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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN LAAC 2024/03/19 (2022-2024)Committee on Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions 24th Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawaii March 19, 2024 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions ORDER: was called to order at 9:40 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Vice Chair Ms. Cindy Evans, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member (via videoconference from Hilo) Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member (came in later) STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: COMMUNI- r A TTnNc The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. (There were none.) CHR.INABA: Mahalo. The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Communications. Comm. 761: REQUESTS FORMATION OF AN AD HOC COMMITTEE FOR THE PURPOSE OF REVIEWING APPLICATIONS AND DEVELOPING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2024-25 NONPROFIT GRANTS- IN-AID AWARDS From Council Member Holeka Goro Inaba, dated March 1, 2024. ; and Comm. 761.1: From Finance Director Diane Nakagawa, dated March 5, 2024, transmitting the applications from eligible nonprofit organizations. LAAC-24 March 19, 2024 Motion to Close File: Ms. Kimball moved to close file on Comm. 761. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz. CHR. INABA: If we could just give me a little latitude, I wanted to kind of give us an update regarding —well, actually I'm not sure if Director (Diane) Nakagawa would like to say anything on behalf of the Finance Department? She's here joining us in Kona and here office is the one who takes the preliminary look at the applications that are submitted by our local nonprofits for this program. So, Director Nakagawa, if you'd like to start off, please go ahead. (Note: At this time, Finance Director Diane Nakagawa came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. NAKAGAWA: Good morning, Council Members. Diane Nakagawa, Finance Department. Thank you for having us here this morning. On this item, I can just do a quick rundown if that's okay. So, this year we've received 196 applications. Close to last year, just slightly less. 136 were submitted to Council for their review. We did mail out 60 letters of disqualification on March 6, 2024. Some of the reasons that we sent out these disqualification letters were mostly missing documents, financial statements that didn't meet the minimum criteria, IRS (Internal Revenue Service) documents not included, and articles of incorporation or their bylaws were incomplete. So, those are just some of the reasons that we sent out those letters and that reasoning was included in the letters that were sent out as well. So, that's just a quick summary of this year's review. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Director. So, bringing it back, we do have this communication. And again, we do this annually where we create a permitted interaction group that leads the process in making those final determinations on recommendations to the full committee for these awards. So, wanting to check in today, as we did last year, one of our staff members is completing the scoring sheets so that all nine Council Members can participate in scoring should they choose. And after setting up the ad hoc today we would be able to then set out the timeline for when we'd need the scores and what those final steps would look like so that we can get things ready and sent back to Finance Department to include in our budget. So, wanting to open it up right now. Starting over in Hilo, any comments? MS. LEE LOY: Thanks, Mr. Inaba. Of course, happy to serve on this permitted interaction group. I'm looking over at my staff and they're like, yes, yes. So, I think I'm being voluntold or volunteered at the same time. So, I would look forward to sitting on this permitted interaction group again. Thank you. Page 2 LAAC-24 March 19, 2024 CHR. INABA: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy. Coming back over to Kona. Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. I'm just wondering if the director could come back just for a little bit more information, just to get it out to the public. If you could give just a summary of the dollar amounts that are potentially eligible of the ones that did go through and what our current amount that we have in our bucket to give out. MS. NAKAGAWA: So, the 136 applications that were sent to Council total $4,792,500 and the available budget is $2.5 million. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. Thank you so much. I just wanted the expectations to be realistic out there to the public. So, thank you so much and look forward to this progress of these grant applications. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Council Member Kagiwada. Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: Thank you. Just a question. So, this ad hoc committee, I mean last year a lot of work was put into redoing the application and the scoring. And so, is the ad hoc committee also going to review and make recommendations and amendments or is it just the ad hoc committee would be those who are committing that they will read it and score it? I'm just curious, the purpose of the ad hoc. A little more clarity, please. CHR. INABA: Sure. So, per the communication, this permitted interaction group investigates and makes relevant inquires into the nonprofits that were sent over by Finance, and they'll make the final recommendation back to this entire committee for action, and then we would then provide that to Finance to include in the budget. MS. EVANS: So, how will the other members, if they aren't on your ad hoc, you say we can still score? So, it won't just be ad hoc committee making the recommendations? CHR. INABA: So, we did this last year with guidance from Corporation Counsel, but the scores just go directly into a file and the ad hoc committee is the one who reviews them and makes, you know, the calculations as to the final scores and the final determination. MS. EVANS: So, the ad hoc committee will also recommend the dollar amount? Page 3 LAAC-24 March 19, 2024 CHR. INABA: Yes. And we do try to keep to the $2.5 million, which is the minimum established in Code. MS. EVANS: Okay. Thank you. I yield. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah. Thank you, Chair. I just had a question for either you or for the Finance Director. 60 disqualifications does seem like a much higher number than in previous years, and I don't recall previous year's exact numbers, but it does seem much higher. I'm wondering if you have any ideas on why that might be. Have we changed our processes of that initial step through the review by Finance or is there anything else you can point to. That's my first question. My second question is for those entities that have been disqualified, do they have an opportunity to contest their disqualification in this intervening period before we score? And then finally, third question is what kind of support are we providing nonprofits for making sure that they're really clear on what they have to submit? You know, I know in the past there were some videos created and things like that. Are we still providing that sort of onboarding to the nonprofit organizations? CHR. INABA: Sure. I can answer those. So, regarding the process or the qualifying documents, nothing has changed. We do still have the same videos and the same resources available that were on our website for the last two years, and they're still relevant as to which documents are required regarding bylaws, regarding the financial forms of that. Those documents and those resources were provided by Council Member Lee Loy along with Corporation Counsel a couple rounds back. I do not believe that we are going to be taking any opportunities for those who were disqualified in this first round because those disqualification letters were sent, and unless there was a mistake made by the Finance Department where in fact the forms or documents did meet the eligibility requirements, we won't be allowing for a second submissions of documents that otherwise didn't meet the requirements. Director Nakagawa. MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. Thank you. I just wanted to make one point on your question related to the number of disqualifications, and they do seem high, but they've actually gone down by three from last year. So, thank you. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Heading back to Council Member Evans. And reminding the group if anyone would like to serve on the ad hoc, there's still a couple more positions open. Thank you. Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: Thank you. So, this year, you know, people had to sign in, and put everything, download it, and put it on computers, and they had to be careful. Page 4 LAAC-24 March 19, 2024 If they hit the wrong button, they'd have to start all over again. And I do know that there was training online, but it just seemed that we did change the way people introduce things this year and always when you make change, the first year, it's always a little there's always some groups that just have a hard time going from the way it used to be to a new way of doing things. So, I do hope that of those that got disqualified, I hope that there's more than just a disqualification letter that somehow we circle back around. Because I'm looking at the ones that were disqualified and it's pretty amazing, some of these people that have been around a long time and I'm sure have worked with the County over the years that got disqualified. So somehow, it'd be nice to circle back around and work with them to make sure. Maybe there's something we could do so it's not last minute. Anyway, I'm hoping. I'm hoping that we can do more education. So, thank you. I yield. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Council Member Evans. Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: Thank you. First of all, happy to serve on the committee again. And I guess just wanted to mention something. In reading some of the names, I've noticed that some of the ones that were disqualified last year qualified this year. So, there's maybe, you know, and I think of them that qualified last year are disqualified this year. So, it's kind of interesting and I don't know why it is. But I think, you know, it is hard to get all the documents together and make sure that they load correctly, and I don't know if there's maybe some kind of way, we can help folks with that process without overburdening Finance too much, because you know, we can't handhold too much either otherwise nothing gets done. So, you know, something to think about for sure because there's definitely some competent organizations that did not make the minimum this year. Thanks. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Council Member Galimba. Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: If needed, I'm happy to serve. It sounds like a great opportunity to learn more about the organizations in our community. CHR. INABA: Alright. With that I do want to note, we did have a two application limit per nonprofit this year unless they were serving as a fiscal sponsor for another program or organization, the limit was two. So, if we do look through the qualified applications here, we might see some that are from the same nonprofit but there's more than two. I just want the public to know that I assume in those cases, because Finance did go through them and there were some that were already pulled out in the case that a nonprofit submitted more than two. So, these would be fiscal sponsors and we would be looking Page 5 LAAC-24 March 19, 2024 through them with that lens, knowing that they're fiscal sponsors. So, Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah, thank you. I just want to make a couple notes here just reflecting on the conversation. You know, when I was first elected, we had to review paper applications. That was pretty daunting. And then there were like a whole week of meetings with various nonprofits only to say what we already read. And I think under Council Member Lee Loy's leadership and now Council Member Inaba's leadership, we've shifted from paper to digital on purpose because the rest of the world, other foundations, government, they accept everything online. So, I think this is our way of helping to support our community really get with the times. There is adequate support out there for nonprofits that are looking