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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN CRCOC 2025/10/07 (2024-2026) DRAFT Committee on Communications, Reports, and Council Oversight 12th Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii October 7, 2025 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Communications, Reports, and ORDER: Council Oversight was called to order at 2:44 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Acting Chair.' ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Chair(came in later) Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Vice Chair Mr. James E. Hustace, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba,Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Mr. Matt Kdneali`i-Kleinfelder,Member (came in later) Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Member Absent& Excused: Ms. Ashley .'Kierkiewicz, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: (There were none.) Change Order As directed by the Chair and with no objection from the Committee Members, the of Business: following item was taken out of order: Comm. 512: REQUESTS A PRESENTATION BY THE ADMINISTRATION REGARDING CONTRACT REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL NO. 4575 —COMMUNITY-BASED MENTAL HEALTH CENTER From Council Member Holeka Goro Inaba, dated September 18, 2025. Motion to Close File: Mr. Inaba moved to close file on Comm. 512. Seconded by Mr. Onishi. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: Alright. With that, I'll go ahead and hand things over to Council Member Inaba to move forward. CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 MR. INABA: Thank you, Chair Villegas. We have joining us today, Deputy Director Dennis Lin from the Department of Research and Development(R&D) and also Director(Diane) Nakagawa, if there's additional questions. But I want to hand it over at this time to Deputy Director. Pointing members to Communication 512.1, which is provided in your"pinkies"today; quite a large document provided by the department to give us an overview. And I asked for this presentation after our last Committee meeting where a change order report alerted the Council to the cancellation of this specific contract totaling $3.8+ million. So Deputy Director, can you give us a timeline and a recap of what happened and where we are now. (Note: At this time, Research and Development beputy Director Dennis Lin came forward to address,the°members ofthe Committee.) MR. LIN: Absolutely. Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Council Members. So in your packet there I basically laid.out, one is the cover letter with the events that happened and then the rest of it is, you know, the stop work order, the notice to proceed that was provided to the applicant, and then the original RFP (Request for Proposal), and then some of the supporting,documents such as the expenses that were expended by the applicant. So basically this is part of the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds and on September 6, 2024, we issued the RFP 4575 seeking for proposals for qualified applicants who established a community-based mental health center with what's called a crisis stabilization unit. And this was supposed to be to help with, to alleviate the burden of first responders,you know, so they don't have to have these mentally ill or keep having,mental experience having to go to the emergency room., So we issued our RFP hoping to get an applicant to do the project. In that RFP gas to secure a lease to operate the unit as well as to operate a 24/7 crisis stabilization unit. On December 2nd; the contract for the RFP was awarded to Hawaii Island Community Health Center in the amount of$3.845 million. The initial payment to start the project was $576,750, and the expected completion date was October 31 2026. So following the awarding of the contract, we then got a notice on March 7' from the applicant saying that we did not get the lease to this facility, so they were kind of at a standstill. So they're asking us what our thoughts are; can we help? And then we scheduled a meeting at that time to discuss what other deficiencies that they may have. On March 18t', you know, we met with them to discuss any further progression. Following that meeting, on March 28t', we sent a list of questions trying to clarify some of the issues regarding operational concerns as well as, you know, obtaining another facility to operate the crisis stabilization unit. Page 2 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 So following that, on April 7 h, we received the responses. We were a bit concerned with the responses we received so we said, okay, let's take a pause here. We issued a stop work order, which is part of the ARPA mechanism that we can use to evaluate their current work. So then we kind of looked at it again and said, "Hey, we have some concerns and are you able to address these concerns?" We gave them the list of questions that we had, and they had until June 13'h to answer them. In their April 24 h response they said that their unit could not be started until January of 2026, and it would not be a 24/7 operation as stated in the original RFP and the awarding of the RFP. In addition to that, because we didn't get the original lease to the desired facility, they have to go to a different facility that they currently operated, but they asked the County to fund the entire operation'of that facility. The ARPA funds were specifically granted to just fund the space that's used to operate the crisis intervention unit. It was not meant to fund the operation of a medical clinic. So in May, we had discussion with the Corporation.Counsel and the health center's attorney to then cancel the order and mutually request termination of the contract because of the operational concerns and their inability to complete the project by the December,3 Ist deadline for ARPA funding. In June, they asked for extension of that order, and>we did grant the request and then we had some back and forth between,'you know, what expenses that the County;would pay for and wouldn't pay for, And ultimately, on June 11t', a supplemental agreement was signed with the County and the health center to mutually terminate the contract; ,Upon that agreement, the health center agreed to refund a total of$498,000 and some,change. We agreed that some of the things were dune in good,faith, you know, such as some hires that they did, as well as some training that they went to, to get educated on best practices for running a crisis stabilization unit. So we felt that is still a benefit to our community and, you know, it's not that we don't support mental health and this type of facility, it's just the ARPA funding was very specific in the way it was written in this RFP and the way it's supposed to be used. So, you know, it's not that we don't support it, it's just that we had to make sure it was used properly. So based on that agreement we received a check for that first initial payment in the amount of$498,248.84 on September 19t', so last month. And as of today, both sides have no further issues. Basically, legally both obligations are complete. MR. INABA: Thank you, Deputy Director. MR. LIN: Thank you. Page 3 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 MR. INABA: So some questions regarding this. In terms of the scope of work, you know, mental health is not necessarily something that the County is always involved in so I'm trying to understand when we set aside this amount of money—and I want to preface this with I know this was prior to this administration. So this was under the (Mitchell) Roth Administration. The scope of work for this contract, is that something that was well thought out and clearly understood by the applicant, Hawaii Island Community Health Center? MR. LIN: Yeah. I'm not able to speak for the previous administration that issued the RFP, but if it was under our current administration, you know, the County has not had a health and human services aspect traditionally.,So when something like this comes to our desk, I personally would have wanted,a,longer lee time to develop the RFP and have a better understanding of what the current systems in place before issuing an RFP to get this crisis stabilization unit- In the process though, when the RFP was issued, there was one applicant and there was no questions. I mean, so getting any expectations upfront of what is expected of them to complete the contract that MR. INABA: Thank you. Director Nakagawa, if you could come forward. You're the only one in the room I believe who was here at the time. So I'm trying to get a good understanding,we only had one applicant but in comparison to the other RFPs that we put out and the agreements that were executed for these ARPA funds. Have there been other issues of this sort outside of this one with Hawaii Island Community Health Center? (Note: At this time, Finance Director Diane Nakagawa came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. NAKAGAWA: Diane Nakagawa, Finance Department. Through the RFPs thatwe put outfor ARPA in the later 2024, I believe this is the only one with this challenge of having to terminate a contract. MR. INABA: And,the scope of work, because it's maybe not so traditional for the County, is this something that was really well thought out or what was the time; was this any different than any of the other agreements that we executed in terms of the timeline and specifications? MS'NAKAGAWA: So I think what everyone learned through that process in 20�4 to get out all these contracts is the scope of work is extremely critical; it becomes the contract. And so it should be a very well thought out process. And time, I think we all know time was limited to get these contracts out. Even a September issue date didn't leave us a lot of time to get through the 30-day posting and contract execution. So I can imagine that it was something that had to be pushed to get out the door. Page 4 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 MR. INABA: Yeah. I mean, we kind of know. We've had so many discussions about ARPA funding and when it comes to the timeframe in which they were—so they were supposed to, again, can you clarify, Deputy Director, when they were supposed to begin providing services, and this was for Hilo, right? MR. LIN: This was for Hilo. Correct. MR. INABA: So when were they supposed to start providing services? MR. LIN: So based on their project timeline itwas supposed to have started in the summer of this year. MR. INABA: And they stated that theywouldn't start until,January. MR. LIN: They wouldn't be operational until January. MR. INABA: Okay. So a six-month delay. And then we issued out approximately $576,000 and we've gotten'back $498,000. So can you, besides the travel, it says that we're denying their request to pay for furniture. Did they purchase $54,000 worth of furniture? MR. LIN: Yes. They did. So there was npersonnel and benefits paid to this health center crisis employees from April Vt through 14th, and then any expenditures that they did,you know, in good faith before that, the Mayor had agreed to pay for. But-they also wanted to bill us for the $54,000 in specialized furniture for the crisis stabilization unit that we agreed that we are not going to pay. MR. INABA: Okay. Well that's good news because that's absurd. You mentioned the Mayor approved some of the travel, what kind of approval? Maybe Director Nakagawa,you can speak to this in terms of—this is Mayor Roth or Mayor Alameda? MS. NAKAGAWA- I apologize. So in any contract review it's not more of an approval, it is looking at the contract to look at allowable expenses. So in conjunction with Corporation Counsel, we looked at the allowable expenses such as primarily salaries and wages, and the initial training that they did to get geared up, which was part of the overall scope of work that