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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN FC 2023/04/11, 12 and 13 (2022-2024) Sp. Finance (DRAFT summary) Committee on Finance Stn Session Special Meeting Departmental Budget and Program Reviews Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii April 11, 2023 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Finance was called to order at ORDER: 9:00 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hil6, by Mr. MattKaneali`i- Kleinfelder, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Matt Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder, Chair' Ms. Cindy Evans, Vice Chair(via videoconference from Kona) Ms. Michelle M. Galimbay Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba,Member(via videoconference from Kona) Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, 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: (There were none.) CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mr. Clerk, if we could. MR. BROWN: Good morning, Chair. Just want to make a quick note that because;this is the budget reviews, the Special Finance Committee Meetings, I'm going to read in both bills together so that both bills, basically that opens up the discussion for anything in the Capital and Operating Budget. This is probably the only time we do that. It's kind of a special circumstance. So I just want to make that note. Again, it's not common practice to have two motions on the floor at once, but this is a special thing. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Brown. FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Bills ORDINANCES: for Ordinances. Bill 30: ESTABLISHES AN OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2023, TO JUNE 30, 2024 From Mayor Mitchell D. Roth, dated March 1, 2023, transmitting for consideration the proposed Operating Budget for the County of Hawaii for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2024. This balanced budget includes estimated revenues and appropriations of$794,316,957, which represents a proposed 1.1 percent increase compared to the Fiscal Year 2022-23 Operating Budget. Reference: Comm. 135 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder(B/R) and Comm. 135.1: From Finance Director Deanna S. Sake, dated March 1, 2023, transmitting reports entitled,Departmental& Agencies'Six Month Progress Report on Program Objectives for Fiscal Year 2022=2023 and Final Status Report on Program Objectives for Fiscal Year 2021-2022. Bill 31: RELATES TO PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2023,TO JUNE 30, 2024 From Mayou Mitchell D. Roth, dated March 1, 2023, transmitting the proposed Capital Budget for FY 2023-2024 and the Capital Improvements Program for the next six years from Fiscal Year 2023-2024 to 2028-2029, which includes 44 projects requiring,a total appropriation of$345,478,000 of which $291,041'000 are intended to be funded in whole or part by bonds, $1$,�,67,000 to be funded by Federal Grants, $34,650,000 to be funded by the State Devolving Loan Fund or State Capital Improvement Projects, and $920,000 to be funded by General Excise Tax. Reference: Comm. 136 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder(B/R) Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to recommend passage of Bill 30 on first reading. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to recommend passage of Bill 31 on first reading. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. Page 2 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 DEPARTMENTAL The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, PROGRAM Departmental Budget and Program Reviews. AND BUDGET REVIEWS: (1) Mayor—Overview of the Operating and Capital Budgets and Programs: CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Now that we have both on the floor, which allows us to discuss both as needed,we're going to go ahead and get started. And I think what better way to start,t6day than to have our Mayor come up. Mr. Roth, if you could. Start us off very good. (Note: At this time, Mayor Mitchell D. Roth came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MAYOR ROTH: Council Members, aloha and good morning. Pleased to be here with you today to present the proposed Operating Budget for the County of Hawaii for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024. This year's balance budget is estimated to have revenues and appropriations of$794,316,957. And it covers the operations of 13 special funds of the county in the general fund. We have made significant efforts to maintain crucial services while making substantial investments in long overdue infrastructure maintenance projects that are vital to preserving our natural and cultural resources. These investments are critical to forging a sustainable Hawaii Island where our children can thrive and succeed for generations to come. As you know, the needs of our County go far beyond the funds that we have. The budget drafting process is similar to feeding hundreds of people with a pizza that has only 12 slices. And everybody is asking for their own slice. Despite this challenge, we believe that the portions allocated this year are fair and well thought out. Arid we feel that the 1.1 percent increase in the budget is reasonable and minimal. Before we begin, I'd like to express my gratitude to all of my department heads, many of whom are here, and the staff of the County of Hawai i including each and every one of you for your collaboration throughout this process. Together we strive to achieve a transparent and open government that accurately reflects the diverse and vibrant communities that we serve. With that, I'm reporting that revenues are projected to increase in several key areas including $10.7 million in real property tax, $10 million in GET (General Excise Tax) surcharge, and $5 million in the Hawaii County Transient Accommodation Tax. With the increase in revenue we will also see an increase in expenditures this year mainly due to collective bargaining and uncontrollable cost increases as costs continue to rise. As stated earlier our administration continues to focus on long overdue infrastructure and Page 3 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 maintenance projects including investments in protecting our environment; including our Hilo Wastewater Treatment facility that without immediate action could result in Hawaii Island's very own Red Hill situation or worse. With your support, we'll not only be able to prevent a catastrophe today but prevent one from happening for many, many years to come. We also invested heavily in our Parks Maintenance budget having taken a roughly $450,000 budget in 2020 for over 300 facilities to just over $2 million in this year of 2023-2024. This investment takes into account the importance of our park's facilities to the health of our communities. It aims to ensure the longevity of these facilities for our kupuna and our keiki and their keiki for generations. Additional expenditure highlights include$9.95 million for homelessness, $9 million for housing production, a$2.2 million for an upgrade for a police fleet, a $4.5 million increase to boast our paving miles, an $11.8 million,increase for public transportation, and a$4.8'million increase to improve the County's Information Technology systems that will,ultimately improve services across the board for all constituents. We're not able to provide these services without,adequate staffing. And to address the current staffing challenges there's funding in the budget to assist with continuous and innovative recruiting efforts to fill our vacancies. In addition to recruitment, we have includod funding for enhanced training opportunities for all departments, as well as educational funding to support our employees and their dedication to advancing their knowledge and skillsets. Investing in our employees will provide for a stronger workforce equipped to deliver;quality� services to the public. In conclusion, this budget prioritizes addressing long standing issues and investing in projects that could have devastating impacts on the health and wellbeing of our community while also seeking to pursue innovation through public private partnerships and exploratory research and development to ensure the sustainability of our island home. One such project we're currently undertaking pertains to the development of an all-encohipassing Wastewater Master Plan for the entire island. In order to facilitate this ambitious undertaking, we have proactively started to reach out toTvarious academic institutions across the nation to solicit their invaluable aid and expertise. The successful implementation of this venture has the potential to yield significant financial savings in the planning phase amounting to potential millions of taxpayer dollars going toward other vital services for our community as well as protecting our environment. It's been a pleasure to work with all of you through this process. And thanks to your willingness to come to the table and be partners in creating this budget. I am sincerely optimistic for the year ahead. Mahalo for your time this morning Page 4 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 as we take another step towards a thriving and sustainable Hawaii Island for all and especially our keiki and kupuna. Thank you. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mahalo, Mr. Roth. Thank you for starting us off. Okay, Mr. Clerk, are we going on to our first department? Okay. Our first department this morning, our favorite person, Ms. Deanna Sako. Could you join us this morning? Joining you I think we have Ms. Nakagawa. You need a few minutes to get your PowerPoint up? (2) Department of Finance: (Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako and Deputy Director Diane Nakagawa came forward to address the members of the Committee regarding the department's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.) MS. SAKO: Good morning. I just wanted you guys know Diane Nakagawa who's our Deputy. But we also have our division heads sitting in the back, many of which you know already. But'we do have a new one. We were able to fill our Internal Control and TAT (Transient,Accommodation Tax) Manager. And Wilson Crider's in the back if he wants to wave.. And sitting where Steve Hunt used to sit and with the Purchasing folks. So we'll go ahead and get started. (Note: At this time, Ms. Sako provided a PowerPoint presentation to the 'members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office, or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentationis'made a part of the record. See Comm. 135.6) MS."SAKO: Thank you for your support. That was kind of a countywide overview. We did'get Chair Kimball's memo. And so for the Finance Department we do have a few changes. I want to make sure I hit everything. So two of the big things we're working on right now is updating our website. A lot of people go there for driver's license, vehicle registration information, and you can find everything, but it may take you a little bit of time, especially to make an appointment for your driver's license. So we did get a contract to have someone help us to improve our website, so it'll be easier and hopefully much more user friendly. So we're hoping that will help. That should also help, too, the number of disgruntled customers that we get. Because it's challenging when you come in, you bring your birth certificate, and you can't renew your license because it has a tear or a rip. And all of these are federal law. You know, we have to make sure everything complies with federal law, that it's not fraudulent. So our staff are just doing their jobs. But hopefully by Page 5 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 having more of this information on the website or having it easier to find, that'll help everyone before they come in. The biggest change was the sticker shock from our new accounting system. This is actually an average. We did get six proposals back. That's all I can say, because we're still in the RFP (Request for Proposal)process. However, the price range is great. So I kind of took a middle of the road amount and put that in the budget. Once we finalize, that probably will not be by May 5h. But as we get closer and narrow them down, I will look at the amounts again and adjust it to what we need. You get what you pay for is ultimately—I think we've learned that with prior computer systems in:the County. And so we knew it would be expensive. I didn't know it would be quite this expensive. So we will be leasing that over five years to help us,you know, amortize the start-up cost. One of the things a lot of customers have told us is they're very, excited to use the kiosk or renew their vehicle registrations online. But that, you know, what is it called, the convenience fee that they have to pay is a lot of money. We've really been pleasantly surprised how many fewer people come through the office. So it's been very helpful for our staff, They can focus on the more difficult transactions that need to happen, you know, maybe you sold your car, maybe you junked it, maybe you're trying to get it relicensed, you built your own trailer, you're trying to get it licensed. You know, we can focus on those items right now. So it benefits both us sand,the public. I like being able to go. I usually use the one in Safeway at 10 o'clock at night. No one is bothering me. I can just renew my vehicle registration. It prints right there. I mean how convenient. So we are going to pay those convenience fees for our customers. We'll have the vendor bill us. And that's going to be about$340,000. But we're really hoping that that would be many far less complaints in my inbox. And then we did increase our Property Management budget leases both for the Police warehouse that was recently approved by the Council and one that will be upcoming shortly is a space to relocate Central Fire Station while we take care of their station. And so we did increase money for leases there. Our current staffing, we have been able to fill several positions recently. We definitely are getting more applicants. We still have more vacancies, especially in Kona. We were able to get 33 on this last list. Several of them made, you know, interview appointments. Unfortunately, not all of them showed up. But it's definitely better now than it was a few months ago and I think all departments are seeing that. You know, HR (Human Resources) has taken a very active approach in recruitment. I see them on Instagram, Facebook, you know, hopefully other people are seeing that too. I think we tried to cover everything. We do not have a lot of grants in our department. Although the state does fund several positions is our Vehicle Page 6 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 Registration and Licensing Division. So we're happy to answer any questions you have. And this section, I believe, does include the miscellaneous section as well. I'm just going to grab my detailed binder. