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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN LAAC 2024/05/14 (2022-2024)Committee on Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions 26th Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii May 14, 2024 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions ORDER: was called to order at 10:47 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, 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 Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member (came in later) Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member (came in later) Absent & Excused: Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: (There were none.) COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 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. Postponed: March 19, 2024 (Note: There is a motion by Ms. Kimball, seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz, to close file on Comm. 761.) LAAC-26 May 14, 2024 ; and Comm. 761.1: From Finance Director Diane Nakagawa, dated March 5, 2024, transmitting the applications from eligible nonprofit organizations. ; and Comm. 761.2: From Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee Chair Holeka Goro Inaba, dated May 6, 2024, transmitting the Ad Hoc Committee's recommendations for grant funding in the amount of $2,027,500 to nonprofit organizations for inclusion in the County of Hawaii Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. I've asked Council Member Lee Loy to give us just a quick overview of the communication and the recommendation, and then we'll hold this matter over for two weeks until our next meeting where we can discuss and answer any questions that the body may have. So, Council Member Lee Loy, if you will please? MS. LEE LOY: Yes. Thank you, Chair. In accordance with Chapter 2, Article 25, Section 2-139(a)(1)(A) of the Hawaii County Code, $2.5 million is appropriated to the Hawaii County Waiwai Nonprofit Grant Program. On January 31, 2024, the application submittal deadline, the Department of Finance received 196 applications. 60 applications were determined ineligible due to incomplete packet information. A total of 136 applications were determined eligible with requests totaling $4.792 million. In comparison, in 2023 there were 155 eligible applications with requests totaling just over $5 million for which the County fully funded 75 requests totaling $2,497,500. On March 19, 2024, at the meeting of the Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee, members of the Ad Hoc Committee were Council Members Jennifer Kagiwada, myself, Sue Lee Loy, Council Member Galimba, and Holeka Goro Inaba as Chair. On April 1, 2024, eligible applicants and the grading rubric were distributed to all Council Members for scoring. On April 23 through the 25, 2024, in compliance with the Hawaii Revised Statutes, Section 92-2.5, and Hawaii County Code Chapter 2-25, the Ad Hoc Committee met to review scored applications and make final award recommendations. Attached hereto as Exhibit A, is the Ad Hoc Committee's recommendation for fiscal year 2024-2025. On a personal note, I do want to thank members of the Committee. We deliberated a lot and actually went back and forth every lunch hour I think it was for three days straight, and I really do want to thank each and every one of our staffers who helped keep us on task, make sure we were online looking at the applications together, and quickly finding them through search engines. So, it Page 2 LAAC-26 May 14, 2024 really has been an honor and a privilege to do this work alongside my colleagues. So, thank you very much. Mr. Inaba, I yield. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy, for that presentation. I was just having a quick conversation with the Clerk. This year we took up the process a little bit differently and that rather than planning to insert each of these awards into the budget as line items as we've done in the past, we were going to award via resolution, as we do with other County grants. And to kind of be consistent there and we did have support from the Finance Department there. But rather than holding this matter over, the Clerk advised —Mr. Clerk, perhaps if you want to just share what you've shared with me instead? MR. HENRICKS: You're doing great. CHR.INABA: Alright. MR. HENRICKS: But yeah, just normally it's a three meeting process. This is the second. The findings were just presented, those all been made aware of. And then the third meeting is for deliberation decision making. My understanding is though there's going to be a presentation, a resolution with the award recommendations in it that will be up for discussion, perhaps revision, and then approval. So, that would be your third meeting. So, because of that, that's eminent, I believe that the Committee, if it so desires, could vote to close file on this today and then move forward with the resolution as its action item. CHR. INABA: Thank you. So, I think that would just expedite agendizing one less item, being that we would still have the opportunity to make changes to that resolution. And if there's no concern from the Committee, then we can just close out on this and then we would have the resolution at Council at our next set of meetings and then we can take up all of the discussions there. I'll take any questions though. So, Council Member Evans. MS. EVANS: Yeah. Question. So, the report; the presentation, is it possible to get a copy of it? The background report. MS. LEE LOY: Of the scoring rubrics? MS. EVANS: No, of the Ad Hoc Committee and meeting all the requirements of Code. I'd really like to have what you CHR. INABA: So, Communication 761.2 outlines all of the meetings that were held and then the actually proposed recommendations, which would then be reflected in the resolution that we'd see. MS. EVANS: Good. Okay. Thanks for the clarity. Thank you. Page 3 LAAC-26 May 14, 2024 CHR. INABA: Any other questions? Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah. I'm not sure if you have this somewhere else, but I would also request at that time to have, of the eligible applicants, those that did not receive funding and some indication as to the reason that they were not awarded, just for completeness of deliberations. CHR. INABA: For sure. We can definitely provide the list of those who were not awarded. The lift of providing, there were just numerous reasons why and I'm not sure if it's going to be possible to provide something that's substantial enough to explain the reasons in a document. But for anyone who isn't awarded, we're more than happy to have our staff work with them and share the specifics of why they were not recommended for award. MS. KIMBALL: If I may? CHR. INABA: Yeah. MS. KIMBALL: The two datapoints that I'm particularly interested in is those that where upon further investigation found to be ineligible because maybe potentially it was covering costs that our grant-in-aid don't allow coverage of or they scored below that, I forget what you said the threshold, was it 70? They scored below 70. Those are the two key datapoints that I'm interested in. CHR. INABA: Sure. So, we can definitely provide everyone who isn't being recommended, and whether they were disqualified for being under 70 versus being disqualified for either public purpose issues or overhead costs, yes. We can provide that in those three sections. Council Members? MR. HENRICKS: Chair Inaba? CHR. INABA: Yes. MR. HENRICKS: I'd just exercise caution. Some of this discussion sounds like it could certainly veer into deliberations and perhaps we'd best reserve for when the resolution is before the Committee or Council. CHR. INABA: Got it. MS. EVANS: It's fine. I mean, I can wait. I just want to know if you had an appeal process and if not, we can talk about that when we do the resolution. Thank you. CHR. INABA: We can take that up via the resolution. Okay. So, with that, thank you. And we'll prepare those documents as exhibits to the resolution. So, Page 4 LAAC-26 May 14, 2024 there's a motion on the floor to close file on Communication 761 and all accompanying communications. All those in favor, please say "aye." Vote on Comm. 761: The motion to close file on Comm. 761 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, and Chair Inaba — 7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and Villegas — 2. Excused: None. ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. Res. 517-24: AUTHORIZES THE ACQUISITION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY BY EMINENT DOMAIN OF TAX MAP KEY: 8-6-008:011, SITUATED AT WAIEA, DISTRICT OF SOUTH KONA, COUNTY AND STATE OF HAWAI`I, FOR CONTINUED USE OF THE WAIEA CONVENIENCE CENTER BY THE SOLID WASTE DIVISION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT The County seeks to acquire approximately 2.282 acres of land to continue to operate the Waiea Convenience Center, also known as the Waiea Recycling and Transfer Station. Reference: Comm. 874 Intr. by: Mr. Inaba (B/R) Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to recommend adoption of Res. 517-24. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. INABA: We have Deputy Corporation Counsel, as well as our DEM (Department of Environmental Management) Deputy Director to share on this resolution. Good morning. Point of Order: MS. LEE LOY: Chair, point of order. CHR. INABA: Yes. Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: I've noticed that there's an amendment. And I'm not sure if our Deputy wants to speak to the memo with the amendment or without —how she would like to proceed. I just don't want her to get started and then — Page 5 LAAC-26 May 14, 2024 CHR.INABA: Yeah. (Note: At this time, Deputy Corporation Counsel Diana Mellon -Lacey came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. MELLON-LACEY: This is Deputy Corporation Counsel Diana Mellon -Lacey. Good morning, Council Members. We would like to speak to the amended resolution. MS. LEE LOY: Sure. Chair, if you don't mind. Motion to Amend: Ms. Lee Loy moved to amend Res. 517-24 with the contents of Comm. 874.1. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. INABA: And we'll hand it over now, if you folks want to share the overview and the reason for the change being requested in this communication? MS. MELLON-LACEY: This is Deputy Corporation Counsel Diana Mellon -Lacey. Well the purpose of this, of course, is to allow the County to actually purchase the property on which the transfer station sits. And this transfer station, I believe, has been operating from this location for over 30 years. And of course, it's difficult to do upgrades and maintain property and advance things when it isn't your property. And so, that's the impetus behind the County seeking to purchase the property. Initially, the County was seeking to purchase it with what turned out to be one of the owners. And the problem with that was the possibility of a defective title or a clouded title because that owner was not the sole owner listed and was not comfortable going forward with anything but a quit claim deed. And of course a quit claim deed is not something that the County should be considering because we want full ownership and not to find out subsequently that other owners