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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN CRCOC 2024/03/05 (2022-2024)Committee on Communications, Reports, and Council Oversight 23rd Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii March 5, 2024 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Communications, Reports, and ORDER: Council Oversight was called to order at 1:45 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Acting Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Rebecca Viliegas, Chair (via videoconference from Kona) Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Vice Chair Ms. Cindy Evans, Member Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member (came in later) Mr. Matt Kaneah'i-Kleinfelder, Member (came in later) 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. 743: FAIR SHARE ANNUAL REPORT AS OF JUNE 30 2023 From Planning Director Zendo Kern, dated February 7, 2024, transmitting the above report pursuant to Section 2-162.1 of the Hawaii County Code. Motion to Close File: Ms. Kimball moved to close file on Communication 743. Seconded by Ms. Evans. ACTING CHR. KAGIWADA: We have April Suiprenant from the Planning Department. I believe —there she is. Thanks for being here to answer --here for us to answer questions, not really to do a presentation. You have the Fairshare CRCOC-23 March 5, 2024 Annual Report here in our materials, so, does anybody have any questions, thoughts, questions for Ms. Surprenant? MS. EVANS: Just a quick question on —this is Member Evans in --the red, so there's red and black on the report. Is the red a subtraction? (Note: At this time, Planning Program Manager April Surprenant came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. SURPRENANT: Yes, it is. MS. EVANS: Okay. So, if I'm looking, let me see. When something sits on the books, let's say in black, for a long time, for example, the available funds might have been there since, what, the year 1996? So, is it because you're waiting for action by the Council passing a resolution to spend it? Why does it sit so long? MS. SURPRENANT: Well, I'll just be a little more formal, April Surprenant with the Planning Department. So, this report reflects everything in the history of Fairshare. So, it's not that it sits on the report since that time, it's something that happened at that time. So, if you want to point to a particular example, I'm happy to look at that as well and try to address a specific question. MS. EVANS: Okay, let's just pick cash contribution, for example. I'm on page 3. MS. SURPRENANT: Okay. MS. EVANS: So, you've got cash contributions by Peter Messmer in the year 2003 and then we see the kind of money that was given. But there is no —am I missing something? How do you take that and then have on the balance sheet, let's say an accounting of it, right? So, this is your money coming in and that money going out. That money going out would have been probably by a Council action that it got spent? MS. SURPRENANT: Yes. It has to go through a Council action. It has to be appropriated in the CIP (Capital Improvements Program ) and then it would have to have been —if it's not used, if it's not —if a contract is not actually created to obligate those funds, then it could potentially lapse, which is where you see funds come back into the account. So, for example, under Lapsed Appropriations you see Waimea Park 07-14 that lapsed, and so those funds came back into the account. So, the appropriations are when they are approved by Council as part of the Capital Improvements Program. MS. EVANS: Okay, so Waimea Park, just to play it out. So, the Council said spend the money on the park. It didn't get under contract, so we got past the June Page 2 CRCOC-23 March S, 2024 30'h date, so it actually lapsed. So now we're back where it's 149,000 (dollars) is still available? MS. SURPRENANT: Correct. MS. EVANS: Could we assume that? So, this is —what we see in black tells us money not spent? MS. SURPRENANT: Correct. So, at the bottom, total funds available for North Kohala, under Parks for example, is 101,766 (dollars) and change. MS. EVANS: Okay. MS. SURPRENANT: That's what's available to be spent right now in North Kohala, under Parks. MS. EVANS: Okay. So, in terms of roads, like the 337,000 (dollars), we have that money is available to spend on roads? MS. SURPRENANT: Correct. MS. EVANS: Okay. Alright. Then when we go up to where the red is, just curious about the red because you have Waimea Park again in'07, it looks like you spent 149,000 (dollars). No? MS. SURPRENANT: That is 149,000 (dollars) in the black is when it was appropriated under Parks, and then down below is where it came back into the account under Lapsed Appropriations, 149. So, that money for Waimea Park was not actually spent, it was appropriated and then came back into the account. Is that what you're referring to? MS. EVANS: Right. MS. SURPRENANT: Okay. MS. EVANS: So, the red just kind of indicates that there was an obligation, but it doesn't mean it got spent. You'd have to follow it all the way down to Lapsed to see if it made it across the finish line? MS. SURPRENANT: Correct. MS. EVANS: Okay, that makes sense. MS. SURPRENANT: Okay. Page 3 CRCOC-23 March 5, 2024 MS. EVANS: Yeah. ACTING CHR. KAGIWADA: Are you done? MS. EVANS: Yes. ACTING CHR. KAGIWADA: Okay. Other questions or comments? MS. VILLEGAS: Yes, ACTING CHR. KAGTWADA: Go ahead, Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Great. Aloha, April, nice to — MS. SURPRENANT: Aloha. MS. VILLEGAS: I'm wearing my two pairs of readers so I can see the numbers on the spreadsheet. So, thank you for those questions, Council Member Evans. I think, if I'm understanding them correctly, then if I looked at page 7 under Lapsed Appropriations, the bottom there it says Total Capital funds Available for North Kona, I would see $5,596,000 available for Parks. MS. SURPRENANT: On page 7 at the bottom, no, that's a total amount that was lapsed. The total funds available for Parks is 925,748 (dollars). MS. VILLEGAS: Got you. Sorry, yeah, two readers, still not helping me out here. Okay, great. But the $925,000 is that total? MS. SURPRENANT: Correct, MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, great. So, I understand correctly, the reason the funds are still sitting there is because a project may have gone out to bid or something and it just didn't happen, or it wasn't prioritized to have happened under a certain Administration? I guess I'm just wondering why the monies are still sitting here. You know, it's nice to have monies sitting there, but we always hear about our CIP budget being this dreamy wish list and yet, here I'm looking at wow, that's almost a million dollars, just in Parks. MS. SURPRENANT: Understood. MS. VILLEGAS: So, who would we — MS. SURPRENANT: So, the answer to that is yes, sort of to all of those. Every project that is appropriated varies and you all know as you pass the Capital Improvements Program and add projects, the departments add projects and then Page 4 CRCOC-23 March 5, 2024 sometimes they happen and sometimes they don't, and they fall off. So, that is part of what happens here. The departments do use the funds as best they can. They are challenged sometimes with using the funds because when it comes to a normal Capital Improvements Project, a million dollars is actually not a lot of money. Yeah. So, they sometimes are challenged. It is sometimes used for matching funds for new facilities. The other thing is that our departments spend a lot of their budget on repair and maintenance, which is not available for Fairshare. Fairshare has to be new projects that has to add capacity in some way to the particular fund that it's coming from. MS. VILLEGAS: Got you. So, I just want to make sure I'm —how I can move forward. You know, there's a whole group working on the upgrade to the Maka`eo Skate Park, and I see, you know, $10,000 here. I know one of the reasons we're waiting on that has to do with SHPD (State Historic Preservation Division) and some other things, but who would I work with then to get this $10,000, almost $11,000 released so that this could go into that project? MS. SURPRENANT: Well, the funds are available, and so, that would be the Parks —well, the funds, let's see, it looks like it lapsed so that 10,854 (dollars) in this current report shows that those funds have lapsed, so they would need to be reappropriated. You could put them back into the CIP, and you would work with the Parks and Rec department. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. MS. SURPRENANT: So, those monies in 2014 might be a different amount today, given how or what they were being used for. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, great. So essentially, well if I'm looking under Parks and I can go to Parks and see what they need from this and then if I can go —but essentially, what's listed as the total capital funds available is an amount that we should be able to work with? MS. SURPRENANT: Correct. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you, April, I appreciate your — MS. SURPRENANT: You're very welcome. I will note that this report is as of —we get our reconciliations from the Finance Department, and so, this report is as of June of 2023. So, if funds are requested under Fairshare, we do double check to make sure that other appropriations have not since come in and that full Page 5 CRCOC-23 March 5, 2024 amount is still available. So, we do have to double check that from the last seven months or seven and a half months. So, just to point that out that these numbers are as of June 30 ending in the last fiscal. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, thank you so much, appreciate you. Have a great rest of your day. MS. SURPRENANT: Thank you, you too. ACTING CHR. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Council Member. Council Member Inaba. MR. INABA: Yes, good afternoon, April. I was just wondering if we're able to get these reports a little quicker moving forward. I know there's some moving pieces, but I know like you just mentioned, this report is already obsolete because I know we added an appropriation in Kona towards the end of last year. So, is there a way to get them in a more timely fashion? MS. SURPRENANT: Well, we get them when we get appropriations from the Finance Department. So, I would have to work with Finance to see, you know, how we can go about doing that. They typically end on the fiscal year and then begin again on the fiscal year. Like I said, we don't have a ton of appropriations that happen. I think there's one or two in the draft CIP that you all have in your hands now. So again, when we do get requests, we will double check to make sure that we're not overspending in any one account or region, but we'll do our best. I'm happy to talk with the Finance Department about that, but they typically end with the fiscal year, and it is noted, I believe, either in the Code or the Charter where we have to deliver it to you before March 1st MR. INABA: Okay, yes. Got it. I mean I understood that it's an annual report. I'm just wondering, you know, are we keeping track where we can just pop in at any time and know what the values are? MS. SURPRENANT: Yes, if you have questions about what's currently available, just give us a call. MR. INABA: Okay, thank you so much. MS. SURPRENANT: You're very welcome. ACTING CHR. KAGIWADA: Anyone else? Yes, Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: Thank you. I'm just following up on a comment. I think you said when we talked about the Skateboard Park and it shows that there's 10,000 (dollars) maybe 11,000 (dollars) almost available, you said you would —there Page 6 CRCOC-23 March 5, 2024 may be more there may be less. So, I was curious, I can understand why there might be more because you may have another Fairshare contribution coming in, but why would there be less. MS. SURPRENANT: I'm sorry if I said less. I don't know that there would necessarily be less, I just meant that if that project in 2014 needed $10,000 that need might be greater in today's dollars. But there's $925,000 available in that Park's account, so presumably, there are funds available to do what Council Member Villegas was asking. MS. EVANS: Right. So, when we're going through the budget, will it say in the --I'm still learning, but will it say in the CIP budget document if we're using Fairshare contribution? MS. SURPRENANT: Yes. MS. EVANS: Okay, thank you. ACTING CHR. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Council Member. Anyone else? Alright, seeing none, we have a motion to close file on Communication 743, all those in favor? Vote on Comm. 743 The motion to close file on Comm. 743 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Villegas, and Acting Chair Kagiwada -- 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Lee Loy — 1. Excused: None. Page 7 CRCOC-23 March 5, 2024 ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 2:01 p.m., Mr. Inaba moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Ms. Kimball and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kdneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, ViIlegas, and Acting Chair Kagiwada — 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Lee Loy — 1. Excused: None. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, we are adjourned at 2:01 (p.m.). Approved: Ms. Rebecca Villeg s, Chair Communications, Reports, and Council Oversight Committee RV/jm U � 14. Ly L (Date) Page 8