget Administrator. Yeah, this is just a rough
grab from the budget book because we'd really need to run reports to get
everything. This is just electricity. There's probably another half-a-million to a
million in real small offices all over the place. The Police Department and the
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Fire Department and all of their locations where it's a few thousand here, a few
thousand there, but it all does total up.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: It's a lot of money.
MR. SCHREY: Yes.
MR. HUNT: Yes, it is.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: The $13.7 million paid towards
MR. SCHREY: Approximately.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Approximately, give or take.
MR. SCHREY: That's a low bid.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And it's going to fluctuate and
fluctuate with our actual cost on our energy bill.
MR. SCHREY: Correct.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: The reason I' asking is because we have
R&D here, moving towards being more energy efficient. That number stood out
to me because that's part of what we can do as a County to be better and eliminate
our cost. If you were to put$13.7 million towards the loan payments on our solar
system or solar systems, or anything that was green energy, and you apply that
money in a different way, we could see savings in five to ten years. That would
be saving us, maybe half that. It may be big. So as part of your energy, yeah,
thank you. As part of your energy, you know,part of your program,please take a
look at that and maybe make a—let's make some headway there.
MR. WHITMORE: Yeah,just so you're clear, we don't manage the County's
energy systems.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: No, you don't?
MR. WHITMORE: We have an Energy Program Specialist to try to support
folks who are in a position to the manage the systems across the
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Right, yeah.
MR. WHITMORE: And he's fairly new. We had a puka between Energy
Specialists, so we had some downtime. For your point, exactly, that's why we
also chose to focus two of the five businesses that we brought on board,
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specifically on energy and transportation issues because we know there's really
no shortage of things that we could be doing to innovate in this sector.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I really appreciate that conversation I had
with you guys. That was really nice. I still owe Riley a phone call. Just, yeah,
let's do it. Thank you. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. I am now going to
Mr. Richards. Go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. And thanks, R&D, for coming. Good to
see you guys again. Appreciate the follow-up that you sent me, so I really do
appreciate that.
Spring boarding off of Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder's. R&D is there to help us
research and develop the right things and stop the wrong things. Understanding
that everything we commit funds to are not going to work, but that's what part of
our function is.
Coming from the agriculture side, I do appreciate some of the work done here in
the summary of what we're talking about. You and I, Diane, have been working
for a long time together concerning agriculture. How do we improve this
substantially? And what I'm looking for is growing industries, the whole Sharwil
avocado, I think, is something that's untapped. All the research on that, the test
projects on that are all very positive, but we haven't done anything to really ramp
that up. Could you explain that to the Council so that they understand what we're
talking about,please?
MS. LEY: Yes. So the Sharwil avocadoHawaii has a lot of variety of
avocados out there, and we do have local markets for it. But one of the easy
things is for buyers to go with known marketable varieties that are tested. Things
like Haas, which come primarily out of California and Mexico. So, there is a
market locally. It runs about 70 cents a pound. If we can get product off-island
into the mainland, the U. S. mainland, that's a real potential. Growers can receive
up to twice as much in value, at Farmgate. But the challenge has been that
avocado is a fruit-fly host. That being said, some of our mainland states do not
want anything to do with that, in particular California.
Hawaii, both the State and Federal partners as well as, I believe, the CountyI
was gone at that time but—have pushed USDA (United States Department of
Agriculture)to establish protocol to allow these avocados to go into some of the
northern tier states. So protocol was established, and then but the growers were
kind of like, well, okay we have to have a process in the field to harvest, to protect
the fruit while it's sitting in the back of our trucks, or buckets, or whatever, and
then take it into a packhouse that's screened off. The County stepped forward
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because nobody had that infrastructure, none of the farmers, and they really
didn't know if the market would work.
So the County stepped forward. We worked with our partners at the Food Bank
to establish a pilot project at the Honalo Marshalling Yard. That was about three
or four years ago. We proved out that we could—the select number of producers
could harvest according to protocol in the field, which basically requires them to
bag in the field. They bring it in to a screened-in facility and then it is graded and
called for a bad fruit or a fruit that obviously looks like it may have been stung by
fruit-flies.
USDA inspector comes in, checks the boxes and basically signs off, and then they
go off to market. This product has been going out to Washington State. So that
worked I believe for about a year, a year-and-a-half, two years I guess it was.
And then another producer group moved into the facility. So the industry had to
stand up itself. One of the businesses converted an old flower packhouse to be a
screened-in facility, and they have been successfully working with five other
producers. So now we see that the fruit is being received on the mainland. We
met with a USDA inspector. He said, "I very rarely find anything I have to toss
out. They were doing a great job of culling in the field and in this packhouse."
So product is going out to the mainland during the harvest season for Sharwil.
So, this is a real opportunity to grow that industry; but not everybody knows
whether they have a Sharwil tree or not, so that's important to maintain the
quality and consistency of the product. We've worked with USDA (United States
Department of Agriculture)to do a DNA testing. We have that now. We know
what a Sharwil fingerprint looks like. But now, if Matt has trees and Rebecca has
trees, you know, they still have to get it tested, so we need to find a lab that will
test at a reasonable price so that they can verify that tree is a Sharwil or that
acreage is a Sharwil. That's one piece, so we're working on that.
The other piece we're working on is to encourage more plantings of Sharwil.
We're working with CTAHR(College of Tropical Agriculture and Human
Resources) to do grafting classes because that's the cheapest way for producers to
replicate the plant material, so we're hoping that will be successful. So bringing
along existing orchards, making sure that they're Sharwil, and then also grafting
more Sharwil.
And then the third component of that to advance that industry is, are there a
variety that we can take forward and prove to USDA that with similar protocol or
a variation on it, they also could be shipped to the mainland. So that's an example
of how we will continue to work with the industry over a number of years to
advance.
MR. RICHARDS: One of the this has been ongoing for probably six or eight
years now. My question to R&D is, okay, so how do we take this to market?
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How do we trigger that? They mentioned another producer group in the Honalo
area, that's the Ulu Cooperative. We've got some great stuff that R&D's been
working on, but we've got to get it to market, because we've got to get it out of
the research and into the actual mainstream market. So I am asking—challenging
you, that's the next step. We've got some good stuff coming, but I'm concerned
that we're not moving it forward, at least not fast enough to really capture some of
that, because if we want to grow the agriculture industry, we have to get it to
market.
I also want you to comment on, I can't remember what Silvan's official title is,
but can you go over that?
MS. LEY: Sure. Silvan Shawe is a contract employee. The funding came from
U. S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service program and went
through the State Department of Health. We brought her on board as an initiative,
in partnership with some of the private sectors, partners, and Blue Zones, the
Food Basket.
MR. WHITMORE: The folks who come together are the Hawaii Island Food
Alliance, a range of nonprofit and industry folks, interested in expanding food
systems.
MS. LEY: So the intent behind the funding for the position and the work that
she's doing is to advance local foods and the consumption of them. Make sure
that all families have access to food. You know, that's a nexus with the Food
Basket and similar types of organizations.
We are working pretty quickly to try to the alliance the Hawaii Island Food
Alliance has been together for a while, but they are a diverse group with lots of
different goals. So we've been trying to focus and figure out what they can do as
a team or as individual teams, about four different teams in different areas, that
again, will advance either access to food or advancing agriculture. In particular,
not so much the production side but from the Farmgate. Actually leaving the
farm, getting into distribution centers and markets and things like that. Does that
help?
MR. RICHARDS: Yes. Which again points the fact that we seem to have things
aligned pretty well. The next question, and then what? So now, how do we take
it to market to actually capitalize on some of this that you've (inaudible)? And
that's what I'm asking to see; I know what you've done, but what I'm asking is
how are we going to take advantage of what we've done?
MS. LEY: Okay. Well, we're working as quickly as we can with the resources
that we have. Agriculture and food is complex. It's a complex system; it has lots
of variables in it. We have a very, very diverse agricultural system. Some that
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does export and some that is focused on local markets. Some that doesn't have
anything to do with food.
So how do we get product to market? One of the systems—one of the big focuses
is we've been looking at, what are the roadblocks? Where do producers have
challenges? One is an individual producer produces product but doesn't maybe
have the opportunity to research markets or get in a truck and deliver it to a
diversity of markets.
We will be, hopefully in the next few weeks to months, we will beI should say
weeks, standing up a process to get us to some educational opportunities and then
possibly an assessment of food-hub opportunities. I know that's part of Waimea,
the Kamuela Vacuum Cooling Plants research that's going on, but we'll look at
that as opportunities for other component parts of the island. We want to, you
know, make sure that there's an interest. People understand what a food hub is,
what the interest is, are there business partners that can stand this up or does
government need to stand it up? If government needs to stand it up, what's the
cost and what's the cost to maintain it over time. And is the County the right
body to do that or are there others that should be doing that? So we'll be looking
at that aggregation, if you will; and again, you know, private sector or government
led.
We also have stumbling blocks such as, more recently, the challenges with getting
animals to slaughter facilities in termsso working through those. And I
appreciate the leadership that Councilman Richards provided in addressing some
of those issues. We also see the opportunity that there are slaughter facilities that
are not being fully utilized, so we are stepping forward to explore opportunities to
assist those organizations in either getting themselves organized or trained
employees. We're working with HCC (Hawai`i Community College) to explore
the opportunities to do both meat cutting as well as butchery classes. We think
that there's an opportunity for some of the existing slaughter facilities to take on
additional employees, as well as for the home consumption of animals, because
we know that people are doing that so we would like to see them doing it right,
you know, with appropriate safety knowledge behind what they're doing.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, and thanks, Diane, on that. Again, my point is we've
got a bunch of research, that's half of your department name, now we've got to
get to the development side, the market side, and push forth on that one. I'm
not going to weigh in real heavy on the energy side because Councilman
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder has already touched on that, but that's also something that
we need to keep moving forward on. So at this point, I'm going to yield to my
colleagues. Thanks.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Hello, Diane and Ron. So nice to see
you. I feel like I see you all the time, but that's a good thing because I know how
hard you are working.
MS. LEY: This a different job that we have.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes, you have a different hat on today. Often our
discussions are focused around recovery. I just wanted to thank you because
you've worn many hats over the last to support our community, so thank you.
You know, my heart sings when I think about Research and Development. I just
feel there are so many opportunities for our County and our island to be a leader,
to be a model, to be innovators, to be on the forefront of so many things. Food
and energy sustainability; being a leader and a model for the rest of the world for
culture, and art, and education, and diplomacy, so I just get really excited.
I appreciate this graphic that you've shared, and it's very heartening for me to
know that you have a strategic plan. No one should ever underestimate a plan. It
really helps to keep everybody on the same page and departments focused and on
track. I want to know, because opportunities cost money, what more do you need
to really start turning those gears and revving up our economic engine?
MS. LEY: Well, I think that one of the things, and you mentioned it I think, is
leadership, and there was another word you used, but really, it's about engaging
people for them to see the opportunities. The opportunities to take risk, to
explore, to do the new things that may have not been tested. And so I think that
that's one of—the resources that we need may not be financial, but it's about that
human engagement, and listening to one another, taking the time to learn, taking
the time to listen.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: It's probably going take some resources, some capital, to
create those hubs, right? Those hubs where people can come, and connect, and
tinker, and collaborate. Okay. I mean, we can talk further about it, but I do want
to know what other support your department might need to just take things to next
level.
MS. LEY: Okay, yeah.
MR. WHITMORE: Exactly on those lines is part of the reason we put the effort
into building an AmeriCorps VISTA Program (Volunteers In Service To
America). Because if you're familiar with the program, it's got two main areas of
focus. One is the programmatic area, and it's got to be within somehow poverty
alleviation related. But the primary role of an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer is to
build capacity, and so we thought that was perfect. Because to answer your
question, much of thein nearly everything we do, requires collaboration, and
coordination, and capping the wisdom, the collective wisdom and energy, right?
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So what we realized is we could use the VISTA volunteers specifically to play
that role and to help strengthen, build, and capitalize on those connections, and
the synergies, and the new insights, and opportunities that arise from more
coordinated, more strategic, more focused collaboration.
For me, the answer to your question fundamentally is we need to get better at
working together in strategic way. And so we're trying to deliberately do that by
bringing in high-value resources.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And I love your VISTA volunteers. They are so dynamic
and smart, and what an incredible resource for our County. We're going to get to
that in just a second, Ron, about having those strategies and working in a morea
less siloed way.
You have a lot of priorities that you've articulated here. But I want to know if
you can share, what are some tangible outcomes and what are the key indicators
that you can share with us to show that we are making measurable progress
towards meeting those outcomes?
MR. WHITMORE: Well, this is my opportunity to talk about the difference
between outputs and outcomes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Great. Thank you.
MR. WHITMORE: So outputs obviously are easier to measure. You can count
people that come to things, you can count things you produce, widgets, et cetera,
so we try to be very mindful of those. You know, some of the measures that we
use on that side is largely through the reporting we require of grantees, really
showing signs that given what they said they were going to do, that they were
successful at producing those outputs.
On the outcome side, outcome is fundamentally a measure of goals. How well
you're achieving your goals, right? And through various efforts in the past,
whether it's the general plan reports that were matrix in indicators-based, you
know, the Aloha Plus channel, which seeks to attract a range of matrix and
indicators across broad sustainability goals. They're all fundamentally forms of a
fuel gage or a, you know, thermostat. There are various measures that are proxies
for how well we're generally doing across a given goal area, right?
But it's extremely difficult in the absence of a researcher using the scientific
method and strong statistical analysis to actually demonstrate the causation
between any particular effort and initiative and movement of the needle, right?
And so it's rare that we actually can tie in a cause-effect manner an activity and
an outcome. We can guess about correlations. We can measure how things are
moving relative to types and levels of activity, but the causation is very difficult
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to demonstrate, particularly given the diversity of initiatives that are in place in
any given time to try to move a particular needle.
So, that's a long-winded way of we are very clear about the goals. We understand
and try to be very mindful of the many indicators that we have at our disposal to
measure how we're doing relative to those goals. But it's very difficult to make
strong linkages between initiatives or strategies we choose to employ and shifts in
those indicators.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, thank you. Diane, did you want to add anything to
that?
I also noticed your goals. What's the goal? A balanced and sustainable
community environment and economy. I just hope, because I don't think that it's
on here, that we can ensure that we have the cultural and equity lens put on, and
when we are trying to achieve these goals, I think it's very important that all of
our decisions be grounded in the impacts on culture and society, wanting to make
sure everything is equitable and that we're lifting everyone up.
I see I've got a few more questions for you. I was really happy to see that your
office makes a concerted effort to push for collaborations with a private sector,
and I wanted you to talk a little bit about that. Because yesterday when we had
our discussions with Finance, you know, it was stated that this sort of motto is
difficult to do, and it could affect our bond rating. So clearly, you have figured
out a way to increase the amount of public/private partnerships that we are able to
do. So I just was hoping you could talk a little bit about the work that your
department does to sort of foster that.
MR. WHITMORE: I think there's an important distinction to be made between
P-3s (Public-Private Partnerships), from a financing perspective, which are
probably what Finance is looking at, where you're actually bringing you're
leveraging public and private dollars, say building a civic center, for instance,
which is different from public and private partnerships, like food systems or
energy, where you're collaborating as partners who share a common goal and
trying to be strategic about leveraging your respective strengths to move towards
that goal, right?
So yeah, we have quite of bit of a track-record on the latter and are keenly
interested in the financial side of it because it may be an area of opportunity but
also some risk, but definitely worth exploring to address a range of problems. In
one are that had come up for us, is in the energy and transportation sector, where
there seem to be a number of opportunities for public-private financing
opportunities, but absolutely not at the risk of our bond ratings or our financial
stability.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, that's helpful to know. And I know that your
department has been in conversations with—is it Blue Planet Energy, and the
potential for microgrid systems on this island?
MR. WHITMORE: Yes. So they and other vendors have battery technologies
that now we're using, being used to support stable PV (photovoltaic)plus battery
microgrid systems. We had some very preliminary conversations about their
experience deploying them in Puerto Rico post disaster and began a conversation
about deploying them to serve the kipuka for Highway 132.
Since then, we—HELLO (Hawai`i Electric Light Company) brought it to our
attention that now that they've got powerlines or bringing powerlines back to
PGV (Puna Geothermal Venture). It's an easy few additional poles, to then
reconnect to their lines on Highway 132. They'll be restoring power to
Highway 132 in the near term, so we don't need to pursue that any longer.
But there are plenty of other opportunities around the island. NELHA
(Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii) is experimenting with microgrid. And
HELCO actually is developing a microgrid for North Kohala because they've
done the cost benefit and figured out that it's more resilient and affordable for
them to have a somewhat siloed inter-dependent system serving the
Hawi-Kapa`au area.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, that makes sense. Just a couple other questions. So
I see here that you have $325,000 earmarked for tourism. It's my understanding
in the past it was closer to half-a-million, $550,000. If tourism is our main
economic driver for the island, why aren't we investing more in it? And then
also, if you could comment on the $2.5 million from the legislature that our island
is receiving to market Big Island and how the flow of those funds works. Because
my understanding is it doesn't go directly to the County, but it's going to tourism
associations with the U.S. and Japan to promote coming to Big Island in those
markets.
MS. LEY: Okay. Yes, the County's tourism promotion and marketing budget
was cut last year. The decision that brought that forward was, number one, all of
our programs, in two years in succession, had taken haircuts, if you will, and one
of them that was tourism had not. So we needed to trim, and so rather trim
again with other program areas, we chose tourism. And this was again in 2017.
The industry was going great guns. I mean, last year when we were doing our
budget, we were looking at 13 percent increase in 2013 over 2016 numbers, okay.
So the industry was maxing out on most of the islands, doing great business. You
folks had heard from the Island of Hawaii Visitors Bureau Executive Director
Ross Birch about that in the weeks before we came to you with the budget. So,
we took that cut.
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And then 2018, was on track early in the year to be another banner year. They
were seeing a substantial—and projecting another 13 percent, so that would have
been over a two-year period, a 26 percent increase. Well, then the eruption
happened, so there was a stumble there with the industry.
But now if you look at the numbers that the Visitor Bureau is putting out for this
island, we are seeing comparative growth, if you will, to 2017. We know that
parts of the industry are a little bit bumpy, such as the day trips from Honolulu.
You know, the airlines have cut back on trips to the island, so we have fewer
visitors coming for the day. That may also be driven by the fact that the National
Park is not—you know, doesn't have glow, we don't have flow going into the
ocean, as well as the park's footprint is smaller for the time being.
So there are some adjustments. Because our budget was flat for the most part, we
left it as is. We think that's a prudent thing to do. The Hawaii Tourism
Authority (HTA), through the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, to the
Hawaii Island of Hawaii put forward $1.5 million during the eruption for I
believe they called it Disaster Mitigation Advertising, or promotion. That was
very helpful. It got the word out there very broadly, both print and social media,
as well as bringing FAM (Familiarization) tours out to Pahoa, to say it's safe to
come here. We're really thankful for the proactive approach and the substantial
resources they put forward.
Now, more recently HTA has put forward the $2.5 million as you said for
marketing initiatives on the mainland and Japan market. So again, we're thankful
for that. Does that answer your question?
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, it does. You know, I hope that your office and other
County departments are working in close partnership to really drum-up the
community-based tourism element.
MS. LEY: Yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I know that's one of your priority areas. Last week my
team and I had the opportunity to go into Leilani Estates and check out the visitor
product, the experience that the community actually is curating, and it wasI
mean, it was breathtaking. And because it was raining that day, I mean, it was
hauntingly beautiful. It was very misty to look at Fissure 8, but it's quite a sight.
And I really appreciate what that community is doing to really just step up and
take ownership of their assets and resources and doing it in a way with culture and
pono values in mind. So anything I think that the Council and County can do to
expedite their ability to do that work, and work in partnership with the Visitors
Bureau, that would be awesome.
MS. LEY: So if I may,just elaborate just a little bit? So our tourism budget is
not limited to the $325,000. That is a separate request for proposals we put out
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for marketing and promotion, and basically, it's off island. There's a little
component that is for conventions and meeting incentives for hoteliers on island
to incentivize tour groups or conventions to stay at their place.
But another chunk of our budget within the County is focused on local
product development, and we definitely are focused on the place-based,
community-based, values. Hawaii County, in partnership with the Island of
Hawaii Visitors Bureau, we launched the pono pledge for the State, and now
HTA is looking at us and going, "Whoa, we'd like to take this and tweak this,"
and we're like, "Well, wait, wait, wait, wait." You know, we want to enhance
that product and get the word out further. We think that that's a very valuable
marketing tool on-island.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Great. And the last question I have, Ron knows it's one of
my favorite topics, the CEDS, our Comprehensive Economic Development
Strategy. And I just get worried because I've been involved for a number of years
in the development of this plan, and it's one of these plans, I feel, sits on the shelf.
Because at the end of the day we're articulating the same wants and needs for the
future, but nobody walks away with a clear sense of how we're going to take
action. So I'd love an update from you on where we are in the update of this
upcoming CEDS because I believe we're about due to start looking at that plan.
But I wonder how we can better align that with our General Plan and our CDP,
and then creating an overarching plan for the County, where we as government
know what kind of policies we may need to introduce or adjust in order to
incentivize business and community to step up and start taking action. So, Ron?
MR. WHITMORE: There's a lot in that question.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes.
MR. WHITMORE: So quickly, two things on the CEDS, specifically. You
keyed in on what I think is the most important word in that is "strategy." In my
mind, the purpose of the CEDS is to articulate a very strategic, deliberate
document that has very clear roles defined. And that's both public and private,
because there are many different players in the economic development ecosystem
and we all have our roles, and I think sometimes we're a little fuzzy about those
roles vis-a-vis each other. So it's absolutely our expectation that this next update
to the CEDS will be very action oriented. Even down to the point like, you know,
by this point and time we expect"x" agency or organization to accomplish this on
our agreed upon path towards building out this, you know, the tourism industry,
wherever the case might be.
We have an opportunity with this EDA (Economic Development Administration)
grant that we received for disaster recovery to set up a framework for that CEDS
in preparation for the update coming in 2020 it's specifically one of the four
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components, or four deliverables for that contract, and we'll be executing that in
the next week or two.
And then I just ran into Mary Ellis, the incoming OP (Office of Planning)
Director, and as you know, that's the State Office that coordinates the CEDS
updates across the State. We're on the same page in terms of how to make the
absolute best use of what will be limited ADA (American with Disabilities Act)
dollars that come into the State to support to support those updates. So be very
thoughtful about scoping and identification of the contractor to make sure that we
get the very best product possible.
You referenced, also, alignment with our Planning efforts. I know a few people
in Planning, so it would be very natural and easy for us to have some very close
collaboration on that front. I'm of the mind that fundamentally the General Plan
is an economic development and sustainable development plan. One of the most
of the important things the County can do to advance economic development is to
get land use right, to get infrastructure where it's needed to support residential,
commercial, and industrial development where it's wanted, and so that's an
absolutely critical starting point. So yeah, we actively collaborate with Planning
on a number of things, and that's one of them. We have a meeting scheduled in
the coming weeks as a matter of fact to drill down on those specific sections of
the plan that relate to directly with some of the R&D program areas. So, we're
very much of the same mind.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Excellent. Thank you, Ron. And I like hearing that within
the CEDS, we're going to have a very clear timeline, and identify very clearly
what the expectations are, those measurables, so we can take a look at whose
kuleana that is. And if they aren't able to meet those marks, we can have honest
conversations about why. Was it for lack for resources or capacity, and then
begin to address so that we can be meeting our targets? That's all I have. Thank
you again for being here. I yield, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. I see Mr. Richards' light on, but
I'm going to take Chair Chung first. Thank you.
MR. CHUNG: Thank you, Maile. You know, I know we're really behind.
Because we have the Police Department, who was scheduled for 1:30, and we still
got IT (Information of Technology)yet, right? But I just have a real short, either
question, comment, and it relates to what Ms. Kierkiewicz was talking about, the
tourism.
You know, we've got about$2.5 million, right,just recently for tourism
promotion? I just wanted to make sure. Ross, can you just up here for one
minute?
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(Note: At this time, Executive Director of the Hawaii Island Visitors
Bureau Ross Birch came forward to address the members of the
Committee.)
MR. CHUNG: Just by coincidence, you weren't here, but I introduced
Riki Hokama from Maui County, you know, he's the guru of all budgeting
Council people throughout the State. But I kind of whispered to him, I said,
"Hey, Riki, how much do you guys give to your Maui tourism people?" He said,
"$4 million." Yeah, and we're giving—how much do we give you guys? Three?
$300,000? $325,000.
CHR. DAVID: Mr. Birch, could you please put your mic on and identify yourself
for our staff?
MR. BIRCH: Ross Birch for Hawaii Visitors Bureau.
MR. CHUNG: Now, certainly, you know, I think$4 million is quite of money,
and that might not be compatible with what we're trying to do on this island, but
in comparison to $325,000—$300,000, what?
MR. BIRCH: Yeah, $325,000.
MR. CHUNG: $325,000, you can see a big disparity over there. But what was
that$2.5 million for? Is it coming to you?
MR. BIRCH: It's not coming to the Island of Hawaii Visitors Bureau or to the
County. It's going from HTA to the two contractors that HTA has in the two
markets; Hawaii Tourism USA, which is Hawaii Visitors and Convention
Bureau; and Hawaii Tourism Japan, which covers the Japan market. Both of
those contractors are taking a portion of that money and then spending it on
programs that they've actually proposed to receive that funding in those two
markets.
MR. CHUNG: So what kind of control do you have over that? Nothing? Zero?
MR. BIRCH: We support both of those entities with the branding. We provide
for the island with support from our partnerships. So once there's like a co-op
opportunity, or as it's been said, there's a bus tour that could be going along with
this, so that if there's in-market sales and promotions, we bring our partners from
the island specifically with that. So we're coordinating them on that side.
MR. CHUNG: Right.
MR. BIRCH: But the direction and contract is held within those two entities.
MR. CHUNG: I see. And then more so from the State as well, right?
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MR. BIRCH: Correct.
MR. CHUNG: They're providing the direction. Not you?
MR. BIRCH: We're supporting the direction.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, supporting, okay. So I just wanted to point that out. You
know, I really think we should try to restore at least what we gave them before.
What was it? $520,000? $550,000. Yeah, I think that would be a worthwhile
investment. So if you guys—Diane, if you guys can just think about it. You
know, brainstorm how we could find that extra money. And thencertainly,
would like to see if we can get you guys back to at least where you guys were
before last year.
MR. BIRCH: Well, it would help for Hawaii Island projects.
MR. CHUNG: Right. Right.
MR. BIRCH Diane did an excellent job of explaining how the system works and
how we use our funding. It is mainly intended for in-market promotions to bring
them to Hawaii. But as we're seeing our partners taking a bigger role on that
side, we're able to use some of those funds more locally and bring those back to
the island and have them spent here in the promotion and creating different events
and opportunities here, as well.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah. Alright, thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank Chair Chung. Mr. Richards, I'm going to go to
Ms. Lee Loy. She hasn't spoken yet.
MR. RICHARDS: Please.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Mr. Ross Birch, if you could stick around,
please. Because I just want to follow up on what Chair Chung was talking about.
Because I absolutely agree there's a huge return on investment, by way of
providing you folks with money which generates GE tax (General Excise), right,
fuel tax,just all these compounded opportunities. Do you have, and maybe not
now, but do you have a return on investment number as far as $1.00 provided to
this marketing and what the return on investment is? I'm hoping.
MR. BIRCH: That's a really tough question. Even within the RFPs (Request for
Proposals), we don't really quantify it in that form, where you show the direct
dollar return on investment. If you look at it as a whole, and as much tours we
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have coming in, we generate $2.4 billion in revenue towards the island. So
$325,000 out of a County budget that's generated into $2.4 (billion) is less than a
quarter percent. So it's that's about the only way I can quantify how you look at
what your investment is versus what's your return, and those are the numbers.
MS. LEE LOY: Could you just repeat that one more time? Because I think that
is a good rational nexus, right, between $300,000, $2 billion, right? So it helps us
when we think about the amount of money we want to put, even if it's just
restoring it to $500,000, we could see a lot more money.
MR. BIRCH: Well, yeah, from a County, specifically. You'd have to throw in
the additional fund that we receive from the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the funds
we get directly from HVCB (Hawai`i Visitors and Convention Bureau), all those
are in there. For this past year, the last year-and-a-half, we got$4 million in
recovery funds. We've received about$1.5 million as an organization directly
from the State, as well, and then the $325,000 on top of that. So the return on
investment is still substantial versus even if you combine all those amounts in
there.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. It's just food for thought as we have to move
numbers around or think about how to accelerate some of the funding and create
synergies. So, thank you for being here.
MR. BIRCH: Just to kind of looking at it in—when you compare like a—well,
what Chairman Chung had brought up, what Maui receives, but if you look at
when we get to a point of how much is too much and are we having sustainable,
responsible tourism moving forward, Maui also almost reached three million
visitors in 2018. We stepped back a little bit, and we hit 1.7 million. Kauai was
at 1.4 million visitors. So if you look at an island that could fit in the Puna
district, having 1.4 million visitors, you understand the situation of where the
capacity level is. We truly are from capacity, and we have far more numbers of
rooms than other islands have as well, so we have that room for growth.
We do need to look to look at the different product we have and being able to
create the product and keep our parks and our facilities up to speed and available
so that we can use those as sales tools, as well, so I mean, it goes hand-in-hand.
What we use from a marketing standpoint has to be matched and supplemented
from the product we're providing on the island.
So I think we have a great opportunity for growth. We have a great opportunity
to move forward. Any type of marketing funds we can use towards getting those
numbers back would be great, but we also need to look at funding other resources
to make sure that our facilities are where they need to be.
MS. LEY: If I could just elaborate on Ross's comment, and also other comments
that Council Member Kierkiewicz made, in terms of the private sector stepping up
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and providing opportunities for visitors to visit to experience or the product, as
Ross calls it product, some of us call it experience. But I think that as—our parks
are limited and sometimes they become overcrowded, and so to manage that, if
we can from R&D's perspective encourage the nonprofit sector and the private
sector to provide opportunities on private property, and again, following all the
rules, the zoning, and all of that. Those are real opportunities, I think, that can
continue to allow us to grow while we sustain our quality of life for our visitors as
well as our residents.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. I yield. Thank you both of you for that.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, thank you. Ross, you might as well sit there a little
while longer. Some of the numbers that you and I discussed, and just help me
with my memory, as I recall during our discussion, our State was on track for
about a six percent growth in tourism, visitor numbers, and the Big Island was on
track for a 12 percent growth for 2018. Is that correct?
MR. BIRCH: Yes, that's correct.
MR. RICHARDS: And then May happened, and we hit about a 25 percent
reduction in visitors. I know we had tens of millions of dollars of cancellations of
rooms, let alone everything else. Long story short, tourism we finished 2018
sort of on par with 2017, is that correct?
MR. BIRCH: About 2.5 percent down.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. Our economy took a huge hit, and we've been talking
about the recovery. The tourism is somewhere, best guess and you and I have
kicked this around and I've discussed this with Finance and R&D, tourism is
somewhere around the third of our GDP (Gross Domestic Product) for the County
as a whole. What Ms. Lee Loy was talking about was "bang for the buck" and
return on investment. I'm a huge proponent of agriculture, everybody knows that.
That's a long-term return on investment. Food security, et cetera, et cetera. But
let's not ignore one of our economic generators, which is the tourism side.
Guesstimate in numbers put together from talking to you and all, our economy
took somewhere around a $400 or $500 million hit last year. If that's the case,
investing in our tourism side is part of our recovery for the County as a whole. So
echoing what Mr. Chung had said, concerning the investing into our tourism
marketing, I whole-heartedly support that because that's all the right things. That
being said, we have to have the product to deliver. So again, that's something
we've got to look forward to, to come up with right policies.
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I appreciate those numbers because that's what's been going around in my mind,
so I appreciate this thing being brought forward. That's not why I turned on the
light, but I participated in the conversation. So I appreciate that, Ross, thank you.
Coming, backso, we're pau. It comes down to the food self-reliance side. And
the numbers that I think we talked story, but we don't actually start putting
numbers toI know we all miss Jeff Melrose and his mana`o when he came forth
with that. But long story short, our County of 200,000 people, using national
statistics, at five pounds of food per person per day, that's a million pounds of
food that we need for this County each and every day. Tourism adds on about
25 percent. But that's why I'm so adamant about developing our agriculture
programs going forward to market. Not just to talk story, not just R&D, but to
market.
You made comments about the Sharwil avocado and having the DNA testing and
all. We have UH (University of Hawaii) here and Hawaii Community College,
as well. This makes all the sense in the world, even PBARC (U.S. Pacific Basin
Agricultural Research Center—Hilo). That's all right here. So I would ask that
you come up with some sort of program. Let's talk story and figure out how to
get that done, because short-term tourism/long-term agriculture. It's before us,
we have the resources. Now let's get her done. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. I don't see any more lights. I
really thank you, Director Ley. Deputy Director. Do you have anything to
say, Mr. Schrey? Really? Okay. Before I close
(Note: At this time, Finance Budget Administrator Ted Schrey came
forward to address the members of the Committee.)
MR. SCHREY: Ted Schrey, Budget Administrator. I wanted to make a
correction to the record. In the rough grab for information and my writing down
the numbers, there's what we call a decimal displacement. I didn't realize that we
had somebody upstairs that could actually run the reports, but we did, and they are
listening. So, I got the accurate numbers. It was in the traffic signal lights, so it
was in the Highway Fund. Instead of$9 million, it's $900,000. But because we
were able to run the reports, we captured all the small little locations that I was
talking about, you know, the Police station and everything else.
CHR. DAVID: Right.
MR. SCHREY: So the total amount for electricity for all funds is $7.4 million.
CHR. DAVID: Instead of$13 million.
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Mr. SCHREY: Yeah, yeah, yeah. With about three-and-a-half of that being in
the Special Funds. I wanted to correct that for the record and apologize for the
decimal displacement.
CHR. DAVID: Well, that's a big displacement. Thank you for clarifying that.
Well you might want to talk to Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, because
we can convey the message, but we'll tell him that you corrected the
displacement.
MR. SCHREY: Sure, okay.
CHR. DAVID: Okay, thank you very much. Alright, Director Ley, Deputy
Director, thank you so much for being here and for your presentation.
Council Members, I'm going to take like a two-minute recess. I need to go out
and talk to before we take IT (Information of Technology). Okay, we're in
recess.
Recess: At 2:18 p.m., the Chair called for a recess.
Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 2:25 p.m.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha, Council Members, and welcome back. I'm taking the
Special Meeting of Committee on Finance out of recess. And right now welcome,
Director Ung for your patience, and thank you so much for waiting from this
morning. And I apologize. So when you're ready,please introduce your staff and
proceed with your presentation.
(4) Department of Information Technology:
(Note: At this time, Information Technology Director Jules Ung came
forward to address the members of the Committee.
MS. UNG: Thanks so much for giving us your time and letting us have this
opportunity to share some of the highlights that we think are exciting for you. I
brought the team. Behind me is Betsy Lee Loy, System Support Analyst V;
Kevin Norris, System Support Program Manager; Matt Iaukea, User Support
Program Manager; and then I think you all know Jean, she's our new private
secretary, Jean Muramoto.
CHR. DAVID: Hi, Jean.
MS. UNG: We brought our presentation today, which are just a few highlights to
supplement what you've already been presented in our budget program.
(Note: At this time, Ms. Ung provided a PowerPoint presentation to the
members of the Committee. For viewing of the subject presentation,
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please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's
Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online in the County's
webpages at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A hard copy of the presentation is
made a part of the record, see Comm. 117.4.)
MS. UNG: So that concludes our visual presentation, and we're happy to answer
questions that you may have.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much. I'm going to go to Council Members for
questions. Anyone have questions for IT? Oh, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go
ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Hi. So I got an email about three weeks
ago. Someone did an internal poll, Lane Novak. Is she here today? Is Lane here?
MS. UNG: Unfortunately, she is not.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: She is not here. So she did an internal poll,
which was that was interesting to see if the new supervisor would be necessary
or was wanted; 60 percent came back negative, 40 percent came back either
positive or neither. But it was interesting that there was an internal poll done
within the staff to see if that manager position was wanted or not wanted. I kind
of like it because it gives you a very you know, you feel workers telling you yes
or no, and it may not be desirable to have people doing that. But it is, to me, nice
to see.
MS. UNG: Yeah, it is transparent.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes.
MS. UNG: And I was aware of the poll. Our staff are very open about they feel,
and very communicative.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes, I got that. I did get that from that poll.
MS. UNG: It was no surprise. It was no surprise. And if you ask any IT staff
who are concerned with increased efficiency and our ability to address tickets,
their answer would probably be we need more boots on the ground.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay.
MS. UNG: So, Helpdesk, basically. But maybe if we look at the big picture and
we see how improved managerial oversight and long-range planning could
actually leverage technology in a way that makes work for the frontline a little
easier, so spinning less wheels, being more efficient. Having better workflows in
place would actually help our situation as well in our ability to serve all of you.
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MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, fair enough. I thought I'd just
mention that. I thought it was interesting.
I'm using this as example, but the Monthly Budget Status Report. We get it every
time we do a County Council meeting. And I'm looking in there, which is not
included in any information that we have, it's not a piece of budget information
that I have at my disposal. And you have Information Tech Equipment. Your
adjusted appropriation was $256,000. You've only used 14 percent of that so far
this year. So walking into four months left in this fiscal year, do you have a plan
for the next$220,000? Or do you have any ?
MS. UNG: We have a lot of major equipment that's currently in progress to be
procured.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay.
MS. UNG: So all of it is earmarked, and all of it is spoken for.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: We do? We have a plan for all of that?
We're going to use it all?
MS. UNG: Oh, yes.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, that's good. That's good to know.
That's what I wanted to know. That was my questions. Thank you.
MS. UNG: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. I'm not sure if it was
Ms. Kierkiewicz or
MS. VILLEGAS: Go ahead, Ashley.
CHR. DAVID: Who was first? Ms. Villegas, go ahead.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, thank you. Hi, thanks for being here.
MS. UNG: Thank you.
MS. VILLEGAS: And thanks for the training emails that came out on the website
and whatnot. I had to chuckle because I got a strange email, and I was like,
"What is this?" And then I clicked on it, and it said, "Ha, you've been tricked.
You failed your test" Well, thankfully it was you guys.
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Just really quick here. I just wanted to—one of the things that I'm trying to do in
this process is take a look at the supplemental asks on top of what was included in
the otherwise expenditure worksheet that we were given for all of the
departments. So when I added up all of the asks in the supplemental documents
here, it came to $972,352, which puts your—according to this spreadsheet, the
increase in the budget that was being requested according to this spreadsheet was
an increase in like 18.4 percent. But if this other almost$1 million, then increases
it by 34 percent.
I guess from an economy scale, I totally understand that catching us up, from an
IT standpoint, will help in the long run, ideally save money, save time, increase
efficiencies. I mean, in comparison to some of the other departments' budgets,
it's a pretty high increase in percentage. I guess I just would ask point blank,
what your levels of confidence are, if that's really going to take us into a next era
of technologies that that will then provide for those returns on investment and
greater efficiencies.
MS. UNG: So speaking to the first part of the disparity between the increase in
the budget presented to Council versus our supplementals, some of these
supplementals preclude others. So for instance, MPLS (Multiprotocol Label
Switching) manage services, if we get that, we don't need to renew our
maintenance, for our Alkatel Nokia equipment because that will be included with
our managed services.
Additionally, with our ESRI(Environmental Systems Research Institute
Software) EA (Enterprise Agreement)which will be presented to you on the 24h,
that's our enterprise agreement with ESRI, who is the industry standard GIS
platform provider. That enterprise license model will preclude getting
30 additional collector licenses. It pretty much opens us and lets us have almost
unlimited licensing to deploy licenses and support projects like Vision Zero and
other countywide initiatives for data management and EnerGov.
MS. VILLEGAS: So like one of the departments have said, they have the
computers, but they don't have the licensing on the Microsoft software. Does it
apply to something like that?
MS. UNG: Just ESRI licenses, so GIS licenses.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay.
MS. UNG: Yeah.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, thank you. That helps.
MS. UNG: Thank you.
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CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Jules. It's great to see you.
How old is our County network, the backbone that manages all of our information
technology infrastructure?
MS. UNG: It must be decades old. When was I-Net implemented? About
20 years old. Our I-Net fiber is part of a State franchise agreement, between the
State of Hawaii and Spectrum. Spectrum provides the fiber, and the County of
Hawaii provides the equipment, the switches to light it up.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Do you think the network is efficient for what
we're trying to do in the County? I mean, I think about how reliant we are in
technology. I see someone shaking their head back there. I want to make sure
that we as the County are a credible entity, and that we are keeping pace with the
available technologies that are out there. So I'd like for us as the Council to know
what kind of investments are needed to bring us up to the 21" century.