of record would continue to be on. So, the decision was made to seek a condemnation action, which would enable us to effectively address the title issue at the same time and the County could then get clear title. And as for the amendments, I think one of them is simply addressing the name convenience center, which I think is an old title, to call it now recycling and transfer station. And the others are to have conformed with statutory requirements regarding a condemnation rather than a purchase agreement, and to add also the meets of balance description, which is included here in the map outlining the area. So, I think that's generally it. If there's questions. (Note: At this time, Environmental Management Deputy Director Brenda Iokepa-Moses came forward to address the members of the Committee.) Page 6 LAAC-26 May 14, 2024 MS. IOKEPA-MOSES: I just want to add a little bit to this because this is kind of my baby here in Ka`u. As you know, they closed down Miloli`i Transfer Station. This is the closest transfer station for our community down there. It's very vital that we keep this open. If you guys have drove by, it's a little spot, not very beautiful but we're on like a revokable license, 30 days, since 1970's. I mean, it was a bad thing. So, getting the Department of Health permit signoff by the owners, we came into a little bit of a hesitation about them signing off on that Department of Health permit. So, I had a face-to-face with one of the owners and they were nice enough to give us one more extension to allow us to do this operation there with the Department of Health permit, but said we need to do something different. And so, this is a I mean, hopefully, this is going to be a friendly condemnation. They know that we're going this route and they're all on board with it. So, this would be, I think, a positive for our community to have some security in having that transfer station secured by the County in order for us to do some necessary improvements and also just the longevity to make sure that there is a transfer station that's semi close to Miloli`i, in order for them to have that peace of mind that they don't have to go all the way to Ocean View because even this site, it's a little bit of a distance when you're coming out of the depths of Miloli`i down there. So, thank you. MS. MELLON-LACEY: And one more thing. This is Deputy Corporation Counsel Diana Mellon -Lacey again. There was an appraisal done on the property which the value is listed in the resolution of $247,000. So, we do have a value for it. CHR. INABA: Thank you. With that, we are on the amendment. Any discussion? Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. I was just curious. I know you mentioned condemnation at eminent domain. What's the timeline on that? It sounds like all the permits have been lined up. Department of Health permit, we have an appraisal. I'm just kind of curious as to how long it would take to get this asset into our County portfolio? MS. MELLON-LACEY: Well, of course the condemnation requires filing a court action and then if there's other owners that come forward that have issues or claim title or ownership, that could take some time. It's hard to predict. I think one of the big issues is that the money for this purchase was allocated for this fiscal year. And when you file the condemnation action, then you're required to put the value in the court. So, that will ensure that the funds were preserved for the purchase, and you know, I would hope there would be no issue continuing to operate during that condemnation period. But we would ask the court for an order to allow us to continue while that's in progress. But it's a little Page 7 LAAC-26 May 14, 2024 hard to —guess but we would want to move as quickly as possible, so we get this filed and money encumbered filed with the court before the end of the fiscal year. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you for sharing that, Deputy. Really in support of. Let's get that money encumbered and let the process take its course. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Anyone else on the amendment? Okay. I just have a comment and I'm thinking that maybe we can take this up at the Council hearing. I do think that the language in Section 4 of this amendment, the first "Be it Resolved", should actually maybe be a "Whereas" in the way that it's reading. It's saying, `Be it Resolved by the Council of the County of Hawaii finds it necessary in the public interest to take private property..." it's not necessary any kind of enacting words, it's more of statement that sounds like it would be a "Whereas." So, just a comment there. But with that, there is a motion to amend. All those in favor, please say "aye." Vote on Motion The motion to amend Res. 517-24 with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 874.1 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Inaba — 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder —1. Excused: None. CHR. INABA: We are back to the main motion, Resolution 517-24, as amended. Any further discussion? Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: Thank you. Definitely need to have this facility. It was an important facility in the long stretch and serves a lot of folks in South Kona. I am a little curious about the statement in the resolution that the condemnation will also serve as a quiet title. Could you kind of explain that to me a little bit? MS. MELLON-LACEY: We will be required to notice all owners of the property and we will likely need to publish to identify anyone that may feel they have a claim because I believe there's a history with this property. So, you know, doubt we'll ensure that everyone gets notice and we'll be dealing with anyone who believes they have an issue regarding the property as opposed to a quit claim deed from one owner. So, that's — MS. GALIMBA: Completely understand that. Yeah. I think that's really a good process to make sureI mean this area, it is very, very complicated. Land Page 8 LAAC-26 May 14, 2024 title issues in this whole area, especially, I think these ranches. So, yeah, I think that my main concern would be just to make sure that we are fairly providing notice to all owners so that they can, if they are, you know, still available. MS. MELLON-LACEY: Yes. And we will do our best to get the most comprehensive title search done as possible. It's proving to be difficult to get some of these title searches done and even be insurable because they're so complicated. So, the research required can be time consuming, which is another element that goes to the length of time actually completing a transaction will take. MS. GALIMBA: Alright. That's my whole district. Yeah. Have you had any, I see just four owners listed on our real property tax website, but do you have an idea of sort of other owners, the number of them and whether there's been any? MS. MELLON-LACEY: No. I do not. But I know that the owner that we were initially dealing with was unwilling to make any representations beyond the quit claim deed, so that's telling. MS. GALIMBA: Gotcha. Understood. Okay. Thanks. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Any further discussion? If not, all those in favor of forwarding Resolution 517-24, as amended, please say "aye." Vote on Res. 517-24: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 517-24, as Draft 2 amended to Draft 2, was carried by the following voice (Approved) vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Inaba — 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder —1. Excused: None. CHR. INABA: Thank you very much. I'll prepare the amendment for that "Whereas." Thank you. Last agenda item, please. Page 9 LAAC-26 May 14, 2024 Res. 518-24: AUTHORIZES THE ACQUISITION OF PRIVATE PROPERTIES BY EMINENT DOMAIN, BEING PORTIONS OF TAX MAP KEYS: 1-4-001:002 AND 1-4-001:003, SITUATED AT KAPOHO, PUNA, COUNTY AND STATE OF HAWAI`I, FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF LAVA INUNDATED ROADS, COUNTY JOB NUMBER E-4523, SPECIFICALLY POHOIKI ROAD Authorizes the Corporation Counsel to initiate proceedings in eminent domain for the taking, acquisition, and condemnation of private property for the purpose of widening Pohoiki Road to comply with current roadway standards. Reference: Comm. 875 Intr. by: Mr. Inaba (B/R) Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to recommend adoption of Res. 518-24. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Hi, guys. Nice to see you. Maybe you can come forward. We're six years into eruption anniversary. And I'm going to say that I'm a little bit surprised that I'm seeing this here today without a heads up given to my office, and after numerous attempts of emailing your boss, and even you, Mr. Thompson, just asking for an updated timeline on road restoration. I don't need to pull up the emails and go by the dates in which I've sent notes, but I think I've been pretty clear about wanting to get the most updated information and to understand if there are any obstacles in the way. And you have to understand from my viewpoint and the community's viewpoint, it's kind of hard to trust at this point that the road's actually going to get restored and that the timelines that are being pushed out are going to be honored. And so, I would love for you to just kind of take a moment to explain what's here before us because I think the resolution that we just heard was a friendly condemnation and this one is not so friendly. So, just the details on this. How many landowners are we talking about? I think it's only one, but if there are more, just want to understand how we got to this place? (Note: At this time, Department of Public Works Engineering Division Chief Keoni Thompson came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. THOMPSON: Hi. Good morning. Keoni Thompson, Engineering Division Chief. Actually, Steve was planning to speak on this resolution. CHR. INABA: Director Pause in joining us from Kona. Director Pause, go ahead. Page 10 LAAC-26 May 14, 2024 (Note: At this time, Department of Public Works Director Stephen Pause came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. PAUSE: Thank you, Council Member. So, just an opening statement where I think we've been pretty transparent with our schedule. We have a Public Information Officer that I know has communicated extensively via website, via Facebook, via a multitude of options here. So, I'm a little taken back by the fact that you're suggesting that we're not communicating. We communicate as best as we can. We put the information out there. I'll start by saying that we issued a contract yesterday to Isemoto for just under $18 million to begin the construction work on the first portion of the four portions of the work for lava recovery. That would be from four corners Highway 137 down to Pohoiki Road. That work is progressing as we've said all along that it would be getting before the end of the second quarter. This particular portion of the work would be for the second portion, which would be for doing Pohoiki Road restoration. And again, as we've reported, we're in the design phase, completing that, getting ready to put out a good package out onto the street. This is one component, and I think that we have had