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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN LAAC 2023/04/18 (2022-2024) Committee on Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions 7th Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawaii April 18, 2023 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions ORDER: was called to order at 2:50 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Vice Chair Ms. Cindy Evans, Member(came in later) Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member (came in later) 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 individual registered to speak and came forward when called by the Chair: Andi Pawasarat-Losalio: Comm. 66.5, in support. COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 66: REQUESTS FORMATION OF AN AD HOC COMMITTEE FOR THE PURPOSE OF: (1) REVIEWING BIANNUAL PROGRESS REPORTS FOR RECIPIENTS OF FISCAL YEAR 2022-23 NONPROFIT GRANTS-IN-AID AWARDS; AND (2) DEVELOPING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023-24 NONPROFIT GRANTS-IN-AID AWARDS From Council Member Susan L. K. Lee Loy, dated January 6, 2023. Postponed: February 7 and April 4, 2023 LAAC-7 April 18,2023 (Note: There is a motion by Ms. Lee Loy, seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz, to close file on Comm. 66.) ; and Comm. 66.1: From Finance Director Deanna S. Sako, dated February 22, 2023, transmitting the applications from eligible nonprofit organizations. ; and Comm. 66.2: From Finance Director Deanna S. Sako, dated February 28, 2023, transmitting revised list of nonprofit grant applications. ; and Comm. 66.3: From Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee Chair Holeka Goro Inaba, dated March 23, 2023, transmitting the Ad Hoc Committee's recommendations for grant funding in the amount of$2,497,500 to nonprofit organizations for inclusion in the County of Hawaii Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024. ; and Comm. 66.4: From Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee Chair Holeka Goro Inaba, dated March 29, 2023, transmitting Award Graphs as Exhibit B to the recommendations for grant funding to nonprofit organizations. (Note: Submitted for deliberation and decision-making pursuant to Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 92-2.5(b)(1)(C) and Council Rule No. 7(5).) (Note: Comm. 66.5, from Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee Chair Holeka Goro Inaba dated April 13, 2023, transmitting a proposed amendment to the Recommendations for the Waiwai Nonprofit Grant Organizations for FY2023-2024 was circulated). CHR. INABA: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. With your permission, I just want to recap real quick everything that the Clerk just read in. Going through on Communications 66.1 and 66.2, are all of the eligible applications that were forwarded from Finance to the Ad Hoc Committee; 66.3 was the recommendation of the Ad Hoc committee submitted to this committee; and 66.4 was just those exhibits that were created by Council Member Lee Loy's Office to show how the funds were distributed. So, at our last committee meeting, we put this forward, so the public was able to see the results and the recommendations of the Ad Hoc committee, and we weren't able to discuss, but today we are here, and I do have a proposed—well, I guess it's a second draft recommendation that is contained in your pinkie folder. It's Communication 66.5, and I think perhaps I'll just proceed with this Page 2 LAAC-7 April 18,2023 recommendation, unless you folks want to have a discussion first about the original recommendation contained in 66.3. Council Chair Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, I hate to do this, but before you proceed with amending it to the new list, there's an error on the first page for Aloha Ilio Rescue. The program name is just a duplicate. It should be the Spay-Neuter program. I'm not sure if you want to amend it and then amend it again with that correction or if we—it's editorial really, so I don't think we can do that on the floor, Clerk? CHR. INABA: Yes, I see it. MR. HENRICKS: Mr. Chair, if I could interject? CHR. INABA: Yes please, Mr. Clerk. MR. HENRICKS: That's duly noted and important, the program name is critical. I think that notation will suffice to make sure that, assuming the recommendations are approved, that they'll be properly transmitted into the Draft 2 of the Operating Budget. I think that notation is sufficient to make sure that the program is properly titled in the Operating Budget. CHR. INABA: The first one, yeah. Okay, thank you. Understood and we'll make that clear with the vote on the final recommendation. Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: So, was the question, are we going to look at all of the communications except for 66.5, or is that going to be included? CHR. INABA: I think right now, let's just take up any questions anyone has on the process or how we got to our recommendations, and if there's any questions about the activities of the Ad Hoc. MS. EVANS: No questions on activities. CHR. INABA: Okay. Alright. Well with that then, can I get a motion to accept the recommendations contained in Communication 66.5? MR. HENRICKS: I think it's that simple. Yeah, I don't think you need to amend. Motion to Amend: Ms. Lee Loy moved to amend Comm. 66 with the contents of Comm. 66.5. Seconded by Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. CHR. INABA: So, as Ms. Losalio came at our last hearing to express concern about which application