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you very much, Director Sako. Deputy Director Nakagawa, anything to add? MS. NAKAGAWA: Nope. Not at this time. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I'm going to open the floor to the Council Members. Council Members, discussion`? Council Member Villegas, go ahead. MS. VILLEGAS: Aloha, Deanna. L just first off want to thank you for your continued leadership and guidance and guarding of the resources with fervor and integrity. I just had a quick question. The kiosks are a greathit. `We've just been noticing in Kona a couple of them keep having issues. And I wondered what scheduling or if there was something to tell folks. All of a sudden, they wouldn't take a credit cards car they weren't reading or they're down. Because it justcame in front of my very small minutia compared to the broader spectrum to what we're talking about here today. But just wanted to ask that question real quickly. MS. SAKO: They do check them regularly; I know a couple of times I've went, and they might be out of paper or something like that. So they do check them. That's the vendor. But Naomi (O'Dell) is here and listening very intently to our conversation. And so we'll definitely have them follow up. The kiosk have been deployed for a few years now. So, you know, they may need a little bitmoro lerue, MS:VILLEGAS: They may need some love. Yup. MS. SAKO: So we'll check on that. And, you know, there is one also in Aupuni Center and other places. So hopefully as we add more kiosks, that will help as well. Not the same ones will be getting, you know, hammered. And I know if you go at the very end of the month, like the 30th or the 31't, that's when they tend to be little overwhelmed. So maybe encouraging people maybe to go'a week before month end. You know, I'm the same way. I wait till the very last minute. MS. VILLEGAS: Procrastination. MS. SAKO: So yes. But maybe if you go maybe a week earlier then they tend to be usually that's when I can guarantee the paper will be loaded and, you know, we'll be able to print, and we won't have issues. Page 7 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. I appreciate that. And thanks for taking note of that. I also just want to comment on and express appreciation for the investment in our County Workforce through training, which allows for promotion and allows for upward advancement. And I think that's pivotally important as we navigate this workforce shortage. And we have an opportunity to really uplift from within, you know, and make sure that the people that are here that are going to stay here have an opportunity to have the professional advancement. So thank you for seeing that and allocating the resources for that. I know, myself, even in this role, it's always really,wonderful to have the opportunity to get some new insights, some new ideas, and be able to connect with people thinking about similar issues, concerns, or opportunities for solutions. So thank you for that. MS. SAKO: Thank you. MS. VILLEGAS: I yield. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you Council Member. MS. EVANS: Chair? ,. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINVELDER: Council'Menber Evans, go ahead. MS. EVANS: Thank you very much. f have'a couple areas I'm interested in. One is your Property Management Division. Could it be maybe that your department isnot the right department that I need this clarity on, how we are dealing with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and how we're dealing with electricity and retrofitting and to get us into LED lighting to lower our cost ofelectricity, is that something that would be with you or should we be looking at the R & D'(Research and Development) Department? MS., SAKO: So that's°a few different departments. So it depends on the facilities. So if it's a Public Works facility, which is pretty much anything that's not:a park, then they would be concerned about ADA. Parks and Recreation takes care of their ADA compliance. We are on a stipulated agreement. So we work actively on those projects. And then when it comes to electricity saving, you know, costs, energy costs, R& D, I believe, is taking the lead on that. But they're working closely with Public Works, P & R, and other departments as well. MS. EVANS: Okay. So you take care of all the facilities other than Public Works and Parks and Recs. MS. SAKO: Yes. So our Property Management Division takes care of if we have to lease space. They're really in charge of keeping track of our assets. You know, so any equipment that we purchase and all of those things. They Page 8 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 are also the master record keeper of all of the deeds and things like that for our property. So they record everything like that. But when it actually comes to taking care of the buildings themselves, Parks and Recreation takes care of their buildings and Public Works takes care of anything that's not a park basically. MS. EVANS: So the building you're in right now, if there needs to be upgrades to ADA because they've upgraded or changed their requirements, your division would be MS. SAKO: Yeah, that would not be us. So if let's,say we're in the County building right now or you're in West Hawaii Civic Center, if there's problems with ADA or we're out of compliance or the automatic door is not opening, that would be Public Works that wouldremedy that situation. MS. EVANS: Okay. Well, good,to know. The other question:I'have is on your IT (Information Technology),these 10 additional positions. I looked quickly at some of theI mean there was a lot of information given to us, but I believe you might have some vacancies still in IT. MS. SAKO: There's not too many vacancies mJT right now. Let me flip to that page in my budget. MS. EVANS: And the reason I'in asking is,you know, ten additional employees is a lot to try to fill in one year especially if we're having trouble with recruiting.; And then you have potentially maybe a few vacancies. So I'm looking at maybe, you know, there might be a way—and if you could just, the highlight two. I'm looking at that: MS. SAKO, So just to put it into comparison. We are larger than the County of Maui. We have more employees. But yet, we have less than half of their staffing. We have maybe a third of their staffing. So we have not kept up, especially with help desk and things like that. So we know we need additional staff. One of the things we've done is a survey of all the departments in terms of their IT plans as well as a survey of equipment you have sitting that hasn't been installed. And those numbers were unstaggering, much larger than what we were anticipating. And so to make sure we can stay on top of it we want to install the computers when we first get them. We don't want them to be out of warranty when we install them. So, you know, we really want to protect the taxpayer's dollar. And so we want to get them installed on time. And we realize we haven't grown IT as the County has grown, you know, as we've gotten additional systems. You know, IT has had to devote time to various departments, to helping us with our enterprise resource program for our county software. They're helping DPW with EPIC (Electronic Processing and Information Center). So, you know, they only have so many people to put on Page 9 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 these projects. And there's only 24 hours in a day. And most of us do need a little bit of sleep as do they. So, you know, we do realize that we probably need some more positions if we want to move the county into you know, move us forward where we need to be and be able to service our taxpayers better. MS. EVANS: Yeah but— MS. utMS. SAKO: I was looking—go ahead. MS. EVANS: Go ahead, finish. MS. SAKO: I was just going to say, they did have a few vacancies on the March budget. I believe they're in the process of filling all of them. At least two of these were new positions for the current year and are very specialized in the GIS (Geographical Information System) area. So that could be why they're having trouble filling those. MS. EVANS: Okay. Thank you. So there's a couple questions. One is, so you are a centralized,IT system. So does each one of the departments have their own dedicated IT person or do you choose people in your IT to be dedicated to a department?, How do you ? MS. SAKO: So Scott(Uyehara) can probably address this more when he comes ug;:But basically, yes, we have a centralized IT Department. But there are a few departments that actually have their own IT systems. Police is one of those, Prosecutor's, Housing, Aging, and I think that's it. So they do have their own:IT staff that are dedicated and basically have their own networks as well. Obviously, people like Prosecutor's and Police have very specialized and very confidential information. So' they've chosen to keep that information separate. But they so work with the IT Department. And then the IT Department basically supports everyone else. So whether it's Finance, Public Works, you know-1 guess Water Supply also has their own system. But basically IT helps all the other departments, whether it's County Council, Fire. Some do have a few IT people, especially GIS, within their department. But each department does not have their own personnel. MS. EVANS: Okay. Well I think it's really important because you made a statement that Maui has more IT people than us, but I'm not sure I would know unless I looked at all the IT people that you just mentioned. MS. SAKO: Right. MS. EVANS: The IT in the Police Department, the IT in the Housing Department. The other thing that strikes me is, you know, it would seem that Page 10 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 we would want a contract specialist in IT, because if I'm not mistaken you probably hire outside IT consultants to help with a lot of these projects. MS. SAKO: That's true. MS. EVANS: So if you added your consultants, your different departments, and then what you have, then we would have a true picture about how many IT we have compared to Maui. And for me, I don't know, Chair, I would sure like to know more of a breakdown of all the IT that,We have across the county so that we can look, you know, this statement that Maui has more than us. I'm not sure that's true yet. So anyway, that's a comment. And the last thing I wanted to know is this sponge. You said you were going to put a little money aside in a fund to cover for any potential overruns or costs. How did you come up with that number, what is that number? MS. SAKO: So I think it was on—the electricity and energy cost is the one you're referring to. And so, we've put in,just a second. So it's on page 211 of the budget under Miscellaneous, and its the provision for energy and fuel. And part of that was as each department was asking for additional funds, they either exceeded their budget last year, they're very chase this year, they're probably going to, you knows exceed it again this year, based on their estimates both for fuel and energy. And so if we increase fuel in each department, it probably would've been closer to $4 million,just to make sure we didn't run short. I And,so we're putting in a provision,of$2 million and we'll transfer it as necessary. MS;EVANS: So how would the hydrogen fuel discussion that we've had here at the council, how does hydrogen fuel play into your estimate? MS 'SAKO:,.So hydrogen fuel, the one that we're planning on using it for this corning year is actually in Mass Transit. And we believe it will cost about $200,000 per bus. So it's not included in the budget right now under Mass Transit. It will be included in the May budget. There was some confusion on who might be paying for that. We thought we had that worked out. So we'll be increasing the budget by $600,000 in transit to pay for the hydrogen fuel. And that's a separate fund. MS.EVANS: Okay. And then just my last question is you said that you might have a few grants but not many. What would you have grants for? MS. SAKO: Primarily we get state grants. They help us fund driver's licensing, CDL (Commercial Driver's License), and our PMVI (Periodic Motor Vehicle Inspection) staffing. It's actually work we do on behalf of the state. But Finance Department in general, there's not a lot of grants we qualify for. Page 11 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 MS. EVANS: Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Council Member Evans. Looking around the room in Hilo. Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. And let me just first start by saying, thank you, to Mayor Roth for being here today to share his vision for the next fiscal year with us and of course all of the members of the various departments. We appreciate seeing your faces here in the Council Chambers for the auspicious beginning of the budget season. And thank you, Director'Sako, for your overview of the General Funds. I had a couple real specific questions. Where are we onahe OPEB (Other Postemployment Benefits), are we all caught up with that?