Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN CRCOC 2023/11/14 (2022-2024) Committee on Communications, Reports, and Council Oversight th 17 Session West Hawaiʻi Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokālole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi November 14, 2023 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Communications, Reports, and ORDER: Council Oversight was called to order at 2:37 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Chair Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Vice Chair Ms. Cindy Evans, Member Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Mr. Matt Kānealiʻi-Kleinfelder, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Absent & Excused: Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: (There were none.) COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 580: REQUESTS A PRESENTATION BY VETERANS ADVISORY COMMISSION MEMBERS MICHAEL DOOLITTLE, TOM WOJSZYNSKI, AND MARCY BRINKLEY, REGARDING THE “WALL THAT HEALS” MOBILE MEMORIAL From Council Member Heather L. Kimball, dated October 30, 2023. Motion to Close File: Ms. Kimball moved to close file on Comm. 580. Seconded by Mr. Kānealiʻi–Kleinfelder. CHR. VILLEGAS: I’ll go ahead and let Council Member Kimball take it away and introduce our guest for today. CRCOC-17 November 14, 2023 MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. It is my privilege and honor, to have before you today members of our Veteran’s Advisory Commission as well as our Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, to present to us on the Wall that Heals that is coming to Hilo January 2024. I will let our presenters introduce each of themselves individually and pass it over to you folks to take it away. Thank you. (Note: At this time, Veterans Advisory Commission Members Tom Wojszynski, Michael Doolittle, Marcy Brinkley, and Jim Traxler came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. WOJSZYNSKI: Aloha, Council Members. My name is Tom Wojszynski, and I’m the Chief Operating Officer for the Wall That Heals, Hawaiʻi County Committee. We are an ad hoc composed of veterans and community members all interested in making the Wall That Heals a successful event for Hawaiʻi County, and most importantly our veterans. First, on behalf of our committee let me thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. We appreciate your time and look forward to the discussion. With me today is Michael Doolittle, combat Vietnam Veteran and Chairman of our committee. Marcy Brinkley, our Committee Chair for media and marketing, and Jim Traxler Committee Chair for sponsorship and donations. As we mentioned, Marcy, Michael, and I are on the Mayor’s Veterans Advisory Commission, and Jim is a past member of the State Veterans Advisory Committee. Today we are here to brief you on the Wall That Heals coming to Hawaiʻi County. First, Michael Dolittle will give a brief introduction on the Walls journey to Hawaiʻi. I will then follow with an overview of when and where the wall will be on display, and then Jim will summarize our requests of the County Council, including our request for contingency for CRF (Contingency Relief Fund). Up first though is Michael Doolittle, again, combat Vietnam Veteran and Chair of the Mayor’s Veterans Advisory Commission to talk about the Wall That Heals journey to Hawaiʻi. Michael. (Note: At this time, Veterans Advisory Commission Members Tom Wojszynski, Michael Doolittle, Marcy Brinkley, and Jim Traxler provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, see the DVD copy of the proceedings on file in the Clerk’s Office, or online at http://hawaiicounty.granicus.com. A copy of the presentation is made part of the record, see Comm. 580.1.) MS. KIMBALL: I’ll come up and help you, in one second and get you connected so we can play that video before we take some questions from my colleagues. But first I just wanted to thank you first of all, for your service, and second of all, your effort in bringing this to our community. I think that your presentation today Page 2 CRCOC-17 November 14, 2023 was just really moving on several levels, and I hope many of the folks out there were able to see it. I’m so glad you were able to come and share this with us today. So, at this point I will yield to my colleagues for questions, and I’ll pop down there and try to get them connected to the internet so we can see that video. CHR. VILLEGAS: Alright, fantastic, just keep us posted when we’re ready to go. Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you. Thank you so much for being here, and for bringing this project to our county and actually to my district, which I’m very excited about. I believe that my staff has already reached out to you about the contingency relief funds, so we’ll work that out. Just wanted to say that I’ve been to the memorial in DC (Washington, D.C.) and it is very powerful, and I’m glad that people who have not been able to go to DC to see it will have a chance to experience some of that power here. So, thank you all very much, and appreciate the effort and your passion and your service. Thank you. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member. Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: Wow this is really a wonderful project, thank you so much for doing it. What I’m thinking is the Council going to be meeting here in two weeks or four weeks, and I’m wondering if we could further the effort of outreach by sending a resolution from the Council to the governor, to the heads of the military services to congress whatever. You know, send a message from the Council that we need to get the word out across the whole entire state for people to come to our island, but more importantly, come to the wall and have this experience. There may be a way of calling them to action, through us as a Council, passing a resolution. It’s just a thought, but it might be something to do, and I’d be happy to work on drafting some language and who we might want to send that to. I do know that there is—for example, we have so many military outfits in Oʻahu that are so different than what we have on our island. We have women in the military has a branch, we have blind veterans. I saw a list of all the different veteran’s groups, there must be 17 or 18 groups. I don’t know how robust your list is, but maybe through the resolution and getting it over there might help spread the word. Just throwing it out as an idea, I’d be happy to help. Thank you so much for being here. MR. WOJSZYNSKI: We would love to work with you on that. I think getting the word out to a larger audience would really help bring more people to The Wall That Heals. MS. EVANS: Thank you. I yield. Page 3 CRCOC-17 November 14, 2023 CHR. VILLEGAS: Great, thank you. And I believe we’re ready now for the video. So, Mr. Kānealiʻi–Kleinfelder, can I come back to you after? Okay. MR. WOJSZYNSKI: Now we need sound. CHR. VILLEGAS: We’ll go ahead and—did you want to go to you, Matt? MR. KĀNEALIʻI–KLEINFELDER: I just want to say my office is committing $2,000 to The Wall That Heals, and making sure that you folks can do what you need to do. And I appreciate that you are going through the steps of bringing this to our county. We are small, and it’s awesome to see things like this happen in our community, so mahalo for what you guys are doing. And thank you. MR. WOJSZYNSKI: Thank you. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member Kānealiʻi–Kleinfelder. Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: Yes, thank you for coming and for all the hard work that you’ve done on this project, it’s a big project. And I’ll also be happy to contribute CRF. I have an uncle that didn’t die in Vietnam War, but he very nearly did. Yeah, I’m sure that just honoring that is helpful for him as well. Thanks. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member Galimba. How are we doing? Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Thank you so much for the presentation, Tom, I think our office has been in touch. We’ve confirmed that we’ll be able to give $2,500. We have a number of veterans that actually live in the Puna region, so this is absolutely something we are committed to doing. I had a chance to visit the monument in DC, Monuments by Moonlight actually. This was during COVID (coronavirus disease) and a NACo (National Association of Counties) event, and Council Member Kimball was our little hui. But seeing it at night, we were I think the only souls that were there, and to just witness that wall and seeing all of those names, over 58,000. Just to be there and see all those who made that tremendous sacrifice, I think it’s a really beautiful gesture to bring that here, considering there’s so many of our folks who fought in what I think at that time was a very unpopular war. So, they were coming home and not being celebrated in the way that others had been in the past, so I think this is a great way to kind of reconcile and heal and honor their tremendous sacrifice to our country. So, thank you for all of your hard work to coordinate this, and I can’t wait to see it along Hilo Bay. Thank you. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member Kierkiewicz. Page 4 CRCOC-17 November 14, 2023 MS. KIMBALL: We’re going to try this, folks. We have video we just may not have— (Note: At this time, Veterans Advisory Commission Members Chief Operating Officer Tom Wojszynski, Michael Doolittle, Marcy Brinkley, and Jim Traxler provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, see the DVD copy of the proceedings on file in the Clerk’s Office, or online at http://hawaiicounty.granicus.com. A copy of the presentation is made part of the record, see Comm. 580.1.) CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you for narrating that for us and walking us through. Yeah, mahalo for your service then and your continued service now, and for the legacy that you are creating here on our island, of honoring, and revering, and showing the deep respect for the courage and for those that gave their lives. My stepdad served in Vietnam as a medic and has many stories of the things he witnessed, and the challenges associated with that. And as we are in a trepidatious time in world history again, with a number of wars being waged in other places. I’m deeply grateful they’re not being waged here, but it doesn’t change the heartache of how it impacts us as humans, as men and women, as families. And so, I’m grateful for this piece that’s been created and to have it so mobile is really impressive. The technology and the design and the planning that’s been put into this to bring it here. And I am really hopeful for the support of other agencies and divisions in government, and I’ll just be checking with my office to ensure that we have the contingency funds available to participate and contribute. And just out of curiosity, and