And I wonder how much money is being spent to maintain a system that is so
antiquated. I guess you don't need to give me dollar figures today, and maybe
this can be a conversation for later, but I just get really worried about—because
our network is inefficient, a lot of time is being spent to maintain it. How old are
some our servers? I know that when Matt was asking you about the availability
of the funds that are left for your department, you said it was earmarked. Are
these going to be for new servers? What exactly is that money going to be spent
on?
MS. UNG: Let me address your first question.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Oh, okay. Great.
MS. UNG: As far as what's our greatest liability, it's an aging network. It's old
infrastructure. Our greatest liability at this moment is the 22-mile fiber gap in
Ka`u that goes through the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Ideally, for
redundancy and the highest availability, we'd have a closed loop. You know,
we'd have a ring. But that gap is something that's very well-known and
recognized and it's something that we're all working towards.
The DCCA (Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs) is very well aware
of it. The Broadband Advisory and Assistance Council works towards closing
that fiber gap on an ongoing basis. It is scheduled to be closed later this year, and
that will be a huge relief to us. Because then when there's spillover, then we can
complete our MPLS network. And if a tree falls in Laupahoehoe, you know, we
can reroute the traffic the other way around the island. Additionally, getting the
equipment from Maui's network upgrade project was a huge advantage for us.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: How old was that equipment?
MS. UNG: That equipment is not end of life. It still has useable life. And Nokia
Alkatel will provide the ongoing warranty and maintenance for it.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So how many years of life are we expected to get out of
that second-hand pre-loved system?
MS. UNG: So while they don't provide a finite date of end of life when they no
longer support it, they are telling us at this time that they will support it for the
foreseeable future. Although the maker no longer produces those exact models,
they are willing to provide the warranty and maintenance for us going forward,
and that's key for us. If we are approved for our MPLS managed services that's
within this budget cycle, that will give us the 24/7 monitoring and support to be
proactive and for our partner to address network outages 24/27. And they would
probably know before we do, which is really important because networks support
public safety: Police, Fire, Civil Defense. And it becomes the backhaul for the
microwave radio system, as well.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, thank you. The other question I had relates to the
storage units for the various servers that your department oversees. The one at
Civil Defense cause me great concern because it was pretty warm in there. I
didn't really see any a/c (air conditioning) units. I did see fans blowing on
servers, and I just feel like if it's in a room where temperatures are running that
high, our systems are now working in overtime. And the life expectancy of that
particular equipment, I feel, has been decreased because of where they're placed.
I mean, what are the plans to be moving those systems into a better environment?
The one at the County's Aupuni Center, I mean, it was freeze-butt off kind of
cold. I saw two incredible a/c units, but I wonder what was the cost of those a/c
units, and did we really have to purchase those to keep equipment that was old to
begin with, and would it have been better to purchase new servers and equipment
to maintain systems? Sorry, two-fold questions.
MS. UNG: So Aupuni is our back-up location. It is in the tsunami zone.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes.
MS. UNG: So ideally, all critical applications and servers are kept at Civil
Defense,just for operational continuity, if there is an event, so there is no chance
of fiber break between the data stores and emergency operations. So that server
room is also, you know, it's not ideal. Everything was moved there back in 2003
or so, when the last tsunami threat caused IT to take action and relocate servers
from Aupuni. However, we are working on several contingency plans to build a
new properly specked server room on location.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Location at where? I'm sorry, at Civil Defense?
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MS. UNG: Within the same facility as Civil Defense.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Because my understanding is, you know, we as a
Council passed monies for a plan to be created for the Moho`uli Dispatch Center
which would house Fire, Police, Civil Defense.
MS. UNG: That's a little more of a long-term project.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MS. UNG: Which may not meet the immediate need. So build out currently at
Civil Defense facilities, would be the interim solution.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Do we have money in either County coffers, or are we
getting grants from State or Federal government to make that build-out happen?
MS. UNG: That would be a Federal grant through Homeland Security.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Excellent. Thank you.
MS. UNG: It's also Supplemental 3,just for our Smart Row, which would be an
all-in-one power regulation battery back-up and a/c for our servers.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. I mean, I just want to make sure that we are putting
all the right resources we need to IT. We are so technology reliant. I mean, I'm
looking at your mission, and it talks about to ease anxiety. And I will admit, I get
a little bit anxious when I get emails about Laserfiche being down or not
accessible, so I'm thinking that with improvements to equipment, to the network,
to the servers, we'll be able to ease those anxieties and to be able to have a
reliable Laserfiche system.
MS. UNG: Absolutely. Thank you.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So, thank you. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Ms. Eoff, go ahead.
MS. EOFF: Thank you, Madam Chair. Before I ask you my question, I just
wanted to say that we really appreciate your staff in Kona, West Hawaii Civic
Center. They are right there to help us all the time, and always can solve our
problems.
MS. UNG: Thank you.
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MS. EOFF: They're not here today, but I'm sure all your staff here are the same.
But especially appreciate the West Hawaii IT staff.
MS. UNG: I'll let them know, and I'm sure they're listening.
MS. EOFF: Besides that, yesterday we heard a lot from Public Works and
Planning about EnerGov, a new program. That they're going to help.
MS. UNG: Yes, a new building permit system.
MS. EOFF: Yeah, help streamline their work. But they're having trouble
adapting it to our system. I'm not really exactly sure what they're
MS. UNG: Oh, we're still in implementation phase. So that means the current
version that Tyler Tech provides is not compatible with our industry standard
version of ESRI.
MS. EOFF: That's what they said. Oh, okay.
MS. UNG: Yeah, so they should be coming out with an upgrade next month, so
we should
MS. EOFF: That's not what this ESRI request is in your supplemental.
MS. UNG: Oh, related, but not the same, yeah.
MS. EOFF: Oh, I see.
MS. UNG: This request, currently within our budget is just for an EA agreement,
and that's an enterprise licensing model.
MS. EOFF: Okay, but in the meantime, in the next month or so. Because we
really couldn't get a definite handle on a date, or when
MS. UNG: Tyler Tech has not provided a specific date,just a timeframe. So
within the next, they are planning to come up with the upgrade for their platform.
MS. EOFF: Oh, that's good to know.
MS. UNG: And then today we heard a little bit from the Prosecuting Attorney's
Office that there's another software implementation going on with them, between
them and the Police Department, that's been difficult to transition to. Is that
something that you guys were involved in, as well?
MS. UNG: That's not something that we touch. Both Police and Prosecutors
have their own IT staff. So yeah, you might want to follow up with them.
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MS. EOFF: Yeah, we will. I guess that was all I had. Thank you.
MS. UNG: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Eoff. Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Just out of curiosity, why do we have
different IT departments within the County?
MS. UNG: So there are some applications that are very specific to law
enforcement, and they require their own staff to manage those applications.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Does that create better quality and better
functionality?
MS. UNG: I can't speak as an expert for those departments.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: In your opinion?
MS. UNG: In my opinion, we do share some applications in infrastructure, and
on those shared services within the network, it is more effective to manage that
centrally, and so we do. We manage Exchange, our email application, for all
County departments, as well GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and
Laserfiche. And there's a quite a few shared applications that we manage
centrally.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Do you collaborate with the other IT
departments within the County?
MS. UNG: More and more so, yes.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes.
MS. UNG: Communication has been opening up, specifically in regard to cyber
security, because we have to. We have to be able to share information to be
effective and to address the threats that are now out in the wild.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Seems common sense, yeah?
MS. UNG: Mm-hmm.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Mr. Richards, go ahead.
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MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. One of the big challenges that we as a
nation and we as rural counties are facing is high-speed internet access. County
of Hawaii, we don't have it. We have somewhat high-speed. It's a challenge
across the nation. What are we doing to get all the communities high-speed
internet? I'm not talking Downtown Hilo; I'm talking Downtown Pahala.
MS. UNG: So while the County of Hawaii Department of IT doesn't specifically
oversee high-speed broadband for the island, we primarily serve County staff, we
do interface with some organizations that do represent rural areas. Specifically,
there is a project that we are participating in through the DCCA (Department of
Commerce and Consumer Affairs) called HI Wi-Fi and 808 Wi-Fi 33, and that
is geared and targeted to low-income rural areas that are underserved or unserved.
We help them to designate locations island-wide, and all of you were involved in
helping us to identify those locations previously. That's an ongoing project.
MR. RICHARDS: That's a pilot project that I recall, correct?
MS. UNG: It is, yes.
MR. RICHARDS: There is a program that has been kicked off by NACo, the
National Association of Counties, and they have an app that you download called
TestIt, What it does, is it measures. They just ask people, the citizenship, to hit it
every so often and measure it, and it takes that data and is, not archiving it, but
compiling it so we have a very clear picture of what we have across the nation.
We talked about the drivers to economic recovery. I know a lot of jurisdictions,
real jurisdictions, to get internet access for their—and it's typically schoolkids
the counties have wireless internet hubs so that the kids can get their homework
done. Because more and more we're driving towards—whatever you want to call
it, cloud-base, or whatever.
As part of your initiated direction, and as I said you don't oversee it, but is there
starting to talk I'm sure in your circles you start talking about what we need to
do to help support this and develop something along those lines. We've talked
about that missing link over Volcano, and that's puts Pahala way out at the end of
the line. Are you having these conversations as far as developing something more
comprehensive or is that just not on the radar right now?
MS. UNG: Definitely partnering with State entities as well as some enterprise
entities such as Microsoft. They have really fantastic initiatives with tv
whitespace, and that's something we're exploring right now with our government
consultants. There are some good ideas out there, and we are engaging R&D as
well, to identify ways to provide high-speed broadband access to the public.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, I just—we have an IT section. I think it's something
we need to look at; if you compare what our internet speed is compared to
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globally, Eastern European blocks are phenomenal compared to—we are really
way behind. I think I would ask that be more of conversation sooner because I
think we're holding back our young by not having that access. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I just have one more question. I made
a note in the presentation about website. You know, Council Member Lee Loy
and I, we work very closely with Diane Ley and the Recovery Team. They
showed us some screenshots from the Kilauea Recovery website that's about to
go live. Is the rest of the County website going to be reflective of what's being
created for the Recovery Team website? Because if so, it's incredibly beautiful,
and I'm excited.
MS. UNG: Oh, thank you so much. Yeah, we've been working very closely with
our web designer and development team, and we're very excited to roll it out. It
will have all of the features that you've viewed there plus some.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MS. UNG: Research and Development, we let them fly. We just said, "Hey,
what can you do with this? Go for it." And, they have.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Will it be mobile and tablet optimized?
MS. UNG: Oh, absolutely. Mobile friendly for any screen size.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I wonder if having this new interface will increase
engagement from the community side?
MS. UNG: That's one of our goals.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MS. UNG: Increase community engagement.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. So with the new website refreshed and platformed,
how are we going to encourage that?
MS. UNG: So we definitely roll it out and make an announcement. We will be in
touch with you so that we can engage you, and you can reach the public and you
can help us promote.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MS. UNG: Yeah.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Sounds good. Thank you again and thank you for your
incredible staff. I know they're working really hard to get me some maps, and
they're very responsive whenever we need them, help with some IT stuff.
MS. UNG: Thank you so much.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Thank you for being here. And I apologize, I
had to step out a little bit; so if my colleagues have already answered this, I
apologize if you have to repeat it.
You mentioned if there's a problem, you get a ticket, right? Somethings wrong
with my computer, we generate a ticket. And then you also mentioned that some
of the systems stand separate and apart. You know, Prosecuting Attorney's
Office and Police, they have some of their own systems related to some of the
business matters as it relates to criminal records and those types of things. So if I
generate a request to fix my computer, the ticket, you guys go and you fix it. Is
that correct? Is that how that works?
MS. UNG: If Sue Lee Loy puts in a helpdesk ticket, yes, we get it.
MS. LEE LOY: Okay, but if Sue Lee Loy at the Police Department puts in a help
ticket, do you fix it or does someone within Police fix it?
MS. UNG: Oh, if it's a hardware issue, then someone in Police. If it's a software
issue, that we manage centrally, then we would work with their IT staff to address
the issue.
MS. LEE LOY: And that's because of the sensitive nature of the type of
information that might be contained within those respective departments?
MS. UNG: Possibly, yes.
MS. LEE LOY: So like CJIS, which is our Criminal Justice Information System,
if they're problems with accessing that information, it would be handled with
someone from within the Police Department.
MS. UNG: That's correct, especially if it's a proprietary application.
MS. LEE LOY: Okay. So I'm going to dive in a little deeper. Because we're
also trying to stand up a new building permit process system. For the record,
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because we're not sure if it's inner-gov, EnerGov or NeoGov. We're hearing a
number of different programs.
MS. UNG: Oh, this one, the building permit system is EnerGov.
MS. LEE LOY: Spell it,please.
MS. UNG: Oh, E-n-e-r-G-o-v.
MS. LEE LOY: Okay. So earlier, I guess, yesterday we heard that system has
been delayed, and we had hoped for it to go live some time, you know, second
quarter into third, but we're looking at end of the year. Can you share what some
of the delays are?
MS. UNG: Sure, and Karen asked this question earlier. I'll just say the same
thing, which is the current version of software that Tyler Tech has provided is
incompatible with the industry standard version of GIS that the County is running.
So they hope to have a system upgrade within the next month that will fix that
issue.
MS. LEE LOY: So we call that the patch, right?
MS. UNG: Yes.
MS. LEE LOY: So the GIS system is being utilized by Planning Department,
correct?
MS. UNG: Actually, it's countywide, so almost every department uses GIS.
MS. LEE LOY: So including the Police Department?
MS. UNG: I think the Police Department has a lot of data and would like to be
able to leverage our GIS platform, so there's some training that needs to happen.
MS. LEE LOY: Which leads me to the very next question. When it comes to
training for all of these different systems, where does that money come from? Is
it within each respective department or is it within each respective application
contract of Criminal Justice System, or within GIS, or within, you know EnerGov,
or within Office 365? Because I hope you see where this going.
MS. UNG: This application's specific so ideally, I think for the future, we would
definitely encourage departments to build that training within the RFP. Because,
you know, then at least we're covered, and we know we're going to get the proper
training from the authoritative source.
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For other software, such as Office 365, like Microsoft software, our applications
team is equipped to provide the training, and so that's been ongoing as we roll out
Office 365.
For GIS, that was implemented a few years ago, maybe in 2015. We are still
working to get up to a standard countywide. So we're pretty excited. We'll be
moving to 1990 Kino`ole Street, by Hilo Rice Noodle, within the next couple of
months maybe, and we should have a training room there that will be accessible.
One of our priorities is to provide GIS training county-wide.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, I think this body is really struggling with the efficiencies,
right, and cross-collaboration. And at the end of the day, every single employee
is using a computer, right?
MS. UNG: Right.
MS. LEE LOY: And so how do we somehow maintain some of the proprietary
information and the sensitive information that the Police Department or the
Prosecuting Attorney's Office has to house but still provide enough funding for
training of across all of the different employees? You don't have to answer that
right now, but that's what we're trying to look at when we look at not only your
budget and everybody else's budget, but just kind of, you know, high-level global
optics on the use of computers.
MS. UNG: Sure.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Anyone else? Questions? No? Seeing
none then, Director, I really want to thank you for your presentation and for
enlightening us with the updates on our tech system. Most, well I'll speak for
myself, people my age are not really techy, so I'm very confused. But I
understand what you were saying.
I have one question. On the DCCA HI-Wi-Fi Pilot Project, there's a balance of
$100,00, is that going to be utilized before June?
MS. UNG: I'm not sure if it will be utilized before June, but it doesn't expire in
June.
CHR. DAVID: That one doesn't expire?
MS. UNG: Yeah. That one, yeah.
CHR. DAVID: Perfect, that's what I wanted to
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MS. UNG: We have some time to implement.
CHR. DAVID: Great. Okay, I think that's it. Thank you for all you folks do,
and always your staff is awesome, and Kona staff. Your staff, in general,
always solves our problems. And I get the most spam mail, I think, in the County.
I keep sending you these things; it's like, I can't believe these things are coming
though. I don't even go on them. It's like, yeah, it's really but thank you for
taking care of those.
MS. UNG: Thank you so much.
CHR. DAVID: That's frightening. Alright, Council Members. Thank you for
being here today and for your presentation. I'm going to take a short recess,
really quick. Okay, thanks. We're in recess.
Recess: At 3:02 p.m., the Chair called for a recess.
Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 3:05 p.m.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha, Council Members. We're going to get ready to start. I'm
going take Special Meeting of the Finance Committee out of recess right now and
welcome our Police Department and thank them for being so patient with us. We
have running so behind today.
(5) Police Department:
(Note: At this time, Police Chief Paul Ferreira and Deputy Chief
Kenneth Bugado came forward to address the members of the
Committee.)
CHR. DAVID: Chief, mahalo for your patience and for everyone waiting out
there.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Well, thank you for what you're. You know, it's no
problem us waiting on—we're used to it. We're used to waiting around, I should
say. Good afternoon, Madam and Council Members.
CHR. DAVID: Good afternoon. Aloha.
CHIEF FERREIRA: I have the honor this afternoon of being accompanied by
Deputy Chief Kenneth Bugado. To the extreme right is Assistant Chief
Mitchell Kanehailua. He's in charge of East Hawaii Operations, that is Puna,
South Hilo, North Hilo and Hamakua. Next to him is Assistant Chief
Samuel Thomas, in charge of our Administrative Bureau. That is all our support
services. In the back is Major Andrew Burian. He's in charge our Technical
Services Division. I heard some questions about computers and Spillman and
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those things, so I brought him along just in case I can't answer it. Our Assistant
Chief from West Hawaii James O'Connor took ill, so he's not here today. He
covers Area II, which is Ka`u, Kona, South Kohala and North Kohala. And then
the most important person here is Ms. Hauoli Aiona, our Finance Accountant IV,
who keeps us out of trouble financially.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha.
CHIEF FERREIRA: I don't have a PowerPoint or anything. My computer just
has my notes, so I could read it. I had it looking up, so I don't have to keep
staring down, I apologize.
CHR. DAVID: That's totally fine. Thank you.
CHIEF FERREIRA: First, I want to thank you for this opportunity to come
before you and respond to any questions that you may have regarding our budget
submittals. I must say this has somewhat changed from what I'm used to,
coming before the Council. Normally, we're looking at budget cuts or changes in
our budget that—taken away from us. This is the first year, in a long time that I
can remember, I'm actually coming here, and here is some significant long
overdue increases in our budget.
The increases that are included in our budget for the fiscal year 2019-2020 came
about as a meeting that I had with Mayor Harry Kim on December 27h. At that
time, Mayor Kim instructed to put in provide him with information as far as our
funding priorities; what do we need going forward. Stop being a(inaudible) and
say, "Okay yeah, we'll take here, we'll take there. Tell me what we need." So in
January, about the 14'', I submitted to Mayor Kim our priorities, our funding
priorities.
And that was an easy thing to come up with, because for years we've been
pushing back, pushing back,pushing back, and say, "Okay, we'll make do with
what we have." So it was very enlightening that he said, "Put this through," and
we did. And that is what you have before you. That's why I didn't have a
supplemental budget to submit to you when asked. Our supplemental budget is
actually included within our budget right now. Before going into, specifically
into these increases, let me recap some of the challenges that had impacted our
department in the past year.
In 2018, our department resources, like the rest of the County, were impacted
greatly, and we were taken to the end of all ends. For us, it began in January
2018, where a Puna patrol officer got shot in the leg while responding to an
incident in Hawaiian Beaches Subdivision. Then there was the volcanic
eruptions. It impacted everyone and taxed the County resources, and it's still
impacting the County. And it impacted our patrol operations in the Puna District
as everyone is well aware. Then the other disaster that occurred that impacted us
was the flooding that occurred in April and in August of last year. Then finally,
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the most devastating thing that impacted our department was the murder of
Officer Bronson Kaimana Kaliloa. And to this day it is the darkest day in my
career. And to this day we're still feeling the impacts of it, and we will continue
to do so for a while yet.
I'm proud to say that through all of these events the men and women, both sworn
and non-sworn of the Hawaii Police Department, never wavered in providing the
community with exceptional service. I know there are those out there that will
totally disagree with my statement right there, and I'll be the first to admit that
we are not perfect. There are a lot of areas that we can improve on, there are a lot
of areas that we can change, but with the resources that our officers have and
what they have to deal with and what our civilian staff has to deal with, I believe
in my heart that they're doing an exceptional job.
When you review our department's budget, you'll notice in the narrative form
that we respond to the needs of the community. Whether it involves natural
disaster, whether it involves having to change our goals and objectives, whether
the implementation of new technologies or addressing Homeland Security, school
safety, participating in public forums, we go—our men and women go out there
and do it. All this wouldn't be possible without the dedication of the women and
men from the Police Department.
I would be remiss at this point if I didn't recognize also the outstanding efforts of
our administrative and our financial staff. Monitoring our department's budget
and keeping us in line, making the changes necessary so that we can effectively
operate throughout all of these changes. And I'm also grateful to the command
staff that I have out there, that is monitoring the operations in the field, and doing
what they need to ensure that we stay on track with our budget. And they have
been doing that.
As I stated earlier, our budget includes some very significant increases that have
been long overdue as it relates to sworn and nonsworn positions, funding to
replace antiquated and unreliable video equipment in our detention facility, and
funding for our department to proceed with a body-worn camera project, which
I'm sure everyone is concerned with.
At the top of the list for our increases is what I preached from the day I was
appointed Chief. The top priority is our first-line supervisory positions. It was
recognized in 2012 that the Hawai`i Police Department, when we went before the
commission on accreditation on law enforcement officers, that one of the
lacking—where we were lacking was first-line supervisors out in the field, and
we need to address that. It opens us to great liability. The cost for a supervisor,
it will be far less annually than a lawsuit that comes—arises because of lack of
supervision. It is more in the areas of our smaller districts; North Kohala, South
Kohala, Hamakua, North Hilo, and Ka`u. The positions that we are asking for
now is just to stabilize the operations that we have out there. It is by no means
"all what we need." For the most part, our research has shown that
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approximately 44 percent of the time these smaller districts have been operating
without a supervisor, and a supervisor needs to be called in from one of the
adjoining districts.
So you'll see that in our budget that we're asking for a lieutenant for the
Ka`u district. We're asking for two patrol sergeants in the South Kohala,
North Kohala, and Ka'u districts. We're asking for another patrol sergeant in the
Kona, South Hilo, and Hamakua districts.
Next on the list is, I know it will be put forth by Council Member Matt Kaneali`i-
Kleinfelder as a request, a resolution. We have the increases that involve
20 additional patrol officer positions that is slated: 10 for Puna and 10 for Ka`u.
It goes without saying that the District of Puna has come to be known as the
fastest growing district in the State of Hawaii. That is without question. And
the area that they patrol is equal to the size of Oahu. So the idea of having to
need additional officers, yeah, it's a realistic idea. We have long recognized that
in the department. That is the reason that when we do recruitments and when we
fill vacancies, for years we have staffed Puna 100 percent with patrol officers.
We've left the vacancies in the larger districts, of Kona and South Hilo, hoping to
absorb some of that.
But what is not recognized is the next district, the District of Ka`u. That is fast
becoming the next Puna district in size, in calls for service, in area of
responsibility. I don't know if you're aware, but Ka`u district is larger than the
Puna district, yet, I have 17 patrol officers assigned to the Ka`u district at present,
which means I have two to three officers on duty at any given time covering that
area from Manuka to the National Park boundary. Now, if you've travelled that
road, you know what a distance I'm talking about. Think of yourself being in
Manuka asking for an officer's backup, knowing that your backup is coming
30 minutes away. So you've got to be really good at being able to talk your way
out of things. That is the reason why we have asked for the additional officers in
Ka`u.
If you ask me if these increases, maximizes this is our patrol officer staffing
positions and no more is needed, my answer would be absolutely not. Police
work is inherently dangerous. It doesn't matter whether you're in Puna, you're
Hilo, you're Kona, it can happen anywhere. Just look at what happened recently.
In 2013, two South Hilo police officers were shot on Kilauea Avenue. In 2015, a
North Kohala police officer was shot in the arm while responding to a domestic
incident. And just recently, the incidents that occurred in Kona and North
Kohala again.
Now chances are, if you're working in the Puna District, Hilo District, or Ka`u
or Kona Districts, there's a lot more going on; yes, your odds are greater. But it
doesn't take away from the fact that no matter where you are on the island, if
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you're wearing the blue uniform, your job is dangerous, and we need to
recognize that.
I know that there's some in the community, that they write letters to the editor.
They make comments that the Police Department in Hawaii is way overstaffed.
That they patrolled in California in large areas with only one or two officers on
the beat. Well, I can compare that to when I came into the Police Department,
and I was in Puna. Ten years—in 1982, I spent ten years in Puna. At that time, I
was one of the very last officers probably to work a graveyard shift solo. Get
your backup, stayed there until midnight. After that, you were by yourself, and
they told you if anything happens, wait until Hilo arrives and go for it. Well, it's
changed a lot, so I cannot compare what I did then to what's happening now.
Same as what's being written.
According to the Department of Justice, the estimate is 2.1 officers per 1,000
population. So with the population of Hawaii Island being little over 200,000,
we have approximately, and with the increases, we'll have 481 officers, sworn
officers. We'll have approximately 2.4 officers per 1,000 residents.
This places our department, about ranking 27h in the nation, with the lowest
being 1.6 and highest being 7.6. But if you take into consideration that these
ratios are just that, ratios, and according to Department of Justice, you do not use
it solely to determine staffing. You need to take into account geographical areas.
You need to take into account calls for service. Where are your needs when you
look at this? And not just go by ratio.
You know, in addition to the increases on patrol divisions across the island, also
included is we have another Police Officer III for our Traffic Enforcement Unit
on the west side of the island. Currently, we have two Traffic Enforcement
Units. One operating our of Area I, and one operating out of Area IL They
handle all fatalities. They take care of all fatalities, and they run pretty much all
of our special enforcement projects: DUI(Driving Under the Influence),
roadblocks, distractive drivers.
Right now, the staffing in Hilo is one Sergeant and four Police Officers III. The
staffing on the Kona side, is one Sergeant and three Police Officers III. We want
to balance it out. We want to make sure that they have the resources necessary so
that the west side can operate the same as the east. They can operate
independently of our Patrol Divisions. They don't have to contact Patrol and take
the Patrol resources to do upper projects.
The last one position that is included in our budget is the Police Sergeant to
oversee our department's Body Worn Camera Program to implement here
shortly, along with two Information System Analyst III positions. In adopting the
use of body worn cameras for our Patrol Divisions, staffing needs to be there to
perform the necessary maintenance, the data redaction, the collection of videos,
responding to requests from the media and the community for these videos. In
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talking to my counterparts from across the State—and by the way, we are the
only county in the State of Hawaii that the Police Department has not deployed
body worn cameras, which is why I'm coming before you with this, as well. But
they told me that before you just implement the cameras, look at what you have.
Make sure you have the people in place to take care of it. Don't implement and
then look for the personnel, because now you're putting yourself behind the
eight-ball. That's what we're trying to do. I'm trying to learn from my
counterparts. It's always better not to reinvent the wheel then to try and go
forward.
And as well, body worn cameras, it's just another tool for law enforcement. It's
to help to document all the interactions that officers have with the community.
It's not a fix-all. It's not a silver bullet. It's not going to prevent everything that
they think it will, but it's another tool for us.
Next on the list of our personnel is two Evidence Specialists. These are positions
that you might see on NCIS. If you watch tv, you know, evidence collectors,
right? These are the people that, with all the high-tech equipment they come out
and the take care of the scenes. Right now, our Crime Lab consists of one
Criminalist III, two Criminalists II, and two Evidence Specialists IL They are
based out of the Hilo station, where our Crime Lab is located. So naturally, the
services are pretty much isolated to Area I, East Hawaii.
In the event of a major incident on the west side, a murder, a homicide, a robbery,
something that requiring their expertise, we will deploy them. But just think, it
takes them an hour and a half, at best, to get across the island, to get to the scene.
So because of the delay, we stand the change of this evidence disappearing. That
is what we're looking at included in this budget, is to place two Evidence
Technicians in the Kona Criminal Investigations Division that can respond
directly. This will free up our detectives to do what they do best, interviews
interrogations and investigating the crime, and let the experts deal with finding
the evidence.
The next positions that we are asking for within our department is for our
Communications Dispatch Section. And since I'm bringing up dispatch, I want
to pass this shout-out to the Council; to Council Chair Aaron Chung and all the
Council Members, this is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week,
where dispatchers, 9-1-1 operators, are recognized across the nation. And I
thank you for that Letter of Certificate that was presented to the dispatchers
and a luncheon on Monday. It was very well received. And we need to
recognize them. Their jobI could not do their job. They're on an emotional
rollercoaster that I would not survive. We're asking for one supervisor and five
new police—excuse me, Police Radio Dispatcher positions.
Police Dispatch operates like our Patrol Divisions; 24/7, 365 days, 3 shifts a day.
So my like our Patrol Divisions, if you want to place another dispatcher on the
shift, I need of minimum of five new positions, and that will equate to one new
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body on each shift. Absent, days off, holidays, vacations, sick leaves, those in
nature.
So right now what we have is, in our Dispatch Section, we have four consoles,
radio consoles, that operate and do the 9-1-1 operation and emergency traffic.
One is for the Kona District; that is all they do. The other is South Hilo, doubles
with North Kohala. The other is South Kohala, North Hilo, and Hamakua
tripling up. The next one is Puna and Ka`u, doubling up. What we're looking at
is adding another radio console in the Dispatch Center. So we need that other
dispatcher position to separate the Puna and Ka`u Districts. Puna is far too busy
to be having to duplicate their efforts with another district. When something
happens, we need that dispatcher maintaining communications with our officers
in the field. They are the lifeline for our officers. That is the reason we're asking
for these positions.
The final personnel increase that we have in this budget is the Police Records
Clerk. Now everyone might be saying, "Oh, why you need another Clerk? What
do you need this for?" Well, as we've increased our patrol, our officer staffing or
sworn staffing over the years, we've never increased our civilian staffing. We've
always overlooked them. We figured they were going to make do with what they
have. Well right now, since January 15, they processed 22,500 requests for
reports. Another 20,000 requests for government records. That is a lot of
paperwork that needs to be dished out. And now with technology the way it is,
people are asking for electronic data files. That they have to look at. They have
to redact. They have to prepare to get out.
Under Administrative Rules of the HRS (Hawai`i Revised Statutes), we are
required to produce those documents within 10 business days. This position will
help us to meet that and taking away some of the burden from our current staff in
there who are already doing overtime just to meet their daily needs.
The next item that we've increased in our budget, and I believe it's Account 454,
dealing with our computer upgrade. Yes, our computers need upgrade. Our
systems need upgrading. Right now, it is a critical point that our computer
network is all communications between Police, Fire, and other communications
with the different districts we have around the island. Right now the system that
we do have is antiquated, to say the least. And right now those spare parts or
anything that we have on island that we need, if something was to go down. Now
what you're talking about, is disabling our 9-1-1 system, our Emergency
Response System.
The next increase that we have in there is for our East Hawaii Detention Facility.
Recognizing already, that police work in itself is highly litigious. We are adding
to it, because right now our video recording equipment in the East Hawaii
Detention Facility where we host pre-arraignment detainees, is unreliable. It's
not recording when it's supposed to be; there's gaps in coverage. So if anything
should happen and we need to go to these systems, there will be gaps in the
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video, and we need to have it in place. It is also a requirement that we have this
in place. Otherwise what it takes is having a warm body sit in front these cells
and looking at what's going on or monitoring what's going on.
This is just a recap of what we have asked for, like increases that we have
asked for. And the Mayor has put into our budget for this coming fiscal year. I
hopeI ask for your support in moving this forward and keeping these items in
place in our budget for the next coming fiscal year. At this time, I'll answer any
questions.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Chief. Chair Chung, go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Oh, okay. Hey, thank you, Chief. You know, I really wanted to
commend you guys. This is the first time that I've seen a Police Department
come in with what I consider to be an aggressive budget request. I mean, it's not
really a request because it's incorporated into the budget. But it's really
aggressive, and it's intended to address the needs of our community. So thank
you and congratulations to all of you guys. It's really the first time I've seen
something of this magnitude.
But I have a question now. You know when you guys say, "Ten positions in
Ka`u, ten positions in Puna,"what exactly does that mean? Ten new officers or
ten people on the beat at any given time?
CHIEF FERREIRA: We're asking for ten new patrol officer positions. So the
way it will work, is we'll divide that amongst the three shifts.
MR. CHUNG: Okay.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Because like I said, for us to put one officer, additional
officer out in the field per shift, requires a minimum of five new positions. And
then we can have three on the beat and two on back-up as days off, vacation, that
nature. So having ten new positions,patrol positions in the Puna District, will
mean that we'll have two additional officers per shift.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah. Okay, I just wanted to—and maybe I wasn't listening
when you came up earlier.
CHIEF FERREIRA: No, no, it took me years to figure that out myself, I mean.
MR. CHUNG: No because I kind of recall long time ago, you know, we had
started what we thought would be a momentum building program, and I learned
that x-amount of police officers means only a few people on at any given time.
CHIEF FERREIRA: And I know it's been said before, "Oh we're giving you
two officers." I said, "If you're giving me two officers positions, that's really not
going to equate anybody else new on the road."
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MR. CHUNG: That does not seem right. Right.
CHIEF FERREIRA: I mean, it's going to help; I'm not going to deny it. You
want to give me two more anywhere else, I'll take it, but—
MR.
utMR. CHUNG: Okay, but if—so two officers on the road at any time, for Puna.
That means you got lower Puna and upper Puna, one each, yeah, actually.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Well, as far as the operation within the district, I leave that
to my Commanders. I'm not going to dictate to them. They know best. I'm not
going to dictate to them, "Okay, you will have this, you will have that." What it
would mean is, right now they're operating anywhere from seven to nine per shift
per day. This will go you'll look at it more being in the area nine to eleven
every shift per day. Again, because you have to take into consideration vacation,
sick leave, you know, any authorized leaves of absence.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah. Well, I have no doubt that this request is going to be met
favorably by this body. The only question is going to be whether there's going to
be a request for more. You know, I don't know.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Like I said, if you ask me does this maximize us? I'm
going to tell you no, because I still have districts like South Kohala. South
Kohala that is operating on a minimal strength. Right now,just in the recent
months in South Kohala, when there were officers that were out on industrial
leave, with officers out on military leave, we actually had to pull officers from
Kona to work in South Kohala. And now, that impacts two districts.
MR. CHUNG: You know, we did approve the GET. There's been talk about
flexibility. But it's not inconceivable that even without giving, you know, being
given flexibility, we could use some of those monies for patrol officers because
it's transportation related. So I think, especially with Ashley, Maile, and Matt,
they'll probably be discussing this matter more with you because it—there may
be a push for more officers, actually, than what you guys have requested. But in
any event, even if there isn't a push, I think it starts the momentum. You know, a
yearly buildup maybe towards that certain goal.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Yes, because the last time we got new positions was in
2015, from the Council then.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah.
CHIEF FERREIRA: And it was ten positions; five went to Ka`u, oh excuse me,
2013 five went to Ka`u and five went to Puna. That was the last big increase.
We had two new positions in 2015, but these were cops in schools positions that
we applied for the DOJ(Department of Justice). We have looked at the DOJ to
apply for additional community policing officers. But then what happens is,
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because the DOJ has cut back their funding, they no longer fund 75 percent. It's
pretty much going to about 40 percent, so we have to come up with the rest, and
we haven't been able to up to now. So maybe if you say there's additional funds
that might be available, we may be again able to go back into the DOJ and ask for
more positions.
MR. CHUNG: Well, you've got to talk to Deanna, too. But anyway, thank you
though. I really appreciate what you guys are doing. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Chair Chung. Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair; and thank you, Chief.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Sir.
MR. RICHARDS: I think the first time the first budget conversation I asked
you about new officers, and you smiled at me and said, "no." And when I asked
you last year, you said, "no." I don't want to make fun of it, but I do want to
make a little bit light of it. Because as our Chairman has said, the need is out
there, and you guys have made do.
And we talked about South Kohala, I know people have been out on industrial, I
know they've been out on family leave. All good reasons, but then we have
pukas in the coverage.
If I'm reading this right, help me out, Deputy. I appreciate you getting back to
me on the information. Last time you had any appreciable increase in your force,
size, as you just mentioned, 2013. If I'm reading this right, is it 32 officers and
10 clerical. Is that what I'm ?
CHIEF FERREIRA: It comes out to 42. So I believe it's 31 sworn positions and
11 support positions, yes.
MR. RICHARDS: Alright. I appreciate that. And we've had this conversation
before; if we strictly look at the metrics of, what did you say, 1.2 officers per
thousand people, we're fine on the textbook. But the fact that we're such a huge
strung-out County, that's where problem goes. So I do fully appreciate the fact
then. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder put forth an initiative for we need more police,
but we know that. So I appreciate that paperwork coming forward. I appreciate
the stand of"Okay, we may do, may do." 2013, is six years ago now. And so
our population has continued to grow. Our community needs have increased.
You know, it doesn't sit well with me, what happened 2018. You guys faced a
lot of hard stuff. Even in my district, North Kohala. What's going on?
I appreciate coming forth with a—and I'll use the term "bold" initiative, to make
a difference and make a change, and it's going to start with your personnel
because that is your resources. And I know, and we've talked about this,
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North/South Kohala. Ka`u is big, North-South Kohala is big, too. If you get a
call from the mountain road, it would be a half hour before they get to Waikoloa.
Just the way it is because of the geography.
Anyway, I appreciate this coming forth. I appreciate your update and
conversation. As we go through this, I hope next year when I ask, you're going
to say "yeah" instead of"no."
CHIEF FERREIRA: Every year we've asked for officers.
MR. RICHARDS: Yeah.
CHIEF FERREIRA: We've asked, you know, supplemental budget. But you all
know how the economy was, and supplemental budgets never made it to this
level. That's why I was very appreciative when Mayor Kim told me, "Your
hands are free. Ask for what you want."
MR. RICHARDS: Yes.
CHIEF FERREIRA: I said, "Okay, I'm going to ask for what we need right now,
not what I want." If I ask you for what I want, we'll be here until next week
explaining all the positions that I want. But I know our boundaries, what we
need to—our restrictions as far as recruitment and retention. But this will help us
going forward. And if it can be a momentum, great; we can move this forward.
And I know what Council Chair Chung had said, back in 2013, that was the
proposal. That we were going to continue to see small increases across the board,
but it never happened.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, and I appreciate that. So again, I appreciate this
coming forth. You've heard me ask that before, and I just want to put it out
there. The central police station, Chair, this is something that deeply concerns
me as far as the maintenance of that building. And so I do want to get that out
that we have to talk story about it. We need to take care of it. Because again,
that's a certain level of the County pride and thereby, our officers that take care
of us. We've got to help take care of them. So with that, I'll yield.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Can I add something to that, sir? As far as the facilities
maintenance yes, the main police station is in dire need of, if I had my way
replacement, but maintenance and improvements. But before that goes forward,
what is more critical to us is a new 9-1-1 operation center. If any of you come
into our 9-1-1 center, you'll be walking back saying, "I know exactly what the
Chief is talking about." That facility right now was intended for two people. We
have seven working at any given time. It's cramped. It doesn't help our
retention for our Police Radio Dispatchers, nor does it help our recruitment for
our Police Radio Dispatchers. Their working conditions are terrible, and I give
them credit for what they do in there. But that should be on our forefront. And I
know Mayor Kim has made it a point, and he's told us that we'll be going
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forward with the new joint communication center. I hope it's a reality before I
leave the department, at least. Thank you, sir.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chief. It sounds like I'm going to come take a
tour with you. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Chief, and everyone in
your department for being here. I just have so much aloha in my heart for all of
you, and the hard work that everyone in your departments puts in every single
day to keep our communities, our children, our families, safe.
You know, I had the opportunity to meet with Captain Brisky and the team at the
Pahoa Station, and I do stay in close touch with the community police officers
because they're boots on the ground, and they let me know what's going on. And
when they do that, then I know what kind of resources that need to be advocated
for.
Thank you for being honest about what your department needs. Oftentimes
people just want to say, "Oh no, we're going to just make do. It's okay." But I
don't like hearing that because it puts a lot of strain on your current workforce,
and then we open ourselves up to potential liability as a County. So, thank you.
