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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN COUNCIL 2025-05-22 2024-2026 Special Hawaii County Council 141h Session Special Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii May 22, 2025 INVOCATION Pastor Ron Brav of Calvary Chapel Hilo CALL TO The special meeting of the Hawaii County Council was called to order at ORDER: 9:02 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Vice Chair Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Mr. James E. Hustace, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Absent& Excused: Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member PLEDGE OF The Chair directed the Council to the next order of business, Pledge of ALLEGIANCE: Allegiance. (At this time, County Clerk Jon Henricks led the Council in the Pledge of Allegiance.) PETITIONS, The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Petitions, MEMORIALS, Memorials, Certificates of Merit, and Expressions of Condolence. CERTIFICATES OF MERIT, AND (There were none.) EXPRESSIONS OF CONDOLENCE: STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Council 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: Hawai`i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 Clarence Baber: Bill 32, Draft 2 (Comm. 159.40), in support. Barbara Bell: Bill 32, Draft 2 (Comm. 159.40), in support. Randall Glickz: Bill 32, Draft 2 (Comm. 159.40), in support. Aislinn Chalker: Bill 32, Draft 2 (Comm. 159.40), in support. (See Comm. 159.68) David Foster: Bill 32, Draft 2 (Comm. 159.40), in support. Serena Hernandez: Bill 32, Draft 2 (Comm. 159.40), in support. (See Comm. 159.88) Matt Chalker: Bill 32, Draft 2 (Comm. 159.40), in support. (See Comms. 159.69 and 159.137) Robert Yuhnke: Bill 32, Draft 2 (Comm. 159.40), in support. Fran Copp: Bill 31, Draft 2 (Comm. 158.16), in opposition. BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Bills for ORDINANCES Ordinances (First Reading). (FIRST READING): 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: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Approve: FC-36 Public Hearing: May 20, 2025 and Comm. 158.16: From Mayor C. Kimo Alameda, dated May 5, 2025, transmitting Bill 31, Draft 2. Draft 2 reflects an increase in estimated revenues and appropriations of$15,528,398 over the first draft, reflects higher than expected real property tax collections, and proposes corresponding funding adjustments. Page 2 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 ; and Bill 31: ESTABLISHES AN OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I (Draft 2) FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2025, TO JUNE 30, 2026 Draft 2 includes estimated revenues and appropriations of$953,268,869. Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) and Comm. 158.17: From Council Member Heather L. Kimball, dated May 14, 2025, transmitting (Memo No. 1) proposed amendments to the General Fund by increasing the Fund Balance from Previous Year revenue account by $20,000, and increasing the Grants to Nonprofit Organizations expenditure account by the same amount for the 2025-2026 Waiwai grant-in-aid disbursement. (Note: Comm. 158.18, from Council Member Michelle M. Galimba dated May 19, 2025, transmitting proposed amendments to Bil 31, Draft 2, was circulated. Also, Comm. 158.19 from Managing Director Bill Brilhante and Finance Director Diane Nakagawa dated May 22, 2025, transmitting a PowerPoint presentation to Bill 31, Draft 2, was circulated.) Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to approve Bill 31 on first reading and adopt Finance Committee Report No. 36. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. INABA: Pursuant to Article X, Section 10-2 of the Hawaii County Charter, the Mayor has submitted an amended Operating and Capital Improvement Budget on May 5 h. Just a reminder to the Council and to the public that we have to amend Draft 1 with the Mayor's proposed Draft 2 before we can discuss any of the amendments that are before us today. So, Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, a motion please to amend Bill 31 with the proposed Draft 2 as submitted by the Mayor via Communication 158.16. Motion to Amend: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to amend Bill 31 with the contents of Comm. 158.16. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz. CHR. INABA: We do have our Managing Director and our Finance Director here today. So, we'll give them the opportunity to present the difference in Draft 2 before we take that vote to amend to Draft 2. And I would like to take this opportunity, the presentation that is about to be presented by the Administration is contained in Communication 158.19. Good morning, Managing Director. Page 3 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 (Note: At this time, Managing Director William Brilhante and Finance Director Diane Nakagawa, came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. BRILHANTE: Good morning, Chair Inaba, Vice Chair Onishi, and County Council Members. Thank you very much for allowing us this opportunity to give our presentation today. First and foremost, I'd like to present that Mayor Alameda regrets him not being able to be here this morning. He would have loved to be here. And the opportunity he gets to meet and have this discussion with the full Council is an opportunity he doesn't like passing up on. Unfortunately, we're scheduling his agenda for three months in advance. Yesterday, we were scheduling meetings for September. So, unfortunately, that's the predicament we're in today. He has other commitments that he wasn't able to change. Going forward, I'd just like to say I didn't know our first presentation was only pre-season. Had we known that maybe we would have brought the reserves in much earlier. Unfortunately, going forward we understand and we just would like to again just start our presentation. So we have Diane here. I'm sorry, I'm Managing Director William Brilhante and MS. NAKAGAWA: Good morning, Council Members. Diane Nakagawa, Finance Department. We are happy to be here today. We thank you for our departmental budget reviews. We took a lot of that into consideration with our amended budget. And a lot of discussions have continued with the departments, and we thank them for their hard work. But we are in a good place today with our amended budget, and happy to share with you what we've added. (Note: At this time, Managing Director William Brilhante came forward and provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Council. For viewing of the subject presentation, see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives from the County's homepage at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is made a part of the record; see Comm. 158.19.) CHR. INABA: Thank you, Managing Director. Again, we're on the motion to amend from Draft 1 to Draft 2. Are there any questions or discussion on the proposed Draft 2? Vice Chair Onishi. MR. ONISHL Thank you, Chair. I just want to say I really appreciate all your guys' hard work and how you guys are doing the budget, getting the needs that Page 4 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 the districts need. And through the first hearing, Director Nakagawa listened to all our concerns, and also leaned back to Administration to make sure that you guys had some changes for us, and I really appreciate that. Also, I want to say how you folks, how the Administration and also the Finance Director, you saved the fundings like that Fund Balance, like getting the departments to not be wasteful in spending. And to me, that's great on the administrative side, and when I look at that, it's like we're looking at the future, right, and down the road. And we don't know what's going to happen with the Federal Government and so forth, so we always need that extra cushion. When I was on the Council, we always were taught not to attack the Fund Balance, because the Fund Balance is there for a purpose. And so it was you look within the budget and you do your cuts. You minus here to plus here and so forth. But I'm hoping that we continue that way that it's operated. But I really want to say thank you very much, and too bad the Mayor couldn't be here. It would be great to hear him give his speech. MR. BRILHANTE: It would probably be a much more enjoyable speech, yeah, if Mayor Alameda was delivering it. MR. ONISHL Thank you very much. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Vice Chair Onishi. Further discussion on the amendment to Draft 2? Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. Thank you both for being here. I know this is a lot of—it's a heavy lift to do all this. So thank you and for working on this second draft. Managing Director, you said that of the three main focal points, the preparing for the future and financial uncertainly through thoughtful and strategic financial planning, but you also mentioned you said you want to be less reliant on our Fund Balance. Can you explain that a little? MR. BRILHANTE: I'll just give you the tip of the iceberg reasoning, but I'll allow Finance Director to come in when I'm done. Historically, when we've looked at previous budgets, there's been a lot of reliance on utilizing the Fund Balance in subsequent years to balance the budget. And that's something we thought from a fiscal responsibility perspective, that wasn't a sound practice going forward. So we made an affirmative decision to reduce that reliance on the Fund Balance monies, and to be able to perform and provide services within our Page 5 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 means. And so, although we've had an increase, it's a significantly less increase, 3.5 percent, than what the revenues have shown, a 7.5 percent increase. So that's our attempt to be less reliant on the Fund Balance. And if you'd like to add? MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. Thank you, Council Member Kagiwada. One of the things that we looked at is every year when we do the budget, there is Fund Balance in the current year that we use. And in looking at the trends over the years, and I think this has been something that the Council has mentioned as well, when we bring our Fund Balance report, how much is used in the current year. And it has been increasing. And it's been increasing as our revenues have been increasing. What we are looking at as we propose a status quo budget early in the year, it is the intention to stay within the revenues that we collect. And in doing so, we would like to be less reliant on that Fund Balance carryover. So you'll see it in the budge. Like last year, you'll see the 37 million. So the thought here is to become less reliant on that rainy day fund and be able to use the rainy day fund for times of revenue shortfall, or other uncertainty items that may come up. So rely on the revenues that we have, and not continue to increase the current-year Fund Balance, but actually decrease the current year Fund Balance to get us to kind of where we were maybe ten years ago instead of continue to rise to 37 and 40 million. MS. KAGIWADA: Understood. That makes a lot of sense on a regular year. And I appreciate, Managing Director, you saying that you've spoken to the Governor and other mayors, and you don't have any concerns going forward around Federal cuts. Or you don't think they're going to be significant or you're not worried. But I don't know if you read the article on the front page of the Hawaii Tribune-Herald yesterday about SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits. Forty thousand of our people on this island, sorry, will be affected by the proposed tax cuts that the Federal Government is right now deciding on because of their SNAP benefits. This is food for our keiki, food for our kupuna, food for our veterans, our disabled. And to not consider the fact that there is no way our State, with putting aside 200 million extra dollars for their rainy day fund for potential Federal concerns is going to help our 40,000 people on this island if they experience over a third of their food benefits cut every month, and not have a plan for that, and not say that when our revenues went up 7 percent that we're not going to put some of that extra aside, but we're going to reduce our Fund Balance really concerns me. In addition, we have our major wastewater projects coming up that are going to put us in debt with bonds for the next foreseeable number of years. So I just don't understand why we wouldn't be looking at this increase of revenue. I love providing these wonderful projects for our community that are so needed, wanted, Page 6 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 promised to them. And so I totally get it. We have to do that. But when we got this increase, to not consider putting a portion of that increase aside either in one of our rainy day funds, it just really concerns me that this could be a major hurt for our island and for our people. So, yes, I appreciate the projects, the funding, all the extras that are being distributed to the districts, but I am really concerned for what this could mean for our struggling families on this island. So maybe there's another plan that's not evident right here, and I'd love to hear it if you're able to share how I'm not seeing it right here. Thank you. MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you very much for the question, Council Member Kagiwada. Rest assured, as I alluded to earlier, the issue with the potential loss of SNAP benefits has not gone unnoticed. And we, as a matter of fact,just this past Monday during our meeting with the Governor and the three other county mayors, that issue was first and foremost on the agenda. It was Priority No. 1, and we had a lengthy discussion with the Governor regarding that. The State does have a plan in place, and the County is following suit. I think one of the outcomes from that discussion was we really don't want to scare people. We don't want to bring fear to people's lives. In our previous testimony we heard today about the impacts that the Lahaina fire has had on our keiki in the community. And so we want to be mindful of that. We have these discussions; oftentimes, they're behind closed doors. But rest assured, like I said earlier it's not being swept under the rug, but we just don't want to cause unnecessary fear at this point in time. And we see a lot of that, because that's what sells papers. That's the media's job, is to sell papers. So they want to incite fear, because that's going to cause somebody to go out and buy a newspaper or turn on whether it be Fox News or CNN. And so, unfortunately, that's what's transpiring nationwide right now. So, with that, there is high-level discussions with the Governor. The Governor is having high-level discussions with the President. As a matter of fact, he flew up to Washington, D.C.,just the other evening to continue those discussions. We're preparing for it. Almost like what's the old Boy Scout slogan: "Prepare for the worst, but hope for the best." That is what we're doing right now. I'll let Diane provide additional numerical information, more specifics as it relates to your question. MS. NAKAGAWA: Thank you. And thank you, Council Member, for your thoughtful comments and question. I just want to clarify; the Fund Balance reduction is really adding to our Fund Balance. So I just want to be clear on what that means. When we reduce it in the budget, what we're doing is keeping it in our Fund Balance. So, when we think of our rainy day fund at the County here, Page 7 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 we look at our Fund Balance and our Budget Stabilization Fund. Our Budget Stabilization Fund in Code has certain criteria around it regarding revenue shortfall and what can be done. So there's a balance there. But then there's also our Fund Balance. And what we're doing in this budget is not programming that, but keeping that in Fund Balance. As you know, if things come up during the year that that's available, if and so which the Administration and the Council work together, if in those times of need. So we're actually adding in this budget with the extra revenue. Instead of programming that with the departments and all the other needs, we've actually reduced that. And that's actually in the Fund Balance. So it is a place that we're looking for more reserves. It is our reserves that count between our Fund Balance and our Budget Stabilization. So I just wanted to clarify it's not really a reduction. It is keeping it within Fund Balance to use in our reserves in case something does come up. MS. KAGIWADA: So what is that number that you increased? MS. NAKAGAWA: That one is the 4.3 million. MS. KAGIWADA: 4.3 million? Okay, 4.3 million to help 40,000 people on our island isn't going to go very far. MS. NAKAGAWA: The 4.3 million is in the amendment. That is not the Fund Balance amount. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. But the Fund Balance amount is only 10.4, I think you said, percent. Is that correct, 10.4? MS. NAKAGAWA: So the 10.4 percent is the percent of the General Fund expenditures—our fund balance of our General Fund expenditures. So, if you look through that, you can see where our Fund Balance and our Budget Stabilization, kind of walk you through the math, of 188 million. And we looked at our 25-year adjustment of 70. Our proposed 26 of 44, and that's the remaining 74 million is our fund. MS. KAGIWADA: But this is about what we've been at, the 10.4 over the past I mean, that's what you've kind of tried to keep us MS. NAKAGAWA: Yeah. We've been a little higher MS. KAGIWADA: So we've gone down. Page 8 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MS. NAKAGAWA: But we've had other obligations in this year that has brought us down to the 10.4. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. Basically, we don't have anything really extra than we normally would in any other year. MS. NAKAGAWA: Well, in the past—in last year and this current budget, we've added an additional $5 million in Budget Stabilization, which our requirement is 250,000, which we've done over the years. But in order to build this fund and build this reserve, last year we did 5 million. This budget also proposed an additional 5 million in Budget Stabilization, as well as trying to keep the Fund Balance as high as it is by—and again, in this amendment, by putting that back in. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. But we're really just keeping pace because our overall budget has been going up as well, and our revenues have also been going up. MS. NAKAGAWA: The percentage is also a different thing, because it's based on the General Fund revenue. The Fund Balance also has increased over the years. But the percentages is dependent upon what the General Fund expenditures are, that's correct. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. All right. Well, as you can see, I'm a little bit concerned about some of our most needy folks on our island. So appreciate that. I'll wrap up. I do appreciate all the work you're doing, and I just hope we continue to keep this in mind as we go forward and think about what we need to do to be ready. Thank you. I yield. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Managing Director, Finance Director, and to everyone that's really helped to pull this budget together. It's no easy task. I just wanted to quickly weigh in on the conversation that we're having here about food insecurity. And just the cost of living here in Hawaii is astronomical these days. And so things like SNAP benefits and WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) are a critical lifeline for many of our local families just to get by. When I take a look at the budget and everything that you have presented, the allocations are based on what we are mandated to do in the Charter. And I think that the County is not meant to solve all problems and to be everyone's savior. Don't want to disregard the fact that there are many folks that are in need of food support. So we have to think creatively about how we help to Page 9 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 be part of the solution. We can convene conversations with food hubs, resilience hubs, local producers that exist here on our island and think about reaching out to Hawaii Community Foundation, local philanthropy, many of our wealthy benefactors that live here on-island to see if they can kokua. I don't know if the solution is always for us to be drawing down our Fund Balance, but I think we as the County can serve the role of convener and find ways to pull all of that support together. Sarah Freeman within R&D (Research and Development) is very connected with folks that work in ag systems. So again, looking at this as an opportunity to not just feed people who are needy, but thinking about how we really increase our food security and resilience because that's really key at this moment. With so many things happening nationally and globally, we really need to act with a sense of urgency to increase our security and resilience. Just really quickly, though, getting back to the budget. I want to mahalo you for your investment in the Puna community with the addition of officers and lieutenants. This district is shared by Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and myself, and we've seen an increase in population, but also criminal activity in the area. So we appreciate this additional support. I had a question. You mentioned earlier, Managing Director, the loss of funding for coastal zone management. And I wanted to just ask Planning if you guys wanted to weigh in about what this potentially means for our County. And also I noted in this updated budget, the reduction of positions related to the vacation rental fund and what exactly that is going to be meaning for us. (Note: At this time, Planner Bethany Morrison, Planning Department, came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. MORRISON: Aloha. Good morning. Bethany Morrison, long-range planning program manager for the Planning Department. For our coastal zone management budget, we received notice that we are not guaranteed funding come July 1. So, we have been making adjustments to the budget to accommodate for that. Within that budget, there are six planning positions. There's also a budget for travel and equipment costs. And so, given the fact that there's no guaranty come July 1 that we have those funds, we've been making those adjustments to the budget to accommodate for that. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Bethany, these are State or Federal funds? MS. MORRISON: Those are Federal funds. Page 10 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. MS. MORRISON: They pass through the State, like many of our Federal funds do. And so that notice that we received was from the State Office of Planning and Sustainable Development. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: July I"is right around the corner. So what sort of adjustments are being made internally, and any current folks going to be impacted by this or repositioned within the department? MR. BRILHANTE: We had discussions with HR (Human Resources) with this situation moving forward. It was unfortunate but we had to initiate RIF (reduction in force)procedures, which are set forth in our collective bargaining agreement. So there have been some movement of personnel and positions. Nobody's lost a position. They've just been transferred back to their previously held positions. And I misspoke in that, or I didn't communicate clearly, we haven't lost the CZM (coastal zone management) funding. Those funds have just been placed on hold, like Bethany said. Planning's been doing an outstanding job addressing this situation. And like Bethany said, there's just no guaranty that we're going to get the funding come July 1st MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And so the work for the protection and management of our coastal zones, will that also be paused because of this pause in Federal funding? How is that playing out? MS. MORRISON: We are still mandated through State law to do our SMA, our Special Management Area, permitting and protection of our coast zone management. So we just have to kind of do it within our means and hope that that funding gets restored. It is challenging to plan for something and not knowing if and when we might get that funding back. So that is a little bit of a challenge for us right now. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Thank you for the update. And then the vacation rental positions? I believe I saw a reduction of three. MS. MORRISON: I am less able to answer questions on that, but we can get— unfortunately, our Director is in a mediation meeting right now and not able to attend, but I can MS. KIERKIEWICZ: No worries. He alerted me. Okay, all right. MS. MORRISON: Okay. I can get that information for you. Page 11 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I'll follow up with him. Thank you. Question for R&D. I think I saw Deputy Lin here. (Note: At this time, Research and Development Deputy Director Dennis Lin, came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. KIERKIEWICZ: A couple things noted in the budget. The elimination of the hybrid vehicle program: I recall a resolution this Council adopted last term regarding the acquisition of various electric vehicles. So, curious about this program being eliminated. And then the—it was noted the discontinuation of a business development section program reallocating $75,000, but I'm curious to know also what program was discontinued. MR. LIN: Good morning. Dennis Lin, Deputy Director for Research and Development. To answer the first question, when we came in and we started to assess the cost of those vehicles for the hybrid program, it was initially supposed to be five electric vehicles. They weren't hybrid vehicles. It was electric. And the cost was just not feasible, based off of the proposal that was given to us. So we decided, in discussions with Finance, to halt that project. Those funds were then reallocated in this current budget under impact grants. To answer your second question regarding the business development funds, the $75,000 was part of the AmeriCorps program. That was actually some training funds as well as a cost share that the department had participated in. How it works is,just based off of how many AmeriCorps Vista applicants come into our program, some of it is cost share; some of it is fully funded by the AmeriCorps program. But because the program got cut, those funds now will go away. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: That's very helpful to know. Thank you for that. And then, Deputy Director, did you want to weigh in at all about the conversation we were having earlier about food resilience and working within the County's ability and our means to just increase food security? MR. LIN: Sure. As you said, we do have a food systems specialist as well as multiple staff working on food systems and agriculture. One of the things that is being worked on is a food systems plan for the County of Hawaii, and that plan should be completed in 2026. From there, we would have some action plans on what can be done within our powers. Page 12 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I believe we also have an emergency food plan that was developed during and following the pandemic. I feel like we're in an emergency crisis situation now, so maybe you should whip out that plan and see what we can do to start implementing that. Thank you. MR. LIN: Thank you. MR. BRILHANTE: May I add to that? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Absolutely. MR. BRILHANTE: Council Member Kierkiewicz, you touched upon a very key point as it relates to government, and that's County government should not be what the majority of the population relies on. County government is here to assist, but we're not the primary provider. And you raised a good point in the County is exploring and we are actively encouraging and building relationships with our private partners—The Food Basket, for example. As a matter of fact, just by way of example,just this past Monday, there was a resiliency conference that Vibrant Hawaii put on up at Volcano. And they brought delegates from throughout the State. Those are the types of components, those are the types of resources that the County has to foster, those relationships, and we have to promote, because that's what we're going to need to be successful, not only in time of disaster but in times of uncertainty. And I agree with you; we are in a period of uncertainty, and we do have to look to taking advantage of all this relationship-building that has been taking place up until this point going forward. So thank you. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Managing Director. Thank you, Deputy. Finance Director, could you just weigh in a little bit more on the budget fiscal specialist that you are requesting this round,please? MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. Thank you for the question, Council Member Kierkiewicz. Kind of a dual role in this budget specialist. As you know, we have a small but very mighty team that I must thank and appreciate—Ted and Lisa for the work that they do. That is our budget team of two. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: (Inaudible)very mighty. MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes. Very mighty team of two that does go through the preparation of the budget each year. So this is more in line to bring it to what we need in order to support this effort, but also we are looking at our grant management system, something that's also added in the budget. In order to do that properly and effectively, we do need that extra staff resource to not just get it Page 13 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 started, but to be able to monitor and assist the departments. Now, a lot of the grant management will stay with the departments, but the system itself, we're looking at still exploring. We have to go through procurement. But the system will be something that we will manage in Finance and work with the departments, in order for them to have all the information and the reports and things that are needed that we've talked a lot about, both for those looking for grants from the County and also for grants that we receive. So that is the need for this budget specialist position. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Great. Thank you. And then for DEM (Department of Environmental Management), in full support of the additional amenity of co- coordinators. And then the regulatory administrator, is that to help become compliant with our consent decree with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)? MS. NAKAGAWA: It is. As you know, our administrative or our consent documents have a lot of different requirements and deadlines. And it needs more resource and attention to be able to just manage all the things that the County needs to do and the deadlines we need to make. So that is to support DEM and the County in this effort. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Great, thank you. Also in full support of the Fire Department's fleet and facilities manager; going to be a great support to the battalion chiefs that currently have to coordinate all of that. And then I see Charmaine back there. Appreciate all of the positions that are going to be created within Parks and Rec. (Recreation). Our folks work really hard to maintain the hundreds of recreational sites and parks we have on Hawaii Island. So definitely in support of that. And then, Managing Director,justChair, wrapping up real quick; thank you 100 percent agree with you. I think overtime we had become too reliant on government. And so if there are ways in which we can build capacity and a sense of agency in community, I think we're going to be stronger and better off for it. Thank you, I yield. MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: I will start actually responding to Council Member Kierkiewicz' question about the STVRs (short-term vacation rentals) because Director Darrow and I have been talking about this a little bit. If you recall, the positions were added last year because we anticipated Bill 121 to pass, which would have increased the revenue into the STVR Fund. With Bill 47 going Page 14 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 through, one of the things that's distinctly different there is that those funds collected through (Bill) 47 would actually go to the General Fund. And so at some point, working with Diane and Director Darrow, we'll have to figure out if those positions actually end up at Finance because they're now taking the registration, or if we move the funds into the Short-Term Vacation Rental Fund. There's just uncertainty. So the fact that they weren't going to be funded because we're not bringing in that revenue to the Short-Term Vacation Rental Fund is why they are being taken out now. There will be some movement later on, but we're just not ready for it right now with this budget. I wanted to just quickly weigh in on this conversation that we've been having. Taking to heart very much what you've said, Director, about instilling fear, right. My husband, who I love very much and you've met, is one of those that reads the headlines in the New York Times and goes "Oh, no, the world is burning!" And I'm like "Well, did you read the article?" And some of this with the Federal funds, it's kind of pass-pull for chambers. And there's a lot of roadblocks still in the way, and I think it is important to be cautiously approaching this, understanding that nothing's done until it's done. And there is an intention to instill fear out there. And so I appreciate that sentimentality. And I also agree with Council Member Kierkiewicz' assessment that we, the County, don't have to be everything. We don't have to solve every problem. In fact, I think if we do step in and solve problems that aren't technically ours, we set a precedence for us to always have to solve those problems. And we've seen that, right? We've seen that in the growth of county government since the County was founded. So I think that a cautious approach of looking at where we fill the gaps and where we are more restrained is appropriate. I will say that on balance, the reason that the Charter requires us to have a balanced budget is because we should not be collecting any more than we need to provide the services that we're obligated to provide. I still think, overall, we are underfunded to provide the services at the level that we need to because we have the biggest challenge of being a geographically large island with a relatively small tax base, and that is going to always be a constraint for us to adequately fund all of—we need more fire stations than every county. We need more police officers than every county. We need more Parks and Rec. facilities than every other county, and yet we don't have the population that the other counties have. So I'm always inclined to invest as much as we can, with the understanding that we do need the rainy day fund. We do need a fund balance for emergency situations. I've only got one budget amendment right now, but there are a couple Page 15 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 of other things that I'd like to have further discussion with you about. Because, I think we need to make those investments particularly around the food security base, because I do think that is a way that we've built some infrastructure. We've built some capacity that if we fund it adequately,we could actually really make a significant difference. And that's largely thanks to the efforts through the Build Back Better grant that we got. I think there's a lot we could do, that if we just invested a little bit more in, we could really make some significant improvements. The other area again is public safety, right. And I think that there has been that dedication to do that, and I think there's probably a few more things we could add there. We do have another reading of this, and I hope in the intervening period we can have a deeper dialogue about some of those potential changes. Thank you. MR. BRILHANTE: We'd be happy to have further discussions with you in particular areas. One thing I just want to touch upon real quickly is I've been fortunate to work with former Mayor and Civil Defense Director Harry Kim. And I remember during the numerous emergencies that we had to respond to up at Civil Defense, his primary goal and objective no matter what the disaster was or what the extent of the disaster was, was to ensure that our community had a sense of calm, a sense of confidence, and we were able to remove the fear. And that was always his No. 1 priority. And I think when—although this isn't a natural disaster, we are in a sense of somewhat uncertainty. And there's fear in our community. And I think the primary purpose of government should be to instill confidence and stability. So I couldn't agree with you any more on that. MS. NAKAGAWA: Could I just add to that? MR. BRILHANTE: Sure. MS. NAKAGAWA: Thank you, Council Member, for your comment. I just wanted to add this budget is very thoughtful in another way, and that is really looking at what we add and the resources we have available to do the things that we add. We have a lot of vacancies. There may be position needs, but we're looking at, with the departments, through the Mayor's guidance, on those positions and vacancies and are they appropriate, instead of just adding positions to the budget. And when it comes to other initiatives being added, we really are taking a look at the resources the County has to effectively implement them. In a lot of places, we are struggling with those vacancies, and there's a lot of staffers that feel a little bit overworked. So we really are taking a look at can we do the things that we add, making sure that that is also thought about before adding anything else to the budget. Page 16 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MS. KIMBALL: May I just make one more comment? Yeah, absolutely appreciate that. We've had some offline conversations about really evaluating some of our processes and procedures to see where there's opportunities to modernize organizational structure, to improve our ability to deliver with less. And I think that that's a valuable thing to do. Government tends to be like the hermit crab, right, and you just keep adding stuff on. Stepping back for a moment and taking time to take stock of whether or not you've actually organized things and have the infrastructure internally to deliver the most effectively and efficiently I think is important, and I appreciate that the department has done that. So thank you. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: Thank you. So yeah, you've mentioned, Managing Director, The Food Basket, and I think that is a terrific partner. We started a program with them to help farmers, and I'm hoping we can continue that. So maybe we can bring that up next time to help with that, because I think it's an investment but it just multiplies. And the other thing that I think we're doing around agriculture is working with the UH (University of Hawaii) and the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience now. So I think that's a really great way to break down silos and to leverage resources. Moving on to questions on the budget. The other fund that we have that we put money into is the Disaster and Emergency Fund. That was created I think by the Charter not too long ago, and we put 5 million into that as well. I was wondering what the balance is on that, and also what would trigger us or allow us to be able to use that, whether it would have to be used in kind of like a declaration of emergency or if it would be—would a political emergency qualify to be able to use that funding? MS. NAKAGAWA: Thank you, Council Member, for the question. The fund balance in the Disaster and Emergency Fund is 16.7 million. I don't have the exact language in front of me, but we can quickly pull that up today during that time. I don't think it's a declaration, but there is language that outlines a criteria in which this funding would be used and can definitely share that with you. MS. GALIMBA: Okay, thanks, yeah. So that's like another way that we're not necessarily—although we say we're a balanced budget, we actually are putting money away to help with things. It's just that we're—we are required to do a balanced budget, but it doesn't mean that we're not thinking about the future. I Page 17 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 just wanted to say that because there was a testifier that I think is reading our balanced budget requirement to be that we're just, what is it, like living by the skin of our teeth, which is not necessarily the case. MS. NAKAGAWA: Thank you for that. MS. GALIMBA: I did have one question about—under Other Miscellaneous, there's a Replacement Fund Reserve, which has funding. It's Sewer Fund and Housing Fund and I'm just wondering what that is. I hadn't really noticed it before. MS. NAKAGAWA: Council Member, do you have a page number? MS. GALIMBA: I don't know if there are page numbers on this. So it's the last page that's like this, before it turns into the last horizontal before it turns into vertical. MS. NAKAGAWA: If you would allow us a few minutes, we could definitely look for that. MS. GALIMBA: Sure. CHR. INABA: In the interim, Section 10-17 of the Hawaii County Charter speaks to the Disaster and Emergency Fund, specifically Subsection (b), if anyone wants to see the permitted uses. And there is awe will continue to add to that fund until it hits $20 million. So we are getting close. After that, it's at the discretion of the Administration if the additional 1 percent is going to be added. MS. NAKAGAWA: We're going to need a lot more time to look it up. CHR. INABA: Okay. Council Member Galimba,perhaps we can come back to this. Is there any further discussion on Draft 2? Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Mahalo, Managing Director. Director of Finance, thank you. And I also want to thank our budget team: Administrator Schrey and Specialist Tada. Thank you for your work on all this, and the effort that you put into it to bring it before the Council. So mahalo nui. A couple of the questions already been asked about to kind of track in on the Federal side of things, I appreciate those questions, and kind of watching that as it unfolds at the national level. I know, Director, you're looking at that other thing, but I do have some questions for you, too, so I don't want to distract you too much. So I'll start off with Managing Director, if that's okay, to kind of speak a little bit more broadly on we're requesting additional positions across the board Page 18 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 for public safety, all these different avenues. And I just wondered if you could provide just an overview of our current status of positions regarding vacancies, and now we're requesting 30 new positions and how that kind of folds into the mix of the challenges we have within our hiring process, and the work you're carrying out at the administrative level to kind of add into that complexity of things. MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you very much, Council Member Hustace, for that question. I've made representations to this body previously when we did our Draft 1 submittal of the budget, and it related to the fact that we have approximately 600 or so vacant positions within the County. And it's very concerning to the Administration, so much so that we made a special HR (Human Resources) task force. And we've been meeting, not as regularly as we would have liked, but we've been meeting throughout this period of time from our previous submittal. And we've had specific information provided to us from the HR Director as it relates to approximately 100 or so unfunded positions, a couple hundred positions which are currently vacant. And I think what we've identified right now, going forward, is that if there's a specific need for positions within the department, it's incumbent on the departments to submit their Request to Fill to the HR department. And we're not blind to the fact that there are some positions that maybe the PDs (position descriptions) haven't been updated in nearly ten years, and that there may be some requirements for the PDs which are outdated. And those restrict or inhibit our ability to recruit for that position. So we're going through that process. We're trying to scale that process down. We're trying to scale and expedite the hiring the duration it takes to onboard our employees. That being said, not all of those positions are what we identify as possible critical-need type positions. And what this budget represents is the creation of positions that would probably be more classified as critical need for each department. Maybe they don't have a particular vacant position that we could reallocate to cover the service or that job function. So our proposal is we've considered those types of external, I guess, impacts. And we've looked at possibly reallocations, movement and the like. And at the end of the day, the positions we identify as creating our, like I said, critical-need type positions. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you, Managing Director. I'm going to switch over to the opioid settlement monies. From my knowledge on this, we've had challenges with the disbursement to the County from the State of the opioid settlement monies. Have we made some progress in acquiring our share in that? Page 19 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MS. NAKAGAWA: I was looking for R&D. They've been kind of our focal point in the settlement(inaudible), but I think they might have left. MR. HUSTACE: Okay, we can sort of MS. KIMBALL: I can actually respond to that if the Chair would like me to, but MS. NAKAGAWA: Okay. Can I also add that our departments that are not here are also monitoring. So if there is a question that comes up, they'd be more than happy to get here in a few. MR. HUSTACE: Okay, thank you. We can put a pin in that one for now. In regards to the Retired Senior Volunteer Program with Parks,just looking for just a little clarification on that. And I knowI was grateful to attend the celebration, the event, the luncheon with fellow Council Members earlier this year. That program's entirely being cut at the Federal level. So we're kind of shifting a little bit within the department. What does that look like internally for you? And do we have to scale it down a little bit? (Note: At this time, Business Manager Charmaine Felipe, Parks and Recreation Department, came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. FELIPE: Good morning. Charmaine Felipe, Business Manager for Parks and Recreation. Yes. AmeriCorps decided to not fund the Hawaii County program. This affects the next three fiscal years. That's the cycle of the program. But we do have County funds that were already kind of the matching to the Federal amounts. All four staff members were County-funded positions. This past year we've had two retirements, and so we have two staff still on board. And we are putting the hiring on pause for now to fill the other two positions until we get word. If we qualify or if we get selected in the next cycle, then we can boost up the staff as well. But for now, the program will run at a lower capacity. MR. HUSTACE: Okay. Thank you, Ms. Felipe. I appreciate that. Thank you, Charmaine. My question for Director Nakagawa, then. Thank you. One of the large decreases of our Debt Service Fund, if you could explain kind of the adjustments that were made to get to that level of decrease? But then, also, I think we're also planning for probably an uptick in that, I would imagine, with some of the larger projects that we're anticipating. What might that look like kind of going forward? Dipping down 7 million, what is that doing now to us and all of those adjustments? Page 20 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MS. NAKAGAWA: Thank you, Council Member Hustace. I really appreciate the question and the opportunity to talk about this particular area. When we did the original estimate in March, we were right in the middle of our bond issuance, which was authorized by Council last year. And during that time, we were still going through the different financing options that the County has in order to issue