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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN COUNCIL 2026-02-04 2024-2026 Hawaii County Council 32nd Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii February 4, 2026 INVOCATION: Assistant Professor Akeamakamae Kiyuna of Hawaii Community College gave the morning's invocation. CHR. INABA: Our warm mahalo again to Hawaii Community College and their continued efforts, and all the other Hawaiian language organizationsPunana Leo, our Kula Kaiapuni, Kamehameha Schools, and our charter schools as well. We continue to engage in the efforts to not just revitalize but continue our Hawaiian language in our community here in Hawaii. CALL TO The regular meeting of the Hawaii County Council was called to order at ORDER: 1:04 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Vice Chair Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Mr. James E. Hustace, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member(came in later) Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member (via videoconference from Kona) Absent& Excused: Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member PLEDGE OF The Chair directed the Council to the next order of business, Pledge of ALLEGIANCE: Allegiance. (At this time, County Clerk Jon Henricks led the Council in the Pledge of Allegiance.) PETITIONS, The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Petitions, MEMORIALS, Memorials, Certificates of Merit, and Expressions of Condolence. CERTIFICATES OF MERIT, AND (There were none.) EXPRESSIONS OF CONDOLENCE: Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by the Chair: Joyce Folena: Res. 445-26 (Comm. 686), in support. John Pelletier: Bill 63, Draft 2 (Comm. 333.7), comment. (representing Kona Community Development Plan Action Committee) Claudia Ziroli: Res. 450-26 (Comm. 697), in support. (representing Puna Makaukau) Renee Godoy: Res. 454-26 (Comm. 701), in support. (representing Friends of First Responders) APPROVAL The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Approval OF MINUTES: of Minutes. Chair Inaba announced that the Minutes of November 5, 2025, were approved. REPORTS: The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Reports. GOEAC-91 NOMINATION OF DERWIN IGNACIO TO THE FIRE COMMISSION (Comm. 691): Requires Council Confirmation by: February 13, 2026 (Section 13-4(k), Hawaii County Charter) Vote on GOEAC-91: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to adopt Governmental Operations (Adopted) and External Affairs Committee Report No. 91. Seconded by Mr. Hustace and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—7. Noes: None. Absent: Council Members Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and Kimball —2. Excused: None. Page 2 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 692: NOMINATION OF ALLEN A. SALAVEA TO THE POLICE COMMISSION From Mayor C. Kimo Alameda, dated December 31, 2025, requesting the Council's review and confirmation. Waived: GOEAC (Comm. 692.1) Requires Council Confirmation by: February 13, 2026 (Section 134(k), Hawaii County Charter) Vote on Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to confirm the appointment of Comm. 692: Mr. Allen A. Salavea to the Police Commission. Seconded (Approved) by Mr. Hustace and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. ORDER OF The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Order of RESOLUTIONS: Resolutions. Res. 445-26: REQUESTS THE COUNTY AUDITOR TO CONDUCT A PERFORMANCE AUDIT OF THE USE AND EFFECTIVENESS OF REAL PROPERTY TAX REVENUES APPROPRIATED FOR HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS The scope of the audit includes evaluation of performance with respect to the Office of Housing and Community Development's Strategic Roadmap, data indicators and metrics, and compliance with the County Code. Reference: Comm. 686 Intr. by: Council Members Inaba and Kimball Approve: GOEAC-92 Motion to Approve: Ms. Kimball moved to adopt Res. 445-26 and Governmental Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 92. Seconded by Ms. Kagiwada. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: I think we had a really good discussion on this in Committee, and just ask for everyone's support to finalize the resolution. Page 3 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 CHR. INABA: Thank you. Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you. I see we do have the Auditor here. I don't know if this was brought up in our discussion before. I don't remember it. But I just wanted to mention that I hope the audit will look at those who were prevented from becoming homeless because of the fund, in addition to those who were helped out of homelessness. Because, I think that was something that can kind of be hidden and invisible in some cases. So I hope that will be looked at. I also wanted to just say that this dedicated County funding aimed at increasing safe and stable housing and supporting those in our community with the greatest housing needs has completed two out of five in ten cycles, with the County wrapping up the third year now. And this is the right time for the audit. While I was not here when the fund was established in 2022, I want to thank all those who supported this compassionate and necessary initiative. As a Council, we have kuleana for creating policy through funding, like this Housing and Homelessness Fund. And it's the Administration's job to administer the program, oversee the needed changes, and utilize the funding to support our community in accordance with the ordinances that we establish by this body. I've been impressed with the Administration's improvements to how the funding is being directed, and appreciative of the reports and candid discussions we've had with OHCD (Office of Housing and Community Development) on this issue over the years. I've been, and continue to be, in full support of any tools like this audit that provide information and data to assist the Council in making informed budgetary and policy decisions. So just wanted to thank OHCD, the Auditor, and the members of this body who initiated and supported this important policy for our County. I yield. CHR. INABA: Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Just a quick question. I want to make sure that I got the information correct, as I've had a number of people reach out to me to ask me to clarify whether or not the audit will include not just OHCD, but the actual organizations that have received the funding, and what the depth and level of auditing will entail when it comes to how the funds have been spent by the organizations. CHR. INABA: Yes, that is what the resolution speaks to do. We can call the Auditor forward if you want further clarification or any more specifics than that. MS. VILLEGAS: Oh, no, I think that's good. I just wanted to get that clarified and confirmed to ensure that I'm providing the right information to constituents that are reaching out to me. So thank you for clarifying. I yield. Page 4 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 CHR. INABA: Thank you. Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Council Member Villegas, you can share with anyone who asks, Item No. 1 under the `BE IT RESOLVED" clause, which says, comprehensive review of OHCD and nonprofit use of funding and—housing and homeless funds. CHR. INABA: Perfect. And I'll just finish off: No. 4 I think is really the kind ofI might have mentioned this last time the meat of compliance with contract and use of public funds in accordance with our nonprofit grant code. With that, all those in favor of approving Resolution 445-25 [sic], please say "aye." Vote on Res. 445-26: The motion to adopt Res. 445-26 and Governmental (Adopted) Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 92 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Res. 450-26: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO PUNA MAKAUKAU FOR ITS FERN ACRES COMMUNITY RESOURCE AND EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER Transfers $6,045 from the Clerk-Council Services —Contingency Relief account (Council District 5); and credits to the Department of Research and Development, Agriculture Other Current Expenses account. Reference: Comm. 697 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to adopt Res. 450-26. Seconded by Mr. Hustace. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Since my colleague from Upper Puna is not here, I just wanted to take an opportunity to thank the Puna Makaukau group, particularly Claudia Ziroli, who I've had the pleasure of working with since the pandemic, to set up the hub there. They continue to work hard to serve community in a variety of ways: food distributions, emergency disaster support. So I know this funding Page 5 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 will go a long way for a community that is very resourceful. So, looking for everyone's support on behalf of Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Thank you. CHR. INABA: All those in favor of approving Resolution 450-26, please say Ic aye. Vote on Res. 450-26: The motion to adopt Res. 450-26 was carried by the (Adopted) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. CHR. INABA: For the record, the previous resolution was Resolution 445-26, not 445-25. Thank you. Res. 451-26: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO THE FRIENDS OF LILI`UOKALANI GARDENS FOR THE ONGOING WAIHONU POND WALL RESTORATION Transfers $3,000 from the Clerk-Council Services —Contingency Relief account (Council District 3); and credits to the Department of Parks and Recreation, Administration Other Current Expenses account. Reference: Comm. 698 Intr. by: Council Member Onishi Motion to Approve: Mr. Onishi moved to adopt Res. 451-26. Seconded by Ms. Kagiwada. CHR. INABA: Vice Chair Onishi. MR. ONISHL Thank you, Chair. This is just to continue funding for the, I guess, upgrades of Lili`uokalani Gardens, with the stone walls and everything else. But also, I'd like to take this time to acknowledge Russell Kuwaye from Puna Rocks who also has been helping with this project in donating the stones for the stonewall, but also for the backfill. So, once they finish the wall, then they backfill it to wherever the level of the ground is. So he's been very helpful with that. So I want to thank him for that. So I'm just asking for your support. Thank you. Page 6 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 CHR. INABA: Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you. I just want to thank Council Member Onishi for putting forward this CRF (Contingency Relief Fund). I get to walk in Lili`uokalani Gardens a few times a week, and I've seen the progress that they've been making. The Friends of the Parks do a lot for us all over the island, but these folks, Friends of Lili`uokalani Gardens, really, really special. They do a lot of work over there and it's looking terrific. Just want to say thank you for supporting them, and thank you to them for all their work. I yield. CHR. INABA: Thank you. All those in favor of approving Resolution 451-26, please say "aye." Vote on Res. 451-26: The motion to adopt Res. 451-26 was carried by the (Adopted) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Res. 452-26: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO HUMANITY HALE FOR SERVICES IN HAWAIIAN ARTS AND CULTURAL EDUCATION, ABUSE PREVENTION, AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN KONA Transfers $10,000 from the Clerk-Council Services —Contingency Relief account (Council District 7); and credits to the Department of Liquor Control, Public Programs account. Reference: Comm. 699 Intr. by: Council Member Villegas Motion to Approve: Ms. Villegas moved to adopt Res. 452-26. