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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN COUNCIL 2022-06-02 2020-2022 Special Hawaii County Council 42nd Session Special Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii June 2, 2022 INVOCATION: Kahu Charlie Kama of Hale Pule Ke Ola Hou gave the morning's invocation. CALL TO The special meeting of the Hawaii County Council was called to order at ORDER: 9:15 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Vice Chair(came in later) Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member (came in later) Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member (via videoconference from Kona) PLEDGE OF (There was no Pledge of Allegiance.) ALLEGIANCE: STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by the Chair: Garth Yamanaka: Res. 423-22 (Comm. 820), comment Jody Mercier: Bill 126, Draft 2 (Comm. 645.40), comment CHR. DAVID: I will be closing public testimony at this time. Clerk Henricks, can we just move at the top of the agenda, please? ORDER OF The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Res. 423-22: DETERMINES THE REAL PROPERTY TAX RATES FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2022, TO JUNE 30, 2023 Lowers real property tax rates for properties classified in residential tier two, affordable rental housing, commercial, industrial, agricultural or native forests, and homeowner. Reference: Comm. 820 Intr. by: Mr. Inaba Waived: FC Public Hearing: May 31, 2022 Motion to Approve: Mr. Inaba moved to adopt Res. 423-22. Seconded by Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Inaba. MR. INABA: Yeah, good morning colleagues. Just put this forward. I'm totally open to discussion and I know we've gotten a lot of emails regarding our property tax rates. This is just what I've put forward, which gives benefit to those who live at a property and it's their primary residence; I didn't make any adjustments to the normal Residential rate. But I do have a spreadsheet pulled up and I know later on there is an amendment to the budget that pulls from Real Property Tax. So I'll have some suggestions as well if we want to amend the rates to cover those additions. But yeah,just wanted to put something forward for us to discuss and we can work together now, if we have any thoughts on the rates. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Inaba, for actually just creating the vehicle so that we can start to have this conversation. Understand exactly what you did and yes, the protection is for homeowners is necessary. I fall back within the Homeowner's category, and the Affordable Rental category. They have the three percent cap. So while we did hear from Finance Director Sako about all the various increases across all the Real Property Tax classes, and if I remember correctly Residential saw 20 percent increase but they have the shield of the three percent, so they really didn't feel it like all the other categories. So for me I think adjusting it where we could provide equity and balance throughout all the other categories, which felt bigger increases that did not have the cap. I would love to kind of have a conversation around those classes, and where this body would like to see. We also have as guardrails a proposal, although it wasn't done like Mr. Inaba's resolution, where the Administration saw those various rates and has programed the budget,based on their proposed rates. Page 2 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 And I think that just provides us, you know,just this area of where we can have a conversation. And so I would like to see us, you know,just putting it out there. I would like to see us look at tinkering with some of the other rates to provide relief to our commercial areas, and apartments. I think, I've also heard that was another area. And I just remember for my time on the Council that Apartment was one that was kind of an anomaly out there. We didn't know how to really handle that one. And this is an opportunity to assess that, and address that. So those are my thoughts, looking for feedback from my other colleagues. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. And we have our annual conversation about how this is all contorted and mixed up. How are we going to deal with the different proposed tax rates, I don't think we have to have that answer right now. But again, Mr. Inaba has put one forth, there'll be a resolution coming up very shortly also introducing, that discusses tax rates, so I'm not sure how you want to handle this going forward because we're going to have a whole bunch of proposals. So I'm very mindful of what Ms. Lee Loy said concerning our commercial side of our real property. As we all know the resort and hotel industry stepped up to the plate and they supported our people and kept them on health care. So we have to mindful as we go forward with that. I realize this is opening the conversation, and we have to muddle through it. So at this point, I'm going to yield. Thank you, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else? Kona, if you have a comment please just shout out, Ms. Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Will do. CHR. DAVID: Okay. Anyone else? Seeing none, Mr. Inaba, given that the Council Members are going to want to discuss this further. What is your preference on moving forward? MR. INABA: Well you know, what I put forward does keep the total budget the same, so it doesn't short us any money of what the Mayor proposed in his budget. But I mean right now we have this opportunity, so if people have suggestions perhaps we should start talking about them instead of waiting. Because the longer we wait—right now we're going to know our budget and finalize that today. So we've had a lot of time, so if you have suggestions I would say let's get to it. CHR. DAVID: Alright. Thank you, I appreciate that. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. Page 3 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Deanna, if you could. Do we have Director Miura in Kona or in Hilo today? MS. VILLEGAS: We don't have anybody in chambers here. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. (Note: At this time Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. SAKO: I think Lisa can jump on the Zoom; I believe she's monitoring from her office. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I would expect today. I just want to follow- up. Mr. Inaba stated this is a balanced proposal in relation to what the Mayor proposed. Is that correct? MS. SAKO: That's correct, yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, that's all I needed to hear. Thank you. MS. SAKO: Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Anyone else? Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I was just going to suggest, because it sounds like Council Member Richards has something similar that he's proposing. Perhaps that Council Member Inaba will be open to laying this on the table, so that we can take a look at all proposed adjustments and then be able to vote from there. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else before I go Ms. Kimball, go ahead. MS. KIMBALL: I just wanted to share in our last HSAC (Hawai`i State Association of Counties) executive committee meeting, we did discuss the property taxes across all of the Counties. Kauai County considered increasing the tax rate on hotels and resorts and using that increase for affordable housing but that did not pass. City and County of Honolulu, did not adjust their tax rates at all. Maui County provided some relief to homeowners and long-term affordable rentals, but then increased they have the tiered on the second homes, so they increased the rate on that. Page 4 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 So just wanted to provide that, and also make the recommendation. And maybe I'll put this together in a communication, and briefly looking at the relative rates at the other counties between hotel/resort, commercial and residential. And then also just finally wanted to add that we do have other options to provide some relief to homeowners such as making modifications to the exemptions, and some other related cap items. So just wanted to keep the discussion holistic, I think around all of the tools we have in our tool belt to address some of the relief concerns that we've all expressed. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Anyone else? Mr. Inaba, you can go ahead. MR. INABA: Yes, open to Council Member Kierkiewicz' suggestion,just wondering Mr. Richards when do you anticipate is that today or another day? MR. RICHARDS: Chair? CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: It's in the queue,just waiting on LRB (Legislative Research Branch). Hopefully it'll be within the hour. MR. INABA: Okay. Fine to table the item, I mean if we want to see what's being proposed as well. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Since Mr. Inaba is open to that, why don't we table that and then go on to the CIP (Capital Improvements Program) get that done. Then we come back to that,just a suggestion, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. How does the Council Members feel about we tabling this matter, and then moving to the CIP bills? Any objections to that? No. Okay, then Mr. Inaba, you want to make your motion? Vote on Motion Mr. Inaba moved to table Res. 423-22. Seconded by to Table: Mr. Richards and carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Page 5 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Alright. Going to the, you said CII', yeah? Go ahead, I'm sorry. Change Order As directed by the Chair and with no objection from the Council Members, of Business: the following item was taken out of order. Bill 127: RELATES TO PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR (Draft 3) THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2022, TO JUNE 30, 2023 Draft 3 of the proposed Capital Budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, includes 96 projects requiring a total appropriation of$445,044,000. Reference: Comm. 663.9 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R) Public Hearing: May 17, 2022 First Reading: May 19, 2022 (Note: Communications 663.17, 663.18, 663.19, 663.20, 663.21, and 663.22, transmitting proposed amendments to Bill 127, Draft 3, were circulated.) Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 127, Draft 3, on second and final reading. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Mr. Clerk, do you want to just go down the line then? MR. HENRICKS: Unless there's any initial discussion. CHR. DAVID: Probably not. MR. HENRICKS: Alright very good. Comm. 663.10: From Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, dated May 23, 2022, transmitting (Memo No. 1) a proposed amendment to reappropriate the Environmental Management Department's Pahoa Sewer Feasibility Study project in the amount of$300,000. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.10. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Just want to mahalo nui DEM (Department of Environmental Management) for working to administer the $2.5 million we received from the EDA (Economic Development Administration) to advance a regional feasibility study for wastewater. They were in the process of moving forward on a Pahoa specific wastewater feasibility study, but time lapsed, fiscal year is here. And so want to make sure that we are reserving these funds, so that when they are able to contract with the consultant this money is available. So looking for everyone's support on this. Thank you, Chair. Page 6 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, thank you, Chair. And thanks, Ms. Kierkiewicz. This is part of the bigger picture for Environmental Management and we're trying to get to a place where we will have that master plan. And I use the Mass Transit template meaning having the master plan to look at our County as a whole rather than just the individual. We have west side, some of the funding that came out for Puak6. Again, we're using a portion of that planning money to look and create these plans, and so we're going to try and dovetail and put them together, so we end up with the big number at the end that we know we have to work towards. So appreciate that Ms. Kierkiewicz, this is the right direction for the County as a whole. I will definitely support. Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Question for the maker, this is for the contract for the company that's going to do the study? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair, if I may? CHR. DAVID: Yes, you can. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes, that's correct. And I think when you and I met with Environmental Management there were two contracts they were pursuing. One for the larger regional sort of assessment, of where wastewater treatment facilities would be appropriate. And then a second one, that focuses on Pahoa exclusively. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, because we did a select AECOM already, correct? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Right, for the regional one, but this is Pahoa specific and no one's been selected yet. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you for clarifying. Appreciate it. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Sure. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.10,please say "aye." Page 7 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 663.10, was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Comm. 663.11: From Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, dated May 23, 2022, transmitting (Memo No. 2) a proposed amendment to reappropriate the Public Works Department's Puna Community Development Plan Road Projects in the amount of$400,000. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.11. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. This is just a reappropriation of something that was going to be lapsing. This would actually support CDP (Community Development Plan) road projects in Districts 3, 4, and 5. So just wanted to make sure I was getting this done for my colleagues and L Thank you, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 127, Draft 3, with contents of Comm. 663.11 pleas say "aye." Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 663.11, was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Comm. 663.12: From Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, dated May 23, 2022, transmitting (Memo No. 3) a proposed amendment to reappropriate the Public Works Department's Puna Connectivity Emergency Access Routes project in the amount of$11 million. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.12. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. Page 8 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. I think Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, and I have been—we've experienced carmageddon several times where there have been accidents and other issues within the Puna district because of the lack of emergency routes and connectivity. And so this money is really to ensure that we are investing into these routes because the population of Puna is growing. And so just also want to call attention to the fact that in 2020 this body had approved like $130 million bond, to be supporting various transportation projects. So really hoping that we can be moving forward with Public Works, this fiscal year to really leverage those funds and make these emergency routes a reality. And I think it's really possible because also the State Legislature has approved additional studies for various alternative routes in the Puna community. And so now it's just a matter of layering all those funds together and making these roads happen. So looking for everyone's support on this. Thank you, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, I think Ms. Kierkiewicz and I have been through it, and then we're also on the same page on this one. This is much needed and tying back into that bond like you stated, that Aaron was able to bring forward that we've passed. Very, very, appropriate and it falls back to a meeting when Ilagan and Kanuha did their connectivity working group. And yet through the Administrations, you know, I really have not seen a lot of progress on this. So this funding is very enabling for the department if they choose to pursue this, and I would state for the record that connectivity is absolutely important for our subdivisions in Puna and for Puna as a whole, but also does not seem to be a priority, from what I can see. So I'm hoping by doing this, we see some movement on behalf of the Administration. So thank you for putting this forward, I'll be supporting this. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz, for putting this forward. You know, they have a saying, if it was easy it would have been done by now. And that's actually what this reappropriation is. You know, these are lapsed funds, and we have to reappropriate them because there's so many other complex things that have to come together. But I also believe as you stated there's a number of things that are coming together, and this one's right. I really believe that within the next three to five years, some of this will actually become actionable. And I'm really looking forward to helping push that through, for that community. Really appreciate you bringing this one forward. Chair, I yield. Page 9 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.12 please say "aye." Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 663.12, was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Comm. 663.13: From Council Member Herbert M. "Tim"Richards, III, dated May 23, 2022, (Memo No. 4) transmitting a proposed amendment to reappropriate the Parks and Recreation Department's Waimea Trails and Greenways project in the amount of$6 million. Motion to Amend: Mr. Richards moved to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.13. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: First of all, Clerk, thank you so much for getting us all on the same page. And then secondly on that this is a reappropriation and Waimea Trails and Greenways, this has been a project that's been ongoing for some time now, actually 20 years or so. Had a meeting this last week with Mayor in Waimea discussing the trail, and it's an alternative connectivity for along the stream that runs through town with a trail that would be assessable to bikes, walking, and horses, because everything in Waimea has to have horses connected to it. And it's gained a tremendous amount of traction. Great support from Parker Ranch, who's the adjoining landowner. And this is something that Mr. Clem Lam who has been the spearhead of this going back to I think the early 2000s, if not the late 1990s, to get this going forward. And so we've broken a lot of the inertia, things are now moving. Community meetings, input, there's some concerns; of course there are. But this is also another way to have connectivity in Waimea Town, that's off the road. Look forward to the support from my colleagues and moving this project forward. Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.13, please say "aye." Page 10 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 663.13, was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Comm. 663.14: From Council Member Herbert M. "Tim"Richards, III, dated May 23, 2022, (Memo No. 5) transmitting a proposed amendment to add the Parks and Recreation Department's Spencer Kalani Schutte District Park—Dog Park project in the amount of $500,000. Motion to Amend: Mr. Richards moved to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.14. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: You'll see there's two other sister amendments that have to do with dog parks. And it's in the greater District 9 area. I went for $500,000, which is substantially more than we're probably going to need. But I didn't want to undercut this. With the shift of what we're seeing in our community lot more dogs, and lot less area for them to run around, the concept coming forth of having a place that we can let them run free. Interesting on this one, I was also contacted by Parker Ranch because they're very interested in this and perhaps helping the County going forward seeing if we can work something out that works with the community, works for the community, while also works with the ranch. Of course, from a ranching standpoint of course we don't want dogs running free unless they're in a contained area, so it makes sense for everybody. And with the shifts going on with pets becoming even more important to households, I think this all folds in. So I ask for my colleagues support. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Communication 663.14,please say "aye." Page 11 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 663.14, was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Comm. 663.15: From Council Member Herbert M. "Tim"Richards, III, dated May 23, 2022, (Memo No. 6) transmitting a proposed amendment to add the Parks and Recreation Department's Kamakoa Nui Park—Dog Park project in the amount of$500,000. Motion to Amend: Mr. Richards moved to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.15. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you. This is a follow through on a Kamakoa Nui Dog Park that was initiated by previous Ms. Margaret Wille concerning developing a dog park in that area. And something Council Women Lee Loy always says, "We're going to swing for the fence"; and technically we are trying to swing for the fence on this one. To that end though we could potentially use some of the sponsor legislation that we had in the past, and maybe these dog parks could be named after something or a company that's willing to help fund these things. So again, looking to get this on the radar, and moving it forward so we can get it for our community. I ask for my colleagues' support. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.15, please say "aye." Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 663.15, was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Page 12 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Comm. 663.16: From Council Member Herbert M. "Tim"Richards, III, dated May 23, 2022, (Memo No. 7) transmitting a proposed amendment to add the Parks and Recreation Department's Kamehameha Park—Dog Park project in the amount of$500,000. Motion to Amend: Mr. Richards moved to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.16. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you. This is the final of the triplet amendments, and again it's one for each of the major areas in my district Waimea, Waikoloa, and Kohala. And again, setting up the community for going forward to have an area for us to deal with our pets. So again, asking for my colleagues support. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Ms. Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: I just want to say, mahalo Council Member Richards, for putting these forth. I'm actually hoping to observe your process, I've had several request for a similar accommodation at the Honoka`a sports complex. So I do hope I can expect your help learning the process, and advocating for that in the future. Mahalo. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. MR. RICHARDS: Chair, response? CHR. DAVID: Go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Again, first step let's get it on the CIP, and then figure out how we can start taking it forward. The Kamakoa Nui had a little bit of funding, but not enough to really get things going. We have some ongoing changes in the Waikoloa area, Kamakoa Nui development. So trying to break that inertia, and let's talk story, see how we can help out more communities. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.16, please say "aye." Page 13 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 663.16, was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Comm. 663.17: From Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, dated May 31, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 8) proposed amendment to reappropriate the Parks and Recreation Department's Hawaiian Paradise Park District Park project in the amount of$2,000,000. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.17. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I just want to mahalo nui my colleagues for their continued support of one of the measures before the Council related to environmental assessment for the Hawaiian Paradise Park District Park. What this amendment would do was create space in the event of once the EA (Environmental Assessment) is done and we know what's feasible, we'll be able to move forward with construction. So $2 million is not going to cut it, the master plan says what the community envisions is going to cost around $50 million. But at least we're holding space for being able to at least start building this park once the EA is completed. So looking for everyone's support on this. Thank you, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Seeing no other comments, all those in favor of amending Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.17, please say "aye." Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 663.17, was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Page 14 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Comm. 663.18: From Council Member Heather L. Kimball, dated June 1, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 9) proposed amendment to add the Hawaii Fire Department's Fire Hydrant in `Ahualoa project in the amount of$30,000. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kimball moved to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.18. Seconded by Mr. Richards. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. This is a relatively small ask, and there was a really excellent testimony submitted from the `Ahualoa Community Association. We've already identified the location, and Department of Water Supply will be able to do this in-house. So just asking for my colleagues' support for this important protection for an underserved area. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Anyone else? MS. VILLEGAS: Yes,please. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Sure. I'm just looking for a little bit of clarification. Council Member Kimball, I wondered why for just a$30,000 ask, it would go on the CIP budget, verses looking to a budget amendment or a different appropriation. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Rebecca. This was the recommendation of the Finance Director. It's a little tricky because of our fiscal relationship with DWS (Department of Water Supply) and so it's an appropriation in CIP. But the funding will ultimately will be appropriated out to DWS, to do the work. MS. VILLEGAS: Got you. I hope that it would be appropriated and funded as soon as possible, because it sounds like it is very necessary for the health and safety. Thank you for clarifying why it lands here. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.18, please say "aye." Page 15 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 663.18, was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Comm. 663.19: From Council Member Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, dated June 1, 2022, (Memo No. 10) transmitting a proposed amendment to reappropriate the Department of Public Works' Puna Emergency Access Road Improvements (Hawaiian Acres)project in the amount of$1,100,000. Motion to Amend: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.19. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Along the same lines as Ms. Kierkiewicz' earlier amendment, this has to do with something similar. But I do believe in keeping more options and funding availability on the table. So specific to the Hawaiian Acres Community, one of my larger ones, which already has an emergency access road: Road 8. I think this incredibly important, so looking for everyone's support. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? Seeing none, all in favor of amending Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.19, please say "aye." Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 663.19 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Page 16 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Comm. 663.20: From Council Member Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, dated June 1, 2022, (Memo No. 11) transmitting a proposed amendment to add the Department of Public Works' Ola`a Road Improvements project in the amount of$2,500,000. Motion to Amend: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.20. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: This road in particular was requested by the community, it serves a little community itself, but also connects into Orchidland. On the top portion, right below J. Hara Store. And it's access of the State Road, many times on the way home I've seen almost accidents. It's really a public safety issue that's happening at this intersection of a County road and State highway, but the road itself with how many people it serves is barely a lane wide like many of our roads. So looking for everyone's support here on this, to help get this addressed. This also ties into being a connectivity route, but it actually wasn't in the Puna emergency access routes or a connectivity route itself, this specific road in question. So therefore this particular amendment. So I look for everyone's support, thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.20, please say "aye." Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 663.20, was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Comm. 663.21: From Council Member Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, dated June 2, 2022, (Memo No. 12) transmitting a proposed amendment to add the Department of Department of Parks and Recreation's Kikala-Keokea Community Facility project in the amount of $300,000. CHR. DAVID: Okay. Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Page 17 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Motion to Amend: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.21. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mahalo, Chair. This is for the study for this park, or this community facility, you know, kind of an all in one facility. It does serve District's 4 and 5. And what's interesting about this is actually post 80's 90's eruption in Kalapana when a number of communities and folks were displaced, this park was actually supposed to happen, and it hasn't. So we're going on almost three decades now of not happening. And I really just wanted to put this in and get this started. It had a previous environmental assessment but because of the time lapse between now and then, it's not even relevant anymore. But this is so important to the community, specifically to Aunty Tootsie from Kalapana who spoke to me about this. I wanted to make sure this got in, and that we just get that study moving for this project. And this would be really great for the community. And all of the places in that lower Kalapana, this actually has County water pipe to it still along the coastline. That's very unique in this area. So with that, look for everyone's support. I appreciate it, thank you, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? Seeing none, all in favor of amending Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.21, please say "aye." Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 663.21, was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. MR. HENRICKS: From my understanding is that we have an additional, at least one that I'm aware of that is being processed at this point. CHR. DAVID: Okay. Can we just take a short recess, it's going to be a long day so I'm going to take a 10 minute recess, okay? We'll be reconvening about 10:10 a.m. Thank you, we're in recess. Recess: At 10:00 a.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 10:10 a.m. Page 18 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Thank you everyone, I'm taking this Special meeting of the County Council out of recess. We're ready to go, Mr. Clerk. Comm. 663.22: From Council Member Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, dated June 2, 2022, (Memo No. 13) transmitting a proposed amendment to change the federal funding amount in the Department of Department of Public Works' Federal Emergency Management Agency Kilauea Lava Recovery project from $37,000,000 to $45,000,000. Motion to Amend: Ms. Lee Loy moved to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.22. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. This actually is, I think Ms. Kierkiewicz can actually speak to this one a little bit more. This came actually from the Administration, related to the FEMA funds that's needed for the Kilauea Lava Recovery Program. Asking for everyone's support. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 663.22, please say "aye." Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 127, Draft 3, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 663.22, was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: I believe that's last of our memo's on a MR. HENRICKS: As far as I'm aware. So just to recap Bill 127, Draft 3, has been amended with 13 times Communication numbers 663.10 through Communication 663.22. And that is the motion on the floor is to approve that on second and final reading with those additional amendments to Draft 3. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. That's my understanding as well. On the discussion, go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, thank you. Thank you for this discussion. For the rest of my colleagues, you know, completely supporting all these amendments. But I just wanted to take a minute to highlight so many of them are being Page 19 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 reappropriated. You know, I look forward to this next kind of fiscal year to start really hammering in and making priorities. So many of these CIP projects. I also want to kind of take a deeper dive as to sometimes these projects go well beyond the three-year appropriation, and how we can kind of create tools to really bring more certainty to the community as to when we appropriate monies to projects; that they will be completed within either a three-year window or a five-year window. And I just wanted to take that time to highlight that for the rest of my colleagues. I mean this is the fifth time going on the sixth time I'm doing the budget. And it really begins to pop out after a while, how many times we have to reappropriate funds. Chair, thank you for that latitude. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, I think I'll springboard on that. For the pubic, the Capital Improvement is not a funded budget, and I think we need to be mindful of that. However, it does set it in the que for going forward. And with the potential financing coming out of the feds, it all lines things up. And as Ms. Lee Loy pointed out we reappropriate because it is important. We just haven't been able to get the funding there. But also thinking about what she has said with the potential of that federal funding, but also if we can partnership up and then maybe put some names on some of these parks. Because a lot of stuff is all infrastructure: a lot of parks, roads, things like that. This is also queuing up. So hopefully we can take advantage of that. So look forward to working with this Council and get some of this stuff completed. Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Ms. Kimball, and then Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. I actually had a question for Council Member Lee Loy and Council Member Kierkiewicz, who had initiated discussions about maybe refining the process a little, doing some needs assessment. And obviously we can't—stay within the CIP, but I still think it's appropriate to converse about that. I just ask if we could get a brief update on that from either of you, with the Chair's leeway. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Who would like to respond? MS. LEE LOY: I'll start. CHR. DAVID: Okay. MS. LEE LOY: So thank you for that. As you know this body adopted a resolution, to push on that needs assessment. And Council Member Kierkiewicz and I have met with members of the Department of Public Works, Planning, other agencies, other departments, to really take a look at how we kind of collectively Page 20 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 look at this big bucket of wishes and how to address that. I think right now, first of all, it is complex and large. And so we had to come up with that needs assessment: good, fair, poor. So where we're landing right now, is coming up with just that bigger understanding of what's good, what's fair, and what's poor. And then identifying those within the poor or fair bucket that we could improve, that creates a lot more either continuity or ability for other partnerships to come in. So like for example, and I shared this a number of times. If we identify a particular road, and that road is in a fair or poor condition is that road also a transit line with Mass Transit, and how can we take GE(General Excise) money, fuel tax money, and maybe even some mass transit grants to improve that particular roadway, which would then help the community, help mass transit, and then be able to expand where other community partners, other projects in the area, could then spring board off of. So that was just one example. In our CIP bucket, we have a number of those and how do we prioritize that? And so that's where we're trying to land on right now, is that how do we prioritize what should go first. Another example and we heard during our budget cycle, was with Civil Defense. Civil Defense has a number of County facilities that they use during emergencies. So how do we identify a park gym that needs hardening that serves as a Civil Defense center. So those are the things we are tossing around right now. It was a lot of work; I don't think anybody's really tackled it with that kind of multi- pronged approach. Hopefully within the next few months we can start to advance that, and we can really start to adjust the way we start looking at CIP projects in our CIP bucket. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Ms. Kierkiewicz, follow-up please. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Kimball, for that question. These Zooms have had like 30 to 50 people, a lot of different departments have been showing up including Finance. And there's just been a lot of sense making, because there's so much information that lives in various different programs. And having to evaluate all that and figure out what systems do we want to invest in. Because every single department should not have its own sort of software that rates the various assets and infrastructure, but we have to have something that speaks across all the different agencies. And beyond that a way to set the priorities, so that it's not just falling into this fair and poor condition that we're catching things before they deteriorate into poor. Because we got presentations from Public Works, Wastewater, the whole island is covered in red. I mean there is so much need for existing infrastructure,just to maintain what we have. Now layer on top of that the need to invest in new facilities and infrastructure, to meet the needs of our growing population. Page 21 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 So a lot of sense making, gathering data, and a lot of hard work and coordination by Planning. Because what we're trying to do here is take the politics of setting the priorities, right? We have a General Plan that says this is the vision that we have for our islands, the CDPs (Community Development Plans) are what the communities have for their particular neighborhoods, how are we going to set our budget and CIP list to bring these plans to life? And so more sense making is going to be happening over the next few months. And hopefully by fall the Planning Department is going to be able to come forward and say, "This is how we are hopefully going to be evaluating and putting together the next CIP budget for next budget cycle." Really tried to make it happen this year, but just way too many things in motion. But we really appreciate just everyone's support in wanting to pull this together. I don't know Director Sako, if you wanted to share a little bit more about our collaboration. (Note: At this time. Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. SAKO: I actually just wanted to draw attention to the very, very, very last page of the CIP budget where Planning did try to make an effort to notate which projects may be had a little bit more priority on bond funded. Some of them are included, and some funding issues are the bond issue we did do. But this, you know, is like a first step effort, and like you said come fall for the next process it will be much better. But just that they did make an effort and try to take into account everything that's been discussed in all of those meetings. Thank you. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thanks, Director. Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Ms. Kimball, you still have the floor. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. And thank you to both of my colleagues, for continuing to work on this. I think it's super important, and I look forward to seeing the final product when comes before us. Thank you, Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to check to make sure everyone's CIP amendments, were in and we're not missing anything. You know, Mr. Henricks said we're all good, but just to make sure that everyone is all good before we jump off this. Okay, good. Thank you, I yield Chair. Page 22 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Thank you. And I think we can move forward, Mr. Clerk, let's do a roll call vote on amending the motion tooh, Mr. Inaba? Okay, hang on a second. Can we take a roll call vote on amending the amendments to Bill 127, Draft 3? MR. HENRICKS: The motion on the floor actually is to pass Bill 127, Draft 3 as amended with Communications 663.10 through 663.22 on second and final reading. So you're on the main motion to pass this on to the Mayor. CHR. DAVID: We're ready? MR. HENRICKS: Okay. Vote on Bill 127: The motion to pass Bill 127, as amended to Draft 4, on Draft 4 second and final reading was carried by the following (Adopted) roll call vote: Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung - 1. