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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN FC 2022/11/15 2020-2022 Committee on Finance 47th Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawaii November 15, 2022 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Finance was called to order at ORDER: 9:31 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Mr. Matt Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Matt Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder, Chair Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Absent& Excused: Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by the Chair: Cory Harden: Comm. 988.1, comment. Shannon Matson: Comm. 1092, comment. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mr. Clerk, as we have Chief Honda in our Hilo Chambers, can we go to Resolution 605, please? FC-47 November 15,2022 Change Order As directed by the Chair and with no objection from Council Members, the of Business: following items were taken out of order: Res. 605-22: AUTHORIZES THE ACCEPTANCE OF A DONATION OF NALOXONE KITS TO THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FIRE DEPARTMENT This donation of 200 Naloxone kits from Hawaii Health & Harm Reduction Center with an estimated value of$15,000 would be used by the Fire Department for emergency treatment of opioid overdose. Reference: Comm. 1094 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R) Motion to Approve: Ms. David moved to recommend adoption of Res. 605-22. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz. CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Council Members, before I go to discussion, we do have, like I said, Mr. Honda in our Hilo Chambers. If you would, sir, or anyone from the Fire Department? (Note: At this time, Fire Battalion Chief Chris Honda came forward to address the members of the Committee.) CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Thanks for joining us this morning, Chris. Tell us a little bit about this. I know this is a very important value for these kits. MR. HONDA: Well, good morning, Council, thank you for your time this morning. So Narcan kits are something that we wanted to deploy and start to carry in our firetrucks island-wide. We currently carry Narcan on our advanced life support ambulances ever since EMS (Emergency Medical Services) really started to ramp-up in the late 70s, early 80s. What that is, it's an antidote or reversal medication for narcotics, which includes opioids, pain medications, and of course fentanyl, the word you've been hearing recently on Hawaii Island and in this State. In fact, last night on Hawaii News Now there was a story on it. We do see an uptick in fentanyl and narcotics as a whole here on our island, and we felt that it was important to carry nasal Narcan on our firetrucks and our response vehicles for the community as well as for our own responder's safety, as well; and when I say responder's safety, it's not just Fire Department, it's our fellow partners in the community, which includes the other Federal Fire Department, State Fire Department, of course, all of our law enforcement and first responders, Police Department, Sheriffs, and so forth. So part of this program, we have to come put protocols, of course, everybody was involved, from the Union to Corp. Counsel, and we standardized our training and worked with other agencies throughout the State so we can streamline our Page 2 FC-47 November 15,2022 protocols and safety measures. One of the challenges for us was the start-up cost of the program. One intranasal Narcan runs about$75, a piece, so I reached out to Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center and HIDTA, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, federally-funded program in Honolulu, and we were very fortunate to receive 200 intranasal Narcans to deploy in the Hawaii Fire Department. I am happy to say that we are moving forward with that today. We will be sending out a memo, and we have all our training documents in line, ready to be deployed. This equates to about$15,000. So we are very fortunate and thank our partners in the State to assist us with this program. I am confident that this will save lives. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you very much, Mr. Honda. Thanks for being here this morning. Council Members, discussion. Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Mahalo nui, Chief, for that explanation and the hard work in setting up this particular program. I'm going to be supporting this resolution. I do believe that this is a lifesaving medication. Just curious, in your professional opinion, how long will this stock of 200 kits last us? MR. HONDA: You know, right now we're in the process of trying to track our data more accurately. We've started with 200; in the past month, rough numbers, I think we had about, total in our Narcan administration was about, let's say 30 to 40, which about nine of them we saw positive, I guess, outcomes from it. Because when we give intranasal or Narcan as a whole, it's not only for narcotic overdoses because sometimes we go into cases we're not sure exactly what kind of overdose we're dealing with. It can be from alcohol to amphetamines, to barbiturates, or what—and what we're seeing or experiencing in the community now is multi that's a multi-overdose, meaning we're seeing pills with all different things in there, from hallucinogens to narcotics, to amphetamines, such as vallum and things like that. So hopefully, we're going to track the Narcan closely and reach out for assistance with more Narcan from other of our partner agencies in the State for replacement, and if not, then we will have to look at a funding source within our operation to replace them. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chief, thank you. So can you just remind me how again this donation from Hawaii Health & Harm Reduction happen? Did you have to write a grant? Did they just reach out to you? MR. HONDA: We're part of the HIDTA Task Force 6. So, HIDTA is in Honolulu. At these meetings—and OD too, so at these meetings, there is Federal, State, County, and private agencies there, Zoom meetings or face-to-face Page 3 FC-47 November 15,2022 meetings, and when they asked about what was our needs on our island, I said, "We're in the process of starting a Narcan program because we want to carry Narcan on our firetrucks." Honolulu Fire is on the same timeline as us. Some of the federal agents that were in the meeting had brought up agencies or opportunities that we could investigate or reach out to for resources, and right after the meeting was done, I got an email from the HHRC, the Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center, asking us how much did we need, and I said I would like to start off with 200 in our inventory to deploy out to our 21 fire stations, so they assisted us with that. That's how it all transpired,just from that one meeting. That's why it's important for us to be involved with these statewide and meet with all these agencies, especially with such an important topic such as fentanyl. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, Chief, for articulating our needs to the statewide body, and sharing that we have the resources we need to support our First Responders. Please keep in touch with us and share information in terms of the data. I'm thinking ahead to the next Legislative Session, so if we can demonstrate that this has been incredibly helpful here on Hawaii Island, would like to work with some of our Legislators to make sure every county has the resources to ensure the Naxloxone is spread across the County. So, thank you again. Chair, I yield. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? Seeing none. Mr. Clerk, we do have the motion on the floor for Resolution 605-22 to Council with a favorable recommendation, all in favor? Vote on Res. 605-22: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 605-22 was (Approved) carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—5. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Inaba, Lee Loy, and Villegas —5. Excused: None. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Let's go to the top. Return to Order The Chair directed the Committee to return to the order of business. of Business: COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Page 4 FC-47 November 15,2022 Comm. 28.8: FIRST QUARTER REALLOCATION REPORT: JULY 1 —SEPTEMBER 30, 2022 From Human Resources Director Waylen L. K. Leopoldino, dated October 21, 2022. Vote on Comm. 28.8: Ms. David moved to close file on Comm. 28.8. Filed Seconded by Ms. Kimball and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—5. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Inaba, Lee Loy, and Villegas —3. Excused: None. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Communication 30.40, please. Comm. 30.40: REPORT OF FUND TRANSFERS AUTHORIZED: JUNE 16—30, 2022 AND OCTOBER 1 — 15, 2022 From Controller Kay Oshiro, dated October 19, 2022. Vote on Comm. 30.40: Ms. David moved to close file on Comm. 30.40. Filed Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—5. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Inaba, Lee Loy, and Villegas —3. Excused: None. Comm. 30.41: REPORT OF FUND TRANSFERS AUTHORIZED: JUNE 16—30, 2022 AND OCTOBER 16 —31, 2022 From Controller Kay Oshiro, dated November 3, 2022. Page 5 FC-47 November 15,2022 Vote on Comm. 30.41: Ms. David moved to close file on Comm. 30.41. Filed Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—5. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Inaba, Lee Loy, and Villegas —3. Excused: None. Comm. 31.47: REPORT OF CHANGE ORDERS AUTHORIZED: OCTOBER 1 — 15, 2022 From Finance Director Deanna Sako, dated October 19, 2022, transmitting the above report pursuant to Hawaii County Code Section 2-12.3. Vote on Comm. 31.47: Ms. David moved to close file on Comm. 31.47. Filed Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—5. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Inaba, Lee Loy, and Villegas —3. Excused: None. Comm. 31.48: REPORT OF CHANGE ORDERS AUTHORIZED: OCTOBER 16—31, 2022 From Finance Director Deanna Sako, dated November 2, 2022, transmitting the above report pursuant to Hawaii County Code Section 2-12.3. Vote on Comm. 31.48: Ms. David moved to close file on Comm. 31.48. Filed Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—5. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Inaba, Lee Loy, and Villegas —3. Excused: None. Page 6 FC-47 November 15,2022 Comm. 32.26: MONTHLY BUDGET STATUS REPORT FOR THE MONTH ENDED JUNE 30, 2022 From Finance Director Deanna Sako, dated November 4, 2022, transmitting the above report pursuant to Hawaii County Charter Section 6-6.3 (h). Vote on Comm. 32.26: Ms. David moved to close file on Comm. 32.26. Filed Seconded by Ms. Kimball and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—5. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Inaba, Lee Loy, and Villegas —3. Excused: None. CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Communication 85.7, please. Comm. 85.7: FIRST QUARTER CLAIMS REPORT: JULY 1 —SEPTEMBER 30, 2022 From Claims Investigator/Adjustor Clifford D. Victorine III, dated October 18, 2022, transmitting the above report pursuant to Section 2-9 of the Hawaii County Code. Vote on Comm. 85.7: Ms. David moved to close file on Comm. 85.7. Filed Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—5. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Inaba, Lee Loy, and Villegas —3. Excused: None. Comm. 988.1: FOLLOW-UP AUDIT REPORT: CONTINGENCY PLANS —COUNTY OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY From County Auditor Tyler J. Benner, dated October 20, 2022, transmitting a follow-up report to Audit Number 2020-01,pursuant to Hawaii County Charter Section 3-18(d)(3). Motion to Close File: Ms. David moved to close file on Comm. 988.1. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz. Page 7 FC-47 November 15,2022 CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mr. Benner? (Note: At this time County Auditor Tyler J. Benner came forward to address the members of the Committee.) CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you for being here this morning, sir. If you could, please provide us your—kind of breakdown of this document in front of us (See Comm. 988.1.) MR. BENNER: Good morning, Council and members. My name is Tyler Benner. I'm with the Office with the County Auditor. I'm joined in chambers today by Maxine Pacheco. Mrs. Pacheco was the lead Auditor on this engagement, and also some members of the DWS (Department of Water Supply) leadership team, who will be assisting us and answer any technical questions. We're here to debrief you on our Follow-Up Audit Report No. 2022-06, dated October 20, 20222. This report will be presented to the DWS Water Board in Kona on November 22nd. The scope of the audit reviewed the Department of Water Supply Contingency Plans from April 2022 until October 2022. Follow-up audits are limited to reviewing and reporting on the implementation of recommendations made during the initial audit and do not consider new or unrelated issues that do not relate to our original recommendations. I'll provide some background and context. This audit evolved somewhat uniquely. Around 2016-2017, pumps and/or infrastructure at various wells began failing in quick succession resulting in water service disruption and water restrictions of between 10 and 25 percent. This culminated in five wells going offline or experiencing severe capacity restrictions, and former Mayor Harry Kim declaring a State of Emergency in September 2017. As a result of constituents' concerns and repair delays, former Council Members Karen Eoff and Dru Kanuha brought forward Resolution 287-17. The resolution, passed by Council, sought to understand if DWS possessed plans to ensure sufficient water service delivery, including during the disruption of service at a well system. This audit was published on March 3rd, 2022, but because it coincided with the COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease)pandemic, the Auditor's office never debriefed the Council or the Water Board on the outcomes of the engagement. The initial audit found that DWS lacked formalized contingency plans, communication plans, and complete critical vendor contact information, and made three recommendations. The original recommendations and our status at follow-up are, as follows: Page 8 FC-47 November 15,2022 Recommendation No. 1,paraphrasing, "We recommend DWS develop a written contingency plan by district to address emergency situations to mitigate potential impact on any community. Or, at a minimum, include contingency plans that address important risk scenarios into their Continuity of Operations Plan." At follow-up, we found a review of contingency plans, technical reports, and spare pump and motor list procurement notices. We noted these plans could be further developed to include risk scenarios that could be used generally across districts. DWS did prepare functional equivalence through an Emergency Response Plan, a Risk and Resiliency Assessment Report, and Preparedness Technical Memorandum, which were required by the American Water Infrastructure Act and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Although we noted some exceptions, we consider this recommendation resolved, and offered the department additional proactive suggestions to further strengthen control, such as reviewing and updating written plans accordingly, consolidating applicable guidance, making plans accessible to appropriate DWS staff, and recertifying the Continuity of Operations Plan annually. Motor pumps and infrastructure can and do break down, and DWS has demonstrated that they can draw on 23 water systems to support any out of service deepwells. It is important to remember that it is the best practice to have contingency plans for worst case scenarios for emergencies, compared to a continuity plan required by law, a plan covering how an organization will get set up and running again. DWS does have both plans. Recommendation No. 2,paraphrasing, we recommend DWS "develop and implement a communications plan to notify the public, administration, stakeholders, and all governmental agencies that rely on information that may affect them or the community. The plan should include but not limited to timely notices and updates status of water events, and holding community public meetings timely." At follow up we found, through a review of a combination of communication plans, flow charts, Water Board minutes, bulletin boards, social media, and the department's website, that DWS has demonstrated the use of multiple media to notify and inform the public. We consider this recommendation implemented, and offered the department additional proactive suggestions to further strengthen controls, such as written guidance, and this speaks to our first testifier, such as drought triggers and three stages of water shortage conservation in their communications plan. Finally, in Recommendation No. 3, quoting, "We recommend the Department of Water Supply update their Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP)to include essential vendor contact information to ensure that quick reference information is Page 9 FC-47 November 15,2022 accessible and available during emergencies." At follow-up, we compared the department's 2010 and 2020 COOP and verified that information for essential vendors as well as a plan review and update were in place. We consider that recommendation implemented. We note that as of the report publication that 12 of the 14 wells were operational, and two wells, Wai`aha and Makalei Estates, are out of service, with a brief explanation of each in our Executive Summary. We'd like to thank DWS for unrestricted access to sites, personnel, and information. Their cooperation was exceptional. We've added their information or remediation tracker, which is available under the department's website, at hawaiicounty.gov. Thank you for the time and opportunity to present. We would invite Council discussion at this time. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Benner. Council Members, any discussion? Okay, seeing no lights on this side. Mr. Benner, as you know, thank for a very detailed and clear report. In looking over the audit, the very, very back chapter, Chapter 3, you know, Fraud, Waste. Did anything else come up? There is no examples of any fraud, waste, or abuse. MR. BENNER: No. But again, that would be a statement limited to the scope of this audit, in particular. So if—we saw, for example, pumps being ordered that were to be used to repair well, and then those were being resold or something like that. That might qualify under the Fraud, Waste and Abuse section. But this engagement to that scope, no we didn't find anything. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then as far as all of the plans that were called out, looks like the department has been very forthcoming and proactive in developing plans for, you know, how to mitigate emergency situations, is that correct? MR. BENNER: It is, and as mentioned, we think they could further improve just by making that communication widely known, making sure they have a clear path between who has permission to access it and making sure that they know that those are available. There is a lot of different plans that exist, and we think some consolidation of those materials might assist them. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Okay, wonderful. Thank you. Thank you for your work, sir; and thank you for your cooperation, Department of Water Supply. Thanks for being here this morning, as well. Did you want to add anything to the conversation? Page 10 FC-47 November 15,2022 (Note: At this time, Water Supply Deputy Kawika Uyehara came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. UYEHARA: Good morning. Kawika Uyehara, Deputy. Just want to say thank you again to the Auditor's office. They're very professional in researching and completing the audit report, and truly we take this to heart that—you know, our mission is to provide—continue to supply safe drinking water to our customers and the communities, and with that, is the responsibility to have continuance and continue our Operations Plan. We've learned from 2017 and that time-period, and we continue to do our best to ensure we implement strategies and practices that ensure the continuity of our operations, continue supply of safe drinking water to our customers, with the help of our Operations Division and Engineering and Finance Division, as an overall department. So, thank you again. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Uyehara. Nice to have you hear this morning. Ms. Kimball, do you have a question? MS. KIMBALL: Yeah,just a quick comment. Thank you again, Auditor Benner, for an excellent and concise report and overview. I just wanted to acknowledge DWS, and the communication, at least with respect to some minor water issues that have happened over the last couple of years, last year in my district. I really appreciate the alerts to my office, and working together to just get that information out there. Just would echo the comment from the testifier as well as the auditor, monitoring drought information would be really great, and additional communication, would be great to have come from DWS, at least to encourage voluntary conservation. I'm sure you guys are up to date on the latest NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) drought monitoring program that they have and the alerts that they regularly send out when there are changes in the area. You know, if that's something that can be passed through, to your office out to the public, I think that would be an excellent addition to the communication services you have been providing. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Ms. David. MS. DAVID: Thank you, Chair. Quick comment. Thank you so much, Auditor Benner and Maxinne Pacheco, for your excellent work on this audit report. Mr. Uyehara, thank you for the Water Department. I have to say that I agree with Ms. Kimball as far as the Water Department's efforts to notify our respective communities when emergencies happen. Page 11 FC-47 November 15,2022 But I do have a question on your Contingency and Communication Plans by district. In South Kona, how many wells are we looking at in South Kona that you have plans for? MR. UYEHARA: Currently, in South Kona, we have—so our South Kona system is separate from our North Kona, physically. In South Kona, we have five sources, I believe, existing. I believe we had maybe one in the development plans. MS. DAVID: So how many ? You have one plan for South Kona, and how many wells we do have in South Kona right now? MR. UYEHARA: We have five currently. MS. DAVID: Five? MR. UYEHARA: Uh-hum. MS. DAVID: In South Kona alone? MR. UYEHARA: Yes. MS. DAVID: Okay, thank you. And the plans are available online? MR. UYEHARA: The Contingency Plan, no. It's internal documents for security purposes MS. DAVID: I see. Okay, all right. Thank you very much for your hard work. I yield. MR. UYEHARA: Thank you. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. David. Okay, seeing no further discussion. Thank you for your time this morning, gentlemen. Appreciate it. We do have the motion on the floor to close file on Communication 988.1. Council Members, all in favor? Page 12 FC-47 November 15,2022 Vote on Comm. 988.1: The motion to close file on Comm. 988.1 was carried Filed by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—5. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Inaba, Lee Loy, and Villegas —3. Excused: None. Comm. 1092: FINAL REPORT: HAWAII COUNTY COST OF GOVERNMENT COMMISSION From Cost of Government Commission Chair Michael J. Konowicz, dated October 24, 2022. Motion to Close File: Ms. David moved to close file on Comm. 1092. Seconded by Ms. Kimball. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I know we do have many of the members from our Cost of Government Commission joining us today. Thank you very much for being here this morning. Mr. Clerk, I think this is the first Cost of Government Commission that I have been through. Is it normal to have the speaker come forward from the Cost of Government Commission and provide a breakdown, the summary of events? MR. HENRICKS: I think that would be appropriate. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Could I have the presiding Chair of the Committee and the Counsel come forward? I see you coming forward now. I'd love to get your thoughts. It's a wonderful report you've put in front of us. I'd like to hear it from you folks. Please introduce yourselves for the record, and again, thanks for your time this morning. (Note: At this time, Cost of Government Commission Chairperson Michael Konowicz and Vice Chairperson Neal Herbert came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. KONOWICZ: Sure. Aloha, my name is Michael Konowicz and I'm the Chairperson of the Cost of Government Commission, and I'm joined here by our Vice Chair, Mr. Neal Herbert. Thank you so much for this opportunity. Before we dive into some highlights of our recommendation, I do want to get some thank yous out of the way. I'd like to thank the Mayor for appointing all of Page 13 FC-47 November 15,2022 us to this commission, and I'd like to thank the Council for the trust you put into us and confirming us for this very important task. I'd also like to thank the public that interacted with us along the way. We had many people and organizations provide testimony, both Zoom and live and in person, along the way, and we appreciated their input and feedback. Lastly, I want to make a big thanks to the commissioners who sacrificed their time. At first,we met twice a month, and then in recent months we increased the frequency of our meetings to weekly just because we had so much work to plow through. So, big mahalos all around for that. Just some topline highlights of the recommendation. It really is a comprehensive report, but due to time, we only had less than 11 months to work on this. This is definitely not—all inclusive of all the ways to improve efficiency of government. But some of the highlights of the recommendation include streamline the permitting and construction process to speed up approvals; make EPIC (Electronic Processing and Inspection Center) more accessible, simplify County Codes. We explored ways to the way technology and IT (Information Technology) is used in the County to make government run smoother. We're recommending re-evaluating a recycling and mulch contract with the Department of Environment Management, which we believe is wasting significant taxpayer's dollars now. We explored cost savings by better managing County- owned fleets, and have recommendations to do that in our report. We would love to see improved transparency and access to the Public Access, Open Space, and Natural Resources Fund, in those meetings. This commission also looked at revenue generation ideas; so in addition to looking at how to make government more efficient, we also looked at different ways where there could be some additional inbound captured, and we looked at many different ways that that could be done. We were delighted to see the County pursuing some of those already, but one idea that the Board put forth in or this commission put forth in its final report was increasing