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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN CRCOC 2025/07/08 (2024-2026) DRAFT Committee on Communications, Reports, and Council Oversight 8th Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii July 8, 2025 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Communications, Reports, and ORDER: Council Oversight was called to order at 5:15 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Chair Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Vice Chair (came in later) Mr. James E. Hustace, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba,Member (came in later), Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Member Absent& Excused: Ms. Ashley .'Kierkiewicz, 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: Tara Kiai:, Comm. 354; in opposition. Sara Steiner: Comm. 354; in opposition. Hilea Hanoa Harper: Comm. 354; in opposition. Cindy Freitas: Comm. 354; in opposition. Kyle Soares: Comm. 354; in opposition. (representing BK Livestock Co. and Punalu`u Ranch) Emily Naeole: Comm. 354; in opposition. CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 RJ Hampton: Comm. 354; in opposition. Elaine San Jose: Comm. 354; in opposition. (representing Kahua O Kakou, Hui Corp, and Humu`ula Kala`i `Eha LLC.) Palekapu Dedman: Comm. 354; in opposition. (representing Pele Defense Fund Organization) Kanoeuluwehianuhea Case: Comm. 354; in opposition. (representing KP Farming and Sustainability , Supply, LLC) Haloa Pereira: Comm. 354;in opposition. Terri Napeahi: Comm. 354; in'opposition. (representing Pele Defense Fund Organization) Sativa Sultan: Comm. 354; in opposition. RobertPatricci: Comm. 354; in opposition. Sha'le Madrona: Comm. 354; in opposition. Change Order As directed by the Chair and with no objection from the Committee Members, of Business: the following items were taken out of order: COMMUNI- The Acting Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 353: REQUESTS A PRESENTATION BY THE COLLEGE OF TROPICAL AGRICULTURE AND HUMAN RESILIENCE AT UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI`I>AT MANOA REGARDING ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE COUNT'OF HAWAI`I From Council Member Michelle Galimba, dated April 24, 2025. Motion to Close File-, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to close file on Comm. 353. Seconded by Mr. Hustace. CHR. GALIMBA: There is a packet in your blue/pink folder, but we will have a presentation to us by Dr. Parwinder Grewal, actually Dean of CTAHR (College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience). Thank you very much for coming. Page 2 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 (Note: At this time College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience Dean Parwinder Grewal came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. GREWAL: Mahalo, Council Members, for the invitation and thank you for your support for CTAHRs work. We greatly appreciate it. We've been around this island for over 100 years and have existed and worked in the County and we have currently 11 different stations at which we have around 50 different staff members working. And I just wanted to share what,CTAHR does and my assessment because I'm a new Dean and that's what I shared with you. I know you might all be tired with a whole days work, so I'm,going to make it real short and give time for some questions instead: So you have all the information. (Note: At this time, Mr. Grewal came forward and provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of.the subject presentation, see the DVD'copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or online at http://hawaii oog im ov.granicus.com. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is made a part of the record, see Comm. 353.L) CHR. GALIMBA: Thank you so much and thank you for your patience as well getting this here. I know you do Work with R&D (Research and Development) so I'm wondering if, Director'(Benson)Medina, I don't know if you're here for this or for the next one, but I'm wondering if you have anything you wanted to add aboutyour collaborations with CTAHR, or Mr. Glenn Sako? (Note: At this time, Research and Development Director Benson Medina came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. MEDINA: Good evening. I'm Benson Medina, the Director of Research and,Development, and of course under our department comes agriculture, which includes our relationship with CTAHR and our Agricultural Specialist back there, Glenn Sako, has waited out the entire day to enlighten you guys tonight, he's back there to answer any specific questions about it. You know, I will say that our relationship with CTAHR is essential as we are trying to advance and keep agriculture going on our island and within our County simply because they have the expertise and specialist. And as you know, in R&D agriculture is basically one guy. That's Glenn back there. So although, you know, he's an amazing guy, he's limited in what he can do. Also as part of the spread of our agriculture in our unit is also food systems, which CTAHRs not involved in. So I think part of why we are here today is to talk about our funding of CTAHR and their programs, specifically the positions that we fund there and we're prepared to take any questions about that or any questions about anything regarding CTAHR. Page 3 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 CHR. GALIMBA: Thank you. Thanks very much. MR. GREWAL: If I may add, I have worked in eight different states. This is my eighth state. And 16 years at the Ohio State University. My experience in Tennessee and in Ohio and in Texas, the way land grant colleges work in collaboration with counties is that County extension is supported up to 50 percent by the County budgets. We did not have that kind of work here, but we really were very appreciative when you started to have that kind of partnership launch here. Following that, Maui is already doing some of that, you know, have a consistent line item to support extension work and`we are now working with Oahu as well to move in this kind of direction that way we can more quickly focus on the issues that the County is facing because the university system, as you know, is big and to make changes and quickly focus on a new problem, it takes time. CHR. GALIMBA: Thank you. Yes,. That was part of the reason for this presentation was to have a little more time to talk about that partnership and specifically the position of funding, the partial position funding. I will go to Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. How do you say your last name? Sorry. MR. GREWAL: Gray-wall. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Gray-wall? MR. GREWAL;: Just like the color gray. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you for being here. And I do apologize, it's been a long day, and you stuck it out. So thank you. The presentation was good. I appreciate your time in the industry. Thank you for being here,.Director Medina. Simple question for you. Does the state have an agricultural master plan? MR. GREWAL: The state had plans over a number of times; the state had different kinds of plans. The recent plan is relatively old, but there is a lot push to increase local production in the recent past. There are a number of legislators that are working hard on that particular component and one particular piece that I'm so excited about is the regional kitchen concept that is going to be on all islands that will create a new market for local farmers to provide their food to sell locally. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Cool. We're a value-added producer; have rbeen for about 15 years. And I've watched with interest as we address agriculture endeavors or agriculture itself, but also with a very inquisitive mind Page 4 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 because I've sat here for six years and I've seen master plans for just about everything. But when I dug into the state's agricultural plan I found nothing except for a document that pointed to the increased need for a County and State collaboration, which is the most ingenious way of saying we got nothing, and we've never put anything together. Although, we scream agriculture, we don't have a plan. That's why I asked. MR. GREWAL: Yes. You are right. And that's where Hawaii kind of hedged because I reviewed a number of documents during my own interview process to learn about what's going on here and there have been state mandates, but specific plans do not exist. And I was also very excited about that Hawaii County is going to do their own strategic plan for agriculture. Maui has already done it, and I have also asked all my County administrators in each county to do CTAHR County plan so what counties are needing, what our faculty here seeing the local need, if they do the plans first then we can dog a CTAHR plan overall soy that's it's all inclusive, not just Manoa driven and that is our thought moving forward. And hopefully these plans, County based plans, that are County's plans and CTAHR county based plans and CTAHRs plan then can lead to a statewide plan of sorts that will be more with specific objectives. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINVELDER: I love it. Good: Thank you for that. I appreciate it. Thank you for your time, MR. GREWAL: Yeah. MR,,BENSW4.' I would like to add to that. We feel like at least in the seven months that I've been there, that We do have the capability on this island to develop,our home plan. And what I am seeing, not just in agriculture but in just about everything, you know, energy, workforce development, that's it's really going to be upto us locally in this County to drive it. While there's lots of people you know,,state level, federal level, that said we support you guys, it's really going to come down to what we can do; we can convene the stakeholders, create a plan. CTAHR I guarantee will be supportive of it. I mean, obviously they'll be part of that. But the interest in agriculture continues to rise and as events of the world continue more and more focus is on, alright well what can we do on our island to support our people and then be on that. So as adepartment, for us, we're committed in all the areas we're working on, whether it's tourism, it's agriculture, it's workforce development, economic development, to develop a plan that works for us locally. And in my dealings with CTAHR, they're open to that. They understand that we're here on Hawaii Island, let's, you know, whether there's a state plan or not, let's get our plan down. And I think that's where, at least in our department, we're going. That's the direction the Mayor wants to go. You know, nobody's coming to save us and we're going to have to do it ourselves, which is okay. We're fine because we Page 5 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 have the resources to do something like that. We have the smart people on the island I think we have the support of our administration to do that. So I just wanted to add that in. CHR. GALIMBA: Thank you. Council Member Onishi. MR. ONISHL Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I'll talk about that first, but to me there's a partnership with Department of Ag, the University, Hawaii County, and we've all got to be working together; and DLNR (Department of Land and Natural Resources). But the thing is, I guess in the past couple sessions, DLNR was supposed to be turning over all their ag lands into Department of Ag (HDOA), correct? MR. GREWAL: Correct. MR. ONISHL Right. MR. GREWAL: There is a mandate from'the state for those two agencies to work together that any land that is suitable for agriculture or in the past history was agriculture need to be transferred back for agricultural purposes. MR. ONISHL Right. And is it already 1„00 percent turned over or are they still working on it? MR.GREWAL,; In that, I don't play any part in that. I serve on the Board of Agriculture, but my role there is.the main drivers are HDOA and DLNR. And they are working and every so often we do transfer land. MR. ONISHI: Right. Butthen I'm just saying that there's a partnership, right? MR. GREWAL--Yes. MR. Ol'4ISHL So we need all that because you can have a plan but if you don't have the land, how can you move forward, right? MR. GREWAL: Yeah. MR. ONISHL So all that plus another thing is funding. Who's going to fund; will Department of Ag fund these projects to move forward, right? Because I don't know if CTAHR would have the money to do the funding to move these projects forward. Because I know the County, we're not going to have enough money to do that, right? So that's one thing that's got to be looked at, right? But I'm here right now because, and I think this discussion too was because of our partnership with CTAHR, which, you know, for me being in government for a while I never did see where Hawaii County had ever subsidized funding to a state Page 6 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 agency. It never happened, right? And on the County side, we had requested the state to like turn over some of the fines that our police and prosecutors do their work; it goes to the courts, right? The courts keeps all the fines, so we had asked for many, many years for them to give us just a portion,just to help us offset our manpower of the police force and our Prosecutor's Office, right? Till today we couldn't get anything from them; not even five cents. You know what I mean? And so this is where when I became on the Council I kind of looked at this and I was very shocked to see this, right. But moving on, so in your list of positions you have for livestock that you have a Hawaii County partnership. So is the other partnership in ornamental nursery landscaping, which is the IPM (Integrated Pest Management) Specialist on Komohana? MR. GREWAL: No it is the Pacific Crops extension agent thatis funded through the partnership and that person is already working and has completed,over a year here already. MR. ONISHL So which one is that; the what? MR. GREWAL: Pacific Crops. Yeah. That's Number on my list of different; Laura Rieber. MR. ONISHI: Laura. Okay. Got it. MR..GREWAL: Yeah. MR. ONISHI: Okay. Now next question is, okay so from your existing positions that you folks always had prior to this partnership, I know there's positions where like it could be doctors or instructors or MR. GREWAL: Extension agents. MR. ONISHL Yeah, extension agents. They retired. Like for example, for your animal agent for East Hawai`i, right, that person had retired I think at least three years ago Imaybe, or at least two years ago. I'm just saying, I know it's more, but I just wanted to give a low number, right, but it's still not filled and it's saying search underway. So the thing is, for me, I know there's other positions that's not filled within your realm of CTAHR extension agents, right? And then we the County is paying for this other positions, right, which to me, and I've talked to Finance about that, and they felt the same where CTAHR should fill all their positions first and then have the County help to provide funding for added positions to help Hawaii County, right? So I just—, because you have here also, which you have with the island, you have 11 research stations, right. Correct? Page 7 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 MR. GREWAL: Correct. MR. ONISHL Okay. Out of all those I I stations, are all of them all filled, in operation? MR. GREWAL: What is the question? MR. ONISHL Out of the I I stations is all of them filled--and in operation? MR. GREWAL: Not all of them. MR. ONISHL How many is not? MR. GREWAL: There are a few that, some of them, one of them got taken over by lava. MR. ONISHL By who? MR. GREWAL: By lava and it is not more, Volcano. MR. ONISHL Volcano; Lava. MR. GREWAL: But in some situation's we do not have staff. MR.ONIS I:, Okay. So how many of those don't you have staff? MR. GREWAL: For example, actually Volcano station is now being served from a staff member from a different place. They go there and maintain our assets there and w,e have partnerships with other organizations. They do their work there. So why,we haven't filled some of the positions when people retire. MR. ONISHL Right. MR. GREWAL: We did