I think the 10 additional officers for Puna needed to happen a long time ago but
thank you for making that a priority. And I also want to mahalo my fellow Puna
Council Member, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, for introducing that resolution to
encourage more officers for the district. It may not seem like a lot, but I think
having increased presence does help to deter crime, and we needed important
conversations and hear from the community themselves about the critical need
for that.
You know, having said that, what other resources or tools do your officers need,
beyond just additional officers on the road? What other resources do you need to
do your jobs well?
CHIEF FERREIRA: Right now, like I said, in our budget right now we have the
monies in for our Body Worn Camera Project, that we're going forward. We also
have monies in there asking for our—you know, improving our infrastructure on
our computer side. We have recently acquired 10 new blue and white vehicles
that we should be deploying here shortly. Those are only 10 vehicles, that we
probably will be asking, looking at our budget, can we squeeze in a couple more
for our officers out in the field to utilize out in the field whenever they're
transporting prisoners that need to be behind the cage.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And I know that we simply can't arrest our way
out of the problem. After hearing the stats that Prosecuting Attorney Mitch Roth
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shared with us this morning, about how we are over capacity at the jail, what
more can we be doing to get to the root causes of crime?
CHIEF FERREIRA: Actually, a lot of it is education; you know, getting the
education out there. Right now Hawai`i County has a serious crystal meth
problem that has to be addressed. We addressed it constantly through our
officers and we also use Federal agencies to assist us with it.
I know back in, some 10 years ago, it seemed like the meth problem went away
because you stop seeing all these advertisements on the air, you stop seeing the
TV spot saying that meth is bad. Well, culture shock, it never went away. It's
always been here; it's never left. We need to continue to address that.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So what exactly? What more can we be doing as a
Council?
CHIEF FERREIRA: It's just our officers, and we need the community's help
when they see something, say something, Not just, "Oh, that's not my kuleana or
it's not my responsibility."
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, and I wonder what other things we can do to deter
people from starting to use meth in the first place. It comes down to lack of
educational or economic opportunities if it's because they have a lot of time on
their hands or don't feel like there's any way out with their lives.
CHIEF FERREIRA: I think if you could solve that one, that would be the silver
bullet.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. We are working on it. You know, I was going
through the larger department operating budget book, and I noticed that the
amount of hours your staff has allocated for training has gone down significantly.
So the actuals in 2017-2018 were 50,000 training hours, and then this current
fiscal year it's about 7,000, and then the proposed fiscal year is 7,000. Can you
elaborate on that, what those trainings are? Because I get a little bit concerned
about making sure that our officers have all the kind of training, they need to be
effective out in the field.
And specifically, this has to do with behavioral health issues. I think there are a
lot of people out there that need help, that are struggling mentally. You know,
it's not a crime to have a behavioral health issue. So I just want to make officers
have the training they need to be able to interact with these individuals with
sensitivity so that they're not triggering any type of behavior that can then turn
violent.
CHIEF FERREIRA: The training hours that you're seeing, if you're looking at
the program objectives ?
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Okay, we've adjusted our program measures beyond what
was listed before. I think before we were just going with a status-quo amount of
hours. And not only looking at hours outside of our recruit class, outside of our
in-service training that we were incorporating there, realizing that every year we
come in with a lot higher number than what's listed in our budget. So for this
next fiscal year, I think we increased it to 25,000 hours.
That includes all of our training. That includes our training in our recruit classes.
That includes our training in-service training that is conducted on a weekly basis,
depending on what it is. We have training involving mental health issues. We
have training involving crisis intervention. That is an ongoing training. That is
not a one-time deal. We constantly look at opportunities that we can get away
with. Having trainers come here. Having joint trainings with the other agencies
across the state. Right now a lot of our trainings, because of the size of Hawaii
Island, we do our training remotely via our network. So, the training is ongoing.
You'll see, like for right now, I think it's up to 7,000 hours currently for this year.
It will continue to increase, depending on what the trainings that are coming out.
Our biggest challenges with training, again, is the size of Hawaii Island. Getting
all the officers across the island in one place to do the training in one place to do
the training, or one area to do the training. So that's it's invaluable that our
computer infrastructure is there so they can do it remotely, they can do it while
they're on the road, they can do from their mobile data terminals.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, what does your leadership training look like, when
an officer is promoted to sergeant? How do we prepare individuals to step into
these leadership roles?
CHIEF FERREIRA: We do what they call a Goal Shield Training, and they go
over naturally with, you know, supervisory courses, what ethics training you
need—excuse me—going over what the timesheet, what a contract reads. It's a
week-long training that we conduct whenever we have large promotions. And
we also do training inside the of the agency. When an officer goes to Puna, he's
promoted to sergeant. He's a Patrol Sergeant in the Puna District. They have to
go through training within the district to learn what the district is all about; what
they need to know out there.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, that's great. I just have a couple more questions.
What is your department doing to have an increased presence in the schools, in
the sense that, you know, we have programs or resources in place for them to see
officers as friends? Or what are we doing to potentially cut down on the juvenile
crime rate?
CHIEF FERREIRA: We do have School Resource Officers across the island.
The latest, I believe, we got was in 2015, and that was an additional School
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Resource Officer in Kea`au, and one in South Kohala. Prior to that, we had one
in Pahoa, one in Ka`u. Hilo has two. Waiakea, Hilo Intermediate, Konawaena,
Kealakehe, South Kohala has, the Middle School in Honoka`a has one School
Resource Officer. We're committed to that program of leaving the officers in the
schools.
And the way we increased it, well, if you're as old as I am, you go back where
we used to have a HI-Pal Program (Hawai`i Police Athletics League), and we had
two officers committed to the HI-Pal Program. They would take care of the
program across the island. Well, a lot of the smaller communities were lacking in
services, in the smaller schools. So what we did, and I don't take credit for this,
it was under Chief Kubojiri, what he did was we pushed out those two positions
into the field and then we told our School Resource Officers, "Now, you are
responsible for taking this program to the schools." And they were doing it
anyway.
In North Kohala, the School Resource Officer, the Community Policing Officer
was going out to the school, teaching the kids, teaching them intramurals. Same
thing was happening in Ka`u because they knew that their program or the HI-Pal
program wasn't out there. So under Chief Kubojiri, that was moved out to our
School Resource Officers. That's how we're reaching out.
And we continuously participate in any fairs, community fairs, school resource
fairs; if we have Career Day, then we'll proceed to there. We opened up our
department for visitation tours that we constantly hold during the school year.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you so much for elaborating and sharing with the
Council and the community on that. The last question I have had to do with
communications, and I wonder if we had sufficient infrastructure in the fields,
specifically I'm thinking about Puna and how oftentimes reception is very spotty.
I just want to make sure that the correct—like radio towers or infrastructure is in
place so that your officers are able to communicate with each other.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Yeah, there is a County program right now in place, and it's
under—it used to be under Civil Defense. I believe there's John Drummond in
there that now is heading program, and that is to boost the radio towers across
this island. We're hoping that HELCO will put their tower back up in the
Pohoiki area so we can get communication reestablished down in Kalapana, in
those areas.
Communications on this island has always been a challenge. From the time I was
a patrolman, it was a challenge. And we didn't have cellphones back then, so it
was even more of a challenge. But it's always been an issue; because of the size
of this island and the geography, it's going to maintain an issue. But again, it is
being addressed, as much as we can.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, thank you. You know, I'll just—I'll leave with, it's
great that we're getting more officers for Puna, but considering there's no mauka
to makai connectivity, I hope that within the County, specifically within the
Planning Department and that hui that's dedicated to looking at how we can
make that happen, that it happens faster. That way your officers are able to get to
the station in so much more—in just a quicker time than they're having to drive
right now.
So thank you for being here. And again, thank you to everyone in your
department for serving community. Especially last year, it was a challenging one
for all of us. Thank you.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Thank you. Thank you for the support.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Thank you, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go
ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Good afternoon.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Sir.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Sir, how we doing?
CHIEF FERREIRA: Still here.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Good to see you guys. I hope you're not
falling asleep over there and thank you for staying all day. I appreciate it.
I just want to say thank you for fulfilling that request from the community. It's
really where it came from. I'm just the conduit. They kept asking before I ran.
It's been a problem, and it just continued to be a problem, and I didn't realize that
the problem is bigger than Puna to this. That's where I live. I didn't realize it
stretched further into the other parts of the island, even to Mr. Richards' side of
the island. I'm glad the "ask" came in, and that it actually made its way to the
budget. That just really makes me happy. And thank you for being a part of that.
I wanted to let you know and I did want to ask with the increased officers, is
there a chance that we could decrease some of the overtime that we're seeing in
the budget? It's a big number; it's a big amount of overtime. I know it is what it
is, but at the same, can we help that all by having these extra positions?
CHIEF FERREIRA: As our extra positions—as the position get filled, naturally
overtime will decrease as far as overtime that is amassed because of shortages.
But as in previous years, we were asked before in a Council and I always had to
respond to it, is you budget"x" amount of dollars for overtime; yet your overtime
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budget is always ten times what you ask for. Why don't ask for what you need?
Well, in police work, you never know what you're going to need as far as
overtime goes.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah.
CHIEF FERREIRA: One natural disaster, where we have to deploy all of our
officers, will kill our overtime budget. The lava flow incident in Puna coupled
with the rainstorms, coupled with the killing of the officer, that killed our budget.
Our overtime budget was zero, I believe, from couple months ago. We depleted
it.
So how much can we ask for? How much do we ask for? We always ask
conservatively, and we always go way over our overtime. But it normally comes
out of our own Salaries and Wages. We don't go outside of it.
Naturally, if we do increase the officer positions, yes it should decrease our
overtime; however again, one natural disaster, one major crime, one deployment,
and we may end up hitting the mark again.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I appreciate that. I have friends in the
force, and I appreciate everything they do. It would be nice if we could decrease
that number and get you what you need to serve the island better. If we can meet
that jointly from two different sides, great. If we can work towards that, great.
And I do understand what we've been through in the last I would say in the last
four years, five years. We've been through a lot. Again, thank you for
everything you do, and I appreciate it. I look forward to what happens July 1st
CHIEF FERREIRA; Thank you for the support, sir.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Chief, for being here. We
family, so I promise it will go easy.
Earlier today we heard a very long discussion with our Prosecuting Attorney's
Office about the Spillman program and the spike in overtime hours that this is
causing for their department. Again, because of time, if you and Mitch Roth
could maybe put your folks' heads together and maybe look at some different
opportunities there to not only help reduce his overtime hours or maybe create
better efficiencies there, and then come back to us. Because again, we'll see
another pass, another iteration, of this budget in May, so hopefully we can use
that opportunity and give you guys some space to have a conversation.
And then also, looking at our counterparts, especially Kauai County I understand
uses the program. They, from what I understand, like the efficiencies of it. So
maybe there's some tools and processes that the Kauai Police Department is
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using that we aren't using here, and maybe through processes or through some
training we could actually get to the same efficiencies.
CHIEF FERREIRA: We have been touched with Kauai Police. And in fact,
when we rolled out our system, we had members from the Kauai Police
Department here assisting us with training. We've been in constant contact with
the Kauai Police Department because they have the exact same system. We
have a representative from Spillman. That was written into the contract. He's
here on island; he's here for a year plus some to be assisting us with the rollout or
the deployment.
I find it interesting that I had to find out today about the issues with the
Prosecutor's Office as they meet with my staff constantly on the deployment of
the Spillman program. The Spillman program has not resulted in overtime cost
for our department. In fact it'sI know there's some glitches to it, that nothing's
perfect. When we went from the Wang to Denali system, people were yelling
and telling us, "Get back to the Wang." When we went from Denali to Spillman,
people are saying that we should go back the Denali system. And if you take it to
your own personal experiences, when you went from a rotary phone to a, and I'm
old, so I say rotary phone.
MR. RICHARDS: Chief, these guys don't know that kind stuff.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Okay. Well, you went from a flip-phone to an Apple.
We had challenges. I still haveI have an Apple, and it's like I wish had a
flip-phone again. But there's always going to be challenges. There's always
going to be people that are not going to appreciate what we have.
We have taken some of our patrol officers that are really good at it, and we've
put them into—taken them off the road and helped get them to help us to deploy
this or help to train. They're open to go into the Prosecutor's Office. I'm more
than open in talking to Mitch, and I've got no problem discussing it with him and
working out some of the bugs. I know his people are not keen on it, they're not
happy with it. But I understand that they're also rolling out new system here
shortly. And interface has to be done both ways. So yes, we will open the
discussions.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chief. That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Like
Chair Chung, I see this as a very aggressive budget. I'll just put it out there, I
will be supporting the new positions. Just plain and simple, it's more than
needed. It's just absolutely necessary.
However, another kind of food for thought. I understand the need for the new
officers, but I have a general concern about the attrition rate and some of our
officers that will be retiring. So my general concern is, it's kind of this ebb and
flow, right? We push them in, but then they still end up—we're still at status
quo. We're still at the same number of officers, right, because some of them
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retired, everybody bumps up, and we still have open positions. So if you guys
could give some thought to some of that succession planning, about—and it
doesn't have to be perfect, right? Just, hey, we know people are at 20, 22, mine
is at 28 years already, so they're going to be walking away really soon.
You know, people hold out for the Bargaining Unit contract, what that will look
like, what that would like for their high three. So just give some thought and
some rational nexus, that as we move new positions in some of these officers will
leave, and we still want to build up, right, the police force.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Yeah, you bring up an important point. Last year, in 2018,
I know we saw a large departure from the Police Department, and there was a lot
of factors. When we do our exit interviews, there are a lot of factors there that
made them decide that it's time to leave. Part of it is, right now we're at this
position where we-25 years ago, we had large classes, we had numerous classes
to catch up to fill the voids. Well now, these officers are hitting 25 years and
they're eligible for retirement. And for whatever reason they decide to leave,
whether it be they're not happy with my performance, they're looking for another
position, they're burnt out, they're finding—some of them were, you know, "I
realize that I'm missing time with my kids and now is my last opportunity,"they
decided to leave. So there's a myriad of reasons.
I'm hoping that with this inclusion of the 20 new officers and those other
positions that this will be an incentive, "Hey, maybe we should stick around. I
got more opportunity for promotions. I got new sergeants coming aboard, and
new lieutenants." That may give some of the younger officers on the fence line
the thought that, "Maybe I should stick around another couple of years. Maybe I
should go up until 32, when I can max out on my retirement." That is always out
there.
Last year one of the things that happened, and I think that pushed a lot of the
officers over the edge, was we had Assistant Chief Henry Tavares. Rest his soul,
immediately after retiring, it didn't take two or three months, he passed away. It
was an eye-opener for a lot of officers, saying, "Whoa, that can be me. That can
be me. I can leave here shortly," and you know, "What's going to happen?" And
I told the Police Commission over the years that right now we're in a critical
point in this Police Department.
Right now, everyone around the rank of Captain,which is all the command staff
for this Police department, with the exception of maybe three newly promoted
Captains, can leave tomorrow. They can put in their papers, myself and the
deputy included. That can happen at any given point. I don't know the exact
number, but the last number I know was 52 officers that were eligible for
retirement at any given time. That can happen, and we're aware of that.
I want to get to a point where we're 100 percent staffed. And I come before this
body, or we come this body and say, "I want 20 funded training positions. Not
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positions out in the field. I want these training positions funded." Because the
way we work now is, to hire a trainee, I have to have a vacant equivalent out in
the field. So right now, we're at 18 vacancies. So we're pushing for a class of
18. We normally try to hire at least two extra so that we know that we're going
lose some in the class. I want to come to the point where we're saying, okay,
we're fully-staffed, but I want a class ongoing with 20 officers that will fill the
void when the end of the years come and these guys leave, or we have vacancies
created that we can push these guys out there. So, it is always in our thoughts;
what can we do better, how can we entice the guys to stay longer?
The contract helps. The SHOPO (State of Hawaii Organization of Police
Officers) helps. Some of them make more than me. It's a good thing. Which is
a good thing, you know, it keeps them here. But again, it's an inherently
dangerous job. And when they see what's going on out there, it makes a
difference. The family, I don't blame them. I don't blame some of the wives tell
their husbands, "You need to leave." So, don't tell your husband that.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. And I think you hit it out of the park because crime
25 years ago is very different. So as a patrolman coming in, and I'm looking at
your officers behind you nodding, was very different. And the tools in the
toolbelt you guys got at 25 years ago is very different from the tools in the
toolbelt that you guys need today.
So with that being said, and Ms. Kierkiewicz touched upon this earlier, which
was about leadership training once they get in. However, I have a little bit of a
different optics on that and that's because I've watched so many people apply,
get into the recruit class, and realize it's a tough job. And so you start with 18 or
20 recruits and only graduate six. So again food for thought, if there is a way
either to get into the schools a little bit earlier or maybe even do career training or
cadet training, so that some of these individuals who might not know what they
want to be when they grow up or are in their early 20s trying to figure out what
they want to do, that they might get a little sampling of what an officer's work is
like. Because oftentimes it's more than just driving around and giving speeding
ticket. Because there's so many other opportunities within the department, where
yes, the first step is getting in and driving around and giving a speeding ticket.
Well, we also know that there's work with the kids, right, there's community
policing officers. There's just so much more that they could do. So, if you could
give that some of that some thought.
CHIEF FERREIRA: And we do participate in as many career fairs as we can.
We go into the schools; we do the talks. And yes, we do lose a lot of recruits
when we do the hires, and part of is the workforce that is out there right now,
they're not career-minded. It's more what's going on right now at this point. So
we do have a lot of hires that decide, "Okay, this is not for me."
And if you look at, like you say 25 years ago, the hats the officers have to wear
now, the beat officers have to wear now, are ten times what I had to wear. They
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have to be a counselor. They have to be a medic. They have to be psychologist.
They have to be a clergyman. There are so many issues out there now that we
never had to deal with. And that's why when I talk to parents, I said, "You have
to talk to your children. What your children are going, what your kids are going
through is nothing compared to what we go through."
On a funny part of that, is you should listen to some of the calls we get into our
Dispatch Center, some of the calls for assistance. A mother asking us for a police
officer to come to her home because she took the phone away from her ten-year
old son, and he's throwing a tantrum and she cannot handle it. And it's like but
we send an officer. We send an officer then to be the good guy, to talk to them.
But in your mind, you're thinking if you cannot handle them at 10, God forbid,
what's going to happen when they're 16?
But those are the kind of calls we go through, but those are the kind of things that
our officers need to do. There's a lot of challenges out there that they have to
face. I don't mean to make light of it, but it does happen. That is the reality of it.
And when they do come into the Police Department and when they hit the road,
they are faced with a lot of challenges, and they are faced with things that, you
know, they never thought was there.
We do a realistic job interview with our dispatchers, where we actually can take
our dispatchers, individuals that are applying for dispatch, and bring them into
our Dispatch Center and let them sit there and listen to what's going on. You
know how much we lose because of that? But it's realistic. we show them what
is going to be expected of them. I wish we could do that for police officers, but
there's a lot going on with Police.
Our officers go through to ten months of training, little over six and a half months
of academics, and a little over three and half months of on-the-job training or
field training. So it takes us almost ten months to train an officer ready to be
solo, and they need that. They need to be trained that way. But yes, we do look
at every chance—we take every opportunity we can to get the word out.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chief, for everything you folks have done. This
year has been incredibly emotional for your department. Thank you. Thank you
everyone for being here. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Chair Chung, go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, this is going to be really quick. Less than a minute, I think,
because we have a lot of questions for Corp. Counsel and Liquor.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Oh, yeah. Attack Liquor,please.
MR. CHUNG: Right, right.
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CHIEF FERREIRA: Hi, Gerald.
MR. CHUNG: But this kind of relates to what was asked and what was
discussed. All I ask from you are one of two answers; it should be okay, or it
might be a problem. We never thought about this. But when you get 20 new
positions, will we be able to recruit 20 new quality police officers in addition to
what we normally would be?
CHIEF FERREIRA: Give me 30 and let me try and answer that.
MR. CHUNG: Okay, 30. How's that?
CHIEF FERREIRA: No, we're going to do everything in our power to get those
positions filled.
MR. CHUNG: Okay.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Right now we have a recruitment that is ongoing. We have
72 applicants to fill the 20 positions that we will have by April—May 1st. If this
budget goes through, we're already talking to County HR (Human Resources) of
doing another recruitment here very shortly, to get another pool going; and if it
needs be, we'll do another recruitment after that.
MR. CHUNG: Okay.
CHIEF FERREIRA: We'll do what it takes to get those positions filled as fast as
we can.
MR. CHUNG: Alright. Not a problem then?
CHIEF FERREIRA: No.
MR. CHUNG: Good.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Chair Chung. Mr. Richards.
MR. RICHARDS: Yeah,just another follow-up, quick question. You said you
want to come and ask us for 20 funded recruiting positions. What's the number?
If you had to put a number out for budget, what's the number?
CHIEF FERREIRA: Off the top of my head?
MR. RICHARDS: Yep.
CHIEF FERREIRA: I couldn't even venture to think what 20 positions would
cost.
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MR. RICHARDS: If you want to get back to me, that's fine too. But as we are
thinking about retooling, let's know all the numbers. That's why I like about
how Chair Chung has asked that we get the supplemental budgets. Let us know.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Okay, right now if you're looking at the 20 new patrol
positions, the police officer two positions that will eventually happen, right now
they're running around $800,000 per ten, so it would be somewhere in that range.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, and that's for the recruit class?
CHIEF FERREIRA: Yeah. I mean, it would be somewhere in that range, so
you'll be looking, give or take, $100,000.
MR. RICHARDS: $80,000 a recruit. Okay, thank you. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Ms. Villegas, go ahead.
MS. VILLEGAS: My apologies for keeping you up here.
CHIEF FERREIRA: No, not a problem.
MS. VILLEGAS: I just had a question. I represent District 7, and as the island
as a whole has seen a huge increase in the population of homeless, houeless, and
chronic homeless people, I'm constantly being asked by constituents, what can
we do, how can we do it? How can we support you as a Police Department?
Because I got numerous reasons, and sometimes people's frustrations are only
more frustrating because they don't see the whole picture, but I would like to
know how I can support you guys in facilitating the help with those issues as well
as understanding, kind of what your strategies are in that capacity.
CHIEF FERREIRA: You know what's interesting, homelessness is an issue that
goes across the nation.
MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah.
CHIEF FERREIRA: We're not unique. What we are unique to here in Hawaii
Island is a lack of services. So you asked me what the community can do, what
the Council can do as a whole, as a legislative body. We need to have the other
legislative bodies like the State take some homeless on Hawaii Island. We need
to have the mental health resources that we can refer our officers to.
Now, I know it was brought up before about a critical incident team. That is
where have an officer that is assisted by a psychologist—by a mental health
professional that can go out in the field and attack all of this. Right now, we have
the officer component, but we don't have anything else. We don't have
anywhere else to take them. So as far as what you can do as a legislative body, is
what the community can do; is we need to get the word out to our State leaders,
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our legislative State leaders, our Congressional leaders, and let them know this is
what we're lacking on Hawaii Island. It cannot be Oahu-centric. You have to
bring it to the neighbor islands.
I'm very proud to say that right now the Federal presence, law enforcement
presence across the State, is reaching out to the neighbor islands. They're taking
it away from Oahu-centric, so they're reaching out to our officers. They're
reaching out to our departments and other neighbor islands.
Same thing has to happen with the services. That is what is lacking.
Homelessness is not a crime. Having somebody sit on the sidewalk, yeah, it's a
nuisance, yes it may hurt your business, but it's not a crime. We need to find a
solution. The solution is we need to get them help, and a lot of time it is either
mental help or drug abuse help. We need to get the help, and that is where the
resources are lacking.
And we are trying to get through programs. I know through the County, through
the social services, there's a LEAD program, Law Enforcement Adult Diversion
program, that we're participating in, but that is a small portion. And again,
without the mental health resources, that is going to fail without the back end of
it. I hope I answered your question.
MS. VILLEGAS: You did, thank you very much. I appreciate all that you guys
do. It's a challenging population to serve because they are also constituents in
their own capacity. So, thank you for your service.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Ms. Villegas. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Council Woman Kierkiewicz touched on a
training, and I bounced it around. We have a very vocal group of people to want
to know that we're trained properly, and our police force is trained properly. At a
County level and a responsibility level, I do think it's a necessity for us to get any
kind of training that helps all of officers deal with people who have a mental
disability or who aren't quite all there or on drugs. And on the back end of that,
get the help they need after that to deal with situations that they may not have
wanted to encounter.
But I did go online a little bit and poked around, and there's a lot of grants that
are available. I think one is actually called COPS (Community Oriented Policing
Services). There are some Federal grants that are available. We've been
touching in grants a lot here, and I think there's a push to get more grant funding
because it's alleviation from what we need to provide, and it gets programs that
we need, and it gets the finances to cover those programs.
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Just from the vocalness of the community, whether it's just Puna or not I don't
know, but it is a very vocal group, and they just want to know that we're trained.
I think it's actually in our best interest to get that training for a lot of different
reasons. So please think about that. I know you may be doing it already, but
just—my gut is telling me we need to kind of be ahead of that.
CHIEF FERREIRA: It's always good to be reminded that we need more
training. Rest assured, this body can be rest assured that we do our due diligence:
looking at grants, looking at ways that we can improve our training for our
officers. We're more aware of the needs than anyone else in the community.
That we know we need to have training on this. We need to arm our officers as
best as we can so that when they meet this individual, they have the tools. Not
only on their belt, but also in their mind; and then their training, that they know,
"I know how to deal with this. This is not a person that is on drugs, but this is a
person that may need some other mental assistance or mental health assistance."
So yes, it's not a bad thing to remind us. We always need reminders telling us,
"Okay, this is what we need to do." And rest assured, we are looking at it.
We always do look at the Department of Justice grants, like you said, the COPS
grants. We also have grants through the Department of Attorney General,
through the State. They provide us training grants and funding. We wouldn't be
able to do any of these trainings with the funding that we have,just from the
County level. So again, we do constantly reach out. Like I said earlier though,
our biggest challenge is getting everyone trained on the same page at the same
time, because of the size of the Hawaii Island. You know, I always make a joke
that people don't realize how big this island is, but you can fit the rest of the State
in this island, and you still would have room to build the rail. So, this is a large
island.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I agree. I think someone brought up "train
the trainer programs." Anything that you could use to make sure that we're
protected and safe on multiple levels, and that on the backend if something does
happen, that officer has someone to talk to about what happened, as well. Thank
you.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Thank you, sir.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. And I believe everyone
has spoken. Done? Now it's my turn. Chief, I want to thank you for, number
one, your patience for you and everyone's patience waiting to come before us.
The rest of my colleagues have asked most of the questions. But do want to just
highlight the fact that I totally appreciate the ten officers in Puna and in Ka`u
because we overlap that way, and as long as I—when I first started here, that was
the request from Ka`u. I didn't realize how many bodies it takes just to get, you
know, a couple policemen to come to a district. And I've transferred that
message to people that are going, "What's the big deal?" We only need two
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police officers," and you go, "Yeah, but that translates to ten." So anyway,
really, thank you for that.
And thank you also for mentioning the services. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder
brought up a really serious situation with our homeless and our drugs. We've
been going through the nonprofit grant process, and you're absolutely correct,
because these nonprofit organizations are giving and providing the services that
you referred to. And I really feel it's government's responsibility to have
institutions or facilities so that our community organizations don't have to hold
the brunt of it. So thank you for saying that because that's another side of the
issue that people really fail to see sometimes and that's why it makes this
problem a difficult one.
You folks are doing a great job. My aloha goes out to you and your department
for your losses and your experiences this year. So, thank you very much.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Thank you for all the support from the Council Members.
And the credit of doing a good job goes to the command staff and the people that
are out in the field.
CHR. DAVID: Yes.
CHIEF FERREIRA: We don't want to take the credit because they're the ones
that actually do the work.
CHR. DAVID: And actually, that goes ditto for us, too.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Thank you very much. And the door is open to any one of
you. You know, reach out to us, reach out to my commanders any time you have
questions.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Mahalo everybody for coming.
CHIEF FERREIRA: Thank you very much.
CHR. DAVID: Council Members, do we need a break, or we can just go
couple minutes? Perfect. I'm going to take this into recess. Two minutes.
Recess: At 4:19 p.m., the Chair called for a recess.
Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 4:25 p.m.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha, Council Members. I'm taking the Special Committee on
Finance out of Recess. I want to welcome Corp. Counsel Joe Kamelamela and
Rene Schoen.
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(6) Office of the Corporation Counsel:
(Note: At this time, Corporation Counsel Joseph Kamelamela and
Assistant Corporation Council Renee Schoen came forward to address the
members of the Committee.)
MR. KAMELAMELA: Aloha. Good afternoon. Anyway thank you, Chair, and
members of the County Council. So I wanted to introduce the better half of
myself, Renee Schoen, she's our Assistant Corporation Counsel. I also wanted to
introduce in the back there, our Litigation Supervisor, Laureen Martin, who's
been with us quite a long time now. And then one of our most important persons
in my office is Joyce Unoki, who's our Accounting/HR. Some of the other staff
members couldn't be here because of certain reasons. But I wanted to recognize
my Private Secretary, Cathy Ferreira, who works diligently and hard. I also have
a Counseling and Drafting (C&D) Supervisor, Craig Masuda, who has helped
strengthen the C&D Section, somewhat like what Ms. Martin has done with the
Litigation Unit.
I'll also recognize our Supervising Legal Technician, Emarie Carvalho, who
actually serves like a Business Manager almost like for our office; and our Legal
Technician, too, Jennifer Kualii, who does a great job supervising our clerks.
So what do we do? So we're the chief legal advisor and legal representative of
all County agencies, the Council, all offices and employees, in matters related to
their official powers and duties; and we represent the County and its employees
in all civil proceedings. So what does that mean? Well, for me it means this: we
would do whatever is needed to protect, preserve and (inaudible)the interests of
the County, because we all recognize that we have different departments who
serve different rights, duties, and responsibilities. But sometimes there's
admission to be made and we will make sure that we do it to the best of our
ability and legally.
How many employees do we have? We have 27 employees right now. We have
31 positions in the budget. We have 12 staff and 15 attorneys. Eight of our
attorneys are in the Counseling and Drafting Section (C&D), and the average
years of experience is over 10 years, so we are fortunate to have people who's
been practicing for a long time there. We also have six attorneys in litigation,
and the average years of experience there is over 15 years. We have four
unfunded vacancies. One of the vacancies have return rights, so we're waiting
for the person to come back but that person is in another department right now.
I wanted share with each of you some of the highlights that have occurred,
because this information you don't really have, but it's from July 1, 2018 to
today.
For the C&D Section, we have provided training to 465 County employees,
Board and Commission members, and part of it was also helping, like HR, with
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training the supervisors with different kind of issues that pop up there. And also
with the Police, we help out on doing the recruits and the Gold Shield. With the
Police, I have a part in my heart for them because I used to be a Prosecutor. I
worked with the police very closely. One of the things I enjoy when I train the
police is to share our experience when it comes to defending the police officers
on use of force cases, so I love doing that with the police.
We have been providing legal services and advice to 37 boards and
commissions, totaling about 250 members. There are four inactive boards and
commissions, but one of which is the Redistricting Commission that's coming up
and will be active in 2020, so that's something to look forward to.
We have reviewed and approved 1,236 legal documents, provided 321 legal
opinions, 867 documents reviewed and commented and upon, and 195 long-term
projects completed. There still are a lot more long-term projects.
The C&D attorneys had made over 1,172 appearances and meetings already.
They have also worked with departments on lava response and recovery. They
had drafted and finalized tax deeds, and they had advised, drafting, finalizing,
and (inaudible) some rules that needed to be changed. For example, like the
Salary Commission that had to be changed because of the ballot issue that went
before the people. There were some necessary changes that needed to be made.
One of the more significant one was the Charter requirement. Now, essentially a
proposed salary increase or decrease is 10 percent or more. There's a two-third
of the majority that's required to approve. So that's an important change. We
also had revised the Planning rules because of the short-term rental law that just
got passed.
For litigation, we had 132 litigation cases closed due to settlements, and
dismissal or judgements in favor of the County. There were three important
cases that I wanted to highlight. One is the Santiago jury trial in September of
2018, where the jury had determined that the force used by the police office was
reasonable; and thus, the County had no fault. But in this case, the plaintiffs paid
the County $10,000 at least, for some of the fees and costs that we had to
shoulder in that one.
Prior to last year's election, we had worked closely with all of the other counties,
where we had (inaudible) against the State on the ballot issue, regarding whether
the State can assess a surcharge on real property taxes for education. And the
answer to that, that was a resounding no. And just this month we got a favorable
final judgment from a decision of a cap award in a slip and fall case, where the
plaintiff was found 60 percent at fault, which basically means we don't pay
anything.
The litigators have also increased the amount of collections from last year. Last
year, they got$127,972. That was for all fiscal year, last year, for the Solid
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Waste, Wastewater, and other claims. So this year we're up to $177,415.95.
The litigators appeared in court hearings our arbitrations included 329 times.
What is our budget? Our budget is just a slight increase from last year's budget
due to salary increases, and these salary increases basically was for the Civil
Service. Seventy-nine of our budget is for Salary and Wages. Last year, it was
78 percent. The remainder is what is necessary to run our law office. And we
had submitted a status-quo budget.
Thank you for approving our past budgets before. I really don't have anything
else to say. Any questions? I'm here to answer.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kamelamela. Ms. Schoen, would you like to say
a few words? Alright, thank you. Council Members, questions for Corporation
Counsel? Ms. Villegas, go ahead.
MS. VILLEGAS: Sure. Hi, thank you for being here. I just have a quick
question. I have been for all of the different departments looking at the
supplemental requests and kind of adding them in to what the other spreadsheet
that we have says. According to the supplemental requests, those would have
been an increase. They're asking for another $271,523, which transitions, which
when added to the other variance, it takes the increase much more significantly.
So I just wondered in those supplemental increases, are those just how does
that affect things overall? Just because I'm trying to get a more succinct idea of
(inaudible).
MR. KAMELAMELA: Okay, thanks for asking that question. Because there's
actually two supplemental requests that are asked. The first one is in November.
That's kind of like a wish list, I mean, that's what it is. I mean, I wish I could
have more training. I wish I could have another deputy, you know. But
sometime the County don't have money so then we try to work with what we
have.
And then there's the second one. There is that—and these are costs that wasn't
anticipated until around April 8, that we started to realize that it really costs more
money to do the interest arbitrations. And then we were informed that the HGEA
(Hawai`i Government Employees Association) was going to do separately, so
now we had to deal with five instead of one or two, so those things add up. But
what I decided to do, because I don't know how much revenue we get, I am just
going try to work with Deanna on it. That's all.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, great. What I'm seeing here,just because I want to
make sure that I'm looking correctly, is there's actually eight asks that includes
things: travel and conferences, the law clerk, a laptop, miscellaneous contract
services for expert witness fees, a desktop PC, heavy-duty shredder, and a
deputy. So I just wondered that's what you're that's still all in that capacity,
correct?
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MR. KAMELAMELA: No. Well, that's a wish list.
MS. VILLEGAS: A wish list, okay
MR. KAMELAMELA: And then I don't know whether there's money because I
have no idea what the revenue is like.
MS. VILLEGAS: None of us do.
MR. KAMELAMELA: But even if we cut, like the law clerk program, we still
have law clerks.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay.
MR. KAMELAMELA: Okay, but we cannot have more. But I'm like
Council Member Kierkiewicz. It is important to give aspiring lawyers the
opportunity to work with somebody, somewhere. Because when I was in law
school, I interned with the Attorney General's Office at the UH-Manoa, and it
was experience that inspired me to be one lawyer. I don't know what kind of
lawyer I was going to be, but all I saw was "My goodness, this is fun." So I want
to make sure that we have at least some money for one law clerk.
MS. VILLEGAS: Great. Thank you, Mr. Kamelamela. And in my experience,
you're a fantastic lawyer, so thank you for dedicating your skillset to the County
of Hawaii and working with us.
MR. KAMELAMELA: Well, I actually thank my staff for working with me.
But they're a great staff. I work with them every day.
MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you.
MS. SCHOEN: If I may, Madam Chair?
CHR. DAVID: Please, go ahead.
MS. SCHOEN: I guess you know, in further answer to your question, I would
look at our supplemental requests dated April 8h, in terms of priority anyway.
We are asking for the additional amount for the five interest arbitrations, in the
amount of$140,000, and then also, as Joe said, there are travel expenses that go
along with that. That's the second priority on that supplemental budget request.
And then going over to the one submitted in November, you can see there's a
travel and conference request. You know, we are always you know, we do take
advantage of training that's offered through the web, through free training that's
offered to the Hawaii State Bar Association, but there are opportunities on the
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mainland and on Oahu that we would like to take advantage of and send our
attorneys and also our Civil Service staff.
With respect to the law clerk, in the prior years we've had two law clerks. I think
last year we cut it down to one, so this ask is to bring it up to two law clerks. The
laptop, desktop, we still need those things. The one thing that we've already
purchased would be that shredder onI think it's on the second page.
MS. VILLEGAS: So just to confirm, because I want to make sure that I have
these correctly, your first choice would be the miscellaneous contract services
with the expert witness at a $140,000? Okay, great. And then, I'm sorry, I
missed the second one.
MS. SCHOEN: It's number two on that sheet, which would be the travel local
litigation.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, atthe $10,000.
MS. SCHOEN: That's also related to the interest arbitration.
MS. VILLEGAS: Got it. Great. Thank you. That's very helpful. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas, and thank you, Ms. Schoen. Anyone
else?
MS. EOFF: Just a clarification.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Eoff.
MS. EOFF: So when we look at all of these supplemental requests, there was
last year, a submission and then a more current submission. So for most of the
departments, I guess we're just looking at their more current supplemental
request. Because like Jules said, it kind of annihilates. If they get docked then
they don't need from the previous request, right? Like you said, look at the April
8'h submission, is what you really need as your priority.
MS. SCHOEN: For our department, yes.
CHR. DAVID: Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I don't have a question. I just wanted to say thank you.
You know, typically, Joe, I see you here, and you're giving very somber legal
advice. It was so wonderful to see you so passionate and animated talking about
your department and all the really incredible individuals at Corporation Counsel.
I've had the pleasure to meet with Renee on a number of occasions as well Ron
Kim to talk about potential changes and updates to the code. So I just want to
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mahalo you. I know that the creative thinking that I'm bringing to the table is
really giving you, Joe, a run for your money. So I just want to mahalo you.
MR. KAMELAMELA: I love that, by the way.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you for all of your work. I yield, Madam Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else for
Corp. Counsel? Seeing none, Mr. Kamelamela and Ms. Schoen, thank you very
much for coming. I really appreciate all the help that you've been giving us
individually and as a body. I really appreciate that. And you're always quick to
respond. Thank you, Joyce. What are you doing in the back? Anyway, thanks
for coming. We're going to take Liquor, right, next. Aloha.
MR. KAMELAMELA: Mahalo again.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you.
(7) Liquor Control: (Note: At this time, Liquor Control Director Gerald Takase came forward
to address the members of the Committee.)
MR. TAKASE: Good afternoon, Council Members. Gerald Takase, Director
for the Department of Liquor Control.
CHR. DAVID: Good afternoon.
MR. TAKASE: I have with me our Administrator Officer, Brandon Gonzales;
and also my Administrative Services Officer, Marsha Matsui, and I wanted to
recognize her for you guys because I know you guys have lots of contingency
fund requests. She's the one that actually has to do all the paperwork to get
them through, so we thank her for making us look and making you guys look
good.
In terms of our budget, we are setting forth a status-quo budget. I don't believe
we have any supplemental budget, as well. You know, as you folks I think are
well aware, we are a self-funded agency. I will have to say that gross liquor
sales have been increasing about 10 percent, so maybe it's a good indicator for
future—the County's economy.
We have offices in Hilo and Kona. We have 18 personnel currently. I think we
just came before you to add two half-time positions in Kona.
Some of the highlights from this year, we have made strides in our IT
(Information Technology). We've created online applications with direct wine
shippers, and we're going to do online renewals starting next month. It started
slowly, but it seems to be catching on. We're probably increasing our numbers
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every month, so that's something that's good for both us and our licensees as it
will make it easier for them to do business with us.
In addition to enforcement, we've worked hard on our business development in
the last couple of years. I think it will start to pay dividends. We have several
new manufacturers: Kuleana Rum, Big Island Distillery. Ola Brewery have
come into business in the last year. Kona Brewery, I think for the Kona
people know that they're dramatically increasing their presence. They're
building a new brewery and upgrading their current one, and we welcome that.
We have spent a lot of time trying to develop and help these businesses get
running. And so it will, I think, add to the County's tax base, as well.