vehicle registration costs for imported older cars to help offset abandoned vehicle costs. Our definition of efficiency wasn't just limited to saving time and money. We also looked at ways of improving the efficiency of communication coming from the County; so in our recommendation, we're encouraging the powers to be, to consider looking at creating an office of public information in the County, so that Fire, Civil Defense, Police, Council, and the Mayor better community, each other, and the press, especially in times of emergency. We also debated novel ways of improving the function of government. We have in our final report a recommendation, or suggestion, on how to change and evolve the role of Managing Director for the County. We're also encouraging you to Page 14 FC-47 November 15,2022 look at ways to better tap into pools of volunteers to make government run smoother and cheaper. Lastly, and as Chair of this commission, I think this is most important, what I'd love to see are some changes to make the next Cost of Government Commission even more successful and impactful than ours. So in looking at what worked and didn't work with our commission, echoing what Commissioner Matson had shared in her testimony earlier today, we believe that some tweaks should be made and chartered to change the timing and the term of the Cost of Government Commission. Due to the timing, we're a little out of sync with the budget cycle, due to burdens on Sunshine Law, and how we can meet and discuss possibilities in the County. It was really a struggle to come up with our final report. It's unfortunate that this final report comes before Council in its last meeting of the calendar. So we're suggesting that the Charter be revised to make the Cost of Government Commission a two-year term so they have sufficient time to do the report in the future, deal with the burdens of Sunshine Law, and then be better in sync with the cycles of both the Mayoral term and Council people's terms. We're also recommending, not just for the Cost of Government Commission, but across all boards and commissions, creating a pool of clerical and administrative help to make them more effective and efficient. We looked at some examples of some other islands in Hawaii that are doing that. For our commission, Jeannie Miskovich from the Mayor's office served as our secretary, and she provided great service and support to this commission, but it was really in her free time because her day job is to be administrative support to the Mayor. There were some times that we really needed additional clerical support for our tasks, so it may make sense to have a more dedicated secretary in the mix there. So of all our recommendations in this report, we really encourage Council to take a look at how to empower the next Cost of Government Commission, to be even more impactful than ours, that's it. Vice Chair Herbert, do you have anything to add to that? MR. HERBERT: I want to thank and congratulate Mr. Konowicz for his outstanding job as Chair. He has really led this group through a lot of bureaucratic procedures and problems and communication difficulties, and kept us together, united as a team, so I want to thank him in behalf of all the other commissions, as well. Thank you for your outstanding job. MR. KONOWICZ: Thank you. MR. HERBERT: I don't have anything, in general, to add to the Chair's comments, but I do urge all of you, and especially the incoming Council, to really carefully review this report, and see if you can pursue some of these things in Page 15 FC-47 November 15,2022 contrast to the previous commissions, where vast majority and the recommendation and so on, but not pursue it or even checked on. So if there's going to be any value, as the Chair just pointed out to this commission, then more attention needs to be paid to how it set up its tenure and to the results of the work that it's done. Even if you say, "I don't think it's a good idea," at least some action and review should be taken on your behalf. MR. KONOWICZ: And then in addition to meeting with you today, the final meeting of the Cost of Government Commission will be this Thursday, where we are meeting and presenting this document also to Mr. Mayor and Mr. Lord, and then after that, this commission will dissolve for the year. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you very much, Mr. Konowicz; and thank you, Mr. is Neal Herbert? Just for the record. MR. HERBERT: Yes it is. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Herbert, for your breakdown and your summary, very much appreciated; and thank you to all the members of the Cost of Government Commission. This isI have an eye for efficiency, so I like this Cost of Government Commission, as far as our commissions are concerned. Council Members, discussion on Communication 1092? Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair; and thank you, Chair Konowicz and all the commissioners for all of your hard work in putting this really excellent set of recommendations together for the Council. I was literally in your shoes in 2014, having served as Vice Chair of Cost of Government, so thank you for inviting me and Mayor Roth to just address you at your initial kick-off meeting so I could share some of the personal experiences I had, some struggles I had, with the way commission is set up. Before I kind of reflect on some of the things that you've proposed here, wondering if—Deputy Managing Director Bobby Command is here, representing the Administration to kind of weigh in on this report. Just wondering if there is an official response from the Administration at this point. I know a presentation is happening on Thursday, but this has been a public document, so curious if you folks have reviewed and would like to just weigh in before the Council as we deliberate. (Note: At this time, Deputy Managing Director Bobby Command came forward to address the members of the Committee.) Page 16 FC-47 November 15,2022 MR. COMMAND: Aloha, Council Members. Bobby Command, Deputy Managing Director, County of Hawaii. I have nothing to say except thank you very much, Michael Konowicz, great job as Chair, and everyone else. The only other thing I would say is that I agree with the timing of the Cost of Government Commission. As you can see right now, we're talking to a lame-duck Council. I know some of you will be back, but there are two that won't be here. It would be better if we adjusted the time, possibly to overlap two Council terms. So maybe we start in July, and then the following July, or like Mr. Konowicz said, two years. That's all up for discussion, but definitely, the timing needs to be changed. Otherwise, thank you very much, Michael and everyone else. It was fun, and we did the whole thing over Zoom. We didn't have a single in-person meeting. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: How wonderful. Thank you, Deputy Managing Director. I appreciate that. Chair Konowicz, the recommendations that are contained in this particular report, were they shared with the departments before you decided to include them here? MR. KONOWICZ: In many cases they were, and in some cases we worked with the Division's Heads to draft our initial drafts, but we did not share the final draft with the Division Heads before it went to the public. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, excellent. I was just curious about that because obviously all of the work that they're doing, they have incredible insight, and so are the needs of their particular department. I also want to just thank you for conducting a survey of folks within the department, because you have folks that are Civil Service, that has been here through many, many administrations, and so they've seen a lot of things and often have really great suggestions on how to make improvement within the department, so thank you. I was curious, under the recommendations for the Department of Environmental Management, you bring up the Hawaii Earth Recycling (HER) contract. Did the commission meet with HER to discuss their contract agreement with the County? MR. KONOWICZ: We did not. We only spoke with Director Mansour about that contract, and consulted Corporation Counsel, who is responsible for implementing that contract. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Was that intentional to not engage HER? MR. KONOWICZ: No, it may have been just an issue of timing. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes, a very compressed amount of time, 11 months to evaluate all County departments and come up with recommendations. I just wanted to understand that a little bit better. The Council has had many Page 17 FC-47 November 15,2022 conversations about this particular contract. I think we would all like to see if a functioning, composting facility, wants to get started here on our island. My understanding is we can make compost happen with HER. It's really incumbent upon the Department of Environmental Management, which holds the permit with the Department of Health to request that update to the department. So, I just want to make sure I'm putting it out there. If this report is final, great; but if there are ways to maybe make some changes based on the information I've shared with you,just want to make sure that I'm putting it out there. I like the recommendations that you put forth with IT, anything that we can support them with hardware infrastructure, getting more folks. Making their pay a bit more competitive is an excellent idea because so many of our functions, as government, are now moving into the online space. We really had to accelerate the pace, in which we did during pandemic. It really underscored that. As you mentioned, about recommendations related to vehicles, number 5 is particularly interesting to me, having a fleet of electric vehicles for the Island of Hawaii, all counties, really. I'm not sure if the Administration shared with you, but the Department of Transportation (DOT) was able to engage, I think a group called Sustainability Partners Hawaii, in which they were able to bring on a fleet of electric vehicles. DOT, Ed Sniffin, super brilliant, and that they allowed all the counties to sign on to this particular agreement, so just wondering if you were able to talk to anybody within R&D (Research and Development) or the Administration to explore implementation and leverage of this particular tool, to bring on a fleet for Hawaii County? MR. KONOWICZ: We did. We met with R&D, and we had a presentation about that program that you just referenced; then we also met with Mr. Andoh, from Mass Transit, and others within the Department of Public Works, to look at the fleet. Commission Herbert, do you have any specific to add? MR. HERBERT: No, the report is pretty self-explanatory. The section on EVs (Electric Vehicle), page 19 of the report, challenges some of the approaches that we're taking with these electric vehicles. The primary thing, I think needs to be looked into, is leasing as opposed to buying. The various reasons for that are outlined in both forms in the report. We've got to be very careful about the future cost and the turnarounds on these vehicles. This is a new system that we're dealing with here. We have only 5-year warranties on these new vehicles. There are going to be there already are problems with the variety of models, and the variety of batteries and replacement parts, so this is something I urge you to, not Council but the County management, to look into before we go headlong into the EV business. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I agree with you, Commissioner Herbert. Thank you. I appreciate the recommendations you've made about PONC. I see our Finance Page 18 FC-47 November 15,2022 Director in the back. Director Sako, if I could call you up just for a quick question? (Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. KIERKIEWICZ: One of the recommendations here was related to the Maintenance and Stewardship Fund for PONC (Public Access, Open Space, and Natural Resources Preservation Commission)parcels. The commissioners recommend applications be open to members of the public twice a year. Just want to understand the feasibility from a staffing standpoint, from you, if this is something that's realistic. I know that the commission is also suggesting that more staff be added to PONC, but with the folks that you have on board right now, a two-time application opening, is that realistic? MS. SAKO: I don't know if it's really realistic. I think what happened recently was the applications got backlogged when they were with another department, so now that Finance has taken over, I believe we've caught up, and the current year grants are currently going out shortly. Once the grantees get back on a normal annual cycle, that should work. Right now, we would not be allowed to do it twice a year because that would be prohibited by the Charter. The Charter is very specific as to the process that's laid out, but we're open to it in the future. I think we just want to get through another year or so to let everybody get caught up, and see if that annual cycle works for them again. I think it's unfortunate,just the timing in which the Cost of Government Committee met because we were really coming through, you know, that kind of backlogged period that we've talked about several meetings. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Director. Yeah, I think we had awarded some PONC applications that were filed in like 2019 or 2020. MS. SAKO: Yes. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So thanks to your department for working with P&R (Parks and Recreation)to get us all caught up. MS. SAKO: Uh-hum. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And so I'd want to pin to put a pin in this particular recommendation just to see how things naturally flow with PONC under your leadership and direction, so thank you. MS. SAKO: We do have two years before the next election, so there's plenty of time to get a ballot amendment on. Page 19 FC-47 November 15,2022 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you for that reminder, Director. Just a few more points here. Chair Konowicz, boards and commissions, do agree with all of the recommendations you've provided here. Most especially, curious to have conversations with you and other members about how we might restructure the Cost of Government Commission to go beyond that eleven-month tenure. I know that Deputy Managing Director said two years, but I was thinking perhaps even a four-year commission, a commission that can help to ensure that implementation of these recommendations are happening. I mean, I remember reviewing the report our commission had generated a number of years ago, and looking at the recommendations, some took like four, five, six years to actually get implemented by the department, and that's for a variety of reasons. So, do want make sure that we're able to have conversations after this particular meeting to see what would be the best setup for members of the public who are volunteering for this commission, but also recognize that so much support is given by the administration. So I just want to make sure it's a good working model. Also, really interesting to see the recommendation about the Managing Director doing the hiring of various department heads. Perhaps the County Council can set up an ad hoc committee to just kind of explore how this is being implemented across different counties around the country. It is an intriguing idea, but it would fundamentally change the nature of how the County government is run. But I just want to end by thanking all of you for your hard work, your diligence, your creativity, and your innovation in putting this great report together. We really appreciate it. And to Commissioner Matson's point earlier, we want to see something done with this. Shannon, absolutely. Thank you for putting this report together so that now we have additional tools and can hear from the public about how we can make the government more cost-effective, and more efficient. Thank you, Chair, for the latitude. I yield. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Ms. Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair, and thank you both for your participation in the Cost of Government Commission and for being here today. I actually just wanted to piggyback off of what Council Member Kierkiewicz was just referring to since it has relevance to other items that we may be discussing today, particularly your recommendations around the Managing Director position and the hiring of director positions. Could you expound a little bit more on that deliberation that you had, beyond what's presented here to us in the report? MR. KONOWICZ: Of all of the concepts this commission considered, I think that was the most debated, and the commission was really split, on whether or not Page 20 FC-47 November 15,2022 to include that in the final recommendation. Now ultimately, the majority of the commissioners did decide to include it as a place for thought. One of the reasons why some commissioners didn't want it in is because it isn't a completely flushed-out concept. So we put it in here as a place for County leaders to take a look almost like a jumping-off point to start the discussion and the debate on how that role should function. So that's just some backstory, I don't know if that helps. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I think I recall an article in the paper about that, those deliberations being somewhat contentious, and I just wanted to see if there was a little more information beyond what could be—what's provided in the report. But I do appreciate you generating the place for us to have a more in-depth conversation, and I think Council Member Kierkiewicz's recommendation about an ad hoc to discuss this as a part of—the subset of this body is actually probably a good recommendation. Similarly, I would like you to, if at all possible, expand a little bit on your recommendations with regard to the permitting system, and these potentially temporary permits, or provisional permits based on prequalification of the applicants. MR. KONOWICZ: Sure, and I'll hand it over to Commissioner Herbert to answer. One of the things we did in the Cost of Government Commission, we created, due to Sunshine Law, Permitted Interactive Groups (PIG), to focus a couple of commissioners on these specific areas, and Commissioner Herbert served on that PIG. MR. HERBERT: Right. We call them PIGS because that is the correct acronym, for some reason they picked that wording. The thought behind that first recommendation, which I believe Councilman Chung submitted some legislation along these lines. I don't know if he got recommendation from the report or is something on his own, but it's worth pursuing. The Code and the Charter requirements are pretty stiff and they're pretty strict, and kind of mobile in terms of being able to make changes to it. I think there is room we think there is room to be able to allow certain concerns, architects, engineers, plumbers, electricians, some leeway in being able to proceed with their work without the detailed dotting the i's, crossing the is type,permitting, process, and reviews that are going on right now. Even though EPIC is being implemented, I think we're still a long way to streamlining that process; and this is one area where I think, at least in some interpretations, would allow for that provisional permitting to go on. Page 21 FC-47 November 15,2022 There are organizations, communities, and municipalities in the mainland that do have an expedited review process for approved licensed contractors, engineers, and so on, to allow that process to go through because there are so few major errors, or omissions, or changes that have to be made in the submissions. So I would like to see that pursued in some fashion, as a way of expediting the permitting process. Any little bit will help in this permitting. This is the number one issue that this commission had. It's a priority, to be able to look into. We were a little bit restricted because of the consultant contract that was issued by the County, to look into the efficiency of EPIC. I don't know if that consultant report is available yet, but that is a counterpart to what we have done here in the commission. There is one little comment I had the opportunity to make here right now, and reading the language that Mr. Chung had in his proposal, and that is that not all professional architects, engineers, and people who sign off and stamp drawings, are in the same league as the ones that are involved with the pre-review of the design, consultant work for the County. There is a lot of stuff that goes rubberstamping. It's not really looked in, I think, in these areas. So those submissions were pointed out to me by outside consultants, that the County spends a lot more time with these submittals because of all the mistakes and errors in everything, than the true professionals in larger firms that do submit the thing that have to go through that process. So this is a little bit of an item, I think, that needs to be carefully looked at if this legislation being proposed goes through. We need to be very careful about preauthorization, what that means and what the consequences would be for people who are not following the rules. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Commissioner Herbert. I want to be careful here, so we're not crossing the lines of talking about another agenda item on a different committee calendar. But I'd like to maybe have you share a little bit more about that last point, and just the conversation that the commission had, to see if there were any recommendations that were not put into the report, that would determine how a particular professional was prequalified, if you will, for the more streamlined process. Did you guys deliberate on that, and have any recommendations specifically on that component of it? MR. HERBERT: No, I don't have it in detail, but it would be similar to the process that we use to preauthorize consultants and design people; architects that the County uses in selecting a firm to do the drawings, plans, and specifications for County work. MS. KIMBALL: Okay, thank you. That's helpful. That's all I have, Chair. Again, thank you, Mr. Herbert and Mr. Konowicz, for being here today to present the commission's report. We appreciate it. I yield. Page 22 FC-47 November 15,2022 CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Okay, seeing no lights from my colleagues, except for Mr. Chung. Mr. Chung, go ahead. MR. CHUNG: Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Actually, we have only five members here today, and I was thinking one of the ways we could lessen the cost of government is just to make five members from now on instead of nine, correct? It's much more efficient I think. Anyway—and thank you very much, Commissioners, Chairman Konowicz, and Vice Chair Herbert, for all of your good work, I mean, we really appreciate it. You know, it's a thankless job, and whether we agree with you or not, I mean it's not to say that we don't appreciate everything that you guys have done, and I know it's coming from a good place. You know, if you could, educate me as to the processes that your Commission implemented in coming up with these things. I mean, well how about this, first thing, and I'm going to go backward, though. Chairman, you mentioned something about I think it was with the managing the County manager concept, and incidentally, that is a concept that my former colleague, Curtis Tyler, whom I really have a lot of respect for, had always embraced. People would ask him, "Hey, why don't you run for Mayor?" He would always tell them, "Why should I run for Mayor? I don't even like that setup. I think we should be doing a County manager type of arrangement." So you guys might want to talk to him. He's kind of interesting, always. I don't really agree with him on that. But anyway, you said that there was a majorityI mean, it was something that there was a lot of back and forth with your commission, but a majority voted in favor of it. You know,just to have it brought up for discussion but speaking of which, how was the attendance at your commission? I mean, did you guys always have a full slate of commissioners attending? Because when you say, "a majority," is it like the majority of a bare quorum, like what we have right now? MR. KONOWICZ: The commission always had a quorum, so we never didn't have a quorum. Attendance did vary. MR. CHUNG: I mean, yeah, and really that wasn't my question about the quorum because I know you guys had to have had a quorum in order to conduct business, right? MR. KONOWICZ: Yeah. MR. CHUNG: And when you guys came up with various proposals, how many people were in attendance,just the bare minimum? And then you guys came up with a majority based on the bare minimum, or how did those things go? I just want to get a glimpse into why you guys had to grapple with. Page 23 FC-47 November 15,2022 MR. KONOWICZ: Yeah, I would have to go back to the minutes to refresh my memory. I believe for the Managing Director, the final vote was five to two, so we had seven out of nine commissioners present for that vote. And again, the contention wasn't necessarily whether or not the role is a valid one to pursue, the contention is whether or not a concept that's not completely flushed out and described in detail and defined, should make it to the final report. There was concern expressed by some commissioners that having something that's not completely flushed out may dilute the value of some of the other concepts included in this report that were comprehensively flushed out. So the contention was more that there just wasn't enough time to flush it out, more so than whether or not the idea is valid. MR. CHUNG: Okay. How would that County manager be selected? MR. HERBERT: Well, as it's described here, this is just one template that was provided, furnished, actually by a constituent here in the County. That is one approach. There were several different approaches that are available throughout the country on how this is done. There were hybrid arrangements and so on. So, this is one approach where the Mayor would essentially do the work of getting appointments submitted, I mean,people to submit their applications, and review them and boil it down to perhaps three, and then submit to the Council, who would make the decision on the hiring. Then at that point, the County manager would be more stable, longer-tenured position, still subject to the Civil Service rules, where he could be dismissed for cause and things like that. But this would basically provide stability and tenure to these positions. That's the key point, I think, that we would want to make in this. The turnover, as explained in here, one example is, it's just not conducive to good leadership, and stability and continuity, of decision-making, and so on as you go forward. Yeah, there are some political complications here. There are some application considerations that we have to look at. But the thought is to create better stability, have department heads that can come in knowing that four years from now, a new Mayor comes in and say, "Oh, I want somebody else to come in here." You know, we have enough trouble attracting good people, as it is, but for somebody to come in, even at the increased salary levels that we have right now and the problems of