- MS. MS. SAKO: We are primarily caught up. Based on the last actuary report, we are 50 percent funded. So I believe it's 13 or 14 more years before we should be fully funded. And then that expenditure line item should goway down. So we've been putting in roughly $40 million a,year,which pays for the retiree medical, as well as all of the medical all of us are earning right now as we work for the county, so that by the time we retire, those dollars should already be set aside. So that's this catch up that we're doing. We had to take a break during COVID, but we were able to fund most of that. There's probably a little bit more we could catch up on. We were maybe $5 million plus short. But for the most part we are caughtup and it hasn't made a big swing in our payment amount, because we were able to pay the bulk of it. But when we hit the 50 percent mark this year, that was kind of a good feeling. MS. KIMBALL. Yeah, that's good to know that we're in good shape there. And then as far as remaining CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) or,ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding, do we still have any on the books that are available for use? MS. SAKO: We do. And R & D is primarily spearheading most of that. We do have some of it in Housing and different departments. But we're past kind of the crisis mode of we need face masks, we need sanitizer, you know, that type of thing. So it's really using it for the other purposes. And Doug can probably speak to that when R & D comes up. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Do you have an approximate? MS. SAKO: There's quite a bit left,probably $30 million or so. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. One of the things I'd like to share with you and please remind me, I had my staff go through some of the NACo (National Association of Counties) documentation about how some of the other counties Page 12 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 have been using their reminding ARPA funding and there's been some really creative uses for it. So I'd love to share that with you at some point. MS. SAKO: That sounds good. Thank you. MS. KIMBALL: Can you give me a general sense of the timeframe with respect to the new financial software? MS. SAKO: So they just narrowed it down to the RFp's that the vendor's that will be invited to do the demonstrations. And that would be about a week-long demonstration with each of the vendors. After which we will select the final vendor, which we're hoping to do it no later than June. But scheduling some of the vendors to come for the demonstrations has been,a„little more challenging. So it may be July before we pick the final vendor. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. And then do you have any sense of what timeframe we can expect for the conversion once the vendor is selected or i that really up in the air based on? MS. SAKO: So we'll definitely work with them on, you know, getting on their schedule. But we do hope;to start right away,,you know, that we can do the conversion. However,it's going to be a little bit piecemeal, you know, general ledger, payroll, eventually,we'll get to the time and attendance system. I think we've talked before to be completely o'I a time and attendance system, we're probably going to have to do a payroll lag. So we will work that out with the unions. We want to ensure that whatever software we get that, you know, we der it correctly. So we haven't started those negotiations yet. But, you know, we're the only county that's not ern a payroll lag. So I don't think they're going to be trio be too surprised to hear that. MS'KIMBALL: Okay. Great. So I kind of want to move away from specifics to generals as what you've given us some highlights in terms of where additional investments have been made. I certainly am fully in support of the digital investment in IT and making sure that we're running at full speed with respect to our software and hardware capabilities. If you could just characterize in a general sense, are there any areas that we've cut with this budget to keep that increase from last year's budget to just 1.1 percent? Any areas you see savings or MS. SAKO: You know, we try to take into account any savings we could get. But, no, we haven't really cut a lot. You know, the grants were down just based on the timing of those things. But we didn't specifically go cut. We did ask departments to email us, you know, and let us know if there were supplemental budget request items that they needed that maybe didn't make it in the March budget that are still important to them. Some of those things are actually federally funded. So obviously we'll be putting those in the May Page 13 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 budget. But, you know, we wanted to make sure that we had our final revenue numbers and then we'll look at those additional needs from the departments. We tried to fund one-time things as much as possible. So things like, we did fund new blue and white vehicles for the Police Department. A lot of those vehicles are 2006's and have many, many miles on them already. So we tried to fund those type of vehicles as well. MS. KIMBALL: And then, finally, actually I have a question for Managing Director Lord. Could you just speak to—obviously the grant revenue is reduced given that we don't know what we're going to be able to get over this coming fiscal year. However, you know, we had many discussions on this body about the amount of funding that's available through the Infrastructure and Jobs Act as well as the IRA (Individual Retirement Account). Can you speak a little bit to how the administration is positioning ourselves to best be able to go after those funds? MR. LORD: Yes. Thank you, Chair. I think the number one, and I think we may have mentioned it here before, we're looking at a Grant Coordinator in Research and Development whose sole job is working with federal grants and some state grants thatc6me through the federal government also. And fortunately we have Director Sako here who is on'that committee, also who can report where we are at this point: The other way,we meet regularly as, you know, the cabinet. And we also have our continuous improvement meetings. So we continue to talk aboutsharing information between departments and we have Research and Development sharing all the grants that come through. So wo're supporting as best we can and Finance Department's helping with all the grants and the information that's'heeded for those grants also. So the departments are out there alone anymore just looking and working on the grants. It's more of a team effort. Although, for example, Housing and Community Development, is doing their grant. But they have a lot of support. Could you talk to the position we're talkingabout? MS. SAKO: So I believe it was created. R and D is working on filling it. In the meantime, they've been using professional services to supply each department with a grant writer as needed so that departments aren't left just trying to do it all on their own. So that's been happening as well. On the state, obviously everyone is very aware of all the grant opportunities. So the state already subscribes, I guess is the right word to this grant service. So weekly emails are sent out and then we pass those along to the departments as well. So it's kind of more summarized. But even the summarized emails will have a lot of information in them. So you still do have to go through those a little bit, you know, to find things that might be relevant to your department. But R & D continues to monitor those and look for all the opportunities. Page 14 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 I know Council has been to NACo. Lee has been to several of those. Mayor has gone to conference on Mayor's. So there's a lot of different information coming back and we're trying to absorb all of that and then apply for the competitive grants where we can, and then work with the state on the formula grants so that we all get our fair share. MR. LORD: And then in general to answer your question, also we have relationships with the staff, with the federal legislator's up in Washington continuously updating us on our grants and our opportunities and earmarks that's we're looking at. So there's several departments where Research and Development and Steven Bader, Executive Assistant, and as well as Mayor Roth, stay in constant contact and communication with what's going on. MS. KIMBALL: Okay, great. Thank you. We have our CIP (Capital Improvement Projects) budget as well. And,you know, the departments have listed each item in terms of their priorities. What are the administrations overreaching priorities in terms of CIP projects for the coming fiscal year. MS. SAKO: Lee can answer. But, you know,we have talked about it with the various bond ordinances. It's wastewater, wastewater, wastewater. And, you know, we really have to get Hilo Wastewater Treatment Plant finished. There's projects going on all around the island whether it's the smaller pumps or the bigger wastewater treatment plants, But we don't want to be out of compliance with EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). So definitely working on those. The first phase of Hilo Wastewater Treatment Plant is out to bid right now. As you know, like everything else, costs are going up and as our construction bid. So once we have those bids come in for Phase 1, we'll have a better idea of bow much we need to devote to that. Obviously, we have our estimate and if it comes in close to estimate, we're good. But if it comes in greatly higher than that then we'll probably have to work with the Mayor's Office to reprioritize. MR. LORD: So with the limited amount of funds we do have our priorities going in to it. But then again, we have those priorities that have to be met that we have to prioritize ahead of time. But overall going into it, which you've Beard before, but I'll repeat, it's affordable housing with also overall sustainability, Wastewater, Solid Waste, our workforce development, those are our priorities at this point and time. And I may have missed one or two. But we repeat those as Mr. Roth has in our state of the county address pointed all those out. So those are the ones that do also keep in our forefront when doing that. But when it comes down to what are we spending the CIP money on, we have to look at the realistic priorities also. For example, Wastewater getting a larger piece of the pie because it's so important and it's risking all those things such as sustainability, our environment, those types of things. Page 15 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 MS. KIMBALL: Great. Again, I appreciate you both being here. And please express my gratitude to the Mayor as well for coming in and giving his opening statement this morning. I yield, Chair. Thank you. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Council Member. Going to Kona, Council Member Inaba. MR. INABA: Yeah. Good morning. Few questions starting with that position in Office of Management. What are we looking to have that half time position take care of? MS. SAKO: I believe that's the Organizational Development Specialist. And we've had a consultant working with us, you.,know, on'the various departments trying to improve a variety of things in departments, working with staff, training not only department heads but maybe middle managers and now moving that down to supervisors'. So having a person kind of in charge of some of that. And Lee might want to say a little bit more about that. MR. LORD: Deanna hit that nail on the head. But I would just add and organization development person, what we're doing is meeting regularly with the department heads, the deputy directors, the middle management, and talking about leadership,talking about pulling down those silos among departments and working together. But doing that takes a lot of planning and a lot of energy. Also then there's different departments who, by the size of the department, can use some help with somebody coming in there with organizational development and leadership skills and training skills to work in the department about, you know, even breaking down the walls between the different divisions in the department and helping those people in there directly about how do you build leadership,among your line staff. So those are the people coming up in the department later on so that they have the skills to move up when there's a vacant position, so that we're not trying to train somebody every time somebody comes into the position. Of course we have open recruitment. But it's nice when you can choose somebody from the County who's already got an understanding of how the county operates and giving them the leadership skills is important. But as far as organizational development, how do we work as a department? Deanna mentioned earlier that we have a DIT taskforce. That came out of our meeting back in September where as a group the whole county leadership got together and looked at what are our best successes and what are areas that we need support in. And one of the areas, which Deanna described, was DIT and are we planning, and are we scheduling, and are we funding, and planning to fund those things that are needed in DIT for the future. Page 16 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 We also looked at; we need to help get more help with EPIC. We also need to make sure that we're including West Hawaii much more than what happens with the county, as far as meetings and being more inclusive and equal with West Hawaii. And then there was one fourth oneI forget right now. And our meetings we also have specific taskforces also. So that was where many of the department heads had concerns and challenges with, and they prioritized trying to understand Human Resources and Finance better, Not all of the staff in the departments get to go to all of the trainings that'happen to understand how you do all the different activities, have to be done with Finance or Human Resources. So a lot of times it's trying.to understan&or explain to them, yes that can be done. But this is why we have to go this way,,hecause of the union and this is how you take care of and make sure that that measure is taken care of. But getting somebody out there, giving that training, understanding that organizational development and leadership expert. So we're thinking a half- time person could da it for the whole county:;,But then also spend time in the departments helping each department with their needs also. But we wanted to make it something that's ongoing and continuing because all of our