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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN COUNCIL 2026-05-05 2024-2026 Hawaii County Council 381b Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawaii May 5, 2026 INVOCATION: Pastor Charles Brodhead of Kona Church of the Nazarene gave the morning's invocation. CALL TO The regular meeting of the Hawaii County Council was called to order at ORDER: 9:03 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Vice Chair (via videoconference from Hilo) Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member(via videoconference from Hilo; came in later) Mr. James E. Hustace, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member (via videoconference from Hilo) Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member (via videoconference from Hilo) Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member(via videoconference from Hilo) Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member(via videoconference from Hilo) Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member PLEDGE OF The Chair directed the Council to the next order of business, Pledge of ALLEGIANCE: Allegiance. (At this time, County Clerk Jon Henricks led the Council in the Pledge of Allegiance.) PETITIONS, The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Petitions, MEMORIALS, Memorials, Certificates of Merit, and Expressions of Condolence. CERTIFICATES OF MERIT, AND (Note: At this time, Mr. Inaba presented a Certificate of Merit to the Department EXPRESSIONS OF of Corrections and Rehabilitation in recognition of 2026 National Correctional CONDOLENCE: Officers Week. In addition, he presented a Certificate of Merit to the Hawaii Police Department in recognition of 2026 Police Appreciation Week.) Recess: At 9:20 a.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 9:24 a.m. Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 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: Franny Brewer: Res. 517-26 (Comm. 821), in support. (representing Big Island Invasive Species Committee) Lamaku Mikahala-Roy: Res. 516-26 (Comm. 818), in opposition. (representing Kulana Huli Honua) (See Comm. 818.3) 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 February 18, 2026, were approved. REPORTS: The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Reports. GOEAC-117 NOMINATION OF JASON MACNGUYEN TO THE BOARD OF ETHICS (Comm. 851): Requires Council Confirmation by: May 16, 2026 (Section 13-4(k), Hawai`i County Charter) (Note: Comm. 851.1, from Mayor C. Kimo Alameda dated April 30, 2026, correcting the spelling of Mr. MacNguyen's name, was circulated.) Vote on Mr. Hustace moved to adopt Governmental Operations and GOEAC-117: External Affairs Committee Report No. 117. Seconded by (Adopted) Ms. Villegas and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Galimba— 1. Excused: None. Page 2 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 GOEAC-118 NOMINATION OF KARI CLARK TO THE COST OF GOVERNMENT (Comm. 852): COMMISSION Requires Council Confirmation by: May 16, 2026 (Section 13-4(k), Hawai`i County Charter) Vote on Mr. Hustace moved to adopt Governmental Operations and GOEAC-118: External Affairs Committee Report No. 118. Seconded by (Adopted) Ms. Villegas and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Galimba— 1. Excused: None. GOEAC-119 NOMINATION OF LEONARD LUIZ TO THE HAMAKUA COMMUNITY (Comm. 853): DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE Requires Council Confirmation by: May 16, 2026 (Section 13-4(k), Hawai`i County Charter) Vote on Mr. Hustace moved to adopt Governmental Operations and GOEAC-119: External Affairs Committee Report No. 119. Seconded by (Adopted) Ms. Villegas and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Galimba— 1. Excused: None. ORDER OF The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Order of RESOLUTIONS: Resolutions. Page 3 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 Res. 516-26: AUTHORIZES THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE TO ENTER INTO NEGOTIATIONS FOR THE ACQUISITION OF LANDS OR CONSERVATION EASEMENTS FOR ALL OR A PORTION OF THE PROPERTIES IDENTIFIED AS TAX MAP KEYS: 1-4-002:002, 017, 042, 047, 048, 058, 065, 072, 080, 082, 085, 092, AND 100, ALSO KNOWN AS KUMUKAHI, SITUATED IN THE AHUPUA`A OF KULA, DISTRICT OF PUNA, UTILIZING THE PUBLIC ACCESS, OPEN SPACE, AND NATURAL RESOURCES PRESERVATION FUND The County seeks to acquire approximately 1,967.96 acres of land that is listed as priority number three in the 2025 Annual Report of the Public Access, Open Space, and Natural Resources Preservation Commission. Reference: Comm. 818 Intr. by: Council Member Kierkiewicz Approve: LAAC-39 and Comm. 818.2: From Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, dated April 23, 2026, transmitting proposed amendments to Res. 516-26. Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to adopt Res. 516-26 and Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee Report No. 39. Seconded by Ms. Villegas. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I really appreciate the opportunity to bring this forward on behalf of the community. For many years, I watched a couple of mayoral administrations try to pull various property owners together to address critical concerns in the area,particularly the desecration of iwi kupuna and the need to reinter the iwi kupuna. The biggest issue was that with so many property owners, different resources, and interests, it was hard to get everybody on the same page. Thankfully, our County has the PONC (Public Access, Open Space, and Natural Resources Preservation Commission)program. And when I reached out to every single property owner to socialize the idea of either having the program acquire the properties or entering into a conservation easement, every single one of them could get behind the idea because they understood the critical importance and significance of Kumukahi and the goal of just honoring this special place and preserving the cultural heritage elements and ensuring that there is long-term locally rooted stewardship of the area. So this particular resolution would allow the Finance Director to enter into negotiations with each of the property owners to discuss acquisition strategies. Page 4 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 Like I mentioned in Committee, and I'll reiterate today, every single property owner is onboard. Ben Shapiro from PONC is here to answer any questions that folks might have. There is a housekeeping measure that I need to take care of now. A couple of the property owners—Uncle Lono Lyman and Judge Glenn Harareached out to just point out some discrepancies in the TMK (tax map key) number. So, at this time, I'd like to make a motion to amend Resolution 516-26 with the contents of Communication 818.2 Motion to Amend: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to amend Res. 516-26 with the contents of Comm. 818.2. Seconded by Mr. Onishi. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. As noted in the communication, Chair,just ensuring that the TMK numbers listed are accurate so that when the PONC office does enter into negotiations with property owners,they are talking about the correct properties. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Any discussion on the amendment? Hearing and seeing none, all those in favor of amending Resolution 516-26 with the contents of Communication 818.2. MS. ROY: Mr. Chair, you cannot vote on this. CHR. INABA: Excuse me, please do not interrupt. We're in the middle MS. ROY: You have not had the testimony from the people. You cannot vote on this. Ms. Kierkiewicz, did you not hear my testimony and see what I have given you all? You have seen CHR. INABA: Ms. Roy, we are going to have to go into recess if you cannot respect the decorum of this Council meeting and our proceedings. Council Members, we are in recess. Thank you. Recess: At 9:36 a.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 9:41 a.m. CHR. INABA: Again, we are on amendment 818.2, which amends Resolution 516-26. Checking again if there's any discussion on the amendment before we take the vote. Seeing and hearing none, all those in favor of amending Resolution 516-26 with the contents of Communication 818.2, please say "aye." Page 5 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Res. 516-26 with the contents of Amend: Comm. 818.2 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. MS. ROY: (Inaudible.) CHR. INABA: We're going to be in recess again. Recess: At 9:42 a.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 9:42 a.m. CHR. INABA: We have moved and passed to amend Resolution 516-26 with the contents of Communication 818.2, all nine members voting in favor. And I will hand it back to Council Member Kierkiewicz at this time for any further discussion. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. One thing that I do want to point out is that— MR. HENRICKS: Chair, you need a rule suspension. CHR. INABA: Oh, thank you. Vote on Motion to Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to suspend Council Rule 23 to Suspend Council waive the holdover for the substantive amendment of Rules: Res. 516-26. Seconded by Ms. Villegas and carried by the (Approved) following roll call vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—7. Noes: Council Members Hustace and Kimball—2. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Clerk Henricks. Passing it back to Council Member Kierkiewicz. Page 6 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I just want to note that throughout this process we recognize lineal descendants of the area and the `ohana of the area have been engaged, and the public record of testimony reflects their support of moving forward with acquisition. We're also very fortunate to have had a couple of community nonprofits step up and be willing to lead co-management of the area. There's so much work to do in stewardship of this area; no shortage of work. And so, it's going to mean needing all hands on deck to move forward and properly care for this area. But I'm really grateful for Ho`61a Lahui and the Kuamo`o Legacy Foundation for stepping up and looking to provide locally rooted leadership and stewardship of the area. So just looking for everyone's support so that Finance can move forward with the next step of this process. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Any other discussion in Hilo? Council Member Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Just(inaudible) the intention of this legislation. I'm not quite sure what the, I don't know what the right word is, what the deal is or the concern is with the individual who was in the chambers. But after reviewing the legislation, this is a very positive move for the community in my eyes. So, look forward to supporting it. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Thank you. All right, coming here to Kona. Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. I just want to mahalo Council Member Kierkiewicz for bringing this forward, for engaging with community partners in identifying a place to steward and protect for the future. I also want to call out that with the testifier, in part of her testimony there is some message that was misconstrued in terms of the Council acquires property. I mean, we're just part of that process. We have to initiate this process so that the Administration can carry it forward and work together with the community. So it's a multipart step here, and I appreciate Council Member Kierkiewicz bringing this forward to continue that process forward. CHR. INABA: Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member Hustace. I appreciate you pointing that out and clarifying. I also wanted to just make a quick comment. At a time when trust in government is unfortunately so low, I want to assure anyone watching this meeting today that the appropriate and legal notification timelines have been followed for this. Community always has an opportunity to tune in, to lean in, and to research and find out what issues, ordinances, measures, Page 7 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 resolutions, bills will be coming before Council. And there are very strict deadlines and timelines on when that information is published and is public. We heard from a testifier that there wasn't enough time, and community needed more time to be notified. I do want to clarify community was notified. And in our prior hearings of this issue, a huge number of community members and those actively involved and engaged in the stewardship of this land turned out to testify in support. So I want to encourage anyone who feels they don't get enough time to go ahead and do a little research. Look at the website. Find the portals for you to gather information to ensure that you know what's coming forward on our agendas as early as possible. Thank you for your understanding and gracious trust that we are following all procedures, timelines, and protocols appropriately and with due diligence. I yield. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Council Member Villegas. With that, I believe we are ready to—oh, Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Sorry. Just a little latitude because Council Member Villegas did mention just process. Any member of the community can put forward the nomination of properties to be acquired by the PONC program. That process, the deadline for applications is January of every year. So, in January of last year, over a year ago, the community was notified about this particular project. There were multiple public meetings by the PONC commission held to evaluate this and all applications that were received. There are a number of individuals that are involved in public conversations to do due diligence and publicly vet every single application. Every single meeting is open to members of the public to participate in and learn information. And like members have said, this particular step is just another one as part of the process. So just appreciate everyone's engagement over the years to make this happen. And just to clarify, any properties that are acquired through the PONC program, these become public properties. These are our properties as a community, and they will be preserved in perpetuity for future generations. So it's not an individual member of the Council owning these properties. They become the property of the people of the County of Hawaii. Thank you, Chair. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Council Member. Alrighty, all those in favor of approving Resolution 516-26, as amended, please say "aye." Page 8 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 Vote on Res. 516-26: The motion to adopt Res. 516-26, as amended to Draft 2, Draft 2 and Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee (Adopted) Report No. 39 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. Res. 517-26: AUTHORIZES THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI`I, BIG ISLAND INVASIVE SPECIES COMMITTEE, FOR THE PURPOSE OF AWARDING GRANT FUNDS TO CONTROL AND COMBAT THE SPREAD OF INVASIVE SPECIES Funds in the amount of$250,000 from the Department of Research and Development would be used to support critical invasive species efforts. Reference: Comm. 821 Intr. by: Council Member Kagiwada(B/R) Approve: GOEAC-120 (Note: Comm. 821.1, from Council Member Jenn Kagiwada dated April 28, 2026, transmitting proposed amendments to Res. 517-26, was circulated. In addition, Comm. 821.2, from Council Member Jenn Kagiwada dated April 30, 2026, transmitting an amended draft of the grant agreement, was circulated.) Motion to Approve: Ms. Kagiwada moved to adopt Res. 517-26 and Governmental Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 120. Seconded by Mr. Hustace. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. We had a good discussion in Committee, and during that discussion, a couple minor things came up that we needed to amend. But I wanted to let everybody know we also have representatives from the Department of Research and Development here, as well as BIISC (Big Island Invasive Species Committee) manager Franny Brewer, if you have any questions about this particular resolution, which is pretty straightforward but did need a couple amendments. Motion to Amend: Ms. Kagiwada moved to amend Res. 517-26 with the contents of Comm. 821.1. Seconded by Ms. Villegas. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kagiwada. Page 9 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you. Basically, there are two main changes here. One is realizing that BIISC is actually part of the UH (University of Hawaii) system, and not a separate standalone nonprofit. So we needed to change that throughout both the resolution and the contract that was provided. And then we also had that discussion about the "WHEREAS" clause that talked about what the monies would be used for. And in that discussion, it came out that there were additional things in those original five things listed. So we added one more bullet that would let them really work on what was needed. So it says, "Any additional programs, research, or mitigation measures as necessitated by invasive species emergencies, with the concurrence of the Director of Research and Development . . . ." So that was the part that was added there just to make that very clear. Manager, would you like to come up and say anything about this? We have Franny Brewer here. She can speak to this a little better. (Note: At this time, Program Manager Franny Brewer, Big Island Invasive Species Committee, came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. BREWER: Aloha again. Again, I'm happy to speak on what this does, or what particularly we were going to hopefully do with this money, but I'm really here for you guys to ask me questions. I could be here all day talking about this, honestly. MS. KAGIWADA: Well, can you just briefly talk about, yeah, what this money is going to be used for? MS. BREWER: Yeah. It's basically to support programs that we already have going on addressing coconut rhinoceros beetle, addressing invasive plants. There is a significant chunk that's going towards a project which we have not done a significant amount of work on before. We've helped with the outreach and communications on two-lined spittlebug, which is affecting mainly ranches on the west side of the island. But this past year, we saw our first two detections of two- lined spittlebug on the east side of the island. So it is unfortunately spreading. And over the years, we've worked with Dr. Mark Thorne, who is the rangeland specialist for CTAHR(College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience) on the west side. He has been asking for more help, because as it spreads to more ranches, he wants to give better support to the ranchers with mitigation strategies in how they can combat the pest on their property. So we are going to help by hiring two positions that will support specifically that team. And those will be one-year positions with the hope that eventually this is going to be picked up. I know there was a bill moving through the Legislature, Page 10 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 and I don't know where it ended up where they were trying to persuade the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity to hire those positions, and I don't know if that came to anything. Yeah. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. Thank you so much. Chair, I yield so other people, if they have any questions at this time. CHR. INABA: On the amendment, any further discussion? Vice Chair Onishi. MR. ONISHI: Thank you, Chair. R&D (Research and Development), can you please come up? (Note: At this time, Research and Development Deputy Director Dennis Lin came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. ONISHI: Basically, this is your bill, right, or your reso (resolution)? MR. LIN: Correct. MR. ONISHI: Yeah. So, in the "WHEREAS"where it says, "organizations that do not qualify as nonprofit,"what do you mean by that? MR. LIN: That's under our current County code. So there it lists the different categories of organizations that could get County funding. So, usually there's the MR. ONISHI: That are not nonprofits. MR. LIN: Yeah. There's certain language in there that allows for non-nonprofits to receive funds. MR. ONISHI: Okay, that's what we were kind of MR. LIN: Yeah. MR. ONISHI: Yeah, so people know what(inaudible). MR. LIN: Correct. MR. ONISHI: So the public's knowledge is that you don't have to be a nonprofit, and you could also apply for these grant funds. Correct? MR. LIN: Correct, under certain terms, yeah. MR. ONISHI: So would Parks and Recreation be able to apply for this grant? Page I I Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 MR. LIN: I believe that would be a question for Corp. (Corporation) Counsel and Finance to answer. I wouldn't know if a County agency could apply for another County agency's funding. MR. ONISHI: But then this $250,000 is coming from the County itself? MR. LIN: General Funds. MR. ONISHI: General Funds, oh okay. MR. LIN: Correct. MR. ONISHI: Because in the previous term, I always got money for the fire ants, and then it kind of stopped. R&D stopped trying to get the funding. Because I know we got one time from the State invasive species I guess council they call it, or committee. It went to Big Island Invasive Species (Committee), and then they ran out of those funds. Then I was going to get more but then R&D, I guess, at that time, didn't want to move forward or didn't want the funding so it stopped. And so, I think ever since then there was no other funding source to businesses or to farmers or to residential to help fight the fire ants. And so, Parks and Rec. (Recreation), I know they could use more money to help them. MR. LIN: Understood. MR. ONISHI: So is Finance or Corporation Counsel out in Kona? CHR. INABA: We have Corporation Counsel here. MR. ONISHI: Okay. Can they come up? CHR. INABA: You can go ahead with your question. (Note: At this time, Corporation Counsel Renee Schoen came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. ONISHI: So,just basically, is Parks and Rec. allowed to apply for this grant? MS. SCHOEN: Good morning. Renee Schoen, Corporation Counsel. There's no preclusive language within that section of the County Code, but I can't recall a situation where a County department would seek grant funding from another County agency. MR. ONISHI: Well, in this situation, it's because of what we're talking about, invasive species. So fire ants is one of them. Parks and Rec. has a vector control Page 12 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 that is treating all our County parks and facilities. And they do sometimes need more funding to help them. So you're saying that they could apply for this grant? MS. SCHOEN: I'm saying that I'm not sure. There's no preclusive language within the Code that I'm aware of, but it's probably something that we'd speak to Finance about, and also Parks and Recreation, to see if there is some other revenue stream that they could seek, rather than MR. ONISHI: No, I understand but I'm just asking about this funding. But thank you very much. And so, the other question I had on the back, the one that you're adding on another, I guess, "WHEREAS" in No. 3. So for the staffing—and, Chair, let me know if I'm kind of going outside because I can talk about this, about the staffing, when we come back to the main motion. Would that be better than talking about this CHR. INABA: If it's about the general resolution, yeah, we can wait on that. Or if it's specific to No. 6, which is what I believe I just heard you say, you can continue. MR. ONISHI: Okay, so on the sixth additional. So that means R&D would be consulted by your committee. Council or committee? MS. BREWER: We're committee, yeah. MR. ONISHI: Committee, okay. If you folks want to do something else, then this five that is listed. Okay. Got it. MR. LIN: That is correct. MR. ONISHI: Okay, thank you. I'll yield right now. