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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN GOEAC 2024/10/01 (2022-2024) Committee on Governmental Operations and External Affairs th 40 Session Hawaiʻi County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaiʻi October 1, 2024 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Governmental Operations and ORDER: External Affairs was called to order at 12:24 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Cindy Evans, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Cindy Evans, Chair Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Vice Chair Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Mr. Matt Kānealiʻi-Kleinfelder, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member Absent & Excused: Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of FROM THE business, Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: (There were none.) CHR. EVANS: Okay, would you start with Resolution 632-24, and this is my bill. Relinquish Chair: At this time, Chair Evans relinquished the chair to Vice Chair Lee Loy. ACTING CHR. LEE LOY: Let the records reflect that I have assumed the Chair at 12:25 p.m. GOEAC-40 October 1, 2024 ORDER OF The Acting Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. Res. 632-24: REQUESTS THE MAYOR TO CONVENE A WORKING GROUP TO DEVELOP A COUNTY RADIO PLAN Seeks to convene a working group consisting of representatives from the Civil Defense Agency, the Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency, Big Island Amateur Radio Club, and other stakeholders, to improve the County’s radio communication infrastructure focusing on emergency response for rural and isolated areas. Reference: Comm. 1048 Intr. by: Ms. Evans Motion to Approve: Ms. Evans moved to recommend adoption of Res. 632-24. Seconded by Mr. Kāneali‘i-Kleinfelder. ACTING CHR. LEE LOY: Ms. Evans, please lead our discussion. MS. EVANS: Thank you. I had spoken to our Director, Talmage Magno of Civil Defense, and he has sent someone from his department. Would you please come up. Thank you, and would you please introduce yourself for the record. (Note: At this time, Civil Defense Agency Radio Systems Manager Scott Uehara, came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. UEHARA: Good afternoon Council. My name is Scott Uehara, Radio Systems Manager with the Hawai‘i County Civil Defense Agency. MS. EVANS: Thank you. So, members, there are CERT teams in my district, Community Emergency Response Teams, that over this last year have told me the importance of Ham Radio Operators and how they really see a critical need there. The other thing is there is a Firewise (Hawaii Wildfire Management nonprofit organization) Committee that has been stood up in my community because of the concern of the wildfires in Waikoloa. And they also mentioned the importance of Ham Radio Operators, and this need in case of an emergency and how they believe serve a true purpose. Here are people that spent a lot of time training, and they talk to one another during emergencies. They have learned about them and feel they’re an important resource. Obviously, we’ve had wildfires in my district and that even heightened even more, this ability of volunteers to actually communicate with one another during emergencies. So, what I was thinking about was this idea of having a stakeholder group working with Civil Defense to talk about how to incorporate those volunteers and Page 2 GOEAC-40 October 1, 2024 that ability into communicating during emergencies; any natural disaster. We can use them and incorporate them into our ability to communicate during a disaster. One of the things about the radio operators is that nobody wants it to turn into bureaucracy and red tape. And you know, we’re going to tell you what to do and how to do it. More importantly is to get everyone in the same room and talk about possibly what protocols could be put in place; how they could get information out; who would control the information; and how would it be sent out, but to really encourage that type of discussion. What was interesting is the other day in Waimea, they had an Emergency Preparedness Civil Defense fair, which I was told came from Puna—when you did Revitalize Puna. They learned lessons from that. They thought it was so wonderful that they had a fair here, in Hilo. And now, they had this fair in Waimea this last weekend. The amateur Radio Operators were there with their booth, and it just seemed like they were part of this whole discussion about how you respond, and how do we collectively work with each other in response to a disaster. Then of course, we just saw what happened on the East Coast, which was horrible to see what happens. But you know, what can we do to improve communication? And anytime I’ve been involved in a natural disaster, always in the debriefing part of it, the community and everybody says, “How can we improve the way to communicate to tell people what’s