I apologize if I should already know this, but what is the overall cost of bringing this container, and all of these supporting resources? MR. WOJSZYNSKI: Thank you. The budget is actually in the proposal. Our budget is sitting at 130,000 (dollars). Obviously, the most important cost is the transportation associated with bringing it from the west coast to and from Hawaiʻi. All three transportation companies that service the islands are participating in the transportation of the Wall. That’s our— CHR. VILLEGAS: As sponsors? MR. WOJSZYNSKI: Pardon me? CHR. VILLEGAS: As sponsors? MR. WOJSZYNSKI: They’re not sponsors yet, we always use the term “yet”. CHR. VILLEGAS: Great. Yes, I like it. Page 5 CRCOC-17 November 14, 2023 MR. WOJSZYNSKI: We always use the term “yet” when we talk about sponsors, sponsorships. But that’s our single largest, and then we have a site fee that we pay to the sponsoring organization, which is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. And then we detail all the other expenses that we incur and it’s things like making sure we have adequate porta potties and adequate fencing. And we’re working directly in cooperation with Parks and Rec, Director Mesina and Deputy Director Hiraishi, to make sure that we’re working together to make sure that the sight is properly secure, make sure that trash is picked up, etcetera, etcetera. And they’ve been a great partner in working with us to make this happen. CHR. VILLEGAS: You don’t want any disappointing circumstances that jeopardize the experience for anyone or taint the respect that’s intended, and to have a safe place for people to revisit, and reconnect, and remember the sacrifices that have been made. So, I thank you for being here today, and sharing this with us. I know you’ll be hearing from everybody on the Council in some capacity and wish you the best with this. Yeah, so thank you for that. And with that, oh, go ahead. MR. KĀNEALIʻI–KLEINFELDER: Just one simple question. Is there a backup sight in case that sight that you’ve chosen becomes unavailable? MR. DOOLITTLE: We have a couple of sights, but we’re going on the optimistic side that this is going to work out for us. The initial sight that we considered was the new football elevated sight, right across from the golf course there in Hilo, but it’s completely fenced in. But this sight is certainly much more dramatic, and unless something, you know, biblical happens between now and then we’re not going to move it. But I wanted to also add most Vietnam veterans that never seen The Wall in Washington DC, they can’t afford to go it’s too expensive. This Wall was designed and built to address that problem, venture out to all of the communities within the United States, 750 plus communities have hosted this Wall. And for most Vietnam veterans, I went to San Luis Obispo when they displayed it in March. I went there late at night, 1:30, 2:00 in the morning. There were half a dozen or more veterans there in the middle of the night because they didn’t want to do that in the middle of the day and have to allow their emotions to be all guarded and sucked in. I’ve been to wall in DC twice, first time it took me three hours to get next to it, and I struggled every moment. But anyway, I just wanted to make that point. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you for helping to clarify the purpose and the vision for The Wall. Page 6 CRCOC-17 November 14, 2023 MR. DOOLITTLE: It’s important to have the veterans have an opportunity to see this in their hometown. And to be able to do it, if it takes them late at night in the privacy of their own mind without having anybody watch them there. It was definitely a moving experience to be there late at night, early in the morning to see the veterans that were there. Those are the ones that come out of the woodwork, that don’t participate in our society very much. So for them it’s the most healing moment. Thank you all for supporting this. MR. WOJSZYNSKI: Sorry just one more thing. I’d be remiss in not recognizing Council Member Inaba for his direct support, we’re already through the process with his staff. So thank you very much Holeka, appreciate it. CHR. VILLEGAS: Yeah, he’s good that way, and he has the privilege of having a Veterans Cemetery in his district here on this side of the island. Thank you for being here with us today, looking forward to working with you and seeing this project come to fruition. Alright, with that, all those in favor of closing file on Communication 580 please say “aye.” Vote on Comm. 580: The motion to close file on Comm. 580 was carried (Filed) by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kānealiʻi–Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and Chair Villegas – 7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kagiwada and Lee Loy – 2. Excused: None. Page 7 CRCOC-17 November 14,2023 ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 3:14 p.m., Mr. Inaba moved to adjourn the MENT: meeting. Seconded by Ms. Evans and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kaneali`i—Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and Chair Villegas—7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kagiwada and Lee Loy—2. Excused: None. CHR. VILLEGAS: With that, our committee is adjourned. Approved: ‘I 12q- Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Chair (Date) Communications, Reports, and Council Oversight Committee RV/rk Page 8