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Any further discussion on the amendment? Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Just to clarify, Deputy Director Lin, the resolution was written by you and your office? MR. LIN: Correct. MR. HUSTACE: And then, Council Member Kagiwada, you wrote the amendments. Correct? MS. KAGIWADA: That's correct. MR. HUSTACE: Kind of confused why some of these—these are significant changes in here. So kind of confused why some of this wasn't caught in—we Page 13 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 didn't do it in Committee. Because, I thought we had a similar resolution a year ago. So, in proper recognition of BIISC as a nonprofit organization kind of is a red flag there. So, grateful that we're amending that and changing that, but I think this should have been caught earlier. Thank you. MS. KAGIWADA: May I respond, Chair? CHR. INABA: Go ahead. MS. KAGIWADA: I just wanted to let you know that, yes, indeed it was incorrect a year ago, and we put it through. We caught it this year, and so we're correcting it. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Council Member Kagiwada. All right, any further discussion on the amendment? Seeing and hearing none, all those in favor of amending Resolution 517-26 with the contents of Communication 821.1,please say "aye." Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Res. 517-26 with the contents of Amend: Comm. 821.1 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. Vote on Motion to Ms. Kagiwada moved to suspend Council Rule 23 to waive Suspend Council the holdover for the substantive amendment of Res. 517-26. Rules: Seconded by Ms. Villegas and carried by the following roll (Approved) call vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—7. Noes: Council Members Hustace and Kimball —2. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Any further discussion on the resolution, as amended? Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`1-KLEINFELDER: I ran into Ms. Brewer at a community event. We had a nice discussion. Thank you for your time. I'm going through in my Page 14 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 brain: So BIISC is going to be addressing, with County funding, invasive species controls that we've outlined in the amendment now and added to. You're not a nonprofit. MS. BREWER: We are part of the University of Hawaii. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: You're part of the UH. And then, how does UH fund your organization that does such amazing work? MS. BREWER: The UH does not fund our organization. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Say that again? MS. BREWER: The UH does not fund our organization. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: UH does not fund your organization. So you're part of the UH, but they don't fund you. MS. BREWER: This is where it gets confusing. We operate like a nonprofit in that we have to find our own funding. And the university processes that funding for us and maintains all the accounting and make sure we're operating within the rules. Yeah. It's sort of one way. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: It's kinky. MS. BREWER: Yeah. It's a little bit, yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: It's just a little bit kinky, okay. And then there's HISC (Hawai`i Invasive Species Council) and there's BIISC, right? MS. BREWER: The HISC is a completely separate entity that is sort of a State government level council. And they do offer a grant program, and we apply for funding from that annually. But they are not connected to us in any way as far as a physical connection. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: UH-run and organized, no funding given. And then your job right now, because you're getting, according to this resolution, $250,000, is to address invasive species that got here because the State allowed them to get here. But the UH is your umbrella organization, but they don't give you funding. So the County now—this is the heart of it for me—the County is now funding the State legislation's inability to fund you through the correct channels. Does that make sense? Is that about right? MS. BREWER: It does make sense. Page 15 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Actually, it doesn't make sense but that's the reality. MS. BREWER: That is the reality. You have a situation. We never get enough funding from the State to completelyI mean, really our funding—how much funding we get and what we get funding for determines what we work on. So if I don't get funding on certainI actually pursue funding, right. And if I don't get funding for something, then that's a program that I can't offer. That's basically how it works. And it doesn't mean that anyone else is going to be there to pick up those pieces. It usually just means that it goes away. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So if BIISC just stopped, who would run what you do here on island? Anybody? Would HISC step in? MS. BREWER: No, the HISC is a council that's made up of representatives from six different departments of the State. So they make decisions about how money in the State is put towards invasive species, but they don't run any of the work that we do. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Who is HISC? MS. BREWER: HISC is six—it's the Department of Transportation, Department of(inaudible), Department of Health, Department of Commerce, DLNR (Department of Land and Natural Resources), HDOA (Hawai`i Department of Agriculture), DAB (Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity)— MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So a number of State departments. MS. BREWER: Yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And then, what, like deputy directors of each department? MS. BREWER: Yeah, they have to designate. Right now, the co-chairs are actually the chairs of DLNR and HDAB (Hawai`i Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity). MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: The co-chairs of HISC are the MS. BREWER: Chairs. So it would be Sharon Hurd and Dawn Chang are the chairs of the HISC. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Where are they in the chain of UH to BIISC? Page 16 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 MS. BREWER: The HISC gets an allocation from the State, which right now goes to DLNR, but as of next year will start going to DAB. And then, the HISC meetsthey're required to meet. It's a statutorily created body. So they will then make advisements of how that money should be granted out. So there's a committee that they put together to look at all the grants that are put in, and those are statewide and those are all kinds of invasive species grants. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Does HISC give you grants? MS. BREWER: Yeah. That's where about 50 percent of our funding comes from, or has historically. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: What is your funding this year? MS. BREWER: From the HISC? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: From all sources. MS. BREWER: It's usually around $1.3 million to $1.5 million. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And that includes the County's $250,000? MS. BREWER: Yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's a quarter million. MS. BREWER: Yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So almost a quarter of your budget comes from the County. MS. BREWER: It does now, yup. This is the second year, so yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, so UH—this is interesting. MS. BREWER: So, I mean, we're through RCUH (The Research Corporation of the University of Hawai`i). I don't know how familiar you are with that, but RCUH is set up to be sort of this place where money is put from different sources. So when BIISC was set up, which was just after HISC was set up, it was really this time when the State was looking at invasive species. And BIISC has a steering committee. Just like a nonprofit would have a board, we have a steering committee. It doesn't quite have as much power as a board, but they're basically an advisory committee. They represent a bunch of different State, Federal, County folks and nonprofits that help guide what we do. Page 17 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 But when it first started and that group got together, everybody was putting in money, right. So there was money from the (United States) Forest Service. There was money from DLNR. There was money from different organizations. No one group could fund an invasive species committee. So RCUH is what the university has setup to manage these kinds of projects where money is coming from different sources. So it's like a clearinghouse for money. And this is how watershed partnerships on this island operate. It's how Hawaii Ant Lab operates. It's actually a really common structure. And I don't know if you saw, but the university just put out a press release this week trying to tout their role in invasive species. But there is kind of a long history of the university being very involved in invasive species. But yeah. I mean, most of the work I think that even the researchers do, like the researchers at the university will also apply for HISC grants to cover their research. So their salaries are paid by the university, which is not the case for us. But research grants, they still have to go out and seek funding, which is similar to what we do. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I'm trying to follow you. So UH provides funding to HISC and BIISC. MS. BREWER: No. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: No. Just BIISC. MS. BREWER: Yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: HISC funding comes from MS. BREWER: UH does work in invasive species. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Got it. MS. BREWER: But even the people who do work in invasive species that are employees of UH, they also have to seek outside funding to do their work. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Roger. Okay. MS. BREWER: So sometimes they'll apply for a HISC grant, and HISC will give them money. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So separate funding comes from the State to HISC. MS. BREWER: Yes. It's about$4.5 million. Page 18 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: $4.5 million. UH also is run by the State. So it's a different level of State bureaucracy. They provide funding to BIISC. MS. BREWER: HISC provides funding to the grant, and the grant makers of HISC decide where that funding goes, and some of it goes to the ISC's. Some of it goes to UH researchers. Some of it goes to the Department of Agriculture. Some of it goes to the forest service. It goes to a lot of different people who are working on invasive species. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: But UH runs you. MS. BREWER: They do not fund us. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: They don't fund you but they're your umbrella, so you sit underneath them. MS. BREWER: Yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That is so interesting. MS. BREWER: Yeah, the money goes into an account in our name, and then UH manages it for us. So I don't have like a checking account or even a credit card, but I can just say, yeah, I use this. I have to go through UH for all of my procurement. So they make sure that we're following rules of procurement and we're audited and all of that kind of stuff. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So to summarize then, when we look to address CRB (coconut rhinoceros beetle), fire ants, coqui frogs, Albizia, whatever amazing invasive species that has gotten here through the Honolulu port and has landed in our County and BIISC goes to save the day, the State, through two different levels of bureaucracy, is trying to address the problem. But what they fail to fix we end up catching and funding ourselves. MS. BREWER: Yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That is a mess. MS. BREWER: It's probably not ideal but it is the system that we have. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. So I promised you I wouldn't cut your funding, so I'm not going to cut your funding. MS. BREWER: Thank you. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: But there were issues with this resolution, so thank you to R&D and Council Member Kagiwada for addressing those issues. Page 19 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 I guess, long story short, the reason I asked all those questions is really just to point to we are now addressing the problem that has been provided to us by the State. I could point at DOA (Department of Agriculture). I could point at all these organizations, but the reality is if the Legislature wants to address invasive species, then they need to provide the funding to the correct layers of bureaucracy they have created that then support agencies like yours, or better support more investigation of containers coming in or whatever it may be. But that's the Legislature's job to get that done and fund it. So I don't want to point at DOA, which I was kind of going that route. I don't want to point at DOA, but I do want to point at the Leg. (Legislature). They need to actually fund the correct levels and layers of government that we have created to oversee things and make sure that the job is getting done. MS. BREWER: Yeah. And the State Legislature has been very interested in invasive species in the last couple years. There's been a lot of legislation around. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: They're interested. MS. BREWER: There's been a lot of legislation. I wouldn't say I agree with everything that has been proposed or has gone through, but we do also testify at the State level on trying to improve this system as best we can. Yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I'm glad that they're interested and CHR. INABA: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, your timer has expired here in Kona. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Thank you for the latitude, Chair. I'm just pointing out what some of the hurdles are that we face here in the County that this organization has helped tackle. And thank you to the Department of Research and Development for being patient. Thank you, Ms. Brewer. MS. BREWER: Of course, yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I yield, Chair. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Hello, Ms. Brewer. Great to see you. I really appreciate your leadership with BIISC and the efforts you have in the community, especially being present in the community space and engaging with community partners. So thank you for that. Page 20 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 I just wanted to go through some of the deliverables here for this allocation. We just had interim Rule 26-1 go into effect last week, so I'm curious as to the engagement and involvement from community partners with the compliance training efforts with CRB. MS. BREWER: Engagement from community partners? Sorry, I just want to clarify. MR. HUSTACE: Yes. Sorry. So from the nurseries, arborists, particularly here in the infested zone in West Hawaii, how haveI know that has been a major responsibility of BIISC to take on those compliance trainings. How have those been going thus far? MS. BREWER: We did, I want to say, five trainings in the last two weeks that— well, we did five days of training and there were four trainings each day. So we did twenty trainings. But we saw a lot of County employees. So the County was very proactive in making sure that folks were trained and compliant from several different departments. It's a little slower on the nursery and business side. I have been making inquiries to DAB, the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity, because they haven't yet really publicized it. So, hoping that there can be a little bit more direct intervention from DAB to let these businesses know. I've had a few nurseries, a few tree care companies, landscapers. But we're not seeing sort of the big box stores or some of the other larger folks necessarily interacting with this at all, to be honest. MR. HUSTACE: Does that mean, at this point, that those businesses are not in compliance? MS. BREWER: They are noncompliant as of May 1st MR. HUSTACE: Okay. I do keep pushing that word out there to community, but definitely need DAB to advertise and help push that message to those partners in that space. So thank you for holding these trainings. And it also mentions that, let's see—so there's mention of a detection dog service. I know you have Manu already for the CRB detection, but then in also the expense description it says "detection dogs." So are you looking to employ an additional or more detection dogs? MS. BREWER: It's just the name—the name of the contractor that we use is Hawaii Detection Dogs. So, yeah, there's just only one right now. MR. HUSTACE: Are they intending to train more for that purpose? Page 21 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 MS. BREWER: If more money were coming her way, then maybe. Right now, we only really have enough funding for one dog. But I think in the future—well, we hope that the compliance agreements will keep CRB from spreading. But obviously, if it were to continue to spread to other parts of the island, we would be looking at increasing the number of dogs. MR. HUSTACE: Okay. Thank you. And then jumping to the two-lined spittlebug deliverables, I—some of the staff funding will be to support your efforts: outreach, education, research. But hasn't USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) taken more of a lead in this? Is this to support their efforts? Or are they kind of dropping the ball on that? MS. BREWER: No, this is not considered a pest at the Federal level becauseI mean, the USDA gets involved with pests that are coming in from outside the country. And this is not—this is a North American species. So it doesn't rise to the level of response from the USDA. So this becomes a State-level issue, and it's only on this island. MR. HUSTACE: I thought—maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought USDA, especially the Waimea office, their regional office, was doing some outreach and information. MS. BREWER: NRCS. MR. HUSTACE: Yeah, NRCS. USDA NRCS. MS. BREWER: Yeah, they were. They were involved early on, because it's a pest of ranches. So they were working with the ranches to try and come up with some grasses that are resistant. So they were involved in that project. I don't know how involved they still are, but yes, they were working with the ranches because they provide advice and support on things that are happening on the soil. And this is definitely affecting the landscape. MR. HUSTACE: Absolutely. And I do know they had lost a lot of Federal dollars to support their staff in their office there. MS. BREWER: Yeah, they haven't been very—and I think that could be part of why Mark Thorne is, right now, really feeling a little like we really need this funding; we need some more help. We've been talking about it a lot the last year. I think he's—there were fewer people working on it than there were about four or five years ago. MR. HUSTACE: Okay. So this is kind of just picking up some of those pieces there that I would see. Page 22 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 MS. BREWER: Yeah. MR. HUSTACE: All right. And then MS. BREWER: And hopefully it's only temporary, that this will eventually become a permanent position in some way. But right now, it's feeling very dire because we do see it spreading to other parts of the island. So we don't want to wait a year or two to see if someone else is going to pick it up. MR. HUSTACE: Okay. And then shifting a little bit because it's not in the deliverables, and Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder mentioned it by name but—and it's not in the list of one of the final "WHEREAS" clauses—but little fire ants, is that something that's still on your radar? Or is this really the Hawaii Ant Lab just kind of taking the lead on that? And are you supporting them in any capacity there? MS. BREWER: Yeah. I mean, Hawaii Ant Lab is the leader on the research. And so we follow all of their guidelines. So we work really closely with them to make sure that what we're recommending to the public is always the latest, up to date. We still—some of the funding that Council Member Onishi was talking about earlier, we started about ten years ago a community program to help neighbors. So if people get a group of neighbors together, that we will come out and help them mix up the bait and teach them how to treat. And that is still a program that we have ongoing. Ten years ago, we had probably a hundred communities in a year asking for that. And now,we get maybe three. So I think that people—one thing that's good about it is we've been able to share enough information that I think people feel pretty confident doing it on their own. But that continues to be a program that we offer. So if folks anywhere on the island can get their neighbors together and they want to do treatments as a neighborhood hui, then we will come out and work with them and we give them a year of support. We only give 2 treatments. That only includes 2 of the 10-12 treatments, but we help them figure out what they need to buy and how to pool their resources so they can work together to treat in the neighborhood. MR. HUSTACE: That's great to hear. In the North Kohala community, they definitely had Hawaii Ant Lab. And love to have you and your team up there in that space too, especially working in concert with our Department of Parks and Recreation. We had some vector control issues at some of our parks, at Ke6kea Beach Park, and then some of the surrounding properties, as well as some of the riparian and stream corridors that are unfortunately moving some of these invasive species through that area. So, definitely need to bring you up into that space and work with community there. Page 23 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 The last question I have is, your approach with management and control in the use of using drones for those purposes, is that something that's on your radar, or are willing to work with partners that do that sort of work? MS. BREWER: Oh, yeah, we're absolutely—we've been using drones for imagery and detection for about ten years. And we have a team of folks who are FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)-certified drone operators. This last year and a half, we've been moving through the FAA process to be able to use pesticides from drones. We just received funding from the State, which hasn't totally come through yet but it's coming, that we will be doing our first test this coming year of using pesticides on plants. Most likely, our first test case is going to be fountain grass. So that'll be sometime in 2026. And then, we also are looking to be able to use pesticides to treat coconut rhinoceros beetle in palm trees. So you can use the drones to go to the top of the palm tree and spray there. MR. HUSTACE: That's great to hear. Thank you, Ms. Brewer. I really appreciate the work you do. Thank you, Chair. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Vice Chair Onishi. MR. ONISHI: Thank you, Chair. So just about HISC. HISC really helped the County back then. HISC is the one that had provided the funding for Parks and Rec. to set up their fire ant team. They provided funding for three positions. They provided all the equipment with the funding, also the pesticides and so forth. And that's how we started that first year. Then, thanks to Mayor Kenoi and Director Honma, they made the second year as a permanent positionpermanent, I guess, section of the Parks and Rec., yeah. So HISC really helped out. Then the next year I went back, and they provided us that funding that helped with the community. But the problem was the money was supposed to be used to help control the properties around our County facilities because if we could have them controlling the ants, then our fire ant crew could have gone in less times a year because then that window span would have been longer, right. Because right now, they go in, I think, four to six weeks. If they had the communities around the facilities do that treatment, maybe it would be eight to ten weeks that they would have to go in. But that really didn't work out because of funding. But my question is, and this is from the last meeting, about the funding of how much money goes towards the staffing. You folks got those numbers? Because, you guys were supposed to come back with the numbers for me. MR. LIN: Yeah, we have our updated budget. Page 24 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 (Note: At this time, Economic Development Specialist Glenn Sako, Research and Development Department, came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. SAKO: Glenn Sako, Economic Development Specialist, Research and Development. So you're referring to the two staff members that are in that contract? MR. ONISHI: That do the research and so forth. MS. BREWER: And some of it will be for other staff too, for outreach staff and stuff. MR. SAKO: So it comes out to approximately $170,000, which would include the fringes also. MR. ONISHI: $170,000 from the $250,000? MR. SAKO: Correct. MR. ONISHI: So that means only $80,000 is going to the program? MR. SAKO: For the other programs. MS. BREWER: Most of our program is staff. That's most of what we do is people. Like whether it's education, then I need to pay for people to go out there and do that work, or if it's being out in the field. I mean, herbicides don't cost $80,000. It adds up but it's paying the person to go out and utilize the pesticide, or it's paying the person to go out to the ranch and get down on their knees and do the measurements for two-lined spittlebug, then meet with the ranchers to explain how the best approach MR. ONISHI: So basically, this $250,000 is going just towards salaries. R&D? Correct? MR. SAKO: There's a line item, if I recall correctly, for supplies. But the bulk of it is for the staff. MR. ONISHI: Okay, but you folks don't have that line item of how much goes to the supplies? MR. SAKO: We do have it. MR. ONISHI: Okay, how much is it? Page 25 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 MR. SAKO: I'm sorry, I don't have it with me, but it was in the documents that we had submitted. MR. ONISHI: So to Mr. Kdneali`i-Kleinfelder's comments about how the County again is providing funds to helpI mean, it's great to help support the farmers, ranchers, residents but with products. Because, to me, research and all that, that's why we have CTAHR. We have the university. We have HCC (Hawai`i Community College). We have USDA. I mean, we have all those entities that are all supposed to be basically working together, which they're not. They're all in their separate silos. And so, that's why everybody only does certain things that they do. MS. BREWER: One of the roles that we serve at BIISC is to be that bridge between those various organizations. MR. ONISHI: I understand that. No, I understand but what I'm just saying is that State governments are already providing. So, for me, BIISC should be the guys on the ground implementing the services MS. BREWER: Yeah, but I need to pay them. MR. ONISHI: No, but providing also the supplies that they can help the treatments. That's what I'm looking at. Something like how back then when had the coqui frogs, R&D had the sprayers. I think R&D was in charge of leasing it out to people so that the communities could go and spray, and they would provide all of that. That's what I look at as our level of helping the residents, at the County level. The State, they're going to do the research. They've got to do all of that. That's their job. But we're the boots on the ground, and that's what I look at. So that's why when I look at this $250,000 we're spending from taxpayers' money, it should be going back to our taxpayers to help them treat the problems that they have. Do you have any comments? Do you have your breakdowns? MR. SAKO: Yes. So what we have here in addition to the staffing cost: supplies, $10,000, which can include field gear, tools for invasive beetle control, services which includes detection dog, area work, contracts, and domestic travel going back and forth over to Kona for CRB work. There's some miscellaneous, another $10,500; vehicle maintenance; and some for the PCSU(Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit) staff and their administration. MR. ONISHI: I think, R&D,you folks need to really reevaluate these funds, because you're using taxpayers' money. We need to be helping the taxpayers island wide. Because, we have different types of invasive species that are going on. And maybe, R&D, you guys have got to start working more with BIISC in getting HISC to get more funding to do research and so forth. Page 26 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 MS. BREWER: We're not doing research. I mean, we're on the ground. MR. ONISHI: Oh, it says "research" in here. And part of it says that— MR. SAKO: Working with the MR. ONISHI: Yeah, two staff members who work directly MS. BREWER: We work with the researchers. MR. ONISHI: On research, outreach, education, implementation. MS. BREWER: Oh, with two-lined spittlebug. Yeah, that is part of Mark's program, is to do research. MR. ONISHI: Yeah. I mean, I'm just reading off of what the reso— MS. BREWER: But really it's about getting (inaudible). MR. ONISHI: I understand. I don't want to get into an argument with you. MS. BREWER: No, no, I just want to clarify. MR. ONISHI: I'm just saying that R&D, using taxpayers' money, should be going out and trying to help like how we did with the ant program, trying to provide supplies to the people to help fight the fire ants, control the fire ants in their communities and so forth. Like the coqui frogs, having the pumpers to help spray the areas and so forth. I think, at that time too, funding was also provided to get the lime or something to put into the tanks for them to spray. I mean, that's how I would recommend that, R&D, you guys look at future funding to do that. Chair, I'll yield. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Any further discussion on this resolution? Seeing and hearing none, all those in favor of approving Resolution 517-26, as amended, please say "aye." Page 27 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 Vote on Res. 517-26: The motion to adopt Res. 517-26, as amended to Draft 2, Draft 2 and Governmental Operations and External Affairs (Adopted) Committee Report No. 120 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Villegas — 1. Excused: None. Res. 553-26: 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 estimated annual cost of$2,336.76, to be used by the department's Building Division in Hilo. Reference: Comm. 867 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Waived: FC Vote on Res. 553-26: Mr. Hustace moved to adopt Res. 553-26. Seconded by (Adopted) Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Inaba—7. Noes: None. Absent: Council Members Kagiwada and Villegas —2. Excused: None. Res. 554-26: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO LALAKEA FOUNDATION TO ASSIST WITH EXPENSES RELATING TO ITS 2ND ANNUAL HILO ALOHA EVENT Transfers $2,000 from the Clerk-Council Services—Contingency Relief account (Council District 5); and credits to the Department of Liquor Control, Public Programs account. Reference: Comm. 868 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder Page 28 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 554-26. Seconded by Mr. Hustace. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you very much, Chair. Look for everyone's support. CHR. INABA: Thank you. All those in favor of approving Resolution 554-26, please say "aye." Vote on Res. 554-26: The motion to adopt Res. 554-26 was carried by the (Adopted) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Villegas— 1. Excused: None. Res. 555-26: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM THE DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT TO RETURN GRANT FUNDS PREVIOUSLY AWARDED BY RESOLUTION NO. 471-26 Transfers $2,000 from the Department of Liquor Control, Public Programs account and returns funds to the Clerk-Council Services—Contingency Relief account. Reference: Comm. 870 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Waived: FC Motion to Approve: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to adopt Res. 555-26. Seconded by Mr. Hustace. CHR. INABA: Any discussion? Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I just wanted to recognize this resolution's number. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Thank you. All those in favor of approving Resolution 555-26, please say "aye." Page 29 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 Vote on Res. 555-26: The motion to adopt Res. 555-26 was carried by the (Adopted) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Villegas— 1. Excused: None. BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Bills for ORDINANCES Ordinances (First Reading). (FIRST READING): Bill 148: DESIGNATES TAX MAP KEY: 6-6-001:010 AS "LA`ELA`E PARK", AMENDS CHAPTER 15, ARTICLE 8, SECTION 15-68.1, AND AMENDS CHAPTER 14, ARTICLE 1, SECTION 14-1 OF THE HAWAI`I COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO PARKS AND RECREATIONAL FACILITIES Adds La`ela`e Park, located in Waimea, to the Parks and Recreational Facility Schedule and to Section 14-1 of the County Code,which prohibits the consumption of alcohol at any time. Reference: Comm. 819 Intr. by: Council Member Hustace Approve: PCHSW-8 Motion to Approve: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 148 on first reading and adopt Policy Committee on Health, Safety, and Well-being Committee Report No. 8. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. INABA: Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Nothing really else to share about this. I did share the mo`olelo of this future named park space within Committee. So here to answer any questions anyone might have on this. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Any further questions? Hearing and seeing none, all those in favor of approving Bill 148 at first reading, please say "aye." Page 30 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 Vote on Bill 148: The motion to pass Bill 148 on first reading and adopt (Approved) Policy Committee on Health, Safety, and Well-being Committee Report No. 8 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Villegas — 1. Excused: None. Bill 150: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 25-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING DUNE 30, 2026 Appropriates revenues in the State Grants—Safe Routes to School— Non-Infrastructure account($50,344); and appropriates the same to the Safe Routes to School—Non-Infrastructure account. Reference: Comm. 823 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Approve: FC-145 Motion to Approve: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 150 on first reading and adopt Finance Committee Report No. 145. Seconded by Ms. Villegas. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I do have questions. CHR. INABA: All right, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Okay. I see my Public Works members here in the chambers in Hilo. Did you bring me information and funding and total funding on this? This thing has been bugging me for years. I thought we were getting somewhere, but then I feel like we're not. The more I thought about the numbers that you gave me, Mr. Thompson, I was trying to track which part was the County match, what was Federal match, what was State match. And then, what I'm really looking at is equity of this program across the island because I'm just not seeing it. I'm seeing two schools in two areas, all east side of Hawaii Island. That's all I see from this program. If it was designated specifically for these areas only, fine. But I'm just wondering if that's actually the reality. Page 31 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 (Note: At this time, Civil Engineer Alan "Keone" Thompson, Public Works Department, came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. THOMPSON: Good morning. Keone Thompson, Engineering Division Chief. So we're speaking to Bill 151? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yup. MR. THOMPSON: Okay, so MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: No, no, I think we're on Bill MR. THOMPSON: 150. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: 150. MR. THOMPSON: So 150 speaks to the safety equipment and the money for that, $50,000. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Correct. MR. THOMPSON: So that money will be used forsorry, I was rushing to get here. I'm a little bit out of breath. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: No, no, take your time. Breathe. MR. THOMPSON: So it has to do with buying safety equipment, data collection around schools. And that's island wide. So our Safe Routes to School Coordinator uses those funds—well, plans to use those funds to go to the schools and collect data and coordinate with the schools. So we have been reaching out to the schools. We actually MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Sorry. You said this magical key word, "island wide." Right? MR. THOMPSON: Yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: What projects has the department chosen island wide? MR. THOMPSON: So this is a new program that we're incorporating with our proj ects. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Timewise "new," meaning how many years? Page 32 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 MR. THOMPSON: It's been approximately about four years or so that we've been really incorporating seatbelts to school in our projects, and trying to acquire grant money to help out with our projects. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Because that's about how long I've been asking this same question. So I appreciate that. So four years, okay. MR. THOMPSON: Yeah. Sure. So this is the first time we're getting this State grant to buy some safety equipment. So we have a Safe Routes to School Coordinator that reaches out to the schools. And with PATH (People for Active Transportation Hawai`i), they go and educate the students to walk and bike safely and give education like, saying, flashing beacons and that kind of equipment to the students. And they've—sorry, I mean, I was actually running here. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Breathe, breathe, breathe. I'd rather have you breathe and give me good information (inaudible). MR. THOMPSON: So—let's see. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Maybe I'll go slower. How many projects has the department chosen to apply this funding I'm looking at 151 too, which is a bigger portion, which is what we're going to touch on in a few minutes. MR. THOMPSON: Sure, that's next. So I want to speak—so the program has taught bike safety. We've gone with PATH at events at 12 schools island wide, over 600 fourth grade students that we've educated and met with. We also just had surveys of the school, what the concerns were at the schools,just educating the students on the proper etiquette of riding bikes. And that's island wide. That's what this money would be used for, the outreach to the schools. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: This is the MR. THOMPSON: $50,000. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: $50,000. So non-infrastructure funding to 12 schools across the island, Safe Routes to School State grant. MR. THOMPSON: Well, it's 12 schools that we provide that bike safety training to 600 students. But we reached out to 80 percent of the DOE (Department of Education) schools, which is 32 of the 40 schools around the island. Yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And who is doing all this? MR. THOMPSON: This is our Safe Routes to School Coordinator Jesse Domian. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: What's the name? Page 33 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 MR. THOMPSON: Jesse D O M I A N. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I think my bigger questions are going to come for Bill 151. Yeah. MR. THOMPSON: Sure. Definitely. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then the 12 schools, would you try and list them for me? MR. THOMPSON: So it's Kohala, Ha`aheo, Holualoa, Ho`okena, Pa`auilo, Keaukaha, Volcano School of Arts and Science, Kapi`olani, Waiakeawaena, Konawaena, Kahakai, and Kea`au. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's equity. Thank you. Okay, I yield, Chair. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Any further discussion on Bill 150? Seeing none, all those in favor of approving Bill 150 at first reading, please say "aye." Vote on Bill 150: The motion to pass Bill 150 on first reading and adopt (Approved) Finance Committee Report No. 145 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. Bill 151: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 25-46, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2025, TO JUNE 30, 2026 Adds the Department of Public Works— Safe Routes to Waiakea School—Kilauea Avenue Part 1 project($1,386,656)to the Capital Budget. Funds for this project shall be provided from State Grants Receivable. Reference: Comm. 824 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Approve: FC-146 Note: Requires 2/3 vote of the entire membership to amend, pursuant to Section 10-6(e), Hawaii County Charter Page 34 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 Motion to Approve: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 151 on first reading and adopt Finance Committee Report No. 146. Seconded by Ms. Villegas. CHR. INABA: Any discussion? Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Okay, Mr. Thompson and Ms. Kalua-Lewis, thank you for being here. If you would introduce yourself again? (Note: At this time, Civil Engineer Alan "Keone" Thompson and Business Manager Kelsey Kalua-Lewis, Public Works Department, came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. THOMPSON: Keone Thompson, Engineering Division Chief. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, this is the one, $1.386 million. Let's just break down the numbers again. This is a State grant, correct? MR. THOMPSON: Yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And the whole thing, $1.3 million? MR. THOMPSON: $1.386 million is State grant. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: State grant, okay. And then is a County match required? MR. THOMPSON: No. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: No County match required. MR. THOMPSON: Yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Is the County putting funding into this as well? MR. THOMPSON: It's putting money into this project, yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: How much? MR. THOMPSON: $621,344. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, so a grand total of about $2 million, yeah. Page 35 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 MR. THOMPSON: Yeah. The State MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: State and County combined. MR. THOMPSON: State and County combined for the Federal match. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: What's the Federal match? MR. THOMPSON: A little bit over $8 million. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: $8 million, okay. So a $10 million program altogether. MR. THOMPSON: Yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Who was in charge of getting the schools to the table for this? Who picked the schools? MR. THOMPSON: So this Waiakea Safe Routes to School, we were in charge of selecting the project. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And this was specifically Waiakea Safe Routes to School. MR. THOMPSON: That was the name we coined it in order to be eligible for the Safe Routes to School funding. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: What was the grant called from the State? MR. THOMPSON: So this was transportation alternate program funding initially. Then we also got Safe Routes to School grant money too. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, was it specific to one area? MR. THOMPSON: No. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So how many schools are getting this funding? MR. THOMPSON: So right now, this is strictly Kilauea—new Waiakea, the Waiakea Complex. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So Waiakea MR. THOMPSON: Can I speak to why that was selected as one of the first ones besides Kahakai? Page 36 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Please do so. Let's just clarify. So we've got two schools. MR. THOMPSON: So there is—but Kahakai is not part of this funding. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Keonepokooh, it's a different funding source? MR. THOMPSON: That one is also TAP (Transportation Alternatives Program) funding but we put Safe Routes to School on it too. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And that's State money? MR. THOMPSON: No, that is Federal money with County match. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And neither one of those had requirements on what school it was going to be applied to? That was done internally in the County? MR. THOMPSON: Correct. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. MR. THOMPSON: With approval from the State, obviously, that we meet the requirements. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So summarizing then, for right now, we have two schools we've chosen. Two different funding sources. This bill in front of us, 151, specific to Kilauea Avenue, Waiakeawaena. MR. THOMPSON: Waiakeawaena—it's within a one-mile radius. So one of the criteria for Safe Routes to School funding, which we try to capitalize on so we can assist for the projects, is that if it's within a mile we try to grab the project and then apply it to this money so that we can capitalize on what we can provide to the community. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. MR. THOMPSON: So it's Waiakeawaena, Waiakea Elementary, Waiakea Intermediate, and Waiakea High. So it's within the one-mile radius, yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. It is. MR. THOMPSON: And then as you look at it, for a highly urban area serving such a large population, this is one of the only schools that didn't have a shoulder that you could walk safely to school, especially for elementary kids. Page 37 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: This is one of the only schools MR. THOMPSON: Yes, if you look at it—besides Pa`auilo, I mean rural areas. For urban, highly urban dense MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: In urban areas. MR. THOMPSON: Yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Not Kona? MR. THOMPSON: We looked at Kona. Konawaena has a sidewalk. They have paved shoulders. If you look at even—yeah, there's not many schools that don't have at least a paved shoulder, especially in the urban areas. There's no place. I mean, other than Pahoa. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Was the grant specific to urban areas only? MR. THOMPSON: No. But then we're capitalizing onI also—just Federal money in general. So we applied for that and we applied for the Safe Routes to School. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So this is one fund of money that we're applying, and we're only applying it to Hilo. And we have other money that's only being applied towards Keonepoko— MR. THOMPSON: Keonepoko, yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: But the rest of the island either didn't get chosen or didn't qualify, even though the grant funding that's coming in seems to be open as a spectrum to any type of zoning, be it urban or rural or whatever. Correct? MR. THOMPSON: Correct. Yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And who chose that? MR. THOMPSON: Our department chose that. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: The Public Works Department. Was there a certain amount of people who chose that? MR. THOMPSON: There was a group of us. Yes. We talked about the project island wide. This is going back four years ago when we identified the areas that didn't have any place for students to walk to school. And the one that showed up was primarily Waiakea and then Kahakai, Keonepoko school too. But Page 38 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 Keonepoko has actually a grass shoulder but it's done, really smooth and level. Whereas Waiakea, there were some places where there was no place to pass. I mean, there were rocks going up to the paved roadway, yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So I'm no expert in island wide schools, but I would contend that there are many schools in our County, and many of them could use upgrades to their walkable areas for our keiki's safety. My concern right now is that a limited group of individuals took a very healthy grant and applied it to two specific areas with what I'm (inaudible). MR. THOMPSON: So we actually had applied for the grant. It wasn't given to us. So this is something we went out there and we applied for. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Beautiful. Thank you. So when you applied for it, you said, "Well, I'm going to give this to two schools or three schools"? MR. THOMPSON: No, we applied for this and then we said, "This is what we are proposing to do. This is the area served." And it was awarded to us based on the need and justification. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I appreciate the program. I appreciate the applying. I appreciate what you're doing. I like the intention. Where I'm headed is the equity piece, which is what I'm not seeing. Two schools, we'll call it three if you want to add in Waiakea High School and Waiakeawaena. Those both have—my kids went there. So I understand those schools. I've been going to those schools for the last 15 years. I drive past them every single day. I understand how close they are. I understand Kilauea Avenue. I get it. My concern is there was a very interesting process that occurred for the last four years, which has directed this funding source directly to service only one side of the island and you missed, in my opinion, the rest of the island and the rest of the schools, all of which have concerns in getting kids safely—Mountain View has nothing and no access. That's just one in my district I can point to. I know last time Deputy Director said we're going to apply money into other areas and to other schools. My concern is how we even got here in the first place. And it took me four years to get to this point with you folks. MR. THOMPSON: Can I speak to that? So we are looking at other schools. It's not that we're not looking at them. And Deputy Director did speak to that we are going to look at other schools, and we are. We're going to do in-house design. So we're going to make some shoulder improvements so Highways can go and pave the ones like Pa`auilo School. We actually have a list of future-planned projects where we don't have grant money for it like how we have for Waiakea, but we will be doing in-house design. And Neil is planning to pave the shoulders so then can have access. Page 39 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 On that list are six schools right now that's planned. It's been on the books for two years now. I think we had CIP (Capital Improvement Project) money, but we don't have money—we haven't had funding for that yet. (Inaudible) school, Kohala High School/Elementary School. E. B. de Silva(Ernest Bowen de Silva) has been on the list for a while, how we make the turn lane. We were planning to do that last year but it didn't happen. Volcano School of Arts and Sciences. That's another one we're going to pave the shoulders. Hilo Union School is actually something that we're actually planning to do soon as a CIP project. And then Pahoa Village Road shoulder improvements. Pahoa High and Intermediate, we're looking at paving the shoulders on that side. So that's all in its infancy. So you know how long it took to get to this point? It took us four years applying for grants, getting the consultants onboard, and only now we're getting the money to take it out to bid and build. And that's where we are now. It's just starting now. And we want to continue this and move forward, but we really are trying to make this place a better place by trying to get this grant money in, identifying where the shortfalls are, and then from there getting it done. Right now, we're just starting. Hopefully, we can do more and more. MS. KALUA-LEWIS: Kelsey Kalua-Lewis, Business Manager. I think when they go and they initially look at this grant funding, which is just—the program kind of just started with Public Works. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Four years, yeah? MS. KALUA-LEWIS: Four years, which was grant application, getting the consultants onboard. We just got the Federal award for the larger Waiakea Safe Routes to School. But when we go for these grant funds, we're basically competing against other counties. So while we'd like to address equity, that is our goal. And that's what Deputy Director talks about, doing work kind of in-house with County funds. We also want to make sure that the schools we're choosing so we can get the pot of money are actually the most critical needs schools, so that when the grantor looks at the application, it's showing "Oh, there are no shoulders." "Oh, there is no space to walk." And then as we keep applying for these grants and as long as the funding's available, we can go to, and I hate to say this but like—because all the kids need safety going to school—but what is the highest priority, and then knowing that, okay, this school will secure us the grant funds. Whereas, we're putting something that may already have wide shoulders or may already have—to whoever is evaluating the grant application, may already be "Okay." Whereas, on another County, "Oh, this school really hit it." Page 40 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 So there's a little bit of strategic planning that we have to use, that the engineers have to use, along with the Deputy and Director, of which schools to pick. And the equity piece that we try to use to balance it out is doing all these little adjustments in the other schools that Keone had mentioned. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: To what you just said, the application for the grant that was submitted was specific to schools, or was not specific to schools? MR. THOMPSON: It was specific to this project. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: This project in front of us, this bill. MR. THOMPSON: Correct. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Hilo. MR. THOMPSON: To the Waiakea Safe Routes to School. I mean, the Kilauea Safe Routes to School Waiakea Complex. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: We requested and we received $8 million from the Feds, $1.3 million from the State, and $600,000 from the County specifically and only for Hilo. That was the application that we sent in to the Federal Government is what you're saying. MR. THOMPSON: So it was actually a lot less, but they covered the difference because the bids came in high. And we are thankful for that. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: But that was the application. MR. THOMPSON: Yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: It was submitted solely for— MR. THOMPSON: Soley for that project. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: For Hilo. MR. THOMPSON: For not Hilo. Waiakea. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: For the Waiakea Complex. MR. THOMPSON: Because it qualified based on what we described in the application. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Because earlier I thought you had said this money was not specific to one complex. Page 41 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 MR. THOMPSON: Sorry, maybe I misunderstood what you were asking. That grant can be applied towards any school on the island if we have a project, but right now we're capitalizing different sources of funding. That was the highest one on the list that qualified the best for trying to get that grant money. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So the application then was specific to Hilo. MR. THOMPSON: Correct. And that's how we got that grant money. It was awarded for that particular project. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And so when you applied for it, that was the intention. MR. THOMPSON: Correct. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So there was CHR. INABA: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, your timer has gone off here. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. I yield for now. CHR. INABA: Any other discussion in Hilo? Okay, coming here to Kona. Council Member Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: I just want to thank Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder for elevating the conversation to equitable distribution of resources, especially grant resources. In my district, I have two elementary schools that have serious issues with safe routes: H61ualoa and Kahakai. Historically, money has been sourced on this island on the east side and spent on the east side, taxpayer—all you have to do is look at the number of parks and facilities and whatnot. So I appreciate the elevation of this conversation to tackling that hard issue. We can't change things that have happened in the past, but we can try to realign priority systems and require more equitable distribution of resources. It's human nature to fix things and to work on things that we know and come in personal contact with. But we have a responsibility with this island being as big as it is to reach out and connect with other spaces and ensure that resources are contributed and allocated more fairly, for lack of a better term. I appreciate the conversation. I'm by myself confused with some of the answers. So the grant could have been applied to any school, but specifically the grant was written in asking for funds for this school. So I'm just seeing it all bounce around and whether or not it can be changed at this point. I just hope that the actual message lands, and the opportunity to apply funding more equitably island wide gets taken up and put forward in the future. Thank you. I yield. Page 42 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 CHR. INABA: Thank you. All right, any last discussion? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Chair, if I could? CHR. INABA: Okay, briefly please. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I'll keep it brief. One more time just to summarize it explicitly well. The Federal and State grants that we're receiving were specific to HiloWaiakea Complex and Keonepokoas the two different sources that I've seen. MR. THOMPSON: Yes. For these two, yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: For these two. I mean, we applied for funding for these MR. THOMPSON: Yes, we applied for funding for those two, Kahakai— MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: For those two areas. So it wasn't open funding and then decided to be applied towards this school. MR. THOMPSON: No. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: It was absolutely specific to these schools in the application. MR. THOMPSON: Correct. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And the leadership team deciding this was an internal team in Public Works? MR. THOMPSON: Yes, an internal team in Public Works. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And this was done four years ago? MR. THOMPSON: It started four years ago. We looked at all the schools island wide, and we looked at what the need was. And we talked to the schools. We reached out to the schools, what their needs were. But, yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And who was the internal team comprised of? MR. THOMPSON: It was the engineering team. The project's team. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: How many people? Page 43 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 MR. THOMPSON: There were four. And then, of course, the Director at the time was included in that(inaudible). MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Who was the Director? MR. THOMPSON: Steve. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Pause? MR. THOMPSON: Yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And then who were the members of the team? MR. THOMPSON: That would be me, Robin, Melanie, andI know Jesse was involved but I don't think there was another engineer too as well. I can't think of the name right now. I know Jesse was involved too. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Is the Department addressing other grants for other areas of the island, or is the funding that you discussed and the other projects you discussed coming from fuel tax revenue or General Fund revenues? MR. THOMPSON: What is that again? MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: The other projects that you discussed, the 12 other schools you've been looking at, these are going to be General Fund funded? MR. THOMPSON: The 12 other schools is something we've been working with for educational purposes and outreach as part of our program that we've been trying to incorporate. There were the 6 schools future planned where we'll do shoulder improvements, where we'll do in-house design. We'll be doing a couple now and then we're planning to do some plans and drawings, and then Highways will plan to—either Highways or we'll take it out to bid. But right now, it's Highways' plan to widen the shoulders in those areas so they have access. MS. KALUA-LEWIS: So it could be highways or fuel tax—the Highway Fund. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So fuel tax funds or General Fund. MS. KALUA-LEWIS: Most likely not General Fund. Just fuel tax funds or our Highway Fund. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: But not grants. Page 44 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 MS. KALUA-LEWIS: As of the immediate improvements that they have been talking about, not grants. Yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. MR. THOMPSON: We would have to apply for more grants and we've been trying. We haven't been awarded anything else at this point. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Thank you for the information. I'm not happy with the geographical equity. I do have a couple questions that I will be taking other places. But I appreciate that you came here with the information and was prepared, and you ran across the street to provide it. MR. THOMPSON: Well, you guys went so fast on the reso, so yeah. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: We're moving quick today, except for me. Thank you for the information. I'll be digging a little bit further. Just for the Council, it's important that you folks look at equity across the island. And I'm hoping that in the future, the members that are here will be watching how the funds are spent, what grants you proceed to look for in the future so that we do have more routes island wide for our keiki's safety. MR. THOMPSON: Most certainly. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I love the intention of the grants. Just watching the process very carefully. MR. THOMPSON: Sure. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. I yield, Chair. CHR. INABA: Thank you. All those in favor of approving Bill 151 at first reading, please say "aye." Vote on Bill 151: The motion to pass Bill 151 on first reading and adopt (Approved) Finance Committee Report No. 146 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kimball— 1. Excused: None. Page 45 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 Bill 155: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 25-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING DUNE 30, 2026 Appropriates revenues in the Federal Grants—HOME Investment Partnership- American Rescue Plan Program account($1,977,568); and appropriates the same to the HOME Investment Partnership-American Rescue Plan accounts: Projects ($1,817,225) and Administration ($160,343). Reference: Comm. 869 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Waived: FC Vote on Bill 155: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 155 on first reading. (Approved) Seconded by Ms. Villegas and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kimball — 1. Excused: None. 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 144: ADOPTS A PAY PLAN FOR PERSONS EMPLOYED BY THE COUNTY OTHER THAN THOSE WHOSE PAY IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR, DESIGNATING PAYROLL PERIODS, PAY DAYS, PRESCRIBING REQUIREMENTS WITH RESPECT TO OFFICIAL FIDELITY BONDS, AND REPEALING ORDINANCE NO. 25-39 AND ALL AMENDMENTS THERETO, SAID ORDINANCE TO BE KNOWN AS THE SALARY ORDINANCE OF 2026 Establishes rates of compensation for appointed employees in the Legislative Branch and the Office of Housing and Community Development, the County Physician, Student Helpers, and Senior Community Services Aids for various County agencies. Reference: Comm. 789 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) First Reading: April 22, 2026 Page 46 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 Vote on Bill 144: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 144 on second and final (Adopted) reading. Seconded by Ms. Villegas and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. Bill 145: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 25-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING DUNE 30, 2026 Appropriates revenues in the Federal Grants—Housing Choice Voucher Program account($1,000,000); and appropriates the same to the Choice Voucher Rental Subsidies account. Reference: Comm. 790 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) First Reading: April 22, 2026 Vote on Bill 145: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 145 on second and final (Adopted) reading. Seconded by Ms. Villegas and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. Bill 146: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 25-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING DUNE 30, 2026 Increases revenues in the State Grants—Transit-Oriented Development Capital Improvement Program for 34 Rainbow Affordable Housing Project account ($1,000,000); and appropriates the same to the Transit-Oriented Development Capital Improvement Program for 34 Rainbow Affordable Housing Project account. Reference: Comm. 791 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) First Reading: April 22, 2026 Page 47 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 Vote on Bill 146: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 146 on second and final (Adopted) reading. Seconded by Ms. Villegas and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. Bill 149: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 25-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING DUNE 30, 2026 Appropriates revenues in the Parks and Recreation Miscellaneous Contributions account($160,000); and appropriates the same to the United States Tennis Association Tennis Court Resurfacing and Installation of SmartAccess System account. Funds would be used to resurface a tennis court and install a SmartAccess system. Reference: Comm. 822 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) First Reading: April 22, 2026 Vote on Bill 149: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 149 on second and final (Adopted) reading. Seconded by Ms. Villegas and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba—9. Noes: None. Absent: None. 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. CHR. INABA: Looking ahead a couple of weeks,we want to inform the public on May 19t'we will be having our next set of meetings, with a public hearing specific to our real property tax rates to occur on May 19a', 5:30 p.m., at our Hilo Page 48 Hawaii County Council-38 May 5,2026 Council chambers. Later that week, on the 21', we will be in special council to discuss Draft 2 of the County's operating and CIP budgets. So we encourage the public to engage both for the public hearing for real property tax rates as well as the special council meeting on the operating and CIP budgets. With that, we are at the end of all of our official agenda items and our announcements. ADJOURN- There being no further business, Chair Inaba adjourned the meeting at 11:14 a.m. MENT: Council Approval: JUL 2 3 2026 CO Y CLE JH/dg I Page 49