HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN FC 2026/07/07 (2024-2026) DRAFT Committee on Finance
39th Session
Hawaii County Building
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
July 7, 2026
CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Finance was called to order at
ORDER: 9:00 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,
Chair.
ROLL CALL:
Present: Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Chair
Mr. James E. Hustace, Vice Chair
Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member
Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member
Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member
Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz,Member
Ms. Heather Kimball, Member
Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onish , Member(came in later)
Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member
STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business,
FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items.
PUBLIC ON
AGENDA ITEMS: (There were none.)
COMMUNI The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business,
CATIONS: Communications.
Comm. 23' 37,: REPORT OF FUND TRANSFERS AUTHORIZED: MAY 1 — 15, 2026
From Controller Jon Arbles, dated May 30, 2026.
Motion to Approve: Mr. Hustace moved to close file on Comm. 23.37. Seconded
Eby`Ms. Kagiwada.
CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Council Members, discussion? Council
Member Hustace, go ahead.
MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. This is a question for Public Works
actually.
(Note: At this time, Public Works Business Manager Kelsey Kalua-Lewis
came forward to address the members of the Committee.)
FC-39 July 7,2026
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: Good morning. Kelsey Kalua-Lewis, Public Works.
MR. HUSTACE: Good morning, Ms. Kalua-Lewis. Just a question on the flood
control accounts. What have been some of the past uses for this particular
account?
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: So our flood control account we use it to clear the flood
channels, areas around the flood channels. If we have any flood control I guess
smaller scale projects, historically we can use these Rinds,for that purpose.
MR. HUSTACE: And you just had a little bit of a need in the water spigot
maintenance then for this one.
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: Yes. So the water spigot maintenance, you know, we had
uncontrollable costs increase in expenditures when we looked at our budget.
Flood control, usually what we do at the end of the year is we'll coo a charge back
for all the work that the Highway Division does. So unfortunately, we won't be
doing as much of the transfer for the charge back this year due to the water spigot
cost.
MR. HUSTACE: And these are just maintenance of spigots around just on our
facilities across the island or are there particular areas that we're trying to get
back to or rotating maintenance of?
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: So the water spigots was basically due to increase in our
water bills for mostly the Ocean View, Puna area sites. We kind of figured it was
due to, well them were some dry conditions and also with the increase episodes
outat the volcano, more people needing to use the water spigots.
MR. HUSTACE: Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you, Chair.
MS.,KALUA-LEWIS: You're welcome.
Can you expand,a little bit more. That's one of the big issues that came up in
our community was the water spigots.
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: Okay. So the water spigots, what we do is it's a
coordinated effort between Water Supply, Public Works, and some other
departments that we've talked with include Parks and Recreation, but we usually
monitor the water spigot sites. We do the small repairs for the spigots and kind of
just oversee the billing, the routine maintenance, routine repairs. As far as the
charges and the reason for this transfer is for whatever reason I couldn't tie it
back. Looking at trends, my assumptions of why we had such an increased
amount in volume in those particular sites, which was mostly the Puna and Ocean
View area, that we've just had a larger amount of community who needed to use
the water spigot facilities.
CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay.
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FC-39 July 7,2026
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: We did increase just looking at the trends of fiscal year
2026, we did increase the budget for our water spigots in 2027.
CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, good. What is the budgeted amount
for that line item?
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: Unfortunately I don't know it off the top of my head, but
we added an additional $64,000 around there, to just:kind of cover what we felt
was the need or the gap in fiscal year 2026.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay,-
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: I can get that number for you though. - -
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER No, no. It's okay. I can go look. I think
my underlying question is this is for maintenance and for the water itself?
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: So small repairs and the heavy amount of the budget is for
the utility bills.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFEL }ER: For water.
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: For water, yeah.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay.
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: Some sites off the top of my head we can see like 26,000
gallons'.-It's,a 16t'in'those areas.
CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Taking it back, so I think one of the
items brought to my attention by community but also by Mayor Alameda was that
water spigots came tip again and again as he went around the island. So from
what I'm hearing right now, you're seeing increased water utility bills, which is
increased water usage.
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: Yes.
CR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And albeit we had a leak somewhere. If
this wasn't a leak, then we actually have more usage coming in.