they intended to do. So the initial expenses were allowable per the contract, and that's what was determined. MR. LIN: Yeah. And just to clarify, when I say, "Mayor approved," is when they came back, you know, when we did the stop order and said,you know, what are we willing to pay for. That's what the Mayor is approving, is the travel and the salaries that they did for the ramp up period. Page 5 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 MR. INABA: I'm a little confused though. Something that was agreed upon at the contract wouldn't need mayor approval. So Director Nakagawa? MS. NAKAGAWA: Yeah. So if it's in the contract, of course anyone doing the program oversight would review the contract and look for those expenses that are allowable and that did occur for this contract. I think this also happened when expenses were being invoiced simultaneously during discussions of the stop work order and as we were kind of unraveling what costs.should and should not be paid at that time, it was determined that the costs that are no longer going to be necessary because the project is not happening, those the County would not allow. But those salaries and wages and services that were'allowable under the contract should be paid. So I think these were just kind of mixing up the or just simultaneous discussions of when these events happened and turning in invoices as well as discussing how to close out the contract and remaining expenses. MR. INABA: And that's a grey area if you will because we paid With the taxpayers' dollars monies for training for their staff when they weren't ever going to be able to utilize and actually carry out the scope of what is here within the timeframe that they had agreed to, correct? MS. NAKAGAWA: That is correct. MR. INABA: So where does that leave us right now? Because $3.8 million of ARPA funding that we had to get under contract by the end of last year, we spent hours discussing this, not so much for mental health but for early childhood education, but,where does that leave us now in terms of providing these services to our community and are we going to be able to do that or not? MS. NAKAGAWA': So these specific services, so we have reviewed the ARPA guidelines very closely with Corporation Counsel and it is very limited to what we can do to reappropriate the use of these funds. It would be allowable. For this particular use, if we had another applicant, that could be possible. The timeframe is very, eery difficult at this point given we are at the end of 2025 to spend it in 2026. However, we only had one respondent for this particular RFP, so that would not be something we would be able to do. So we took a look at all of the ARPA contracts, we spoke with the departments that have oversight over these contracts to see what the ability was to repurpose these funds on already existing contracts. We looked at the ARPA quarterly report we recently submitted that looked at the status of completion of each of these contracts. So a lot of what we see today are less than 40 percent, 30 percent. So the R&D contracts and speaking with the department, they are not able to add additional funds to their contract. So that really limits our repurposing of this funds. Page 6 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 The ERP (Environmental Review Program)project in underway; the water project is also underway. What it really comes down to is the Pahala Collections Wastewater project that is over $30 million, and we previously committed $14 million from ARPA funds. MR. INABA: So have we been in discussion with the federal government regarding this contract or are we planning to return the $3.8 million? MS. NAKAGAWA: No. We're not planning to return the $3.8 million, we're planning to repurpose that into the approved Pahala Collection System Wastewater project. MR. INABA: Okay. And that was approved or agreed upon:with the federal government or we're in the process? MS. NAKAGAWA: Yeah. I meant we've checked the allowances. Like I said, we worked with Corporation Counsel tee see if that's something we can do. And it's also looking at what projects can be completed. So that project in talking with DEM (Department of Environmental Management) is on track to finish, which is we need to get it finished by next year. And when we do that, we can reallocate the $3.8 million, those band funding to other projects, MR. INABA: Okay. And Deputy bisector,regarding the lease. So we were willing as part of the agreement'and the scope to fund some lease? MR. LIN: Correct. MR. INABA_ Just not an entire facility that was outside the scope of the program: MR. LIN: Yeah. The agreement was to fund the lease for the operation of the crisis stabilization:unit area only. What transpired is that the new location that they chose was an existing clinic that they see not just mental health patients but regular patients as well. And so it was trying to figure out, okay, what area are you going to be using to fund this unit and can you give us the actual square footage so'we can determine the lease. MR. INABA: Got it. Alright. So I think this just takes us back to a bigger conversation of what are we doing with our grant management because we're scrambling now to make sure that$3.8 million isn't wasted and that the public here in the County of Hawaii gets what they deserve. In this case, the organization dropped the ball. You've stated that they've never clarified any kind of conditions or the scope of the agreement, right? So what are we doing as a County to make sure we track this type of activity so that it doesn't happen with the same organization or any other organization moving forward? Page 7 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 MR. LIN: So I can say from R&Ds standpoint, we are now going through a reevaluation of our impact grants. So in the past there have been impact grants that were awarded that not necessarily would be the best appropriate applicant in terms of did they meet all the qualifications of our RFP. So I changed the qualifications or the requirements for the impact grants for this round for evaluations like getting all the documents up front, so we can make sure that is this organization in good standing? Does it have actual financial statements we can evaluate what's the history of the organization; is it just starting or has it been in existence for 20 plus years? There's a higher or a bigger lens looking at these grants now just because we don't want to have similar situations where somehow, we awarded somebody money and halfway through"they said, "Well our organization ran out of money," or "We can't,do the project anymore." That's not what we want. So this year in impact grants,,we've changed some of the requirements to address some of the issues. But ultimately, it's more monitoring by our specialist to ensure certain,benchmarks. And when we do the project timeline, what are the deliverables that they promised to do and cauve hold them to it. MR. INABA: Exactly. I mean, this goes back to an issue I think across the County, not specific to R&D,but even it's thngs,that we're trying to work on with the Council in terms of reporting and making,sure that people are meeting what they say they're going to meet and the timeline that they say they're going to meet it. Last question. So the scope was created during the previous administration, correct? MR. LIN: Correct. MR. INABA: Okay. I think, you know, I bring this to the Council for us to be aware. I mean, we bought sometimes at$50,000. This is $3.8 million that was supposed to provide much needed services to the Hilo community for mental health and we know we need it not just in Hilo, but across the island. So thank you for providing this communication with the comprehensive information from the scope of work to,the contract, the stop order, all of it. I'm hoping that we can make sure we get these funds out and helping Ka`u now with the wastewater. But I'll yield at'this time. Thank you so much for this presentation. ACTING CHR. VILLEGAS: I just quickly want to go ahead and with Council Methber Galimba having a turn, if you'd like to take over the Chair? Let the record show that I am relinquishing the Chair back to Council Member Galimba. Relinquish Chair: At this time, Acting Chair Villegas relinquished the chair to Chair Galimba. CHR. GALIMBA: Thank you, Council Member Villegas. Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Page 8 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. To the department, the funds have to be contracted by 2025? MS. NAKAGAWA: They had to be contracted by the end of 2024. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So how do you go back and recontract now? MS. NAKAGAWA: So the allowance is for those contracts that are already an approved ARPA contract that was executed. That's why it limits the ability of what we can do to reappropriate those funds. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: To an existing contract. MS. NAKAGAWA: Correct. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER ,Okay. Thank you. I yield. CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Ka'giuwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. Just following up on Chair Inaba's kind of summary there. What are we;doing now to kind'of fulfill the promise to the community for mental health services now that we no longer can utilize these funds for that purpose? MR. I N: So understanding that the Mayor is from the mental health profession, we still are supporting various mental health organizations, and we still have existing two ARIA contracts in that mental health realm. So one is also through West Hawaii Community Health Center, but this is for mental literacy, and the other one is Mental 'Hea1thAmerica Hawaii for Suicide Prevention. And then through the Mayor's Office, Erin Samura is working closely with Yoshi Otake from;my office on different mental health aspects and utilizing those opioid settlement funds as part of that effort. MS. KAGIWADA: Has the need for crisis intervention gone away? MR. LIN: No. That need has not gone away. MS:KAGIWADA: So is that something we'll be addressing in the future? MR. LIN: That is something that Erin and Yoshi are entertaining right now as part of like potentially a mobile crisis intervention unit. So instead of people having to go there, that mobile unit can go to the people. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay, okay. Alright. Well, once again, yeah, disappointing how this worked out. Very glad to see, thank you Finance Department, for Page 9 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 scrabbling to get this money out and not lose it. Obviously going to a worthy project that we need funding for anyway so that's good, but very disappointing that we cannot use the funds for what they were intended for. So yeah, looking to support whatever we can do to try to, you know, fill that gap that we promised to the community. MR. LIN: Absolutely. MS. KAGIWADA: Alright. Thank you. I yield. MR. LIN: Thank you. CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member aneaJ `i-Kleinfelder. - MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Why was the, what was it Pahala?° MS. NAKAGAWA: The wastewater project` MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah., MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes.' MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDEk:' Why that out of everything else we have contracted? MS. NAKAGAWA: At the time, it was timing. So that project we had to meet contract execution by last year, as I mentioned. It has to be project completion by 2026. So that was the wastewater project that was in line with timing. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Were there any other projects that met the timeline? MS. NAKAGAWA': Wastewater. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: But it didn't have to be wastewater. MS. NAKAGAWA: It didn't have to be wastewater, but wastewater was a specific category under the ARPA guidelines and a high priority and need for us so that's where we focused. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you. CHR. GALIMBA: Seeing no other lights, all in favor of closing file on Communication 512, please say "aye." Page 10 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 Vote on Comm. 512: The motion to close file on Comm. 512 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Hustace, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Galimba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kierkiewicz- 1. :,, Excused: None. CHR. GALIMBA: So let's go to the top of the agenda. Return to Order The Chair directed the Committee to return to the order of business. of Business: COMMUNI- The Acting Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. (Note: An item in this category was taken up previously, out of order.) Comm. 35.3: QUARTERLY AFFORDABLE HOUSING REPORT: APRIL 1 — JUNE 30, 2025 From Housing Administrator Kehaulani M;Costa, dated August 26, 2025, transmitting the above report pursuant to Section 11-19 of the Hawaii County Code. Motion to Close File: r Mr. Inaba moved to close file on Comm. 35.3. Seconded by Ms. Kagiwada. CHR. GALIMBA: Administrator Costa. (Note: At this time, Housing Administrator Kehaulani M. Costa came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. COSTA: Good afternoon. Kehau Costa, Housing Administrator. This is our quarterly report. It goes by pretty quick, the quarter. I feel like I was just here. No major changes except that we did have a developer sell 6.5 housing credits to another developer for satisfaction of an obligation. That's the significant change. There are some changes on the inventory, but they aren't County inventory. There's some units added for youth housing through HOPE Services. You all have asked that some of the housing that's provided by other organizations be included on this report. CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Villegas. Page 11 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah. Just a quick question. I see that the affordable housing credits were sold by Armstrong Companies LLC to RJL LLC. Do we have any idea how much those sold for? MS. COSTA: I don't have that in this. It's not part of this report. MS. VILLEGAS: Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. Do we know where the developments are, Armstrong Companies versus RJL? MS. COSTA: So I can give you that information'later. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. MS. COSTA: But it's not part of this report, yeah. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. Gotcha: No worries, Just curious. MS. COSTA: I understand. Yeah. MS. VILLEGAS: I haven"",seen affordable housing credits move in quite a while. And after things that have happened in the past; I appreciate that I'm sure you are watching like a hawk as well for these thing's. MS. COSTAE Yes. MS. VILLEGAS: But looks like everything else is pretty much the status—not status quo but continues unchanged at this time. MS. COSTA: Correct. MS: VILLEGAS:,, Okay. Thank you. I yield. CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thanks for recognizing me. So just a quick question in response to what Council Member Villegas just asked. Are you unable to give that information because it's confidential in some way? I mean, I think it's within the scope of the discussion that it could be shared unless there's some reason that it can't be public information. MS. COSTA: I don't believe that it's not public information. We probably have that information within our Community Development Division. It's just not part of the template of the report that's typical. We can add that detail later if appropriate. Page 12 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 MS. KIMBALL: Okay. So more succinctly, you don't have that information in front of you. MS. COSTA: Not in front of me. Yes. MS. KIMBALL: Got it. Okay. I would appreciate a follow up communication with that information on that. MS. COSTA: Yeah, no problem. CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Inaba., MR. INABA: Yeah. I just wanted to follow up. I believe the code now requires your approval of the transfer, so I just wanted to kind of see how,that worked internally for your office in terms of the developer reaching out and,your office confirming that the credits were real and, you know, how the accounting works because this was subject to a federal investig tion.- . MS. COSTA: Yes. So any transfer, sale or transfer of affordable housing credits has to be vetted and approved or vetted through our Community Development Division. It goes through multiple steps. We have housing specialists who are familiar with the affordable housing agreements and obligations, the inventory of credits, they verify that those credits are legitimate credits that are able to be transferred or sold and that itwill meet the'obligation within the affordable housing agreement. That is approved by the Division Manager or Community Development. Once that is approved it comes to me for review; I review it, approve it, and then the satisfaction,the recordation of satisfaction also goes through Corporation Counsel of course and then we record the satisfaction and transfer of safe. Then update you here at Council so you see where the credits are moving and there's a constant inventory of those credits and they balance out. MR. INABA: Perfect. J think the system that we've established is working based on this report and it gives us a little comfort. So thank you to you and the team. MS. COSTA: Yup. And then next quarter when I come, I'll bring some of the detail on this transfer for you. Mk. INABA: Yeah. And speaking to that,you know, this is a template that was established by the previous administration after the Council passed ordinance and there's no set perimeters on what it looks like. So if you think there should be more information,please go ahead with that. MS. COSTA: Got it. MR. INABA: Thank you. Chair, I yield. Page 13 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 MS. COSTA: Thank you. CHR. GALIMBA: Thank you. Seeing no other lights, all in favor of closing file on Communication 35.3, please say "aye." Vote on Comm. 35.3: The motion to close file on Comm. 35.3 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Hustace, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Galimba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kiukiewicz 1. Excused: None. CHR. GALIMBA: Next item,please. Comm. 506: REQUESTS A PRESENTATION BY THE KELI`I WILLIAM IOANE LEGACY FOUNDATION'S KEAUKAHA STEWARDSHIP PILOT PROGRAM REGARDING KU'U HOME O KEAUKAHA: RESPECTFUL VISITATION OF OUR COMMUNITY SPACES From Council Member Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, dated September 15, 2025. Motion to Close File: Mr, Onishi moved to close file on Comm. 506. Seconded by Mr,Hustace. CHR, GALIMBA: Council Member Onishi. MR. ONISHT: Just,wa'ntod to introduce `Aina Ioane, and she'll be doing the presentation. So you want to say something before you do your presentation or you can just go into it. (Note: At this time, Keli`i William Ioane Legacy Foundation Executive Director `Ainaaloha Ioane came forward and provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the subject presentation, see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or online at http://hawaiigounty.gov.granicus.com. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is made a part of the record, see Comm. 506.) MR. ONISHL Thank you very much. And just to let Council Members know, this is my district and I've already been working with the community and also with the departments, but I'm limited to say anything to you folks because of Sunshine Law. And so I've got to kind of leave it at that. And if you folks have Page 14 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 questions, Madam Chair, you can hear the questions from the other Council Members. Thank you. I yield. CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: I just want to start by thanking you. This is a big lift, and you have courageously stepped forward into not only this research and data collection, but also your role of leadership in your community. And I remember when you first presented to us and I'm so grateful for this repeat and the data, which unfortunately under the current system we can't just look at something and say obviously this is out of balance. It requires all,these numbers. But this is powerful information, and it validates the outcry of the community for years now. So I'm deeply grateful to the Council Member who represents this district to be working alongside you, and it sounds like R&D as well to continue moving this forward. Keaukaha is an incredibly special place and one of the last places for the people of this island to authentically connect and for culture to remain alive, interactive, and relevant in a safe space. The data is illuminating. But even beyond that, when I see you taking the time to explain and define in `olelo the aha loiele and what that means, that connectivity,that accountability, that accepting of responsibility and also holding other responsible. I find that really deeply touching and heartening and it gives me hope,which is something I find even more and more priceless these days. I just have one quick question about the scale. I noticed you listed all the tour operators, which is very helpful, and,then I noticed there's a scoring system here. So I justwas doping you could share a little bit of information on how you scored them. MS: IOANE: Yes. And so our Waiuli steward will give them either a pono rating and that's what that`score is, and it has to do with if they parked appropriately, if they loaded and unloaded appropriately, if they left their car running or turned it off, and if they exited the vehicle with their passengers or if it was just a regular unloading,., MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. That's helpful. I see, you know, it's kind of a grading score, A to F, right. I'm also noticing there's at least a dozen new tour operators listed. So we're at time if not past time for establishing perimeters, protocols, and boundaries, expectations, et cetera, for businesses that operate in this area because beyond it being a community space and publicly funded parks utilized for extractive tourist experiences, yeah, that alone is huge. But now that they're adding another dozen, it reminds me of so many business opportunities here on the Big Island that become identified, discovered, and then exploited. And I really appreciate your statement of not one penny going back to the Page 15 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 community that lives and has legacy and genealogy in those lands and the ocean there. So just a couple of my humble thoughts. And thank you for this. This is a template that I have a hope can be replicated not only in other places on the island, but perhaps statewide. We have a great need for this, so thank you for your diligence and courage in taking this up. Appreciate you. I yield. MS. IOANE: Thank you. CHR. GALIMBA: Thank you. Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Thankyou for tracking all this data. It's quite a bit and I really congratulate you on kind of compiling all this information here. In terms of parking, because you did mention early on that we don't really have the infrastructure for proper parking, I'm sure a lot of them already kind of hit those negative marks just on that basis alone, that they don't have that space to do the proper loading and unloading. A question,you have your two charts comparing Waiuli, Tuesday no ship and one with a ship there. What is the typical timeframe that visitors are,at this space? MS. IOANE: Typically they come''iri the morning between 8:30 and 11:00 or 11:30, that's when the heavy traffic is and,even heavier between 8:30 and 10:00 because they disembark from the cruise ship,the port of Hilo and then they come directly doWn"into Keaukaha. We are their first stop. And then it kind of trickles off throughout the day, but there is still consistent commercial activity at Waiuli throughout the day. MR. HUSTACE: No. I absolutely see that tracking. So 9:00 a.m., 426 individuals in that space; 269 are from commercial tour visitors. And it definitely is-that trend impacts the local residents from wanting to even be in that space. I kind,of see that downward tracking of just residents, you know, beaches inundated, a lot of people in that space so why would you want to go and be in that Space as well. So it definitely an impact to our local community on that side. Yeah. Thank you for tracking this here. I appreciate that. I think I lost my question but thank you so much. CAR.,GALIMBA: Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you so much, Chair. Thank you for being here once again and updating us. And I'm very happy to hear that Council Member Onishi will be or is working on a plan for this. I hope, you know, some of the green fees could go to a project that would really—like I was very impressed when I visited H5'ena State Park and Ke`e Beach on Kauai, their management there. You know, and I can envision something like that for this area as well as several other Page 16 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 areas on our island that really need that management and that ability for our `aina to breathe and not be overwhelmed. So the data is really going to, I think, help put you in a position and this location in a position to work on that because there are other places that also need help, but they might not have this data. So hopefully we can move fairly quickly and get some funding and start working on it because the possibilities for management are there and we understand what those can be, and yeah, appreciate all your work. Aloha. I yield. CHR. GALIMBA: Thank you. Council Member K,imball. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, thank you. What happened to May 2025? There was a pretty significant reduction in all of the visitors in each park. MS. IOANE: Yeah. We sat around and spoke about it, andwe are not sure. We are not sure why that one day had an MS. KIMBALL: Were there closures or anything'during that time? Interesting. Yeah. It stuck out to me because it was pretty significant. I actually wanted to ask a question. I'm not sure if you're aware that the state legislature had passed a bill to allow for the collection of TAT (Transient Accommodation Tax) from the cruise ships, right. And I think your data show without a doubt that there is this direct impact from those visitors, and it would make sense for the counties and the state to be able to collect that TAT: Council Member Onishi, given that that is a court case, it's under litigation right now, are you able to reach out and share this dataset'with folks that might be involved with that court case as documentation as to'why that TAT makes sense to be paid by the cruise ships? CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Onishi. MR. ONISHI: No. I haven't. But I've had this when I first got into office, I did get all these reports and that's why I'm moving things forward, which I cannot mention; Yeah. But when it comes out, I'm hoping to get all your guys' support. Thank you. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah. I just either directed by you or from Council Member Onishi's office,you know, sharing this data with the appropriate parties that are engaged in the lawsuit, I believe that would be through the attorney general's office at the state. I think it's just really exemplary of why those visitors should be contributing their fair share to protecting our really important resources here. So I encourage that. Thank you. CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you, Chair. Mahalo for being back. Council Member Onishi pointed out that you wanted to give a presentation again and I was happy Page 17 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 because I know Council Member (Susan) Lee Loy and you worked closely together over her term. And I can share; you probably counted me on the 28 h because I actually got to come into Hilo on a cruise ship and see what it was like at Waiuli. And I don't go down there on the weekends normally, but you can definitely see, and you can tell who came from the ship along with me that day, you know, and seeing that impact. So I think the discussion regarding TAT and other efforts and really being able to fine tune what restrictions might look like because, you know, I was there on a Sunday and that's when our Kama`aina are out, right? And we're not not going to go to the beach on a'Sunday. That's our day to go. But especially probably even pinpointing those specific weekends and being intentional about how we're going to monitor.. And we've had meetings recently with our Japanese tour providers, Director (Benson) Medina, and the R&D team' in Waimea, and this might be an ongoing conversation to expand those meetings to all of the tour operators,,most especially the cruise ships because that's just high„impact. Boom, boom. And, you know, I got to go into Kona and see what it's like from the cruise ship, and that's a crazy scene in its own, right. So just mahalo�to you again. I think everyone here is grateful for this data you've collected and it's setting the stage for how we're going to go about regulations and providing those protections for our community. So mahalo. Yeah, Director Medina. (Note: At this time, Research and,Development Director Benson Medina came forward to address the members'of the Committee.) MR. MEDINA: Yeah. Thank you. Benson Medina, Director of Research and Development. I wanted to say tljatearlier this year I had a chance to travel to Kaua`i,'to speak with Joel Guy there and former Representative Nina Morita, who happens to be my high school classmate, and we talked about the Hanalei initiative. As many of you know, the Hanalei initiative was actually put into force to try to draw back the mitigating effects of tourism on Kauai. So on the Na Pali Coast, once somebody got this grand idea that they could take a zodiac and take tours around the coast, the County allowed 85 permits for people to take their boats around Na Pali. And you can imagine the amount of gas and oil that went into the water there. And then the visitors to the Kalalau Trail were being numbered up at around 3,000 people per day. So the environmental impacts were huge. So the Hanalei initiative was put there to basically try to draw that back from 3,000 to 700 people a day, so it was really huge. So when Iopa Maunakea, and I visited them, one of their messages to me is like look, you guys aren't at that place yet Hawaii Island. Don't ever let it get like that because it would be way easier for you guys to control it up front than to try to draw it back. Fortunately, about a month later `Aina came into my office, gave the presentation you just saw and after that we had a chance to convene our travel industry people. And then Page 18 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 after our trip to Japan to visit the Japanese Visitor Industry people, we developed sort of our own kind of kdndwai on how the County was going to or is going to go forward in addressing tourism. And while,you know, we can't deny the fact that it is a substantial economic engine, we can say that now for sure that we don't want the kind of community impacts that`Aina is getting right now. So in a nutshell, very briefly I'll explain it to you. We ran it by the Mayor; the Mayor liked it. Even at the state level people are saying wow, that's pretty cool. It's short,people can understand it, and it's easy focus to implement it. So first, the has to be quality experience by the visitor, quality,experience. So from the minute they get onto our island to the moment they leave, the experience all around. Now, of course, it takes a lot of work to make a quality experience. But that's number one. But the second thing is low community and environmental impact: I had a chance to go out with Councilwoman Galimba last week to walk around Punalu`u and we talked about the community impacts of tourism. And so that's something that our Mayor, certainly our department, is very sensitive about and as a native Hawaiian myself, I'm very sensitive to that. So the whale—Councilwoman Kimball just sent me a whole thing aboutWahi Pana, so I keptreading that thing over and over. So second thing, low community and environmental impact. Third, because it is an economic driver,and has to be profitable for our industry operators soy you know, our restaurants or hotels. So it has to be profitable for them. But the fourth and the most important one is it has to be culturally ungrounded. 'So when they had,Aaron Sala, the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and President ofHTA (Hawai`i Tourism Authority) and he shared his vision of what tourism was going to be statewide, it almost word for word lined up with what we had just developed. And so the whole fact that`Aina's presentation completely 100 percent culturally ungrounded, and if we follow that because I'm a you know, `Lka wa ma mua, ka wa ma hope, that all of the stuff that we need to learn gyring forwards we already really have that. So going forward, like Chair Inaba said, we did meet with the Japanese travel people and they're very much behind that. They're very much interested in coming here simply because we have respect and care for our land, which is important to them as well. So I did want to say that simply because we are making some progress. We're going in the direction and a lot of it came from `Aina's inspiration and that we have communities around and we're hoping actually to use Keaukaha as kind of the model for going to Punalu`u, for going to Miloli`i, to going to Kahalu`u, to looking at places like Puako. I mean, all over the island, communities are looking for ways in which they can manage their resources. I spent a lot of time down at Kiholo taking a look at how they're managing it. And our natural resources, like for us, number one priority. So thank you for addressing that. Thank you for listening to `Aina once again. And I Page 19 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 know, her job is to keep saying it over and over again until people act on it. So luckily, she hit us at the right time. So at least on R&D and all the way up to the Mayor, we're responding. And just to address the whole infrastructure pieces, I took those pictures in and, you know, the Mayor and parking, he's all about parking and infrastructure. So I looked at ways in which we could rearrange some things in Keaukaha. And we're working actually with some of those tour operators to sort of mitigate a lot of the big buses especially, I think, were the most problematic. So I just wanted to let you guys know that. MR. INABA: Thank you so much, Director, for that insight. I appreciate it. Chair, I yield. CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Onishi. MR. ONISHL Thank you, Madam Chair. You know, thank you, Director, I guess now you're explaining your concerns because we had multiple meetings prior within all the different, I brough all the departments together and we wanted to brainstorm on how we can help out that area,right, the beaches and the overcrowding and that what's happening. So it's good to hear that now I can get more support from you guys, from the department and get more positive feedback. And I guess we'll keep you in the loop of what's going on. And that's why too I ready wanted R&D to be the person or the agency to get this presentation out,right? But