not have the money for that. The positions were swept. We did not have approval to fill those positions. So a number of years we've been on the decline. It's only last two years we've started to fill these positions. MR. ONISHL So what you're saying is that the livestock extension agent that was rin Komohana, when he retired, you lost the funding for that position? MR. GREWAL: Exactly. So the system in the university is like this, we don't own these positions. The positions go back to the university. Where ever there is most need that's what the university decides where to reallocate that retirement. Page 8 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 MR. ONISHL I know you just started. So to me why didn't the dean prior hustle the legislature to get the funding? I mean, and I know you cannot answer because you wasn't even there. But I'm just bringing it up so the public can know that now you're saying we lost these positions after they retired and now you're trying to get it back. So you're saying search underway, is this because at the end of this past session you folks got$2 million to hire 20 positions. MR. GREWAL: 20 staff positions; not faculty. MR. ONISHL Yeah. MR. GREWAL: So staff positions are support workers like agriculture technicians. And our goal is to improve,famer'services li e land diagnostics, disease diagnostics, and also swai analysis, seed production for local varieties that normally seed companies wouldn't produce because the market is small. That kind of work. MR. ONISHL Okay. So on here you list search under way for the livestock agent Komohana. MR. GREWAL: Right. MR. ONISHL So that means you gotfunding? MR.GREWAL: That is last year we got funding for that position and that search is currently underway. The committees are looking at candidates and interviewing candidates. MR. ONISHT: Yeah. So you got this funding like previous session. MR. GREWAL. ,Last year; last year. Last session. MR. 01'41SHL Lastsession; last year's session. MR. GREWAL: Yeah. R. ONISHL And how much funding did you get for how many positions? MAR. GREWAL: Last year we got five positions, and I believe three of them might already be filled. MR. ONISHL Are they filled? MR. GREWAL: Correct. And the others are being filled right now. Page 9 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 MR. ONISHL Okay. MR. GREWAL: The search is ongoing. It does take time to attract outstanding faculty and so on. MR. ONISHL You know why I bring this up is because okay, so R&D had some funding, they did like a survey of our ranchers, farmer, you know, nursery and they I guess the results was, okay what needs do we need, right? And so that's where they came up with the partnership with CTAR to come up with these two new extension agents, right, that we're paying. MR. GREWAL: Correct. MR. ONISHL So I just wanted to say that if CTAHR can first fill all those open positions and then I guess for the County then we could say okay, we can help out. But like I said, it's really unusual for County„or even like state providing funding to each other for positions, especially like permanent positions. MR. GREWAL: So these aren't, the work County provided is not a permanent position. There is no way there can be a permanent position. MR. ONISHL I know. But as king as we fund it, it's going to be kind of like permanent. MR.GREWAL: It will be still from the university perspective a position that is as long as the funding is available that person will continue. MR. ONISHI: Right. lR. GREWAL: And it also becomes, you know, yeah. MR. ONISHL So if CTAHR loses their funding then these positions are going to be gone? MR. GREWAL: That is absolutely right because the shared funding. MR. ONISHL I'll yield for now, Chair. And I'll come back. Thanks. MAR. GREWAL: And I can respond more because you had a note there for me to address. MR. ONISHL No, but my time ran out. I'm sorry. MR. GREWAL: Yeah. No. Page 10 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 CHR. GALIMBA: We'll move on to Council Member Hustace and we can always come back. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. And mahalo, Dean Grewal. Thank you. Just a couple questions. First question is about kind of the capital investments that were made in the facilities themselves. Is there a place where I might find more of those details on what the most improvements and modernizations occurred at those locations? MR. GREWAL: Yes. We can provide those details. MR. HUSTACE: Okay. MR. GREWAL: For example, roof was leaking at Komohank,so we fixed that. So all the laboratories and faculty can go back and work. Similarly in Mililani we had a similar situation. MR. HUSTACE: Okay. That's good to knew. So that information is available somewhere thought. MR. GREWAL: Correct. We could share that as to what was actually done. MR. HUSTACE: Because most of our facilities are—of all the islands we have most, number wise, we have the most number of facilities. They may be smaller and, you know,kind of extension, remote communities; not necessarily what we have on Oahu for what I'm seeing investments being made there. And these projects for Hawaii Island have all been completed though. It says it's all been completed 2025.11 MR. GREWAL: Except for the one at the top, which is Waiakea. MR. HUSTACE: Waidkea. Got it. Got it. Mahalo. MR. GREWAL: Yeah. That is just the beginning. The construction is just beginning because that was the latest funding from the legislature a year ago or two years ago. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you for the clarification on that. MR. GREWAL: Yeah. MR. HUSTACE: Who makes that request to improve, make those—does it come from you and your office to go up to the state legislature to make these particular requests for the facilities themselves? Page 11 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 MR. GREWAL: So as a university employee, I cannot directly make a formal request to the legislature. I share it with my stakeholders, and they actually reach out to me and sometimes the legislators will reach out to me. In fact, every year they ask us as to what your priorities are then they decide whether they want to create a bill for a particular need that we have. And I am really thankful, and this is the best in the country, this particular state, where the legislators are so supportive of agriculture and they do run with it when we share that this is our priority and farm bureau and other agencies, you know; organizations get behind it, then there are legs and then it grows from there. MR. HUSTACE: So for example, these facilities,particularly on Hawaii Island, those agents, those employees at those spaces have worked,with you to kind of identify the needs of these places and then have"those conversations with our state partners. MR. GREWAL: Exactly right. Yeah.. MR. HUSTACE: Okay. MR. GREWAL: Even in this„years 20 staff positions, every island is getting a certain number of positions out of that because what I would need has been identified in every station or every county. We put them all together under a packages of CARES (Coronavirus Aid; Relief, and Economic Security) initiative and in thattthere are a number of staff positions that will come to Hawaii Island; tissue culture, diagnostics, and some agriculture technicians, and even a county community coordinator will also,be a new position here. MR. HUSTACE; Okay. Thank you, Dean. And the other question I had is one, you know, we've had these,ongoing conversations about the age of our farmers, agriculturalist: And so I'm kind of curious about this accelerated program a little bitmore, if you could expand on one piece on it? It's the work at commercial farms and nurseries learn by doing design. How are you identifying those partner businesses or organizations; what are some of the procedures you kind of go through to say this is the business that it's something we need to expand upon, or this is a willing partner. What are some of the processes that you kind of go through to identify in those partners? MR. GREWAL: So that's a very good question and some people have already reached out to us that they want to participate in