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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN CRCOC 2025/03/18 (2024-2026) DRAFT Committee on Communications, Reports, and Council Oversight 5th Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawaii March 18, 2025 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Communications, Reports, and ORDER: Council Oversight was called to order at 1:00'p.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Acting Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Vice Chair Mr. James E. Hustace, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member (came in later) '- - Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,mMember, Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Merbei(via videoconference from Hilo) Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Member Absent& Excused: Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Chair Ms. Ashley .'Kierkiewicz, Member STATEMENTS The Acting 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: The following individual registered to speak and came forward when called by the Acting Chair:— , Matt Chalker: Comm. 167, comment. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you. Actually, I would like to take something out of order due to a scheduling and the need for our presenters of Communication 165; if we could start with that one. Change Order As directed by the Chair and with no objection from the Committee Members, the of Business: following item was taken out of order: CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 Comm. 165: REQUESTS A PRESENTATION BY THE OFFICE OF SEX TRAFFICKING RESEARCH AT ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY DIRECTOR DOMINIQUE ROE-SEPOWITZ AND DETECTIVE SERGENT LORENCE JOVE REGARDING HAWAI`I'S SEX TRAFFICKING AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING INFORMATIONAL REPORT From Council Member Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, dated February 28, 2025. Motion to Close File: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to close file on Comm. 165. Seconded by Mr. Onishi. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,please move forward and introduce us to these wonderful folks, MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you very much, Chair. So, I've had the pleasure of working with Ms. Dominique Roe-Sepowitz over the last five or six years. She is a force to reckon with, and she does a tremendous job both in her community and in ours. Today, she has put together a presentation for us that Scott has helped her load up. So, a lot of process here. It's been wonderful'working with you. You've done a tremendous work in our community in sex trafficking and exploitation. There's a lot flexing in our community right now. Even even what's been happening at the Federal level, we had a whole discussion on,ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) this morning and those innocent,to;exploitation of workers which is a component of this. But mainly, sex trafficking in our State and specifically to our County. And we have some new members. Soy if you could, Ms. Dominique, please introduce who e have today, we'll run through your presentation. And every time you want to speak,push your button on your mic and introduce yourselves the first time. So, we all know who you are for the record. And then, you guys can run through the presentation. We'll do questions afterwards. (Dote: At this time, Arizona State University Professor Dr. Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, and Tuson Police Detective Seargent Lorence Jove, came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. ROE-SEPOWITZ: Super. My name is Dominique Roe-Sepowitz. I'm a full Professor at Arizona State University, and I ran the Office of Sex Trafficking intervention research (ASU STIR). I'm going to come back after my team introduces themselves. Page 2 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 MR. JOVE: My name is Lorence Jove, I'm a Seargent with the Tuson Police Department. I was born and raised on the Island of Hawaii on the East side, and I've taken over our Sex Trafficking Unit in Tuson, Arizona. I started the program from the ground up about two years ago. I've been working with ASU STIR(School of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research) and the Kindness Foundation since. MS. CARLSON: So, I'm Ann Carlson, I'm the Executive Director of the Kindness Foundation. And we have funded all the research that has gone into what you're going to hear about today, as well as many other projects on the Big Island. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER. Thank you. (Note: At this time, Arizona State University Director Dr. Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, MSW, Ph.D., came forward and provided a'PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the subject presentation, see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is made a part of the record, see Comm. 165.) MS. ROE-SEPOWITZ: Sep, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it. Any closing comments? Do you have any questions for us? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. That's a wonderful presentation. Itwas brief. In knew I told you 30 minutes, but in 15 minutes, and you then;realty summed it down. You can probably fill four or five hours of conversation. But'l think(inaudible 1:28:54) a little bit . So, thank you for a very succinct conversation and presentation. Just a,few,highlights that I have really taken to heart. When you talk about the average age of a trafficked person, and you say 11-years-old. What does that mean as far as the range? What is the youngest age that you're seeing in your research? NMS. ROE-SEPOWITZ: So, that's children being trafficked in Hawaii Island. So,that is from the Child and Family Service Study and the Hope Service Study combined. That means that the youngest is four and the oldest in that sample was 17. And so, to be 11 means that we consider in that research that there is a lot of familiar trafficking of the younger person. So, that's where we see a parent or a guardian. Sometimes the mom who's being trafficked, the trafficker will say how much for your daughter, or I'll give you more drugs; or you don't have to sell sex so much if I can have someone have sex Page 3 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 with your child. So, that familiar piece we're going to see more often in those younger ages, that 4-12; 4-14. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So, those kinds of numbers stand out to me because I have three kids, two of which are daughters. One, the oldest being in HPD (Hawai`i Police Department) and the youngest being in her senior year in high school. But when I think about them as being four-years-old and being a number in a study like this, it bothers me. So, the community is important. Number two, was accepting that we have this in ours community. When i first came in, the whole thing was whether it was happening,or not. And your studies over the last 10 years, have just highlighted that, not only is it happening; it's, yes. And it's how much and at what level is it'happening, and to who? So, by this research being available to the public, you have highlighted,what is happening; who it's happening to, and what we can do about it. Which is what Ann spoke to. Then to have a kanaka from Hilo, born andraised in Hawaii Island, even if you're not here anymore,,that doesn't detract from what you bring to the table. Your ability to interlink with our Police Department and bring the Hawaii connection with your experience from the mainland makes you that much more of an asset in my eyes. So, at a personal level, this is something I really believe in. So, thank you for clacking the `pis it happening" conversation. Just knocking that one out of the park,-It's not a question of, is it happening, it is. It's how we address it. Two of you assembled a fine team now and have the ability to walk into the Mayor's Office and'the Police,be'p rtment and start doing trainings. That's the next big step. „How is'that relationship with HPD shaping up to this point? MR. JOVE: It's really, good. So, like you said, having those local ties when I met Ann,and Dominique, and I knew they were coming here. We started talking and I have a good relationship with the Captain over at HPD. And I was able to get some meetings set up with Maui. And I think really because of those connections, right, because I'm from here I knew what it looks like. This isstill home to me. I plan to come back here when I'm done and retiring. Over in the mainland because of those relationships, it was well received. We got meetings with the Assistant Chief in Hilo. They were very receptive. We said we would come back as many times as you need us to help you build that program; help you write grants. Page 4 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 I mean, you can get these positions completely grant-funded. And it doesn't come out of your budget, right? New cars, new detectives; all funded. Very well received. We were seeing to train over 30 HPD members yesterday. But with the tragedy of the officer being shot and the manhunt. We have offered you know, this is a lot on your department and your community. Let's table this; we'll come back soon where everybody's focused and ready to receive the information. Then on Maui, later this week. We leave today for Maui. We have over 60 people that are going to be attending that. You know,that's a building-block program, right? It's not just that we're going Ito come acid throw a bunch of stuff, then walk away and forget about you. We want to foster that; we want to help start the program. We want to help start that community intervention and thatcommunity training and awareness. But it's been very well received because of those ties that I have locally. And I think it's really helped push this forward to help. The research is there behind it. And now the Police Departments are ready to get behind and really dedicate personnel and really specialize in this. Because it's typical to recognize, you know. Even people on the mainland,a couple years ago where I'm from, a large police department;,almost 1,000 people. We had trouble recognizing what sex trafficking was. We knew whata pimp was, and we knew what a victim was. Butwe still didn't really know how to define that and treat those people. And that's a dig piece. Soy trafficking and traffickers, they really prey on the most vulnerable population. And somethirg,that we found is universal around the world in the United States anyway. Our vulnerable children are missing or are runaway kids. A lot of times as a police department, and we're very guilty in Tuson is that we look at a runaway kid and we think it's a bad kid. They're just running away; they're out of control. They're going through their teenage years. But we started asking why they're running away, right? Why are you running away. We found a lot of them are being sexually abused at home; a lot of them have drug dependency, or their parents have drug dependency. Lack of food. There's lot of reasons kids are running away. That's the reason they're running away, but once they run away in Arizona and all over the Country, you are willing to do a lot of things for things that are really, simple, right? Page 5 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 