I guess it couldn't work out so that's why it came to my office right,,but I really feltbecause of the funding that you folks had provided for this'service that this nonprofit it doing, right, so I thought that would be thexaost ideal. But it's okay. We got it done and we're moving forward. But now I least encouraged that the department is now going to be there working with us. So I thank you and I yield. Thanks. MR. MEDINA: I just wanted to mention on that that while funding is really important, it's really political will from the top. And so when Aaron Sala came here and I explained it to him, I said, "Aaron, we've got to get the tour people in line." And,so I mean, I'm just R&D in Hawaii County. I said, "You're the President'of HTA. You know, you gottaa bring this down; you gottaa get the Governor to bring this down. I'll bring the Mayor, he'll help." But, you know, `Aina is tired of sitting over here just doing it over and over again without something happening. So while funding is super important,political will and pressure is actually more important at this point to get something that we can actually visually see because, you know, she keeps her data collection up, we've got to see the needle moving or we're just, you know, waha again, right? So thank you, Councilman Onishi. We'll take the ball, and we'll run with it. Thank you. Page 20 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 CHR. GALIMBA: So I have a couple of questions and comments. Thank you very much for the presentation. It's some very creative solutions and methods of gathering data and providing us with some insight. And as Director Medina was saying I think it definitely is a template or, you know, an inspiration for other places, I think. I was writing down some ideas for Punalu`u, wanting to bring some of those ideas there, and I may get in touch with you on that. I'm going to draw on your experience. I was wondering about sort of that third leg, the profitability parts, and your comments about getting zero cents on the dollars and,wondering what your thoughts or vision are around that? Is it that you think you want to get some of those dollars from the tour operators, or is it more,you know, the community directly being able to benefit, you know,with small business or some other even form of benefit from this industry. MS. IOANE: Aloha. I think it's both.. I'm also participating or have agreed to participate as a Council Advisory Member onthe Hawaii Tourism Authority DMAP (Destination Management Action Plan). And so in that discussion I've met other community members, and our small businesses are also not seeing a strong benefit from cruise ship activities because they're jumping on the vans and they're doing just like the Wai`uli stop or go here, 'stop. They're not actually going downtown. They're not going,to our small businesses. It's the tourists that come and stay for overnight that are either staying at the hotel or renting the car and then'they go to the restaurants and then they find their way downtown or they find their way to our small businesses. So directly speaking to the cruise ship visitors, it's not only community not seeing it, it's our small businesses not seeing it as well. So if we can come upwith a plan. And when I think of a plan, L think real leader leading them in their plan because even today, the tour drivers create their own map. They decide where on the island they're going, how long they're staying, and where our visitors will be spending their dollars. And so I would like more of an advisory role in advising them where they should be taking our visitors and what they should be sharing and how long they should be staying there. When we look at the tourism vans coming into Keaukaha, we really do need to decrease it. And when we decrease it by coming up with creative ideas of parking and maybe reservation systems and those give us opportunities to collect more of the economic dollar because we're not receiving anything. And in receiving part of reservation systems or even working with the tourism industry, because when they do park at Wai`uli, they wonder on their own; if there was a more directed, guided, educational pathway then that could provide some economic opportunity for our community and our stewards. Mahalo. CHR. GALIMBA: Thank you. Right. And that's the other part of it what you talked about, you know, the dollars but also the visitors not getting the stories as Page 21 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 well. So that would be sort of like the number one in your four-part plan, I think. And I'm assuming that if folks know about the stories, number one, they'll be more respectful of that particular place, but probably wherever they go next, that will also help to help them to be more pono in their overall impact. Yeah. Anyway, thank you again for a great presentation. And if no one else has any, I will ask all of us to vote to say "aye" if you are in favor of closing file on Communication 506. Vote on Comm. 506: The motion to close file on Comm. 506 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Hustace, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i=Klenfelder, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Galimba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kierkiewicz— 1. Excused: None. CHR. GALIMBA: And we can move on to our next item. Thank you so much again. Comm. 509: REQUESTS AN UPDATE BY PERPETUAL ANDZERO WASTE HAWAI`I REGARDING THE HILL)REUSABLE FOODWARE PROJECT From Council Member Jenn Kagiwada, dated September 15, 2025. Motion to Close File: Ms. Kagiwada moved to close file on Comm. 509. Seconded by Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Kagiwada. M& KAGIWADA: Thank you so much. Yeah, I've asked these wonderful folks from Perpetual and Zero Waste Hawaii to come and present an update on the Hilo Reusable Foodware Program that is in the works and that our Department of Environmental Management and our Finance Department and others have been working on supporting. And I'll just leave it at that and go ahead, Jenn, you want to introduce your team and take it from here. �(Note: At this time, Zero Waste Hawaii Island Program Director Jennifer Navaro and Cultural Advisor Ku`ulei Kanahele, and Perpetual Implementation Manager Kaliko Kabasawa came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. NAVARO: Hi. Thank you so much for having us here to share about this work that we've been doing. I'm Jennifer Navaro. I'm the Program Director of Zero Waste Hawaii Island. We have Ku`ulei Kanahele, who's our Cultural Page 22 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 Advisor, and Kaliko, who's with the Perpetual team. He just joined on as the Implementation Manager and so his role will be really getting all the infrastructure in place for this program. (Note: At this time, Ms. Navaro and Ms. Kanahele came forward and provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the subject presentation, see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or online at http://hawaiigounty.gov.granicus.com. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is made a part of the records see Comm. 509.1.) MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you so much. Thank you so much. You have two packets so there's a little confusion there: We had one we had submitted earlier then we had tried to pair down a bit, so you have two information packets. So there aren't the slides on the education work that you've been doing with the kids and stuff. Can I just add, I'll help flush that out just a little. I have a couple things. One; can one of you talk a little bit more about the containers and kind of what the community feedback was on the containers that they wanted to see and a little bit maybe just about the lids and the issues that we have around lids and things like that? That would be great. MS. NAVARO: So two years ages around this time,we did a series of community workshops. So we gathered lots of information from community members. One of the questions was around preferences for material types of containers. So the majority of folks, I'd say only 30 percent of people had a preference for plastic containers. The rest were preferences for like stainless steel or some kind inert material. But we're really kind of limited right now in terms of material type option for reuse because it's getting new in getting started. So that's that data. I think just ongoing outreach that we've done. We do a lot of tabling at events and there's just that kind of a general dislike of plastic. So definitely there's not, but there's also, for Perpetual and Zero Waste Hawaii Island, we understand a lot around the health concerns of chemicals that are in plastic thatcan leak into our food. Not only plastic, there's other materials too. So having-really inert materials for like the portion that is going to contact the food, especially when food is hot and oily, that is when you're going to see the most transfer of chemicals into our food. And so that's important to our organizations that we are looking after that. Unfortunately, there's also practicalities, right? Sort of grab and go context. They're going to want to be able to see their food. It's important for people to have a lid that seals well. So we really kind of only have the options right now of a plastic container that would have a plastic lid. And so that's just where we're at. I mean, I think it's a struggle actually just to find stainless steel containers themselves that are going to work well for our portion sizes and the types of food we serve here on island. So Page 23 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 we're doing the best we can. And I think as we can demonstrate a market, we can have containers probably designed that fit better our needs. MS. KAGIWADA: Yeah. It seems even with like a lot of our smaller food purveyors, like local folks that are doing food like homemade sauerkraut or juices or things like that, they're still, even if like they can use glass for that they have to use plastic lids because like you said, that's what seals and I'm noticing that. Even with people I know who are extremely conscious and want to do the best they can on this. MS. NAVARO: Yeah. And I think like something we should always keep in mind is like even when a container is metal, it's usually,lined with plastic. So we might not see the plastic but it's there, like in the context of like the metal lids that do on like a canning jar. They have plastic on them on the lining., So plastic is often there even if we don't necessarily perceive that it is there. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. I'm going to go,ahead and let other folks MS. KANAHELE: Sorry. I just want to clarify. Not the metal that we intend to use in this instance. MS. KAGIWADA: Right. Right_ Very good point. Okay. Very good point. Yes. Okay. I yield. CHR. GALIMBA: Thank you. Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thanks, Chair. I'm sorry the metal you intend to use. MS. KANAHELE: 'Yeah. So Jenn was saying, so like in the jar there's a metal lid: And some folks say there's no plastic in there, but she was saying that even that,metal has the plastic, right. But not the stainless steel. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you. Thanks for that clarification. MS. KANAHELE: Yeah, sure. MR. HUSTACE: The slide on Lava Man and World Sprints, those are particularly with diversion efforts. Were there any other reusables at those events that were incorporated? MS. NAVARO: Not yet because we don't have the infrastructure. MR. HUSTACE: Yeah. Page 24 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 MS. NAVARO: I planned on talking about those and then decided it's kind of like outside of the scope of our project. MR. HUSTACE: Sure. MS. NAVARO: But yeah, the only thing that we can divert in terms of compostables right now are like anything that's fiber based. Even like the paper cups, they're still lined with plastic even though I threw them in during World Sprints, I'm now realizing that I've learned more that that probably was not a good idea. So we're really limited in what we can,compost, like compostable plastic. So that's where I think where reuse c6uld play An important role to kind of complement; those two solutions to compliment one another. MR. HUSTACE: I'm going to play devil's advocate just fora moment because with metal containers it increases your scale of production in terms of what percentage is for mining and fossil use as well,right? MS. NAVARO: Yeah. MR. HUSTACE: It's another product that we don't have facilities that we can't either extract it, we can't mine it; I'm just playing devil's advocate here. But we cannot mine it; something that we'd also have to import too, right? MS. NAVARO: Yeah. I think we're going to have to import anything at this point: f think there's possibilities in the future. But I mean, we can't be perfect. I Mink like we have to make incremental steps forward. You know, I don't feel good,about mining metals. I'm a biologist. That's really destructive. But, you know, it's all tradeoffs and making incremental steps forward. NM. HUSTACE: Yeah. Okay. Thank you for that. I appreciate that insight. In terms of the partnership because you mentioned, you know, trying to get community buy-in'and you shared that it's really with the `ohana and the keiki and kind'of the groundswell movement. Should we also be having conversations? I mean, because one of the charts here is,you know, the estimated volume based upon different sectors of the economy whether it's schools, churches, et cetera. Have there been some approach to say a school and like, DOE(Department of Education) is it's own kind of kettle of fish, so that's an interesting approach, but working with a school or with a particular business to try and have them be that one that buys in and be like, "We're going to do this; we're going to try and pilot this." Because our schools in particular, they're already using like you show on the initial container assortment. They're already using something similar to that effect that has little pukas for your food and what they serve there, what the lunch lady serves on there, right? So maybe there's some easy transition in some spaces. And I don't know if there are particular businesses that want to be that Guinea pig that our beyond the community buy in, be that business that's like, Page 25 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 "We're a restaurant, we're going to commit to this; we are packaging food, we're going to commit to this. We're a school that does trays that look exactly like this; we're gong to commit to this." MS. KANAHELE: Yeah. So my role has been with the community, but we have another guy. He's not here today. But his name is Paul. Paul has been doing most of the outreach with businesses and schools. And so some of the funding that we've received goes toward supporting the adoption of those things for businesses and schools. Jenn, I don't know if you want to say a little bit more about. MS. NAVARO: Yeah. So, you know, Paul's done a lot of engagement with businesses. He's spoken with about 13'0,local businesses. I think the businesses that are already willing to pay more for the compostables are the most high interest businesses. I think there's around thirty something of those. So we kind of see those as likely being the early adopters of the program. MR. HUSTACE: Okay. And how about some of like our local ag producers. Any engagement with them and, you know,theplastics that they use right now for providing those sterile foods to our grocery stores and markets and so forth? Is there any sort of conversations around that? MS. NAVARO: We're just starting a program to work with farmers. It's complicated and, you know, there's been a lot of data collection for the restaurants,right? So now kind of the next step is the data collection. It's a lot more complicated because of the way that the food is distributed in ag. We just met with OK Farms a few weeks ago: I think he said like 60 percent of their produce goes to Oahu. So 40 percent stay here. Value added products, I think jars wouldbe great like using glass in those contexts. But still again,you'd have to have an island-wide collection system to get those back. And also again, they're also shipping outside, off island, either to the continent or within the state. So it's a,little bit more difficult to work with those, but it's kind of like the next step. MR. HUSTACE: Because I kind of see this, if I'm not mistaken, it's really centralized to more of our dense and urban areas, right? This is really focused primarily in Hilo at first to see its growth and potential. This is where the population is so there's more opportunity for facilities and cleaning of these products and kind of moving them through the system and engagement with different businesses because the next step it gets more challenging as we go to more rural communities and businesses are relying on, okay, we have to transport some of these goods to the closest facility which may be in Hilo or Kona or what have you. So definitely,you know, some things that we would have to address in terms of trying to scale it up and address an islandwide sort of system. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate this. Thank you, Chair. Page 26 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Aloha and thank you for being here. And congratulations. I remember coming to one of the first meetings and gatherings you had. And wow, how far you've come. I really want to say that I appreciate the inclusion of a cultural advisor and the inclusion of`olelo in this project, and the educational component especially to our youth because they're even more akamai than us sometimes, right? But providing them with a pathway to navigate, and once again as I've said earlier today, hope, right, because change is constant. But having directed change and opportunities I think is really Vital. It's great to see this project moving forward I know there's some connectivity and hopefully not dissention or conflict between what's trying to,get done as far as disposable plastic service ware and the incorporation,of,reusable very connected and as we navigate the legalese of these processes, how do we avoid thouse of certain terminology without more expansive definitions which ensures that we don't end up introducing loopholes and perpetuating some of those cycles thathave caused frustration in other municipalities. SoTm looking forward to continuing to work together to navigate that and clarify those things. I just have a quick question. Something that was brought up and I'm grateful to Council Member Kagiwada for bringing up that you:guys push the extra to get the stainless steel. And unfortunately, you know, I'm a'huge proponent of circular economy, trying to eliminate extractive practices. But as you said, incremental movements forward and we're not quite-1 mean, I was sitting here thinking, could you make a lava you know, how do we use what's on,you know, could we use the albizia; could we use eucalyptus. You know, we're not quite at that space.. We have a lot of that, and,you know we've been trying to look for how better ways to use that. But from,a Department of Health standpoint keeping this clean, safe, yada yada, stainless steel. And as Council Member Kagiwada explained, last time you guys had to push extra because is it correct that it's not the normal use of, and I'm forgetting the name, sorry I want to say indivisible. MS. KANAHELE: Perpetual. MS. VILLEGAS: Does Perpetual use stainless steel in their other projects in other municipalities? MS'NAVARO: Well we are the frontrunners to actually launch something. I think Galveston, they were going to use plastic cups. There's quite a bit of alcohol or I don't know, like that kind of culture. They use a lot of cups in Galveston. You know, plastic is a material that is a beneficial material and it's used right. So like they use a lot of plastic cups because they're not heavy when they throw them at like music venues. There's certain characteristics that go along with Page 27 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah. It's plastic or aluminum. MS. NAVARO: Yeah. Reuse is very much at the stage of most major programs are using plastic because it's economic. We have a lot of funding for this project because we have funding for the infrastructure and all that. So it gives us the advantage of being able to start with a more expensive container type. MS. VILLEGAS: Great. Thank you for pushing for that: You know, and I can see—we can all go down the rabbit hole, all plastic evil, any plastic evil, like we accidentally end up as environmentalist and progressives and socially conscious and what not, cannibalizing one another by things that aren't perfect enough, which I think is tragic and unfortunately too often that ends up sending a message especially to people that aren't as akanai and may,you know, are climate deniers and what not, that then end up going, then let's just not do anything, right? MS. KANAHELE: I wanted to share a little bit: I wanted to share that Zero Waste Hawaii Island and Perpetual in,my experience and to my knowledge they haven't taken any kind of stance toward any material type. But Perpetual is known to support the community feedback, whatever that is, being a proponent to whatever that is. And for our community engagement, stainless steel has been really, really liked because,of the end of life. When iuomes to plastic there's a lot of understanding about microplastics and the way that that affects our fish, and our communities, and our landfill situations, versus stainless steel, has a high consequence of mining and its production. But when it comes to its end-of-life systems, I think the perspective is that it's less harmful for Hawaii. And then, when,we're looking at'how beneficial something is, our ho`opili `aina gathering was the first thing we've done, and we ended up talking about areca palms and eventually actually using some of our ag lands for that kind of disposable production. But that's like really far away from now. But those conversations were had. And then at the end of our time together the question was, okay, when compared to in action, if we were going to do reuse, what would that have to look at? And the big loud consensus was no plastic in that very first gathering, And that, I just wanted to share the background as to why we ended up here. MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah. I'm totally in agreement. I guess my one question in getting there is it was shared with me that once the stainless steel, I mean, there's always, it's not atrophy, that's my body. MS. KANAHELE: Yeah. MS. VILLEGAS: Attrition? Is that the word I'm looking for? As the stainless steel, unfortunately, ivories disappear, that it would be replaced with the plastic. Page 28 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 MS. KANAHELE: Okay, yeah. I also had that question. And I was able to clarify that that doesn't appear to be allowed in the verbiage of the RFP, but I was told that Perpetual that that's not the way that the verbiage is set up but it might appear to be so. So but I clarified that that's not. MS. VILLEGAS: Sounds like our job. Clear as mud. MS. KANAHELE: Yeah. Because someone pointed out that I had a question about that too, like can they just replace the—so the�'service'providers, once the service is up and running, can they just replace the material with plastic or whatever it is. MS. NAVARO: My understanding is I think post RFP there's I don't want to speak to it because Perpetual and the County have been more involved with that aspect of the work. But my understanding is it has to be kind of a