hiring, is for somebody to say, "Do I really want to do this, take the chance that I may not be around in four years?" So these are the main points. MR. CHUNG: All right. Well, thank you very much for that explanation. Basically though, from what I read, both in the newspaper and on this, it would be the County Council that would select this County manager, correct? MR. HERBERT: Right, and the department head situations would be followed on within the County. Page 24 FC-47 November 15,2022 MR. CHUNG: Right. For what it's worth, I'll give you my thoughts on this and why I wouldn't be in support of something like this; of course, I'm not going to be around anymore. See, because we, the County Council, is now single-member districts, right—you know, in the past, they were at-large elections, but now only single-member districts, so now a majority of the Council would have an opportunity to select this County manager. The risk that we would run now is that a lot of people would be disenfranchised from having their input as to who would run government, and it's particularly because we're only single-member districts now. That's just my thought, I throw that out there. I mean, you guys have done your work, and we really appreciate it, but I just wanted to share my thoughts on that. But anyway, let's start all over. Was your commission—of course, you talked about Sunshine Laws, right, adhering to that, so were transcripts also prepared for the commission on all of these meetings, both at those little committees that you had and the commission as a whole? MR. KONOWICZ: So transcripts weren't created, again, because we lacked the administrative talent to do that. All of our commission meetings were done on Zoom, and all those Zoom meetings are archived. MR. CHUNG: Okay. MR. KONOWICZ: But the individual Permitted Interaction Group meetings, while some of those happened through Zoom, those were not recorded with the full commission meetings. MR. CHUNG: And how many members were in those Permitting Interaction committees? MR. KONOWICZ: I believe they were up to three. MR. HERBERT: There were four on the Permitting. MR. CHUNG: Oh, there were four. MR. HERBERT: Two on the fleet, and then we'd have to go back and check the other ones exactly. MR. CHUNG: Okay. MR. HERBERT: There was no more than four, and that was on the permitting issue. The others were either two or three. Page 25 FC-47 November 15,2022 MR. KONOWICZ: Yeah, due to Sunshine, we have to have one less than quorum, so four was the maximum. But I think in many cases it was just three, the Permitting one had four. MR. CHUNG: Okay, thank you. No transcripts, but we can go back and look at the meetings, correct? MR. KONOWICZ: Yes. And then, to close out each Permitted Interaction Group work, they provided a recommendation to the full commission in front of those Zoom recorded full commission meetings. Those were entered into the record, available for public review and comment, and then we acted on those insights from the PIGS at the following commission meeting to be in line with Sunshine Law. MR. HERBERT: The purpose of this PIG arrangement was specifically not to have to go through the open discussion and communication process, but to allow these subcommittees to pursue investigations and discussions with other people, and make the report, as the Chair mentioned. MR. CHUNG: Yeah, okay. Anyway, I'll tell you what I really like, I mean, it's a very minor recommendation, well, from my perspective, but this suggestion about trying to encourage more volunteerism. Yeah, I thought that was marvelous. That would really help the operations of the County and bring up morea greater sense of community throughout our island. But I think what was lacking in the recommendation is why we haven't taken a stronger approach with regard to trying to encourage volunteerism. You know, whether there are some constraints, perhaps union constraints, you know, I don't know. But why we haven't taken a better approach on that. So I'll just leave that, you don't have to answer that. It seems like Vice Chair Herbert, I'm guessing, took the lead on a lot of Public Works thing, because he's very well-versed on that. With regard to the initiative that I brought up, yeah, it was kind of done before I had taken a look at that, and it kind of dovetails, though. I'm hoping, and I'm not going to be around anymore, but hopefully you can provide some input if this thing moves forward, both of you, or any of the other commissioners, to add to that piece of legislation, that could make it better. I really do appreciate that. That's all I have to say. Thanks for all your good work. Oh, wait a minute, I am somewhat concerned though, about the recommendations made regarding our Environmental Management, and the reason for that is, and to the Chairman, and with all due respect, I think when statements made that a program is wasteful, it needs to have a more even-handed vetting. That's just my personal opinion. So when you quickly dismissed the need to talk to the contractor and get their perspectiveI'm just saying, I would have done it a different way, yeah,just to Page 26 FC-47 November 15,2022 get a balanced perspective. Because these are clearly positions that our current Administration has taken, both with the private, and public partnerships, with regard to the wastewater operations and with the HER contact, so those really were clearly reflective of this Administration's positions. When I read about it in the paper, I was kind of surprised, you know, where did this come from? You explained where it came from, and it didn't surprise me, but I just hope that—you know, based on what Council Woman Kierkiewicz had asked, I thought that was a very pertinent question. The last thing I have to say is, you know, when we're talking about Cost of Government, I was very surprised that there was no discussion on possibly doing away with the PONC. You know, that takes two percent right off the top of our County budget, basically establishing that as being perhaps the most important program of County government, which I don't think it is. There are many other programs that deserve equal or more attention. So when I saw different aspects of the PONC being talked about in the report, it was surprising to me. See, this is the—and I'm going to say this first of all when the PONC first came up, and I don't know what it was called at that time, but it came up for a vote to the County Council as a Charter amendment. I voted in favor of it, so I'm speaking from the position that favored this thing. Now, at that time, that Charter initiative failed for lack of having a super majority, but I votedI was one of five voting in what would be, the minority. So I'm not coming at this from a position of being a critic of the program, it's more of a person who supported it. But at this time, let's think about it now. Every year we're going to be taking two percent, which is going to continue growing every year, assuming the budget continues to grow, and we're going to be devoting this to land acquisition, which takes those lands out of the County tax rolls. Now if this thing continues in perpetuity, something's got to give, and I thought for sure the Cost of Government Commission will take a hard look at that, at least mention it like they did with the County manager position. Just bring some ideas, perhaps proposing that this thing comes up to the voters every ten years to re-examine. Yeah, but I just thought I'd say that, too. Thank you. MR. KONOWICZ: So if I may respond to some of those things? With regards to PONC, it made our agenda many times. We created PIGS specifically for PONC. We had a fair amount of public interest and conversation. We had many people in groups provide testimony on the issue of PONC, and there was a lot of interest on behalf of the commissioners to look at PONC further, which is why it became a focus area early on in the process of things we looked at. But in all of our meetings and all the public testimony and all of the commission discussions, reducing or limiting PONC never came up. It was all about how to fine tune the existing program. So no one approached the idea that should be cut or reduced. Page 27 FC-47 November 15,2022 If someone had suggested that during our process, that's something that we would have looked at, but it frankly never came up. MR. CHUNG: Now, well, then did any of the commissioners suggest that? MR. KONOWICZ: No commissioner suggested cutting or limiting it; if anything, they wanted it to be spent more efficiently. MR. CHUNG: Right, and that's what I find somewhat surprising, and that's only my personal opinion. But, thank you. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Ms. David. MS. DAVID: Thank you, Chair. I'm going to make this short because I believe my colleagues have contributed a lot to this discussion. The report Commissioners Konowicz and Herbert, and I want to acknowledge Commissioner Obenski is in our chambers here in KonaI find the report and the suggestions realistic and comprehensive. My question is a procedural one, being that myself and Vice Council Chair Chung, this is our last meeting, what is procedurally your recommendations after this communication is filed? What is your process in further discussions with the Administration, especially the Environmental Management Division, as Mr. Chung and Ms. Ashley Kierkiewicz note? Do you anticipate further meetings to pretty much address the issues being raised here today in your recommendations? MR. KONOWICZ: As per the Charter, we need to dissolve within a year of appointment, and I believe that the magic day of dissolving happens on November 27h. So procedurally, our next step is to have a public meeting with the Mayor and Managing Director on Thursday, but at that meeting, as the agenda shows, the commission will be dissolved at that time. Then we become just regular community members and volunteers at-large, but I'm sure many commissioners would be more than happy to volunteer their time to participate in whatever ad hoc committees this Council sees fit. I would personally be more than happy to help refer back to the notes and the reports collected over the course of the commission, and volunteer wherever I can to bring some of these ideas to fruition, both through Council and through the Mayor's office. But beyond this week, it wouldn't be in the capacity as commissioner for this commission. MS. DAVID: Thank you for that. I really—for me, as long as I've been involved with government, I've seen a lot of very good reports, and they become housed in a bookshelf somewhere. As I leave, I just hope that with the help of the new Council that this particular report does not become filed on the shelf and it moves Page 28 FC-47 November 15,2022 forward because this is an important or one of the most important, I believe, commissions in addressing how government operates. So, we leave that to the new Council. I really appreciate and thank you folks for your hard work this year. And on that, I yield. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. David. Okay, seeing no other lights on. I'm getting close to our 11:00 o'clock Regenerative Agriculture, Water, Energy, and Environmental Management Committee. Gentlemen thank you very much for your time. I have a few follow-up questions for you. I'll just keep it brief. Did you find that the departments that you dealt with were very collaborative with your attempts of looking at the cost of government? MR. KONOWICZ: To be honest, I would say the results were mixed. The contractor brought in to take a look at the Department of Public Works, was an unexpected obstacle for us. That prevented us from getting some of the access we needed and some of the answers we sought because I guess it was perceived that our effort was duplicative to what the consultant was doing. The consultant report was originally due I believe in mid-September, but as of last week, I don't believe the report was finalized. We never saw a copy of that. We sent out many surveys to staff across different departments, there was a pretty good optic to those responses. We also sent letters to boards and commissions, but we didn't have a great response from other boards and commissions. I believe there are 40 yeah, I guess 45 boards and commissions in the County, and only about 25 percent actually responded to our request for information there. We got a fair amount of feedback, and in some cases, the directors were very helpful in working with us on the recommendation text, like in the case of Environmental Management. Director Mansour provided that feedback and direction for us to have the report written as it was. But yeah, I would say overall it was fairly mixed, and then it was just a challenge with just the timing because our timelines are so compressed. It was almost unfair of us to ask other people to rush and drop what they were doing and get us immediate feedback so we can make decisions. So I think the timelines we were against were also an enemy to the process more so than just people simply ignoring us. I think time was the main issue. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you for that. That's good to hear, but I would hope that given your role that everyone in the future collaborates with you efficiently and effectively, given what you offered to the County as a whole. Now, I don't want to hear right from your guys' mouth. In regards to DPW that was my next question, with the Public Works' consultant report due by September 15, that was my question, have you seen Page 29 FC-47 November 15,2022 their report? Because a lot of your questions were on point. This has been a big topic. It's been brought up again, again, and again, is permitting that big? Cost-effectiveness, you know, la, la, la, la. So to date, as far as you know, there's been no report from the consultant. This was due September 15''; it is November 15'', so we're two months past due, our report. MR. KONOWICZ: Correct, to the best of my knowledge the report is not available. The last time we checked to see if it was available was at our last public Cost of Government Commission meeting,which was just a couple of weeks ago, right? Two weeks ago? MR. HERBERT: Yeah. MR. KONOWICZ: So as of two weeks ago, there is still no report. MR. HERBERT: Yeah, we have a caveat in the report that says this is subject to whatever conclusions or recommendations that the consultant may make because we were restricted in communicating with DPW, specifically Building Division. I also think in one of the appendices, there was a letter that we had sent out to DPW. There are two dozen or more question areas that we intended to pursue before we were advised by DPW that we could not communicate on a lot of the interest of the commission, as the consultant was pursuing with the contract. They had precedence. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: In my opinion, although you could view it as duplicative, your intent and your purpose, as guided by our Charter is to look into the cost of government, and this is an area that your body chose to look into, and I think rightfully so. So I'm disheartened by hearing that because an independent consultant was looking into it, it then ruled out a response from DPW to your commission, and I don't agree with that, that way of proceeding with the department, but I do appreciate you folks reaching out to them. We're trying to find some answers to your questions. As part of my last question, did any Council Member participate in the Cost of Government Commission meetings, or anywhere in the process? MR. KONOWICZ: Yes. So in the very first meeting, knowing that Council Member Kierkiewicz served in the previous Cost of Government Commission, we invited her to give us some words of wisdom on her experience and some watch- outs along the way. And then, I believe it was in May, I came before this committee to give an update to review what the priority areas were, and in that meeting Councilperson Kimball gave us some guidance on things to look at within IT. But other than that, there was no other interaction with Council. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And the last statement is, we are having a public meeting right now regarding your last report of the Cost of Page 30 FC-47 November 15,2022 Government Commission, and then later this week you're going to meet and have another public meeting with the Mayor's Office, which I find redundant. That might just be me, but I do see definitely some redundancy in that, maybe there's a reason for it, maybe there's not. But in my eyes, this is a very public meeting that anyone can participate in. It could be as good as any other spot to save time on another public meeting to discuss the same detail. So, more of a statement than anything. I don't know if you want to provide a comment on that. You can. MR. KONOWICZ: Well, the Charter says we must provide a report to both Council and to Mayor, and Managing Director. The commission debated how to go about doing that. We debated whether or not just to send the report to the Mayor's Office after this meeting, but some commissioners thought it would be a good idea to have one final public meeting to get any other public feedback into the record, so that's why it was done that way. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Understood. Understood. Maybe just the interpretation of the language. Okay, interesting. Okay, thank you very much. And to every member of this commission, I really do applaud you guys. You did a good job, and I look forward to seeing what the next commission brings. But I do appreciate your time today, thank you for being here. MR. KONOWICZ: Thank you. MR. HERBERT: CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you very much. Okay, seeing no further discussion from the Council Members. We do have the motion on the floor to close file on Communication 1092, all in favor? Vote on Comm. 1092: The motion to close file on Comm. 1092 was carried Filed by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—5. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Inaba, Lee Loy, and Villegas —3. Excused: None. ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. (Note: Item in this category was taken up previously, out of order) Page 31