So, our kids, we buy them clothes. We make sure they get to school. We make sure they have a place to sleep. They're safe. But these kids that are missing from care, these runaway kids, because they have this vulnerabilities, because they have all these needs, traffickers are opportunists. Traffickers are pedifiles; pedifiles are traffickers. And they'll see this young girl, 14, 15, 16-years-old that might be sleeping outside or might be hungry. And they'll use that as a means. "Oh, you can stay at my house. So, I'll feed you. I'm your uncle now." And then before you know it, that turns into an exchange. "Well, you've been living here for a month, you don't pay any bills. I've been buying clothes for you. Come sleep in my room tonight." That's trafficking by definitionl, right? She's now trading something she needs in her life. That food, that shelter, that safety for something this adult wants. So, we found a really big link between the vulnerable community, vulnerable population. Especially with our runaway kids. Because they are just naturally Vulnerable. And it's really easy because they're younger;,they're more naive; their brains aren't developed, and they have this need., That's what traffickers do. They look for what is that need that I fan fill and I can pull you into my life. MS. ROE-SEPOWITZ: So,in' awai`i, the research shows there's about 3,000 children missing. So, are they m�issing,or are they running away? And those are the ones that are kind of difficult,but they're kids, 3,000 kids, you don't know where they are. Not all of them`6n Hawaii Island of course. But if we categorize them all as leaving home because something terrible is happening, we also must Mink about th6 lure, right? So, an older person says, "Come and be with me. You know, your mom won't let you play Nintendo all night. You can do that here." This lure. "I want to be with my boyfriend." He might'a little bit older. And"I want to go live on the beach." We see all these different reasons that kids are leaving their home. And once they're'out of that,protection, we see this really quick slide into exploitation, right? That trickery. "You can stay here. I'll give you a phone. I'll give you some food. But this is what you're going to have to do for me." o3 we are most concerned about those kids that are missing. Their parents are reporting them missing. You know, 11-17, we are worried about them, because that's where traffickers are going to look. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. What was accomplished in our first few months of interaction was giving us a monthly runaway report from HPD. And the beauty of that is that you can start to look over this list, and you see a repeat runaway. I do the same thing. When I see that runaway report, I'm thinking this kid must be naughty. Page 6 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 But the other end of it is, why you runaway? And that question doesn't get asked a lot. And thank you for pointing that out. Because we see that monthly runaway report that comes to each of the Council Members as a communication. You looking at a list of kids, a lot of those are repeat kids who are running away from something. The other question is, how do we look at that as a County? Do our officers know to ask politely and to get the information out of these kids? "Are you running away from something." And also returning them back to the same situation and we're just perpetuating the cycle. So, the training piece is absolutely crucial. And it's really:goad to hear that HPD is willing to take that on and work with all of you to make sure that when our officers, firefighters, EMS (Emergency Medical Services)personnel; if they're responding to a call and seeing the same runaway child and they know how to ask the right questions. They might be able to keep these kids out of the system or get them the help they need. Not just keep perpetuating the same thing and think that we're helping. MR. JOVE: I'm glad you brought that up. So,part:of the training that we're going to be delivering, you know, the first block deals with exactly that. I brought screening questions, very simple. ' Vhen,you take a runaway report, and you're asking the person that reported,right? Who has car of the child. There's a set of questions you-want to ask, and that really helps the Police Department. When,you recover that child, there's a set of observations you make; then there's a set of questions you ask. Basest on those questions, you can really kind of get a look into why they're running away. What they're experience was when they ran away. Theme also have a metrix, a screening where we can say, if you've runaway more than four times in a year, or if you've been on runaway status for over 30 days; or there's all these little pieces that we've identified that all link to trafficking that make you a higher risk. There's a,point system that we use, and we can say, "Okay, we consider this child a high-risk, child for trafficking for sexual exploitation." So, anytime you contact that child, we make sure that we're asking those very intentful questions to make sure that we're covering those things and we're always protection those children. So, it's a great point that you ran away, and that is part of the initial training that we'll be implementing with both HPD and Maui PD, is getting those runaway pieces. Those questions; showing that model and then letting them bring that back home and make it their own, right? What that looks like for the Police Department here would be similar but it'll be theirs, and it will be centered around the Hawaii Islands. Page 7 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Beautiful. I totally support this. The reason today to have you come in was just to provide this. Once it's on here, it's recorded, and these minutes are punched out. So,people can go back and review. And hopefully, it just helps get the word out. But also,just promoting what you've done, Dr. Dominque in our community. Even though you're at ASU, I really feel you won a loss--already. So, keep doing what you're doing. To the other Council Members, I hope you have questions today. Or if anything, you can draw on Dominique and her team as a resource for whatever you're wanting to do. You're just a tremendous force. So, thank you very much for the presentation. Thank you for the information. Thank you for coming back and working with HPD. So, like you said, we're like five years in, you and me. So, getting to this point was huge. It,might seem like a small step, but having this Administration take that step with you and for bringing in Lieutenant. So, what was the name of your foundation again? MS. ROE-SEPOWITZ. It's a strange name. It's the Kaimas, which means small village in Lithuania. So, it's a family foundation: The founder has several homes on the Big Island. She loves the Big Island. And like Isaid, we fund not just that, but we just funded the Rainforest,there We were able to get the accreditation. So, a lot of small things that we know aren't going to come out of Federal or State budgets. We try to supply that,but we're proud of what we do here. One thing that hasn't been mentioned or a little bit glossed over, is part of the component is catching the perpetrator also. So, that's one of the reasons why we feel it's so important with the police to be involved, and the prosecutors that we're talking to as well. So,they understand what the law is, because a victim is not going to come forward if'they think that nothing's going to happen to the person who's`abusing them. So, every step that we take is a step closer to our goal. But that is the component that will get the bad guys or people off the street. So, you have a safer community. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Good point. Thank you for reminding me. Thank you. So, there's so much complexity to this. It's not a small issue. In fact, there are zero prosecutions to date, even after all the legislation and work that's been done regarding sex trafficking at every level of government. It's perplexing to say the least. So, changing the conversation from, let's focus on the people being trafficked, as our labeling victims as our perpetrators of doing harm in our community, to focusing on the folks who are hiring them as being the perpetrators is a huge shift. Page 8 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 And I do have to give kudos to our HPD. Because they have been aggressively going after and doing stings, and I think they've at least in the last couple years that I have been watching, they've gotten about 15 to 20 people, I believe through those stings in our community locally. That's big. So, I love it. Thank you. Chair, I yield. Thanks for the time. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you. Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. Thank you for being here and sharing your mana`o with us. A couple things, the scenario that you mentioned at the very beginning was very troubling of somebody going into the courthouse to deal with some of these issues and seeing the traffickers there, .,What is going to help in a situation like that? MS. ROE-SEPOWITZ: There's several things that need to happen. I think we need to make it not acceptable to buy sex in your community. So, when you see the sex adult there, you see that conversation there: Currently, there's no reason for a person not to buy sex here. They're not afraid of being arrested. There isn't—it's so private, right? So, if you take away some of those things. For example, we have several massage parlors here. You know,they're protected. They'reseen covering their windows. No one knows what's happening in there. If you can do things to make it less private, Less secret, then thatperson is less likely to do it. So, how can we disincentivize buying sex and trafficking people on your island is really important; So, some of it is catching the people who are doing it. But how do we�iucentivize itfor the next group, the young 17-year-old who's thinking, well, I'm just'going"to go find a stripper; or I'm just going to go buy sex. How do e dissuade them from that? How do we make it a culture that says we don't allow, people to be bought and sold here? This is what we want for our young people, male or fermate doesn't matter. So, I think the disincentivizing. So, what'she said,that client said to me in my interview, he said, "You know, it's everywhere'. It's our mothers and our fathers; and our uncles and our cousins." Everyone who's involved. And so, how do we bring that out into the open where people have the freedom to talk about that; to report it to someone they feel that can be helpful? Then, of course, the other response, can we get therapist trained and a response network? So, a person says I want to get out of the situation, what can I do?" MS. KAGIWADA: Great, thank you. Exploring up on that, and you know, getting the word out and doing the training with HPD, which is great. Do you have a similar training or something for our community organizations who are oftentimes those first groups that may encounter these young folks, and also may Page 9 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 have the ability to report. So, we have some training or something we can offer them? MS. ROE-SEPOWITZ: So, we worked with Council Member Matt on training in the community; trained Hope Services staff, Child and Family Services