was selected for funding from Bridge House, I did review Page 3 LAAC-7 April 18,2023 our scoring sheets, and it was an oversight, not by the Ad Hoc, but by myself alone In the cases where we had organizations who had multiple applications, we always went with the higher scoring application. If the scores were equivalent, we went with the higher ask. In this case, we awarded the lower ask and the lower scoring application by mistake. So, this 66.5 corrects that and removes the $20,000 Vocational Skills Building Program and instead adds the Clean and Sober Transitional Program for $50,000. You'll see there are three $10,000 awards that are being removed in Communication 66.5 as compared to 66.3. These were all secondary awards. All of these organizations received another award equal to $10,000 or greater. So, wanting to correct my mistake, and that is what Communication 66.5 is. So, happy to have any discussion about the general recommendations here and any other questions the entire committee might have about the process this year. Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: Thank you. So, I just wanted to ask, so your methodology for picking the three to take off, was that basically just because it was easy to take three $10,000 to off-set? CHR. INABA: They were the lowest scoring of the secondary awards. MS. GALIMBA: They were the lowest scoring. Awesome, okay, good. Thank you. That's all. Just wanted to elucidate that. CHR. INABA: Okay. Any other questions from the committee? Council Chair Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you and thank you, to the Ad Hoc committee, for all the effort. I know that it's a heavy lift to go through all of this and make these decisions. So, really appreciate your effort and your time. The one thing that I wanted to just make as a point, as I was going through all of the applications myself, you know, I really appreciated our transition to a more quantitative analysis. You know, do they have the outcomes defined? Do they have the benchmarks defined? Does the program match the budget? All of that. The thing that's really, really important. What I found myself lacking in my ability to analyze these programs, is that there were some that I felt, even though they scored the same in just the terms of the quality of the application was like, well, this is kind of more important right now, as far as where we put our Grants- In-Aid funding. So, what I was missing was an opportunity to weigh in sort of in a qualitative way on which programs should get more funding, and I know that's Page 4 LAAC-7 April 18,2023 actually what we tried to walk away from, because we want it to be in a place where we have defensible decision making. So, I just bring it up because I think for the next iteration, and we've already kind of talked about this a little bit. I would like the opportunity before as a body, as a Council to say, these are our priorities next year as far as areas that we'd like to fund, have that discussion in the public hearing before we put out the applications, and then that would give us a place to work from to maybe actually have some qualitative assessment of, well, does this meet what our program goals are for the next year as part of the review process in the future? So, thanks for that leeway on the ability to discuss the process, but I think this was the most appropriate time to contribute what I thought needed to happen to continue to improve this process year after year. So, thank you for the leeway. I yield, Chair. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Ms. Kimball. Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Sure,just kind of falling in line with Chair Kimball's comments here,just a couple of things. I really appreciate this. There's a delineation of the objective and subjective and the creation of protocols that create a numeric system for grading these organizations, most specifically based on their program applications. However, I couldn't help but also notice anytime you're grading something that's still subjective anyway, which there's some irony there. I also really felt just really personally that, you know, as intensive as it was to sit there for three days and do the interview process, it allowed a level of connection, relationship-building, and true understanding of an organization and their projects and their work in a way that you don't get from a printed application. With having all of our applicants be on this Island, we have a unique opportunity geographically because we can get together to have those meetings. And I feel that, you know, there are a lot of things I'm not good at, but in this role and in this leadership responsibility—one of the capacities of this role is that inner-knowing and our ability to have relationships and the reputations that proceed some of these organizations that may or may not do great paperwork, but that we know authentically are really serving our community in priceless ways actually. So, I just am hoping that can return to part of this. I just have concerns about it becoming too much of a numerical, digital,printed application experience as opposed to what we have the opportunity to have it be, which is more connected, relationship-based, kind of us relying on some of our more innate understandings. I also would love to see the inclusion of parameters around limiting to the number of projects any organization can apply for because it's too much, and it limits the potential for equitable distribution. So, those are just things that I feelI just have concerns that we're moving too far away from some of the things that had been fundamental to the execution of these projects and programs. Page 5 LAAC-7 April 18,2023 While the intentionality is to make it more specific, and defined, and objective, I think there is value in the subjective and qualitative experiences of each one of us in our leadership positions and our knowledge of our organizations here on the Island. So,just my kuleana on that, my mana`o. I yield. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Council Member Villegas. Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: Thank you. This is my first year getting involved in this, and I think that this process, you know, is a lot of work but yet what it really showed you was how important it is to have nonprofits in our community. My hats off to all the nonprofits because you're just an integral part of providing services in our community. You do it in lieu of Government doing it, so I appreciate it. One of the takeaways was, you know, if we want to spread it to as many—if our goal is to spread it to as many nonprofits and to every corner of the Island, I think there's a lot of room for discussion on how to spread it amongst nine districts. And the impacts of some of these nonprofits may be more regional instead of island-wide. The other thing is potentially looking at just telling people applying that, you know, if you applied for two or three programs, the bottom line is for your net, no one can ask for more than $50,000. And if you say that upfront, then you don't get organizations applying three or four programs at$200,000. You won't have that anymore and let them pick and choose what their priorities are. So, then again, I think we as Council Members will just have to figure out if we want to spread it across to more and more nonprofits and get it more and more out to all the ends of our community. Because, you know, there's a lot of remote small little communities out there that have nonprofits. Their work may only be $3,000, $4,000, $5,000, but their work is really important in the community that they have. So, what that does though, is I think it puts the onus on us, and maybe we can do a YouTube or a podcast, but it puts the work on us to reach out deep into our community and say, here's this, come go on and this is the window of opportunity, and you need to apply, and, you know, watch this YouTube. Then it will go page-by-page and explain it to you, so that you'll feel there's clarity. You know, so you don't get intimidated by the form or whatever the terminology is. But, yeah, I think there's room for improvement, but I have to applaud our Member Inaba and Member Lee Loy. I think you're moving us into a direction that I think it is moving in a good direction. And like anything, it needs improvement and, you know, I'd be happy to serve next year on this. Thank you. Page 6 LAAC-7 April 18,2023 CHR. INABA: Thank you, Council Member Evans. Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you so much. I just forgot one thing to mention. You know, I got communications from a number of nonprofits that something went wrong with their application. A file or a document that they had submitted, and they weren't aware that it was expired, and they just hadn't included the corrected one. So, I wondered if there was potential for working closely with Finance to somehowI mean, if somebody turns it in on the last day and their stuff's missing, there's no time to go back to them and say, this was incorrect, you missed it. And I can see that being a hard line on any opportunities for correction. But wow, the number of organizations that had something go wrong with their applications this year was uncharacteristically, a really big number. So,just wondering if there is some opportunity with Finance if those applications come in sooner for communication or for some way just in my experiences working with nonprofits themselves, that then give out grants. An application comes in and it's missing something, we would reach out to the applicant, and say, oh this is missing or this is expired. As long as there was time for them to turn in the corrected one or, you know, whatever was missing. So, kind of want to throw that out there for the potential of working a little closer with those organizations. Albeit, they have to get their applications in way before the deadline, because those, you know, final last-minute things become less possible to help navigate and make sure that any missing pieces get accounted for. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Yep, and to that point, I want to thank the Finance Department, especially, Lisa Tada there. Organizations had training opportunities prior. For our next round of applications next year, it's encouraged that everyone don't submit your application, go in and work with Finance, because they have offered themselves to go through an application prior to submission so that all of the documents are in compliance with the needs of our nonprofit part of the County Code. So, please take that opportunity next year so that whatever submissions are official, are in fact, meeting the requirements set forth by the County. And I'll head over to Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, and you know, I really appreciate the feedback from our Council Members. You know, my mom has a saying, "you've got to make a mess to clean a mess." Not that it was a mess. We just wanted to do better. But I do want to bring some clarity around how much work was