We are also helping a couple of projects in restorations. Luquin's in Pahoa
suffered a fire a couple of years ago, and now they're, I think,just coming out
of it now. They did open a new facility, and we're working with them to
reopen their old restaurant site, as well. And then just recently, the Hub Pub in
Kohala suffered a fire, but we're helping them relocate to the Kawaihae area to
get back on track.
In terms of community involvement, we continue with the Project Grad
functions for the schools. I know the Council Members have all kind of
stepped up and have also helped the schools. I think that is still a good program
for them. Hopefully, it makes an impact on them.
We have another project, Brave Hawaii, which we're doing in conjunction
with Augie T. He is going out to the schools with his daughter. I think it was
Mahealani Sims-Tulba. She was a former Ms. Teen USA or something. But
she has developed a program, where she's trying to work on kind of an
anti-bullying, anti-drug, anti-liquor campaign, directed mostly with
intermediate school children. We are in our second year of that with him.
Hopefully, I think it's having some impact on the children. That's about it, I
guess. So subject to any of your questions.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Takase. Any questions, Council Members?
No? Oh, go ahead. Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Gerald, I appreciate you and your
staff, especially all the work that you do to help support us with routing our
CRF (Contingency Relief Fund) requests.
The question that I have, in taking a look at the budget, there was a cut in the
public programs part of your budget by $10,000, and so I was just wondering if
you could elaborate on that. And the reason being, when we had met you had
told me about the Brave program, but the potential for other programs in
partnership with teachers and students.
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MR. TAKASE: Yeah, we still have money left over in the Brave program. It's
running into its second year. I think the primary cut from that was really out of
the Project Grad money, since the Council Members have started to fund them,
as well. We've received, I guess, significantly less requests for it, so we're just
kind of reducing it to match whatI think we have four—maybe only four
requests so far this year. I think we'll probably make a—send an email out to
the schools to just remind them. I think they've gotten money from their
Council people, so that's kind of taken over. So, that's really the primary
reduction.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, that's helpful to know. So there's still money
available under the special projects line item.
MR. TAKASE: Yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I think there's $30,000 there to start working on other
projects in the schools.
MR. TAKASE: Yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, great. Thanks for the clarification. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? No?. Well,
Chair Chung was very accurate, that was quick. Mr. Takase, thank you so
much for coming, and your staff.
MR. TAKASE: Okay, thank you.
CHR. DAVID: And have a great day. Council Members, we're in recess until
tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. Mahalo.
RECESS: At 4:50 p.m., the Chair called for a recess, until April 18, 2019, at 9:00 a.m.
RECONVENE: The Special Meeting of the Committee on Finance was reconvened in the
Council Chambers, Hilo, at 9:04 a.m., Thursday, April 18, 2019, by
Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Chair
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ROLL CALL:
Present: Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Chair
Ms. Karen Eoff, Vice Chair
Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member
Mr. Matt Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member
Ms. Ashley Kierkiewicz, Member
Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member
Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member
Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member
Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member
STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business,
FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items.
PUBLIC ON
AGENDA ITEMS: The following individuals registered to speak to comment on Bill 30 and Bill 31,
and came forward when called by the Chair:
Abelghassem Abraham Sadegh.
Sandra Demoruelle.
Jerry Warren.
Stephen Butcha.
Susie Bond.
CHR. DAVID: I believe that concludes our public testimony period, so I am
closing public testimony at this time.
DEPARTMENTAL The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next item on the agenda,
BUDGET AND Departmental Budget and Program Reviews.
PROGRAM
REVIEWS:
(1) Civil Defense Agency
CHR. DAVID: I would like to call up Civil Defense Administrator
Talmadge Magno to please take the seat, and you may ask your staff to
come with you. Identify yourself for record,please, and introduce your staff.
Thank you.
(Note: At this time, Civil Defense Administrator Talmadge Magno came
forward to address the members of the Committee.)
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MR. MAGNO: Good morning.
CHR. DAVID: Good morning.
MR. MAGNO: Civil Administrator Talmadge Magno. I have Kelsie Kalua, Civil
Defense accountant. Also with me, Administrator Officer Barry Periatt, who is
assigned to logistics and finance; and then John Drummond, who used to be an
Administrative Officer and now is the County Radio Manager.
CHR. DAVID: Alright. Welcome. Go ahead. Thank you.
MR. MAGNO: I'm aware of—everybody's gotten our packet as far as our
expenses. I've met with a few of you over the course of the last few weeks. You
know, our department is small, pretty much skilled positions, but with the Hawaii
Law 127 Alpha, during emergencies we swell to the point where we can use all
County and State emergencies—it would be State employees as our resource.
You know, times like now when there's no major incident going on, we're
catching with everything that we missed in 2018 and moving forward with our
proj ects.
You can see in our budget there are quite a few grants. This year started the
process for the Multi-hazard Mitigation Plan. We're trying to achieve a fairly,
workable, good, accurate document this time around so that we can have it
dovetailed off of the General Plan for the County. The outcome would be
projects, where if we have incidents, such as flooding or lava, that there is
actually actions associated with those disasters. So at this time, I'll open it up for
questions.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Thank you, Administrator. Council Members,
questions for Mr. Magno? Thank you very much, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Hi Talmage.
MR. MAGNO: Good morning.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: We met a couple of weeks ago, and so I just want to re-ask
some of the questions that we discussed because I thought we had a really
meaningful conversation. What are some of the lessons you and your department,
your agency, learned as a result of the Kilauea eruption, and on top of that, there
was also Hurricane Lane? What are some of the lessons learned, that you were
finding ways to now address within your operations?
MR. MAGNO: Well, after most incidents and definitely with something this size,
we do what's called an "After Action Review." We follow the FEMA (Federal
Emergency Management Agency) template in developing ours. We met with all
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the departments, partners, nongovernment agencies to ask that question. If there
are things that we can address within the departments, you know, we definitely
will take those actions. I think some of the big ones were doing is—some of the
groups that we never had much interaction with before and know that they had a
big role on what went on, we've started to work with these folks.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Would you elaborate on that a little bit more?
MR. MAGNO: Right. So a few of these groups, like the faith hui, the churches
and so forth, they apparently had been they have, I guess, group that have been
together for a while. They came together during the eruption and supported a
significant population. I've known that the plan for any kind of disaster is that
they definitely take care of their own congregations. But they were very active in
the eruption, and so they actually belong under volunteers in disasters, that big
program, which is actually a national program. So we're trying to build you
know, Susie kind of talked about that.
We're trying to bring, you know, bolster that VOAD (Voluntary Organizations
Active in Disaster) group up and bring all the nongovernment agencies under
them. You know, I think set a pretty high bar with the response to the eruption,
and we kind of want to stay at that level, and so that means bringing everything
that was successful together and fixing some of the loose ends up, which was like
this faith hui.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, I want you to talk a little bit more about that. Say
there is a storm tomorrow that hits large swaths of East Hawaii. Do you have a
plan in place where you can pull the trigger and assemble all of the entities that
are required to step up and help respond in that sort of time of emergency? Can
we pull the trigger tomorrow if a storm were to hit?
MR. MAGNO: You know, last Saturday we had that earthquake. We pulled the
trigger at that level. So I'm 100 percent certain that we'll be able to respond for
the sudden onset. You know, storms, hurricanes, they're kind of slow developing
so we watch them. But we prepare for the sudden onset, the instant kind of
disaster. I think we're better off than when we were in last May.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: The disasters that prolong, like lava eruptions. And if
there's devastation from floods or hurricanes, do you feel that you're in a position
to work through the recovery period?
MR. MAGNO: Well, we're definitely in a better position than we were in May.
The recovery, you can see the complexities that have developed with this
eruption. Whatever it is, the County is always you know, we work with the
other departments in planning. Right now we're actively working on tsunami
plans, ramping up for hurricane season.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: That's part of the Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan?
MR. MAGNO: All of that is, yes. But we constantly drill so that we're ready.
So to answer your first question, yeah, if something happens tomorrow, we'll be
ready.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: It will be more coordinated than last year.
MR. MAGNO: I think last year was coordinated anyway.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. But who was the over-arching coordinating entity?
Because I feel like it was such a big, unprecedented disaster that many felt there
was a void in terms of the County not stepping up in all arenas. And it was just
such a big disaster, I don't think any one entity could have actually taken care of
all aspects of disasters response, transition and recovery.
MR. MAGNO: Right. I think all the response, activities we were fine with. The
State stepped in to support us. Nationally, the nation stepped in to support us, as
well, through other states supporting us, and as well as the Federal government.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And did they step in because you asked them to, or they
just felt that they needed to be there to help oversee the County's response?
MR. MAGNO: It's part of the national disaster response. FEMA has gotten
proactive. They—let me step back. So HI-EMA (Hawai`i Emergency
Management Agency), whenever we need national resources or state resources,
we go to HI-EMA; so they're there all the time. The governor's, you know,
always interested. They got to brief in, so they're onboard from the get-go. As
soon as the seismicity started happening in Leilani, they were apprised of what
was going on.
The Federal Government, FEMA, they're always forward-leaning. Once they
hear of things going on in the nation where they think that they're activated, there
were here. They were on the ground listening to what was going on,preparing for
their insertion into that, into the incident. You know, everybody was here.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I think the one issue that I had with, like the Federal
involvement, was that the rotation of individuals. Every couple of weeks, there
wasn't a consistent presence by one person, and so I just felt that kind of added to
the frustration of how to respond when you have constant change of individuals
from the national level here to support. But that's just my observation.
I want to lean in a little bit on a piece that we've heard from the community, and
that is the lack of—not enough of communication coming out from the County
throughout the lava eruption. And so I'm sure that's a lesson that you feel that
you've learned very well. I just wonder what adjustments have been made within
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your operation to ensure that there is a consistent, and accurate, and timely flow
of information during times of disaster out into the community. I really want you
to think about this and how you respond because it's so critical in today's day and
age where everyone's on social media; and if we don't communicate enough,
there are these information gaps, and that's when the rumor-mill starts churning.
And the County's Civil Defense is a very credible entity. I just want to know
what your plan is. Is there a PIO (Public Information Officer? Just what is the
internal plan to get that information out?
MR. MAGNO: So what's come about through the after-action reviews is the
communication part. We had identified the Joint Information Center, which is
part of the Incident Command System, how information is shared to the public.
As far as social media, you know, that needs to be bolstered. We've identified
some groups that will do the social media tracking for us. And so that's
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Who are they? Are they within the County or would they
be contracted?
MR. MAGNO: They're contracted out.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: They're contracted?
MR. MAGNO: Yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Anything else?
MR. MAGNO: Yes. And as far as the PIO, we will work with the Mayor's
Office as far as public information.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So the flow of information, is you get the information from
the field expert then you work with the Mayor's Office to coordinate a message.
It doesn't just come automatically from Civil Defense.
MR. MAGNO: Well, their presence is they're with us. So when we get it, they
get it as well. We craft it and push it out.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: We as in Civil Defense or the Mayor's Office?
MR. MAGNO: We as you know, during an incident we're all together. The
Mayor's staff are in our office, and so through them, we're pushing out the
information.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. I guess I just want to be clear so that—there was so
much that happened over the eruption. Many lessons learned that can better
prepare our communities in times of disaster and recovery. So I just want to make
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sure that we've learned those lessons and they're formulized in documents so that
we're not starting from scratch and scrambling in the future.
One of the things that you and I discussed was climate change, and with that
comes potentially an increase in the amount of storms that hit our island. And so
I was you know, we had talked about how Civil Defense is partnering with the
community and businesses to do outreach to really make what I believe needs to
happen. Disaster preparedness is part of lifestyle. I mean, we all need to just
have "go bags"ready to go in our car, in our home. It's such a massive
undertaking. So I wonder how we can work with folks like Susie Bond's group,
you know, Citizen Corps Council through Project 360, to break it down into
manageable steps for people to achieve.
Because if you think about everything that you have to put together in your kit,
and the scanning of important documents, and getting that up on the Cloud, and
making sure you have your medicine, and your pet food, and toys for kids, it's an
enormous undertaking to do the day before we're expecting a disaster. So I just
want to know what the plan is to work in partnership with community and
business to really get people to start thinking about how they can better prepare
themselves and their families.
MR. MAGNO: Well, we've been doing it all along. Last year, with the activities,
we were not able to do a lot of the programs. So this Disaster Fair that we're
going to have in Kona was actually supposed to be scheduled for 2018. We did
our first one in conjunction with the Kamehameha Schools Ho`olaulea and Senior
Legacy Project in 2017. And so, finally getting around to the West Hawaii one.
So what I'm getting at is community outreach, as far as in getting information out
with our partners, through our CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams),
of which we have four trainings a year around the island. That gets it, you know,
down within the communities, as far as reaching out to individuals, getting them
trained up, whether they support themselves, their family, or actually join the
CERT teams. But the goal is to get it down into the communities. So,just
continue public outreach, work with our partners, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
and so forth, to get information out.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And then is there potential to pop up at various community
events? I know there's this effort on June 22nd in West Hawaii but not
everybody may be able to have the means to make it to that event, so I just
wonder if your team—do you have the capacity, or is this an opportunity to
collaborate with community groups to have a presence and really push that
disaster preparedness?
MR. MAGNO: In fact, the community the preparedness fairs came about because
we get so many requests for presentations that—trying to kind of shotgun it,
where people would come to us, you know, kind of put it out widely that people
could come to us and get a lot more information. You know, that's one way
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we're trying to achieve it. But yeah, we still have the capacity to reach out upon
request.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And if I could just make a small suggestion? I
think it would be great if you guys could launch a speaker circuit; and go to the
various rotary clubs, Chambers of Commerce, the Exchange Groups, I mean, that
is a very captive influential audience that has networks around the island, and they
can help get the message out and figure out how they can plug in to help Civil
Defense and the County. I think it also might be an opportunity to reach out to Na
Leo TV, and to record a segment about how we can better prepare ourselves as
individuals, families, neighborhoods, as communities.
MR. MAGNO: We do all of the above.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Well, that's nice to know, but I think people need friendly
reminders. Chair, I'm going to yield my time. Thank you, Talmage, for being
here. I don't envy you. You have a very tough job, and so I appreciate you and
your staff doing everything you can to ensure that we are prepared and safe.
Thank you.
MR. MAGNO: You're welcome.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. I'm going to Mr. Kaneali`i-
Kleinfelder, then Ms. Lee Loy, and then Ms. Poindexter. Thank you.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Good morning, Civil Defense. How are
you guys doing.
MR. MAGNO: Great, yeah.
MS. KALUA: Fine, thank you.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, I'm looking at the Homeland Security
programs. I'm looking at—again, I have the February Budget Status Report, and
I'm looking at what's been spent so far. So we just finished up spending 2009 in
total, and then 2015 in total. But we have 2016, 2017, and 2018 that we barely
touched. So I'm just wondering what those are because I don't know what it is,
and what our plan is to spend that and how that applies, and how that can tie into
your supplemental request, if at all.
MR. MAGNO: Yeah, so it's kind of—they've got an interesting system, so I'll
let Kelsey, the accountant, speak to that.
MS. KALUA: Hi. I'm Kelsey Kalua, the accountant in Civil Defense. And
basically, I work with the grant manager of the Homelands security grants,
William Hansen, very closely. So what happens is we get awarded by
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Department of Defense Homeland Security funds every year to kind of help with
our operations here in the County. Our projects are based on investments given
by the Federal Government. So any project that we have has to fit into usually
one of their tie-in investments. It ranges from cyber security, law enforcement,
whole community resiliency. So that is what we base our projects on every year,
and of course it needs to be approved by Department of Defense, Homeland
Security.
We just closed out 2015, which I believe the initial grant award was in 2013. So
we have two years to spend the money; three years, if we really need it, we can go
and ask for an extension. So August 31st of this year, we will have to spend all of
our 2016 Homeland Security grant funds. That one was a little different. The
only thing we have left to spend, I believe, is maybe a little over $100,000. We
gave $460,000 back to Department of Defense so that they could coordinate a
Hawaii State bomb squad.
2017 and 2018,primarily focuses on IT (Information Technology)projects and
also the expansion of current EOC (Emergency Operation Center), which we are
closely working with DPW (Department of Public Works) and IT on. I believe IT
is almost done with their projects, which included MPLS network. I believe it
was installing the equipment and fiber connectivity. Their well progressed within
their projects. And right now, we're working with DPW on starting the
construction for our current EOC (Emergency Operations Center) expansion.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So the funds from that security program,
could it be applied towards your Civil Defense Agc (Agency) OCE(Other
Current Expense) equipment repairs and other radio equipment?
MS. KALUA: Unfortunately, not. The thing with Homeland Security grant
funding is it's a they don't like to support maintenance of any kind. It's just to
get the initial projects started, and they ask that we as a County continue of the
maintenance. For example, any projects that we do for IT, let's just say they buy
a piece of equipment, that we can buy the equipment with the grant money, but
we can't use grant money to maintain it for any future years.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So could you buy your equipment that
you're asking for?
MS. KALUA: Umm, we could. Yeah.
(Note: At this time, Administrative Officer Barry Periatt came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MR. PERIATT: Good morning. I'm Barry Periatt. I'm the Administrator Officer
for Logistics for Civil Defense.
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When we submit the grant request, this is priority, the funds being awarded. We
submit for specific projects. We can only spend the grant funds that award in
Homeland Security on those specific projects. To use it in other areas of our
budget, it's simply not allowed.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I'm looking at the 2017-2018, we've got it
looks about$1.5 million. What are we spending that on then? Or do we have a
is there a plan?
MS. KALUA: Yeah, so all those funds have been obligated already. So 2017, we
have the IT, I believe it's the secure County website upgrade and also the MPLS
network connectivity project. We are currently working on installing traffic cams
to help Civil Defense get a better view, you know, during times when we need
information out in the field and are unable to get it.
Also, our EOC expansion. In 2018, we have a bunch of transfer switches that
we'd like to install in County shelters, and also the continuation of our EOC
expansion.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: What does EOC stand for?
MS. KALUA: Emergency Operations Center.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Emergency Operation Center?
MS. KALUA: Yeah. We'll be making adjustments to the back of our building,
which is the old Police cellblock, so that we can have a bigger space during times
of response to an event.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And that can't be used towards repairs?
MS. KALUA: No, not towards repairs. They're very strict with the guidelines.
Even for like design, as part of the construction, we have to work closely with our
FEMA Region 9 representatives to get their approvals. We have tried to ask for
like, you know, if we can do maintenance on generators and stuff with the federal
grant fund, and we were told"no."
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's too bad because you have like
maintenance, and generator, a/c maintenance, and other things that you could use
it for; unfortunately, it sounds like you cannot.
MS. KALUA: Yeah.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And then the 2017-2018 actual numbers in
your budget, compared to you 2018-2019 budget, and then the estimate for this
fiscal year, interesting the way the numbers are playing.
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MS. KALUA: Yes.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: It's like staff meals, was $75,000 in
2017-2018, but we're only budgeting $3,000 for 2019-2020.
MS. KALUA: Because 2017-2018 we had
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: We had a lot going on.
MS. KALUA: Yeah, we had a lot going on. We blew that out of proportion. But
yeah, we always go in with about$3,000, hoping that we're not going to get a
large event. It's pretty manageable if we don't have any huge disaster. I've been
in accounts—I've been with Civil Defense for six years, and I have never spent
that much on meals. We always try and forecast well, but I mean to forecast off
of the $75,000 I think would be unrealistic in this case. So we just look back at
what was previously spent in a more calm year, and we went off of that.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So I was looking at that. That made sense to
me. But then in the Civil Defense OCE (Other Current Expenses) Miscellaneous
Contract Service, we're actually moreI see we almost tripled what you're
asking for, for 2019-2020.
MS. KALUA: So miscellaneous contract, I believe that's the 115 account.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah.
MS. KALUA: So that I don't know if you guys know, but we overtook the
responsibility of the radio towers, the County radio towers, from Police, so we got
money transferred from their budget that they used to use to do their maintenance.
It transferred over to us. And now with the Radio Manager, that's kind of his
funds in that account. There's a big chunk, like $294,000, I believe, and that is
for him to maintain the radio system and also get it back to the shape it needs to
be so that we can be fully operational.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you. That makes sense. Yeah,
because one the one they all doubled, okay, that makes sense. But the other one
spiked, and I was just trying to figure that out. Okay, thank you.
MS. KALUA: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Good morning.
MR. MAGNO: Good morning.
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MS. LEE LOY: I'm going to lean in a little bit more, and Ms. Kierkiewicz
touched upon it, which was the communication piece over this last event, or last
two events. And I'm—like her, there's just so many venues to distribute
information. I just want to understand better, because you mentioned it was kind
of a coordinated effort with releasing information utilizing a Public Information
Officer(PIO) from the Mayor's Office. But I see in your budget you actually
have one, but that position is vacant. And so I want to understand better why the
department is not trying to stand up or fill that position. Talk to me about that,
because the communication was—needs improvement. So help me with that,
Talmadge, please.
MR. MAGNO: Some background is that just as the event kicked off,personnel
who was in that position transferred out. So we filled that void, bringing in, you
know, alongside with the PIOs (Public Information Officers)that are in the
County and the Mayor's Office supporting us, we brought in PIOs from other
departments, statewide. And so they supported us by putting information out.
The decision was made, you know, looking at the recovery portion of it, that we
needed to emphasize more on that. So that position, that PIO/Recovery
Specialist, will be rewritten as a Recovery Specialist, and transition into that,
going with the idea that the PIO out of the Mayor's Office will support us.
MS. LEE LOY: Okay, I'm just going to put it out. I have some general concerns
with that, because we rely on the information that is coming out of Civil Defense
because of all of the capabilities and technology that you guys get when these
types of events happen. And so to pluck someone out of the Mayor's Office
during this time—and I hear what you're saying, everybody kind of converges
in but in an earthquake they're running their own lives, whereas you guys have
a network and a team, and I would rather see it there.
MR. MAGNO: So let me interject. So everybody that is responsible to come
with EOC, it's stressed upon them that you've got to take care of your life in a
way that you can respond. So like I was mentioning earlier, the sudden onset, we
build that for that. You know, whatever your family makeup is, you've got to
make sure that they're prepared, that you can leave at moment's notice. Like I
said, that's what we build for.
MS. LEE LOY: So is that job description written into all the PIOs across DPW or
Mayor's Office, that is the understanding that if they take that position, whether
it's in the Mayor's Office or Parks Department that is the expectation?
MR. MAGNO: I don't know.
MS. LEE LOY: So maybe you guys need to put your heads together a little bit
and manage that expectation. Good information helps us make good decisions,
and in times of emergency, that's what the larger public needs.
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I want to talk a little bit about your supplementary request, and maybe this is for
Mr. Periatt, because I see it coming from him. It's for an Information Systems
Analyst. And as I read the justification, it says, "The current Civil Defense staff
does not have the skill sets to bring this project to fruition." Civil Defense does
not have a dedicated Geographic Information Systems Analyst, so the GIS. Share
with me what that is, because I know Planning uses GIS, and there's a lot of
information and different layers within that program. So I just want to understand
what this request is. Because it goes on further to say, "This position will
coordinate with the DPW GIS Analyst. So help me understand how we're trying
to create this synergy with the information that we have through our GIS system,
that is pretty much the framework for all of our DPW, I think Police is also
using it now. Help me with that, Barry. Thank you.
MR. PERIATT: Yeah, there are multiple departments using GIS.
CHR. DAVID: Excuse me,just identify yourself for the record, for our staff
people again. I'm sorry.
MR. PERIATT: Okay. Once again, I'm Barry Periatt.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you.
MR. PERIATT: I'm the Administrative Officer, Logistics for Civil Defense.
Civil Defense, through Homeland Security grants,purchased the three servers that
our GIS operates off of right now, and we purchased it for a reason. It was
primarily for our use to be able to create an operating system in the Emergency
Operations Center so that we can create a common operating picture, have the
information for decision-making, and then be able to produce reports and statistics
and that.
For whatever reasonI won't get into all that—but it's been a slow development
process to get to there. We're not there yet. The reason we are coordinating with
Public Works is because when we started this project almost six years ago I
believe, the Public Works GIS person, Asia Wasser, she was the County's GIS
person, so she's familiar with what we're trying to do. Everything that Public
Works wants to do with ArcGIS system feeds right into what we're doing with
emergency management. And that's why she's the primary link. We meet with
her weekly to develop the system and how we're going to do inputs and that.
And when you talk about public information, with this ArcGIS system, we're also
moving towards being able to have the interactive maps that we put out there so
that we can identify roadblocks, we can put out information that's available. You
know, we don't have to call you. We don't have to send you a text. It's right
there, and you can get that. And that's all worked through the ArcGIS system.
The reason we're asking for this position is, Asia works for the Department of
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Public Works. That's where she's hired, with an understanding that during an
emergency she will fill in at the Emergency Operations Center.
And she's helping us put together the whole system, developing the inputs so we
can get the products out of it. There are a lot of, for lack of a better term, nug
work involved. A lot of data entry and correlating on the backend and that. And
that's what this position is being asked for. It's a temporary position. Temporary
hire to get through this whole development process.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Periatt. I think that's something we
might—as a body we need to consider a little bit as we move through this budget.
Because it's that type of cross-collaboration, right? Which then stands up this
framework in which not only Civil Defense, Public Works can use, Police can
use, then the larger public can use. And that's the type of kind of commitment I
want to make to the public, that as we spend your dollars, you're getting more
bang for your buck. And so that multi-prong approach, this ability to get mapping
information instantly, you know, draw some radius maps as far as who are we
touching, what kind road systems do we have there. I just see it as an incredible
tool to get out great information to minimize, you know, the public's anxiety
about an event that can be incredibly scary, whether instantaneous or over a far
more process, which then
MR. PERIATT: You've been in our meetings.
MS. LEE LOY: I haven't though. I'm just looking at the tools that we have.
Because on top of that, after you we have Mass Transit. And so you know,
there's a transportation link that we can use, too. Go ahead, Mr. Periatt.
MR. PERIATT: Exactly. And that's—like the bus schedule, the routes, is the bus
on time and all that. These are all things that ArcGIS can do with this. In
addition to ArcGIS, we purchased the Salamander System during the—it's a
property accountability/personnel accountability system, during the lava event.
That feeds into the ArcGIS system, and it helps create the maps. So that's the
whole—we're not going to face other departments to come along with us, but we
see a lot of opportunities and that's exactly where our vision takes it. Where
Mass Transit, where all the other departments are pulling data and we have a
comprehensive information plan.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Mr. Periatt. I really do appreciate it. I love the GIS
system for all the different layers that are there, specifically the topo
(topographical) maps that we overlay for doing some planning. So thank you so
much, Talmadge. Thank you. Let's lean in a little bit and think really long and
hard on that information piece. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Ms. Poindexter, go ahead, and then
I'm going to Mr. Richards.
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MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah, I just want to start off by saying thank you for you
for always being available to some of my community members in my district
whenever we have concerns. You know, being really open to sit down with us
and kind of go through some of their issues.
Under the community resiliency portion, which is under the Homeland Security
grant, correct? I'm assuming that that's where the Community Emergency
Response Team, the CERT, falls under?
MS. KALUA: Correct.
MS. POINDEXTER: Okay. So I know that we've help with like radios and
things like that. We want to make sure that either some of the maintenance, or
if we need more equipment,just work with us. If we get contingency funds, or if
I get contingency funds, I'm more than willing to help in the area that we may
be there's a shortfall in, you know, for equipment.
MS. KALUA: Okay.
MS. POINDEXTER: Because usually there is, right, because it's not really
budgeted for in there?
MS. KALUA: Yeah, correct. So basically—and that's something we can discuss
further with Department of Defense. But in the past, the whole community
resiliency portion has been used to fund CERT trainings, and that's about it. So
their materials, you know, whatever they need for that. So it's definitely
something we can look into, if it's the possibility of covering equipment costs.
MS. POINDEXTER: Because, you knowI know especially inI know my
district well, where there's a lot of bridges, right? Bridges go down; we become
isolated. As a community, we rely on our CERT people. And they needI'm
glad you have a radio communication guy in your office because that's key, yeah,
to making sure that—because they're the ones on the ground with the people there
and know the area. I know that they have been working on, you know, who's in
what communities. You know, do we have doctors, nurses, farmers. Can we
survive? If we're isolated, can we survive as a community? So CERT is such a
critical component for us, and our survival in our community.
So I commend you guys on beefing it up with all the trainings. And if there is any
way that I can help, I would be more than willing to. Should we have
contingency funds, I would love to continue to do that. But I know that—do you
want to come up and say ? Can you come to the mic, and then introduce
yourself? Say your name for the record.
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(Note: At this time, Ms. Susie Bond came forward to address the
members of the Committee.)
MS. BOND: Susie Bond, the Head of Citizens Corps Council. Part of what that
contingency money has paid for, as well As Neighborhood Watch signs, and for
getting other information out into the community. They have that Homeland
Security grant, we get a little tiny chunk of it. We don't—most of the money goes
to the other major projects, but the little, tiny chunk we have pays for CERT
training,pays for Neighborhood Watch signs,pays for handbooks for
Neighborhood Watch, pays for some MRC (Medical Reserve Corps) information,
as well. So that money is used to support us, because we as Citizen Corps and as
the nonprofit like VOAD, doesn't have that kind of money to put out for this type
of thing. So we rely heavily on that Homeland Security grant.
MS. POINDEXTER: So your Citizen Corps, because that's a different group
from just CERT teams, but you sit overall?
MS. BOND: Well, CERT is part of the Citizen Corps Council.
MS. POINDEXTER: Right. But the Citizen Corps is just a representation from
all the CERT teams. Not all of the CERT teams are Citizen Corps?
MS. BOND: Right. CERT has a place at the table along with VOAD, and the
MRC, and the Neighborhood Watch.
MS. POINDEXTER: That makes up Citizen Corps?
MS. BOND: Yeah. And then we—most of the money that we have gotten has
funded the CERT training because that to us is the most important thing that we
need at this point, is the Community Emergency Response Teams.
MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah, so thank you. So that is kind of like an area that's
underfunded that I think we can help with, if we get contingency funds.
MS. BOND: Yeah, it's all volunteer, so that's part of the problem.
MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah. Thank you.
MS. BOND: But we are—except for the VOAD members themselves, none of
those are 501(c)3s, so we can't go out and get individual grants as a board.
MS. POINDEXTER: Right. Thank you. And then just one last thing in closing.
The last earthquake, I got a text, a televised report,plus I got a phone call at home
with a recording, so good job. I called Karen, "Where are you, at the beach?
Okay good, no tsunami." But thank you. Thank you for all your work and thank
you for the willingness to work with our community members. Thank you.
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MR. MAGNO: Of course. You're welcome.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Poindexter. Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. Thanks, Talmadge, for coming up. First
thing I had was a question concerning a financial question. And I saw Deanna
come in. Yeah, she's here. I'm trying to find it here. I'm a little bitoh, I stay
fussy. Deanna could come up and answer a question for us because I think you'd
be the one.
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Committee.
MR. RICHARDS: In our binder that we received,under Civil Defense 5241.01.
MS. SAKO: Sorry, the Salaries and Wages?
MR. RICHARDS: Yeah. It tracks along at$744,000, $758,000, and then we
have a jump up to $1,522,000 in 2021-2022. My question to Talmadge is going
to be, is there something coming that we don't know about or is that a clerical
error?
MS. SAKO: You know, it looks like the numbers just didn't add up, and we will
go back and research that. Because the math, if you look above at 011, it's very
consistent all the way across. And it's only that total in third year.
MR. RICHARDS: Correct.
MS. SAKO: So we'll go check our report. I think it's just a clerical error.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay so that makes me feel better about that, so I'm not going
to jump on Talmadge on that one.
MS. SAKO: Yeah, sorry.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, so that will get checked?
MS. SAKO: Yes, we will check what happened.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, I appreciate that. If you could back to us because that
gave me a little bit of angst. So that answers the first question.
MS. SAKO: No, it'll be corrected in the May 3rd version, even if we have to
white it out and type over it.
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MR. RICHARDS: White it out, too much paper. Okay, so thanks, Deanna.
That's my question for the financial side.
Talmadge, coming back. I'm going to get back to this conversation on
communication, and you and I have had long conversations about that. Part of it
is what Ms. Bond is talking about, the CERT program. But part of it is what
Ms. Lee Loy and Ms. Kierkiewicz have been talking about, and in part with
Ms. Poindexter, is the communication. Our community has a much higher need
and thereby demand for timely communication coming out of the County.
You and I have discussed this, the Information Officer, and I came across the
same thing concerning the position. And one of the paradoxes that you and I
discussed, was Civil Defense is really almost, I won't say non-existent but very
much in the background until something happens, and then it's frontline. And
having that as a communication point, in my mind, makes sense except you don't
have the same authority if we're not in an emergency situation, so I understand
the paradox
We were talking about the recent earthquake—seems like this Big Island we
always have event after event, after event. Everybody else plans. We just keep
enacting our plans every time, which is we field-test everything all the time. The
problem is we're not getting that communication out. We had the wildfire thing,
you and I discussed with Fire and Police. My constituency raised a concern. We
had a Police episode in Kohala, which is very unusual for Kohala. And the
community is upset; not was upset, but is upset, because we didn't have the
communication coming out of the County for people to make good decisions
about their own personal side.
The wildfire and other situation, we have good communication between our
agencies, Police, Fire and Civil Defense. But getting that message out to the
constituency, everybody right away in this County turns to Facebook. Unless we
have a dedicated communication line coming out, we're not going to have a very
good message coming out to our County.
Now I'm intrigued by the statement made about the GIS system because I think
that holds a lot of promise, but we're not there yet. I know we've got Mass
Transit coming up and the points about the bus. We're going to talk story about
that one bumbai, Brenda. This is all good, but the communication is not good.
And we're not getting a timely message out from any department, and we need to
do a job on that.
Spring boarding on that a little bit. Ms. Bond talked about the CERT. We have
hardware that hasn't been deployed yet for the CERT command on my side, and
there's some good reasons for that; 2018 you guys were a little bit busy, and I got
that part. But that being said, now we've got to get the needle going forward.
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What I'm looking for, Talmadge, is we've got to have a communication message
coming out. And one of my constituents said, you know, in big cities, if there's a
Police event that needs a press release, they hold a press conference, and they get
a message out. Now, Big Island has never been in that situation because that's
not been our deal, but maybe we're starting to head towards that. So what I'm
looking for, asking of you but pressing you, is this where we start looking
legislatively? That we do something in Civil Defense and say, you're going to
change a little bit and actually be our center of communication?
Ms. Lee Loy's comment about someone coming out of the Mayor's Office, fine.
But if that's not a 24/7 able to respond immediately, that's not going to work.
And the communication I received about a woman from North Kohala,
concerning the Police, she was shook-up. And I understand that, especially the
fact that no one was communicating anything. That one bothers me.
If we think back when all this started, when a lot of it started, our nuclear missile
warning. Getting out the information, even to the Council. And I know my
phone—every time we have an event, my phone explodes. We need to have a
better form of communication. So on one hand, I'm saying we need to get the
CERT stuff, on another hand, I'm saying we've got this communication out.
What I'm asking you, Talmadge, do you need us to mandate this so we can get
this message system and communication center up and running? Because what
we're doing now is not working, and the constituency are not happy. So I'm
asking, is it—and this is when we have to have these conversations.
MR. MAGNO: That's actually—it doesn't have to be mandated. It's part of what
we we're supposed to be doing. So if it's not adequate, we just need to ramp it
up. You know, we are just starting the process to contract with our mass
messaging vendor, and so we're looking to get a little better product, I guess, for
that. Easier to use but more, I guess, more capability. So that will enhance mass
messaging, as well. Still focusing on email, text, Twitter, Facebook, and the
audio message. You know, that's one aspect that we're looking at enhancing our
communication.
MR. RICHARDS: Your position of the information, and I forgot what the official
name was, Public Information and Disaster Recovery Specialist, was that
person—did they leave the position just as all this was rolling, or when did that
person leave that position?
MR. MAGNO: It's just a nature of things. Timing, that's exactly what happened.
She had another position offered, and she moved on. I was fortunate to keep her
for several weeks afterwards, so that was a big help. But then we kind of rolled
through the rest of the event, you know, without that position filled. But I looked
at that position, you know. Especially in that example, PIO/Recovery Specialist,
those are two jobs in itself.
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MR. RICHARDS: Very different, yeah.
MR. MAGNO: So they've got to be separated out. And we've chose that the
Recovery Specialist—because of the skillset, the uniqueness of the information
that person would, or for that position would hold, that would be more beneficial
to the County. Because we have enough disasters, that continuity of information,
that knowledge base needs to be kept in the County.
You know, during its event—you know, fortunately the Mayor has had a lot of
experience in this, so he guided us along. But beyond him, nobody has been
through this before. And so you know, everybody was just learning as we went
through this with FEMA on the ground, and HIEMA (Hawai`i State Emergency
Management Agency) on the ground helping us out.
MR. RICHARDS: You know, when I always say it looks good on paper when
you're making your plan, public info and disaster recovery, but what I'm hearing
is since we plan or we keep having disaster to recover from almost every other
month, at least since we've been in office, I'm hearing that having the
information, communication, somewhat detailed to that, or position detailed
specifically to that is needed, if we want the communication coming out. Which
means, we as a Council, may need to do something to help create this position,
whether it's a legislative motion or something like that.
And I'm pressing you, Talmadge, on this. Because again, we've talked about the
communication. We have to increase and ramp up our communication because
our constituency is asking for it. And rightly so in this day and age, we have so
many different forums, almost too many different types of communication.
So I think we're going to have a further conversation on this. And it's not—I'm
not directing it at Civil Defense, because this is actually Civil Defense, Fire,
Police, and really the County as a whole. So we're going to have to look at that.
Even Public Works. We need to communicate. We need to communicate better.
So what I'm going to ask is please give this some thought. I'm going circle back
and ask you about it to create.
And I don't want to back-burner this because even the Waikoloa Village and the
fire, we did good except we didn't communicate to the people. And half the
people thought they needed to evacuate, half the people didn't know if they were
supposed to, and that's a shortcoming on the County as a whole. We have to talk
about this communication. So I'd like you to put forth some thought, and then
let's story. And we will talk to the other departments that I think need to
participate. I think that was a great meeting we had last, whenever that was,
summer, late fall, concerning the fire. So the debriefing, loud and clear, more
communication to the community.
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With that, the other thing I do want to say and impress, we have to get the CERT
repeaters deployed. We've got to get that one finished up, as well. So thanks,
Talmadge. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I just had a follow-up question for Finance
regarding the funds that are now going to Civil Service for radio. Where do they
come out of the Police budget? I'm looking for that change.
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MS. SAKO: That was actually happened in the current fiscal year. So the draft
would be between 2017-2018 to fiscal year 2019, and so I can't tell you
specifically which line items. There were some various throughout the budget.
But if I go back and look at this year's worksheets, I might be able to send you
something.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I was just making sure that we didn't
crisscross the two.
MS. SAKO: Yeah. No, it all went out of Police and into Civil Defense. But that
all happened in fiscal year 2019.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And then, does the radio shop ? Would I
see a drop in salary and wages for a radio shop for Police, if it's all being
transferred to Civil Service?
MS. SAKO: No, not necessarily salary and wages, because they have their own
radio shop and they do a lot of things, like installing equipment in the vehicles
and whatnot.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay.
MS. SAKO: So it's not exactly the same thing.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Council Members,
anyone else? No? Great. Administrator Magno, thank you very much; and
Kelsey and the staff also, for coming today.
I just want to leave you with this one thought. It's my observation of something
that didn't happen at this point and time when we had an emergency. In the prior
eruption, I remember that Council Members were notified to attend briefing. You
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know, it was weekly briefing and stuff, and I don't think I remember receiving
one for this kind of emergency this time around. So I was just leaving you with
that thought. Along the lines of what my colleagues have been saying, if we get
notification to participate, to just get information. Council Members are the first
line of information. Constituents will call us firsthand to either get information or
get reassurances. So I think the participation with this body on emergency
briefings especially, is very helpful to us and to our constituents. So just food for
thought and encouragement. Thank you.
MR. MAGNO: Yeah, noted. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much.
MS. KALUA: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Mahalo everybody for coming. Council Members, a recess
maybe? Thank you, seven minutes. Thank you, we're in recess.
Recess: At 10:25 a.m., the Chair called for a recess.
Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 10:35 a.m.
CHR. DAVID: Alright, Council Members, I am taking the Special Meeting of the
Committee on Finance out of recess, and welcoming Mass Transit Administrator
Brenda Carreira to the table.
(2) Mass Transit Agency:
(Note: At this time, Mass Transit Administrator Brenda Carreira,
Paratransit Program Manager Tiffany Kai, and Accountant Trixy Miller
came forward to address the members of the Committee.)