staff. Again, Friday, we had 100 people. So, we have continuously over the last few years done training. What we see a lot is in these special social services; people shifting in and out of positions. So, if you don't do it regularly, it gets a bit lost. I do think that Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleirifelder said that was so important was, that we have shifted recently; I would say in the last two years from, it doesn't here, or it happens to people who don't look like us to, oh my gosh, it is happening here. Maybe all the people coming in to get food assistance. Maybe we should think about them or maybe they're incarcerated women; or people in recovery programs. Maybe they're aware. So, I think we're just starting to move*into the direction of needing to train more and more. But we do have trainings for that. We've offered it a number of times. Kaimas has been open to sending us, you know,,bringing us back as much as we can. So, yes. MS. CARLSON: We talked to the Mayor. One of the things we said was that you also and I know having worked in the system. You know, you have programs, like your Housing programs; any type of food stamp programs. You have programs'that if you train those people, they're going to see it. And it protects from a liability perspective because you're actually ruling out things that are happening within your own systems. And that's really important. I think, the more we talk about it—like Dominique was saying, the more we talk about it, and we make it common place to talk about it. We would love if any of you were doing a town hall, and you want to do it for parents. We'll come, there'sa particular module that just talks to parents in a very caring way, but says, "Here's the things to look out for." One of the things we feel strongly about is making sure it is culturally appropriate for this community. So, we can say, "Here's the general information. How do we make it all so culturally appropriate for this community?" Like, I never came from,a place where you talk story. So, the first meeting I went to everyone was like, okay, we're going to talk story. And I was like, I don't even know what that is. But we need to figure out ways to also make this education appropriate for your community. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay, thank you. And then, I guess just following that train a little bit, if we have people recognizing and reporting, and we get our police officers trained, are we working with our Prosecuting Attorney's Office? Page 10 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 You say that we haven't had any cases prosecuted. Have we had arrests and then they weren't prosecuted, or if we had zero arrests as well? Do you know anything about that? MS. ROE-SEPOWITZ: So, back to the last question just for one moment. We actually work with a local organization called Ho`ola Na Pua, and they are doing prevention work in the community. Specifically, going�inato schools, and the mentoring program is beautiful. So, really amazing program. And they do a lot of training. But, you know, we're still in progress. From my understanding with the data that's available is there has been no arrests, specific to sex trafficking. So, they mightcome into a situation. And actually, do you want to speak to that a little about when you make a decision about a charge? I'll say it. Sorry about that. Maybe they come into a situation, and,it looks'like,domestic violence. They're going to go forward with that domestic violence, but they may not recognize, right? And now we're asking for them to recognize screening, tools, techniques; that we think with the police training, the arrests will look different; they'll have the sex trafficking specific language, you know,taking the earnings of a prostitute. Like there's language init that's around trafficking that will happen because of it. I did meet with someone from your Prosecutor's Office who would like to extend our offer to train,and talk about'language. We have a glossary that's very specific to trafficking and the culture of trafficking, that if they get evidence that's maybe a taxed exchange or something they would see online that they would recognize that's very,specific to that�worldof trafficking. So, we think this momentum is moving in the right direction: But currently, as far as I understand, and I haven't heard anything different, no arrests as well. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay, thank you. Alright, and just a little bit of commentary here, I know that you emphasized prevention. And that to me is the most importanty because you know it keeps us from having more victims, obviously. And looking this information, there's so many issues that affect the possibility of people getting trafficked and you know, the ICE'S and the issue there. I think for us to look at, you know, our people being housed; are they being fed? You know those kinds of things are really important in order to stem this. And you know, right now is a very precarious time for federal funding and other funding. So, if those things get cut and there's less prevention, I worry about this going even higher. So, thank you for being here today. And thank you, Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder for bringing this forward. With that I yield. Thank you, Chair. Page 11 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Council Member Onishi. MR. ONISHL Thank you, Madame Chair. I have couple questions. One of them is I don't see in here, you guys gave this presentation. Is that proposed legislation for State and County level? MS. ROE-SEPOWITZ: So, we were totally pushing with the Hawaii Commission on the Status of Women, and I can tell you that your State level legislation is very strong. But you have very victim-centered trauma-informed legislation about, if a person is arrested for prostitution,and they're found to be a trafficking victim, which nine out of ten people in prostitution, 90 percent are identified as being trafficked, and that conviction is vacated; That's the premier in the Country. That's one of the best laws that we have. Arizcina does not have that law. So, your legislation has great protections and prosecutorial tools. It's the implemention of it. MR. ONISHL Okay, that's good to hear. About talking about the Prosecutor's Office, so, there is a Special Project Coordinator in the Prosecutor's Office. Have you folks dealt with that person? Okay, because that person before used to be this guy Alan Bartolome, but he got,moved to another position. But they have the Family Violence Interagency Committee. Have you folks talked to them? MS. ROE-SEPOWITZ: Ask Matt. Are they part of the Hilo meeting, the Family Violence Intervention Committee. M1t KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: °Let's go back and double check. MR. ONISHI: Okay,because they had at one time, maybe 30 to 50 partners. They meet once a month. It's the first Monday of the month, I think. Like from 1142. Basically, a lot maybe was about domestic violence. But then, there was this one person back in 2010-2012. Her name was Evelyn Lee. MS. ROE-SEPOWITZ: We know her, yeah. MR. ONISHL So, she started to bring up and making aware of sex trafficking. Like the younger kids, like high school and intermediate. But for some reason, it never could take traction. I don't know if at that time, back then, we didn't take things very seriously. Because I think their focus was basically on domestic violence and how we can curb that. So, do you have any comments on that? MR. JOVE: I do, Council Member. I would say that the good news is that your challenges here and what you're saying is not unique, right? I'm from here but I work in Tuson. The challenges that you mentioned are the same challenges that I faced. Page 12 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 About two years ago, I was tasked with starting up our Human Trafficking Unit. And prior to me taking over that position, our Prosecutors weren't prosecuting child sex trafficking. In fact, I've had very heated debates with our prosecutors of what's appropriate to charge and what's not appropriate. Field training through relationship building through the Police Department, and the Police Chief getting behind it through public education, through meetings like this. We've come such a long way. We're charging a person a week in Tuson. We arrested a gentleman, and I use that term loosely, in October of 2024, and he's already serving his prison term. So, it's a cultural shift. It's making people aware. It's getting the training out there. We know Hawaii is not resistant to this problem. We know Hawaii cares about their keiki and their ohana It's just getting the training. It's getting the prosecutors on board. It's getting the Police Department to look at things differently to recognize what trafficking looks like: And then it's getting all the social service back in. Like the woman that walked into court, back then who is she going to tell. You know, she tells the police is she going to get help; or are the people in court just going to find out that she told, and there's no repercussion. So now, she's just vulnerable, and it just makes it worse for herx right? But changing that culture, getting prosecutors on board;it works. It takes some effort, but here I am two years fast forward. But I was right here where you guys were, you know. MR. ONISHL Good. Thanks. Like=with the Prosecutor's Office, they do also have the.Victims Assistance Program, right? So, they could be helpful with this situation, right? I just wanted to mention, I was a real advocate about domestic violence because I knew eople who were victims and got killed because of domestic violence. So, I reached out to the Prosecutor's Office in trying to establish something to make things move forward. And to me, everything was about studies; everything was about workshops and so forth. But I told them we need to move forward. Because once we get these summits, which is great for you folks. Something that I can suggest is that, once you get this done, this training, then we need to go to the next step. What is the next step after the training, right, and so forth. And that's where I think the Council as a body can help you folks too, right, to help move that forward. But that's what I did with the domestic violence. We had the summits. They had all the partners come in. They all agreed upon what was our situation, what was needed, and so forth. But they would always stay there. And the next year, it would be the same thing over and over again, right? So, nothing would happen. Page 13 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 So, I got them where after they got what was the top priorities that they needed to work on, then I got the Legislators in. And one was about laws, because funding was very hard to get, right? And how to get more funding to help educate or to get programs going, right? So, I told them, okay, let's go with laws. Let's see how more restrictive or how the penalties can be higher. So, one example was strangulation. In Hawaii strangulation wasn't like suffocation. And strangulation was something of a lesser penalty. So, we went to the Legislature to change that, and have it where,strangulation or suffocation is the same charge, which is the higher charge. So, thngs,like that can help. And you know, if you have those ideas, let us know. And we can help lobby