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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN FC 2025/04/08 to 11 (2024-2026) Budget DRAFTCommittee on Finance 8tb Session Special Meeting Departmental Budget and Program Reviews Hawai `i County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii April 8, 2025 CALL TO The special meeting of the Committee on Finance was called to order at ORDER: 9:00 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Mr. Matt Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Matt Kaneali `i- Kleinfelder, Chair Mr. James E. Hustace, Vice Chair Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: The following individual registered to speak and came forward when called by the Chair: Aislinn Chalker: Matthew Chalker: (representing Wildfire Safety Advocates of Waikoloa) Bob Yuhnke: (representing Wildfire Safety Advocates of Waikoloa) Julia Alos: Bill 32 (Comm. 159), comment. Bill 32 (Comm. 159), comment. Bill 32 (Comm. 159), comment. Bill 31 (Comm. 158); and Bill 32 (Comm. 159), in support. FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. Bill 31: ESTABLISHES AN OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2025, TO JUNE 30, 2026 From Mayor C. Kimo Alameda, dated February 28, 2025, transmitting for consideration the proposed Operating Budget for the County of Hawaii for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2026. This balanced budget includes estimated revenues and appropriations of $937,740,471, which represents a proposed 1.8 percent increase compared to the Fiscal Year 2024-25 Operating Budget. Reference: Comm.158 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) ; and Comm. 158.1: From Finance Director Diane Nakagawa, dated February 28, 2025, transmitting reports entitled, Departmental & Agencies' Six Month Progress Report on Program Objectives for Fiscal Year 2024-2025 and Final Status Report on Program Objectives for Fiscal Year 2023-2024. Motion to Approve: Mr. Inaba moved to recommend passage of Bill 31 on first reading. Seconded by Ms. Villegas. Bill 32: RELATES TO PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2025, TO JUNE 30, 2026 From Mayor C. Kimo Alameda, dated February 28, 2025, transmitting the proposed Capital Budget for FY 2025-2026 and the Capital Improvements Program for the next six years from Fiscal Year 2025-2026 to 2030-2031, which includes 75 projects requiring a total appropriation of $555 million of which $514.6 million are intended to be funded in whole or part by bonds, $36.75 million to be funded by Federal Grants, and $3.7 million to be funded by CBA (Community Benefit Assessments)/Other. Reference: Comm.159 Intr. by: Mr. Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder (B/R) Motion to Approve: Mr. Inaba moved to recommend passage of Bill 32 on first reading. Seconded by Mr. Hustace. DEPARTMENTAL The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business PROGRAM Departmental Budget and Program Reviews. AND BUDGET REVIEWS: (1) Mayor — Overview of the Operating and Capital Budgets and Programs: Page 2 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you very much, Council. Thank you for everyone for being in attendance this morning. Mayor Alameda, if you'd like to get us started this morning with the presentation for the Office of Management and the general overview of the budget? Thank you for being here and being punctual and bringing the entire staff as well. I love it. Good to see you all. Remember to push the button and introduce yourself. (Note: At this time, Mayor C. Kimo Alameda came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. ALAMEDA: Thank you, Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and Vice Chair Hustace, and fellow County Council Members. It's such a pleasure to be here. I'd like to also send out some love to everybody behind me and those in attendance. Thank you so much for being here as well. This is an exciting time. And yeah, $937 million budget, right. So I asked Diane, I said, how big of this budget was from last year, and you're right, 1.8 percent increase. So I then I asked, that's a small increase; can you look back five years to see if it was ever smaller? And she said, no it's the smallest increase ever. So I said no sense looking back another five years because I don't remember it being that small. So we have a pretty tight budget. Before we start though, I've got to share with you. It's one thing to have a budget, but it's one thing to have an inspired workforce because we're going to maximize everything we have in this budget moving forward. I mean just indulge me for about three minutes, okay. We've been in this for about four months and already so much has been done. Kawamoto's Swimming Pool, right, never had warm water; now get warm water. Kohala lights; four years never had lights; now get lights, fixed the swimming pool. Emergency proclamation for Keaukaha, we have a plan. You know, paving all over the place mostly soon Old A's, right, and almost finishing the parking lot in South Kona, Clarence Lum Won Park. I mean, it's incredible. So we have a staff that is inspired. Waimea benches, Waimea back stops, you know, these are the kinds of stuff that was three, four years on hold, you know. And we're not done yet. This Saturday we're going out to Ali `i Drive; we're going to present at Hale Halawai one way, right, we're going to address that. I thought somebody on our team made that up but that's like 20 years that idea. Nobody acted on it. And so, you know, we're moving forward. The call center, pretty soon we'll have a blessing, right. Second week there we moved out and I was like, how come we're not moving to the Yamada Building for Central Fire Station? You know, it's all kind of Corporation Counsel interpretations. Well, we have a new Corporation Counsel. Boom, we hook up with Yamada, pretty soon we're going to bless that building and move our firefighters out of that very scary Central Fire Station. I mean, these are things that have happened in four months. So yeah, we have a budget of $937 million and it's only a 1.8 percent increase. But we have an inspired workforce, so things are Page 3 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 going to feel like getting done. It's going to feel like our budget's bigger. So I wanted to just say that. I also wanted to share with you that as coming from the nonprofit world, I understand County to be kind of like a nonprofit because you cannot make profit, you know, and then you shouldn't be in the red. So like, we've got to be balanced. So our revenues is really our budget, and I believe by law we've got to be balanced. So if you look at our budget, right, you have $937 million; $668 million of that is our taxes. We have a slideshow? We have a slideshow; I thought I had to memorize this whole thing. (Note: At this time, Mr. Alameda provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, see the DVD copy of the proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office, or online at http://hawaiicountygranicus_com. A copy of the presentation is made part of the record, see Comm. 158.4_) CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Council Member Galimba, go ahead. MS. GALIMBA: I just wanted to thank you for your presentation. Of course, all those very important things for Ka`u, those police officers are really important, so I really appreciate that and all the other things_ And I also just wanted to say that I saw that your top priority was coming up with a well thought out financial plan to deal with these very large expenses coming in the next few years and I think that's really important as we've discussed before. Having just a lot of thought and expertise going into that because, yeah, it's some big scary numbers so we want to make sure we get it right so that we can continue doing all the good things that we love to do. So I just wanted to appreciate that priority. I guess, you know, one thing that I did want to ask about is there's another aspect of long term is the long term sustainability of our island and as rancher I kind of see that first hand like drying trends; more and more droughts. So that does raise a lot of issues not lease being increased wildfire risks so I'm glad that we're going to be working on addressing Waikoloa because it is one of the most dangerous places, objectively. Na`alehu is another place as well. It's not as growing as fast and as populated as Waikoloa, so Waikoloa is definitely the priority. Another place that is growing very fast is Ocean View and I think that also has huge wildfire risks as well, even though it hasn't really come up, you know, as a priority. So I think in the future we're going to need to think about Ocean View a lot because it is growing incredibly fast and unfortunately most of it is unpermitted homes so it's, you know, even in some ways more dangerous because they don't have some of the fire safety things that are built into permitted houses. Page 4 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 Yeah. So I know you're going to be down there next month so I'm sure you're going to hear an earful. MR. ALAMEDA: Yeah, well we can't wait. I mean, our town halls have been phenomenal. I mean, the last town hall in Kohala was about 400 people. It was packed. And yes, fire mitigation has come up in almost every town hall. And so, you know, fire break we need, we've got to check our fire hydrants; we've got to make sure our sirens work, you know, our dip tanks, reservoirs, all that's got to be looked at. And then home assessments is a thing that we're pushing too because everybody, you know, trees too close to the house, this and that. So as we go around with Fire Wise is excellent. The training that they provide, the website is great. So we'll continue to push that as well. Thank you. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah. First off, I want to thank you. This is the third administration that I've been able to sit in this seat and serve in this role and I think that's the most thorough and detailed presentation that we've had from a Mayor. So thank you for that. And thank you to your Finance Director for I know all the support that she's provided. One of the funny things about sitting in this role is, you know, we're the legislative branch and so many constituents think kind of that we're the administration, which can be very challenging because, you know, we work closely with you guys to try and advocate for projects within our district but much of it comes to the administration and the directors and the allocation of resources and then literally just making it happen. So I want to thank you for the initiative that's been taken; bold, courageous, especially in times that are trepidatious with things happening on the national level and how that trickles down to us state and county. But I want to thank you and your leadership team and all those that work in County government in roles for taking action and moving forward. I do notice even just driving around in Kona the difference in the roads. Thank you, Mr. (Neil) Azevedo. And then driving over last night, the areas and patches in places, yeah, there's just action, and I having been raised, you know, coffee shack, outhouse style, my mom sewing our clothes, pennies on the dollar to make stretch so far, I just want to point out this is an enormous budget that has continued to grow during times of trepidatious circumstances. And so I really appreciate this concept and recognition that we can do more with less. Some stuff doesn't have to cost more to be more efficient, effective, and bring vital support to our kama`aina and maka`ainana, the people that live here year round and who are the breath and lifeforce of this place. So thank you for those steps and initiatives. And I know it's going to be a long week, but I just want to thank you for kicking us off with recognition of our needs and where our resources will be allocated to serve those needs. I yield. Page 5 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair; thank you, Mayor. Thank you so much for pulling this together and presenting. It really was a good overlook. I do want to ask a little more about the potential for federal cuts because I know you said you're not concerned and I've recently read, not cover to cover, but big chunks of the project 2025 kind of playbook and when reading the section about housing, I do have some real concerns because they detail what they want to do in the first year. And so if you could take a look at that before the next time we meet? I think it's really important that we understand what could be coming and very well with a high likelihood. MR. ALAMEDA: Okay. MS. KAGIWADA: And with that in mind, I think following on what Council Member Villegas said, you know, I know you didn't propose any changes to our real property taxes. I do think there are places that if we are going to need to step in, maybe where we don't even have in our budget now, kind of more similar to what happened over COVID (Coronavirus Disease) times, if major cuts happen to food supports for people, things like that, the state will do their part but I think we might also have to step in in that case. Housing, obviously, a huge issue; health as well. If there are major cuts coming in these places that the state often plays a bigger role than we do in some of these, but we may have to step in, I want to just have that conversation about, you know, what could we do? And for me, you know, like I said, thinking about what Council Member Villegas said, that's looking at real property taxes for not our people who live here. So that's the vacation homes, the investment properties, those kinds of things. So I think there is room there and I don't think it would be outrageous for us to look there for funding for our people. MR. ALAMEDA: Absolutely. I agree with you. I was talking to Stan, Mayor Rapoza, from Kauai and he was like, you know, at some point you guys might want to consider what we did. Small kind controversial in the beginning but for the most part 80 percent of the people felt like it was a good idea. And that was the vacation rental. You know, kind of like you want to act like a resort, we're going to charge you like a resort. And we haven't entertained that yet, but if push comes to shove, that's an example of perhaps we could look that way. But also keep in mind that I am looking at other alternative sources. TMT (Thirty Meter Telescope) is one. If we were to build that thing County should benefit financially from some of it. P6hakuloa, their lease is up, right. If we cannot benefit financially then we should benefit in kind; help us build that road, you know. There's geothermal as an option on the west side. Another potential revenue generator. So we have our think tank and we're considering those options as well. But thank you for mentioning, Council Member Kagiwada. Page 6 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MS. KAGIWADA: Of course. Yeah. I mean, I guess the added benefit to potentially increasing those revenues on the real property side is that potentially some people may choose to sell to a person who lives here or rent to a person who lives here as opposed to using it strictly as an investment property or a vacation home. So I would just love us to keep in conversation around this and I appreciate what you've done here with the budget so far. MR. ALAMEDA: Sure. Thank you. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you. MR. ALAMEDA: You're welcome. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much, Mayor. Sorry, Council Member Kimball, go ahead. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, thank you. Sorry, I've got a little cold. Appreciate the budget overview and appreciate the commitment to investment and repair and maintenance, capital improvements, you know, I think that those services that we provide in terms of facilities to the community are absolutely critical. So I do appreciate that. I will obviously ask this of your DEM (Department of Environmental Management) Director when we get to that, but I'd like to know a little bit more about what the plan is with the emergency order for Hilo Wastewater, and do we have like backup funding to implement that plan in some way? What are your thoughts about where we might resource that if we need to do something there? MR. ALAMEDA: Yeah, you mean if there's like change orders and unexpected expenses, where are we going to get the extra funds; that kind of thing? MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, yeah. And, you know, not necessarily with the construction agreement with Nan specific, but with the emergency order. As I understand it, and actually I'm just looking for clarity about that. You know, the emergency order allows the administration to do whatever is necessary to respond and so I'm wondering what your kuleana is in terms of responding and how do we resource that if we need to? MR. ALAMEDA: Right. MS. KIMBALL: We all know that this is an environmental disaster waiting to happen. I remember you saying that on the campaign trail and I was like, yes, absolutely. So I just want to understand a little bit more about that. Page 7 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MR. ALAMEDA: Sure. Yeah so, this is kind of round numbers but yeah. So in working with Civil Defense, you know, they had $100,000 put away I guess for situations like this and so we looked at the pump stations. So you've got three areas of concern; you've got the two pump stations and then you've got head works. And so we already put an order in for two extra pumps in case one of those pumps go or two of them go out at the same time, we have two extra pumps. And so, we have funding for that already. Now if headworks goes out, there is a plan but there's not a funding itemized budget for that because we don't really know what would happen and what kind of budget that would entail. So that would require further discussion with our group. Yeah. Thank you. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Okay. Mayor, thank you very much for just providing us the highlight. I appreciate that you've represented each district in the discussion on what see coming. I think that highlights your knowledge of the budget and is helpful for us to see where your administration is headed and what you've done, and I really do commend your team to date because I've heard from the community a number of times what's been done and that's beautiful. Thank you. MR. ALAMEDA: Thank you so much. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Just as a reminder, Office of Management is next so if you want to run away you can, but your department is up next. MR. ALAMEDA: Alright. We'll see what happens. Thank you so much, everybody. (2) Office of Mana e ment: CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Our next department review is the Office of Management. Thank you for being here. Please introduce yourself when you're ready. Thank you, Mr. (Relley) Aracelley for helping with the slideshows and other material. And Council Members, please be clear about needing a recess for bathroom breaks and that kind of thing. (Note: At this time, Managing Director Willam Brilhante came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. BRILHANTE: Wow. William Brilhante, Managing Director. Good morning, Committee Chair, Committee Vice Chair, and Council Chair, and Council Vice Chair, and the rest of the Council Members. Thank you very much for allowing us, the Office of Management or the Mayor's Office, to present our proposed budget to you today, or should I say defend our proposed budget. I kind of feel like the back up quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, who comes in to take Tom Page 8 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 Brady's place, but please bear with me. And of course, Mayor Alameda being Tom Brady. You know, that being said, all jokes aside, you know, we're facing serious times and very uncertain times. But one of the things I recall is, you know, you go to any leadership meeting or anything of that nature going forward, and they always tell you focus primarily on items that you can control, understand the items you can't control and prepare best for it but again, don't spend too much of your time on items that you can't control. And in this regard, this administration has taken, you know, we take that to task and take that very seriously. And going forward, you know, as we look at things going forward, status quo was good but if you look at the results of the election, the people of our community wanted more. Obviously, they wanted more because Mayor Alameda was successful in obtaining more votes in all nine districts and by a significant margin in each district. So that opened our eyes. It's like the people of Hawaii Island want us to do more. So status quo wasn't the way. So in that regard, immediately when our administration took our position and we came into office, the Mayor changed the way in which the Office of Management is going to operate going forward. For the first time I think in any administration he created pods, and these pods are specific to areas of concern and areas in which the, you know, when we went from our town hall meetings and we engaged with the public, areas in which we felt were significant to our community and these pods are a unique concept in which the Mayor assigned a different EA (Executive Assistant) be responsible for a certain area. For example, we have health and human services pod; we have a public safety pod; we have an infrastructure pod; and then we also have a pod to support our internal operations within the County and we have EAs assigned to each pod. And so that's a novel concept; that's something that hasn't been initiated in the past and it's something that to date has been very successful. You know, we have our EAs are the go-between. They're the go-between our department heads, who are responsible for each of the specific departments that are in the pod and they're also a go-between between the community liaison. You know, they're like a community liaison. They reach out, they talk to the public, they're the face of the public. When the public has a concern with permits, they call Merrick (Nishimoto), our Deputy Managing Director. When the public has concerns with homelessness, they call Erin Samura, who's our Public Health and Safety EA; when there's complaints, when there's concerns Civil Defense, you know, concerns with something with the police or fire, they reach out to Clifford Victorine. And he's a former police officer and they utilize his expertise, and he therefore takes the concerns, and he reaches out to the various department heads. And that's how we effectuate communication because at the end of the day the only thing that our office —the Office of Management, we're not constructing building; we're not buying vehicles to respond to emergencies, you know, we're not going out and obtaining federal finances for Section 8 housing, but we're here Page 9 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 to ensure that all 20 departments are properly and adequately supervised, financed, and serve the public because at the end of the day, that's what we are. We're public service and that's what we want to effectuate. So going back to that, one; relationships. You know, I've explained that the relationships between our community and our office and our departments. Now if you look at relationships between our Mayor and other government entities across the united states. The Mayor and I had the opportunity to attend the Mayor's Conference in Washington DC. And we didn't just go for a conference to Washington, DC. We were there for four day. We set aside two specific days. The first day we went and knocked on doors of Senator Schatz and Senator Hirono, and we sat down with each of them. Well fortunately, Senator Schatz was in; Senator Hirono was grilling all of Donald Trump's appointees, so she wasn't available to meet with us. But we met with her representatives, and we sat down, and we explained our problems. We introduced ourselves; we explained our concerns going forward and how we can best, one, formulate relationships. Day two, we went, and we met with our congress contingency. So we met with them. Congressman (Ed) Case was very receptive. Although he doesn't specifically represent our island, he sat with us for almost two hours, and we met his entire staff. So these are resources and these are all relationships. So that's where, you know, travel expenditures come into play. And so I think although at the end of the day we don't see the fancy new buildings, we don't see the new cars, we don't see anything of that nature from our office, we do see increased communication; we do see the ability for the Mayor to text Senator Schatz directly one on one and get a response and that to us, to this administration, that's our goal. That's how we're going to be successful. You know, we were at a Vulcan Booster benefit the other evening and they said what makes Lorraine, or nickname was the pig farmer and it's because it was based on the fact that she brings home the bacon. And I'd like to say this administration, that's our goal. You know, we're looking to bring home the bacon because at the end of the day, it's our people. And we're not just here to make ourselves look good, we're doing that, that's our goal and that's our intended goal because we want to better our community. At the end of the day, we want to leave, and I know this is said often and often times it's overused, but we want to leave this County not in four years, in eight years, in a better position than it was at anytime in the previous, you know, how many years we've been in existence. So with that, I just want to kind of highlight again some of our objectives. (Note: At this time, Mr. Brilhante provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home Page 10 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.4.) CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you very much. Council Members? Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Managing Director Brilhante. You know, personally and professionally, thank you for your open lines of communication. From the west side I want to also give a big shout out to Mr. Merrick Nishimoto and the deeply felt transition for West Hawaii to have somebody to go to that consistently responds. He's included in so many emails that I keep seeing and he always responds and that's huge. So thank you, Merrick, for that because for me personally and professionally it also eases some of that burden of constituency that doesn't understand that we aren't the administration, though we do have the goal and vision of working close. But I have felt more supported than I have before and the ability to reach out to you and to get a response and to see collectively that management from the Mayor's Office extended effectively, authentically, and more equitably has been a game changer. So I just wanted to give that shout out from District 7 and from the West Hawaii Civic Center. We feel it; we see it; we have access; you work long hours and navigate issues that are so diverse, almost unquantifiable and impossible for anybody to know everything about. But I see you; I hear you; and I just want to recognize from your team the collaborative work that's being done and that that impact is felt and deeply appreciated. So mahalo. MR. BRILHANTE: Appreciate hearing that. You know, Merrick and his staff, they're fabulous. And you're right, they work tirelessly, you know, for the Kona community. One of the campaign promises and hate to keep harking, maybe because we've only been in for four months, but I keep going back to our campaign promises and one of the things we ensured was geographic equity. And we heard so often during the campaign trail that, you know, Kona felt like the ugly stepchild to a certain extent that never got the resources or the focus and the responses that, you know, they felt the east side of the island got. And we just want to reiterate, we have to make everybody feel equal; we have to make everybody feel respected and wanted in order to come together and be one cohesive unit because this is one island and we're one island going forward, and no particular sector is more important than anybody else. We're all equal in that regards. And I'm glad to hear that from you, Council Member Villegas, because that is definitely one of our focus areas that we want to ensure is that the Kona people have a voice, again, open communication; and not just a voice, but they get the proper response to their concerns. Because plenty of people can hear, without action, it's like nothing happened. So you need the two together. You need the communication, you know, we need to identify the problems, and then from our side we need the proper response. And I think to date, you know, like you Page 11 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 mentioned, Neil Azevedo as well, our team, you know, Kehau Costa, our Housing Director is always in Kona. MS. VILLEGAS: Parks and Recreation. MR. BRILHANTE: Diane is in Kona as well and we focus on the Kona community. And it's very important to us that everybody has equity going forward. So thank you very much. We appreciate hearing that. MS. VILLEGAS: My pleasure. I yield. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Managing Director, appreciate your time today and presenting your thoughts here with us. This is my first go round to the budget so I don't know if my colleagues will appreciate going too far down into the numbers and looking at this, but I just had a couple of questions and I think this speaks to your sentiment and administrations sentiment about connecting and making those connections whether you're locally or with our federal partners, state partners and so forth. So I kind of just wanted to hear your thoughts on some of the increase in some of the financing in particular for traveling, sister cities, and if you could speak to that a little bit; as well as leis, those sort of things, commemorative things that, you know, we share aloha with people when we go places and we bring something from home to them. So if you could really speak about those particular pieces within the budget? MR. BRILHANTE: Yes. Thank you very much, Council Member Hustace. Very good question. Anticipated; hopefully I can answer appropriately. Like I said, we're a new administration and in a new administration a lot of what we do is to initiate and engage and to establish relationships and we do. We are proposing an increase in our travel and, you know, that's kind of twofold. One is to initiate and ingratiate ourselves to the other counties out here throughout the state as well as the governor's office. You know, I eluded to the fact that we try to create relationships with our federal contingency because we all work together on this and that's what we're anticipating with the increased travel is to allow ourselves to go and to travel whether it be to the neighbor islands or to, you know, Washington, DC, and in order for us to engage and foster and just reinforce relationships with our counterparts, you know, pretty much that's what they are. They're our counterparts. And if we didn't do that, we would be operating in a silos. And often times when we go to places, I want to say for example the Mayor went to Mayor Blangiardi's state of the county address in Oahu, they reciprocate with us and they give us omiyage, you know, upon our return. They provide to our office. That's customary. That's custom to Hawaii. That might be unique to Hawai `i to a certain regard. And when we go and when they come here, we want Page 12 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 to reciprocate as well. And that's the increase in those funds as well is, you know, just to engage, enable to create those relationships and to have good will and good standing with the other counties because often times we say we're not here, we're not trying to recreate the wheel. You know, a lot of the problems we face, you know, other communities, other governmental entities across the United States, across the state have been faced with as well. Say for example, I'll challenge anybody to go into almost any community, which has decent weather like Hawai `i and ask them if they've ever addressed homeless before and I bet you to a T everyone will say yes. And maybe some have been more successful than others and those are the ones we want to rely upon; those are the ones we want to have discussions with. What worked; what didn't work; why did this work; why didn't that work, before we just continue to throw millions and millions of dollars at a problem and it never gets fixed because let me tell you, up until this point and time, that could be a description of how we approach homelessness. And so, we have to be able to broaden our horizons, we have to be able to increase our lenses and look at, you know, what out there is working and how can we bring those ideas home so that we can utilize, and we can get the most bang for our money in the long run and start seeing effective programs in place. So that's just one example and I hope that answered your question. MR. HUSTACE: Yeah. Thank you. Definitely in an overview on that and kind of, there was something that you shared early on, Managing Director. I'm not sure if we've made like a substantial investment on our sister cities program as we've seen here now, so if you couldhistorically, have we kind of on actuals in previous years have been zeroed out. We really have invested in that? MR. BRILHANTE: You know, it's kind of like cyclical. You know, there's been some years, some administrations that have places priority on establishing and expanding the sister city relationships. You know, sister cities is a way in which the County is able to again create a relationship with a similarly situated community internationally. You know, I think we have right now, correct me if I'm wrong, we have 11 sister city relationships going forward and we see the benefit of it. Again, a lot of what we do is through relationship, through communication and that's something that we're not going to place this administration has made a decision; it's not going to be on the top shelf, you know, those relationships, but it's not going to be on the bottom shelf either. You know, we want to foster those relationships; we want to engage with sister cities, but we're going to do it in an economically, reasonable, feasible way going forward. And so you'll see a little bit of increase, but not anywhere near what has been spent in the past. And just remember, travel and the live through inflation and stuff is significantly higher than it was maybe 20 years ago when we were looking at budgetary numbers for sister city relations. But it's a relationship that we want to foster and Page 13 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 continue going forward. And, you know, maybe we might get lucky, and we might add maybe a city in Portugal, only because you have a Portuguese Mayor and Managing Director. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you. The other one I just wanted to touch on was and kind of just makes me wonder that past expenses on mileage and auto allowance because that's kind of a start kind of significant change there between our actuals. And then I don't know if we've gone over this cycle because it was only budgeted at $400 and now we're asking for $20,000. (Note: At this time, Finance Director Diane Nakagawa came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. NAKAGAWA: Good morning, Council Members. Diane Nakagawa, Finance Department. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Director. MS. NAKAGAWA: Sure. So for the 112; for the mileage, there is an increase. Our Mayor, Managing Director, Deputy Managing Director, travel significantly around our island and in lieu of purchasing another vehicle, this is a car allowance for these individuals who travel so often. MR. HUSTACE: So looking at like this current fiscal year, it was only at $400. Are we beyond that then? MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. And in these transition years, there will be adjustments that will be made. You know, for example, and we'll talk a little bit about it later, but there are payouts for retirements and vacations with the transition of administration. So Finance works with each of the departments to make sure that they have the appropriate funding to cover those types of events during these transition years. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Director. MS. NAKAGAWA: And I do want to answer your other question about the sister cities with the way it looks in the budget with the zero. You know, one of the things we did with the Mayor's Office is they had a category, and it was Mayor's Entertainment. And what we just felt was that was just not the appropriate name for these expenses and most of these expenses were related to sister cities, so approximately we put it in the sister city so it looks like a heavy line item now, but it really is those sister cities expenses that the Mayor's Office has used in the past. MR. HUSTACE: Appreciate that. Thank you so much. I yield, Chair. Page 14 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mr. Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you, Chair. With that, on the sister cities topic, can you just describe for us the difference? Because it used to be one lump sum; now we've broken it down into travel conferences, sister city events, and then contractual services sister city program, which has the bulk of the money. So I just want to make sure because on our end it didn't make it into this proposed budget yet, but for the May budget we are looking to make sure that we are able to contribute, you know, our portion when we do things for sister city from the Council side. MS. NAKAGAWA: Sure. So for the differences between the 104; the 104 is really related to the travel that the Managing Director spoke about; interisland as well as mainland travel, for our Mayor's Office. The 115 is really those events listed and more services. Usually 115 are service related things that we contract for. If we contract with somebody to produce brochures, do reports, if there's payments for outreach activities, things like that that are listed under here, then those can be used under the 115. But like I said earlier, we also broke out the sister cities to its own category as well. MR. INABA: Sorry. So yeah, just wanted to clarify. Within the sister cities section we have the travel conferences, which is only $10,000 and then the miscellaneous is $40,000 whereas before $40,000 was a blanket, which I assumed covered all travel. So I just want to make sure that the travel is not being limited to $10,000 when we're looking to establish new sister cities. And I know we can more things around later. MS. NAKAGAWA: Yeah, there is some flexibility. I just think looking at how the transit was done it the past; this is how it was done. But we could still have some flexibility if more travel funding is needed for these types of trips in the future. MR. INABA: Okay. And then last question, Managing Director. Under the name OCE (Other Current Expenses), under travel conferences section, you folks added training. What is the intended training you folks are looking to introduce this year? MR. BRILHANTE: I think —not I think, but I know training correlates back to the concept of the pods. You know, in order for out EAs to a certain extent to be, you know, knowledge based and subject matter experts, we've identified that there might be some training that our EAs we would like to send in order to increase their knowledge base as it relates to specific areas. We've already sent one of our EAs, you know, I mentioned her earlier, Erin Samura. She's in charge of our homeless, not only just the taskforce, but our pod. We sent her to Los Angeles. As you know, Los Angeles has a significant homeless issue there and they had a conference and a training there. So Erin was able to attend with our homeless Page 15 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 coordinator, that conference a month ago and she brought back a lot of good information; she brought back a lot of good concepts going forward. And my understanding is we've already engaged some of those concepts. So that's one example of the training we're looking at. MR. INABA: Perfect. Thank you so much, Managing Director. Chair, I yield. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Managing Director. So I totally support the training and the travel necessary to build those relationships of course. And one thing that I'm happy is that you're got a team here so that when the Mayor is traveling, hopefully, you know, you're here and in charge and in case ofI just think about like the LA wildfires and how horrible it was that their Mayor was out of the area and I think about in case of an emergency, I think it's really important that we have somebody here when the Mayor needs to do his travel. So I hope that we can see that happening more. I mean, it's great that we have Merrick on the Kona side, on the west side, but it's also really important to have somebody here on this side of the island when the Mayor needs to be traveling. And there's a lot of things mayors need to do around going to opening events and blessings and all those things. So I hope we can see more of making sure that we're kind of covered because we do have the three of you as leadership and I think it's great if we can have that coverage. So thank you. I did want to ask, we have had one director who has already left this administration, can you tell us a little bit about that plan or do you want to wait until we get to that department? MR. BRILHANTE: I'm not sure. Again, thanks for the question. I'm not sure this is the appropriate forum to address it. MS. KAGIWADA: I guess from your perspective as the managing director, is there anything that you can share with us about the plan for making sure the leadership is there? MR. BRILHANTE: Yup. That's a great question. And we were very fortunate to have Hugh Ono as the Director of the Department of Public Works (DPW). You know, he brought a tremendous breath of experience and knowledge specific to that area. He was a previous director for DPW and, you know, that was a department that we initially identified as a must need, you know, a department that needed to be assessed and needed to be addressed, and we needed to hit the ground running day one of our administration and Hugh offered us that. You know, he came in and he was seasoned, and that seasoning was good and bad. Page 16 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 You know, when we initially discussed the situation with him, the opportunity with him, he was very positive. But from day one he told us, he didn't really have a firm grasp of how much time he could give to us. But he did offer us the initial engagement and we're very happy to do that. We brought him on board, and he immediately effectuated change. You know, we brought in Neil Azevedo to be the deputy, and they started looking at the permitting process; they started looking at engineering; they started looking at the roads and the like and the bridges, and all these items that could really hurt us down the road if we didn't address those needs immediately. And he gave us tremendous leadership. Yes, we're a little disappointed that his time was short. We were anticipating his engagement with the County to be longer but, you know, it just felt for him that the time was right for him now. And I think he left a good roadmap, a great roadmap for the department to follow going forward and we will find a replacement. You know, I'm not sure the replacement will be as seasoned. It'll definitely be somebody who's qualified and somebody who checks off all the boxes of what the Mayor is looking for as far as being the Director for Public Works. So please allow us to continue with the process. We've already been in discussions, and we've identified some people and we'll just, I can assure you, we will present the best candidate going forward to you for your confirmation. MS. KAGIWADA: Alright. Thank you so much. I appreciate hearing that. It's in the works. Okay. I yield_ CHR_ KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Managing Director. I have a variety of questions starting with staffing and I don't know, Director Nakagawa, this might be a question for you. There's a previously established position not yet allocated the secretary to boards and commissions; is that something that might come to us as a supplemental or are you looking at not funding that position in this year's budget? MR. BRILHANTE: I know historically we've had a secretary both assigned to both the police commission and the fire commission and going forward I'll let Diane address how that transpired to be an internal staffing. MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. So thank you for the question. This was a request with the prior administration to have a focus on the secretary to the boards and commissions and it's not yet allocated, so it's really up to this administration and the Mayor's Office to decide the personnel needs of the office. So I think take some time to determine what those will be and if that position will be filled. But it is not yet allocated. Page 17 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MS. KIMBALL: So to that, and I apologize if we already had this discussion offline at some other point, but we within the department for the various boards and commissions that they support spend a lot of staff time when they could actually be working on the department's projects providing support to the boards and commissions. And so I would advocate for continuing to proceed with funding that position so that you can take away those clerical duties from the Planning Department for the Appeals Board and the Planning Commissions because then their staff could actually be focused on the work of doing the work in the Planning Department. MR. BRILHANTE: Very good point; very good recommendation. Just again, that is an area that we have discussed internally with the administration and something that we will give strong consideration to going forward because these boards and commissions are, you know, the work required to ensure that they're properly administered is very time consuming. And you're right, it takes away from their other work and that just goes towards morale, you know, and everything of that nature which again, we wanted to ensure that our workers are comfortable and they're properly supported. So that's a great recommendation going forward. We'll definitely discuss it. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, Micah (Alameda) has been doing fabulous job bringing us really qualified candidates and has a lot more energy and enthusiasm. And so I think giving him some support to really flush out that program so not so much burden is on both the departments and Corporation Counsel to some extent. MR. BRILHANTE: Micah has been fabulous; Alameda. You know, I want to drink the coffee that he drinks in the mornings. MS. KIMBALL: Right. MR. BRILHANTE: I'm looking for that. MS. KIMBALL: And when you figure out what brand he's drinking let the rest of us know because I think that would maybe make things a lot faster. My second question, you know, something that I heard you say that was really important was that as much as Hawaii County is unique, we actually experience a lot of the same problems that midsized counties with both urban and rural areas face. And to that end, I would love to see both you and Merrick participate in the International City and County Managers Association, you're familiar with it. Minimal fee to become a member is $200 for each of you, but they do offer regular conferences which I think would be, again, let's not reinvent the wheel. I do think there's lots of opportunity for modernization around some key features that will make our government operations much more transparent to the public which I think is a key goal of the administration. So I've already shared with Diane my dream budget narrative and, you know, hopefully there are other ways we can look to modernize Page 18 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 based on learning from other counties of similar size and construct. So I don't know if there's a line item in this budget that would cover membership and travel to those conferences, but I'm happy to like flush out some costs about what it might take to send you guys to those conferences twice a year or something like that. MR. BRILHANTE: Yeah, we'll be happy to discuss those specifics with you going forward. I think it's a great idea. MS. KIMBALL: The other thing was the contracts that we have under 115, the community outreach RSP&S activities, is that out legislative liaison position? MR. BRILHANTE: That's correct. It's Karen Teshima is our Legislative Liaison. She's been engaged, she's been in Oahu back and forth quite a bit and she brings a lot of expertise. She's a holdover or a throwback from the Kenoi Administration where she did a fabulous job there. And, you know, to be a legislative liaison again, it's all about relationships. It's about the ability to get into a specific, you know, House Representative or Senator's door and to really advocate for the County of Hawai `i, and not just advocate but to see the results. And, you know, Karen does an incredible job with that. Legislators call her if there's an issue that might directly affect the County of Hawai `i, and so that speaks volumes as to relationship building effectiveness. And she's very effective. MS. KIMBALL: Is that line item inclusive of her travel back and forth, salary for the —is she just under contract during the session? MR. BRILHANTE: Yeah. The contract is a limited duration just for this session. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. MR. BRILHANTE: And it does include some travel for her. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. So, just to chare with my colleagues and this is a conversation I've already had with Mayor and Director Nakagawa; I think there's potentially a need for us, especially given the current circumstances to be more active at the federal level in terms of congressionally directed spending, going after resources for that Waikoloa Road, wastewater programs. And so would be supportive of additional contract funding in this category for RFP (Request for Proposal) to an entity to lobby for us in DC. I will just note that the other counties have that already. We are the only one that don't at this point. But that's something that I think under the current circumstances are very extensive capital needs and then the need to work within the system that we're in. This is probably the time to start considering that sort of contract service. The other option is to bring somebody on staff that does that. But I think perhaps at the beginning we'd want to try it out and not actually create a position for that is my thought. Page 19 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MR. BRILHANTE: Very good recommendation. We'll definitely pursue that more. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. And then just finally I want to just I think the pod concept is really interesting although I don't fully understand how you've organized it. Could you just really quickly speak to what your thoughts are long term about that kind of arrangement and, you know, what you see the benefits will be in terms of productivity, efficiency, out of the County to have that sort of organization? Because I do think it's a move in the right direction. MR. BRILHANTE: Right. Okay. Thank you. Again, the pods we have are public health and services. We have public safety; we have infrastructure; and we have just general county welfare. Just again, the thought process behind it is to create a liaison within the Mayor's Office so that our department heads and directors, not only that they feel supported, and they feel that they have a direct link to the Mayor, because we're talking 20 departments and often times not all 20 directors, their needs are assessed, you know, immediately. But if they have a go to person that maybe is just responsible for four of the departments, so you know, at least that open line of communication is there. And our EAs, we see our EAs everyday when we come in in the morning and we see them throughout the day. And Mayor Alameda has an open door policy with his office and our EAs can pop in at any time, you know, and we can address issues say like with Animal Control. If Clifford has a situation with Animal Control or if there's something going on at Civil Defense or if, you know, we're going enter into discussions maybe with Salvation Army creating a new homeless shelter in Kona, you know, and we want to explore the various elements and areas of responsibility and resources that would be needed for that, you know, we have Erin there. Or if we have, you know, on a biweekly basis, you know, myself and the Mayor, we sit down with Parks and Recreation and we sit down with the Finance Director and we go through, you know, whether it be projects for parks or projects that, you know, issues that are coming up in Finance. So it just affords a direct line of communication and better relationships, and better responses because like I mentioned earlier is not only identifying the problem, that's just one component. Fixing the problem is what the public wants. And so what that liaison does is that liaison creates accountability for the department heads because there's clear expectations as to what the Mayor's desires are and what the Mayor wants and that gets communicated through the liaison, to the department head so there's no, well, I wouldn't go as far as saying no misunderstanding, but the chances of that are significantly reduced and it just affords more productivity during the day. Page 20 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MS. KIMBALL: Sorry, Chair. If I may just make one more quick comment which is to say that I hope that that structure to some extent will also break down some of the silos between some of the departments that have similar data needs and, you know, other communication needs between the departments so we see a little more synchronicity there. So I like the concept. MR. BRILHANTE: Definitely. No more silos; just pods. I'm kidding. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Managing Director, Mayor, for your outstanding presentation. Deputy Nishimoto, it's been really refreshing to be working with this administration to be invited into conversations where decisions must be made for community. In the short amount of time that you've been here, Mayor, you've been able to untangle a lot of knots that we have found ourselves in specifically around the recovery process, so I thank you for that. Thank you for your entire cabinet for being there. I've called up Diane Nakagawa sometimes at 8:00 p.m., with Jeff Darrow at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday. So your folks are available; they follow through; you are proactively engaged, and your engagement comes with a lot of care, a lot of compassion and innovation. You are solving problems and it's exciting to be here in the County at this time because you really do feel a culture shift, a mindset shift in how people are coming to work of serving our community. One thing that's always on my mind is workforce. And I'm hoping, Director Nakagawa, in future budget proposals where for every department we note the number of positions, it would also be interesting I think to track the number of vacancies because I think the public doesn't realize how stretched we are, from a human capital perspective how few folks we have that are doing a tremendous amount of work often wearing many hats to just get the job done. Managing Director, you've been in the County through several administrations, have worn numerous hats, and I'm curious what the strategy is around getting those vacancies filled county wide? I know that you're working closely with Director (Sommer) Tokihiro on that, but just curious about the management strategy. MR. BRILHANTE: Great question and we appreciate, Council Member Kierkiewicz, your engagement with us because the team is everybody. You know, it's not just our administrative team, but each and every one of you are part of the team as well. You may not realize it, but we consider you to be the subject matter experts in your district. And unless we're communicating with you and unless you're providing information, input to us, we really don't know if we're adequately serving your districts. And a great example is a couple weeks ago we had a significant issue with the lava recovery procedures going forward. And Ashley was kind enough to come in and meet with us and she engaged with us and Page 21 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 she actually was a part of the decision making process. I'm not sure a lot of, you know, in the past that that type of relationships would've existed. So it's not just from us, you know, our desire to have that relationship, but it's your willingness to engage and that's just a great example for us going forward, and we want to foster that. So we appreciate it; I appreciate hearing that from you, but I also want to thank you and each and every one of you for engaging similarly. As it relates to the HR, the Human Resources question, we know we're in difficult times, you know, since COVID, and I think we've identified —not I think again. It's pretty clear that we've identified one of the areas of concern is the pay that we provide to our employees or the pay we're offering for vacant positions, it's just not sufficiently competitive with public sector is offering now at this stage. You know, maybe that will change because like I said earlier, you know, so much of these items are cyclical, you know, there's going to be times where it's a private sector market and it's hard for government to find employees or if the economy is bad, you know, you'll get the inverse where it's a public sector market and, you know, it's hard for private sector operations to pay their employees. So unfortunately, we're in the private sector market, you know, the private sector is very aggressive right now, they're doing a lot of hiring; they're paying a lot of high salaries, they're providing a lot of bonuses and fringe benefits. And right now, the County hasn't transitioned yet. You know, we're somewhat behind the curve and that's something we're looking at. But the County's hands are tied to a certain extent because when we negotiate with our unions, we negotiate on a statewide basis, so the salaries that we offer here are not just salaries specific to the County of Hawaii, but they're statewide salaries, statewide umbrellas. So if there's areas that, you know, statewide we're limited to and constrained with, we have to be a little more creative in what we can offer our people. So as a matter of fact we just had a discussion just a couple days ago where we're looking to say, you know what, when we do recruitments let's be a little more open to the fact that maybe we won't just recruit at the minimum level or the entry level position. Maybe in the recruitment announcement, we'll give ourselves a little room to have a little flexibility that if it's a hard to fill position or if we have a really good, qualified candidate, we would have that flexibility, of course to stay within the limitations of civil service, but to afford flexibility to bring that person and offer somebody on board. Just by way of an example, you know, we recruit for the Office of Aging recently; found a really good candidate, but we had to recruit at the minimum level. You know, we were constricted through HR, and that salary was less than what a lot of other mid -level managers are making across the County. So of course that salary wasn't accepted. And so now what we have to do is we have to go through the recruitment process again and hopefully we can increase our offering because the job is attractive, but it's not attractive but it's not attractive if you're going to be Page 22 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 making less than what people below, you know, colleagues below you are making. So we have to keep that fairness, and we have to keep that reasonableness in mind and hopefully that will afford us the opportunity to bring more qualified people in. And we're also looking at maybe, like I said, fringe benefits. Maybe the opportunity for us to provide childcare for a candidate might be something that might make working for the County a little more attractive. Or we've already looked at flexible hours, you know, that's something that the Mayor has engaged with the unions. And that's a program we have in place now; we offer flexibility where a County employee can maybe work four ten hour days instead of five eight hour days and give them the flexibility of a day off or something to that effect. And so we're looking at various components; we're looking at various elements and we're looking at various enticements that will make working for the County the place where people want to work again because I think that's been lost. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Managing Director. And I hope as part of that strategy we're looking at some of the minimum requirements (MQ), which are often a barrier to entry. MR. BRILHANTE: Definitely. Not only that, but we've already initiated discussions with HR to start an internship program where we can bring high school seniors or recent high school graduates who don't meet MQs the opportunity to work for the County so they can work their way towards meeting the MQs as well as college students as well. So we're kind of running the gamete, we're looking at everything, we're not saying no too much, you know, and we're just hoping incrementally we can get there because we want to fill those positions, we want to take the burden off our employees because so many of our employees are having to do twice as much of work only because there's not enough people in the office and I think, you know, to keep our staff happy, to keep them retained, we have to address that issue. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. In your presentation you noted a couple of strategic objectives, one of them being economic initiatives, which always peeks my interest now more than ever especially when we look at the global conversation, the tariff wars, this push on the federal level to do things at home and I think that's something we're been trying to do as I would like to say an island nation for some time is increasing that sort of economic security and creating a more regenerative circular economy. Do you have specific initiatives in mind that you are thinking about implementing to ensure that Hawai `i has a strong and resilient economy irregardless of what's happening nationally and globally? MR. BRILHANTE: Again, very good question. And Mayor Alameda; he actually addressed that question earlier in his presentation and some of the areas that we're looking at is, you know, so much of County economics and resources are based on taxes, you know, and like elude to we cannot continue to increase taxes; we cannot Page 23 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 keep taxing our people so we have to look at alternative areas of revenue. And the Mayor touched upon the fact that maybe STVRs (Short Term Vacation Rental). Like he said, if you're going to act like a resort, we're going to tax you like a resort. But we haven't done our complete due diligence with that. We have to look at what are the unintended consequences of moving in that direction. The second thing, you know, the second area we're looking at is he mentioned Mauna Kea, you know, the telescopes. Right now we're at a time in which that issue may create some divisiveness in the community. But if it wasn't for TMT, you know, what's on the mountain would be status quo. There would be no change; there would be no initiative for change. So I think the Mayor is saying, "Yeah, I'll support astronomy if it's done right and if it adequately benefits the County." And that could be an area of revenue. If they sign a 50 year lease, that could be an area of revenue for the next 50 years maybe for the County of Hawaii and area resource. The other component is maybe Pohakuloa Training, you know, that lease is coming up as well. Very similarly situated to the telescopes, you know, it could create some type of divisiveness in the community; people who agree, people who don't agree. But if we can, you know, every project that comes forward, the number one element or the number one component is does the impact of the project, are those impacts significantly outweighed by the economic benefit or the benefits that that project can produce. And say with Pohakuloa, you know, the Mayor eluded to maybe they can help construct the road in Waikoloa or maybe they can assist with the extension of the Daniel K. Inouye Highway from where it currently ends at the Old Mamaloahoa Highway, maybe take it all the way down to Queen Ka`ahumanu, and maybe they can engage with expansion of Queen K Highway to four lanes from that terminus all the way to Kawaihae Harbor. Because we understand that road was built for the transportation of the defense vehicles through Senator Inouye at the time and that's why that beautiful highway was built. That was the funding mechanism and funding source. So it's not just a dollar and cents thing, it's kind of like what are the actual benefits we can get. The other area we're looking at is exploring alternative economic or energy resources. You know, we get projects are presented to us almost on a daily basis. Wind, solar, geothermal. But the first question that the Mayor is asking is, okay, that's great. This project is good. How's it going to impact the County and secondly, almost more importantly, how much is our County residents going to be reduced by this project? Because too many times we're seeing, this is a great solar farm; it's going to generate 30 megawatts of energy, but your bill is going up by five cents a kilowatt. What's the benefit in that? You know, and so when these entities come and present to us, we want to see how much benefit is going to be put in our community's pockets, and by community I mean by our residents paying their electric bill. We want to see reduction, real reduction in electric bills or something to that effect. So these are long term type economic, I guess, Page 24 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 possibilities that we're engaging with. These are the discussions we're having, and we hope that we'll see some significant results going forward. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. And I hope due consideration is also given to our County's comprehensive economic development strategy or CEDS. This is a community driven document where community members identified the industries that they would like to see developed here on Hawaii Island, and we'll dive into that a bit more with Research and Development (R&D). The last thing that I just want to say is a springboard off of Council Member Kimball's comment about having a presence. Our County has been noticeably absent on the state and federal level, and I would support resources to ensure that we are building the relationships which are so critically important because we need our friends at the state and federal level, not just in blue sky times but most especially during disaster situations. And it's harder to work with folks that you don't know so I do appreciate the investment in building these relationships with folks because we know that they will come in handy during the next crisis that we are sure to face. Thank you. Chair, I yield. MR. BRILHANTE: Definitely what we're going to be doing going forward. Thank you very much. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Okay. I don't see any more lights. Managing and Deputy Managing Director, a little bit of padding this year on the budget overall for the Mayor's Office. But from what I've heard, I like where you're headed. Sister City program I think is a huge potential for our community. And then, you know, some of the things like leis and different things, mileage, it's understandable. How many vehicles does the Office of Management have? MR. BRILHANTE: Right now I believe we have one vehicle in Kona and two vehicles in Hilo. One of the two vehicles in Hilo is specifically assigned to our Public Safety pod director, Clifford, and it's because he is mandated to respond to all Civil Defense emergencies and like, so that vehicle is assigned to him. So we have actually just one vacant vehicle that the office shares in Hilo. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you. And then what is the mental health summit? I'm just noting some of the difference between the two different administrations. Last administration was how they focused on sustainability. There's a lot of questions raised about the sustainability summits that were happening. So I'm looking at this administration and it looks like the mental health summit is something that we're going to be moving toward shortly? MR. BRILHANTE: You know, I don't know the specifics of it, but I know it comes under our Health and Safety Pod Director Erin Samura. She submitted that. Page 25 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 You know, mental health is one of the areas, historically, it doesn't come under the County, it's more a state function, you know, a health directive. But Mayor Alameda has identified homelessness, drug addiction, and mental health as key components of areas in which we're going to be able to better and improve our most vulnerable areas of our community. So that's something that we're going to gauge in. Again, it's a conference, it's a summit in which we can go and we can pick the brains of the experts in the area and come home and implement, hopefully, some good programs. Which again, you know, we're not just throwing good money off the bat. We see programs that are effective and have results that we like and those are the programs that we're going to move forward with going forward. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Alright. I like that. I have friends and family in Fire and Police and from what I'm understanding and looking at our homeless situation, I would say most of our issues revolve around mental health problems and needing to address that, and it's difficult. And I think there's a huge potential for something that we can do to address that for both the County employees side as well as the nonprofits and service providers side. So that's tremendous to see some movement in that direction. Mayor, do you want to speak to that at all? MR. BRILHANTE: We're extremely fortunate because that's the Mayor's area of expertise as well. His background is that and that's definitely a problem that's not going to get swept under the rug under this administration for sure. CHR KANEALI`1-KLEINFELDER: Beautiful. What is investigations for $45,000? 1 don't know if that's old or new. The way this is presented I can't tell. MR. BRILHANTE: That's generally what we set aside for our internal investigations. You know, it's unfortunate; it's something that occurs and happens when you have 4,000 employees, not everybody unfortunately performs their duties and makes decisions that we feel are appropriate and those are monies set aside to address those type of situations. We're hoping to be that they become less and less as we provide better guidance going forward. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Does that overlay with what the Auditor's Office does? MR. BRILHANTE: The Auditor's, my understanding, they're investigations are more specific to departmental functions whereas these are specific for employee misconduct or allegations of employee misconduct. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then just looking at your office supplies, some of your basics in OCEs, some substantial jumps fromI look at actuals that are budgeted. So I look at the actuals from 2023-2024 and the Page 26 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 budgeted from this current fiscal year into the next. But just looking at your copiers and the office supplies, what are you guys planning on doing with the bumps up? MR. BRILHANTE: I'll let our Finance Director address that. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I can see it's a pretty simple answer but I'm just checking. MS. NAKAGAWA: Sorry, Council Member, which line item are you looking at; computer and office supplies? CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Within the OCE, yeah. MS. NAKAGAWA: Computer and office supplies, that actually went down. That was reduced. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Printing. MS. NAKAGAWA: 109, is that what you're looking at? CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah. And then 227, I'm looking at the actuals from 2023-2024 to budgeted for this year and then going into next year. MS. NAKAGAWA: Okay. Yeah, we can take a look at that. I'm not sure if it's one of their copier subscriptions or what that could be. It is reduced from the 2024-2025 budget, $7,000, but we can take a look at what that might be. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you. MS. NAKAGAWA: Sure. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And then just to the Managing Director, I'm looking at some of your program highlights. What are some programs that you folks are going to focus in on this year that we're budgeting for? Maybe like top three. MR. BRILHANTE: Top three. I think the best way to identify our specific programs going forward is the creation of our taskforces. We have a taskforce that we created for our cesspool conversion. You know, we're mandated by Department of Health (DOH) to convert 50,000 cesspools to septic and that's something we have a limited amount of engineers available. And I think if we just calculated the math there's no way the two or three engineers we have available to do that in the County can satisfactory address that. Page 27 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 Two is permitting, you know, the timeliness of issuing permits. The Mayor, you know, at his community meetings, he lays out the necessity and the benefits of having timely permits and how it touches upon the increase in construction; the increase in the construction hiring new employees. You know, new employees being able to live closer to the resort areas so they can work in those areas, and it's just all interconnected. And so permits, you know, cesspools; we have an HR taskforce where we're looking at aggressive ways like I discussed earlier about attracting people and making the County of Hawaii the place to work on the Big Island. Three, we have Animal Control because as you drive on the highway, the Mayor likes to say, animals seem to be more out of control than in control. You know, and that's an area that we want to address. And it's not just the pigs and the goats and the sheep, but it's also the cats down at Banyan Drive. It takes everybody and it takes a consorted effort to properly address that. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then you have the funds necessary in the budget you've presented to handle those different taskforces? MR. BRILHANTE: That's correct. Absent, you know, something unforeseen. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I like the direction and I appreciate the knowledgeable answers. Thank you. MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you very much. We appreciate the opportunity to present. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Seeing nothing further from the Council, thank you very much to the Office of Management and the presentation. Council Members, would you like a recess? It is 10:55 a.m. Yup, okay. We'll take a five minute recess. We'll reconvene at 11:00 a.m. Thank you. Recess: At 10:55 a.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 11:04 a.m. (3) Capital Improvement Program Overview: CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Welcome back. I am reconvening this meeting out of recess. Our next portion of our budget meeting is going to be the Planning Department's review of the Capital Improvement Program. Mr. Darrow, if you want to come up and walk your way through the presentation for the Council and the public on the Capital Improvement Program? Page 28 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 (Note: At this time, Planning Director Jeffrey Darrow provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 159.1.) CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you very much, Director. Council Members, discussion on the Capital Improvement Program? Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah I just had a quick question about how the bridge and road repair CIPs (Capital Improvement Project) were designated in the past. For example, in District 1 there are a number of specific bridges and specific district areas within District 1 that have CIP allocations. Have we changed how we're doing that just as serving universal designation within the CIP? MR. DARROW: I'm going to have the expert chime in. (Note: At this time, Finance Director Diane Nakagawa came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. NAKAGAWA: Council Member Kimball, I'm not sure I understand your question, but we can definitely have —the plan is to have the department speak specifically to the CIP projects. So when DPW comes up we can certainly come back to that as well about any project specific questions that we have. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah. I was wondering if I'll rephrase it. There were at one point specific CIPs designated for specific areas, so Hamakua, North Hilo, South Kohala, all of that for repaving. Similarly there were bridge repairs damming specific bridges and now it seems to be that there's just one bucket for all paving and one bucket for all repairs and maintenance rather than having them designated to a specific location. MS. NAKAGAWA: Yeah. I apologize. I don't recall when it was by district. But I do know now, to provide some of the flexibility some of those departments have it in that one category of repair and maintenance. Like you'll see it in specifically in DPW and in Parks as a pretty significant allocation or budget in there for these types of projects. So some of the projects will be listed specifically but these also provide flexibility for when something comes up they can go ahead and use that appropriation. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Is, with respect to the fuel tax then the calculations still in place about how much is allocated based on the amount of roadways in the district? Page 29 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. And we covered that just a little bit ago but we can come back again to that as well. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. MS. NAKAGAWA: But yeah, same as we discussed about a year ago. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Great. That's it I think for right now. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. MR. DARROW: Chair? CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes. MR. DARROW: Real quick. One thing I did want to mention that's kind of caused some confusion and that is that when departments present their capital improvement budget, you see the request for the upcoming fiscal year. What you don't see is the previous two years, and those are also appropriated. So you have a period of three years where these improvement projects maintain their appropriation. And so they don't need to keep putting it back on the list until those appropriations are lapsed. Thank you. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Just quick. So if we have concerns about a lapsed project in CIP, should we wait and bring it up with that department when we meet with them? MR. DARROW: Yes. Please. Thank you. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. Thank you. MS. NAKAGAWA: To Jeff's point though, I just do want to mention we've had this conversation between our departments and the Mayor's Office and we are looking to make some improvements in the CIP submittal for next year to provide a little more clarity to those projects as well. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Onishi. MR. ONISHI: Thank you, Chair. And you can correct me if I'm wrong but I remember Council can also initiate the appropriations for projects. MR. DARROW: Correct. Page 30 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MR. ONISHI: Yes. Okay. So members, we could do our own where in the past we did where a Council Member wanted to get South Kona Police Station, and she appropriated like maybe $14 million and then we all added on to that appropriation, so it came out to like $35 million for this project. And so that's how the administration could get some projects done like for example, Kilauea Avenue, they did that reconstruction of that whole area. So we can initiate if we wanted to on projects on what we want. So something to look at or something to think about. Thank you. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. It's my seventh budget cycle and I'm just going to bring this up again because it just flew by. I appreciate this list. Director, you referred to it as a wish list. What we also don't see are the list of projects that were appropriated two years prior, last year. And Director Nakagawa, you mentioned next year we'll do things a little bit differently. There's a lot of time between now and then. And I hope that with the new financial management system there is some kind of widget that allows us to track every single CIP project from two years ago up until this standpoint and the status of the project because there's a mix of different funding streams that go into project construction and it would be nice to know if there's been a bond that's been appropriated for a certain project or the status of something. Like has there been an EA (Environmental Assessment); are we going to be shovel in the dirt pretty soon? I don't know. And with so many changes within administrations, within personnel, with folks on this dais, it would be nice to have an objective document online that's updated in real time as much as possible just so that we know where various projects stand and we can take advantage of funding opportunities if the federal government ever shakes money back down our way. MS. NAKAGAWA: Council Member Kierkiewicz, we completely agree. We have spoken about this over the last couple of years. It's one of the reasons why we've added a CIP Manager in our budget, actually in Finance. And we're currently recruiting, jumping ahead to Finance a little bit, but we are currently recruiting for that position. And things like the status or the dashboard of these projects is definitely something that will be a high priority for management oversight of this position. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Director, is the CIP Manager the same or different from like an assets manager because I think we talked about that in that past too, somebody to monitor the progress, the maintenance of the various County projects and facilities. One in the same? MS. NAKAGAWA: I think it's a little different. Page 31 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. MS. NAKAGAWA: And you know, it's something that we can be a little bit flexible with it as it is a new position within the County. But the idea is for someone to have this oversight over all of these projects and be able to provide a status and to answer the questions and to provide reports in the format that people are looking for, primarily right, but the departments will still have that responsibility of that asset management and things like that. But there will be more coordination, of course, with this position as well as with those departments as well. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Deputy, do you have something to add? Moral support. Now I'm just trying to think of a question to ask you. Okay. That is very helpful, Director Nakagawa. I mean, these documents are great but it's a lot of information to have to pour over and members of the public just don't have the time to dedicate going through these documents. I think something a bit more digestible online would be really welcomed. Okay. And then, Director Darrow, as these projects relate to the General Plan, where is the consideration around which of these projects we elevate to the top of the priority list to implement upon; is it public outcry, is it the availability of different funds; is it the general plan saying we really need this infrastructure; where does the general plan come into play? Question one. And then question two, how are we making this decision on and explaining to community which projects we're acting on versus others? Because every single one of these projects is the top priority for a member of the community. MR. DARROW: When we meet, as mentioned in the presentation, the Planning Department meets with the CIP liaison's for each department. We go over their list and we discuss each item and we ask them how are you coming up with this priority. We do have with us the areas within the community development plans (CDP). There's also the general plan that identifies priority projects or priority directions. And many times there are improvements that are connected to the general plan as well as the community development plans. On the list, the priorities unfortunately seem to fall to the greatest need at that point, like it's an emergency. It also mentions in the Charter these emergency expenditures. They're talking about projects that if they don't do anything the whole thing's going to, you know, it's been neglected for such a period of time that they have to do something now. And I see that a lot of times rising to the top of these lists, but along within that list, I mean, the fact that they make it on the list is a good thing, right. And my reference to wish list wasn't something I created, it's something that many people always utilized. They say this is like a wish list. But it really, it's the process. This is how you go about doing these projects. Page 32 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 But again, we work with them to try to make sure that they consider the projects that are identified in the general plan and the community development plans. But they identify to us how they came up with their list of priorities and I'm sure as you meet with each department you'll have the same questions and receive the same responses that we receive through our meetings. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Anything to add, Director Nakagawa, in terms of like the funding priorities, how those decisions are made? MS. NAKAGAWA: Yeah, you know, I think it goes along the lines of our presentation this morning from the Mayor and really looking at, one, our legal obligations and mandates. Then those projects will consume a large amount of our funding and specifically our bond availabilities. So from the federal mandates, then to those safety projects, and then there's not a lot left after that to rise to, you know, to get to some of these projects unfortunately. But it is focused over the next several years, it will be focused on these mandated wastewater projects that take up hundreds of millions of dollars_ MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you for sharing that. You know, because Mayor mentioned earlier, we've got to stop kicking the can down the road. This administration has sort of made that commitment. So it's good to know what you folks are thinking about in terms of what we must do; our legal obligations before we can start thinking about tackling these other priorities. Thank you. I yield. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Just to piggyback off of Council Member Kierkiewicz. You know, I'm curious about, you know, we're showing $555 million worth of projects but we can comfortably only really maybe afford $50 million on an annual basis. So I guess it's a hard question because each of these departments, all of the community members are looking for improvements, a new gymnasium, new parks, all these sort of things, and we go through the CDPs, all the action committees and their lists, and the new administration's come through and they add things on top of the list; so what more can we do to really parse that down to something where we are comfortable paying for these projects to really bring it down to that comfortable level in that $50 million range? You know, beyond the projects that we're either legally bound to or obligated to do for public safety, all those sort of things. I mean, what more can we do to kind of really parse that list further down? The list just keeps growing year after year. Like I'm not seeing the projects so we just kind of discussed what's been kind of appropriated and asked for previously and where they sit over time to become lapsed. So how can we really focus that mindset collectively as a County as a community, really down to something that we can afford? Page 33 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MS. NAKAGAWA: Thank you, Council Member, for the question. It is a very difficult question and for all of us, I think. As Council Member Kierkiewicz mentioned, these are all high priorities for every single one of these communities. And for all of us it's a heavy weight to hear. We want to do all these things. The reality is that we have these obligations that we need to do now and that does limit our funding. One of the things that we have been talking about with Planning and the Mayor's Office as well is setting expectations for such a large list of projects, bringing awareness to really what's available in the budget to do. And so we kind of talked about getting to a list that we can share that is a priority list within this. We're not sure how we're going to do that yet. But I think to your point, as the list keeps growing, expectations grow for what is needed. And the reality is for a while it will be limited in what we can do. And I think we need to be open and transparent about what is available to do these projects. As much as that is a hard message, it is the truth and it is hard for all of us to know that we can't do all of this and we've got to figure out a prioritization for it. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Director. Appreciate that. (Note: At this time, Deputy Finance Director Malia Kekai came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. KEKAI: Sorry. I just wanted to add on to Diane's answer. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Malia? MS. KEKAI: Sorry. My apologies. Malia Kekai, Deputy Finance Director. Another thing we can do to kind of par down the list is to be more realistic of what stage the project is at because I think right now we put the whole project, and we're like, okay, this park's going to cost $20 million, but really this year all we're doing is design. So that's only going to be a million dollars. Sometimes we put the entire project because then if, you know, happen to get money, we want the flexibility to do the whole project or at least weight off as much as we can at that point. So sometimes if you part down, the bad part about that is then you have to come back and reappropriate the next phase, and the next phase, and the next phase. So, you know, there's kind of two sides to that coin, right. It would be more realistic if we just said this is the piece that we're doing right now and therefore the money would be better. So I think that's just another thing we could do to create a more transparent list. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you. And I think some of the departments are really utilizing that six year plan tier reference there, Malia, in terms of they can't get a done in all one year and yet they're showing design, plan, and construction all in that one year. So I think we need to better utilize that six -year plan in showing Page 34 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 how many years out is this going to take and, you know, kind of be realistic that it's not all done within this upcoming fiscal year. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, thank you. Building off of what Council Member Kierkiewicz and Council Member Hustace said, my grandfather was a very skilled bridge player and when we threw down a card, rather than criticizing our choice, he said, "As long as you have a reason." And I think that that's what I'm hearing from my colleagues here is as long as we have a reason that we can provide to our constituents as to why something was funded and why something wasn't funded, you know, that helps us in our positions. In the absence of something empirical that we can point to, to say why this project was prioritized over another project, then you run the risk of thinks appearing political and saying, you know, Council Member Hustace was better at advocating for District 9 than Council Member Kimball was for District 1, right? And that's not a good look for any of us. You know, as a body, we shouldn't be competing against each other for resources. We should be looking to the general plan and these other documents to say this is what's best for the community, the County, as a whole. So I want to just reiterate, I'm looking for that reason why these choices are being made. In addition, with respect to the prioritization and maybe, Director, you can speak to whether there's stillI recall that there had been sort of a process in place ongoing but you guys were looking at the CIP selection process and management as maybe looking to improve some of the practices there. You know, one of the things that I think we don't take into account in terms of the decision making with respect to prioritization is the lifetime costs, particularly operational costs as well as any potential cost with respect to sunsetting the facility if that's needed at a later date. So I just want to speak to maybe a greater highlight on that in the decision making process. I would actually recommend against the idea of only talking about the phases components because I think both at the state and the County level all too often we get stuck at one of the earliest phases, design or engineering, and then we don't actually go out to build. And if I were to think about a most inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars it would be to pay to just to design something that we're never going to build. And so I think that whole lifecycle should be something that is included in the decision making. So I don't know, Director, are you still working with Planning to kind of refine the CIP process and the decision making to include some of these more detailed elements? MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. As I've mentioned, yes. We have had discussions on improvements to the CIP that we can make and we can certainly take that into Page 35 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 consideration. I think we've spent a lot of time during budget conversations talking about the long term expenditures. And so I do appreciate that, and I think there is a place for making sure that we understand just what things are going to cost, not just for the project, but in the operation of whatever is done. So yes, thank you for that. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Okay. Mr. Darrow and Ms. Nakagawa, I appreciate what you've done today because for six years I have sat and asked questions about the CIP budget and it was like pulling teeth, especially from the last administration and ex -Director (Zendo) Kern. Actually, incredibly frustrating is how I would define that, especially last year. So just coming to us and presenting the capital improvement program and highlighting how it works, how it breaks down, how allocations work, how appropriations work, and what that means for the general public and how we're accountable as a County to the citizens who pay their taxes and look forward to seeing projects done in their community is incredibly helpful. That I appreciate. Ms. Nakagawa, sorry, I've had six years of this. So to get to this point is beautiful. Something that we have discussed, and I guess I'll preface the comment by saying we will address the CIP projects that we want to see or need to discuss with each department, so I won't go into any specific projects. But in listening to the conversation today, Ms. Nakagawa, we have discussed in the past, and this just came to me. We've discussed in the past looking at the County long range, how we rent buildings; where we do office spaces; where we want to be, because there's a cost of doing business when we're renting, leasing, et cetera, and upkeeping buildings that aren't ours. Are we taking that into account in looking at the CIP program; looking at where we want to be as a County and looking at our return on investment and thinking about that as an overall picture as we look to what we're going to do in the future with the help of Planning, with the help of the capital improvement project list. Is that one pretty picture right now or is it still disassociated? MS. NAKAGAWA: So tentatively we are starting to look at that. we are starting with the information that we need to move forward. So we have engaged a consultant through Finance to do a space study for the County to look at all the needs of each of the departments now and in the future. So the first step for us is to get the data of what is needed. At the same time, we are evaluating all of the leases that we have and yes we do have a good amount of spaces that we are renting because we are out of space. So we need to look at that. But you're right that that would need to be incorporated in a future CIP as our needs, but the first step is really figuring out so we're not so reactive on every time there's a new office or a new space or a new need, we're looking. We want the space study to look at the needs of today plus any growth in these departments to be able to plan accordingly and be more proactive rather than reactive, and we see that as the first step to that. Page 36 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you. That's helpful because that means our kids, kids, know that right now we're planning for what it's going to look like for them and that we're not just looking at reacting to what we need in 20, 30, 40, 50 years because it doesn't make sense. We plan for it now, we build it, we save money by doing so, even though it costs us now. Same way we look at wastewater; same way we look at everything else in the County, but we don't plan on our growth as a County itself and our need for space to put all these positions we keep filling and creating and creating more of. So that's concerning so it's good to hear. Thank you. Director, again, the kuleana of the Planning Department to fulfill the capital improvement project list and to give guidance to via the long range plan, via the administration, and the priorities of each Council Member and district is yours. And I really look to you guys to come back to us and present that information and today you've touched on it. Yeah, there's some room for improvement, but at least you've made the first step so thank you very much. It was very helpful. Thank you. MR. DARROW: Thank you, Chair. This is our first year doing this. We have a lot to learn, a lot to grow, but we definitely in working with Director Nakagawa, we've identified areas that we can easily improve. And next year should be a whole lot better, including ways that we can better prioritize these lists, be able to provide you with better information moving forward. Again, adding on to previous years of the appropriations so that gives you a very full picture of what's appropriated across the board. And any other suggestions moving forward, we're open to be able to make it a better process. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I think the distinction that you made in your presentation and one that I understand to be critical to this is the difference between appropriated and allocated because we can appropriate things. I can do that all day long. Everyone here can put forth a project, appropriate funds toward it, and away it goes, and it becomes this massive wish list we sit on. And the community thinks we've funded it. It's not true. It's now until we've allocated funding. That's the magic moment, correct? MR. DARROW: Yes. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So the allocated funding list of capital improvement projects is what's happening, right? MR. DARROW: That's the main step is being able to allocate the funds. You still have additional steps. You have to encumber those funds through a contract, and then you're able to expend those funds. Page 37 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes. Okay. So I think that's the kind of information if you want to present a capital improvement project list that people can get behind, understand and see how we're prioritizing in the County. That's what needs to be presented; that's the beauty that I've been looking for, for six years. Hopefully next year I get to see it. That'd be beautiful. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Council Members? Okay. Thank you very much. MR. DARROW: Aloha. Thank you. (4) Department of Finance: CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Director Nakagawa, Department of Finance is our next department. Thank you very much, Planning Department for your time this morning. Go ahead when you're ready. Do you need a brief recess or are you good to go? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Aracelley_ Please introduce yourselves and then when you're ready, go ahead with your presentation. (Note: At this time, Finance Director Diane Nakagawa and Deputy Director Malia Kekai came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. NAKAGAWA: Of course. Thank you. Good morning again, Council Members. My name is Diane Nakagawa, Finance Director. MS. KEKAL Good morning. Malia Kekai, Deputy Finance Director. MS. NAKAGAWA: Thank you for allowing us to be here today on the top of the list of departments to present today. I would like to acknowledge and thank our Finance Management team who's here today with us. We have Lisa Miura and Keita Jo from Real Property Tax (RPT); we have Ted Schrey and Lisa Tada from our Budget Division; we have Naomi O'dell from our Vehicle Registration and Licensing (VRL); we have our Treasurer Chris Nakano; our Assistant Controller Reid Sewake; our Risk Manager Daniel Chun; our Purchasing Agent Stephanie Letro; our Acting Property Manager Eva Braman, and that is our team. So thank you for that. This is the team behind all the work, and I just appreciate what they do every day. To that real quick, I do want to thank all the departments for their hard work in the budget process. This did start in September, and it is months of work that takes a collaborative effort of all. So just appreciate everyone's time to get us to where we are at today. (Note: At this time, Ms. Nakagawa provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or Page 38 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Director. To the Council? Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: I just want to say thank you very much and thank you for kind of lining all the departments up with the standardized form so we can really start to see the overall picture by looking at all the departments together and I really do appreciate that, and keeping it fairly simple, but getting those necessary pieces in there. I really appreciate this having gone through this before when we didn't have that in place. So thank you so much. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Onishi. MR. ONISHI: Thank you, Chair. So I have a couple of questions; well, maybe more than a couple. But first one is, okay, you mentioned about the credit cards, having more resource and having that. We've talked many times, and I've always asked you if there's a way of, I guess, exempting the fees that the public is paying? Because I feel if we can do that then we can have more people paying online, right. So have you folks looked at that or is that in the future? MS. NAKAGAWA: So that has been something we have discussed. You know, one of the things we've also talked about that would help this is kind of looking at, and it was mentioned earlier that the departments working together to make sure we have a coordinated effort on some of our projects. Specifically, we talked about credit card processing, but also that one payment portal. So you will see that in ITs (Information Technology) budget as well, some of the things we've talked about. So having that kind of common interface for the County and the cashiering system. So what we have seen is each of the departments are entering into separate contracts for these cashiering systems and they have different rates and different charges. Economy's a scale; if we did it more comprehensively we may get a better rate. So those are the things that we've asked purchasing to kind of take a look at as well as if we were to combine these contracts, would it be more attractive to get us a better rate. Now that doesn't quite answer your question, but would we pay for them, of course, if there was extra funding. Yes there is an opportunity for the County to pay some of these fees to alleviate that from the customer. But what we've talked about there is more of a case by case basis. So we do part of that with VRL for the kiosk because it's convenient, but it also provides our team in the office and the customers who go in for more difficult and more complex, they have more time to do that. So it made sense to cover some of those fees. So we're looking at it kind Page 39 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 of globally, what can we do to get the rates down, but then also individual basis on if that makes sense or not. MR. ONISHI: Back when I was on the Council, like for example with property tax, each county was doing their separate, I guess, processing of their systems. And so I asked at that time was Gary Kurokawa, who was the tax administrator on Oahu, why doesn't all the counties work together and just have one program? And that way if you're on Maui and you wanted to see something on Oahu or something, you could see those things, right. It wouldn't be all different like how some of our County Codes are. So he mentioned and he said, yeah, it would save to counties money but it's just that at the time the administrators didn't want. They all wanted separate. So this looks good where if you can get all the payments from all the different departments onto one system, that would be awesome and the County could save some money, my guess, right? The other thing we talked about before was about all those vehicles in the parking lot in Aupuni. I know you were mentioning you folks did research on some of the vehicles and you guys got some removed, but there's still a lot more there. So has your department looked more forward into it, into the different departments about what can be used or what is not being used, and we could transfer it to other places. Like for example, Parks just recently had to do this financial leasing for like nine trucks, you have anything on that? MS. NAKAGAWA: Yeah. And, you know, there's still a lot more that has to be done. You know, Deputy Director Kekai and I actually walked the parking lot and took all the vehicles down. The ones that look like they haven't, and they're growing grass on them, right, and things like that, we see that and we were able to remove some of them. But a bigger effort needs to be made to take a look at the usage as well because some are working. They made be old., but they are working and possibly could be utilized potentially as maybe pool vehicles or whatnot. But an assessment needs to be done through Public Works and Automotive about the condition about these vehicles. So not too much further but we do understand that those are areas in which we need to make sure what we have is either working and used or is not working and taking care of properly. MR. ONISHI: And have you folks scheduled for the auction of the older vehicles and so forth? MS. NAKAGAWA: Yeah. You know, our intent was to have this auction, to make sure that we have an auction this fiscal year. We are running into a few resource challenges in Property Management, but we'll continue to look if there's a way for us to be able to do that through, you know, just the knowledge and resource throughout the County. We'll see if that's something that we can provide for this fiscal year. Page 40 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MR. ONISHI: Okay. And the last things is about HR, so we talked about that position wise. So how long have you been waiting to, I guess, get the paperwork for getting that CIP position? MS. NAKAGAWA: So, you know, I think it took about six months potentially to get it through, this was a new position in the County so those are a little difficult. There are things that HR needed to make sure was accurate, was appropriate for the position. We had some back and forth on comparable positions in other counties that maybe were a little different, so it caused more questions. So it took a little bit of time. I know this is one we're all anxious to get, but it did take some time. It's out now. Hopefully, we can continue to move. MR. ONISHI: Yeah. So when HR comes up I'm going to ask them these questions too because I feel the department should know the position descriptions of what you need. So to me HR should be there to like reinforce and to just make sure legally it's allowable. MS. NAKAGAWA: Right. MR. ONISHI: But not telling the department, no I think that person needs to be da, da, da, or this and that, right. I mean, no we need them for this specific thing, like job description and so forth. So I'll be asking them about that because I think we talk about always trying to get more employees, right, and that's one problem because even when I was with the state, they would hire; they would go through the interview, they hire, but DHR had to do the final I guess approval, and that would take a long time. And then when they offer the person the job, they already found something else already. So you lost it right. And on that note, the last thing I wanted to, you know, we talked about incentives for recruitment. So if a County employee could get their friends to apply for a job and they get hired, then the employee would get this bonus, and I think you told me before there's a possibility or there is possible funding to do this program. Is that correct? MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. We do have a provision for recruitment and compensation that could be used. It has been there for the last couple of years to be used specifically for recruitment or retention incentives. MR. ONISHI: So where's the hold up? I mean, what do we need or what does this Council need to do to help move this forward? MS. NAKAGAWA: So this specific idea of an incentive, we had some initial discussions with Corporation Counsel, and I think it just has to have a few more between Corporation Counsel and HR as well. Page 41 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MR. ONISHI: You heard that, J? Okay. We need to move on that because we're talking about we need employees, so we need incentives to get more workers here. And then as Managing Director mentioned about the pay, right, of how low it is and so forth. So yeah, we need to move on that. Thank you, Director. I yield. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Hello, Director, Deputy. Thank you for your time. I'm just going to dive into some more of the numbers if that's okay with you. Just a questions on, we'll start with accounts. Let's see, 512202, starting with 111, the rental and lease of equipment. So on the actuals, $1 million and then this current fiscal year it jumped up to $3.5 million? MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. MR. HUSTACE: And then we're asking for another $3.2 million? MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. MR. HUSTACE: Could you expand on that? MS. NAKAGAWA: Absolutely. That is our new financial system. MR. HUSTACE: That is the financial system. Okay. MS. NAKAGAWA: And so we actually started this project implementation in fiscal year 2023-2023, but at the end of 2023-2024. This is about $23 million project, and we have both the annual subscription cost as well as the lease payment cost. Lease meaning the financial lease, the ten year financial lease. So it is a significant cost but this is a crucial investment for the County to have. MR. HUSTACE: Sure. Thank you for the clarification there. MS. NAKAGAWA: You're welcome. MR. HUSTACE: And then the line below on the miscellaneous contractual services. Just kind of a significant decline from the actuals; from $1 million in the current fiscal, well the actuals and then dipping down about a quarter of a million. MS. NAKAGAWA: For that one MR. HUSTACE: Did you account for kind of like that decrease and, you know, either contracts no longer needed or training no longer needed? Page 42 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MS. NAKAGAWA: I'd have to go look that one —you have that answer? Reid Sewake, our Assistant Controller. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Reid, please identify yourself. (Note: At this time, Assistant Controller Reid Sewake came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. SEWAKE: Reid Sewake, Assistant Controller, Accounts Division. So the million dollars in last fiscal year 2024 mainly due to we were paying payments directly to CherryRoad (Technologies Inc) in that account. Yeah, so part of that was our CherryRoad payments. We switched it to other funding for this fiscal year 2025 moving forward. And, you know, we have our other FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) consultant, other consultant fees as part of that as well. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you. Appreciate that. Let's see; I'm going to jump onto; let's go to Treasury with 5124, and look at those contractual services again. Jumping up to the proposed is a quarter of a million for this one; that's line item 5, Daniel Subscriber. MS. NAKAGAWA: It is. MR. HUSTACE: I'm not sure what the code is there. Treasury analysis services. MS. NAKAGAWA: Yeah. So one of the things that —and thank you to Council for also doing the introduction, is looking at these services to really evaluate our portfolio to make sure that the County is investing wisely and to provide any type of recommendations for investments. So this is something that these type of services have been showcased at like NACo (National Association of Counties) as best practices across the country and one of the things that we're looking at. What it also does is take a lot of the information from the many banks that we have and puts it all into one system. So again, I continue to talk about things that are institutional knowledge but the danger in that it's in one person's head, right. So we need to continue to build out that in systems and train and allow more access to information so that more of our team is able to do analysis, to do reports, to answer questions. But we need the foundation and that is part of the technology that's needed. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you. And moving on to Real Property Tax Division, I noticed kind of a decline in advertising on that side. Is there less of a need for that? MS. NAKAGAWA: We can ask our Real Property Tax Administrator. Page 43 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MR. HUSTACE: Thanks, Administrator. (Note: At this time, Real Property Tax Administrator Lisa Miura came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. MIURA: Good morning. Lisa Miura, Real Property Tax. Not so much a decline. I think we're just making sure we're doing the ads as far as we've been spending the money on for the prior years. A lot of it was for tax sale, so that's attributed to the tax sale fund instead. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Administrator. Appreciate that. Director, if you could just speak to —there's a couple of places I think on the general fund side for administrative costs, if you could just speak to that; what those administrative costs are, and those services provided? MS. NAKAGAWA: Council Member, where are you? MR. HUSTACE: I'm sorry. Let's see. This is vehicle registration, sorry. 5127.115, and it shows up a couple places I think, unless I know some of these pages are duplicated though. MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. We do apologize for that. The Finance one was duplicated_ MR. HUSTACE: But it shows up under; these are just state fees then on there? Vehicle Registration and then Driver's License administrative costs. MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. Thank you for that question. So as part of the budget presentation I talked about the state funding in our vehicle registration and licensing. This is the portion that gets basically charged back to those funding sources. MR. HUSTACE: Got it. Okay. Thank you so much. MS. NAKAGAWA: You're welcome. MR. HUSTACE: Thanks, Chair. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Members, anything further? Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Director, for the presentation. I'll reiterate I think it was Council Member Kagiwada's comments, really appreciate the standard format coming from all those departments. It really makes it easier Page 44 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 for us to compare apples to apples. I did want to highlight to Council Member Hustace, and correct me if I'm wrong, if you look in the general fund revenue side, you'll see an increase under investments and interest earned. That is supposed to be the flip side of the contractual money that we're spending towards financial services. So there's an estimated $3.5 million increase and interest earned on all of our financial accounts as being the revenue benefit of investing in this consulting service. I wanted to actually ask Administrator Miura a question about the audit, and if you could just go into a little bit more detail about the scope. Is this something that is a mandate that we're required to do and is there a reason we're choosing to go outside instead of using our auditor in house? MS. MIURA: Okay. Lisa Miura, Real Property Tax Administrator. The home exemption audit isn't just a review of how our home exemption program works, it's actually auditing every single name in the homeowner tax database. And to do that, currently we have in office procedures such as we run a check against the State of Hawai `i Vital Statistics list and we pay the state for that list to make sure whoever passed away, we can send them the appropriate disallowance letters so that if family is residing in the house we provide them time to apply for the homeowner exemption for the future year. What we tend to miss is if they die out of state, if they are getting mail to their house here but they have a home exemption somewhere else. It's easy to know if their mail all of a sudden gets sent to the mainland then we can look and see if there's a home exemption there. But individuals are getting a lot more innovative and having things go to their postal mail stop and then forwarded on to other addresses or having mail picked up by somebody else staying in the house here. So this is actually an outside company we would have to do an RFP for that would actually audit the entire home exemption program. So not necessarily the procedures; just making sure that people aren't taking advantage of a benefit that they're not entitled to. MS. KIMBALL: Understood. Okay. Would this also apply with respect to highest and best use and for example folks that are offering a short term vacation rental and claiming —well, they still get the exemption, they just don't get the tax class. But would you be examining that under this as well? MS. MIURA: So, correct. Just for the record, if it's a hosted rental and the owner is residing there they would get the homeowner exemption, just not the homeowner tax class. And so, if they are MS. KIMBALL: The exemption would be proportional to this. Page 45 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MS. MIURA: Proportional. So the exemption amount cannot be larger than the proportion that they're residing in, correct. But it's not like a, I'm using 25 percent of the house, so I only get 25 percent of the exemption. And I know that's a big misconception, but that's per the County Code. So what they can look at is whether they are paying TAT (Transient Accommodation Tax) because the state doesn't share that data. So it they're able to get that data through other means that we do not have access to they could provide it. But it's unclear for the amount that we are setting aside if they will cover every single option. But we're trying to at least check off majority of the boxes. MS. KIMBALL: I'll just put it out there that if we needed to add a little bit to this line item to include that functionality with some of the other stuff that we're trying to do around STVRs, I think this would provide potentially an additional cross check for us in terms of some of the things we're trying to do around that. So just putting that out there. And this isn't something that's mandated, like we'd have to do every few years? MS. MIURA: No. We have a compliance program, and we haven't had an audit on the home exemption program, which I would imagine will come up at some point. We just try and do our best to make sure that people that are paying the lowest amount of taxes are the homeowners. MS. KIMBALL: Right. Okay. Great. Thank you so much, Administrator. MS. MIURA: Thank you. MS. KIMBALL: And just, Director, I just want to make sure this software or this procurement specialist position; I don't recall who on the dais, whose idea it was. I think it might've been Council Member Kierkiewicz to standardize our purchasing across the different departments particularly for software, right. Is that what that position is for or something else? MS. NAKAGAWA: No. That position was just really speaking to the volume of needs that we have County wide and essentialize purchasing; that means the same team of five or so has to go through all the requisitions for the County besides construction. So that position was really for keeping up with workload in the division. Yeah. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. So is there still the intention to move in that direction where rather than each department having their own contracts. There's cross departmental contracts for things that everybody uses like Adobe. MS. NAKAGAWA: Right. So a couple things. One, we're looking at centralizing the common software products to be managed by IT. So you'll see some of that, some of the software move from the departmental budget to the IT Page 46 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 budget so IT can manage the number of users so they can get a good understanding of the license requirements. And the other thing is if our Purchasing Office is staffed adequately it provides more time to do the things that we need to do like looking at comprehensive purchasing throughout the County. It is the right thing to do. It is really difficult, you know, even like these credit cards and cashiering systems, everyone has a separate thing in place. It takes a huge effort to coordinate all the needs of the departments and get out a single solicitation. But we know there's many areas that we should be doing a coronated purchase. And so more staff allows the team to not just do the every days, but these special projects that could create efficiencies in dollars. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Just last, I thought we had signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding), or the resolution came through with respect to the state sharing TAT information. Did that not happen? MS. NAKAGAWA: Anew one? MS. KIMBALL: In the last year we had put something forward that was an agreement to share TAT? Your TAT person is not here. MS. NAKAGAWA: Yeah. He and she is actually out right now. I'll double check on that, if we brought it through. I know we do have an MOU. I don't if it's the one that you're thinking of most recently, but we can check on that. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Alright. Just kind of pointing out, do we think that the line item, which I see is reduction in terms of an estimate of TAT collection for the County for the upcoming years. How secure are we in that number? I think we're seeing $29 million_ MS. NAKAGAWA: We actually did an increase of actually did an increase of I believe $2 million to $28 million. MS. KIMBALL: Wasn't it in the like thirty something this last — MS. NAKAGAWA: The actuals, right. But compared to budget; so budget was $26 million last year; $28 million projected this year; $36-$37 million collected. It is starting to go down slightly, which is why we're looking at that projection. We've been really cautious the first couple of years especially with something that could change with many different events. But I think it's starting to stabilize, is what our team is looking at now. But the last six months or so in the recent report that I had we are seeing a slight decrease. Nothing worrisome that we won't make our budgeted revenue, but slightly. So that is why we're not being aggressive in going up to like the thirties at this point. Page 47 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MS. KIMBALL: Yeah. I think that's wise, just with all the uncertainty from the economic side. Elective of expenditures on tourism is probably something that's going to be early to go. So thank you for that. Appreciate it. Thank you. I yield, Chair. MS. NAKAGAWA: You're welcome. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Aloha, Director, Deputy. Thank you, both, and your teams for always being available to support our offices and the many departments and agencies that make up Hawaii County. You know, I want to just underscore the undertaking that you are setting yourselves up to do this coming fiscal year; launch simultaneously a new financial management plan and an HR software. Huge. But on top of that, and I think I was on the road to Kona, Council, you're talking about the grants management system, I love that you folks made the decision to make this a priority and make it happen, tracking our investments. And then I'm really curious about the long term financial plan specifically as we think about the various income streams we have as a County and one of the levers that we were granted authority to pull temporarily, general excise tax (GET) that sunsets in 2030, and right now the majority over $67 million I think it is, maybe more, a lot of that is going to supporting our Mass Transit Agency. So I wonder what sort of planning is happening right now to think about it the state legislature does not extend our authority to leverage this past 2030, what's the plan going to be; are we starting to think about those financial transitions now? MS. NAKAGAWA: Council Member Kierkiewicz, yes. Thank you for that. One of the things that you mentioned specifically with GET is how the County is predominately using our GET, and that is in our Mass Transit. You'll hear a little more in their presentation this week on some of the things they are looking at besides, you know, grant funding, which will be a topic of our conversations, but really evaluating Mass Transit operations. Mass Transit's budget has increased quite significantly over the last five years. I think it was just $18 million or so five years ago. So one of the things that we have asked is looking at the data and the metrics from Mass Transit, looking at the ridership numbers, looking at the programs that have been initiated and what is the outcomes, of course, looking at free fare options. So they have done a great job in implementing the master plan, but I think now has come the time when we need to evaluate all the things that have been implemented and are they right for our community and is that the right priority for these expenditures to happen. So that is a big priority and something we have discussed, and you'll hear a little bit more from Mass Transit. But, you know, through Page 48 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 Finance, Mass Transit, and the Mayor's Office as well, those are things that we'll be looking at. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Great. I'm glad to know that it's top of mind. I was reading over the budget and then the status reports for your department and the internal control piece caught my eye. There was an evaluation of the R&D grants budget and procedures. As you know, this Council adopted a resolution requesting our County Auditor to just audit that department in general. I'm wondering is your, I don't want to say investigation, but is your review complete and were your recommendations sent to the Auditor? Is that something you can also share with us? MS. NAKAGAWA: You know, I don't think it's complete yet, but we'll check. And that's something, you know, one of the things that we did with our internal staff, trying to provide guidance on. As we're seeing that things maybe were late in invoicing and things like that, so we're looking at the process in which the department handled their budget. So specifically, we asked our internal audit team to look at those accounting details and also where things were approved, timing and delay. But we'd be happy to share once we get that complete. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. I'm just curious about the grants piece because as you launch this management system and as the Council continues to refine how it deploys the Waiwai Grant Program, it would be nice if all of our grant programs that we are delivering as a County are consistent; the applications, that there's one portal that nonprofits can upload all of their documents to at one time and not share them share them with all Council offices, R&D, Finance, all the opportunities, right? Just more efficiency within the process. MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. Absolutely. And, you know, Deputy Kekai has been leading the effort on reviewing preliminarily what's out there to be able to draft a scope of work. And yes, we do want something for those grants the County is giving out to be consistent, so easier for those —just like the nonprofits, easier for them to navigate the system, keep documents. What's required in one is required in another. Yes, that is definitely a priority in the scope of work for this new system. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Fantastic. Also, under internal controls it was mentioned that Finance helped to hire the CDBGDR (Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery) internal auditor. I just want to confirm that we still have an internal auditor managing that. MS. NAKAGAWA: We do. We do. And she actually reports to the Office of Management, the Mayor. Page 49 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Okay. Fantastic. Because I know that program is winding down. They're looking at Phase 3 buy outs. Would it be appropriate at the end of the program to request a presentation at Council? MS. NAKAGAWA: Sure. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Wonderful. Thank you. Let's talk about PONC (Public Access, Open Space, and Natural Resources). This used to be P&Rs (Parks and Recreation) baby. It's transitioned over to Finance. Just curious about how that transition is going. I know that there are some personnel constraints, so I think this is your opportunity to articulate the needs that are needed from a personnel standpoint to ensure that we're carrying out this program in the way that the voters have intended it. MS. NAKAGAWA: Sure. I can start and Malia can definitely jump in. You know, as you know over the last year we have spent a lot of time with the PONC program to evaluate all of the different areas. So compliance with contracts, how we look at the reimbursements, what we're asking of the stewardships, how we go about our meetings, the things that we look at. So thank you to former Deputy (Aaron) Brown. So we spent a lot of time with Property Management, and we were gaining a lot of momentum, and we are facing some pretty significant staff challenges. You know, soon we'll be down to just a couple of people. We are recruiting and we have positions. So positions at this point is not the issue or funding for them. It is filling them. So we've had one position, the Property Tech? MS. KEKAI: We're reallocating the Property Technician to a Program Manager because we thought we needed a higher level position basically to handle this program. It's growing, right, the more properties we buy the more maintenance that's needed, the more stewards that we take on. So yeah, it's basically exponential. Every time we buy a property we have to, you know, the County should be the best steward first, right. So a lot of the stuff we're looking at too is taking on management plans within PONC and then also a maintenance survey so that we can help stewards also like, here's the minimum things that should be done. But yeah, for positions, once we get that Program Manager, we're still waiting on actually on getting it out to fill. We just amended the PD (Position Description) and reallocated the position, and then we had to go through consultation. So there's all of that. But yeah, once that out in the street we'll have the Property Manager, Program Manager, and then the Property Management Technician, and then also we're hoping to reallocate a Program Support Technician to this program as well so that we'd have four kind of not fully dedicated, but three fully dedicated positions with the Property Manager to assist it. So that's what we're looking to Page 50 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 and that's how we hope to get to full strength where we can kind of implement our full goals of what we think the PONC program can be. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. That is fantastic news to hear. I really appreciate the work on that. Director, can we anticipate any bond ordinances coming to the Council this fiscal year? Because, you know, I'm reading in the CIP we're underleveraged. MS. NAKAGAWA: Fiscal year? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Next fiscal year. I'm sorry. MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Okay. MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Alright. Because we're underleveraged with our debt service. Okay. Good to know. MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: You know, I want to emphasize the need for training, and I'm not sure if it's your department of HR that is in charge of that one million dollar training fund that departments have access to, is it your department? MS. NAKAGAWA: The need for training request comes through Finance. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And I don't have a budget summary with me, but do you know the total spend down this last fiscal year? MS. NAKAGAWA: I do. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Thank you. You knew I would ask this question. MS. NAKAGAWA: So we have spent about a $140,000 of this funding source and we had significant participation from Police, a little bit from HR, R&D, and DEM. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: That's this fiscal year? MS. NAKAGAWA: That is the current fiscal year, so we do have more funds that are available. We do push it with the departments, any training needs that they have, please send them in. So it is available. We do have more funds. Page 51 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Do you know what the ending balance was for last fiscal year? MS. NAKAGAWA: I don't think I have that with me, but I can certainly get that for you. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. So a significant amount of money is still left in that fund. Okay. I want to emphasize the need for your teams to have the time to receive training. You know, with the nonprofit that I run, every Friday our production team works on skills. I don't know if we as the County have the luxury to close once a month to just dedicate our team to getting trained up, but we might want to think about that at least on a quarterly basis so we can stay up on industry trends, changes in legislation on the state and federal side, and make sure that we're upskilling our workforce so they can handle modern day challenges. MS. NAKAGAWA: Absolutely. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. MS. NAKAGAWA: I'll be fully supportive of those kinds of policies. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And then the last thing, our Community Development Plan (CDP) action committees, they are frontline folks that have been charged with implementing these County plans and I'm wondering if we could consider some kind pilot program that empowers these entities with some funding, some grants, obviously there needs to be some guardrails for how they access these funds and what the funds could be spent on. But is that something that we could have a bit of a conversation around? MS. NAKAGAWA: Sure, yeah. I'm open to conversation. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. I lied; one more thing. ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act), were all of the funds encumbered? I believe we had about $60 million allotted to our County. I just want to confirm that everything was encumbered at the end of last year and we're on track to spend by the end of 2026. And I believe Finance has now kind of wrestled control of the spend down from other agencies and you're kind of the accountability coach making sure the departments and agencies spend the funding. MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. So we have absolutely encumbered all the funds we've received and now we are going through our required monitoring that we need to do and Finance does that reporting. And so we can, you know, certainly at another time, provide a progress update of where we're at with a lot of these contracts. A Page 52 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 lot of these contracts were executed late in the year so they're just starting to expend some of the funds. But we can certainly come back and share that. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Fantastic. Thank you, Director. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. And Chair, tell me if this is not the appropriate time to do this, but I had some questions around the general fund revenues. So it's not specifically about your budget, but I don't know when else that would be appropriate to ask. So it's okay? Okay. Thank you. Looking at the general fund revenues there's quite a few federal grants that say nutrition or food services, and they're different pots of money. Are these mostly like kupuna, Office of Aging services or do you have aI'm looking at Page 2, on the general fund estimated revenues. So on Page 2 there's several; there's 3301.01, there's a nutrition program for it looks like a little over $800,000; and then in the next section under federal grants there's summer food service and high impact grant, and then down below in state there's nutrition program. Are there keiki, kupuna, what are these food services? MS. NAKAGAWA: I believe these are in our Parks and Recreation Department in these entities. MS. KAGIWADA: All of them, Parks and Recreation? MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. So they're for like providing meals during summer fun; what else? MS. NAKAGAWA: The Meals on Wheels Program. MS. KAGIWADA: That's for our kupuna? MS. NAKAGAWA: Yeah. MS. KAGIWADA: There's also on the next page, DOH SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) food systems for about $50,000. MS. NAKAGAWA: Reid said he's got it. MS. KAGIWADA: Great. Thank you, Reid. MR. SEWAKE: I can answer. Page 53 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MS. KAGIWADA: Yeah. Thank you. Just reintroduce yourself. MR. SEWAKE: Reid Sewake, Assistant Controller. So the Nutrition Program is a contract with the Office of Aging to provide meal services to our seniors. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. So that's seniors. Alright. MR. SEWAKE: And our food service program is for our summer fun. MS. KAGIWADA: Summer fun. And then there's Nutrition Program under state grants. MR. SEWAKE: And that's also the same program with the Office of Aging. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. And then over on the next page there's DOH SNAP food systems, under federal grants 3309.55. MR. SEWAKE: That one; I'm not sure what that one is. MS. KEKAI: Sorry. I believe that might be R&D because they have a dedicated specialist for food systems. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. Thank you. Alright. So I'm just wondering; I was going to see if there were any more food ones. I know Department of Ag and food support is being looked at place for potential big federal cuts. Are these programs that we have the ability to fund if we lose this funding or has this been looked at or talked to specifically to with either Office of Aging or Parks and Recreation? MS. NAKAGAWA: So the communication, you know, we're reached out and been coronated with all the departments on any federal or state funding. The communication happens with those specific departments and their federal partners, so they are hearing about it first. But he have asked to make sure that we're coronated to hear. Now so we've been actively been monitoring. We have not heard any indication of any reduction so far. I think we are, you know, just preparing for that. But we haven't received anything at this moment. So we're just waiting to hear. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. Over COVID times, I believe we also provided additional support for food. Is that correct; do you remember? MS. NAKAGAWA: I do remember. And yes, we did provide food support for those individuals who were isolating or going through those types of situations; yes, we did. Page 54 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MS. KAGIWADA: If we end up losing or getting a big decrease in SNAP benefits, I know that's mostly a state issues or problem to be solved, but it seems like we might obviously have some skin in the game there. Is it something that you've discussed at all as a whole or with some of the departments as far as what happens if get a big reduction there? MS. NAKAGAWA: Yeah. I think each of the departments will talk a little bit about ways in which they can adapt or adjust, and it really depends on the severity of the cut as well. So each department will be able to talk about the state or federal funding that they have and any thoughts into how any adjustments can be made and any opportunities. So for like the SNAP we can talk with R&D a little bit more. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. So for these I'll just bring it up with the departments then? MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. That would be great. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. Thank you. You've already mentioned the bus fares. I see them predicted to go from zero to $300,000 to $600,000 in the next two years. That's what we anticipate people paying in fares to ride the bus? MS. NAKAGAWA: You know, I think there's more discussion that needs to happen on what that looks like and, you know, there's also a cost to going back to fares that needs to be evaluated_ So I think we all need the full picture of what that looks like and what those will be. But Mass Transit can talk about that anticipated revenue based on I assume their ridership and minimal to maybe no changes from what was previously charged. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. I'll talk to them about that. And state home land security program; $800,000 just this year. Haven't had it in the past; I doesn't look like, it doesn't look like. Don't foresee it going into the future. That looks like a one time type; it's 3310.87. It's just one time; do you know? MS. KEKAI: Yeah. I believe that's the rural grant that Civil Defense got to create hubs in rural areas, yeah. MS. KAGIWADA: Yeah. Okay. Great. Alright. Can you just say a little bit, or you can tell me which department to talk to and I can do it then, but who mostly benefits from the block grant program income? Is it Housing? MS. KEKAI: Like the CDBG block grants. MS. KAGIWADA: Yeah, the 3607 Page 55 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MS. KEKAI: Yeah. It's through Housing, but other departments can apply for some of those funds. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. Alright. And right above that there's also a big nutrition program income, or two above that. I'm on Page 6; 3607.01, $210,000 for nutrition program income. It doesn't say; this says contributed from private. MS. NAKAGAWA: I believe this is from P&R. MS. KAGIWADA: This is from Parks? MS. NAKAGAWA: Yeah. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. I can ask Parks then. Thank you. MS. NAKAGAWA: You're welcome. MS. KAGIWADA: Yeah. Great. I yield. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you. Council Member Onishi, go ahead. MR. ONISHI: Thank you, Chair. You know, as we talked before at our meetings and it was brought up about how I feel the Department of Finance is the department that needs to oversee all the rest on their departments on their spending and I know you mentioned about positions and, you know, to have that manpower, right. And like I told you, I feel this body would support whatever you request to help all of your employees to make a better job for the whole County and to I guess make sure that we don't see all that wasteful spending. So I'll echo that again to you that I support you guys totally, 100 percent. And like I told you before too, I really enjoy talking to you because then your vision of how you want to move this Finance Department forward, which is unbelievable. It's not like the old dinosaur days. I mean, you trying to get up to technology, which is awesome and I'm hoping that other departments would follow that too. But good, you're taking the lead. Thanks. MS. NAKAGAWA: I really appreciate your support. All of you have been very supportive and we appreciate that. It is an aggressive plan forward for Finance, but it's needed, right, and our team is ready. I do think that we could use a little more research, but we're adding it as we can, as we can adjust to it. But we will be making big strides as the years move forward. So thank you for that and thanks to our team for that as well. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Villegas. Page 56 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah. I'm just going to be real fast and just express from the bottom of my heart, thank you. You are being bold and courageous, and you're taking on a burden and a level of responsibility as well as accountability that I recognize you wholeheartedly acknowledge and are choosing this. And it is bringing our County into the 21st century, but it's a huge push and it's taking a toll on you guys. And so I just wanted to personally encourage you to take that time for selfcare, to step back. It's not all on you. You've been entrusted because you are worthy, you are capable, and you do belong in these roles. And so thank you for being willing to do this because it's a lot. But I personally and professionally appreciate you for all that you do and for your team because it's a lot. It's a lot. MS. NAKAGAWA: Thank you so much. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Okay. Thank you so far. So I was looking at these programmatic reviews and progress reports and there was one thing in the Real Property Tax Division; I'm actually just going to take a minute and highlight this. So RPT, this was February 28, 2025, called for a market correction. Whoever wrote that probably could be doing well in another field because the market did correct itself. I just wanted to highlight that. So thank you. Positions under RPT, you know, given what we've heard and the amount of changes we've made to the Real Property Tax Division, what we're requesting and requiring of them now; do they have enough positions going forward and is it budgeted? Because from what I'm seeing the position allocations for last year, this year, next year, pretty much status quo. So if we're seeing a need to improve their ability to handle more constituents, more programs, more detailed programs within programs, are we setting them up to be okay or are we setting them up to be behind? MS. NAKAGAWA: So looking at positions particularly in this division, yes, we've had discussions about the need for additional positions. So that is something that we're going to have more conversations about what that particular need might be. You know, things do change, and we have vacancies and retirements and we need to evaluate that. But this division is one that we could use some additional support. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Should we be looking at that in the Draft 2? MS. NAKAGAWA: Possibly. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Yeah, being that they handle the property taxes for the whole island Page 57 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 MS. NAKAGAWA: That is correct. So yes, possibly we or are something that we're looking at. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Who is Risk Management? It looks like there's one position. Is that right? MS. NAKAGAWA: It is. Our Risk Manager is Dan Chun. He is back there in the CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: In the light blue shirt; is that you? Okay. Sorry, what is your name? MS. NAKAGAWA: Daniel Chun. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Daniel Chun. I'll be reaching out to you. And then Vehicle Registration and Licensing, 68 staff currently. I'm going to share a story that I got from someone in the community and then I'll get to where I'm going. They went to Kona at about 4:00 p.m. and tried to do a transfer of registration. They were told they could not, would not do it for a number of different reasons. The next day they went to Hilo and proceeded to the exact same thing at 4:00 p.m., same time because they get off work at the same time and were able to do it. That points to a discrepancy between the two offices in two different places on the island, which I'm passing on to you because as I read through their programmatic review that 99 percent of the excellent service or 90 percent were rated excellent, but then it doesn't say how many surveys were taken, which is really part of that statistical analysis is where we need to be and then I'm going to get to the amount of positions we have. And the same questions that I just raised, do we have enough positions for that portion of the department to handle the amount of incoming people and new licenses that we have and everything else that they handle. MS. NAKAGAWA: So just your first comment about the situation, you know, without knowing more the details it's a little difficult to comment. But I will say that we have made a significant effort for one; customer service training within VRL. We do receive a lot of positive comments on the experience. I would say if you could read some of these you would be extremely happy with the summary of the visit in comparison to other DMVs (Department of Motor Vehicle) across the nation, and that is a consistent comment that we received. Two, we have also made an effort to make sure that there are consistency across the offices, and that is something that the team meet regularly, they talk about it inconsistency in terms of the rules and responses. It is an effort. So I apologize for that particular situation but it is something that we have addressed and have continued to address over the last few years specifically. That consistent service is something that we strive for and we have made huge efforts in that area. Page 58 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So positions going forward? MS. NAKAGAWA: You know, right now there are some vacancies that we're struggling with specifically like CDL (Commercial Driver's License), but for the most part, you know, a couple years ago we talked a lot about we were having a hard time recruiting in some of our offices, but we have I think reached a point where we're doing well as far as the number of employees that we have. There might just be a few of these specialized positions like the CDL examiners that we need to fill and we're just having a difficult time. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. The CDLs actually decreased this year I believe looking at the numbers as far as the number of CDL licenses that we —it decreased, correct? Yeah. So, I don't know, just looking into where we're headed and what we're seeing trending. MS. NAKAGAWA: Yeah. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: For me personally, every time I've gone into the Vehicle Registration and Licensing Office over here I've had a great experience, and I appreciate them, and I also know what they go through each day, and I watch the line flow and different offices that I go back and forth. And I know we've made strides, and I do appreciate Naomi O'Dell in taking on what she's done. My big request is just if you need the positions, I always feel like Finance is very hesitant to ask for more while you do go through every single department to really vet whether they need more or less in every part of their budget. Finance usually is —you spend so much time taking care of everybody else that you forgot to take care of yourself. MS. NAKAGAWA: Appreciate it. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So make sure you ask. Like Mr. Onishi said, make sure you ask for what you need and make sure you've got what you need to help us maintain the core of our County, which is your department. MS. NAKAGAWA: Thank you. I really appreciate the acknowledgement of the breath of responsibility that we have in Finance. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: You're welcome. Thank you. Speaking to the audits. There is different audits. One I was reading through from our Housing Agency yesterday. It wasn't an audit of the department, it was an audit just in general. We had County Water Supply had some significant discrepancies in their financial accounting. So just following up on where we stand with ensuring that everyone's doing their proper, what is it called GAP? What is it called; General Accounting Procedures; are we doing it; have you followed up with the different Page 59 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 audits that have come through and making sure that the departments are doing what they're supposed to do? MS. NAKAGAWA: I would say yes. I'm not particularly sure which one you're referring to but yes, we are continually monitoring the policies and procedures in Finance. We go through a financial audit as well. That's an external audit. And so that is an evaluation of those types of things as well that we can look to. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I'll follow up with the different departments that we listed. MS. NAKAGAWA: Okay. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Beautiful. That's all I have. Looking to the Council? Yes. Mr. Onishi, go ahead. MR. ONISHI: It's a kudos again but also to the people at the DMV. I didn't realize like I had to get a new car registration, right, and it was like the day before Christmas or something like that and I was surprised to see how many staff you had up front. And the person that I went to was a friend of mine and she told me this comment that I guess you folks have this thing where you need X amount of staff to help the public, and I was so shocked to hear that because I was like if all the other departments had that same concept or that same feeling I think this whole County would be awesome. Soto me, you folks are doing a great job and you need to pass it onto the different other departments. But thank you. And thank you for that staff that was working at DMV. Thank you. MS. NAKAGAWA: That's great to hear. Thank you so much. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you, Chair. No questions, just thank you again for preparing all of the departments so that they are uniform in their approach during budget. And I'll always put my plug in for our grant management software, which I know you folks are working on. I was reading the transcript as I was at the County address. So no questions. Thank you so much. Chair, I yield. MS. NAKAGAWA: Thank you. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Director, one last question. The commercial driver's licensing program salary and wages and then a couple different salary and wages accounts, there's fringe benefits or state. What is that? I can't tell if it's new. It doesn't look like it. The number in 2023-2024 were really small and it may not be specific to just this one area. Page 60 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 (Note: At this time, Vehicle Registration and Licensing Administrator Naomi O'Dell came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. O'DELL: Naomi O'Dell for Vehicle Registration and Licensing. So the fringe benefits are charged to the state for our state funded positions, and every year we raise the percentage because it's on medical premiums that the County's paying, benefits that the County pays the employee. And so that gets charged back to the state. CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So we're not paying for it? MS. NAKAGAWA: No. Yeah, it's those positions that are fully funded by the state. We're just making sure we account for all costs related to the personnel administration. CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Got it. Thank you. Thank you, Ma'am. Thank you for what you do, Ms. O'Dell. Okay. Seeing no further discussion. Director Nakagawa and Deputy Director Kekai, thank you very much. Council Members, do you want a recess for lunch briefly because we are behind schedule quite sufficiently? Okay. Let's take a 15 minute lunch, is that okay. Be quick and fast. Okay. We're going to take a 15 minute recess. We will reconvene at 1:15 p.m. Thank you. Recess: At 12:59 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 1:17 p.m. (5) Office of Housing and Community Development: (Note: At this time, Housing Administrator Kehaulani Costa and Assistant Administrator Keiko Mercado came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: At this time, Ms. Costa provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Recess: At 2:54 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 3:02 p.m. Page 61 FC-8 (6) Hawai`i Fire Department: April 8-11, 2025 (Note: At this time, Fire Chief Kazuo Todd and Assistant Fire Chief Daniel Volpe came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: At this time, Mr. Todd provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Recess: At 4:32 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 4:33 p.m. (7) Civil Defense Agency: (Note: At this time, Director Talmadge Magno came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: At this time, Mr. Magno provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Recess: At 5:03 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 5:08 p.m. (8) Department of Human Resources: (Note: At this time, Director Sommer Tokihiro and Administrative Services Officer Dee Ann Sadayasu came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: At this time, Ms. Tokihiro provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see Page 62 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Recess: At 6:13 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The Special Meeting of the Committee on Finance was reconvened in the Council Chambers, Hilo, at 9:00 a.m., Wednesday, April 9, 2025, by Mr. Matt Kaneali `i-Kleinfelder, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Matt Kaneali `i- Kleinfelder, Chair Mr. James E. Hustace, Vice Chair Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: DEPARTMENTAL PROGRAM AND BUDGET REVIEWS: The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by the Chair: Sylvia Dolena: Bill 32 (Comm. 159), in support. The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business Departmental Budget and Program Reviews. (1) Police Department: (Note: At this time, Police Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz and Assistant Police Chief Sherry Bird came forward to address the members of the Committee.) Page 63 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 (Note: At this time, Mr. Moszkowicz provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Recess: At 10:23 a.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 10:25 a.m. (2) Office of the Prosecuting Attorney: Recess: Reconvene: STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS (Note: At this time, Prosecuting Attorney Keldon Waltjen and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Shannon Kagawa came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: At this time, Mr. Waltjen provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) At 11:52 a.m., the Chair called for a recess. The meeting reconvened at 12:08 p.m. The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by the Chair: Carey Yost: Bill 31 (Comm. 158), comment. (3) Animal Control and Protection Agency: (Note: At this time, Animal Control and Protection Agency Administrator Matthew Runnels came forward to address the members of the Committee. Page 64 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 (Note: At this time, Mr. Runnels provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Recess: At 1:29 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 1:33 p.m. (4) Office of the Corporation Counsel: (Note: At this time, Corporation Counsel Renee Schoen and Assistant Corporation Counsel J Yoshimoto came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: At this time, Ms. Schoen provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Recess: At 1:56 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 1:59 p.m. (5) Department of Information Technology: (Note: At this time, Information Technology Director Cory Stone came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: At this time, Mr. Stone provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) Page 65 FC-8 (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Recess: At 2:54 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 3:10 p.m. (6) Department of Liquor Control: April 8-11, 2025 (Note: At this time, Liquor Control Director Gerald Takase and Administrative Officer Brandon Gonzales came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: At this time, Mr. Takase provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov_ A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Recess: At 3:46 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The Special Meeting of the Committee on Finance was reconvened in the Council Chambers, Hilo, at 9:02 a.m., Thursday, April 10, 2025, by Mr. Matt Kaneali `i-Kleinfelder, Chair. ROLL C',ALT: Present: Mr. Matt Kaneali `i- Kleinfelder, Chair Mr. James E. Hustace, Vice Chair Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by the Chair: Page 66 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 Kristine Kubat: Bill 31 (Comm. 158), comment. DEPARTMENTAL The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business PROGRAM Departmental Budget and Program Reviews. AND BUDGET REVIEWS: (1) Mass Transit Agency: (Note: At this time, Assistant Mass Transit Agency Administrator Zachary Bergum and Administrative Services Assistant Kelly Ann Fujii came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: At this time, Mr. Bergum provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Recess: At 10:53 a.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened atl 1:02 a.m. (2) Department of Parks and Recreation: (Note: At this time, Parks and Recreation Director Clayton Honma and Deputy Director Melissa Samura came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: At this time, Mr. Honma provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Recess: At 1:29 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 1:53 p.m. Page 67 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 (3) Office of Aging: (Note: At this time, Administrative Services Assistant Christine Nguyen came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: At this time, Ms. Nguyen provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Recess: At 2:39 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 2:45 p.m. (4) Office of the County Auditor: (Note: At this time, County Auditor Tyler J. Benner came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: At this time, Mr. Benner provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www_hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Recess: At 3:03 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 3:04 p.m. (5) Office of the County Clerk, Elections Division: (Note: At this time, County Clerk Jon Henricks and Deputy Clerk Aaron Brown came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Page 68 FC-8 Recess: At 3:46 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 3:50 p.m. (6) Department of Environmental Mana en: April 8-11, 2025 (Note: At this time, Environmental Management Director Wesley Segawa and Deputy Director Craig Kawauchi came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: At this time, Mr. Segawa provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty_gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Recess: At 5:50 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The Special Meeting of the Committee on Finance was reconvened in the Council Chambers, Hilo, at 9:02 a.m., Friday, April 11, 2025, by Mr. Matt Kaneali `i-Kleinfelder, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Matt Kaneali `i- Kleinfelder, Chair Mr. James E. Hustace, Vice Chair Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member (via videoconference from Kona) Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member (via videoconference from Kona; came in later) STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: (There were none.) DEPARTMENTAL The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business PROGRAM Departmental Budget and Program Reviews. AND BUDGET Page 69 FC-8 REVIEWS: (7) Department of Public Works: April 8-11, 2025 (Note: At this time, Public Works Acting Director Neil Azevedo and Business Manager Kelsey Kalua-Lewis came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: At this time, Ms. Lewis provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov_ A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Recess: At 11:55 a.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 12:07 a.m. (2) Department of Research and Development: (Note: At this time, Research and Development Deputy Director Dennis Lin came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: At this time, Mr. Lin provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Recess: At 2:15 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 2:22 p.m. (3) Office of Sustainability, Climate, Equity, and Resilience (OSCER): (Note: At this time, Administrator Laura Acasio came forward to address the members of the Committee.) Page 70 FC-8 April 8-11, 2025 (Note: At this time, Ms. Acasio provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Recess: At 2:58 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 3:05 p.m. (4) Planning Department: (Note: At this time, Planning Director Jeff Darrow and Deputy Director Michelle Alm came forward to address the members of the Committee.) (Note: At this time, Mr. Darrow provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, please see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives online from the County's home page at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record. See Comm. 158.3.) (Note: Discussion continued for this department.) Vote on Bill 31: The motion to recommend passage of Bill 31 on (Approved) first reading was carried by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Committee Members Hustace, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Kaneali `i-Kleinfelder — 7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Galimba and Villegas — 2. Excused: None. Vote on Bill 32: The motion to recommend passage of Bill 32 on (Approved) first reading was carried by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Committee Members Inaba, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Kaneali `i-Kleinfelder — 6. Noes: Committee Member Hustace — 1. Absent: Committee Members Galimba and Villegas — 2. Page 71 FC-8 Excused: None. April 8-11, 2025 ADJOURN- There being no further business, Chair Kaneali `i-Kleinfelder adjourned MENT: the meeting at 4:36 p.m. Approved: Mr. Matt Kaneali `i-Kleinfelder, Chair Finance Committee MK/tk (Date) Page 72