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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN FC 2022/04/05 2020-2022 Committee on Finance 31st Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii April 5, 2022 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Finance was called to order at ORDER: 2:12 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Mr. Matt Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Matt Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder, Chair Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Vice Chair Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards III, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member Absent& Excused: Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, 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: Pane Meatoga III: Res. 363-22 (Comm. 708), comment. Dwight Vicente: Res. 361-22 (Comm. 704); and Bill 149 (Comm. 701), comment. COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Let the record reflect, we have closed public testimony. Mr. Clerk, can we go to Communication 693 first, please? Change Order As directed by the Chair and with no object from the Council Members, the of Business: following item was taken out of order FC-31 April 5,2022 Comm. 693: NOMINATION OF CHANTEE SHIROMA TO THE COST OF GOVERNMENT COMMISSION From Mayor Mitchell D. Roth, dated March 17, 2022, requesting the Council's review and confirmation. Requires Council Confirmation by: April 30, 2022 (Section 13-4(k), Hawaii County Charter) Vote on Comm. 693: Ms. Lee Loy moved to recommend confirmation of (Approved) Ms. Chantee Shiroma to the Cost of Government Commission. Seconded by Ms. Kimball and carried by following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Executive Assistant to the Mayor Pomaika`i Bartolome came forward and provided a brief narrative of the nominee's background and experience. Committee Members spoke in favor of the appointment. Return to Order The Chair directed the Committee to return to the order of business. of Business: Comm. 32.19: MONTHLY BUDGET STATUS REPORT FOR THE MONTH ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2021 From Finance Director Deanna Sako, dated March 17, 2022,transmitting the above report pursuant to Hawaii County Charter Section 6-6.3(h). Vote on Comm. 32.19: Ms. Lee Loy moved to close file on Comm. 32.19. Filed Seconded by Mr. Richards and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Page 2 FC-31 April 5,2022 ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Let's go to Resolution 357-22, please? Res. 357-22: AUTHORIZES THE ACCEPTANCE OF A DONATION OF THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF "PHASE 1" OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII MOBILE APPLICATION NAMED KAHEA, TO THE DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY The donation from Duane Kurisu and the AIO Family of Companies, valued at approximately $45,000, would allow for the development of a modernized communication system to promote increased transparency. Reference: Comm. 700 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Motion to Approve: Ms. David moved to recommend adoption of Res. 357-22. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Council Members, discussion on Resolution 357? Who's first? Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Is there anyone from the Administration to provide a bit more details on this donation? Anyone from IT (Information Technology), Mayor's Office? I think we're all really intrigued about what this County app looks like, its functions. Let's see if it's available for download. (Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. SAKO: I haven't actually seen it, so I will get somebody down here, if you guys want to table till later? Vote on Motion Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to table Res. 357-22 to the to Table: end of the agenda. Seconded by Mr. Richards and (Approved) carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Page 3 FC-31 April 5,2022 CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: With that, let's go to 358, please? Res. 358-22: AUTHORIZES THE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT Federally-derived funds of$4,462,000 would be used to support projects related to the mitigation of natural disasters and other hazards defined in the 2020 Multi- Hazard Mitigation Plan. Reference: Comm. 701 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to recommend adoption of Res. 358-22. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Council Members, discussion? Ms. Kierkiewicz's light on, go ahead. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Director Kern, we saw you earlier this morning at Housing Agency with our non-legislative hats on. But for members that are kind of streaming in, could you provide a high-level overview of the Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan, all of the work that was done over the last year, I think maybe more than that, to put this plan together and really land on the projects that this funding is going to support. (Note: At this time, Planning Director Zendo Kern came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. KERN: Sure. Thank you very much. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and Members of the Finance Committee. Zendo Kern, Planning Director. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and share a bit more. We did have a discussion this morning. I'll kind of just go over the same topics and maybe expand a little bit more. Okay, so we were really lucky to get a CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) mitigation funding for $6,862,000. This was derived from the disaster in 2018. During that year, there's a $186 million of CDBG-MIT (mitigation) funding throughout the United States. And we got about$6.8 million of that. So we're very grateful for that. The funding was tied back to the Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan that was adopted in 2020. There's a plan, and a list of hazards, and a list of projects that were on there. The plan was done in 2020, and over the last year, we got together with the various departments that the action items related to. And we had discussions around that. We tried to rank them, understanding what was going to make the Page 4 FC-31 April 5,2022 highest priority; meet the needs of our community, and also the constraints through HUD (Housing and Urban Development) around the program. One of the elements was, the funding has to meet LMI or Low-to-Moderate Income threshold at at least 50 percent. And that's actually quite challenging for our island. The areas that meet that are Ka`u, Puna, and parts of Hilo. And so, we looked at projects that were needed that would have an island-wide impact, still meeting this criteria and really trying to get the most bang for a buck, if you will. So we had a couple, at least two public hearings going through this process, trying to gather feedback. And then a process of going back and forth with the departments and our team trying to really assess that. So what we've come up with is this list of projects that meet that $6.8 million dollars' worth of funding. What you have before you is an amendment to get into an agreement with HUD to allow us to have that agreement so we can spend those funds. It's specifically related the Operating Budget. So you'll see the Operating Budget request is for the $4,462,000. The difference of the $6.8 million will be going onto the CIP (Capital Improvement Project) budget. So we're dealing with two kinds of scopes of projects. I'll go through those, and that's to get into the Operating Budget side of it. Again, all of these projects had to tie back to the Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan, and really tried to go through by way of ranking. There are more projects on there than funding. Certain projects we were able to use other funding for, which I might explain a little bit more later. So again, this is the best list that we came up with. What I'll do now, is I'll just go through the projects and give a brief dollar amount and brief explanation of what those will be for. So, first project is an ArcGIS purchase and installation of$370,000. It would be to purchase, install, and configure hardware, software, and licensing for our GIS (Geographic Information) System. This will centralize basically the disaster- related information on prime servers and eliminate reliance on the Cloud during emergency responsiveness. Meaning, if we have a disaster, we still have access to our GIS system. Our GIS system is intergraded with so many different areas from roads, waterlines, DEM (Department of Environmental Management), etcetera. And so, very critical without that having a really big island-wide impact. Emergency power for wastewater infrastructure, $835,000. Purchase and install transfer switches supporting infrastructure. Basically to create a power redundancy, so if power goes out they can kick the power back on; the water runs. Wildfire equipment purchase if$1,810,000. This would be the purchase of brush trucks, a mobile service trailer, and mobile command posts. I think we all understand about the need for that. So that will be going to the Fire Department. Page 5 FC-31 April 5,2022 Revisions to the Zoning and Subdivision Codes. That will be for $400,000. We'll be doing a land use analysis, strategic planning, development of regulatory and enforcement tools to mitigate against the range of natural disasters. We'll be going through a comprehensive Code update for Chapter 23, our Subdivision Code; and Chapter 25, our Zoning Code. This funding will specifically be used to analyze and make changes to the Code as it relates to Hazard Mitigation. Other areas of the Code that we're working on will be funded by other funding mechanisms that you folks will be supporting us, and hopefully supporting us with, and already have supported us. This will be analyzing from basically managed retreat, looking at how we would build in high-hazard areas. We have a lot of lava zones here. We have a lot of flooding issues. So, it's going to be to look at all of that and come up with a Code that helps mitigate against these types of issues. We have flood-study assessments at$394,000. This is basically to perform flood-study assessments in Puna, North Kohala and South Kohala, in these areas. It's pretty straight forward. And we also have the activity and delivery costs that are allowable underneath the grant. That covers the operating budget portion of it. There's just a couple more that will go underneath the CIP budget. So, we'll just do a comprehensive overrun on the installation of water storage tanks. That's $200,000. Install water storage tanks and associated piping; improved response capabilities. Obviously with the wildfires that we've had, this is another key element that we need. We also have design and engineering permitting for the Hisaoka Gymnastics improvement, that gym center in North Kohala. Desperate need for that. There really is no storm shelter up in that area. This will get us to the point of being shovel-ready. So, we really did the best that we could do to get it shovel-ready. The last one will be the Kea`au Armory improvements. That's for $1.4 million. That's to do some repairs and replacement of the existing building there at the armory. Again, that's used for sheltering and safe space. So critical elements there. That covers the general budget. There were a number of items on the list for projects. Some of those we're able to get funded through other means. For example, one area that we had was the cell tower or the microwave tower down in lower Puna by Puna Geothermal that was taken out by the lava flow. We did do a request to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to reimburse for those funds. On the onset that was denied by FEMA. We did appeal that and through, you know, communication and relationships with them, they were able to approve it. So we were able to take Page 6 FC-31 April 5,2022 that that was the one that was on the list originally that we were able to take off and put in something else on the list. So this was really done—you know, so much was put in by the team. Really lucky to have the team that we have. We have Kelly Nafie on board, which is really awesome. And we also have Douglas Le assisting with this as well. And so with that, I think that's the general overview and happy to get into any questions. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Director for that. There were 31 projects that you folks had in the Hazard Mitigation Plan. Just really appreciate, kind of scanning through that documents, it's pretty lengthy, all of the data and analysis that went into identifying the priorities. Having said that, everything that was identified, really important and critical for us to move on. Are we going to see elements of these projects sort of uplifted into this year's Operating Budget? Are you kind of privy to that kind of information? MR. KERN: Some of the ones that didn't make it on to this list? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Correct. MR. KERN: Yeah, I believe that there's a few. I don't have the exact information, but I know that we've looked at different means of funding for those. And can't speak exactly if they came through on this Operating Budget. I have to double check on that. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And then you mentioned this morning, 12 years to spend the money. Does that mean 12 years after HUD approves this plan or when it was first appropriated to us? MR. KERN: My understanding is once we get into it, the money is actually released to us. Twelve years to spend the money, which would allow us again to this agreement and then get the funding. Our plan is to spend it in about six years. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Right, your budget did take a look at—I saw that, and I appreciate that there is a sense of urgency in making this happen, because I think we saw the report that came out from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) yesterday about really having to take climate change more seriously. And so, all of the measures that you have included here are so critical to addressing that. Just a couple of follow-up questions on the projects. The ArcGIS that's tracking infrastructure during disaster events so we can track sort of what's happening. Say if there is a fire, or a flood situation, or a lava flow. Page 7 FC-31 April 5,2022 MR. KERN: Right. It will allow us access to all of our GIS database during a disaster. And basically if the cloud shuts down, we won't—we'll have a centralized solid-state server. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Got it. MR. KERN: That will be able to analyze that, so we'll have access to the plethora of information that GIS systems have. You know, DPW has it, DEM has it; Water has it; we have it. And it's really the most accurate and fast way to gather data. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Gather and share it. I think during the 2018 eruption, Civil Defense was using paper maps, which was kind of just out of control considering that we have access to so much technology. So thanks for making this investment. Really support everything that is going to Fire. We saw with the Mana Road fire, just how incredibly critical it is to have those assets. And thank you for thinking really creatively around how we can further support updates to, you know, Chapter 23 and 25. No one here is denying that climate change is very real. And our laws really have to begin to reflect this change in reality that we're having to live through. So,thank you. I will be supporting this measure. Chair, I yield. MR. KERN: Thank you very much. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, thank you. And I think this might be a question, Zendo, for Director Deanna. This is a question, I don't know if it's procedural, but on the background it talks about the $2.4 million Capital Improvement for 2022-2023, but the Operational of$4.462 for Operating Budget 2021-2022. Is that a typo, or is this kind of retroactive looking? MS. SAKO: Just a second. MR. RICHARDS: It's on the back page. MS. SAKO: So, we're doing the current Operating Budget, which is Bill 149 later on on the agenda. And then I believe they're going to put it in next year's Capital Project Budget, because we didn't need the funding before July 1st MR. RICHARDS: Okay, so this is accurate then? MS. SAKO: Yeah, this is accurate, yeah. Page 8 FC-31 April 5,2022 MR. RICHARDS: So this year's and then next year's. MS. SAKO: And then next year's Capital, yeah. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, alright, thank you. Appreciate it, I yield. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else? Okay, Mr. Kern, thank you very much, appreciate it. I just wanted to touch on again. So these funds, specific to low-income areas, which is kind of what you stated in the beginning. MR. KERN: The threshold was that there's that 50 percent of the funds. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Fifty percent of the funds. MR. KERN: Fifty percent of the funds. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Fifty percent of the funds. Needs to be expended in low-income qualifying areas. MR. KERN: Low to moderate-income areas. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. MR. KERN: And it's not kind of a blended average. It actually has to meet these areas. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, so what, I mean which ones are the low-income? MR. KERN: My understanding is that the emergency water infrastructure is; wildfire is, I believe in that area; some of the flood studies for the Puna one is; and the Kea`au Armory. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Flood study in Puna, that is built on the existing flood studies we had from FEMA; new? MR. KERN: My understanding is that they'll be built onI don't totally handle that, but are built on or worked in conjunction with FEMA and Army Corps. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you. That was my question. MR. KERN: Thank you. Page 9 FC-31 April 5,2022 CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Okay, appreciate the presentation, Director. Seeing no further discussion, we have a motion on the floor. All in favor? Vote on Res. 358-22: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 358-22 (Approved) was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Res. 359-22: AUTHORIZES THE PAYMENT OF FUNDS OF A LATER FISCAL YEAR AND OF MORE THAN ONE FISCAL YEAR FOR A MULTI-YEAR LICENSE AGREEMENT OF REAL PROPERTY FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION WITH THE ST. JUDE'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH LOCATED AT 92-8606 PARADISE CIRCLE, HAWAIIAN OCEAN VIEW ESTATES, IN KA`U, HAWAII Authorizes the Mayor to enter into a three-year license agreement with an approximate monthly cost of$475. The property would be used for the department's Elderly Activity and Nutrition Congregate Meal programs. Reference: Comm. 702 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Motion to Approve: Ms. David moved to recommend adoption of Res. 359-22. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Ms. David. MS. DAVID: Thank you, Chair. I'd like to call up Ms. Okamura from Parks and Rec, as she's been waiting patiently. And also, Assistant Corp. Counsel J Yoshimoto. This is actually great, and I just wanted to get some background information, because this is my district. I think this is a very important program for our kupuna and just wondering, it's going to be at the Saint Judes Episcopal Church? Okay, so could you give us a background about that? (Note: At this time, Elderly Activities Operations Director Roann Okamura and Assistant Corporation Counsel J Yoshimoto came forward to address the members of the Committee.) Page 10 FC-31 April 5,2022 MS. OKAMURA: Thank you, Chair, and Finance Committee for having us. This program has been inexistence at the church since July 2001. So it is the only facility that we utilize for our programs. You guys know that the senior population there is about 5.8 percent of our total island population, but they are very isolated. So this facility is important for us to give equity to programs that we run throughout the entire island. So right now, we have just about, I would say pre-COVID, it was about 50 participants that came on a weekly basis. And it's programs such as the nutrition site programs offering food; we also do the Meals-On-Wheels program, we distribute out from there; as well as the senior club and transportation for medical runs and essential shopping. MS. DAVID: Thank you so much for doing that for so long, and I really want to thank St. Judes Church for allowing us to use their facility for this important program. And Mr. Yoshimoto, you want to say ? MR. YOSHIMOTO: Good afternoon again, Committee Members. J Yoshimoto, Assistant Corporation Counsel. No nothing to add,just asking for the Council's support. This is an excellent program. As you can hear from Roann, it's needed in the community, and you know, happy to see that things are getting back to normal, and fingers crossed. MS. DAVID: Yes, right. And this is a three-year lease agreement and renewable at the end of every three years is what I assume? Okay, okay. Well, thank you so much for keeping this program running in Ocean View. And Chair, I yield. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. David. Anyone else? Okay seeing none, thank you for being here today. Appreciate you being patient. And Mr. Yoshimoto, thank you for weighing in. MS. OKAMURA: Thank you for having us. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Ms. David, anything else? MS. DAVID: Oh, I'm sorry, I have my light on. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, we have a motion on the floor to forward Resolution 359-22 to Council with a favorable recommendation. Council members, all in favor? Page 11 FC-31 April 5,2022 Vote on Res. 359-22: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 359-22 (Approved) was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder–8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Chung– 1. Excused: None. Res. 360-22: AUTHORIZES THE PAYMENT OF FUNDS OF A LATER FISCAL YEAR AND OF MORE THAN ONE FISCAL YEAR FOR A MULTI-YEAR LEASE OF REAL PROPERTY FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION IDENTIFIED AS TAX MAP KEY 9-5-014-060, IN KA`U, HAWAII Authorizes the Mayor to enter into a ten-year agreement with Hamakua Land and Cattle, LLC, with an approximate annual cost of$61,948. The property would be used for parking, camping, picnicking, and community events at Whittington Beach Park. Reference: Comm. 703 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Motion to Approve: Ms. David moved to recommend adoption of Res. 360-22. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Ms. David, would you lead the conversation? MS. DAVID: Sure, thank you. And I'm sure everyone's wondering the annual cost of this lease agreement. We have Director Messina in our Kona Office. Aloha Director, and welcome. And thank you for being there to explain the background and historical situation regarding our leasing of this very important community facility. (Note: At this time Parks and Recreation Director Maurice Messina came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. MESSINA: Thank you, Ms. David. Maurice Messina, Director of Parks and Recreation. Ms. David, we also have Mr. Richard Alderson from the Hamakua Land and Cattle Company, I believe in the Hilo Chambers right now as well. And this is who we are leasing this property from—or are going to lease property from. Page 12 FC-31 April 5,2022 Mr. Alderson has had this property for I believe about 16 years, and of those 16 years, he's given basically free rent; free access to the property at Whittington Beach Park. I'm not sure if Mr. Alderson himself is willing to say something about this lease before I start speaking. MS. DAVID: Mr. Alderson, would you like to say a few words? You can come up to the microphone. Director Messina is just asking whether you would like to say a few words about Whittington, the property. (Note: At this time, Richard Alderson, from the Hamakua Land and Cattle, LLC, came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. ALDERSON: Well, it's a beautiful park; a gorgeous piece of property and it's our intent would be the people of Ka`u. It's a very important item in their livelihood, I think, to be able to go down to the park and enjoy it. And this is 800 feet of park frontage, and most of the parking. And you actually go through this to get to Whittington Park which is at the end, which is about half-an-acre. I don't know if there's any other questions then? MS. DAVID: Well, I just wanted to make a note and thank you folks for your generosity. As I understand Director Messina, the background on this is that they have been gracious enough to let the County use this rent-free for a number of years. Is that correct? MR. MESSINA: Yes, ma'am. And so, it's three different parcels that we're talking about. That's .166 acres which is the roadway lot leading down to Whittington. About 1.37 acres, which is like the grassy area; and about 1.14 acres, which is oceanfront property. We've been talking to Mr. Alderson about this for about a year-and-a-half to about two years. Me, personally, since I've been the Director. But there's been conversations, I believe, with past Mayors about this as well. What you're seeing isbasically looking at about a 50 percent discount on the oceanfront property portion of this. In the discussions and negotiations with Mr. Alderson, if he decides to sell it, we also have first right of refusal if we decide to purchase the property. I've got Mr. Yoshimoto there as well, and he's been involved with this from the get-go. I believe this is a way for us to keep Whittington Beach Park accessible to the public. Mr. Alderson has been very open with communications with us, and we really appreciate it. And from what we can tell and from the valuation that we were given, we felt that this is fair and beneficial for the County. Page 13 FC-31 April 5,2022 MS. DAVID: Thank you, Director. Mr. Yoshimoto, would you like to add any more? Okay, unless we have questions. Yes, alright. So,thank you Director, for that explanation and at this point, Chair, I will yield to my colleagues. Thank you. CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. David, appreciate the conversation. Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. And thank you, Sir, for being willing to do this for the County. And you've been very generous to the County over the time I've spoken to this with Director Messina. And this is logical. It's still very reasonable for the County. So I appreciate it, and I will be supporting this going forward. So, thank you very much. I yield. CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Okay, Council Members? Alright, seeing none. Mr. and Mrs. Alderson, thank you very much for your time today for coming in. Mo,thank you very much. And with that, we have a motion on the floor to forward Resolution 360-22 to Council with a favorable recommendation. All in favor? Vote on Res. 360-22: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 360-22 (Approved) was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Res. 361-22: AUTHORIZES THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE TO NEGOTIATE A MULTI-YEAR LEASE OF REAL PROPERTY, OLD WAIMEA TAX OFFICE, SITUATE AT WAIMEA, SOUTH KOHALA, COUNTY AND STATE OF HAWAII, IDENTIFIED AS TAX MAP KEY 6-7-002:025, TO THE WAIMEA PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION Authorizes the negotiation of a lease with the Waimea Preservation Association, which would use the property as a historical resource center. Reference: Comm. 704 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Page 14 FC-31 April 5,2022 Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to recommend adoption of Res. 361-22. Seconded by Mr. Richards. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Council Members, discussion? MR. INABA: Thank you. Deanna, if you could? I know it's pretty straight forward in terms of the property, but procedurally forI don't think I've maybe seen this—no I have seen this before. But I think there was always a value attached to it, but there's no value attached to this one. Could you explain how we go about ensuring a fair rate for this lease and a fair rate for the County taxpayers? (Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. SAKO: So, I think this is one of the nonprofit leases. So I think we're still working with them to determine the amount. But they're typically very low. This isn't a very large space, as I recall. So, we'll work with them. And yes, we'll make sure it's fair. But I don't think we're that far in negotiations. I was looking at J to see if he had more information, but apparently not. MR. INABA: Well,just in recalling a recent conversation we had with the old Hilo Hospital. There was a value when we had the resolution. But we don't have that here. MS. SAKO: Yeah, I don't think we're that far along in the negotiations. So I will find out before the next reading. MR. INABA: Okay, so, will we ever have a reso come back with the set amount to enter into that agreement? MS. SAKO: Lots of times we've reached that agreement already. But given the information we have, I don't think we're quite that far. So, I'll double check with our team at Property Management to see if we've reached some sort of settlement. I think, I'm trying to remember if these are the same people that are currently using the space or have in the past. So, I can double check what they're paying, but I don't have it with me today. MR. INABA: Okay, sorry, so let me just restate. If we approve this, will we see another resolution come forward with the specific amount once it's (inaudible)? MS. SAKO: There won't be another resolution, but I was going to get you information before the reading at Council. Page 15 FC-31 April 5,2022 MR. INABA: Okay, alright, thank you. Chair, I yield. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, I'm familiar with this property. And this makes all the sense in the world to do it. And I think, Chair David that this one actually predates your and my birth, as far as being used as the courthouse. So, it's actually old. Yeah, that's junior kupuna status. But you know, it makes all the sense. It's been used for the community for a long time, and it's just very, very appropriate for this. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Okay, I see no further discussionoh, hold on, wait a minute, you do have something to add. Thank you, J. (Note: At this time, Assistant Corporation Counsel J Yoshimoto came forward to address the members of the Committee.) J. YOSHIMOTO: Okay, a quick update. So, I just checked with Parks' staff. So the amount that's been negotiated is $75 a month. So I think that's consistent with what it was before, because we are working with a nonprofit. So, I mean, just as abut I can confirm that for the next meeting. But that's the message I got. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Seventy-five dollars a month. What is the size of the space? Do you know off the top of your head? Few hundred square feet? J. YOSHIMOTO: It's in the reso, yeah. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's a good price. Yeah, okay. J. YOSHIMOTO: Well, we want to help out nonprofits, right? CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Yoshimoto. Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Chair, if I recall correctly, the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) is also using that as part of their, you know,transferring children between parents while they're having their troubles. So,that was also being used at this facility. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Okay, seeing no further discussion, we have a motion on the floor to forward Resolution 361-22 to Council with a favorable recommendation. All in favor? Page 16 FC-31 April 5,2022 Vote on Res. 361-22: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 361-22 (Approved) was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Let's skip. I want to do Resolution 363 last; and then I'm going to relinquish the Chair to my Vice Chair. Can we go to Bill 149? Change Order As directed by the Chair and with no objection from the Council Members, the of Business: following items were taken out of order. Bill 149: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 21-38, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2022 Appropriates revenues in the Federal Grants —Community Development Block Grant Mitigation account($4,462,000); and appropriates the same to the following Community Development Block Grant Mitigation accounts: ArcGIS Project($370,000), Water Supply Project($835,000), Fire Equipment ($1,810,000), Planning Code Revisions ($400,000), Public Works Flood Studies ($394,000), Administration ($343,000), and Activity Delivery ($310,000). Funds would be used to support projects related to the mitigation of natural disasters and other hazards defined in the 2020 Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan. Reference: Comm. 701 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder (B/R) Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to recommend passage of Bill 149 on first reading. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Council Members, any discussion? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair, I'll just note that this is the companion measure to the Resolution 358-22. And we as Housing Agency adopted this plan earlier this morning, but I know that Director Kern is here if folks have additional questions. I'll be supporting this measure. Thank you, I yield. Page 17 FC-31 April 5,2022 CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, Council Members? Okay, seeing none. Motion on the floor to forward Bill 149 to Council with a favorable recommendation, all in favor? Vote on Bill 149: The motion to recommend passage of Bill 149 on first (Approved) reading was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Bill 151: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 21-39, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2021 TO JUNE 30, 2022 Adds the Parks and Recreation Council Discretionary Projects-District 6 project($100,000)to the Capital Budget. Funds for this project shall be provided from the General Obligation Bonds, Capital Projects Fund - Fund Balance and/or Other Sources and would be used towards improvements, repairs, and modifications at County park facilities throughout Council District 6. Reference: Comm. 706 Intr. by: Ms. David Motion to Approve: Ms. David moved to recommend passage of Bill 151 on first reading. Seconded by Ms. Villegas. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Ms. David. MS. DAVID: Thank you. And this is a CIP (Capital Improvement Projects), contingency for like District 6 projects that I've been kind of working on with Parks and Recs for a long time. And it was suggested that it be put on their CIP list so that if and when funds do become available, that we can address the Volcano Skate Park among other facilities, as well as the Yano Hall Basketball Court, when funds become available. So, I'm just holding the spot here,just in case, for when I'm not around. Okay, thank you very much, and I ask for your support. Mahalo. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. David. Anyone else? Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. Page 18 FC-31 April 5,2022 MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. I'm going to be supporting this, but I have more of a technical question, Deanna. Because it notes it going into the Council Discretionary Project District 6, but we know that the district lines changed. Is that going to become a problem? MS. SAKO: No, we'll follow the District 6 lines. And that's historically what's happened in times of redistricting. We've stuck with the numeric Council Districts, whatever the new shape might be. So, yeah, it'll continue to cover Council District 6. MS. LEE LOY: Great. I'll yield. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah,just a quick follow-up. Chair David, does this cover the areas that you're concerned about? MS. DAVID: Well yes, it does. And I have been concerned about for a long time. MR. RICHARDS: Just making sure if the lines move and for some reason it moves in the wrong place. So okay, thank you Chairs. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else? Okay, seeing none, Mr. Clerk, we have a motion on the floor to forward Bill 151 to Council for First Reading. All in favor? Vote on Bill 151: The motion to recommend passage of Bill 151 on (Approved) first reading was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Can we please circle back to Resolution 357, please? Return to Order The Chair directed the Committee to return to the order of business. of Business: Page 19 FC-31 April 5,2022 Vote on Motion to Ms. Lee Loy moved to remove Res. 357-22 from the Remove from Table: table. Seconded by Mr. Richards and carried by the (Approved) following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Ms. Sako. MS. SAKO: So I was able to get additional information about the app. So it's not in the App Store yet, because they wanted to make sure it was accepted first. And so, it will be going out as soon as the Council accepts it. The beta version is available and Cyrus is able to share that. I did give him Council Member Kierkiewicz's name because she did ask the question. So he'll be sharing that with her. It will be available both for Apple and Android. And it will be based on push notifications. So if you have downloaded the app, and you're in our County lines, if there's a disaster or an emergency, it will push out a notification to you. And then, it will expand it eventually, such that, if a transfer station closes suddenly or unexpectedly, that those would be some other types of notifications that would get pushed out to the community. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Awesome. Thank you very much. Can you have him send it to everybody? MS. SAKO: I will do that, yes. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. I think we're all interested in how that plays out. Very unique opportunity. Council Members, discussion? Mr. Inaba. MR. INABA: Yeah, for the $45,000 that was donated, was that solicited, or how did we go about getting that donation, that we're very much thankful for? MS. SAKO: I think it just came up in conversation. The Mayor does meet with some executives statewide periodically. And I think we brought up the need, and they connected us, and they were able to donate it. Page 20 FC-31 April 5,2022 MR INABA: Okay, and the intention, I mean based on those parameters you shared and what—the point of it is, we are going to go away from things like Everbridge for different MS. SAKO: Yes. I think the hope is eventually, because I did ask if you have to sign up. But no, it's just going to be based on your location. So I think if you have your location settings on, it will just notify you. It's not going to be like a sign up, like Everbridge and that type of thing. So hopefully, yes, we will get away from Everbridge and those types. MR. INABA: And that will carry all, like Police, Fire, Civil Defense, DEM (Department of Environmental Management)? MS. SAKO: Yes. And I cannot promise if that's if that's Phase One or Phase Two. I know there's more coming with the app. But, yes eventually, I would like to think we'll be able to get rid of those other systems. MR. INABA: Great. And yeah, if you can send it to us and maybe show up for the next hearing at Council. That would be helpful. MS. SAKO: Yeah, I'll have somebody here. MR. INABA: Sorry, and who is going to be taking lead? You know what, I'll just save these questions for when he's here next time. MS. SAKO: Sure, will do. MR. INABA: Thanks, Chair. I yield. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Yeah, I would love to hear from Cyrus on this, because I have questions around something you just mentioned, which is Phase One, and then Phase Two. And then where are we going to get the money? Deanna, you know where I'm going with this. MS. SAKO: Yeah, and I apologize, too. I thought he was going to be here today. And so, we'll have it together at the Council Meeting, and he'll be able to hopefully get you guys all the beta link prior to that. But then do some demonstration and have more answers for the rest of it. MS. LEE LOY: And then,just thinking out loud, what are the costs associated with like the Nixle alerts and the Everbridge alerts. And is that how we're going to back fill Phase Two, or do we even know that? Page 21 FC-31 April 5,2022 MS. SAKO: If we can eliminate the Everbridge. I didn't bring that number down here. Yes, it would save a significant amount of money and go a long ways towards funding Phase Two, yes. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, if we could get all of answers to those thoughts and questions at our next meeting, that would be great. MS. SAKO: I've been taking notes. Thank you. MS. LEE LOY: Chair, I yield. CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Anyone else? Okay. Thank you for helping, Deanna, and we do hope to see Scott Uehara at the next meeting as well as Cyrus. We do have a motion on the floor to forward Resolution 357 to Council with a favorable recommendation, all in favor? Vote on Res. 357-22: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 357-22 (Approved) was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: And that brings us to our last order of business, but pursuant to our Council Rules, I'm going to relinquish the Chair to my Vice Chair, Ms. Kimball. Please let the record reflect, she is going to take over the meeting. Relinquish Chair: At this time, the Chair relinquished the chair to Vice Chair Kimball. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. Mr. Clerk, if we can read in Res. 363-22? Res. 363-22: AUTHORIZES A DECREASE IN THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FUEL TAX Reduces the County of Hawaii fuel tax for diesel on-highway and gasoline on-highway fuels from 23 cents per gallon to 13 cents per gallon. Reference: Comm. 708 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder Page 22 FC-31 April 5,2022 ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, motion? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Actually, real quickly, the process for fuel tax resolution is to have the discussion, and we cannot pass it today, period. Because there has to be a public hearing before the motion can pass. So at the end of discussion today, we'll be motioning to postpone because that's part of the process. That's how this works. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: I'm not entirely sure that is correct. MR. BROWN: It would move along the same lines as a normal resolution. However, it is required that we have a public hearing before it is heard at the Council level. So, should the resolution move forward today, we are prepared already. Our staff did a great job of—we would have planned a public hearing for April I91h, which has to happen before it can be heard at Council. But it would have two readings; here today, then we have the public hearing. And then Council, assuming it moves forward today. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Yes, and that is the correct procedure. Yeah, that's why there's been multiple discussions on how to attack this, and that is the method that we chose. That's why we are in Committees. So, thank you for the clarification. Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to recommend adoption of Res. 363-22. Seconded by Ms. Villegas. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, the floor is yours. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Okay, so I mean, this really stems from listening to the community and watching what's happening globally as well as just right here at home. Just today, we saw our gas prices hit $5.38 a gallon. We're the highest in the State. And some of the highest taxes in the nation. Like we're fourth highest in the nation as far as taxes. And so this resolution looks to offer some relief for our residents. You know, it's pretty straight forward in that manner. I think just some background for everybody, the Hawaii Island is unique. We're huge. Every single island can fit in ours. Our residents drive farther. We spend more on gas. And a lot of our community guys work in Ka`u; women who work in Puna who drive to Kona for a job, or drive to Hilo. They're spending an extraordinary amount of money on gas and transportation. I have staff saying, "I'm having to choose between going to the store or going to work. Trying to figure out how to drop off my kids." Page 23 FC-31 April 5,2022 You can just see this is having a really hard effect on our community. And you know given our roads and what we have here on the island, we all drive, for the most part, fairly large vehicles. You know, four-wheel drive, you know, we do a lot of working, hunting, fishing. For all these things, we have trucks. So, you know, with that said, we've got high gas prices. We have a very large island, and this is a very straight forward resolution just to decrease cost at the pump for liquid fuels by 10 cents a gallon. I did discuss with Deanna,just to kind of get a feel for what this is going to do to the County and what the repercussions are. Deanna, if you would, you can come up and we'll just kind of walk through what we talked about briefly. (Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. SAKO: Yes, I can refer to that. But just because I've been corrected by the County of Maui Mayor several times. We do not have the highest gas prices. Molokai and Lanai do. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Oh, okay. MS. SAKO: Yeah, so just wanted to get that on the record. But based on the current year budget, this would be a$7.5 million decrease if we had started it at the beginning of the fiscal year. It is one of three revenue sources to the Highway Fund. Definitely, part of it goes to Capital Project Fund to do paving. If you look at individuals that fill up their tanks, let's say you have a 20-gallon tank, people would fill up between 10 and 20 gallons, so it would be a savings of $1 to $2 each time you fill up. So, but it would be roughly $7.5 million this year. I want to say $8.3 million based on next year's budget. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, and then some of the things that came up. You know, and I don't know if you found an answer to this, do we as a County pay tax? MS. SAKO: I was able to confirm that. Yes, we do pay that tax. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, so, does that apply to every single source of—any County purpose-used vehicle using gasoline, diesel? MS. SAKO: Right. That would be correct. And based on what Automotive budgeted, that would be about$55,000-$60,000 a year savings if this passed. But we do get relief, and Randy Riley knows this so much better than I do, but we do get relief for our vehicles that we never use—go on the road, as do other people. Page 24 FC-31 April 5,2022 So bulldozers at the landfill that never drive on the road, I believe we get a reduction. We apply for a rebate or refund on those fuel taxes that we paid. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, so we're looking at about a $7.5 million loss? And you know, some of the testifiers mentioned that, and it's a good point. But where could we make up those funds from? MS. SAKO: So right now, there's some Highway Fund balance, but that would only get us so far. You know, part of that fund balance got created during COVID, and you know, we weren't able to do as much as we had hoped. So that wouldn't be like a permanent solution. So going forward, we would have to cut, you know, $7.5 million out of the Highway Fund budget. Which, you know, does do the highway road maintenance, as well as traffic safety. And there is some police traffic costs in there as well right now. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, it would be using—we have some in the fund balance, but you had to cut $7.5 million? MS. SAKO: Sorry, so like for a year or so, you know, maybe fund balance could cover it. But that wouldn't be a permanent solution. I think when you and I had talked, we had talked about a temporary decrease. And you know, that is not reflected in the resolution. I know there were some challenges with that. So you know, not knowing what that would be, or you know, if we were to treat it as a permanent reduction and adjust next year's budget accordingly by $7.5 million. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. MS. SAKO: Or at$8.3 million, whatever it was set at. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, and it's a great point that you bring up, because I mean, looking at a reduction in funding and when we did talk about it, this was to be temporary. What we came to learn is like every fuel tax resolution is basically temporary in nature. Because if at any point in the future, the Council decides to change it, it can be changed. And because we don't know what's happening in the world; we don't know if prices are going to go up or down, we remove the temporary, you know, aspect of this because we just don't know what's going to happen. And in your eyes, I mean it sounded like we were going to do a, you know, take a look at this resolution as going forward may change. And this fiscal year's budget would kind of reflect there's two pieces that, I'd like to touch on both. The draft budget we have now doesn't even take into account the prices that we're going to see at the pump as a County. Page 25 FC-31 April 5,2022 MS. SAKO: That's correct. That war started after the prices changed, subsequent to us submitting the March 1st budget. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, so we're going to see an increase in our gas allowances for different departments. MS. SAKO: Correct. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, and that was an interesting aspect. And then too, sorry, when we planned out the fiscal year for 2022-2023,this decrease in the fuel tax would basically be applied to that budget. MS. SAKO: That's correct. If passed, we would apply it. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Because not knowing when we're going to change it back, although we'd like it to be temporary in nature, not knowing when it'll leave us in a place of saying, look, we just got to plan out next year according to seeing this decrease in funding. MS. SAKO: Correct. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And just kind of giving everyone a background on where the discussion was with Administration and myself in getting this to this level right now. I think for the Council, I mean, it's just our residents are looking for relief. You know, it's that simple. And because of our geography; because of the way we're built. I mean places like Hamakua, Ka`u, Puna for driving in and out of town to work for jobs; going over Saddle, it's just a hardship on our community. This is a very small thing. Ten gallons of gas would be a dollar at the pump. What you do with those saving over the course of a year for people who are on set incomes or just, you know, are already facing a difficult time, this can mean a lot to them. And on the backend, I'd say if it's $7.5 million, and we can put a price tag on that, that's $7.5 million that stays in our communities' pockets. That doesn't mean it's just going to stay there. It's going to end up being spent in other places. And so, I feel this is a good move. I'd like to see my Council Members' discussion, going forward and see however it plays out. But,thank you for the discussion so far. Thank you Deanna. Thanks for helping us get to this point and for going back and forth. At least having an open discussion about it. I yield, Chair. Page 26 FC-31 April 5,2022 MS. SAKO: Just one comment based on what you said. Yeah, I get what you're saying about staying in the community. But much of this is derived from tourism as well. So, it's not just the residents of our island paying it, but also visitors. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, okay. Thank you. Chair, I yield. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Any discussion? Council Member Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you. I'm always ready to jump in and talk about this stuff. It talks about dollars. So, intriguing conversation and like you said, this opens the conversation. And I can argue this in my head several different ways. I fully appreciate what you're saying. And so I went back to look at what that is a percentage of as far as at $5.50 a gallon. Then I went back and looked at what the history of fuel tax was; then I went back to the beginning of fuel tax. Yeah, well, got to go back—and have to know where we came from so we know where we're headed. And fuel tax started back in the early 30's by the Federal Government and was one-cent taxed coming out of the depression to help fund road repair, because things were so bad. And people say, well one-cent, but that's when gasoline was like 18-cents a gallon. So that was a huge amount. And you can go through that, you can look it up just as I did. We're in an interesting time right now, because Matt, as you pointed out, we're Big Island, and we drive a lot. And statistically, I think we have the highest number or one of the highest numbers of four-wheel drive big vehicles. Mainly for the most part, because many of them are used as four-wheel drive. Now, on the other side of the conversation, this fuel tax, this elevation was put in and voted in when I was in office. I voted against it. But now, come fast-forward and we're looking at a recovery for our County roads. And we have Director here, but I think we have about 1,000 miles of County roads that we have to maintain. We also have an opportunity, and it's keeping it described as a funding once in a lifetime coming out of D.C. That is going to help us fund things. But there's a match that we have to meet. And so, this is the push-me, pull-you in my head that we save some money upfront. And right now 10 cents on $5.50 is about 1.8 percent. But that 1.8 percent over time is a lot of money, I'm not going to argue that. Every time I fill up my four-wheel drive, I think about the cost that we're doing. Page 27 FC-31 April 5,2022 So again, this is a conversation starter. And though we may save some money up front, my concern is we're going to miss out on the backend of millions of dollars of support because we don't have the County match, and that's what I'm worried about. And I think we should talk about it. We should talk about it upfront, because if we don't maintain these roads, it may save a little bit of money now, but again 80 percent is coming from outside this State; outside the County. And is that an opportunity lost? And at this point, even though I did not support this going forward, it's a different time right now, and I want to fix these roads. Because if we miss this opportunity, I fear we're not going to see that for a long time, and I don't know how we're going to fix the roads. And this is not just our County roads because our State roads are pretty bust up too. So, I want to hear the conversation too, Matt. Because like I said, I'm looking at this and I appreciate what we need to do for the people. But we also need to fix the roads for those same people. Another thing we haven't talked about at all is with this advent of more and more electric vehicles that aren't paying any road tax. That still hasn't been sorted out. Like the State needs to sort that out because we're not seeing the impact of that as of yet. So I'm going to leave that where it is right now, and I appreciate the conversation coming forward. Chair, I yield. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Richards. Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. I like the way Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder couched this. It's a savings that stays here. But what I heard Deanna say is, "Some of that savings actually comes from offshore." And then I began to think about, we're saving a few dollars at the pump, but if our roads are bad, it's going to cost more to fix our shocks and struts. And I'm having a challenge with the offset. Are we really saving money or putting money providing the relief, I think, was how it was framed. Are we really truly providing the relief, or is this just a feel- good shot in the arm? I actually wanted to hear from the Director, because I know how many miles of road in my district are in poor shape. I've got one mile of road that still needs to be fixed down in Keaukaha, but we're not going to talk about that right now. So Director, we know you have the Mandli System of all the miles of road, and we had a kind of discussion around good, fair, poor. How many road miles are in poor condition across the island? (Note: At this time, Public Works Director Ikaika Rodenhurst came forward to address the members of the Committee.) Page 28 FC-31 April 5,2022 MR. RODENHURST: Aloha and mahalo for that question, Council Member Lee Loy. And mahalo for having me here, Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and Vice Chair Kimball. Ikaika Rodenhurst, Director of Public Works. I don't have the exact number. I know we covered it recently, and I can get you that number as far as what the number, of poor roads as rated by the Mandli System, is there. It's in the hundreds of road miles. It may be about 396. I'll get that confirmed specifically as soon as possible and get that out to all members of the Council. MS. LEE LOY: Road miles or lane miles, because we know that to be different also. Can we get ? MR. RODENHURST: And I will confirm the metric on that, because it does make a difference between road miles, which is your center line miles on the road versus your lane miles, where you can have anywhere from a two to four-lane roadway. MS. LEE LOY: Do you have an average cost of paving,just cold plane? You know where I'm going with this Ikaika, is how much is it costing per mile for us to fix a road? MR. RODENHURST: So, this actually impacts a lot of our services. And to pull it back a little bit, very similar to what Council Member Richards says, you know where we're coming from. Our operations in Highways Maintenance, Traffic, Engineering; as well as some in Police for Traffic Enforcement come from the Highway Fund. In the Highway Fund, about 44 percent of it comes from the Fuel Tax Fund. So with this possible reduction of$7.5 million in our revenue budget there. For Engineering, that could impact our bridge and roadway infrastructure projects and operations, our consulting contracts for design, our County match for these Federal Fund projects where it's historically about$2 million annually where we use funds from the Highway Fund to provide that County match. In Highways Maintenance, that's our road maintenance; it's our emergency operations. It's potholes, guardrails, repaving, cold planing. Currently, the average per road mile rate is about $500,000. That includes cold plane. And also to just to asterisk that, also I guess that includes the range from two to four lanes. We do have 1,000 miles of road in various conditions and we'll get the confirmation on that. The transfer into Traffic that does fund our operations for signals, for streetlights; for signs and markings, and our emergency operations as well. And we do spend about$1.4 million annually on signals and streetlight contracts for upgrades and maintenance. Page 29 FC-31 April 5,2022 So it would significantly impact our services. We'd have to figure out where to cut from. I do know that there's about$2 million that goes into the Traffic Enforcement for HPD (Hawai`i Police Department). And we'd just have to figure out between all these services where that would come out of. It would significantly impact us. Historically, gas usage has gone down since 2017, since the implementation of this fuel tax. And we have seen a decrease in revenue in time, such as fiscal year 2021 where we had a decrease in usage. And that resulted in about$6.6 million loss in anticipated revenue. So depending on the gas usage and how much folks use at the pump, it does impact that revenue coming in. And we do have to make adjustments based off of that. MS. LEE LOY: Thanks Ikaika, for that information. You know, Mr. Richards touched on something which was, you know, us moving into more fuel-efficient cars. Do you guys have any information, Ikaika or Deanna, on that HiRUC (Hawai`i Road Usage Charge). You know, we were talking about that a couple years ago. Do we have any movement on that, Deanna? MR. RODENHURST: From DPW, we've been in contact with DOT (Department of Transportation), and given them all the information they requested of us for their studies and their use for HiRUC, but I haven't had any back from them on that. I don't know if Deanna has any more information. MS. SAKO: No I think they were doing, you know, their pilot project and gathering data to see what the impact would be, but then I haven't seen anything new. Because I think they have to amend the State law before they can do it. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you guys, both. You know, I want to hear from the rest of my colleagues. I'm just seeing a lot of impacts, Council Member Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder. I think the most frustrating thing for me right now is, we do this without the full context and scope of our budget; all the different taxes, and our real property tax. And moving these things around at a time when it might systematically shock the system. That's my biggest concern. And how we have to then this domino effect happens when we're scrambling to take from maybe Fund Balance, or you know, certain projects in Council District 6 might not end up on the CIP list. I think there has to be a bigger conversation on how we reset our taxes from a very systematic position. That's actually the conversation I'd really rather have. For right now, this is what we have to chew on. So, thank you, I yield. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. Anyone else? Council Member David. Page 30 FC-31 April 5,2022 MS. DAVID: Thank you, Chair Kimball. Thank you, Director for being here. And also, Director Sako too. I think listening to Mr. Richards, I do recall him voting "no"when this came up. And because I think it was very intense discussion at the time where we had to make a decision that was very critical in raising the GE (General Excise Tax). But what I recall is that when you weigh the position that we were in at the time, okay, our roads and infrastructure was so messed up that we had to do something. And there was no way that we could actually catch up. Every year it was trying to catch up; steal from Peter to pay Paul, and we still end up in the back or deficient in some department, right? And I know that was a very intense discussion. I don't even want to go back and listen to it. However, I know that it was something in my mind that needed to be done. It was a hard decision to make, but somebody had to do it. And I think the Council at that time weighed their options and made a decision that hurt, but I think seeing where we are today, not to mention the emergencies that come up and now we have some possibilities of even matching and getting even further ahead. You know, I'm just not comfortable in getting us back to that position, especially when it will definitely become a loss in revenue that we haven't been preparing for. And the fact that, you know, Director is actually saying right now,this will definitely hurt you folks or the department a lot. And I'm just, in recalling the history about this, I don't know if I want to go there again. So, that's my, I mean, I'd like to hear from other Council Members. But that is what I'm sensing, and the thought is great that we do whatever we can to help our communities, but we also have to balance the impacts, the unknowns, that unintended. And so, that's my difficulty. And so, I'd like to hear from the rest of my colleagues. I'm still in shock from the last episode, but anyway, I yield. Thank you. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. And thanks for putting this forward. You know, I really appreciate the nature of the conversation and for folks weighing in. I'm just concerned about the short-term relief, but also the long-term grief with passing something like this. You know, I was really curious Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, you know, beyond Fund Balance where you thought of cutting within our budget to kind of make this work overtime. And so, Chair, I don't know if you want to provide him a little bit of latitude to respond? Because for my decision making, it's not just what's going to feel good right now, but how are we going to balance things moving forward? Page 31 FC-31 April 5,2022 Because $7.5 million is a significant amount, and hearing the Director talk about all the ways in which, not just your department, but Police are going to be impacted by something like this. I was really curious how you anticipated balancing the budget—say we didn't have Fund Balance, where were the cuts going to be made so we can make this sustainable? ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, I looked at this kind of on the whole. You know, the last two or three years, we've had surplus and this year, real property taxes was off the chart. And we have fund balance left with DPW, so the idea that we don't have funds there and we cannot make this up, is I think a little confusing. The fund sources are there. Mass Transit is being handled by the GET, which we passed earlier. So in my eyes, these funds can be made up. I don't feel we're at a shortage right now. I think we're actually on the backend. Our budget increased to what, $698 million this year? We're up as far as the whole budget. I just got an email from the Japanese Chamber of Commerce asking for a reduction in property taxes because they're injurious. And so, I mean I've seen that in the community that that's how much we've had an increase in property taxes. And very much understanding that fuel tax and property tax are two different pots of money. But we can transfer between the two. And that's a correct statement, yes Deanna? ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Matt, in the interest of having a full and comprehensive dialogue, if you could respond to the immediate question? Which is where you'll imagine cuts, and then you can fill in this additional stuff later. Thanks. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, okay. So making up for the funds, we'll keep it that simple. We have Fund Balance, we have a surplus, and those two things tied together and looking at the way that we have been affected by inflation, rising costs the two go hand in hand. So it's not that I'm going to go into the budget and go detail out, line by line. The funds are available. And if this temporary in nature, then great. That was the original conversation between Deanna and myself. The relief can be given without impacting road maintenance. To an extent that is deteriorate to, you know, our infrastructure in the County. And I think, what we're getting at, is if this went more than a year, we could have problems. But this isn't meant to go that far. It's meant to give temporary relief to our residents who are just getting cracks right now. Page 32 FC-31 April 5,2022 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you for that, but what's before us is not a tax holiday. Director, did you want to chime in? MR. RODENHURST: Yeah, there's one more aspect that I wanted to bring up. And I discussed with some of the Council Members about upcoming budgets and some discussions. And specifically to paving. As you know, we typically have asphalt paving as our primary source of paving. And asphalt, one of the primary ingredients is oil. And as these oil costs go up, so will anticipated, the cost of paving for the asphalt material. So regardless of this, so long as the fuel costs keep going up, the cost of paving will inevitably go up as well. And that will impact our ability to maintain the roads as well as the bids we get back on our CIP infrastructure projects. So that already potentially impact our ability to maintain. Currently, we have a 25-road mile cycle for 1,000 miles of road. That's about a 40-year cycle. We're trying to aggressively tackle that and pave more. Get to about 28, which reduces it back to a 35-year cycle. And you know, it would be awesome if we could get it to a 50-road mile a year cycle—it gets us to a 20-year cycle. But if we already are going to see an increase cost in asphalt, that's going to reduce our ability to pave road miles. And if we take a cut,that will also impact that as well. It would compound, possibly through that scenario. So I just wanted to bring that up for discussion as well. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Director, I appreciate that. Yeah, I'm just feeling like there could be too many unintended consequences with passing a measure like this. You know, I do appreciate the creativity and thought that went into this. But, I don't think we can—Chair David was talking about the time she and Council Member Richards were on the Council where they were talking fuel tax and GET, and that was a tough conversation for the Council to be having at the time. But they had the leadership and recognition to realize that our infrastructure was in deplorable condition. And paving roads is foundational to County function. And that costs something. We want nice, smooth paved roads; we want bridges that are safe to traverse. Who's going to pay for that? And this is one of the levers that we have as County that we can be pulling. And it's one of these pots of money where it's not just residents that are having to bear the burden, but as you mentioned, Director Sako. Tourists pay into this when they visit fuel up at the pump. So, look forward to hearing what other folks here about this, but I think we might need to be putting a pin in this. Thank you, Chair, I yield. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kierkiewicz. Council Member Villegas. Page 33 FC-31 April 5,2022 MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah, thanks Matt. I've seen in the news that other municipalities have been passing legislation like this. I completely recognize the intentionality of easing the burden on our community. If I understood correctly from what was stated earlier, you're bringing this forward today, but before anything could actually be passed, it would have to go out to the community. For me, personally, I feel there's some wisdom and necessity to bring this up. I myself, when I saw the news and saw what was being done in other municipalities, felt that that was a really gracious and timely decision. You know, in my belief system, that this wouldn't be forever. It's not a long-term tax holiday. It's a stopgap to provide some relief. You know, I just about choked when it—you know, it's $6.09 a gallon at the gas station I went in Kona the other day. I hadn't been driving much before then, so it was sticker shock there. But I see wisdom in passing this forward today and then taking to the community and letting our people decide essentially whether or not this easing of this tax is something they're really looking for and are willing to continue to sacrifice some of our bumpy roads, and you know, real brutal experiences. So, I suppose that's where I stand, is I'd like to see what the people want, in recognizing that we don't necessarily that we don't necessarily want to rob Peter to pay Paul. But you know, making some adjustments here to mitigate these issues and oil costs and whatnot, which hopefully are going to balance out and come back down at which time, if I understand correctly, another resolution can be passed to adjust it back. So I don't know, I just think, I'd like to hear what the people want. And so for that reason, I am willing to support this and move it forward; to then bring it in front of the public. Totally understand what you guys are saying. It's a, you know, gut punch in passing the GE tax. My first term was a real challenging thing. Nobody wants to raise taxes. And you guys don't want to see $7.5 million removed out of your budget. But if we're looking at a short-term relief to our constituents and the people of this island, I think they should get to voice their opportunity. I also in the interim I think for myself, I'd like to do a little more research on the municipalities that have passed this. And what's it's doing and how effective it is for their people. And you know, with any long-term negative repercussions would be. But I think the intentionality of a short-term break there may be wisdom—our community may choose that. So, thank you, Matt. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Villegas. Council Member Inaba, and then we'll go to Chair David. Page 34 FC-31 April 5,2022 MR. INABA: Thank you, Deanna. In terms of the Fund Balance, how much have we been accumulating year to year? In specifically, for the Highway Fund? MS. SAKO: I was going to clarify that. Thank you. And so, for the Highway fund, typically the Fund Balance would be between anywhere from $5 to $8 million, you know, annually. And that would be put into the next year's operations, you know, carried forward. This last year, we did hit, and after some of the adjustments, I think we're just under $20 million, is the current fund balance. MR. INABA: In the Highway Fund? MS. SAKO: In the Highway Fund. MR. INABA: Okay. Director Rodenhurst, in terms of use of those funds, I'd like to hear your creative thoughts on how we could better use those funds and be more efficient in the use of those funds in the management of our roadways. MR. RODENHURST: So some of those funds do or are tied up with equipment acquisitions. We're trying to get more equipment for the roads that have been historically delayed due to supply chain issues or bids coming back higher than expected on those. And that takes up a good portion of it. Besides that it would be also to streamline our maintenance. As I said earlier, trying to pave more roads than what we currently have been able to do in the past. Like I said, get that cycle from currently a 40-year cycle down 35-year, and then subsequently to a 30-year, trying to get to that 20-year cycle. That's kind of the overall themes for us on how to use that within primarily the Highway Maintenance Fund. But also, other ways we could use some of that would be for projects. We have projects that come up. You know, Waipi`o Valley Road comes to mind as it's one of those where we could use funds for. We also have, you know, our matches for our other CIP projects. The ones that we're hoping to get with to leverage, the IIJA Funds (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) coming down as well. Anything from roads to bridges. We have a high need for our bridges, and we have a high need for roads. I know Hina Lani and Waikoloa come to mind as shovel-ready projects that we have currently with the STIP (State Transportation Improvement Program) list that we're trying to get obligated through the State. So those are some areas that we're looking at. MR. INABA: Thank you, Director Rodenhurst. Deanna, for the Police, the Police Enforcement units comes from that same Highways Fund? Page 35 FC-31 April 5,2022 MS. SAKO: The Traffic Enforcement does, yes. MR. INABA: Yeah, okay. And to what extent have we been checking in those uses and ensuring that we are, you know, making use of those funds? Because I like the intention of what this is. And I think it always comes down to how can we do what we do in the most efficient and most cost-effective manner? Because obviously, the real property tax is bringing in some dollars this year, but just because it brings in more doesn't mean things should continue to balloon out, as we have seen the budget continue to increase over the years. MS. SAKO: Right. Yes, we cannot predict the future always on the real estate market. But, Police has been getting roughly $2 million. We've increased it the last couple years. Primarily for their Traffic Enforcement Units. They go out and, you know, investigate various traffic accidents and whatnot. So this was relatively recent when we raised GET tax. It was determined by Corporation Counsel that that couldn't be used. Even though it was for transportation, it couldn't be used for Police. So we kind of off-set and it ended up Highway Fund instead. But they've been spending it down regularly based on, you know, their staffing. And they do have some staffing challenges in getting recruits. MR. INABA: Okay. I think I do perhaps want to get a better understanding of the use of these funds beyond just what is shared here today. I am concerned on the permanency of the resolution, but I think there's room for us to review what's going on here. And this resolution is making us have that conversation. So, would like to see—and for the record, no matter how we proceed today, a public hearing would be held? MR. BROWN: That's correct. MR. INABA: Okay, alright. Thank you, I yield for now. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Inaba. Chair David. MS. DAVID: Thank you, Chair Kimball. Deputy Clerk, there's only one public hearing on this matter? MR. BROWN: Yes,just one public hearing. Well, yes, that is required. MS. DAVID: Okay. And so, that if I recall correctly, you said, in anticipation, it's set for the 19''. It would be set for the 19'h if this moves out. MR. BROWN: That's correct. And we would probably MS. DAVID: That's in Kona, right? Page 36 FC-31 April 5,2022 MR. BROWN: Yes. No promises. There are Committees scheduled that day, so it'll be sometime in the afternoon after Committees. MS. DAVID: After Committees on the 19''. Okay, I think being a community advocate, I really think thatI'm curious what the public would be saying about this, whether it's, you knowI know we had testifiers today just not many of them. But you know, one was definitely in opposition to this. And I think it would be a fair thing or an equitable thing because this involves the public and the community as a whole, that the public hearing will definitely generate some kind of input whether it's positive or negative. And I think we need to utilize that process, at least for me, in making my decision today. Because I believe that right now, Council Members do have further questions. And I think between now and then, we can come up with some sort of clarity in our own minds in order for us to make some good decisions that we can live with. So I would be willing to support the public hearing on this. Only because I think it would benefit me as a whole to get a sense of what the community feels. And if we have to, I mean, we're only having the reason I asked about the public hearing, Deputy Clerk, is that,that would mean we have a public hearing in Kona. And whether it would be wise to have a public hearing on this side as well. So, just food for thought because I know we have Zoom. MR. BROWN: I would like to talk a little bit more with our County Clerk, but it is possible with the technology we have where we could provide a space on the east side where people could also participate. MS. DAVID: Oh, I see. Well, that was my concern, is that we're going to be on the Kona side. And thinking about the Hilo side too. So okay, on that note then, I think I would want to get this to the public. So, I yield at this point. Mahalo. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair David. Council Member Lee Loy, I believe you were first. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, real quick, and just a clarifying question, Mr. Clerk. We're at the Committee level. And I hear the need for community input. But up or down, however this resolution goes, we're still going to have a public hearing. It's the recommendation to the Council that we're actually voting on. MR. BROWN: That is correct. MS. LEE LOY: And so, if the measure were to fail now, we would still have the public hearing. We could get public feedback, and people could change their minds based on that input, correct? Page 37 FC-31 April 5,2022 MR. BROWN: That's correct. And then the decision will be made at the Council level after the public hearing. MS. LEE LOY: Okay, yeah, I just wanted to clarify that. I justI hear I think that's our role, is to get that feedback. The feedback I've seen already is saying, this isn't the right time. But I'm willing to take more feedback. So, I yield. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. Council Member Richards. MR. RICHARDS: This is for clarification as well. Just from comments that were made talking about a hiatus in this tax. So it sounded like there was supposed to be a sunset, but I don't see a sunset in this. So is that a procedural thing? I can understand having impact if we seeagain, it's not totally symbolic, but it does show support that we're being sensitive to this. But I don't see a sunset in here. So I'm asking the question, and I'm not sure who I ask. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: I think the introducer can respond just to that question, please? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Thank you, Mr. Richards for the question. In the beginning it was designed to be temporary, and the language was in the resolution. And Deanna and I spoke to that affect, but after discussing with the Clerk's Office and wrapped my head around the process for a fuel tax resolution, I mean the basic statement was, look,they're all temporary in nature because when another resolution comes along, they change it and it's changed. And it was an interesting thought process, but I see the logic in it. We can put a deadline on it. Part of the heartburn for this was, we don't know when things are going change. It could be in a month, could be next week; could be in eight months; it could be in 20 years. Maybe the prices never go down, but reality for to change the resolution requires another resolution. So if we pass this today and we have the public hearing and it passes at Council, we move forward with it. If we want to change it later, it's another fuel tax resolution, it goes through the same process again. As far as I understand the process. Mr. Clerk, if you could weigh in? MR. HENRICKS: If I could just clarify a little bit as to what you said, much of which I recollect. But what a recommendation was, was not to just use the word, "temporary." I don't recall there ever being a date or a period of time necessarily. We just recommended not using the word"temporary,"because that word alone, it just signifies a sentiment. But you cannot commit the Council to a future action. Page 38 FC-31 April 5,2022 I don't know if there could be a reversion date in there or not. I'm not certain. I know that's been asked of Corporation Counsel to review that, if the enabling statute, HRS (Hawai`i Revised Statute) 243-5 allows for the resolution to include an automatic, you know, reversion to any amount or through time. I know that in the past, the Council has adopted a resolution that had incremental steps that were put in place over time. But that's a different approach than what we're talking about. So I don't even to Mr. Richards' question, I don't know if that's been fully, you know, researched whether or not it can include a finite date where it would go back to what the previous amount was or different amount. I don't know yet. I also, you know, and Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder is aware of this because it's part of this process, that even after this passes, there's a period of time. Is it a month-and-a-half or two months that goes by before the Department of Taxation can implement this? So I don't know how that would factor into a reversion date too. Would it happen after that date? Or would it happen probably would have to happen after that date because they wouldn't know if the Council is going to do another resolution in between. So,there's all those kinds of tricky moving parts to that process. But you know, it may be possible to include something in this resolution that would truly create a point in time where it was—unless the Council acted before, that it would change to a different amount. I don't know at this point in time. But there are a lot of moving parts to that. There's a lot of different elements and agencies kind of involved in this process. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Henricks. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. Back to you, Council Member Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thanks Clerk. So I'm hearing that there is a possibility to evolve the language in this, and I'd be curious to see some evolution in that. And again, I don't want to lose sight of what you're trying to do here, Matt. I agree with the concept. I'm just trying to think bigger picture and I'm listening very carefully to what Ikaika's talking about; and Deanna, who's always looking at that and thinking about this funding. And when we were in D.C. we're talking about this stuff coming out. But we got to be shovel ready. We're going to be able to match. And that's my concern coming forward. And I don't want to lose sight of that one either. So, okay with that I'm going to yield. Thank you. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Richards. Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Page 39 FC-31 April 5,2022 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. And I'll keep it brief. I just want to clarify one more thing. So I heard fund balance for Highway Fund was $20 million this year? MR. RODENHURST: I have to confirm with Deanna on that one, but evidentially that's what she said. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So the accumulated fund balance for the Highway Fund is approximately $20 million. MS. SAKO: Yeah, I think just under $20 million right now. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. MS. SAKO: Most of that came up during COVID when we were restricted from doing some activities. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, okay. I think that really helped me feel comfortable with this resolution. And I know, Deanna probably doesn't love me for this at all, but I really think the residents could use this relief. I understand some of the concerns I heard today. I have heard from agriculture that they're dying when they're paying at the pump. I'm hearing from residents that they're getting cracks at the pump. We know, as a Council. We're filling up our gas tanks, that although this would be small, I think we can see the value to our community. And so, I really think this is—from what I heard today, this is a proper move to take care of our community in a way that we can, given our abilities as a County Council. So, that's all I have to say. You know,thank you for the discussion today. I appreciate it. And thank you for taking over as Chair for me, Ms. Kimball. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Any other comments? Alright, my turn then. I'll first just say right from the get-go, that I don't feel like I can support this unless it has an end date. It's got to be a holiday. And so I'm not sure if the process for that is a withdrawal and resubmit, or an opportunity for an amendment? Clerk, I'd like toI understand from Corp. Counsel that it is possible to amend this, but I'm not sure how that falls into the timeline with the public hearing. MR. BROWN: I'm not totally prepared to answer that question. I think there's things to look at because if it's amended certain ways or if it's a new reso, does that start the clock again? Or you'll need another public hearing, because now, adding in a sunset date, so to speak, does that change, you know, the spirit of the reso? Anyway, I think some more needs to be looked at before I can answer that at this point. Page 40 FC-31 April 5,2022 ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Mr. Clerk, yes, thank you. MR. HENRICKS: So the last time we went through this as a group, which has been reflected upon today, painfully, apparently. We had two public hearings, and I can't say for certain, but I believe it was because the resolution was amended after the initial public hearing. And that might have been an abundance of caution rather than a requirement; (HRS) 243 doesn't contemplate the resolution changing. So I think we probably got a legal guidance saying, hey, this is different resolution, you changed it, you know. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Right. MR. HENRICKS: But then somebody else could also argue, well that's the purpose of public hearing. Maybe they told you to change it, so you listened. I don't know. But that might be something that the Council would contemplate doing, if it changes. And again, it goes back to as well, what are the nature of the changes. You know, if we made some changes that were more structural, probably not. But if you then change and maybe create like you said, a time window where it goes away after the public hearing, then that might be wise to hold another one. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. Oh, hello, Judge Strance. MS. LEE LOY: Ms. Kimball, if I could provide a little bit of context? At the time that fuel tax was going up, Ms. David actually made an amendment, because she thought at the time it was too much, too fast,too quickly. And so, we extended some of the timing elements and that's why we ended up at a second public hearing. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Okay. Thank you. Judge Strance, I'll have you weigh in since we're having this discussion right now. (Note: At this time, Corporation Counsel Elizabeth Strance came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. STRANCE: Thank you. Elizabeth Strance, Corporation Counsel. Just a couple of thoughts, and I want to brainstorm with the Clerk a little bit. My understanding was that the action that would initiate a public hearing was consideration of a bill. And so, the resolution being passed out at Committee, it wouldn't initiate the requirement for a public hearing. So it might be possible to take no action today to allow those procedural issues to be more fully explored. Page 41 FC-31 April 5,2022 To address the timing issue, it's not uncommon for taxing bills to have effective dates on them, so that there's time to prepare. And so, that would be an option in terms of, you know, the timing piece. And then, there was some discussion about, well if it doesn't pass, well we can just present something else later. But there are rules that prohibit the same bill from being re-introduced during the same session. And so, the Council would need to think carefully about what else it would have in mind to avoid that prohibition of reintroducing the same bill. And so, I heard the comment, well sunset is a substantially different bill. And you know, that may be true, but there is that limitation that I would just caution about you know, talking about unintended consequences. That would be something you would want to avoid. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Judge Strance. I just want to repeat so we all have a clear understanding, that if we were to vote against the positive recommendation of this measure moving forward to the Council, it's my understanding from what you just said, that that would be the end of it. There would be no public hearing. However, there is the opportunity to amend or postpone action today for further consideration about whether or not we could amend the bill prior to public hearing. Am I understanding you correctly in the interpretation? MS. STRANCE: My understanding of the statute is that it requires a public hearing on the fuel tax to be considered by the County Council. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: So that would mean that if it doesn't make it out of our Committee, then it's not required to do a public hearing. MR. HENRICKS: Just to clarify, though, if a vote is taken today on the main motion, which is, favorable recommendation and there are insufficient votes for the favorable recommendation, it'll still move forward to Council, but with an unfavorable recommendation. Therefore, we would place it on the April 201h agenda. And to fulfill the requirements of(HRS) 243-5, we would hold a public hearing on the 19'h to make sure it was prior to when the Council had an opportunity to take action on it, regardless of the recommendation from this Committee. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Got it. Okay, great, thank you. And I appreciate everybody bearing with me. I just want to make sure we get this procedurally alright. But, you know, I just want to explain, I think we think about Fund Balance in a different way. I think about Fund Balance as, I buy everything on Page 42 FC-31 April 5,2022 my credit card, because I like to get Hawaiian Miles. But I always make sure I have enough in my bank account to cover those expenses. And that's kind of how I think of Fund Balance, is that we are projecting out our budget for the future year. That fund balance is there to cover to make sure we're going to be able to meet those expenditures. It's not like extra money. It's not like extra money that's lying around. It's forecast for the next set. I spent a wonderful weekend driving around my beautiful district down to Waipi`o, Laupahoehoe Point; feel blessed to represent such a wonderful community. Horrified at the status of the roads and public infrastructure. I feel like I opened the key to a rental facility, and like nobody ever changed the filter in the refrigerator. The grease traps are now on fire and the dishwasher just exploded. I mean, that's the situation, because deferred frickin maintenance. We have not spent money on maintenance on our infrastructure. Even though we're bringing in more property taxes this year, we're still behind. And I know it's not just my district, but I've got two gyms closed; another having to be torn down; two bridges on Old Mamalahoa down. We have Waipi`o Valley Road. That's going to be $8 million bottom, probably closer to $10-$12 million. Got Laupahoehoe Road. I just cannot see for a length of time, not collecting this revenue. As Council Member Richards says, it's 1.8 percent of your payment that you make at the pump. Manini, I know it's going to stay in pockets. But it is coming from our visitors as well as residents. It's huge; huge for what we can spend as far as matching funds. So you know, I'm willing to do it for a couple months, maybe, because I know there is uncertainty. But I also think there are better places to do this. The fuel tax, flat across the board, everybody. But why don't we use another mechanism that's actually progressive and actually benefits the lower income folks in our community? Thinking about property tax rates, benefits, times that we go ahead and provide credits. That's a better way to much morea much more targeted way to save that revenue. So, I'm going to leave it to you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, if you want to move forward with this today;postpone it; withdraw it and come back with something with an end date. But just for me today, I can't support something that doesn't have an end date. So with that, I'll leave it to you if you want to make any decisions, or we'll go ahead with the vote. Alright. Mr. Clerk, I'm going to request a roll call on this one. Thank you. Page 43 FC-31 April 5,2022 Vote on Res. 363-22: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 363-22 Failed failed by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Committee Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, and Villegas —3. Noes: Committee Members David, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Richards, and Acting Chair Kimball—5. Absent: Committee Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. (Note: Mr. Inaba voted kanalua then "aye.") ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: The motion moves forward with an unfavorable recommendation to the Council. MR. BROWN: And with that, we will be looking to plan a public hearing on the 19'h after Committees. And it's moving forward on the 20''. It'll be heard at Council. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. (Items in this category were taken up previously, out of order.) ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 4:16 p.m., Ms. Lee Loy moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Acting Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Page 44 FC-31 April 5,2022 ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, we are adjourned of the Finance Committee. Approved: 6/1,/ Mr. Matt Kaneali`i- leinfel.-r, Chair (Date) Finance Committ:- MK/dt Page 45