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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN COUNCIL 2024-02-21 2022-2024 Hawaii County Council 32nd Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawaii February 21, 2024 INVOCATION: Pastor Jason Meechan of Kona Faith Center gave the morning's invocation. (Note: At this time, February being Hawaiian Language Month, Malani Papa DeAguiar provided words of inspiration in the Hawaiian language.) CALL TO The regular meeting of the Hawaii County Council was called to order at ORDER: 9:08 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Chair Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Vice Chair Ms. Cindy Evans, Member(came in later) Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member(via videoconference from Hilo) Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member Absent& Excused: Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, 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 (There were none.) EXPRESSIONS OF CONDOLENCE: Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 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: Sharon Sakai: Res. 432-24 (Comm. 722), in support. (representing La`i`opua 2020) Tracy Apoliona: Res. 432-24 (Comm. 722), in support. (representing La`i`opua 2020) Stephanie Northrop: Res. 430-24 (Comm. 712), in support. Anna Schamber: Res. 430-24 (Comm. 712), in support. Timothy Rowan: Bill 131, Draft 2 (Comm. 715.2), in support. (representing Black Sands Beach Property Owners Association and Malama O Puna) Carrie Kowalski: Bill 131, Draft 2 (Comm. 715.2), in support. (representing Black Sands Beach Property Owners Association) Stacy Welch: Bill 131, Draft 2 (Comm. 715.2), in support. Jon Olson: Bill 131, Draft 2 (Comm. 715.2), in support. Andrew Marshall: Res. 430-24 (Comm. 712), in support. (See Comm. 712.30) Debra Smith: Bill 131, Draft 2 (Comm. 715.2), in support. Sandie Rossi: Res. 430-24 (Comm. 712), in support. APPROVAL The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Approval OF MINUTES: of Minutes. Page 2 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 Vote on Approval Ms. Lee Loy moved to approve the Minutes of of Minutes: December 20, 2023. Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried (Approved) by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. 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: GOEAC-104 NOMINATION OF RACHEL ABLE TO THE BOARD OF APPEALS (Comm. 696): Requires Council Confirmation by: March 3, 2024 (Section 13-4(k), Hawaii County Charter) Vote on Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Governmental Operations and GOEAC-104: External Affairs Committee Report No. 104. Seconded by (Adopted) Mr. Inaba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. GOEAC-105 NOMINATION OF JACOB TAVARES TO THE POLICE COMMISSION (Comm. 697): Requires Council Confirmation by: March 3, 2024 (Section 13-4(k), Hawaii County Charter) Page 3 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 Vote on Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Governmental Operations and GOEAC-105: External Affairs Committee Report No. 105. Seconded by (Adopted) Ms. Galimba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public. PUBLIC ON RES. 430-24 The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by (COMM. 712): the Chair: Shalaye Newman: In support. Violet Beatte: In support. Sylvia Dolena: In support. (representing Aloha Animal Advocates) Res. 430-24: URGES THE HAWAII STATE LEGISLATURE TO AMEND CHAPTER 142, HAWAII REVISED STATUTES, TO PROVIDE FOR GREATER PUBLIC SAFETY AGAINST THE RISK OF DAMAGE, INJURY, AND DEATH POSED BY DANGEROUS DOGS BY INCREASING ENFORCEMENT AND PENALTIES AGAINST OWNERS OF SUCH DOGS Requests the State Legislature to align State law with County law to provide clarity for County enforcement efforts, with an emphasis on requirements and penalties for dog owners that allow their dogs to injure or kill other animals or people. Reference: Comm. 712 Intr. by: Ms. Kagiwada Approve: GOEAC-108 (Note: Comm. 712.20, from Council Member Jenn Kagiwada dated February 12, 2024, transmitting proposed amendments to Res. 430-24, was circulated.) Motion to Approve: Ms. Kagiwada moved to adopt Res. 430-24 and Governmental Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 108. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Kagiwada. Page 4 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair, and thank you to the testifiers who came out today. I want to urge the testifiers and people who have been following this to please follow the State bills that are in process and continue to support those as well: S.B. 2692 (Senate Bill 2692) and H.B. 2058 (House Bill 2058). Motion to Amend: Ms. Kagiwada moved to amend Res. 430-24 with the contents of Comm. 712.20. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you and thank you, everybody, for supporting this resolution thus far and giving good feedback. The main thing, which I heard when we discussed last time, was that we needed to broaden this resolution to make sure that any bills going through that basically support the strengthening of the laws against dangerous dogs and their owners, that we do that. And so that's what this amendment us doing. It's basically just broadening it to talk about any bills that—any similar measures that are potential vehicles to bring about these changes in the State law. So I hope you can support this amendment. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Anyone else on the amendment? Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. On the amendment. Thank you, Ms. Kagiwada, for advancing this. I think I spoke about this at our last meeting, because we know how the Legislature works and all kinds of things happen. And I really like this, that we do broaden the statement. I also love that, you know, regardless of where all of this goes or whatever bill number it lands in, it just sends a strong message to our legislators that we're in support of editing that State law. Again, we were at lunch at another event and Rep. (Representative) Onishi really encouraged all of us to put in testimony to our legislators because our voices are not being heard, and this actually is a great tool to remind them of that. So in full support. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. Anyone else on the amendment? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair? CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Evans—we'll come—Council Member Evans and then Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. EVANS: Thank you for the amendment. I do think broadening it is really good, because when I looked up the bills that you referenced in your original Page 5 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 resolution—and I'm following themI'm kind of hoping that there's other bills that are there that people can grab to really focus on people who are negligent to their animals, which creates aggressive behavior. The current bills that reference in your original resolution are really talking about if somebody gets bitten, if somebody gets hurt, were they provoked. It gives the Police discretion to determine if they're dangerous or not. I think there's got to be a lot more than just these bills in terms of addressing this issue. And I think we're going to have to be very diligent on this, because the problem with language that talks about just provocation and having cause for a policeman to say, "I think it's dangerous," I mean it just gets really subjective. So we're going to have to try to tackle it from every angle we can if we're going to make a difference. So thank you for the amendment. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Evans. Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. In a similar vein alongside my colleagues who've already spoken, I will be supporting this particular amendment. I did want to note that H.B. 2058, there was a hearing for it in Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs in the House that happened on February 13''. We're waiting for it to be scheduled in Finance. But there's another vehicle and, thanks to this resolution, it's being elevated, S.B. 2692. And this is really a call to action. Members of the public, members of this body, Senate Judiciary is going to be hearing it on February 27 at 9:30 in the morning, so put in your testimony. It really does make a difference. We want to make sure that our legislators are hearing our voices. And I'm just really grateful that we were able to expand the different bills that are being considered by this resolution. That way our State counterparts know that we're on this issue. It doesn't matter which particular bill; we just expect them to get it done. Thank you, Chair. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kierkiewicz. Anyone else on the amendment? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Res. 430-24 with the contents of Communication 712.20, please say "aye." Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Res. 430-24 with the contents of Amend: Comm. 712.20 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball –8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder– 1. Excused: None. Page 6 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 Vote on Motion to Ms. Lee Loy moved to suspend Council Rule 23 to waive Suspend Council the holdover for the substantive amendment of Rules: Res. 430-24. Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried by the (Approved) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball –8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder– 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Back to the main motion, Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. Just looking for everybody's support. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it and hoping that you can also, if you have the time, right, individual support for these bills going through at the State Legislature. And thank you to Council Member Kierkiewicz for highlighting the bill that has the hearing already scheduled for Tuesday. So thank you so much. Appreciate it. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. Anyone else on the main motion? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair? CHR. KIMBALL: Go ahead, Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge our testifiers, especially Violet and your mom, Shalaye. As a mother, I can't, like—what a harrowing experience. And I can't even think about the nightmares that you must be having because of that attack on you. And I know that you had a dog, and you are, right, an animal lover, and that just being a very traumatic experience for you. And, really, no member of our community should ever have to suffer that way. We definitely need the penalties. But beyond that, as Sylvia mentioned, we really need to make sure that we have a holistic approach that really ensures that animals are secured in the first place and they don't get out, so that they can't harm anyone in our community. So I will be supporting this resolution. It's a very strong statement by our body to the State Legislature, that this is something we really need them to act upon this session so that our community is safe. Thank you so much for being here and testifying today. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kierkiewicz. Anyone else on the main motion? Page 7 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MS. KAGIWADA: Chair? CHR. KIMBALL: Yes, Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Do we need to do anything to try to get this—do we need to do anything about a holdover? Anything to try to get this to the Legislature right away? CHR. KIMBALL: No. Presuming that it passes unanimously, there's no holdover, per the rules. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay, thank you. Thanks. CHR. KIMBALL: All right, all those in favor of adopting Resolution 430-24, as amended, please say "aye." Vote on Res. 430-24: The motion to adopt Res. 430-24, as amended to Draft 2, Draft 2 and Governmental Operations and External Affairs (Adopted) Committee Report No. 108 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball –8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder– 1. Excused: None. STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public. PUBLIC ON BILL 131 The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by (DRAFT 2) the Chair: (COMM. 715.2): Floyd Eaglin: In support. Kevin Kushell: In support. (representing Mainstreet Pahoa Association and the School Committee Council of Pahoa High and Intermediate School) Patrick Kahawaiolaa: In support. (representing Keaukaha Community Association) Page 8 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 Bill 131: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 23-51, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO PUBLIC (Draft 2) IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2023 TO JUNE 30, 2024 Adds the Public Works Puna Alternate Routes Study —County Project ($1,000,000); and the Puna Alternate Routes Study—State Project($1,000,000)to the Capital Budget. Funds for this project shall be provided from General Obligation Bonds, Capital Projects Fund—Fund Balance and/or other Sources ($1,000,000) and State Grants Receivable ($1,000,000), to identify alternate routes to relieve traffic congestion and increase evacuation capacity, if needed. Reference: Comm. 715.2 Intr. by: Ms. Kierkiewicz Approve: FC-142 Note: Requires 2/3 vote of the entire membership to amend,pursuant to Section 10-6(e), Hawai`i County Charter (Note: Comm. 715.54, from Council Member Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder dated February 7, 2024, transmitting information relating to Bill 131, Draft 2, was circulated.) Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to pass Bill 131, Draft 2, on first reading and adopt Finance Committee Report No. 142. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Our office worked really hard to make sure that we didn't lose out on a $1 million appropriation from the State. And I just want to take a moment to mahalo nui the testifiers that came out,not just from the Puna community, but it means a lot to see Uncle Pat and Uncle Floyd here from neighboring homesteads supporting this. As he said, we wanted to make sure that this was palatable and that we were addressing concerns of community, and we did that through Resolution 416. And it was very important to ensure that it was incorporated into the actual bill itself. And so I really appreciate my colleagues for supporting that. That way we can acknowledge the very real concerns that were raised by homestead communities, their nonconsent of their lands being considered in alternate routes, and that's fine. We've got that acknowledged by the Department of Public Works. And so we can now move ahead to look at alternate routes for the entire Puna region. And so, again,just want to emphasize that this is a study that is going to help us identify additional routes in and out of the Puna region. Page 9 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 Uncle Floyd mentioned it would be great to have all of those things like a hospital and jobs and other services in the Puna region. We are working towards that. But before that can materialize, we've got to make sure that there are other routes in and out of Puna. I leave the house at 5:30, 6:30, 7 a.m. 10, 11 on the weekends—and I can always tell you the roads are busy. And early in the morning when people are leaving to go to work, take their kids to school, they're looking all bleary eyed, literally eating breakfast off of a plate while they're driving, and those are the kinds of sacrifices people got to make because there's one way in and one way out. Mauka and makai. And so, by passing this bill, we give community a little bit of hope that we are going to identify potential solutions that we can then leverage State and Federal funding for. So just looking for my colleagues' continued support, and mahalo nui for our community coming out to provide testimony in support of this measure. It feels good to unify everybody around something that we can all get behind and support. So thank you. Chair, I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kierkiewicz. Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Yes, in support. I, too,just want to take a minute to mahalo Uncle Floyd and Uncle Pat. They're incredible mentors for me, personally. But when we talk about the history on how things advance at the County, Uncle Floyd and Uncle Pat are an incredible resource. And for both of them to acknowledge that concerns are being met, that we're finding very creative solutions by marrying a resolution to a bill, speaks volumes for me. And there's a lot of word semantics about"incorporate herein" or"incorporate by reference"; different law schools, perhaps. But, at the end of the day, the binding language between Bill 131 and Resolution 416 really is the word"incorporated." It marries those two things together. I also want to share with my colleagues, aside from the testimony that we've had, I've had a number of homestead beneficiaries approach me to tell me that they're actually very excited to do a study. They're excited on what opportunities that homestead might have. Looking at cost for the development of infrastructure will be helpful for DHHL (Department of Hawaiian Home Lands) and those beneficiaries on the waitlist, but also the family relationships that we have between Keaukaha, Pana`ewa, and our Maku`u farmers. And it's an honor to rise up to the challenge that Uncle Floyd has proposed about us working together. And I think this bill really does do that. So thank you, Chair. In full support. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. Anyone else? Council Member Evans. Page 10 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MS. EVANS: Thank you. To the maker of the bill,just for the record, I believe you spoke to transportation Chair Chris Todd in the House and he sees this language, the "Puna Alternative Routes Study,"not being in conflict with the makaiI mean, what we originally worked on was what we thought was flawed. So this will work for the State Department of Transportation? CHR. KIMBALL: You may respond, Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair Evans [sic]. I actually spoke not only with Representative Chris Todd but HDOT (Hawai`i Department of Transportation) Director Ed Sniffen, to confirm that we were within our legal abilities to pursue this to expand the scope of the study to include the entire region of Puna. So we got that green light from transportation director directly. MS. EVANS: Thank you. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Evans. Anyone else? Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: Thank you. I just wanted to ask my colleague Council Member Lee Loy, in your comments just now, you were talking about potentially working together. Does this, the language that is attached, still allow for that? CHR. KIMBALL: You may respond, Council Member. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. Yes, absolutely. I mean, it actually helps provide the community two pieces of very sound legislation to bring everybody back to the table consistently. We also have DPW (Department of Public Works) Director who has gone on record a number of times about when we're doing the survey, how we're going to provide a stakeholder list. And I think this is the perfect opportunity. The resolution, this bill, and we have a lot of testimony out there that he can lean in and develop a stakeholder list for that survey. I think it's brilliant. MS. GALIMBA: Thank you. That's wonderful to hear. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: Oh, sorry. CHR. KIMBALL: Okay, anyone else? All right, I'll just wrap up by saying congratulations, Council Member Kierkiewicz. And again, I think this is an example of the legislative process as it works. Often sausage-making and often slower than we'd like, but you were responsive to the community and this is the Page 11 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 outcome of that. And so job well done. With that, we'll go ahead and proceed with the vote. All those in favor of approving Bill 131, Draft 2, at first reading, please say "aye." Vote on Bill 131: The motion to pass Bill 131, Draft 2, on first reading and Draft 2 adopt Finance Committee Report No. 142 was carried by (Approved) the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Bill 133: 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 the Federal Grants —Civil Defense Emergency Management Performance Grant account($118,750); and appropriates the same to Civil Defense Emergency Management Performance Grant account, for a total appropriation of $343,750. These additional funds would be used to update the Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan and purchase Adobe software licenses. Reference: Comm. 730 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R) Waived: FC Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to pass Bill 133 on first reading. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. KIMBALL: This was waived to Council to expedite the process. We have Civil Defense Administrator in Hilo there. Mr. Magno, would you like to make any comments on this bill before we proceed with deliberation? (Note: At this time, Civil Defense Administrator Talmadge Magno came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. MAGNO: Good morning, Council. Thanks for hearing this bill out of place. So this additional money will be used for our Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan to bring on a vendor that will help us develop this year's update. And then State Emergency Management also wanted us to have the Adobe program so we could manage our FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) documents and large documents between the State and the Federal Government. So this additional money will accomplish both tasks. Page 12 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Administrator. Any further questions/comments from my colleagues? Seeing none, all those in favor of approving Bill 133 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair? Sorry. CHR. KIMBALL: Oh, go ahead, Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. I just have a couple questions for Administrator Magno. Administrator, you mentioned about a plan update that's happening this year? MR. MAGNO: Yes. We'll work all year to revise this plan, and then it will be ready early next year, 2025. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And so this additional funding is to hire a consultant? MR. MAGNO: Yes. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: To complete the plan? MR. MAGNO: Yes. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And are there moments of engagement by community members, or not with this particular plan? MR. MAGNO: No, there is engagement. Absolutely. We'll include all the County departments, all the districts, the Council. We need your guys' input into this document. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Perfect because I know the last one was really extensive. And then, within it, there's a list of priority projects that we need to implement on our side and some BRIC (Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities) funding that might be available. When you're ready, let's get you back before the Council so you can provide an update on all the different outreach opportunities for community so they can weigh in. MR. MAGNO: Sure. We've got the calendar. Once we lock the calendar down, I'll be happy to present to you guys. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Perfect. We'll be in touch. Thank you for being here and your patience. Chair, I yield. MR. MAGNO: Thank you. Page 13 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kierkiewicz. Any further discussion from the body? Seeing none, all those in favor please say "aye." Vote on Bill 133: The motion to pass Bill 133 on first reading was carried by (Approved) the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Bill 124: AMENDS CHAPTER 513, ARTICLE 2, SECTION 5B-2-1(D), OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO WIND DESIGN CRITERIA FOR RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS Establishes provisions specific to single-story, slab-on-grade residential buildings. Reference: Comm. 678 Intr. by: Ms. Kimball First Reading: February 7, 2024 Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to pass Bill 124 on second and final reading. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. KIMBALL: Any further discussion on this? Council Member. MS. LEE LOY: I just want to say this is well done, Council Member Kimball. It's been asked for for a long time now. I think our design professionals, our users, and the development of housing will really benefit from this edit. Thank you, I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor please say "aye." Vote on Bill 124: The motion to pass Bill 124 on second and final reading (Adopted) was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Page 14 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 Bill 130: AMENDS CHAPTER 24, ARTICLE 10, DIVISION 5, SECTION 24-279, SCHEDULE 27 OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO PARKING ON PAVEMENT PROHIBITED AT ALL TIMES Adds parking restrictions for two segments of Kilohana Street that intersect with Ailina Street and Sunset Drive. Reference: Comm. 704 Intr. by: Ms. Lee Loy (B/R) Approve: PCIA-6 Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to pass Bill 130 on first reading and adopt Policy Committee on Infrastructure and Assets Committee Report No. 6. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. CHR. KIMBALL: Any discussion? Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: I believe there were some questions during Committee. I think it got fleshed out, but we have our Director from DPW here if you folks have any other questions. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. Director, any comments before we proceed on deliberation? (Note: At this time, Public Works Director Stephen Pause came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. PAUSE: Yes, thank you. Steve Pause, Director of Public Works. So, at the initial reading I think before Committee, I was ill-prepared. So I'm a bit more prepared today. So, essentially, you've heard me speak very frequently about being a complaint- driven organization. We had a number of complaints of residents on Kilohana, and our Traffic Division went out. So what we have—and it's not uncommon; there are a lot of locations on-island—we have a 40-foot right-of-way with 16 feet of paving. And the concern that was brought up that I wasn't able to answer last time was by placing these no parking signs, we're essentially just reinforcing the existing Code that is out there. We're not removing parking spaces. What we're doing is trying to get the residents to stay off the pavement. So there's a 40-foot right-of way, 16 feet of paving. There's plenty of space on both sides, both shoulders, for the vehicles to remain off the pavement, and essentially that's what this is. So we're not displacing and pushing cars to other locations and neighborhoods. We're just trying to reinforce what's already in the existing Code that says you can't park on pavement so that vehicles have the opportunity to pass each other on the pavements. Page 15 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Director. Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: Thank you for addressing my concern of displacing vehicles and what's going to happen if they can't park there. So, basically, you don't want them parking on the pavement, but I don't know what—I've been around the whole United States. We'd get these years and years ago when we put in these streets, we see that there's one lane. People go down one lane and then they pull over where the driveways are so they can pass each other, and that's kind of a common occurrence. So is this going to become the new norm that—because the reality is, even if it's 40 feet and there were some people parking in the paved area, would they not still be able to pass? Or are we saying it's not okay with us to turn a two-lane road into a one-lane? Because, I just see this becoming more and more common that we're going to have more and more of these. We're going to see more and more of these bills if we go down this route. And like I said, when you travel anywhere in the U.S. (United States), the way the roads were built years and years ago, they—it's just common for people to have to turn these into what were two-lane roads into one-lane roads. MR. PAUSE: I think the bigger challenge and we see this, and actually there's a location in your district that it's very evident as well, but we have these 40-foot right-of-ways and people have a tendencyI guess it would be entropy, right; we tend to move towards disorder—people have a tendency to take right-of-ways in front of their property and plant vegetation,perhaps put a wall. So, really, the message to the community is if there's a 40-foot right-of-way, we need to maintain that 40-foot right-of-way both for travel lanes as well as for parking. That's an issue that we've been confronted with in numerous locations on the island. The 16 feet of pavement is not technically enough to get two cars to pass each other. I mean, ideally you want two template lanes, and we've talked about that in other locations. But, really, all this is doing is it's codifying in, I guess it would be in the schedule that's part of Section 24. Because Section 24 is pretty clear. It says no person shall park any vehicle upon any street other than an alley in a manner under which such available less than ten feet of the width of the road for vehicular traffic. It's basically saying you can't park on the pavement. MS. EVANS: I don't know how we'll do this eventually, but I think we're going to have to have some real big discussion on what we're doing because this whole island, that means we're just going to go community, community, community, and we're going to keep passing and passing and passing these bills once a community member or a small neighborhood gets just tired of too many cars or whatever. But I guess when we built those roads years ago, I guess we didn't Page 16 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 realize all these people would have cars that they could actually afford. Instead of a family having one car, maybe the husband and wife, now we have two cars. So we've moved into being a very car society. And I don't know. Anywhere I travel in the U.S., I'm telling you these older neighborhoods, they turn these 40-foot two lane into one lane and they park on both sides, and people have courtesy and allow people to go down one lane. And the fire trucks can go. The emergency trucks can go. I mean, emergency and fire can still get through but we've turned them into one lane from what they're originally built for. And I don't know. I think we're just going to see more and more. Is that the route we want to go? MR. PAUSE: I guess I would say that if communities and neighborhoods could get together and work it out and talk to each other, then that would be a better route to go. But in the case of having a rule in place, it's our job ultimately to enforce the rule. And when we receive complaints, we're put into that position where we're just trying to follow what the rule is. MS. EVANS: Okay, so where's that rule? MR. PAUSE: Section 24-192, Parking not to obstruct traffic. MS. EVANS: Okay. Maybe it's time to look at the rule because, again in my community, I just see it going from street to street to street because this is what people do. So it's kind of like kind of the new norm is that we've turned these roads into parking on both sides. But anyway, so thank you, Chair, I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Evans. Any further discussion on this item? Seeing none, all those in favor please say "aye." Vote on Bill 130: The motion to pass Bill 130 on first reading and adopt (Approved) Policy Committee on Infrastructure and Assets Committee Report No. 6 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you again, Director. Return to Order The Chair directed the Council to return to the order of business. of Business: Page 17 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 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. 