the Legislature to change those laws. Like you said, we do have strict ones, but we can always make it more, right? Because you want to make sure if they ever get caught they get punished. And if we can keep them away for a longtime, better for our community, right? Just the last thing I wanted to mention is that the way the judicial system is, because of the old correction facilities, sometimes depending on the penalty the judges going to release them. And that's the hadpart. Because we had one incident where there was an abuse situation and was really bad. We went to the court hearing, and the judge let the person go on their own—on their own release; supervision or something. So, the`prosecutor's Office was really upset about that. So, that's another thing we might have to work with into partnership, because we don't want them going back on the street, right? We want to them to be locked up so they cannot affect anybody else.. NM. JOVB: Council Member, that's part of the education piece, right? Because domestic violence really intersects with trafficking. There's an intimate partner relationship a lot of times with traffickers and survivors; whether it's a classic pimp in an adult care or it's a juvenile case. And a lot of the mind manipulation and a lot of the violence is exactly the same. Traffickers are extremely violent. If there's one thing we know from my experience in policing, and hers through research, if a trafficker says something, they are going to do it. We've had traffickers in Tuson say, "If you try to leave me, I'm going to kill you." And sure enough, the girl tries to leave; tries to break free of that life, doesn't want to do it anymore. And the next thing you know, we're responding to a hotel for a homicide. So, they're extremely violent; very manipulative people. So, that's absolutely right. We don't want those people back on the street. MS. CARLSON: When we started this, we worked on these building blocks, like consecutively. Like, first we look at this, then we look at this. We're at the point Page 14 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 now where things need to happen concurrently. Because like you were saying, if we strictly work with law enforcement and don't work with prosecutors or judicial, we won't get. So, it's like all of a sudden, we were like, okay we know where we're going, we've got these steps. And so that's why we need your help. Is to give us ideas and also to say what can we do to kind of move this along. MR. ONISHL Right on. Thank you very much. Like I said, I'll be there for you guys to help. So, I'll give you guys my card later on: Okay, thanks. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Okay. Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: I'm good. Thank you. Appreciate the discussion. Thanks, Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder for introducing us to these folks. Appreciate it. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Alright, Mr. Kdneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Just one more thing. There's an interesting component of this. When my daughter was in'the 7' or 8th grade, she was mandatory required by the Department of Education to watch the movie, Hawaii. It's an old movie. And as`she watching it, it's like a very Hollywood attempt at portraying early culture in Hawaii, when you first had sailors coming in. I'm watching the video there, and about an hour in, there is a completey gross scene of sailors trying to buy sex from local women who swam to the ship topless in'the movie and-were all smiles to greet the sailors. And then being raped by the same sailors after they drink and'drop their day. So, there's a cultural component of this that's even built into our own Department of Education'that we may or may not see as parents. That is to me, completely wrong. I understood the educational piece and what was trying to be expressed by thetducation,Department as part as culturally where we're at. But to require our children to watch movies like that actually to me was perpetuating the problem. Because you're ingraining in them this happened. And you're almost saying it's going to continue to happen in my mind, which I did not like at all. I had to actually go back and reread all of the emails that lead to why my daughter had to watch that movie as part of her education in middle school, and why on earth that was okay, when it just shouldn't be. It's interesting that it's a requirement of them to watch this movie, unless otherwise noted by their parents. Very interesting conversation via email to the teachers. But it's built in, and it has been built in for hundreds of years. Page 15 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 There's even a component that you've touched on, which I think highlights how well you've documented what you're doing here, which touched on the demand of prostitution being traced back to Western intervention. And this need for men to come off of the ship; the ship in the whaling industry to find women to exploit. And then actually having a kapu put on Native Hawaiian women by the Ali`i to protect the people here in response to what was happening. So, full circle, we've come back, 200 years now and we are trying to go back and do the same thing. So,just an interesting kind of full-circle look at what's happening and where we stand today culturally, To, Mr. Onishi, given you were the Governor's liason, you,might be able in different aspects in the previous role. But we did start a Hawai`i Exploitation and Trafficking Unit here. And as we progress through our meetings which CFS (Covered Full Service) of the Prosecuting Attorney's Office. I also came to learn that there is a separate meeting that's held, I'd'say a little bit higher up than myself just being a politician,than at the proseuction and more stable level side, conversations that I really shouldn't be in. And that happens monthly with all of our service providers in the community at the State level, DHS, CFS. All of these State organizations that are dealing with our Prosecuting Attorney's Office. So, there are workings going,on, but I would love to have our Prosecuting Attorney get a win for our State in nailing sex trafficking, because again, it's not a question of if it's happening; it's happening and how are we goig to address it. And it can be addressed and we're right there. So,thank you again for coming in today and providing this. We're definitely over our 15 minutes. So, Chair, thank you for the lattitude and I yield. ACTING CHR. ILLEGAS: You're welcome. Great, thank you. I'll just quickly wrap this up: I also want to express my gratitude for your service. This is not an easy field to'study and circumnavigate. The relationships and the stories that you have learned about our burden to carry. So, I just want to thank you for steppping,up and stepping into those roles. Love the connectivity with you with the Big Island and working together with ASU. 1'wanted to just throw out a couple of names herein the West side. There's an organization called Humanity Hale that's run by Charis Higginson. She started the nonprofit group and works with foster children. And the story she shared with me of—it's interesting because we used to hear it called, you know, molestation or incest or sexual assault abuse, right? So, this term of sex trafficking has changed that definition. Page 16 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 I think it's also elevated it to a level of severity of understanding that is a commercialized, commodified exchange which allows for more legal repercussions. So, thank you for that. Because even I find with myself, the concept of sex trafficking,people think of somebody in handcuffs. You know, dragging them around versus manipulation and exploitation of resources for sex with a minor. I was happy to hear that you guys are working with,Child and Family Services, Child Protection Services. I think all of that is fantastic. It's tragic in places. I recognize also Arizona is a place with marginalizedindiginous people and oppressed people suffering for generational trauma,"essentially. And that's what we have here in Hawaii. I see the tie that goes back to some of the cultural shying away,from reporting. A friend of mine's father worked with indigenous people in Alaska decades ago and the models of molestation were 100 percent. It was almost just an expected right of passage. You're going to be raped car molested by a family member, and you just kind of had to buck up with it, right? ,And i see that as a reflection of trauma and generational oppression, and being undervalued, and being disconnected from cultural wisdom and support. and the collective benefit of a ohana and a community. Multi-generational families being connected. So, it's just tragic to me to see them socioeconomically percussions to humans. And I also see a connection today. This morning we spent a long time talking about,potential,Memorandums of Agreement with ICE. And it's really the ironies of here we're trying to tell young people and people in general, "Pleasae come and report to the police." And yet, there's law enforcement there in the most marginalized communities. They're vulnerable to them being pulled and deported: So, this is hard work. Taking things that I remember Matt and I talking about this issue and standing i 'the parking lot in Kona, and people were enraged. And all the claims,just all the different things. But you have navigated a process and provided the scientific information; the data and created the programs; and created then the pathway for identification for people to not just yet. Well, it felt weird. Arid you don't want to be the accuser. But you created theh science technology and the template for us to move forward as a community. So, thank you. I'll give you my card as well, and I'd love to connect you with Charis, because she has a lot of volunteers in the community that work with a number of foster children that she works with. And I know they could really use your support, and guidance, and the specialized training. So, thank you so much for being here; for the work that you do. It is a heavy lift. It is an emotional, psychological, spiritial, and physical burden. But you're carrying it, and you're teaching us all. So, thank you for that. Page 17 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 With that, all those in favor of closing file on Communication 165 please say Ic aye. Vote on Comm. 165: The motion to close file on Comm. 165 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Hustace, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kinnball, Onishi, and Acting Chair Villegas —7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Galimba and Kierkiewicz—2. Excused: None. Return to Order The Chair directed the Committee to return to the order of business. of Business: COMMUNI- The Acting Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 35.1: QUARTERLY AFFORDABLE HOUSING REPORT: >OCTOBER 1 — DECEMBER 31, 2024 From Housing Administrator Kehaulani M. Costa, dated February 28, 2025, transmitting the above report pursuant to Section 11-19 of the Hawaii County Code. Motion to Close File: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to close file on Comm. 35.1. Seconded by Ms. Kagiwada. ACTING C R. VILLEGA : Do we have Ms. Costa? MS: KIMBALL: -Yes, we have the Office of Housing here. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Okay, fantastic. Good afternoon. (Neste: At this time, Office of Housing and Community Development Administrator Kehaulani Costa, came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. COSTA: Alright, I'm here to present Communication 35.1. It's our Affordable Housing Quarterly Report. There are three reportable items that you have in your communication. A list of developers in possession of excess affordable housing credits. And there is no changes to that list since our last reporting. Page 18 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 There is a summary of Current Affordable Housing Inventory. And you do have an updated list in your communication. I also just want to point out that we have our affordable housing dashboard updated live on our website, and that's a really good resource for all of our affordable housing projects existing and those in predevelopment construction. Then the third reported item is an accounting of significant actions taken under Chapter 11. And with that, we are excited to report,thatwe have 200 new rental units added to our inventory. Those two projects are the Elderly Veterans Hale Na Koa in Hilo on Kawili Street. And then also Kauhale I Ke Kula Uka, formerly Kaloko Heights over there in West Hawaii, o, those are 200 total units. We also include in this report, although it's not part of the Chapter 11 reporting. But it's at the request of Council, we have two exhibits around Emergency and Transitional shelters; also, Permanent Supportive Housing Substance Abuse Treatment facilities; Medical Respite Care facilities; and Skilled Nursing and Rehab facilities. So, those two exhibits are also part of this report. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Administrator Costa. Questions from the Council. Council Member Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you. Administrator, for the Kaaloko Heights Project, can you just give us a quick update as to if all units have been opened for moving in, or where we are with that project. MS. COSTA: All units are open for move in. We're in the process of—well, it's a private project. So, the property managers of the property are doing lease ups. There isn't a significant number,of project-based vouchers on the property. So, those are Section 9 vouchers that are permanently placed on those units. We have about 75 project-based vouchers there. We're probably over 50 percent now of lease up of those units. And we've expedited lease ups to try to help move families in quicker. The Section 8 process is a little bit slow. So, we've expedited that recently. MR. INABA: Wonderful. Thank you. Yeah, great addition and update for this quarterly report. And then, this report has been kind of a revolving format. So, prior to the next quarterly report, wondering if you folks might be open to putting in a QR (Quick Response) code here to the dashboard. So, that if folks happen to go on reference this communication, they can see the live version as well in the interim between the reporting periods. Thank you so much. Take care. MS. COSTA: Great. Thank you. Page 19 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you. Council Member Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Thank you for being here Administrator. In the report, I have one question for you. There might be more. You never know with me. Thank you. Hale Haumana Student Housing lists the AMI (Area Median Income) level at 120 percent. Just logically in my brain, I'm not understanding that. It's student housing but the AMI level is 120 percent. MS. COSTA: You know, I'm not super—some of this additional—no that's. You know, this is everything, right? This is all affordable housing properties, and not all of them are County managed, or you know, really, art of our regular properties that we touch. So, I can't really speak to all of them. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay,just a brief review if you get a free moment. Let me look into that one. That one's interesting. I wouldn't say students would be in our 120 percent AMI level. I would think they would be 100 percent or less. MS. COSTA: Yeah, have to look into that property. I'm not sure. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Whenyou have time, yes please. And then, were you here for our last communication regarding the sex trafficking. MS. COSTA It was awesome. Really, you know, I just want to thank you for that. I mean,`'these are numbers of units on a report, but the mission is to provide safe stable housing for our community. And our outreach teams that are working in our homeless population, we see this all the time. And you know, safe space, safe overnight sleeping, foster youth housing. It just goes so far in addressing what the last communication presented. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you for saying that. I was hoping that you would be there, and I wanted to tie you into that and kind of just tie these two together because the numbers she was presented are some of the same numbers that we're hoping tosorry, the population and the numbers that was presented,in the study from sex trafficking can easily be incorporated in the numbers'and the folks that we're serving under emergency shelters and transitional housing. MS. COSTA: Absolutely; and the training. The training that he suggested would be excellent for our team as well. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Well, we'll link up together after. Okay, thank you very much, Administrator. Appreciate it. I yield Chair. Page 20 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you. Any comments from anyone else? If not, thank you, Administrator Costa. You're doing amazing. You've been drinking from a fire hose since you got into this position. But I just want to thank you for bringing all this information forward, being so gracious. So, thank you. Appreciate you. All those in favor of closing file on Communication 35.1, please day "aye." Any opposed? Vote on Comm. 35.1: The motion to close file on Comm. 35.1 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Hustace, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Onishi, and Acting Chair Villegas 7., Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Galimba and Kierkiewicz—, 2. Excused: None. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: With that, we'll move on to the next Communication 166. Comm. 166: 2024 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC ACCESS, OPEN SPACE, AND NATURAL RESOURCES PRESERVATION COMMISSION (PONC) From Mayor C. Kimo Alameda, dated February 24, 2025, transmitting the above report pursuant to Section 2-218 of the Hawaii County Code, providing a detailed summary of the purchasing history and status of lands acquired through the fund, a report on management and stewardship of acquired lands, and the updated prioritized list for proposed acquisition of land. Motion to Close File: Mr. Inaba moved to close file on Comm. 166. Seconded by Mr. Hustace. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Do we have a representative from the Mayor's Office in Hilo? MS. KIMBALL: No, we do not. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Okay, Anyone here to present? Okay. With that, I'�ll go ahead and open it up to Council Members with any questions. With do have with our boards the 2024 Annual Report. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Just pointing out, I was reading the part, looks like to date, the County has acquired about 6,000 acres in conservation easements and 4,000 acres fee simple; equal to about 10,800 acres under the Public Access, Open Space, and Natural Resources Preservation fund, which I Page 21 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 think is a huge win for our community. So, well done for those who put that in place. That was decades ago and till what we continued to this day. Thank you. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Mr. Kdneali`i-Kleinfelder. Mr. Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you. I just want to take this opportunity to mahalo the members of our PONC Commission for their work every year to receive these application; score them and make the recommendations. These are members of our community represented by folks from each of our Council districts. So, without them we wouldn't have this report. And we wouldn't be able to take action on the resolutions. Thank you, Chair, I,yield. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair.; I know we don't have Administration here right now. But maybe the folks that are here representing PONC could answer about vacancies on the PONC Commission. No, okay. Well, I'll follow-up with that. I know we heard from a°new prospective new PONC member today earlier. Sod that's great, but I do see several of these other ones either expired or yeah, needing new people. So, I want to make sure that we have enough folks to do this important work. Then the only other thing I was wondering about is if the next report. One thing thatI would love to see is an Island-wide map that shows where all these properties are. So, we can kind of get a sense, you know, where we're focusing some of our attention. That would be really helpful. (Noto At this time, Deputy Managing Director Merrick Nishimoto, came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. NISHIMOTO, Good afternoon, Deputy Managing Director, Merrick Nishimoto from the Kona Mayor's Office. Our apologies. I can take some questions back to the Administration and get back to you. MS. KAGIWADA: Sure. Just wondering where we are with vacancies on the PONC and how we're doing there. And then asking for possibly adding an Island-wide map that shows, when you get one of these reports, where all of these are located. Because I can look, you know, item by item, but it would be nice to have a visual on it. MR. NISHIMOTO: Okay, will do. Thank you. MS. KAGIWADA: Alright, that's all. Thank you, Chair. Page 22 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member Kagiwada. Anything on your side, Council Member Kimball? MS. KIMBALL: No, thank you. I will say to Council Member Kagiwada's statement about the map, I believe that Planning may have that map available on their online platform. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member'Kimball. With that, thank you, Mr. Nishimoto for stepping up and stepping in to take the seat and take a couple questions back for us. I want to also express my deep gratitude to the community members that participate on the PONC Commission; and to those who helped bring forth this historic opportunity for our tax dollars to go into conservation property. I'm really grateful for the number of parcels that have been purchased and for the work, I just quicky want to say thank you to the Department of Finance for taking back the management of the allocation of the Maintenance Fund, because it had added as what Mr. Onishi was talking about earlier, it was burdensome to Parks and Recreation. And it,was causing a slowdown,in allocation of funds for our Maintenance through the nonprofits. So, thank you to the Department of Finance for making that smoother and making sure the funds are getting out there. So, we have a lot of incredible nonprofit organizations who are getting their hands dirty`Find"getting right there and connecting to these places which are so sacred to so many of us and that will remain sacred and available to our grandchildren and our grandchildren's grandchildren, which is vital to the resilience and regenerative capacity of our Big Island. So, thank you, Mr. Nishimoto. MS. KIMBAL;L,: Acting Chair Villegas, we have EA (Executive Assistant) Alameda here to respond to the question around the PONC openings. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Okay, go ahead, Mr. Alameda. (Dote: At this time, Executive Assistant to the Mayor Micah Alameda, came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. ALAMEDA: Acting Chair Villegas, and mahalo, Deputy Managing Director Nishimoto. We currently have three vacancies right now on the PONC, not including Ms. (Janet) Britt. We do have one in District 3; we have a vacancy in District 9. We have two solid individuals in the que. We're not yet ready to move them out. However, I am anticipating getting one individual on the April 15, 2025 GOEAC (Government Operations and External Affairs Committee) agenda. Page 23 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 That's the best update I have for you right now. We are trying our best to bring forward intentional individuals who understand the kuleana that's being asked of them, and once they are ready, we will move them out. Thank you. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Mr. Alameda. Appreciate you swooping in with some answers for those questions for us this afternoon. Alright, if no other comment? Ms. Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: I just wanted to thank Mr. Alameda for jumping in as well and for getting that information to us. Yeah, thank you so much and for being on top of this and getting people in here. Not only in a'timely manner, but people that make sense. So, thank you so much. Appreciate it: MR. ALAMEDA: Lastly, we do have Deputy Director of Finance, Ms. (Mafia) Kekai to answer any questions to the PONC report in terms of financing. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Thankyou. Council Member Onishi. MR. ONISHL Thank you, Madame Chair. Deputy Director Nishimoto. Just one suggestion. Maybe you guys and also reach out to the Council Members in the district, if we know anyone who might want to be on,any committee. And that can help you guys with finding people. Okay. MR. NISHIMOTO: Great suggestion. We will take you up on that. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member Onishi. If that is all, and there are no more questions. All those in favor of closing file on Communication 166,please say "aye." Vote on Comm. 166: The motion to close file on Comm. 166 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Hustace, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Onishi, and Acting Chair Villegas —7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Galimba and Kierkiewicz—2. Excused: None. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Bringing us to our final agenda item of the day. Mr. Clerk, can you please read in Communication 167. Comm. 167: REQUESTS A PRESENTATION BY HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC'S DIRECTOR Page 24 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 OF GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNTIY AFFAIRS, JENNIFER ZELKO- SCHLUETER, REGARDING WILDFIRE SAFETY STRATEGY From Council Member James E. Hustace, dated February 28, 2025. Motion to Close File: Mr. Hustace moved to close file on Comm. 167. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Mr. Hustace, please, you have the floor. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Appreciate everyone's patience here today. We had a nice long conversation on a lot of important, ssues here on Hawaii County on the Island. And grateful to have our team here with Hawaiian Electric give a little update and presentation. I tend them only 15 minutes, so, I put them under the gun here for sure. But while these conversations are important to our Leeward communities, Hawaiian Electric has presented to this body previously about the implementation, following the 2023 fires in the islands. And their work building resiliency; working with community partners;working with Government agencies to find solutions and work together on all these pressing issues. Grateful to have them here today. You know, I was grateful to attend the Wildfire Summit in Keauhou with all the community partners that are concerned about wildfires; about mitigation, line management;and all the intricacies that put into play toreally protect and safeguard our communities and our residents here. So, grateful to have our Hawaiian Electric team here today. You know, District 9, as you know,is one of our high-risk areas. So, this is very near and"dear to me. To our community members that are here and attended today listening about these different rotations of strategies while we're having these really end,up,conversations 2:31:08. We can also dive into their Hawaiian Electric's work about the grant monies and the Federal monies that are kind of going into investment that our utility is making into our good resiliency efforts about climate adaptation, and we're protecting and safeguarding our communities. So,thank you for joining us today. Really appreciate you being here, and I'm really happy to bring them in front of the Council to provide updates since their last presentation. Then we'll go further into depth into the work they've been doing since they spoke to you last. So, I'll pass it over to Jenn, Kevin and Kurt. So, thank you so much for being here today. (Note: At this time, Hawaiian Electric Jennifer Zelko-Schlueter, Kevin Waltjen, and Kurt Sukiyama, came forward to address the members of the Committee.) Page 25 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 MS. ZELKO-SCHLUETER: Thank you. So, good afternoon, almost evening, Chair Villegas and Members. I'm Jennifer Zelko. I'm the Director of Government and Community Affairs at Hawaiian Electric. And with me is Kevin Waltjen, Director of Hawaii Island, and Kurt Sukiyama, who is our Director of Transmission and Distribution for both Hawaii Island and Maui County. And I also wanted to thank, mahalo, Council Member Hustace for asking us for this report. And of course, Chair Inaba for giving us the time today to talk about what we're doing to keep community safe across Hawaii Island. (Note: At this time, Hawaiian Electric Director Jennifer Zelko-Schlueter, came forward and provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the subject presentation, see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is made a part of the records see Comm. 167.) ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Council Members, opening it up for questions, comments. Council Member Hustace, MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Jenn, Kevin and Kurt for the team here, of course. But appreciate you being here presenting to my colleagues and giving an update on'the work that you've been'doing and the implementation of both the software side,the hardware, and the community partnerships that we're building. And the work, of course, that we have to keep going and moving forward on. .,. Could you, in one of the slides, talk about PSPS (Public Safety Power Shutoff). Could you just enlighten us on the review process, as you revision PSPS, because it mentioned you might be reanalyzing, reassessing PSPS. What are the steps that you take and,put into effect,for that purpose? MR. WATJEN-, So okay, PSPS, what we did is we actually hired a consultant to come in'and analyze all the different areas. And Jenn kind of touched upon it, right, and looked at'the fires in the area; looked at what the risks to the communities were. And that was very important for us, right? Because once you identify that, where the risk is; where people are, right? And what were the options for that happening. That's what ended up giving that red zone that you see in this map. Very important to us, these are people. So, once that happened, we then said, okay, this is an area that we've got to look at. What are our options? What is our last line of defense? So, Public Safety Power Shutoff was the last line of defense. So, your question is what makes us look at look at that? What makes us turn it off, what makes us decide? Is that the question? Page 26 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 MR. HUSTACE: It's more about like; do you want to reassess it for looking ahead. Like, if things change, you know, systems change, growth areas change, the grid changes. MR. WALTJEN: It's a yearly thing. Every year we're going to go ahead and reassess. So, we look at it, as far as, we started with this. This came up with the area PSPS. But it's what our Senior VP (Vice President) terms it, as a living plan. So, since it's a living plan, we're going to continue to look at the area and see if it makes sense or if we have to expand. So, even like when we look at other areas; the first one we showed was the red, right, which was Tier 3. We then go and look if there's any Tier 2's would then come up to a Tier 3. And same thing with a Tier 3, had they come out. Are you getting more water? Is it less risk? It's constantly being evolved in its plan of living equal proportion. MR. SUKIYAMA: In fact, it just came out. 'So, as Kevin mentioned, it's a living plan. So, what we do is, as we implement tools, we change construction; we harden the grid. We add more situational awareness tools. We will look and adjust accordingly what is or isn't a part of the PSPS plan. So, we're constantly looking to see like wow, can we, what we call sectionalize a circuit? So, can we maybe just keep a portion of it energized and only take the energize the real critical risk areas. So, I'm not taking out, you know, 1,000 people; maybe I might only impact 700 people, right? So, that's kind of part of this iterative plan that we have that, as we look to deploy and harden the system, add equipment out there. Like Kevin said, it will be a living plan'that will continue to evolve as we get more information and strengthen our grid. MR. USTACE: 'Thank you. Could you speak a little bit to, you know, it kind of involves the Waikol�oa community and the Wildfire Safety advocates; and what kind of partnership you had? And whether there are articles about this that went out particularly about the community benefits package that changed at the Federal level, and maybe your continued plans with community or work that you want to do with the dollars and the grant monies that maybe could be recharacterized or invested in different parts of your mitigation strategies? MS. ZELKO-SCHLUETER: Sure, I can answer that. Last year, we had announced that we received $95 million from the Federal Government, which will be matched with funds from the Utilities. So, it was a 50150 match. Five million of that was set aside by the Federal Government for what's called Community Benefits Agreements. Page 27 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 So, this was separate from the grid hardening and some of the other things we're talking about. Even separate from the vegetation management, actually. It really wasI think the intention was, let's get everybody working together. Let's get the community involved; let's get volunteers. So, we had proactively identified several organizations on Hawaii Island. Waikoloa Wildfire Safety Advocates were one of them for this island to look at what we could do together. A partnership where we would fund it through that fund. And there could be