decision that is approved by partners. So the service provider can't like, you know,no longer make that decision. The County and Zero Waste Hawaii Island Perpetual would have to agree. MS. VILLEGAS: When,you say service provider, is that in the paradigm Perpetual or is that change?, MS. NAVARO: No. Just to clarify because clearly you didn't get a lot of detail about the different partners involved in this work. But, you know, there's the two nonprofits,Zero Waste Hawaii Island and Perpetual, the County, but none of us are'actually the entity that's going to do the logistics of the program. The County pi&out an RFP to find an entity to do^that piece. And so that is in the final stages of thatperson being contracted and then we can announce who they are and they can talk to people. Butwe're not there yet, but almost. MS: VILLEGAS:,, .Gotcha. MS. KANAHELE: Yeah, so we also won't be making any financial money off of this program once it's established. There's not any of that. MS. VILLEGAS: Yup. Nope. This work doesn't pay. We all know that. It's many more hours than payment. Well I just want to thank you for coming and presenting and, you know, tomorrow we'll be going over Bill 83. And so I just want to express again that I'm hopeful that there's a means and a way to collaborate because it's never the intention for a piece of legislation to harm a pilot project and I'm grateful to hear there are intentions to replicate it on the west side. And so I think together, stronger moving forward and I really hopeful we can avoid the pitfalls and navigate a path that benefits all sides because finding solutions for the challenges, it's going to take diverse angles and movement in Page 29 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 ensuring that we don't become divided and then accidentally allow for complacency or not doing anything. MS. KANAHELE: Yup. MS. VILLEGAS: Yup. Because we can't afford to do that. Alright. Thank you for being here. I yield. MS. KANAHELE: Mahalo. CHR. GALIMBA: There you are again. MS. KIMBALL: She always forgets I'�m over here. Actually this maybe not be the right time; maybe after the contractors selected. But this is' actually just out of curiosity, I have a couple of logistical questions. What, in a program like this, I don't know that there are examples here that you could use, but what is the typical rate of attrition of the supplies in that chain? Like"obviously, some folks are going to take them home and keep them and,not return them. Is there an expected rate of which you'd have to MS. NAVARO: So the usage is strongly linked to the return rate. So I think right now they're working on international standards of reuse. And so if we had a 90 percent return rate, we would have 40'uses. That's just the math because for every 100 that go out, 10 don'tcome back. And so you get more or less average 40 use cycles- We hope to get better than 90 percent. But so it's tied strongly to that. But then after that I think it depends on the material type, right, and how well itholds up: So stainless steel we can imagine it's going to last longer than plastic,'but it might dent. So theme could be those kinds of constraints. So, I think, you know, ths'is learning in a lot of ways because it's new. M& KANAHELE: Yeah. I wanted to share that the 98 percent, like a 98 percent return rate is a number that is familiar to, I want to say, many service providers to have applied. But that's the number that's in international spaces of return. For us, I think we're looking at a higher than 98 percent, I don't know. But there's the incentive to return is that if you don't return it,you'll get charged for the item. And with stainless steel that cost is higher. So the incentive to return is really, "I don't want to pay $15 for my plate lunch in addition to the $20 I've already paid for food." MS. NAVARO: I don't think it'll be $15. But we don't know yet. MS. KANAHELE: Sorry. That was not realistic. MS. KIMBALL: That's really interesting. So the system will include some way to track who's going home with the item and whether or not they've returned it. Page 30 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 MS. KANAHELE: Yeah. Kind of like a library book. So like a QR (Quick Response) code on each dish. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Got it. And then with the cost, you know, obviously clearly the ones that are not returned, that cost is worn by the folks that forget to return them, which probably I can guarantee I'm going to have like five of these in my house at some point. MS. KANAHELE: Yeah. But also, side note, the idea is that if you return it, even if it's beyond the day, you will still get your lntrney. The idea is not to pay large fee, it's to get them to return the thing.,So you would be safe. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Good. Thank you,for accounting for those of us that are a little bit challenged in that way. My question was going to be compared to other take home products out there, how does this look for the companies themselves, the restaurants and what not? Is it comparable from their side of things? MS. NAVARO: Are you asking about the cost? MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, for the restaurants to provide these. MS. NAVARO: We want it to be the same. Again,that's the reuse service provider is going to, you know, once the contract's signed, I think can announce a cost. Perpetual did secure funding to help in'the startup phases, you know, to do a pilot with schools for example, at no cost. So to kind of keep the price at what customers are currently paying, not customers, but businesses. I mean, we are competing with'a system that has public funding for the infrastructure. Disposable doesn't work unless wehave a landfill to throw it in. And so that's part of the,or just charging of the upfront cost, but not the backend. So we're drying to match that. So the idea is to keep it with what people are paying currently. MS. KIMBALL: That's a super important point that a lot of times when we do these comparisons, we're not weighing the full lifecycle cost of things, and I think that's a little bit of what my colleagues were getting at. IDS. NAVARO: We all pay for disposal, but it's so spread out, right. Like if you throw it away at the restaurant that you ate it at, then they're paying for it; but then if it goes in a public bin, then the County's paying for it. Or if you take it home, it's coming out of your property tax. So it's like it's hard to track that cost. But there is that other side of the cost. MS. KANAHELE: Yeah. There's like that hidden cost of it because there's the cost of the restaurant, the pay per use fee. But then for places like Blane's Drive- In, lots of people eat there and then throw their trash away there. And so they're Page 31 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 also paying for the folks to come and pick that trash up and then dispose of it, and then the County pays for those things or however pays. There's a lot of hidden costs in these things that are factored in. MS. KIMBALL: Not to mention the manufacturing and shipping out here in the first place. MS. KANAHELE: Yup,yup. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. Great. Thank you. Yeah, super excited to see this pilot get underway and thank you for all your hard work in'the initial phases. I yield, Chair. Thank you. CHR. GALIMBA: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. I'm walking through this in my head. Sorry, how is this funded? This is County funding or is this outside funding? MS. NAVARO: So the County got a grant for the infrastructure. So that's like dishwashing facility, the tracking technology, vehicles, the return bins that will be around Hilo, the containers themselves. That's a$1.5 million grant. There's also lots of other private funding for the marketing campaign, all the other costs associated,with the program. MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And just roughly, do you have a cost` I am a business owner, and I have to buy a plate to put a lunch on that someone's going to,take out or if I'm going to utilize your program, roughly what is your idea of cost per plate? MS: NAVARO. I don't want to say a number because that's really up to the reuse service provider to give us that number. But we want that cost to be within the range of what businesses are already paying. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. NMS. NAVARO: Which is around,you know, every container, the different sizes cost different things, right? But range is between like 15 cents to 50 cents. That's kind of the range that most businesses are paying for a disposable container. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then say should someone eat off of this stainless steel dish and then return it to the restaurant that they ate it at, what would happen then? Page 32 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 MS. KANAHELE: They would return it to the bin, and the bin is at the restaurant. Every restaurant that will participate in the program will have a bin. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So if you're a participating restaurant, you get a bin in front of your establishment? MS. KANAHELE: Yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And that's all paid for through the grant or the business is paying for that? MS. NAVARO: So the infrastructure, right, like the bins are paid for by the grant that the County received. But then the business'°is paying a per use fee for each container use and that's covering the,labor for the folks that are picking up those containers and taking them to the washing facility and cleaning them. And so it's mostly labor, electricity at the dishwashing facility, like those kinds of costs. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So they pick up the bin or its contents and those are taken to a facility; they are washed clean then brought back to that facility that's using the program and then we would reuse that dish and away it goes to the next customer. MS. KANAHELE: Yup. And not necessarily exactly that establishment. Maybe it'll be at Blane's today, but Ken's tomorrow.' MR. KANEALI'I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So it goes to clean, comes back goes to somewhere. MS. KANAHELE: 'Yeah.' MR. KANEALI"I-KLEINFELDER: Do you have a range of sizes that you're going to be using or is it just going to be one universal dish? MS. KANAHELE: I think that plate lunch size dish has been most utilized. And so I think that's what we're starting with. But Jenn, I don't know if want to speak o that? MS'NAVARO: So as I was mentioning before, unfortunately, because we're using stainless steel, we are a little limited on what is out there available right now. But we're trying to launch with two container types. So it's not going to be for everything at the beginning and then we can scale up over time. I think once we show that there's market and volume, we can go to a company that makes them and say, "Hey, we need this many containers of this type. Can you design something for us and make it for us?" Then they'll be like, "Sure, we'll do that. So one thing I wanted to mention for your question earlier was volume is really Page 33 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 critical, right? Economy is of scale. The more containers we have circulating through the system is going to drive down the cost for everybody. So volume is key. So more participation is going to help with making the cost competitive for everyone. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Do containers have lids? MS. NAVARO: Yeah, they have lids. MS. KANAHELE: Yeah. I think we have one container that I have in my bag right now. I brought it and then I didn't bring it to this table. But it's the luau style. So like those are ideal for folks who want to check out dishes to use for their baby parties or whatever it is and then there are different containers with lids for restaurants. And then the luau trays are also to be circulated within the schools that are participating. So two different kinds; two that we're looking at right now but multiple different kinds. , So this is an example of the luau tray. I think we have a certain quantity of these. I washed this, okay, not the big dishwasher: But so this is an example, and this is another example of another tin. This is not a good example. Well I guess it's kind of a decent example. It's a stainless steel container. But we've looked at also models with like dividers on'the inside. MS. NAVARO: I apologize. We have a whole bag we usually take everywhere with us, and I neglected to bring them today. MS:'KANAHELE: So we don't have the exact—well, that's the exact luau try. MS. NAVARO: We've already purchased 5,000 of these to pilot with a school. This is the context more or likely, and the luau could work as well, our parks. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And the lids have tackers? MS. KANAHELE: I think in discussions, hopefully people return the lids. But if not, it's not°a dealbreaker. It's just ideally, we'd like them back. MS. NAVARO: I'm not sure. I think that's a reuse service provider question because they're really the ones that are going to do all the tracking and technical implementation of palpable. So I'm not 100 percent sure on how to answer that. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: For a school, because I was thinking about this, for an in-facility use, the school returns them to the facility, or the school washes them themselves and use them themselves? Page 34 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 MS. KANAHELE: To the facility. So somebody would come pick them up because a lot of schools right now they don't even have dishwashing infrastructure. So they would also be able just to be part of the route and then somebody would come and pick everything up and replace for the next day. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So institutional use may be your biggest bang for your buck and then you can work into the private sector slowly, slowly. MS. KANAHELE: Yup,yup,yup. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I'm interesting how this isn't approached by the private sector before my questions. MS. NAVARO: Yeah. I think getting DOE (Department of Education) on board is difficult whereas opposed to abusiness, you just need to have one business owner agree to participate. So there's kind of like,yes, institution is much easier to implement. You don't have as much complication around the return piece. But it might be really hard to get started with all DOE schools, right? Maybe we pilot with a few and then we've got to figure out the contracting and how they pay for it. So it's a little more tricky with the institutions,I think. So I think it's good to do both. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER:' Okay. I may just—go ahead. MR. KABASAWA: Hi. I'm Kaliko from Perpetual. So these trays are 75 percent rety+cl,able stainless steel and with the four other cities, by far, Hilo is the farthest along in the project. But we're going to plan on using stainless steel for these projects enrolled unlesswe put on plastic required for like lids and so forth. And"knack to basically, the program is we're going to pick up from every establishment that we have a contract with. So no dropping off,just schedule pick up time. And that's how it'd work for schools, exact same thing. Throw your `opala away, store it, we'll come pick it up at a convenient time for you. And for the restaurants as well, so there's no dropping off unless like with how Ku`ulei said if there's a luau. You can come to our facility, grab 100 trays, after you're done with the parry, drop it back off and we'll do the washing and that type of thing. So if there's any other questions I can answer, I will definitely try to answer them. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Has there been any other municipalities outside of Hawaii that have done this? MR. KABASAWA: No. We're the farthest along. Page 35 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 MS. KANAHELE: In America. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: In America? MR. KABASAWA: So we can be the pioneer. Trailblazer. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Here's my burning question. When you come to the bin and it's got anything and everything,because you won't just get stainless steel and plastic. You'll get food, you'll get cups,because human beings are retarded when it comes to trash cans and recycling. This seems to be incredibly difficult for people. Japan's got it figured'out for the most part. But when I see people from everywhere else go to Japan, they're lost as far as what bin means what. So when you do it logistically"and work your way through picking up these bin loads full of everything, do you have a plan for that? MR. KABASAWA: Yeah. The service provider will sort that out'at the facility. MS. KANAHELE: It's not going to be tne. MR. KABASAWA: Yeah. But that's the plant,to sort it out and hopefully in time, people will be able to change. They'll recognize our design compared to another recyclable bin. MS. KANAHELE: Yeah, yeah. MR. KABASAWA: It'll take time. MS. NAVARO: And just to add, they did a pilot on Oahu and actually it wasn't a major problem. So a 16t`of it comes down to the marketing, the education, the outreach th4ve are doing, I think can help with that. I've dug through a lot of garbage doing these zero waste events. I enjoy it. I'm weird that way. I have a good:sense of people's behavior around how they dispose of their rubbish and yeah, we're going to get some, right? But we're going to have to sort through it anyways,right, because we're going to be putting the food waste and the little plastic whatever's are going to go in the garbage. So it's going to be happening anyways; But I don't see it as a major problem whereas if you have to like sort recyclables or compostables, and those a lot like contamination. That can be a real challenge in those other systems. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you for saying that. My last question though and then I'll stop. Should the service provider provide stainless steel ware or plastic that is contaminated with something and a restaurant used it to serve food, is there a liability waiver on behalf on the organization, or is it the restaurants liability insurance that would cover some kind of foodborne contaminate that may or may not be on the plates? Because there's got to be a Page 36 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 track records of what, what, what, sanitization. And then ultimately, because you have a blend now,you have it's supposed to be where one use ware will come clean, there's food inside served to the customer. I know what happened there. Coming from a facility, if it's got something on it that wasn't recognized, sanitization process that wasn't effective, I put food on that, somebody gets sick, the customer will ultimately come back to the restaurant, not you folks. How does that work? MR. KABASAWA: Yeah. I can't speak for the service provider but I'm sure every business will work that out with the serviceprovider, having some kind of liability insurance. But at the same time, the facility will follow every DOH (Department of Health) standard, EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) standards and any other compliance requirements there is. From that standpoint, yeah, I just believe the service provider—and the idea is to eventually, once this operational hub is operational and going, we'll have somewhat tours for people to actually see how this sanitation process works throughout this machine. I'm sure there will be inquiries from the media as well because we'll be the first in the country to have this type of system implemented. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you. I yield, Chair. MS. KANAHELE: I just wanted to briefly express that I know we're not really, we don't have a frame of reference for a.let of these things, but this is being done in other countries and the service provider that we're looking at has a lot of experience with doing this in many places. And I think when it comes to the collection aspects there's a system that can be utilized so that the trash and things can be sorted properly. But it's really looking at the value of the hundreds of thousands of dollars that's going into behavior shift and behavior change and really believing in our communities. Like looking at `Ainaaloha's presentation and then now'applying that to a collective upping of our moral as a community and believing`ih that. And I think return and reuse won't happen well without that, but it's in alignment with a lot of other initiatives that are happening here in our place that has to do with really prioritizing us feeling better about who we are as a people and coming together to impact change. So I'm confident that things will be well. Yeah. Mahalo. CHR. OALIMBA: Thank you. Yeah. I've been checking the internet, and it seems that there's systems in Denmark, Singapore, Canada, all the cool places. Council Member Onishi. MR. ONISHL Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to make a comment and it's going to show my age. So when I was going to elementary school, we had kind of those plates that was plastic and we would like clean it, like all the leftover food would go into a certain bin, right? And then if you had milk, it would all go in there, and then the milk would go into another bin with a cover. Page 37 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 But the cafeteria would wash all this. They would sanitize it, going through this like heating stuff or whatever, right? So I mean, it's kind of like back then but then now it's kind of, you know, what they call like it's, you know, what happened before and now, like everything went into paper and it's kind of coming back again but in a different form. MS. KANAHELE: Yeah. It's returning. MR. ONISHL Yeah. Right. So back then they already had that kind of thinking, right? But things change because of cost was one,,right, and then staffing is another, right? So they're trying to make it as much as convenient as possible, right? So basically, it's cut and dry, it's like basic education, right, we've got to educate everybody. And that's where like ether countries;,they do have that. And Oahu, they have the different bind,right, when they throw their trash, right. So at trash pickup time, they have it,all segregated, right? Yeah. Butgood. Thank you. MS. KANAHELE: Yeah, mahalo. You know, some cafeterias and schools let go of their wash stations because they get another school's cafeteria makes their lunch and then their lunch is then transported`to their school. And so that's another really awesome application of reuse in this context is because we really need that system and thatinfrastructure to support those guys as well. But mahalo. CHR. GALIMBA: Thank you so much for being here. Back to the future; kind of where we're going. So anyone else? If not, all in favor of closing file on Communication 509, please say "aye." Vote on Comm. 509: The motion to close file on Comm. 509 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Hustace, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Galimba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kierkiewicz— 1. Excused: None. CHR. GALIMBA: And that brings us to the end of our agenda. Page 38 CRCOC-12 October 7,2025 ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 4:59 p.m. Chair Galimba adjourned the MENT: meeting. Approved: Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Chair (Date) Communications, Reports, and Council Oversight Committee MG/tk Page 39