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A. Lono Lyman
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Konohiki Kapoho Compan'��--
Box 374 Hilo Hawaii 96721
October 29, 2024
Aloha County of Hawai'i Council Members
Subject: Resolution 330-23
The comment that is repeated about Resolution 330-23 is that it is a "good start." It is a start and needs
to be amended to be a good and acceptable resolution.
The first amendment is to hire outside legal counsel with established expertise in the Federal and State
environmental mNiew requirements and procedures and applicable land use and other permitting
requirement related to the road and waterline proposals and all other components of the 2018 LERZ
eruption recovery program. Relevant legal analysis was shared with the current administration about two
years ago, but it was ignored. Resolution 330-23 coincides with the Draft Environmental Assessment for
LERZ roads and waterlines being under extended review by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA). According to the administration, procedural and substantive issues and comments
have been raised.
A second recommendation amendment is to call for the immediate funding of a management plan for the
Kumukahi-Kula-Kapoho area; the management plan and related work be conducted by a Hawai'i state
based firth with relevant expertise and experience; and stakeholders from the immediately impacted
LERZ area include residents, farmers, recognized lineal descendants, landowners and others to be an
integral part of the management plan preparation. Mayor Mitch Roth has said: "Kumukahi is a wahi
pana, the place where the sun first greets Hawaii each morning, and is home to important natural and
cultural resources, including burials" [emphasis added]. A management plan has been promised for five
years, although the County has deleted this from their recovery website. There is no agreement on the
scope or substance of such a plan. The county administration has tried to limit it to the makai burials,
although there are burials in areas up to and mauka beyond highway 137, and on both sides of highway
132. The ahupuaa of Kula and Kapoho is rich with precomact cultural sites and are an integral part of
the wahi papa.
The third and final amendment is that a management and financial audit be conducted by an independent
third party for all recovery program planning and all recovery expenditures of Federal, State, County
and private monies for the 2018 LERZ eruption including all expenditures for staff, consultants,
projects, programs, and the like. Monies have been expended to benefit people, businesses and programs
that were not directly impacted by the 2018 LF,RZ eruption.
Mahalo a not lost
Comm. No. �^�
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