volunteers or workers to get that done. So, I think that one was specifically looking at vegetation management. We were told, and I believe this was in January, that the Department of Energy; those funds, would be frozen at this time. Not the other $90 million, but the $5 million that was set aside for community benefits would be frozen. And so, we did alert all of the organizations we were working with. At thattime, we didn't have any signed contract yet,but we wanted to make sure everybody knew. Let's stop work on that lease until wehave a better=idea of where that is. It again doesn't stop our work as far as vegetation"management and other grid hardening. But it did stop us from being able to do those'community benefits agreements. MR. HUSTACE: Is there�a ay—so those dollars are not attainable right now? MS. ZELKO-SCHLUETER: At this time. The last we were told is they were frozen., MR. HUSTACE: Is there a way to recharacterize that language and that request toihe Department of Energy in terms of and to receive—for the other limitation that you see to kind of go towards either more good resiliency or anything like that? MS: ZELKO-SCHLUETER: Kevin and Kurt can add to this, but I believe at $90 million, there was actually—we had to be pretty specific about the work we were going to do when we submitted for the funding. So, to recharacterize at this time, I think there's a concern that you could lose that funding. MR HUSTACE: Okay. MR. WALTJEN: So, right now, we have designated plans with that$90 million. So, we're working towards that. The $5 million that you're asking about is not there. However, you know, we're going to continue to work with our community. Just understand that we will continue to work; we'll continue to come up with different types of solutions that we can help to keep things moving. It doesn't necessarily mean it will be exactly what we were talking about. But we will continue to work. Page 28 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 Jsut because we didn't get the $5 million doesn't mean that we stop as an organization working with the different stakeholders. We're very vested because we go back to the plan, right? This is not a one-group issue. This is a many groups' issue, and us in Hawaii have got to continue to work hand-in-hand to achieve what we want to do. So, I will say this. Maybe we don't have the $5 million, and we as the utility doesn't have as much money. But maybe we can work together and we can hand-in-hand see what else we can do. We might not get the money, but might have other options; other programs we're working,on;things that we're doing. Talking about, like this wildfire strategy. How do we get'to where we make everything safe. Kurt kind of covered,the things we're working on. You know, changing the fuses; covered conductor;hardening the poles. It might not be perfect and reached exactly what we all wanted to do in the firstplace. But it will get us to something that makes it better for the communities that are there. Just remember we're there doing this day in and day out. It's jsut that he brings the things that we're using today to make it better. Tells you that these are real things that are happening daily. Some of the things I talked aboutWth inspections and vegetation management. That's real things that we're doing every day., Different from what was a year or two ago,right? The fact thatwe're committing to inspect every year, the same lines that we never had to do in the past. It is a commitmennt that we made from our side that says, we have effort, we are putting focus in these communities. And,we are on it'. And that's all I can say about that. MS. ZEL O-SCHLUETER: Just to add, because I wanted to clarify, and I didn't get a chance. When I was doing my presentation, I think specifically to Waikoloa, and'it is our highest wildfire risk area. All those things we talked about,the camera, the weather stations. They've been deployed in Waikoloa. We did arial inspections of Waikoloa about a month ago. There is planned work. We've done trimming of trees around that line area. So, this work is being done in Waikoloa. I think people don't often see it, and maybe We're actually talking about it here. Maybe really put out the press releases for the arial inspections. But this work is a priority for us. Waikoloa is obviously a big priority for us. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you Jenn and Kevin. You know, going to the Wildfire Summits, you're absolutely right. Like the conversations that were had there about all the parties that are at the table, and everyone has a responsibility; the kuleana to kind of protect community. I mean that Wildfire Land Management Organization we're talking about land management. Page 29 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 So, all the partners around the communities in those convocation zones, like interaction from the wildfire to the urban environment. So, there's a lot of different moving pieces. And I'm grateful that you're really paying attention to these pieces and a willing partner in this conversation. This kind of leads into my last question for now. When we had our Housing Administrator Kehau Costa here. These Leeward communities are seeing growth as well. So, there is this also increased risk over time. As we grow our Waikoloa communities; we grow the Kona communities. You know, the desirable communities that people want to live and they're expanding. So, there's kind of pushing to aerials where risk is greater, as we know in some of these areas already. One of the challenges that I see. .You know, you're out there as the utility. Maintaining the vegetation that really not your responsibility at the end of the day. And I think that's the conversation we have apt the community level and at the Council when we're looking at conditions for, you know, Council approvals, land, all those sorts of things,right? And applications, that if they're interacting with our utility partners, that they also have to take ownership and responsibility of the vegetation that runs under your lines. Because you're investing these dollars to maintain vegetation that interacts with your lines, and you might be going above and beyond to remove it entirely if you see it's'like ahigh-risk area or what have you. But I think we need to put more emphasis on some of the landowners that run under the lines and the partnership that build with them, either with our easements and whatnot. That's something that we're going to have a continued conversation about to really find that responsible party to'take care of their land, that proper land management, especially as itrelates to you and these zones of high risk. So, I yield for now. t've taken up some, and I really appreciate the patience and the ears of my colleagues to really get involved in this conversation. So, thank you, Chair. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: No worries. Thank you, Council Member Hustace. Anyone else? Council Member Kdneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I'll try and keep it short. So, you guys are going to switch to covered conductors for your main lines, your aerials? MR. SUKIYAMA: So, that is an option. This is one of the types of conductors that we are assessing in certain areas of—you know, what is the best solution for that area? But, yeah, not all. But this is just an option that we are looking at and considering. Page 30 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That will eliminate parking under branches and things like that from occurring. MR. SUKIYAMA: So, things coming into contact with the conductors; or if there is say, a contact where conductors might hit each other or some other object. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: What about the ground wire. Were you eliminating copper wire, you said? MR. SUKIYAMA: So, on our system, we have copper conductors. So, this is one from upcountry Maui. As a typical example, it's more on the Windward sides. It gets brittle and it fails. So, we've just basically been removing this and replacing it with this aluminum. And/car we,might be replacing it with covered conductors. It kind of depends on the environment, the conditions. It's a situational-based consideration when looking at what to replace it with. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's your pole grounds, or that's the house grounds, or that's in your area? MR. SUKIYAMA: No,this is actually a conductor in the air. This is the main line that used to be up there. And there's a guage that's even smaller than this. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER:' Is itbraided? MR. SUKIYAMA: So, this is very vintage; how they used to tie them together. So, this is a splice. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's a splice. Wow. MR. SUKIYAMA: It didn't break at the splice, but it broke a little bit downstream. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's your aerial conductor in some parts of our island? MR. SUKIYAMA: Yes. M . KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Wow. MR. SUKIYAMA: So, this is being identified and replaced. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I've never seen those before. Page 31 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 MR. WALTJEN: So, the other thing you've got to remember is copper is a great conductor. When you compare copper and aluminum, it's a very good conductor. What he's showing you is the size of the conductor. So, that's why he said some of them are smaller. So, those are the ones we identified as, we've got to replace them before they start to fail. Because copper over time, when it swings and yields, right? And the—is the thing that causes it to fail. So, again, this conductor he's talking about, when we find it. We're replacing it before it becomes a problem. And then replacing it with aluminum because you have less likelihood with the bigger aluminum conductor from creating the same issue. So, not necessarily, we have this in,everywhere. Butwhen we have it and we identify it, our next step is to replace with aluminum conductors. MR. SUKIYAMA: If I could add, it is,like a cascading thing. So,more mass; a little bit heavier. So, then potentially right, we are"ending up changing our poles; changing a part—so it is kind of a cascading: So, we do look at these two. I mean it's really a situation in terms of looking at it, and what makes the best sense from a planning and safety reliability standpoint; MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That is an actual aerial conductor because it's blowing my mind. MR. SUKIYAMA: Yes. MR.KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: °What grade is that a four? MR. SUKIYAMA: This is a Number 6. MR. KANEALI`l-KLEINFELDER: That's six-gauge? Interesting. Okay, in your wildfire density risk map. Is density in population taken into account? I think I heard the answer, but I'm looking at the density of the Housing density of the areas: MS. ZELKO-SCHLUETER: Populations are. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. When I'm saying density, when we say density here, density is like size of zoning. Like Residential 15,000; or you have very dense housing types in an area. Is that taken into account in your map. MR. WALTJEN: So, to tell you what happened with this case. So, when they came, we took them to each area, and we looked at the housing areas; we looked at what was there; we looked at what the prevailing wind was. Page 32 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 If there was a fire and the prevailing wind was going to take out this whole area of subdivision, that became a critical need for us. And the reason why I say it's very important that we brought the consultants to the areas was because they drove every one of these areas where our lines were at and where associated communities were at. So, when you asked the question, did we go and look at the count of the number of people in that area, I wouldn't say they went and,counted every person that was there to get the count, the density population like what you're using. But what they did is looked at, okay the lineis here;"this is the type of fuel in the area. If a fire was to occur and the wind blows in this direction, how much people are being impacted? Will this impact a;community? Yes itwould. This is a very high risk. So, yes, they did. Now, the question came up from Councilman Hustace about what happens when the growth happens here, and you have more people? We're going to continue to look at that, right? Because you see the subdivisions being developed. But this area that is already high risk cannot get any,hgher risk. We're already looking at them as it's a high risk: This is what we've got to do to protect them. So, for these areas that were Tier 2�though, right? We looked at the areas that were orange, and we look at growth there. That might become a Tier 3, right? And that might become a PSPS,:, Do I take the Tier 3 off of it? We probably won't. 'Bu 'let's just say, the fuel goes away. For what other reason? Land management happens. They make the fuel go away. That might become a Tier 2. Because now you don't have the fuel, right? Those are things that can,ehange in the plan. I don't see it happening instantly. I see it happening over time. But if you're a Tier 3,you're a Tier 3 because there's risks because of the fuel; and there's risks because there's population that can get impacted. MS. ZELKO-SCHLUETER: Also, I guess to your point, at the Wildfire Summit there was an expert on wildfires. And he basically made it very clear, he said, "Wildfires are not the issue. The biggest issue is the, as-built environment." It is how your subdivisions are built. It is what's around folks' homes. It makes a big difference. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thinking along that line, if you were to overlay your infrastructure maps on top of our County Zoning maps, and you specifically looked at the density allowance per the parcels. And you overlayed those two, you would actually be planning for future growth. Which is what Mr. Hustace was talking about, and I liked his point. Page 33 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 Because you're looking at your infrastructure where the County is going to be or is allowing incredibly dense housing to be built. And then you're tracking that and being ready to build your network stronger in those areas or provide PSPS in the future. It sounds like you are, but it might be a tool that you can use if you're not ready. That makes your job easier. MS. ZELKO-SCHLUETER: Thank you. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Then finally,two more, sorry. Are the cameras available for the public to look at? They can look at those. Okay, cool. And then, your strategic undergrounding; understanding it's incredibly expensive. Because you were talking, the County has a lack of sidewalks. If I remember right for being an electrician for 10 years, if you put PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) under the ground; you put 400 pounds of concrete,on top, that's considered approved instead 6f digging a three-foot trench. I don't know if utilities are subject to the same restrictions that residential conduit placement is or are. But if we combine the need for sidewalks with your need for undergrounding cables, we actually might have something that would be useful to both parties. Because then we get complete streets, and you get cheaper conduit burials. Those are encased in concrete. That might be an option we can pursue as a County, utility collaboration which wouldbe neat: Because I love communities where they don'tdo aerials. It's pretty. But your job in the public safety component, you've got a whole brand new,not just esthetics, it's actually safety mechanism now. So,just an,,idea. MS. ZELKO- CHLUETER: Absolutely, we would like to work with the County. And as we work thfough:the wildfire safety strategy including that strategic undergrounding,I mean, those are the key things we're looking for. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I think I had one more question for you, but I may not. The tree management, that is an interesting one. I always wondered why. Actually, I'm wondering about the costs from both the phone companies and for HELCO (Hawaiian Electric Light Company) in maintaining the undergrowth underneath of your lines; classically used by easements. I have in my neighborhood; we have palm trees growing up into the wires. HELCO they come and help and have them cut, but there's a cost for you. There's a public safety mechanism for us. So, finding a way to balance that. I just have a hard time believing I can plant a tree under your lines. And then it's your responsibility to take care of it. That's an interesting parallel between public and private components. Page 34 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 MS. ZELKO-SCHLUETER: I'll let Kevin finish this answer, but there is incredible amount of funds that have to be spent on vegetation management. In general, we would be concerned about the tree that might be coming in contact with the lines. I think one of the things that a lot of folks maybe don't understand is what the cost is to customers. And so, it's really balancing costs to customers. That's where that discussion, Council Member Hustace, that point you made earlier, is really, how do we work with landowners? How do we all work together in order to maintain the fuel side. You know, which is one of the things that starts fire. You need ignition, but you need fuel. And so I'll let Kevin finish that. MR. WALTJEN: So, that is a very tough question, right? Because the property owner is responsible for cutting their own trees that's on their property. The part that we come in and we trim is the tree itself when it impacts all customers, right? So, these lines feeds and services 1,000 customers, right? And the tree's coming in. We're cutting it to keep it clear from our lines,, and that's whatwe'do. The issue is the tree owner is still responsible for removing that tree. So, if it impacts us enough, I'm going to come and say, "This is a hazardous tree coming from your property impacting me. If I've got to come in and cut it, I'm going to bill you when it impacts all these customers, and I've got to put the line back up." So, it's happened right? "But I in going to put you on notice."And there's a law that says, anything that you have that can impact the safety of people, right, the public, whatever have you, you're responsible for it. And I'm going to come back, and I'm,going to bill you once I tell you that it is your responsibility. So, we've had to do that. It's not a,fain method. The County also does this, right? If there's a hazardous tree that's coming down and can hurt your neighbor. And the County calls you and they say, I get this situation. It doesn't impact us, but it impacts myneighbor. It falls down and it lands on their house, right? It's a hazardous tree.-And they go and identify it, and they follow the same practice. It's an ordinance, and1they bill the person for it. Not an easy thing. We don't have it easy. The County doesn't have it easy. It would be better if the landowners took care of it. MR. KAEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I think back to Hurricane Iselle. I mean that was basically, the worse case for all the hazardous trees in all of Puna. And then we were out of power for three weeks. So, not a PSPS issue; not a wildfire issue, but just an overall hazard that we see. Not just on one side of the island or the other. But it's a problem. Thank you for the information. Thank you, my buzzer went off. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member Kdneali`i-Kleinfelder. If there's no other comments from anyone else, I'll just finish this up really quickly. I want to thank you guys for taking the initiative to improve Page 35 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 infrastructure. It's a theme in our County in the public and private sector that a lot of our infrastructure has been deteriorating, and is older, and is outdated. But also understanding the size of our island makes it a heavier lift in order to update all these things. But I am heartened to have seen the efforts being put forward by you guys and by community to participate, to communicate, to collaborate with one another. Because it's only through public,private partnerships; and government and community working,together. But we really can be effective, and we can move forward and ensure the safety and the health of our communities regardless if Federal funding gets cut. So, we can't cut trees. But so anyway, I just wanted to thank you guys for being Mere. Thank you for bringing, actually, the show-and-tell. As much as I was telling Matt to stop and wanted to ask questions about every little piece, it's really coed to see the pieces in real life and up close. I just want to thank you, Jenn. When a transformer blew up in my neighborhood, it was really a year ago now, but I could just text you, because all the power went out, and that's a part of the relationships where she could go, "Oh, that's in your neighborhood" And then all that time was saved because we knew closet:to where it was. So, I also wanted to thank you guys for your responses on and clarifications of the differences. People reach out about,you know, trees are leaning on lines, not understanding that those aren't your lines, those are cable lines which have different risk factors. Soy as a community, and unfortunately, it's all too often through crisis but we learn, and we get educated on things., And we lean in, and we participate, and we contribute. And,so,,thank you to the community for being here today. It was a long afternoon. Thank you to you guys for all the work that you do and continuing ter+bring us into the 2 1" Century; and to ensure that we don't have a tragedy like Lahaina. We've had some close calls, but I appreciate the work that you do And we have clot more to do. So, with that, all those in favor of closing file on Communication 167,please say "aye." Vote on Comm 167: The motion to close file on Comm. 167 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Hustace, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Onishi, and Acting Chair Villegas —7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Galimba and Kierkiewicz—2. Excused: None. Page 36 CRCOC-5 March 18,2025 ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: And seeing no other business on our agenda today, this meeting is adjourned. ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 3:22 p.m. Acting Chair Villegas adjourned the MENT: meeting. Approved: Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Chair (Date) Communications, Reports, and Council Oversight Committee MG/dt Page 37