that kind of program, but we haven't chopped out a formal process. The students need to be treated in a way just like we do internships with, you know public private partnership in terms of internships. We had to sign agreements there as to how the two sides will work together and that bridge we will cross once we get the approval for the degree program. And we have started conversations with people so that we can get their input into the design of the program that is what kind of work the students could Page 12 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 be engaged in. At commercial farms, for example, and on nonprofits, and on our stations. MR. HUSTACE: Do you try and provide some, at least from a broader perspective, a variety of these different sort of industry though. So it's not just all papaya or all banana; like you're really trying to spread it out? MR. GREWAL: Exactly. MR. HUSTACE: Okay. MR. GREWAL: So the degree will be structured around,production system work, pest management, biosecurity type work, environmental sustainability work, business learning, marketing, value added food product development. So it'll be cross section off industries in which the students will be inexperienced,and they will be required to be employed for at least 20 hours a week. Thaf is half time employment. MR. HUSTACE: Is itrelative to where that student resides or is it open to where they want to pursue? MR. GREWAL: Open to where they want to pursue. MR. HUSTACE: Okay. MR, GREWAL: And the reason we're doing it this way is that everybody cannot afford to come to CTAHR Mdnoa and pay for residential fees and all of that and study. If people are already working but they can get to our station, or they can work on their'own farm too under the guidance of our counselors or our faculty, nearby faculty,who can supervise them then that would work as well. MR. HUSTACE- Alright. I appreciate this approach in trying to get more of that hands on opportunity. Better understanding of kind of those whether field systems, low tech, high tech, all these different things that are kind of across our ag sector truly ground the students in what it is could be a potential and possibility as well as to really feed that next generation, no pun intended, for the future and future farmers and those sort of things. So thank you. Thank you. MIS. GREWAL: Yeah. Thank you for picking on that. It is really an innovative program because none of the land grant institutions in the country are doing it this way. We train people to become professors; we train people to go become leaders in industry. We don't focus on creating the modern farmer. So this new education design is to clear the modern food and farming entrepreneur. Businesses senses is essential; technology knowledge is essential, and integration of these marketing, how you go about creating a farm business. Page 13 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Dean. Appreciate the time. Thank you, Chair. CHR. GALIMBA: Thank you. Council Member Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you. Thank you very much for the overview. I think it's helpful for us to get an understanding of your folks organization and how that interplays with the work of our Department of Research and Development. It is getting late, and I do want to make sure that we can,ask some of the questions in depth and that might be a good opportunity to take offline, and we do still have the presentation and folks waiting. So would recommend to the body, if you have, you know, more in depth questions to contact°CTAHR so we can move this along. But really mahalo you for your time and your presentation today. Thank you. MR. GREWAL: Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity and'the partnership and we hope it will continue to grow. You know, resources are always limited. No question. We don't have to wait, you know. We could start small and keep growing from there. Appreciate it. Yeah, CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: I wanted to just,before you take jiff, offer two comments. The first is, you know, love all this thoughts-about developing and educating and training the new farmer. I want to ask you folks to put on the lens of the female farmer. One of the big barriers to entry into the field for women is that they still often have a lot of the family caretaking responsibilities. So childcare woven into your programs I think would be an excellent way to bring more women farmers into the industry, which I think is important for building that resilience. Secondly, 1can tell you I just want to share from my constituency, Hamakua Coast, a lot palm industry folks, very worried about early detection rapid response with CRB (Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle). So glad to see it on your radar. I would like to,you know, I know there's a lot coming from the state around biosecurity. Some of it's going to the ISC (Invasive Species Committee), some of it's going to DOA (Department of Agriculture), some of it's coming to you. I really want to see a coordinated response though. I'm a little bit concerned of some of the things Fin seeing with this groups doing this here and there's not the communication and it feels like this could be so detrimental to our economy if it were ever to take off that if there's anything that I can encourage you to do it's make sure the different entities that have a finger on the CRB pie are communicating really, really well and not duplicating efforts around CRB. And I'll just say, other than that great presentation except for the mention of Ohio State. I'm a Wolverine and I have to say that was a disappointment. Anyway, thank you. I yield, Chair. Page 14 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Onishi. MR. ONISHL So just on like Council Member Hustace mentioned about the CIP (Capital Improvement Program). So $6.3 million was for the Komohana renovations I guess, right? MR. GREWAL: Correct. MR. ONISHL So what I'm hearing is that building being occupied completely or is it only certain rooms are being utilized? MR. GREWAL: Currently? MR. ONISHI: Yes. MR. GREWAL: Okay. So number of.buildings were given to the pharmacy school when the pharmacy school startod because we had less, and less staff and we had openings. So they used our space for a number of years. Now they have moved out. MR. ONISHL Because their enrollment went dowu., MR. GREWAL: Correct. And some of the buildings are in such bad shape they need to be demolished, and some would be renovated. MR, ONISHI: So that two buildings on that one property. There's two buildings, right?, , MR. GREWAL: Two maln'buildings but there are a number of attached buildings to them. MR. ONISHL Right;right. But then the two main ones, right. So not all of them are being occupied` MR. GREWAL: Right now because they are vacated by the pharmacy school, so they are not fully occupied by us, and we were not allowed to because they had to go through this renovation. MR. ONISHL Okay. MR. GREWAL: But they will be occupied. Komohana is our largest field station in the state. We have more faculty here than any other—even on Oahu we do not have that many faculty on these stations. And this is the largest and we hope to build it further. Page 15 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 MR. ONISHL And just a number roughly, how many is at that station? MR. GREWAL: We have at least 11 or 12. MR. ONISHL Counting clerks and all that? MR. GREWAL: No. If we add staff I believe it would be around 16. MR. ONISHL At Komohana? MR. GREWAL: At Komohana right now. But we are adding more faculty, more specialist there, so they need more space already. So theywant to right now, the buildings, if Waiakea will not be renovated they want to move in now; start the tissue culture lab for example. And already we are in discussions that we can . MR. ONISHL Got it. Because your proposal to expand farmers services, okay, so it has starting the soil analysis lab. Back then that's where people took their soils, right? MR. GREWAL: Yeah. MR. ONISHL And for some reason,it stopped. MR. GREWAL: Correct. MR, ONISHI: And what was the reason on that? MR. GREWAL;: So before I got,here, college took a decision that we cannot do this because they didn'fhave resources. College went through a lot of problems in'the recentpast; economy down turn, whatever the case was, positions not refilled,not having enough staff and not having modernized equipment. If it gets old, machine is not working, they're unable to deliver the services. MR. ONISHL So was it no upkeep, no maintenance? MR. GREWAL: Correct. And they decided, no,we can't do this. Therefore they encouraged farmers to send samples to the mainland. MAR. ONISHL So you folks are now getting this funding to get this updated equipment? MR. GREWAL: Correct, because we cannot face the stakeholders who need this service. Page 16 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 MR. ONISHL Right. Because I've heard stories; I've heard people asking, yeah, that they all used to go; from farmers to even individuals to find out what the soil was lacking. MR. GREWAL: Correct, correct. Yes. Exactly. Yes. Correct. MR. ONISHL Okay. Thank you for your presentation. I do have more questions but then I know it's getting late. So I can be in contact with you guys again and I did prior when I found out about this but I kind of wasn'ttoo interested because they weren't answering my questions that's why. MR. GREWAL: I will engage, and I'll answer any of your questions. MR. ONISHL Yeah. And I'll be in contact with you. Okay, ,Thank you, Dean. MR. GREWAL: Thank you. MR. ONISHL I yield. CHR. GALIMBA: Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you so much. I could geek out on every single page of this thing with you, so maybe offline. There's so much that you're doing that's really great; the new three-year program and your gap analysis, really excellent. So thank you so much for your leadership going forward. MR.GREWAL.,: Thank you for the invitation. Appreciate it. Mahalo. CHR, GALIMBA: That being said,eve need to vote to close file on Communication'353. So all in favor of closing file? Vote on Comm. 353: The motion to close file on Comm. 353 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Hustace, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Galimba—7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and Kierkiewicz—2. Excused: None. CHR. GALIMBA: With that we will go on to Communication 354. Page 17 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 Comm. 354: REQUESTS A PRESENTATION BY MR. ZURI K. AKI, WAIKA CONSULTING AND INNOVATIONS DEVELOPMENT GROUP, REGARDING GEOTHERMAL ENERGY DEVELOPMENT From Council Member Michelle Galimba, dated April 30, 2025. Motion to Close File: Mr. Hustace moved to close file on Comm. 354. Seconded by Mr. Inaba CHR. GALIMBA: Mr. Aki was not available tonight so I believe we have Brenden Lee to present for Waika Consulting, and it will be a 15 minute presentation or less. (Note: At this time, Waika Consulting Community Engagement Representative Brenden Lee came forward and provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the subject presentation, see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or online at http:llhawaii ounty.gov.gramcus.com. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is made a part of the record, see Comm. 354.1.) CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Inaba. MR. INABA: Yeah. No questions. Thank you for the presentation and thank you to the members of the public who came out this evening to be engaged. I'm sure you folks attended some other community meetings. I have not a question, a statement. I'n not sure who helped with the consultant regarding culture here. Butterms like, "the fires of Lonomakua grants access to incinerate waste for energy", I,fin offensive culturally. MR. LEE: I could answer that question. MR. INABA: No explanation. I would ask that whoever you folks are consulting with take a look at this because to use our Akua in the sense of granting access to incineration for waste is disgusting. So perhaps back to the drawing board on that. All I have to say is I think there's a lot more meetings going on; the meeting that happened in my district, I think there's this evolving methodology that's happening based on what is happening at the meetings. I think the first meeting is happening in Puna and I encourage my colleagues to attend the meetings in their communities to hear community voice within your own communities specifically. MR. LEE: There are two meetings coming up on Thursday. There's a panel discussion in Kona on Thursday evening and then the Waimea Community Association has requested a presentation similar to this Thursday evening. Page 18 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 MR. INABA: Okay. Thank you very much for that information. With that, encourage also not just our Council Members but community to stay involved and to be attending these meetings so that no one is caught off guard as to what initiatives or attempts are trying to be advanced here. Mahalo. CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. Thank you for your presentation. One of the things you talk about in several places is the profits stay in Hawaii and benefit local communities. Can you talk a little bit about the vision for the distribution of the energy, and would that involve partnering with HECO (Hawaiian Electric Company) or is that another--will it be envisioned as a different way of distributing energy directly,to the people?, MR. LEE: Thank you for the question. Currently, the way it stands it would have to be through HECO. But that's currently where it stands. And the reason why I say that is should Waika get a go to move forward DBEDT (Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism)would have to put out for an RFP (Request for Proposal) for a developer,to do all of that work, and after all of that work is done, if it's a go,then they would do the subsurface borehole drilling, which would have to incur another RFP for someone to get that. Should that be a go and they move forward to actually, okay, we're going to build a plant, that's a minimum of 20 years from now. So what HECO looks like or what distribution of power looks like 20 years from now, who knows. But only being able to speak to what is currently happening,today, it would have to be distributed through HECO. MS. KAGIWADA:, Okay. So there's no plan to develop alternate distribution methods'at this point? MR. LEE: Thatis currently not what DBEDT has put forward as an option of what they're looking for. And I know, I mean, I don't know. I couldn't speak to if that's even DBEDTs kuleana or not. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. I guess my concern is the talk about, you know, benefiting local communities and stuff is that this could very well be planned then to go to,other islands in the state and I don't know. It's interesting. I do think of ACO as a corporation and one that doesn't necessarily benefit local communities. MR. LEE: That's a good point, Council Member. I would say though that, you know, while HECO has the current monopoly and exclusive right for distribution, they do have to purchase this energy from PGV (Puna Geothermal Venture). I'm not saying that Waika is involved in any way whatsoever with PGV, right. PGV is a foreign entity. They're owned by Israel. They don't just give the power to Page 19 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 HECO. HECO has to pay for it. So as far as HECO distributing this power off island, right, that's going to be a massive cost to HECO if they want to lay underwater cables to do that. To your point, that would be their decision to make. I don't know, you all probably would know this better than I, what power the County has if they need to put a stop to that. I don't know. MS. KAGIWADA: Right. I'm just trying to think through what the actual benefit is to the people if you sell the energy to HECO and they can basically, you know, spread cost savings around the state instead'of benefiting the people of this island. MR. LEE: Well I can think of two off the top of my head,'Council Member. One is the royalties from the money, right. By,state law, 30 percent of the profits would come directly to