to apply for a Waiwai grant. In addition to the videos, I know that Council Member offices and the Finance Department are available from Black Friday till the end of January to answer any questions nonprofits have. The expectations are very clear. And I think sometimes people are just grabbing documents from last nonprofit cycle and recycling them for this. We just really urge our nonprofits to maybe get a new set of eyes on the submission to ensure that these erroneous errors aren't made in the future because we do have a lot of really outstanding nonprofit organizations that were disqualified likely because a document from a prior year was submitted. And I know that the Finance Department has now gotten out of the habit of calling people, "Hey, you've submitted the wrong document," because we have to make sure that if we're going to do that for one, we have to do that for all 200 or whatever applicants that do apply. So, I appreciate how this process has evolved, how it's gotten more modernized, how it's really built the capacity of our local nonprofit community so that they could be really efficient and successful with their grant applications. It sounds like you have your four. So, I appreciate the process and the ability to review and score applications. Thank you, Council Member. CHR. INABA: Thank you. And then I'll just wrap this up. In the previous cycle, for determining awards, there were Council Members, some who participated, some who didn't, some who partially participated. And in this round, in all fairness to the applicants who were qualified, I'm asking that if you do plan to score, it's all or none. We don't want some applications being scored by just three Council Members and some being scored by all nine. So, I want to put that out ahead of time this time. And also note that just because we have this list here, the qualification for compliance with the Code still needs to be determined by those scoring as well as the ad hoc, whether it meets the public purpose in this Section 2-137 of the Code. So, that was something pointed out by Corporation Counsel that we will all need to be mindful of what we receive from Finance are those whose documents, the bylaws, those types of things Page 6 LAAC-24 March 19, 2024 passed the Finance Department's test. So, there is further weeding out that needs to be done, looking at what qualifications we've set forth. With that, I want to mahalo Council Members Lee Loy, Galimba, and Kagiwada, for volunteering to sit on this permitted interaction group. Mr. Clerk, could you just remind me, we're able to just establish this permitted interaction group here, and do we need to set a date at which we will come back? MR. HENRICKS: Typically, it would be postponed to the call of the Chair to override more leeway to determine the best time to meet again to present the findings of the ad hoc. CHR. INABA: Alright. And do we need a motion to set up the permitted interaction? MR. HENRICKS: No. You do that as Chair, per the Council Rules. You determine the membership and the leadership, and then just to reiterate that the scope is contained in the pertinent communication. CHR. INABA: Great. Alright. So, with that, for the record, established is this permitted interaction group which investigates and makes relevant inquiries and recommendations to the entire body. The members are myself, Council Member Lee Loy, Council Member Galimba, and Council Member Kagiwada. I will be serving as Chair of this ad hoc committee. And we look forward to getting this process underway and we'll send out communication with scoring sheets to the entire body shortly. Is there any further discussion on this matter? If not — Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: My apologies. I should've asked this a little earlier, but it was ruminating. I'm looking through the list of organizations that have qualified to participate in the grant-in-aid application process, I've noticed a couple of different nonprofits that are come up three times, and I, you know, you said that they may be a go-between for another nonprofit. Is there some way to indicate which ones, if it's a fiscal sponsor? CHR. INABA: Yes. On the applications themselves they'll note whether they're serving as a fiscal sponsor and if so, for who. Yes. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. CHR. INABA: So, it's contained within each application. It's not contained here in this summary document. Yes. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. That might be something that might be interesting for the public to see, if there was just something added there when you see that there Page 7 LAAC-24 March 19, 2024 are, you know, three things. Yeah. I think that would just be helpful for people to understand who they are a go-between for. CHR. INABA: Sure. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. CHR. INABA: And for the public's record, Communication 761.1, is available online and that is the full 2,508 pages of all the applications and bylaws, and anything submitted by the qualified applicants. So, all of that is public record. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Perfect. Mr. Clerk, with that, we can take a vote to close file on this matter, right? Postpone. Can I get a motion to postpone Communication 761 to the call of the Chair? Vote on Motion Ms. Kimball moved to postpone Comm. 761 to the to Postpone: Call of the Chair. Seconded by Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (Approved) and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Inaba — 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kagiwada —1. Excused: None. Page 8 LAAC-24 March 19, 2024 ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 10:02 a.m., Ms. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved MENT: to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Ms. Kimball and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Kancali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Inaba — 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kagiwada -- 1. Excused: None. CHR. INABA: This meeting is adjourned at 10:02 (a.m.). Mahalo. Approved: �_ �� - aq Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair (Date) Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee HI/tk Page 9