CHR. DAVID: Please introduce yourself and your staff and go right ahead. I see
you have a PowerPoint. Alright, go ahead. Thank you.
MS. CARREIRA: Good morning, Chair David and members of the County
Council. I have here with me Trixy Miller, she's basically our accountant. I also
have Tiffany Kai here, Program Manager and Paratransit.
So looking at the current fiscal year overview, I did start in November. I actually
can't believe it. At the end of this month I've made the six months.
CHR. DAVID: Congratulations.
MS. CARREIRA: It's gone by, but wow, it went by really fast. Thank you all
very much for the time that I've met with you before. You've all been very kind,
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very positive. And I hope that I have been transparent in being able to answer
your questions. I am sorry that I was not able to meet with everybody. Especially
with Ashley. We weren't able to meet, but of course I'm going to be able to
answering your questions today.
(Note: At this time, Ms. Carreira provided a PowerPoint presentation to
the members of the Committee. For viewing of the subject presentation,
please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's
Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online in the County's
webpages at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A hard copy of the presentation is
made a part of the record, see Comm. 117.5.)
MS. CARREIRA: If I could, Madam Chair, I'd like to respond. I guess the
speakers today had several things that they brought up.
CHR. DAVID: Yes, suggestions. Thank you.
MS. CARREIRA: I'm sorry, I don't know all your names, but there was the one
about the driver talking about what he wanted to do to somebody outside. That's
not acceptable. That's a crime. They're not going to work for Hele-On. But the
complaints, we investigate them. I don't always get copies, but it goes to Kasie
(Kasie Kailikea, Transportation Specialist). All the people who answer the
phones and my staff, they know they're supposed to send it, usually Kasie then
sends it on to Poly-Ad (Polynesian Adventures), because the driver has a right to
respond, then it comes back all complete.
Then I know the Council Members have sent to me, we do the same. We try to
respond to you also, again, with communication. And I appreciate it. You should
never worry about saving us that. I want to know. I want to take care of it. Or if
it's not, you know because I've got to balance the drivers, and I've got the
constituents, and several times, in fact if not all, I do call the people. If there's a
phone number, I will call them up to ask for more information. You know, and
also to sayI'm not a person who just sits behind my desk. I have to be
involved, and that's, for me, the only way to be. So I plan to continue that.
But that completes my presentation. Thank you very much for allowing me to
come here. I know you've seen me the other days, and part of it was I just wanted
to see how it was going. But I thank you for this opportunity. It's great to be in
the County again.
CHR. DAVID: Mahalo for your presentation, Administrator Carreira.
Council Members? Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Somebody else would like to go first?
CHR. DAVID: I don't see any lights.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, here we go. Hi, Brenda.
MS. CARREIRA: Hi.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Trixy, Tiffany, great to see you guys and thank you for
being here. You know, Brenda, in the few months that I've been on the Council I
found you to be very committed to getting Mass Transit on track, and I really
believe in the time that you've been with the County, you really helped to
right-turn the ship. I think your expertise in the private sector has really helped,
and you've been very available to me and my staff. I was really bummed I
couldn't make it to the Hub & Spokes meeting, but my staff was there, and they
apprised me of what happened. So it's great that things are moving along,
because it's so desperately needed for places like Puna.
I was wondering if I could call Finance Director Sako up, because now that—the
previous Council approved the quarter percent(.25) GET (General Excise Tax)
surcharge, there's this infusion of capital into Mass Transit. So in looking at the
budget for Mass Transit, it's decreased, but now we have this Mass Transit GET
Fund that has increased your total to about$28-or so million. I was just
reviewing the GET portion, and I'm hoping Deanna can help me better
understand the breakdown on who those monies can be used because I notice in
there that some of the money is being used for salaries and wages, and pension
and benefits. So I just wanted to better understand the process.
MS. SAKO: We did work with Corporation Counsel to make sure we understand,
like the appropriate uses of that fund, which is related to transportation systems
and capital improvements, and it does have operations in there. So basically
Mass Transit, because all they do is buses and transportation, we were allowed to
move their expenses over there, whether it's salaries and wages, operations, hiring
the bus drivers, all those types of cost. And with the salaries and wages comes all
the fringe benefits. But the fringes that you see in there are only directed related
to Mass Transit. So only their employees; however, it does include the four new
employees, as well.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, that's very helpful. Thank you. You know,
speaking of employees, I was going through the list of folks that are in the
Mass Transit Agency, and I noticed that you have some grant revenue coming
in, about$3.5-or so million, but I didn't see anybody on staff with your team that
is in charge of managing grants. And the reason why I asked that is, because with
the Office of Housing and Community Development, they have three or four
federal grants that they manage, and there are about six people that have to keep
track of all of the data and ensure that they are in compliance with regulations,
meeting requirements, and reporting on time. So can you just help me understand
how the grants are being managed in your office, and by who?
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MS. CARREIRA: What is happening is actually Tiffany as a program manager
took care of all of the grant work. Since I came in, she's supposed to been
teaching me that. And I've been talking to Ryan, in the new Administrative
Assistant position, that's a person that's going to be kind of more overseeing the
grants and helping with proposals. Tiffany will still help; but it was just her. That
was it. And so this administrative assistant will be a big thing.
So that what she did before. That's too hard for one person. So we're kind of
sharing the work with other people. She actually—and I think in the Master Plan
ReviewI don't know if it's next year. Not next year, the other years, so that she
could get her own Account Clerk, but we could have one Account Clerk helping.
These grants are massive. The kind of reports that we have to do, I'm just
literally finding out about a lot of them now. And then I will be meeting with
Ryan and his boss, Rob, administers of fare funds,next week Tuesday so we can
sit down.
So what's happening now with everything with the federal grants, a lot of times
Tiffany is doing the work, and Trixy is helping me a lot. They prepare, I look at
stuff. I am the one who has to verify, and I am the one now that has to—is the
only person that the feds allow me to send reports to them.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: The Mass Transit.
MS. CARREIRA: Mass Transit Administrator.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Administrator?
MS. CARREIRA: As Mass Transit Administrator, yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MS. CARREIRA: Which is fine. So, we can have more meetings. I'm hoping
that when we sit down, we can really go through all of the forms, so I know what
it is. Tiffany has been doing a great job. You know, lots of times she's been
probably doing three jobs. So try and ease some of her work so she can do more
with the paratransit and programs, because she'll still be part of part of the
changes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So how many years has MTA (Mass Transit Agency) been
receiving federal grants? Because I understand that we're getting money from a
couple of programs, the 5311 and the 5309, and so how many years have we been
receiving grants?
MS. CARREIRA: I would have to ask Tiffany on that, but I do know since 2013,
and in 2019 when I talked to Ryan last week Friday, there were three years that
they didn't give us money.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: There were three years that the County didn't get money,
because why?
MS. CARREIRA: The reporting.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: The reporting. Okay, so let's spend a little time on that.
Because you talked earlier about the handling of cash within Mass Transit, and all
ofI just want to point out, all of this precedes you, so you're inheriting I think a
very complex situation. You're doing your best to navigate, and I really
appreciate that.
So we had issues with cash handling; how are we handling the data? Because my
understanding is the National Transit Database is a Congressional requirement,
where Mass Transit agencies across the country have to provide data on rider
transit, and in other transit systems; that way they can see the state of affairs of
Mass Transit systems across the U.S. and can better understand where they need
to point resources into. So how is the data being managed? And if there a few
years where we didn't receive these monies, I'm a little bit concerned about the
management of data and ensuring that we have the systems in place. And I
wonder, was lack—was there just enough capacity in order to manage, containing,
and capturing all of that data?
MS. CARREIRA: You know, I would say yes, because at a certain point there
were only three people working at Mass Transit: Tom, Tiffany, and Betty. They
had to do everything. So now we have more people. You know, I'm hiring
somebody else for an 89-day contract.
So once I found out what happened on last week Friday was that they want to
know revenue miles. With the money they pay us, what are you using with the
money? I mean, how many miles is the bus going? So we have to track.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So do you track that? Because you're working with
various contractors, correct?
MS. CARREIRA: Exactly. So for every driver, whether you're a county or
private contractor, they have to do a precheck of the bus. They have what they
call a DVIR , sorry, Driver Vehicle Inspection Report. One of the first things they
have to put on is the beginning mileage. At the end of the day, is the ending, you
know the ending mileage, that total recapture—whether Tiffany had a form, but I
had Trixy create a new form, and we're going to give it to the contractors to say
every single day you need to put that in. Our DVIRs come back to us. That is
something that I'm expecting. The garage supervisor, or right now Cody or Betty,
to capture that information. That's the first, what are the miles?
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Now, the trip sheets. For every route, there's a trip sheet that the driver has. That
shows all the places that they stopped and how many people they pick up, you
know, seniors, adults, children, and they all have to have that, and then the
collection of the money. Those trip reports come with the fare collection boxes,
the money boxes. They put it in there. It's locked up, and we get it. And we
open it up, we make the count. That goes into a report, also. That is an account
clerk responsibility.
We now have other people because we're behind, trying to catch up. And so we
were
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: You're behind in catching up on which aspect?
MS. CARREIRA: Both.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: The DVIR, and the trip sheets, and getting that
information?
MS. CARREIRA: Yes. Yeah, and so what happened with the Feds, because they
talked with me, is they wanted us now to go back to July 2017 to July 2018 to get
all of those numbers. So we physically have to go through each piece of paper
and that's why we hired another person.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So how was that data being tracked? You have the papers,
but it wasn't like put into a program or a spreadsheet. I mean, how does the
reporting work then? So much nitty-gritty details to manage?
MS. KAI: So historically, what was that we did have like a basic spreadsheet,
where we would track the mileage. However, there were a lot of times where the
drivers didn't record the proper or accurate mileage. That's one aspect.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: How did that happen? Do theI mean, numbers are
pretty clear.
MS. KAI: Right. Or if they had a breakdown, it wasn't recorded at the end of the
breakdown. If the bus was towed back, it wasn't properly recorded.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: But how do you know that those things happened if it
wasn't recorded? How do you check their work?
MS. KAI: Well, those are some of the things that—and that's a good question
because not all the time that breakdowns occurred, or road closures, or what have
you, wasn't recorded in the past. So basically what we did is we did our best to
average the numbers out according to what we had that was accurate and went
from there.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So that was 2017-2018, that period of time?
MS. CARREIRA: Even years back.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Even years back.
MS. KAI: Would have been years back.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: That there were discrepancies in our numbers for a few
years where we didn't get funding.
MS. KAI: It wasn't only just the reporting for the National Transit Database.
Every so many years, we get audited. And there were the, I'm going to say,
deficiencies. We just didn't have the capacity to do all of that. You know, the
federal government—
MS.
overnmentMS. KIERKIEWICZ: What other deficiencies?
MS. KAI: Basically, a lot of them were reporting,but just not the National
Transit Database, or keeping records of certain things that we should have kept.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: But wasn't that all, like made very clear as part of the
federal grant, like what the requirements and expectations are in receiving and
utilizing those funds? Like, do they you know, I recognize that many
departments get state and federal grants. And I can even see within our County
process how we expect the recipient of those funds to keep track of receipts and
detail how they spent those monies, because they're public dollars and we need to
be accountable to that. So do they not provide you with the systems, and the
training, and the templates, and the tools so that you as the recipient can be
successful in reporting all of that necessary information?
MS. KAI: I'm going to say we do have, you know, regulations that we need to go
by; but in all honesty, we didn't, or I should say, I didn't get the training that I
should have gotten. So basically how I learned to do it was from the previous
administrator. You know, he did a great at administering all of these things, you
know. And basically, I'm going to say, "Yeah, Mr. Brown was the one-man
band. He did a very, very good job."
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Tom Brown?
MS. KAI: Yes. He did a very good job of it, but—
MS.
utMS. KIERKIEWICZ: So wasn't there this transfer of this historical, this
institutional knowledge? If he was so great at it, why wasn't there like a toolkit
left, or instructions, or even a sit-down over a period of time to then let you know
what the requirements are and how to do things?
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MS. KAI: There was a period where Mr. Brown stayed on contract to assist, but
that, you know, only lasted for so long. And thenI take full responsibility,
again, of what had happened with our agency.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: How you know, I'm not trying to blame you, Tiff. I just
feel like maybe there's maybe something wrong with the system, where clearly
for a number of years, if we weren't able to submit the reports, right, somewhere
in the County a red flag should have went up that said, "They're lacking
bandwidth within Mass Transit, and we need to put resources there to help so that
we don't jeopardize losing these funds." How do you think the County—and who
could have better supported you?
MS. KAI: It's hard to say, comment. You know, and basically we just started
getting more staff. Our Account Clerk, I think we got our first Account Clerk
maybe only two, three years ago, and before that, it was just—we were on
skeleton crew,just doing the best we could.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I know, and I feel so bad that you had to manage so much
of the operations and the second-hand buses. There was just so much to deal with
on top of all this additional paperwork. You know, I'm just so sorry. I'm a little
bit disappointed that no one recognized that you needed help.
MS. CARREIRA: Thank you. And I—you know, when I was thinking about it
too you know,part of it is the advantage that I have, is the GET funds. And I
think the other times when they were trying to—if we didn't have federal funds to
buy the busesI don't believe the County had funds to give us.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, but—now, Brenda, that's like $3 million, now
you're getting $25 million.
MS. CARREIRA: Yeah, so we have a lot.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And technically, like no strings attached because it's kind
of clear that it's just for transportation. So imagine us here at the dais just
thinking about the kuleana on your side, this intense responsibility to properly
manage the funds. Because we believe in the Mass Transit Plan, and having a
legitimate, credible system for Big Island. It's just so needed here. Our island is
so big. And with the income levels, people rely—they need reliable, consistent
Mass Transit. We believe in it, and we know that you and your team are going to
get us there.
However, I just want assurances that the data is going to be managed properly, so
that there's accurate reporting and we can be responsible for these dollars.
There's clearly a breakdown in systems. And maybe we just need some time to
meet with federal partners. If we're collaborating with HDOT (Hawai`i
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Department of Transportation), because I'm not sure how the money comes
down. But I feel there's a lot of people that want to help, and so maybe putting
together a plan to address what I think is not everyone's concerns about,just the
data management, that would make us feel much more comfortable.
MS. CARREIRA: Definitely. We're creating a plan, sorry, because I just found
this out on Friday. So we've already gotten more forms.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Who called you on Friday?
MS. CARREIRA: Brian Fujii.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Oh, okay.
MS. CARREIRA: Yeah, and we're going to have more calls. And that's why his
bosses are coming next week Tuesday, so we can sit down
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: From DOT (Department of Transportation)?
MS. CARREIRA: Well, they're they administered yes, the federal—what?
MS. KAI: HDOT.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes, Hawaii Department of Transportation. Yes.
MS. CARREIRA: Sorry. Yeah, so they're coming. So I can all the question and
they can let me know what it is. But we've already come up with forms that
everybody has to use. Even for like because we're worried too, you know, if we
have an audit, which fortunately we haven't had it. The do with these DVIRs that
I was talking about now, with the buses. Say there's a bus that something is
wrong, then the mechanic supposed to have a work order. Then if we have to
order parts, to have the invoice, then we all do that. That is something that I
talked to the maintenance staff and said, we've got to do that now; and we've got
to go back and do it in case we get an audit, and that's going to take time. Now
that I know that, oh this what's happening you know, we've go back. So
basically, we're going to spending a lot of people, a lot of time getting all this
stuff together. So that when Ryan and Rob come on Tuesday, I can give them a
plan of what we're doing.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Deanna, I have a quick question for you, and it just relates
to you know, have there been situations in the County's past, where similar to
this we didn't get funding or our reports weren't accurate or submitted timely,
there were stuff wrong with it. Would we be in jeopardy of losing funds, or
having to potentially pay back these funds?
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(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MS. SAKO: So that's always a possibility. I mean, there are a lot of restrictions,
or a lot of different terms in each of the grant documents. But we do get the
Single Audit each year, where the auditors come in and audit each of our federal
programs. So they look at the different internal controls and everything related to
that. We get a lot of federal dollars, and so they only have to look at major
programs, and then a sprinkling of the others. So,you know
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Would this be considered a major program or a little
sprinkling?
MS. SAKO: It has—in the years we spent a lot because it goes by expenditures,
then it reaches a major program. But because there were no expenditures, I think
it didn't reach a major program. We were talking in the back too, about how we
can perhaps better improve our systems countywide to ensure the reports are
getting filed because right now it's left up to each department.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, so there isn't a countywide policy within Finance
that says if we're going to get federal dollars, here's the checklist on what you
need to set up. And maybe that's—maybe this is the perfect—
MS.
erfectMS. SAKO: I think we have that checklist.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, but maybe the training
MS. SAKO: But we're not making sure the boxes are getting checked.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Uh-huh, that's critical.
MS. SAKO: Yeah.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And in situations, there might not have been
capacity or just a way for—so then would Finance be the checker?
MS. SAKO: I don't know that—
MS.
hatMS. KIERKIEWICZ: Because I wonder if somebody had checked in with Tiff,
we would have realized then that she needed support.
MS. SAKO: Right. Because right now, it's even you know, for all
departments, it's raising the white flag and saying, "Hey, I need help." And when
we've been notified, we've been right out there to help. And so, it's making sure
we understand. Because, you know, I didn't realize that it had gotten quite this
far behind. But while they might say, "Oh, really need help catching up on the
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stats,"nobody said, "Because it's affecting our federal reporting." You know, if
you're just telling me you're behind on your stats, I'm like, "Oh, yeah."
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: What does that mean, right?
MS. SAKO: "For my program budget," "Oh yeah, that's okay. I can live with
that,"you know. But yeah, it has to maybe put it in context for us, yeah.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, I think that's really helpful if we go forward and
have a policy. Because we have that$1.7 million for FEMA case management,
plus we're looking at a number of monies coming in through the 428 and other
avenues. So I just want to be sure that all departments are crystal clear on what
the set-up is going to be to track.
MS. SAKO: Yeah, and I think pretty much the ones that get those grants
regularly, like let's say Housing, right, they get significant amounts of federal
dollars. DPW, all of them, they're very good at tracking, they're very good at
reporting. And so it's some of the others where, you know, we probably just need
to make sure. So we'll be changing some of our procedures to make sure we're
closing grants at year end. We're double-checking that all of the reports got filed.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So like I noted earlier, Housing has six individuals, six
positions to manage grants. Do you think that there is sufficient capacity with the
current MTA structure of employees to manage these monies, or do you think that
they need more?
MS. SAKO: I think it's difficult to say that they need more staff just for grants. I
think there's been a lot of things that they needed help with, you know, kind of at
the same as the buses were deteriorating. You know, a lot of things happened all
at the same time.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Snowball effect, yeah?
MS. SAKO: Yes, it was. And so now, we're trying to give them four new
positions, you know, which I think will help. And before this, Brenda and I were
talking about getting a few more temp people just to help catch up. So we can all
kind of even pitch in to help with that, if needed.
But like I said, I think you know, when people were telling me they're behind
on stats, I heard that, but I really thought it was for the like the program budget
and getting us stats, and that wasn't—and like, "Oh, that's okay. If it's a year
behind, we'll get over it." But yeah, now I get it. And so, yeah, we can better
kind of work through that and help them out a little bit.
MS. SAKO: Thanks for being so helpful, Deanna.
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MS. SAKO: I think what might help more is just having been out there and
seen it—that somehow finding a system that there's not all this manual tracking
and recordkeeping.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: The paperwork.
MS. SAKO: And Tiffany having the paperwork. And Tiffany having to
remember that the bus broke down that day, the driver didn't note the mileage.
You know, I'm listening to her talk about that, and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I have
enough trouble keeping track of myself, much less the 35 different bus routes and
everything."
So whether it's not—you know,just brainstorming here, but whether it's some
kind of GPS (Global Positioning System)that the buses can automatically do it, I
think that would probably more helpful to them. I think that would probably be
more helpful to them. I think they'll probably have a need for temp-workers right
now to get caught up. But then getting it more automated so that they don't have
to sit there doing all of this manual tracking, and then that way it should monitor
when the bus left to when they get back.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, and I mean feel like there's got to be some sort of
system that's out there, centralized system.
MS. SAKO: That other places are using already, yeah.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Exactly. And maybe a call to the feds to figure out, what
are other jurisdictions using?
MS. SAKO: I think that's a big part of why Brenda had set up the meeting with
Ryan, so that they can help, yeah.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Right. Software, there might be an app that drivers can
download to their phone. Very easy to just plug in that information when they
start the drive and then when they end their route. Okay, Chair, I've taken up
probably more than my five minutes. Thank you. Brenda, did you want to say
anything else? Thank you, Deanna. Thank you, guys.
I know this is, I think, a really difficult conversation and issue to navigate. But I
know that you are working hard, you know, with your leadership to really make
things right and get the agency on track, so thank you and your team. It's not
easy I think to be where you're sitting right now, and to admit to mistakes and
shortcomings that may not have even been your doing. So just thank you for
being here. It's a very tough position, and I appreciate it. Chair, I yield.
MS. CARREIRA: Thank you.
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CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. I'm going to go to Ms. Eoff right
now.
MS. EOFF: Okay, thank you. So yes, many of us did support the GET surcharge,
and one of the big reasons was to improve our mass transit island-wide. We all
know that it's really important, and the Mass Transit Master Plan was a big help
in getting us focused on how we can get to where we need to be.
You said something earlier that I am still thinking about, and it was sort of like
the difference between just getting buses as you can as opposed to getting a fleet
of buses that may all be the same so that would help with the maintenance,
because the mechanics would know all the buses.
MS. CARREIRA: Exactly.
MS. EOFF: So what do you think is our better route? Because it seems like right
now we're still piecemealing the fleet.
MS. CARREIRA: Piecemealing is not the way to go, I believe. But we have a
bus procurement. I'm just saying well if we use a bus procurement, but if I can
order more buses with whatever funds we have, it would be better. I mean, my
mechanics be trained. But it's better if you have more of the same because we
have companies that are coming to us that now have part stores in Oahu. We
didn't have that before. The Electric Builder, Dreams,just opened the store,
whatever, in Kapolei. I just saw them this week. Is it MCI (Motor Coach
Industries), whatever? They have somebody that they're working with in Oahu
that we never knew about. Our biga lot of times it's hard. It takes months to
get them from somebody local.
MS. EOFF: Right.
MS. CARREIRA But we cannot—you cannot favor the other one person. All we
can do is, okay these are my specs, but you knowI can put it. You need to a
part store in the State or things like that, you know. Because what happens is I'm
responsible when we put the put bid out, so I take time to look at it to make sure
it's the best to fit us so that when the bus comes, it's easier. I only learn from the
past, and talk to Tiffany, talking to the mechanics. Because in all of my meetings
with any bus company or anyplace, I always have Cody (Mattos) with me because
he knows the bus, I'm not. So that's been a big help. Like in the four mini buses
we're getting, I sat down with Eric Solderholm, and went line by line with what
we want, and we made changes. And it was only because Cody was there,
because I trust him, and I trust his knowledge.
But there are so many people wanting to bid, and I said so one of my jobs is to
make sure I let people know when the bid goes so there's more people bidding.
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They just didn't know, yeah. If you don't know, you're not going really look at
our website the way it's written up.
MS. EOFF: It just seems very important that—looking down the line, at the
maintenance of the buses that you do choose the
MS. CARREIRA: Because I'll tell you, the MCIs for diesel, 40-foot,
425 horsepower, that's the best, in a way, to get over the hill, to get over to the
other side, to get over Saddle Road, to get up Kawaihae Road. Because what I
didn't want is toinitially, get the 425 horsepower, then you get the 280
horsepower. Then I've got to say, "Oh, the 280 can only go in Hilo." Isn't it
better to get one bus that can go anyplace on this island? You know, that makes
much more sense to me. But also, it's not all big buses. We have small buses.
So that's where the ridership data comes, like how many people are riding. But it
may not be as accurate because we weren't as reliable, so the numbers might go
off.
There's just so many things. You know, coming from private, you know, it's like
okay if we have the money,just buy 20 buses. With the County—and it's a
different process, which I can apricate, but it's a longer process. You know, with
the grants, you get only so much money. Like I said, hooray, yay, with the GET,
then I've got to figure out how much each—certain type of bus.
You know, my instinct is to go with the ones that are going to be here five, six
months from here, but are they the better buses? Electric buses are hard, because
since I've here the electric buses never worked. So I don't—you know, I'm not
using my money. It's taxpayer's money, so I've got to make sure when they
come, they work. But they work other places. You know, they've invited me to
look at buses.
MS. EOFF: Thank you.
MS. CARREIRA: You're welcome.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Eoff. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Good morning, Brenda. Thank you, ladies.
I just want to say thank you. Every time you come up here you always tell us
good news, and I like that. And a little bit of bad news in there, but I think at the
end of all of that you're a human being, and people makes mistakes. You know,
it's what it is; we can get better. So, thank you.
We have a really tremendous opportunity to get to one, make a future plan, and
really work towards getting Mass Transit up to the standard of other places in the
world to use it in a very efficient manner. And I wanted to say to the man behind
you, thank you for giving her some praise today because I think she deserves it. I
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saw her smile when you said that, so that was really nice. And to be getting that
from the community, that really shows that you're doing a great j ob, so thank you.
And I would like to say, please keep in mind there's this mass transit
brainstorming, kind of master-mind sessions happening with R&D (Research and
Development, and please stay in touch with them as far as when you start to order
new buses. Maybe we had an electric bus that didn't work, but if we can start
working towards electric buses and/or solar or different technologies to charge the
buses. Because we have electric infrastructure on this island already, we can
work towards that to be better in the future.
MS. CARREIRA: Yes, absolutely.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Sorry—as well, we're also dealing with this
Mass Transit Master Plan and connectivity, and we have and amazing opportunity
as well to take this GE(General Excise) funds and apply it towards not only
creating a better Hub and Scope system but implementing new roads. Especially
in Puna or some of these kind of rural areas where we don't have connectivity.
And taking this communication efficiency thing that we're all talking about and
going one step further and saying, okay Mass Transit is working towards this,
connectivity is working towards this, and across the island. So put everybody on
the same boat and say, okay how you're going connect, does that line up with
Mass Transit?
And we've been working on that in our office for—since—it seems last two
months, when I started getting on the connectivity programs and then going on
the Mass Transit Master Plan. I'm trying to cross all this kind of overlay. And
Lei (Kapuni), my assistant—it's just beautiful with putting all these overlaid
pictures on top each other and seeing where they can meet so that we're more
efficient. And if County get more efficient like that, my goodness.
So please keep that in mind, you know, as far as your budget,just—you have the
money behind you to make some really amazing steps forward. So thank you,
and I'd like to work towards these goals. And if you need help, come ask me. ).
MS. CARREIRA: Okay, thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. I had a question for Finance. I don't see
Deanna hereoh, I got Steve.
(Note: At this time, Deputy Finance Director Steve Hunt came forward to
address came forward to address the members of the Committee.)
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MR. RICHARDS: Alright, Steve, before I get in, I've got questions for Brenda.
Go ahead, identify yourself here.
MR. HUNT: Steve Hunt, Deputy Director of Finance, for the record.
MR. RICHARDS: Thanks. Can you summarize total funding for Mass Transit
out of all the different accounts, please? I can read through what I've calculated,
and you can validate that.
MR. HUNT: Including capital?
MR. RICHARDS: No.
MR. HUNT: Just operating.
MR. RICHARDS: Just what I've got out of General Fund, Highway, and GE. So
what I calculated, and that's why if you could run these numbers for me if you
have them, that's fine. Rough numbers because I'm a rough-number guy. About
$3.4 million out of General Fund, $9.2 million out of Highway, and $19.5 million
out of General Excise, is that accurate?
MR. HUNT: Yes.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, so we have a total of$32.1 million? So carry the two,
actually.
MR. HUNT: It's $22.1 (million), I believe.
MR. RICHARDS: So how do we get$22.1 million, if I have a $19.5 million and
a $9.2 million?
MR. HUNT: That would be including capital, I believe.
MR. RICHARDS: So how we use—is that—as far as capital, is that for bus
purchases? Is that how we're categorizing this?
MR. HUNT: Yeah, the Hub and Spokes, and bus shelters.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, so the total expenditure—go ahead—why don't we just
so we're all starting on the same page, explain the total funding for Mass Transit
for 2019-2020 request.
MR. HUNT: I believe about$22.1 million in rough numbers in Operating
Budget, and about$19.5 million in Capital Projects. Sorry, $10 million, Capital.
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MR. RICHARDS: Okay, so we're at$32 million. So $10 million Capital,
$22 million operational?
MR. HUNT: Correct.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. And the Capital would include what you were talking
about, concerning the
MS. CARREIRA: Hub and Spokes and the bus shelters.
MR. RICHARDS: And bus shelters, okay. So $10 million for the construction
for that?
MS. CARREIRA: Right. And I believe we share the capital funding with
Highways? With Highways, that$10 million. That's what we're asking for.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay.
MS. CARREIRA: But I believe Deanna was saying, that$10 million is also
shared with Highways. So I don't know what they put in.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. And again, Brenda, so we're all starting on the same
page, I've been very critical of Mass Transit. Not that we have to have one, I'm
very supportive of that. I've been critical of management and expenditures.
Okay, so how do we account for bus purchases in this? Is this as a lease-to-own,
coming out of the $22 million, is that how we are?
MR. HUNT: Yeah, they're straight purchases outright.
MR. RICHARDS: So that will come out of—and that's not considered
capitalization? Okay. Okay. So we're committing potentially $32 million of
County resources towards the program, is that correct? Okay.
Brenda, you and I have met, and we've discussed coming forward. And we both
agree that the SSFM Master Plan that they detailed carries a lot of good
information. A lot of good, I don't if the word "advice" is, but some good
wisdom in there, mana`o. I am deeply disturbed by the information brought forth,
or not brought forth but discovered by Ms. Kierkiewicz as far as the management,
and this goes back—and it means that we have an institutional problem, and I
think you would agree with that.
We had a cash issue that came forth through the audit, and very problematic, very
disturbing. We know in order for Mass Transit to be successful, we have to
commit resources towards it. I'm supportive of that. What I've never been
supportive of is throwing resources at something that I don't have the confidence
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that it can be managed. Like I said, I am very bothered by what we've been
discussing earlier. We have funds available to us that have not been collected
because of problems on our side, and I say "ours" as the County as a whole.
Going forward, in order for us to be successful, we need the management in place,
and this is the same thing I've said for the last two years. The statements made
have rattled that confidence and me. That being said, I still have confidence in
you. What are we going to change to make this program successful?
MS. CARREIRA: One of the things is I've garnered more of the staff to be able
to go backwards and get all of the information as soon as we can, or whatever we
need to do. To look at it, and then look at what the other accounts, and then come
up with a procedure, written procedure, that everybody has to follow. And we
almost have to do daily monitoring to make sure that it's being done. I mean,
every day, if it's done. A form that I can look at; or I can ask Trixy, "Show me
the numbers, show me the numbers." Every single day. She's backtracking.
She's going back now, July-August of 2018. But they just found out on Monday
that we've got to go back to 2017. So we have this new person that came in, that
just started on Tuesday, that we're going to have her go back and go through all
of the forms and put back the program so that we can see where the numbers are.
Actually, we do paperwork, and have it in a place where if we had an audit, they
could come in and see exactly.
Now, we're behind. And I know Sam and I was very transparent with him, and I
told him that I didn't know his is what we're going to do in the future. That's
why they're coming on Tuesday so they can help me even more so that I know.
Because I don't want to lose funds, I don't want us to have to pay back funds, and
I don't want to jeopardize the State.
MR. RICHARDS: So how broken are we? How far back? What are we talking
about? How many years?
MS. CARREIRA: Right now he's only asking me for a year to go back. That
could change, and they could ask us to go several more years. But right now he's
only saying one year, July 2017 to June 2018. But in an audit, they could ask for
previous years.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay.
MS. CARREIRA: I don't know. I'm sorry.
MR. RICHARDS: Because of our conversations, Brenda, like I said I do have
confidence in you, what you've brought forth. But this is exactly why I've been
very critical.
MS. CARREIRA: Sure.
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MR. RICHARDS: And increasing the funding from, well, up to $32 million
Operational, $22 million, that's up from—off the top of my head I want to say
$13, $14 million from last year. So we've increased operational funding by
50 percent. Huge jump in capitalization. And with this kind of information, I
don't think anybody on this Council can say they're happy. So that being said, I
think I'm going to throttle back right now. But I think we need to have a good
conversation bumbai. Okay, Chair, I'm going to yield. No, one more question
I've got.
CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Richards.
MR. RICHARDS: How much did we spend? You gave some great numbers, and
I appreciated the fact you paid attention to the numbers as far as what we've
contracted out. Because when we first met, we talked story about that, so I
appreciate you bringing those numbers forward. You had so many numbers, I
couldn't keep track of all of those.
MS. CARREIRA: Okay, sorry.
MR. RICHARDS: I would like a summary. And I don't know if you have a
number off the top of your head of what we spent this year on contract labor
versus last year. If not, that's fine. Because you had a lot of numbers, I'd like a
report for the Council as a whole.
MS. CARREIRA: Okay.
MR. RICHARDS: And I'd like it reasonably quickly, like tomorrow. Can?
MS. CARREIRA: I'll talk to Trixy.
MR. RICHARDS: Trixy, can? Got it? Okay, thank you very much. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Mr. Chung.
MR. CHUNG: Thank you. Very quickly. I'm kind of glad he asked that
question because I can check that off the list; I don't have to ask that.
I wanted to really commend you, Brenda, for all the work you've been doing. I
will say that your leadership has instilled more confidence in me of your
department and I've had over the last—at least two years, okay, maybe longer.
And one of the reasons is your ability to you touched upon it. You said
relationship building, but it's really relationships, I think, outside of the
department; but I think more importantly within the department. Because I've got
say, and I think all of you probably had this experience, we got a lot of
complaints, you know, from people within the department.
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And I've always prefaced, you know, my conversations with these people by
saying, "Look, I've got to say as long as you guys and I are on the page in terms
of moving this thing forward in a positive direction, then I'll listen. But if you're
just complaining because things are humbug for you guys, well, you've got to talk
to somebody, yeah?" But they made sense. And they're all starting to feel a part
of the that they're part of the solution now. So I can see attitudes changing, and
that's really important. You want everybody to work as a team, right, over there.
So I think that's probably one of your greatest talents, and then of course other
things, you know, administratively.
But I also wanted to touch upon what Ms. Kierkiewicz and Mr. Richards brought
up. I don't know where Ms. Kierkiewicz gets her Intel. It's incredible. But if
what she's saying is correct and what you guys have told us is correct—and it's
not only concerning, this is actually disturbing.
MS. CARREIRA: Yes.
MR. CHUNG: And we had a protracted discussion on that. I don't want to go
any further. But I have one question, though. If we—well, does this misstep put
not only us at jeopardy but the rest of the State?
MS. CARREIRA: Yes, Maui.
MR. CHUNG: That is not a good situation, right?
MS. CARREIRA: No. And I found that out like I said on Friday and contacted
the Managing Director the same day.
MR. CHUNG: Yeah, can we please address this quickly, forthwith?
MS. CARREIRA: We are.
MR. CHUNG: And I'm sure the federal government will give us some leeway,
but we don't want to assume anything. But this is really a bad situation.
MS. CARREIRA: Yes, sir.
MR. CHUNG: Okay, thank you. That's all.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. All I know is my hands and feet are super
sweaty right now after this exchange, and that final question by our Chair has my
antennas sky high. So with that,just keep us in the loop, let us know how we can
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help. Hopefully, some of the relationships we have with our federal delegation
can help maybe smooth out some rough edges.
MS. CARREIRA: Ryan has been absolutely wonderful. And he—he actually, I
believe, has been protecting us. I just told him, "Listen, I'll do whatever you
want. You want me to go up there every week, every day for two weeks? I will
do whatever you want to make this work," and I will.
I'll be in a better standing after Tuesday. You know, after our meeting, we're
having like a three-hour meeting. And then I'm meeting with the Mayor and the
Managing Director next week Wednesday, so that I can actually have the actual
facts. We just had that conversation, and my jaw kind of dropped. But we're
going to fix this. We're already fixing it.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, and I do like the rest of this. But I have the most
confidence in you, Brenda. I reallyI don't give that away very often. And I
have to share that, because I feel like we're about to hit reef little bit. But I do
want to call up, maybe Deanna again, and just kind of thinking through some of
the conversation related to the federal funds and the reporting requirements.
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MS. LEE LOY: With the next iteration of the budget, is there a way for your
department to show us where these grant monies are, and how they were spent, or
the expiration dates? Is there a way to ?
MS. SAKO: I'm sorry, for just for Transit?
MS. LEE LOY: No, for
MS. SAKO: so the Monthly Budget Status Report is a better tool to utilize that.
So as the funds get appropriated, they have their line items in the Monthly Budget
Status Report; and the grants and the revenue are specifically together in the front
of that, in the revenue section. So that kind of shows like was yet to be spent and
hasn't been spent, and what might be encumbered. It does not show pre-
encumbrances, which is one of the things. Which is like the requisition's in, but
for example, maybe with Transit they put a requisition in, but the bus hasn't
actually been purchased or the PO (Purchase Order) hasn't been cut. It doesn't
show that. But the departments all have those types of records, you know, if
needed. But the Monthly Budget Status Report is probably a better tool to look at
that, yeah.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, maybe if you could help. Maybe just for Transit too,
because we all want to help.
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MS. SAKO: Yeah. I think we all do. And yeah, so I think we'll definitely focus
on them. But we can also sit down and walk you through where like the grants
are too, in the Monthly Budget Status Report.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. One thing Ms. Kierkiewicz and I have learned
through this recovery process, is all these monies that come in sometimes they're
restricted, we don't know what it can be used for. So having a better, deeper
understanding of that, because I think Mr. Richards touched upon this part, is
we're infusing a lot of money. And the end-product is a bus and people riding the
bus, but there's some systematic framework that has to be stood up first.
And my larger concern isI heard you, Brenda, mention that you've developed
like a new reporting sheet, right? Tracking Sheet. My larger concern is it might
be great and a great tool for us, but I want to ensure that something as simple as
that tracking sheet has the proper language or vernacular that will transcend not
only here in Hawaii County but the State, and then at the Federal Government for
all of the different funding sources that Ms. Kierkiewicz talked about.
So I don't want us to reinvent the wheel. I think we really need to reach out to all
of the other partners out there so that this tracking requirement, which is holding a
large bucket of money for us—it would be a shame for us to create just a simple
mileage checklist and then it not translate to the grant funding that's millions.
MS. CARREIRA: I can reach out to Maui, because Ryan was telling me Maui
has a good system. So we've been talking to them, you know, since I've been an
Administrator, and we all share things. I'm not sure I've got to go up there or if
they have a program. Because theirs works, you know, we don't want to reinvent
that. So we started one right now. But I can talk to Maui; and then when they
come on Tuesday, I want to be able to show them what we have, and ask them,
"Which would you like us to do? Is it wrong? We need something else?" And
I'm sure we can that can happen on Tuesday. Or he can tell me he has a form.
But yes, I'm reaching out to Maui.
MS. LEE LOY: I had a lot of questions about your presentation, but in light of
the realization of this new information, I'm really not ready to talk about four new
positions, you know, baseyard. This is alarming. Really, really, alarming. But
we'll have another pass at it come May. And it sounds like you have a few
meetings between now and then, and so again, the confidence I have in you,
Brenda, to go get her done.
MS. CARREIRA: Yeah, I'll be happy to come back. I mean, I know I'll have
new information at that time, or if not earlier, you know.
MS. SAKO: I think we'll work with them too to see if it's software, or a
consultant, or what, to get it so that there's a system in place that's kind of more
easy to use. I think that's part of the frustration for all of them. And so I think if
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we could just make it easy to use and easy to keep up, that might be the best use
of some of the funds right now too. In addition to the buses and everything else
that we need. So we'll work on that, between now and May 3rd. So Brenda, we
no more much time, okay? Okay.
MS. LEE LOY: There's 2:00 and 3:00 o'clock in the morning for me,
anyway. You know, I want to walk back toI'm glad that we're trying to
shift the conversations by the questions that we're asking, right? And
Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder touched upon it, right? It's this layering. And this is
the question I started with when you sat here before us, Deanna, two days ago,
which is, you know, how does the budget create across collaboration, across the
departments, for better government efficiency and effectiveness? So again,just
more food for thought. That's the only way we're going to be able to shift the
model, right? We can't keep going down the same choo-choo train track.
So Brenda, go get 'em. I know you're tough. I really, really know you're tough.
You can do this. Alright, Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Richards.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. Thanks, Brenda. Once again, our Chair,
Chair Chung, very succinctly pointed it. This puts our State at risk, and the angst
that that gives me as Ms. Lee Loy said, "alarming." That being said, you talked
about building personal relationships, and we've sat down and talked story, I do
have faith in you.