feedback from the department heads has been that it's been'helpful. Some of them hadn't seen other department heads, you know, except here at County Council and it's really, opened up the doors and help people think outside the boxes and help them'to work together for solutions. And I think those of who've been Around just from Director Sako's talk this morning about how much we're working together to fix those things. MR. INABA. Thank you,Managing Director Lord. Mr. Lord, are we looking to just take on'the contractor that we've been engaged with into this position or how is that going to work? MR. LORD: That would be a great opportunity if that person applies for the position. We don't want somebody just with an organizational development degree. We want someone who has years of experience working with organizations doing these types of things. So we can't, if we're creating the position, say who it will be because we have to open it up and give everyone an opportunity, of course, that's equal opportunity and the way we do it with the union. But it would be somebody as skilled as he is or more skilled, yes. MS. SAKO: But I think what he's saying is we'll recruit for that position. MR. INABA: Thank you. And that position will pay—where are we able to get payrate start, because I see it's an SR-26. But for everyone's reference, where do we find that, Director Sako? Page 17 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 MS. SAKO: We worked with Human Resources to develop a starting point. When they actually, if the position is approved and created, then the Office of Management will create the position description, the Human Resources Department will review it to make sure that that's the correct classification. But based on our preliminary discussions that's what was determined as we prepared the budget. MR. INABA: Which is about how much per year for that position? MS. SAKO: There's definitely a pay range for those. MR. INABA: I'm going to continue with the next question just for time's sake. In terms of OCE(Other Current Expenses), we're looking to increase this section. What is the plans for the $50,000 in sustainability, Mr. Lord? MR. LORD: In which budget was that put in? MR. INABA: This is under OCE as well. But we've never had any money for sustainability before, but I see $50,000 here. So what is the plans for that $50,000? MR. LORD: So as you know we've been having conferences and meetings throughout the year and statewide, even inviting international people here. Putting on'those conferences as well as continuing on with the education of the staff at the county and in the Mayor's Office about sustainability and those issues that we've talked about such as, you know, food, what we're doing with our wastewater, what we're doing with our solid waste, how we're prepping our county to'be sustainable in the future. So some of that money will also go to training and travel. But it's all 100 percent for increasing our ability to help the departments have a focus of and carry it out that when they're making their decisions that we're all being aware of, is this the best thing for the future, is this a sustainability,focused activity and if it's not how can we make sure that it will contribute to the sustainability in the future. MS. SAKO: And just to get back to your previous question. An SR-26 is anywhere from $71,000 to $106,000, depending on the step. MR. LORD: And Councilman Inaba, I'll just remind you that's a 50 percent position so it would be 50 percent of that salary. MR. INABA: Sorry. Director Sako, one more time, those numbers please. MS. SAKO: $71,000 to $106,000. There're various steps; C through M. So depending on the experience they would be assigned a step. Page 18 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 MR. INABA: Alright. Okay, same section. I see we're increasing the community programs line by $20,000—sorry, we have a homeless programs line item and in light of all of the funding that our county is committed towards housing production and homeless services, wanting to get a little bit of detail on what these homeless programs funds are for? MS. SAKO: I think that's a carryover item. It used to be much larger prior to the homeless section being added to the budget. So we reduced it, but we were afraid to eliminate it should any needs arise in the Mayor's Office since a lot of their EA's (Executive Assistant) work on a variety of projects. So just to give them a little bit of money for that opportunity, MR. INABA: Okay. And then, Director Sako, in terms of that sustainability line item, within those small line items'we're'able to use that for our own personal travel even if we have a travel section within this office already? MS. SAKO: Primarily they would,use the traV'el dollars. But let's say an opportunity came up that they really,wanted to go investigate, we would allow them to transfer more up to the travel section if needed. MR. INABA: Understood. And then, last question for now is, I see an increase of approximately $31,000 under Mayor's entertainment for Sister Cities. So just wanted to know, I wasn't able to kind of pinpoint wherein this program section how we plan to'use those funds for our Sister City Program. MR. LORD: So with the pandemic we we're really able to fully engage all of our Sister Cities. A lot of it was done by Zoom, a majority of it. So we have several Sister;Cities coming here and we use funds for coordinating with them and hosting them while they're here as well as increasing Mayor Roth's travel to other Sister Cities in the coming years. We wanted to make sure the funds were there because currently we were actually overspending in that account. So we increased the money to make sure we came out even. Was there other issues we came up with? MS. SAKO: No. I think that was a line item that got cut during the pandemic just because travel wasn't happening. And so we are increasing it. There's more Sister Cities. Jane Clement, I think I might've seen here in the West 14awai`i audience, has been actively working with those Sister Cities. It's become a much more active program now. You know, recently we had the ballet from Chile here. Wonderful performance. And so just working on increasing and improving some of those Sister City relationships. MR. INABA: Thank you very much. Yes, it's great to see some of those folks here. And I'd ask that the administration continue to involve and invite the Council to participate, whether it be in events here or in travel so that there's Page 19 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 more representation from this county as well. Thank you, Mr. Lord, and Director Sako. MR. LORD: Thank you all. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Council Member Inaba. Looking around the room in Hilo. Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. And thank you all for being here. Thank you, Director and Deputy Director for being here. 'So I have a couple of questions. One is very specific. I thought I heard you say under the Property Management leases and locations funding that that was mainly for relocating the Central Fire Station. But did you say that was while you work on the current fire station, so is that a temporary move or is that,a permanent move? I thought it was supposed to be a permanent move. MS. SAKO: There's lots of things going on, MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. MS. SAKO: And, you know, which comes first. So we know the building needs some major improvements. So we're going to move them out to ensure they're in a safe space. The landlord we hope to lease from is willing to do some of the renovations for us there. We hope that they will improve the outlook And fix some of the basic things at'Central. We have secured land. The Fire Chief was very instrumental, and Harry Yada at Housing helped with that as well, from the state, to build a new Central Station off of Komohana. However, that will take time to coo the EA (Environmental Assessment), design and build it.;So in"the meantime, they may go back there. We have some other stations that we may need to relocate as construction happens on those as well. So as we work on the different stations, we may move them into that leased space until all of the stations are completed. But the goal is to get Central upgraded enough so that they could remain there while we build a new station. But they probably would have to be out a couple years at least. MS. KAGIWADA: I see. Thank you. So is there identified leased space already? MS. SAKO: We are working with one and I believe it comes before Council next week maybe. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. Terrific. Thank you. And then, switching gears. I'm just wondering, and this may be something you can tell me if it's more Page 20 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 appropriate for when we talk to R & D or whatever. But guaranteed energy performance contracting. MS. SAKO: That's definitely an R & D question. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. I did see an article about Maui doing this recently not costing them anything and predicted to save them $73 million over the next 20 years. Something I think we should definitely look into. Do you know if it's something that our county's looked into seriously in the past? MS. SAKO: We've looked at a lot of energy-sawing things over the years. We've done leases, we've had consultantseome in. ;We've definitely done a lot over the years to save money when it comes to electricity and all of our buildings, whether it's retrofitting them and what not. I think there's several plans that are out for procurement. Riley Saito's very much our expert in that area and stays up to date on all of the different technologies and,different ways we can do that. So I think he's just a little bit more well versed in that subject area. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. MS. SAKO: But he definitely can answer all your questions. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay., So I just,yeah, wanted to put it out there because my understanding is its third party financed. We don't have to put out money and that our state energy office can even provide the staffing to help put the project together. So we basically don't have to do anything, don't have to pay money,,,and we realize savings berth for sustainability reasons; saving, you know, not using ass much fuel and energy, but also in cost savings. So I hope it's something that we can',16ok into. MS., SAKO: They,definitely look at a lot of different ways for that. Yup. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you. I yield, Chair. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Council Member. Anyone else in IIlo? Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Aloha, Director Sako. MS. SAKO: Good morning. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I can't even begin to express the gratitude that I have to you and your team for all of the support that you provide, not just to council but every single department. There are a lot of different influences and factors that go into crafting the budget and somehow you are able to make magic Page 21 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 happen for all of us. So thank you. And especially thanks to folks that support our council in our grant-in-aid process. I think we've all experienced it at one point or another. But it is a huge lift, and we wouldn't be able to do it without you. MS. SAKO: It is so many more applications than once upon a time. And I think Ted(Schrey) and I were talking the other day and maybe when he started doing it there were like 40 applications and now it's like 240 or something like that. And so it's a huge difference. But Lisa Tada and Kelsey Kalua are two very active participants in that process, and we appreciate them. And we do have several of our team sitting back here so they're also hearing your words of thanks and we appreciate them each ane,every day.; It's amazing what all goes into, you know, doing customer service for all of the departments and we appreciate helping them and their support,of us as well. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: You know,key word,that you just said'was "service." The county is a service-based industry. The county does not run without its people. So this intentional investment in building up our workforce and the intentional strategies around training, recruitment, retention, huge. Fully applaud that. Fully support that. Our departments had to go without a lot because of the pandemic'. But I think now we're in a,position to finally make those investments. It's a big'budget. It's a big budget to have to swallow here and I'm really concerned about long term sustainability. And I want you to kind of walk us through that to make sure that we aren't at the edge of a fiscal cliff with a recession aroundthe corner and,that we are going to be able to sustain the investments that we are really talking about today. Onihe training and internship puce, the ten positions that you mentioned, how is that geeing to be overseen? Is that going to be something that's handled by HR, and do you envision this to be sort of like a fellowship program where there are those wrap around services that support personal and professional development? MS. SAKO: Yes. So HR will kind of be leading it. But definitely each department is going to have to take a very key and active role in it. So where we can maybe consolidate and talk about, you know, some people just need basic skills, right, like how to call when you're not going to be able to come to work tomorrow or things like that. But also just on leadership, how to work with other people. Some people might need computer skills. So everyone is a little bit different. So we're kind of envisioning, let's say Finance took one of these positions that we would have to kind of train these people and employees. So it may be computer skills. So we do have some people in our office that are very good at Excel, let's say, so they might be able to work with them. But maybe it's an accounting thing so that would be one of our accountants would sit with them and give them a little bit more information. Page 22 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 But, you know, anywhere we can do—like it's the same for all departments, we would try to have joint training for some of those things. You know, expose them to other people in the county so they feel comfortable reaching out and asking questions and things like that. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thanks for that. Are these internship positions on par with say like a student helper position or more high level? MS. SAKO: No. These would be more high level; MS. KIERKIEWICZ: More high level. MS. SAKO: Yup. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: In the May budget could we take a'look at potentially having student helper positions? I know that there are high school students, college students, that would love to be able to'get their foot in the door and experience county government for a dollar more than minimum wage and then also be earning school credits alongside of their work experience here. MS. SAKO: Yeah. I think the program with'Hawai`i Community College maybe hasn't been as active lately. But definitely reaching out to some of the high school kids, a lot of them have been doing Volunteer hours for like their senior projects and things like that, but,thenwould like to probably be able to go on and learn a little bit more and maybe even help them decide if that's the right career path they want to study in college or if they even need college, or if there's other approaches for them. So definitely we can look at more student helpers or shifting some of our current student helper positions to various departments." MS'KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. And nothing precludes council members from securing intens and paying them stipends out of our district allowance? MS. SAKO: That's my understanding. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Thank you. MS. SAKO: HR left, sorry. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I need to check with HR? MS. SAKO: No. That's my understanding. And we have done it before, and I think you're fine. I was just going to have Waylen (Leopoldino) give me the nod. Page 23 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Right on. I'm excited about the new accounting system. I'm pretty sure you're over the moon about it. Are there some baseline requirements that you are able to publicly share with us in terms of what you're looking for in a system? Some of the things that I'm wondering about are electronic timesheets, the ability to sign documents electronically as well, and I think my favorite thing that I've talked about since my first year on the council, is a dashboard where we are able to demonstrate the transparency and accountability for every single taxpayer dollar and all grants received. MS. SAKO: So definitely those are things we included in the RFP. Some were mandatory, some were not. So we do need to comply with all state and federal laws first. We need to be able to pay our employees and, you know, make sure we do that correctly and comply with all the laws. We definitely want the electronic timesheet, which iswhat I sometimes call that time and attendance program, so that maybe you scan in or when you first log into your PC it will record the time you're there, you know, and just kind of electronically upload all of that into the system. That will take alittle bit longer, you know. But definitely getting things online, people being able to login. When we did our RFI, Request for Information'.tome of them showed us where you can have your phone and say, "Hey, I in'here." Or"I got called out; I'm leaving my house right now." And obviously a supervisor would have to it just like they do the paper timesheets now.' But at least it would be much more convenient for people to enter time and all of that. The dashboard is definitely on our radar as well. All the reporting, I think you might have mentioned one more thing. The electronic signatures is the other one. Whilem6 do want that we realize it may not be part of this system and we may need a separate system. But all of the departments want that, and we've been working with IT to see if that's something we can get going sooner. I'm not part of the selection panel so I'm not sure how many of the top proposers have that. But I can talk to some of the committee members to see if it looks like we're,going to get it in the system, the package, or if we might need a separate package to do that. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Great. And one more question about the accounting system. Is there consideration around like maintenance and replacement of our equipment. Every year, you know, you file with the council, if we print it out, avery tall stack of papers that helps us understand. Every single truck, apparatus, server, computer, whatever have you, that is county property. But I don't know if all departments have like a consistent replacement and maintenance plan. And I wonder if this system can help solve for some of that. MS. SAKO: Hopefully it can help solve for some of it. I have noticed that the departments are becoming much more aware that we need to have our Page 24 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 equipment on a replacement plan. You know, we cannot just all of a sudden replace a whole bunch of fire trucks, let's say. I mean, that's a big-ticket item. So having it on a replacement plan,just like our protective equipment. Let's say like the turn-out coats and having it on a cycle, benefits everyone in the long run by not having these huge spikes in our budget. So each department is kind of working on that and hopefully the software will let us just maybe sort reports a little bit differently by age of equipment and what not. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I know that when Council Member Lee Loy and I were convening conversations with various departments; especially with the Planning Department, to talk about the status,of ourcounty facilities and infrastructure. Various departments were to©king of different systems and software to grade good, fair, poor, to figure out the investments. MS. SAKO: Yes. And they're still doing that. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes. MS. SAKO: Actually several of them have implemented it more by starting that implementation process. And that also would lead to like routine maintenance, being able to track that. I'm not sure if there were to be any duplication with the accounting software. Plus, the ones they're looking at right now is very specialized software that can specifically do that. You know, what's the life of it, what's the routine maintenance we need to do, you know, what do we have to do to make it last longer, or what is the drop-dead date that we need to replace it, especially with the roads, right. Being able to run a list of roads that need repaving now versus reconstruction where we have to just dig out,the whole thing and startagain. So trying to monitor those type of things.' MS:KIERKIEWICZ: Director, in your professional opinion, you know, like I feel all:the budget discussions that I've been a part of have just been about maintaining the status quo. Do you think we're making the investments we need this year in order to solve for things like climate change and brain drain, right, making sure that we are substantially improving quality of life here. Again, it's a large budget. And if folks are having to deal with cost-of-living issues I just want to make sure we are responsibly investing taxpayer dollars and,they're going to be seeing that return on investment. MS. SAKO: So I think we're trying our best to encompass everything. You know, we still have some requests to go through that hopefully will be included in the May budget. We know R & D and Planning have actively been working on the whole climate change plan, different things like that. When Planning prepared the capital budget, I know that was part of the discussion. You know, are you considering climate change in your projects, right? Which projects do we need to maybe move up higher on the list? Because water is rising and sea Page 25 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 level rise and all those good things. So there's a lot more effort in all of those things. You know, I worry about Alii Highway and the water coming up through the road. You know, that's a project that I think about much more often. Seeing the GIS maps where the expected sea level rises really helps put it in perspective in terms of which projects we maybe need to move farther away from the water. I think they are definitely making sure that we're not building too close to the ocean anymore, you know,park pavilions are set back. You know, I don't know how much of it is sea level rise from when some of these facilities were first put in versus, we just wanteditclose to the shoreline and it's always been that close to the shoreline. But,you know, it may have had more setback once upon a time. But now, you know,clearly the water is getting closer. So every department is much more aware and taking those things into account, especially on the CIP level. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Director, thank you so much. I'm going to just end with kind of a, I don't know if it's a wild question y but it's something that I've been having conversations with folks about, and that's the integration of artificial intelligence and that work'that we do. ChatGPT-4.0 just came out. I think Al (Artificial Intelligence) is going to be revolutionizing the way we work and interact in the next 30, 60, to 90 days. $o'just,curious if there are conversations happening within Finance. And this is something I'll pose to all departments. So come up with a response please. But how are we potentially training up our folks to utilize Al to just be more efficient and effective with the work that we do here at the:county? MS. SAKO., So we're trying to get, you know, maybe on more systems. But we do know that's the way of the future. You know, Fire Chief talks about it all the time. Hedefinitely stays up to date on the current trends as does our IT director. So definitely starting, but we're not quite there yet. You know, I do see it. I use it, you know, on other people's websites, right. So definitely getting excited but we're not quite there. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah. We've got to make sure we get those computers that we ordered installed first. MS. SAKO: Yeah. We need the basic infrastructure to make sure it's going to work. You know, you don't want to be in the middle of a chat and the connection drops. So we want to make sure our basic infrastructure is there first. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Director, Deputy, to your teams, for everything that you do to support the county. Appreciate it. Page 26 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 MS. SAKO: Thank you. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair, I yield. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Council Member Kierkiewicz. Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: I just want to say thank you to everyone. Yes. Thank you very much. I just wanted to ask you some questions about the transfer to other funds page. I know some of those transfers are'mandated in the charter or the code. MS. SAKO: Correct. MS. GALIMBA: But some of them I don't know how those amounts are determined so I wanted to ask about those. Sb for instance, sewer fund, is that something that—how does these decisions? MS. SAKO: So some of the funds used tabe self-sustained. So they would have enough revenue to run all their operations. And as time progresses, you know, we don't charge a lot of fees for some of the things we do. So sewer fund, they have recently raised rates. But they've also have to use it to replace equipment and different things. So they,still had a shortfall in operational budgetand so we know that's a commitment the county's making, right. We don't want sever going into the ocean. So we're definitely going to help run the sewer fund'. So things like sewer fund, solid waste, even housing, golf course fund, all of those funds that are operational just aren't able to generate enough revenue 6ri their own, so the general fund helps them as well. And part of that is just to help keep costs down or, you know, to ensure they have sufficient funds to operate. So Solid Waste isby far the largest subsidized fund, where our general fund subsidizes them $29.5 million this coming year. But there's a lot that happens, right, when you take your rubbish to the transfer station, we don't charge for that. So the commercial companies do pay a tipping fee. But us residents do not. Se' it really does come out of the tax dollars that each of us pays to take care of our rubbish. MS. GALIMBA: Thank you. So basically the department head comes to you and says this is what I think I'm going to need this year. MS. SAKO: Yeah. And most of these funds have been subsidized for a long time now. It's not like a new thing that just happened. It's been going on. So, you know, we talk about it, we look at if they have extra fund balance, you know, we make them use that first. But really, we work with them to make Page 27 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 sure they do what they need to do to follow all the same things, right, federal mandates or just providing the services to the community. MS. GALIMBA: Okay. Is the golf course funds usually this high or is this specifically ? MS. SAKO: Slowly it's been increasing. But it's been roughly in this price range for a little while now. A lot of the equipment was really deteriorating. We needed new equipment. And then to kind of help offset because the golf course is only on the east side, there is under Parks and Recreation a subsidy to help subsidize some of the West Hawaii golfers atsome of the West Hawaii courses. MS. GALIMBA: Okay. Is that included in here? MS. SAKO: It's not in the golf course fund,but it's under the Parks and Recreation budget. MS. GALIMBA: I see. MS. SAKO: I want to say—I shouldn't say the amount. I forget. It's somewhere between $250,00,0 and $500,000. MS. GALIMBA: Okay. That's all. I yield. Relinquish Chair: At this time,the