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Alright now we can move back to Order of the Day, Bill 126. Return to Order The Chair directed the Council to return to the order of business. of Business: Bill 126: ESTABLISHES AN OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII (Draft 2) FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2022, TO JUNE 30, 2023 Draft 2 includes estimated revenues and appropriations of$779,678,040. Reference: Comm. 645.40 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R) Public Hearing: May 17, 2022 First Reading: May 19, 2022 and Page 23 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Comm. 645.42: From Council Chair Maile Medeiros David, dated May 25, 2022, transmitting (Memo No. 1) proposed amendments to the General Fund by increasing the Real Property Taxes revenue account by $524,507, and increasing the Transfer to Solid Waste Fund expenditure account by the same amount; and amends the Solid Waste Fund by increasing the Transfer from General Fund revenue account by $524,507, and increasing the following expenditure accounts: Landfills Salaries and Wages by $262,784, Landfills Other Current Expenses by $67,184, Landfills Equipment by $45,000, Health Benefits by $66,368, Retirement Benefits by $63,068, and FICA Employer Share by $20,103. (Note: Communications 645.43 through 645.69, transmitting proposed amendments to Bill 126, Draft 2, were circulated.) Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 126, Draft 2, on second and final reading. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. CHR. DAVID: Any discussion, seeing none. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: No discussion, Chair. Move on to communications. CHR. DAVID: Okay. Motion to Amend: Mr. Inaba moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.42. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: If it's okay with my colleagues, I will start the discussion on my proposed amendment. This is being brought forward in discussions with Director Sako and with Environmental Management Director. And I believe Mr. Mansour is on Zoom. (Note: At this time, Environmental Management Director Ramzi Mansour and Deputy Director Brenda Iokepa-Moses came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. IOKEPA-MOSES: He should be, Ramzi? MR. MANSOUR: I'm here. CHR. DAVID: There he is. Thank you very much. Just to give you folks a recap. In speaking with Deanna, and this is a possibility that I was looking to solve a big issue in the Ka`u district regarding landfills. The transfer station at Wai`6hinu has been down for several years,prior Administration, for repairs due to that major earthquake that we had. These repairs I am being assured by Page 24 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Director and Deputy that they're working really hard to get that repairs done by the end of this year, which I'm really thankful for your folks making this happen and hopefully it does. In the meantime the people of Ka`u mainly Hawaiian Ocean View Estates, N5'51ehu, and Mala, at this point have been working with a three day a week schedule on transfer stations in Pahala and in Ocean View. Lots of requests that is not adequate for a rural area as huge and large as Ka`u, with three days a week transfer stations being opened. The result of that has been several years of trash being dumped on private property alongside the roads, and in addition to that we had to close the Miloli`i transfer station because of some environmental mandates. So now the entire district of Ka`u, is left with two transfer stations that are not opened seven days a week. Whereas Wai`ohinu, has always been open for seven days. This amendment, I believe if we have the revenues that will be generated should we not entertain the proposed tax reductions that we have before us, I believe Director Sako has said there will be probably about$7 point some-odd million in revenues. And this is where I would like this funding to be paid for. This would mean Wai`ohinu would go back to seven days a week, and that would serve the community very well. It's a need that I think it's a health issue, and has been for several years already. And we've been trying to deal with the trash that's been left not only in Ka`u but everywhere, because the closures. So in this situation I really think that in lieu of lowering our tax rates, I think revenues that would be generated by keeping the tax rates the same, we can actually do things for all of our communities by giving them services that is much needed and has been asked for several years. I've been working, and thank you Director Mansour, in order for Wai`ohinu to go back to seven days a week, they would need four more staff people and equipment in order to make that happen. So the total amount of$524,000 would actually make that happen for Ka`u, and mind you there was only two areas on this whole island that are open seven days a week, transfer stations, that's one in Kona and one in Hilo. And so all of our retired kupuna and the residents in Ocean View that have increased much like Pahoa, they deserve at least a transfer station that's open seven days a week. So that is my proposal, and look forward to discussion from my colleagues. Director, could you explain the situation with Ka`u transfer stations really quickly, and why thisI appreciate your support on this. MR. MANSOUR: Yeah, definitely. The Ka`u district as everybody knows is a three-day operation in different transfer stations. It's the only district that does not have seven days' operation. And I think the department supports the seven Page 25 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 days' operation for that district, because every other district do have the seven days' operation. We had community meeting with the Ocean View as well,just the last two weeks and definitely having the Wai`6hinu transfer station under construction, Miloli`i transfer station closure, which allow more of that waste being directed to that location at the Ocean View. If the Ocean View is closed, then they have to drive to the Wai`6hinu location. So definitely the idea was to also allow to provide recycling bins for that Ocean View site as well. And if you don't mind, Council Member, that if we also to include that additional recycling bins with the Wai`6hinu, we're looking at 555.055-dollar figure which is $555,055. A little bit over that$524,000, but that will also allow us to provide services to the Ocean View people just for that additional recycling bins. Because currently they don't have any that they can dispose of their cardboards, white goods, and definitely needs to have that service we could provide as well. I'm here to answer any questions, but definitely in support of that additional service. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Director. Deputy Director, Brenda Iokepa-Moses is here in the room if you'd like to say anything additional. MS. IOKEPA-MOSES: Yes, I mean of course ditto what Ramzi said, we had a very good meeting in Ocean View. The community spoke loudly about having like infrastructure in rural districts, although we understand. And I think we need to communicate a very gentle way to the community that you buy properties at the value that are much lower than Kona and Hilo, because you're without the infrastructure. So we definitely want to help Ocean View even though they were that scenario by expanding the goods that they have at their current site. Wai`6hinu we've spent so much money on construction, although it's been operating all these years it's been under construction for many, many years. So Ramzi's been really excellent about really being involved in the contract negotiation. He's been actually project managing most of our contracts to get them moving. So he's been an excellent resource for the department to really light some fires to get some of these things done. And if they don't get things done, have punitive damages. So that helps, right? So we are progressively pursuing, trying to close,not have these career projects that Sue mentioned. Like really have the contractors produce, unless it's out of their reach, and put a period so we can move on to the next problem because we have a bunch of them. So yeah, it was a very successful in-person meeting with Ocean View, we're going to have more of those. It makes such a big difference then having them on Zoom to actually see—of course we've mentioned a bunch of other things besides the transfer station, but that was a hot topic. Page 26 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Right. And I think in this day and age, I think when our communities can see something that's happening, I think it kind of gives them hope that yeah, their tax dollars are going for something that's really needed. MS. IOKEPA-MOSES: And I think one other thing that, you know, in Ocean View it's hard to construct, cost of construction, and expansion in Ocean View transfer station because it's in rock makes a big difference. In Wai`ohinu which is dirt, and we can really do much more for that, so another reason it's in the middle of the district, and hopefully that will help a lot of the residents have a way to go when they go to Hilo that they'll always have some place to go in Wai`ohinu. CHR. DAVID: Exactly. And then Director Mansour, can you give me that number again? MR. MANSOUR: It's $555,055. CHR. DAVID: Alright, at this point I'm going to yield to my colleagues for further discussion or questions. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. Completely support this amendment. I think when we boil down the charge of the County as outlined by the Charter, it's managing our waste, taking care of our roads, public health and safety. So this is in direct alignment to our duty and responsibility as Council Members, is to take care of our rubbish, and keeping our transfer stations open is prime. My concern with this amendment, and Deanna you might need to help me with this. This is based on taking funds from our RPT (Real Property Tax), based on no adjustments of the rates. (Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. SAKO: Yes, it increases Real Property Taxes. So either no adjustment or possibly thinking our estimate may be a little off on collectables. You know, as we talked about previously, there's a lot more that goes into it, versus just the assessed values times the rates. You know, there's min taxes, second half-year homeowner exemptions, there's our collectables, so we could be a little bit off on one of those also. MS. LEE LOY: Completely understand. I mean these are just complex ways of collecting money. And so this is kind of playing with that cushion, it's not Fund Balance cushion, this is that Real Property Tax. Our best guess and estimates is what you've programed into our May budget, but we also know that it's up and down, there's more complexities and more refining and fine tuning that happens especially after we finish that appeals process, correct? Page 27 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. SAKO: After we finish the appeals process, and then usually after the first half collections then we have a better idea of where we'll be for the year. And so let's say it looks strong and we look good, then we wouldn't come back to amend the budget. If we have kind of a weak collection period in August and we look at the revenues, then we may have to come in and amend the budget and find another revenue source. But that's accounted for in our Charter per process. MS. LEE LOY: Perfect, perfect. And so we have enough, right, with this. The $524,000 for this one, because we actually have a couple others. MS. SAKO: Yes, because I also heard Director Mansour say $550,055, and I'm not sure where that extra part was going, but yes. Either one of those we should be okay. MS. LEE LOY: And then just looking ahead, because we have actually other amendments that do the exact same thing, and I know you're great with numbers. When this is all said and done and this body chooses to amend it with the various, we have enough. MS. SAKO: It looks like it, I have a running sheet in the back where I'm trying to track all of these amendments. I think we're up to memo 16 now, yes. MS. LEE LOY: And that still allows us a little bit of wiggle to adjust the rate, so that some of our MS. SAKO: Right, based on whatever discussions you have on the rates. As long as it comes out kind of close to what we have now, like we had talked earlier that Council Member Inaba's projections are very similar to the total revenue, then that would be the same. MS. LEE LOY: Perfect. And they would see some relief in their August bill, adjusting the rates kind of staying within those same numbers between the Mayor's proposed and Mr. Inaba's. And if we're staying within there, and when we do this, we still can do it all. MS. SAKO: Yes. MS. LEE LOY: Yes? MS. SAKO: Yes. Sorry I think that didn't pick up, but yes, MS. LEE LOY: Okay. Yeah, looking for the rest of my colleagues. I just always go back to basics, and managing our waste really is our fundamental charge. And so I can support this,just from that basic standpoint of what we're supposed to be doing as a County. Thank you, Chair, I yield. Page 28 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Ms. David, thank you for bringing this forward. I'll be supporting this today as well. What's important, I really believe is you stated when the facilities aren't open the community dumps their garbage wherever it needs to go, instead of the back of their vehicle. If we don't provide these services regardless of where they live, it ends up in the community, in private subdivisions, or in front of the landfill gates. And so you're addressing a bigger problem through this kind of small amendment. So I appreciate you bringing this forward, I'll be supporting this today. And this really applies anywhere across this island, especially our rural districts that don't have access to our larger transfer stations. So thank you for bringing this forward. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali'i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Kimball, go ahead. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, thank you. I just had a follow-up question for Director Sako. Where Council Member Lee Loy was, and in your presentation of this bill you mentioned if we did not adjust rates at all around roughly $8 million. Can I ask what happens if we do that. Does that mean you folks go back and try to balance it again with the extra, or how is that going to impact the process? MS. SAKO: So couple different things can happen. If the rates aren't adjusted there's $8 million additional, it's okay to have more revenue than expenditures the budget can pass that way. Or on some of these upcoming amendments instead of fund balance from previous years, you could adjust Real property tax revenue either way. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. That's all I had. MS. SAKO: One thing to keep in mind though when we're playing with the rates, is the 75 percent of the second tier going to homelessness. And as a reminder the Administration put 75 percent of the second tier based on the rates submitted by the Administration. So if that changes, like Council Member Inaba's proposal, we would have to increase homelessness a little bit if the rates don't change at all we would have to increase it a little bit more. MS. KIMBALL: Great, thank you. Thank you for keeping track of all this as well, appreciate it. Thank you, I yield, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Anyone else? Seeing none, Clerk, do we just move along with each one, or we table and wait till everything is read in and discussed? Move along forward, right? Okay. So at this point then no further discussion on amending Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Communication 645.42. Mr. Clerk, roll call. Page 29 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 645.42, was carried by the following roll call vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, everyone. Moving forward then with the next item. Comm. 645.43: From Council Member Heather Kimball, dated May 27, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 2) proposed amendment to increase the Hawaii Island Tourism Destination Management Plan revenue account by $175,000, and increase the Hawaii Island Tourism Destination Management Plan, Miscellaneous Contract Services expense account by the same amount. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kimball moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the Contents of Comm. 645.43. Seconded by Mr. Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. This is an amendment by request from the Research and Development Department. Hopefully, Ms. Cevallos from R&D (Department of Research and Development) is on Zoom. (Note: At this time Tourism Specialist Frecia Cevallos came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. CEVALLOS: Yes, I'm here. MS. KIMBALL: Alright, great, thank you. Do you want to introduce the purpose of this, both revenue stream and expenditure? Thank you. MS. CEVALLOS: Sure. Aloha Council Members, my name is Frecia Cevallos, Tourism Specialist in the Department of Research and Development. As you may be aware the R&D is partnering with the Island of Hawaii Visitors Bureau, and the Hawaii Tourism Authority to implement the Hawaii Island Destination Management Action Plan as well as the Hawaii Island Tourism Strategic Plan. There's a heavy focus on protecting and preserving our heavily visited areas, many of which are wahi pana, and culturally and historically significant sites. And so the intentions of these two programs which are called the Resilience Core as well as the Community Tourism Collaborative programs, is to begin to develop Page 30 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 an island-wide interpretive program starting in key areas that are experiencing issues with visitation by both residence and as well as visitors from off island. So what we want to do is accept tourism funds from Hawaii Tourism Authority, to use it as a vehicle to explore economic diversification as well as supporting stewardship activities at the key areas. These areas are Keaukaha, and we're also partnering with the Kilauea Recovery Team to support the efforts that are going on at Pohoiki. And so the amount is $175,000 from HTA (Hawai`i Tourism Authority)to pay stewards, community-based security, to pay community-based docents as well support culture-based education programs in lifting up their work, as well as working with the Revitalize Pohoiki efforts with the recovery team. And for Keaukaha, to support the work that's being done by those community organizations to address their concerns about how areas like Wai`uli Richardsons and Leleiwi are visited especially on cruise ship days. Outcomes of these programs will be researched, documented, and develop the foundation for planning of how these areas are managed: stewardship plans, training and culture-based education; as well as an interpretive products which includes signage, wayfinding, as well as tour curriculum; as well as marketing and PR (Public Relations) in partnership with the Island of Hawaii Visitor's Bureau. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Frecia. So just again for my colleagues, you know, the whole concept around the Destination Management Plan is actually not to make places destinations, but actually manage places that are already are destinations. For example, I have one of my districts which I'm trying desperately to come up with some solutions for. So very excited to see how these pilot projects, might inform some of the management at our other highly visited areas. So would appreciate your support for this budget amendment, thank you. Chair, I yield. And our Chair is otherwise distracted. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. CHR. DAVID: You're welcome. Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Mahalo nui. Thank you, Council Member Kimball, for putting this forward in collaboration with R&D. I'm going to be supporting it, you know, for so often we always talk about community driven, government supported, and this is one way in which we are able to demonstrate that. Really excited that we are able to finally invest in community ideas and empower them with resources, training, technical assistance, to bring their ideas to life. But they're also the most appropriate folks, because they have those ties to the area to be managing these spaces. Page 31 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 So excited about the investment and really appreciate that the documentation is going to be happening, because this is just the start, this is seed money that I'm hopefully thinking that we can get money from the Legislature for next session. But we have to demonstrate successes, and this is our way of doing that. So really excited. And Frecia as you know if you need support from any of us in supporting our communities and their ability to execute, please do let us know. Thank you so much for all of your hard work, on this initiative over the years. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Ms. Kimball, for advancing this. Really excited about it also. And Frecia, as she mentioned the work that's being done in Keaukaha. And this is just a perfect timing with the return we were able to measure the impacts to our costal resources down in Keaukaha during the pandemic. And now with a lot of this tourism returning, Keaukaha is feeling it. Because we have the cruise ships coming in, we still don't have ocean access—or welcomed ocean access from Puna after Puna's lava. All of that has really bowled out the ocean resources in Keaukaha. And so I'm just really excited, and as Ms. Kierkiewicz perfectly couched, you know, these are community-driven initiatives. I have people in Keaukaha counting visitors how many are coming off the cruise ship, how many are on tour buses, where they're going, what they're bringing, how long they're staying. I'm just really excited, that community is really driving on this one. So thank you for advancing this on behalf of the Administration; and thank you, Frecia, for all your work for the communities that feel these impacts. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. And this is exactly what we've been talking about for the last couple of years, as far as managing tourism coming back. And it's no secret, I've been one of the most critical of losing our TAT (Transient Accommodations Tax). However, since this is being funded by the Tourism Authority maybe we're getting a little bit of that back coming back to our County to help mitigate and truly manage the tourism. You know what Ms. Lee Loy said about Keaukaha, I'm seeing this in Pololu Valley and the Na Ala Hele Trail. That initiative is working really well for Pololu right now. It's not perfect yet. But just that whole process and the educational process going forward. And we're kind of walking to how we're seeing this, so I see this all kind of dovetailing together. So definitely going to support. Thank you, Chair. I yield. Page 32 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else? Alright seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Communication 645.43 please say "aye." Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 645.43, was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Comm. 645.44: From Council Member Maile David, dated May 31, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 3) proposed amendment to increase the Real Property Tax revenue account by $1,375,474 and increase the following expense accounts by the same amount: Department of Public Works General Services Other Current Expenses by $509,600; and Department of Parks and Recreation Other Current Expenses by $652,480, Ho`olulu Complex Other Current Expenses by $106,697, and Elderly Activities Division Other Current Expenses by $106,697. Motion to Amend: Ms. Lee Loy moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.44. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. CHR. DAVID: I'd like to call Ms. Sako up, as this proposed amendment was done gladly at the request of the department. And she will be able to explain what the need of this amendment. Thank you, Director. (Note: At this time Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. SAKO: Thank you for the opportunity, and thank you for submitting the amendment on our behalf. You know, recently there has been an increase in incidents, and our building, West Hawaii Civic Center, Aupuni Center, we don't need to go into the details, but you know, our staff has been put at risk, and so we really need to increase the security. It happens both daytime and nighttime. Even some of the customers coming in can be very belligerent, even to our staff in our various offices. So we've been trying to put this off as long as possible, but I think there's just been too many incidents recently. Part of it is also for Parks and Recreation, you know, we have the four vehicles that were burned at Kamana. You know, we continue to have various issues with homelessness with some of the parks. And so it also includes security at several Page 33 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 of the parks facilities, and P&R(Department of Parks and Recreation) was kind enough to provide us with these numbers. So it is detailed out for (Comm.) 645.44, but if you have questions, I'm happy to answer those. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Sako. And glad to do this, bring this forward. Mr. Kaneali'i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Guess I'm torn. I know we need the enhanced security, but what's bothering me is that we even have to deal with this, it's really unfortunate. But I think we're also speaking to different things right now, we have homelessness, and we have mental service's needs. So I would like this to be—once it gets in, I think this probably end up next year and the following years. MS. SAKO: Probably. We have like the multiple different ways, especially at some of our facilities doing drive-bys. But you know, the price of fuel is high right now MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: What kind of drive-bys? MS. SAKO: So our fuel tanks keep getting, you know, sorry. But they try to keep stealing fuels from the tanks, cutting fuel lines, siphoning and different things. And so we hope we would get to a point where we could reduce it by doing more like a drive-by thing. But right now we cannot continue to let our employee's lives be put at risk, it's basically what it comes down to. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I agree. I guess what I'm getting at is, I'd like this to be a Band-Aid in a way. MS. SAKO: Right. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And then work on getting to a place where instead of hiring security, we're working to actually address the problem. And get upstream of the problem, which would be mental services, incorporating MS. SAKO: Which I think a lot of that homeless money probably is going to be used for actually. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, I agree. That's just what I wanted to say, you know, I think this is very needed. I'll be supporting this today, but looking down the line I want to make sure we're making more effective solutions with the funding that get to the root of the problem. MS. SAKO: Got it. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Deanna. Page 34 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Kimball, go ahead. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. I will be supporting this, and I do share your concerns Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. I think we do ultimately want to get up in front of this, and rather than paying for security and enforcement and all of these sort of responsive measures, we can get ahead of it. I hope you're right Director Sako that some of houselessness funding will be used for those wrap-around services and upfront. I just—to share with my colleagues the importance of this, I was called by some of the folks down at Bayfront once, when a gal got punched in the face by some random person. And then another time when there was a gentleman hanging out in the girl's bathroom, stalking some of the young girl paddlers right after the kid's paddling practice. You know, I don't know obviously the full scenario, we've got some folks camping out down there, building fires. I think we do need this at least as a temporary measure, until we can address some of these broader issues. So I encourage everyone else to put their support behind this as well. Thank you, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I'll be supporting this. I had actually been working on a budget amendment to specifically deal with security here at Aupuni Center. I'm sure a lot of you folks talked to Mark Carvalho, Dustin Gomes, Billy, Martin, our night crew. And they shared with me over 80 percent of their time is dealing with guests here at Aupuni Center, and all the gifts that they leave. And they have also shared that these folks have gotten increasingly aggressive overtime. Some of our staff have even been on the receiving end of some of these punches. And so their safety is in jeopardy, they do an incredibly great job and work really, really, hard to make sure our facilities are taken care of. So this is absolutely needed. And to Mr. Kaneali`i-KI einfelder's point about this can't be the only piece. We have to make sure that we are addressing the issues that these folks are facing. There's something I'm going to offer up later that I hope is going to be the start of supporting folks that are at risk, vulnerable, and really needing some help. So I'll be supporting this measure. Thank you, Chair, for bringing this forward. Director, do you want to add something,you have your light on? MS. SAKO: No. I was just going to say, yeah, I appreciate all the things you said. You said it much more eloquently than I did. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Not at all. Thank you, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. Page 35 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. LEE LOY: Thank you so much. And like the rest of my colleagues, you know, Ms. Kimball and Ms. Kierkiewicz, completely support this for all those reasons that have been articulated. I think myself and maybe even Ms. Kierkiewicz, and Ms. Sako, we're here late at night. And thank God for Mark and the crew here, they'll just keep an eye out on us just to walk to the car. And I have left here many a night to hear arguing from downstairs, from the State building, and had to call myself to have police come by and check the area. And so just for our employees' safety here at Aupuni Center absolutely support. And just to springboard off of Ms. Kimball's sharing of what's happening down at Bayfront, the story about a girl getting punched in her face, I mean literally because that individual wanted her cell phone and just really could not control themselves. And then the kids in the bathroom. I just know Ms. Kimball and I also had advanced some of our own contingency money, so that the Administration is putting this amount of money to address it, I can wholeheartedly support. So thank you so much, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Richards, your light is on. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. Security, yeah, it's too bad we have to, but we have to, so we're going to do that. I'm sure you would expect this conversation from me Chair, but from the fiscal standpoint looking at the amendments it's about$1.8 million if I look correctly. So round number, I'm a round number guy, so about$2 million. What do we have in a fund balance, how much of this can we afford based upon the current proposal on the Mayor's budget and the current tax rates? MS. SAKO: So I think both of these amendments going though Real Property Tax is okay because either collections will be stronger than we anticipated, because we do estimate on a collectable amount, or if the collections are not strong enough there would be sufficient money and Fund Balance to cover them. MR. RICHARDS: Okay. So we don't need to worry too much about that, right now. MS. SAKO: Yeah. We don't need to worry right now. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, because Chair though I fully support the intent to this again being fiscally minded going forward, I want to be sure we're getting the best bang for the buck. So I appreciate that. I fully realize that a lot of these are estimates right now coming forth, but I just want to make sure we're in the right ball park. So I will be supporting this, because of the things are articulated with pictures of our trucks that were burned. I mean just talk about piss you off, you know, trying to make things better. So Chair, I support this going forward, thanks I yield. Page 36 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Mr. Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you. Director Sako, for these amendments that are increasing the Real Property Tax revenue, does that require more than my resolution, and what the Mayor has proposed? MS. SAKO: You know, there's different thoughts going through, and if the Mayor's proposal or your proposal passed, I think we would still be okay. And we would check the August collections if they're sufficient, then we probably wouldn't amend the budget. But if it does look like August collections are weak, we would come back in and propose a new revenue source. It's spelled out in the Charter that we would have to come in and propose an amendment to the Council. MR. INABA: Okay, so before we continue with these discussions though, would it be more responsible right now to just make sure that we put rates for that cover these amendments? And I hope that we don't have any more that get introduced after this that keep pulling from this. MS. SAKO: These are the only two I noticed coming from Real Property Tax, so it probably would be helpful if those rates could cover these. But if there's another rate proposal that the Council settles on, the Charter does provide a way to cover this in the future. MR. INABA: Okay, yeah. Because there is one more that just popped up on our desk. MS. SAKO: Okay, sorry. MR. INABA: Okay, no,just want to make sure that we are planning correctly with rates. MS. SAKO: Yeah. And I just wanted to clarify that it is island-wide. I know we talked about some of the Hilo examples, but there's Kona Parks and West Hawaii Civic Center included in here as well. MR. INABA: Okay, thank you. Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Ms. Lee Loy. Oh I'm sorry, was that you, Ms. Villegas? MS. VILLEGAS: It's me. CHR. DAVID: Okay, go ahead. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. Thank you, Deanna, for pointing out the inclusion of the West Hawaii facilities in this amendment. I want to put a big thank you Page 37 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 out to Maurice Messina. In the last term he's done a number of different pilot projects at our different Parks and Rec facilities here on the west side at Old Airport and Hale Halawai and they have proved affective. And so I'm really grateful for this amendment and the focusing of, you know, nobody wants to have security at a park. But in our evening times and with the unfortunate rapid increase in some of the unhoused issues, I'm really grateful to see this happening. And I'm very hopeful that it will help mitigate some of the damages, and the way the people have been negatively affected. You know, we had an issue. I know Chair David and I were approached by a staff member here at the Civic Center about feeling unsafe and harassed by some people here. So I want to thank the Administration. Thank you, Deanna, for bringing forth this amendment and allocating resources to help keep the people that serve and keep our facilities safe and healthy to help keep them and all of us safe and healthy. So with that, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah. You know, like Mr. Inaba, that's where I'm at. I'm still back to,just like the earlier amendment by Ms. David. And at some point, I think I'm going to ask my colleagues if we could kind of stop making these amendments and really start looking at what our rates are so we can really begin to access how much money has been programed, and how much money are we moving around. Because by my math all the amendments that are going into Real Property Tax, is bumping up to $2.5 million, and we still haven't settled on the rates. With that being said though, I'm going to be supporting this right now because I think it's needed. But going forward Chair, if we could maybe start moving onto the rates so we can have that discussion. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. So the suggestion right now is that we table this, I mean we vote on this and then we take up Mr. Inaba's resolution. Okay, alright then. Oh, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I'm just going to make a quick statement. I've been watching as a County official, and for my time before that, there is this tendency on behalf of some of our residents to just really abuse facilities because they're County. And I just want to remind everybody, it's County facilities and we have a great staff, but it's also everyone's kuleana to take care of those facilities. To take care of our County. I think it's important for people to remember, it gets lost. Someone going take care the problem, that's us. I want people to remember that. Thank you for letting me share that, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. And I believe that's all the discussion. And I just wanted to make an important note that caught my Page 38 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 attention on this one, is that the vehicles that were damaged was for our kupuna, and that is even worse than what Mr. Richards referred to as being so bad. So that's all I'm going to say. All those in favor of amending Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Communication 645.44, please say "aye." Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 645.44, was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Mr. Inaba, want to? MR. INABA: Well I think we table because Mr. Richards has a reso., so if we want to take that up, we can do that. CHR. DAVID: Okay, for now we haven't gotten it. MR. INABA: Okay, so let's not talk about the property rates. Let's move on to the next budget amendment. CHR. DAVID: Okay, alright. Then we'll move on to the next budget amendment. Go ahead, Mr. Clerk, on the next one. Comm. 645.45: From Council Member Susan L. K. Lee Loy, dated May 31, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 4) proposed amendment to increase Fund Balance from Previous Year revenue account by $935,000, and by increasing the following Department of Parks and Recreation expense accounts: Parks Maintenance Other Current Expenses, Building and Construction Materials (Building/Plumbing/Electrical Supplies) by $850,000; Park Maintenance Other Current Expenses Materials & Supply (Safety Equipment and Apparel) by $10,000; and Culture and Education Other Current Expenses, Miscellaneous Contract Services by $75,000 to a new line item titled OTHER, to cover miscellaneous community events. Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.45. Seconded by Mr. Richards. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. This is actually being done in concert with the Administration. I was approached by the Administration to help fill out more funds related to park maintenance, along with our cultural and arts program. You Page 39 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 know, as we begin to re-open our community, cultural and arts have a number of signature events across the island. And so this is in hopes to help them with that planning. One thing I do appreciate about those large community programs like our Cherry Blossom Festival, and other signature programs that the County puts on. They're often fund raisers within fund raisers. So a lot of our sports clubs like baseball, volleyball, soccer, who normally do fund raising throughout the year were unable to do it because of COVID. They're allowed to go and secure booths within these community groups, and then kind of raise funds for their programs. So I actually saw this as a kind of multiplier effect, you know, we put a little bit more into these signature events. We get not only the bonus of community, but we also have, you know, somewhat of a circular economy for our clubs and organizations within these community events. Asking for everyone's support. Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Anyone else on this proposed amendment? Ms. Kimball, go ahead. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah. I actually just texted Director Messina, to see if he could come over just to tell us a little more about the maintenance materials and what's included with that. I don't know he has not replied. Oh, yes, he just replied that he's here. Do you mind tabling this until we have a chance to hear from him? MS. LEE LOY: Chair, motion to table Communication 645.45. MR. HENRICKS: I don't think we can table an amendment, you table a main motion. If it's not too long, maybe a brief recess to allow people to just kind of stretch their legs would be in order. CHR. DAVID: Yes. I think so. MS. KIMBALL: Unless I'm the only one that wants to hear from him. MS. VILLEGAS: I agree, Heather. I have the same question. CHR. DAVID: No, we need a break. We're going to be in recess till 11:20 a.m. MR. HENRICKS: Thank you, Madam Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Recess: At 11:10 a.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting was reconvened at 11:20 a.m. Page 40 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Aloha everyone. I'm taking this Special Council Meeting out of recess. And right now I believe we will resume with Ms. Kimball. Go ahead. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. I'd like to ask Director Messina to join us. Director Messina, I hope you're watching. I'm sure you recently heard that we just passed the budget amendment for the park security, but we're on a second amendment now that provides an additional $850,000 for building, plumbing, electrical and maintenance of electrical supplies, and then some additional funding for cultural and ed., miscellaneous contract services, and safety and equipment apparel. So could you just go through what you're looking for, with this additional revenue for your department? (Note: At this time, Parks and Recreation Director Maurice Messina came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. MESSINA: Thank you. Maurice Messina, Director of Parks and Recreation. So starting off with I believe the $75,000 into the Culture and Education, we're seeing the high-rise cost of everything. Right now, even if we just look at our 4h of July fireworks, I believe it's $10,000-$15,000 more that it was last year. There was an idea that as we're coming out of this pandemic that we would like to do more with that division. You know, we have the Cherry Blossom Festival. We would like to do that bigger and better than we have before because these folks have missed out on revenue for about two or three years out of that. So we want to add some more resources to them and help them with that. We also want to get more activities going in our rural communities, which has been lacking. It's always either been Hilo, Kona, or Waimea. We want to go Kohala, we want to go Pahoa, we want to go Na`alehu, in more of these cultural festivities. So that's our thought on that, is to—with a little bit more money we'll be able to expand our operations and expend our services. With the 229 account in our Parks Maintenance, the $800,000-plus, this is our number one need in our maintenance department. Right now we are planning on spending about$42,000 to start fencing off, for instance, Alai Cemetery, where we have a humongous feral pig problem. Right now we only have enough money to do the front. But we also have like some agricultural theft problems out there at Alai as well. A bunch are stealing the agricultural products, the bananas what have you; whatever's in season, and they're taking them to Alai to wash them and throw away the bad produce. So we met with the Police Department down there, some community policing officers and we found out that was an issue so that's one of the things we're trying to solve. We're fencing off, replacing the fencing that Na`alehu Tennis Courts, which it's in a terrible location, it's at the end of the baseball field. So we're trying to get safety on that. We're upgrading all of our lighting systems, the LED lights. Every time there's vandalism at any of our facilities, all the repair comes out of Page 41 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 those, out of that specific budget item. Right now we're seeing more vandalism than we ever have. We're having to replace full toilets, and when you replace that toilet, you also have to replace all the plumbing and everything that comes along with that. That is our number one budget item need in our Parks Maintenance budget. Three hundred facilities, and we're nowhere near where what we need in that budget line item to take care of those facilities. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you again for popping over. I'll just yield to my colleagues now if you have any other direct questions for the Director. Thank you. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Council Members, any other questions for Director Messina? Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Sorry, Mo, if I missed it. I was thinking about the things at Alai Cemetery. Do you have a budget number for fencing? And I assume it's going to be chain link, because this is hogs, did we put electric on that? What are you doing? MR. MESSINA: So we're starting off, the front is going to be chain link mostly for aesthetics. But if we're talking Alai Cemetery, if you're facing the cemetery, on the right-hand side, I think it's Kamehameha School has a portion of the fence there. We have to replace all the way up to about 90 to 100 feet of fencing to match up to that. Then on the left-hand side of the cemetery, it's all gulch. So we're—right now all we can afford to do is chain link on the front, because hog wire on the front of the cemetery is just not going to look good. And we're, after the budget passes, we'll be able to next year afford to hog wire the rest of the facility. I can't afford to put chain link around that whole thing. MR. RICHARDS: No. MR. MESSINA: I also have the chain link Clem Akina Park. Right now we can't even have outside Summer Fun there because of what the pigs have done. There's a lot of other areas. But fencing is our number one issue right now, and we don't know of another way to keep the feral animals out. MR. RICHARDS: Alright, well you don't have a MR. MESSINA: That is that budget item. That is that line item where all of our fencing comes out of. MR. RICHARDS: Okay. We'll catch up more and talk about this offline. Okay thanks. I yield. Page 42 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MR. MESSINA: Okay. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you for being here today, Director. What I've seen used in other places is low-electric fences versus a hog wire fence five or six feet high, whatever that might be. But have we looked at doing—I mean I've seen ones as simple as it's three strands of electric fencing that stand about three feet off the ground. And that's enough to out the pigs because they can't go over it, they're not good jumpers. But it's electric pulses. Is that okay to do at a County facility, or no? MR. MESSINA: I understand what you're saying, but we have elderly folks out there. We have kids running around during like Memorial Day, Veterans Day, all those. We have a bunch of people running around. I'm not comfortable with putting an electric fence in one of our County parks. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Sorry, this is for the cemetery or for the parks? MR. MESSINA: Well we have pig problems everywhere, but even at the cemetery, for instance when we bring in the goats to take care of an area for vegetation control, we keep them in with an electrical fence, but we make it mandatory that there is a shepherd out there 100 percent of the time so that nobody can accidentally touch these fences. I don't know how we would regulate. To me, it's not a good idea to put an electric fence in our park or any park facilities. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I can see the logic in that, but I figured I'd ask. MR. MESSINA: And we do—we have pig traps out there. They've been stolen. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, those are a commodity. MR. MESSINA: And then you know, we saw some other ideas. You know, the Mayor brought to me an idea the other day, something called a pig brig which seems promising as well. So I've got our fiscal guys working into purchasing that. It's a fence that they can get in that they can check in, but they can't check out. But then even when we have them in there, how do we get rid of them, right? I mean, we don't necessarily want to euthanize them. So it's a big problem. So for us maybe the best idea right now is to just try to keep them out through fencing. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: We've got to get those kalua containers going. Thank you, Director. Page 43 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MR. MESSINA: Welcome. CHR. DAVID: Alright. Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah,just a follow-up, Matt, to your point. That's how we manage pigs, we put up hog wire, but then put one strand down low. And maybe if the pigs are lifting itor you can put barbwire down low, so they don't put their nose underneath it. But it works. The only problem is people then steal your energizer. And that's a problem too. So alright. Thanks, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Go ahead, Ms. Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. Thank you for being here, Mo. Much appreciation for all of your work to quantify that amount of money needed in order to mitigate a lot of the issues happening our parks. So I just wondered what other projects besides the fencing and working with feral animals and destruction in our County properties and County parks, would this cover—and very honestly, we've had long conversations with each other as well as with members of—constituents of District 7 about the pool facility here and the need for new water fountains at Old Airport. Just all those different kinds of things. So I wondered how broad the potential was to mitigate some of those issues and solve those things as well withing this funding. MR. MESSINA: Every repair that we do in our County parks comes out of this particular fund, whether it's just replacing a roof, replacing gutters, you name it, it all comes out of there. At our pools, the people who are charged with fixing our electrical and our plumbing are in-house plumbing and electrical folks. And when we can't supplement it out of the Aquatic's budget, it comes out of this line item. So basically everything we do in our 300 facilities is taken out of this. When we came into office, that budget line item was at$425,000. MS. VILLEGAS: I remember you saying that. MR. MESSINA: Which is why we're the state that we're at right now. MS. VILLEGAS: Yep, yep. And it's insufficient funds to support you and your staff to maintain our facilities. So thank you for bringing this forward. I'm going to support this wholeheartedly. And I am you know, I want to give you guys all the tools necessary to do your jobs and to keep our facilities to health and safety standards for enjoyment for our community. So thank you again, Mr. Messina. I appreciate this. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Anyone else? Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. Page 44 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. And thank you, Mo, for being here. And thank you to the rest of my colleagues. You know, I really this was at the direction of the Administration, and we are putting it in the most flexible place for them to utilize it for the entire island. So thank you for my colleagues for their questioning, but also for their support. Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Any other ? Ms. Kimball, go ahead. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, I'm just going to make one more comment. Being the representative of the district that has had to watch a facility go down, and it went down quickly, we want to support maintenance. So I'm happy to support this amendment as well. Because none of you want to see that happen in your community, I assure you. Thanks. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah,just one quick shout out to Finance, because they did bolster Parks and Rec.'s maintenance budget. So shout out to that, recognizing it's not enough, but it's a lot more than it was. So shout out to you, Deanna. Thanks. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Seeing no other comments, all those in favor of amending Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Communication 645.45, please say "aye." Vote on Amendment: The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents (Approved) of Comm. 645.45, was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—7. Noes: None. Absent: Council Members Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and Chung—2. Excused: None. Comm. 645.46: From Council Member Heather L. Kimball, dated June 1, 2022, transmitting (Memo No. 5) proposed amendments to increase the Fund Balance From Previous Year revenue account by $200,000, and increase the Clerk-Council Services Other Current Expenses, Miscellaneous Contract Services expense account by the same amount to a new line item titled BUDGET ANALYSIS/VISUALIZATION SOFTWARE. Motion to Approve: Ms. Kimball moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.46. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. Page 45 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. So this adds a line item to the County Clerk's and Council Services budget that would allow us to explore options for budget analysis and visualization software. I know that the Finance Department is working on upgrading our services in total for the County which may include some analysis and visualization at some later point, but this is actually to provide us with an opportunity to get a subscription for the interim until that becomes available. I fully believe that this is the most important thing that we do as a body evaluating this budget. And I think many of the questions that I get when I'm out and about in the community are, "How are you spending my money and what are we getting for it?" And that's the question that I'd like to be able to answer with real clarity and transparency. So asking my colleagues. We did have a presentation if you recall from OpenGov, which is one of the vendors that is a State vendor that we can work with. Council Member Lee Loy and I also had a follow-up presentation from an organization called ClearGov, which is a NACo sanctioned—National Association of Counties—sanctioned vendor for this type of tool. So at this time we would just like to continue to explore our options but would like to have the line item in the budget so that we can put forth an RFP (Request for Proposals). Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, thank you. And thank you, Ms. Kimball, for putting this forward. This is something we've been trying to get done. And as Ms. Kimball mentioned, you know, we have a function here as a legislative body, is really about the budget. And this is actually that tool that really helps that. We're always extremely grateful on how much Deanna and her staff provides to us, answering our questions. But this actually becomes a tool for us to help self-resolve a little bit, and really understand where the funds are going. So thank you again, Ms. Kimball, for putting this forward. We had talked about doing it, and she's like, "I got it." So thank you, for getting it. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Anyone else? Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, ladies. Thank you, Council Member Kimball, for putting this forward. You know, getting information out into the community in a way that the community can digest has been something I've been advocating for since first budget cycle. Page 46 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 I do want to bring our Finance Director here, because if you're talking about this information being available to Legislative Branch, members of the community, but there is a very sort of deliberate song and dance here that needs to happen between both branches of government. And so not sure if there's been any coordination with Finance on this particular amendment, but just wanting your sense, Director Sako, of where you are with this, especially because I know that your office is coordinating some kind of RFI(Request for Information) or RFP for an overhaul of the County-wide financial system. So I just want to make sure that we are being fiscally mindful and if this is something that you're already including in your efforts. I'd just like to know. MS. SAKO: So we definitely—we did our RFI. We're in the process of preparing our RFP. It's very close to being ready to go out. It's one of the things that's in there. We've kind of ranked some things because we're not sure about cost. But definitely we're aware of everyone's need for this. I have this into OpenGov or some of those presentations and it takes a lot of mapping and linking to make this work. Finance does not have time to work with that. This is the first I was aware of this amendment, and so if it can happen without any input from Finance, fine. But I think they're going to need a link to our database, which, no. So that's not going to probably happen right now just given the fact that we're in the middle of an RFP, all of our staff are extremely busy. Not only with the RFP, but with ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding and everything else, you know, to sit down and explain to someone what really matches and what needs to be linked is probably that's the straw that's going to break the camel's back. Sorry. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, we want your assessment, because we're only going to be successful if we are getting the most current information that we need. I guess a question for Council Member Kimball, and perhaps Ms. Lee Loy because you guys have had further conversations with other vendors, given what Director Sako has shared, what do you think is the timeframe then for going out with an RFP for this particular software. Or I mean given what the Director has said their interest in engaging a vendor to do specifically this, is this amendment needed at this time? Again,just trying to have a conversation. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, I'll respond. I think two things. My understanding had been what the Director was going to be looking for as replacement software would include this type of visualization. This is specifically designed to get us through next budget cycle. And in particular response to the Director's comment about not having time, that was a big conversation that we had with the ClearGov folks, and I individually had in a follow-up conversation with the OpenGov folks, saying we don't have either time in the Legislative Branch or in the Finance Branch to do this work, so what does the quote look like with that? Page 47 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 So that's where the number comes from is anticipation that they do the mapping of the chart of accounts, and that upfront work. The sharing of data, that's the thing here. So that's the conversation we need to have because that will have to be provided by the Finance Department to go into the database structure that they design for us. I yield, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, and to answer Ms. Kierkiewicz' question, you know, I want to do this as soon as I can. Back to the point that Ms. Kimball mentioned, it's the data that's with Finance Department. If this funds is not completely utilized, let's blend it all together to get us a program that works, with Finance Department, ourselves. I know I personally have some desires as to how to utilize this tool and this toolkit of options to present to community on where the money is. I think dovetailing this with the electronic payroll system, so we know exactly where we stand every month, I personally they do a fantastic job but by the time we get our monthly budget summaries, it's always a little delayed, we're passing adjustments within our Finance Committee, moving money around, and it's always very challenging. If we could just get that one step closer through some of the information that Finance Department does and some of the information and tools that are available in this software, I think we as colleagues can make good decisions. So to answer your question as soon as we can. Open to any of it, but however we use it I want to be a decision of this entire body on what vendor we use and what tools in the toolkit that we really want and find valuable to us. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thanks, ladies. I can appreciate that. At the end of the day it just comes down to making sure we budget better so that we can make responsible decisions because we have the information in front of us. I'll be supporting this. I do have a follow-up conversation though, of Committee of Whole to kind of really think through what exactly we want this software and system to achieve. I'm on the same page as Council Member Kimball and Lee Loy because we've had previous conversations, but I don't think it should just be a handful of people making a decision for the entire Council. I think every single Council Member is very connected to their constituents, right? We all received a myriad of questions, and so would like everybody to have that opportunity to kind of contribute. And from there we can prioritize what we want the system to look like. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. LEE LOY: And if I might respond. Page 48 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: A picture is worth a thousand words. We heard that yesterday in testimony, and some of the visualization tools that I would be looking for that I know would be valuable to meI would love to get feedback from my other colleagues on how to do this. But speaking to your point, you know, I think we haveI mean, I lost count of the number of budget amendment we have just right now, and just kind of surmising and taking this big guess, if we had had our arms around the budget a little bit better, I just wonder if we have had so many budget amendments and we could have done some of this more collectively and in alignment with what the direction this entire legislative body wants to take with what we know to be a $780 million budget. So thank you, Chair. Thank you for letting me share my thoughts and advancing this. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Ms. Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. As I mentioned, we did have that presentation by OpenGov. The ClearGov, I'll put a communication forward and have them provide another presentation, and then also put a communication for us to have an open discussion about what we want to see as a tool. Having looked at both there are differences in terms of the type of visualization and stuff. So there's a lot of things to consider in what's going to be most useful for us. I'll commit to making sure we have those conversations. Thanks. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Anyone else? Mr. Inaba, go ahead. MR. INABA: Yeah, quick question. In support, I'll start off with that. But Director Sako, regarding all of these amendments that are pulling from Fund Balance, I think right now I'm totaling $4.475 million. I just want to understand as we go through these that we're able to—maybe not what we want, but we can handle it? MS. SAKO: I think if we can keep it within the $5-ish million, we should be okay. MR. INABA: Okay. Thank you. Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Seeing no other comments, alright, all those in favor of amending Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Communication 645.46,please say "aye." Page 49 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents to Amend: of Comm. 645.46, was carried by the following voice (Approved) vote: Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David–8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung– 1. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Okay, next. MS. VILLEGAS: Chair? I'm sorry? CHR. DAVID: Go ahead. MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah, I just wanted to check back because I'm starting to feel a little uncomfortable as well as we continue to go through all of these amendments without a more direct understanding or agreement on what the budget is we're working with. So just wanting to check back in and see if we're ready to revisit that. CHR. DAVID: Okay, well let me—go ahead, Mr. Clerk. MR. HENRICKS: Mr. Richard's amendment to the real property tax resolution, do you have a copy, Ms. Villegas? That's important. It was MS. VILLEGAS: No, I don't have a copy yet. Do you guys have a copy? MR. HENRICKS: It's 820.2, it should have been provided to you. MS. VILLEGAS: They're bringing it to me right now. MR. HENRICKS: Okay. If you have that, then we have that, then you can lay the bill on the table and then take the resolution off the table and bring that forward if that is the Council's desire at this time. CHR. DAVID: Alright. Council Members, any comments on doing that? Ready to go? Okay. Then I need a motion to lay Bill 126, Draft 2 on the table. Page 50 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Vote on Motion Ms. Lee Loy moved to table Bill 126, Draft 2. Seconded to Table: by Mr. Richards and carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: And now I need a motion. Motion to Remove Ms. Lee Loy moved to remove Res. 423-22 from the table. from Table: Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried by the following voice (Approved) vote: Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: The matter is now back on the table. Go ahead, Mr. Richards. Motion to Amend: Mr. Richards moved to amend Res. 423-22 with the contents of Comm. 820.2. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. Essentially what this isI don't know how we go forward with this because we haven't really discussed Mr. Inaba's resolution as of yet. So we're at that, I guess, talk-story phase. We're trying to figure out a way forward. Mr. Inaba's resolution was essentially projecting at the same income stream from real property tax that was proposed by Finance. My amendments are also doing essentially the same thing as well, to still obtain that level of income, which is approximately $428 million, that ballpark. The question is how do we go about doing that? And when I was looking at this, the concept was how do we go forward and pay attention to our real property tax being very mindful of the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act), the federal funding, so we don't put that in jeopardy, but still looking at supporting the needs of our community going forward. I'm want to let Mr. Inaba discuss his perspective of where he came up with his tax rates, and I'll fill in with mine. Page 51 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 We have to look at the revenue stream and what is without question the lion's share where most of that will be coming from, and that comes from our housing. We have 140,000 properties on our island, in our County, of which about$40,000 plus-minus are residential. And that realistically is where most of our tax revenue comes from. You know, I appreciate what Ms. Kimball has said about putting this forth and looking at it. I'm intrigued by the fact that we are taxing our agriculture at the highest rate throughout the State, and that's something we need to come back and visit at a later date, I think. That's not part of this conversation, but it does put it in context. I think the big thing as we go forward is philosophically how do we want to do this. What I am trying to do actually myself, because this is a joint resolution from Ms. Lee Loy and myself, is I want to be mindful of our residents, but I also want to give credit where credit is due specifically to our businesses what struggled going through the pandemic. And that's why we took the position as far as reducing the real property tax rates on the Commercial and the Hotel/Resort, because hotel and resorts have really put forth these last couple of years in supporting our residents. They've kept their people on healthcare which is a huge statement to our government. My understanding is it's to the tune of in excess of $30 million And though they are getting back to it, there's still a big challenge coming forth. I do want to recognize the fact that our residents also have struggled, but it comes down to the size of what we are taxing. So my proposal going forward, or our proposal going forward is recognizing those values of the different properties, trying to keep the budget balanced—we're not trying to come in here with, what's Ms. Lee Loy say, a blunt axe, and chop on the budget because we have a lot of catch up to do. We have a lot of catch up from the last couple of years. We have a lot of catch up from the last 10 to 15 years as far as maintenance and repair. We've had Director Messina in here. We all know what our roads look like. So being respectful of what the budget proposal is going forward but being also mindful that we're trying to get that balance in there. So my amendment, or our amendment, is to recognize that we want to keep our businesses in business, because that helps us as a community go forward because that employs our people and helps take care of our people. So with that, Chair, I'd like to yield. And Ms. Lee Loy being a co-introducer, I don't know if you have any other comments. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, you know, Tim always knows the numbers. And I'll just round it out. This is kind of a hybrid between what we heard from community, looking for balance between the Administration's proposal, looking at Mr. Inaba's proposal, and just literally creating a little bit more fairness so that everybody will see some relief. Page 52 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 In the August 20'h bill, I just want to remind my colleagues, I'm not going to put down that idea on whether or not we try and provide caps for all the other classes. I think this is one of many steps that we have to take and ask for everybody's feedback. I think this is a decision we have to make as a whole. And as Mr. Richards says, we're still within the same revenue stream that we've been discussing this budget around. Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Council Members? Mr. Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder, go ahead. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I'm looking at the two resolutions and I'll just speak to sorry, the two communications. But the Communication Number 820.2, and I'm looking at the very, very bottom on the back page. I'm looking at the rates that are proposed, but the strikethroughs, some of them match Mr. Inaba's and some do not. I just wanted to clarify with the makers that the struck through dollar amounts that the taxable buildings and taxable lands respectively are the current. Or are these the adjusted? But they're not Holeka's. Is this all based on just adjusting Holeka's proposal? CHR. DAVID: Okay, hang on a second. Is that question being posed to ? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: To the makers. CHR. DAVID: To the makers. Okay, who's going to respond. Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, this should be an amendment to the resolution that Holeka put forth. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, so this is strictly speaking to adjusting Holeka's proposal. MR. RICHARDS: Right because it's an amendment to the resolution. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you for clarifying. MR. RICHARDS: Yep. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, I yield for now, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Mr. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, and if I might remind the rest of my colleagues, the Mayor proposed rates, but we never had a resolution. So this actually, again, is a hybrid from all the discussions that we had. The Mayor proposed them; however we didn't have a vehicle to act on those adjustments. Mr. Inaba advanced the vehicle Page 53 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 with his fine tuning as it relates to Affordable Rentals and Homeowners which we know has a cap and protections of three percent. So this is it all kind of coming together again. But we're still landing in the exact same amount as the budget that has been proposed to this body as of May 5h. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Anyone else? Mr. Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Deanna,just want to double check in your opinion as our Director of Finance that these two provide the exact same dollar figure at the end of the day in the form of real property tax revenues. MS. SAKO: Yes, all the proposals are close. The one concern I have with the Residential—well no, it's actually not the two-tier, it's the Affordable Rental and Homeowners. Our system would, given some of the parcels and what happens, it would be extremely difficult for those rates to be separate. It would cause our real property tax people great heartburn. So if we could keep those two rates the same that would be very helpful. Yeah, Affordable Rental and Homeowner. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: The mistake made was that the Homeowner and the Affordable Rental have been changed and they're not the same. MS. SAKO: They don't match anymore, yeah. So I mean maybe you compromise at$6.05 or whatever. But anyway, that would be the one piece of heartburn my guys are texting about. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: But just to follow up, but then the dollar figure on the end, you know, this $428 million, that's the same on both proposals. MS. SAKO: They're not like exactly the same, but they are close. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Within ? MS. SAKO: So there's a lot of components, so when you change MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I'm sorry,just end, summary dollar figure total. Is it within like $1,000 or within like $2 or $3 million? MS. SAKO: Well given the two documents that you have in front of you, one comes out to $427, 614,000 and the other one is $428,171,000. But what I'm trying to say is after this number, this is just the assessed value times the rate, then we have to look at min (minimum)tax, and then we have to look at second homeowner exemption, second half year. There's a lot of additional calculations that go into it. So when we net everything out, they come out very close together on our end. Page 54 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, okay. And very close being? MR. SAKO: They're within a few thousand. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you. That's helpful. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Mr. Inaba, go ahead. MR. INABA: Thank you. The amendment before us right now, I see what the introducers are trying to do, and that is to split up and give more benefit to more people—more classes I should say. So I do have an amendment coming forward because I saw that there was a problem with the two different rates for those classes when they got here on the dais. So I brought something forward that still distributes out benefit and actually gives us more in light of these amendments that are pulling from real property tax. So in adjusting for that 75 percent for tier-two as well, plus the amendments that are pulling from additional real property tax that currently isn't in my resolution, there's an amendment coming. So just want to let you folks know that, and hopefully we can continue discussion when we have that one on the floor and that amendment has both of those rates at the same value where they need to be. MS. VILLEGAS: Chair? CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Yes, go ahead, Ms. Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Great. First off, I wanted to thank Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder for clarifying that what we're working off of with Communication 820.2 is directly related the resolution brought forth by Mr. Inaba. As I look at the two documents and compare them, essentially what I'm seeing—and this is where I got a little confused—is that all of the classes then had the percentage decreased, except for Affordable Rental Housing and Homeowner classes, which actually were increased. So Deanna, can you confirm that I am perceiving this accurately? MS. SAKO: Okay, I really should have brought my laptop today but that was my bad. I've been trying to track all the different rates. So the current rates and then Council Member Inaba's, and then what was proposed by the Administration and this current amendment, and if the question was is the current one everybody has a decrease, I believe that I did check that and that is correct, yes. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, except for Affordable Rental Housing? MS. SAKO: Affordable Rental is currently at$6.15, and so the proposal is at $6.10. So it does have a slight decrease, yes. Page 55 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. VILLEGAS: I would have the decrease as well, but just not as much as Mr. Inaba's. MS. SAKO: Correct, yes. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. Then Homeowner, what is our Homeowner at right now? MS. SAKO: It's at$6.15 right now, and the proposal goes down to $6.00. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, so that still drop that one as well. Okay, yeah. It's like keeping track of nailing Jell-O to a tree. MS. SAKO: Yes. MS. VILLEGAS: So just trying to grasp where it's coming from and how all the numbers areas they move around, I appreciate the efforts made by my colleagues to keep the amount of money. I've had a number of constituents come to me and say for the amount of money that they'd save on a lot of different more radical changes; they would rather see the County take action and actually finally have the resources to do the projects that we have had to postpone and put off for so many years. So thank you to my colleagues for keeping that budget the same in the amount of money that we would be getting while still spreading out the pain, I suppose and some of the benefits to all of the classes. So thank you for that. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Ms. Lee Loy first, and then Mr. Richards. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Ms. Villegas for kind of just laying it out. We're spreading the pain all over the place. But in light of Mr. Inaba's notation that we're going to see one more and looking at the hour, I'm wondering if this might be a good time to take a lunch break and it will also give our Administration the time to take a good hard look at all the papers that have been flying around. Because we're going to really need to rely on Deanna real shortly here to make sure we're generating enough revenues, and that we're programming the dollars correctly. Open to any more feedback from my colleagues on this proposal but would like to take a break. CHR. DAVID: Okay. Alrighty, anyone else? Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, thanks, Chair. Just to Mr. Kaneali`i-KI einfelder's point, when you're asking about the value, the way I worked on that was it is approximately exactly the same. Page 56 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: We get that. Thank you for that clarification. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, thanks. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Okay, so actually then thank you. Call for the MR. INABA: Call for the question. Question: MS. KIMBALL: Just the amendment. CHR. DAVID: No, he just called for the question. So a vote. Roll call,please. MR. HENRICKS: I'm sorry. Are you recognizing Mr. Inaba's motion to call for the question? CHR. DAVID: Yes, I am. He made that motion. MR. HENRICKS: Okay, so that's CHR. DAVID: And seconded by Ms. Kimball. MR. HENRICKS: Okay, hang on a second. CHR. DAVID: No, there wasn't a second? No need? MR. HENRICKS: If it's a motion then yes, there needs to be a motion made, a second, and then a vote on that. CHR. DAVID: Okay, it was Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MS. VILLEGAS: I'm sorry. I thought we were breaking for lunch. CHR. DAVID: Mr. Inaba called for the question. There's no discussion on that. MR. RICHARDS: There is. MR. HENRICKS: No there isn't, but there needs to be a vote taken. MS. VILLEGAS: They're calling for the question on what? MR. HENRICKS: So Ms. Villegas, Mr. Inaba had made a motion to call for the question, which if seconded and approved would end debate on the motion to amend and would require that a vote be taken immediately on the motion to amend with Communication 820.2. That is what Mr. Inaba's motion would accomplish. Page 57 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, thank you. MR. HENRICKS: It's just to end debate. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, and that would mean that he's no longer bringing forth the amendment? MR. HENRICKS: No, all that would do is bring to a vote the motion to amend with 820.2. So at that point if the motion to call for the question is successful, then the Chair would call the vote on the motion to amend. And then whatever the results of that are, then we would move forward from that point. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. MR. HENRICKS: You're welcome. Vote on Motion to Mr. Inaba moved to call for the question. Seconded by Call for the Question: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and carried by the following roll (Approved) call vote: Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. Vote on Amendment: The motion to amend Res. 423-22 with the contents of Failed Comm. 820.2 failed, by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Council Members Chung, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, and Richards —4. Noes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Villegas, and Chair David—5. Absent: None. Excused: None. MR. HENRICKS: The motion to amend fails. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Okay. So on that note, can we do a lunch break right now and allow everybody to get some time for themselves and regroup. We will be back at 1:00. We're in recess until 1:00. Thank you. Page 58 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Recess: At 12:07 p.m. the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 1:01 p.m. CHR. DAVID: Aloha everyone and welcome back. I'm taking the Special Council Meeting out of recess. And we will finish off, I'll start again with, let me see, Mr. Inaba. MR. INABA: In light of the resolution still not being prepared, I think I'll make a motion to table Res. 423-22. Vote on Motion Mr. Inaba moved to table Res. 423-22. Seconded by to Table: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Alright, this matter is tabled. Now, I guess we can go back to amendments to Bill 126, Draft 2; Comm. 645. Vote on Motion to Mr. Inaba moved to remove Bill 126, Draft 2, from the Remove from Table: table. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy and carried by the (Approved) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Bill 126, Draft 2, is removed from the table. Proceed with Comm. 645.47. Comm. 645.47: From Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, dated June 1, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 6) proposed amendment to increase the Fund Balance from Previous Year revenue account by $875,000, and increase the Grants to Nonprofit Organizations Miscellaneous Charges expense account by the same amount. Page 59 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair, I'll be withdrawing this communication. I have a follow-up communication that attempts to do the same thing, but with two different streams of funding. Thank you. Withdrawal of (Note: At this time, Ms. Kierkiewicz announced the withdrawal Comm. 645.47: of Comm. 645.47.) CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much. Mr. Clerk, Comm. 645.47 has been withdrawn by Ms. Kierkiewicz. Comm. 645.48: From Council Members Heather L. Kimball and Holeka Goro Inaba, dated (Memo No. 7) June 1, 2022, transmitting a proposed amendment to transfer $9,000,000 from the Housing Production Miscellaneous Contract Services, HOUSING PRODUCTION account to the Transfer to County Housing Revolving Fund— Housing Miscellaneous Charges TRANSFER TO COUNTY HOUSING REVOLVING account. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kimball moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.48. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: So, this is an outgrowth of the conversation we had yesterday around Bill 160, and this program called Housing Production. And just throwing out an idea here. We certainly, you know, appreciate the Administration putting $9 million in the budget for Housing Production, and Council Member Kierkiewicz' effort to make sure that funding is sustained. And we certainly appreciate the intention and what has been shared from the Office of Housing and where they want to see this program go. But the feeling is, at this time, the program is not at all defined. And we had some conversations around that yesterday about what is the definition of housing production and whatnot. So, this is just kind of, you know, lobbing out their effort to give this body, the Council, a little bit of oversight of these funds, until such time as the program is actually defined and developed. And so, we're just taking this fund; moving into the Revolving Fund, which we had this is Bill 152. We defined all those uses; we deliberated those uses. And then once the program or you know, as the program gets defined and implemented, the rules are created and what not, we can then transfer these funds back over into the Housing Production Fund. So, that's the thought behind this. It's just that it provides us with a little oversight until the program is defined. I yield, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Anyone else? Mr. Inaba, go ahead. Page 60 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MR. INABA: No, I think Council Member Kimball laid it out pretty clearly, and we all agreed two weeks ago on the uses of this fund. And making sure they broad enough and give us a lot of options to support our community in staying in their homes and even getting homes. So, I think it's the responsible thing to do with $9 million. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Anyone else? Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I'd love to be able to hear from, you know, Finance Department, because the Revolving Fund is administered by the Director of Finance. And also, Office of Housing Administrator Susan Kunz. Just your reaction to this. And I'm sitting here a little bit confused because this body also approved Bill 111 that set aside $9 million for housing and homelessness and there was no exhibit whatsoever that spelled out how the program would be administered and what it would be used for. Yet with Bill 160, we put all of that down. And so, it's very interesting. Anyway, Director, Administrator, would love to hear your thoughts on just the shuffling of money; any unintended consequences that, you know, you foresee with this happening given that we are so close to launching the Housing Production program. Something we've been working on for quite some time now. Thanks Administrator. (Note: At this time, Office of Housing and Community Development Administrator Susan Kunz came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. KUNZ: Thank you. Susan Kunz with the Office of Housing and Community Development. I do understand the need for more defined program language. And we actually have Administrative Rules, which is the process we're going to engage in, right, already drafted. So I want to assure you of that. The bigger concern for me, is putting the Affordable Housing monies into the Revolving Fund will tie my hands, because I will not have access to these monies to engage my staff to cover those administrative costs, in other words. So I need the staffing in place in order to put these Admin. Rules and get the public hearings completed and draft up the final documents. I will not have access to these funds to do that work if the monies are sitting in the Revolving Fund because of the language that's there. Big concern for me. (Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Council.) Page 61 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. SAKO: I think typically when monies go into the Housing Revolving Fund, it doesn't come back out again. So, I'm a little concerned about that designated fund balance portion. But, you know, I agree with everything Susan said. And, yeah, I think where we have it right now would be the easiest to take care of it administratively. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, thank you. So,just to be really clear, you're not in support of moving funds from Housing Production Fund account into Revolving Fund. MS. KUNZ: No, I'm not. You know, I think the intention of all of this work is to streamline to provide the funding and give me a clear pathway to produce the additional housing. This is not going to do that. It's going to stop me. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. I think this was creative attempt. Great intention, but I certainly don't want bureaucracy to get in the way of us being able to increase housing inventory. So mahalo nui, but I can't be supporting this amendment. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, Ms. Kierkiewicz, I almost laughed out loud when you said bureaucracy getting in the way, because that's exactly what we as a County Government do. We get in the way all the time. But I'm very curious and I appreciate your comments, Administrator and Director, concerning that because the last thing we need is more obstruction. And so, I mean, I think everybody's heart is in the right direction. However, the less administrative binding that we have, the better, because the red tape that government can create is phenomenal. So, I appreciate the comments and it makes sense to leave it where it is. So, I will not be supporting this. Thank you, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Ms. Kunz, does Account 115 cover staffing? Contract Services? MS. KUNZ: I'm sorry. (Account Number) 115 is Miscellaneous Contract Services and it would only cover staffing if I had plans to do contract hires. But otherwise, staffing would be covered in Salary and Wages. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. But your concern with this was staffing or allowing for a staffing cost. MS. KUNZ: Administrative cost, yeah. Page 62 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Administrative cost. MS. KUNZ: Yeah, so if it's in fund 152, which is the Housing Fund, I will have access to that monies to cover my Administrative costs to carry out all of this preliminary work to set up my Admin plans; to conduct public hearings. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: You said, 152? MS. KUNZ: Yeah, 152 is the Housing Fund, right? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, I think that's your entire Housing Fund. But these specifically, it(inaudible). MS. KUNZ: So let me clarify with Director Sako. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Sorry, I have a proclivity to ask these kinds of questions. MS. SAKO: So, 152 is the Housing Fund. And then, within that, we created a new section which is that Housing Production on Page 339. Yeah, 469.02. And we did not have a chance to let the Housing Department break down those costs. Like into Administrative and other things that we have been talking about. So, it's all sitting in the 115. And then we can create additional object codes as needed, if it's within this section, this 469.02. Does that answer the question? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes and no. If it's in 5801.60, the Housing Revolving Fund? MS. SAKO: That's a Transfer to Housing Revolving Fund. And we would have to come in July to amend the County Housing Revolving Fund to create an appropriation to be able to spend that. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: You could, because in the same fund, and you can correct me if I'm correct or incorrect. If it's in 152, can it go back and forth between accounts with or without Council action, or does it require Council action? MS. SAKO: If it's within the Department of Housing's budget, we can use a transfer form and it doesn't require Council action. But we cannot transfer between funds without Council action. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, so this stays within the Housing Fund, correct, this movement of the $9 million? Page 63 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. SAKO: But the second half of that$9 million, that 152.01, whatever that account number is, the objective of that is to actually transfer. That's the transfer to the County Housing Revolving Fund, which is Fund 154 which is a different fund. But each fund has to balance within itself. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So the County Housing Revolving Fund is 154? MS. SAKO: Yes. But that's not one of our budgeted funds. So we would have to come back in as soon as the budget is approved. We would come back in to amend, because there would need to be an appropriation created in Fund 154 in order for Housing to be able to spend the money. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Does the Housing Production Fund exist already? MS. SAKO: The Housing Production is not a fund, it's a section of the Housing Fund and it's on Page 339 of the budget. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: It always existed, or exists post the bill we discussed yesterday? MS. SAKO: We created it to provide the Housing Department with funding to do Housing Production. We did realize the bill was coming through. We weren't sure what was going to happen. As we've discussed before, we all know affordable housing and housing needs are greatly—its s high priority for the Administration and the Council. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And it's based on a bill that passed yesterday, but it's still under the five-day hold, right? So it doesn't even exist yet, really. MS. SAKO: When we submitted the budget on May 5h, none of that existed, correct. So, I'm saying we funded $9 million in this account because we knew it was a priority to create housing on our island. You know, it wasn't with any particular bill in mind. There's been a lot of bills brought before Council related to Office of Housing. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, and then just to check, you're saying this is transferring to this County Housing Resolving, which is 154. It's listed here as 152.801. MS. SAKO: So each fund has to be self-balancing. So, to get the money from 152 to 154, which was the question that had been posed to me previously, you would have to transfer to that other fund. And our 800 series accounts are the ones where we transfer to other funds. Page 64 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 So like the General Fund, we have Transfer to Solid Waste Fund, Transfer to Sewer Fund; this is a similar account in the 152, and so, that's the mechanism to get it to 154, which is the Revolving Fund. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you very much, appreciate it. Thank you, Susan. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else on this one. Ms. Kimball, go ahead. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, and you know, thank you for your feedback, Deanna and Administrator Kunz. You know, I think actually a little bit of that conversation sort of illuminated why we had this concern about just having some oversight of these funds. And I think that, you know, we can move very quickly once there's some proposal in place about the distribution of these $9 million. And Council Member Kierkiewicz did bring up that we passed Bill 111 for the $9 million for homelessness without a clearer definition there. I think it's a little bit different, first of all, because homelessness is a very clearly defined term whereas housing production is not. Additionally we are working on kind of catching up with that one and providing some guidance to that as well. So, you know, again, appreciate everybody's intentions, appreciate your concerns about being able to administer. But really think, you know, we're putting a lot of money into this. We need to just be fiscally responsible and make sure that there's some Council oversight. So, thank you. I yield, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. MS. VILLEGAS: Chair? CHR. DAVID: Yes, go ahead Ms. Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Chair. I just want to express my gratitude for Council Members Kimball and Inaba bringing this forward and their creative thinking in aligning the purpose with an account like this. I recognize the need to keep things streamlined and the desire to want to make sure that these funds are available to Ms. Kunz and the Housing Department as smoothly as possible. However, I suppose I find myself a little bit confused at the double standards of what needs to be very precise for certain legislation and placements and what other things then can be left broad and vague. And so, I have a great appreciation in this case for what Council Members Inaba and Kimball are bringing forward with the desire for such sizable funding, for it Page 65 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 to be held someplace that has more parameters associated with it and Council oversight. I think that there is vast wisdom in that. And as said before, you know, none of us want to stop things that could be streamlined for pulling that money out of there. I think that that can happen pretty quickly. So, I'm going to be in support of this and I appreciate the intentionality of it, and just want to remind all of us, as we continue to serve our constituents that we continue to hold the same standards for clarity and detail for legislation, especially when dealing with constituents' tax dollars. With that I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Mr. Chung. MR. CHUNG: Yeah. I mean, quite frankly, I don't really care where this thing is parked, but of course, you know, we heard from Ms. Kunz about her concerns. And you know, Deanna, for the County Housing Revolving Fund, where are those monies normally derived from? MS. SAKO: So what it used to come from is when the developers had to put down, like they had the option of putting down a certain amount per affordable unit, rather than building the affordable units. So the money was placed there, and there's still funding in there that you have to spend it within a certain proximity of where that development is. So a lot of the money came from there. In addition, we still have some loan programs and different things that the money comes back, not at a rapid rate, but you know, as those loans are repaid, it comes back in there as well. So right now, that was one of the concerns we raised previously. We weren't sure if it was still a Revolving Fund or not. MR. CHUNG: Alright. And you said it has to be used within a certain proximity, is that by law or by practice? MS. SAKO: I believe it's 25 miles. MS. KUNZ: It was defined in Chapter 11. Previously, I think this was back in 2006, there was this in-lieu fee option, as an option for developers to meet their affordable. So if they couldn't build the units, like Deanna was saying, they could opt to pay in-lieu fees. Chapter 11 said, and I think it's 15 miles, but we could not use the money for any kind of housing development activity if it was outside of 15 miles from where the money was generated. So the intent of that is so that we would build affordable housing within that mile radius from where the development was created. MR. CHUNG: So that was the original Page 66 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. KUNZ: That was the language in Chapter 11 back in the day. So I still have pots of money from different projects in there that were generated from these old proj ects. MR. CHUNG: When you said back in the day, not anymore? MS. KUNZ: No, that language was changed in I think 2006. MR. CHUNG: And then replaced by what? MS. KUNZ: Nothing. MS. SAKO: Now they have to actually build the units. MS. KUNZ: You could do finished lots. I think that language is still there. But in-lieu fees is no longer an option. MR. CHUNG: Explain what the problem is from your perspective, again? MS. KUNZ: So when you look at the Revolving Fund based on Bill 152 that we passed recently, the change in the language itemizes what eligible uses, what I can use the money for. It does not allow for administrative costs. MR. CHUNG: And you did raise those concerns regarding that piece of legislation when we approved it, right, not prior to us approving it? MS. KUNZ: Previously, yes. Yes, right. MR. CHUNG: I guess not thinking that—yeah, okay. MS. KUNZ: Unintended consequences, right? So now, we're considering putting the $9 million or whatever's generated from Bill 160 into the Revolving, all of it, until such time that I can develop my Admin Rules. But I will not have any funding to pay for staff to carry out those tasks. So I won't be able to do anything. MR. CHUNG: What kind of money are we talking about? MS. KUNZ: So you know, our HUD (Housing and Urban Development) programs allow for about anywhere from 10 to 20 percent of the funding allotment for administrative costs. We recently did a budget for the Homelessness Fund, which is about$9 million. The administrative cost that I've budgeted for that is about five percent. So I'm kind of thinking it's going to be around that amount. Page 67 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MR. CHUNG: Okay. And Deanna, not to put you on the spot, but you have a wealth of experience. More experience than any of us sitting here, there, you know, as it relates to County operations. What's your perspective on this? As I said, for me just off the top of my head, I don't really care where it's at, right. But now you've explained some, you know, constraints to your department. So, what's your thoughts? MS. SAKO: So I think if we put the money in the Revolving Fund, it will sit there forever. I'm not sure we'll be able to retain the designation of Housing Production although, you know, it does have to be used for those purposes as defined by the Code. So, normally when it goes into the Revolving Fund, it doesn't come out again. It's like a contribution. It's not like we transfer it out and say, "Okay, now it's defined, we're going to put it back into the Housing Fund." So a lot of these—like the Revolving Fund is kind of a unique fund. So I don't have the County Code in front of me with those changes recently. But usually transferring back to the Housing Fund is not an option. MR. CHUNG: So wait. Explain this again to me. I mean, why do you believe it's not going to come out anymore? You've got to explain that tome. MS. SAKO: Several of our special funds like Disaster Fund or PONC (Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission) Fund or any of those, we don't then transfer to other funds again. It goes in to be used for that purpose of the fund. So, it's not going to be coming out again. You know, so if the intention was to park it in the Revolving Fund until such time as the program is better defined or different things like that, then I don't know that we would be allowed to actually take it back to the Housing Fund again. I don't know if I said that any more clearly. MR. CHUNG: No, that doesn't. But you know, I know you're speaking from your experience, and I really do respect that. MS. SAKO: So part of it, is how's the fund is defined and part of it is the County rules as well. Ultimately, that fund gets combined with the Housing Fund when it's presented in our CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report) or ACFR (Annual Comprehensive Financial Report) as the new title is. And so, but we haven't really had time to fairly research that either. MR. CHUNG: Well, thanks you guys. MS. KUNZ: Councilman Chung, can I also make a comment? MR. CHUNG: Sure. Page 68 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. KUNZ: The intention of Bill 160 and the process that we were going to engage, was to have public hearings. MR. CHUNG: Bill 160 was which one now? MS. KUNZ: This is the bill that is generating the money. You know, engaging in the creation of Administrative Rules would require me to have public hearings, to do a 30-day notice, right; to put formal rules in place, reporting requirements, the whole nine yards, and have it publicly posted. That would be the method to create a program to administer these grants. You put these monies into the Revolving Fund. The Revolving Fund language is going to apply to this money, right? And I will not be able to access that money to create the Administrative Rules to carry out 160. So in a sense what we're doing is putting the money in there to run the Revolving Fund, and not to develop Administrative Rules to effectively carry out a Housing Development Program. MR. CHUNG: I understand. MS. KUNZ: And I do want this Council to know that the Administrative Rules that we currently have drafted have very specific itemized eligibility use criteria. There's going to be a process for developers to come and apply for these funds, how we're going to rank and rate them, how they're going to be selected, I will be coming back to this Council with an annual plan to tell you who we're going to be funding, and hopefully it's for the entire amount of the allocation. And at the end of the year, the Administrative draft rules that I have is going to outline my reporting back to the Council to tell you what I've expended. So it's much more defined as a program and reporting requirements than what the Revolving Fund is requiring me to do. MR. CHUNG: So, my last question, I guess—it's all kind of confusing to me. I mean I'm starting to understand, though. So, you know, based on Bill 160, it created that funding source, right? But from what you're saying is, that funding source is not really consistent with what's being proposed here. Yeah, I get it, okay. MS. KUNZ: Right. MR. CHUNG: Okay, thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Mr. Inaba, go ahead. MR. INABA: Yeah, I think what we have to realize is that this is not amending Code saying that it's going to be there forever. Right now, we have $9 million and a new budget section undefined. We know that the Office of Housing is Page 69 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 working on rules. When those rules will come out, and apparently there's a draft, so things have been happening without this $9 million. So I think there is capacity in the Office of Housing to get this stuff done. What the question to the Council really is, is do we put$9.5 million for homelessness currently undefined, and another $9 million for housing production, also undefined before us right now; or, when this Council passed Bill 152, which outlined a scope greater than just housing production. Do we go with that for the current fiscal year, or until the rules are in place, so that we can have some kind of understanding, and the public knows how $9 million of their money is being spent. That's what we don't have before us right now and that's what this is doing. So it's not a forever thing in the Code. It's a one-time thing for this current budget. And I think it is the fiscally responsible thing to say where and how the $9 million will be spent. I trust in the Office of Housing to bring forth rules that will carry out things that are basically in line with Bill 152, but we don't have that right now. So, it's up to this Council then to decide whether we allow a total of$18.5 million to go kind of undefined, thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Yes, go ahead, Administrator. MS. KUNZ: So, the division in my office that's going to be administering this program is our grants division. They are the most experienced with carrying out administration of these kinds of funds. This division is one hundred percent federally funded. I do not have other sources of funds to pay the staff to do the legwork that's going to be needed to get these Admin. Rules in place. CDBG (Community Development Block Grant), Housing Trust Fund, HOME Funds. I am not allowed by HUD to use those funds to pay for other programs that don't directly benefit those programs. So I don't have another source of funding to carry out this work. That's my concern. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you Administrator. Ms. Kimball, go ahead. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, I just wanted to clarify a couple of things, because I think it was just to be clear that Bill 160 does not create the Housing Production Fund. The Housing Production Fund was created when the Administration submitted the most recent budget. MS. SAKO: Can I just? I really got to say, can we stop using the word fund. Because fund, it's not a fund. It's an account, it's a program, it's whatever you want to call it, but I think that's part of the confusion of this whole conversation. And even the homelessness is another program, it's not a fund. Yes, I'm having heartburn because I'm an accountant, sorry. Page 70 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. KIMBALL: Sorry, I'm sure you have enough heartburn today, apologies for giving you additional heartburn. But yes, so this program was created when the Administration submitted the new budget, which included the $9 million. Bill 160 ensures that program will continue to receive $5 million year after year in the Code. So you know, the Administration, Deanna has the authority to create a new program line within the budget. That's what was done with the submission of the budget to us. The bill from Council Member Kierkiewicz is not creating something with that, it's just maintaining our funding over a time to that item. So is that clear? It seemed like there was a little bit of lack of clarity about how or whether it was created or not. So I just wanted to clarify that and then just, you know, following up on what Council Member Inaba said, this was just a creative attempt to try and solve a challenge which I think was just that we didn't have any definition on this program at this point. And this is a potential mechanism to give some definition until such time as Housing creates one. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Just to follow up this account, 5469.02, the expenditure account for the Miscellaneous Contract Services. If$9 million comes out, what's left? MS. SAKO: Zero. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Zero. MS. SAKO: And just to be clear. I believe, like a two-page memo was submitted along with Bill 160 to kind of define how it was going to be spent. MS. KUNZ: Thank you, yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, I do believe I had some reservations on that bill. But thank you for that. I yield, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. Thanks Deanna and Susan for being here. I heard the word, creative, right? Creatively solved. This one kind of crossed the line, for me. It went from creative to kind of a bait-and-switch. Because when we discussed the Revolving Fund and created guardrails around that, it was couched with a ballot amendment to fund it that way. Page 71 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 We have since learned a lot and we realize we can't go to a Charter amendment to fund that. And along came another vehicle, another program. And what this does it basically say, we the Council approved and voted on various mechanisms in front of the public with an understanding. And now, we have two different pieces of legislation. And what this does is transfer the resources generated from one program and pushes it into another. And for me, that's just bait-and-switch. I represented to my constituency a process that I was voting on. Had I known that later on we were going to move money, I would have voted very differently from the jump. Now, Mr. Inaba is explaining we're parking it until we can develop these rules. Then in comes another bunch of money, right, during the next budget cycle. And then, how do we deal with that again? I don't like any of it. I'm just going to be straight up about it. We went, we had a pathway; we were addressing things as it was presented to us, funding source, guardrails. I'm not going to be supporting this because I don't think my constituency would appreciate a vote and then holding me accountable to a vote of up and down on one matter, which now has switched right here at the I Ph hour of passing the budget. Thank you. I'm not going to be supporting this amendment. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I have a question for Corporation Counsel, more procedural. Judge Strance, you know, the Council is still actively deliberating on Bill 160, which we heard at Council yesterday. Now there's this budget amendment. Any cause for concern here? I mean can we even be considering this budget amendment that is before us? Just looking for some clarification. (Note: At this time, Corporation Counsel Elizabeth Strance came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. STRANCE: Elizabeth Strance, Corporation Counsel. It sort of depends on the intent of the budget amendment. You currently have pending Bill 160, and the fact that it's being talked about so much makes me pause, because under Robert's Rules of Order, the body cannot effectively amend legislation by creating another piece of legislation. So, I think there's that aspect of it. If the intention of the amendment was we're moving money to the Revolving Fund, it's an established fund, the Housing Director has expressed her belief as to the purposes for which it can be used. And so, I think the question is, do you have to amend the Revolving Fund in order to release money to a production fund later. Would you have to amend Bill 160 to retrieve the fund? And if you have to do either of those things and it involves a Code amendment, then I have some concerns about whether this proposed amendment is proper. Page 72 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 And so, this is where the line between law and finance comes in, because there are certain funds that what you—or accounts or line itemsor however you're going to they are accounts or funds with meaning. And we've talked about that before. And if they are with meaning and it's not a parking lot, for example, then I do have some concerns about whether it's crossing into either amending legislation that's previously you're currently considering or amending legislation that you've already considered and passed; or whether it really is just, you know, where you're shuffling money in it. There are differences without meaning. And so, I think that's the question. And if the Finance Director is telling you that there are distinctions with meaning, or the Housing Director is telling you that there are distinctions with meaning, then you should consider those comments about whether you concur whether they're distinctions with meaning. And if you conclude that they're not, then the proposed amendment would be proper. If they're distinctions with meaning, then it may be improper because it affects other legislation either currently pending or previously adopted. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. This is all very exhausting. You know, what's before us for me is really simple. We're going to take money out of the Housing Production Program and are we going to park it in the fund where Susan and her team can't spend it because there's nobody there to administer the program? Or are we going to be a little bit patient? Couple months move forward on what we've talked about and agreed upon publicly to administer, create the rules for this program, and administer the Housing Production Program. Real simple. I'm not comfortable moving forward with this. I mean, we agreed upon a clear strategy; worked in collaboration which we all talked about with the Administration to make sure that our policy can realistically be administered. Put it in work there and really hope that folks can see that. Just be little bit patient for the rules to come out and make sure that, you know, it's really representative of what we're trying to do here. Thank you, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Ms. Kimball, go ahead. MS. KIMBALL: First of all I just wanted to clarify that, you know, Bill 160 refers to future budgets. This amendment only applies to the budget before us today. And so, I don't see that conflict between an existing legislation in progress, only because the amendment is intended to focus on the $9 million that was appropriated from the Administration. It had nothing to do with the legislation before us. Council Member Lee Loy, I appreciate your passion and your perspective. I in no way intended for this to be or come across as a bait-and-switch. The main concern was, and I've expressed this with(Bill) 111 too, it's a lot of money without a definition. And I can appreciate, you know, asking for patience. This Page 73 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 was kind of an idea to, okay, maybe we have some rules that we can—if it's a month wait lift in this thing, fine; if it's six months, whatever. These are things we can't forecast. So, you know, again, I apologize if it appears as if were a bait-and-switch. It just occurred to me as we were discussing that, this was a mechanism potentially to provide guardrails. It wasn't intended to pull the wool over anyone's eyes. Thanks, I yield Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you Ms. Kimball. Anyone else? Mr. Chung. MR. CHUNG: Yeah, I'll just give you my thoughts on this. As I said, you know, I don't want to seem flippant on this or cavalier, but it really didn't matter to me where it was at. But you know, having really listened to everyone speaking and thinking back to those package of bills that we had, first it was the one advanced by Mr. Inaba and Ms. Kimball relating the Housing Revolving Fund, which we refined, and then there was a Charter amendment, which was defeated because of legal issues, and then separately there was Kierkiewicz' funding mechanism bill. Now, the Charter amendment as well as Ms. Kimball's, as far as I was concerned, you know, they were not mutually exclusive. And it would be terrific. We'd have two different pots of money to work with. But the Charter amendment might have been a little bit more appropriate to be, you know, tied into this account. Ms. Kierkiewicz' thing, is that 160? That's different. And I understand, you know, I'm glad that Ms. Kimball, you know, tried to at least, dispelled any notion that this is a bait-and-switch. Because I don't want to think ill of anyone in that regard. But it's not what was discussed. And for me, personally, when I voted in favor of the Housing Revolving Fund bill, it wasn't with this thing happening in mind. Because I did say, I had some concerns, but you know, I brought up some minor ones. And then it was incorporated into the bill and amended. And so I said, hey, I'm going to vote in favor of it, of course, because you know, it incorporated my concerns. But it wasn't intended, I didn't vote in favor of that with this in mind. So I just think there are other ways of, you know, getting around this. I've got to vote no, sorry. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Never mind Chair. CHR. DAVID: Okay. Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. So Director, I'm trying to put this all together. And I'll take very carefully Susan what you said about, we'll have the Page 74 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 money, but we won't have the funding to actually do what we're supposed to do, so it's just going to sit there. And I tried to emulate Mr. Chung when it comes to distilling this down. If it gets put into the Revolving Fund, is it easy to suck it back out, because I'm getting, the answer is "no" on that. MS. SAKO: County Clerk's Office was kind enough to provide me with Bill 152. So, as I was remembering, there's no provision in the County Code. The remaining sections are as they were amended. That would allow us to transfer it out of the fund, back to the Housing Fund. So once it goes in the Revolving Fund, it stays there. And the only thing we can use it on are these things that are outlined here. MR. RICHARDS: So that's stuck, and that wasn't the intention of this. This is (inaudible). We had this conversation concerning that Revolving Fund. That's restrictive and we need latitude to get this housing built. So you know, I would almost consider if we're parking it someplace, but I think where it's parked is where it needs to be right now, so you can use it. And on Ms. Kimball's point, six months, whatever. If it's not working, if things aren't happening, if we're not developing the programs; okay, then we revisit it at that point. But this is a one-way street, and I don't like that. That's not the intent. We get it stuck in there and then we can't get done what we keep saying we're going to do. So, even more so I cannot support this. Thank you Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you Chair. Deanna, you've got the bill right there, 152 in front of you? MS. SAKO: Correct. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's the allowable uses of the Revolving Fund, right? MS. SAKO: Right. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: As a fund, right? MS. SAKO: Yes, the actual fund, yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, don't want to misuse that word again. MS. SAKO: Yes, thank you. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: What do they allow, I mean, is it allowed for their production of housing within that bill? Page 75 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. SAKO: So, I don't know if that word is in here. But it does allow for plan and design, development of affordable housing by County or nonprofit development partners. Exercising buy-back options; acquisition of vacant land. There's multiple things, but you know, if there was ever we wanted to partner with someone who wasn't a nonprofit housing developer, that wouldn't be allowed. You know, not having to see Susan's entire rules, I don't know if there's things that mesh with this or not; or that work with this or would be excluded from here. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I'm hearing both sides and I know they almost accomplish the same thing. We're arguing for whether it should be one or the other. I mean, if this is coming down to the real basics of it, I feel like both of these different accounts really do serve a very similar function. And so, I don't think we want to spend all day arguing about which account it should go into. I mean if the ultimate goal is to provide affordable housing for our community through one or these accounts or the other. If so, if they both accomplish very similar tasks, then we're arguing about some very different nuances right now. And the discussion is branching into all these different things that are in process, and it's getting really, really confusing when it shouldn't be. If we can accomplish the same thing with these funds in either place, then it's a very interesting place we can. And that's what I'm getting from you two right now besides some staffing costs that you initially stated that wouldn't be covered. That leaves me very up in the air as far as what we're actually arguing about right now. Can either of you, you know, shine some light on this for me? MS. KUNZ: So my vision of how we would administer the Housing Fund or the Housing Production pot of money, right, is more. I would say, more public, more inclusive, because I'm going to be required to do public hearings and take public input. You know, the whole RFP process, I think is something that this Council wanted me to engage in, so that we can really vet different developers, different housing models, projects in different districts. And you will know what I'm doing on an annual basis because I'm coming back to you with a plan. That is the opportunity that I will have to put a program together for you if it's sitting in my Housing Fund where I will have access to develop these rules. I think it's more about the Administration. I mean, I really did. When I first heard about this amendment, I really had to sit and think a little bit. And I thought, maybe like some of you, what's the difference about where the money is sitting. And I really did contemplate this. But I started to realize how tied I am going to be and what extra layer is actually getting put on for me to administer Page 76 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 those monies, and touch the moneys, and carry out what I thought was your vision. So I'm here to tell you that I cannot carry out what we intended to do originally with the Housing Production Fund. So, if it doesn't matter how public we are and how much public input we get, then what's going to happen with the funds sitting in the Revolving Fund, is I have to access those monies and used the money that's outlined in the Revolving. The other point I want to make is that, you know, this Council has given me the latitude and some time to put together a strategic plan for how we're going to spend the Homeless Fund. And I would hope that you would give me that same latitude to develop a plan for this one. Now I realize that the Homelessness Fund is not sitting in the Housing budget or Housing Fund. It's going to be sitting in the General Fund. But still access would be similar, right? But you've given me the latitude to put a strategic plan together for the Homelessness Fund. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Could we say that a certain dollar amount would help you achieve your plan; help create some guardrails like we've discussed when it comes to production and still allow for movement to the County Housing Revolving account? I'm guessing we don't need $9 million to create a plan. This is a huge movement. It's a huge shift of funding from one place to another. MS. KUNZ: I'm not sure I understand the question, I'm sorry. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: What I'm saying is that we move all this out of Account.02 with a different account. You're saying, I can't do anything, my hands are tied. And it all goes to the Revolving Fund. Although there are uses in the Revolving Fund that are similar. If there was funds left, because they say they're going to move $7.5 million over; we're going to move $8 million over. Does that leave you enough to move forward on your plan and address what you're saying that you need to do these staffing costs? I mean, my initial concern is some of this was, there was no plan, and there was no definition. And here we are arguing about the funding, but I mean, there are some real base-level concerns before we even got to this point. I'm working through all of that right now, but is there a funding level? MS. KUNZ: I'm aligning what we're trying to do here with what we already did with the Homelessness Fund. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. MS. KUNZ: And the process that you're allowing me to go through to secure a good plan and to report back, right? I think that's the accountability piece that you're trying to make sure is in place. Page 77 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I like that. I mean, can you give me a dollar amount for that? MS. KUNZ: What my administrative costs would be? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah,just a guesstimate. I mean, like $500,000? MS. KUNZ: Like I said earlier, you know, HUD allows me 10 to 20 percent of my total allocation for administrative costs for a year. The Homelessness Fund that I had some time to work on already. I think we are estimating about five percent of the $9 million that I was given for homelessness for Admin costs. I think that kind of—would give you an idea. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I think there could be something that could be worked out possibly, yeah? MS. KUNZ: So whatever you decide to leave in my Housing Fund is all I'm going to be able to touch with this plan I'm putting together, because everything you're moving over to the Revolving Fund, you're saying you want me to administer outside of this plan. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, I understand that. That makes sense. MS. KUNZ: So I'm asking. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Well, I didn't make this. I'm just trying to make heads or tails of what's in front of us and what we're actually arguing about right now. Okay, that was very helpful for me. Thank you. I yield, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Kimball, Mr. Richards, and then me. MS. KIMBALL: I actually have a quick question for Director Sako. At this point in the game, is it possible to rename the program in the budget? MS. SAKO: You mean like 5469.02? I mean, like that title, is that what you're asking? MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, so it's the Housing Production. MS. SAKO: Yeah, it's just called Housing Production. So this bill is before the Council and they could rename it, yes. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Unless Council Member Richards has something critically urgent you want to say right now, I'm actually going to withdraw this Page 78 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 motion on the amendment at this time. Take a little time to negotiate; converse with you Administrator Kunz and Director Sako. I've heard what everybody has said. Appreciate the lengthy discussion, appreciate Mr. Chung's vote of confidence that there was no ill intent with all of this. And will maybe try to come back with something a little bit different. But before I make that withdrawal, did you want to weigh in. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Just real quick. I was going to say, the Administrator's asking us to hit the pause button, give her a little chance. And I think you already are willing to that right now because you know, do we trust her initiative? Yes. Put a timeline, three months, six months, whatever you think. And then if not then we take the next thing. But give chance to let the thing happen. So, but since you're going to withdraw, you're already going to be doing that. That's what I was going to say. CHR. DAVID: Thank you Mr. Richards. And before you make your next move, Ms. Kimball, I just want to say just a few words. I really appreciate Administrator Kunz's and Deanna just warning us and giving us some good information on the decision that we have to make. At first glance, this seemed like really a great deal. But then when I take into consideration what everyone has said, for me, I would not have been able to support this. Only because I believe moving it into the Housing Revolving Fund takes away the community in part. And I think, for me that was a very important thing on voting in favor of getting you to do the rules. And then there's that public process, and I don't see it happening if we move this money. And I think for that reason, I'm really grateful for the discussion. And then for Ms. Kimball and Mr. Inaba's decision to withdraw this. Go ahead, Ms. Kimball, I yield. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. I withdraw the motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2 with the contents of Communication 645.48. Thank you. Withdrawal of (Note: At this time, Ms. Kimball announced the withdrawal of Comm. 645.48: Comm. 645.48.) CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Communication 645.48 has been withdrawn, Mr. Clerk. Comm. 645.49: From Council Member Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, dated June 1, 2022, (Memo No. 8) transmitting a proposed amendment to increase the Fund Balance from previous Year revenue account by $900,000 and increase Contingency Relief, Miscellaneous Charges expense account by the same amount. Page 79 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Motion to Amend: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.49. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I believe we all understand what this is about. And the reasoning for this amount, I think that's always the question, it's always zero in the budget when we get, which I find very interesting. But that's the game. The reason for this is, this coming year, we're going to see a great need in the community. We saw it during the nonprofit Grant-In-Aid discussion. And each of us knows what seen in our districts. It's the same conversation we have every year. This amount of funding actually allows us to do some really good work in our community. Whether it's facilities in the County;whether it's nonprofits. Whatever it might be. This really helps get us to the end. And in a well-intentioned way. So that's my reasoning. I ask for everyone's support on this. Thank you Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Discussion, Council Members. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, thank you. You know, I guess I'm a mom. And moms tend to always take for themselves last. So, I can't support this right now, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. I actually rather get through all the other amendments to make sure that we cover all the different things that are kind of outlined in other amendments before the budget before really landing on some amount that we can utilize to help community. So, if asked to vote now kind of in this space without addressing all the other stuff first, I'm going to have to vote, no. But if you're willing to hold off until we kind of settle debts with everybody else first. And then see what's left and I, you know, would consider it at that time. Thank you Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Anyone else have any comments? Mr. Inaba, go ahead. MR. INABA: Yeah, I mean, I'm not sure what everybody else's take is. We did hear from the Director that as long as we're under $5 million, it covers all the amendments pulling from the fund balance. So we're at a good place, apparently. And I don't see any more amendments flying in right now, and I hope I don't. So, hopefully we'd be able to pass this at this point. CHR. DAVID: Thank you Mr. Inaba. Mr. Richards Page 80 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. VILLEGAS: Chair? CHR. DAVID: I'm going to go to Mr. Richards first, Ms. Villegas, I'm sorry; and then I'll go to you. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. I think Ms. Lee Loy has a very good point. Hit the pause button on this a little bit so we can see where we end up with the rest of the budget. Like I said, this is not the best way to do the budget, but it's what we've got. So, I'm not prepared to support this at this point, but circle back around at the end, depending on where we are with whole budget. I'll be very happy to revisit, I guess I'll do that at that point. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Ms. Villegas, go ahead. MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah, thank you Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder for bringing forth an amendment for the budget. I'm not sure if just normal course of action, but I was disappointed to see that the budget that came out, had zero for CRF (Contingency Relief Funds) for Council Members going into this new budget season. And I note that you are only one that brought forth an amendment to allocate Contingency Relief Funds to each one of us Council Members to serve the needs specific to our districts. So, I concur with Council Member Inaba's summation of looking at the amount of monies that we are looking at kind of reallocating, based on the amendments we have in front of us. And this one does not put us over that amount, of which we have received kind of the go ahead from Deanna. And so, I myself, if the decision comes to vote on this now, I will be supporting this amendment. And am okay to go ahead with the vote now. We don't have any other amendments with contingency funds at this time. And I am grateful for the $100,000. I also think that based on the budget and the amount of resources we have as a County coming to us, that it's an appropriate amount for each one of us to be able to utilize within our districts to serve the many needs that we have. So I respectfully yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Mr. Chung, go ahead. MR. CHUNG: You know, I'm going to support this. But I have a question. Deanna, why you know, we have a lot of money. Why was this not put into the budget from the Mayor's side? Just kind of curious. MS. SAKO: The Mayor did have some reservations on how some of the funds have been spent in the past. And so, I think some of the funds may have gotten advertised as being brought forward by a particular Council Member or things Page 81 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 like that, rather than as being sponsored by the County or on how some things were spent. And I don't want to put words in his mouth, but that was my understanding. MR. CHUNG: So that's the back story to all of this. I was kind of wondering, what happened to this? I mean, you know, if the budget was tight maybe we could have a broader discussion of this. You know, have the Mayor come down. You know, at least, I support it. I think it's a good thing; but you know, of course we don't want to misuse funds. MS. SAKO: Yeah, I think it's just being assured that there's guardrails on all the spending. MR. CHUNG: Or maybe, you know, we should tighten up our ordinance relating to the use of these CRF. MS. SAKO: Right, I believe it's in the Council Rules, yeah? MR. CHUNG: Oh, the rules, yeah. But, no, I'm okay with this. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Anyone else? Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, Ms. Sako, I mean, the question was asked. And I know earlier you stated, we stick under $5 million we're okay. There's a tremendous amount of amendments on here. MS. SAKO: I'm still trying to catch up with the more recent ones, yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: In fact, I've only been here three years, but I mean, I've never seen this many amendments to the budget, which I think is great, good. You know, it's part of the process. But are we okay in your eyes right now? You're tracking, you're watching. You know the budget better than anybody else here. MS. SAKO: So far, I think we're good, but like I said, I'm still trying to make sure I've seen everything. So, yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, okay, alright I'm okay with that. If you're comfortable with it, then I'd like to move it ahead, thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? Seeing none. I'm going to be supporting this as well, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. And thank you for bringing this forward. All those in favor of amending Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Communication 645.49 please say, "aye." Page 82 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 645.49 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Villegas, and Chair David–7. Noes: Council Members Lee Loy and Richards –2. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much, Clerk Henricks. Can we move on to Item No. 9? Comm. 645.50: From Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 9) proposed amendment to increase the Fund Balance from Previous Year revenue account by $250,000 and increase Agriculture Research and Development Miscellaneous Contract Services (Sustainable Agriculture Initiatives) expense account by the same amount. CHR. DAVID: Ms. Kierkiewicz. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.50. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Mahalo nui, Chair. You know, during the first reading of the budget, one of the things that I had kind of lifted up was this concern for not supporting active food producers here on Hawaii Island. And throughout the pandemic, my office and I'm sure others received calls from local farmers saying, "Hey, are there any grant funds to erect fences? Because I've got invasive sheep, invasive pigs, that are just trampling on my product, and it's really getting in the way of me being able to make ends meet for my family and contribute to the local food system." Glenn Sako, our Ag Specialist within R&D was part of—during the pandemic, assisting with administering a State funded program through the Department of Ag that provided these small grants to farmers for a myriad of things. But one of the things that Mr. Sako, and there he is on Zoom, found that this was probably like the number one need for our farmers. It was fencing. And so, this is very small funds, $250,000 that we are, you know, providing to R&D to administer a similar type program. I'm going to be honest. I know we love plans, specificity, and detail. I don't have that for this. I'm going to ask you to trust Glenn and his leadership and abilities in administering these funds in previous cycles to help architect a Page 83 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 program that I hope can be part of the County's annual budget. And hopefully, we are able to learn some things here and provide a report, a white paper, to the State Legislature so that next session we can get some funding to deal with this particular issue. Glenn, is there anything that you want to share with the Council about your ability to administer these funds and maybe even sharing a little bit about the work that you did during the pandemic to support local farmers? (Note: At this time, Agriculture and Economic Development Specialist Glenn Sako came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. SAKO: Thank you. Glenn Sako, Economic Development Specialist, Department of Research and Development, in Agriculture. Yes, if I may share a little bit about the Hawaii Department of Agriculture's micro-grant which was held last year, I believe. And what it was is that there was funding that came down from the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) to promote food production. And so, the Department of Agriculture worked with the different counties and allocated funds that were based on the number of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program)beneficiaries for each county and also the number of farms that were registered in that county. So Hawaii County had approximately $490,000 that was allocated to this County. And we put out a call for proposals to all those who were interested in increasing food production. Whether you were a commercial grower, a fisherman, hunter, and those backyard producers. And even those that wanted to get into food production. We received approximately 300 applications for this County. And I was fortunate enough to have two extension agents work with me in reviewing these applications. Sharon Wages and Kylie Tavares with the Hawaii County Extension Service. And it took us, I would say, at least two-and-a-half months to go through these applications, to review them, and to submit our findings back to the Department of Agriculture. And in the end, we recommended funding for about 96 applications. Of the 306 applications, we found that there were at least 54 applications that specifically said that the funding would be for fencing due to invasive ungulates getting into their production area. And for that particular program, the applications were capped at$5,000. So that is a general summary of that micro-grant program. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thanks Glenn, I really appreciate that. So,just looking for everyone's support here. I'll also share with you that over the last few months, you know, my office has been engaged by members of the Hawaiian Beaches and Shores Community, as has Rep. Ilagan, DLNR (Department of Land and Natural Page 84 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Resources); massive pig problem there. And so, while the fencing is being erect for local food producers, there are also some work being done inter- governmentally to kind of address the potential for creating value-added product with our local pork. And so,just really appreciate DLNR's collaboration here in trying to come up with some creative solutions to this invasive species issue. Thank you, Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Well done, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Yeah, nicely done. I recently, and I don't want to get district- specific, because this is not district-specific, but I reached out to Glenn. I said, "Glenn, can you tell me a little bit about the farmers in Puna? What's going on with them, what's the story?" And he said, it's hard to track the data. We don't really know. We could look another portion and try and pull out Puna-specific, but it's hard. And I was like, wow, I mean, there's a lot for us to really get behind when we talk about Ag. Especially when we help sustainability. And getting food production up and moving is a real core principle here. So well done on this. I'll be supporting this today. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you. Glenn, always good to see you. Matt, to your point, we don't have the data. And this is something that happened back in the great financial crisis when we got rid of all our statisticians in Ag, because it was a way to cut funding. No problem then, but now we are suffering. We don't know what our statistics are island-wide, let alone district-wide. And I see that as a huge need so we can figure out where we need to put the infrastructure, so we can build that capacity. This County needs, roughly speaking, about a million pounds of food a day. And that's a thousand farmers producing a thousand pounds every day. We don't have it. But if we can start building and taking steps towards that, we need that data collection. So, this is the step. We've got to see if we can find bigger funding at a different level to help this out and bolster it. So definitely supporting it. Thanks, Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else? Mr. Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Just a point of interest. Tim, you're good at these numbers. Do you know what we produce now? MR. RICHARDS: Statewide, it's about a$50 billion industry for agriculture totally. The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) out of agriculture nationally is about Page 85 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 one percent. Not quite one percent. Even California is only two percent. Their GDP from agriculture. Our State is about the same, about one percent, but this County is about four percent as best as we can guesstimate some of the numbers. We have a great opportunity with ulu, with taro, with cattle, with smaller (inaudible), goat. And then, some of the coffee, mac nut, and potentially cacao. These are some, pardon the expression, low-hanging fruit that we can actually take a swing at, and actually do something. But it's going to take the numbers and commitment of infrastructure to get that to market. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Your proclivity to have these numbers on hand is amazing. Thank you, Sir. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, thank you, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Okay, thank you Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and Mr. Richards. I'm going to go to Ms. Kimball right now. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, I'm just going to say, Matt, you're speaking Council Member Richards' love language. You know, I believe it was last year or the year before that Maui actually instituted a similar program, and it was really very successful over there. So, I'm glad to see this. Even though it's not a plan, I do appreciate that there's been a similar program through the State with the applications. And I presume you'll be using the same format for your applications or something very similar. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I'm going to jump in here real quick, Glenn. Sorry, if I might, Chair? CHR. DAVID: Yes. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: On that, I talked to a number of folks that had applied for the State-wide program. And there was issue because it was requiring them to apply and submit their application via Word Doc. Not everybody has that software. And so I think there's some things that we want to take into consideration in the new iteration of this. At the end of the day, farmers are really good at farming. The paperwork is sometimes an afterthought. And so I just want to make sure that there's a very transparent process for them to like access the funding but making it super easy for them to apply and qualify. Thank you, Glenn, for letting me answer. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, actually, that was you're leading me to my point, which is, you know, I recently had a conversation with HIAP (Hawai`i Island Agriculture Partnership), which is one of the organizations out there, which is a collaboration of farmers. And one of the recommendations that was made was to Page 86 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 use existing certifications that they already need to get for, you know, say certified organic or something like that, as kind of a major checkbox that they meet a lot of the criteria that might validate them to us. So just in the sense of reducing the amount of paperwork and administrative-type things, I just wanted to make that recommendation. I'm sure you've already considered it as a way to kind of ensure that we're getting the money to the right people but we're also doing it quickly. And there are all these programs that already exist that can be that validation step. So thank you, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. And seeing no other Council Members for discussion, I just want to say, thank you to Ms. Kierkiewicz for bringing this forward as well. And given that, all those in favor of amending Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Communication 645.50,please say "aye." Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 645.50 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Comm. 645.51: From Council Member Kierkiewicz, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a proposed (Memo No. 10) to increase the Fund Balance from Previous Year revenue account by $615,000, increase Real Property Taxes revenue by $260,000, and increase the Grants to Nonprofit Organizations, Miscellaneous Charges expense account by $875,000. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Ms. Kierkiewicz. Page 87 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Motion to Amend: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.51. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. This amendment is related to our nonprofit Grant-In-Aid program. We had a lot of discussion yesterday about how we wish we could fund everybody. And there being an abundance of funding within the County coffers and because there were some changes within the program and some folks that have historically received funding didn't get it this year, I think Finance really tightened their belt around the eligibility piece. And so that evened the limit of folks that were even eligible to be having their applications scored. So this is an attempt to fund 100 percent of the applications that were deemed eligible. I think that was 134. And it would pull from two different pots of money, Real Property Tax, as well as Fund Balance. So, looking for everyone's support on this one. Thank you, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else, discussion? Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: So,just as a clarification on this. When we've looked at those in the past, when I've served on that, we looked at a spectrum. And I know as we were rotating, we talked about either a fully fund or don't fund. Are we looking at fully fund all the requests? Is that what the intent on this is? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair if I might respond? CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, you may respond. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Fully funding applications that were deemed eligible by the Finance Department. Over 200 were received, but only 134 were deemed eligible, and that is what the Committee scored. And that's the proposal here, is to fund everybody that was eligible. And yesterday, were you here yesterday? I can't remember. Okay, you weren't here. So some of the things that we had talked about was funding 100 percent of the ask, which is a decision that we made as an ad hoc committee. In years past, it was sometimes a percentage or all of what they requested. And for some of us, it didn't sit right because there was real no methodology around why you're giving somebody 10 percent of their ask versus 90 percent of their ask. And because there was some changes with the program this year just felt, across the board, wanting to fund everybody. And just for a little bit more clarification, the real property tax piece here, that $418,000, all of that would be supporting organizations that had a homeless Page 88 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 outreach component to it. There's the Bill 111 monies that is allocated for homelessness and housing. So it would be tapping some of those funds to support agencies delivering homeless services. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, and that goes in line with the previous year's conversation concerning, if you partially fund a program, you're almost setting it up to fail. Because they don't have enough to get over the hump. So okay, alright, thank you for the clarification. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Ms. Kimball, go ahead. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. You know, I'm on board with funding some additional programs in the grant-in-aid that we weren't able to fund. I do have some concerns about fully funding some of the programs where the budget request was not in alignment with the outcomes, the ask. And so, what I'm going to propose isI'm sure that we can actually, you know, we can put the full amount in and not use all of it. What I'd like to suggest for discussion is that rather than we fund everybody, we did have two columns in our analysis spreadsheet, that had specifically to do with budget and how well the budget actually aligned with the outcomes. Again, keeping from being just subjective and arbitrary, maybe we could use a combination of the overall score and specifically those two to determine, okay this program maybe should get partial funding rather than full funding. I do think there were very clearly to me, some programs that were asking for way more than what their program would deliver. And I would not want to fund those fully. Just to be honest. Thanks Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you Ms. Kimball. Anyone else? Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: Well first of all, I support this. I think it was a growing experience for this year. And so I don't want to—I want to take responsibility for the things that we can do better. I also like the way this is being funded because we've identified those that have the homeless component to actually utilize funds that is specifically geared to that. And so, I even think we're stretching some of our dollars that is actually assigned to this program further because we've identified those with the homeless component. That being said, you know, I'm open to funding it completely and then refining that through the contract process, because we do have an opportunity there to really define to all of the recipients, you're getting this money and what we want to see in return. Page 89 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 So I do think we achieve that all with this amendment, and then addressing the concerns that even I do have that their budget may have not matched the program deliverables as much as I had hoped. And I think we can refine that through the contract process. So with that, Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I'm not sure who to ask this question of, so I'm just going to ask it. With where we are with the budget and wanting to fully fund everyone, Director Sako and maybe Corp. Counsel, who wants to get involved here. But also hearing from my colleagues about, well, maybe we want to take a look at folks that didn't meet the 60 percent threshold we were looking at; reevaluating how much meat we may want to give them, do we need to convene another ad hoc. I mean how does this interplay with the budget? I know that you are wanting to get this done. MS. SAKO: Well, that sounds like a Corporation Counsel question. Sorry, Betsy. But you know, I have to say I haven't seen the amendment to amend the nonprofits yet come forward today. So, and maybe it's waiting,pending this funding, but we need direction on, you know, which nonprofits to fund. And it would be nice if the totals match. It is possible, like where we have the $2.5 million just sitting in a lump-sum amount, I guess it would be possible to leave some there while Council continues to evaluate or whatever mechanism you use to do that. Yes. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Mr. Clerk, do you want to jump in here? Provide any mana`o on just the procedural piece with the ad hoc. MR. HENRICKS: Kind of waiting and see how this vote goes. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. MR. HENRICKS: And then I'm going to ask questions about what you want us to do, because we're responsible for giving Deanna guidance; line items for each nonprofit. What they're going to be awarded as part of the budget. Now, as she said earlier, that doesn't have to happen today, but in the program's interest, the sooner the better, yeah, so that she can be certain who has by budget who has been awarded what. And then they can provide notification, contracts are timely; people are getting their first quarterly payment in a timely manner. I think it's a quarterly, no? MS. SAKO: Just semiannual now. MR. HENRICKS: Semiannual payment. When they would anticipate getting that. So normally again, you know, before the budget is presented to the Mayor, Page 90 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 it would include those line items for each nonprofit. And if it's zero or if it's whatever it's going to be, and that's where we would need guidance. That's why I was going to ask after this. Or at some point we need to figure out what that's going to be and if we're doing that today or not. MS. SAKO: And just as a reminder, per Code, by August 31st, we have to at least, we have to notify the applicants. MR. HENRICKS: Circle back. That's why you haven't seen an amendment that provided the award amounts because we did not know, and we still don't know. We haven't been provided that guidance. When I say "we," I mean our office. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. So presumably, we can move forward with this amendment, but we don't have to expend every single dollar here. If the Council wanted to convene another ad hoc to go back to the applications and figure out folks that didn't score above 60, what their award would look like. We can do that; we'd finalize our list, transmit it to the Council as an amendment to the budget. Then you would have the list of folks to notify that they have an award. MS. SAKO: By August 31st. But is the Council's intention to appropriate any of them specifically, or you'd wait to the second ad hoc committee met? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: No, I think there's agreements on the first tranche, correct. But then there were other folks that, we have some questions. And we want to support them, but we don't know at what level at this point, at this day and time, at 2:30 p.m. We don't know. Okay, alright. I guess I'm just going to ask everybody for support on this. And then we can convene another Human Services, Social Services Committee to discuss details about how we proceed with amendments to the budget that allocate awards to the various nonprofits in this program. Thank you Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Go ahead, Ms. Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. I just was taking a few moments to add up the amendments that we have in front of us thus so far today. And with the inclusion of the amendment in front of us for $875,000. That puts us at$6,108,529. So, I just wanted to kind of bounce that off of Deanna, because $5,000 was the number that was utilized earlier for a safety zone for amendments in adding costs to the budget. I also then, you know, yesterday in the conversations, I felt pretty strongly about keeping at$2.5 million for our grant-in-aid program. And we did get some words from Corp. Counsel about the potential of a slippery slope. And while it may not Page 91 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 set a legal precedent, it still might be ill-advised to create something that then gets looked back at as kind of setting a benchmark or standard. With this extra $875,000 added to the $2.565 million, we're at$3,440,000. And while I appreciate the sentiment in wanting to fund nonprofits, a project completelyI know as well as all of you that when we write a budget, you're creating a story and you're putting cost items with it. And sometimes things come in under budget, and sometimes things come in over budget. That's why you have the budgeted amount and the actual amount. And going into something like this, those nonprofits that haveI mean, hundreds of thousands of dollars to one nonprofit for multiple projects, as much of a generous heart and much as I love nonprofits and work with them and want to provide funding, I question the fiscal responsibility of increasing this give, by such a large percentage. I think there are other ways. I still think it would be possible to reduce a couple of who are currently being funded by a couple thousand dollars in order to bring us in alignment with the $2.5 million, which I understand that according to the terminology, it is a minimum of—but I question the numbers here as we move forward. And it puts up way pass the $5 million, and it puts us way pass the $2.5 (million). So I have serious reservations about this amendment. Thank you, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Ms. Kimball, go ahead. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. I just had a couple questions for my colleagues. Council Member Kierkiewicz, you mentioned that because a portion of this funding is coming out of RPT that this would part of that$11 million from Bill 111. Do we have to specify that at all? What's the mechanism there? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: What do you mean by specify? MS. KIMBALL: So Bill 111 said 75 percent of real property tax revenue would go to addressing the homelessness problem. So it sufficient? And I'm only asking because I don't know the answer. Is it sufficient to just say, okay, this revenue is going to come from real property tax? We're going to send it to the 808 programs, and some of the other programs we had already identified as awardees that are specifically in that arena. Is it enough to just say, okay, we're pulling it from real property tax to specify that that's coming from that $11 million pot? CHR. DAVID: Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead. Page 92 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Does there need to be a dollar, are you saying that is it enough to just name the organization, or is there a dollar amount that needs to be attached to the organization we're awarding? MS. KIMBALL: I'm saying, in terms of our budgeting, if we say we've got"X" amount from real property tax is for addressing homelessness, we say we're going to fund these four programs with, you know, with that real property tax because they have to do with homelessness. So that reduces the $11 million down by that equivalent amount. Is that—how do we clarity that's what happens to that there isn't this perception that there's still $11 (million) after we do the Grant-In-Aid funding. Does that make sense? Does anybody understand what I'm trying to say? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I think so. I mean this is guidance that was provided by Finance Director and RPT, as to how we would kind of draw down from those funds. I'm sorry, it's a long day. Deanna, if you understand what's being asked, and can shed some insight, please come up. MS. KIMBALL: I apologize for trying to this is what I'm asking, because I clearly don't understand, because I can't even ask the question. MS. SAKO: Can you try your question one more time, please? It has been a long day. MS. KIMBALL: Okay, we have this pot, $11 million. We are asking to take some of that pot and put it into the grant-in-aid program, which would fund some of the awardees that have programs related to houelessness. The way this, as an amendment, and I support the amendment. MS. SAKO: You're talking about the $9.5 million, right? MS. KIMBALL: Did I say? I'm sorry, $9.5 million. MS. SAKO: Yeah, I think that was part of my confusion. MS. KIMBALL: That probably didn't help to have the wrong number, right. So what I'm asking is, are you just going to account for it internally that okay, that $11 million is coming; $9.5 million—it's only 2:30. I can imagine how this is going to be the rest of the day. MS. SAKO: So that in order to confirm that we're in compliance with the new section in the County Code, we have it all in one program or section of the budget, that homelessness titled projects. And so we would like to account for all of it there so that we can insure we meet the 75 percent. Because if we start moving it to nonprofit grants or start moving to Community Policing or other areas, we're going to lose track of it. Page 93 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 However, I am agreeable to making multiple sections under the homelessness program to account for the various things that need to be accounted for. Does that make sense? MS. KIMBALL: That makes sense. And that actually addresses—what I'm trying to get at is like I don't want to be double counting where we're getting the funds from. And I really do like the idea of being able to fund more of our grant-in-aid projects by taking some of those funds that were dedicated to houselessness and supporting the people who do that really well already. So, your suggestion, if I'm hearing this right, is maybe an amendment that actually clarifies that within the houselessness fund. MS. SAKO: Houselessness program. Yes, under the General Fund. MS. KIMBALL: Houselessness program. Sorry, I'm sorry Deanna. MS. SAKO: No, it's okay. I'm just saying, in that section, I'm happy to create additional breakdowns. Because this is the first year for that program that Mr. Chung's bill created. And so, we want to just be, you know, we're still trying to figure out what all types of accounts we need. But if the Council so chooses, that one of them is nonprofit grants-in-aid that support homelessness, or as defined by that section of the Code, then that's fine. If part of it is Community Policing or other things, I may have looked ahead. Sorry, but you know, I'm just saying, you know, that we're happy to create, like a police section or different things like that. I think ultimately in the end, Administrator Kunz needs to know what she has to spend and distribute out to take care of that issue. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Aright. You know, I really like using some of that revenue to fund the grant-in-aid programs that comply with the intent of Bill 111. So it sounds like maybe we need to go back and revisit it, if I'm hearing Director Sako, and just amend this slightly differently. One last question for you, Sue, actually is when you talked about using the contract to address the issue, are you thinking we write the contract to meet the ask, or that we adjust the ask through the contract and then we meet that? And there's two very different approaches because of the capacity of the organization. MS. LEE LOY: I think it's all on the table when it comes to contracting, right? We're giving you money and you're going to give a deliverable. In an effort to try and help everyone being less confused, it is my goal that we identify programs that have a homeless or houeless component in our nonprofit grant-in-aid. And then in the future,just direct them straight to Housing. So, in the future, our nonprofit grant-in-aid program will not have applicants requesting money for these programs. And so, it's almost a half a step forward with this amendment. Page 94 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 And Deanna, I guess I do need to ask you a little bit more clarity, because I think some of the amendments you see now and in the future, there's one. I think it starts to create those different line items. And so, I'm just trying to help identify or help you utilize the program monies and the different line items that they can go for. Which is the best way to do it? MS. SAKO: So, as I mentioned, the $9.5 million,which may need to be amended, depending on what the final rates are set up. That money, we have it all in one section. And so, I think we just need to create additional either line items or sections so that, if the intention is for part of it to go to nonprofit grant-in-aids, or part of it is to go to other programs, that were clear on what department is spending what. And our team can help create account numbers as necessary, or at least detail it out so that hopefully, with this year, this coming year, fiscal year 2023 is under our belt, as we start to prepare the FY 2024 Budget, we'll have a better idea of maybe what some of those sub-accounts and areas are. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, and I think it's almost, this is the training wheels for the sub-account. So my question is, is this amendment the way to do it, or do you want to ? MS. SAKO: Specifically, on Memo 10, or are you talking about some of the other ones? MS. LEE LOY: Yes. MS. SAKO: If the intention is that some of this money, if you wanted part of it to be funded by that$9.5 million homelessness, I would break out part of the $9.5 million—like reduce that and increase it in another section there, or in a different line item. And then the net amount would be increased here if I'm hearing you correctly. I'm not sure if that's the maker's idea. I'm just saying that's how you would accomplish using some of homelessness funds for that. MS. LEE LOY: Okay. I think the intention is there. And we're all supportive of that. It's how Deanna creates those sub-accounts so that she can track the funds. Thank you. I forgot who had the floor. CHR. DAVID: You did, Ms. Lee Loy. Then I'll go to Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I want to be careful we don't get into different areas. And we kind of got sidetracked on one of the amendments, a couple back. And I just want to make sure we're proceeding. We're not discussing up and coming legislation or how we do things later on in the year. If it ties back to the bill, I mean the communication in front of us, great. But I want Page 95 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 to make sure because we got a lot of work to do still, folks. And I want to make sure that we get through this and get done and make good decisions for the rest of the day and not get too late in the day. So, you know, my reservations on this is that we said $2.5; we're now at $3.3 million. Again, this is taxpayer funds. I applaud the effort to take care of the nonprofits who were qualified and who didn't get anything and go back to the drawing board and take a look at that. I think that's good. But, you know, our fiduciary responsibility is to ensure that we do good things with taxpayer funds. And $2.5 million is a lot of money, $3.3 million is a lot of money. This could get real out of hand real fast. So take care the folk we're supposed to take care of. Great. You know, I'll be supporting this in that light, because I really felt for some of the people who came in and testified that were qualified who didn't receive a dime. But coming into next year, I mean, we've got to make good decisions across the board. And just climbing this account and going crazy with it or drawing from different sources and creating all these different programs. It's going to get out of hand real fast. So, I'll be supporting this today in light of the nonprofits who came in and testified. Besides that, we've got to be careful going forward. I yield, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? Go ahead, Mr. Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you. Yeah, I just, I mean I'm trying to. I'm sorry, I couldn't work fast enough. I was trying to total the people who got funding in the recommendation and who are providing, or those funds are for homeless services. I just don't have the numbers right now. So with that, I mean, on face value I don't want to support this because we made a call, and the Council approved the recommendation yesterday. But I do also recognize and feel for those organizations who didn't get, who might have needed some type of judgement call that the committee didn't make, and the Council didn't make yesterday either. So, it's a hard place to be. And without clear direction right now, I guess I have to vote "no." And because I think there's enough from the groups that did get funding that could be moved, but that's the only reason why I'm voting "no." Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Anyone else before I go? Okay, great, thank you for that discussion. Oh, Ms. Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: I'm sorry. I just want to be clear. It sounds like we don't quite have the right language in the amendment. Am I wrong in terms of, if we want to use some of the houeless funds, we should word it slightly differently. I feel like Page 96 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 that's what I heard from Director Sako because I support the idea. So I just want to do it right. And if it means revisiting this with another amendment, let's take the time to do that. That's what I'm walking away understanding. MS. SAKO: So, on Page 141 of the details, we have Homelessness as a program, and it's under 5465.01. If you wanted to be able to track the various pieces, this could be their account assigned to Housing. So they would know what they had to administer. And you could add a 5465.02, let's say, for nonprofit grants. Or a 5465.03 for other programs that may be necessary. Does that help? CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Mr. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: That's helpful. Thanks Director. We'll make those changes and get a more precise amendment put forward. Chair, I'm going to withdraw this one, thank you. Withdrawal of (Note: At this time, Ms. Kierkiewicz announced the Motion to Amend: withdrawal of the motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.5 1.) CHR. DAVID: Clerk Henricks, move to the next memo, please. Comm. 645.52: From Council Member Susan L. K. Lee Loy, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 11) proposed amendment to decrease the Highway Engineering Salaries and Wages, Regular Salaries and Wages account by $45,000, and increase the Highway Maintenance Administration Equipment, Construction and Repair account by the same amount(Tractor Mower - $11,250, Water Truck - $11,250, Grader - $11,250, and Skidsteer - $11,250). CHR. DAVID: Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. I'm withdrawing this one and making further refinements. Withdrawal of (Note: At this time, Ms. Lee Loy announced the withdrawal of Comm. 645.52: Comm. 645.52.) CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Clerk Henricks, moving on. I'll just state that Comm. 645.52 has been withdrawn by Council Member Lee Loy. Page 97 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Comm. 645.53: From Council Member Susan L. K. Lee Loy, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 12) proposed to decrease the Building Design and Engineering Salaries and Wages account by $33,000, and increase the following Building Inspection Other Current Expenses accounts: Travel/Conferences TRAINING FOR INSPECTORS AND PUBLIC by $10,000, Computer & Office Supplies MONITOR by $15,500 to a new line item titled Monitors, and Subscription &Membership SOFTWARE LICENSES AND E-CODE BOOKS by $7,500. CHR. DAVID: Ms. Lee Loy. Motion to Amend: Ms. Lee Loy moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.53. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. This one actually stays within the department,just moving it around from Salary and Wages into their OCE account. As a little bit of backdrop, I did this similar amendment last year and the department not only utilized all the money we moved, they actually came back to us to move even a little bit more into this training account. And so, I'm just replicating what I saw happen last year. And that's what we're doing. We're taking money out of Salary and Wages and putting into Training, Inspection, and Equipment. And I ask for my colleagues' support. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Anyone else? Go ahead, Mr. Inaba. MR. INABA: This $30,000 was what kind of position? MS. LEE LOY: Thank you for that. There's actually funded positions, but nobody in them. So we just shaved like two or three months off of two different positions and came up with this amount. So the positions are still available. If they are to be filled, it'll just probably be filled in August or September of this next fiscal. MR. INABA: Okay, thank you. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba and Ms. Lee Loy for that explanation. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Communication 645.53, please say, "aye." Page 98 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 645.53 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. Comm. 645.54: From Council Member Susan L. K. Lee Loy, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 13) proposed amendment to decrease the Homelessness, Miscellaneous Contract Services (Homeless Contracted Programs) account by $122,500; and increase the Police—Other Current Expenses, Miscellaneous Charges accounts by the same amount to a new line item titled COMMUNITY POLICING and appropriating $17,500 for each of the following district accounts: South Hilo, Hamakua, Waimea, Kohala, Kona, Ka`u, and Puna. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Ms. Lee Loy. Motion to Amend: Ms. Lee Loy moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.54. Seconded by Mr. Richards. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, thank you. This is another one where we're utilizing the Homeless Fund and putting into Community Policing. I just want to take temperature, because it seems like we have to refine the account and how it works out. But if this is something that the rest of my colleagues would like to see some of that funds be utilized for enforcement through Community Policing, I'd like to hear back. And if that is the case, I will make the appropriate account refinements. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Ms. Kimball and then Mr. Richards. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah,just quickly. Is this still necessary given the amendment we passed previously. This is in addition and on top of those? I'm just wondering if this is still needed, given that we passed the previous amendment to provide contract servicing funding for P&R(Department of Parks and Recreation), for all those various Park facilities. Is this different? MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, this one is straight into Community Policing. So, the monies we passed for Parks was for Parks to address homelessness in parks. This one is going into Community Policing, in which we know some of that monies could be used for enforcement. Am I reading that right? Page 99 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. KIMBALL: I'm sorry, are we on .55? MS. LEE LOY: 645.54. MS. KIMBALL: Oh, I'm sorry. I withdraw my question. I do support one to—I do just want to—I think we probably need to make the same amount that we're doing with the grant-in-aid. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Mr. Richards and then Mr. Chung. MR. RICHARDS: Thanks, Chair. Yes, I support this. In my district, the Community Police are dealing with the homeless. And so the more we can bolster and hold them up, I think it's a good direction. Because we're addressing the problem, we're not fixing it yet, but we're addressing it, so we don't have a real bad problem, at least in my district as of yet. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Mr. Chung, go ahead. MR. CHUNG: Yeah, and you know, I support this. And I'm going to vote for it. And also in concept it's good, but I have to say that I think at some point, maybe in the futureI know we want to try to be equal throughout the island, but there are some problem areas: Downtown Hilo, Kailua-Kona. And those are economic drivers. But I know each district has their problems, but you know, I like the idea. So maybe if in the future, you guys could consider tweaking it to meet the needs of the island as a whole. That's all. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Here's my issue, we're talking about homelessness and addressing the problem. Our Community Police Officers definitely deal with the homeless folks. But a lot of the time they're taking them, arresting them, booking them; and they end up being right back out in the street in a period of days. So providing funding to the Police, although necessary, and although they already have funding for these positions and for what they do and I support that, I just, I'm having a hard time because they're frustrated too and we're not just addressing the problem. I was really hoping that this homelessness funding, this homelessness funding, was going to start going towards more services so that the police don't have to respond to them. But this is helping, but at the same time, it's not fixing. I guess that's my issue. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Lee Loy. Hang on Ms. Villegas. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, if I could. Absolutely, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. It's just one piece, right? We need to create all the wrap-around services. So, I'm just getting them ready for all the other parts while they go get ready with that Page 100 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 $9 million. So this is just a small part for our Community Policing Division to be trigger-ready, so that when all those other services activate it can all happen collectively. But I hear you. You're right. They're frustrated. It's, you know, just kind of this cycle that happens to them. It's going to take a collective, and I think—some future—Council Member Kimball and I are creating some of that framework for that bill that will be able to discuss that. So, thank you for that. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Ms. Villegas, go ahead. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. You know, I want to echo the sentiments Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Having worked very closely with Community Policing in District 7, and the challenges faced in one of the most urban communities here on the island. You know, they're understaffed, is the challenge there. I believe understaffed by—well it's vacillated but upwards of potentially sometimes five community police officers. And so, I just echo the sentiments. I appreciate the funding being provided. I don't know anybody that would say, "No don't put money in this coffer." I just have a quick question for Deanna. Going to Police OCE Miscellaneous Charges in each one of the districts, what kind of expenses does that provide? And I'm not sure if anybody's here from the Police Department or what their take on this is. But what kind of things can be paid for under this line item? MS. SAKO: So in general, our OCE is for actual items, like materials and supplies, and those type of things. I am not positive that was the intention or if it was meant to be for things like overtime. So we'd have to ask Ms. Lee Loy that question. But if it's to sit in the 341 account, we would expect it to be spent on like material and supplies, and those type of things. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, thank you. So,just as an example, if it did sit here in materials and supplies, one of the things that had been suggested for our Community Policing in Kona was potentially like a four-wheeler. For, you know, we've had police on bikes before; and it was just one of the ideas that was bounced around. So was that an expense that would be compatible with this line item? MS. SAKO: It could. We might actually, depending on the size of the four- wheeler, move it to an equipment account. But this is again where we were saying, we want to account for all of this homeless money together, so that we can insure we've spent the appropriate total. So we would probably the preferred method, as Ms. Lee Loy explained, was to, you know, create another account in the Homelessness category. And then, they could do equipment object codes or 341, or whatever was needed. Page 101 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, thank you. My other question comes to decreasing the Homelessness, Miscellaneous, Contract Services. The first organization that comes to mind is Hope Services. So this decreases funding for organizations that currently the County pays these groups to help manage and work on homeless programs in our communities. MS. SAKO: Right. That's the line item this is getting removed from. So, you know, again, this is the first year of this program, and so Housing has come up with their program and what they intend to do with it. I'm not sure, you know, that they've initiated that program yet. And so, by divvying it out into sections, it would let Housing know how much they have left to spend. But that's up to the will of the Council. MS. VILLEGAS: Got you, thank you. That actually helps clarify. My mind was thinking this was coming from a different area. But thank you for that. And then I just wanted to ask Council Member Lee Loy. Was that your intention then in moving the funding from this Homelessness Miscellaneous Contract Services Contracted Programs and putting in the OCE Miscellaneous Charges? Was that the intention then for that kind of spend within Community Policing? MS. LEE LOY: Yes. The short answer is yes. You know, we're learning that. As Deanna mentioned, this is a new account. And how we can create sub-accounts so that she can account for the money. And this is something we did again last year. We put more money into Community Policing because they are the frontline addressing community concerns. And so, I just wanted to give them as much support that we could for everything that they do. To speak to your concern about how this may be minimizing other funds for other programs that address homelessness or houselessness. That's the entire wraparound piece that we keep talking about. And some of that requires some enforcement while still providing for all the other programs that do wonderful work with mental health services; care, housing, it's going to take all of it. And I think as we fillet out this program a little bit, we'll be able to identify the true costs of what this is really costing our community. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you for clarifying on those things. And I agree, I mean Community Policing gets hit. Their broad spectrum of tasks and responsibilities gets overloaded. And you know, we had a homeless crisis in front of the Kona pool a few weeks ago that just really escalated and Community Policing took a lot of the verbal hits on that. And it took the collaboration of many different groups in order to find a solution to that. So, I'm all for supporting Community Policing. I just needed a little bit of clarification on these items. Page 102 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 And I just remain hopeful that other community members will find it as part of a calling to join the Police Department and join our fine brothers and sisters who served in that capacity in what can so often be a very thankless job. So, thank you for bringing forth this amendment. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Anyone else? MS. LEE LOY: Chair? CHR. DAVID: Chair, with that I'm going to withdraw it because I got the feedback. We have to create the different accounts. So I have a direction. Withdrawal of (Note: At this time, Ms. Lee Loy announced the Motion to Amend: withdrawal of the motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.54.) CHR. DAVID: Thank you. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Mahalo. Mr. Clerk, Communication 645.54 has been withdrawn by Ms. Lee Loy. Comm. 645.55: From Council Member Susan L. K. Lee Loy, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 14) proposed to decrease the Homelessness, Miscellaneous Contract Services (Homeless Contracted Programs) account by $194,000, and increase the Parks and Recreation Administration Other Current Expenses, Miscellaneous Contract Services (Security Services) account by the same amount. Motion to Amend: Ms. Lee Loy moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 654.55. Seconded by Mr. Inaba CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Again, similar to the previous amendment. I'm just looking for feedback. I want to make sure that we're headed in the right direction. I think this is how the Council uses a budget to determine goals and objectives for our entire County. And we're seeing that this is one, a need;but two, a goal for us. So I would love to hear your feedback. This amendment was actually imagined after what happened down at Old Kona Airport which Ms. Villegas talked about. I had a meeting with Director Messina that day and he had to cancel. And it was because of that particular event. He was having to deal with it. And that just really sparked this amendment itself. Looking Page 103 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 for my colleagues' support, direction, and then like the others, I will be withdrawing and creating a whole new amendment to address all of these issues. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and then Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, I like this one. It interplays with Ms. David's Memo Number 3, and she put a lot of funding into security. So I'd like to see those two kind of complement each other in one way or another. Or like working with Communication 645.44 and .55 in trying to find that balance. That's it. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Building off of Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder's comments, and I do support this, I'm just curious. The Director did provide us with a list of locations around the island where they're looking to have that 24/7 security presence. So I'm just wondering what this additional funding would be used for. If there are other sites that come up that need security is this what the fund is intended to support? MS. LEE LOY: Yes. Absolutely. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. MS. LEE LOY: But drawing from a different account, right? I don't want to bowl out our General Fund account too much when we have other funds available that can support in a very focused manner. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So these are contingencies? MS. LEE LOY: Yes. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Alright. I can support that. Thank you, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I'm going to go way, way back and actually mahalo Mr. Chung for bringing forward the bill that did this. Because we wouldn't have a discussion about these things and be able to pull from this funding source, With all the different amendments I've seed today, without that bill. So mahalo, Mr. Chung. Page 104 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Thank you for that, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? Ms. Kimball, go ahead. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, I kind ofI appreciate the intent. I kind of want to see how this works out at the sites that we've already approved first. And I'm a little reluctant. I meant to chime in on that last bill before you withdrew it. I actually maybe want to see these not from the houseless fund, but we can have a conversation about that during a break or something. Just my thoughts right now, is to kind of see how this works with these others before adding one additional contract position. My thoughts. Thanks. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Anyone else? Seeing none, Ms. Lee Loy, everybody asked the questions that I needed to hear. Thank you. Mr. Clerk. Ms. Lee Loy has withdrawn Communication 645.55. Withdrawal of (Note: At this time, Ms. Lee Loy announced the withdrawal of Motion to Amend: the motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.55.) Comm. 645.56: From Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 15) proposed to increase the Fund Balance From Previous Year revenue account by $500,000, and increase the Prosecuting Attorney Other Current Expenses, Miscellaneous Contract Services expense account by the same amount to a new line item titled INNOVATIVE PROSECUTION. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.56. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. This is in response to a lot of the increase in crime that we're seeing throughout the community. I had hoped that Prosecutor Waltjen could be here right now because this is a partnership with his office. But he's not because there's been another stabbing and there's some issues that are happening within Puna, which is why I'm trying to sound a very loud alarm with this funding and some innovating prosecution programs related to just diverting folks out of the court system. There's been a lot of talk about the success of the Weed and Seed program, but that's not helpful to us here because our jails are at over capacity, and we can't arrest ourselves out of the situation. People need help. There needs to be intervention, and this is what this pilot program would be supporting. In conversations with Prosecutor Waltjen—and he's been here, you've talked to him, really impressive guy—talked to him about what can we do to address some of the kind of petty misdemeanor actions. How do we prevent folks from even Page 105 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 getting into the system. And some of the intervention he mentioned to me was, you know, "Ash, a lot of times people get a record for something very simple." They're driving without a license. They never got a license. Then they can't get to their court date. Now there's a bench warrant out for their arrest. And it just catalyzes a lot of this criminal activity. So what we're looking to do is a couple of things. Get into the high schools, reach our at-risk youth, ensure that they're being provided with resources and support to get the driver's ed so that they have driver's license. The other thing is to address recidivism. These nonviolent petty misdemeanors such as disorderly conduct, criminal trespassing, public intoxication, shoplifting, traffic offenses, giving them an option. Instead of going to court, here's what you do: We'll get you all cleaned up, we will also link you up with the Workforce Development services that are being administered by R&D so that you have jobs and skillsets and training. We're going to make sure that you have bus passes or an Uber so that you can get to work, and we're also going to make sure that you have stable housing. What we're trying to do here is link up a lot of the different programs that are operating by the County and within the community and getting it all worked together so that we can have folks become contributing members of community. Happy to answer any questions folks might have. You might have a lot. This is a significant amount of money here that I'm asking for. It's $500,000, but Prosecutor Waltjen is happy to come forward to this body and present a plan for how we would be engaging various agencies at the County and State level. And our intention is to develop a white paper that can be used to share with the Legislature ahead of next session, because if we are able to demonstrate some success here in keeping people out of the court system, it's very possible that we can get some Statewide funding to support a program like this in perpetuity. So thanks for everyone's kind consideration. Chair, I yield for now. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Mr. Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: My only concern with this is "Innovative Prosecution." This sounds scary. It's creative prosecution. That sounds scary to me. That's my only concern. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair if I could just address that? CHR. DAVID: Ms. Kierkiewicz. Page 106 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, you know, Prosecutor Waltjen's office was really great in being able to secure a position and funding for innovative prosecution, but they weren't able to hire anyone. So this is an account where they actually had funding to support a position, and so there would be somebody there able to administer this pilot diversion program. So that's the reason why we're parking it in the account. And really, this is innovative, right? We're not trying to arrest our way out of a situation. We're trying to be really innovative in getting people the support that they need to clean up their lives and be contributing citizens. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Ms. Kimball. MS. VILLEGAS: Chair? CHR. DAVID: We'll go to you after Ms. Kimball, Ms. Villegas. Thank you. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Kierkiewicz, for bringing the added bit of information regarding that funding. And where did the Prosecutor's Office get that funding? Was that a State grant, or federal? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I don't know. I'm sorry. I just know it's grant funded. I don't know if Director Sako might know. She knows about all the grants that folks have. But they're acting through the contract extension that's happening here. I can't recall if it's a State or federal grant, but there is funding for a position. MS. KIMBALL: Okay, and so that position description and the grant funding as it was appropriated to us is—kind of maybe encapsulates some of the program outcomes and goals I would presume? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes. What I described fits within the kuleana of that position. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. And is this modeled after programs from other locations, other jurisdictions? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I don't know. No, I can't say that they're doing this in Minneapolis or in Baltimore or Buffalo. You know, what we are doing here is we are taking a look at the assets we have and using that to solve the problems that we're seeing on the ground. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Director Sako, if you've got the answers immediately available. If not, that's okay. But I just was curious about that. Page 107 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. SAKO: I'm guessing they used one of their grants. I'm just not positive which one. And they do have a Big Island Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center, the BIJAC one. They have the Substance Abuse, USSS (United States Secret Services) Electronic Crimes, Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center, Federal Grant Solutions, Combat Violence, the SAKI (Sexual Assault Kit Initiative) Investigation and Prosecution, and the CESF (Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding) Hawaii County Safe Protocol Logistics. So I'm not sure which grant, but they do have multiple grants they may have been using. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Alright. Thank you, Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Mr. Richards, go ahead. Oh, I'm sorry, Ms. Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. I suppose a similar question to Council Member Kimball's. I recognize here that this is a new line item under the Prosecuting Attorney operating costs. I wondered then, has that position—if the position hasn't been filled yet, but has been funded—I want to make sure I understood that correctly—so the position had been funded, which would live under a different line item, which was funded from State or federal grant. So now, we're putting money into a new line item to fund an innovative, for lack of a better term, prosecution project but the person to run that still hasn't been hired? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair if I might? CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: They're in the process of hiring her, and this would provide her funding to actually get a program off the ground. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. Thank you. Oh, I guess I wondered also, you know, we have a great Drug Court program. And you know, there's some other programs in existence, which have had just incredible success. So, I'm wondering what the collaboration or replication. You know, we don't want to replicate,per se, from a program like this. Is there anyone here from the Prosecutor's Office today? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: No. Unfortunately, they're dealing with some issues that are happening in our communities right now. So, the Prosecutor sends his regards. But I did ask him, you know, if this measure does move forward, if we could please have presentation to the Council about the plan and the strategy that would be devised in order to implement this program. Because you know, this is a significant investment here and we want to make sure that there is return on investment, and that we are supporting an initiative, like you point out, that are working successfully in our community. Not duplicating them but finding ways to bolster and reinforce so that we can amplify their good efforts. Page 108 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. VILLEGAS: Great, okay. Thank you. That would be very helpful moving forward. This is a sizable amount of money, and I know that there are many departments that would love to have a half-a-million dollars for another program, but I really—so it hits home, this concept of how do we divert people from the court system and the prison system. Yeah, you all had the experience with a woman in Council a number of months ago, who was having kind of a psychotic break. And I recently found out she's been sent to OCCC (O`ahu Community Correctional Center). And because of the mental health issues and other challenges around the legal system, you know, her family's really struggling to get her the help she needs. And now she's being held in a prison system. So, this hits very close to home for those that end up within a system that they aren't often able to get out of. And it can be a spiral, where we want to get them the help, and mitigation, and support necessary that they don't end up becoming a casualty of lack of service. And really, diagnosis, and tuned-in support. So, thank you for bringing this forward. Appreciate it. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: I like the concept. I want to see a plan. So, it has been stated half-a-million dollars. And I like Kelden, and I think he can probably bring something to the table. And as soon as I see that, I'll be real excited about supporting it. I always have to bring this up, because Ag theft is a problem, and I would hope there'd be a component in that plan for that. So, that's it. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else? Go ahead, Ms. Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah, I just I suppose, as much as you've just heard, I am in full support of programs like this. Without seeing the plan and having something tangible, I don't necessarily feel it's the wisest choice to allocate a half-a-million dollars to it right now. So, if everything goes according to what it sounds like, we are going to have ample funding this budget cycle. So, I'd love to have the opportunity as we move forward to revisit this when there is the aligned information and program and project to coincide with it. So, I'm afraid I won't be able to support it today but look forward in learning more about it and supporting it in the future as all the necessary information comes forth. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Anyone else on this side? Seeing none. Alright Mr. Clerk, can we do a roll call? Page 109 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents to Amend: of Comm. 645.56 failed, by the following roll call vote: Failed Ayes: Council Members Kierkiewicz and Lee Loy —2. Noes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—6. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. (Note: Council Members Inaba and Richards voted "kanalua" then "no.") MR. HENRICKS: The motion fails. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. County Clerk. Can we move on the next item please? Comm. 645.57: From Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 16) proposed amendment to increase the Fund Balance from Previous Year revenue account by $22,500 and increase the Clerk-Council Services Other Current Expenses (Travel/Conference and Computer and Office) expense account by the same amount, for district allowance expenses. CHR. DAVID: Ms. Kierkiewicz. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.57. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. This is pretty straight forward. Our DAE (District Allowance Expense) in taking a look at all the accounts that we have total is $7,500. I don't know about you guys, but my DAE has been exhausted like since March of this year, and so just looking for a little bit more funding support. This amendment would take us to a total of$10,000 for district allowance for every Council Member. Thank you, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: I think this is reasonable. It's been the same level since I've been in office. And we've seen the expenditures go up. And if we need to get things done, we're all looking at cost increase, and I think this is a very modest cost increase to take care of the County. So, I will be supporting this. Page 110 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Communication 645.57,please say, "aye." Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents to Amend: of Comm. 645.57, was carried by the following voice (Approved) vote: Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Comm. 645.58: From Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 17) proposed amendment to increase the Fund Balance From Previous Year revenue account by $143,000 and increase the Fire Operations Other Current Expenses, Miscellaneous Contract Services expense account by the same amount to a new line item titled STRATEGIC MASTER PLAN. CHR. DAVID: Ms. Kierkiewicz. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.58. Seconded by Mr. Richards. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. This is one of the items that our County Auditor had identified in the audit of Hawaii Fire Department(HFD), to do a Strategic Master Plan for HFD. That wasn't part of the second iteration of this budget, and I know we all were supportive in ensuring that the department had this guiding document. So, this is just one way to support them in that planning process. Looking for everyone's support. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Anyone else? Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, thank you and thanks, Ms. Kierkiewicz. This falls in line and in tune with this Council and this Administration's desire to create the master plans of each of the departments, so we know where we need to take in the next five, ten, 20 years. So, I'm glad we're getting the funding towards it, because that was clearly evident in the audit report. So, definitely going to support it. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else? Go ahead, Ms. Villegas. Page 111 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. VILLEGAS: Ms. Kierkiewicz, thank you so much for bringing this forward. I don't know how it even totally slipped my mind that this was something absolutely imperative, as we move into this budget season to support the next steps for our Fire Department. And so, thank you forI know your partner is a fireman, so I appreciate that that's going to be top of mind. And I thank you for bringing this forward, because we need to get this put together because we need to stop expecting more from our Fire Department than we are providing for them to even possibly provide. So, my gratitude. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Anyone else here on this side. Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Communication 645.58,please say, "aye." Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents to Amend: of Comm. 645.58, was carried by the following voice (Approved) vote: Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Comm. 645.59: From Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 18) proposed amendment to increase the Fund Balance From Previous Year revenue account by $10,000 and increase the Prosecuting Attorney Other Current Expenses, Miscellaneous Contract Services expenditure account by the same amount to a new line item titled BADGES. CHR. DAVID: Ms. Kierkiewicz. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.59. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. This is to provide $10,000 to the Prosecuting Attorney's Office so that they're able to get badges for their Deputy Prosecutors. As you know, Police Officers, Firefighters, Sheriffs, they have badges that identify them and the departments that they are working for. We don't have that for Prosecutor's Office. No formal program at least. My understanding is that members of the department are using their own personal funding to purchase badges. And so there's really no formal process, which is a Page 112 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 bit scary because if folks do leave the Prosecuting Attorney's Office, they're not turning their badges in. And so, we have a lot of folks that could be imposters I'm not saying that's happening, but we run the risk of it. And so, this was a request by Prosecuting Attorney Waltjen to ensure that their deputies have the proper identification. So when at the courthouse or having to go on-scene, there's no question that they're official Deputy Prosecutors representing the County. Looking for everyone's support. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: How many Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys do we have at this time? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I don't know off the top of my head. I can look in my budget book. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Deanna, do you know that number off the top of your head? I don't expect you to, but if you did, that would be nice. CHR. DAVID: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. You were waiting for MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Oh,just seeing if Deanna has just a number. I can find out later on. Badges, number of folks, and how much per badge do we have to pay? I wish Kelden was here, that would have been nice. What is he doing today? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So he is dealing with a stabbing, and dangerous dogs in Puna. MS. SAKO: It looks about 35 Prosecuting Attorneys. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So, roughly $300 per badge, is that correct, $10,000? Roughly? MS. SAKO: Roughly. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, okay. I think that's acceptable. I was kind of thinking $250 per badge, per personalized badge. Okay, thank you Deanna. Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz, for bringing this forward. It's like you and Mr. Waltjen have a good relationship. Good to see. I yield, Chair CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? Seeing none, alright. All those in favor of amending Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Communication 645.59,please say, "aye." Page 113 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents to Amend: of Comm. 645.59, was carried by the following voice (Approved) vote: Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. Comm. 645.60: From Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 19) proposed amendment to increase the Fund Balance From Previous Year revenue account by $25,000 and increase the Prosecuting Attorney Other Current Expenses, Miscellaneous Contract Services expenditure account by the same amount to a new line item titled TRAININGS. CHR. DAVID: Ms. Kierkiewicz. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.60. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. The Prosecutor's Office currently has no money to facilitate training and workshop, and there's really a need to ensure that they are coordinating with various departments at the County and State level and with community partners. And this would help to offset costs for venue if they need to bring in speakers to do train the trainer-type programs. And so, taking them from a budget of zero to $25,000 would really go a long way in facilitating trainings and workshops that would not just increase capacity of folks within the County, but also help to strengthen a lot of a relationships that are really necessary in this line of work. So looking for everyone's support. Thank you, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Mr. Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Just from memory, going through the budget and looking at each department, there is a lot of movement in each department to increase training, travel; expenses across the board. I mean, every single department that I saw came in and really pushed up those numbers, as COVID wanes down, even though cases are rising. Deanna, is this appropriate? They really have zero funding in the OCE(Other Current Expenses) Prosecuting Attorney for trainings? Did I miss that in the budget when I was going through it? Page 114 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. SAKO: No, it's probably in the 104, under Travel. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So it's all in the Travel budget. MS. SAKO: Yes, so I'm not sure what this particular one is for. But yes, many of the departments, you know, are trying to increase that. Some of it, the Zoom works; some of it, it doesn't. So, yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I mean, like I said, across the board, I saw everyone bumping up Travel and Expenses, because they're goingI mean Mass Transit, he's been on travel and conferencing for the last two months, three months. So, do you know what they have right now in their Travel and Conference? MS. SAKO: Let me grab the binder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. I'm not really opposed to this. I'm just interested to see what they have already. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair, I just want to be really, really clear here, this is not for traveling and conferences. This would be under the Special Projects line item for trainings and workshops that would be hosted here on Hawaii Island. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Oh, okay, okay. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So, no traveling. You might have gotten mistaken when I said travel cost related to speakers, say, from the mainland or from other islands coming here to train the trainers. So, instead of flying 35 deputies to the mainland, we fly somebody here from the mainland to train all of our deputies on island. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That makes sense. What you got, Ms. Sako? MS. SAKO: They do have $7,200 under Travel and Conferences in the 104, but it actually doesn't line out Training. So I'm not sure where they might have that funding at. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And I do remember asking one or two if they had increased to make up for doing trainings at the backend of COVID. And maybe this is one of them. MS. SAKO: They do get a lot of grants to actually provide a lot of their training. So, it could be in their grant funds as well. Page 115 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Do you see them right there? Do you have that accessible? While I got you and while you've got the book. Magical, unicorn book of the County of Hawaii. MS. SAKO: Yeah, like for example, the Victims of Crime Act does have like $10,000 for training. And then, Justice Assistance Grant has $5,000 for training. The Traffic Safety Training Project is actually primarily for training. So, $118,000 out of the $155,000 is all for training. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, okay. Ms. Kierkiewicz, were you aware of that? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I am, and those were not the line items I was targeting. Special Projects, if you take a look at the amendment, it was at zero. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. No offense. Thank you, Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing none, Mr. Clerk, can we do a roll call on this one then? Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 645.60, was carried by the following roll call vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Chung— 1. Excused: None. (Note: Council Members Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and Villegas voted "kanalua"then "aye.") CHR. DAVID: Yes. And just for the record, Mr. Chung just walked in. So, he's fine, he wasn't here for the vote on this one. Comm. 645.61: From Council Chair Maile Medeiros David, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 20) proposed amendment to increase the Fund Balance From Previous Year revenue account by $30,548 and increase the Transfer to Solid Waste Fund expenditure account by the same amount; and to increase the following accounts in the Solid Waste Fund: Transfer from General Fund revenue account by $30,548, and the Recycling Programs-County Other Current Expenses expenditure account by the same amount to a new line item titled OCEAN VIEW RECYCLING. Page 116 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Motion to Amend: Ms. Lee Loy moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.61. Seconded by Mr. Richards. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Council Members, for that. This one is really short and sweet. I think when we did the first communication and approved that, we were notified by Director Ramzi Mansour that there was a $30,000 difference that was not given to me in the final count for this one. So this one just kind of makes that amount the correct amount. And so,just wanted to bring this forward so we're all clear and then ask for your support. Council Members, any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 126, Draft 2 with the contents of Communication 645.61,please say "aye." Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 645.61, was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Comm. 645.62: From Council Member Heather L. Kimball, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 21) proposed amendment to increase the Real Property Taxes revenue account by $300,000; and increase the Grants to Nonprofit Organizations, Miscellaneous Charges expense account by the same amount. CHR. DAVID: Ms. Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, I'm not going to introduce this one. We've had other conversations about this—waiting for additional amendments to come in. Withdrawal of (Note: At this time, Ms. Kimball announced the withdrawal Comm. 645.62: Comm. 645.62.) CHR. DAVID: You're going to just withdraw it? You didn't make a motion. MS. KIMBALL: I didn't make a motion on it and I'm not going to. CHR. DAVID: Okay, alrighty. This one is gone. Page 117 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Comm. 645.63: From Council Member Sue L. K. Lee Loy, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 22) proposed amendment to decrease the Highway Engineering Salaries and Wages, Regular Salaries and Wages account by $45,000 and increase the Highway Engineering Other Current Expenses, Travel Conferences (Training/Certifications) account by the same amount. CHR. DAVID: Ms. Lee Loy. Motion to Amend: Ms. Lee Loy moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.63. Seconded by Mr. Richards. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. This communication again takes out of Highways, Salary and Wages, and puts it into their Engineering OCE Training account. This one's a little different because it's a Highway Fund account so we have to keep it within that respective account. And then, anticipating Mr. Inaba's question, we again slimmed off three different positions: our Civil IV and V positions, about two-and-a-half months—found the extra money and am putting it into training. So if those positions are hired, they would just have a start date of sometime in August or September. Asking for my colleagues' support. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Any other questions regarding this? Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: This was asked for by the department? MS. LEE LOY: Yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And then, Engineering specifically? Somewhere in my brain, I have it that Engineering was over this year. They had extra funds, they had a fund balance within Engineering. I may be wrong. MS. LEE LOY: No. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, okay, I'm just checking. Okay, yeah. Thank you, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Just to stretch that out. Same thing that we did with our Building and the General Fund, offering them training. We're doing the exact same thing with the Highway Fund, and those within the Highway Division. Page 118 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Communication 645.63, please say "aye." Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 645.63, was carried by the following roll call vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David–9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. Comm. 645.64: From Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 23) proposed amendment to increase the Fund Balance From Previous Year for the Geothermal Relocation & Community Benefits Fund by $300,000 and increase the Geothermal Parks and Recreation Other Current Expenses, Miscellaneous Contract Services account by the same amount. CHR. DAVID: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Motion to Amend: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.64. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: This is a move toI spoke to Maurice (Messina), you know, briefly. And he goes, "Make sure you find the funding." And it's like, okay. And then, I realized you know, we have this Geothermal Parks and Rec. OCE account. We have the Geothermal Benefits Fund, as well, which is meant to serve the area specifically within the geothermal plant vicinity, which this does this is on the lower Kalapana Coast—and meant for specific line items like community facilities, Parks and Rec. facilities, that kind of thing. So this falls in the realm of what the fund is designed for. It doesn't decrease the funding below a certain amount which is required. And this is purely for the funding for the study to begin the project. And again, this project goes back more than three decades. And it was brought to my attention from some of the residents who frequent Uncle Robert's. And I just I really felt when Auntie Toots explained the situation I really felt like the State and the County had dropped the ball for 30 years. So I'm just trying to Page 119 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 catch back up, do my job, get the funding for them. And this is again, for the study to get the project moving. So I hope for everyone's support today. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. I'm just a little confused around why it needs to go to the Geothermal Parks and Rec. OCE, and why not to like a Miscellaneous Contracts account within Parks and Rec. And the only reason why I ask that is there are very clear rules within the Planning Department for how to access Geothermal funds. And I see that you're pulling from Fund Balance, but just wondering why does it need to be parked in the Geothermal account, why not a different account? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Great question. I'm going to go ahead and send that question directly to Ms. Sako who helped me at the very last minute to put this together. Thank you for your help earlier, and if you could help Ms. Kierkiewicz with the questions that she had. MS. SAKO: So we tried to expand the Geothermal money in the Geothermal Fund. And so, it is a park, so probably the Parks and Rec. account would be the most appropriate. That's one of the accounts we had established already. It could also be a Transfer to Capital Projects Fund and spend it there. Either one would work. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: But I guess,just the label with it being Geothermal MS. SAKO: That's just how all the account title the titles of every account in the Geothermal Asset Fund start with the word "Geothermal" so we can distinguish it from the regular P&R Fund accounts in General Fund. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Pulling from Fund Balance and putting it into the Geothermal account. MS. SAKO: No, it's the Fund Balance of the Geothermal Fund. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, but there are rules for how we access that funding. MS. SAKO: Yes, so before it could be spent, they would need to follow that process. The Planning Director Rules, you're referring to correct? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Got it, yes, because that's what I used to be able to support Puna in a couple of projects. MS. SAKO: Yes. Page 120 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Was there any coordination done with Planning on this? No? Okay. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Oh, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, I'm sorry you were MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: No. CHR. DAVID: Anyone else on this one. Seeing none, alright, all those in favor of amending Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Communication 645.64. Clerk, sorry, roll call. Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 645.64 was carried by the following roll call vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: Council Member Kierkiewicz— 1. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. And that, I believe, concludes our Operating Budget amendments MR. HENRICKS: We have at least one in process. CHR. DAVID: Oh, really. Okay, then I guess we'll—go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy. Vote on Motion Ms. Lee Loy moved to table, Bill 126, Draft 2. Seconded to Table: by Mr. Richards and was carried by the following voice (Approved) vote: Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. And that, I believe, concludes our Operating Budget amendments Point of MS. KIMBALL: Chair point of personal privilege. Can I request a 10-minute Personal Privilege: break? Thank you. Page 121 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Yes, I think we need a break. So we're in recess until 3:55 (p.m.). Thank you. Recess: At 3:45 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 3:56 p.m. CHR. DAVID: Aloha everyone and welcome back. I'm taking this Special Council meeting out of recess. It is now 3:56, thank you. Where are we? I believe, Mr. Inaba, removal? Vote on Motion to Mr. Inaba moved to remove Bill 126, Draft 2, from the Remove from Table: table. Seconded by Mr. Richards and carried by the (Approved) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—6. Noes: None. Absent: Council Members Chung, Kierkiewicz, and Lee Loy —3. Excused: None. Comm. 645.65: From Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 24) proposed amendment to increase the Fund Balance From Previous Year account by $615,000, and decrease the Homelessness (Homeless Contracted Programs) expenditure account by $260,000 and create and fund a new expenditure account titled HOMELESSNESS GRANT-IN-AID for $260,000; and increase the Grants to Nonprofit Organizations Miscellaneous Charges expense account by $615,000. CHR. DAVID: Alright. We can take a short recess and wait for her, or somebody can make a motion. Motion to Amend: Mr. Inaba moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.65. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Inaba, for making the motion for me. We had a very robust discussion earlier about funding applicants for the Nonprofit Grant-in-Aid program, and just wanted to make sure that we were pulling from the correct account. So I believe this resolves the issue. My staff worked with the Finance Department to make sure we had everything correct here. This is really just to designate the funding. This does not mean that we have to spend every single dollar that has been allocated here. There's still work of the Nonprofit Page 122 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Grant-in-Aid Ad Hoc to come together to provide that list of awards for the Finance Department to contract with. So this is just parking the money and holding space so that we can have a future discussion about how we want to move forward with our awards. Thank you, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Council Members? Mr. Richards. Oh, go ahead, Mr. Inaba. MR. INABA: Yeah, I'm confused. So if this was the money for the nonprofits, we were talking $875,000 earlier? Or sorry, can you just re-explain what's going on here? CHR. DAVID: Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: It's been a long day. Director Sako, I'm sorry, I had your staff help with this one and it's not totaling $875,000, because the intention here was to pull some from Fund Balance and then the remainder from the Homelessness account. (Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. SAKO: It actually does add up to $875,000. It's just that part of it is an increase in revenue and part of it is a decrease in expenditures. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Got it. Okay. MS. SAKO: So the $260,000 plus the $615,000 I believe is $875,000, and that's what would be increasing partially in the nonprofit grant account, would be $615,000. Part of it would be in this new account, Homelessness Grant-In-Aid, $260,000. That$260,000 would be reducing the main Homelessness account and then Fund Balance would be $615,000. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, I'm seeing it now, thank you. Mr. Inaba, is it clear? Additions, reductions. MR. INABA: Yes, the $875,000 is clear,just wanting to make sure though that I never did finish calculating, so did we calculate who is getting—who was awarded for houseless and homelessness funding, and does this cover those if we're going to move them away? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, so Council Member Lee Loy's office went through the applications and identified everybody that was doing homeless-related work, and so that totaled the $260,000. MR. INABA: That is the $260,000 that was awarded? Page 123 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: In total of all eligible applicants. MR. INABA: Okay. I mean I think if you're just making sure we're not double counting or not including, so if you folks are comfortable and that this only accounts for the houseless, then I will go MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Again, this is just to hold this space. There are some folks that we want to take a closer look at their application because we had questions around their budget, not sure if we want to fully fund. So we don't have to expend everything that's being allocated here, it's just to ensure that in the event we want to, we are able to cover the full cost. MR. INABA: Okay, thank you. Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Ms. Kimball, go ahead. MS. KIMBALL: I'm going to be supporting this. I had a procedural question, actually for Judge Strance, for the follow up. I'm wondering since we approved the recommendations of the ad hoc last Committee meeting, can we amend those recommendations? I suggest—can the ad hoc still work to amend those or could a couple of the members of the ad hoc work to amend those so we don't have to re-form. I feel like we might be in a really weird timeline if we have to re-form the ad hoc, and if we can just amend. She's shaking her head. I'm sorry if I have made it confusing. (Note: At this time, Corporation Counsel Elizabeth Strance came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. STRANCE: Is that a question? MS. KIMBALL: Yes, can we just,procedurally, can we just amend the recommendation from the ad hoc that we approved before without having to re-form another ad hoc to go through all of the recommendations? MS. STRANCE: Elizabeth Strance, Corporation Counsel. So earlier this week, yesterday, we closed communication on your ad hoc committee and approved the recommendations. Those recommendations, I believe, included awards beyond the $2.5 million, so the actions that you take today will cover those. I believe that by closing the communication, you also closed the work of that ad hoc committee, and I don't think there were any no, votes so I don't think you can reconsider that vote. I'd have to look at the reconsideration rules about whether you can pull that back. MS. KIMBALL: I only raise that, and I don't want to extend this conversation for a super long time, other than to say that if we have to go through the whole ad hoc process again and we have that deadline looming, I'm actually okay with just Page 124 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 a couple members of our ad hoc going back to review the analysis that we've already done and making some recommendations. Yeah, and I pick you and you. No seriously, thinking about our deadlines and knowing that we all engaged and delivered it, and we'll have the opportunity to make changes to that amendment when we discuss it, I am willing to suggest that as an option given our timeframe. MS. STRANCE: One moment, I'd like to consult with our Clerk on that reconsideration issue. MR. HENRICKS: You mean for someone to reconsider the actions that were completed yesterday? MS. STRANCE: Yeah, so drawback the ad hoc committee. MR. HENRICKS: Yeah, I think that's possible. Five business days we would need a memorandum from somebody who voted on the prevailing side saying they would like to reconsider the vote, and I think it would be the vote to close file because I agree with you, that dissolved the ad hoc committee. The work was done, it was complete at that point, so could you bring that back? I think we could under our rules. That would then put the vote basically back to where, if it was successful, prior to, you know, yesterday where the ad hoc committee, the work was considered complete, you forward that on the next Committee agenda for whatever it is, June 14 or 15. MS. STRANCE: I think it would be the Council agenda. MR. HENRICKS: No, it would be in that Human Services and Social Services Committee. Yeah, it would—it reconvened yesterday after the Council convened. So that's one potential, but that has parts to it that there are no guarantees to. MS. KIMBALL: I'm so sorry. MR. HENRICKS: No, it's okay. I mean I'm kind of looking for guidance, too, like what are we going to—is Deanna okay with not having award amounts in this budget? I think that's a question for her mostly. Now how you get there, I don't have any thoughts on that at this point in time. Trying to decipher that right now might not be helpful to anybody. Trying to figure out how those figures are going to get to Deanna and put into the budget, I don't know. I mean there's too many variables and too many things that I think would rely upon motions and votes in the future that should not be committed to today. MS. SAKO: There has been at least one time in the past when we've had to come in, in July to amend the budget because of a veto situation, I believe. So that could happen. Ultimately, the longer it takes to get the grants into the budget and identify who's being awarded, you know, the nonprofits will wait until we have the appropriations in place. So it's not just making the decision, but you know, it Page 125 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 will take two readings come July, to amend the budget. It will definitely be August before the grant recipients are notified and we're able to start the contract process and you know, get the money out to them to start spending. I mean I'm just trying to lay out those pieces. MS. STRANCE: I think it's such a small piece of a pretty big body of work that was done that we could probably figure something out between now and the next Committee meeting. Right now, you're just considering the budget and the parameters of what that budget appropriation will need. So I think there's time to figure out the mechanism of how or whether to spend out the additional amounts appropriated later. MS. SAKO: If there's any chance the grant awards that were filed yesterday, that $2.565 million is going to change in any way, shape, or form, I would prefer we not amend the budget with those amounts today and wait for the final Committee report. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, I'm not actually suggesting an amendment to the budget right now, I'm just thinking about the procedure for us to recommend back to the Council who's going to get what. And it sounds like, and I could be wrong, the easier thing may be to recall the decision to close file and have that agendized on the next committee meeting for Human Services and then we can MR. HENRICKS: I actually think an easier thing to do would be to start fresh. Do not create a new ad hoc committee, have the full Committee sit in open session, delineate the grant awards based on the appropriation that is available, one meeting, if possible, and just, quite frankly, ignore the recommendations of the ad hoc committee that were accepted. I don't think there's anything binding that says because you guys approved them that they become part of the budget. So probably the fastest, maybe not most efficient way, would be to have one Committee meeting with the intent of, before that meeting is adjourned, to deliver to Finance the grant award amounts based upon the appropriations that are available. MS. KIMBALL: Okay, I trust your advice on that. Thank you. MS. STRANCE: I think, too, I want to modify my statement because when I was speaking, I was assuming that you weren't going to change the amount of the awards that were approved. It was just talking about something else. But there has been discussion amount modifying the amounts of all the awards. So I understand what Deanna is saying. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Anyone else on this? No? Ms. Villegas, any comments? Page 126 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. VILLEGAS: No, I mean I still have my concerns around the whole thing that remain my concerns. So it seems like we have really just—yeah, this is crazy. Okay, thanks. CHR. DAVID: Okay. Seeing no other comments, actually, I'm thinking there's a lot of discussion on the process about funding more than what we discussed yesterday, and great things being discussed for the ongoing process from now on in changing certain things in how we look at nonprofit reviews. Director Sako, is there a time, I mean is there stillshould what we did yesterday move forward without this amendment, would there be an opportunity after the budget to make the MS. SAKO: The additional amounts like the amendment— CHR. mendmentCHR. DAVID: The additional amount that we're talking about today? It's just a lot to comprehend on this is going to come from that account and we're going to make a whole you know, I'm just— MS. ustMS. SAKO: So for amendments to be made after July 1 st, we need a revenue source. If the revenue source is going to be Fund Balance from Previous Year, then we would have to wait until we conclude the closing of the books. It's like in October when we report Fund Balance to Council. We'll probably have to wait until then to amend the budget. So as someone has said earlier, and I'm sorry I lost track who had this idea, was to appropriate it, however much, like the full $875,000, but perhaps you don't have to award it all. That's definitely a possibility. You know, as you guys deliberate on June 14 then, you know, that could happen. If it's not all awarded, that excess money that is not spent next fiscal year would lapse back into Fund Balance for the following year. But unless we come up with a new revenue source, it would be difficult to go and amend the budget before October. CHR. DAVID: Okay. Alright, thank you for that. MS. VILLEGAS: Chair? CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: My apologies, I do have one comment. I suppose in general, from a lot of the different things that seem to be out of the ordinary today, I just have some concerns about this homelessness fund becoming a slush fund for us to patch the places that we deem, you know, we overcommitted essentially, and then under committed. I just have some serious concerns about what I'm seeing happening with this homeless fund and now it's been kind of just identified. It seems just like this place that we now have access to pull funds from and then Page 127 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 transition grant-in-aid allocations. It just doesn't—while I appreciate the level of creativity, in my experience working on this Council that level of flexibility has not been allowed. Whether or not that's for legality reasons always or just because it's ill advised, this doesn't sit right with me, that now we've kind of created this—now there's this slush fund that if anything has to do with homelessness, then we're just going to grab money and put it on there. As much as I want to solve our homeless crisis and our affordable housing crisis, it just doesn't—it feels like what can be perceived as a generosity, but it's actually kind of a sloppy covering of okole. So that's kind of just where I'm kind ofit just doesn't feel right, it doesn't sit right. So I yield. CHR. DAVID: Okay. Mr. Clerk, thank you, Ms. Villegas, roll call please. Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents to Amend: of Comm. 645.65, was carried by the following roll (Approved) call vote: Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, and Richards –7. Noes: Council Members Villegas and Chair David–2. Absent: None. Excused: None. (Note: Council Member Villegas voted "kanalua"then "no.") CHR. DAVID: That concludes our amendments at this point. MR. HENRICKS: I just signed off on another one. MS. LEE LOY: Chair? CHR. DAVID: Go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: If I could, I think what I'd like to do is lay this on the table, get to the rates, because depends on what those rates are, I might have more amendments. Page 128 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Vote on Motion Ms. Lee Loy moved to table Bill 126, Draft 2. Seconded to Table: by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following roll (Approved) call vote: Ayes: Council Members Chung, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—8. Noes: Council Member Inaba— 1. Absent: None. Excused: None. Vote on Motion to Ms. Lee Loy moved to remove Res. 423-22 from the Remove from Table: table. Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried by the (Approved) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Who has the floor? MS. KIMBALL: I believe Mr. Richards actually had his light on first. CHR. DAVID: Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. I have an amendment to Resolution CHR. DAVID: Resolution 423-22. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you. I would like to ask the Director where we are with our total. CHR. DAVID: Do you want to make your amendment? No? MR. RICHARDS: I would like to ask the Director where we are with our total as far as budget commitment based upon all the amendments we've done so far. That should dictate into what we're going to do with our rates. (Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Council.) Page 129 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. SAKO: So if we've been keeping track accurately in the back, we are at approximately $3.1 million increase to Fund Balance and $1.8 million plus in amendments to Real Property Tax, so a total of roughly $5 million. MR. RICHARDS: How does that play into our total budget then? Where are we with that? MS. SAKO: It should be an increase of roughly $5 million. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, thank you. Motion to Amend: Mr. Richards moved to amend Res. 423-22 with the contents of Comm. 820.4. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, thank you. Again, I think I'll be saying this for the last time. We're doing our budget wrong as we always do every year, and we celebrate that. That being said, we just heard from our Director where we are with our budget, so we've increased our budget by $5 million by approving these deals. What I did with this amendment to the content is again, trying to be budget neutral or funding neutral and rearranging. We have a couple of different opinions on how we should be seeking our funding out of this. What Mr. Inaba has introduced has focused in on housing. Though I don't disagree with housing, I'm very concerned about the business side as well. I was trying to be very mindful of what the businesses bring to our County as far as supporting our constituents and employing our constituents, and as previously stated, the funding that the hotel and resort areas put forth during COVID (coronavirus disease) was support there. So my intention was to distribute any type of accommodations across to our constituents, all constituents, some a bit more, some a bit less. That was the intent of the amendment. Now that being said, we have a $5 million increase in the budget, and I think we're going to have to have a good talk story about this, Chair, to figure out how we're going to make sure that this budget balances. I want to leave it at that. I want to be very mindful, again, that we need to look at what we're doing to our businesses. Our healthy economy here, our County, which is estimated somewhere around, should hit$10 billion this year, but we're not going to get there if we don't take care of the businesses going forward. So with that, I'm going to yield at this point. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else? Ms. Kimball, go ahead. Page 130 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. KIMBALL: I didn't get a chance to weigh in on the earlier conversations about the rates. I've been ruminating about that over the past couple of weeks knowing that this discussion was coming, and I'm probably in the minority, but I'm actually inclined not to make any changes to our rates at this point. One of the reasons that I shared the other rates from the other counties was not so much what their rates were at because we have very different scenarios. They have much less needs, fewer needs, in terms of infrastructure per population per their tax base compared to us. What I think is relevant is the relative rates that different categories pay with respect to each other, taking into account some of the places where we do put our finger on the scale, like the three percent cap for residential properties and the homeowners' exemption. So looking at those relative rates across the counties, my assessment is actually our breakout is pretty fair. We can help our businesses by doing abetter job providing services, particularly in the building department area and roads and wastewater. I think there is absolutely the need for this revenue. I think we all can think of additional things beyond the $5 million we've already put out there, and I also think it's appropriate that we do tip the scale with respect to our homeowners because unlike other real estate, it is necessary to have a shelter over your head. It's not an investment. All other classes are technically an investment, so that's where I'm at right now, I feel free to change my mind. This is where I kind of went all over the place the last couple of weeks, but this is where I am. I've never been part of the process where we've had to look at raising rates. I have a little bit of concern that when times are good, times are booming, we've dropped the rates and then we come to a time where we're struggling, we don't have the revenue. I'd bet that fight to put rates back up again is super hard so that's where I'm at right now. Thank you, Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Mr. Inaba and then Mr. Richards. MR. INABA: Thank you, Chair. I see what the introducers did here, and you know, like they explained it is splitting out the savings to all of the different classes. I have a hard time supporting a 45-cent decrease on Hotel and Resorts, I'll just say that outright. Apparently, it was in the paper. I can see granting, you know, for our Commercial, our Industrial, these classes, those tax rates going down, but I can't support that high of a decrease, that much of a decrease for the Hotel and Resorts at this time. In light of all of the amendments that were put forth today, these rates short us $1.9 million in Real Property taxes since that's where some of these amendments came from. Not all came from Fund Balance, but what's before us right now leaves us at$1.9 million short. Is that—Director Sako, can you come and confirm that? That's just my math but I want to confirm. (Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Council.) Page 131 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. SAKO: Yeah, that would be a correct—these are—it's consistent, I think, with the previous rates but it does not take into account the amendments that hit Real Property Tax, correct. MR. INABA: Okay. I think we had a lot of opportunities to discuss, you know, our desires, our priorities, which have passed through via the amendments to the operating budget. How much longer are we going to stay here? We've been here through 20 amendments, and at this point I think the Administration knows what they need to do. We've articulated and granted funds to extra or certain departments to support new initiatives or grow help for those initiatives that are already existing. But just with that, I've also submitted an amendment to my own resolution that I think we should also maybe take a look at after, that doesn't short us. We're actually in the plus $47,000. So with that, I'll yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Ms. Lee Loy and then Mr. Richards. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you for that, Mr. Inaba. I think it is my goal to kind of even it out. I actually do agree that—well I agree with so much of this one, which I co-sponsored, really does help out our Apartments. It keeps our Affordable Housing rates low, and we're still chipping away 15 cents off of that Affordable Housing and Homeowners' category that still has the shield of the three percent. We're also giving a lot of latitude to our ag and native forests; but you know, I'm sure that was really muscled in by Mr. Richards here. Then I look, and I know that's not up for discussion, but we all have Mr. Inaba's amendment. I think there's some good stuff here within this amendment, and if we make some more refinements out of that Hotel/Resort category, I think we're going to land in a place where we're actually well within the budget, providing enough to cover some of the adjustments we've made with our amendments. I want to keep in mind, I voted against giving us our money, our contingency money because I wanted to settle our bills first. If we took that$900,000 off of the $1.3 million that Mr. Inaba talked about, we're just$400,000 short. So I think we can work harder. I know Mr. Inaba mentioned we've been here for a while. I'm going to share, my first budget session, we were here until 10:30 at night and this is the one shot we have, as a body, to affect programs that last 365 days out of the next fiscal calendar year. So I'm willing to just slow down, take a deep breath, and be real focused on we're close. Just a few more refinements, and I think we're there. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Richards. MS. VILLEGAS: Chair, after,just so you know, I'll put my name in the queue. Page 132 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Yes, Ms. Villegas, I'll take you right after Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy and yeah, I think we're getting closer. I was thinking the sun is still up so we're doing pretty good for budget right now. One of the things that Ms. Kimball reminded me of is the rate that we tax Agriculture in our County versus the rest of the State. And rough numbers, about almost twice compared to the rest of the State. And it came back to the conversation we had concerning what is the reason for taxes? Basically, it's for the people that are involved in our society, and agriculture doesn't have a lot of people. So it's understandable why we would not tax bare land when the needs of the infrastructure: roads, hospitals, all that, are not consumed by agriculture. So my first swing at it was to reduce that for agriculture because that's what we keep talking about, wanting to be agriculture friendly. But we have to start by looking at what we're doing to support agriculture. Now to Ms. Lee Loy's point concerning the Resort and Hotel, yeah, I'm amenable to talk story. Again, the problem is we don't have a way to talk story about this until we sit here, and that's the problem with this whole process. So, I'm mindful of having a balanced budget. I'm mindful of taking care of our businesses, and I'm mindful making sure that we can address the needs of our community. So I'm open for talking story and tweaking some things here but ignoring our businesses is not the right thing. And that's why I looked at agriculture and I went, "Ms. Kimball, you are right, we are way over taxing agriculture right now." So that's where part of this came from. So I look forward to further conversation. I don't know how you want to do this, Chair, if we want to try and work things out here or whatever the case may be. But I'm open for conversation. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Ms. Villegas, go ahead. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Chair. Wow, I am getting a little bit cross-eyed looking at all of these numbers, but I share and concur with Mr. Inaba. It does not sit right with me to reduce the rates that apply to hotel and resorts. I commend them for continuing to provide the health insurance for our residents of this County while we navigated our way through the pandemic; however, there was a lot of money provided to our hotels and resorts, and they are experiencing what some may call a boon of recovery and the hotel rates definitely show that. Also, when it comes to corporate structures for, and most of the hotels on island are in some essence corporate, they belong to larger conglomerates which contain the capacity for enduring changes like this, and I trust that they have the capacity to do so. I also really feel that, as we talked about earlier when some of the value adjustments and people were freaking out about it,people made a lot of money off Hawaii for decades, and we haven't aligned our values in a long time in some Page 133 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 of these capacities, and it's kind of coming to roost right now. I don't want to be doing this. I'm not like somebody that's tax, tax, tax. Nobody wants to have to do this. But I really—it hasn't set well with me. I mean we endured, in the last sessions, the potential of having to raise taxes. We created a whole new tax tier in order to help balance our budget, which is something that's happened in other municipalities. And none of those homeowners ran away and weren't going to stay here anymore, even though a lot of them threatened and people were all freaked out that if we do this that those second homeowners with second homes worth over $2 million were going to flee. That didn't happen. This is probably one of the most valuable places on the planet and our resources are valuable, our infrastructure is valuable. It would be easier, probably, for me personally, to approve the reduced tax rates because people like to hear that, that you're the person that reduced taxes. But if we're looking long term and trying to lead and manage with foresight, that is putting the need to increase them again, which is way harder on the leaders that will follow, and I don't think that's pono. So I share the sentiments of Councilwoman Kimball in those concerns. As I look at this, the piece that we're looking at now, I don't I have things lined up here, with this amendment, with Mr. Inaba's amendment, with the present rates, and with the Mayor's proposed rates. So many of the things are so very similar, but I know if they were plugged into another equation, they'd create larger amounts of money. But I'm not comfortable with what's been proposed in this Communication 820.4, and I won't be supporting that this evening. I feel more comfortable with the other amendment that we've discussed. So with that, I yield. One more thing. I'm sorry, one more thing. I think my time is almost up. Yes, our agricultural lands are so valuable. One of the ironies I have to point out right now is one of the challenges we're facing as a County are mega homes on agricultural lands that the homes are worth gazillions of dollars. They're not really legitimately practicing agriculture, and many of them now, we have challenges with short-term vacation rentals and whether or not those are legal. CHR. DAVID: Just for your information, your time buzzer went off. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, if I could just have one second to finish my sentence. CHR. DAVID: Sure. MS. VILLEGAS: We are seeing a lot of complications around agricultural lands with potentially illegal short-term vacation rentals that are making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. So there's a bit of irony in the agricultural land, some complications there as well. So thank you, I yield. Page 134 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Mr. Chung, go ahead. MR. CHUNG: Thank you. You know, going into this, there were several things that I had in my mind already in terms of the rates. I understand where Mr. Richards is coming from. He's trying to spread everything around. I would have a hard time supporting a proposal which keeps, and I might be reading this wrong, it's real difficult because it's referencing another piece of legislation and then this and then what the actual rates are right now, but not adjusting Residential Tier One and then yet reducing Tier Two a bit, by a little. If anything, I wouldn't mind seeing Tier One have a reduction and no reduction for Tier Two. That's just my thought, because the Tier-One Residential, regardless of where it might be in the whole scale of valuations, it will have an impact on our housing market for our people to live,particularly rentals. Commercial, I have no problem with reduction in Commercial. I'm against the reduction, and I know this is like suicidal, but I'm against the reduction in the Homeowners' rate because they're capped. I mean we're all homeowners, but they're capped at three percent. There really is no need, there's a built-in protection already for the homeowners. For the Hotel/Resort, I don't see any reason to reduce either. Commercial, I think they need the help; certainly, Affordable Rental Housing; Agriculture, I'm kind of mixed because there's so many abuses on agriculture. And they have a lot of exemptions and credits and things. I don't know. You know, I actually might be in the minority, too. If push comes to shove, I might as well just say let's keep it all the same, but I really would like to help out Commercial at the very least if possible. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. I've heard, so far, two very interesting points of view, which really goes against what we're seeing right now in the Mayor's proposal and these current proposals, which is one, don't touch them at all because if we do, it'll be hard to bring them back when the funds are needed. That's a very interesting point of view and I think on point. Then two, Mr. Chung touching on what he just said, and I think there is a healthy balance to be found here. I mean just to touch on agriculture, you know, we've gone back and forth on agriculture. I looked at all the other counties, we're the highest in the State when it comes to agricultural, and I think there could be something there. That's interesting. I mean ultimately to me the intent, in my eyes, if we're going to lower taxes or raise taxes, whatever we're going to do, the intent needs to match what the community is asking for and the folks who came in and testified, the five who testified, said address the folks who need the help. That's what I kept hearing. And the testimonies in the emails I've gotten, address the folks who need the help. Page 135 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 As a small business owner, I don't know what relief I'm going to get if we lower taxes on Commercial properties. Will I receive a little bit less billing when it comes to my portion of the property taxes? Yeah,perhaps. Is an apartment owner going to get less taxes, is their rent going to be lessened by dropping property taxes? I doubt it, honestly. I doubt it. Lisa had some good points, too, when she discussed different classes and how they're broken down, specifically apartments and some of that containing timeshares. There were some interesting points in all of this. I guess I, too, am on the fence. Of all the different things that have been brought up, some of them getting very, very small difference in changes here. It does make me want to just kind of go back to hey you know,just leave it where it was. And that's a very interesting point of view. I yield. Good conversation today, thank you. I just have one thing I'd like to say too. I really enjoy this discussion so far today. This has been a nice meeting of this body and where we stand right. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Kimball, go ahead. MS. KIMBALL: I'll just add onto that positive note. I think this has been a real collaborative session throughout the day and I appreciate everybody's time and contributions to the discussion. I wanted to follow up and just again, reiterate with respect to looking at what the other counties do, really have to look at it from a relative standpoint rather than flat out, particularly with agriculture. We value the land at least, based on what's in Chapter 19 with regard to the dedication and the type of agriculture on that land. So the valuations of agriculture land are much, much lower; however, their homes are not, and they are not protected by that three percent cap either. So what I'm leading into is that when—I don't think they aren't very surgical things that we need to do with respect to property taxes. The abuse of agriculture land exemptions has been raised. I think that is critical. Looking at potentially the cap that Sue had introduced previously for Commercial, something to consider. We have not raised the homeowners' exemptions since, I think it was 1991. So again, very targeted, very surgical, and that's the age-based so looking at people with fixed income. So there are some adjustments to be made but again, I am looking at the revenue and how much people are going to see back, and I think we can use that approximately $8 million. We've already actually used $5 million of it in some way shape or form to get some things done for the County. So I just wanted to add that to the conversation. Thank you, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Anyone else? Mr. Inaba, go ahead. Page 136 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MR. INABA: Yeah, I just want to say with regard to the budget, we know, and we agreed on almost I think there's more things coming now but we generally figured out where we are. Then to take $6 million more, potentially, than we need, I don't seeI understand being mindful of tax rates and when the economy turns down, but right now we've projected, we've put things back into the budget, so I just don't think it's right for the County to tax when we don't even have an idea on where that$6 million will go. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Just to say something as well, Communication 820 was Mr. Inaba's first attempt at amending the rates. We have the two in front of us, so I just want to bring it to everyone's attention, in 820, the more I look at it, 820 as your first attempt, it looks fairly decent in my eyes, maybe not for everything that was said just now, but I'm liking the way Communication 820 looks. That's it, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. INABA: Chair, if I could make a quick comment. CHR. DAVID: Sure. MR. INABA: The only adjustment that was proposed was based on the quick conversation that we had earlier, and the amendments that we all agreed on. So I tried to include that so we're not shorting ourselves with the Real Property Tax amendments to the operating budget. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Mr. Chung, go ahead. MR. CHUNG: I wanted to touch upon something that was brought up by Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder because it's something that has crossed our minds, I'm sure, on more than one occasion. And it's, you know, we talk about reducing but will that cost or reduction be passed along? Probably not, right? That's why I'mI don't want to get the hotel people to get all angry or anything like that, but did you see the prices of hotels right now? Yeah, so they're in recoup mode. They're not going to be passing no offense to them, but—so as I said, I'm kind of concerned about Residential Tier One, Commercial, Industrial too. And then that gets us back to Ms. Lee Loy's proposal later on. I think that's something that needs to be revisited and really take—we have to take a real close look at that and maybe, I don't know, that needs to be discussed, for sure. At this point, I'm just going to say right now, I think I'm going to go with no changes. That's my thought. Thank you. Page 137 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. I think we've—anyone else before I make a real short comment? Then we can deal with this proposed amendment. Seeing none, great discussion, Council Members. I was around when we had to raise taxes. It's not a good thing when we have to raise taxes for our people. So for me, I see the benefit of the revenues that we will get from keeping our taxes the way they are, because if we do that, the revenues that it's going to generate can basically cover whatever we're talking about as far as amendments that we've already approved. I will probably be in the minority, but I will not be voting to reduce taxes of any kind right at this time. Mr. Clerk, can we do a roll call on this amendment, please? Vote on Motion The motion to amend Res. 423-22, with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 820.4 failed, by the following roll call vote: Failed Ayes: Council Members Lee Loy and Richards —2. Noes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Villegas, and Chair David—7. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Mr. Inaba, go ahead. Motion to Amend: Mr. Inaba moved to amend Res. 423-22 with the contents of Comm. 820.3. Seconded by Ms. Villegas. CHR. DAVID: Mr. Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you. I just want to bring this to the floor and have the body vote as it sees fit. These, again, these rates that are in this amendment cover everything that we chose to do today, primarily granting reductions to the Affordable Rental Housing, the Homeowners, the Industrial and Commercial classes, and putting back the Residential Tier Two to its original rate instead of reducing it by five cents, which was initially in the resolution. So I think this is fair. It's financially responsible, doesn't leave us short any money, and leave it to this body to do what is right for the people that elected us to serve and make these decisions. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Anyone else on the proposed amendment? Go ahead, Ms. Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Inaba, for bringing the Tier Two back to where it's been. I've had a number of people say to me that they would actually like to see that go higher, so I think this is within the parameters. And this amendment isI just want to thank you for your hard work on it and bring Page 138 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 back another amendment after what we went through earlier that brought and took into consideration everything that Deanna had mentioned when it comes to working with our hard-working tax department. Thank you, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. You know, I was committed to definitely seeing some of the reduction in our Real Property Tax bill for August 20. But I've heard a number of Council Members basically throw their support behind not even changing the rates. So I'm actually really torn on how to vote on this one because I want to see a reduction, but I'm really curious to see how the others will actually hold true to not making any rates. So I look forward to the vote and how this proceeds. Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Mr. Inaba, I'll be supporting this. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? Seeing none, Mr. Clerk, roll call please. Vote on Motion The motion to amend Res. 423-22, with the contents of to Amend: Comm 820.3 failed, by the following roll call vote: Failed Ayes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, and Villegas –3. Noes: Council Members Chung, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, and Chair David–6. Absent: None. Excused: None. (Note: Council Member Lee Loy voted "kanalua"then "no.") MR. HENRICKS: The motion fails. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. I believe—where are we now? MR. HENRICKS: You're on the main motion, which is to adopt Resolution 423. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Go ahead, discussion on the main motion. Mr. Inaba, go ahead. MR. INABA: If we move forward with this, we're shorting ourselves a lot so I'm going to withdraw the motion. Thank you. Page 139 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Alright, the motion—hang on. MR. HENRICKS: Just a quick second here. CHR. DAVID: Do you want a recess, Mr. Clerk? MR. HENRICKS: No, not really, I just want to make sure that's permissible to withdraw the motion at this point. CHR. DAVID: Oh unless we have to actually vote on it. We've got to dispose maybe. MR. HENRICKS: So our rules state, and I'll let you guys decide how this works here. It says, "any motion may be withdrawn by the member making the motion without consent of the corresponding second at any time before a decision or amendment." So the amendments have failed so that's not at play and there hasn't been a decision, so I just want to make sure that, you know, the body does not object to Mr. Inaba's withdrawal of his motion after everything that's occurred. If that's fine, I think the rules support Mr. Inaba's withdrawal. CHR. DAVID: Thank you for checking and making sure. It's been a long day, so we've got to make sure we're doing things correctly. MR. HENRICKS: As much as possible. CHR. DAVID: As much as possible. Mr. Inaba, go ahead. MR. INABA: I'll just state on the record, I think we could have done better, and not that there's no opportunity for that to still happen. I would like to see the rates go down in light of where we are right now but can't proceed with this resolution as it is because that would be financially irresponsible. Withdrawal of (Note: At this time, Mr. Inaba announced the withdrawal of the Motion to Adopt motion to adopt Res. 423-22.) Res. 423-22: CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba, Resolution 423-22 has been withdrawn by Mr. Inaba. We're back to the operating budget. Is there a motion to take that off the table? Page 140 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Vote on Motion to Mr. Inaba moved to remove Bill 126, Draft 2, as amended, Remove from Table: from the table. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy and carried by (Approved) the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, And Chair David—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Okay, we can proceed with the proposed amendments that we just got. Comm. 645.66: From Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 25) proposed amendment to increase the Fund Balance From Previous Year revenue account by $50,000, and increase the Civil Defense Agency Other Current Expenses Miscellaneous Contract Services (Training and Exercise) expense account by the same amount. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.66. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. This is to support Civil Defense in their ability to empower residents that are operating Neighborhood Watch and CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams)programs. It's being put into this Training and Exercise account, and in my talking story with Barry Periatt at Civil Defense, he mentioned that there's only $25,000 from a federal grant that is being used to expend and support these programs, so wanting to increase it by $50,000 so that we're able to support all these community-driven safety initiatives around the island. Thank you, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Communication 645.66,please say "aye." Page 141 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents to Amend: of Comm. 645.66 was carried by the following voice (Approved) vote: Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, And Chair David—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. Comm. 645.67: From Council Member Susan L. K. Lee Loy, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 26) proposed amendment to decrease the Homelessness, Miscellaneous Contract Services (Homeless Contracted Programs) expenditure account by $122,500, and increase the Homelessness Police, Miscellaneous Charges account by the same amount to a new line item titled COMMUNITY POLICING. Motion to Amend: Ms. Lee Loy moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.67. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. For my colleagues, we discussed this under a previous amendment. Again, utilizing the Homeless fund and creating that specific subcategory, I think. I hope I'm describing it correctly. I don't know if that's a correct financial term but creating the correct subcategory in which it's still within alignment for the uses of funds and then our Finance Department can track. I ask for your support. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Anyone else? Seeing noneI'm sorry, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Different name, different title but same idea. I think I won't be supporting this just in light of Ms. David's move for security. I'm sorry, I retract that statement. Never mind, I pull that back. Thank you. Strike that from the record. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Kimball, go ahead. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. I just wanted to make two comments. One, I believe in the previous amendment you had actually broken it down evenly by the nine Council districts, and so just want to put that on the record that intention stillI'm not going to drag this out and ask for that communication as well. But it'll be in the minutes that that was Page 142 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MS. LEE LOY: Yes, if I may respond, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Yes, you can. MS. LEE LOY: Definitely,just putting all the money with the intention to evenly distribute but I also heard, loud and clear from Mr. Chung and Ms. Villegas and those real central spaces right here in downtown Hilo and right in Kailua-Kona, which is our visitor kind of commercial areas. So if there is a need to put a little bit more into those areas, you know, they have the flexibility to do that. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you for that. I appreciate it. I think that's a reasonable modification to this. I did get a couple of texts while we were debating this one, you know, let's not make homelessness illegal, let's put people in jail, and what I explained back is community policing is a little bit—well it's a lot different actually than your more punitive enforcement side of things. I work very closely with the community policing officers in my district. They're wonderful, I love them. They come to every meeting we need them to come to and all of that, but they have a really different role than kind of go out and arrest people. In fact, we had them help some folks in my district actually get into housing, temporary housing. So it's a really kind of different—it's not criminalizing homelessness, which I do think is the wrong thing to do, but it does help us address the problem. Thank you, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Don't forget Pahoa. Thank you, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? I really want toI support this, of course, and I just want to make a note that Ms. Kimball, I really agree with your statement that community police officers are just a breed of their own. They're more like social workers to me because they actually really have a heart and they do want to help the community. So given that, all those in favor of amending Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents Communication 645.67,please say "aye." Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents to Amend: of Comm. 645.67, was carried by the following voice (Approved) vote: Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, And Chair David–9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. Page 143 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Comm. 645.68: From Council Member Susan L. K. Lee Loy, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 27) proposed amendment to decrease the Homelessness, Miscellaneous Contract Services (Homeless Contracted Programs) account by $194,000, and increase the Homelessness Parks and Recreation, Miscellaneous Contract Services account by the same amount to a new line item titled SECURITY SERVICES. Motion to Amend: Ms. Lee Loy moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.68. Seconded by Mr. Richards. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Again, we discussed this on a different amendment,just lining up the funds and the account numbers and ask for my colleagues' support. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Anyone else? Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and then Ms. Kimball. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. I'm going to say no to this. I agree with the idea. I'm saying no because of Ms. David's communication, her push for $1.3 million in security, and kind of addressing the same thing. So that's why I'm going to say no, but I totally agree with this right here,just saying no for that reason. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Ms. Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, I'm in the same boat on this one. I would like to see how it works from these other areas first and then consider. Thanks. CHR. DAVID: Thank you for that. Anyone else? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair? CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Just really quickly, I'll be supporting this. Parks and Recreation had to cancel 24/7 Security down Pohoiki and there's been a lot of issues there, so if this pot of money can help support that, I'm definitely going to support that. Thank you for bringing this forward. CHR. DAVID: Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing none, Mr. Clerk, roll call please. Page 144 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents to Amend: of Comm. 645.68 failed, by the following roll call vote: Failed Ayes: Council Members Chung, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, and Richards —4. Noes: Council Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Villegas, and Chair David—5 Absent: None. Excused: None. MR. HENRICKS: The motion fails. CHR. DAVID: Alright. Now you have the daunting chore of bringing us back to the main motion, Bill 126, Draft 2, as amended with MR. HENRICKS: You want me to run through that? I don't know if anyone else has been keeping track, but I have the motions that were successful being Communications 645.42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 49, 50, 53, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, and 67. CHR. DAVID: Yes. Well according to my notes. MR. HENRICKS: Then it is done. CHR. DAVID: Okay, so any discussion on the bill as amended? Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: So do we have a total of the proposed expenditures and with no change in the real property tax, the proposed revenue? (Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. SAKO: Fund Balance was increased by $3,182,048 and real property tax revenue was increased by $1,844,981. The no change in real property tax rates would increase revenue by $8 million but would also require an increase in the Homelessness account of$450,000 as well as changes to the Transfer to PONC (Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission), Transfer to PONC Maintenance and Transfer to Disaster and Emergency Fund, and I can have Ted send me those numbers momentarily. MR. RICHARDS: I think that we should know what we're voting on if we're close to $800 million. CHR. DAVID: Okay, anybody else? Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, go ahead. Page 145 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: No questions. I think the right message to send to the people of Hawaii County right now would have been to decrease, and I'm addressing Mr. Inaba's resolution. That would have decreased the categories like we all talked about. I'm just saying that for the record. That could have been a way forward, that really would have spoke well to the people of Hawaii County, but it was shut down by this body. I'm just saying that. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? MS. VILLEGAS: Yes, Chair. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: I'm just looking for a bit of clarification. So we're back at the tax rates as they were prior, correct? I mean as they have been for the prior year. CHR. DAVID: Yes, no changes. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. It's not what the Mayor's amendments for changes had been. CHR. DAVID: Correct. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. I agree and I feel a sense of remorse that we haven't taken the opportunity to potentially provide a bit of relief to the residents of this County; however, I recognize the disparity of opinions on the Council when it comes to prioritization of reduction in those rates. So in light of what's available to us right now, I feel comfortable moving forward with keeping the tax rates as they are. I do look forward to and have had a bit of experience, but as Council Member Kimball mentioned with exploring different ways to support those who are more heavily impacted by our tax rates remaining the same when the values have increased so drastically. So, I just wanted to make sure I was on the same page because we have come and gone between so many versions today. But thank you for your gracious explanation. I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. I'm going to wait until Deanna has the final numbers. But I do have a question for Ms. Sako, in light of us not changing the rates and not programming all of the funds. What happens to what does not get programmed as you mentioned in the two-tier Homeless fund, the PONC (Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation) Fund, what happens to that balance or surplus? I don't even know what the right financial term would be. Page 146 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 (Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. SAKO: The revenues, we still need to—we would actually probably increase real property revenues to fund the homelessness and the transfer to PONC and all of those things. So there would probably be a net surplus, but we also increased use of Prior Year Fund Balance, so we would have excess revenue showing on the books, yes. MS. LEE LOY: So of that excess revenue, does it go to our Rainy Day Fund? It just kind of sits to get programmed? MS. SAKO: It will flow into MS. LEE LOY: Would we know that number today before we take our final vote? MS. SAKO: Just a second. I need them to back out some numbers. MS. LEE LOY: Ballparking it. MS. SAKO: Maybe a little over $5 million. MS. LEE LOY: Okay. Thanks Deanna. MS. SAKO: Because some of the amendments did get utilized, so yes. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Deanna. That being said, I'm going to be voting "no" against the final budget. I know we worked really hard, I'm just generally concerned that we had opportunities to provide relief to our constituents, our entire island's, August 20 bill. That's not going to happen. We're going to have a surplus that's kind of lingering out there that we did not program and that is a general concern for me. This is the role of our body, is to program and chart through the programming of these funds of what our next fiscal year will look like. So like others, I think I am disappointed and because of that, will be voting against the final package. Thank you, Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Anyone else before I take a recess while we wait for the numbers? Seeing none, I'm going to place this Special Meeting in recess until we hear back maybe by 5:30? Will that be okay? 5:30? Okay, we're in recess until 5:30. Recess: At 5:15 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 5:57 p.m. Page 147 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 CHR. DAVID: Aloha everyone, I'm taking the Special Meeting of the County Council out of recess. Mr. Inaba, go ahead. Comm. 645.69: From Council Member Susan L. K. Lee Loy, dated June 2, 2022, transmitting a (Memo No. 29) proposed amendment to increase the Real Property Tax revenue account by $710,000, and increase the following expenditure accounts: Homelessness by $450,000, Transfer to Disaster/Emergency Fund by $80,000, Transfer to Public Access, Open Space Preservation Fund by $160,000 and Transfer to Public Access, Open Space Preservation Maintenance Fund by $20,000. Motion to Amend: Mr. Inaba moved to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 645.69. Seconded by Ms. Kimball. CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Mr. Inaba. MR. INABA: Yes, I will explain this and if I can't do it good enough, then Director Sako is here. The budget was built on proposed tax reductions. Being that the Council chose not to reduce the tax rates at this time, we needed to amend the revenue into our, yes, the funds going into the Homelessness, the Disaster Emergency Fund and the Public, Open Space Fund as well as the Maintenance fund. So,just puts it back to what would have been if we, which we didn't, amended the tax rates. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Anyone else? Mr. Chung, go ahead. MR. CHUNG: My question is, Deanna, you've looked at this, you sign off, right? Okay, thank you. MR. INABA: For the record, it's on my letterhead but it was prepared by Finance. CHR. DAVID: By request, right? MR. INABA: Because she knew I was tracking all day. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Anyone else on the amendment? No? Alright, Clerk Henricks, roll call please. Page 148 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 Vote on Motion The motion to amend Bill 126, Draft 2, with the contents to Amend: of Comm. 645.69, was carried by the following roll call (Approved) vote: Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, And Chair David–9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Now we're back to the main motion as amended—with Bill 126, Draft 2 as amended, and then can you check my numbers for the record, with Communications 645.42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 49, 50, 53, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, and 69. MR. HENRICKS: That reconciles with my accounting. CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much. Any discussion? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair? CHR. DAVID: Go ahead, Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Just make a quick comment. CHR. DAVID: Yes, go ahead. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: It's been pretty tortuous today. I feel like every budget cycle it just feels like torture, but this is the process that we have to go through. I can't but help but feel a little bit paralyzed throughout this process, and I think in this time of abundance we've really tried to chip away at the myriad of challenges that we are facing as a community. But like I mentioned earlier, first reading, might be a little bit too much too fast, and I'm still struggling to see how we're going to be gaging that return on investment. I've shared it with you, Director Sako. I think half the budget amendments were me dipping into Fund Balance to try to help make some departments whole. But having said all that, I'm going to be voting "no"with reservations today,just because I feel like we are in good times but it's going to catch up to us really quickly, and then we're going to be on that brink of economic collapse and real fiscal constraint. And I just don't know if we've done enough this budget cycle to kind of gird ourselves to that. Page 149 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 So just want to make sure we're okay, Director Sako, because I know you did a lot to support, not just what I'm looking to do for our Hawaii Island community, but for all the departments and Council Members here. So I appreciate your flexibility and willingness and support throughout this process, but I'm hoping next budget cycle or the next few months we can start working with the administration to be making systemic shifts in how we budget because this process really feels disenfranchising as a member of this Council. Thank you, Chair, I yield. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mahalo Chair. I just wanted to say mahalo to Donna, Susan, Dennis, Tiffany, Sherry, Jeanette, Renee, Nora, I could go down forever. I'm probably going to miss some names, but I'm going to stop right there. MS. VILLEGAS: Matt? Scott. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Scott, Deanna. Just everybody, it's always a process, and I just appreciate everyone's work. There were a lot of amendments there. I have never seen such a stack of amendments before in my time and appreciate everyone's work. And it is kind of funky, but at the same time, it allows everyone to express themselves. We have discussion, we work with what we've got, we make decisions for our County, and we do the best that we can do. I think my first budget cycle was really hard. It was just trying to wrap my head around what we're doing. But now I feel more comfortable, but also I like the back and forth and the discussion. So mahalo to everybody who's here as well as all of our Council Members. Thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. Okay, so Deanna, I asked the numbers and again, round numbers here. With the non-reduction in our real property tax, we are increasing revenues by approximately $8 million, is that correct? Uh-oh, she's coming up. (Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. SAKO: So by not changing the rates, there is $8 million more in revenues that's going to be generated, however, only $2.6 million of that was budgeted, so that leaves about$5.39 million that's not actually included in the budget. But with the changes to Fund Balance, the total increase in the budget, and I may have missed something, is roughly $5.8 million. Page 150 Hawaii County Council-42 June 2,2022 MR. RICHARDS: Okay, which was the next question. So of the $779.6 million you've increased by five point what? MS. SAKO: I would say we've increased by $5.8 million. MR. RICHARDS: I heard that. Five point, what did we do? MS. SAKO: $5.8 million total. MR. RICHARDS: Okay. Alright, that takes us—so that gives us the total, and you have a balance of$3 million, correct? MS. SAKO: In Fund Balance? Yes, so Fund Balance is $3.1 million, yeah. MR. RICHARDS: Alright, thank you very much, Deanna. So I have to echo my concerns of my Council Members. It's an arduous process, this is my annual "no" vote. Like I said, I don't like this process. I think we can do a better job, so I won't be supporting it. I realize it's symbolic but,thank you. CHR. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Anyone else? Seeing none, Mr. Clerk, roll call please. Vote on Bill 126: The motion to pass Bill 126, Draft 2, as amended to Draft 3, Draft 3 on second and final reading was carried by the following (Adopted) roll call vote: Ayes: Council Members Chung, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Villegas, and Chair David—6. Noes: Council Members Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, and Richards —3. Absent: None. Excused: None. (Note: Council Member Kierkiewicz voted "kanalua"then "no.") CHR. DAVID: Thank you very much. I believe that brings us to the end of our thank you, Mr. Inaba. Page 151 Hawai`i County Council-42 June 2,2022 ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 6:06 p.m., Mr. Inaba moved to adjourn the MENT: meeting. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Chung. Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair David—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. DAVID: Thank you everybody for a nice day. We did it, mahalo. Council Approval: SEP 0 7 2022 MI I I I I I I I I I I._ ••• k C O UN _ _ !1? JH/ja Page 152