the $150 million. And so one of the things that we looked at and worked very closely with our financial advisors on the best approach is we did a 25-year amortization instead of a 20-year, which lowered the debt service in the current year. Now, for a project of this size and magnitude, and the duration of life of the project, this was very appropriate to do for the 25-year amortization. Where we can do the 20, we will continue to do so just to minimize the long-term debt. But you are absolutely correct. We have been reviewing and analyzing the specific wastewater improvements that are necessary and mandated, and they will require, along with our other County needs, an additional issuance of debt over the next several years. And so one of the things we have done is program out, based on today's schedule of financial needs in these projects, when we would issue additional debt and by how much. So we've looked at a schedule of issuance over the next five years, and we've looked at what the debt service could be. Now, there are many factors that could come into play to what that would be: the interest rate that we have, the amortization length, and how much we intend to borrow at the time. It's not an easy exercise, and I would give you these numbers but caution that many factors can play in the final numbers that we do have. We also have to be very careful not to issue the debt too early. So we've been working very closely with our projects to know the timing and our spend rate that we're going to have. So we shouldn't be borrowing what we're not able to spend in the three-year time requirement of the debt. So one of the things, like I mentioned, we did is do a 25-year amortization which lowered our debt service for next year. We went ahead and programmed out additional issuance over the next five years based on our needs. And our debt service could increase. We're looking at 26-27 potentially to 81 million. MR. HUSTACE: Sorry, 81 million? MS. NAKAGAWA: Mhm. Again, many factors could be included. I'd be happy to walk anyone through the analysis that we have and the information we have available today. Eighty-one million; 27-28, 93 million—it could be a little lower based again on amortization—and potentially between 94 million and 101 million in 28-29. Page 21 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 So these financial models that we've been working on and estimating our debt service is something we have been continually evaluating over the last year, knowing that we have significant obligations coming up. And this debt service is a significant expenditure that we will have to manage in our budget. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you. MS. NAKAGAWA: And let me preface that by just saying this is if—we're going to continue to look for other funding sources, right. We would go after that. This is looking at if the County would have to fund this through our GO (General Obligation) Bonds. So it could decrease if we find other funding sources and if the amount changed. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Director. Managing Director? MR. BRILHANTE: May I just add also, coincidentally we just had this discussion yesterday with DEM Director Segawa, and he brings such a wealth of knowledge to our Administration. And the discussion we had yesterday was, and I'm just going to analogize it to when you're building a home, say a packaged home from HPM, they'll set specific times where the homeowner will have to pay, maybe during the completion of the foundation or the installation of the roof or the completion of the framing. Those are points in time in a construction contract in which we have to make a payment, the owner has to make a payment. Diane has been very mindful and has been very instrumental with us going forward as to maybe, from a fiscal standpoint, we have extended the time in which the roof is going to be completed, the wastewater treatment facility, or the framing will be done. Because what that does is it allows us the opportunity to take advantage of time before these higher loan repayments will have to be made because we don't reallyoftentimes, we don't make payments on some of the items until we take the draw. And so Diane and Wes have been very instrumental in ensuring that we take advantage of the time benefits associated with that. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Managing Director. And then if I could pivot back to the question on opioid settlement monies. Thank you, Deputy Director, for returning. MR. LIN: Good morning. Dennis Lin, Deputy Director for Research and Development. Could you repeat the question regarding ? MR. HUSTACE: Absolutely. MR. LIN: Thank you. Page 22 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Deputy Director. So it's really just my limited experience kind of on the private sector and the nonprofit area about the challenges we've had receiving the County's share in the opioid settlement monies. And if that—if we've made some progress in getting that allocation for the County. MR. LIN: Thank you for your question. And so we actually just got a check from the State regarding opioid settlement funds last week. I'm waiting for the dollar amount from my office to get back to you guys on, but the County of Hawaii gets approximately 18 percent of the total pot of funds that the State gets. As of April 1st, 2025, the County anticipates approximately 3.8 million through 2038. It's a slow process of getting all the funds to the County. But in this fiscal year 25-26, it's going to be 1.157 million. So $1,157,000. Last week's check amount was 925,000 that we got. Our department is working with the Mayor's office through Executive Assistant Erin Samura and Yoshi in my office on the RFI(Request for Information) initially to kind of just gauge what the capacity of our community is in terms of what the allowable uses for the opioid settlement funds are. It's a very exhaustive list of what it can be used for. It's about four pages worth of allowable uses. So they're working through that to figure out what kind of uses we want to see as a County. After that RFI goes out, then we'll look on drafting the RFP (request for proposal). MR. HUSTACE: Thank you. I appreciate those details on that. It just seems that we've had, in my limited experience, we've had challenges getting the money here to the County in the past, and maybe I'm wrong. So what steps can we take to kind of ensure that this is kind of(inaudible)the duration of the funds kind of last(inaudible) MR. LIN: The difficulty was because we never had an official document with the State to get all the details into one place. So this year, we were able to amend the MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) with the State to get everything on paper indicating what the percentages are, how it's going to be disbursed, and whatnot. So we actually have that document signed now. And now it's just a matter of disbursing the funds as they come through the State. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you for doing that. I appreciate that. The last question I had, Chair, if you don't mind is Council Member Kierkiewicz asked about the hybrid vehicle program. So this kind of refers to R&D a little bit, but it's a bigger question to the County at large because we are—so we're seeing that kind of sunset there for R&D,particularly with the hybrid vehicle program. And from just a brief(inaudible) conversation I had is we have—we've gone after, over time, specific grants for specific vehicles for specific departments. So those Page 23 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 vehicles are very much tied to, more or less, that department. So there's limited use for some of our vehicles across the County. Maybe it's only a Parks vehicle, and then DPW (Department of Public Works) needs a vehicle but we can't use it, or whatever the case may be. So, really, the question is revisiting this idea of a County fleet of some capacity of some sort, and then maybe pushing toward that model of electrification. I don't know. I know probably these conversations are probably happening at the R&D side for sure. Because, we are seeing this jump and increase in needs for fuels because our fleets are driving everywhere. Cars are going everywhere maybe because we look at animal control; they have to drive all over the place. We have some of these limitations on our County vehicles. And then having to come back for new vehicles every couple of years because we've run them into the ground. So just trying to see, and just a general question about do we have any kind of projected plans for County fleets, how we care for vehicles, how we regionally use them, or whatever your thoughts are on those. Happy to hear any of those thoughts you have. MR. LIN: I can't speak about the countywide fleet initiative, but I can talk about what the current limitations are of having a County fleet that is electrified, that we don't have the charging infrastructure. And so currently, the State has monies from the Federal Government under the Biden Administration for the NEVI (National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure) charging stations. So the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Act provided funds for each state to build fast- charger charging stations at selective locations across the island. Right now, we're going through the initial phases of getting an MOA with the State to do that. They're still in the conceptual planning phase, working with Hawaiian Electric and the State Department of Transportation on those. In terms of our County facilities, it's working out how many charging stations do we need to sustain a large fleet that we have. And it has to be all across the island, right. So we do have a contract with Sustainability Partners to look into proposals on installing additional charging stations. But until we get to what the larger scale of that is, we won't know what that costs and how we can lay that out. But I'll let Managing Director and Finance Director talk about the larger fleet capacity as a whole. Thank you. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Deputy Director. MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you for the question. Deputy Director Lin is correct in that as we assessed the situation with transitioning to electric vehicles, hydrogen vehicles, it came abundantly clear that when we did the cost benefit Page 24 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 analysis, the cost associated with the infrastructure needed for an electrified vehicle program within the County, it was going to be astronomical in an estimated amount of over $200 million monthly. MR. HUSTACE: Monthly? MR. BRILHANTE: Yes. And so we just—Mayor Alameda assessed that and we just didn't think it was a prudent decision to continue with moving down that road. So we've also had discussions regarding hydrogen vehicles. And again, it's a great resource. It's a great alternative source, but the information that's been provided to us at this instant point in time is maybe that's a future type of resource that we can utilize down the road. And so hydrogen, although it is there, it's not going to really meet our immediate needs. And so what we're really looking to do and what really looks attractive to the County is to move in the direction of more hybrid-type vehicles in which the necessity for charging stations are lessened, our demand on fossil fuel for the fuel consumption, the gas, is lessened as well. So that looks like an area in which we are going to be moving forward with as far as future vehicle purchases. But we'd like to see that. Right now, Mass Transit is bringing in four buses. But again—four electric buses but then, due to the limitation as to the area they can service, is only going to be limited to Pahoa, that area. So these are concerns that we have. Often what we do is that cost benefit analysis. And moving forward, there may be some moving pieces in regards to that situation. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Managing Director. MS. NAKAGAWA: Real quickly, Council Member. One of the things that we've also been working on as we've talked about it, is the utilization of technology. So, through Public Works, there is a fleet management system that is working on being implemented just to get a handle on these types of, you know, looking at generating reports and age of vehicles and vehicle utilization,just to better be able to understand our needs and prepare for them more accurately. Also, the idea of a carpooling-type system for the County has been discussed, and that was actually the intent of this. And I am sure it's still something that we would be considering for those departments that only need vehicles every once in awhile. So a couple different things I just wanted to make you aware of. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you so much. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Council Member Kimball. Page 25 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. Just a minor point of clarification around the opioid settlement, the MOA that was finally signed. The State gets 85 percent. We get, the counties as a whole, get 15 percent of the opioid settlement funds. Of that 15 percent, we get 18 percent as Deputy Director Lin said. But what I will say is we're actually kind of distinct from most of the other states across the country in getting that small of a percentage. That's largely because we don't manage healthcare within the County, and many other counties do. But it is probably something we should consider discussing further about getting a larger percentage of that, because at a meeting we had in (Washington) D.C., we are significantly lower than most of the other states in terms of the amount of money going directly to the counties. I will say that the State has issued some primarily through the fentanyl task force. And our County, through that entity and through that partnership, is really leading the way on the fentanyl response, particularly with the Narcan distribution, the education pieces, the connection. They really embedded themselves in the community and built those relationships. So when we did a survey across the four counties, we are really leading the way. But it's been coming from the State's portion of the money being directly funneled to entities in our community. Council Member Hustace did make me think of one other question. Have we signed the contract yet for the Hilo wastewater facility? MR. BRILHANTE: We have, yes. MS. KIMBALL: And so we are—have there been any changes to what the expected cost of that is going to be? Or are we still set—? MS. NAKAGAWA: No. At this time, we have not had any changes in the contract. And the NTP was issued in February. MS. KIMBALL: The NSP was issued. MS. NAKAGAWA: The NTP. MS. KIMBALL: Oh, NTP. MS. NAKAGAWA: The Notice to Proceed. MS. KIMBALL: Right, okay. All right. Thank you for that. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Page 26 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Diane, thank you very much. MS. NAKAGAWA: Thank you. You're welcome. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mr. Brilhante, thank you very much. MR. BRILHANTE: You're welcome as well. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: What I appreciate is you listened to each and every one of us. You listened to community. You've had meetings since the beginning, since Mr. Alameda's walk into office. You have made changes in the budget that directly affect each and every district, and you've listened to each and every one of our constituents. You've listened to us. And you've made changes that are appropriate, that fit within the scale of what we have as far as real property taxes that go in the direction the Mayor wants to go. And there's been action, there's been movement to date, and I appreciate that. Thank you. MS. NAKAGAWA: Thank you. MR. BRILHANTE: We hear daily from Mayor Alameda, and the point is called geographic equity. And that's one thing he instills with everybody throughout the Administration. And I think the community appreciates that. We ran on that political point, and now the community is seeing the effects and the commitment to that. I appreciate hearing it from you, because you represent an area that oftentimes is underserved. And for you to comment and commend us for doing that, it means a lot to us. So thank you very much. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. I yield, Chair. CHR. INABA: Vice Chair Onishi. MR. ONISHL Thank you, Chair. Just talking about positions again. I just wanted to go on record where (inaudible) during budget and talking to Director Nakagawa about thinking outside the box of how we can get more positions filled, right. My question is, I don't know if you folks know this, or might have to go to HR, but when there's an already-existing position that is not filled, what is the timeline of filling that position? And who is the most responsible agency, I guess, that is doing the process? For example, say Parks maintenance had a position and it was not filled. To me, it's an existing position. There is already the PD and everything like that. Why can't the department of HR go out—well, our main HR opens it up, gets the applicants, right, sends it to P&R (Parks and Recreation). Their HR does the evaluations and picks the qualified person and, boom, moves the person forward. Page 27 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MR. BRILHANTE: May I respond to that? MR. ONISHI: And you were there before. MR. BRILHANTE: Thanks, Vice Chair Onishi. It's a process that recently had to be revised, the hiring process. I'm sure everybody's familiar with the audit that took place several years back. We're not pointing the finger, we're not blaming anybody, but there were some concerns raised by the County Auditor as it related to the hiring process. The current situation now is in order for a department to fill a vacant position, the first item that has to take place is a Request to Fill needs to be submitted to HR. HR gets that Request to Fill. They evaluate it and then they forward that— MR. ONISHL So now, it's an existing position. So why do they have to evaluate? It's there. Right? MR. BRILHANTE: They're evaluating as to whether or notoftentimes, it's almost like a check-and-balance. There may be some misunderstanding. There may be some requirements that are missing in the Request to Fill. The PD may be outdated. So that is the component that's the necessity for that document to be submitted to HR. Because that's what they do; they do a quick vetting of the request, and they make sure all the ducks are lined up. All the I's are dotted, all the T's are crossed. And then that document gets submitted to me and I review it. And then once we're completed with our review, I believe there's ais there a fiscal component? That's prior to the Request to Fill. And it goes back to HR, and they proceed with the recruitment. And the initial recruitment is we have to run an ad. We're going to get it listed on NEOGOV. We run an advertisement. And then the proposed applicants submit their information, and that information gets vetted by HR, their recruitment division. MR. ONISHL I thought now when they apply, their application is already processed to see if you're qualified or not. MR. BRILHANTE: There's two parts to the application. The general application requests information regarding general applicability for employment with the County. And then each specific job has what's called a supplemental application. And those are questions that are specifically addressed to the performance and the duties for that particular position. So an applicant, although previously they may have filled out the general portion of the application as it relates to each specific job, then the supplemental questions come into play. And those are vetted separately. Page 28 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MR. ONISHL Director and I, we talked and then you mentioned to me about having certain positions that you needed. So you folks know that position, what kind of qualifications and so forth that you need. And so now—and it's a new position. So you're going to request that to HR, then they're going to do their investigation. They're going to look at, I guess, nationwide to make sure that this is a position that's been someplace there, and this and that. But to me, if the department has what they need, that position, we should process that faster, right, and get it done. I talked with the Director about thinking outside the box, which is—like giving incentives. It's great that you folks have that, right. But like Kaua`i, they're going to pay their medical, right, to help getting more workers. And we talked about how West Hawaii is not getting enough applications, and it's because of the cost, right. Also, we've got to start looking at, and I've mentioned this time and time again, childcare. We have young parents that cannot work because of childcare. So we, as government, we've got to start looking at doing that. The hotels on the west side, I understand at least one of them is doing that already for their employees, right, because they see that as a problem. So they want their workers to come. But it's because of their young children; there's nobody to watch or it costs them too much. That's why they're not coming to work. MR. BRILHANTE: It sounds like you've been secretly attending our task force meetings, because those are three of the specific issues and areas that we have been discussing MR. ONISHL Oh, for real? MR. BRILHANTE: And we are wanting to address. And they are points of they are priorities. You can see in this budget we've set aside a million dollars for recruitment and incentive for our employees, because you're right; childcare is an issue. And we would love to be able to provide childcare for our employees. But unless you initiate that discussion, it will never get done. MR. ONISHL Right. MR. BRILHANTE: And same with the cost for medical insurance. Those are discussions MR. ONISHL That's good to hear because then, too, we talked about the Fund Balance. But because of all those positions that are funded, that accumulates to the Fund Balance. Correct? MS. NAKAGAWA: That is correct. Page 29 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MR. ONISHL Yeah. I remember back then when we were in 2008, we had to unfund a lot of the positions to even balance our budget. So this is something reversed when I'm coming back my first year term. We have more and we've got more money, but it's really interesting how this budget—but I really appreciate, like I said earlier, on how you folks are working, especially you, Director Nakagawa. Thank you. I yield. CHR. INABA: All those in favor of amending Bill 31 with the contents of Communication 158.16, which would make it Draft 2, say "aye." Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 31 with the with the contents of Amend: Comm. 158.16 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Villegas — 1. Excused: None. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kimball moved to amend Bill 31, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 158.17. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. If you noticed the other day when we submitted the report from the Waiwai Grant program, we came out$20,000 over the 2.5 million. As we were going through the list of applications that we had decided to fund based on the criteria, we got to the end where we were just 30,000 shy. The next on the list was a $50,000 ask for a program that I think we all really support right now—The Food Basket. And so we decided to go ahead and request that that program be funded, and then put forth this budget amendment to just cover that gap above the 2.5 million. I have discussed this with the Finance Department and have their approval. I don't see Director here anymore to affirm that, but they were comfortable with that budget amendment. So I ask for everyone's support. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Vice Chair Onishi, on the amendment. MR. ONISHL Thank you, Chair. I'm just going to make a comment where I'm not going to be supporting this, because then we're not being fiscally sound where we're keeping within our budget, and we're going overbudget. And we do expect Page 30 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 our other departments, or we depend on our Administration not to go overbudget. And so I would recommend that if we want to increase that other 20,000, it comes out of Council Services' budget, and not from the Fund Balance. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Any further discussion on the amendment? All right, all those in favor please say "aye." Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 31, Draft 2, with the contents of Amend: Comm. 158.17 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and Chair Inaba—7. Noes: Council Member Onishi — 1. Absent: Council Member Villegas — 1. Excused: None. CHR. INABA: Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: Thank you, Chair. I brought forward this amendment(see Comm. 158.18) at the request of the Fire Chief, but he let me know that it is not required. So I will be withdrawing this amendment. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Any other amendment right now? All right, seeing none, can we take the vote on Bill 31, as amended? Vote on Bill 31 The motion to pass Bill 31, Draft 2, as amended to Draft 3, Draft 3 : on first reading and adopt Finance Committee Report No. (Approved) 36 was carried by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Villegas — 1. Excused: None. Page 31 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 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 81 projects requiring a total appropriation of approximately $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: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Approve: FC-37 Public Hearing: May 20, 2025 and Comm. 159.40: From Mayor C. Kimo Alameda, dated May 5, 2025, transmitting Bill 32, Draft 2, which adds 3 projects for a total of 84 projects and an increase of$48,000,000 in appropriations over the first draft. ; and Bill 32: RELATES TO PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR (Draft 2) THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2025, TO JUNE 30, 2026 Draft 2 requires a total appropriation of$603,015,000, of which $532,586,000 are intended to be funded in whole or part by bonds, $36,752,000 to be funded by Federal Grants, $30,000,000 to be funded by State Grants, and $3,677,000 to be funded by Community Benefit Assessments and other funds. Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) and Comm. 159.41: From Council Member James E. Hustace, dated May 13, 2025, transmitting a (Memo No. 1) proposed amendment to add the Public Works Department's Waik6loa Arterial Road/Kamakoa Drive project in the amount of$2.5 million. ; and Comm. 159.42: From Council Member James E. Hustace, dated May 14, 2025, transmitting a (Memo No. 2) proposed amendment to add the Public Works Department's Paniolo Avenue Widening project in the amount of$5 million. ; and Comm. 159.43: From Council Member James E. Hustace, dated May 14, 2025, transmitting a (Memo No. 3) proposed amendment to reappropriate the Parks and Recreation Department's Kohala Swimming Pool Repairs project in the amount of$5 million. Page 32 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 ; and Comm. 159.44: From Council Member James E. Hustace, dated May 14, 2025, transmitting a (Memo No. 4) proposed amendment to reappropriate the Parks and Recreation Department's Spencer Kalani Schutte District Park Improvements and Expansion project in the amount of$5 million. (Note: Comm. 159.45 from Council Member James E. Hustace dated May 22, 2025, transmitting proposed amendments to Bill 32, Draft 2, was circulated.) Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to approve Bill 32 on first reading and adopt Finance Committee Report No. 37. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. INABA: Pursuant to Article X, Section 10-2 of the Hawaii County Charter, the Mayor has submitted an amended Capital Budget to the Council on May 5 h. And we do need to amend Draft 1 with the Mayor's proposed Draft 2 with the contents contained in Communication 159.40. With that, Mr. Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder. Motion to Amend: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to amend Bill 32 with the contents of Comm. 159.40. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. INABA: Director, anything to add at this time, or we are good with the first presentation to also cover capital improvement? (Note: At this time, Finance Director Diane Nakagawa came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. NAKAGAWA: We do have Jeff Darrow, our Planning Director, here to answer any questions. We don't have a presentation on the CIP (Capital Improvement Project), but if there's anything, Planning is here. CHR. INABA: Thank you very much. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 32 with the proposed Draft 2, as contained in Communication 159.40,please say "aye." Page 33 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 32 with the contents of Comm. 159.40 Amend: was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Inaba—7. Noes: None. Absent: Council Members Kagiwada and Villegas —2 Excused: None. Motion to Amend: Mr. Hustace moved to amend Bill 32, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 159.41. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. INABA: Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. It's an honor to bring this amendment forward on behalf of the community. You've heard testifiers speak to this, speak to the challenges of a growing community and the lack of infrastructure. This particular project and any sort of additional infrastructure projects have kind of sat on the sidelines for a long time for the Waikoloa community. And this effort is to really push forward engineering studies, plans, and kind of take the first step as a County in our responsibility for the leadership that we have for our community members of nearly 7,500 Waikoloa residents and a growing community with our affordable housing project with private development, with expanding park spaces, a future library for the community. So, as we grow deeper in that area, this is a responsibility that we have as County to make a step forward. I will also note that the State, through their CIP process and Representative Tarnas and Director Sniffen, came to an agreement early on in their session to provide some funding for an intersection on the makai side of this future roadway along Queen Ka`ahumanu Highway. But they didn't really see the County's priorities aligned, so we need to match that request by stepping forward. The amendment doesn't really speak to the construction kind of build-out of the road, and that's a future conversation we have to have. I would hope that the studies here and funding we have for this project would provide some more feasibility and understanding, as well as a potential public- private partnership with landowners in the area. So there's that potential there. And those have been ongoing conversations for a long time, but we do have a responsibility as the County to protect our residents. So I'm grateful for the support and any feedback as we make this process. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Page 34 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. I have a question for you, Mr. Darrow. I'm glad you're here actually today. (Note: At this time, Planning Director Jeffrey Darrow came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: We cannot underscore the importance of secondary roads, connector routes, emergency access routes, alternate routes in communities, especially given what happened in Lahaina and what we saw on Mana Road, what could happen in Volcano, what could happen in Puna, what could happen all over anywhere in the world should an emergency or a disaster happen. As I've sat in this chair and I've seen what happened to Puna, given that the density has increased and there was no infrastructure required of the subdividers back in the '50s, '60s,predating all of us in government or maybe some of us, I don't know, but with that said, looking at what Mr. Hustace is wanting to do for his community and understanding the need, was there never a requirement of the developers to actually put the infrastructure in place to build a second road, knowing exactly what they were going to build in Waikoloa? Was that never a thought or never a requirement of any subdivision approval, of any planning decisions that they actually be required to put these roads in? And forgive me if I don't know the background on this—not my district—but just wondering as I look for guidance on where to go with my vote on this today. MR. DARROW: Sure. Thank you, Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Good morning, Chair Inaba, Vice Chair Onishi, members of the Hawaii County Council. Jeff Darrow with the Planning Department. This project, the entire I'll begin with this specific project. This has been ongoing for quite some time. I believe back in the '90s there was a Planned Unit Development. It was amended in '04, Planned Unit Development 04-04. In that Planned Unit Development, there's been a number of amendments. The latest amendment has a condition, Condition No. 7, that speaks to the developer either doing one of two options. One was to put a mauka-makai two-lane road from the back of the subdivision to Queen Ka`ahumanu Highway, or to do four lanes for Paniolo. At this point, there's been discussion for some time now regarding the two-lane mauka-makai connector road. And again, because of the great need, that's—obviously with what has happened at Lahaina, this has come to the forefront. My understanding is there is what is called a community facilities district application that's been submitted—we're working through that—which will include money or improvements, including the mauka-makai road as well other improvements within the subdivision. So that's Page 35 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 ongoing. This will obviously help with moving this forward faster. I'm not sure how long it will take to go through the CFD (community facilities district) process. As far as the overall review, there needs to be a better requirement in the Subdivision Code for connector roads connectivity as well as accesses. There has been subdivisions that have been created without this connectivity requirement. Community development plans have been approved that have put emphasis on the requirement of continued connectivity, as well as the General Plan. We are in the process of updating the subdivision plan. That is going to be one of the key differences or updates to this plan, is this requirement for connectivity, making sure that there is viable options for access, not just one-way-in and one-way-out type of situations. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's refreshing to hear that it is being worked on. I don't want to dive into policy on that side of the fence, but thank you for that. So I think my question then is, why is the County paying for what the developer should have done in the first place? MR. DARROW: This is a request being asked for by a Council Member of the district. We have been working with the developer for a period of time. My guess is that it's not fast enough, and they would like to see things happen faster. That would be my guess. But ultimately, as I mentioned, the condition said that they had to do one of two things. It looks like the developer is working with the County to do both the four-lane improvement as well as the mauka-makai. Anything we can do to increase the speed of getting this done would help, including any money that can be provided for engineering studies. If the County ends up—and I think this has always been one of the concerns from the beginning—when the County gets involved with building new projects, new roads, you are required to have to do an environmental impact statement or an assessment. In this case, it would probably reach to the level of an impact statement, which could delay things for years. So sometimes they work out a public-private partnership to work with the County, but to allow the developer to do the improvement. And at that point, they can work right through and start construction as soon as they get their requirements done: an archaeological inventory survey for the grading permit and then being able to secure funding to move forward with studies and construction. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Who is the developer? Page 36 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MR. DARROW: My understanding, the owner is a person named Charles Sommers. There's been different entity names: Waikoloa Heights, Keokealani. Currently, I believe Nani Kai is one of the names being used. But, ultimately, the owner is Charles Sommers. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Is he continuing to develop in the area? MR. DARROW: Yes. He's in Phase 1, which is the first phase subdivision. So, beyond that, I haven't seen any plans,just Phase 1. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Is it the same developer who's created the density that we're now having to create alternate routes for? MR. DARROW: No. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: It's a different developer? MR. DARROW: No, I mean he's one developer. There's been multiple developers throughout Waikoloa Subdivision. He owns the rear portion where the potential is great to increase the density in that area. I mean, everyone sees that if the density continues to increase without that ability to have an alternative access, again it would just overwhelm it even worse than what it is now. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Has there been any private funding that you're aware of from Mr. Sommers towards the construction of the roadways? MR. DARROW: That's what's currently being worked on through the community facilities district application. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, so there's a section in the FIS (Fiscal Impact Statement)that is for private grants or other kinds of funds, even for fair share and park dedication, that kind of funding which should be, I would think, to the tune of a fairly large amount given the amount of houses that have been built in the area that these kinds of funds are dedicated for with the fair share funds. I would hope that they're there. I guess my question really is back to the maker, actually, for Mr. Hustace. Things that have been asked of me in the past were when we fill out the FIS, to make sure that we do our best to add in funds that are available from the private side or from the State. And so for this, I see a county government bond but no mention of State revolving funds or private funds that are available or fair share funds. I think those are worthwhile as far as reviewing upon working with the FIS. Page 37 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 And then for Mr. Darrow, and I guess to Mr. Sommers out there somewhere, wherever you may be, what I have found in my district and I don't want to harp too much on this, but when we allow, we create density, or whatever it is that we're going to create and we allow for that to happen but we make no requirement for the improvements that lead to public safety or minimal requirements, or we make exemptions that lessen the cost of the development itself for the developer, and then we come back 20, 30 years later and we have to pay for that as taxpayers, then we've actually done a disservice in the beginning and we're doing a disservice now. A direct example of that is the Shipman intersection. CHR. INABA: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, reel it in. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Just for example, Shipman industrial area was allowed or given concessions to limit their cost expense in behalf of the developer. Come back 20 years later, the State taxpayers paid to improve the intersection and it's ruined traffic in the area. So it's an example of the back and the forth in decades of time and what we should be doing as County, in my opinion. So I'm going to vote "no" against this today. I think you can understand my reasoning. It's not that I don't agree with the community. It's not that I don't see the need. It's that I don't like the direction and where we're stuck, and I hope to see something beautiful come from the department for the Subdivision Code to handle things like this. Thank you for the time. I yield. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. I have a couple questions for Council Member Hustace, but I'll start with you, Director Darrow, since you're at the table already. Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder mentioned fair share. I don't know if you know how much, but are there any fair share funds available to be dedicated towards this effort, to your knowledge? MR. DARROW: I don't have the numbers in front of me right now in regards to available fair share for roads. MS. KIMBALL: Bethany is coming up. MR. DARROW: Bethany has it, yeah. I would like to mention that the Waikoloa area in itself was rezoned back in 1969, and there were no conditions as part of that massive rezoning. Typically, we see a fair share condition. Unfortunately, this was during that time that they just rezoned areas without that. And a shameless plug: This is something at some point we should all look at for impact Page 38 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 fees, so that we can have the monies to be able to do these much larger projects. It's a difficult direction to go through, but once I think we get through it, it will open the doors for us to do these major infrastructure projects. (Note: At this time, Planner Bethany Morrison, Planning Department, came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. MORRISON: Just to clarify. So fair share funding, we account for it by district. And so, for the South Kohala District, that includes Waikoloa. For the roads portion, we have 46,000 and some change available for funding. MS. KIMBALL: A drop in the bucket, yeah. I think that the impact fees discussion, as well as kind of building off of what Council Member Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder is saying about developers doing more upfront, and then of course the whole issue of making affordable housing projects and deferring some of the infrastructure costs by paying it ourselves, like that's a broader discussion that I think is very important to have, especially with the revisions to Chapter 25. That's all I had for Planning. Thank you. I'm not surprised to hear that there's so little available in that regard. Council Member Hustace, I see that in FY (fiscal year) 26-27 there's State CIP there that would be dedicated towards constructionI'm going to ask all my questions at once so I can just yield and then you can respond. So is that actually committed, and is there any matching component that is required on our part? Secondly, there were comments from the testifiers about how there was a groundbreaking event. I apologize; I don't know the area better. I should. So we're still trying to identify a location? Can you kind of clarify for me what was broken? What ground was broken and why? What has been done thus far? Or are we starting at zero here with this? Those are my twoI'm going to support this because I do think it's critical for this area. But I'd like some,just for my own edification, some clarity around those two points. CHR. INABA: Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member Kimball. I appreciate your support on this. I have some other things to say as well, but I'll just, you know, when my time comes back. The 1.6 from the State CIP, that was committed this last session. But the State, our legislator for the region and Director Sniffen, decided to table it for a future endeavor, future request because the County wasn't ready, because the private developer or the partnership with the County wasn't ready. So that's the challenge. If the County's not willing to do it, if we're not willing to do it on behalf of our residents, then the State's not going to come to the table. So Director Sniffen is committed to getting funds, going Page 39 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 after the Federal dollars, whatnot, to make this happen, at least that State connection piece. So that's the commitment there. But they wanted to see that partnership with the County for sure. I hope that answers your first question. The second question. As referenced in the FIS, there's the General Plan, Chapter 5, the South Kohala CDP (Community Development Plan). So this has been, since that document in 2008, a longstanding priority for the community. And there has been some past road studies. I mentioned in 2006 there was a road study looking at many different alignments and alternatives, even with the Daniel K. Inouye Highway extension from Mamalahoa Highway to Queen Ka`ahumanu Highway. They even identified some routes. We identified other routes in the General Plan, the forthcoming General Plan. So those are all kind of mapped out there on a map. It does not really define the alternate road study kind of shows a little bit more of alignment, about potential alignments, very granular detail. And then some of those discussions have happened with the private landowner and the developers in the area for what is possible and what lands to kind of traverse through and all that. So there have been some cursory sort of alignments discussed. But in terms of, as Director Darrow says, if we take that step forward with County dollars,public dollars, it would probably trigger these environmental impact statements. So that's one thing to consider, but it's very important that we are putting our foot on the ground and marking that line, saying this is the responsibility that we have as a County. The groundbreaking was an interesting one because it was in partnership with one of the developers. The community caught wind of it after the fact for the most part. There were State legislators there. The Governor was there. I think maybe Director Sniffen was there possibly too if I remember correctly. So there was State leadership there. There was County leadership there at the time too. And they were trying to seal a commitment with the developer. The developer has been in progress of working on an emergency egress road, similar to what exists on Hulu Street. So in Waikoloa Village there's already an existing one-way egress road, and that's what the developer was trying to bring forward as well. To my knowledge, some of that with their work has been held up with SHPD, State Historic Preservation (Division), primarily because they did not seek the appropriate permits and approvals. So there's been kind of some working backwards on some of that. But that's only like a gravel road. It's nothing permanent. So this is really seeking permanency to a road to alleviate strain on a growing community. I hope that Page 40 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MS. KIMBALL: That gravel road, which I am aware of, that is not identified as the one that this money will go to to do the planning. We are still trying to identify the location for this through this money. MR. HUSTACE: Correct. And do the proper analysis and studies, feasibility analysis, those sort of things, yes. MS. KIMBALL: I'd hate to see a scenario where we've invested so much already and we still haven't gotten to Step 1. MR. HUSTACE: The private, you know, I can't reallyI don't know all their figures, but it's possible that they've invested time and energy and dollars into what they're presenting for the community. And there have been probably some study and worked on by the County, but we need to—it needs to coalesce and needs to actualize into a project. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Council Member Hustace, you still have the floor. Was there anything else you wanted to add right now before I go to Vice Chair Onishi? MR. HUSTACE: Thank you. I just want to first thank the community for you've seen the testimony come across. You've heard it time and time again, so you know that the concerns are there. And also,just to piggyback after Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder of putting some of the onus on the private developer, we also have a responsibility as a County because we're currently building an affordable housing project there in that area. We also have a large swath of land as a County, and that's listed in another project on the CIP list as Kamakoa Nui and some road development there. So we have a stake in the safety for the projects that we build out in that area too. For different demographics in the community, from the private developers' side and the homes that they're building, but also that we as County are pushing forward for the affordable side, the workforce housing side, and all that we're going to be projecting in that area years going forward. So we all have a responsibility of that area. So thank you. Thank you, Chair. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Council Member Hustace. Vice Chair Onishi. MR. ONISHL Thank you, Chair. Very interesting. Wow, that's history! I mean, I can't believe what I'm hearing. So, Director, with these County project requirements by the County to do these affordable housing, what is our responsibility or what are we going to hold these projects to for roadways and for emergency access and all of that? Are there any conditions? Page 41 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MR. DARROW: I apologize, Vice Chair Onishi. Clarification; are you asking if there's any conditions in regards connected to the affordable housing project? MR. ONISHL Yes, our County project. MR. DARROW: Typically, our affordable housing projects are exempt. We come through either through a 201H resolution, or in this case, what we call a 46-15, which basically exempts them from pretty much anything and everything. But even with that, when you do see the layout of the project, there's what appears to be a connector that is open to establish connectivity if anything was to go makai. And I believe, and Council Member Hustace can correct me, the layout of the proposed mauka-makai road was going to do a detour and connect to that particular access road, but my understanding is it is only a temporary connectivity. The main connection would be to the back of the subdivision once it was completed, which could take a long time. I mean, this is a large area that would require a lot of development. So that's my understanding in regards to connectivity or connections or conditions with the affordable housing project. MR. ONISHL Okay. Mr. Hustace, would you want to make a comment or give more information? MR. HUSTACE: Could you just ask that question one more time just for clarification? MR. ONISHL It's just that with these County projects, like it's being waived, these requirements. That would be a concern, right, because we're adding in more density and then, like you're saying, we're adding to this problem. MR. HUSTACE: Absolutely. And I've had this conversation with Administrator Costa about the capacity we're adding into that north end of the village. So there is that concern for sure. I mean, when we're adding density and capacity in the area, we need to match that capacity with infrastructure. So there has to be some give and take on some of those things. We've had this conversation about if you add it to a project, what it means to affordability too. So that's something we have to consider. MR. ONISHL I know but we've also got to consider the health and safety of area residents, right. Director Darrow, the approval of these different projects, was it done in previous councils? MR. DARROW: Are we referring to the affordable housing project? MR. ONISHI: Yes. Page 42 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MR. DARROW: Yes. MR. ONISHL Okay. MR. DARROW: Much earlier. This has been in place for quite some time. MR. ONISHL Okay. Listening to the comments of how—it's mentioned about how we lack infrastructure. It's the body of the previous councils that approved these projects, not thinking about the long term, right, like 10, 20, 30 years from now. And so that's why, for me, I wanted to put in something for flooding within the fair share. And I believe fair share is great. Maybe we need to increase the amount per unit, so that way there's more funding. Because impact is great too, but impact also impacts like schools. For example, in Kealakehe, those 2,000 homes, the developer was supposed to work with DOE (Department of Education), if I'm not mistaken, to put in a school. And I think that's part of all the rising of the cost, so they couldn't do the project. Right? I will support this amendment for you folks. Because, I cannot believe that they did a groundbreaking, didn't do the proper, I guess, research or get the proper permits. I mean, how can you do a groundbreaking when you don't even get the proper permits? That's crazy. The County was there. The State was there. They all, with the shovels, dug the ground. And then you find out that something went wrong. I mean, I cannot believe that but it happens I guess. Like you said, in the General Plan there's going to be new projects that are going to have to connect, right, within subdivisions? MR. DARROW: Correct. The General Plan talks about providing connectivity. That's our main general direction, but more specifically, our Subdivision Code that we're currently working on, that is a very focused area that we are updating to make sure that is going to be implemented across the board in subdivisions. MR. ONISHL Sorry, Chair, for kind of going off. The present subdivisions, we cannot demand them to do it, or can we? MR. DARROW: We have some flexibility, but there are times that we've battled with trying to provide connectivity because people like their particular MR. ONISHL Right. Plus they don't want more traffic. MR. DARROW: And so again MR. ONISHL And I see that in other places, yeah. Page 43 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MR. DARROW: We need to codify it so it's a requirement. MR. ONISHL Yeah, okay, good. Thanks. I'll support this. Thanks. Thanks for bringing it up, and the history. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. Just real quick, I'll be supporting this amendment mainly because I think that when people's lives in our County are at stake, regardless of who's responsible, what entity is responsible for maybe fixing the issue, we still need to step up as a County. And we can do everything we can to work with those entities that we think are responsible. And I'm glad to hear that that's continuing on and that you are continuing to work with the developer, but we can't just say it's their responsibility and walk away. So I'll be supporting. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Seeing no further lights on, thank you, Council Member Hustace, for bringing this forward. I think it just reminds the Planning Department, commissions, and this Council to pay attention when we're approving developments and making sure that conditions and infrastructure are imposed to ensure that we're not in the situation we are in right now. So there's a motion on the floor to amend Bill 32, Draft 2, with the contents of Communication 159.41, which is to add the Waikoloa Arterial Road/Kamakoa Drive for the amount of 2.5 million. All those in favor, please say "aye." Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 32, Draft 2, with the contents of Amend: Comm. 159.41 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Inaba—7. Noes: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Absent: Council Member Villegas — 1. Excused: None. Motion to Amend: Mr. Hustace moved to amend Bill 32, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 159.42. Seconded by Mr. Onishi. CHR. INABA: Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. I appreciate your support on this amendment as well. This is not as high of a priority request, but it does match the growth of that area. It's in the same area we've been talking about with the Kamakoa workforce housing and the future development on County parcels. This Page 44 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 is just a request to expand a two-lane road to a four-lane road that would match the continuity of Paniolo Avenue to that vicinity and that intersection. It's less than a one mile stretch that exhibits flooding issues and could also provide a hardened structure for a fuel break if necessary for this fire-prone community. Hoping not to see that, of course, but it would match the rest of Paniolo Drive, and address a couple of hazard issues in the area as well as kind of match the demand and need for infrastructure with the outgrowth of that area of the community. I appreciate your support. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Thank you. All those in favor, please say "aye." Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 32, Draft 2, with the contents of Amend: Comm. 159.42 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Inaba—7. Noes: None. Absent: Council Members Kierkiewicz and Villegas —2. Excused: None. Motion to Amend: Mr. Hustace moved to amend Bill 32, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 159.43. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. INABA: Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. This is a reapportionment for major repairs to the Kohala swimming pool, one of our older swimming pools in the County that has been really band-aided and fixed by community members. Parks and Rec. is aware of the issue. Administration's aware of the issue and would need substantial dollars to make the appropriate repairs to this facility. I appreciate the support. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Vice Chair Onishi. MR. ONISHL Does this include all ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)? MR. HUSTACE: It's major repairs to the pumps and waterlines and so forth. I don't know necessarily about the ADA compliance, but I'd have to speak to Parks and Rec. more about that issue. It's major repairs of a pump that's been failing for many years. MR. ONISHL Okay. Because, like in Hilo, NAS pool was renovated to make it ADA-compliant. So something to talk to them about. Page 45 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MR. HUSTACE: Thank you. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. So, Director, would this project and the subsequent one, the next one, are theseI know that there's money in the CIP for just general repair and improvements to facilities. Is there a need to break these out specifically? I was going to ask a question on the previous amendment in terms of, once we approve these capital additions to the Capital Improvement Budget, how does that work in terms of prioritization? So two questions there. MS. NAKAGAWA: Council Member, to your second question about prioritization. Once these are added to the CIP Budget and appropriated, it is really the Administration and the Mayor's evaluation through speaking with the departments and the community and Council Members about what priority in which the County will complete these projects. To these specific amendments, Parks and Recreation is here. Both of those are underway and in design, various stages, and Charmaine can correct me. But those are on the list for improvements that we're working on. And this is just a reappropriation in the CIP. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. So these were already in progress through these line items, not the repair maintenance general CIP of the department. MS. NAKAGAWA: To your question about the general repair, those are usually smaller projects that the department can kind of tackle with they're just smaller. Once it comes to design and a bigger project, then those are usually identified in the CIP. But smaller ones are usually for the repair and maintenance budget. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Council Member Hustace, on this one and the previous one, the amount that you're identifying for these, those are numbers coming from the department or ? CHR. INABA: Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. I appreciate the question. This figure is a reappropriation. So this is exactly from what was lapsing. So this figure was pulled right from a lapsed report. The previous one was in conversation with DPW, to answer your question. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Yeah. I know it's a little uncharacteristic, but I was interested in the $5 million number for a mile worth of road. I'll talk to Acting Director Azevedo after about that. But I wonder—I have limited knowledge Page 46 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 about this particular project, but I wonder if 5 million is enough, given some of the conversations I've had about similar issues at the Honoka`a pool. So, yeah, I mean we can always come back and amend, but just wondering if that's the right number. MS. NAKAGAWA: Just speaking with our Parks and Recreation Department, once we get through design, we'll have a better handle on the actual cost. And like you mentioned, pools around the island are having some challenges, so we could better assess the funding amounts as we move forward. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. I yield, Chair. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. For Parks, I'm just wondering if you could tell us why Parks allowed this project to lapse. MS. FELIPE: Thank you. Charmaine Felipe, Business Manager of Parks and Recreation. For the Kohala swimming pool, it's still in the design phase. It does also include ADA improvements. So it's not that we're allowing it to lapse. It's going through the process and needing more time to complete the project. For the Kalani Schutte District Park, it involves State funds. CHR. INABA: Sorry, we're just on the pool right now. We'll get to that. Thank you. MS. FELIPE: Oh, okay. MS. KAGIWADA: Yeah. Okay. I guess I'm still not sure why you didn't just— why you allowed it to lapse if you are still obviously working on it. If you're in the design phase, you're still continuing to work on the project. MS. FELIPE: So when they're appropriated, they're given an expiration, right. And that expiration date is coming too. And so we just want to make sure we extend that expiration date. MS. KAGIWADA: All right. So you asked the you were in agreement with the Council Member that this MS. FELIPE: Yes. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay, that's all I needed to know. Thank you. All right, I yield. Page 47 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 CHR. INABA: Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 32, Draft 2 as amended, with the contents of Communication 159.43 this is for the Kohala swimming pool repairs reappropriation of$5 million. All in favor,please say "aye." Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 32, Draft 2, with the contents of Amend: Comm. 159.43 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Inaba—7. Noes: None. Absent: Council Members Kierkiewicz and Villegas —2. Excused: None. Motion to Amend: Mr. Hustace moved to amend Bill 32, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 159.44. Seconded by Mr. Onishi. CHR. INABA: Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. This is reappropriating funds for the Spencer Kalani Schutte District Park for expansion of recreational fields. There is currently a CIP request in the budget for very specifically a community center evacuation shelter at the same facility. But these are funds specifically for the recreational side. The project and the park itself,part of the first phase has been built out. And this would kind of help move the process along, appropriated funds that would be lapsing. Thank you, Chair. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Discussion on this amendment? Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thanks. So, Parks again. So just to understand, money has already been spent on this particular project or not? This is new money that is not a continuing—it says for a master plan. Do you have funds that have already been spent on design or anything like that already? MS. FELIPE: So with this project, the design is being covered by a nonprofit organization, and that's already been executed. We're just waiting for the final report, and then to get the cost of what the proj ect's going to look like. Page 48 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. I guess to the maker thank you you've asked for CIP but you do not have that, it doesn't look like, at this point. And if you do get that, will there be a match that's required? MR. HUSTACE: There has been some discussion thank you, Chair. There's been some discussion with State partners and private landowners around the area to foresee and match what has been to make it consistent with the regional park master plan. So these are just making sure that we're allowing and giving Parks the opportunity to expand the play and recreational facilities there. MS. KAGIWADA: So this money would be the match. You wouldn't have to come up with extra money for a match. MR. HUSTACE: It's hard to say. These are funds that I saw on the lapsing report that I just wanted to reappropriate, so that we don't lose that opportunity and have to come back as a new project entirely. There is progress on a very specific aspect of it, like a community shelter, an emergency shelter, community building. But these are really, like I said, for the play fields and just didn't want this project to lapse. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. Sounds like a good project. Thank you, I yield. CHR. INABA: Further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 32, Draft 2 as amended, with the contents of Communication 159.44, reappropriation of funds in the amount of$5 million for the improvement and expansion of Spencer Kalani Schutte District Park,please say "aye." Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 32, Draft 2, with the contents of Amend: Comm. 159.44 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Inaba—7. Noes: None. Absent: Council Members Kierkiewicz and Villegas —2. Excused: None. Motion to Amend: Mr. Hustace moved to amend Bill 32, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 159.45. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. INABA: Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. This one is a little bit different than the others you've seen. But we had one testifier earlier this morning from the Puako Page 49 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 community. A lot of you know about the challenges in our reef areas and low- lying coastal communities. And there's an opportunity here to support community, and this would have to be there's also myself with the community working with Director Nakagawa and Department of Finance as they pursue different avenues of funding. This would kind of initiate some initial phasing for design and survey for sewer improvements to sewering that community. There are opportunities to work with the private landowners in the area. Yesterday, we—well, was it yesterday? It was actually on Tuesday we were looking at the valuation of a lot of our properties across the island, taxable assessments for land and facilities across South Kohala. One of the line items in there talks about our valuation of our resort communities. They're valued at $1.9 billion for the entire County. District 9 alone carries about 1.2 billion of that value. So there's a relationship we have with our residential communities, our resort communities in the health and benefits of our nearshore reefs. And as mentioned by the testifier, the health of the reef is struggling drastically. So we have an opportunity to take that step forward and take responsibility and improve some of the situations along our coastal communities. So this is asking for $1 million to go towards a survey. Now, there's some interesting conversations with the community members and the community groups, specifically Puako for Reefs, about establishing a revolving fund that could be potentially used by other similar communities in this sort of scenario. And that's something I would have to work with the Finance Department on to kind of establish that and work with all of you to kind of see how that plays out at the County level. They are pursuing funding from USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) as an opportunity for construction purposes, and also working through a community facilities district to kind of pay off those loans and so forth. So that's something that community's willing to take on and explore. We do have to provide some sort of analysis at the County level for the homeowners that would be most affected by a CFD and those sort of impacts on those homes, like long- existing residences there. So we have to consider that in the equation. Willing to work with our Finance Department on how we make it equitable in that community there. But there is some work going on behind the scenes with this community nonprofit, Puako for Reefs, with Department of Environmental Management as well as Finance Department to find solutions in that area. And I'm happy to be a part of that conversation and help that process move forward. And it would really be setting a precedent of what they're looking at to find solutions in that area. It's Page 50 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 a small community, and they have an opportunity to connect with existing wastewater facilities in the resort community. So there is an opportunity for a public-private partnership in that area. And taking this step forward, moving the needle on this would hopefully help pull in the State as well. There are State facilities in that area that should be a part of this conversation and part of this process—with a boat ramp, with a number of public beach parks in the area that should eventually be connected to some sort of sewer system in that area to eliminate any of the challenges and detriment to our reefs. So thank you for your support and I welcome any questions you might have. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: So I'm crystal clear, the intention is to use the community facilities district to create the revolving fund that this money will be sourced from? Am I understanding that correctly, or is that another ? MR. HUSTACE: Kind of the experts here, Barbara Bell and Roy Takemoto, are kind of working on this with the community nonprofits. It really would be to establish a revolving fund at the County that they could pull from for the design of the sewer system. And that would be repaid and other communities could pay. It's still a work in progress about what that lens looks like, but this is the approach that they want to take that could establish some sort of revolving fund in the County for similar sort of wastewater replacement systems. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. So the source of funding into this revolving fund is not actually identified, but with this amendment, you're just basically creating that bucket for it to go in to be directed towards this project in the future. MR. HUSTACE: Correct. And the community facilities district, that chapter mentions revolving funds but we've never—we kind of need to explore that a bit further as an opportunity. MS. KIMBALL: I'm curious in particular because I have another CFD project that's kind of in the early stages. There's a lot of information about that process, so appreciate this opportunity to understand it a little bit. At this stage, there's really, with this project, no clear plan about who will ultimately own, manage, and operate the system that is installed. This is still more directed towards the planning about potential process. Again, I'm just looking for further explanation about the description of the project. CHR. INABA: Is someone here from Department of Environmental Management? Page 51 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MR. HUSTACE: Chair, I can speak to it as best as I can. CHR. INABA: Yeah, I want to try and avoid as much of this back and forth as we can. MR. HUSTACE: Sorry, Chair. CHR. INABA: But go ahead, Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you. The wastewater facility is privately owned: Hawaii American Waters. The sewer line would be owned by the County. And there are components that—the private landowners would have a component of that system that would tap into. There's a responsibility the private landowners would also have, too, but the sewer line would be in the County right of way. CHR. INABA: Thank you. I believe we have someone joining from Kona chambers. DEM, anything to add at this time regarding Council Member Kimball's questions? (Note: At this time, Acting Wastewater Division Chief Chris Sparber, Environmental Management Department, came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. SPARBER: My name is Chris Sparber, Wastewater Division Acting Chief. Thank you, Council, for having me today. Council Member Kimball, could you please just to make sure I understand correctly, you're asking for information as to operation and maintenance of that facility? Or did you want additional information about the project itself? MS. KIMBALL: I'm just looking for some additional clarity around the program description that's being provided to us in the amendment, and specifically to what extent some of these decisions have been made. Particularly, will we be building and owning and operating the collection? I do understand that it's potentially going to go to the Mauna Lani wastewater treatment plant. Is that decision official yet? I'd just like some clarity on the current status, and then what decisions have been made in terms of the long-term operation and maintenance and ownership. MR. SPARBER: Yeah, so at this point, I would say this whole CFD process is at the conceptual level at this point. There are a lot of questions about who will own and operate the system, and things that I think we still need to address. However, per the FIS sheet that I see, it looks like the funding is for design and planning. And the details of the CFD ownership, operation would be worked out as the project progresses. Page 52 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Thank you for that clarity. The only reason I show any hesitation is because if we are ultimately not going to own this collection system or any part of it, the appropriateness of spending County funds towards that. But then you're creating this bucket for the revolving fund so that it's a little convoluted. I'm going to support it just because I think it sounds like a necessary step to just create this bucket. But I do want to go maybe more into detail with you and the department, particularly because we're having some conversations about other areas. And if we have a consistent approach, I think that's going to be the best for all of us. So thank you. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Council Member Kimball. Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Deputysorry, what is your role? MR. SPARBER: Acting Wastewater Division Chief. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Acting Chief, thank you for your time this morning. Were any of the EPA consent decrees—were any of that regarding the Puako sewer system that were already or have been discussed in the past five years? MR. SPARBER: In terms of the applicability of any AOCs (Administrative Orders on Consent) to this specific project, we're required to, overall, as a community have a plan for wastewater management. So the way that this community would fit into that is we would need to address how to manage the wastewater within that plan. Now, there's a portion of the AOCs that are specific to capital improvement projects, and no capital improvement projects for this area were identified. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Really? Why is that? MR. SPARBER: So the reason is that the overall state of our facilities needs to be addressed. And the focus of the AOCs at that time were to address noncompliant or unaddressed maintenance issues. And you see that in the Na`alehu and Pahala AOC, which is ongoing noncompliance with the large capacity cesspools. And then you also see that with the CIP projects with respect to Hilo, Papa`ikou, Kulaimano, and other specifics identified. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Is it because this system—did you say this system is privately owned? MR. SPARBER: Are you talking about the Puako area? Page 53 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes, correct. MR. SPARBER: No, it didn't have to do with being privately owned per se. But what it had to do is the cesspools and those type of infrastructures need to be converted by 2050, which is a State mandate. But the EPA consent decrees focused on generally existing facilities for CIP-related projects. Now, planning level, Puako is contained within the requirement for the County to identify how we deal with our wastewater as a whole. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Sorry, I'm a little confused and it might just be me. Is there an existing sewer system in Puako? MR. SPARBER: So in Puako, from my understanding, is that you have onsite disposal systems. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Onsite being individual septic systems or cesspools? MR. SPARBER: Correct. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay,just like the rest of our island; we have that everywhere. Okay, so? MR. SPARBER: And so, as far as the AOCs are concerned, we need to have those onsite cesspools closed by 2050. So the AOCs require us to come up with a strategy, and an overall wastewater management plan. So that's part of the AOC that touches the Puako community. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I mean, I think I could apply that AOC to any and all cesspools across the island. Am I misunderstanding something? MR. SPARBER: No. But that's how it would impact or apply to that community. It also applies to the cesspool in my front yard as well. But in terms of a specific CIP project, none were identified for Puako. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So this FIS we're looking at is specific for the Puako sewer improvements for a million dollars, but there's no existing sewer system. So this is to create a pot of funds that will help people address cesspools in the area? MR. SPARBER: I would say yes. Page 54 Hawaii County Council-14 May 22,2025 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, to the maker of the amendment, was the intent I mean, understanding this is district-specific, but understanding we have island-wide problems. But I'm trying to grasp it—well, the intention's clear actually. That's okay. Chair, I yield. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Just maybe clarifying, like any project across our island that would require significant resources from the County to either improve or create new, we need a CIP project in our CIP Budget. And that's what all of these amendments here today are doing. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of amending Bill 32, Draft 2 as amended, with the contents of Communication 159.45, the addition of$1 million appropriation for the Puako sewer improvements,please say "aye." Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 32, Draft 2, with the contents of Amend: Comm. 159.45 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Inaba—7. Noes: None. Absent: Council Members Kierkiewicz and Villegas —2. Excused: None. Vote on Bill 32 The motion to pass Bill 32, Draft 2, as amended to Draft 3, Draft 3): on first reading and adopt Finance Committee Report (Approved) No. 37 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Inaba—7. Noes: None. Absent: Council Members Kierkiewicz and Villegas —2. Excused: None. CHR. INABA: Bill 32, as amended to Draft 3, passes first reading. Our second and final reading of the budget is scheduled for Thursday, June 5 h, 2025, beginning at 9:00 a.m. here in Hilo chambers. Thank you all. OTHER The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Other BUSINESS: Business. (There were none.) Page 55 Hawai`i County Council-14 May 22,2025 ANNOUNCE- The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, MENTS: Announcements. (There were none.) ADJOURN- There being no further business, Chair Inaba adjourned the meeting at 12:16 p.m. MENT: Council Approval: AUG 2 0 2025 SCJ:1TT JH/dg Page 56