the County and how the County decides to spend it would be completely up to the County. The other 50 percent would go to the state; 20 percent would go to the Office'ofHawaiian Affairs (OHA), as it'does currently from PGV, right? They don't see the honey., I don't know if the County does, but OHA doesn't see the money directly. PGV doesn't write a check for 20 percent, right? They pay it to DLNR; DLNR folds all that money into their seeded land, monies thatthey pay into the Office of Hawaiian Affairs every year. And so that would be an,increase of that amount of money coming to the County to do with as the County sees fit: The second would be, and I just lost my train of thought. Sorry. MS. KAGIWADA: That's okay. It's late. I totally understand. I'm going to let my colleagues ask questions. But yeah, for me it's just really interesting to hear this plan and this focus on local communities but really if you're dealing with a large corporation here,you know MR. LEE: So you did remind me of what it was. So Hawaiian Electric doesn't get to just make up what their rates are going to be really. They are subject to oversightby PUC (Public Utilities Commission). I can't say what the PUC is or is not going to do it the future but if the cost of producing energy significantly comes down I would find it very difficult to believe that the PUC would tell Hawaiian Electric you can keep charging what you're charging now, right? If they're no longer paying an absorbent amount of money to shipping coal, so their cost of producing energy goes significantly down I would find it very hard to believe that PUC would tell them keep charging what you're charging. MS. KAGIWADA: Yeah, okay. I think as the island that produces the most renewable energy but still has the highest energy cost, it's just hard to believe that it would actually filter down to the people. But thank you. I yield. CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Page 20 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ma'am. Okay. So I looked back in your guys records. I'm trying to track Waika. So power to the people (P2P), sustainability something with geothermal; P2P Geo; P2P; IDG (Innovations Development Group); IDG Hawaii, and then Waika. Is that the appropriate DCCA (Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs)track record? MR. LEE: Opposite way. So power to the people is just a campaign, right, that's not a development company or power to the people is just a campaign to get information out to the community. Waika is a subsidiary of IDG, so it's IDG Waika. P2P, it's not a company to my knowledge is just a campaign that Waika is using to get the information out. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Those were the corporations formed through the DCCA to get to Waika, that's the DBAs (Doing Business As), the trade names all associated with Waika. That's why I brought them all up. MR. LEE: But IDG, so like I was saying it's the opposite way. IDG is not under Waika; Waika is under IDG. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINVELDER: Yup. But all those companies, all those trade names fall under IDG? MR. LEE: IDG. Correct. MR.,KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And the current board members for IDG is Albert Hackbarth, Ryan Matsumoto,and Roberta.Cabral. MR. LEE::,I knew you were going to ask this question, so I wrote it down and I emailed it to may phone since my laptop died. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: While you're looking for that, I do share Mr. Inaba's concerns with the way that culture was used in the presentation. And I found your presentation slightly redundant because you used the same slides over and over again. MR. LEE: So just to that one point, Council Member, this is not our current presentation, but somebody sent this through so this is what was put up on the screen. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Understood. MR. LEE: So Waika principles, you're correct. Ryan Matsumoto is the president; Gavin Murphy is the Director of Commercial Development. Gavin Page 21 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 Murphy is the worlds leading scientist for geothermal. He's out of the University of Auckland and Autearoa. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And he's Maori? MR. LEE: No. He's not. He's from Autearoa. He's from New Zealand but he's not Maori. Zuri Aki is the Director of Community Outreach and Engagement; Cy Bridges is the Cultural Advisor. The Board of Advisors are Dr. Malama Solomon for government; Mililani Trask, esq, for community Robbie Cabral for business development; and Karl Veto Baker also for culture.And then the Geoscience team is Dr. Sadiq Zarrouk for geo engineering. He is;also from the University of Auckland. And Dr. Bridget Lynne, who's for,geology and she's also from the University of Auckland. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Ms. Kagiwada brought,up the native to native (N2N) MR. LEE: Native to native model. That is based on the UNs (United Nation) declaration of indigenous people's rights. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINVELDER: So Maori, I don't want to get too much into this but in Autearoa the idea of ownership of cultural possession, actually included land and other things, it's really different from the way the State of Hawai`�i was created and the way that land, and I might not be using the right terminology here. Mk LEE: I get where you're tracking. MR. KANEALI`T-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, like natural rights; rivers, oceans, mountains, fish,whatever you want to call it. Those were rights of the people and then'there wa`s,aprocess that was gone through to actually give the people of Autearoa back in the form of finances or land to build communities that is that kind of thing. But what I'm hearing so far is the native to native ideology behind this says we'll give jobs to native Hawaiians or native Hawaiian companies. But what kind of actual benefits is there to native Hawaiians if geothermal was to move forward with this group? MR. LEE: I'm not sure I understand the question, Council Member. What kind of benefits would benefit native Hawaiians? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So in this presentation the N2N program is laid out as one of the benefits of geothermal and the Waika Group doing the discovery and possibly building a site. Page 22 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 MR. LEE: To be clear, that's not what I'm saying, right. At those three points in the process that DBEDT has put forward, this would have to go out for RFP, right? The state government does not have the authority to say you are the chosen one, you are going to do all of this work, and you are going to do all of this. So it would have to go our for RFP, which anybody would be free to bid on and try and secure the contract to do the surface exploration, the subsurface exploration through bore drilling and then sitting of the site. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. MR. LEE: I'm not here to say that's going ,o'go to Waika. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay: Got you. So within the Waika presentation, mineral resource owned by public and native Hawaiians; what does that mean? MR. LEE: Well by the state constitution all minerals and lands belong to a public land trust of which native Hawaiians, well which the State of Hawaii holds in trust for native Hawaiians. It's actually part of the organic act that made Hawaii a state. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So that's how the N2N will work here? MR. LEE:' Again, I'm not sure I'm understanding. I'm trying to follow. MR,.KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: °Which part don't you understand? MR. LEE; What do you mean by N2N? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Native to native. It's in this presentation, unless I'm not reading correctly. MR. LEE: No, no, no. I'm just trying to understand what you mean by N2N, that's all. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Native to native. Waika's team has successfully implemented the N2N model in New Zealand. It's in here a couple times in this document. MR. LEE: So the Native to native model in Autearoa, the way that worked was up until those two sites, tribes in New Zealand, which is what they call themselves, were not consulted with or given a fair shake as to how their leases or their revenues, or their—I don't know the other word I'm trying to think of, but how that was negotiated. That was negotiated for them by others. And Page 23 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 100 percent of the time, they got the short end of the stick with that. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: The Maori? MR. LEE: Yes, because they're the ones that own the land. And with the native to native model, they were the ones sitting at the table and making the decisions of how they were going to receive their funds and how the leases were going to be done. And one of the things that they were adamant about,which is why I mentioned that about native Hawaiians in this presentation is that all of the jobs and the education to create these jobs went to Maori's and outside contractors were not brought in to take all of these jobs,that were sold to them that were going to be created. Whereas, in the past all those jobs went to foreigners because there were people all around the world who Already knew how to do this. They didn't have to educate anybody. So they just brought people in to do the work. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER Okay. Okay. I'm understanding where you're going. What is your role in the company? MR. LEE: I'm not with the company. I'm a contractor. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINVELDER: Who are you with? MR. LEE: The name of my company?, MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Wait, I thought you were doing the presentation on'behalf of or for? MR. LEE: I am doing the presentation on behalf of Waika. I have been contracted,to help with community engagement. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: By? So what is your company? MR. LEE; Manana LLC. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And you're working for? MR. LEE: For Waika. I'm a contractor. They've contracted me to help with community engagement. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Okay. Thank you. MR. LEE: You're welcome. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I yield, Chair. Page 24 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 CHR. GALIMBA: Thank you. Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Just a couple of quick statements. I'll be real fast because we're almost at 11 hours sitting here today. So basically you've been hired to pitch the deck to local Council Members alongside the community meetings to pitch the deck to community members. Correct? MR. LEE: That's correct. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. So that's your job. I gett After sitting here and listening to testimony, being born and raised:here on the Big Island, and heard and seen and witnessed the multiple complications, health issue, watching Emily (Naeole) tell today the story of her own,child dying in complications with geothermal. Also, when I first started serving in office, actually I think it was my second term, there were rumors circling that exploratory wells maybe brought to the west side of the Big Island'and predominately all I heard from people was concern and distinct opposition. I think that the deck is beautiful. I would say it was probably put together by PRP (Pacific Resource Partnership),professionals in lobbying government organizations and advocating for outside organization, corporations to come to Hawaii and build a big facility like this. I see this at a time, once again it will beincredibly pivotal thatI,myself, defer to the wisdom of the lineal descendants andthe host culture. You know, we've seen what's happened with the mauna. I really'appreciate your questions, Council Member Kagiwada, as it relates to where the allocation of all this energy would one day go. And these are all questions. Mindyou, we're not making any decisions about this here today. I want the public to know that. But we're here because this becomes a forum for educating the public or pitching a deck. And you did a good job with that and it's a well put together deck, but my na`au and what happens inside of me has a similar response to what Council Member Inaba said and I get leery when Hawaiian culture gets proselytized to commercialized and market a corporation whether or not it is for sustainable energy or not. I really appreciate and I will be looking up,this report from Dr. Micheal Edelstein because I'd love to see a white paper on what happens when you separate native peoples from their culture and religion and there is no separation between nature and the people in Hawaiian culture and tradition and those gods and that religious component. It's all connected. So at a time when so much around us is crumbling and in upheaval I have serious concerns, and I have reservations. And yeah, I see you're in a tough position. You're paid to be here. So, you know, that's part of your job, but my job is to make sure I stand firm and align myself with the wisdom of our host culture and this place so that my mo`opuna and their mo`opuna can be ensured that this is a safe and healthy place for future generation. With that, I yield. Page 25 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thanks for checking. On your integrated geothermal development roadmap slide, there is kind of in the corner here, this 07b, which says 2026+; undersea transmission cable feasibility and development. So just a point of clarification following up on Council Member Kagiwada's question and Council Member Villegas's comment, is there planning initially right out the gate for transmission to the other islands? MR. LEE: Not that I'm aware of, not that I've been,made aware of. I am aware of a study being done by the DOD (Department of Defense) for energy resilience and what was the guy that was here when I first came at 3:t10 p.m.? Yeah, he was talking about disaster mitigation plan. So part of the DON disaster mitigation planning is energy resilience because Pearl Harbor and Kaneohe;Marine Base and Hickam Airforce Base is such a hig deal for pacific Indo command. So their concern is valid, right, if a global disaster happened similar to the pandemic and coal can no longer be sent to Hawaii,that's a national security issue for them because solar can't power Pearl Harbor and Hickam. MS. KIMBALL: So the surface exploration proposed exclusively for Hawaii Island or is there some exploration on Maui as well? MR. LEE: So you might be thinking of a bill,that was put forward by I want to say it was DLNR, and they put out Bill 4 to do surface exploration for the island of Oahu and Maui. MS:'KIMBALL; Okay. MR. LEE: ,That bill died this past session. Well, I should say that because it's the beginning of the biennium, so no bills actually died. But there are three bills for geothermal at the legislature this year. There was that bill; there was a bill put forwardfor $20 million from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to do development on their lands on Hawaii Island, and then DBEDT and UHs (University of Hawaii)bill that was the roadmap that you have in front of you. MS. KIMBALL: So not to extend this too long, who would I contact for more information about this undersea transmission cable feasibility and development itetn'on the roadmap; who's going to be the one with the answers on that? MR. LEE: I don't know. I can find out and get back to you. MS. KIMBALL: Would you please? MR. LEE: Yeah. I'd be happy to. But yeah, I don't know the answer to that. Page 26 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Thank you. MR. LEE: And I can get your email off the County's website, correct? MS. KIMBALL: Yes. MR. LEE: Alright. CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. I'll keep it brief. So I'm looking over the Waika Consulting experience, their Hawaii experience. It says 2023 surface exploration were completed for DHHL Hawaii Island landholdings. MR. LEE: That is correct. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And then I look at the projected roadmap was one to two years, surface exploration. I look at the geothermal development roadmap, 2024 surface exploration, geology,,geochemistry phase two. Where exactly are we in surface exploration? MR. LEE: So the surface exploration that you're talking about for DHHL, Waika was contracted by DHHL to do surface exploration on their properties, which is the study that DHHL used to write their bill for the legislature for the $20 million this past year. So that's a separate, for lack of a better word, Council Member, entity than the roadmap that I presented to you folks. That has nothing to do with what DBEDT wants to do in conjunction with UH. That was Department of Hawaiian.Hoene Lands came to Waika and said you have experience in doing this, we're interested in seeing if geothermal is viable on our lands on Hawaii Island, can you do this study for us? And Waika said yes we can, and they did. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So surface exploration work has been completed,for DHHL. MR. LEE: Only for DHHL. The roadmap in front of you is for the entire island. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Does none of the data collected from the 61 HLsurvey link in with what they're hoping to do for the rest of the island? MR. LEE: It could, and it could not. That would be up to DHHL. Based on DHHLs bill in front of the legislature this year, it probably will not because DHHL in their bill said that they have the intention of being the contractor on record and the developer on record to do all the rest of the work themselves. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Page 27 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 MR. LEE: Good question. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Okay. Thank you. MR. LEE: You're welcome. CHR. GALIMBA: Seeing no other lights, I just wanted to ask one question of you. What other outreach methodologies are you using other than these meetings; is there anything else? MR. LEE: Currently to date, there are three different methodologies that Waika has been utilizing. One has been coming in front of various organizations like this and doing this presentation. The other has been a panel discussion with principals from Waika as well as;geothermal experts. And the third has been Zoom presentations of both this presentation as well as with experts from Aotearoa on geothermal_ CHR. GALIMBA: Thank you. So what is the sort of deliverable from your outreach; are you going to be doing a report back to DBEDT? MR. LEE: Yes. Waika has a deliverable due for this contract to DBEDT and UH, and it is to reach X amount of, f guess for lack of a better word, beneficiaries. CHR. GALIMBA: I see. And you would also be summarizing what you've heard back on this report or is it just the number of folks that you need to present to them? MR. LEE:,,I don't know what their overall contract is. That wasn't part of my scope of my contract. CHR: GALIMBA: ,t see. You just have to go out and do it. MR. LEE: I have history with facing not happy people with a presentation. So that's why I was asked to take this on. CHR. GALIMBA: Teflon. Alright. Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Nlk KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Sorry. This is on my list. MR. LEE: No, no, yeah. Please. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Did Waika or IDG submit an RFP or submit for an RFP for HELCO (Hawai`i Electric Light Company)? Page 28 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 MR. LEE: No. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: They have not? MR. LEE: Not that I'm aware of. No. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. MR. LEE: An RFP to HELCO or on behalf of HELLO? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Did they respond to an RFP from HELLO? MR. LEE: So that I can answer. No. HELLO doesn't have the legal authority to my knowledge to put out an RFP. They are a private company;I They're not the State of Hawaii. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: HELCO can put out RFPs for or proposal ask for energy on our island and they do All the time; solar, geothermal, whatever it's going to be. It's who responds back to them. So I don't think that's correct and maybe I didn't state that correctly. MR. LEE: Maybe I just misunderstood what you meant. But to this point, I'm not aware of Waika working with HELLO in any way, shape, or form, or IDG. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you. MR. LEE: Does that answer? MR. KANEALI`t-KLEINFELIDER: Yup. CHR. GALIMBA: Seeing no other lights on MR. LEE: Wow. You guys are easy. I'm good. I changed my flight to the 9:00 p.m, flight. CHR. GALIMBA: We've got time. Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. My questions are more of kind of the technology side and kind of the differences between what, and I'd love to kind of that be on some other, in the future so I'll take offline. But thank you, Chair. CHR. GALIMBA: Thank you. Okay. All in favor of closing file on Communication 354, please say "aye." Page 29 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 Vote on Comm. 354: The motion to close file on Comm. 354 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Hustace, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kdneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Galimba-8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kierkiewicz= 1. , Excused: None. CHR. GALIMBA: Thank you very much for being here. MR. LEE: Thank you. CHR. GALIMBA: Sorry we're so delirious. So last one, Communication 35.2. Return to Order The Chair directed the Committee to'return,to the order of business. of Business: Comm. 35.2: QUARTERLY AFFORDABLE HOUSING REPORT: JANUARY 1 - MARCH 31, 2025 From Housing Administrator Kehaulani M. Costa, dated May 29, 2025, transmitting the above reportpursuant'to Section 11-19 of the Hawaii County Code. Motion to Close File: Mr. Inaba moved to close file on Comm. 35.2. Seconded by Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. CHR. GALIMBA: Administrator Costa. -(Note: At this time, Housing Administrator Kehaulani Costa came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. COSTA: Good evening; very late evening. It's close to my bedtime. Actually this quarterly report, there's really no changes except for one we sold, a KamakoA Nui residential property. So you'll see that. But housing credits, excess housing credits, new housing credits, same as last quarter. Affordable housing inventory, same as last quarter. And then just that one unit that sold at Kamakoa Nui. That's it. CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Kdneali`i-Kleinfelder. MS. COSTA: I could do a PowerPoint presentation if you'd like. Page 30 CRCOC-8 July 8,2025 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: You win; you're the last department. You win the award. Thank you. Thank you, Administrator Costa. MS. COSTA: Yes. Okay. Thank you. CHR. GALIMBA: Okay. Since I see no lights, I think there might be some argument perhaps for—we really; it pretty much stays the same almost every time. So I think there may be some argument to perhaps rethink this report, this particular report. But we don't have to do that now'because I think that would be a bad idea. Just putting it out there. Council Members, all in favor of closing file on Communication 35.2 please say "aye." Vote on Comm. 35.2: The motion to close file on Comm—35.2 was carried,by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Hustace, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kaneali'i-Kleirifelder, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Galimba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kierkiewicz— 1. Excused: None. CHR. GALIMBA: And that brings us to the end of our agenda. ADJOURN- There,being no further business, at 7:48 p.m. Chair Galimba adjourned the MENT: meeting. Approved: Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Chair (Date) Communications, Reports, and Council Oversight Committee MG/tk Page 31