Chair relinquished the chair to Ms. Heather Kimball. ACTING CHR. KIMBALL: I will jump in since the Chair has left the room. Okay, any,other discussion with Director Sako? Council Member Lee Loy. MS�LEE LThank you, Chair. Deanna, thank you so much. MS. SAKO: I just want to be sure because I forgot to mention it earlier. But this morning our Accounts Division is completely caught up and the February monthly budget status report was delivered, and we ask the council to please, pretty please, pass them out to all of you. So I'm not sure if you've received them yet. But we did beg them to do that early. Thank you. MS. LEE LOY: Yay. Absolutely, Deanna, that's MS. SAKO: I know that's one of your things, so I just wanted to make sure. MS. LEE LOY: That's one of my things, definitely, which is why, you know, that piece regarding the dashboard, like those are the conversations I know I've been having with you for the past five Page 28 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 MS. SAKO: Yeah. And it's not that we don't feel it's important, we just know when we're picking out the system that the key thing is that it has to work, and it has to be able to do governmental accounting. We have to be able to pay our vendors and our employees. And then that's like a bonus item. But we also know there are a lot of programs that we can integrate with to provide the dashboard should the chosen software not have it. MS. LEE LOY: Awesome. You know, I really don't have much around all of this. I just know the magic that you have to work. Butsomething that's been ruminating in the back of my mind is this fiscal cliff, right, the recession. And having sat here for a little while now, you know, our body approves the extension of leases, right, three- and five-year options. And so, maybe offline, Deanna, if I could get that information as far as what we've committed to future budgets as we go ahead and buy'equipment or software. I would really want to see that kind of forecast as far as how much of fiscal 2024-2025, 2025- 2026, is already committed to these lease options. And I say that because in preparation of what we're going to go through.; And I think we have a bet about where the budget will land in May, which I'm guessing will be closer to $820 million. Nofthat I want to cut the budget at all, but I think there needs to have some conversations about the following budget and how we can start tailoring that next budget should we not see the same amount of funding in the future. MS. SAKO: I'm just going to say we definitely take all of that into account when planning. The least commitments that have been made are reflected in the future year's budgets here. So generally you can look at the revenue numbers to see if they're kind of in line or if they're going up too much. Some things +continue'to be out of our control such as setting the health premiums, which is a state function. You know, no county has any representation on that board nor on the ERS board. So some things, you know, are just shoved at us by the state and we deal with it, you know, and we have to. But we also monitor, we work closely with Real Property Tax to see how things are going. But we're also where costs keep rising. So we're trying to do the one-time things where we can. The PC's this year that we put in, in prior years were very, you know, cost conscious being aware of things. We try to spread that cost over three to five years. In this case we're paying for it cash upfront so there won't be a future commitment next year. So we're trying to do some of those types of things as well. We did the same thing with the blue and white vehicles for the Police Department. So there's $2.8 million there for those vehicles rather than have to, you know, rely on leasing options for the future. The budget probably will increase. But not all of that means that the revenue will be increasing because we realize that as, you know, we finish closing the Page 29 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 books and we're looking at things as we're trying to take advantage of the grants, you know, making sure we have adequate funding. You know, Public Works came in for an additional appropriation where we're getting advanced funding on some of our STIP projects. So we're using the GE(General Excise) tax transferred to capital project fund to pay for that. And then when it gets reimbursed, that funds will be available for future transportation projects. So doing things like that where we can't always use bond money but realizing that, you know, we budgeted very conservatively during the pandemic. We didn't know where revenues were going to go. I think we all expected tourism to return this year. I don't know if we expected it to return at the levels that it has. And so, you know, realizing that we're having;some windfalls in some of our revenues, both TAT (Transient Accommodation Tax) and GET, but also budgeting conservatively and not expecting those amounts in the future. So trying to live within our means. So we do try to kind of plan:around a lot of that and look at it for the future. We listen to what the experts say. Can:you believe everything they say? I mean, it's hard to know. A lot of them predict a mild recession. You know, Hawaii usually lags. So whatever the mainland sees, then we'll see it usually later than that. So we try to monitor what's happening. And if they start seeing steeper declines than maybe was predicted,we rein back and try to do the same accordingly. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, Deanna, I think that's what I've trusted over the years is how conservative you actually build the budget around. I think the other piece that I'm bracing for and I'm sure you are too, is because of the pandemic our healthcare premiums are going to skyrocket. And that's a huge part of our salary and wages piece in this pizza pie that has to get cut up and MS'SAKO:,Itis. We've been very fortunate. I don't know how the state does it; But even'though I do complain about the medical premiums, they've been managing to keep it fairly low the last few years. So I think we will see a jump just"because they were able to keep the premium so low. But, you know, we also pay 60/40 for our active employees. So we're paying the 60 percent, the employee pays the 40 percent. We just continue to negotiate, you know, off of which plan because there are options. We want to be fair to all the employees. So those are all things we monitor, and we watch because the employee salaries, wages, and benefits are our biggest expense in the county budget. But it's Police Officers, it's Fire Fighters, it's all different kinds of county employees. So we try to monitor that very carefully because if I pick up the phone and want a Police Officer, I really do want them to come to my house. And so, yeah, we appreciate all that they do. Page 30 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, I think those are my biggest concerns with the budget. But like I said, I've always trusted, you know, how conservative you've built this budget around. And, you know, having the flexibility I think I really am bracing for those forecasts MS. SAKO: Yeah. We know it's coming. MS. LEE LOY: Those financial forecasts, that it's coming, and you don't want to provide service but in the same breath not keep digging into our taxpayers' pockets to provide, you know, a status quo service. Thanks, Deanna, really. And I do want to say thank you for all the help that you've provided for the nonprofit grant-in-aid committee. You know, my mom always says sometimes you've got to make a mess to clean a mess. And I honestly think that's what happened over the course of the last two years and the staff has just been amazing helping transform that grant=in-aid. So, thank you. MS. SAKO: Yeah, so we just really,want to thank Lisa and Kelsey, but also Corporation Counsel, who has gone above and beyond to help us interpret the law sometimes and make sure we're being fair and consistent. So I really appreciate their input as well. MS. LEE LOY: Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you. I yield. Relinquish Chair: At thistime,Acting Chair Kimball relinquished the chair to Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Council Member. Any further discussion,from Council Members? Okay, hearing none. Deanna, I have a few questions for you. You know,just as a whole, salary and wages and,benefits 'what portion of our budget is that this year, percentage? MS. SAKO: I want to say it was 60-ish percent. We analyze in a variety of different ways. But I'll have Ted double check that number and get it to you. But it usually runs in that range, roughly a little over or a little under 60 percent. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then a dollar figure for that? MS. SAKO: So it's probably over $400 million, you know, for every single dollar fund. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you. MS. SAKO: I will get that figure. Page 31 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Honestly, I like to see the ballpark as we move. And then I'm looking over the proposed Finance budget. How's the internal control on TAT Division doing? That was kind of a question as we walked into last year. MS. SAKO: Yup. So Steve Hunt left to go work for the County of Kauai. But we appreciate still collecting his real property taxes from Waimea. And so you'll still see him around. And I'm very appreciative of Kauai's program. I wish they let all of their employees live here. So it's an intergovernmental relationship. But, you know, so Steve left. Wilson, that I introduced earlier, he actually just started yesterday. So we're very appreciative that he's here. He has a lot of internal control and a lot of internal audit background as well as tax. Kimi (Silva) and Shanel (Sarsuelo) have been holding down the fort. We've been collecting a lot of TAT. We're to the point now where we're trying to find out if we're missing any taxpayer so soon,,we'll be making wrequest to Planning to kind of cross check the list, This is the one that based on the state tax law we can ask Planning for information. We cannot give Planning information of who's paying TAT. So that information is protected by state tax law. So I've had to sign away my life on abunch,of those agreements. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELI)ER One more time on that. You can request MS SAKO: So we can request information from Planning, and we can double check that against our taxpayer list of who's paying TAT by address, name, or whatever way. If we find a discrepancy, maybe someone signed up for a short- term vacation rental permit, but we realize they're not paying any TAT, we can reach outto them. If Planning wants to ensure their short-term vacation rental listis complete, they can ask us, but we cannot give our taxpayer list to them. And that's a state law.. If it was our law, I would've asked you guys to change that already. But,yeah, that's state law. So we've had to sign off on a lot of agreements with that. You know that TAT section of the law was where they kind of strangely, it's the firsttime we're not collecting uniformly, you know, with state collects all or county collects all. We're actually each collecting our own piece. And so we have a lot more agreements with the state than we've had to have for other things. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. The only revenues is in the $24 million? Page 32 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 MS. SAKO: Yeah, they're actually over this year. But both R & D and Finance believe that this level of tourism and maybe, not the level of tourism, but the room rates that are being collected is really high right now. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: You are full of some good ones this morning. MS. SAKO: I cannot afford a staycation on the west side of the island, you guys. I'm sorry. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I agree. MS. SAKO: Yeah, so we are very appreciative of all the tourism, you know, whether it's other islands or other people from the mainland coming over, the revenue has been great. But we're probably going to hit between $28 and $30 million this year. But we feel $14 million is probably a more likely number for the coming year. If it continues'to stay high,We can talk about it again next year. But I'm not sure that's a sustainable figure of this year's collections. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. MS. SAKO: You know, when we based our original estimate off of the 2019 collections of what tourism was and what TAT from our island generated, when they changed the law, we thoughtwe were not going to be able to hit the $19 million., We thought if we got$17 million, we would be lucky. And that was based'off of 2019, which is a full year of tourism before the pandemic. That is how strong tourism is right now. We thought we would get$17 million andwe're collecting closer to M million this year. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINPELDER: Wow, wow. Okay. Okay, that's a positive. Is there any money or funding set aside for work, like facilities hardening for the Pahoa Driver's Licensing Office? And the reason I'm asking, and I brought this to MS. SAKO: Those boards over the windows. CHR. ANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah. MS. SAKO: Where the bulletproof glass cracked. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Well that. Okay, there's that and there's also inside MS. SAKO: Termites. Page 33 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah. I was just there with my kids doing driver's licensing and as you're sitting there there's little droppings being pushed out of the front wood panels. I did bring it to DPW, but I'm just asking you if it's in the budget anywhere. MS. SAKO: So it's challenging at that facility. We've definitely worked with DPW on that. We've made them aware of the issues, the things we would like to get fixed. Some apparently are more challenging than others. Also the two buildings are connected, the vehicle registration licensing office and the police station. The police station is 24/7. So to tent it is impossible. So they continue to do spot treatments and we continue to work with DPW and Police to see if there's another way around that. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER:, Okay. Thank you. Looking to your objectives in the departmental review process book, we getsafety inspections sites, inspections is supposed to'519 a year. We're hitting about 200. Is that an issue? MS. SAKO: Is that under CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: In the MS. SAKO: Yeah, under Risk Management, I think. Is that the one? CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: The six-month progress final status report. I means I'm not dying for an answer. But I just wanted to check with ,you., That's one thing that stood out. MS. SAKO: 'I think part of that was as we were coming out of the pandemic. So I think we're starting to catch up and keep up a little bit better now. You know,,we're trying to be conscious of people's spaces and, you know, not interact_ But now,things are getting more back to normal. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Salaries and Wages in the overtime section. There's a substantial bump. This is for 5122.01;just regular accounts. MS. SAKO: Yes, so those be the wonderful people that will be helping to install our accounting software and we didn't add ten people to help us do that system conversion. So we are very thankful to everyone who will be stepping up to help with that and we will be having to pay overtime and Kay (Oshiro) is sitting there glaring at me, I know. We're all trying to do our part. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. And then I saw some increased expenditures I just wanted to check with you on. Vehicle Registration OCE; numbers 115 and numbers 235. This is in the 5127.012. Page 34 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 MS. SAKO: So 115 is the kiosk and online convenience fees that I talked about in our opening where we're going to be paying those convenience fees to really encourage the public to continue to do it. We actually got a lot of emails during the pandemic that, "We love this service but oh my gosh, this fee." And just to clarify this is the convenience fee portion, the credit card percentage will still be absorbed by the customer unfortunately. But this is the portion we could handle. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Andthen in 5129.02; number 338. MS. SAKO: So that is our leases. And so some things,we already have CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Sorry, Deanna, we've got to take a quick recess. MS. SAKO: Sure. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thankyou. We are in recess. Recess: At 10:44 a.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 10:48 a.m. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Calling us back out of recess. MS SAKO: Okay. So just to answer that question on the 338, under Property Management: The increase made partially eluded two, but there's actually three factors that make it up., One is the additional space for Driver's Licensing as they repair the police station, to move Driver's Licensing and a few other departments into the old Bank of Hawaii space. And then the other ones are the additional police warehouse space on that expansion, that was approved by council, I think last week or is going through the process. And then relocating Central Fire Station. So those three are the ones that make up the primary amount of the difference of the increase. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then the driver's license site, that's going to be a new facility ongoing? MS. SAKO: At least for a few years. Really the county as a whole is running out of space. We hope to put driver's licensing back into the police station. But, you know, if that doesn't work out, we still are looking for a uniform site where we can combine both vehicle registration and driver's licensing like we do in West Hawaii. That's the long-term goal. But, you know, DPW has a lot Page 35 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 of projects so right now we're just relocating driver's licensing as well as a few other departments up in the mezzanine. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then within that same section, Department of Water Supply, we have the $356,000. MS. SAKO: We pay them rent for Environmental Management that currently utilizes the downstairs portion of that building. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: We pay them rent.' MS. SAKO: They are semi-autonomous and not part of our budget. So yes, we have to be good citizens and pay them our fair share of rent. That includes some construction costs they did for usas well. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFEL }ER: What is the square feet'of that office that we're using from them? MS. SAKO: Close to 12,000. CHR KANEALI`I-KI.,EINFELDER: So about$3 per square foot? MS. SAKO: Probably, because it included the build-out as well so that DPW didn't have to do it. That was several years ago. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Then HOVE road maintenance fees} what is that? MS. SAKO: We oven some property there and so we have to pay road fees as any other owner in that subdivision does. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: What do we own in that subdivision? MS. SAKO: Yeah, Fire was the main one, but there are other sites as well. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you for joining us, Hamana (Ventura). (Note: At this time, Finance Property Manager Hamana Ventura came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. VENTURA: Hamana Ventura, Property Manager. So out in Ocean View, since it's like your subdivisions, private subdivisions, we're responsible to help maintain the roads. So fire is a large component out there. Other areas that we own were set aside for future education sites and so forth. Page 36 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So because we own property in HOVE, we help with the road maintenance fees? MR. VENTURA: Correct. MS. SAKO: Like any other owner in HOVE. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Would that same agreement be applicable to all subdivisions that are private? MS. SAKO: Depends on the agreement we may have with the subdivision. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Can I have a copy,of the agreement we have with the subdivision with HOVE? , MR. VENTURA: Yeah, we'll work on that. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you Hamana. Appreciate it. And then my last question, sorry, I've got to jump back. I missed one. Vehicle Registration OCE,jumping back one step. License plates, $310,000, which I think makes up for the pretty large jump in vehicle registration OCE as a total. MS. SAKO: That was up„a littlebit; I mean, the kiosk piece is really what the primary increase is there. But license plates did go up a little bit just like the cost of everything else. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Okay. And last one, Deanna. I'm going to jump way to the back. In the Highways section, because that's coming,from',our vehicle registration and licensing, funds, revenues, sorry, and then the fund balance in that section. MS., SAKO: So in highway fund, the revenue, is that the question? CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, under the revenues this is 3609.10. MS. SAKO: So yes, they do have adequate fund balance to cover that. I)irector Pause has, I think, spoken before about paving 36 miles per year. So this is to help them hit those milestones. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Do you need more positions in any of the departments to help with those milestones? MS. SAKO: We're reviewing some of those. There were several supplemental budget requests for additional positions. And so we're reviewing Page 37 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 each of those as we prepare the May budget. We're trying to make sure we're being cautious but yet get what they need. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then my last question, when I first came into council, I walked by inverter here in this building and it was down. And that's kind of a combination as I've come to find out, it's a combination of Finance who cuts the check to pay utilities and then as well as Department of Public Works that maintains the buildings. But has there been any kind of control set, you know, as we look at having more sustainability measures or more photovoltaic on our roofs to ensure that when the system does go down or there's an error in one of the systems, whether it out of our hands or not, that we have a control that catches the cost jump when we start to see a PV system down or something failing. MS. SAKO: I think Public Works has worked with their team because they are the ones that actually enter the utility bills for payment. Also, the various sections of Public Works are talking a„little bitmore. I think when you have change in staff or personnel then some of those things, they thought that was the normal amount, I think is what happened. So now they're a little bit more aware and trying to'pay more attention to that. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINVELDER: Okay. Okay. Good. That's all I have for you. MS. SAKO: Thank you very much. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I do appreciate your levity this morning. Thatwas fun. You made some good jokes. MS. SAKO',Once in a while they come. No,just kidding. CHR KANEAI;I`I-KLEINFELDER: And I did want to mahalo your team who came with youthis morning and just in general. You've been here for a very long time. But I find that your answers are very thorough, and you more than adequately answer, but you also kind of give us the next step. And touching upon what was said earlier. I don't know that we need to reinvent the wheel here, but looking back at our past bubbles in a real estate market and property tax values there's always a decline. So I know a lot of us are saying the same thing, but just making sure that we are preparing ourselves. And if we grow government in their times of great real property tax revenues, when the revenues go down, we're going to find ourselves in the same situation we found ourselves before. MS. SAKO: Yup. So look at alternatives. Diane and I will be here all week. Ted and Lisa are Zooming in. But, you know, some of the departments have Page 38 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 had changes in accounting personnel. So we'll do our best to help them out along the way. So thank you all. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mahalo. Mahalo for your time. Thank you everyone for being here to help Ms. Sako. Okay, Council Members, we're going to take a brief recess. Let's come back. We're going to reconvene at 11:10 (a.m.), no let's do 11:05 (a.m.) Okay, thank you. We're in recess. Recess: At 10:56 a.m. the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 11:05 a.m. (3) Planning Department: (Note: At this time, Planning Director Zendo Kern came forward to address the members of the Committee regarding the departm'ent's proposed budget for Fiscal.Year 2023-2024.) (Note: At this time, Mr. Kern provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office, or navigatef6 the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 135.4) Recess: At 12:47 p.tn the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 1:30 p.m. STATEMENTS" The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE ' Statements from.the Public. PUBLIC ON Bill 3©' (COMM. 135 : The following individual registered to speak and came forward when called. Toby Hazel: Comment. (4) Hawaii Fire Oertment: (Note: At this time, Fire Chief Kazuo Todd came forward to address the members of the Committee regarding the department's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.) (Note: At this time, Mr. Todd provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Page 39 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 Office, or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 135.2) Recess: At 2:46 p.m. the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 2:57 p.m. (5) Office of Aging: (Note: At this time, Executive on AgingHorace Farr and Administrative Assistant Charmaine Felipe came forward to address the members of the Committee regarding the department's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.) Recess: At 3:22 p.m. the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 3:28 p.m. (6) Department of Public Works: (Note: At this time, Public Works Director Steven Pause and Deputy Director Malia Kekai came'forward to address the members of the Committee regarding thedeparttnent's-proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.) (Note: At this time, Mr. Todd provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office, or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation ismade a part of the record. See Comm. 135.3) Recess: At 5:12 pm. the Chair called for a recess. Page 40 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 RECONVENE: The Special Meeting of the Committee on Finance was reconvened in the Council Chambers, Hilo, at 9:03 a.m., Wednesday, April 12, 2023, by Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Matt Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder, Chair Ms. Cindy Evans, Vice Chair(via videoconference from Kona) Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member(came in later) Ms. Heather L. Kimball, 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 Chair called Debbie Hecht, who registered to speak in support of Bill 31 (Comm. 135) and,came forward when''called. . CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELUER Let's go to our first department. Joining us today we have the Prosecuting Attorney's Office, looking wonderful today. Kelden, if you would, take us away. DEPARTMENTAL The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, PROGRAM Departmental Budget and Program Reviews. AND BUDGET REVIEWS: (1) Office of the Prosecuting Attorney; (Note: At this time, Prosecuting Attorney Kelden Waltjen and First Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Frye came forward to address the members of the Committee regarding the