When we were working on the $60 million at the Legislature, there was a
legislator that came up to us and said, "I don't know this, but I know Tim," and
we were able to move forward. Okay, I know Brenda. Okay, so I'm willing to
move forward. There's some budget hearings, we're not confirming any budgets
yet, and we had to be good stewards. So with that, get her done. Let's have a
good talk-story. I yield. Thanks, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else? Seeing none,
Administrator Carreira, it's my turn now. So very, very interesting and
enlightening discussion for your department. And based on what I've heard, and
what you have to deal with, and what the department has experienced over not
only before your time but way before your time, and bringing it up to speed till
today, given the situation that we've been apprised right now, I am very confident
that under your leadership and your staff, because these things have been
identified, that you will address it in a way that will encourage accountability.
Not only in your department but in everyone else's department, and I think that's
what we've strive for.
I'm happy to say that, you know, in the budget hearings that we've been through
over the years, this has beenI think this year, and this is just my opinion, but the
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things that have come up have been meaningful, and I think has helped us. It
hasn't been easy sometimes to see this, but I think recognizing what's at before us
as a body and as the administration, I really want to say that this body, myself
included, would love to work with you in whatever way we can so that we can
elevate this County to the point where we're working for the betterment of the
government and how it operates. You know, I have that feeling and thought for
everybody. Regardless of what problems we face, we must be able to address it
and fix it.
So that's what I get today from all this discussion, and I really, really thank you. I
applaud you for what you need to do. If you need anything from us, help from us,
please come forward and let us know.
MS. CARREIRA: Okay, thank you. Trixy, you wanted to ?
CHR. DAVID: Trixy, you need to you want to say something to close before
we close?
MS. CARREIRA: Okay, thank you, Trixy. What she was telling me is that—
what
hatwhat we're also trying to do because these DVIRs (Driver Vehicle Inspection
Report) have to do with the maintenance of the vehicles—is that we had talked to,
I believe, it's Randy Riley's Automotive Department. They have a Main Star
program, so they're allowing us to piggyback. And so Trixy's right now trying to
look into that program for something that would help us computerize things.
CHR. DAVID: Yes, I see.
MS. CARREIRA: So that is something thank you, Trixy.
CHR. DAVID: Right, so just to me it appears that you folks are all working and
on the same page to get to where we need to go and where we have to go.
MS. CARREIRA: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Tiffany; thank you, Trixy, and mahalo. Council
Members , can we take a two-minute break before we take Parks and Recreation?
Seven (minutes)? Alright. Thank you, we're in recess.
Recess At 12:25 p.m., the Chair called for a recess.
Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 1:02 p.m.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha, Council Members. I am taking the Special Meeting of the
Committee on Finance out of recess. And before we start with our next
department, I'd really like to thank them for their patience. We've been having
some really lengthy discussions.
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3) Department of Parks and Recreation:
(Note: At this time, Parks and Recreation Director Roxcie Waltjen and
Deputy Director Maurice Messina came forward to address the members
of the Committee.)
CHR. DAVID: So Director Waltjen and Deputy Messina, whenever you're
ready, please go ahead with your discussion or PowerPoint, whichever you desire.
MS. WALTJEN: Thank you, Madam Chair.
CHR. DAVID: You're welcome.
MS. WALTJEN: Madam Chair and members of the Hawaii County Council, we
are the Department of Parks and Recreation. Aloha kakou.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha.
MS. WALTJEN: It is a pleasure and an honor to have this opportunity to meet
with all of you. To be here today to come before you, the Council, to share our
budget, our vision, our achievements, and challenges as we enter into the new
fiscal year. I know that by working together we can move Hawaii County
forward, because collectively we are stronger, and our diversity makes us smarter.
The Department of Parks and Recreation strives to improve the quality of life of
our island residents and visitors by providing a full range of recreation areas,
facilities, programs, and services throughout the island. As we achieve these
goals, we make this island a nice place to live, to work, to visit, and to do
business.
The department provides a wide variety of recreational and cultural programs,
while operating and mainlining 362 sites throughout the island. These sites
include beach parks, neighborhood parks, senior centers, community centers, and
facilities for active recreation such as ballfields, soccer fields, gyms, swimming
pools, tennis courts, and rodeo arenas. In addition, we provide oversight for the
PONC (Preservation and Open Space Natural Commission) Stewardship
programs, which includes about 4,400 acres of land.
The department is responsible for the maintenance and the operation of special
purpose facilities, such as the Hilo Drag Strip, the Skeet Range, the Equestrian
Center, the Panaewa Rainforest Zoo, Ho`olulu Complex, the Hilo Municipal Golf
Course, Alae cemetery, three Veterans cemeteries, and 13 community cemeteries.
Needless to say, Parks and Recreation is the most diverse, action, service-driven
department in the County of Hawaii. Each division operates to achieve their
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goals and objectives to contribute to the overall operations of the department. We
engage with the public on a daily basis.
Divisions include Recreation, Aquatics, Cultural and Education, Parks
Maintenance, the Pana`ewa Zoo and Equestrian Center, golf course, Ho`olulu
Complex, and the Elderly Activities Division. These multi-faceted divisions and
sections coordinate, collaborate, to work and to improve the quality of our life.
The Department Parks and Recreation currently has a total of 494 employees, and
during the summer, it increases to approximately 644 for summer hires. Positions
are full-time,part-time, summer, temporary hires, senior employees, hourly
instructors, and contract workers.
Now we'd like to go over our department achievements, and that will also be
done in conjunction with the departmental achievements.
CHR. DAVID: Director Waltjen, would you like to introduce the rest of your
staff?
MS. WALTJEN: I would love to.
CHR. DAVID: Okay,please?
MS. WALTJEN: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thanks.
MS. WALTJEN: From the division of—since I came from Cultural and
Education, let's go with Cultural and Education. Let's go with Burt Mukai and
Morty Carter.
CHR. DAVID: Welcome.
MS. WALTJEN: We have our Municipal Golf Course manager,
Mr. Troy Tamiya.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha.
MS. WALTJEN: Panaewa Rainforest Zoo and the Equestrian Center, we have
Pam Mizuno.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha.
MS. WALTJEN: Our Park Planner, Mr. James Komata.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha, James.
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MS. WALTJEN: Ho`olulu Manager, we have Mr. Dean Goya.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha.
MS. WALTJEN: Recreation Administrator, we have Mr. Mason Souza, who
came late.
MS. WALTJEN: Our Aquatics Section Director is Alex, Alejandra(Flores-
Morikami).
CHR. DAVID: Welcome.
MS. WALTJEN: Our Business Manager is Mr. Reid Sewake.
CHR. DAVID: Hi, Reid.
MS. WALTJEN: And the Administrator of the Elderly Activities Division,
Ms. Roann Okamura.
CHR. DAVID: Hi, Roann.
MS. WALTJEN: Hawaii County Band Director, Mr. Paul Arcero.
CHR. DAVID: Welcome. Aloha.
MS. WALTJEN: And our Park Maintenance Manager, and not to sayI'm
introducing him the last, but it doesn't mean he's the last, because without them
we can do nothing, Mr. Jason Mattos.
CHR. DAVID: Welcome everybody. Thank you, Director.
MS. WALTJEN: And the person who deals with me on a daily basis, and I
probably give her a lot of headaches, our HR(Human Resources)person,
Lea Kaneta-Ogata.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha, and welcome everybody. Thank you. Go ahead.
MS. WALTJEN: And now we'd like to go over our departmental achievements.
(Note: At this time, Ms. Waltjen provided a PowerPoint presentation to
the members of the Committee. For viewing of the subject presentation,
please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's
Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online in the County's
webpages at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A hard copy of the presentation is
made a part of the record, see Comm. 117.42.)
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MS. WALTJEN: The zoo and the equestrian center, well, yesterday we got a big
surprise, because Reader's Digest named the Hilo Rainforest Zoo the best Zoo in
the state. They did an article, and it was they did every state and they named
which was the best zoo in the state, and the Pana`ewa Rainforest Zoo got the
award, which is really good for us, because we know visitors come here, we have
something to offer them, so let's make sure that our legislators look at us and say,
"Hey, maybe we need more of the TAT." (Transient Accommodation Tax.)
Currently, it's one of the most popular visitor attractions on Hawaii Island. As of
March 31, 2019, in this current fiscal year, there was 208,139,000 visitors to our
zoo. And last year for the same period, we had only 194,309,000 visitors. So it is
increasing every single year. We added four new animals, which was made
possible with the financial help from the Friends of the Pana`ewa Zoo. We added
a black swan, a white fronted capuchin monkey, a black and white colobus
monkey, a two-toed sloth; these new acquisitions were made possible with the
financial help from the Friends of the Zoo, and we call them FOZ.
Going to EAD (Elderly Activities Division), we have six major programs that
provide services to over 10,700 seniors annually. Some of the highlights are that
they did the Welcome Home, the Vietnam vets commemoration of the 50'h
anniversary, that was done. They had 600 people in attendance, and it was the
largest event in the United States. Every year they do the kupuna softball
tournament. This is their 35h year doing the tournament, and the state
championships will also be here. Kupuna hula festival, this will be the 36h
annual one happening this year. Last year staff assisted over 1,000 seniors with
transportation to and from appointments. For tax assessments, the fifth year in a
row we've been number one in the State
RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program), we have the most participants in the
State. They have donated in excess of 100,000 hours, which have been donated to
various State and County agencies, and they have saved the County $1.2 million
in labor cost.
We are very, very pleased to announce, and I'd like to recognize Roann Okamura,
because she wrote a grant, and she was awarded a$750,000 grant from DBEDT
(Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism), for social
transportation. The other transportation services that we have is for doctor
appointments, you know, that kind of thing. But social transportation takes our
seniors to and from social, recreational activities,which is really needed here on
this island being that we are so far stretched out.
Park Maintenance and Cemeteries, we have established a new work order tracking
system so we have a better handle on what needs to be fixed, who's fixing it,
where it's at, whether it's completed, whether it has to go out to contract bid, or
whatever, so that we can—each and every division can monitor and can follow up
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on their projects. This past year, we completed approximately 2,000 work orders.
That's kind of like the going rate about what we do per year.
For the past 30 years, we have been receiving complaints about the Honoka`a
Arena, when people go in there and there is activity there, fugitive dust flies up
into the air and becomes a health concern. Well, Jason came on board and Jason
said, "Let's fix it." So we dug out the bottom of the arena, put in new rocks and
new gravel, and we fixed that problem and for the first time in 30 years, I have
not gotten a phone call telling me that fugitive dust is flying through the air. So
big, big mahalos for that.
New water main lines was installed at Laupahoehoe Beach Park and Ho`okena
Beach Park. The Peter Boy Kema memorial bench was erected at the Old Kona
Airport. Apparently Peter Boy, when he was going through some tough times
used to go down to the Old Kona Airport and sit by the water and just look out
into the water. And that was done in conjunction with the Prosecuting Attorney's
Office.
Kamehameha Ballfields have been restored. The zoo and equestrian center is
repairing and replacing their fencing and all the roofs are being painted. So we're
sprucing it up and just in time for our award. Electricians are continuingly
upgrading all lighting to energy efficiently lock-sliding systems so we can
become more energy efficient. It would be really nice if we could install
photovoltaic, but I do know that is a little bit more intense type of thing because
the structure of the roof at times will determine what needs to be done and could
drive the cost up. But we are always looking for ways to cut energy.
Recreation and Aquatics and the Ho`olulu Complex, we have recorded over
4 million activity participants in the year 2018. Some we ran Summer Fun and
Intersession programs, and even when we were working with the shelters with the
lava event, we did develop additional programs to help that group out so that we
could give the kids something else to think about other than the lava event that
was going on.
We now have our own American Red Cross Lifeguard Certification Specialist.
You know, we were having a hard time finding people who could qualify for our
lifeguard program, or people who could apply because you need the certification.
And Alex decided that she was going to go take the class and become certified, so
she can certify her own lifeguards, which is a big help for us.
We have filled our vacant ADA Specialist position (Americans with Disabilities
Act), recently has come on board, so we are working collaboratively with the
ADA people with all programs to ensure that we are being open, and everyone
has the opportunity to participate in our programs regardless of their special need.
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We are working to get playing time for new sports,pickleball, futsal, disc golf.
So it's somewhat of a challenge because we have so many fields, we have so
many facilities, we have a lot of teams. And each year we have additional teams
that develop. So sometimes we've got to beg and sometimes we've got to
borrow, and sometimes, you know we have to make adjustments, but we are
working very hard on that and trying to get everybody to have some time at the
facility.
The drag strip is open and running smoothly, and we're working to improve the
motocross oval and the go cart tracks. And our Recreation Administrator,
Mr. Mason Souza, was named the County Manager of the Year.
As far as for Culture and Education, they are just about ready to go with this
year's Fourth of July celebration, which will happen on fourth of July. They
coordinated a very successful Queen Lili`uokalani Festival. And very, very
successful also, the Magic of the Seasons, which has been growing. And the
participation that has happened with all the County agencies contributing and
doing their Christmas trees and their refreshments has been just wonderful. You
know, it's been a collaborative effort where we partner with all the different
departments, but in addition to that, it's also something that the community we
giving back to the community and we're helping them out: "Bring your kids
over." Not everybody can afford to have a celebration. But if you can come for
one week you can hear some entertainment and have some cheer, that's really a
good thing.
And of course, the legendary Cherry Blossom Festival went off without a hitch. I
think this year was the greatest number of participants they've ever had. And I
will tell you, it's upwards of 75,000 people that attend this event. And it's a
one-day thing. So it keeps getting bigger and it keeps getting better.
The Hilo Municipal Golf Course, although we had approximately 240 inches of
rainfall in the Waiakea area over the last year, the golf course team was able to
keep the course in playable shape. As of last month, a total of 42,192 rounds of
golf was played. And there was 34 tournaments held at the course. No when
you're looking 42,192 rounds, in my mind I'm going to tell you this is how it
went for me, "Ka-Ching!"
Okay well let me tell you about this. A lot of the people that are playing disc golf
are seniors. This is their exercise; this is their daily routine. Get up in the
morning, rush down there, eat some breakfast, go play golf, come back, sit down
all day long and talk story. And the other ones are the monthly cardholders. So
you know, we like to keep things available and accessible for all people. You
know, whether you're a student or an adult or a kupuna, you deserve to have these
things.
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The County Band, in addition to the 24 regularly scheduled concerts, the band
performed numerous concerts, celebrations and parades. And they try their best
to be at every event that they're invited to. However, sometimes it is a little
difficult because if the event or the activity is held on a day where it's a regular
working day, most of their members have other full-time jobs. So you know, if
they're not there at a certain event, normally that's the case. And they are the
biggest performer at the Fourth of July celebration, and they do a wonderful
concert every year at the Mo`oheau Park Bandstand.
As far as for the Administration, we are filling positions at a rapid pace, and they
are being filled in the appropriate manner, according to Civil Service Human
Resources Rules and Regulations. We have opened recruitment for Park
Caretakers, Groundskeepers, and all of our vacancies that was on the books have
been filled. We have been promoting from inside the department to give
employees a chance for advancement. So that even if you get in at the ground
level, there is some light at the end of the tunnel.
And we have constant fiscal oversight and overtime tracking. Just so that you
know, in the year from March 2018 to March 2019, we have spent well, let's say
$905,000 in overtime, okay. But now, I broke this down. Out of the $905,000,
$536,000 of that was for the lava event, so more than half.
Just so you know, we are requesting several positions. We are requesting six new
positions: a Clerk III, for the Administrative office, HR Division. With all—any
time an employee makes a movement, whether they're sick, at work, they go on
vacation, they get a raise, they get a demotion, they get a transfer, it requires
paperwork. Nothing happens without the HR people. Nothing happens, there is
no movement in the department. So right now they currently have the HR
Specialist, we have two Clerks, and they are bogged down with getting all this
done with a matter of just about 600 employees. And summertime, it kind of
triples because the paperwork is three times the amount, because of the short
timeframe for the summer workers.
In addition to that, we're asking for an Account Clerk for the Parks Maintenance
Division. That will alleviate some of the work that is being done right now by the
current Account Clerk. You know, with the amount of bids and things that they
have to fix, and supplies and equipment that they need to work on, it is far too
much work for one person. In addition to that, there is approximately 200
timesheets that they need to be done; and when you have one person doing that,
it's a bit much. People have been coming in on the weekends to finish all of that
stuff up.
We are requesting three park caretakers, night crew: one for Hamakua, one for
Kohala, and one for Puna. And we are requesting a requesting a Recreation
Technician II for the Puna area, okay.
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In Puna,just so that I can touch on that, okay? We have 19 parks in Puna,
facilities, okay? And how many workers do we have out there for maintenance?
We have seven workers out there. So it is very, very difficult to keep on top of
everything. If you have one—when you're starting your shift, if you have one
problem, say at the second park you go to you have some vandalism, your whole
day is shot, because immediately you have to clean that vandalism up. So adding
an additional position will help us to kind of get through things. It's not going to
make us perfect, but it will be a help.
We are also asking to fund two unfunded positions, a Park Caretaker in Kona and
a Recreation Technician II in Kona. You know, recreation technicians, directors,
are needed more and more. The more we can engage our kids, the more we can
engage our young adults, keeping them healthy, the more we engage our seniors,
to provide program and services, the better our community is, the better our
community comes.
We want to change three positions, from part-time to full-time, and these are all in
the pool. A lifeguard at the North and South Kona area, a lifeguard in Puna, and a
lifeguard in North Hilo. So we're taking these part-time positions and making
them full-time so that we will have less closures and we don't have to close down.
This still doesn't account for the times that we have someone call sick and we
don't have enough lifeguards at the pool, okay. We do have active recruitment
for lifeguards, and if any of you know of anyone who would want to be a
lifeguard, or who is a lifeguard and would like to work for the County of Hawaii,
please tell them to call us.
In addition to all of this, we are asking for some replacement vehicles. Please
understand most of our vehicles are trucks that the Park Caretakers use, our
Plumbers, our Electricians. Most of our vehicles have over 100,000 miles. Some
of them, as you're driving you can see the road, and I don't mean from out the
window.
We're asking for a half-ton, extra-cab utility truck, and this will be for the South
Hilo power mowers, and a utility van for the Plumbers. You know, there was a
time that when we had something break down in Kona, we could—our Plumber's
truck couldn't get over to the other side. Couldn't make it, so we had to go and
borrow a truck from somebody else to get out there. You know, that's a bad
situation, so we don't want to be in that kind of situation. We're also asking for
our crew-cab, F-250 utility truck, and this will be in South Kohala for the power
mowers.
Now, as you know, we can't do all of this alone. We need cooperation. We need
collaboration. We need coordination. And I just want to let you guys know that
these are the people that we work with. You know, we beg, we borrow, we try
not to steal, but I try.
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DPW (Department of Public Works), we use their dump-trucks. We have
bulldozer assistance from them. You know, they were responsible for cleaning up
behind the Kawamoto Pool and the Hurricane Lane clean-up. We also work with
their Planners and their Project Managers in conjunction with our department so
that we can move projects forward, but also to ensure that we are doing things all
by the book, so we don't get accused of breaking our own rules.
We also work with the Department of Environmental Management, and we work
with Research and Development. Most recently, we have some Summer Fun bus
transportation funding from Research and Development. And we're also in the
process of receiving our security cameras' funding. Security cameras are needed
because we have any increase in vandalism and people that just basically are
working against the common good of everyone.
We work with Civil Defense in times of disaster or any time there is some type of
hurricane. Or when we need shelters, we work the Fire Department. The Fire
Department man most of our beaches. They provide the lifeguards at our
beaches. Right now, they are also providing lifeguards at the newly open Pohoiki,
which I will give you an update. We got a call this morning, and Pohoiki started
out as a circular type of sphere type of beach. Well, now the sand is extending
yards out, so it's not turning out to a round type of beach. Two ten-yards of new
beach every two weeks, so it's turning out to be a beautiful place.
We work in coordination with the Police Department. They assist us with
enforcing our park rules and with the homeless situation, so we have been
working diligently with them, and we have been trying to clean up our parks, as
far as ensuring the safety of our children at the parks.
We work in conjunction with Prosecutor's Office,because if you have someone
trespass and if they go to court, and if you're not in line with the Prosecutor's
Office, we want to make that we're covering all bases so that we can make—we
can ensure that it's not just going to get dismissed.
We are very thankful for the assistance that we've been getting and cooperation
we've been getting from Hawaii County Council. Each and every one of you are
on speed-dial, and any time we have a problem and we need something in your
district, we give you a call. But you know, we've also got a lot of assistance from
you guys, letting us know that you noticed something. But also, you know, the
money also does help, okay.
We work with DLNR (Department of Land and Natural Resources), with the
Department of Transportation, you know, with the Highways, HI-EMA (Hawai`i
Emergency Management Agency), with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management
Agency. Just to let you know, all of our FEMA reports, all of our paperwork that
was required for reimbursements have all gone in, and we await now,
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reimbursements, so we met all the timelines. And I have to thank Reid and Nori
(Ishii) because they do a bang-up job on that.
Also, each of the departments, whenever we are doing a disaster or some kind of
hurricane or anything like that, everybody tracks their expenses. Their time,
anything that they need to purchase because of the event, everything is tracked
and then submitted to the main office, whereby we submit a big report so that we
get reimbursed for whatever we need. And just to let you know, some of the
overtime that we had, you know, that overtime that we had for the lava event and
the hurricane, 75 percent of that will be coming back to us. The questions is
when.
And one of our major, major contributors to our collaborative efforts is
community groups. We work hand-in-hand with community groups, private
individuals, private enterprise, because if we all get together, the process goes a
lot easier. We share the resources; we share the glory.
Now, let me tell you what we are currently working on. We currently have 32
current projects that the department is working on. Aunty Sally Kalehohano's
Luau Hale. The air conditioning system, the study, and the upgrade. We are
finalizing the assessment and the recommendations. Clem Akina Park
Playground safety, surfacing replacement. We are working with FEMA. This
also has been submitted to FEMA. And this was from Hurricane Lane, because it
flooded over there, and it damaged the surface of the playground. And right now
we're in the construction phase of that project.
The East Hawaii Veteran Cemetery Number Two maintenance building
expansion. We are working with DAGS (Department of Accounting and General
Services) and DOD (U.S. Department of Defense) on that, and right now they are
in construction. Gilbert Carvalho Park playground equipment resurfacing
replacement. This is a FEMA reimbursement also, and this was from Hurricane
Lane. We are also in construction on that.
Hilo Municipal Golf Course Maintenance Area Drainage Improvements. You
know, in all the years that we've been in existence we've never had a drainage
problem, but all of a sudden during this last hurricane, Hurricane Lane, there was
like a river that created a drainage problem in the center of the golf course. So
right now, we are coordinating in-house with construction resources.
You know, any time that we can do construction, or we can do replacement or
maintenance in-house, it cuts our cost down more than half, so what we try to do,
is we try to do an assessment first off, to see if we have the skills, the equipment,
to do the project and if it is permissible to do the project. We follow through in
that way. Once that is done, we coordinate. And if it's deemed that it can't be
done in-house, then we have to go out for a bid and then that whole procurement
process, and then of course that takes a whole lot longer.
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The Hilo Skeet Range. The new high-low house and electrical improvements, the
consultant has been selected and a draft contract is being prepared. Ho`olulu
Park. The new practice fields, we're preparing the bid documents as we speak.
Honoka`a Swimming Pool, the HAZMAT (hazardous materials) removal and the
demolition, notice to proceed is on May 6, so we will be going forward with that.
You know, the thing about the Honoka`a pool, that pool was built by the
community out there. So the community already went in, and they repainted, and
they did repairs in the pool. But the roof and the electrical work and things like
that, you know, when we went in to inspect, it had some asbestos. So we had to
get a HAZMAT team to go in there and do the work. The Honoka`a Swimming
Pool, the new electrical service and equipment, the consultant has been selected
and the draft contract preparation is in process.
James Kealoha Beach Park, the driveway and parking improvements. We are
coordinating with implementation with the Department of Public Works. The
Kailua Park, the Old Kona Airport, we are going to demolish the old terminal
building. Right now, we have it boarded all up. And we'll be designing a new
comfort station over there, concession and parking. The consultant is being
selected, and a draft contract is in process. Again at the Old Kona Airport,
irrigation system replacement. With the Department of Environmental
Management and the Wastewater Division we're working on some upgrades. We
will continue the ongoing coordination with the other departments so that we can
have the best bang for our buck.
Kamakoa Nui Park, new dog park. We are in consultation selection, and we will
be drafting a contract,preparation in process. Kamehameha Park Ballfield and
lighting system renovation. The lights have all been replaced. On the County's
part, everything's a okay. What they have found out, that they are still assessing
the system for recurring power issues, and it is apparently a HELCO (Hawai`i
Electric Light Company) issue. Now I do know that they were out there this past
week, did we get any report on that yet? We are meeting with the contractors
today.
Kawananakoa Gym, this is down in Keaukaha. The consultant has been selected,
and we are drafting the contract as we speak.
The Old Kona Airport, this is old Kona the Kona Pool. Big one, okay. The
Kona pool services approximately 5,000 people per day. So we need to replace
the filters, and what we thought of is, you know, instead of just replacing the
filters while the pool is being closed, we're going to try and fix whatever needs to
be fixed. We have gone out to—in fact, the bid opens today at 2:00 o'clock this
afternoon.
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Kealakehe Regional Park Master Plan Update, the environmental assessment and
engineering studies. The consultant has been selected, and we will be drafting a
contract. The Laupahoehoe Point Park, the main pavilion reroofing and new
gutters. It's in construction right now. Oh, one more thing, the boat ramp at the
Laupahoehoe Park, we're going to be fixing that, too, okay.
Lincoln Park, we're going to be installing new exercise stations in there,
equipment layout, and the selection is in the process. In addition to that, you
know, we had a community group. Well, a community of artists came to see
us, and they would like to they're going to be doing some artwork on each of
those little columns that surrounds the park, making it more of a children
attracting type of place. Each of those columns will have an alphabet on it, and it
will be all done in mosaic; and the alphabets are being created by the seniors at
the Kamana Center, and the mosaic artwork will be—like for A, it will have A, it
will have an apple and then a background, so each of those. The artists are all
going to be they're going to be doing all the work. We're going to be assisting
them with purchasing the supplies that they need, and they will be installing. And
of course my $64 million question was, "If it gets damaged, what's going to
happen?" They said they'll come back and replace it, so that's a good thing.
Malama Park, reconstruction of a comfort station. The roofing kind of was falling
in, so we're redoing that. And we're going to be coordinating an in-house repair
on that. New State HI-EMA (Hawai`i State Emergency Management Agency)
Emergency Sirens at various parks. We are working continuously with the State
on that. Pahoa District Park, covered play court flooring replacement. We are
preparing the bid documents right now. Pahoa District Park field renovations,
We're preparing the bid documents. Pahoa District Park playground safety
surfacing replacement, we'll be starting that on May 1st
Panaewa Rainforest Zoo and Gardens, new aviary building through Friends of the
Park, plans and permitting in process. Panaewa Rainforest Zoo and Gardens new
butterfly house,plans and permitting in process. Papa`ikou Park, Santos Field
pavilion reroofing, coordinating in-house construction. Shooting Range and
Training Facility, we are still in the discussion phases with different people that
would like to push tis forward. Waiakea-Uka Park, new community center and
master plans, we are finalizing the master plan, so we are moving that forward
also.
Roots Skate Park in Kohala, we're working with the community group to expand
the skate park to phase two and delivered a Matson container, and we are in the
process of ordering the materials. Hilo Skate Park, we have designated the parcel
that is across the Civic Auditorium, where the Hilo Skate Park will be located.
We are working on preliminary plans and the environmental assessment
documents. Kurtistown Skate Park, we are working with the community group to
turn the older unused tennis court into a new skate park. We are working with a
group and are in a preliminary design phase. In addition to that, we also are
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working—we have the staff going out and doing estimates to do dugouts at the
Kurtistown Park. You know, in addition to just the dugouts, we also want to see
how we can implement the ADA accessibility plans also in the same time.
Okay, we have 16 ADA projects that are happening. Okay, these projects, we
have a deadline of the end of 2020-2021. I'm just going to read them off so that
you guys know it's happening. Papa`aloa Park, Pa`auilo Park, NAS Swimming
Pool, Richardson Ocean Marine Center, Hilo Bayfront Canoe Area, Kolekole
Gulch Park, Disappearing Sands Beach, Miloli`i Beach, Park Maintenance–
South Hilo Baseyard, Mo`oheau Ballfield, Pahala Swimming Pool, Kahuku Park,
Na`alehu Park, Pahala Park, Pana`ewa Rainforest Zoo and Gardens, and Wong
Stadium at Ho`olulu.
Now, as I thought about money, you probably are thinking about money too now,
okay. So we do have some revenue generating sources. Mauna Kea Recreation
Area, we will be finalizing the RFP (Request for Proposal) for concessions. We'll
have to Finance by May 1st, and we are working on amending the Special Use
Permit to include stargazing. Hilo Municipal Golf Course, we are finalizing the
RFPs for the golf course restaurant and pro shop, and current contracts will be up
in October 2019.
Sponsorship of the County Assets Administrative Rule. The P&R(Parks and
Recreation) Rule Number 17, we will have the first draft to Finance by April 26,
and the next step after Finance approval, will be public hearing.
By working with the community and volunteer groups, we maximize our funds,
our resources, and of course we create buy-in. We have the Friends of the Park;
we have the Friends of the Zoo. Skate Park community groups, senior groups,
Youth Challenge, anybody who comes with a question, concern, you know, if it's
a group, we try to get them involved. If we get them involved, we create buy-in,
we get the help. It's a win-win for everybody. They feel like their voices have
been heard, and that's what we're trying to do.
In summation, my personal vision for the department is to improve the public
image of County government, restore trust, and change the negative perception of
how people view the County worker. And this is how we are trying to do it: I
encourage the development, coordination, and implementation of procedures that
create win-win partnerships between private enterprise, community organizations,
elected officials, and government entities. We share resources. We share
financial obligations, and we share the glory of success. We all benefit from
working together.
I am proactive. We try to be proactive to issues, to concerns, to problems, and
challenges. We work collectively with other departments, with other agencies,
community organizations. These all create more buy-in and ownership. If they
have a stake in it, they're going to take care of it. We engage the community in
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the development of solutions and plans to instill a sense of ownership. Share the
kuleana with the hope with the hope that through their involvement vandalism in
parks, beaches, and facilities will decrease.
We fill all vacant positions in a timely manner to reduce closures due to lack of
staffing. All supervisors are undergoing mandatory supervisory training for all
staff to ensure that the supervisors have the knowledge, the skills, and training
required to effectively perform their duties.
When aging facilities are in need of restoration, we try to complete all repairs
before the facility completely breaks down. We stress the importance of
prevention versus intervention. Most facilities are more than 50 years old, and
when repairs can be done in-house, we try to facilitate that process, thus getting
the biggest bang for the buck.
We bring everyone involved into planning meetings whenever a large-scale
project requires the expertise and coordination of several divisions and sections.
This validates their importance to the overall success of the project and ensures
that everyone is on the same page. I have found that this simple process
minimizes mistakes, do-overs, and builds morale within the department, and it
creates friendships within the divisions. And we also do this with the other
departments because we can get more done together.
Whenever our department has to deal with a crisis, a problem, or a challenge, a
meeting of the minds is set to ask for possible solutions and discussions.
Discussions are entertained to view solutions from all perspectives. Some critical
problems have been solved and even prevented by the use of this technique.
Employees who go missing in action or fail to report to work without properly
leave authorization are dealt with in a timely manner. We no longer have
employees out on extended leaves without pay for years because this increases
overtime and prevents us from filling those positions to fill the gap services, and it
creates staff shortages.
Lastly, my philosophy on management with the Department of Parks and
Recreation, is like it's a family. We manage our `ohana by celebrating all
birthdays each month at staff meetings. We congratulate workers for jobs well
done. And if one person is having a difficulty, we surround the wagons and work
together as a team to help that person overcome the challenge. We do not throw
anyone under the bus. And when we receive praise, it's achieved through
teamwork.
I want to thank all of you for the time. I hope I didn't talk to too long, but I
wanted to be as transparent as possible to let you guys know where we're going,
where we're trying to go. I'm driving the bus here, and as I tell everybody all the
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time, "I'm the cheerleader. These people here do the job." Thank you very
much.
CHR. DAVID: Mahalo so much, Director. Your report has been so
comprehensive. I'll be surprised if we have any questions. But yeah, good job.
But I do have Mr. Chung and then Ms. Poindexter.
MS. WALTJEN: Sure.
CHR. DAVID: Alright, Mr. Chung, go ahead.
MR. CHUNG: Well, thank you, Roxie, for that very thorough presentation.
MS. WALTJEN: We've been watching you guys in the past two days. You
know, that gives us some insight, because a lot of times we need to know what's
out there because we don't hear everything. By the time they call the director,
they're at wits end, okay. They're screaming. So most times they're going to see
you guys first, right?
MR. CHUNG: Anyway, after that thorough presentation, I suppose I, or we,
could ask a lot of questions, but we can do that, I think, at your office.
MS. WALTJEN: Sure.
MR. CHUNG: All I wanted to say from my side was that your department I
looked over all the different departments we had, and your department is
associated with a lot of words, and all positive, right? Family, together, smiles,
happiness, and things like that. So you're fortunate in that regard, but at the same
time, you have to tow the line, you have to be responsible.
But I really wanted to thank you for just—you and Maurice, and everyone else
here, I mean, I think almost everyone else, has a real "can do" attitude, yeah, and
that's very important. So thank you so much.
MS. WALTJEN: Thank you.
MR. CHUNG: Any questions that I have, I'll ask you later on.
MS. WALTJEN: Sure.
MR. CHUNG: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung.
MR. RICHARDS: Just really quick.
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CHR. DAVID: Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, thank you. You know, first of all, compliments kind of
taking care of the shelters last year. I know you that's something you guys got
saddled with, but I think your performance was exemplary. Especially the fact
that we're housing animals in a shelter, and that's outside the box. The question I
have is, are we getting everything repaired? Is it on the deal? Because I know
Pahoa
MS. WALTJEN: Yes, things are moving forward. It is not a fast process, you
know, it is a slow process. And in addition to that, it's like paperwork after
paperwork, and justifying this paperwork, that paperwork. You know, everything
has to come together. It's not only the repairing of the fields.
You know, in addition to that, we have three fields at Pahoa. Now, we don't want
to shut down everything one time and clean it and fix it. So what we're doing is
we're fixing one field at a time. Then once that field is ready to go, then we fix
the next one so that we don't have a total closure and the community doesn't lose
out.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. Thank you, and I just appreciate it. And again,
compliments to you guys. I was going down there, as you guys know, couple
times a week.
MS. WALTJEN: Actually, I want to thank you. Because we had our own
veterinarian coming down there at least several times a week and, you know, he
checked out all the animals. He made sure we had no viruses going around. And
I think you gave a lot of things, like for fleas and things like that. They're all free
stuff.
MR. RICHARDS: Well, the companies were very supportive. But compliment
you guys because every time I went there, I'd check the bathrooms. Always
clean, so thank you. I yield.
MS. WALTJEN: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, that was most comprehensive report
yet. Thank you.
MS. WALTJEN: Thank you.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: My only thing that I saw, and good job, that
your OCEs (Other Current Expenses) were low for every department, your
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utilization of this, this year. And I know there are a lot of needs in the equipment
category for all of the guys out there. I sat and met with Jason.
MS. WALTJEN: Great.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: He needs weedwhackers and equipment. I
think that's a pretty obvious need. So if Deanna could roll over some of these
extra OCEs into equipment, you know, I think that would be good use of that
money. That's the only thing I have to say about the budget. So that's all.
MS. WALTJEN: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Director Waltjen, Deputy Messina. You've
been so helpful during lava recovery, and even now as we start to improve our
community resources so that families can begin to get a sense of normalcy and
enjoy those assets again, so thank you. And thank you for helping to make the
Uncle Boogie surf event Pohoiki a huge success. Despite the change in landscape
of the area, I mean it was incredible.
So thank you, and your staff, for working so hard. I'm excited about the work
that we're going to be able to do with the additional funds, with Bill 12,
Exhibit A, amendment. We're going to be having an Easter egg hunt in Pahoa, so
thank you, Mason, to you and your crew. It's going to be really fun and exciting.
I just have a couple of questions. You mentioned Lifeguard and wanting to
change a few of those positions from part-time to full-time. So specifically for
Puna, if it's changed to full-time, does that mean we'll be able to open the
Aquatic Center seven days a week?
MS. WALTJEN: Once we fill the vacancies, yes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, great.
MS. WALTJEN: So we need still need people on the list. So if you know of
someone, please have them apply.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, heard you loud and clear. I know there are a lot of
improvements that need to be made because our facilities are older and there
needs to be the ADA accessibility compliance. Does your department go after
CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) monies to make those
improvements happen?
MS. WALTJEN: Yes, we do.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. I just didn't see any of the projects on the list for
the last few years, so I just wondered.
MS. WALTJEN: Last few years, the ADA projects was not a major concern of
the last Administration. So being we're on a timeline right now, it is a major
concern of this Administration.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MR. MESSINA: For the current—Deputy Director Maurice Messina. For the
current ADA projects, we have a Finance float of$30 million bond to handle
these projects.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Thank you. And the last question I have,
or maybe just more of a comment. When my staff and I met with you for like
two-and-a-half hours a couple of months ago, and thank you for your time, I know
how busy you are, we talked about how your Park Caretakers spends 80 percent
of their time cleaning up after the homeless population at our parks. And I just
wonder if there's any work being done in partnership with other departments.
And thank you for all of the collaborations you're doing. You are clearly
listening to us. We talked about budgeting for outcomes, and you articulated
those outcomes. And you've talked about ways of which you are trying to be
more efficient and collaborative with your resources. So having said that, what is
some of the work? And maybe this is a conversation we can have later. But that
you folks are doing, in partnership with other departments and agencies on the
County and State level, to begin to address the homeless situation.
MS. WALTJEN: Maurice, I'm going to let you
MR. MESSINA: So the Mayor's Office, with Sharon Hirota, she's helping take
the lead on that. The big projects we're doing right now is basically just—we're
talking to them. We're asking them to clean up after themselves. We're asking
them not leave needles around. We are bringing in security guards for like at
Lincoln Park, which unfortunately was vandalized again this morning.
We've done one homeless cooperative clean-up day at Mo`oheau Bandstand; we
have another one coming up next month for that. That's where we get the
homeless to basically help us clean. You know, we figure we'd make it a little bit
more, give them a little bit more ownership of the places where they stay, maybe
they'll help us out a little bit.
Other than that, it's working with the other—with Sharon, especially. We're
really happy that Harry (Kim)brought her on board, because now that's actually
the one person that we can go. She's bringing out the showers, the portable
showers. We're going to be doing that in Kona pretty soon. But it's really a
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thinking stage right now. We're all supposed to be getting together very soon to
talk about this, because we do not want to turn into Oahu, Seattle, or anything
like that.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah. I mean, I think at the end of the day we just want to
protect the integrity of our public assets and ensure that your workers are able to
do what they're there to do, which is to maintain our parks and not clean them
after these individuals.
I just see a lot of opportunity. And we can have further conversations about just
stepping up those collaborations. I mean, we can look at other jurisdictions that
have creative temporary work programs for homeless individuals and bring
around those wrap-around services. Like you are doing with the mobile showers,
but we can also get vision and health screenings, and if they need transitional or
emergency housing, and just other workforce development support.
I'll leave it at that. Thank you again for all of your work and your very thorough
comprehensive update. It's very appreciated. Thank you. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Ms. Poindexter, go ahead.
MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah and thank you. Like what everybody said, I'll ditto
that, good report.
I just want to give a shout-out to our Honoka`a community. And not
only Honoka`a. The other people who are interested in rodeo arenas, because
they did—we all came to meet with you folk, and Jason was there. So their
voices were heard, and we want to say thank you to the community for always
keeping us on our toes to address all different things that are happening in our
facilities. So working with good communities, especially when they, the Friends
of the Park, you know, that we have in Honoka`a; then the Friends of the Pool,
doing so much work and putting in their sweat equity, I would say.
But anyway, Pa`auilo Park, I noticed it's on the list for repairs to be with ADA
compliance, is that correct? So question, are the lights, you know, that rusted big
lights in the park around they've been calling about that for years. Now that
is you know, kids have gotten hurt on those. The light—it's just the metal
structure. The lights don't work already, right? It's all
MS. WALTJEN: You're talking aboutPapa`aloa?