conversations in the past regarding rights of entry and the need for acquiring additional land. The Pohoiki project constitutes about 4.63 miles of new restored road. Of that we have obtained approximately 129 rights of entry to allow us to go into people's property to survey, to do construction activities. All of them were acquired with our help of Corporation Counsel, and Sinclair I know is there. We've had to do a land acquisition for 50 properties. All of that has progressed. What we have in front of us today is a condemnation issue for two properties. This particular property owner had made it clear early on, and I know that you were part of those conversations, Council Member Kierkiewicz, that they had signaled their reluctance to work out any sorts of land deals with the County so, we proceeded in this respect. These are two parcels of land adjacent to Pohoiki Road that are necessary to allow us to complete the widening, as well as the slope cutbacks et cetera associated with the road. It's on upper Pohoiki Road and it's near the intersection of Kapoho Pahoa Road. So, the request here or the condemnation is to just take the minimum amount of land necessary to effectuate our project. I believe the north side parcel is about .577 acres and the south side parcel is .365 acres. So, again, the intent here is to allow us to continue with the necessary steps to complete the design of the road and to start construction. I'm going to ask Mr. Thompson if he has anything to add to that. Keoni, as you know, is the Chief of Engineering. Page 11 LAAC-26 May 14, 2024 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Steve. Well, the existing right of way is 50 feet wide. We need to acquire the property so we can do some cut slopes, in order to build the road. And since we don't have an entry to his property, we will need to acquire it in order to construct the ordinance. It's right at the top of the road, right below the Y. We try and balance the excavation and fill as much as we can, but at his property there's —it crosses the lava channel and that lava channel, this would be the biggest cut would be approximately 20 feet high, the cut. But that's just the mouth right before the channels. Other than that, it's pretty, not as much cut and fill. But we're thinking about 15 feet from each side from their property fronting the road. So, it's going to be 80 feet, the finished —way. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Does this process at all impact timeline for construction? Like is there an appeals process that could take place as we move through this? I just want to make sure that we're on track. We said that we would start construction this summer. Does this resolution help us get there or is there something that the property owner can do to kind of stand in the way and delay construction and road restoration? (Note: At this time, Deputy Corporation Counsel Sinclair Salas-Ferguson came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. SALAS-FERGUSON: Ultimately. Deputy Corporation Counsel Sinclair Salas-Ferguson. I think to answer your question, not really. If the County authorizes Corporation Counsel to file a condemnation action, there's a few steps that are required. Depositing the money into the court, filing a lis pendens, a few other ministerial things. But then the County can file an ex parte motion for possession to actually get onto the property and start conducting construction work. And the court, as I recall, is required to issue a decision on that motion within ten days. So, very quickly. After filing that action the County can go and take possession of that property. Any, I guess, defendant in these type of actions; the landowners can fight the condemnation and I've seen them win on technicalities and get it dismissed. But then, you know, the County could just refile and fix whatever issue was there. But the fight in condemnations is typically evaluation. It's really, there's no merit to the —once the County establishes that it's a public use, there's really, the defendants don't have any merit to defend against that. So, it's usually just the fight about valuation. And in this case, it's very clear. There's actually additional authority authorizing the County to take property in this road. There's like an additional authority saying specifically for county roadways the County has that authority. So, I don't think this is going to stall the project at all. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. I just want to be super clear, Deputy Corporation Counsel. This is moving out of Committee into Council and I'm going to encourage my colleagues to support this. My community of lower Puna has been Page 12 LAAC-26 May 14, 2024 incredibly patient. There have been numerous delays in this project, so we need to get this done. So, Council adopts the resolution, how long is the judicial process that you just mentioned? I know you said ten days for the ex parte motion but is there anything before or after that, that we are having to wait for so that we have the green light, and we can proceed with the restoration? MR. SALAS-FERGUSON: For the condemnation, once this resolution passes it would just be the time necessary for our office to file that complaint. The last one I did, you know, it took me, I don't know, I did it pretty quickly. It was really quick. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Define quick? MR. SALAS-FERGUSON: You know, I can't recall but I remember the Director of Finance called me to get that done and I think I had it filed within two weeks. I want to say I even got it filed that week maybe, but two weeks —it's pretty quick. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Do you have the motion ready to file, all the paperwork complete, ready to go, trigger ready? It's what I've been advocating for, let's be trigger ready. MR. SALAS-FERGUSON: Yeah. I don't. But I don't actually institute the condemnation proceedings. We have a litigation deputy that does that. But we have standard forms that we use. Condemnation is one of the unique things in litigation where it's pretty standard. You know, governments have been doing this since, you know, a few hundred years at least in America. So, they really just got to institute, you know, change some language and file that form and get it moving. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And in terms of timeframe, is there a reason why we're doing this now or why we didn't do it immediately after the EA (Environmental Assessment) was published by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency)? Because we knew that this was a problematic property owner. MR. PAUSE: So, my understanding and I'm going to ask Keoni to fill in the blanks. But my understanding is there's a process and after the EA we did, then had to out and do the surveys, repair the plaque information for the specifics around the land that we actually needed to take, and then complete the meets and bounds and the write up to go with that. Keoni? MR. THOMPSON: Yeah. So, we had to do some partial maps and we had to do some appraisals, so we know how much to deposit for the condemnation action. MR. PAUSE: That's right. I forgot the appraisals had to get done as well. We had to hire a consultant to do the appraisal. Page 13 LAAC-26 May 14, 2024 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And so, this is it? Last step before we can award the contract or the contract's been awarded? MR. THOMPSON: No, no, no. So, this one, so only 137 was awarded, that section. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. MR. THOMPSON: This one is the Pohoiki one. So, as soon as we get this action approved and we file, we will go out to bid. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. MR. THOMPSON: Yes. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Alright. MR. THOMPSON: And that's ready to go as soon as this is completed. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. So, this was a necessary step before you could even put this project out for bid? MR. THOMPSON: Correct. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Got it. MR. THOMPSON: It's a big part of it. Yes. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes. Clearly. Clearly. Okay, I also want to just take a moment to thank Council Chair for checking in with me. I know that there was a request to move this forward directly to Council, but I think if we are going to be condemning property and there is tension between the County and the property owner, I think it's very important that we do the right thing and we start these conversations in Committee and make a recommendation to the full Council. And I also just want to stress the importance of keeping community partners like my office and the recovery team, just involved. I know that Jen Meyers from the recovery team does a lot to support DPW's (Department of Public Works) PIO (Public Information Officer) in getting information out. And so, just —we're all one team here. We all want to be successful and get these roads restored so that people can get back to their homes and their farms and then begin that healing process. So, just want to reemphasize that, again, here to support, but I just need to hear from you. Thanks for your work to get this together. I yield. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Any further discussion? If not, just a comment and it's for the last resolution too. If there's a way for us to be provided a map that's Page 14 LAAC-26 May 14, 2024 more clear on what we're actually condemning or what we're authorizing for condemnation. It's really hard to tell in the map and we do have the boundary descriptions but I'm not a surveyor so it's not helpful to me. With that — MR. PAUSE: Council Member, I apologize. I have a map. I thought that was included in your package. If it wasn't, we can get it to you. My apologies. CHR. INABA: There is a map at the end of the resolution. It's just really hard to tell what sections of the map are actually relevant to the resolution. So, if we can maybe be provided a little bit more support there so we're clear on what we are authorizing. And then I just wanted to follow-up on Council Member Kierkiewicz's comments. This resolution and the previous were requested a waiver and I don't think it matters if there's support or opposition. I think condemnation resolutions should always be heard at Committee and Council for the County's sake. So, as long as I'm chairing this Committee, if we could just not even request that. Okay. There's a motion on the floor to forward Resolution 518-24 to Council with a favorable recommendation. All those in favor, please say "aye." Vote on Res. 518-24: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 518-24 (Approved) was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Inaba — 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder —1. Excused: None. CHR. INABA: Thank you, DPW. Thank you, Director Pause. This brings us to the end of our agenda. Page 15 LAAC-26 ADJOURN- MENT: Approved: There being no Wrther business, Chair Inaba adjourned the meeting at 11:26 a.m. CHR.INABA: Mahalo. .,. �4' (2,< Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee Hi/tk May 14, 2024 k4rlav (Date) Page 16