department's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.) (Note: At this time, Mr. Waltjen provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office, or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 135.8) Page 41 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 Recess: At 11:01 a.m. the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 11:09 a.m. (2) Department of Human Resources: (Note: At this time, Human Resources Director Waylen Leopoldino and Deputy Director Danny Patel came forward to address the members of the Committee regarding the department's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.) Recess: At 11:58 a.m. the Chair called for a recess Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 12:07 p.m. (3) Department of Research and Development: (Note: At this time, Research and Development Director Douglass Adams came forward to address the members of the Committee regarding the department's,proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023-20 .4.) Recess: At 1:34 p.m. the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 1:38 p.m. (4) Department of Information Technology: (Note Atthis time, Information Technology Director Scott Uyehara cameforward to address the members of the Committee regarding the department's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.) (Note: Atths time, Mr. Uyehara provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office, or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 135.9) Recess: At 2:27 p.m. the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 2:37 p.m. Page 42 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 (5) Police Department: (Note: At this time, Police Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz and Assistant Chief of Administration Andrew Burian came forward to address the members of the Committee regarding the department's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.) (Note: At this time, Corporation Counsel Elizabeth Strance came forward to address the members of the Committee.) Recess: At 3:51 p.m. the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 4:00 p.m. (6) Office of the Corporation Counsel: (Note: At this time, Corporation Counsel Elizabeth Strance and Assistant Corporation Counsel,J Yoshimoto came forward to address the members of the Committee regarding the department's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.), , , Recess: At 4:31 p.m. the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 4:35 p.m. (7) Department of LiquorControl: (Note: At this time, Liquor Control Director Gerald Takase came forward,to address the members of the Committee regarding the department's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.) Recess: At 5;13 p.m. the Chair called for a recess. Page 43 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 RECONVENE: The Special Meeting of the Committee on Finance was reconvened in the Council Chambers, Hilo, at 9:01 a.m., Thursday, April 13, 2023, by Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Matt Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder, Chair Ms. Cindy Evans, Vice Chair(via videoconference from Kona) Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member (via videoconference from Kona at) Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, 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 ltems. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: (There were none.) CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINVELDER: Our first department this morning is the Civil Defense Agency. We have the Director and staff here if you can come up to the front. It looks like you have a pr'esentati'on,when you're ready, introduce yourselves you cari give your presentation, then we'll go to questions from the Council. DEPARTMENTAL The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, PROGRAM Departmental Budget and Program Reviews. AND BUDGET REVIEWS; (1) Civil Defense Agency:, ; (Note: At this time, Civil Defense Administrator Talmadge Magno and Administrative Officer Barry Periatt came forward to address the members of the Committee regarding the department's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.) (Note: At this time, Mr. Magno provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office, or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 135.5) Page 44 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 Recess: At 10:28 a.m. the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 10:40 a.m. (2) Mass Transit Agency: (Note: At this time, Managing Director Lee Lord and Mass Transit Assistant Services Administrator came forward to address the members of the Committee regarding the department's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.) (Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: At this time, Corporation Counsel Elizabeth Strance came forward to address the members of the Committee.) Recess: At 11:33 a.m. the Chair called for a recess., Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 11:45 a.m. (3) Department of Parks and Recreation: (Note: At this time, Parks and Recreation Director Maurice Messina and Deputy Director Michelle Hiraishi came forward to address the members of the Committee regarding the department's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.) (Note At this time, Mr. Messina provided a handout to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the handout,please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office, or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the handout is made a part of the record. See Comm. 135.10) (Note: At this time, Parks and Recreation Business Manager Reid Sewake came forward to address the members of the Committee.) Recess: At 1:23 p.m. the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 1:47 p.m. Page 45 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 (4) Office of Housing and Community Development: (Note: At this time, Office of Housing and Community Development Administrator Susan Kunz came forward to address the members of the Committee regarding the department's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.) (Note: At this time, Office of Housing and Community Development Community Engagement Division Manager Sharon Hirota came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: At this time, Office of Housing and Community Development Specialist Michael Yee came forward to address the members of the Committee.) Recess: At 2:59 p.m. the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 3:11 p.m_ (5) Office of the County Auditor: (Note: At this time, County Auditor Tyler Benner came forward to address the members of the Committee regarding the department's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.) Recess: At 3:34 p.m. the Chair called'for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 3:35 p.m. (6) Office of the County Clerk/Elections Division: (Note: Atths time, County Clerk Jon Henricks and Deputy County Clerk Aaron Brown came forward to address the members of the Committee regarding the department's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.) (Note: At this time, Mr. Henricks provided a handout to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the handout, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office, or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the handout is made a part of the record. See Comm. 135.7) Recess: At 4:09 p.m. the Chair called for a recess. Page 46 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 4:17 p.m. (7) Department of Environmental Management: (Note: At this time, Environmental Management Director Ramzi Mansour and Business Manager Robin Bauman came forward to address the members of the Committee regarding the department's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.) (Note: At this time, Mr. Mansour provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For Viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office, or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov, A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm_ 135.11) Recess: At 5:55 p.m. the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 5:57 p.m. MR BROWN: Okay, you;guys have two motions on the floor. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELI)ER Yes, we do. Okay so I'm going to read through our options here for your guys. So, we have the two motions on the floor right stow, Bill 30 and Bill 31, which we can forward to the Council. Actually, I'll go to our options right now. We can recess this meeting, which gives us a chance to bring back departments to the floor or have further discussion between here and ourfirst meeting at Council with the bills, correct?— MR. - MR. BROWN On May 18tH CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: On May 18. We can postpone the budgets to the Finance Committee meeting on May 2, this also provides another opportunity to ask questions from the departments or to ask additional information back to us on programs, line items of the budget, whatever it may be, but we cannot amend the budgets until May 18. Or we can forward the budgets to the Special Meeting of the Council on May 18 for first reading just like any other Committee to Council move, which is what we did last year, and I'kind of like that motion. MR. BROWN: If I could just add one more piece of information? CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes. Page 47 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 MR. BROWN: You guys will be getting the Draft 2 submitted by the Administration on May 5th, Friday. So even if you guys were to postpone this meeting to May 2nd, you would not have the Draft 2 in your hands yet. So I just wanted to put that out there. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Last year just some information, last year we just forwarded these to Council. Basically like we move anything out of Committee to Council just to have the discussion there with the new budget as it comes out, and I liked that and that worked well. MS. KAGIWADA: Then at that point if you have amendments, you can MR. BROWN: Yes, amendments can be brought to the floor at that first meeting on May 18th. MS. EVANS: Chair? MR. BROWN: Both motions are on the floor, so you guys can discuss how you want to move right now, or you guys could take a vote on Bill 30 and then Bill 31 when you guys are ready. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINVELDER: Ms. Evans, MS. EVANS: Just a question of information: So if we wait until May 18th and we have this new version that's given to us by May 5', if we want to call up departments and talk about specific things, that's not an option? Basically, the only option we have is to introduce amendments on May 18th, I'm just making sure I understand? MR. BROWN: Council Member Evans, at that meeting, you guys could call up,any and every department if you wanted to, to ask further questions, clarifications,things of that nature. If you wanted to bring in an amendment and you wanted to ask a department how that would affect their operation, you could do that as well. MS. EVANS: Okay, thank you. Thank you, Chair. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I am for moving these bills forward to our Special Council Meeting held on May 18th, to discuss the budget. I think it's wise for us to do it then considering we won't get the 2nd Draft until May 5th. So, I'll support a motion to move it forward. And before we close, I know there's a lot of talk about the John Andoh standard and different awards to give out. But for the record, can I just say that the gold standard is the Page 48 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 Deanna Sako standard because she is really the person that guides every single department in crafting their budget, helps to answer all of the questions, and I'm so glad that Diane Nakagawa is your Deputy,but I just really want to extend our gratitude to making sure that we're in the positive, we got a great rating, that we're paying our bills on time;just can't understate how much appreciation we have for you and your leadership. Thank you, Chair, for the latitude. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Ditto. Thank you,very much Deanna for being here and Diane for sitting here because everyone said we've been here for hours, but you've been here for days_ And there's a lot that goes into this before we even see it, and you're working on the next draft already. So, mahalo, and to your staff as well. Council members, what I'm hearing is we already have the motion on the floor to forward these bills to Council. So let's begin with Bill 30. MR. BROWN: Take them one at a time please, Chair. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So we have the motion on the floor to forward Bill 30 to Council with a favorable recommendation. Is there discussion warranted? Okay, All favor? Any opposed? Vote on Bill 30: The motion to recommend passage of Bill 30 on (Approved) was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and Chair Kaneali`i-KI einfelder—6. Noes: None. Absent:, Committee Members Inaba, Lee Loy, and Villegas —3. Excused: None. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: We have a motion on the floor to forward Bill 31 and all related communications to Council with a favorable recommendation. Okay, all in favor? Any opposed? Page 49 FC-8 April 11-13, 2023 Vote on Bill 31: The motion to recommend passage of Bill 31 on (Approved) first reading was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—6. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Inaba, Lee Loy, and Villegas —3. Excused: None. ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 6:22 p.m., Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to MENT: adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Ms:.Kagiwada and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder 6. ..................... Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Inaba, Lee Loy, and Villega —3. Excused: None. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: We Are adjourned. It is 6:22 p.m. Mahalo for everyone's time. Approved: Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Chair (Date) Finance Committee MK/tk/slm Page 50