going on?” You know, how they can get messaging. One of the things I realized with HELCO (Hawaii Electric Light Company) saying they might turn off the power in the drought areas in South Kohala. If they turn off the power, then maybe how do people communicate? And it’s possible, they may have to turn their car on and turn their car radio on to be able to hear what’s going on, if in fact, people don’t have solar; they don’t have backup batteries. You know, they may actually not have electricity and the ability to connect the traditional way, right, which might be television. So, I just felt that the discussion would be really worthy for our Council to maybe support the idea of the stakeholders coming out. I guess the last piece I want to share is, it’s very common at the State Legislature to have these types of groups to get together; the stakeholder groups. Because in the end, like I told Talmage (Magno), if there’s a recommendation that there could be something to help our Civil Defense interact better with our community, this becomes a tool to actually help you go get money. It helps you get funding, because you’ve actually brought together the stakeholders. You’ve actually put together recommendations and analyzed how many radio operators we have. You know, is there spots on our island that does not have repeaters? So, is there something missing on our island that we could improve. I Page 3 GOEAC-40 October 1, 2024 see it as a potential tool for us to even possibly get funding. So, that’s kind of my take on it. I’d like to turn it over to you to possibly make some comments. MR. UEHARA: Thank you for summarizing all of that. From the Civil Defense Agency, we’ve actually seen a lot of what you’ve been talking about in the past, in terms of making sure there is reliable communications out to the community. So, over the years, we’ve been working on a program called the Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS). This program is to enhance emergency communication capabilities across the island, recognizing that effective communication is imperative before, during, and after an emergency. The ACS program aims to bridge communication gaps by partnering with local communities and involving amateur radio operators. So, the key mission of the program is to ensure communication reaches the most remote areas down to the last person, the last house, the last block, the last community. The way we’re doing this is implementing these initiatives or objectives of the program. You know, we’re out to collaborate with established community groups to strengthen communication networks, leverage the expertise of licensed amateur radio operators to support emergency communications and to develop robust communication systems that remain operational when traditional networks fail, such as cellular, because we saw how that happened in Lahaina. So, involving the community, we’ve reached out to CERT, the Community Emergency Response Teams, and they do have amateur radio operators embedded already within their groups. And we’re also providing training for those individuals on the ACS program and asking them to participate with us. We’ve also reached out and partnered with Vibrant Hawai‘i to make sure that the hubs have a way to communicate. And to make sure that they also themselves have amateur radio operators so that they can communicate on this network. One of those things about getting information in and out of the Emergency Operation Center, is we’ve developed what we call net control. So, this is a group of people that will be inside of Civil Defense during an emergency, and they’re going to be communicating on the ACS Communication Network. So, they’ve already had all these established communication routes with all of these individuals. One of the things we can say is, you know, we definitely want to practice what we want to implement. So, every month we practice this. So as you all heard, it’s the first day of the month; at 11:45 (a.m.), the sirens went off. So, before that the ACS program activates the repeaters to make sure that all of the operators can Page 4 GOEAC-40 October 1, 2024 report back; did they hear the siren? And this is a way to, not just practice, but something we’ve heard from Lahaina is, practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes permanent. So, we encourage all the operators to practice this, so they can become familiar with it every single month. So that, this is not something new. When an emergency hits, they know exactly what to do, where to go, and how to communicate. So, we practiced this. In September, we had 32 participants to report back. Did they hear the siren through the ACS program? Right now, we have two repeaters. It’s located at Waikoloa Fire Station, No. 16, and on top of Mauna Kea. One of the things I did want to take the opportunity to do is, kind of make a call to action to amateur radio operators. You know, we want these individuals to partner with