MS. POINDEXTER: No, Pa`auilo.
MS. WALTJEN: Pa`auilo.
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MS. POINDEXTER: Because Pa`auilo is on the list. I thought I heard you read it
off.
MS. WALTJEN: Actually, the scope or the contract is going to be finalized next
week.
MS. POINDEXTER: Okay. So I'll come to talk to you about that.
MS. WALTJEN: Okay.
MS. POINDEXTER: Because it's dangerous. I mean, it's just all rusted. Huge.
Right around the park, you have these light poles and it's real bad shape.
MS. WALTJEN: Yeah, and the trees are kind of big too yeah?
MS. POINDEXTER: And the kids are starting to climb on that.
MS. WALTJEN: Yeah.
MS. POINDEXTER: And it's not good situation. So, I'll come. I'll come and
meet with you.
MS. WALTJEN: Great.
MS. POINDEXTER: But overall, thank you so much.
MS. WALTJEN: Thank you.
MS. POINDEXTER: For all the work you folks do. And, you know, all the calls
and the communities coming in to meet with you, and you being just open. So
thank you so much.
MS. WALTJEN: Thank you very much.
MS. POINDEXTER: And thank you, Moe, for taking calls. SometimesI think
I even had one at 1:00 a.m. in the morning or something. And then he's
responding back. I'm going, "What are you doing up yet?" I'm not expecting
something till the next morning. But thank you. Thank you for being accessible.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Poindexter. Anyone else before we close? Well,
I really want to thank you, Director. Did you you had your light on? Okay, go
ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Actually, I thank you. What I really wanted this commend this
department for is the ability to have—like generate revenues. So I'm glad you
touched upon the Mauna Park, the sponsorship agreement. This is the one
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department that actually has the ability to kind of offset some of the General Fund
expenditures with this.
MS. WALTJEN: Just so you know, the sponsorship procedures are just about
done. So we'll be looking at it after that, and then we're going to try and use it.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah. And so, you know, sometimes we got to help ourselves
too, right? Everybody doesn't want a hand-out, it's a hand-up. So the fact that
you guys are using these tools and accelerating our assets, like Mauna Kea Park,
the sponsorship agreement, the Golf Course, all of that. That helps restore some
of the assets, maybe not to, you know, the real need, but at least it offsets, so I
really want to commend the department for that. So thank you very much.
Chair, I yield.
MS. WALTJEN: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. And continuing where I left off.
Thank you, Director, Deputy Director. You folksI can't express how
cooperative you and your staff have been. Like my colleagues have said, you are
always accessible. You get our concerns addressed right away, whether it's by
email or taking it on by yourselves. That really help us do our job as interacting
with our community members. So, thank you so much. And your report wasI
don't have a question for you, but if I do
MS. WALTJEN: Thank you, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: I do have some issues that I would like to discuss with you later
on, where it's appropriate.
MS. WALTJEN: Sure.
CHR. DAVID: So I'll contact you guys. Thank you everybody from Parks and
Rec. for being here and being patient. And aloha to everybody.
MS. WALTJEN: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Mahalo. Okay, Council Members, I have a question, 2:00?
We're in recess until 2:00. Mahalo.
Recess: At 1:27 p.m., the Chair called for a recess.
Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 2:09 p.m.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha, Council Members, and welcome to the Special Meeting of
the Committee on Finance. I'm taking this meeting out of recess. And
welcoming Mr. Gyotoku, Office of Housing and Community Development.
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(4) Office of Housing and Community Development:
(Note: At this time, Housing and Community Development Administrator
Neil Gyotoku came forward to address the members of the Committee.)
CHR. DAVID: Welcome, Mr. Gyotoku, and please introduce yourself and your
staff.
MR. GYOTOKU: Neil Gyotoku, Housing Administrator. It's my privilege to
introduce my staff. I have Duane Hosaka, my Assistant Housing Administrator.
Christine Yuen, she's my Accountant.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha.
MR. GYOTOKU: Allison Mukai, she heads our grants management. On video
in Kona, I have Annie Bailey.
CHR. DAVID: Oh, that's who's in Kona.
MR. GYOTOKU: Yes.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Aloha, Annie.
MR. GYOTOKU: She heads my Community Development Planning Division.
And I have Earl Arakaki, who is right now taking a temporary for the Existing
Housing Division head.
CHR. DAVID: Mahalo.
MR. GYOTOKU: As we said, about two weeks that I came before the Housing
Agency, I didn't want to put another PowerPoint to you too, because basically
it's the same thing.
CHR. DAVID: It's the same. Thank you.
MR. GYOTOKU: Maybe I should have so that you don't have many questions
for me. But anyway, I wanted to get basically back to what the PowerPoint had
said, that it is our mission to provide housing assistance to low-income families.
And right now we have over 2,100 families that receive housing assistance
throughout the island, and it totals about$18.6 million a year of housing
assistance.
We also plan and develop community friendly housing projects. Right now I
have 35-plus proposed affordable housing projects in the pipeline, and it's all
different stages of development. Some are just in the discussion phase. Some
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submitted the 201H applications that we are processing, and some has started to
build, like Mohouli III. That's elderly housing, 96 units on Mohouli Street.
We're also responsible for federal grants benefit, low- and moderate-income
family or persons, under our Community Development Block Grant program.
We have $2.5 million in various projects.
We also have the Workforce Innovation Opportunities Act(WIOA)program,
where we have $1 million, where we try to help displaced or dislocated workers
and youth, to try to give them job training and education so that they can get back
into the workforce.
We also administer and operate four different housing projects: our Uluwini
Housing project in Kailua-Kona, Hale Kikaha also in Kailua, O`uli Ekahi along
Kawaihae Road, and also Kulaimano Elderly Housing.
This morning, on this—sorry, this after, it's been a long day. The main
conclusion regarding our budget is that it will not significantly increase from last
year. Our total projected revenues for FY (Fiscal Year) 2019-20, it will increase
by $444,000, to the total of$26,321,825. And when you add in the CDBG and
the WIOA grants, total revenue will increase to $29,821,825. This is per year,
for the year.
It's important to note that other than increases in salaries and fringe benefits, our
subsidy from the County will not increase. We expect to receive $2,125,927
from the County, which is approximately eight percent of our total budget. So
92 percent comes from federal grants and project revenue.
With that said, I would just like to open up for any questions that you may have
right now.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much, Mr. Gyotuku. Council Members, any
questions for Mr. Gyotoku? Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, thank you, Chair. Thank you, Neil, for being here, and
staff. We had a conversation with another department regarding, you know, the
grant revenue source. And I just have a basic question, how secure are these
sources? I know some of it is coming from the federal government, which at
times can ebb and flow. Share with me a little bit about that.
MR. GYOTOKU: All of our federal grants come from either Department of
Housing and Urban Development or Department of Labor, and it's on a
year-to-year competitive application basis. About four months ago, we had a
federal shutdown, and we were really in jeopardy of losing our housing
assistance payments to our 2,000 families, so we had to come up with some type
of contingency plan where Mayor Kim and Department of Finance, Deanna,
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agreed to try to subsidize for at least two months,which we had enough monies
to do. But after that, we would have to stop assisting people and lay them off.
On the CDBG, every year we compete, and we get approximately $2.5 million.
It's been pretty steady; but then again, it's also not guaranteed that we will
receive it next year. The cycle starts usually in November or so, where we take
in applications, and we submit the applications. And then in October the
following year, we find out if our consolidated action plan is approved, and that
grants are approved. So right now we're waiting on 2019, and my staff came to
you and explained the different projects that we plan to subsidize. And I think
about October or so of this year, we will find out if those projects have been
approved and will be funded.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Neil. I don't have questions. And I know you came
before us just a few short weeks ago, but I appreciate you sharing because that
particular housing agency meeting wasn't televised. So in an effort to kind of
demonstrate to the public not only what your folk's mission is and the amount of
resources you guys hold and how you distribute that, this is the perfect
opportunity. Which is why, you know, if the questions seem redundant, it's just
because it provides a little bit more bandwidth for other people to understand
what you guys are doing. So with that, Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Anyone else? No? Oh,
Ms. Kierkiewicz. Go ahead.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Hi, Neil. Hi, everyone. Thanks for being here. Thanks
for your hard work. Can you remind me Neil, when you folks are expected to get
the assessment of what the housing needs are? Last you came to present to us,
you needed to work with the contractor to find ways to engage more of the
population because the data you needed just wasn't there.
MR. GYOTOKU: The basic idea of the housing study was to determine what
census tracks are low and moderate income throughout the island. And they went
out and did surveys. I believe they're finishing, as far as the finished collection
of data. And we expect the final draft to be produced within the next couple of
months.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And that will tell us what the need is for the low
and moderate individuals and families.
MR. GYOTOKU: You know, we had some specific quest to survey certain
census tracks to help us. Because we use this data as far as for a CDBG Block
Grant projects, it has to serve low and moderate income. So off that census
tracks that they serve. We need some more data to make sure that we can apply
those to census tracks like that.
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. You know, one of the questions that we have been
asking the various departments and agencies is, what is the outcome your
department or agency is trying to achieve? Where is the strategic plan? What is
the vision? And what are the key indicators that we can use to measure progress
towards the desired outcomes? When you presented an update for your office a
few weeks ago, you made a statement about their needing to be 20,000 additional
units statewide by 2025 to meet—was it growing population?
MR. GYOTOKU: That's the Governor's, as far as affordable housing.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Affordable housing, right.
MR. GYOTOKU: That they want to build.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And then 9,000 of that needed to happen on Hawaii
Island.
MR. GYOTOKU: Right.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So the big question I have, and I continue to have is what
is being done by our office to coordinate County, State level to accelerate the
piece in which bills these affordable housing units? I know that there's the 201H
application, and I wonder if there are other tools in your toolbox that have at your
disposal or that you think we need to create in order to drive the development of
building more homes.
MR. GYOTOKU: As I said, the 201H is like a planning process, an instrument.
One of the big factors of building affordable housing is infrastructure, such as
water, sewer, and roads. In the past two weeks or so, water has become a real big
issue for several of the projects, yeah. Getting enough water and getting to make
sure that the aquifers beneath them have sufficient supply to support those
housing projects. We cannot—we do not really tell people to where to build. We
can only work with them if they have homes, that they have properties, and work
with them.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: But don't you think this is an opportunity to then
collaborate with Planning Department which manages our General Plan and our
CDPs (Community Development Plan), which are created in development with a
community to help direct where we want that affordable housing to be built?
That way we have the proper infrastructure in place, and all of the supporting
pieces, like the recreational facilities, the economic centers. I Just—we want to
foster an environment here at the County, where departments and agencies are no
longer working in silos, and what we're recognizing as a Council is that the
framework we have in place to create the budget doesn't foster that sort of
collaborative communication.
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It's not to say that no departments are collaborating, many are. But what's
coming to light, when we start having these conversations about budgeting for
outcomes, is that there are that departments and agencies are stuck, and we just
need to be thinking about and doing things a little differently to foster the
creative, collaborative environment that we all want.
MR. GYOTOKU: I sat on the special action committee (Special Action Team on
Affordable Rental Housing)with the State of Hawaii, and we do work very
closely with the State Department of Planning, our Planning Department.
They've created this strategy called Transit Oriented Development, where they
would develop affordable housing along transit lines and hubs. So we do have
plans, and we did submit several projects which are State or County lands that we
could use to try to develop—encourage the development of affordable housing.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So you've developed plans in the last couple of years
since you've been Housing Administrator.
MR. GYOTOKU: There has been plans and there's has plan development.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So how many of those plans have been approved and
where are we in plan implementation, and what's it going to take to develop
those plans?
MR. GYOTOKU: It's basically with the State Department of Planning, and they
are ones that are the—as far as in-charge of it. But we have inputs from
Department of Planning on our agency, as far as, you know, what parcels wanted
to do, to look at in developing. You know, a lot of these things, like I said, it's
driven by infrastructure costs, getting the infrastructure costs and the financing to
develop those projects, like housing projects. And we'll be happy to go over
with it.
We work with Hawaii Housing Finance Development Corporation in terms of
doing all type of financing for projects. They also, if you know what they call
low-income housing tax credit program where they lend monies to the different
projects that are selected, and they do the financing for them.
Much of the problem has been obtaining finance to develop the projects. For
example, Mohouli II cost us $335,000 per unit for 30 units to build. And they
had to go and obtain financing—and on taxes, tax revenue so that they could get
the loans to secure the financing and building a project itself, like that, yeah. It's
a very tedious and a very hard process, but it's not like we're not trying to get—
MS.
etMS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, maybe we just need to be talking more with other
departments and agencies and working a little bit smarter.
MR. GYOTOKU: And we do work
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MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And maybe the idea is not to just develop housing
ourselves, but to look at other models. I mean, I'm really excited about the
potential for—you know, the Public Land Trust. Maui's got an excellent model
that they're running. And so I think having more conversations with other
counties and jurisdictions to figure out how can we duplicate that here. I think
that would be something that perhaps your office could lead.
I know Michael Yee, Director of Planning, has convened a number of
conversations. And maybe your office can take the lead on reaching out to
Planning to figure out, can we set up another meeting, where all the people that
were involved in this initial hui can come together and really hammer out a plan
to take actionable steps and create a timeline for action, and really make that
happen and get it off the ground.
MR. GYOTOKU: And like a lot of our affordable housing projects, there is a
requirement that each subdivision developer has to provide 20 percent to low
affordable housing.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes, I'm aware. We're very aware of that.
MR. GYOTOKU: So we work very, very close with Planning.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: We just approved amendments to Wailani Project District
Development Project, which did call for that affordable housing.
MR. GYOTOKU: And even on the 201H process, we do work very closely with
Planning, Department of Water, DEM (Department of Environmental
Management), and Public Works.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So in the last couple of years you've been the
Administrator, can you remind the Council how many applications you've
approved?
MR. GYOTOKU: We've processed about five different ones.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So you've processed and approved them.
MR. GYOTOKU: But we haven't referred to the Council because, mainly,
they've run into major snags as far as water commitments and drainage
problems. So until they resolve this, we try to tell them because if we could
send it to you, then up to you if you approve it. But if there is problems like
enough water, it's, you know, disaster to fail.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So we have a developer that can develop these units, yet
there are some snags along the way. Do you feel it's always incumbent on the
developer to solve every issue, or there is something that your agency can do to
help alleviate, mitigate, some of those issues or redirect? Because we have these
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goals in place. These outcomes, right, by 2025 we need 9,000 more units. And
here are individuals, organizations, entities, that are willing to make that
investment in affordable housing, but I'm just seeing a disconnect in how we're
able to really realize those projects. And I wonder, you know, if we could just
think a little more creatively to get those things done.
MR. GYOTOKU: And I don't want to say I disagree with you, but we do work.
For example, Councilman Tim Richards can verify that we sat down with this
private developers and we tried to work out the different issues that they were
resolving. Try to come out with an equitable income that we can get housing.
It's not like that we don't make housing. We need to build housing, affordable
housing, especially. We do collaborate. I think we do work very hard to try to
see if we can resolve the issues between the different departments, with these
developers like that, yeah.
And like I said, we have about 35 projects in the pipeline. We're all working in
various stages with them; you know, to have a lot of meetings with the different
departments: Water, DEM, Public Works, Planning departments, and try to
resolve these issues. Some of it is out of our control, because let's say a State
Land Use Commission issue that the Planning Department would try to resolve.
State Land Use Commission, like that, yeah. But we work with them, and we do
meet regularly, as far as that.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. I'm just going to leave it there. You know, like I
said, the tone we've been setting across all of these meetings are, "As the
departments, as the County, let's set the vision, let's set the outcomes together."
MR. GYOTOKU: Yeah.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Let's identify what those key indicators are to measure
progress towards those outcomes. We've got a lot of plans that we have before
us. General Plans, CDPs (Community Development Plans), CEDS
(Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy). All these different plans.
Zero Waste. All this stuff that we just need to better align. That way we can
foster a collaborative working environment across all levels of government.
You know, at some point after we tackle the budget, it would be great for you to
come back and make a presentation on progress that your office has made
towards creating that strategic housing plan that we're looking for to meet the
statewide goals that we have before us.
MR. GYOTOKU: We will.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, great. Thank you, Neil. I appreciate you being
here. I yield, Madam Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Mr. Richards, go ahead.
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MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair; and thanks,Neil, for being in front. I
just—Ms. Kierkiewicz brings up some very valid points, which again sends the
conversation towards looking for budgeting for the outcome. And I have to say
though that is a concern, but as Mr. Gyotoku pointed out, housing has been
working, and working with me on trying to solve some solutions.
And as we've gone through things, we've also discovered some other things that
I need a little bit of help getting things done. But one of the things that we
trouble on the west side is unexploded ordnance. I'm trying to get that thing
resolved, and so I have been working with Neil to try and get that. And
hopefully we're real close, Neil.
MR. GYOTOKU: Yes.
MR. RICHARDS: Get that letter for you. Though I completely agree with what
Ms. Kierkiewicz is saying, Neil and I have been working the last four, five
months, pretty closely trying to get things done. So thank you, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else wishing to say? Okay,
Mr. Gyotoku—
MS. LEE LOY: Chair? Sorry.
CHR. DAVID: Oh, you? Okay, go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah. And thank you. For my two colleagues here, yes,
housing is really important. And I hear what Ms. Gyotoku is saying about
infrastructure. But what we're trying to do is create those synergies and drive
money into those areas so that—and our Chair said this at his inauguration
speech, "Government cannot be everything to everybody." We can't do it by
ourselves. So if there are ways to create synergy and set a budget that allows for
other development to come in or other entities to come in, we get there faster.
So I hear what both, well, all three of you are saying, but we're trying to finetune
that in a way because this body has to set the budget. That—you've got
understand where we're coming from yeah, right?
MR. GYOTOKU: I do.
MS. LEE LOY: Our job is to policy, legislate, and the set the budget. So you
know, the questions here and pinging of all of the other agencies, about how do
we collaborate across to create effective and efficient government is the goal,
right? People want to know. It's the public's money. We need to be delivering.
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So I just kind of wanted to keep it more on the high level. And yes, I do hear that
we're trying to collaborate. But the lens that this body is taking is the money
piece. So hand up, right? Not handouts. Right. Okay.
So Chair, thank you. Mr. Gyotoku, thank you. I just felt there needed to be some
clearing of the air there. So thank you, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. And seeing none, no other
discussions, Mr. Gyotoku, thank you so much for being here and also for
extending that offer to each one of us to explain the program ahead of time. That
really helps in this process, that is like very grueling and time-consuming . So I
really appreciate that.
MR. GYOTOKU: You're welcome.
CHR. DAVID: Keep in touch with us as you move along on issues that were
brought up in this discussion.
MR. GYOTOKU: We will.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much. And thank you to your staff for being
here. Alright, aloha.
Okay, next in line we haveI would like to call up the Office of the Legislative
Auditor.
(5) Office of the Legislative Auditor:
(Note: At this time, Legislative Auditor Bonnie S. Nims came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
CHR. DAVID: I see Ms. Nims here. Are you by yourself, Ms. Nims? Well,
welcome, and introduce yourself for the record. You don't have a PowerPoint,
do you? No, okay. And then, go ahead with your presentation.
MS. NIMS: Thank you, Madam Chair.
CHR. DAVID: You're welcome.
MS. NIMS: Good afternoon, Council Members. I'm Bonnie Nims, the
Legislative Auditor, and I humbly come before you today to talk about our
office. Basically our job is to do audits. Primarily our office does performance
audits, so the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of all the County
departments. We also coordinate the Financial Statement Audit for the County.
In the past year, we've issued one report, the Mass Transit Cash Receipt report,
and we're still recovering from that, I think.
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We're currently in the process of wrapping up one performance audit and two
follow-up reports, and they should probably be coming out in the next six to
eight weeks, I'm hoping. The performance audit is on the Department of Water
Supply's contingency plans. After a few of their wells went down, there was
some concern on how the reaction. We're also doing a follow-up of the 2016
performance audit of cash receipts of Park and Rec., and 2015 performance audit
of Information Technology Asset Management. And like I said, those will
hopefully be out in the next six to eight weeks.
On top of that, we're actually in the process of doing a performance on Real
Property Taxes. We're currently in what we call the survey phase, trying to
define the scope and objectives. Possibilities include delinquent in tax,
authorizing exemptions, and the cash receiving process. We're also in the survey
phase for an audit on facilities management of Parks and Rec., and I know
Roxcie did an excellent presentation earlier on, on what they're working on, and
so we're hoping to verify that. And finally, we're also working on the follow-up
of the 2017 performance audit of inventory management at Highways, at Public
Works.
So that's what we've got on the books right now. Based on the follow-ups that
we've done, we found that we're probably about 90 percent effective on having
the recommendations implemented, so I view that as being pretty good.
As I mentioned, we also coordinate the CAFR for Single Audit(Comprehensive
Annual Financial Report). The CAFR was issued in December 2018 by N&K
CPAs out of Honolulu; and our Single Audit, which is the audit of the federal
grants, was issued in March 2019. This is the third year of a five-year contract,
so pretty much par for the course for the value.
Other projects that we have in the work is part of the Charter is that we follow
government auditing standards. That requires us to have a peer review.
Everybody was asked, "Who audits the auditors." We are peer reviewed by an
association. The Association of Local Government Auditors comes out, looks at
our work, and makes sure that we're meeting the standards, and then gives us a
letter. Last time we passed with flying colors, so this year we're hoping we're
sure we do the same.
We're also in the process of doing our Annual Risk Assessment and Audit Plan,
that will be submitted by June 30''. So our budget is really, pretty boring.
We are requesting about$800,000, and about 50 percent of that is salary. The
remaining is OCE(Other Current Expenses), which is mainly contracts for the
CPA (Certified Public Accountant), as well as training, which is required by the
Charter, as well as rent.
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So that's about all I have. I just want to thank the Council for all of their
assistance and support since I've been here and has made this job a lot easier than
it could be.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much, Ms. Nims, for that report. Council
Members? Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. It's so nice to see you, Bonnie, and
thank you for coming to my office to talk story about the work that you do, and
just some other interesting topics that were covered.
You know, couple ofI think it was yesterday we had a discussion with
Director Brilhante of HR(Human Resources), and one of the questions I asked
was where they were with implementation of a whistle blower, sort of hotline
program, and he noted that your office might be the most appropriate place to
sort of house all of that information and make determinations as to whether or not
to investigate just different things that are reported. I just was wondering if you
could comment on that.
MS. NIMS: Sure. The research I've done is pretty a general accepted practice to
have the internal auditor manage an outside hotline. Most of those are
investigations, which we don't have the Charter statutory authority to do. So
they would probably be required, without talking to an attorney, a Charter
amendment to allow the auditor's office to conduct, if that were the case.
Typically, the hotline, you know, it's managed by a third-parry vendor and then
it's given to somebody in the County to determine if there needs to be an
investigation, or a follow-up, or an audit, or the conclusion on what ways to take
it. So without an investigative authority and without a trained investigator,
there's not a whole lot I can do besides just hand it back to the department and
say, "We found this concern." But it's definitely something that would be
feasible, but it would require probably one FTE (Full-Time Employee) and some
Charter changes.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, that's helpful to know. I think as we progress with
just learning more about the potential for such a program, we'll be in discussion
with you.
MS. NIMS: Anytime.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Madam Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Well, you were so
comprehensive that I guess we have no questions.
MS. NIMS: We try to be easy.
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CHR. DAVID: Either that or you're the auditor and we don't want to mess with
you, yeah.
MS. NIMS: Yeah. No stay away, yeah.
CHR. DAVID: Alright. Well, thank you so much, Ms. Nims, for coming and for
your report.
MS. NIMS: Thank you. Have a great day you guys.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha.
MS. NIMS: Aloha.
CHR. DAVID: Council Members, staff needs a short recess, so I'm going to
take this to recess for two or three minutes. We're in recess.
Recess: At 2:39 p.m., the Chair called for a recess.
Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 2:40 p.m.
CHR. DAVID: Aloha and welcome back. I'm taking the Special Meeting of the
Finance Committee out of recess and welcoming the Office of the County Clerk
and Elections Division.
(6) Office of the County Clerk/Elections Division:
(Note: At this time, County Clerk Jon Henricks and Deputy Clerk
Aaron Brown came forward to address the members of the Committee.)
CHR. DAVID: Our County Clerk, Mr. Henricks; and our Deputy, Mr. Brown,
anyway, welcome. Do you have a PowerPoint, by any way?
MR. HENRICKS: We're still working on it. No, I'm just kidding. There's no
PowerPoint. Just a brief presentation and available for question, and hopefully,
answers.
CHR. DAVID: Alright. Well, anytime you're ready. Mr. Clerk, go ahead.
MR. HENRICKS: Well, thank you first of all, Chair David and Members of the
Committee on Finance, for having us today. As you stated, Deputy Brown is
here. My name is Jon Henricks, I'm your County Clerk. We also have with us
Pat Nakamoto and Cori Saiki from our Elections Division in case there are any
questions about our Elections process that require a little bit more knowledge than
Deputy Brown and myself have.
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Very briefly, hopefully if I may? We presented to the Committee Communication
117.11, essentially a report on the budget of the—what we call the Legislative
Branch. It includes the Office of the County Clerk, on the Hawaii County
Council. And for your information, obviously page one, a breakdown of
expenses. Not unlike many County departments,weighted it towards salaries and
wages. Our greatest resource we provide is human resources as far as to
accomplish our goals, and that's reflected in our budget.
Second page, top of the page, what we try to do here is make this pretty simple for
your inspection. We pulled out changes, variances from the current budget, and
we focused on those things that were $1,000 or more, setting that as a pretty
round number and threshold that might interest you. So you'll see that there and
will be available to answer any questions. Otherwise I would hope that it's very
straight forward and easy to understand and appreciate.
And then beneath that,just basically we picked out three things, where there were
some substantial increases, if you want to use that word, and explaining why.
And I'll just briefly go over those things.
You know, where we're looking at, sometimes we have a budget that we would
consider a nonelection election year there is generally a decrease in our budget
due to not needing as many appropriations and revenues to operate our Elections
Division. So as noted on the first page, there is actually a slight, very slight,
increase in our budget as opposed to a decrease. What we wanted to do is take
this opportunity in a nonelection election year to use that balance to invest in the
future. And one of the things that we're really excited about is a ballot-sorting
machine that we're looking at acquiring for the Office of Elections. That is a
fairly large expense, but it is an investment in the future.
When we look at what's going on out there right now, in fact there is a meeting
that is to convene in about less than an hour at the State Legislature, to be looking
at making elections exclusively by mail. And in fact, it's come to our attention
today that they're actually considering looking at 2020 instead of 2022, which is
currently how the bill is drafted. So it could be as soon as the next elections.
So this is the future of elections. You know, even if that is in 2022 or 2024, the
reality is that more people are voting by mail. It's increasing. It's convenient.
It's something that we see a trend. And certainly if we go towards exclusively by
mail, it's something that we see a trend; and certainly if we go exclusively by
mail, we expect that to, you know, have a large uptick.
What the acquisition of this ballot-sorting machine will mean for us essentially is
that I wouldn't say it provide more accuracy. We hire people; they know what
they're doing; and they're trained very well. One of the things that I've learned
working with Pat more closely is how meticulous our Elections Division is.
Needles in haystacks, no problem, easy. But what it will do, is it will make things
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a little bit more efficient. It will allow the Elections Division to make their
temporary hires a little bit later in the season, which will come at some savings.
So it won't balance out necessarily, but there will be some costs savings.
And what I think is important too, it will reduce the amount of staff that Elections
will be required to manage and administer, to which in my mind should allow for
tighter operations. When you have less temporary workers to manage and look
out for, I think that it will become easier to manage those that you have, and you
can focus on that. Not that we have ever had any problems. You know, I'd like
to point out that, you know, as long as Pat and Cori have been here for Elections,
we've never had any problems with our Elections.
Another cost that we're looking at, in investment if you will, is ensuring that our
livestreaming and captioning can continue. We're in the process of looking at a
new contract, which was going to come with some costs for infrastructure.
Hopefully, some improved services, but if nothing else continuity and reliability.
So that is a cost, but it is an investment in our future
And the last increase that would be considered somewhat substantial is due to the
fact that we're going to be—our County will be hosting the HSAC (Hawai`i State
Association of Counties) for next year not this year, but in 2020, and there are
costs associated with that. Fortunately, we expect most, if not all of those costs to
be reimbursed through the revenues that the HSAC Conference brings. So that's
kind of a zero-out situation. But we do need to prepare and plan for that with
funds.
Very briefly, I'd just like to because this is also a program review. It's not just
looking at our day-to-day expenses. I just wanted to talk a little bit about our
department, not just for your benefit. Many of you are you know, especially if
you've been around for more than one term, are more than aware of our different
divisions and the people we have here, and what they do and why they do what
they do. And quite frankly, that pleases me a great deal that you pay attention to
our operations. Not just your policymaking duties and duties to your constituents,
but our operations here.
But just for the public's benefit, and that is also why we included our operational,
kind of like an outline, it's for you folks too, to get a sense for pretty much down
to the duties of what goes on here every day. But we don't want to take for
granted that we're also presenting our budget to the public, the taxpayers, the
people that pays the bills here. So what do we do? How do we do it? Why do we
do it? Just some very brief highlights,just so that we can make sure that we
acknowledge people's hard work.
You know, obviously we have our Elections Division. Staffing changes, so their
needs change. But I would like to point out that again we had secure and
accessible elections with accurate results. No easy feat. But they did a
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phenomenal job, our team did. But I'm not surprised, they amount of experience
they have and the success level that our team has had conducting elections. Their
preparation is exceptional, and they can adjust when dynamic events happen. A
testament to leadership of that division.
I want to give some credit to our Council Services Division too, which is
responsible for making sure that we hold our meetings; we have our agendas, our
minutes; premeeting preparation during the meetings with staff, and then posting
meeting minutes and reports of that nature. But specifically, I really want to
recognize the efforts that they all made in transitioning to this Council term to
make sure that we had the infrastructure in place so Council Members could move
to different offices.
Council Services people actually sacrificed their locations to make sure that
people were where they were needed to be to do their best work. They made sure
that new Council Members were ready to handle their duties as Committee
Chairpersons and were ready to effectively function and perform meetings right
off the get-go because it's all you experience. It's emerging learning. There's no
time between when you're elected and sworn in to where you have to conduct
business. So I want to give a lot of credit to our Council Services team for
helping that transition. We put a lot of work into it, and there's a lot of careful
thought and consideration.
Support Services. One of the things that's really special about them is that they
serve the entire County with their reprographic services and their inter-
departmental mail and mailing services. A little extra information, and just to tell
you how dedicated they are, when the Kilauea eruption occurred and there was a
need to get information out to people on a daily basis, there was somebody at
Support Services every morning when it was dark to make copies, prepare
documents and information for people so that they could be safe and have the
latest information. Every morning, every day, seven days a week, until that need
wasn't there anymore. That is,just again, a testament to the dedication and what I
believe is public service personified.
I also recognize the growth of the district staff, the people that work for the
Council Members. You know, I've been there before; that's where I started. I
understand the opportunities and challenges of working with and for Council
Members. And what I see is that we have a team of professionals. I can see that
they're learning and they're embracing their craft, and that's good for you folks,
that's good for all of us, and it's good for the people of our island.
I also want to say that we have an excellent accounting and HR team. We have a
new HR technician, and she has blended in seamlessly. Thank you, Prosecuting
Attorney's Office, for training her so well and giving her an environment where
she could succeed and be available to us, and just come in right off the bat and
start working with our accountant as a strong team. I am sureI know that we
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can rely on them for guidance for the years to come, and that gives me a great
deal of confidence and things that I don't need to worry about so I can worry
about other things.
I want to mention you know, our Legislative Research Branch (LRB), they're
always there for us. They're experts. They have probably—now we're getting up
to close to 75 years of experience combined. But something special that they've
been working on is working with our Charter Commission. Ms. Eoff is familiar
with those duties. She did that at one point and time, too. We often talk story and
reflect upon her experiences. It's been an extraordinary experience thus far. This
all started about June of last year, so just before the start of this fiscal year.
We've had the pleasure of working with this group of citizens who was tasked
with reviewing the foundational document of our County, the County Charter.
You know, LRB has answered the call of duty. They performed beyond
expectations, but more importantly, it's the attitude and respect for the process
that they bring. No task to big or small, always ready to go. We just did public
hearings in Kohala, N5'51ehu, Honoka`a, Pahoa, Kona, and here in Hilo, all in a
span of about nine days, and what a wonderful experience. And I firmly believe
that we provided top-quality service and guidance to the Charter Commission.
And in doing so, we've also built our capacity for the future, to better serve the
Council and the County.
So just at quick status report on the Charter Commission's work. The public
hearings are complete. We're kind of heading down the homestretch, and soon
the commission will be presenting the Council report of its proposals that will
appear on the 2020 General Election ballot.
The last thing I'd like to mention is the special project that we're working on, and
LRB is providing assistance to Ms. Chow in particular, who you're all familiar
with. Currently, there is a process underway, by where we're trying to look at
consolidating our building, plumbing, electrical, and energy conservation codes of
our County Code into a much more user-friendly regulatory framework. It's quite
a task. It's very cumbersome. And like everything, the devil's and the details, so
we have to be very careful and consider it. I don't want to say too much more
about this because this would be bored business, and at some point it will come
before you.
But again, I want to recognize Ms. Chow, and also Mr. Neal Tanaka at DPW.
They've been working together very well. I know Neal has been trying very hard,
and he's been very supportive; and it's quite a process, they've been going to
dedicating time every day to this. So those are some of the program highlights of
the last fiscal year.
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Those are the things that I wanted to touch on. Again, fairly "status-quo"budget.
Although, I don't really not really fond of that term because it implies that
you're happy where you're at.
Again, we are heavy on human resources when it comes to our budget. And what
is not status quo about that is we can invest in our human resources expectation
for all of us around here every day, is that we know why we're here. We're here
to serve the community, and our goal is to get better and better at that every day.
And that is how I believe you build capacity, and you build infrastructure with
people, when you have a department that is largely reliant on people to get the job
done. So I open up the floor to Deputy Brown, if you want to share anything with
you, otherwise we're available for any questions.
CHR. DAVID: Deputy Brown, go ahead. Thank you.
MR. BROWN: I don't have very much to say. Oh, this is Aaron Brown, Deputy
County Clerk. I think Jon did a wonderful job of kind of explaining who we are,
what we do. And it's been a very great experience in my short time here already.
Just to springboard a little bit off of what he said. I just wanted to maybe talk
about how we went about looking at the budget and, you know, Jon setting that
direction of to get better every day and to examine everything we do to see if we
can get—if we get just a little bit better every day,you know, over time we will
have come a great ways.
So when we looked at this budget, the fiscal teamI want to give a big thanks,
too. I think we all came together and had many meetings. And just all of our
staff, in general, being really hardworking and supportive. But the way we kind
of approached the budget is we looked at a five-year historical analysis on every
single line item. All the expenses, what are actually been spending? Why? What
are we doing with the money? Is there a way to get better? Can we be more
efficient?
And so we looked at these things, and happy to announce that we did find areas
where we could, you know we understand the fiscal challenges that every
department faces, including ours. So we were able to sort of cut some of the
OCE, I guess expenditures, where we may have been budgeting a little more than
what we actually spent over that five-year historical analysis.
However, you don't want to only look at history. You want to make sure we're
also looking into the future, so we also considered you know, where are we
going in the short, medium, and long term? We want to be forward-thinking.
Like our County Clerk mentioned, we are in investing in very important
infrastructure. One main of the main ones, being that ballot-sorting machine. It's
a big piece of equipment. It's expensive. So to come at it from a standpoint of
the machine itself can cost about a quarter million dollars ($250,000). And so we
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don't want to have the County absorb that kind of expense one time, so we're
looking to, you know, working with Finance. And we're looking to lease that
piece of equipment to sort of smooth out the cashflow of that expense over five
years, to make it a little more manageable. You know, no one budget year would
get hit with a $250,000 increase so to speak. So that's one of financing
mechanisms that we're looking at to sort of smooth that cashflow. We don't want
to have that big increase in expenditure.
You know, I think—looking at the things we're investing in, you know, like all
the other departments are, S&W (Salaries and Wages) is 69.3 percent of our total
budget. We face the same things where salaries and wages increase, you know,
we have no control over that. You know, we're different than some of the other
departments in that respect. But we're trying everything we can to be more
efficient, more innovative, and of course long-term thinking.
Total budget, $5.11 million, and the increase in the budget and in this proposed
fiscal year over the current year is only a quarter of one percent higher, so we're
pretty of that, on what we were able to do. Pretty straightforward You know, if
you guys any more questions, I think we're happy to answer them.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much.
MR. HENRICKS: Before we hit that point, I did want to mention that making
sure that we do things the right way, we were fortunate to be invitedI was not
invited, but Mr. Brown was. And our Elections officials just went to Oahu to
assist with these Special Election, and that gave us an opportunity to take a look at
their ballot-sorting machine; get information from them, see how it works, and see
if it's something that would work for us. And after the trip, it was brought to my
attention that we're more convinced than ever that this something that is not a
luxury. It would be like essentially operating without a cellphone at this point and
time as a human being, if you can imagine.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much, Mr. Clerk. Before I go to the Council
Members, could I ask—Ms. Nakamoto, would you like to say anything, or did
they cover everything? They covered everything. Okay,just wanted to ask you;
and hi, Cori. Alright, Council Members, questions? Oh, Ms. Poindexter, go
ahead. Sorry.
MS. POINDEXTER: I was looking at the budget, and being at HSAC, and I
know Ashley is going to take over from July, and that seems kind of low, I don't
know, on the meetings on Oahu. And then I was looking at the HSAC
conference, because usually the HSAC we have a budget over there, and what
happens is the host county has a special bank account that uses the HSAC money,
and then they use that checking account to help prepare for that conference. So I
would check into that before we come to our final budget. And I'd look into that,
as well. Because Maui is the host county this year, and so they're taking control
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of the special conference bank account that is with HSAC money. So you might
be able to shift that around. Thanks.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Poindexter. Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair; and thanks, Jon and Aaron, for coming
before us. Couple of questions. First of all, on the Elections. On the paper they
talk about a potential Special Election for the Charter. Is that cost reflected in this
budget?
MR. HENRICKS: No, it is not. That discussion or idea wasn't contemplated
when we looked at this budget. We do have an agenda item for discussion at the
next Charter Commission meeting. I don't anticipate a Special Election at this
point and time, although it is within the Commission's purview to call one. But I
don't anticipate one at this point and time.
MR. RICHARDS: And just for us, what would that cost of that be?
MR. HENRICKS: When we looked at an analysis, which was really detailed, our
Election Administrator was ablea very detailed analysis, it was roughly
$450,000, That's a rough estimate.
MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, big number guy.
MR. HENRICKS: Although with a lot of itemizations, though. It wasn't a
broad you did a great job of breaking down all of the potential costs.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. So roughly half million ($500,000) if we decide to do
that. Okay. Alright, other question I have. Jon, am I reading this right,
4.5 million copies?
MR. HENRICKS: That will be a projection for next year. I think it was closer to
3.65 this year, as far as our program measures.
MR. RICHARDS: Didn't we at one-point talk about—
MR.
boutMR. HENRICKS: 3.7 actual.
MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, for this year.
MR. HENRICKS: Yeah.
MR. RICHARDS: Didn't we talk about it one time of trying to go electronic? I
just I float that out.
MR. HENRICKS: Sure.
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MR. RICHARDS: Because it's a lot of trees.
MR. HENRICKS: A lot of ink.
MR. RICHARDS: A lot of ink.
MR. HENRICKS: Yeah, and a lot of paper.
MR. RICHARDS: A lot of paper.
MR. HENRICKS: And everything that comes along with it.
MR. RICHARDS: Yeah. So, alright. Thank you, I yield.
MR. HENRICKS: Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Hello, gentlemen.
MR. HENRICKS: Good afternoon.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Good to see you guys on that side of the
table. It's kind of funny.
MR. HENRICKS: It feels wonderful.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I just want to say thank you for everything
you've done to help us, and that you do every day, and all the staff. I didn't
realize how many people go into helping achieve what we try to do every day, not
just Council but everyone. From the paperwork to the meetings, to the television.
It's bigger than I thought it was. So I appreciate everything you do to put that
together. As far as the budget, I did notice postage for Council Services we used
23 percent were allotted in our budget this year.
MR. HENRICKS: We just made a large—how the postage works is we have a
machine. We actually put deposits into it, yeah. And we just made a large
deposit into that. Generally we will use the bulk of that amount; and what
happens is that it covers postage essentially for the entire County. It's not just for
this office. And that can cover a wide range of things.
