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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN COUNCIL 2023-08-02 2022-2024 Hawaii County Council 19th Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii August 2, 2023 INVOCATION: Pastor Daniel Tomita of Kinoole Baptist Church gave the morning's invocation. CALL TO The regular meeting of the Hawaii County Council was called to order at ORDER: 9:07 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Chair Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Vice Chair Ms. Cindy Evans, Member(via videoconference from Kona) Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member(came in later) Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member PLEDGE OF The Chair directed the Council to the next order of business, Pledge of ALLEGIANCE: Allegiance. (At this time, County Clerk Jon Henricks led the Council in the Pledge of Allegiance.) PETITIONS, The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Petitions, MEMORIALS, Memorials, Certificates of Merit, and Expressions of Condolence. CERTIFICATES OF MERIT, AND (Note: At this time: EXPRESSIONS OF 1) Mr. Inaba presented the August 2023 Haweo Award to Detective Kimo CONDOLENCE: Keli`ipa`akaua of the Area I Criminal Investigations Section of the Hawaii Police Department; 2) Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder presented a Certificate of Merit to Solid Waste Facility Attendant Manny Miguel for his outstanding public service; and 3) Ms. Kierkiewicz presented a Certificate of Merit to Power Mower Operator William-Jon Ah Yo of the Parks and Recreation Department for his outstanding public service.) (Note: A recess was called at the end of each presentation.) Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 (Note: At this time, on behalf of the Council, Chair Kimball sent condolences to family and friends of the individual who was killed by a dog yesterday, and expressed the Council's commitment to continue to work to address the issue of dangerous dogs.) STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by the Chair: Janice Palma-Glennie: GOEAC-57 (Comm. 342); GOEAC-58 (Comm. 343); GOEAC-59 (Comm. 344); GOEAC-60 (Comm. 345); and GOEAC-61 (Comm. 346), in support. (See Comm. 345.3) Jon Olson: Res. 204-23 (Comm. 365), comment. (representing Mainstreet Pahoa) David Blancett-Maddock: GOEAC-69 (Comm. 354), in opposition. APPROVAL The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Approval OF MINUTES: of Minutes. Vote on Approval Ms. Lee Loy moved to approve the Minutes of June 1, of Minutes: 2023. Seconded by Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and carried (Approved) by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: The minutes of June I"are approved. We're going to take a few things out of order. We have one quick resolution to address: 213-23. Change Order As directed by the Chair and with no objection from the Council Members, the of Business: following items were taken out of order: Page 2 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 Res. 213-23: AUTHORIZES THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION Allows the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to utilize the County of Hawai`i's Radio Repeater site at South Point to support its South Point Weather Radio Communication Network. Reference: Comm. 383 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R) Waived: FC Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 213-23. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. This was waived to Council to expedite the process. We do have the Director and Corporation Counsel here. Please go ahead when you're ready, if you want to give us some background on the resolution and the waiver. (Note: At this time, Civil Defense Administrator Talmadge Magno and Deputy Corporation Counsel Dakota Frenz came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. MAGNO: Good morning, Council. Talmadge Magno with Hawaii County Civil Defense. MS. FRENZ: Good morning. Deputy Corporation Counsel Cody Frenz. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Good morning. MS. FRENZ: So, as to the waiver, I made that request—thank you for the consideration to Chair Kimball. So there was a lot of work with NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), going back to sometime last year in fact. And there were various delays, unfortunately, and NOAA has been extremely patient with Civil Defense and the County of Hawaii to get this squared away to where it needs to be today. So that was the reason for the request. They had been extremely patient. We currently do not have an agreement in place, and they have equipment there. So it was critical that we get this expedited, if possible, and that was the basis for my request on the waiver. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Director? MR. MAGNO: Just acknowledging there has not been a break in their service to the public as far as weather messaging and emergency messaging. So we just wanted this to continue. Page 3 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Chair, I yield to the Council for further questions. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member. Any questions? MS. EVANS: Chair? In Kona. CHR. KIMBALL: Yes, Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: Thank you. Just one question. Do we have other people on our cell tower? And if so, do we charge other people to put their equipment on our cell tower? Thank you. MR. MAGNO: Councilwoman Evans, thanks for the question. I'll offer clarification to all the Council Members as to our radio system, which we call a land mobile radio system. These are actually radio towers, not specifically cell towers. So that's for clarification. So these are radio towers that serve as repeaters for the County radio system. Our co-locators, which we do have multiple at the different sites, do pay a fee and is specifically for maintenance of the sites and the radio system. It is pretty much industry standards that we co-locate on other sites with the State on government lands or on private lands, such as this one at South Point on Kamehameha Schools' property. MS. EVANS: So does the County of Hawaii pay Kamehameha Schools an annual fee? MR. MAGNO: Yes. There is a fee for that location. MS. EVANS: So then we charge any other user of that—so, basically, if no one's on it, would they be paying a fee to Kamehameha Schools? MR. MAGNO: No. They pay us for the maintenance of the site, and we pay Kamehameha Schools for the lease of that property. MS. EVANS: Okay. So, the way the resolution is written, it says "cell tower," but that won't make a difference because you said it's a radio tower. So (inaudible) the other, nobody's going to make an issue of that? MR. MAGNO: No. It's, you know, like you say, one way or the other, it's still a tower. MS. EVANS: Good. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Chair, I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Evans. Council Member Kierkiewicz. Page 4 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Talmadge, Cody, for being here, for your patience. I do support this resolution and appreciate when there are times in which County, State, Federal can sort of collaborate. And this is one of those ways where we can build good will. Are we charging enough, $1,900 a year? I want to understand the metric that you guys used to enter into these agreements and determine what is a fair amount. So that's Question 1. And then the second question is, this is a ten-year agreement. It's the longest, most extensive agreement that I've seen come before Council. It's typically, I think, like three years with options to renew going forward. What makes this case a little different from others that we've reviewed? MS. FRENZ: Let me speak first to the—I'll defer to Talmadge as to how those numbers came about. I wanted to make a correction. We had a couple of different B-52s get submitted. And the final one submitted, there are incorrect numbers as to the amounts. So it's a quarterly payment that the County of Hawaii receives from NOAA. That's $964.77. That actually works out to be $3,859-and-some-odd cents a year. After ten years, we're looking at the 38,000. So there was a minor correction that needs your attention,just as to the amounts. In this case, we actually started off with a much shorter lease with NOAA, and they came to us saying, "We generally prefer a 20-year lease. At a bare minimum, could we do a ten-year lease," so that we didn't have to continuously renew them. There wasn't a risk that it could potentially lapse because there are so many different lease agreements they have all over the place. So they were the ones that asked us to consider a longer-term lease agreement. As to the valuation of those, I'll defer to Talmadge. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Because our B-52 says $1,900 a year. Okay. MS. FRENZ: Yes, it actually should be $3,859.08. We receive a little bit more than yeah. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Thank you. I just want to make sure like there is maintenance that goes into the upkeep of our towers. And so I just want to make sure that this number reflects all of the work that you guys do to maintain our systems. MR. MAGNO: So several things. I don't know if you guys remember earlier this year, you approved, for contract, a service agreement for our radio tower sites. So that would be part of the cyclic maintenance to avoid problems out there. Like we have with South Point where, you know, I've been in Civil Defense seven years, or six years, and that thing, I'm surprised it stood up those six years. Every hurricane season, we waited for the next high winds to blow it down. So we've gotten a new tower there. And, hopefully, the annual service agreement, we'll be looking at the tower so that we don't get into this problem again. Page 5 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 And so part of the fee was working through the Police Department, who had the radio system previously, and the Finance Department as to what the annual maintenance of the whole system was, and that was calculated. And the per-site agreement was able to be put together for our co-locators. So it should be equitable to what we need for maintenance. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. I trust you to make that determination. I just wanted to ensure that there was a metric in place. And then finally, I don't know if you mentioned this already, when did this sort of partnership agreement take place? When did we first get into an agreement with NOAA? Because, they had an existing one that expired last year. So did they remove their equipment? Did it just stay? We had no agreement in place? Ooh, liability. Okay. No, seriously, though. Those are things we have to consider, right? MR. MAGNO: They've been on that site ever since I've been here. So I guess for a while. That's part of their MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Can we celebrate the number of years of service you've had with the County, Talmadge? How long is that? MR. MAGNO: Seven years. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. All right. MR. MAGNO: That's after 30 years with the National Park Service. So that's part of NOAA's mandate to provide weather radio. Plus on that weather radio service, they'll issue emergency messages as well. And so, like I said earlier, there has not been a break in service at that site despite not having an active contract with them, or agreement with them at the site. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. I'm hoping that, as our Director of Finance looks at our next sort of financial management system, that it does include—maybe this one does that we have right now; I don't know but like just the contract management piece so that we're not lapsing. Because, I do have concerns about what liability we may be absorbing if we have, say, NOAA's equipment, and then something happens, no contract in place, who's responsible. Right? MS. FRENZ: I won't bore you with all the details as to how we ended up here, because there were multiple steps resulting in my request for the waiver to expedite the process. But they initially wanted to remove their equipment, and that's why we looked at there was this holding pattern where they were going to remove the equipment, and we were no longer going to need the lease. And then they decided they would not, and they wanted to continue. And then this, the rush to get it all squared away, came in. So that was a piece of the puzzle. Page 6 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Thank you so much for the additional information, the clarifications, and working to usher this through so quickly. Chair, I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kierkiewicz. Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. In complete support of it. And springboarding off of Council Member Kierkiewicz, I think that's where I was, you know. Where are we on our leases? Are we charging enough? My larger concern,just from a holistic perspective, is I don't know how we're extrapolating these numbers to make sure that what we're collecting is actually taking care of the asset. I feel like I've been on this long ride with you, Talmadge, for this particular site. Know some friends over at KS (Kamehameha Schools) and the back-and-forth. So I'm glad that we're here. But in the future, if we could really kind of think more globally of how we kind of attack these things, and make sure that we're providing enough resources over the course of time to make sure. Because, this is a huge component to our Civil Defense and our readiness, and I would hate for that to get tangled up in some of this paperwork. MS. FRENZ: Our contact at NOAA, that is a conversation that we had, trying to figure out that the current agreed-upon payment per quarter would actually be appropriate in nine years, for example, not knowing what sort of increases there may be. So that is a conversation we had. We found it difficult to figure out how to extrapolate, for example, and figure out what would be appropriate at that time. He did leave the door open for us to renegotiate at a higher amount if necessary and appropriate when the time came. So we have had that conversation with NOAA. MS. LEE LOY: Absolutely. And if there is, like, offramps within the contracts that we can go back to them and—Ms. Kierkiewicz just mentioned, I mean, we're at 14 percent inflation rates right now. So things are going to cost a lot. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor of adopting Resolution 213-23, please say "aye." Page 7 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 Vote on Res. 213-23: The motion to adopt Res. 213-23 was carried by the (Adopted) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Resolution 213-23 is adopted. Thank you both for being here. At this time, we're going to move to "Reports," and I'm going to go in order of who I know is present either in person or via Zoom, starting with the nomination No. 58, Communication 343. GOEAC-58 NOMINATION OF JOHN D. PELLETIER TO THE KONA COMMUNITY (Comm. 343): PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE Requires Council Confirmation by: August 10, 2023 (Section 13-4(k), Hawaii County Charter) (Note: At this time, nominee John D. Pelletier came forward to address the members of the Council.) Vote on GOEAC-58: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Governmental Operations and (Adopted) External Affairs Committee Report No. 58. Seconded Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: The nomination of John D. Pelletier to the Kona CDP (Community Development Plan) Action Committee is affirmed. GOEAC-59 NOMINATION OF GARY JASTER TO THE KONA COMMUNITY (Comm. 344): DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE Requires Council Confirmation by: August 10, 2023 (Section 13-4(k), Hawaii County Charter) Page 8 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 (Note: At this time, nominee Gary Jaster came forward to address the members of the Council.) Vote on GOEAC-59: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Governmental Operations and (Adopted) External Affairs Committee Report No. 59. Seconded by Ms. Galimba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: The nomination of Gary Jaster to the Kona CDP Action Committee is affirmed. GOEAC-61 NOMINATION OF ZARINE DORABJI TO THE KONA COMMUNITY (Comm. 346): DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE Requires Council Confirmation by: August 10, 2023 (Section 13-4(k), Hawaii County Charter) (Note: At this time, nominee Zarine Dorabji came forward to address the members of the Council.) Vote on GOEAC-61: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Governmental Operations and (Adopted) External Affairs Committee Report No. 61. Seconded by Ms. Galimba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. GOEAC-64 NOMINATION OF TISHA MAIKUI TO THE HAMAKUA COMMUNITY (Comm. 349): DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE Requires Council Confirmation by: August 10, 2023 (Section 13-4(k), Hawaii County Charter) Page 9 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 (Note: At this time, Executive Assistant to the Mayor Pomaika`i Bartolome and nominee Tisha Maikui came forward to address the members of the Council.) Vote on GOEAC-64: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Governmental Operations and (Adopted) External Affairs Committee Report No. 64. Seconded by Ms. Galimba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. (Council Members spoke in favor of the appointment.) CHR. KIMBALL: The nomination of Tisha Mahealani Maikui is approved. GOEAC-57 NOMINATION OF HEATHER KOROTIE TO THE KONA COMMUNITY (Comm. 342): DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE Requires Council Confirmation by: August 10, 2023 (Section 13-4(k), Hawaii County Charter) (Note: At this time, nominee Heather Korotie came forward to address the members of the Council.) Vote on GOEAC-57: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Governmental Operations and (Adopted) External Affairs Committee Report No. 57. Seconded by Ms. Villegas and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: The nomination of Heather Korotie to the Kona CDP Action Committee is affirmed. Page 10 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 GOEAC-60 NOMINATION OF NANCY PISICCHIO TO THE KONA COMMUNITY (Comm. 345): DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE Requires Council Confirmation by: August 10, 2023 (Section 13-4(k), Hawaii County Charter) (Note: At this time, nominee Nancy Pisicchio came forward to address the members of the Council.) Vote on GOEAC-60: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Governmental Operations and (Adopted) External Affairs Committee Report No. 60. Seconded by Ms. Villegas and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. (Council Members spoke in favor of the appointment.) CHR. KIMBALL: The nomination of Nancy Pisicchio to the Kona CDP Action Committee is affirmed. Let's just keep going in order. We do have other people waiting, but I think at this point, we might as well just push through. GOEAC-62 NOMINATION OF RICHARD BIDLEMAN TO THE HAMAKUA (Comm. 347): COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE Requires Council Confirmation by: August 10, 2023 (Section 13-4(k), Hawaii County Charter) Vote on GOEAC-62: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Governmental Operations and (Adopted) External Affairs Committee Report No. 62. Seconded by Ms. Galimba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: The nomination of Richard Bidleman is affirmed. Page 11 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 GOEAC-63 NOMINATION OF DAVID MEYER TO THE HAMAKUA COMMUNITY (Comm. 348): DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE Requires Council Confirmation by: August 10, 2023 (Section 13-4(k), Hawaii County Charter) Vote on GOEAC-63: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Governmental Operations and (Adopted) External Affairs Committee Report No. 63. Seconded by Ms. Galimba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: The nomination of David Meyer to the Hamakua CDP Action Committee is affirmed. GOEAC-65 NOMINATION OF GREGORY HENKEL TO THE PUNA COMMUNITY (Comm. 350): DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE Requires Council Confirmation by: August 10, 2023 (Section 13-4(k), Hawaii County Charter) Vote on GOEAC-65: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Governmental Operations and (Adopted) External Affairs Committee Report No. 65. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. (Council Member Lee Loy spoke in favor of the appointment.) CHR. KIMBALL: The nomination of Gregory Henkel to the Puna CDP Action Committee is affirmed. Page 12 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 GOEAC-66 NOMINATION OF JENNIFER SCHEFFEL TO THE PUNA COMMUNITY (Comm. 351): DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE Requires Council Confirmation by: August 10, 2023 (Section 13-4(k), Hawaii County Charter) (Note: At this time, nominee Jennifer Scheffel came forward to address the members of the Council.) Vote on GOEAC-66: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Governmental Operations and (Adopted) External Affairs Committee Report No. 66. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: The nomination of Jennifer Scheffel to the Puna CDP Action Committee is affirmed. GOEAC-67 NOMINATION OF MARTHA MORISHIGE TO THE PUNA COMMUNITY (Comm. 352): DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE Requires Council Confirmation by: August 10, 2023 (Section 13-4(k), Hawaii County Charter) (Note: At this time, Executive Assistant to the Mayor Pomaika`i Bartolome and nominee Martha Morishige came forward to address the members of the Council.) Vote on GOEAC-67: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Governmental Operations and (Adopted) External Affairs Committee Report No. 67. Seconded by Ms. Galimba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. Page 13 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 (Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder spoke in favor of the appointment.) CHR. KIMBALL: The nomination of Martha Morishige to the Puna CDP Action Committee is affirmed. STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public. PUBLIC ON GOEAC-68 The following individual registered to speak and came forward when called by (COMM. 353): the Chair: David Blancett-Maddock: In opposition. GOEAC-68 NOMINATION OF JASON EISERT TO THE TAX BOARD OF REVIEW (Comm. 353): Requires Council Confirmation by: August 12, 2023 (Section 13-4(k), Hawaii County Charter) (Note: At this time, nominee Jason Eisert came forward to address the members of the Council.) Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Governmental Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 68. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. I'd be remiss if I didn't give credit to Mr. David Blancett-Maddock because, as far as I remember, his background is both in government and I believe accounting within different municipalities across the United States, maybe just a few, but I'm going from memory. Given his testimony and, Mr. Blancett-Maddock, I'm more in the mode to confirm the nominations because we need the Tax Board of Review, but your testimony was concerning on a few levels. I'm going to ask, actually, of Corporation Counsel to kind of clarify what I just heard from Mr. Blancett- Maddock. He is currently on the Tax Board of Review. Is that right? His wife is. Okay. So, with that, I'm just looking for some clarity on what he's saying and what our process is, and ensuring that we are following proper process. CHR. KIMBALL: I'm going to ask Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and Judge Strance to keep this sort of sideline communication to a minimum, as it is not pertinent to the matter on the table except in the slight capacity. So if you can just keep the comments brief. This conversation about the testimony is probably not appropriate under the item that's on the table currently. So, Judge Strance, if you could briefly respond to my colleagues' comments. Page 14 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 (Note: At this time, Corporation Counsel Elizabeth Strance came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. STRANCE: Thank you. Elizabeth Strance, Corporation Counsel. Just a couple of things. The Tax Board of Review is designed to review disputes. And so when the Department of Finance settles a case, or in many cases the cases are withdrawn, they no longer become disputes. To place in context some of the remarks that were made, you folks received an annual report from the Tax Board of Review. One of the comments made was a specific reference to the appreciation to the Administration in settling 63 percent of the cases. So the board specifically recognized and appreciated the work of the department in settling cases. There is a recommendation about"board review." That's a very different role than "board approval" of settlements. Just to give the nominees to this position some context, the importance of this board is, as Council Member Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder mentioned is important, it's a board that goes and has a fairly extensive training before it starts its work. The issues that are raised in the report, such as having information about settlements, my understanding is that the practice will be that, going forward, in light of the request in the report, that the board will be provided with information about settlements so that the board will have that available. The practice implemented by this County is consistent with the other counties in the State. So the tax board of reviews is something that is called for in the Hawaii Revised Statutes. So each county has their own tax board review. Our practices are consistent with the other counties statewide. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Judge Strance. I'll pass it back to you, Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, although let's stay on the subject of this particular nomination. And I would recommend a communication around a presentation regarding the Tax Board of Review from RPT (Real Property Tax) if you want to dig deeper into the comments from the testifier today. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, mahalo, Chair, given that I still have the floor. With these Tax Board of Review nominations in front of us, from my understanding then, and given your comments and some of those by the testifier, "board approval"versus "board review,"these are covered in our Code, correct? And the process by which they are reviewingI heard "review" and I heard "approval." MS. STRANCE: The Code is silent as to settled cases. What the Code specifically states is that the board will resolve disputes. When there's no longer a dispute, there is no reason for a case to proceed to the board. Page 15 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And in your eyes, we are following our Code. MS. STRANCE: Yes. I've reviewed this matter and I concur with the practice that's being followed. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you, Ms. Strance. I will follow up with Mr. Blancett-Maddock off the line,just to discuss and get a feel for where they sit, especially given some of the recommendations that sounds like we may be following. But more so for my own information. And I think this is important—and I can hear the murmuring going on this is important for our members being nominated to the Tax Board of Review to fully understand what you're walking into and the importance of what you are being nominated to in your committee role. So, Ms. Chair, I do appreciate the leeway. Ms. Strance, thank you very much for the information. I yield, Chair. Vote on GOEAC-68: The motion to adopt Governmental Operations and (Adopted) External Affairs Committee Report No. 68 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball–8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba– 1. Excused: None. (Council Members Evans and Kierkiewicz spoke in favor of the appointment.) CHR. KIMBALL: The nomination of Jason Eisert to the Tax Board of Review is confirmed. GOEAC-69 NOMINATION OF KURT E. SULLIVAN TO THE TAX BOARD OF REVIEW (Comm. 354): Requires Council Confirmation by: August 12, 2023 (Section 13-4(k), Hawaii County Charter) Page 16 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 Vote on GOEAC-69: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Governmental Operations and (Adopted) External Affairs Committee Report No. 69. Seconded by Ms. Galimba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. (During Council deliberation of GOEAC-68, Council Member Kierkiewicz spoke in favor of Mr. Sullivan's appointment.) CHR. KIMBALL: The nomination of Kurt E. Sullivan is confirmed. With that, we'll return to the top of the agenda, please. Return to Order The Chair directed the Council to return to the order of business. of Business: ORDER OF The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Order of RESOLUTIONS: Resolutions. (Note: Items in this category were taken up previously, out of order.) Res. 201-23: AUTHORIZES THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT Allows for the receipt of$10 million which would be used to support the planning, design, and construction cost of the Kukuiola Assessment Center and Emergency Shelter in North Kona. Reference: Comm. 358 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R) Approve: FC-56 Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 201-23 and Finance Committee Report No. 56. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz. CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. We did have extensive discussion with Sharon Hirota at our last meeting at Committee level. Look forward to everyone's support. Page 17 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member. Any other discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor please say "aye." Vote on Res. 201-23: The motion to adopt Res. 201-23 and Finance Committee (Adopted) Report No. 56 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Resolution 201-23 is adopted. At this time, at the request of some of my colleagues, we're going to take a quick five-minute break. So we will return at 11:20. Thank you. Recess: At 11:15 a.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 11:21 a.m. Res. 202-23: AUTHORIZES THE ACCEPTANCE OF A GRANT AWARD OF $200,000 FROM HAWAII COMMUNITY FOUNDATION TO SUPPORT FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT SERVICES Funds would be used to support no-cost financial and homeownership counseling provided by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Reference: Comm. 359 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R) Approve: FC-57 Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 202-23 and Finance Committee Report No. 57. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member. MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Given our discussion at Committee level, I look forward to everyone's support. And I do appreciate Ms. Hirota's efforts to make these last two resolutions happen and get it in front of us. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. Any additional discussion? All those in favor, please say "aye." Page 18 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 Vote on Res. 202-23: The motion to adopt Res. 202-23 and Finance Committee (Adopted) Report No. 57 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Resolution 202-23 is adopted. Res. 203-23: ADOPTS THE 2023 INTEGRATED CLIMATE ACTION PLAN AS THE COUNTY'S OFFICIAL STRATEGIC PLAN TO ACHIEVE ITS EMISSIONS MITIGATION AND CLIMATE ADAPTATION GOALS AND TARGETS Seeks to mitigate the County's greenhouse gas emissions and reinforce County assets, services, and infrastructure to adapt to the impacts and hazards of climate change. Reference: Comm. 361 Intr. by: Ms. Galimba(B/R) Approve: PCCRRA-1 Motion to Approve: Ms. Galimba moved to adopt Res. 203-23 and Policy Committee on Climate Resilience and Regenerative Agriculture Report No. 1. Seconded by Ms. Kagiwada. CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: Thank you, Chair. I urge my colleagues to join me in approving Resolution 203-23 and thank the Department of Research and Development for their work on this important plan. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member. Any other discussion? Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. I wasn't here so thank you for advancing this. But also just creating a document that when they grab the resolution, everything's attached. I really like that that's what we do now as a body. Oftentimes, there's policy but the documentation that they're pointing to is housed somewhere else. So thank you so much for this great work. I will be in support. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. Any additional discussion? I just want to quickly acknowledge the Planning Department as well, Page 19 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 who was in partnership with R&D (Research and Development) to develop the Climate Action Plan. And with that, we'll take the vote. All those in favor please say "aye." Vote on Res. 203-23: The motion to adopt Res. 203-23 and Policy Committee on (Adopted) Climate Resilience and Regenerative Agriculture Report No. 1 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Resolution 203-23 is adopted. Res. 204-23: STRONGLY URGES THE UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE TO EXPAND POST OFFICE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUNA, HAWAII Reference: Comm. 365 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder Approve: GOEAC-70 Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 204-23 and Governmental Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 70. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz. CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Just for the members' information, some of whom were not here last time, this really comes on behalf of the community requesting, for a long period of time, that this be addressed, given the increase in population, the expansion of our district. I mean, everything across the board really screams we need help. I've had a number of people reach out to me about this. Again perusing social media, what caught my attention was people saying, "Oh, this doesn't mention Mountain View," and I've been trying to catch up with those comments. But it's more this is meant for the entire district of Puna, which really does cover, from my eyes and many other people's eyes, Glenwood to Pahoa. I mean, really all the way to Kalapana, if you will. This covers the entire district, and it's important to point out that this is aimed at all of our post offices and facilities in the District of Puna, Volcano, Mountain View, I mean across our district of both representative Kierkiewicz and myself. Page 20 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 And then much to my chagrin, yesterday, as I was reading over—again perusing social medial came across that the U.S. (United States) Postal Service is considering relocation of the Kailua-Kona retail operations. And I point this out because I found their facility to be adequate. Maybe it could be better. But if this is purely based on census data, given Puna is about one-third of the population of Hawaii Island, I really do have concerns that we're catching the short end of the stick in our district. And I'm pointing this out both for anyone watching, but for our district to know that we are watching, and that the purpose of this resolution could not be more straightforward than asking for help in our area. So I look forward to everyone's support, and hopefully, we'll see some movement from our Federal representatives, who I've spoken to about this. This definitely sends a clear message. Thank you very much. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Anyone else? Council Member Kagiwada. MS. EVANS: Chair? Kona. CHR. KIMBALL: I'll come to you in a second. Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. Thank you for bringing this forward. I'll be supporting. I've talked to several people that live in the Puna area, and this is a huge frustration. I know there are lots of people that work in this building that live down in Puna, and they experience these issues around not being able to get their mail and services. So I'll be completely supporting this. Thank you for bringing it forward. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kagiwada. Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: I'm in strong support of this and really want to thank the introducer—Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—for doing this. And it really brings forth I'm going to think about this, Waikoloa who is growing rapidly does not have an adequate post office. So this is a bigger issue probably in other areas on our island, but thank you to the introducer. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Evans. Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: I also wanted to thank Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder because it is inspiration, and Ocean View desperately needs post office infrastructure. So thank you for the inspiration. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Galimba. Anyone else? Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Page 21 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I've got to mention something else too. I was thinking about this yesterday on my way home. I was reading through our Broadband Hui group and some of the online data that they present. In most cases, Puna, Districts 4 and 5 specifically and in some cases District 6, and District 1 actually, both either underserved or unserved, the highest amount of ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), Native Hawaiian populations. We don't get mail in Puna. You have to have a post office box to go get it. And if you can't get that at your house and you don't have access to, sorry, you're not connected, you don't have connectivity, you don't have broadband, in what other form or way do people have to access critical information, especially our kupuna or our folks who are disadvantaged? So,when we don't have access to mail and you don't have access to the internet, how else are you supposed to vote? How else are you supposed to pay your bills, get medical attention and care? Through your mail system. This is a critical need for Puna, and I'm really frustrated that we're not considered in need because our population doesn't grant that need. It really is frustrating to me. Usually, I don't make such comments, but in this case, I feel very adamantly about this. So I look forward to everyone's support. Thank you, Chair. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member. All right, all those in favor of adopting Resolution 204-23, please say "aye." Vote on Res. 204-23: The motion to adopt Res. 204-23 and Governmental (Adopted) Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 70 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Resolution 204-23 is adopted. Page 22 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 Res. 214-23: AUTHORIZES THE PAYMENT OF FUNDS OF A LATER FISCAL YEAR AND OF MORE THAN ONE FISCAL YEAR FOR A MULTI-YEAR LEASE FOR ONE MULTI-FUNCTION COPY MACHINE FOR THE OFFICE OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Authorizes the Mayor to enter into a five-year lease agreement with an approximate monthly cost of$174, to be used by the department's Community Engagement Division in Hilo. Reference: Comm. 384 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R) Waived: FC Vote on Res. 214-23: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 214-23. (Adopted) Seconded by Ms. Galimba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Resolution 214-23 is adopted. BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Bills for ORDINANCES Ordinances (First Reading). (FIRST READING): Bill 53: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 23-50, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2024 Appropriates revenues in the Federal Housing and Urban Development— Community Project Funding Kukuiola account($10,000,000); and appropriates the same to the following Housing and Urban Development—Community Project Funding Kukuiola programs: Program account($9,500,000) and Administration account($500,000). Funds would be used to support the planning, design, and construction cost of the Kukuiola Assessment Center and Emergency Shelter in North Kona. Reference: Comm. 358 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R) Approve: FC-58 Page 23 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 Vote on Bill 53: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 53 on first (Approved) reading and adopt Finance Committee Report No. 58. Seconded by Ms. Kagiwada and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Bill 53 is approved for first reading. Bill 54: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 23-50, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2024 Appropriates revenues in the Hawaii Community Foundation—Financial Empowerment Services (Private) account($200,000); and appropriates the same to the Hawaii Community Foundation—Financial Empowerment Services —Program account. Funds would be used to support no-cost financial and homeownership counseling provided by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Reference: Comm. 359 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R) Approve: FC-59 Vote on Bill 54: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 54 on first (Approved) reading and adopt Finance Committee Report No. 59. Seconded by Ms. Villegas and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Bill 54 is approved at first reading. Page 24 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 Bill 55: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 23-50, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2024 Increases revenues in Federal Grants —High Intensity Impact Grant account ($27,100); and appropriates the same to the High Intensity Impact Grant account. These additional funds would be used by the Hawaii Police Department for overtime, travel, training, services, and equipment needed for operations to investigate drug related cases. Reference: Comm. 360 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R) Approve: FC-60 Vote on Bill 55: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to pass Bill 55 on first (Approved) reading and adopt Finance Committee Report No. 60. Seconded by Ms. Villegas and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Bill 55 is approved at first reading. Bill 56: AMENDS CHAPTER 2, ARTICLE 47, OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO THE APPROPRIATION OF DISASTER RELIEF FUNDS FOR DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND SUFFERING CAUSED BY THE 2018 KILAUEA ERUPTION To establish standards for the appropriation of disaster relief funds that the County received, or may receive, for the purpose of providing relief, recovery, mitigation, and long-term resilience for disaster damages, losses, and suffering caused by the 2018 Kilauea eruption. Reference: Comm. 362 Intr. by: Ms. Kierkiewicz Approve: GOEAC-71 (Note: Communication Nos. 362.1 through 362.3,transmitting proposed amendments to Bill 56, were circulated.) Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to pass Bill 56 on first reading and adopt Governmental Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 71. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. Page 25 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair, if it's okay with you, I just wanted to give a high level overview once again because a couple of our colleagues, Council Members Evans and Kagiwada weren't here, and they also weren't here when we experienced the eruption and were beginning with recovery. Thank you for that. So, Council Members Kagiwada and Evans, our County was very grateful to receive $60 million from the Hawaii State Legislature in 2019, following the aftermath of the Kilauea eruption. Forty million dollars is a loan and is intended for the County to use as matching funds for Federal grants that we have received to restore infrastructure like roads, water systems, and parks. Twenty million is kind of unheard of. It was flexible funding for the County to essentially do what it needs to do to support community members, organizations in their journey towards recovery and resilience. One of the ways in which we are able to unlock those funds so that more of our community partners, who we rely on and work with to implement recovery initiatives because recovery is a kakou thing, one of the programs we developed was a Kilauea Recovery Grant Program. And that allows nonprofits to access funding up to $500,000 to be able to initiate and implement projects. We, as in the County and recovery team, which is responsible for administering this program in partnership with Finance, were able to run an initial application round in 2020 where 18 applicants were awarded, 17 accepted and were able to move forward on their projects, and a little over $3.5 million was provided to our community partners. In order to grant additional funds to community members, updates to the ordinance we had originally introduced were required; hence, Bill 56 was put forward after really great discussion and comments from my colleagues. And I appreciate everybody's willingness to move this to Council, although we do have a couple of amendments, which I wanted to go over and address now. The first is related to the definition of long-term resilience and wanting that to be aligned with what this Council adopted earlier this year related to OSCER, the Office of Sustainability, Climate, Equity, and Resilience. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to amend Bill 56 with the contents of Comm. 362.1. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. I'll note that the OSCER definition talked about resilience meaning the ability to withstand social, environmental, economic shocks and stressors with minimal human, environmental, and economic costs, risks, and damages. I wanted to leave in language that we had there related to Page 26 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 adapting to changing conditions and encouraging folks to prepare and rapidly recover from. So it's an amalgamation of what we currently have and what is contained in OSCER, which I think is very specific and important for us to be recognizing as we move our community toward a more resilient space. Happy to answer any questions folks might have about this. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. On the amendment. Council Member Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I appreciate the effort. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Anyone else? I'll just note that I appreciate you taking this into account. I think this is perfectly logical in terms of, you know, in OSCER we're defining resilience here. We're defining long-term resilience. So there is this relationship, but I think that you nailed it. So thank you for this. I'm happy to support the amendment. All right, all those in favor of amending Bill 56 with the contents of Communication 362.1, please say "aye." Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 56 with the contents of Amend: Comm. 362.1 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. The next amendment is related to eligibility. There were some discussions at the Council level around who would be able to access these funds. And I also have our recovery officer here joining us, Douglas Nam Le, and do want to call him forward to provide additional context or answer questions folks might have. So, in order to start discussion, I'll introduce the amendment. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to amend Bill 56 with the contents of Comm. 362.3. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. There have been concerns raised by community partners about where this money can go. And so we wanted to quell any fears about this money going outside of the impacted region, so we're very specific to identify the communities that would be benefiting in Lower Puna, as they were most intensely impacted by the eruption. One of the things that we also wanted to ensure was explicitly clear, right. It's not just the intention of the bill, but having the words to back up that intention and Page 27 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 ensuring that folks who were impacted who may be serving the Lower Puna community but might not be located in Lower Puna are eligible. And so that is what this additional bullet here will do, is identify that nonprofit organizations who were directly impacted by the 2018 eruption would be eligible to access funds. I do want to turn it over to Douglas to see if he has anything else to add. Thanks, Douglas, for being here. (Note: At this time, Disaster Recovery Officer Douglas Le, Planning Department, came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. LE: Good morning. Douglas Nam Le, Disaster Recovery Officer with the County. I'm here to ask for your support to this amendment. I appreciate your support for the bill as a whole. Council Member Kierkiewicz spoke to a lot of the intention and the impact that these funds really need to be focused on. As anyone can imagine, after the 2018 eruption, families, farms, businesses, nonprofit organizations were just disrupted in so many ways that one cannot have ever experienced prior. And so we really want to hone in kind of on the impact of these grant dollars to those farms and businesses and families and individuals who were directly impacted. I feel like these amendments, as presented, do that. And so I'm really seeking your support. And from our program side, we also feel that they're practical, and we can make them work in the administration of the grant funds. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Douglas. Here to answer any questions folks might have. Thank you, Chair. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. Any questions on the amendment? Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. Just so I understand this clearly, with the amendment it is one and two, and then it says "or." Is that correct? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair, if I may? CHR. KIMBALL: Go ahead, Council Member. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes, that is correct. So an eligible organization must meet No. 1, and they must either have been directly impacted or are a nonprofit providing services in the Lower Puna community. It's not both. It's either one of them MS. KAGIWADA: Services to the Lower MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes, correct. Page 28 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 MS. KAGIWADA: Not in. Okay. Got it. Okay, so yeah. So I was just doublechecking because I was thinking there might be nonprofits that kind of arose after this that jumped in to help but might not have already been in existence, but it looks like it could meet the second one. All right, thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kagiwada. MR. HENRICKS: Madam Chair? I'm over here. Just from a technical or grammatical standpoint, I think it might be helpful if the Council amended this communication to remove the semicolon that appears after "Kilauea" so that it becomes a clean sentence that reads from beginning to end. I think that might help. And then you can kind of imagine what it would look like when it would be codified. I don't think that semicolon's needed, and it could be problematic. CHR. KIMBALL: I would concur with that. Is that a motion we can make on the floor? Can we amend the amendment to remove the semicolon? MR. HENRICKS: Sure, because this is in writing now. And if you're comfortable doing that, that is clear, and I would appreciate that. Vote on Motion to Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to amend Comm. 362.3 by Amend: removing the semicolon from Section 2-250(a)(2) after the (Approved) word "Kilauea." Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball–8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba– 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: The amendment contained in Communication 362.3 is amended by the removal of the semicolon. Back to the main amendment. Ms. Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: Thank you, Clerk, for beingI'm going to follow him and be very picky on this in a very minor way, but just reading it grammatically, I do think we need to have another verb in front of"service," or turn "service" into a verb. I mean, I get the point but—"provide service" or "that service,"yeah. Because, it's "demonstrate the following" and then we just—there's evidence that the "nonprofit was directly impacted" or "provides service." It just needs a verb. CHR. KIMBALL: To the comment of my colleague, the appropriate thing here would be to do a further amendment on the amendment, but actually "service" is a verb. And so I actually think it is okay. It's a little stilted but, yes, I service Page 29 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 MS. GALIMBA: You would have to take out the"to"then. MS. KAGIWADA: Take out"to"then. MS. GALIMBA: Yeah. Sorry I'm picky but it is Code, so we have to kind of be picky. CHR. KIMBALL: Would the introducer of the amendment—? MR. HENRICKS: I would just make a recommendation. Since we've already amended this one time verbally,perhaps just maybe taking another look at second reading, maybe trying to shore that up. CHR. KIMBALL: I concur. I'll let the introducer kind of figure out what is best to say there. So we'll leave this as is, and then you can tweak it. MR. HENRICKS: It will look a little cleaner too CHR. KIMBALL: I think so, yeah. MR. HENRICKS: With another piece of paper. CHR. KIMBALL: Yeah, agreed. We're still on the amendment. Any discussion on the amendment? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: If we can move forward with what is presented here, I think why it just seems a little off is that both the evidence paragraph and the service paragraph are not combined. And so because Council Member Galimba was able to read it all together, she kind of honed in on perhaps we need to have the word "provides"there. We will work with LRB (Legislative Research Branch) to kind of clean that up and have something that works grammatically, and makes sense to this body and those implementing the legislation. Thank you, Chair. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. Any other comments on the amendment? I would just like to make one, and maybe the best thing is to have you respond for the legislative record, is how will you define "directly impacted"? Directly impacted is somewhat subjective, and I can see people that would maybe be useful to support that are maybe indirectly affected. So is there a standardized measure, if you will, of how you are saying that an organization is directly affected? Or directly impacted, apologies. MR. LE: Chair, I think that it is a relevant and thoughtful question; I've got to think on it, though. In my role, I work very closely with individuals, with groups. So I maybe sort of take for granted a critical definition of what"directly" means. But to kind of help answer the question, one way we would implement this Page 30 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 provision of the Code in the program, if it is adopted as written, we really look at these eligibility questions as kind of screening questions on the application form itself. So not so much, "Were you directly impacted? Yes/No,"but more so in the application process, really, so that the program staff reviewing the applications can make an informed decision to ask the applicant to describe in what ways they were directly impacted. I know that that approach in terms of how this could be implemented does not directly address the question you raise in terms of how one would define "directly." But if you were to kind of ask me right now, for the record it would be kind of those individuals, families, businesses, and organizations that experienced isolation or displacement as a result of the lava flow inundation. Those that may have had to have sought temporary housing from where they are, and were able to return after the conclusion of the eruption when it was safe to return. I often go to those places in terms of understanding who is directly impacted. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. I don't know if you want to make any additional comments, Council Member Kierkiewicz. The reason it kind of came to mind was because of how kind of little of these funds have been used to date. And while I recognize you're trying to contain this to who really should receive this, I just wonder if there's a possibility of folks that indirectly were impacted, that they could be eligible too. Anyway, take some time to think on it before second reading. But I think this idea of being directly impacted like yes, we've done with other grants, you know, the more clarity we can provide to potential applicant organizations up front, the better. But did you have any idea in your mind about what"directly impacted"would mean? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I don't know if it's appropriate to use actual names of organizations in this situation, but I will just so that folks have a sense of what it means to be directly impacted. Kua O Ka U. Right? They were at Pu`ala`a. They lost their entire campus, and this charter school has absolutely no resource support coming from the stateside. That is what I would define as an organization that was directly impacted by the eruption. I also think of the number of orchid and anthurium and other flower growers in the area who, some of them, to their credit, are kupuna and still have decided, "You know what? I'm committed to being a farmer, and I'm going to continue this work and support the Lower Puna community,"but they may not be operating within Lower Puna. They were directly impacted. We can find ways to more generally describe what that means, but that is the spirit and intention of what comes to mind for me when I think of an organization that was directly impacted. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Great. Thank you. I appreciate the examples because I think that will make the legislative record more complete. Council Member Lee Loy. Page 31 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 MS. LEE LOY: Just adding to the conversation. I had the privilege and honor to work with Ms. Kierkiewicz at the State Legislature to secure a lot of these funds. Just to put it point blankly, it is exactly to go back to the businesses and people who were displaced. That's the long and short of it. And I can actually support very crystal clear language for programs and nonprofits and farmers of what it was like in 2018, and coming back with this incredible gift with a promise that we're going to help. And I also believe that they held onto that promise, which is why they kept sticking it out; and we did all the community interaction and the stakeholder engagement, helped push for reestablishing the road. I have absolutely no problem if Ms. Kierkiewicz defines very clearly who these funds were intended to help. That's where I stand. I look forward to the next iteration, and ready to support this bill moving forward. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. We're still on the amendment. Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I think this ties into the amendment. The question is, Section 2-250, at our previous discussion I asked the question, "Who is eligible for this,"but it looks like this has been amended to say, "eligible nonprofit organizations,"which is in addition, as I'm looking at this bill in front of me. And this isn't pertinent to the amendment—fine, it does tie into the amendment because it's part of the same section. I can wait on the question or we can CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, to clarify your question, you think that(a)(1) nonprofit was not in there in the previous draft of the bill? Is that what you're pointing at? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: As I remember in our previous discussions—are we in recess? MR. HENRICKS: Yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. MR. HENRICKS: We just got word that Kona disconnected. So we could take a recess. I think they're going to be okay to be able to log back on to continue the meeting in time, but I don't think—Ms. Evans is not there. Just a brief recess. CHR. KIMBALL: Okay. We'll take a five-minute recess, till noon? MR. HENRICKS: Yeah. Thank you. Page 32 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 CHR. KIMBALL: All right, thank you. Recess: At 11:54 a.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 12:00 p.m. CHR. KIMBALL: We are still on the amendment contained in (Communication) 362.3 to Bill 56. Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, you have the floor. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. I yield. I was looking at the wrong thing. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. All right, any further discussion on the amendment? MS. EVANS: Chair? CHR. KIMBALL: Yes, Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: Right before we lost, kind of a power surge, and we lost that conversation kind of in the middle, we were on that discussion about who might be eligible for the grants, depending on who's impacted. And I'm just curious because there was a statement that there was a loan, about$40 million—was it a loan?—and it was from the State government. And would that not have the language or the conditions of, like what we were talking about, like who might be impacted, would that give us the direction that we need so we wouldn't have to put anything in Code or in legislation? MR. LE: Council Member Evans, I think that's a helpful suggestion. When the Legislature did provide the $20 million grant and the $40 million loan, there are Committee reports and other kinds of legislative records where they also took time to spell out what kind of direct impact of these funds should be. So we can revisit that in terms of preparing any amendment for the second reading, from what I understand. MS. EVANS: Thank you. Thank you, Chair, I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Evans. Anyone else on the amendment? All right, seeing none, all those in favor please say "aye." Page 33 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 56 with the contents of Amend: Comm. 362.3, as amended, was carried by the following (Approved) voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, and Chair Kimball —7. Noes: None. Absent: Council Members Inaba and Villegas —2. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Bill 56 is amended with the contents of Communication 362.3. Back to the main motion. Council Member Kierkiewicz, you have the floor. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. I just wanted to say a few more things as we wrap this up. There was mention of 20 million being available as a grant to our County. Some of that's already been spent through this initial program. We've earmarked some for a second round. Money has also been used to support a Puna Strong grants program, which is building the capacity of nonprofits in Puna and getting them to work more regionally. And that is being used as inspiration for other work that's happening around the County. As much as I would love to just write checks all day long to support our community partners, I also know that would be irresponsible of us to do. We have committed to restoring critical infrastructure like roads and water systems. It's very possible that the money that we have received from the State and Federal Governments may not be enough. So some of this 20 million may be positioned to ensure that we can follow through on our commitment to restore that infrastructure. So that's Comment 1. The second comment. There was testimony around what it means to support economic development and how that's tied to long-term resilience. We don't have, like, corporate America in Pahoa. Cruise through Pahoa; it's like any downtown around the island. It's charming. These are mom-and-pop shops. These are small businesses I think that would be really grateful for some kind of support from a nonprofit or an intermediary that is able to provide advice and resources on how to write a business plan, or scale up their business. Provide them with market opportunities and even access to non-diluted capital. So that is the intention. It is absolutely to support local businesses. Again, there needs to be a nonprofit intermediary to deliver these programs, but we were very intentional in wanting to honor what our community was saying. And they need support with economic development. Finally, supporting this bill helps to bring my community a bit closer to closure. This has been a very rocky and tenuous and frustrating time for so many folks. Page 34 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 Not everybody has fully recovered. They are still recovering. But these grant funds help to make folks and organizations a little bit more whole. So thank you, everyone, for your really great comments and suggestions, and I look forward to everyone's continued support on this bill. Thank you, Chair. CHR. KIMBALL: Bill 56, as amended. Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Just one question or maybe a comment. This really does shift the whole funding source to nonprofits, which isn't a bad thing. But if we're talking about farmers or individual businesses that were affected by the eruption, they're no longer eligible to apply for these funds, unless under a nonprofit. Correct? MR. LE: Correct. So, similar to other grant programs that the County administers and how we implemented the first year of funds, not-for-profit organizations with 501(c)(3)tax-exempt status are those that are eligible applicants. For the private communities, like many associations, are organized under 501(c)(4)-type entities, which aren't otherwise eligible. And so we would really—we're also trying the administration of the program to identify organizations that do have 501(c)(3) status. So folks who do not and are looking to apply towards their projects for recovery are able to connect with people who could support their projects. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And just really making that very clear, this is being designed solely for nonprofits. Again, not a bad thing. I just want everyone to understand that as we pass this bill. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. Let me see if there's anybody else before I go back to you, Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. And to respond to that, this is not new. This eligibility of 501(c)(3) nonprofits being eligible to access these funds is not new. This has been the way that the program has been operated. There have been a number of organizations, like Malama O Puna, like Pahoa Lava Zone Museum, that have served as a fiscal sponsor because we just don't have enough (c)(3) organizations in the area that understand Puna's issues and are in a position to be able to support groups in this capacity. So, yes, nonprofits are the entities that must apply because they have all of the internal controls and guardrails in place to be able to monitor money going out the door, and report accordingly to the County government. So this was just a way to ensure—and we've made it very clear in the Code: nonprofits, and also ensuring that entities, grassroots groups, are eligible. Again, they need to be working with a nonprofit 501(c)(3). Thank you, Chair. Page 35 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member. Anyone else? All right, seeing none, all those in favor of adopting Bill 56, as amended at first reading,please say Ic aye. Vote on Bill 56: The motion to pass Bill 56, as amended to Draft 2, on first Draft 2 reading and adopt Governmental Operations and External (Approved) Affairs Committee Report No. 71 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, and Chair Kimball —7. Noes: None. Absent: Council Members Inaba and Villegas —2. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Bill 56 is approved at first reading, as amended. At the request of the author, we're going to skip Bill 51 for right now and move to 57. Change Order As directed by the Chair and with no objection from the Council Members, the of Business: following items were taken out of order: Bill 57: AMENDS CHAPTER 19, ARTICLES 1 AND 7, OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO NONDEDICATED AGRICULTURAL USE ASSESSMENTS Seeks to implement recommendations of the Real Property Tax Review Working Group and Agricultural Committee's September 2019 Final Report and the 2021 Annual Report of the Real Property Tax Board of Review by establishing a sunset date for the definition of"Nondedicated agricultural use assessment" and for Section 19-57 of the Hawaii County Code. Reference: Comm. 369 Intr. by: Ms. Kimball and Ms. Galimba First Reading: July 26, 2023 Relinquish Chair: At this time, Chair Kimball relinquished the chair to Acting Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Motion to Approve: Ms. Kimball moved to pass Bill 57 on second and final reading. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. ACTING CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Council Member Kimball, go ahead. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. So, for the folks that were not here last week, what we decided to do is split the two components of Bill 44 into its individual actions. Page 36 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 So Bill 57 is the bill that contains the sunset language around the nondedicated ag program. The language is identical to what was in Bill 44. And then Bill 58 is the portion of Bill 44 that created the food sustainability program. We thought it would be better to deliberate those independently. And I think—did we pass Bill-43 has passed. I can't remember if it was last week or the week before it's all a blur. At any rate, Bill 43 has passed. So we have created that short-term dedicated program, and I think there was potentially some confusion out there that that had not happened. But I wanted to make sure the record was clear that 43 has passed. So some of the folks that are in the nondedicated ag program that would be sunsetted through Bill 57, that would be the best pathway for them because they would essentially be taxed at the same rate they currently are under the nondedicated program. With that I yield, Chair, for discussion. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Sorry. Thank you, Council Member Kimball. Okay, seeing no further discussion MS. EVANS: Chair? In Kona. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Evans, go ahead. MS. EVANS: Thank you for that explanation. I'm just wondering, is it normal to do second—so we're doing this at second and final reading? Or this is second reading, and then it's time for the community and the public to have another couple weeks to look at what we're doing? I just think even this was a lot for people to take in, and the agricultural community, I know they're really busy in what they do. And so would it be good to have it as second reading, and then we'll have final reading in a couple weeks? I don't know. Since I've been here as a Council Member, it seems we do a lot of second and final reading at the same time, and I'm not used to that. So I'm just—any input from you on this needing to be second and final reading? Or is this just second reading? MS. KIMBALL: If I may? Just so you're clear, we had a first reading on these two bills last week. We did expedite it and didn't hear it in Committee, as we had already heard Bill 44 multiple times. But it is our rules of procedure for the Council that the second reading is the final reading. There's no separating those two. It is second and final reading. So there's not another reading. MS. EVANS: Really? Okay. So there's never—okay. So my index, and here's the confusion, my index says second or final reading. And so I'm under the impression we get three readings when it comes to Council. So we don't get three readings; we only basically get two? Page 37 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 MS. KIMBALL: Council Member Evans, the index is not an official document of the Council. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Council Member Evans, if I could, the three readings actually occurs because we have one at Committee, then we have two readings at Council. So that is your three readings of a bill. MS. EVANS: Got it. MR. HENRICKS: Sorry, Matt, if we could just take a step back. The agenda also says, "second or final reading." That's intentional. And there are two readings at Council. But sometimes we have Charter amendments on the agenda, which require three which is why we use the standard language of"second or final reading." But second reading for all bills, other than Charter amendment bills, is the final reading, as that's what our Charter requires is two affirmative votes on separate meetings for a bill to pass. Thank you. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Does that help, Ms. Evans? MS. EVANS: It helps a lot, actually. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, beautiful. MS. EVANS: Okay. Thank you. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I would offer this: If you were looking for a third reading, your correct motion would be to postpone until the next meeting to offer people more ability to come in and testify. That would be one way of having one more reading on the bill if you are concerned. MS. EVANS: Okay. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. MS. EVANS: Thank you. Okay, I yield. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you very much, Ms. Evans. Okay, we're back to the motion on the floor. Seeing no further discussion, all in favor? Page 38 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 Vote on Bill 57: The motion to pass Bill 57 on second and final reading was (Adopted) carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Acting Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. ACTING CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Motion carries. Bill 58: AMENDS CHAPTER 19, ARTICLES 1 AND 7, OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO COMMUNITY FOOD SUSTAINABILITY USE ASSESSMENTS Seeks to implement recommendations of the Real Property Tax Review Working Group and Agricultural Committee's September 2019 Final Report and the 2021 Annual Report of the Real Property Tax Board of Review by adding a new definition for "Community food sustainability use" and establishing a new section titled "Community food sustainability use assessment." Reference: Comm. 370 Intr. by: Ms. Kimball and Ms. Galimba First Reading: July 26, 2023 Motion to Approve: Ms. Kimball moved to pass Bill 58 on second and final reading. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. ACTING CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Council Members, discussion? MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. Again, we had the discussion about this last time. It's the same language that was in Bill 44. It's now its own piece of legislation, and I just wanted to—we talked a little bit about the kind of examples of the people that this would cover. And the story today in the Tribune-Herald about the 15 folks that were finally assigned subsistence farming lots in Pana`ewa, those are the folks exactly that I'm thinking might be able to take advantage of this program. They're growing food for themselves and their family. They might have a little bit over that they can sell or donate, but they're not a commercial operation. That's the kind of folks that this community food sustainability program is intended to help. So thank you. I'm asking for my colleagues' support. ACTING CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Thank you very much. Council Member Kierkiewicz. Page 39 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. I was a little on the fence when this had initially come forward. I mean, my feelings on this are a little bit complex. We've gotten rid of the nondedicated ag, and we had the short-term component and wanting to just make sure that we weren't inundating real property tax with all of these complex programs that we're asking them to facilitate. But the article in the paper made me realize that we just need that additional safety net to make sure that we are catching everybody that is contributing to our food system but may not fit in existing categories. And so, even if it is 15 folks, they are doing tremendous work to contribute, and we want to make sure that they are provided incentives through real property tax. So I will be supporting this today. Thank you. I yield. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: No comment. I yield. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you. Okay, coming back to Hilo, seeing no lights on. I had a phone call from a Gayle Burns, who's part of the Hawaii Organics Farmer Association, and she had some concerns. Anyway, Mr. Jo, in the back, can you come up to the front? I just have a quick, well hopefully a quick question for you. (Note: At this time, Assistant Real Property Tax Administrator Keita Jo, Finance Department, came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. JO: Hello. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Hello. So her short message is well-intended but concerns doesn't value non-food crops. And her guesstimation is $600 right now, under the nondedicated ag program, going to $2,900 a year. And I don't know what this is in reference to—her land size, what kind of parcel she has but she's a farmer. Her husband co-founded the organic farmer association, so I'm taking this person seriously. The definition provided, I think this should be diversified agriculture. Is there anything for the folks who may not be growing an actual food crop or an orchard, that they can lean on to help reduce some of the cost so we can kind of massage her fears? MR. JO: Yeah, absolutely. As I read the legislation, Bill 43 allows for a carve- out for individuals who are orchid growers and whatnot. It's an important industry on the Big Island. There's a carve-out for them as well. Even though there's a minimum size requirement, there's a recognition that a greenhouse might Page 40 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 not be five acres in size. I mean, that's a massive operation. But you can submit additional documentation to help support that you're commercially viable if you're not meeting those minimum size requirements. So the short-term three- year dedication would provide a place for an individual like that. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So she should really be maybe she has good concerns regarding Bill 58, but there could be some saving grace in Bill 43 that was passed. MR. JO: Correct. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I'll relay that to her, and I'll ask her to follow up with Department of(Real)Property Tax, Real Property Division, if she has further questions. MS. KIMBALL: Chair, may I ask for some flexibility to respond to this particular item? ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes, please. MS. KIMBALL: I actually spoke to Gayle at length. She was unaware of the passage of Bill 43. So I talked her through all of her options, and she's aware that the short-term program is what she would ultimately fit under, and it would be no different. That's why I made the comment before about Bill 43 having passed because she just wasn't aware that that existed. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And I think that does highlight—thank you for that, Ms. Kimball that does highlight kind of what Ms. Evans was speaking to. And a lot of our farmers, they're not watching our Council meetings. They're out in the fields. So we really need to do our work as far as getting this in front of them, and understanding all the different complexities of our Code now, and how that applies to each and every situation. And that touches on what I asked you folks the other day: How do we get this in front of the right people, whether it's senior, property tax exemptions, or reductions in value, or is it getting out in front of our farmers. I know we have different programs available as we end certain programs. Okay, thank you very much, Mr. Jo. That was a fairly short answer, yeah. Okay. With that, I do not see any further discussion. We have the motion on the floor to adopt Bill 58. Council Members, all in favor? Page 41 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 Vote on Bill 58: The motion to pass Bill 58 on second and final reading was (Adopted) carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Acting Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: The motion carries. Relinquish Chair: At this time, Acting Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder relinquished the chair to Chair Kimball. ORDER OF The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Order of THE DAY the Day (Second or Final Reading). (SECOND OR FINAL READING): (Note: Items in this category were taken up previously, out of order.) Bill 51: AMENDS CHAPTER 24, ARTICLE 10, DIVISION 1, OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO SPEED LIMITS Amends Section 24-256, Schedule 3 by adding Kalaniana`ole Street, James Kealoha Park Access Road to Leleiwi Street to decrease the speed limit from 30 to 25 miles per hour, and removes the same from Section 24-256, Schedule 4. Reference: Comm. 321 Intr. by: Ms. Lee Loy First Reading: July 26, 2023 Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to pass Bill 51 on second and final reading. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Thank you for letting me go last. I had hoped that someone from DPW (Department of Public Works) could get over and give us the next steps, but we're going to do that at another time. So I just ask for my colleagues' support. This was definitely a community-driven request, and look forward to getting the work done to slow things down on that road. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Page 42 Hawaii County Council-19 August 2,2023 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I will be supporting this measure today. I took a minute to drive down to Keaukaha the other day, and I was thinking about this as I was driving down. And the more I thought about it, it's so important because that area, people get going, especially the small, little loud cars, they could possibly be Hondas doing 70 around those bends. And you have, on a crowded weekend, you get people and kids walking along the sides of the road; and this would be completely appropriate for public safety, yeah. Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member. Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy, for advancing this and working so diligently in partnership with community to come up with the data,present the evidence, and then justify this change to our Code. I'm wondering if you were able to speak to any of the movement within Public Works that has happened since we had first heard this bill in Committee. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, thank you. And that's why I had hoped DPW could have highlighted the work they did. So they've already gone out and established areas in which they would be putting in speed tables to help slow the traffic down, some other areas in which they would be erecting vertical delineators to keep people kind of on the road, rather than on the sides of the road, and other areas in which guardrails would be established. There's some other thoughts about some visual prompts, as far as striping and/or painting on the road, again to alert people, slow them down. And of course,just the obvious signage, right: the speed limit, along with some other wildlife crossing. And then of course, finally, with Police Department, empowering them with all of these tools that sometimes all you need to do is ticket one or two, and the word goes out. So that's the goal. And all of that is, hopefully, to be done by the end of November or the end of the year. That's the goal. Thank you. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: That's really wonderful. Well done. I know that it took a lot to kind of bring everybody together and get them to this point. So thank you for being a source of inspiration for all of us. I can already see many bills coming forward on a similar topic. Thank you, Chair, I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? All right, seeing none, all those in favor of adopting Bill 51 at second and final reading, please say "aye." Page 43 Hawai`i County Council-19 August 2,2023 Vote on Bill 51: The motion to pass Bill 51 on second and final reading was (Adopted) carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. REPORTS: The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Reports. (Note: Items in this category were taken up previously, out of order.) OTHER The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Other BUSINESS: Business. (There were none.) ANNOUNCE- The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, MENTS: Announcements. (There were none.) ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 12:25 p.m., Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: The time is 12:25 and we are now adjourned. Thank you, everyone. SEP 2 0 2023 Council Approval: CO 1. - JH/dg Page 44