417-24: AUTHORIZES THE PAYMENT OF FUNDS OF A LATER FISCAL YEAR AND OF MORE THAN ONE FISCAL YEAR FOR MULTI-YEAR LEASES FOR FOUR WALKING FLOOR TRAILERS AND FOUR COMPACTING TRAILERS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT Authorizes the Mayor to enter into a five-year lease agreement with an approximate monthly cost of$17,200 for the walking trailers and $18,800 for the compacting trailers, to be used by the Solid Waste Division. Reference: Comm. 699 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R) Approve: FC-135 (Note: Comm. 699.1, from Environmental Management Deputy Director Brenda Iokepa-Moses dated February 20, 2024, transmitting information relating to Res. 417-24, was circulated.) Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Res. 417-24 and Finance Committee Report No. 135. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. Motion to Amend: Ms. Lee Loy moved to amend Res. 417-24 with the contents of Comm. 699.1. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. MS. LEE LOY: I'm sorry; I read that wrong. I withdraw that. CHR. KIMBALL: Okay. MS. LEE LOY: It's just background information. CHR. KIMBALL: It's just background information. MS. LEE LOY: I'm so sorry. CHR. KIMBALL: Okay. Withdraw Motion Ms. Lee Loy withdrew her motion to amend Res. 417-24 to Amend: with the contents of Comm. 699.1. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. So we're on the main motion. Any discussion on this item? Council Member Inaba. Page 18 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MR. INABA: I just want to mahalo DEM (Department of Environmental Management) for sending us this inventory. If we could, not right now, but get a comprehensive inventory, knowing that you folks will be coming back for further replacement of trailers and other equipment. It seems like these are segmented out just based on the request in each resolution. So if we can get a holistic view of what we should be anticipating coming down the pipeline, that would be appreciated. Mahalo. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Vice Chair Inaba. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor please say "aye." Vote on Res. 417-24: The motion to adopt Res. 417-24 and Finance Committee (Adopted) Report No. 135 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Res. 418-24: AUTHORIZES THE PAYMENT OF FUNDS OF A LATER FISCAL YEAR AND OF MORE THAN ONE FISCAL YEAR FOR MULTI-YEAR LEASES FOR TWO TRAILER MOUNTED PUMPS AND ONE PORTABLE PUMP FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT Authorizes the Mayor to enter into five-year lease agreements with an approximate monthly cost of$3,780 for the two trailer mounted portable pumps and $4,300 for the portable pump, to be used by the Wastewater Division. Reference: Comm. 700 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R) Approve: FC-136 Vote on Res. 418-24: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Res. 418-24 and Finance (Adopted) Committee Report No. 136. Seconded by Ms. Galimba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Page 19 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 Res. 419-24: AUTHORIZES THE PAYMENT OF FUNDS OF A LATER FISCAL YEAR AND OF MORE THAN ONE FISCAL YEAR FOR A MULTI-YEAR LEASE FOR TWO GRAPPLE TRUCKS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT Authorizes the Mayor to enter into a five-year lease agreement with an approximate monthly cost of$11,000, to be used by the Solid Waste Division. Reference: Comm. 701 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R) Approve: FC-137 (Note: Comm. 701.1, from Environmental Management Deputy Director Brenda Iokepa-Moses dated February 20, 2024, transmitting information relating to Res. 419-24, was circulated.) Vote on Res. 419-24: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Res. 419-24 and Finance (Adopted) Committee Report No. 137. Seconded by Ms. Galimba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Res. 420-24: AUTHORIZES THE PAYMENT OF FUNDS OF A LATER FISCAL YEAR AND OF MORE THAN ONE FISCAL YEAR FOR MULTI-YEAR LEASES FOR TWO BACKHOES, TWO WHEELED LOADERS, SIX ROLL-OFF TRUCKS, AND SEVEN TRUCK TRACTORS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT Authorizes the Mayor to enter into five-year lease agreements with an approximate monthly cost of$6,800 for the two backhoes, $23,700 for the two wheeled loaders, $32,400 for the six roll-off trucks, and $36,400 for the seven truck tractors, to be used by the Solid Waste Division. Reference: Comm. 702 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R) Approve: FC-138 (Note: Comm. 702.1, from Environmental Management Deputy Director Brenda Iokepa-Moses dated February 20, 2024, transmitting information relating to Res. 420-24, was circulated.) Page 20 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 Vote on Res. 420-24: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Res. 420-24 and Finance (Adopted) Committee Report No. 138. Seconded by Ms. Galimba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Res. 421-24: AUTHORIZES THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH THE STATE OF HAWAII OFFICE OF PLANNING AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Allows for the receipt of$400,000 of state-derived funds to support the assessment, design, and feasibility of low-income affordable housing in a portion of Kukuiola Village 9 in North Kona. Reference: Comm. 703 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R) Approve: FC-139 Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Res. 421-24 and Finance Committee Report No. 139. Seconded by Ms. Villegas. CHR. KIMBALL: Any discussion on this item? Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you so much. Administrator Kunz, if I could just ask a quick question here. Wow, $400,000 is a lot of money! Super grateful for that coming from the State. I just had a quick question because I know this ends up being pennies compared to the cost of the full project. And I wondered, this is in addition to the $10 million that the State—correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the State had allocated $10 million already. I just want to confirm that that money is still there. (Note: At this time, Housing Administrator Susan Kunz came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. KUNZ: Totally different phase. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. This is phases. Gotcha. MS. KUNZ: Yeah. So the $10 million you're referring to was actually a congressional allocation that we got to do the first phase of Kukuiola. We also Page 21 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 received $4 million from the State and that was to do the cul-de-sac road, which we're working on right now. And then the County also provided $2 million of CIP (Capital Improvement Project) funds. This pot of money is totally separate. We got this money from the office of planning, State, to do a study for the next phase, which is several phases down actually. So it's on an adjacent lot to the six acres; it's about 10.4 acres. And so we're hoping to do a study to assess how many units we can get there. It was included in the original EA (environmental assessment) for the entire Kukuiola project. Part of that, for a hundred thousand dollars, is going to be used to do a market study to kind of reexamine AMIs (Area Median Incomes), number of bedrooms per unit, sizes of units, that we should be building here. So I'm really excited to have gotten this money. We were eligible for it because the project is along the designated TOD (transit-oriented development) for this side of the island. So I hope it kind of clarifies the MS. VILLEGAS: It really does. Thank you so much. I really appreciate the longevity of planning that's going into this and all the different phases. Lord knows we need it years ago. So, really excited to getting it moving as successfully as it is now. And thank you for the work you've done to get this funding, and we'll look forward to seeing more progress. MS. KUNZ: Thanks for your support. MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah, thank you. Thank you for helping clarify. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Villegas. Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: Thank you. Just for a little more clarity for me since I don't have the background. It talks about the design and feasibility of it. So basically this is County-owned land and you're the developer. And so you're putting together what you think the project should look like, and then you're going to put out a request for proposal to find out if someone can build it? Is that the process? MS. KUNZ: Kind of right. MS. EVANS: It's different than saying we want an affordable housing project and see if people bring you proposals. This sounds like you're doing a lot more of the design of it. MS. KUNZ: Yeah. So this is actually State land that was EO'd(executive ordered) to the County, the same process that we received the initial six acres for Kukuiola. And what we want to do with this funding is hire a consultant to help us determine what the housing needs will be once we see Kukuiola first and Page 22 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 second phases come to fruition. Do we need more permanent support of housing? Do we need more transitional shelter? Or can we start moving to more permanent housing for affordable and workforce, right? What is it that we need? So that's part of this whole entire study. And once we develop that master plan, we will go out and do an RFP (Request for Proposals) for contracted MS. EVANS: I guess I'm confused because I would think you would know what the needs are because we keep getting these reports saying how many are in the pipeline. You've got"x" amount of thousands in the pipeline, which means you've already done a needs assessment, an analysis of what our community MS. KUNZ: Yeah, I understand. MS. EVANS: So why would we have to keep analyzing it when I think we already have a benchmark and we keep marching to that? So I'm kind of—what do we want to discern that we don't already have? MS. KUNZ: I think it's just us trying to do our due diligence. The initial environmental assessment that was done that included both the 6 acres and this 10.4-acre parcel talked about doing emergency and transitional and permanent supportive housing. A lot of things have happened in the last couple of years since we've been in office. So it's really trying to assess that we are producing housing units for the proper AMIs. We keep talking about, right, do we need really low truly affordable units? Do we need to produce more workforce housing for this community? And so, like I said,we're just trying to do our due diligence. MS. EVANS: Does doing this, I'm going to call it"reanalysis"because you're always analyzing these numbers. I have to assume you are. Are you doing this because it helps you with getting your grant writing when you go for grant money to always have that readjustment of the current AMI and pulling out the numbers, the data, always updating? I'm just trying to figure out because MS. KUNZ: Yeah, it certainly helps. MS. EVANS: I'm assuming your analysis is already done. MS. KUNZ: It certainly helps, I think, to get updated information. I mean, we know what the Hawaii Housing Planning Study is providing us through 2025, right, but these projects are going to take us beyond that. MS. EVANS: Okay. So the housing planning study will update that soon? MS. KUNZ: Actually, we're working with the State now on the next five years of the Hawaii Housing Planning Study. Page 23 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MS. EVANS: Okay, all right. Thank you, Chair, I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Evans. Anyone else? Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Thanks, Susan, for being here. I don't know if I'm being premature or not. In support of the study and the market study. Do we know if we have any information—and you know this is a passion project for me around housing for our special needs community. I know we've had communications and discussions since the '70s since we actually developed any type of housing for our special needs community. Will some of that study information, maybe I'm suggesting? MS. KUNZ: Absolutely. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. All right, anyone else on this item? Seeing none, all those in favor please say "aye." Vote on Res. 421-24: The motion to adopt Res. 421-24 and Finance Committee (Adopted) Report No. 139 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball –8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder– 1. Excused: None. 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: Res. 428-24: AUTHORIZES THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH THE HAWAII STATE ENERGY OFFICE Seeks to pursue a coalition application to the United States Environmental Protection Agency Climate Pollution Reduction Implementation Grant program to access federal funding. Reference: Comm. 710 Intr. by: Ms. Evans (B/R) Approve: GOEAC-106 Motion to Approve: Ms. Evans moved to adopt Res. 428-24 and Governmental Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 106. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. Page 24 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 CHR. KIMBALL: Any discussion? Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: Anyone from the Administration? CHR. KIMBALL: Do we have anybody from R&D (Research and Development) on the line? Doesn't look like it. We did have a presentationoh, there he is. Wow! (Note: At this time, Research and Development Director Douglass Adams came forward to address the members of the Council.) CHR. KIMBALL: Hello, Director. You are planes, trains, and automobiles. From the hotel yesterday and now from your car, apparently. Council Member Evans, you had a question for the Director? MS. EVANS: Yeah, I just wanted for my colleagues and the public to know what this multi-year memorandum of understanding you're asking to enter in this agreement with HSEO (Hawai`i State Energy Office). Can you explain? MR. ADAMS: So the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant is funding that the State received from the Federal Government. And the counties, including ours, are engaged in working with the state energy office as well as the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development and the climate commissionI'm not going to give the entire name—in the process of both developing the planning portions of the CPRG (Climate Pollution Reduction Grant) as well as the implementation pieces of that. So this is an MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) that allows us to do that work with the state energy office on the implementation elements of the CPRG grant. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Evans. Thank you, Director. Any other questions? Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you. Just a quick one. Director, thank you for joining us. Will OSCER (Office of Sustainability, Climate, Equity, and Resilience) be involved in this work going forward, or is ? MR. ADAMS: Thank you, Council Member. Both Interim Administrator Morrison and myself have had conversations, and she's also spoken with members of the R&D team about the funding and how to manage the funding. Currently, the R&D would be best—we're having conversations about the transition and how to eventually transition the funding because ultimately OSCER would be the right place for those funds, and for the activities that have to do with the planning and the coordination within the County. But, currently, they don't have that and we do. So the funding piece will initially be an R&D function, and at some point, it will transition over to OSCER. Page 25 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you so much. That makes a lot of sense. I'll be supporting. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kagiwada. Anyone else? All right, thank you again, Director. Appreciate your availability. All of those in favor,please say "aye." Vote on Res. 428-24: The motion to adopt Res. 428-24 and Governmental (Adopted) Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 106 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Res. 429-24: AUTHORIZES THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AGREEMENTS WITH HAWAII HEALTH SYSTEMS CORPORATION EAST HAWAII REGION, HILO MEDICAL CENTER Seeks to allow Hilo Medical Center to properly dispose of infectious waste supplied by various County agencies. Reference: Comm. 711 Intr. by: Ms. Evans (B/R) Approve: GOEAC-107 Motion to Approve: Ms. Evans moved to adopt Res. 429-24 and Governmental Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 107. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: I know we had our discussion in Committee, but if there was someone from Administration that wanted to explain this quickly before the vote. Is there someone here? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Council Member Evans, Finance Director Nakagawa is here. MS. EVANS: Thank you. (Note: At this time, Finance Director Diane Nakagawa came forward to address the members of the Council.) Page 26 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MS. NAKAGAWA: Good morning, Council Members. Diane Nakagawa, Department of Finance. MS. EVANS: Thank you. Just explain before we take the vote. Thank you. MS. NAKAGAWA: Sure. This is a request to enter into an agreement with Hilo Medical Center to dispose of infectious waste. So we had a request from one of the departments come into Finance in our Purchasing Division to look for ways to dispose of waste. And, through that, we found other various contracts with other departments. So this is to consolidate into one County contract for the disposal of infectious waste that all our departments can utilize. MS. EVANS: Thank you. MS. NAKAGAWA: You're welcome. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Evans. Thank you, Director. Any further questions or comments on this item? Seeing none, all those in favor please say "aye." Vote on Res. 429-24: The motion to adopt Res. 429-24 and Governmental (Adopted) Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 107 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Res. 432-24: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO LA`I`OPUA 2020 FOR EXPENSES RELATING TO ITS YOUTH CULINARY PROGRAM Transfers $4,400 from the Clerk-Council Services —Contingency Relief account (Council District 7); and credits to the Department of Liquor Control, Public Programs account. Reference: Comm. 722 Intr. by: Ms. Villegas Motion to Approve: Ms. Villegas moved to adopt Res. 432-24. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. Page 27 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 CHR. KIMBALL: I'm going to go to Council Member Inaba real quickly before we have discussion. MR. INABA: Thank you. I'll be recusing myself from this vote being that I have immediate family members who are employed by this organization. And I, myself, have outside contract work. So I wanted to make that disclosure. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Inaba. Go ahead, Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. I just ask for my colleagues' support on this. The programs that are run through this facility are improving and directly impacting the lives and livelihoods and experiences of our young people in this community, reconnecting them to an opportunity for culinary practices directly related to their cultural heritage and experiences. And someone myself who can't really cook very well, I am in full support of our young people. It directly ties to their health and well-being and longevity, growing up and becoming strong members of our community. So I just ask for your support. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Villegas. Anyone else? Seeing none, all those in favor please say "aye." Vote on Res. 432-24: The motion to adopt Res. 432-24 was carried by the (Adopted) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —7. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: Council Member Inaba— 1. Res. 433-24: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT FOR THE 2024 OUTSTANDING OLDER AMERICANS MONTH AWARD LUNCHEON Transfers $5,000 from the Clerk-Council Services —Contingency Relief account (Council District 3); and credits to the Office of Aging, Other Current Expenses account. Reference: Comm. 723 Intr. by: Ms. Lee Loy Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Res. 433-24. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. Page 28 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 Motion to Postpone: Ms. Lee Loy moved to postpone Res. 433-24 to March 6, 2024. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. CHR. KIMBALL: On the postponement, Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: On the postponement here, Chair, thank you. Yeah, Horace from our Office of Aging wanted to be here. He's sick. So we're going to be postponing, but he also—maybe I'll do it for him: He's going to be kind of making the rounds to other Council Members to ask for support for our Older American Month in May. This year, the theme is Powered by Connection. And so, for all of our Council Members, they're taking applications for Older American–male and female. So we know a lot of great kupuna in our community, and I would highly suggest you guys jump on the website and see if there's some wonderful kupuna we could advance. With that, I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. Anyone else? All right, voting on the motion to postpone. So, all of those in favor, please say Ic aye. Vote on Motion to The motion to postpone Res. 433-24 to March 6, 2024, was Postpone: carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball –8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder– 1. Excused: None. Res. 434-24: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO KA LA`I A `EHU TO ASSIST WITH EXPENSES RELATED TO THE LA `EHUNUI 2024 EVENT IN WEST HAWAII Transfers $7,700 from the Clerk-Council Services –Contingency Relief account (Council District 8); and credits to the Department of Liquor Control, Public Programs account. Reference: Comm. 724 Intr. by: Mr. Inaba Motion to Approve: Mr. Inaba moved to adopt Res. 434-24. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. KIMBALL: Vice Chair Inaba. Page 29 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MR. INABA: Thank you. This event will be coming up soon in recognition of 30 years of Hawaiian language revival education in West Hawaii. So, do ask for my Council Members' support and look forward to having community be there that day. Mahalo. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor please say "aye." Vote on Res. 434-24: The motion to adopt Res. 434-24 was carried by the (Adopted) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Res. 435-24: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO THE ARC OF HILO FOR THE 3RD ANNUAL KING KAMEHAMEHA'S AWESOME ATHLETES INCLUSIVE CANOE RACE Transfers $3,600 from the Clerk-Council Services —Contingency Relief account (Council District 2); and credits to the Department of Parks and Recreation, Administration Other Current Expenses account. Reference: Comm. 725 Intr. by: Ms. Kagiwada (Note: Comm. 725.1, from Council Member Jenn Kagiwada dated February 14, 2024, transmitting proposed amendments to Res. 435-24, was circulated.) Motion to Approve: Ms. Kagiwada moved to adopt Res. 435-24. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kagiwada moved to amend Res. 435-24 with the contents of Comm. 725.1. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. KIMBALL: Okay. On the amendment, Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you so much. Just in talking to the organization, we discovered that actually purchasing the canopies was going to be less expensive than renting the canopies, and they can use them year after year. So we've just made this amendment so that we can actually purchase the canopies. And usually Page 30 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 I know we don't purchase things, but because it was less expensive than the rental, I talked to Corporation Counsel and that was okay. So I'm looking for your support on the amendment. CHR. KIMBALL: All right. On the amendment, anyone else? Okay, with that, we'll take the vote on the amendment. All those in favor of amending Resolution 435-24 with the contents of Communication 725.1, please say "aye." Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Res. 435-24 with the contents of Amend: Comm. 725.1 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Vote on Motion to Ms. Lee Loy moved to suspend Council Rule 23 to waive Suspend Council the holdover for the substantive amendment of Rules: Res. 435-24. Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried by the (Approved) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Back to you, Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you so much. I was really overjoyed to participate in this event last year with Council Members Lee Loy and Kimball. It was so fun. There was competition. There were food trucks. There was dancing. It was just a really joyous event, and I'm very happy to be supporting again this year. So I'm just looking for all your support. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: All right, any further discussion? Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Council Member Kagiwada. Enthusiastically supporting this one, and I do look forward to the three of us hosting. That was a lot of fun. And just really want to appreciate not only Sammy over at our awesome athlete group, but even the Parks Department. So many of our County employees come out and volunteer for that, along with our canoe clubs. They show up for our kids to get them in and out of the canoes, and of course our Page 31 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 volunteer firefighters to provide all the safety with the jet skis and the boats out there so that these awesome athletes have an amazing time. So thank you for this support, Ms. Kagiwada. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. Anyone else? All right,just going to confirm that I've got dibs on the DJ(disc jockey) spot for the event. I just want say that's my favorite part of the job. All right, all those in favor of adopting Resolution 435-24, as amended,please say "aye." Vote on Res. 435-24: The motion to adopt Res. 435-24, as amended to Draft 2, Draft 2 was carried by the following voice vote: (Adopted) Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Return to Order The Chair directed the Council to return to the order of business. of Business: STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public. PUBLIC ON RES. 427-24 The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by (COMM. 698): the Chair: Hiram Rivera: In support. Jerome Kanuha: In support. Page 32 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 Res. 427-24: AUTHORIZES THE EXEMPTION OF CERTAIN CODE REQUIREMENTS, PURSUANT TO SECTION 2011-1-38 OF THE HAWAII REVISED STATUTES, FOR THE KUAKINI HEIGHTS AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECT IN KAILUA-KONA, HAWAII, COVERED BY TAX MAP KEY: 7-5-003:007 (Area: 10.529 acres) Kuakini Heights Housing Partners LP seeks exemptions from Hawaii County Code provisions for setback requirements, grading permit fees, building permit fees, and loading zone stall height requirements and exemptions from conditions within change of zone district Ordinance No. 06-152 relating to Final Subdivision Approval, time constraints on completion of construction, the development of a Salvation Army Complex, fair share contributions, and impact fees. Reference: Comm. 698 Intr. by: Mr. Inaba(B/R) Approve: LAAC-51 (Note: Comm. 698.6 from Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz and Comm. 698.7 from Council Member Holeka Goro Inaba, both dated February 21, 2024, and transmitting proposed amendments to Res. 427-24, were circulated.) Motion to Approve: Mr. Inaba moved to adopt Res. 427-24 and Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee Report No. 51. Seconded by Ms. Villegas. CHR. KIMBALL: Go ahead, Vice Chair Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you. We do have folks from OHCD (Office of Housing and Community Development) as well as from the Ahe Group, the developers for this project. At our last hearing, OHCD was at the Land Use Commission meeting relating to a separate project. So I just wanted to give the opportunity to Administrator Kunz, if you'd like to make any comment before we take up an amendment to this resolution. (Note: At this time, Housing Administrator Susan Kunz came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. KUNZ: Good morning. Susan Kunz, Housing Administrator. Thank you so much. This is a very valuable project for this community, and OHCD very much supports it. A lot of work by the developer, and communication and coordination by my team, absolutely. So I hope that there is support for it today. I know that there are some amendments based on the discussion that happened at the last meeting, so I'm sure we will go through some of those, and I hope that'll clear up some of the questions that came up the last time. But, right now, I'm going to turn it over to Makani Maeva to talk you through some of the project components, if you have any questions. Page 33 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MR. INABA: Thank you. We did get a general discussion. So if the body has questions, we will ask them at that time. Motion to Amend: Mr. Inaba moved to amend Res. 427-24 with the contents of Comm. 698.7. Seconded by Ms. Villegas. CHR. KIMBALL: Vice Chair Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you. So contained in Exhibit A are the listed exemptions being requested by the Ahe Group for this project. And under the section that says, "Exemptions from Provisions of Ordinance 06-152,"we're simply—it's more a cleanup of language being that a resolution cannot amend an ordinance. So this communication just rewords it, saying it's an exemption from the requirement in the ordinance, rather than an exemption to amend. So, essentially, a housekeeping item and ask for my colleagues' support on this cleanup change. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Vice Chair Inaba. Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member Inaba, and thank you for being here again, everyone. I also note, and it was kind of a topic of discussion and some concern, that the exemptions listed would somehow end up applying to the other properties, the property mauka of this, and then inadvertently they would benefit from these exemptions. But I notice the clarifying terminology in here saying that these exemptions are specific to that TMK (tax map key). So I wanted to confirm that I was perceiving this appropriately, and thank you for making that very specific about the property that this relates to. So, future developments that may be planned for that area, this eliminates any potential loophole or miscommunication in that capacity. So, if I'm understanding it correctly, it looks like you guys cleared all that up by adding the specific TMK numbers right in here. So thank you. I'll be in support of this amendment. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Villegas. Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: Thanks. I wasn't here at the previous discussion. In this amendment there is a requirement to begin construction within five years, and I just wanted to check with the developer that you're good with that. If you want to come up, you could. (Note: At this time, President and Managing Director Makani Maeva, Ahe Group, came forward to address the members of the Council.) Page 34 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MS. MAEVA: Good morning, Chair, members of the County of Hawaii Council. My name's Makani Maeva. I'm the president of the Ahe Group, and we are in agreement with all of the amendments that are listed here in Exhibit A, including the requirement to begin construction within five years. MS. GALIMBA: Thank you very much. That's all. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Galimba. Anyone else? Checking in Hilo. We're all good? All right. Vice Chair Inaba. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair, I just—one second. I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge my staff for putting together the initial amendment that would require the developer to commence construction of the affordable housing project within five years. That was something that was comprehensively discussed at Committee. We felt very strongly. We trust Makani and her team and their ability to have a very successful track record, but we also just wanted to make sure that we, as a body, we're taking a proactive step to ensure that we were requiring them to commence the construction of this project within five years, which she seemed very amenable to. I also just want to note that our office reached out to Corporation Counsel on February 7h and February 12'h to process the amendment and get guidance on how to proceed. Unfortunately, we did not receive a response. And so we apologized to the applicant and OHCD for the very rushed processes that our office and Council Member Inaba's office had to go through to make this amendment happen today. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? MR. INABA: Just very quickly, and Council Member Kierkiewicz did beat me to the punch here. But, yes, mahalo to Hiapo in her office and to Council Member Kierkiewicz at our last meeting for getting this No. 2 amendment in there so that we have this time line that we are working to ensure the initiation of this affordable housing. So mahalo, Council Member Kierkiewicz, for working with our office to get this done today. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Vice Chair Inaba. Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: Thank you. On the amendment, changing it from construction completed within five years to construction shall commence within five years of adopting this resolution. I just want to be clear that unless you get your financial stack in the your financial plan, as we discussed at our Committee hearing, you may not be able to commence. Is it based on your financial stacking? Because you have to go get a lot of funds and tax credits and all that stuff. So can you just comment briefly how that might affect you being able to achieve this. Page 35 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MS. MAEVA: Yes. It is a competitive process. This is a very good project, however. We already have some resources that we've been awarded in terms of a Section 8 contract. We are in right now actually to HHFDC (Hawai`i Housing Finance and Development Corporation) for tax-exempt bonds and 4 percent tax credits. So we'll just try, try, try again. I have been building affordable housing for 31 years now. We haven't been successful all the time, first time, but we just continue on. And the awards are really made on readiness. So we will invest in all of the architectural work. We will submit for a building permit. And then when they have a project in front of them that is ready to build and have all the resources, then you are most likely to receive an award, right. So we'll just—we recognize and appreciate your commitment. We're making a commitment and we will continue, and we will have contractors ready, construction documents ready, building permits ready. And we'll be standing there saying, "Pick us," and we'll do that and we'll stay in touch with you if we are at 4 years and 11 months of things don't look good, we'll continue to work together. But, thus far, we've been very successful because of our commitment to bringing projects that are really ready to build. These are not ideas that we're asking for other people to help us with. We're going to put our money where our mouth is on this, yeah. MS. EVANS: Okay. So "commencing" could be very phased in. So if you didn't get the financing, let's say, that you're achieving, you could still move forward on this affordable housing project, right, and phase it. So, within five years, you could do infrastructure, for example, and then maybe a few years later you actually put in the parking lot. I mean, "commencing,"there's different ways to look at that legally. So it could be along, drawn out project maybe. I just want to make sure it's on record that there's no guarantee that"commencing" doesn't meant it will roll out quickly. It could take a long time. MS. MAEVA: Right. Actually, affordable housing projects are typically financed in a different manner than a market-rate condominium project, where you could do as you've described: first do the parking lot and then do, I don't know, the infrastructure. With affordable housing projects, you have to bring your entire capital stack together at one point in time before any of the money is released. So we actually have the full funding for the entirety of the construction; for example, not dependent upon sales because these are rentals. So all of the resources, all of the sources and the uses balance at one miraculous moment in time, and we close and begin construction on affordable housing projects. That is the way they're built. And so we would not be likely to proceed with, for example,just a parking lot. We will bring all of the resources together at one time, and then build in that way. So we'll keep trying and we've got five years to start construction. And when we start construction, we will be starting construction to build the entire units, all of the units. Page 36 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MS. EVANS: Right. I just wanted to publicly state MS. MAEVA: There's no guarantee, though. MS. EVANS: Yeah. I'm just publicly stating, the way it's written, you can commence in five years. And"commencing" is, in legalese, it could take many years. Hopefully, with your record and your ability to get the financing, it will get built fast. But the way this is written is it could drag on for a long time. So hopefully not and we wish you the best of luck. Thank you, I yield. MS. MAEVA: Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Evans. Anyone else? All right, we're on the amendment right now for Resolution 427-24. All those in favor, please say "aye." Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Res. 427-24 with the contents of Amend: Comm. 698.7 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Vote on Motion to Ms. Lee Loy moved to suspend Council Rule 23 to waive Suspend Council the holdover for the substantive amendment of Rules: Res. 427-24. Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried by the (Approved) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Vice Chair Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. I did ask the developer and OHCD to get us a figure on the total financial exemption from County fees. Ms. Maeva, if you could share what that amount is. MS. MAEVA: Sure. I'd actually like to update that number since we last spoke. So the initial number that we had, which is primarily from the grading and the Page 37 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 permit fees, was $94,747. And in addition to that,there is a fair share contribution. At the initial time the document was written, it was $6,411 a unit. That has increased to $10,678 a unit, which is $106,780 plus the original 95,000, for a total of about$211,780 of exemptions. MR. INABA: Thank you very much for having that prepared for us today. Sometimes we get that in the resolution, so I just wanted it stated on the record. In support of passing this today. Mahalo. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Vice Chair Inaba. Council Member Evans, on the main motion. MS. EVANS: Okay. I spent a little time looking at the packet that you shared with us at your presentation, and there was a comment in there,just one thing I wanted to bring up. It said something about excess affordable housing credits, and that because of that, you didn't have to do some traffic mitigation intersection improvements. Can you comment on that? MS. MAEVA: I think you're referring to a comment in the bottom of the TIAR (Traffic Impact Analysis Report) from the consultant that talked about I mean, it's not my report but I did see that myself and Ioh, I made a note, actually. I wrote it down. I didn't know what it meant. It says, "Hawai`i traffic mitigation not required." That's actually the section, I think. It says, "traffic mitigation not required according to Hawaii County Code Chapter 25, Section 25-2-46, Concurrency requirements." I think it's related to traffic mitigation. I don't believe it's related to affordable housing credits. Is that the section you're talking about? MS. EVANS: Yeah, it was talking about there's going to be some excess affordable housing credits. Is that because you're building an excess amount? Or you're going to get some excess tax credits? MS. MAEVA: Yeah, I'm sorry; I'm not sure what you're referring to. We're building the affordable housing. We don't have any affordable housing credits that are being used in any way. Is there a section that you can point me to? MS. EVANS: Oh, so, you don't create you're not building enough to get some housing tax credits. Because, it was interesting—all I'm saying is it was an interesting comment about you're doing something that would basically say you don't have to do a traffic mitigation because of something you're doing. I saw this cause and effect. MS. MAEVA: I think we're merging terms: affordable housing credits and concurrency requirements at the bottom of the traffic study. I'm not sure if I can answer. Page 38 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MS. KUNZ: I want to be careful not to mix in the conversation about housing credits and excess credits into this traffic study, because I'm not sure what it's talking about here in the study. But I can tell you that this project is going to be earning credits to meet its requirement, but there will be no excess credits. MS. EVANS: Oh, okay. Okay. But they're earning credits. MS. KUNZ: I'm sorry? MS. EVANS: You said they were earning credits. MS. KUNZ: To meet their requirement. So, in Chapter 11, right, we recognize how a developer meets its requirements by awarding credits, which is different from excess credits. Excess credits are only earned after you've met your requirement and you've done more affordable than is required. Then you start to earn excess. So, if you're asking me does this project earn excess credits, it does not. So excess credits are those credits that a developer can use to transfer and sell. She's only earning credits to recognize her housing requirement, her affordable housing requirement. MS. EVANS: Okay. But again, it basically said that the cause and effect, something's there where she doesn't have to deal with the impacts of the traffic. There was some statement about meeting certain standards so (inaudible) didn't have to do MS. KUNZ: A concurrency requirement. MS. EVANS: Some changes to the traffic intersection or to some traffic. I just want to be mindful that the traffic is an issue in Kona, and we always add more each subdivision, each project adds more and more; and just make sure that when we make this decision, that we thought it out and we were okay that this would add more traffic. And, like I said, in the report when I was reading it, it said something about meeting a certain that it was considered and that in fact they didn't have to. And I just want to make sure that that consideration, whatever that threshold is, we're not requiring any mitigation. MS. KUNZ: I'm really sorry. It's referring to Chapter 25, which is planning, the Zoning Code. And it's kind of a little—it's beyond my understanding. We could certainly check in with the Planning Department after. MS. EVANS: Yeah,just to doublecheck. Yeah, thank you. I know people have always—we're always talking about adding more subdivisions and more traffic, and then how do we manage that. Thank you. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Evans. Any further discussion? Council Member Lee Loy. Page 39 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MS. LEE LOY: I was just going to offer to my colleague Ms. Evans that specific section is within our Zoning Code. That's our concurrency requirements. When a change of zone application is applied for, certain standards have to be in place before any change of zone action. I would definitely reach out to our Planning Department on the exception process that's being used for that. But my understanding is, I mean, this is the tool under the 201H program, right, is to exempt some of the fees and some of those standards so that we can get to the affordable housing. I also know that concurrency has a lot to do with water and water commitments. Oftentimes, change of zone applications were being applied for without even having water, and then the development of water would have to happen through that process. That's how some of the development would have gone in the past. That's not the case since the adoption of our concurrency ordinance. So maybe (inaudible)the Planning Department. Thanks. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. Any further discussion? All right, seeing none, all those in favor of approving Resolution 427-24, as amended, please say "aye." Vote on Res. 427-24: The motion to adopt Res. 427-24, as amended to Draft 2, Draft 2 and Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee (Adopted) Report No. 51 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you for being here. Thank you for your patience, everyone. BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Bills for ORDINANCES Ordinances (First Reading). (FIRST READING): (Note: Items in this category were taken up previously, out of order.) Page 40 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 Bill 120: AMENDS CHAPTER 19 OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (Draft 2) (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED) BY ADDING A NEW ARTICLE RELATING TO A REAL PROPERTY TAX STABILIZATION PROGRAM Establishes a fixed-rate property tax stabilization program for property owners who are at least 85 years old that utilize the property as their principal residence, and the property has a net taxable real property value of less than $2 million. Reference: Comm. 674.3 Intr. by: Ms. Evans Negative: FC-140 (Due to a vote of 3-ayes, 4-noes, 2-absent) (Note: Comm. 674.7, from Council Member Cindy Evans dated February 21, 2024, transmitting proposed amendments to Bill 120, Draft 2, was circulated.) Motion to Approve: Ms. Evans moved to pass Bill 120, Draft 2, on first reading. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. Motion to Amend: Ms. Evans moved to amend Bill 120, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 674.7. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Evans, on the amendment. MS. EVANS: Thank you. First, I want to thank my colleagues for the thoughtful just a wonderful discussion I thought we had at Committee and really pointing out, I think, some confusing language and kind of the direction I was headed in. Since then, I've worked with Real Property Tax Division and really tried to clear up what my original intent was. And what it is is when you turn the age of 85, if your net taxable value on your assessed property is $2 million or less and you're a qualifying homeowner, which means you're a resident with a homeowner's exemption, then your real property tax will be frozen. And it will be frozen until such time as either you die, you have transferred title out of your name to someone else, you're no longer the homeowner of record, then that would no longer—the tax would no longer be frozen. The other thing is we put in an adjustment that if in fact you decide to add more square footage to your property by building a building or by adding, let's say, an accessory structure, which might be a pool or something that would change actually your assessed value at that given point in time, then your real property tax would get completely readjusted to whatever the current tax would be levied on that assessed value, and then it would get frozen again as long as it's below the $2 million net taxable value. And the purpose of this is to help those that are 85 years of age; they're on fixed income. I know in my community that there's many widows over the age of 85. They've lived their whole entire lives in the community, and they really want to Page 41 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 stay in their home until they can no longer stay at home. And I just realize that the affordability of living and the cost of living in Hawaii is a challenge, and this is just one way to help our elderly, and ask for your favorable support. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Evans. Anyone else on the amendment? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 120, Draft 2, with the contents of Communication 674.7, please say "aye." Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 120, Draft 2, with the contents of Amend: Comm. 674.7 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball –8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder– 1. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Go ahead, Council Member Evans. Back to the main motion. MS. EVANS: Thank you. I think the new version and amendment really clarifies that it's a tax freeze. This is something that is done in many places across the United States. Understanding I think the challenge of being on a fixed income and the challenge of how the cost of staying in your own home become such a challenge, I do not want to take away from the fact we do need tax revenue, but I think this help to our seniors is really important. And again, I'm someone that looks at—there's an old saying: You can tell a lot about a community by the way they take care of their seniors and their children. And I just firsthand have seen, especially out in Kapa`au and Hawi, how many of these people, they just struggle staying in their home and I do think this could help. So ask for your favorable support. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Evans. Any discussion from the body? MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah, I just wondered if there was somebody here from Real Property Tax. Anyone in Hilo? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Keita Jo and Lisa Miura are here in Hilo. They've just walked up. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. Page 42 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 (Note: At this time, Real Property Tax Administrator Lisa Miura and Assistant Real Property Tax Administrator Keita Jo, Finance Department, came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you to the maker of this legislation for your diligence in continuing to just persevere to find that right sweet spot where this can actually fit and serve its intended purpose without accidentally jeopardizing or creating loopholes for someone else. And I just wanted to—you said you went back and worked with them, and I just wanted to ask for your guys' insights and input. As the tweaks we make here, it really falls to you guys to then execute and have to abide by the policies we create. So I wanted to ask you and get some assurance that the feasibility of this new policy and the benefits outweigh any risks. So lay it on us. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Council Member Villegas, could you repeat the last minute because you were frozen. MS. VILLEGAS: Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead and just share with us, then, your insights and essentially approval for how this is going to work, because I know this will be left to you guys to lift. MR. JO: Keita Jo, Assistant Real Property Tax Administrator. While we cannot grant an approval or a positive recommendation for this legislation, I just want to articulate that there was a discussion that was had regarding the complexity of how the legislation was originally written. And while the amendments add a little bit more simplicity from a technical standpoint, there's a lot of levers that are being pulled as far as real property tax program in Hawaii County. You have jurisdictions across the country that will look at exemptions, caps, preferential tax rates, circuit breakers, preferential assessments, and stabilization. For someone who's 85 and above, this seems to be pulling on a lot of those levers and adding more complexity to an already complex program. So, from that perspective, implementation/communication is going to be on the more difficult side with this legislation. If anything, I think the Division would like some additional time to really review this legislation and see if there's any unintended consequences because it's moving pretty quickly through this process. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you so much for your honesty on that and explanation of where your concerns would be. I just have a quick question for the maker. Council Member Evans, what other jurisdictions does this particular legislation already exist in? You mentioned that there were other municipalities that abide by this, and I just wondered if you had any specifics there. MS. EVANS: Yeah. There is, for example—some states will put it in state law that the counties can because of the way they do their tax structuring, some will do enabling legislation at the state level. Utah would be an example. But the Page 43 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 other thing is when you look at certain counties, I was looking in California, for example, at certain counties. And so what happens, depending on the jurisdiction and the way they tax, you may have a county do it at the county level and then again you may do—city do it at the city level. And he's actually correct in that there's certain terminology. Some call it"circuit breaker." Some people call it, like I'm calling it a stabilization program. People maybe kick it in at the age of 65. And then it's attached to 65 and CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Evans, I'm going to ask you to, rather than explain the different models that are out there, the specific question was some other jurisdictions that are doing it. If you could respond to that,please. MS. EVANS: Yes. So I looked at different counties in California. I looked at different counties and cities in Colorado and Illinois. I know they have it in Illinois because I had family members that were using the circuit breaker program. But each entity does it differently. Some base it on your annual income. Some base it on your assessed value. Some age. It all varies. And I decided the age of 85 was best for us in terms of what the impact would be for us and the longevity of how people live old in Hawaii. I thought 85 was the sweet spot for me. Again, it's kind of subjective on what we think is right for us. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. MS. EVANS: And having said that, I appreciate the comments. Thank you. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member Evans. We have done a lot of tinkering with our tax codes lately. And the intentionality from everyone sitting up here I truly believe is in the greatest interest of our community. We get a lot of feedback from people with our new assessed values and increases in property tax and whatnot. So I appreciate the intentionality, but I guess, right now, my heart goes out to Real Property Tax and the heavy lifts they're already navigating. And the ask for a pause on this, I think that there's wisdom in that. So I would ask my colleague to consider that by either postponing or withdrawing this for now, and just continuing to work with Real Property Tax and asking them for when the appropriate time could be, and that they have some more time to look at any unintended consequences. I just want to be careful. And I honor and respect the work that you guys do in your office. I guess I would have to defer to them on the capacity. I talk a lot about us being at capacity in a lot of different County infrastructure, and this is one of those capacities, even for Real Property Tax. So, at this point, that would be my ask of you, Council Member Evans; and if not, I wouldn't be able to support this today. But it's not a reflection of the intentionality of the legislation not being something that I think could be right on. It's more about our capacity to impose this on the capacity of these people who would have to lift it. So thank you. I yield. Page 44 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Villegas. I'm not sure who was first over here so fight it out. Council Member Lee Loy. MS. GALIMBA: Oh, wait. I just wanted to say real quick and then I'll let her go. CHR. KIMBALL: Okay, go ahead. MS. GALIMBA: Montana doesn't have any property tax for folks, like, I think it's over 70. Not that we're very much like Montana, but it is out there. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Galimba. Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. I'm in the same vein with my colleague Ms. Villegas. We have done a lot of tinkering with the Real Property Tax Code, and I was advised a very long time ago it is one of our most complex Codes that we have. So many levers, so many buttons. And, at this point, I'm going to put it like this: It feels like we're trying to nail Jell-O at this point. We've advanced a number of real property tax amendments, and I would love to see how they work or don't work or need to be refined. And so my heart goes out to Real Property Tax Division right now. And I just want to give them some great stuff that we already passed and then advance something maybe the next calendar cycle. I also took a very deep dive into our exemption process that we already have in the Code, and there's definitely some areas that would take some minor tweaks in that area to kind of see the relief that I know is the intent of this bill. But the idea of"freeze" and then the Real Property Tax office has to take a look at all of what's frozen, what's not frozen, what's moving, what's not moving, what's the new rates, what kind of exemptions do they have on it just seems overwhelming as I even speak about it. I'm in the same vein of if we could put a pin in this and let Real Property Tax evaluate and review what we've already done, and see where we land after that. But I'm also really excited of some of the housing opportunities that we passed here in the last 18 months, and seeing that stuff come online where we'll actually see some new real property taxes come in where maybe we can dial back the rates for everybody, rather than slicing off exemptions. Just some other ways to—as my former attorneys would say: "There's more than one way to skin a cat." So that's where I'm at. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: I don't know why you would want to skin a cat in the first place, but whatever. Okay. Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair, and thank you to the maker for being persistent and looking at this. I totally understand that there are many people who are age 85 and older in our community who may be struggling on a fixed income. Page 45 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 But I also believe there are people at that age in our community who are not struggling with income. And so I was very interested when you were mentioning before that some communities do this based on annual income or value of their property or something like that. I thought that was really interesting because, to me, that gets more at the target population you're talking about, which is not just those 85 and older but those who may be struggling. And I do feel like we doI think I mentioned this before, we have the homeowner exemption. We have the graduated exemptions that get higher as you get older. We have the 3 percent cap. I think we have a lot of things in place already. So, for me,just saying 85 and over, if you wanted to do it that way, I would think maybe doing another exemption level or something like that, or increasing the exemption for 85 and up because that's a more progressive tax rather than a regressive tax that gives a break to everybody, even those who don't necessarily need it. So that's where I am with this right now. I can't support it as it is. If you are going to postpone or withdraw, we can basically look at it later. Thank you again for bringing this forward. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kagiwada. Back to Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: Just real briefly. I do really support the intention. It looks so clean on paper for us, like, "Yeah, this looks like something I could totally support." But I also can understand when you have to do the back-end of it and actually figuring out how to actually do it, how it could get very complicated. So do want to respect our Real Property Tax, and especially our heroic Lisa Miura who's here even though I know she's just getting over COVID (coronavirus disease). It's amazing that you're here. Yes, that's all. Thanks. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Galimba. Want to check in with Hilo there. Council Member Kierkiewicz, anything to add? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, thank you, Chair. I'm going to stick with what I mentioned in Committee, which was I don't think this bill is ready for prime time. I didn't support it then; I don't support it now. I'm going to suggest either withdrawing or postponing to the call of the Chair. Real Property Tax has made it very clear there are a lot of tools that we already have that folks can leverage to find relief. And I do have concerns about what this program could potentially do in terms of revenue stability and impacting our ability to just be more flexible within our budget, and then the potential for inequity, right, like are we going to inadvertently create disparities among property owners? That's a big one for me. And after kind of hearing about just the complexities of this program and everything that we've already asked Real Property Tax to do, I just have real Page 46 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 concerns about their ability to have to assess, apply, and monitor another program. So, again, appreciate the hard work and the intention but can't be supporting this bill today. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kierkiewicz. Anyone else? All right, Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: What's the difference between postponement and tabling? Tabling is just putting it there until such time ? CHR. KIMBALL: Tabling would just leave it on the table for later on the agenda today. A postponement would allow us to take it up at a different time. MS. EVANS: Okay. Vote on Motion to Ms. Evans moved to postpone Bill 120, Draft 2, as Postpone: amended to Draft 3, to the call of the Chair. Seconded by (Approved) Ms. Lee Loy and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Bill 128: AMENDS CHAPTER 11, ARTICLE 1, SECTION 11-15, OF THE HAWAII (Draft 2) COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO TRANSFER OF EXCESS AFFORDABLE HOUSING CREDITS Requires developers of affordable housing projects to obtain approval from the Housing Administrator prior to initiating the transfer of excess affordable housing credits and that the Housing Administrator validate any such transfer upon its completion. Reference: Comm. 695.2 Intr. by: Mr. Inaba and Ms. Kimball Approve: PCPLUD-8 Motion to Approve: Mr. Inaba moved to pass Bill 128, Draft 2, on first reading and adopt Policy Committee on Planning, Land Use, and Development Committee Report No. 8. Seconded by Ms. Villegas. CHR. KIMBALL: Vice Chair Inaba. Page 47 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MR. INABA: Thank you. We had good discussion and we did have an amendment at our Committee hearing. So the Administrator for OHCD was not there that day. She's here today. If you'd like to make any comments, Administrator Kunz,please do. (Note: At this time, Housing Administrator Susan Kunz came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. KUNZ: Good morning. Susan Kunz, Housing Administrator. Thank you so much for the opportunity to comment on this draft to Chapter 11our amendment to Chapter 11. We are very much in support of this language. I feel that it represents the process that OHCD is putting in place to manage and administer affordable housing credits through Chapter 11. I especially like the added language that talks about giving the Housing Administrator the opportunity to void at the discretion if these processes are not abided by. So, very much in support of this. Thank you very much. MR. INABA: Thank you, Administrator, and ask for everyone's support in moving this to second and final reading. Mahalo. CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: Thanks. I just have a question about I really like I think the intent of this. At least keeping track of where these credits are I think is the intent of it, but there is a word about obtaining approval. So I just wanted to ask, and perhaps this may have already been discussed but I wasn't here, do you have or would you have criteria for approval or disapproval, or would it be more of a matter of keeping track of the transfer? MS. KUNZ: I think it's both. It will start with us working with a developer to outline the requirements per Chapter 11, and then making sure that when the development is complete and housing units are built, that the calculation of the credits are aligned with Chapter 11. So it's initiating that process through an agreement and then making sure that when the project is complete, that it continues to align with those requirements. I hope I'm answering your question. But it's both. It's a process and then it's also how we are tracking it once we recognize the credits. MS. GALIMBA: So I think what I'm hearing is that when a request for a transfer would come in, that the transfer would abide by the agreement and the—so the intent of those excess credits. MS. KUNZ: So it would include a process of the staff looking at where those credits were earned, that they were earned properly and appropriately. And then also being aware of the project that is, or the developer who's wanting to purchase and what they're using it for. So it's both sides. Page 48 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MS. GALIMBA: Understood. Thank you for giving me a little bit more color around what that process would be. But I think, at the very least,just having a process of keeping track of what is happening is very important and a good step forward. MS. KUNZ: Right. I mean, if I may share a little bit more, for example, there are housing projects that are completing currently. And so, once these projects are complete and if credits were earned, depending on the AMI, we're going in to audit files to make sure that the lease up of the units happened for that AMI or that income level so that if it's 60 percent or 80 percent or 100 percent, the correct number of credits were earned on that unit. So it's really very in depth what we're doing, what we're engaging in, to confirm that the proper number of credits are earned. MS. GALIMBA: Thank you. MS. KUNZ: Yeah. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thanks, Council Member Galimba. Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. Thanks, Susan, for being here. I had raised the issue about our DHHL affordable housing credits because they're earned at a one to one, regardless of the AMI. And I know there was some email exchanges between myself and Council Member Inaba from Judge Strance, and I wasn't sure where we landed on that. If you know, Susan or Mr. Inaba, if this is going to impact how DHHL and its subsequent developers construct housing for the trust and how those credits are earned and dispersed, because there is no radius on DHHL credits. MS. KUNZ: That is correct. So I'm not sure if I was in the loop on that communication, so I'm not familiar with the specific details of the conversation. Okay. CHR. KIMBALL: I think I'll let Vice Chair Inaba respond to that specific question before going on to Council Member Villegas. MR. INABA: Sure. Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. So Corporation Counsel did share that the current DHHL process for requesting and transferring housing credits seems to place the burden on the developer to comply with the County processes when acquiring DHHL excess credits. So some of the other counties do have more specific rules in the HRS (Hawai`i Revised Statutes), specifically Kauai and the City and County of Honolulu, to negotiate agreements with DHHL for these housing credits. But there is nothing specific regarding Hawaii County. So it would just go along with what our Chapter 11 says, based on the last email. So nothing prevents them from getting their credits on the one Page 49 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 to one like we had discussed at Committee hearing. And then, as long as the recipient is able to actually use the credits, then it would be up to the Housing Administrator to grant that transfer. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Vice Chair Inaba. Does that answer your question? MS. LEE LOY: Absolutely. Susan, maybe offline we can have that conversation, because today the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is approving a 300-unit housing development right in Pana`ewa. And so, yes, it's for our Native Hawaiians, but there's a lot of carrots in that many units. So, definitely MS. KUNZ: I'd love to have that conversation. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, and how we can help everybody just incentivize housing opportunities for all. And I just know this one to one is a huge incentive regardless of what price point they're at. Thank you. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: I want to start off by thanking you, Administrator Kunz. At the beginning of your service in this role, the beginning of this Administration, it's my understanding we had no real tracking. And your team did that dig and has been able to provide so far in my years of service the most inclusive list of what's out there, and that's a lot farther than we had been before. And I want to recognize those efforts that were made to rectify a system that otherwise was proven deeply flawed, and with too many pukas for predatory behavior and selfish and greedy people to take advantage of the unfortunate lack of proper management of what was intended initially to be a program to help the people and not just provide a loophole for others to make big money off of projects they never completed or whatever the case was. I see this as an opportunity for the authentication, the verification, as asked by one of my colleagues, is like how you'd be deciding. It provides an opportunity with public recognition of the authentication, verification, accountability, and accuracy of what's going on in what has become an industry of affordable housing credits worth a lot of money. Also eliminating the opportunities for deception and false claims. In our last meetings that were happening at the same time as the Land Use Commission hearings, there was a developer making false claims about one of the affordable housing projects that was before us today, being the credits they would utilize for a totally different project. Without traceable, trackable, verifiable Page 50 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 programs put in place, historically,people making claims like that, it just gets assumed that they're accurate, and mistakes happen. And in the long run, our community suffers. So thank you for taking the time and doing this dig into some of the unfortunately dirty, dark corners of what is just the human experience. Whenever humans are involved in stuff, we tend to have some dirty, dark corners. But bringing light to them and improving the process I think will continue to improve the way that we manage our resources and hold developers accountable and authentically provide workforce housing to our communities. I just had a quick question. Where is the tracking method housed, then, because there is some cross pollination here between Planning and Housing. So I just want to understand where it then lives because if it's living in Housing, I recognize the responsibility that Planning has to also be holding developers and people responsible for their authentic claims. MS. KUNZ: So the housing credits and the accountability of them sits in our office. There's a very strong coordination between the Planning office and the Housing office. And, as you see in some of these ordinances, some of the Planning ordinances refer or require Chapter 11, or meeting requirements of Chapter 11. So there's a lot of coordination. Director Kern and I have been talking about how to memorialize some of this coordination between the offices. So we've been actively talking about processes like that so that, going forward, there's actually a recognized process between the two offices. I think it's important. But the housing credits sit with the Housing office. And thank you so much for recognizing the work. This is not me. This is my staff. And so some of them are here today. MS. VILLEGAS: I see him right there. Thank you, staff. I appreciate you. MS. KUNZ: They are amazing. So I really give credit to them for that. MS. VILLEGAS: Wonderful. Thank you for helping MS. KUNZ: Oh MS. VILLEGAS: Go ahead. MS. KUNZ: I would also like to mention: So, since the audit, we continue to track these credits on a spreadsheet. Very true. But the team has been working on several software systems, and I think we're zeroing in on one. And we're hoping to have a dashboard with a database up and running before the end of this fiscal year, hopefully sooner, so we will be able to reflect publicly the tracking of these credits, No. 1. And also, when we talk about our affordable housing Page 51 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 pipeline, we want to have that recognized on the dashboard as well so that anyone can see what the numbers are looking like and where these projects are located. So I'm really excited for that to come up soon. I'll keep (inaudible). MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you for bringing that element of transparency and authentication to a program that has otherwise gotten a pretty black eye and been otherwise viewed as kind of a Ponzi scheme. So I'm grateful to get some hope back into this affordable housing credit model, and that it could actually be something that serves the people. So thank you for, yeah, bringing that back up to a level of potential trust by our community. I appreciate it. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Villegas. Anyone else before I go back to Vice Chair Inaba? All right, seeing none, Vice Chair Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you. I just want to summarize this discussion so we can take the vote, but this bill is good for everyone. It's good for the Office of Housing and Community Development to keep our records straight. It's good for developers who might be looking for another developer that they can get excess credits from. And it's good for people who want to make sure that the credits they're getting are legitimate credits, and that they don't purchase and spend money on credits that, come to find out, are not legitimate. So ask for everyone's support on getting this through. Mahalo. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Vice Chair Inaba. With that, we'll go for the vote on the main motion. All those in favor, please say "aye." Vote on Bill 128: The motion to pass Bill 128, Draft 2, on first reading and Draft 2 adopt Policy Committee on Planning, Land Use, and (Approved) Development Committee Report No. 8 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Page 52 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 Bill 129: 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 State Grants —Transit-Oriented Development Capital Improvement Projects for Kukuiola Village 9 account($400,000); and appropriates the same to Transit-Oriented Development Capital Improvement Projects for Kukuiola Village 9 account. Funds would be used to support the assessment, design, and feasibility of low-income affordable housing in a portion of Kukuiola Village 9 in North Kona. Reference: Comm. 703 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R) Approve: FC-141 Vote on Bill 129: Ms. Lee Loy moved to pass Bill 129 on first reading and (Approved) adopt Finance Committee Report No. 141. Seconded by Ms. Galimba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. 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.) Page 53 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 Bill 109: INITIATES AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE XIII, SECTION 13-8 OF THE (Draft 3) HAWAII COUNTY CHARTER(2022 EDITION), RELATING TO TERM OF OFFICE OF DEPARTMENT HEADS Proposes to revise the County Charter to require the Mayor to appoint department heads within 30 days of taking office and within 60 days of any vacancy occurring during the Mayor's term of office, and further that the department head, with the exception of the Managing Director, shall not take office until confirmed by the County Council. Reference: Comm. 627.17 Intr. by: Mr. Inaba and Ms. Villegas First Reading: January 10, 2024 Second Reading: January 24, 2024 Postponed: February 7, 2024 2/3 Vote: Third of three required readings, Section 15-1(a), Hawai`i County Charter (Note: There is a motion by Mr. Inaba, seconded by Ms. Villegas, to pass Bill 109, Draft 3, on third and final reading; and a subsidiary motion by Mr. Inaba, seconded by Ms. Kagiwada, to amend Bill 109, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 627.18.) ; and Comm. 627.18: From Council Member Holeka Goro Inaba and Council Member Rebecca Villegas, dated February 7, 2024, transmitting proposed amendments to Bill 109, Draft 3. (Note: Comms. 627.21 and 627.22, from Council Member Holeka Goro Inaba and Council Member Rebecca Villegas dated February 20, 2024, transmitting proposed amendments to Bill 109, Draft 3, were circulated.) Withdraw Motion Mr. Inaba withdrew his motion to amend Bill 109, Draft 3, to Amend: with the contents of Comm. 627.18. MR. INABA: We do have a new amendment before us today that Council Member Villegas and I are putting forward. Motion to Amend: Mr. Inaba moved to amend Bill 109, Draft 3, with the contents of Comm. 627.22. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. MR. INABA: Thank you. So, here in this amendment today,just clarifying the language. "Appointing authority" has been changed to "mayor." As it currently stands in the Charter, the deputies and assistants are there, so that's why the term "appointing authority" is used. Now that we've removed them, this is specific to department heads, and the only appointing authority in this section is the mayor. So that's why it's being changed to "mayor." Page 54 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 Again, at our last meeting, there was hesitation regarding the starting time of directors and having them start only after being confirmed by the Council. So we have changed it so that they can take office upon appointment, and that they can continue in office even after the end of a term, being that we do want continuity and that's kind of what our discussion has really been around throughout these multiple readings. And because we're going back to the, or essentially staying with the idea that they start upon appointment, we are providing for 60 days for Council action. This just allows one extra hearing should the Council need to postpone for further discussion. But happy to take any questions that the Council might have, but really a cleanup measure and changing what the body's kind of desire was on this bill so that department heads do take office upon appointment, rather than after confirmation by Council. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Vice Chair Inaba, for the explanation on the amendment. Any discussion on the amendment? Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: I just want to take this opportunity to thank Council Member Inaba for your diligence in taking something that we recognized as an issue currently in our Charter. And as much as the intentionality was based on some historical experiences to take it in one direction when there wasn't the complete support of the Council, you took the opportunity and the initiative and applied a lot of wisdom in cleaning up what was there anyway in the Charter so that moving forward, we, as a Council, can actually be abiding by and as a County can be abiding by a cleaner, more understandable process as we move through election times and appointments of new people as different department heads. So just want to take that opportunity to thank you for being so flexible and pivoting and identifying the opportunities for improvement. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Villegas. Council Member Evans, on the amendment. MS. EVANS: I just think, for clarity, the biggest change I'm seeing is we're taking out deputies, assistants, and the managing director. Am I correct? CHR. KIMBALL: You may respond, Vice Chair Inaba. MR. INABA: The deputies and assistants/private secretaries are being removed because a different section of the Charter speaks to when they are hired or terminated. So we made it very clear that this section is specific to department heads. MS. EVANS: To department heads. MR. INABA: Yes. Page 55 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MS. EVANS: And the managing director is not a department head. So that also is the clarity that managing director doesn't fall in this either. This is just department heads. MR. INABA: The managing director would be subject to Section 13-8. They're being removed from Subsection (c)right now, which was an amendment we had added in the event that the version as presented, meaning they start after confirmation by the Council. There was concern that we really do need a managing director. So we made it so that the managing director was exempt from that section, and they would start upon appointment. But what's before us today in this amendment says that all of these department heads now start upon appointment. They don't have to wait for confirmation by Council. MS. EVANS: Okay. So managing director is dealt with somewhere else in the Charter. I just want to make because I wouldn't think the managing director could be a department head,just so you know. So I'm just, for me—I know we're going to go to third reading on this because we're amending it. I just would like that clarity to make sure the managing director, nobody could misinterpret. Because, you did strike out the term "managing director" from Subsecition (c), and now we're just saying "department heads." Just want to make sure. MR. INABA: Department heads include the managing director and always have in the way we've done things in the Charter. So, by striking them out of this, it doesn't matter; they are also included. Covered under Section 13-8, they are a department head, Office of Management. CHR. KIMBALL: All right, I'm going to ask for any more comments from Council Member Evans, and then we'll go to Council Member Lee Loy, please. MS. EVANS: I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thanks. Absolutely. Just love the way Mr. Inaba structures these things to make sense. It's not run-on sentences or divided by a semicolon. So thank you for this framework and structure. I just wanted clarity around "assistants." Is that the mayor's executive assistants that he appoints, or is that the private secretaries that land with our various department heads? I just wanted to understand. Because we're striking that all out; I absolutely get it. I think, you know, we all pretend "What if we were mayor; how do we walk this all out?" That's all I'm trying to do. CHR. KIMBALL: You may respond, Vice Chair. MR. INABA: Sure. So this is specific to-13-8 is specific, currently as it stands, to department heads and their private secretaries and deputies. They're being Page 56 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 removed out of this because Section 4-5 says, gives the powers and duties of the agency heads. And (Subsection) (a) is that they appoint and remove deputies or assistants. As to the mayor's executive assistants, totally different from what we're talking about here. Yeah. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. Again, people are going to ask, "How do we vote on this? Who does it apply to?" So thank you for that clarity. I yield. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: I need to leave but I just wanted to say that I really appreciate the amendments and that I could support this. But I do need to leave, so maybe I'll have to support it next time. CHR. KIMBALL: All right, thank you. Clerk Henricks,just confirming, do we need a super majority on a Charter amendment, third reading? We do, yeah? MR. HENRICKS: For the vote on the main motion? Yes. CHR. KIMBALL: All right. MR. HENRICKS: Two-thirds vote of the entire membership to pass the main motion. CHR. KIMBALL: All right,just checking. We still have a super majority in the room. Okay, go ahead. Point of Procedure: MS. LEE LOY: Chair, a point of procedure. We are at third reading and we're doing an amendment. Clerk, is there an option to suspend when it's a Charter amendment, or would this carry over again? Does that make sense? MR. HENRICKS: The rules don't carve out any exemptions for bills that initiate Charter amendments. CHR. KIMBALL: All right. Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you. So I understand the sentiment behind adding back the 60 days, giving us extra time. I am a little concerned. I feel like the longer somebody is in the position without having been confirmed, the harder it is for us to potentially not confirm if we don't feel they're the appropriate person. And so I'm just wondering if that was weighed when deciding to go from the 45 days to the 60 days. Yeah. So, even though they can start before this, I still feel like it is our obligation to follow up and confirm or not confirm as quickly as possible. I hate to drag things out that doesn't allow a new administration to fully start down the path of the work that they want to do. And I feel like we can get it Page 57 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 done in 45 days. So that's just my two cents on that. If everybody else really wants the 60 days, I'm happy to go along, but I just wondered if that was discussed or thought about between the two makers. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kagiwada. Vice Chair Inaba, you may respond. MR. INABA: Thank you, Council Member Kagiwada, regarding essentially keeping it at 60 days. If we move it to 45 days, we are on that strict time line to have the Committee, have the Council. In the beginning of this mayoral term, I believe there were a couple appointments that we did, based on community feedback, want one more hearing, but everyone else was confirmed within 45 days. So the intention is to get people started and confirmed, but we don't want to rush the Council to make a decision when we currently have always had 60 days. And we typically take action within that time frame as soon as possible. So, again, we went to the 45 days just because it was the request to do so being that they couldn't start the job at all. But it really would be for the Council and the public's best interest to have the 60 days so that we can hear from our constituents. And that's why it was put for 60 days, as it currently is in the Charter. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. Like I said, it's not a make it or break it for me. I just, you know, I do have concerns that we do our best to try to confirm people as quickly as possible. That's the intention. Thank you. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kagiwada. A quick check in with Hilo on the amendment. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes, Chair, on the amendment. Thank you for putting this forward. My reading of it is that this particular amendment cleans up what is our current process of appointing and confirming department heads. Is that correct, Council Member Inaba? CHR. KIMBALL: You may respond. MR. INABA: Yes. And it does speak to the ability for deputies, assistants, and even the directors to holdover. Right now, we use the term "coterminous" and also say that they can holdover, but there's no definition of what a holdover can or is. So that's why we allow for the holdover via this amendment, but we do know that at the beginning of every single mayoral term, the Council will have the opportunity to weigh in on all department heads, which is a gray area as the current Charter reads. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. I think the heartburn that I had with the original draft was when the appointee would actually begin work at the County. Page 58 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 Previous versions talked about the department head taking on the role upon confirmation of Council. And here, with this amendment, we're saying that department heads can start as soon as they are appointed by mayor, and they can continue to serve in that capacity when they are officially confirmed by the Council. Is that correct? MR. INABA: Yes. And that reflects the current language in the Charter as well. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, great. Thank you for making these fixes. I will be supporting the amendment. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you. Any further discussion? Seeing none, on the amendment, all those in favor of amending Bill 109, Draft 3, with the contents of Communication 627.22,please say "aye." Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 109, Draft 3, with the contents of Amend: Comm. 627.22 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Evans, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —7. Noes: None. Absent: Council Members Galimba and Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—2. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: Vice Chair Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you. So I just want to do a quick recap. We kind of went up over the hill and back this way with this bill MR. HENRICKS: Madam Chair, seeing as this is at final reading and has been amended, the rules require a holdover. MR. INABA: I will be asking for the holdover so that we can get a clean draft and take a vote at final reading next time. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Vice Chair Inaba. So we will be upholding Rule 23 and holding this bill over for the next hearing. Sorry, guys. I'm just going to do that the whole rest of the term; you can anticipate. Bill 109, Draft 3, (Note: Due to a substantive amendment, Bill 109, Draft 3, as amended to Draft 4, Held Over: is held over pursuant to Rule 23(1)(d) to the March 6, 2024, Council meeting.) (as amended) REPORTS: The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Reports. Page 59 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 (Note: Items in this category were taken up previously, out of order.) REFERRALS FOR The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Referrals EXECUTIVE for Executive Session. SESSION: Res. 440-24: AUTHORIZES THE EMPLOYMENT OF SPECIAL COUNSEL TO REPRESENT THE COUNTY OF HAWAII, BOARD OF ETHICS IN PETITION NO. 2023-10 Provides for the retention of legal services by the County of Maui Office of the Corporation Counsel, with total costs not to exceed $1,500. Reference: Comm. 731 Intr. by: Ms. Evans (B/R) Waived: GOEAC Note: Requires 2/3 vote of the entire membership, pursuant to Section 6-5.5, Hawaii County Charter CHR. KIMBALL: All right. So we can take a motion, I think, on the resolution to get our conversation started, and then it's up to the body if we want to go into Executive Session. Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Res. 440-24. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. CHR. KIMBALL: We do have Corporation Counsel over in Hilo, and we also have a document that you guys should have beena confidential communication that was provided today. So please review that quickly. If there's any need to get into Executive Session, Council Member Lee Loy is prepared to do so. MS. LEE LOY: On the motion on the resolution. Chair, I'm going to be supporting the resolution. It seems like a fair amount to get us started in this direction. But, as always, happy to help get us into Exec. (Executive) Session if anybody needs it. CHR. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. Any other discussion on the motion? Vice Chair Inaba. MR. INABA: Is somebody from Corporation Counsel in Hilo chambers? I just want to make sure I'm understanding just the basis of their request, and I don't want to say anything that— MS. hatMS. KIERKIEWICZ: Assistant Corp. (Corporation) Counsel is here. Page 60 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MR. INABA: Thank you, Mr. Yoshimoto. I just want to make sure I understand, so that we don't need to go into Executive Session, what is really the issue here with this petition. (Note: At this time, Assistant Corporation Counsel J Yoshimoto came forward to address the members of the Council.) CHR. KIMBALL: Assistant Corporation Counsel, can you respond to Vice Chair Inaba's inquiry as to the just give us a general overview of the purpose of this resolution. MR. YOSHIMOTO: Okay. Good morning, Council Members. J Yoshimoto, Assistant Corporation Counsel. Actually, good afternoon. The memo (memorandum)that was provided to the Council Members basically explains the situation. I don't know what else to say beyond I'm sorry, I guess the better question is, is there a specific question, Vice Chair Inaba? MR. INABA: Yes. I'm just wondering why—so are we saying that Corporation Counsel doesn't provide any guidance to the Ethics Board? MR. YOSHIMOTO: I can explain that, then, in Executive Session. I would recommend that. MR. INABA: Even though it's not specifically related to this case, we still need to go into Executive Session? MR. YOSHIMOTO: I'm sorry, maybe I'm not understanding. Your question is relating to this resolution, and the question is whether MR. INABA: In general, does Corporation Counsel give legal guidance to the Board of Ethics? MR. YOSHIMOTO: As a general practice, yes. We advise the Board of Ethics, correct, on matters that come before it. MR. INABA: Okay. So, in this case, we're wanting recusal from any involvement on this petition. MR. YOSHIMOTO: Correct. MR. INABA: I think we should go into Executive Session. Sorry, I know the amount is small, but I can't understand the reason in reading through the reso (resolution) and the memo. MR. YOSHIMOTO: Okay, sounds good. Page 61 Hawaii County Council-32 February 21,2024 MS. LEE LOY: (Inaudible) motion or ? CHR. KIMBALL: Yes, please get us into Executive Session. Vote on Motion to Ms. Lee Loy moved to enter into Executive Session in Enter into order to hold attorney-client privilege discussion regarding Executive Session: Resolution 440-24, as authorized by Section 92-5(a)(4) of (Approved) the Hawaii Revised Statutes. Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —7. Noes: None. Absent: Council Members Galimba and Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—2. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: We are going to enter into Executive Session. Thank you. Recess: At 12:20 p.m., the Chair called for a recess in order to clear the room. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 12:39 p.m. CHR. KIMBALL: All right, we are out of Executive Session. Okay, we have a motion on the floor to approve Resolution 440-24. Any further discussion on this before we proceed? All right, seeing none, all those in favor please say "aye." Vote on Res. 440-24: The motion to adopt Res. 440-24 was carried by the (Adopted) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Kimball —7. Noes: None. Absent: Council Members Galimba and Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—2. Excused: None. OTHER The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Other BUSINESS: Business. (There were none.) Page 62 Hawai`i County Council-32 February 21,2024 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 12:40 p.m., Mr. Inaba moved to adjourn the MENT: meeting. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Evans, Inaba,Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz,Lee Loy,Villegas, and Chair Kimball—7. Noes: None. Absent: Council Members Galimba and Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—2. Excused: None. CHR. KIMBALL: The time is now 12:40. We are adjourned. Mahalo, everyone. Council Approval: APR 1` Z 2024 C UNTY C JH/dg Page 63