And at times you know, it's a figure that covers the postage for the County as a
whole. So some of that money will come back. Say, you know, Real Property
Tax does the mail out, they'll go ahead and reimburse us. So essentially, it's just
creating that appropriation that then comes back in from different departments.
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They have their own postage allotments in their budget. So, it's for the entire
County that we get reimbursed for, so to speak, from different agencies, when
they do large mailouts, priority items, things of that nature.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you. I was trying to increase
our Contingency Relief Funds, but that sounds like there's no extra there. Thank
you, Jon, appreciate it. Thank you, Aaron.
MR. HENRICKS: Our pleasure.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Don't give up yet.
Ms. Eoff.
MS. EOFF: Thank you. Basically I just wanted to say that this was a really good
breakdown for all of us.
MR. HENRICKS: Thank you.
MS. EOFF: To understand all the different functions and the costs associated.
And I know it's a frugal budget, you know, you haven't asked for any big
increase or anything. So good job. And I just wanted to remark that what you
said earlier is probably the most important aspect of the Legislative Branch, and
that is that sense of a family, and that everybody's job is dependent on everybody
else doing their job.
So I just wanted to say that I think that the Legislative Branch is functioning
really, really well. And I appreciate the leadership that you folks have provided.
Like you were saying earlier, all the Council Members' staff, and LRB, and all of
the Civil Service staff. This is just a chance to say thank you I guess to my own
staff and all the people in the West Hawaii Civic Center. Because everybody is
really, really, very aware of their role, and what they do does help all of us do our
job as well as we can.
You mentioned that I helped with Charter Commission one year, but even prior to
that, I mean coming in as an assistant to a prior Councilman, I mean it's really
amazing how much work goes into all that we do and being able to assist the
public and having everybody be able to direct everybody to where were they need
to get their answers. I just think it's been a wonderful experience personally, and
I think everybody is experiencing that right now in our roles. But thank you for
helping us with that. I think your prior work in a different capacity probably
prepared you really well to take on the job of our County Clerk, too.
MR. HENRICKS: I hope so.
MS. EOFF: So thank you, Jon and Aaron.
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MR. HENRICKS: Thank you for that.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Eoff. Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy.
MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, thank you, Chair. Thank you, guys. Great looking shirts.
I too want to just express my gratitude to both of you. I do want to say what a
wonderful asset Aaron has brought to this office; the skillsets and just
understanding of what we do here as policymaking body but the inner workings
of the administration from the skill set that you had at the Department of Public
Works. So thank you so much for all of that.
And I do, too, also appreciate the Legislative Review Branch. They have been
phenomenal as far as work product coming out of that particular office. I know
personally they have stood up a number of policies for me my last term, and I'm
confident that those will stand the test of time and then can further developed
upon.
And without getting too far on-board business, I'm also really excited about the
Admin. Code and some of the changes that will come forward from Leslie and
Mr. Neal Tanaka. I think that actually become a model for some of the bigger
Code amendments, which I'm hoping for. Which will be Chapter 25, which is
our Zoning Code amendments, and then Chapter 27 (sic), which is our
Subdivision Code. So I'm really looking forward of doing the heavy lifting.
And I know last year and then into this year was the short-term vacation rental
bill. But this, by far, the adjustment with the Admin. Code, and the Electrical
Code, and the Building Code will be the largest policy lift that this body or any
previous body I would say maybe within the last 15 years, will ever see. So I'm
really excited about bringing that forward and getting into the rumble with that.
Again, thank you guys so much for making us look good so that our constituents
get work product that they can be proud of. Thank you, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. You're wondering, she hasn't said
anything. I just wanted to take this opportunity to express heartfelt gratitude. I've
spent a lot of time with you folks, and I feel that I've been able to rock and roll
because of good and solid advice on how to approach being a Council Member.
And I feel—my team and I felt very supported by every single person, in Council
Services, Support Services, every single aspect of LRB. Every single person here
has made us feel like we are part of the County `ohana. And so I am very grateful
to be part of this family. We've only been here for four months, but I hope that
we're here much longer than that because there's a lot of good work to do, and I
feel really confident doing it with the team that we have. So, thank you.
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CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Seeing no one else, no lights on,
then it's my turn.
MR. HENRICKS: Here it comes.
CHR. DAVID: Get ready. No, no crying today. We're dealing with money, so
let's get serious. Jon, Aaron, Pat, and I'm so sorry
MR. HENRICKS: Cori.
CHR. DAVID: Cori. It's been a long few days, but so many things to say, so
many things on my mind. But what I really want to say, Jon, is that every
person—we've worked together so long, Karen, me, and you. We've started from
where most people start, with Council Members. So the learning curve for this
job, for anybody that takes this job, is very, very high, and so I appreciate
everything that everyone has done or is doing.
And I really would like to the only difference I see, and I really would like to
say thank you, but I don't see our people here, you know, our staff. And everyone
brings there staff so, "Hey guys out there: LRB, Council Services, and everyone,
thank you so much." I tell you it's likeI want to take a recess, but that's okay I
won't. But I really want to express my thank you to them because they are who
make us who we are today, and under your direction, everything that we do is
because of them.
And a shout-out to the Kona crew. They're the best working crew I've worked
with, second to this. No, them first and then our bigger `ohana on this side. So I
just wanted to say thank you to everybody. Machine Room, who I hardly see
anymore, but yeah, they do a lot. So just wanted to say thank you on behalf of
this body to all of them and you folks. Aloha.
MR. HENRICKS: Closing remarks?
CHR. DAVID: Sure.
MR. HENRICKS: I just would like to extend that thank to our friends and family
in West Hawaii Civic Center and the Kona Council for helping with the Charter
Commission, too.
CHR. DAVID: Yeah, thank you. Exactly.
MR. HENRICKS: Scott and Wendy, and Davelyn and everybody. And also,
thank you, Ms. Poindexter, for bringing that forward. We will definitely, you
know, dig deep into that and find out what our options are and do whatever we
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can to make it the easiest process possible. Also, ensuring that we have the
resources we need to put on the best HSAC Conference there has ever been.
CHR. DAVID: Alright, I can't wait. So on that note, gentlemen, thank you.
MR. HENRICKS: We appreciate it.
CHR. DAVID: Pat, Cory, thank you so much. And do we need a recess, guys?
No? Mr. Kucharski, I hope you're ready. You're up. Thank you.
(7) Department of Environmental Mana eg ment:
CHR. DAVID: Well, Director Kucharski, welcome. You are the last on our
agenda today. Would you like to come up here too, Greg? Please do.
(Note: At this time, Environmental Management Director Bill Kucharski
and Solid Waste Division Chief Greg Goodale came forward to address
the members of the Committee.)
CHR. DAVID: So go ahead, Mr. Kucharski. Proceed with your presentation.
MR. KUCHARSKI: Okay. Thank you. Thanks the Council for allowing us to
come in and present parts of our budget, or all of the budget. What I've
attempted to do with this slide presentation is hit some of the highlights, sort of
condense the 100 pages down to a few slides to sort of get the flavor of our
budget.
One thing about DEM is that DEM is almost fully an operating company. We
have two operating divisions, which is handling all of the solid waste, which is a
365 day a year job, and wastewater treatment which is another 365 day a year
job. So what we have is a little bit different than some of the other departments,
at least in my opinion. I'm going to come up with just a few major points that are
thrown out and break down some of the major costs.
(Note: At this time, Ms. Kucharski provided a PowerPoint presentation to
the members of the Committee. For viewing of the subject presentation,
please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's
Office. A hard copy of the presentation is made a part of the record, see
Comm. 117.13.)
MR. KUCHARSKI: I thank you, and open for questions.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Director. Mr. Goodale, would you like to give us a
little briefing on solid waste or did the Director take care of that for you?
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MR. GOODALL Greg Goodale, Solid Waste Division Chief. I think our
Director gave us a good synopsis. Obviously, we have plenty of challenges to get
through and I'm sure we'll have some questions.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much. Alright, Council Members, questions.
Who's first? Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: I can't let Mr. Kucharski get all dressed up for the dance and
not ask him questions.
First of all, again thanks for being here, Bill. As you said, and we've had very
long conversations about all this stuff, nothing is easy here. And as our
population grows, it gets a bit more complicated when things are changed.
The wastewater, can you comment on what's going on with N5'51ehu, Ka`u,
what's going on there, and what your thoughts are where we're going to be
headed in next in the couple two, three, four years?
MR. KUCHARSKI: Thank you. Even without the question, I've learned to live
with disappointment, so I could've withstood that.
MR. RICHARDS: I'll try to remember that next time.
MR. KUCHARSKI: We are under an Administration Order of Consent from
EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to close large capacity cesspools that
are in the community, it's in N5'51ehu and Pahala. These systems were both
gifted to the County by C. Brewer when they ceased operations back in 2005 or
2006. They handed over the systems to the County in 2010. Since that time, we
have been looking for sites to put in new facilities. The original thought of what
we could do there changed when engineeringly we could not put in a large
capacity sceptic tank as we preliminarily thought. The other thing that did was
that would simply take care of the minimum of amount of the community, and
part of the CDP for Ka`u is to sewer where we can. And so we were putting in
larger sewer treatment plants; they are proposing to at least.
All I can say on that, is that we need to properly take care of this wastewater that
is being generated by the communities, and the sooner we do that, the better for
the environment and in my opinion, the less it will cost. The longer we delay, the
more expensive these systems seem to become. But other than saying we are
required by Federal Agency to close these cesspools by 2021 and 2022. That's
what we're trying to do.
MR. RICHARDS: Again, you and I have discussed this, but for the record, the
funding for all of this stuff. Can you articulate on that, please?
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MR. KUCHARSKI: Yes, sir. The funding will be—there is a small $1.8 million
grant from EPA, that was going to be used to help at Pahala. That grant has been
around since I think 2012, and we have a requirement to utilize those funds in the
next two years or lose them, so we are pressing.
For N5'51ehu, there is no grant money that we have found to date available for
that. There are some grants that we might be able to get from the Bureau of
Reclamation if we were doing recycling water, but that's something that—we're
pursuing that for R-1 system at Kealakehe, but we're not—we're just simply
the big grants for sewer systems, the County I think is about 20 years, 25 years
late on those. The big monies, the billion-dollar grants were earlier. I mean, the
Hilo Treatment Plant was covered by an EPA grant, the majority of that cost.
But I don't see those grants being available. They are loans, and we are utilizing
the SRF (State Revolving Fund) funds to fund these construction projects, but
that's—other than a low interest rate, that's the only grant that's available for us
that I'm aware of.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. And as far as a timeline to get Ka`u pau, Pahala and
N5'51ehu?
MR. KUCHARSKI: We have an Administrative Order of Consent that requires
that the large capacity cesspools be closed in 2021 and 2022; that's 2021 for
Pahala, and 2022 for N5'51ehu. I will we say that we are running into some
issues that are not related directly to our efforts, but a State issue on review of
EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) and cultural documents by the State by
SHPD (State Historic Preservation Division), and we may wind up with some
delays on that, but we're going to be working for that. Those things are not in
our control. Those things that are in our control, we are managing and are on
schedule to make those closure dates, as required by our Administrative Order of
Consent.
MR. RICHARDS: And as far as the funding you've identified, loans available,
are these secured for going forward to get this actually done or are we in that
process of securing those?
MR. KUCHARSKI: We have assurances with, not documented assurances, but
the SRF funding would be available for these facilities to fund the construction. I
do not—we have not made a direct application that I'm aware of for all of the
funding. But our CIP (Capital Improvement Project) budget shows we have
about$43 million coming up for N5'51ehu and Pahala. Our CIP budget for
Pahala is $21 million, with a total of$38 million set for that; and for N5'51ehu,
we're setting up here and looking at$46 million for the 2021 CIP budget.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay.
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MR. KUCHARSKI: They are on the horizon; it's too early for us. We don't
have the EA (Environmental Assessment) done for either of those. The EA has
been completed for Pahala. We're waiting for the response to come and set sort
of a joint document with EPA, and then we have Section 106 reviews that have to
come back from the State. And that's part of the issue that are holding this up.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, thank you. I see Deanna is in the room. Is there
anything, Deanna, you would need to add to the comments that have been made
by Environmental Management?
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MS. SAKO: All I was going to add is, you know,when we talked about debt
service the other day, you know, we did say we took into account many of the
SRF loans that are coming up, but kind of whatever we know about. They're
pretty good about keeping us informed, so we'll just continue to do that going
forward, because we know they have some big-ticket items coming up.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, so you're aware of the numbers coming forth and
you've looked at that, and our carrying our debt load going forward and debt
repayment?
MS. SAKO: And, you know, we continue to like using SRF because they by far
have lowest interest rate. We can't beat it anywhere else on the market. So you
know, we like those, and we're glad that the State has set aside monies for us.
MR. RICHARDS: And just as a comment, interest rate being? It's probably
MS. SAKO: Half percent.
MR. RICHARDS: Half percent money, okay. Alright. Thanks, Deanna. Thank
you, Bill, that's all for my questions for right now. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else? Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Good afternoon, sir.
MR. KUCHARSKI: Good afternoon, sir.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Good to see you. I just had a question
about the Vehicle Disposal Fund.
MR. KUCHARSKI: Yes, sir.
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MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's you guys, yeah?
MR. KUCHARSKI: Yes.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So I noticed that to date this year we've
only used 34.29 percent, well, as of February 28h. And I `ve been watching this
and I'm just wondering if we're putting too much money into this account
because we're not actually using it all. Or am I mistaken.
MR. KUCHARSKI: I would, again this is Bill Kucharski DEM.
MS. SAKO: Actually, I like that fund because it's not one of the few that's not
General Fund subsidized. That has a specific fee from everyone's vehicle
registration that goes into that fund, and the only thing we're allowed to use it for
is vehicle disposal.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes.
MS. SAKO: So some years they spend more than others. Bill can explain that
part of it. But even if they're not fully utilizing it, it has to remain in that fund, so
it would just build the fund balance until they had a need. But they do have
needs for it, and I know Bill is going to tell you about it.
MR. KUCHARSKI: Yeah, we are doing—we're going to have an amnesty
program. We did this last September, we're doing another one this fall, to come
and collect vehicles that are not abandoned, and it's actually going on as we
speak.
But one of the things—we tow about over 1,000 vehicles a year from the island,
some 1,200 or so. And the fund can go up and down, depending on scrap price.
We had a low scrapping price and we had excess in the fund. And then we
jumped up to the scrap price dropped, and our cost increased significantly. So
because we have fewer funds, where we've utilized fewer funds today, tomorrow
on our next bid our disposal cost could double or triple. We have no control over
that with a limited numbers of bidders particularly for that kind of market.
While we watch that, if we see a trend for several years, that may be something
that we can look at. But we tend to try and do more when we—and because we
have the money there, we tend to do more. And we don't hesitate to go out and
get these vehicles and get them removed quicker with more contracts and
pressing in on our vendors. Not that we're wasting money, but we will spend
more of the money if we have to, and that gives us the ability to do that. So the
fact that it's low this year does not mean it's not going to double in the last half
of this year or next year.
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MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, if it starts to trend like that, then
we're just—maybe we're putting in too much money, and if we took too much in
the beginning, then we should take that back off on that and let people save, even
if it's couple bucks every year, and get it. But still, this doesn't—if we shouldn't
take it, then we shouldn't take it.
MR. KUCHARSKI: Noted.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, andsorry, I'm still looking. Oh
yeah, thank you. I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else down the
road? Sure, go ahead. Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Hi, Bill. Good to see you. I
appreciate you and your staff, making yourself so available. Seeing you a lot
over the last few weeks. Just a couple of things I wanted to get on the record,
because we talked about some interesting topics.
The first one is, you know, we've got this polystyrene ban coming up, due for
implementation over the summer, and I just get a little concerned because the
alternatives are compostable materials and recyclable plastics. But the concern I
have is we're not expected to have a compost facility until next summer. But
even with that, I don't see the connection we're making between end of use of
these compostable products, and how they're going to make their way to the
compost facility. So just wondering where is that feedstock going to becoming
from and what are some things that your department is doing in partnership with
potential contractor for the compost facility to devise a way to capture those
materials and bring them to the respective facilities they need to be in?
MR. KUCHARSKI: Bill Kucharski. We are right now working to get the
contractor to complete design so that we can get that out to bid and have the
compost facility constructed. We've just finished the EA there. I think we're
getting a little pressed on time, but we're still moving to have that facility
completed by July 1 of next year, which is the contracted date.
How we get this material to—organic material, compostable materials, to the
contractor, sort of in the contract is it's the responsibility of the contractor. We
can't force material on him. Is that correct?
MR. GOODALL Greg Goodale, Solid Waste Division Chief,just to chime in.
The way we're kind of structured right now is really more of an incentive for
folks that if they are generating that type of compostable waste, the rates that we
give anybody that's generating that type of waste, which compostable material
would be considered organic, so it's a 75 percent discount from our tipping fee.
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So any restaurant, any facility that's utilizing that type of material would be able
to keep that material segregated and send it at a lower cost.
So that's kind of where the incentive comes in, is that you have that price that's
much lower for disposal of that type of material. So it incentivizes that, you
know, it's going to go to a facility like that and not just end up at the landfill. I
mean, obviously the desired outcome is that it's not getting scattered alongside
the roadways. But from the standpoint of it going to a compost facility, is really
kind of at the price that would make that more attractive.
Now, as the Director said, our contractor has a large component within their
contract that requires them to do a lot of marketing and outreach to get the
customers to bring material to the facility, especially when it's completed for
acceptance of all the organic materials. Right now we're just taking the
greenwaste, but once the compost facility is open, we will have the ability to take
a much wider span of materials. But as I said before, it's really the cost, that's
the driving factor in encouraging people to divert that material.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Anything to add? No?
MR. KUCHARSKI: I think it's going to be difficult to change people's attitudes
and to have them do something different. And I think it's incumbent upon us and
DEM to try and figure out how to manage that change, and encourage that
change, and to do things that make sense for everybody, and have a positive
outcome. I don't know exactly what that is, but we're looking and thinking about
that, and we'll be trying to pursue some alternatives to just push ourselves
forward on being able to really utilize all of the organics that are in the waste
stream.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. I appreciate your approach, your strategy to
use more carrots than sticks in this situation. I hope that we're looking at other
jurisdictions because I'm sure we're not the first to make these sorts of
transitions, and I'm sure they figured out ways to work with restaurants and other
food service entities to capture that sort of biodegradable compostable material
and get it to those facilities, and so I know you're working on that.
The second and last question that I had, and I feel that you really perked up when
I mentioned this, was how we can start getting DEM to budget for outcomes. It's
difficult to talk about because it's so expensive, but I fear that the alternative is
cheaper and we're not really in a pinch just yet. We don't really want to have
those conversations about how we can transition to just being more efficient and
effective with handling our waste streams and being more innovative and
thinking about value-added products that we can start creating for ourselves. I
was hoping you could elaborate on that a little bit for my colleagues.
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MR. KUCHARSKI: Thank you. We are—of course there are two parts to this.
One is the wastewater, and how we deal with that. And when we're talking about
big, big-ticket items, that is the infrastructure cost that is going to dwarf the other
activities as far as waste management.
The solid waste side is a little bit simpler, but it's also more complex. I mean,
because solid waste requires the public to be part of the solution. Wastewater,
it's just giving the facilities there and it's flush and go, and they're pau. That's
the contribution. And so it's much more expensive but that is probably the
easiest one to do. Solid Waste is different because people generate it, they carry
it, they take it somewhere, they have to sort or they don't have to sort; and all of
these fundamental changes are never easily managed.
And we are looking at things. For instance, on plastics, is there a way that we
can take instead of one and two, we can take any plastic? Turn it into some kind
of useable product or if nothing else just make it so it's a lot cheaper to ship to
Honolulu. I mean, those are the kinds of things that we're looking at.
When we take a look at the individual pieces of the waste stream. Our Recycle
Program cost us about$150 a ton to process that. Part of that is because of the
way we collect it, that where people can put into a mixed bin what they put into
mixed waste bin. It doesn't have to be cleaned. It should be cleaned, but it's sort
of a voluntary program. So the solid waste is much harder to process but it's
something that can be done with, I think, less money.
And so we Ying and Yang as far as solution. They're just totally different, one
from the other. But they all down come to how are we going to prioritize what
the County spends, and then how we manage those resources or waste products
once we get them. And I can't give you any answer other than we look at things
like that but looking and doing are not the same.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I'm glad that you're at least bringing it out into the
forefront for us to consider. I mean, it's probably not doable in this budget, but
it's something for us to start thinking about. I mean, we live on an island, and so
we need to be innovative about how we manage our waste stream now and into
the future, because we want to make sure that we have a beautiful place for our
kids to live and play.
So thank you for your time. I mean, your department has a special place in my
heart because I interned there for a couple of years in college. So I know there's
a lot of work behind the scenes by folks there to keep our island clean. So thanks
for being here. Thank you, everyone. Chair, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Mr. Richards, go ahead.
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MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair; thank you, Bill; and thank you,
Ms. Kierkiewicz. This brings and highlights that during our budget, this is also
our program review conversation. And since we have no real way for venue of
discussing this coming forward, this allows us to discuss this coming forward.
Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and I have broached this subject, as my Vice Chair for
the Environmental Management, and Bill and I have had long conversations
about this, and he touched on it. I just wanted to echo of what you have raised a
question on. What we're talking about is a true paradigm shift when it comes to
how we're viewing our waste management, both solid as well as the sewage.
And help me out here, Bill. As I recall, the infrastructure, I think the
first blush of infrastructure for Wastewater Management, was somewhere
between $750 million and $1 billion if we are truly going to make a big
impact island-wide. Is that the number? Am I correct?
MR. KUCHARSKI: Right. Sure. I think if we were to sewer most of Kona and
the rest of Hilo, we'll be in the $700 to $800 million. That isn't a number that I
have studied to verify. That's just a gut feeling.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. So it puts it in context for our conversation. We
talked about the solid waste, and everybody weigh in on this one, we're talking
about somewhere around 600 tons a day going into our waste of our solid waste,
is that number I recall correctly?
MR. KUCHARSKI: Right about. Maybe 800.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, so
MR. KUCHARSKI: But same order magnitude.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. Yeah, so we're in the ballpark. And something that
Bill has mentioned, Environmental Management has mentioned, that if we are
able to take out the biologicals out of that, roughly speaking about half of our
solid waste, if we do that, we are going to double the life expectancy of our
landfills because we're reducing what's going in by half. But in order to do that,
we have to have a way of sorting that waste stream.
And so, these are the exact conversations that Environmental Management is
having now, Ms. Kierkiewicz, and actually Council. Because we're not trying to
figure out this year's budget, we're trying to figure out two decades from now's
problem. It's going to take committing resources towards that. And I think when
we had the conversation about sewage fees, yes, we have the short-term; but the
long-term is how do we start looking at financing for the County as a whole,
which is going to be committing a lot of resources going forward.
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So with that, we're not going to belabor the point. But the point is we are having
these conversations now, in trying to figure where we're going to go, because
again, it's going to take that shift. As Bill has pointed out, we are voluntary right
now as far as our sorting, but we have problems with our recycling for a lot of
different reasons. And in order to make this shift, we are going to have to have a
shift to paradigm with our people, as well as our programs. So that's what we're
talking about going forward. So with that, I yield, Chair.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else? Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I just have one question for Greg. You said
we're going to charge the—did you say the restaurants and the businesses to
dispose of their compostable products, or did I mishear you?
MR. GOODALE: So they're going to have disposal regardless.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Like regular trash disposal?
MR. GOODALE: Correct. So any business has component of waste disposal
built into their business cost. But when it comes to something like a restaurant
or, you know, the ones that looked at being specifically impacted by the
polystyrene changes, when we went out and looked into, as Council Woman
brought up earlier about looking at some other jurisdictions, we did that as part of
our development of our Request for Proposals for the compost program. And
one of the jurisdictions that we looked at was the City of Seattle. City of Seattle
essentially required that all materials become compostable for restaurants and
those types of establishments. So when a restaurant like that essentially accepts
those materials for disposal, it's all materials that are going to go to a compost
facility. The waste food, the materials that people get their food on, as well as,
you know, even the cutlery and whatnot.
So when I talk about that, the expansion of our program offers up is an
alternative to normal landfill disposal. You'd be able to take that type of material
and dispose of it separately, essentially segregate it, into a compostable bin, but
that's also going to require, you know, the hauling entities to offer that service,
you know, because it will be at a lower cost. I mean, we see that already. We
see people making use of our greenwaste facilities because it's a lower cost than
bringing it to the landfill and paying that higher tipping fee. So that's where the
incentive comes in.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So my only problem is, as the
restaurant, I'm not going to be using and throwing away the compostable goods.
It's the person taking it home, not me.
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MR. GOODALL And that's where it gets more complicated. Now as a
restaurant you can control it for what's eaten there at their establishment, they
can control it there, as the, you know, the restaurant itself. But once a person
takes it home, then it becomes, okay, it's like anything else. A person is going to
manage their waste as an individual.
So we're already looking at ways at our various transfer stations, of being able to
offer that type of disposal option, which would be basically akin to our recycling
system. But again as the Director brought up, it's all voluntary at this point, so
there's no mandatory usage of that. So some of this may end up in the waste
stream, the landfill waste stream on its own.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: It already is.
MR. GOODALL But for us, we will be trying to establish ways for people to
utilize those alternatives, the same way as we do our two-bin recycling program.
So the options are there, it's just a matter of trying to work with the public and
encourage them to make use of them.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I guess, I just heard like an illogical
problem, which was the restaurant itself will not be disposing of or maintaining a
large stock of compostable rubbish behind the restaurant because it won't be
going there, it would be going in a paper bag home with the customer.
MR. GOODALL And I don't have statistics as to what percentage of any of
those establishments, if people eat the meal at the establishment versus how
many take it home. But we know,just in terms of some of the evaluation we did
prior to, there was a significant number of folks that did eat at the restaurant,
which then concentrated that type of waste within the restaurant itself, as opposed
to all of it. So I couldn't tell whether it was 50/50 or 60/40, but we do know that
significant amount of it does stay there at those establishments. But it is still the
challenge of the folks that take it home, then it's out of their control.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, it's more maybe a focus on education
like you were saying, to the public to make them aware of how they need to
handle their garbage. And it's not—we talked about that before. That caught my
attention, sorry. Thank you.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Mr. Richards.
MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, thank you, Chair. I know the day is long, the week is
long. But, Bill, you touched on something, and I wanted to expand on it. The
overtime on your division. And one point—almost 1.2—am I reading that
correctly? $1.2 million of overtime for Solid Waste?
MR. KUCHARSKI: Yes, sir.
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MR. RICHARDS: Please explain.
MR. KUCHARSKI: We have a lot of areas that need to be covered with 22 you
know, two landfills, 22 additional transfer stations. And it doesn't take many
people calling in sick to have one, or two, or three people a day out of 60. Pretty
soon these things add up. As you can see, it's about ten percent of the whole
salary and wage budget is in overtime. And so the County is very good to its
employees.
MR. GOODALL If I can just expand on that. One of the things that we look at, as
our division, is as Bill said, we have 22 facilities that we have to keep open. Not
every one of them are open every day. The landfills are open every day, but by
permit we're required to have a certain amount of staff at each of these facilities.
Unlike other operations, if someone doesn't come to work, we are obligated to have
someone come replace that person, and most of those are what we consider our
callbacks, are overtime. So if someone you know, the County gives a significant
number of sick days and vacations per year, which we're obligated to allow for.
But even on those, when someone has a vacation or has a sick day, we are obligated
to have someone there in their place, which means calling somebody back.
So even if we try and plan ahead for that, especially as it pertains to say vacation,
which we do, we schedule those things ahead, but we still are bringing a person
back that is getting paid on an overtime rate. We don't have a staffing level that
essentially has folks in reserve. We have the staffing we need to do the job we do,
but when it comes to someone coming back to perform that job, essentially to keep
us in our operating permits with the State—and those are things that the State does
keep an eye on when they go out to visit our facilities, that we are operating within
compliance of those permits, which requires us to have personnel at the site during
the open hours.
But I guess the most significant part of that, that I think the Director was alluding to
is just to keep those facilities open oftentimes—and it could be up to 50 percent of
the labor on any given day, may be coming back as overtime.
MR. RICHARDS: So is that because we are understaffed?
MR. GOODALL That's a long conversation. But staffing, as you look at how we
have our facilities staffed, we have the appropriate number of staff to keep our
facilities open; but if we start running into significant amounts of, you know, sick or
unplanned vacation, compensatory time off, those things start to stack up. So that's
where the magic number comes in, is to what is that appropriate number to not have
to call back, but essentially not have to have that additional number. Because no
matter how many more you bring in, they're also going to also have that CTO
(Compensatory Time Off), vacation, and sick days that we have to account for, as
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well. So that is kind of the, I guess, the question that we struggle to find the answer
to—regularly is, what is that number?
We believe right now—I mean, we as a division didn't, you know, request as part
of just normal operations. We have other positions that we've been trying to get on
board. But just in terms of keeping the facilities open, we didn't make any
additional requests. But we are looking at various ways of trying to accomplish that
and reduce those overtime costs.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. Chair, in interest of saving some time, what I think I'd
like to do, is I'm going to make a request to Environmental Management. And I'll
get together with my Vice. We'll talk story about the questions. And the questions
I'll pose to you, Bill, and then when you respond,just—so we can get the
information back, I'd like to know somea little bit more detail on the overtime.
Because that one if we're going to approve, that's a lot of overtime, so I'd like to
examine that more. So with that, I'll yield.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards, and I think that's a great suggestion.
Anyone else before I ? No? Alright, I just have one question. Where did
Deanna go? Oh, there she is. Okay before she comes in—she's on the phone.
Chief Goodale, could you just give us a status on the new HOVE(Hawaiian Ocean
View Estates) transfer station? How soon?
MR. GOODALL I would love to give you status.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you.
MR. GOODALL No, that's a great question. And this has been a facility in
Hawaiian Ocean View Estates that we have been long wanting to make some
improvements. We've met regularly with folks in that district, and I'm happy to
say that we have the project well under way, that will get us to the point of at least
offering the service that we're offering now in the location that the County
purchased several years ago.
We are also in the process of working with our design contractors to get the next
phase of that site developed so that we can have a more built out site for that area.
But we are very happy with the amount of progress that our contractor has been
making. As I, you know, had communicated to the community there on many
occasions, the biggest portion of that work was the work on the highway.
CHR. DAVID: Yes.
MR. GOODALL And the majority of that has been completed. They're actually
getting ready to pave. But the long of the short of it is they are going to have a
much better facility and it won't be located in the private subdivision any longer.
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And then we are very optimistic that we'll be able to move into the next phase
really quickly after that.
CHR. DAVID: So estimate, when do you anticipate closing down the transfer
that's located in the residential area now?
MR. GOODALL We expect to be out of that by July.
CHR. DAVID: Really? Well, that's good news. Thank you. And yeah, thank you.
MR. GOODALL And we're also making headway on our Wai`ohinu projects, as
well.
CHR. DAVID: Perfect. So by the time all that's done, I think everybody will be
happy. They'll have a new transfer station. And thank you very much. We waited
a long time for that one.
And before we close, I have to ask Deanna a question. Because there was
community input this morning on some concerns, about the cost of Director
Kucharski's two huge sewage treatment plant projects. Deanna, could you just
explain how the capital funding with this project, because it's been ongoing for
way before Mr. Kucharski got here, and for years. How is the funding and the
lapsing work for these big projects?
MS. SAKO: I know it can be confusing when a project takes place over several
years.
CHR. DAVID: It is.
MS. SAKO: But one thing to keep in mind is that each of the capital projects, when
it's approved by you guys, it's for two full fiscal years after the year it's
appropriated. So really for three years, basically. So even though the current
capital budget may not look like there's enough appropriations, the department does
track to ensure that there's going to be enough appropriations. And sometimes we
come in for mid-year appropriations, and it depends on the funding source, as well.
So if they're going to come in to do like SRF (State Revolving Fund) funding, you
know, we'll do the appropriation at the same time.
But there are appropriations from previous years that are still active. And if they do
find themselves short, we'll add additional appropriations. But it doesn't mean the
projects not going to happen just because someone may not see in the budget.
CHR. DAVID: Right. I see. Okay yes, I think we that we just needed some
clarification on that. And I see Director ready to press his button, so go ahead.
Thank you, Director Sako.
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MR. KUCHARSKI: Just wanted to say also—Bill Kucharski, DEM. When we put
in those budgets, sometimes it's before we have a complete design, and they tend to
have a very large contingency. And we always hope that final cost is going to be
lower than what we have anticipated it costing. That's not to say that happens all
the time. I won't mention Lono Kona, but—
CHR.
utCHR. DAVID: Ms. Eoff is listening. Oh no, Ms. Villegas is listening.
MR. KUCHARSKI: But that is the hope. And we do have just—these are
preliminary numbers that are not based on solid design.
CHR. DAVID: Okay. And given that—thank you very much, Director. And given
that, I just want to thank you and Chief for all you folks have done and for keeping
us informed and taking this project home, hopefully. Crossing my fingers on the
two, yeah. You folks did a great job. And very patient, and I appreciate it. So we
will dismiss you right now and we will thank you—and wait, don't go away guys.
Okay, now we have some business to take care of. So I need to get feedback from
the Council on how we've got to proceed or should proceed. Now, according to our
Clerk, we can recess this meeting to another day and continue the discussion on the
budgets. Tomorrow is a holiday so he says we can recess this to the following
week, which is the week we meet in Kona, right? And this will give us an
opportunity to call back certain departments for additional questioning. But that
meeting is held next week, so our timing is a little bit short, right? Or we can
postpone this to the May 7h Finance Committee meeting in Kona, and this gives us
another opportunity to ask questions of departments to provide additional
information.
So even though the Mayor's amended budget will be out by then, I am told by
Mr. Clerk, that no amendments can be made until after May 22nd. Or we can
approve and go forward, right, to the Special Meeting of the Council on May 22nd
That was quick, Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Postpone. I'm not ready to do anything.
CHR. DAVID: So we want to postpone this till May 27h?
MR. HENRICKS: Postpone till ?
CHR. DAVID: The meeting on May 7h in Kona.
MR. HENRICKS: Just so we're clear though, what you're postponing is just what
we have before us. There will be no discussion on Draft 2.
CHR. DAVID: Right.
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MR. HENRICKS: That we'll not have time to—we can't add it to the agenda. So
you're looking at Draft 1, and essentially everything that you guys have taken up at
the point and time.
CHR. DAVID: Or we can recess?
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, since we're in the modality of budgeting for outcome,
that means we have to figure the conversation we're going to have, we need to
have. And I'm not ready to make any decisions given some of the information
we've got. But I do want to continue the conversation going forward, and if that's
the best way, whatever we need to do. So for Draft 2, do we yeah, I want Draft 2,
so what do we do?
MR. HENRICKS: So the process there, is that we'll get Draft 2 on May 3rd, in the
form of a bill. And the standard process then is that, if you move this forward to
the 22nd for the first the reading of this bill, and then you will first amend the draft
that you're looking at now with the contents of Draft 2 that we get on May 3rd
And then you will have Draft 2 from the 3rd, so you can draft amendments between,
oh say the 7h and a time reasonable between the 22nd. So you can actually have
it's expected that you'll have proposed amendments available on the 22nd for first
reading. And then you'll be looking at the budget that the Mayor submits on
May 3.
So I guess the point is you could certainly postpone this to the 7h, although you
really are where you're at without additional information. You would be restricted.
I don't believe you'd be able to talk about the contents of Draft 2 because it's not
publicly noticed.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, so that's not what we want to do. We want to be able to
have conversation. So since I've been listening to numbers for three days, what do
we have to do?
MR. HENRICKS: If you want to keep—so what Chair David was offering is,
basically if you felt like for some reason that you wanted to bring departments back,
that you had not exhausted your questions, you wanted further analysis of the
budgets as provided in Draft 1 though, you don't have to move it forward. You
could continue that. However, if you're satisfied with your departmental review
thus far, you move it forward to the meeting on May 22 for first reading, and then
that's when Draft 2 will come into play. And you will have some time prior to that,
meaning that we receive it near the end of the day on the 3rd to consider or start
drafting amendments to essentially Draft 2.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, but can we still call the departments back?
MR. HENRICKS: Absolutely.
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MR. RICHARDS: Okay, as long as I can do that, I'm okay.
MR. HENRICKS: They may not come, but you can call them back.
MR. RICHARDS: So like I said, we're looking for the outcome. The outcome is
being able to move forward, discuss Draft 2 while still having the ability to call the
departments back for conversations. So with that, I yield.
CHR. DAVID: Ms. Poindexter, go ahead.
MS. POINDEXTER: And we have the time to individually go talk to the
departments, so that's a big advantage of us to have the one-on-one with them and
with Finance, and hopefully some things will be tweaked when Draft 2 comes back.
So we have that ability, and I think that's great. So I wouldn't support a
Postponement.
MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, so I don't—like I said, as long as we can move it forward.
CHR. DAVID: Okay. So that would be option 1, recess?
MR. HENRICKS: Yeah, and you do currently have motions on the floor to move
of these bills, the Operating Capital, out of Committee to the 22nd
CHR. DAVID: Right. So those motions will stand and we'll just recess.
MR. HENRICKS: You would need to vote on them, though.
CHR. DAVID: Today?
MR. HENRICKS: Yes. To move it out of Committee to the 22nd, you would vote
on the motions for a favorable recommendation.
CHR. DAVID: And then we recess?
MR. HENRICKS: No, then you adjourn this meeting.
CHR. DAVID: Oh, I see. Becausealright, you want it to go to the 22nd
MR. HENRICKS: Oh, I don't particularly want anything.
MS. EOFF: Madam Chair?
CHR. DAVID: Yes, go ahead, Ms. Eoff.
MS. EOFF: I think that's our usual process because the Council calendar reflects
the Special Meeting on the 22nd
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MR. HENRICKS: It is. So when we had contemplated these issues of recessing
and potentially postponing it, it was with the sole purpose of not finished doing this
part of the business yet.
CHR. DAVID: Okay,perfect.
MR. HENRICKS: That's the only real reason you would keep it in this Committee
at this point and time.
CHR. DAVID: Okay. So right now we're going to vote on
MS. POINDEXTER: Madam Chair, can I just ask one more thing?
CHR. DAVID: Sure. Go ahead, Ms. Poindexter.
MS. POINDEXTER: Because it came to be clear. Because I think at one time
during my years on here, we wanted vote—say "no" on this, remember? And
voting it down wasn't a good thing. It's like voting it through? Or how ?
MR. HENRICKS: If you vote now, what really you're doing is just giving it a
negative recommendation.
MS. POINDEXTER: Okay.
MR. HENRICKS: So it would still have the same effect of moving it to the 22nd. It
just would basically say you don't care for Draft 1.
MS. POINDEXTER: Okay, so we could vote all negative no and move it forward?
MR. HENRICKS: Sure, but it will still move go forward.
MS. POINDEXTER: It won't kill this?
MR. HENRICKS: No.
MS. POINDEXTER: And kill the budget, and the Mayor doesn't want.
MR. HENRICKS: No, we're in Committee. So yeah, correct. It just would be a
negative recommendation.
MS. POINDEXTER: Just for clarification. I remember there's so many different
little
MR. HENRICKS: It will get even more fun when we get to first reading.
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MS. POINDEXTER: It will get worse, I know.
MR. HENRICKS: Yeah, this kind of a quote, unquote "easy part."
CHR. DAVID: Okay. So there's already a motion on the floor made by
Ms. Poindexter, seconded by Ms. Eoff, on approving Bill 30 and filing all related
communications. All those in favor,please say "aye." Okay, roll call.
Vote on Bill 30: The motion to recommend passage of Bill 30 on first reading
(Approved) was carried by the following roll call vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Chung, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Lee Loy, Poindexter,
Villegas, and Chair David—7.
Noes: Committee Member Kierkiewicz and
Richards —2.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: Thank you. And moving on to Bill 31. We have a pending motion
by Ms. Poindexter, seconded by Mr. Richards, to approve Bill 31. Mr. Clerk,
roll call please.
Vote on Bill 31: The motion to recommend passage of Bill 31 on first reading
(Approved) was carried by the following roll call vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Chung, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy,
Poindexter, Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. DAVID: So now, both these bills move forward. And I guess I need a
motion to adjourn.
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ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 4:17 p.m., Ms. Lee Loy moved to adjourn
MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Richards and carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Chung, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy,
Poindexter,Richards, Villegas,
and Chair David—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None
CHR. DAVID: Happy Easter, everybody. And thank you, everybody,
departments, for your patience. Thank you,Mr. Kamelamela.
Approved:
e „,„..a0„„
Maile Medeiros Pavia, Chair
Finance Committee
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