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz. CHR. INABA: Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: I just want to express my gratitude to Humanity Hale and Charis for her continued passion and incredible work to support the young people in our community who oftentimes are in the foster care programs, and have already endured lots of hardships. But the outreach, the education, and the support which in the long run helps with prevention of child abuse, I'm just so grateful for the work she does and ask for my colleagues' support. I yield. Page 7 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 CHR. INABA: All those in favor of approving Resolution 452-26, please say Ic aye. Vote on Res. 452-26: The motion to adopt Res. 452-26 was carried by the (Adopted) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Res. 453-26: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO HAMAKUA YOUTH FOUNDATION, INC., FOR ITS HAMAKUA YOUTH CENTER PROGRAMS Transfers $5,000 from the Clerk-Council Services —Contingency Relief account (Council District 1); and credits to the Department of Liquor Control, Public Programs account. Reference: Comm. 700 Intr. by: Council Member Kimball Motion to Approve: Ms. Kimball moved to adopt Res. 453-26. Seconded by Mr. Hustace. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Just ask for my colleagues' support in helping to fund the Hamakua Youth Foundation. We have supported them over many years, and they do great work up there. So thank you. CHR. INABA: All those in favor of approving Resolution 453-26, please say Ic aye. Vote on Res. 453-26: The motion to adopt Res. 453-26 was carried by the (Adopted) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Page 8 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 Res. 454-26: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO THE FRIENDS OF FIRST RESPONDERS FOR ITS "WHEN MY HERO COMES HOME" CHILDREN'S BOOK Transfers $5,000 from the Clerk-Council Services —Contingency Relief account (Council District 1); and credits to the Police Department, Police Administration Division—Other Current Expenses account. Reference: Comm. 701 Intr. by: Council Member Kimball Motion to Approve: Ms. Kimball moved to adopt Res. 454-26. Seconded by Mr. Hustace. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: I just ask for my colleagues' support. I'm happy that Pastor Renee was able to bring a copy of the book so you guys can see what we're supporting (see Comm. 701.1). Thank you. CHR. INABA: All those in favor of approving Resolution 454-26, please say Ic aye. Vote on Res. 454-26: The motion to adopt Res. 454-26 was carried by the (Adopted) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Res. 455-26: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT FOR THE PURCHASE OF A REPLACEMENT SCOREBOARD FOR KA`U HIGH AND PAHALA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN THE KA`U DISTRICT Transfers $20,000 from the Clerk-Council Services —Contingency Relief account (Council District 6); and credits to the Department of Parks and Recreation, Recreation Division Equipment account. Reference: Comm. 702 Intr. by: Council Member Galimba Page 9 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 Motion to Approve: Ms. Galimba moved to adopt Res. 455-26. Seconded by Mr. Hustace. CHR. INABA: Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: Thanks. Just want to ask for my colleagues' support on this. Before I even got into Council, folks were asking me about this scoreboard because we have at our high school two scoreboards that don't work. And so it's quite embarrassing. It's one of those situations where it's a Department of Education facility, but the park area or the playground, playing area is an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the County. And so both sides go, you know, like that. So it took a little bit to work out this arrangement where we can pay for the scoreboard with contingency relief funds. And the Parks and Rec. (Recreation) are kindly going to be helping with the actual installation so that we can get a scoreboard working for our kids out there in Ka`u. So thank you. CHR. INABA: All those in favor of approving Resolution 455-26, please say Ic aye. Vote on Res. 455-26: The motion to adopt Res. 455-26 was carried by the (Adopted) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Res. 456-26: AUTHORIZES THE PAYMENT OF FUNDS OF LATER FISCAL YEARS TO ENTER INTO A MULTI-YEAR LEASE AGREEMENT FOR ONE MULTIFUNCTION COPY MACHINE TO BE USED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS Authorizes the Mayor to enter into a five-year lease agreement with an approximate monthly cost of$175, to be used by the department's Traffic Division in Hilo. Reference: Comm. 714 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Waived: FC Page 10 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 Vote on Res. 456-26: Mr. Hustace moved to adopt Res. 456-26. Seconded by (Adopted) Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Res. 457-26: AUTHORIZES THE PAYMENT OF FUNDS OF LATER FISCAL YEARS TO ENTER INTO A MULTI-YEAR AGREEMENT FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF TWO MULTIFUNCTION COPY MACHINES FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS Authorizes the Mayor to enter into a five-year maintenance agreement with an approximate monthly cost of$105, to be used by the department's Engineering Divisions in Hilo and Kona. Reference: Comm. 715 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Waived: FC Vote on Res. 457-26: Mr. Hustace moved to adopt Res. 457-26. Seconded by (Adopted) Mr. Onishi and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Res. 458-26: AUTHORIZES THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT WITH THE STATE OF HAWAI`I, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, TO RECEIVE A GRANT OF WORKFORCE INNOVATION AND OPPORTUNITY ACT PROGRAM FUNDS Allows for the receipt of$1,600,000 of federally-derived funds to provide services that enhance employment opportunities,job retention, earnings, skill development, and literacy. Reference: Comm. 716 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Waived: FC Page 11 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 Vote on Res. 458-26: Mr. Hustace moved to adopt Res. 458-26. Seconded by (Adopted) Ms. Galimba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Bills for ORDINANCES Ordinances (First Reading). (FIRST READING): Bill 63: AMENDS CHAPTER 25, ARTICLE 5, OF THE HAWAI`I COUNTY CODE (Draft 2) 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO DWELLINGS Permits residential dwellings within the industrial-commercial mixed use (MCX) zoning district. Reference: Comm. 333.7 Intr. by: Council Member Onishi Approve: PCPLUED-8 Postponed: October 22, November 19, December 3, 2025; and January 7, 2026 (Note: There is a motion by Council Member Onishi, seconded by Council Member Hustace, to pass Bill 63, as amended, on first reading.) ; and Comm. 333.8: From Council Member Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, dated November 17, 2025, transmitting a proposed amendment to Bill 63, Draft 2. ; and Comm. 333.9: From former Kona Community Development Plan Action Committee Chair Charles Young, dated October 17, 2025, transmitting testimony regarding Bill 63, Draft 2. ; and Comm. 333.16: From Kona Community Development Plan Action Committee Chair John Pelletier, dated January 16, 2026, requesting that Bill 63, Draft 2, be referred back to the Policy Committee on Planning, Land Use, and Economic Development. (Note: Comm. 333.17, from Council Member Heather L. Kimball dated January 28, 2026, transmitting proposed amendments to Bill 63, Draft 2, was circulated.) Page 12 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 Motion to Amend: Ms. Kimball moved to amend Bill 63, Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 333.17. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. MS. KIMBALL: As discussed in our last conversation about this bill, the main issue is that one size fits all doesn't work with MCX. And so, rather than making it a permitted use to allow residential uses, we've moved it as a use permit. So it's still not as restrictive as a special use permit, but it allows the department to look at the site, look at the surrounding area, and impose the appropriate conditions under the use permit structure. With the consideration that the use permit would determine the necessity of any setbacks, I removed that language from Section 3 with the 200-foot setback, which would be potentially difficult for some folks. But that's no longer necessary if the use permit would actually contain the setback requirements through the conditions of the use permit. I ask for everyone's support. CHR. INABA: Vice Chair Onishi. MS. VILLEGAS: Chair? CHR. INABA: Vice Chair Onishi, and we'll head over to you, Council Member Villegas. MR. ONISHL I support this separate change. CHR. INABA: Okay. Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: I'm just having a hard time finding on SharePoint Communication 333.17. CHR. INABA: It was in our pinkie (folder)today, so if you're—it's actually here in your Hilo seat. If you're able to pull it up (inaudible). MS. VILLEGAS: Do you want to screenshot and text it to me? CHR. INABA: Yes, it's coming over from Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, thank you. CHR. INABA: Discussion on the amendment from anyone else right now? Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you. MS. VILLEGAS: I do have it. Page 13 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 MS. KAGIWADA: You got it? Great. So I'm just trying to understand. I'm trying to look at what's on the screen originally, and what you've submitted. There's two pages. Can you just explain again what we're looking at here, because all the underlined parts seem to be identical. Am I missing something? CHR. INABA: Council Member Kimball, walk us through the amendment, please. MS. KIMBALL: Yes. The original bill has these uses being placed in Subsection (a) of this division of the Code. We are removing that clause and replacing it with the same clause, but moving it under Subsection (b), which would make it instead of a permitted use, a use that requires a use permit. And then the last page here is just what the bill looks like now, yeah. With the amendment, the last page is what the bill now looks like. MS. KAGIWADA: I see. Since you are amending the draft bill, that part is not underlined or changed. That's why we can't easily see it. The only part that's underlined is the part that is going to be the actual language that's going to be changed in the Code, not the section it's in. Is that correct? CHR. INABA: Number 3 in the amendment is the section that removes the current Section 3 in Draft 2. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. MS. KIMBALL: Section 3 is no longer necessary. MS. KAGIWADA: Section 3 is no longer necessary. MS. KIMBALL: So that's been removed from the bill. MS. KAGIWADA: That's the second page of this? MS. KIMBALL: Yes. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. MS. KIMBALL: That's what the bill looks like with the amendment. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. Thank you. I yield. CHR. INABA: All right. Council Member Villegas, I hope you got a copy of it, and I'll head back to you if you have any questions now. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. I did get a copy, so I'm doing my best to read through it now. I still have some concerns. I have members of the Kona CDP Page 14 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 (Community Development Plan) Action Committee here. I rely heavily on their expertise and perspective and honor—yeah, so I'm on the fence about this. I don't know if this fixes the long-term issue with this legislation in general. But I'd like a little more time, actually. So that's just where I stand right now. CHR. INABA: All right. I'd like to just call on Planning Director Darrow to come and weigh in on the amendment. There aren't any more lights here, Council Member Villegas, at this time. So after Director Darrow chimes in, I'll come back to you if you have any other questions or statements before we take the vote. MS. VILLEGAS: I do, so thank you. (Note: At this time, Planning Director Jeffrey Darrow came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. DARROW: Aloha, Chair Inaba, Vice Chair Onishi, members of the Hawaii County Council. Jeff Darrow with the Planning Department. CHR. INABA: If you would care to just weigh in from a planning director's perspective on the amendment, versus making it a permit application rather than a permitted use. MR. DARROW: Sure. We've always been supportive from the beginning of this process of the uses being permitted within the zoning district, again to provide that opportunity for business owners to be able to live and work in the same place; and also, as we're seeing, the ability to do onsite workforce housing. That appears to be something that we're seeing being considered more often with it becoming more difficult to find people to be able to work these days. But there is concern that by adding this as a permitted use, people would not have an opportunity to chime in on that particular use. So this is the next viable option, being able to come in. When they are requesting dwellings or a dwelling, they would go through a use permit. This is not typical. I mean, we do have a use permit for, say, a bed and breakfast. But that's not like just a dwelling. It's a use that they're doing a short-term vacation rental within the use. So they'll come in. This is unique in the sense that you're asking for dwellings to come under a use permit—something new. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Director. With that, Council Member Villegas, any other questions or comments on the amendment before we take the vote? MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah. And perhaps I could ask the maker. There's an incredible letter written by Charlie Young with a number of different comments, recommendations, and issues. So my question, then, to Council Member Kimball would be related to, you know, Chapter 25 allows neighborhood parks, Page 15 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 playgrounds, tennis courts, swimming pools, recreational areas as permitted uses within RM, CN, CG, and CV Districts. Under Section 25-5-13, MCX District, they are not permitted uses. So, if Bill 63 amends MCX Districts, should neighborhood parks and playgrounds be added? I suppose, because this is a special use permit, you know, these are the things that I would want to still be included. And when we the exclusion of single-family residential, that should not be an allowable use. And perhaps this relates more specifically to Bill 63 than this particular amendment. My hope is that the amendment provides a stopgap because I don't support an overall change in the Code which leaves us vulnerable to—it just leaves us really vulnerable, especially in Kona, to future construction and exploitation. While the intention might be good CHR. INABA: Council Member Villegas, we're on the amendment right now. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Council Member Kierkiewicz and then Council Member Hustace. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Kimball, for putting this forward so we can have the discussion. I just want to make sure I got everything right. We're removing the explicit allowance of dwellings in MCX, and now a use permit would be required. I think that should assuage community concerns, because now the Planning Department, through the use permit process, will be able to evaluate on a case-by-case basis if it is appropriate to have dwellings on that property or not. And even within that process, Director,you would be prescribing certain conditions that must be met as part of the overall development? MR. DARROW: Correct. There still is a question regarding inclusionary zoning in the sense of requiring affordable housing as part of a use permit. That's something we'll need to look at that's not typical. It's usually typical in zoning. When they're coming in to amend a zoning district, it'll be part of that particular application. But we'll look into that to see if that's actually an allowable condition that we can add in a use permit. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Is that something that you can get clarity around before the next reading? MR. DARROW: Yes. Page 16 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Great. And then, the use permit process, is this something that is handled by the commission? Or is this something that is handled administratively? Just so that the public is aware of how this process works. MR. DARROW: Sure. The application of a use permit would be submitted to the department who prepares a background and recommendation to whichever commission the application is located, whether it's in East Hawaii, to the Windward Planning Commission, or West Hawaii, to the Leeward Planning Commission. They would be the final approval. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, great. So it's very transparent. MR. DARROW: Correct. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: The community will have the opportunity to review the application and weigh in as part of public hearings for the commission's proceedings. MR. DARROW: Yes. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Great. I'm in support of this. Thank you, I yield. CHR. INABA: Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Director. You mentioned in one of your previous statements that this is unique in terms of a use permit for residential purposes and residential dwellings. You've never seen a use permit for residential purposes then. MR. DARROW: Typically, as mentioned, it's for a use in a dwelling. It could be—special permits are different. The sky's the limit with those. You could ask for lodges. You could ask for inns. But again, those typically are focused on a use of a short-term rental type use. It's not typical to come in for a use permit for a dwelling,just for that use—or double-family dwelling, a duplex, or a multifamily dwelling. MR. HUSTACE: So how would this sort of change, and a use permit application be addressed within the commission then if it never kind of experienced this before? MR. DARROW: When we get our first one, we'll prepare the background and recommendation and see how it goes. Yeah. MR. HUSTACE: Okay. Thank you, Director. Page 17 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 MR. DARROW: Just to make sure we get everything on the record here. A use permit process does allow for the opportunity for a contested case. So that could happen in this particular process, even if someone were to come in for a simple single-family dwelling as part of the use. You'll notice that the maker of the bill also included that the single-family dwelling needs to be accessory to a use permitted in that. So again, it's not just for a use for a dwelling on an MCX property. There has to be that connection. MR. HUSTACE: But there is an opportunity for a contested case hearing on it then, as you mentioned. MR. DARROW: Correct. MR. HUSTACE: Okay. I recognize that you're trying to find, to the maker, you're trying to assuage any sort of fears in the community and what we've been hearing from some of the Kona community members. But it does change the intent of the original bill, in my mind, in terms of allowing that from the get-go. But thank you for bringing this forward. Thank you, Director. CHR. INABA: Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: I just have a quick question for Director Darrow. CHR. INABA: Go ahead. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. It comes from personal experience. In District 7, another landowner had come in for a special use permit. And I guess I'm wondering where the—who enforces if—if a commission allows a special use permit under certain stipulations and there are conditions, and the applicant never meets the conditions but continues to operate doing the same thing, whether it's business, residential, whatnot, what are the repercussions and what happens? It just seems to me there's no consequences for that. So I just have some concerns about the special use permit process in general, and then how that aligns and how effective it would be as it relates to Bill 63. MR. DARROW: Aloha, Council Member Villegas. So a special permit is similar to a use permit in the sense that it is a discretionary permit approved by either the Windward Planning Commission or the Leeward Planning Commission. The conditions within the permit are enforced by the Planning Department. But ultimately, the action, whether it be revocation of the permit for noncompliance or some sort of action that may happen to the applicant, it would be in the hands of the commission. So the Planning Department would do an investigation and bring forth the information with a recommendation to whichever planning commission that would be. Page 18 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 MS. VILLEGAS: I'm wondering for us, as Council Members, if that's the case, if something like that happened as related to Bill 63, does then the burden fall to Council Members to bring that to Planning's attention? Or is that something that Planning should be moving forward with, and would be, if there were any issues with a special use permit as it relates to Bill 63, or any other special use permit? MR. DARROW: Typically, the Planning Department responds on a complaint basis. So when we receive a complaint, we just don't have enough staff to be proactive, to be able to there's just so much going on with all of the different rezonings, use permits, special permits, conditions. We also rely on information that is provided by the applicant in the sense of usually a status report or an annual report, where they provide information of where they are in relation to their conditions. But typically, we will receive a complaint and then we will follow up with that. When somebody that has a special permit or a use permit is doing something that causes a complaint and we do an investigation, there are times, not a lot of times, but there are times where the planning director, as a result of noncompliance with the conditions of that permit, will bring it to the applicable planning commission and request that the permit be revoked. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. Thank you for kind of helping. Still kind of clear as mud. I just want to make sure we're not setting ourselves up for more vulnerabilities, because we don't have the capacity within our County staffing to do the follow-up that may be necessary. So with that, I yield. CHR. INABA: Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: Thank you. I'm kind of on the fence on this. On one hand, it seems like a good compromise and a way to move forward to carve balance on a lot of concerns, along with the potential for good things to happen around having housing available or possible in this zoning. I just pulled up the use permit application, and it seems to me that the standard seems to be not harmful to the public. Is that an accurate way to describe what a use permit standard of evaluation is? MR. DARROW: The use permit has three criteria that we look at. It's similar to other permits as well as rezoning applications that come by. Is it consistent with the General Plan? Is it consistent with the community development plan? Is infrastructure in place to support this particular requested use, as well as health and safety issues such as you're bringing up? So it does bring up a point that we should consider in this amendment, is even going through the use permit and placing conditions on a use such as a dwelling, or dwellings. I'm trying to picture what types of conditions we would place in Page 19 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 that, maybe a timing condition on how long it takes them to build the dwelling. That's typical for any type of permit that comes in. But there's not a whole lot of others—if they have water, if they have wastewater, if they have infrastructure in place. If they meet the General Plan and the community development plan, similar to the zoning itself, that these residences are being requested to be located in. There's going to be few conditions, part of the use permit. It's going to be limited. MS. GALIMBA: In the bill, as it stands without this amendment, do all of those conditions also come into consideration at any point? Or basically, because we allow it, then it's allowed? And whether there's infrastructure for these dwellings or not is not really brought up explicitly. I mean, is that already sort of taken care of because it's in an MCX zone, where potentially there is that infrastructure? MR. DARROW: I think that's the point I'm trying to make. In regards to the benefit of the use permit that I can see, outside of the review we do, is that it gives an opportunity for the neighboring properties or the public in general to participate in a public hearing to support or oppose dwellings on a particular property in MCX. But once the use permit is approved, the conditions are going to be minimal as far as, like I was saying, maybe a timeline on building the dwelling. But MCX zoning typically has infrastructure required to sustain it. The original bill that we were looking at was adding these as a permitted use in a zoning district, similar to the commercial zoning districts. It is true, that is, that's been brought up, there are certain uses that are not in MCX that are included in the commercial zoning. If this goes through and we find that it's a good fit, they may add those in as part of permitted uses in the future,just to support those residential uses. But overall, as we had mentioned in our original presentation, there's very little MCX zoning on this island. The majority is in Kailua-Kona near Costco, West Hawaii Business Park, and by Target in that area, Makalapua. But outside of that, I think there's about 318 acres in North Kona. There is about 40 acres in South Hilo, 20 acres in Puna, 33 in South Kohala, and 3 in Ka`u. That's the entire island with the MCX zoning. So we're not talking about a huge district that's across the island. It's limited. Thank you. MS. GALIMBA: Thank you for all of that information. As you mentioned, I think that there could be in the future—we could rethink this and move this language into, what is it, Subsection (a) rather than (b). So I'll support this amendment so that we can start getting going on this. Thanks. CHR. INABA: Okay. Council Member Hustace,you want to wrap us up? Page 20 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 MR. HUSTACE: Thank you. A different question here. As we're looking at those different subsections, Subsection (c) speaks a little bit of something else, about direct accessory. Could you define that? The uses that are listed above, do any of them already have direct accessory for dwelling units? MR. DARROW: No. MR. HUSTACE: So the ones listed above don't have another accessory that could say a building or a use is directly an accessory to that permitted use that could be a dwelling already? MR. DARROW: We haven't—up to this point, as far as I'm aware, none of the previous planning directors, including myself, had made that determination in the MCX zoning district. The only one that I had mentioned similar was in the ML and MG Districts. Heavy industrial and light industrial was the allowance for kind of a watchman's quarters as part of that. And people will utilize that as a means to have an onsite manager oversee a property itself. But as far as considering dwellings as an accessory use to a permitted use, dwellings in themselves are more of a primary use. And we wouldn't want to start blurring the lines when it comes to using that as an opportunity to take a use that's clearly not permitted and use that section to include it in a zoning district. MR. HUSTACE: So it says, "uses and buildings,"though. So you're sharing that that residential use, residential building is then not seen as a direct accessory to the permitted uses. MR. DARROW: It would be more appropriate to make it a permitted use within the zoning district than to add it to that zoning district as an accessory use. MR. HUSTACE: Even considering some of these permitted uses that you may hand in hand tie residential purposes for some of those particular uses, though, as an accessory (inaudible). Does that make sense? MR. DARROW: It does. And I think that's why we added that language MR. HUSTACE: Understand. MR. DARROW: of single family,yeah. MR. HUSTACE: Okay. I was just seeing that as it reads with Subsection (c), and through my mind kind of seeing some of the uses, that residential purposes would be a direct accessory to some of these particular businesses. (Inaudible)that your determination that is not permissible, no. (Inaudible.) Page 21 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 MR. DARROW: I'll give you an example of what might be a situation where we will make a determination like that. We had that happen just recently. And that is that you have a zoning and it allows particular uses, but it doesn't allow something that you would—like a parking lot. MR. HUSTACE: Sure. MR. DARROW: There was a unique situation, but it was clearly accessory to that use. It went hand in hand, parking for a particular business, which wasn't allowed. We had a split-zoned lot, and it was not allowed in there but allowed here, but it was on the same property. We utilized that particular section to do that. We've had some where people have tried to come in and introduce a use that is clearly not listed as a permitted use, to try to say it's accessory. And it seems like it's held the line up to this point. Not to go to that point, but I think it would be more appropriate to just add it as a permitted use. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Director. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. If I'm understanding this all correctly, the original intent of the bill was to make it possible and easier to build dwellings in the MCX Districts. This kind of pulls it back a little, still makes it possible but maybe not quite as easy to do. Does that sound like a good summary of that? MR. DARROW: Sure. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. And then, I guess my thinking on this is I would this seems like a very kind of simple and elegant way to kind of deal with these back- and-forth issues that we've had. But I actually think I would prefer that we do go with the original intent, which is make the dwellings permissible in the area, but look at addressing some of these individual concerns that were raised by the planning commission. I know it would take more work and it's not as, like I said, simple and elegant as this solution, but that's just I guess I'd like to hear from the author of the original bill, what your thoughts are on kind of making it a little harder now for people to build dwellings in the area. Thanks, I yield. CHR. INABA: Briefly, Vice Chair Onishi, and then we're going to do a roll call vote on the amendment. MR. ONISHL Thanks, Chair. For me, like I always had mentioned from before, this all started when we started doing the homeless shelter in the Kona Industrial Area, the old one. Then early last year, we approved having hospitals and senior homes. And so, that's why I went to see the Planning Department and I said, Page 22 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 "Don't you think this is time so that we can have,now, families living in the areas that they can work, and relieving traffic off of the highways, especially like Puna or out in Kona?" They said, "Yeah." So then, we started drafting it. But through discussions from then till now with the comments from my colleagues, we have to readjust. Had to go back. And then Ms. Kimball has a great idea that, to help with this moving forward, we do that use permit. That could help. Like you mentioned a little bit earlier, could happen or couldn't happen. And so, for me, I would want to see something passed where at least we're looking out for our working families, the owners of the operation, that they could live there and it's more convenient for them. So I would recommend that we can approve this amendment, and then we pass the bill as amended. I hope that helps. Thank you. CHR. INABA: On the motion to amend Bill 63, Draft 2, with the contents of Communication 333.17. A roll call vote, please, Mr. Clerk. Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 63, Draft 2, with the contents of Amend: Comm. 333.17 was carried by the following roll call vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—6. Noes: Council Members Hustace and Kagiwada—2. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Since we are now back on the main motion, one of the things that I wanted to address that might address some of the concerns that the Kona CDP folks have and Council Member Villegas has, I was thinking about adding something to the amendment that would address the affordable housing requirement. And what I learned in conversation with LRB (Legislative Research Branch) and Corporation Counsel is that the affordable housing requirement gets assigned as a condition of the rezoning, but it is ultimately the use that determines what affordable housing program is applied. And so, if the property were to be used for multifamily housing or residential use, it's that section of Chapter 11 that applies, not the industrial section. And so, for those that were concerned about this not having an affordable housing component, it will still have that because Chapter 11 applies to the use. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Any further discussion? MR. HUSTACE: Chair? Page 23 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah. CHR. INABA: We're going to go to Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you for explaining affordable housing in there, Council Member Kimball. I also would like to see something in here that prohibits any multifamily development within MCX to be used as short-term vacation rentals. CHR. INABA: Director Darrow had stated at a previous meeting that that isn't allowed in that zoning MS. VILLEGAS: I'm sorry, could you say that a little louder? CHR. INABA: Director Darrow had shared in a previous meeting that that isn't a permitted use in this zoning already. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. I can't support Bill 63 because I honor the concerns expressed by the CDP Action Committee. And as has been stated, the lion's share of the lands that this would affect resides in District 7 and District 8. I've talked to a large landowner who had a number of questions, and their intentionality is workforce housing for the new hospital. And my comment to them was go get a special use permit. Those are special occurrences. I am grateful that there were special use permits for the homeless facility in the industrial area, that there have been exceptions made for a hospital. I think those serve the broader, greater good. But when I look at communities that allow for this, I don't see this as being family homes. I don't know anybody that owns land in MCX in Kona that would see this as their way to live with their family on that property at their business. I see this as a loophole to create Kakaako in Kona. And those are my concerns, is that we accidentally open up loopholes without understanding the long-term repercussions. And I think that as it stands, we have a system in place for projects and properties and developments that authentically serve our community, to go in and get special use permits or exemptions from certain things that may or may not apply. But I go to Costco and I can't envision families living in that area. I could see some workforce for the hospital. But it's not, overall, going to be an area that I guess I call baloney on that this is where local families are going to want to or be able to live if we build up in our more urban core. That's more people that invest and move to live here. So I kind of feel like I'm rambling here. But I can't support Bill 63. And I would ask that it go back to Committee for further discussion and for each of the things that have been brought up by the Page 24 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 Kona CDP, which once again relates to the greatest number of acreage that would be affected by this. So I ask for my colleagues to honor that and the way that it would affect West Hawaii. I yield. CHR. INABA: Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thanks, Chair. Director, I know you already answered this question about direct accessory, but the workforce housing is specifically tied to a project. It's specifically tied to the business downstairs, the business on the property. That would be that's what I see as a direct accessory. You talked about a night watchman dwelling. That I see as a direct accessory. So if it is the hospital for instance, because that's being mentioned, those workforce housing units are directly tied to that project and that use. So, thus, I see it as a permitted use directly tied and then be an accessory to one of those permitted uses. Does that make sense? And if we're talking specifically about workforce housing MR. DARROW: I hear you but, as mentioned, it's a line that we try not to cross. MR. HUSTACE: Very good. That's fine. Thank you, Director. CHR. INABA: All right. A roll call vote, please. Vote on Bill 63: The motion to pass Bill 63, Draft 2, as amended to Draft 3, Draft 3 on first reading and adopt Policy Committee on Planning, (Approved) Land Use, and Economic Development Committee Report No. 8 was carried by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Inaba—7. Noes: Council Member Villegas — 1. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Bill 114: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 25-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2026 Increases revenues in the Federal Grants - Hawai`i County Police Department Roadblock Program Grant account($17,961) and appropriates the same to the Hawaii County Police Department Roadblock Program account. Reference: Comm. 681 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Approve: FC-119 Page 25 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 Vote on Bill 114: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 114 on first reading and (Approved) adopt Finance Committee Report No. 119. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Bill 115: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 25-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2026 Increases revenues in the Federal Grants —Occupant Protection Program Grant account($13,255) and appropriates the same to the Occupant Protection Program account. Reference: Comm. 682 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Approve: FC-120 Vote on Bill 115: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 115 on first reading and (Approved) adopt Finance Committee Report No. 120. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Bill 116: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 25-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2026 Increases revenues in the Federal Grants —Hawai`i County Police Department 2023 Selective Traffic Enforcement Program Grant account($54,814) and appropriates the same to the Hawaii County Police Department 2023 Selective Traffic Enforcement Program account. Reference: Comm. 683 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Approve: FC-121 Page 26 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 Vote on Bill 116: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 116 on first reading and (Approved) adopt Finance Committee Report No. 121. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Bill 117: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 25-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2026 Increases revenues in the Federal Grants —High Intensity Impact Grant account ($340,000) and appropriates the same to the High Intensity Impact Grant Program account. Reference: Comm. 684 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Approve: FC-122 Vote on Bill 117: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 117 on first reading and (Approved) adopt Finance Committee Report No. 122. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Bill 118: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 25-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2026 Increases revenues in the Federal Grants —Hawaii County Police Department Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Grant account($54,098) and appropriates the same to the Hawaii County Police Department Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Program account. Reference: Comm. 685 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Approve: FC-123 Page 27 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 Vote on Bill 118: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 118 on first reading and (Approved) adopt Finance Committee Report No. 123. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Bill 119: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 02-93, WHICH AMENDED SECTION 25-8-7 (NORTH AND SOUTH KOHALA DISTRICTS ZONE MAP), ARTICLE 8, CHAPTER 25 (ZONING CODE) OF THE HAWAI`I COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), BY CHANGING THE DISTRICT CLASSIFICATION FROM AGRICULTURAL (A-5a) TO RESIDENTIAL AND AGRICULTURAL (RA-2a) AT `OULI, SOUTH KOHALA, HAWAI`I, COVERED BY TAX MAP KEY: 6-2-007:002 (Applicant: Clemson and Janet Lam) (Area: 5 acres) The Leeward Planning Commission forwards its favorable recommendation for the requested amendment to Condition D, which prohibits construction of a second dwelling unit on the property. The property is located at 62-2039 Kawaihae Road. Reference: Comm. 687 Intr. by: Council Member Kimball (B/R) Approve: LAAC-27 Vote on Bill 119: Ms. Kimball moved to pass Bill 119 on first reading and (Approved) adopt Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee Report No. 27. Seconded by Mr. Hustace and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Page 28 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 Bill 120: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 04-149, AS AMENDED, WHICH RECLASSIFIED LANDS FROM AGRICULTURAL—FIVE ACRES (A-5a) TO SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL—20,000 SQUARE FEET (RS-20) AT KALAOA 1 sT AND 2ND NORTH KONA, HAWAI`I, COVERED BY TAX MAP KEY: 7-3-011:068 (Applicant: Ernest and Elizabeth Young) (Area: 1.86 acres) The Leeward Planning Commission forwards its favorable recommendation for the requested deletion of Condition H, which prohibits construction of a second dwelling unit on the property, and to amend Condition C for a five-year time extension to secure final subdivision approval. The property is located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Mahilani Drive and Mamalahoa Highway. Reference: Comm. 688 Intr. by: Council Member Kimball (B/R) Approve: LAAC-28 Motion to Approve: Ms. Kimball moved to pass Bill 120 on first reading and adopt Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee Report No. 28. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Now is the appropriate time for your question. But before you ask it, I'm going to ask our Planning Director Mr. Darrow to come up, because he is likely the one to have the answer. And then you can go ahead. He's here. (Note: At this time, Ernest and Elizabeth Young, applicants, and Planning Director Jeffrey Darrow came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. YOUNG: Okay. So my question is on the Condition P. Previously, it had stated "Should any of the conditions not be met or substantially complied with in a timely fashion, the Director may initiate rezoning of the subject area to its original or more appropriate designation." But the revised one that they're suggesting, it says, with any conditions not being "completed by the deadline, or if a time extension request has not been submitted in accordance with section 25-2-44(c), the Planning Department shall inform the Applicant that the ordinance is null and void without further action by the County. In that event, the zoning designation of the property(s) affected by the ordinance shall automatically revert to its immediate prior zoning designation." So our question on that is if, for some unforeseen reason, something happens where we can't finalize the subdivision, what would our property go back to? And is there any way, if that happened, could we keep it to RS-20, which has been since before we purchased it? Or would it go back? Page 29 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 MR. DARROW: Aloha, Chair Inaba, Vice Chair Onishi, and members of the Hawaii County Council. Jeff Darrow with the Planning Department. Aloha, Mr. and Mrs. Young. This particular condition as well as several others are recent amendments to our Zoning Code. So they are reflective of changes that have been made in our process. As this is new, we have not experienced this particular condition actually being applied yet, as far as somebody not complying by the deadline and the zoning reverting back to its original zoning designation. What I would suggest is work diligently to comply with the conditions therein. But also, there are opportunities to come in—if you look at Condition O to be able to come in for an additional extension of time. It's different than before. You would submit to the Planning Department, and the Planning Department would bring it to the Council with a resolution. But it can offer that opportunity. Additionally, if you look at the tolling condition, which is, I believe, Condition C, the time is not just"this time from this time." It now takes into consideration the time that you go through permitting, and that does not count towards your overall time. So you want to make sure you kind of keep tabs on how long it takes to go through your permitting processes. I hope that helps. MS. YOUNG: One of our questions about it would be, with what we're going forward with with the new bill, I think it's 123, with being able to build ADUs (accessory dwelling units), that's kind of why it sort of sparked our interest of if we didn't move forward with the subdividing not saying that we're not. I'm just saying, in that case scenario, if that happened, is there a way to keep it residential and be able to move forward with building the ADUs as a single lot, versus three lots trying to fit in three, six, nine. MR. DARROW: In this particular rezoning ordinance, the condition that you are required to do an action is relative to the final subdivision approval. So you really do need to do that action to comply with the ordinance. MS. YOUNG: Okay. And with that, could the action to finalize it be subdividing it into maybe two versus three? Would the addition (inaudible) on the fair share of each ADU having the required fair share, which is almost 18,000, plus each lot having the fair share of 18,000? We're just trying to MS. KIMBALL: Chair? I think we're kind of getting outside of what would be typical of a Council meeting. May I suggest we maybe table this for right now? We can take the next item. And maybe between you, Director, and the Youngs, if they need some additional time to talk about this before we move it on to a second hearing, I suggest that that be offline instead of here on the public record. MR. DARROW: Sure. MS. KIMBALL: Motion to table. Page 30 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 CHR. INABA: I don't see that there's going to be further discussion right now, because we only have a couple more agenda items. So I'd like us to proceed, unless we want to postpone it here at first reading, then you folks can discuss offline. But it would stay here at first reading. MR. YOUNG: (Inaudible.) MS. YOUNG: We want to proceed, yeah. MR. YOUNG: We're not postponing. MS. YOUNG: We'd be happy to proceed. MR. YOUNG: Absolutely. CHR. INABA: All right. Well, let's proceed then. Any other discussion on the bill? Seeing none, all those in favor of approving Bill 120 at first reading,please say "aye." Vote on Bill 120: The motion to pass Bill 120 on first reading and adopt (Approved) Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee Report No. 28 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Young. Please check in with Planning regarding any questions you have prior to second and final reading, which is happening in two weeks. MR. AND MRS. YOUNG: Thank you. Page 31 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 Bill 121: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 09-159, AS AMENDED, WHICH RECLASSIFIED (Draft 2) LANDS FROM AGRICULTURAL—5 ACRES (A-5a) TO MULTIPLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL—30,000 SQUARE FEET (RM-30) AT KEAUHOU, NORTH KONA, HAWAI`I, COVERED BY TAX MAP KEY: 7-8-010:101 (Applicant: Kona Country Club, Inc.) (Area: 51.058 acres) The Leeward Planning Commission forwards its favorable recommendation for the requested ten-year time extension to Condition D (complete construction). The property is located mauka of the Mamalahoa Highway Bypass, between the highway and the Kona Country Club mauka golf course. Reference: Comm. 689.5 Intr. by: Council Member Kimball (B/R) Approve: LAAC-29 Motion to Approve: Ms. Kimball moved to pass Bill 121, Draft 2, on first reading and adopt Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee Report No. 29. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. INABA: Discussion? Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you. Director, if we do not approve this time extension, what happens with the property? (Note: At this time, Planning Director Jeffrey Darrow came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. DARROW: It would revert back. I mean, there would have to be an action. It would still remain as it is, in limbo. So there would need to be a further action, whether it be a revocation, whether it be a request to come in for a new change of zone. Those would be, I'd say, the two options. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. All right. I've been struggling with this one. It really doesn't seem to fulfill what is needed for this island, in my opinion, as far as development goes. And thinking about our opening for our meeting today, I realize I'll probably not necessarily be on the winning side, but I'm not going to be supporting this time extension at this time. I yield. CHR. INABA: Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Yes? CHR. INABA: Oh. No, I thought you had a comment(inaudible). MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member Kagiwada, for recognizing and being sensitive to the needs of District 7 and the not needs of District 7. I mean, this project was very transparent about initial plans being vacation rentals. Their Page 32 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 intention is not to enhance, participate, or contribute directly to our kama`aina and maka`ainana. Building 29 more high-end luxury homes in an area where we are already short necessary infrastructure, I believe is an unwise decision and makes my community that much more vulnerable. They're already building over a hundred units of town homes across from Keauhou Shopping Center, and that project was approved decades ago. And here we are with another project, and they're asking for another decade to build something that's not in alignment with our community. And so, I'm asking for Council Members to take into consideration what it would be like for this to happen in your district, and to have community speaking out and very concerned and asking for a"no," and how that would feel if I disregarded or other Council Members disregarded that. It's really challenging. We're past the belief system of approving development just to increase the tax coffers. We have to be thinking seven generations ahead, and this is not a decision that considers seven generations ahead. So I humbly ask for my colleagues to support my stance on this ten-year time extension. The landowners will figure it out with Planning, whether or not, what it reverts to or reverts back to. But this particular project is no longer in alignment with the needs of West Hawaii. And I can't support it. I can't support the time extension today. I yield. CHR. INABA: Any further discussion here in Hilo? All right. Thank you, Council Members Kagiwada and Villegas. I share the same opinion as the fellow Kona Council Member. So with that, we will do a roll call vote on this bill. MR. HENRICKS: On the motion to pass Bill 121, Draft 2 MR. DARROW: Chair? Sir? The applicant is here. Do you want to give an opportunity to speak? CHR. INABA: No. We can proceed with the vote. Thank you. MR. DARROW: Thank you. Vote on Bill 121: The motion to pass Bill 121, Draft 2, on first reading and Draft 2 adopt Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee (Approved) Report No. 29 was carried by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and Onishi —5. Noes: Council Members Kagiwada, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—3. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Page 33 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 ORDER OF The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Order of THE DAY the Day (Second or Final Reading). (SECOND OR FINAL READING): Bill 112: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 25-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2026 Increases revenues in the Federal Grants —Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act account($1,600,000); and appropriates the same to the following Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 2025-2026 accounts: Administrative/Planning ($200,000), Adult Program ($650,000), Dislocated Worker Program ($300,000), and Youth Program ($450,000). Funds would be used to provide services that enhance employment opportunities,job retention, earnings, skill development, and literacy. Reference: Comm. 655 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) First Reading: January 23, 2026 and Comm. 655.1: From Research and Development Deputy Director Dennis Lin, dated January 14, 2026, transmitting information regarding Bill 112. Motion to Approve: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 112 on second and final reading. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. I just want to acknowledge that we have WIOA (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act) and R&D (Research and Development) leadership here. If you gentlemen could please come forward, I have some questions about the communication that you submitted. Just trying to do some sense-making here with all the data that's been provided. Thank you. (Note: At this time, Economic Development Specialist Clinton Mercado and Deputy Director Dennis Lin, Research and Development Department, came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So, for the five-year program statistics, can you help me understand when you say things like "employment rate" and "placement rate"? What is that percentage related to? I don't even know how many people are part of some program. And so, it's very hard for me to understand where these percentages are coming from. And I thought we had requested a program-by- program breakdown, and it feels as if everything's just kind of been compiled into these really big numbers over a five-year timespan. It's hard for me to understand Page 34 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 a specific program's impact over a year-to-year basis to see what programs are more successful than others. Anyway, there's a lot there, but please help us try to understand what's been submitted. Thank you. MR. LIN: Good afternoon. Dennis Lin, Deputy Director for R&D, and I have here Clinton Mercado, who is our WIOA EDS III(Economic Development Specialist III). I don't have particular insight into these numbers because that's run by WIOA. But I will ask Clinton if he can expand a little bit about the different rates that we have here. So, Clinton, if you don't mind. MR. MERCADO: Aloha, Council Members. It's all broken down by year. So, for the individuals registered, for instance, in the first column of the 232,377. The employment rate of that is the percentages in the front. So, like the adult program, 68.2 percent of the total people that participated in the program found employment, for example. I'm sorry, I don't have it broken down into separated. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah. I want to understand how the information has been presented. So individualsI just will use what you kind of talked about as an example. Individuals registered2,377 they're registered for the Goodwill Hawaii program? What program are they registered with? MR. MERCADO: So, through the agency, the WIOA program, Goodwill is our service provider. And then, so, within the HireNet is where they're registered. The HireNet is a State-based database repository. So those people within, they MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So, like, Goodwill is the intermediary. MR. MERCADO: Yes. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. MR. MERCADO: So they are the ones that support all the training. So, for instance, like the eligible training provider list, that's being maintained by Workforce Development Council. All those participants, they have access to all those trainings that are listed on the list, and they get covered 100 percent for their services. So, each year, we get monies from the Federal Government. And then, with that, it's a performance measure that's required by them for us to meet these percentages that we land on. A lot of our target percentages, we have been hitting it, the minimum that they're requiring. So that's what these percentages are. Page 35 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 Basically, all the hundred percent of people that's in the program, this 68.2 percent of it have found employment. A lot of people are still within the program. Then we have media and earnings, 7,473. So within a quarter, which is three months, they take all the participants within the adult program, for example, and then they look to see what is the median earnings for the participant in that time frame, the quarterly. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And then the employment referrals, how do we get those particular numbers? MR. MERCADO: So those are through the American Job Center, where people come in and then they go through our resource center. And those are the ones that get referred to employers. So our people at the American Job Center support them in finding jobs, and that's the employment referral that we're referring to. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And so, that's different from somebody getting a referral from Goodwill, after they've gone through that program, being referred to a job. It's different. MR. MERCADO: Yes. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Sorry, I'm just— MR. MERCADO: No, no, it's super complex. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Trying to get connections here for what program and the data that's being provided. And then, can you talk to us a little bit about the credential rate? MR. MERCADO: Okay. That's always been a challenge because those are the total percentages of those who are in the program, and lasts through the whole year. And then, they earn a certain type of certificate for the specific training that they do within the program. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So, does this mean only 51 percent of people that were in the program earned the credentials? MR. MERCADO: Yeah. Because a lot of times, if they don't stay the whole year, some people will find jobs like through internships or apprenticeships, and then they leave and then they go on. That data, because they left early, we're not able to capture it based on the State and Federal regulations on how they through their calculations. So that's always a thing, like what type of incentive or how can we keep people in the program. That's always been the biggest challenge, is the credential rate. Page 36 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: How do these figures compare to the rest of the State or even national averages? MR. MERCADO: The State of Hawaii, Hawaii Island in particular, our rates are super good, much higher than our neighbor islands for sure. And I don't have the exact rate. I know that last year, we exceeded our 51 percent rate that the Federal Government is requiring for us to meet every year, so that we can continue having Federal monies. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Because, I'm trying to take that into consideration, and then like the Laulima Survey that the department just completed when it— one of the questions was employment opportunities. Right? People are getting placed, but then the question here was around, are the employment opportunities poor, acceptable, unacceptable, and they were trending more towards the unacceptable and poor sides. Thank you. I'll follow up with more questions and maybe suggestions for how we can formulate future reports to the Council. Thank you so much. Thank you. MR. MERCADO: Please. And we'll be happy to provide that. MR. LIN: Yeah, we're happy to discuss that. Because, the reporting structure with the Federal Government is very complex. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: It's very complicated. Yeah. Thanks for trying to break this down for us. MR. LIN: We'll try to help explain it a little bit better. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: It's a kakou effort. We'll work on it together. Thanks, you guys. Thank you. MR. LIN: Yeah, we appreciate that. CHR. INABA: Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Thank you for those questions. They really answered quite a bit I was curious on. Could you speak to maybe, I guess I'm seeing a downward trend on individuals registered over the last five years. MR. MERCADO: I know that during COVID (coronavirus disease) there was a downhill spiral on that. MR. HUSTACE: But there were 2,300 registered then, right? MR. MERCADO: Let me see. Page 37 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 MR. HUSTACE: And then now, the last fiscal was 1,300 registered. And is the proportion from Federal dollars being received more or less the same? MR. MERCADO: Yup. So we never—it's always been the same (inaudible). MR. HUSTACE: So, when it was five years ago, when it was 2,300, it was 1.6. MR. MERCADO: Yeah. MR. HUSTACE: But now 1.6in the last fiscal was only 1,300, though. MR. MERCADO: Yeah. MR. HUSTACE: So, could you speak to that, kind of, shift? MR. MERCADO: It's all about the awareness, right, of the program. So, like, prior to COVID, the numbers were just skyrocketing. A lot of people were visiting the American Job Center. And then when COVID hit, it really tanked. Unemployment, of course, still stayed high because a lot of people needed money, but then it's been a rebound effort. It's been trying to get people through the doors again and introduced to the program. So that's why it's been an uphill battle—lot of work but that's why we're trying to build our network. We're trying to resource through all the people out there who provide resources besides State and County, and to see how we can get people introduced to the WIOA program, this free money that we get from the Federal Government. We try to get them through our doors. We try to introduce them more to the WIOA dollars and what it can do to support them, and hopefully to get those numbers up again. MR. HUSTACE: What did some of those numbers look like before the pandemic, then, to kind of give that's just like a blip in time where things are anomalous. MR. MERCADO: That I do not have, but I know it was much greater than 2,377. MR. HUSTACE: It was great before the pandemic; it was greater than 2,300. MR. MERCADO: Absolutely. Yup. And I can provide that information to you folks. MR. HUSTACE: And that was pretty steady prior to the pandemic, around 2,300, in that range. MR. MERCADO: Yup. Page 38 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 MR. HUSTACE: So we're the same amount of funding, but it seems to have been maybe more effective. With all these other metrics, you kind of have to take what that means, but 1.6 for 2,300 versus 1.6 for 1,300. So yeah. MR. MERCADO: And that's why a lot of the monies have been returned. So we have two years to spend the money, and then the State has an additional one year. But we do get the bulletin and the report from the Federal Government a little late, and then that gets from the State to the County late. So that puts us on a smaller time frame to spend that amount of money, which we should be allowed to spend over two years. So now, our biggest push is to get people in the door, promote the program, create awareness of what the monies can do for you. And then, try to get back on scale and spend the money so we can be caught up, so we can spend two years spending the $1.6 million. MR. HUSTACE: Are we returning quite a bit then? MR. MERCADO: This year, we anticipate very much less. Already, the adult program, we're at zero. So we're almost zero. So we're working on a budget modification, which we just got approved for. And that's going to be an additional 40,000 to support the adult program. So people are starting to understand and be aware of what the program has to offer. So we're hopeful that we can continue to reduce that number that we return close to zero. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Mr. Mercado. Thank you, Deputy. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. Thank you both for being here, and for the good work you're doing, Mr. Mercado. So the individuals registered, that includes the youth and the adults? Not broken out? MR. MERCADO: It should be a total amount. MR. LIN: Yes, that is correct. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. It would be great in the future if we could kind of see those numbers broken out a little bit. And then the services provided to individuals. So you're saying that this past year, for the 1,325 individuals, 34,000-plus services were provided to those 1,300 individuals? MR. MERCADO: Correct. MS. KAGIWADA: So, every individual is getting many, many, many services. MR. LIN: Yeah. As they utilize the different services available at AJC (American Job Center). Because, what the American Job Center provides is a Page 39 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 seat at the table for DLIR (Department of Labor and Industrial Relations), unemployment, workman's comp. (compensation)—all the different services that they may need, even for r6sum6 building. So, as they come in and utilize that service, it counts as a tick. Right? How many times they come in to ask for help, we track that. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. All right. Yeah, so just a little more detail here I think would be great for us to try to understand what's actually happening. MR. MERCADO: Sure. MS. KAGIWADA: And thank you. Mr. Mercado, I reached out to you about coming to potentially talk to the Youth Commission about the youth services that they're interested in learning about. So I think that would be helpful as well. What can we do to help get these numbers up and to help you with your getting the word out? MR. MERCADO: Thank you, Council Member. So the initiative right now, we're pushing. Because, I believeI can't remember exactly how many high schools, but there's over 21 high schools that have graduating seniors. So, last year, we had 1,783 DOE(Department of Education) graduates alone, not counting the charters tied to public schools, but not counting the private schools. So our big goal this year is to, one, continue with our youth counselors, youth commissioners, to obtain awareness and share with them what we can offer, as well as connecting with every high school. So we already started with Hilo and Waiakea. We did Laupahoehoe. So our goal, our target, is to hit every high school, educate—I've been taking our WIOA Youth Director Kealoha Daubert with me at these schools to introduce them to what WIOA has to offer. And then also, the initiatives as far as what are we doing with our HR(human resources) and reducing our minimum qualifications—all that kind of stuff. And being able to provide them a list or an idea of who are hiring high school graduates with a diploma. Because, not all of them are pursuing higher education. So it's important for us to make them aware of all the jobs available because we need the workforce to be bigger and healthier to support all different industries. So, reaching out to you folks in your district. Maybe we can hui up and somehow create some type of resource blast out there, and be able to educate them and create geographic equity. MS. KAGIWADA: Happy to try to help. MR. MERCADO: That would be great, any which way. Page 40 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 MS. KAGIWADA: Yeah. Whatever you can share with us, that sounds great. Thank you so much. Really appreciate this. MR. MERCADO: Thank you. MS. KAGIWADA: I guess my last question, and just, you know, we're always having problems hiring here at the County. Are our County job listings front and center in part of this whole jobs and everything? Yes? MR. LIN: Yeah. So we're working directly with Director Tokihiro at DHR (Department of Human Resources), at our job fairs, working on minimum qualifications, and having discussions with potential employees that are applying for the jobs, whether there are different obstacles. And just to share how we're getting the word out, I don't know if you follow our Instagram but Clinton just did a great post. And we got over, I think, 3,000 views so far, which is good engagement, but really just to support getting the word out that there are the services and there are 60 employers that are looking for employees. So there's quite a lot of jobs out there. MS. KAGIWADA: All right, great. Thank you so much. MR. MERCADO: Thank you. MR. LIN: Thank you very much, Council Member. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you both for the work you do. And, Clinton, I really do appreciate it. We'll connect on the Youth Commission. I yield. MR. LIN: Sounds good. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Vice Chair Onishi. MR. ONISHL Thanks, Chair. In regards to the high schools, have you folks been working with the County departments on what kind of employment they need, or what are they looking at? MR. LIN: We're directly working with Director Tokihiro on what the needs are. Because, one of the issues was you need one year minimum work experience to work for the County. How does a high school student coming out of school have one year of work experience? So that's kind of the discussions we're talking about. Are our expectations to the County reasonable if we're trying to get entry- level positions filled? MR. ONISHL No, because why I say that is that last year, I worked with HR with their fairs, and also Hilo High had their own employment fairs and so forth. Page 41 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 Because, we were looking at getting more, I guess, aides to the Summer Fun programs. So we were reaching out to the high school grads, right, so they could get these part-time positions. So that's my question. Have you folks been reaching out to the different departments and seeing what they need? MR. LIN: That's not necessarily our main goal. Our main goal is to share the resources that we have. But we're happy to have those discussions. MR. ONISHL You guys talked about that, right(inaudible). MR. LIN: We talk about that at Cabinet, too, but it hasn't been a forefront of this program in particular. (Inaudible) the support is community wide. MR. ONISHL (Inaudible)you mentioned at the last meeting to contact DEM (Department of Environmental Management), right, about—because, what's going to happen iswe had a presentation yesterday. It's great that the communication is with community college already. But the thing is, as Director was mentioning, is that it's going to have to be specified. The teaching of those courses are going to have to be pertaining to what their operations are going to be. So it cannot be just general. It has to be kind of specified because he wants to make sure that when they get out, they'll be ready to work already. So that's something that's why the dialogue has to be there. MR. LIN: Yes. And I think our office has already reached out to your office to talk about, in particular, the DEM issue. MR. ONISHL Well, we did send the email. So you're in that. So you guys should be reaching out to him. MR. LIN: Yeah. MR. ONISHL Okay, thank you. MR. LIN: Thank you. MR. ONISHL I yield. MS. KAGIWADA: One really quick thing. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you. Just in your discussions with Director Tokihiro, just wondering if—have you talked about reclassifying some of the entry-level positions as trainee positions or something where they don't need any experience, but that year is the experience, for instance? Page 42 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 MR. LIN: I haven't had that discussion in particular. I know that we're trying to expand the training program more so that more employees can utilize that training program to move up into the career path. But yeah. MS. KAGIWADA: Not so much a training program, but just reclassifying as a trainee. So it's very much an entry level where you don't have the experience. I'm also thinking about I was talking to the acting animal control administrator. The entry-level people to work with Animal Control, you need so many years of experience. Whereas, we really need people who want to do the job and are willing to be trained. They're willing to commit. And your years of experience of dog-sitting or something aren't going to really help you necessarily. So, if we can help to get people into these first level of County jobs, I think it would really benefit us in a lot of ways. MR. LIN: I think that's in line with kind of the dialogue we're having, but happy to bring that up with Director Tokihiro. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay, all right. Thank you. MR. LIN: Thank you. CHR. INABA: All right. I think these conversations just highlight that there's maybe more opportunity for engagement with Council and community with regards to this specific program. So I think we all look forward to being a little bit more connected and informed on a normal basis. MR. LIN: Will do. CHR. INABA: Thank you so much. MR. LIN: Thank you. CHR. INABA: All those in favor of approving Bill 112 at second and final reading, please say "aye." Vote on Bill 112: The motion to pass Bill 112 on second and final reading (Adopted) was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Page 43 Hawaii County Council-32 February 4,2026 Bill 113: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 25-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30 2026 Appropriates revenues in the Federal Grants—Hazard Mitigation Grant Program account($68,000); and appropriates the same to the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program account. Funds would be used to support Phase 1 (planning and preparatory activities) of the Community Wildfire Fuels Reduction and Defensible Space Project. Reference: Comm. 660 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder(B/R) First Reading: January 23, 2026 Vote on Bill 113: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 113 on second and final (Adopted) reading. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. OTHER The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Other BUSINESS: Business. (There were none.) ANNOUNCE- The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, MENTS: Announcements. (Note: At this time, Council Members made announcements regarding community events, activities, and other unofficial business.) ADJOURN- There being no further business, Chair Inaba adjourned the meeting at 2:58 p.m. MENT: Council Approval: APR 2 2 2026 CO RK JH/dg Page 44