CERT, with Vibrant Hawai‘i, so that they can be imbedded in the hubs, and they’re not out there by themselves. They can reach back into their areas because there’s strength in numbers. There’s always strength in numbers. So, that is my call to action to all the amateur radio operators out there. You know, please participate. Join us so that we can make sure that the communities are informed. Because during an emergency, that is critical; having information out there. And that’s pretty much what I had. MS. EVANS: That was a really great overview. When I was talking to one of the Big Island Amateur Club, he really liked the Resolution, because what he said was is there’s different clubs on our island and they really need to start working better together. Because they kind of have their own little groups. But he sees some real advantage to have all the groups come together and start talking about how they were collectively together when there’s an emergency. I just wanted to add that. My thought on this resolution was to postpone it for two weeks and allow more of the radio amateur working groups to come up with some, maybe a little more language in the reso for a little more robust, what we’re trying to achieve with it. But that was my thought. Thank you, I yield. ACTING CHR. LEE LOY: Thank you, Ms. Evans. Mr. Kāneali‘i-Kleinfelder. MR. KĀNEALIʻI-KLEINFELDER: Thank you and thank you for being here. Thank you, Ms. Evans, for bringing this up. Just a comment really, our local radio station KWXX and Chris Leonard, absolutely amazing resources of information. And they’re also, on the Civil Defense side, what is the correct term for them, do you know? MR. UEHARA: We call it the LP-1, the local primary one. So, they’re the ones that transmit the emergency alert broadcast. Page 5 GOEAC-40 October 1, 2024 MR. KĀNEALIʻI-KLEINFELDER: So, he’s an incredible resource, and he would probably be well-suited to be on a working group to discuss this kind of thing. So, just offering that to the conversation, and appreciate the idea again. And thank you for your time. I yield, Chair. ACTING CHR. LEE LOY: Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing none, thank you Mr. Uehara for being here. Great job, Waiākea High School graduate. Really appreciate that. Just to offer some other comments, because I heard the maker talk about maybe postponing it, you know, in support of this resolution wherever you want to go with this. I appreciate the conversation because we’re right in the middle of hurricane preparedness, and all those great things. So, this is a great way to advance just more conversation to our communities about preparedness. I do like the suggestion by Mr. Kāneali‘i-Kleinfelder, and it sounds like the department is already kind of in the throws of that. But what would be really great is, to the point of the call to action, is maybe just a little report, you know, out of this sub- committee or stakeholder group. You know, to share a lot of the information on what these Ham radio operators are doing in collaboration with the Firewise programs with Civil Defense. I share that because I think some kind of report that possibly—being a little greedy here, that maybe I could leverage at the State to talk about insurance and how, we here in Hawai‘i County, have all of these stakeholders who are involved with readiness and preparedness in an effort to show that these Firewise programs and these communities are actually doing their part to maybe reduce homeowner’s insurance. So, I do think some kind of white sheet, or conversation, or report out of this Action Committee would be helpful. And maybe we could use that as a tool to demonstrate to our insurance companies that our communities stand ready to share good information so we can help reduce the cost of homeowner’s insurance. Those were my thoughts. I look forward to you, Ms. Evans, what you want to do, if you want to see this continue to move forward, or you’re looking to postpone? MS. EVANS: Okay, I look for your guidance, but I do want to amend it and add a little more substance to the language of the resolution. I could advance it and give the amendment at the first Council hearing, or I could postpone it and bring it back. But basically, just to give a little more umph to it. Keep it here, okay, I’m fine with that. Page 6 GOEAC-40 October 1, 2024 Vote on Motion to Ms. Evans moved to postpone Res. 632-24 to October 15, 2024. Postpone: Seconded by Mr. Kānealiʻi-Kleinfelder and carried by the following (Approved) voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kāneali‘i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Villegas, and Acting Chair Lee Loy – 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Inaba – 1. Excused: None. ACTING CHR. LEE LOY: The next matter is Resolution 658-24. I got the nod from our Chair that I’ll keep the Chair here. Mr. Clerk, Resolution 658-24. Res. 658-24: AMENDS RESOLUTION NO. 464-24 TO ADD THE EMERGENCY SOLUTIONS GRANT PROGRAM TO THE 2024 COUNTY OF HAWAIʻI ANNUAL ACTION PLAN TO BE SUBMITTED TO THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND TO MODIFY THE AUTHORIZATION TO EXECUTE AGREEMENTS Adds the Emergency Solutions Grant Program to allow for the direct receipt of federal funding and clarifies that only the Mayor may execute and submit agreements related to the 2024 County of Hawaiʻi Action Plan. Reference: Comm. 1081 Intr. by: Ms. Evans (B/R) Motion to Approve: Ms. Evans moved to recommend adoption of Res. 658-24. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. ACTING CHR. LEE LOY: Ms. Evans, please lead our discussion. MS. EVANS: Do we have someone from Housing? Yes, Royce, please tell us about this resolution. Thank you. (Note: At this time, Office of Housing and Community Development Specialist Royce Shiroma came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. SHIROMA: Royce Shiroma, County of Hawai‘i Housing. This resolution is going to amend Resolution 464-24 because we need to add the Emergency Solutions Grant Program to the authorization for the Mayor to submit the action plan and the execution of the grant agreement. Since the original resolution was done in April of this year, we haven’t gotten firm notification from HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Page 7 GOEAC-40 October 1, 2024 Development) that we were awarded this grant, until recently. And this grant basically is to provide services or fund services for the homeless service providers. It includes items such as street outreach, emergency shelter costs, homeless prevention, rapid re-housing assistance, and assistance with the payment for the data collection through the Homeless Management Information System, HMIS. We are receiving approximately $272,000 for this. The history with this is that, you know, traditionally it would be the State who would receive these fundings. The State Department of Human Services. However, for 2024, they have declined. And therefore, HUD offered the funding to the three neighbor islands. Maui and ourselves, Hawai‘i County, took up on the offer, and therefore, we will be receiving these funds. I’m here to answer any questions, if needed. Thank you. MS. EVANS: Thank you. I have no more questions. Thank you, I yield. ACTING CHR. LEE LOY: Great. Royce, good to see you. Thanks for being here. Any other members, questions regarding the resolution? Ms. Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you. Thank you for being here, Royce. So, how will you divvy up these funds, basically? MR. SHIROMA: According to the Emergency Solutions Grant, ESG, we need to work with, they call it the CoC, Continuum of Care group. And we’ll be working with them once we get the final okay from HUD. And from there, we’ll be determining what their needs are. And basically, that’s how we’re going to determine how the monies will be divvied up to them. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay, so these are organizations that we’re already contracted with to provide homeless services, and do they have to apply or give you a list or something of things that they want to do in addition to what they’re already contracted for? MR. SHIROMA: We’ve been working with them closely as far as whether they have certain needs and items that they need that has some shortage of funding. And we’ll approach it that way. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. Will you need to amend their contracts to do this? MR. SHIROMA: It depends. For us, we’re going to have to do a new contract because there’s different requirements for this program. And therefore, if they want to amend it and include it, but they might just tie their hands to the other program that they’re already obligated to do. Page 8 GOEAC-40 October 1,2024 MS. KAGIWADA: Okay, great. Thanks. Will you be bringing it to Council to see how this money is used? MR. SHIROMA: Yes, we'll be reporting it, as with the Annual Action Plan. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you so much, appreciate that. I yield. ACTING CHR. LEE LOY: Thank you, Ms. Kagiwada. Anyone else? Well, I just want to take a moment to thank you, Royce for standing ready. You know, the fact that the other county passed up on it, and we were ready to receive these additional fundings. I just really appreciate you and being aware of that. Members, we have a motion on the floor to forward Resolution 658-24 to the Council with a favorable recommendation. All those in favor, please say "aye." Vote on Res. 658-24: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 658-24 was (Approved) carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Villegas, and Acting Chair Lee Loy— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Inaba— 1. Excused: None. ADJOURN- Seeing no further business, Acting Chair Lee Loy adjourned the meeting at MENT: 12:48 p.m. Approved: Ms. Cindy Evans, Chair (Date) Committee on Governmental Operations and External Affairs CE/dt Page 9