actually done to get these nonprofits ready. Again, we had Judge Strance provide training as to what the documentation was and what they needed to submit; we recorded that information in opportunities for them to self-resolve. Page 7 LAAC-7 April 18,2023 As Mr. Inaba mentioned, you know, our Finance Department gave them an opportunity to swap out an expired document for a valid document. And they pushed hard, and we have a lot of that paper trail to kind of push back on the nonprofits, because frankly, if they do better, the community as a whole does better. You know, looking towards Council Chair Kimball about that scoring mechanism and improving that, that's definitely something we can advance, because the other side of that measure and to Ms. Villegas point about interviewing, there could be other opportunities for them to submit their application via a video so you could actually maybe watch and get that sense. Those are all things that we can integrate into future application processes. What's really wonderful is this year we had an opportunity for all the Council Members to score. So, they also all had an opportunity to advance applications that as near and dear to their communities and to their districts. I think finally, I cannot help but take the feedback to acknowledge that us as Council Members, as we move forward there's some training that we need to take on as far as scoring. And our partners like HANO (Hawai`i Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations) can offer us as Council Members the opportunity on how to do scoring of these applications along with creating notations within our Google doc form as to why they got the five, or why they got the zero, and then move in that priority funding, because that's what we're talking about, right. We're talking about priority funding to help move our nonprofits in a particular manner that lifts community. So, I really do appreciate the feedback. I look forward to the work ahead. And even on a previous item on another agenda, we have other Council Members working on policy work around nonprofit organizations and contingency funds. So, I think as we do this dance to move policy forward, I think we will get better, and the primary ask of all of our nonprofits was for us to provide them the scores so that they could do better. And that to me, was the most brilliant piece of adjusting that we did with this year's Nonprofit Grants-In-Aid. They can go back and see the scores and know how to improve their applications for the future. So, thank you everyone for that feedback, and I look forward to new iterations of our Nonprofit Grants-In-Aid. Thank you, Mr. Inaba, for the latitude. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. You know, as we continue to start planning for next year already, I will be advancing a communication, I think, to stand up an Ad Hoc committee to review how this year went and go through our notes for things that we might want to improve or change up for the next round. And if we don't stand up the Ad Hoc, it's a little difficult to kind of, you know, recap especially having just gone through it. So that's something I want to do, and then we can provide a report to the entire committee for us to decide on recommendations we might all agree upon ahead of next year's applications going out. And one last thing, Council Member Lee Loy. Page 8 LAAC-7 April 18,2023 MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Mr. Inaba, and I'm sure you will join me again in thanking Shelly Ogata-Abe and Jessica Valdez of my office, that really put together so much of the documentations, the scores, the metrics, the charts. They were amazing, and you know I can't give them a raise, but I give them strawberry slush floats every time they want. So, thank you so much to both of them. We really could not have done this without them. CHR. INABA: Definitely echo those sentiments. Thank you to the two of you for all of the work and for being my staff during some of those weeks. So, are there any other questions or comments regarding the recommendations contained in 66.5? Okay, with that then, recapping Communication 66.5, there is a motion on the floor to approve the recommendations contained within, noting for the record, that the third program listed, Aloha Ilio Rescue; the program name should be corrected to Aloha Ilio Rescue, Spay Neuter Program. And with that, all those in favor of approving the recommendations contained in Communication 66.5 please say "aye." Vote on Motion to The motion to accept the recommendations in Comm. 66.5, Accept was carried by the following voice vote: Recommendations: (Approved) Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kierkiewicz— 1. Excused: None. CHR. INABA: Motion carries. Vote on Motion The motion to close file on Comm. 66 and all related to Close File: communications was carried by the following Filed voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kierkiewicz— 1. Excused: None. CHR. INABA: Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Page 9 LAAC-7 April 18,2023 ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 3:21 p.m., Ms. Lee Loy moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and carried by the following. voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kierkiewicz— 1. Excused: None. CHR. INABA: The meetingis at 3:21 (p.m.) Mahalo. adjourned Approved: ""--7 y91 a :r _d ..- 47/3v2) Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair (Date) Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee HI/dt Page 10