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: Yeah. And we have a pretty good system. So DWS
(Department of Water Supply) is good. If they see something that looks like there
may be a leak, they'll call us. We'll have somebody go check, confirm that
there's not a leak, if there is a leak. So it basically is consumption increase.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. This kind of gets at my point. As
we see more water usage you'll need to increase this account number and funding.
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FC-39 July 7,2026
But the other part is this is due to increase build out across all of our subdivisions,
our rural areas that rely on those water spigots for usage as well as a lot of water
haulers now have the tanks in the back of their trucks.
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: Yes.
CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: They're not actually water haulers, but
they're functioning as that for parts of the community that cannot afford the big
truck. And so you're going to get a lot more usage of guys filling up the totes in
the back of a dodge and then driving it to someone's house to do a 250 gallon fill.
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: To do a haul, yeah.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah.k So somethingxo look at; something
to track.
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: Yeah.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And then one of those things that came up
on the campaign trail for Mayor Alameda as well.
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: Okay: Thank you.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So interested to see what you guys do;
maybe more buildout and more infrastructure.
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: I'll definitely take back that ideas back to the Director.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Ms. Nakagawa.
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Diane Nakagawa came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MS. NAKAGAWA': Yes, thank you. Good morning, Council. Diane Nakagawa,
Finance Department. I just wanted to add on this conversation that this is a very
recent discussion that we've had in the administration, in fact just yesterday, on
looking at the needs especially during the recent disasters and the increased
recluest for water. So we are taking a look. There is, at the direction of Mayor
Alameda and the Water Department, and Public Works as well, more
coordination and discussion to talk about if there's additional needs, very
supportive of that. As Kelsey mentioned that we did have an increase in the
budget over the last year, but the look is that the trend is increasing; the need is
increasing, and so we're aware and we are going to take a look at that. It is a
topic of discussion that we'll take a look at.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Good job. Thank you. Yeah, I mean our
residents, we depend on water. Everyone needs water. We don't pipe it in to
there is that we're allowing to build. And so in light of that,you have increased
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FC-39 July 7,2026
usage at your water spigots, and we need to put more water spigots and more
water availability to the people who live there. So thank you for identifying that,
Ms. Nakagawa and Ms. Kalua-Lewis. Thank you.
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: Thank you.
CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mr. Hustace.
MR. HUSTACE: Thanks, Chair. Just one more question on that. I appreciate the
increase into the water spigot maintenance account. I just do have concerns about
the flood control account because those services, those contracts we're issuing out
of that account are preventative in measure right? Aro we using that account that
way it's intended then in terms of mitigating some of thoflood damaging as a
precursor to some storm events and so:forth?
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: Yes, we do., So the Highway Maintenance Division will
have a list of expenditures that theydtr for flood control projects and that's the
charge back we refer back to at the end of the year. "
MR. HUSTACE: Okay. I just want to make;sure we're using that account the
way we hoped to for preventative measures.
MS. KALUA-LEWIS: Yeah. Yes:
MR. HUSTACE: Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Chair.
CHR- KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Seeing no further discussion.
Motion,is on the floor to close file on Communication 23.37. All in favor?
Vote on Comm. 23.37., The motion to close file on Comm. 23.37 was carried by
Filed the following voice vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Galimba, Hustace, Inaba,
Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi,
Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Comm. 23.38: REPORT OF FUND TRANSFERS AUTHORIZED: MAY 16 —31, 2026
From Controller Jon Arbles, dated June 15, 2026.
Motion to Approve: Mr. Hustace moved to close file on Comm. 23.38. Seconded
by Ms. Galimba.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Discussion.
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FC-39 July 7,2026
MR. HUSTACE: Chair?
CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Council Member Hustace, go ahead.
MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Question for Environmental Management
please.
(Note: At this time, Environmental Management Business Manager Robin
Bauman came forward to address the members'of the Committee.)
MS. BAUMAN: Good morning. Robin Bauman,'Business Manager for
Environmental Management.
MR. HUSTACE: Thanks, Ms. Bauman. Good to see you the morning. Just a
question on the transfer of funds out of Wastewater Division for'a combined
purchase of equipment totaling$964,000. If you could do a cost breakdown of
that equipment here with us; is that possible?
MS. BAUMAN: Yes.
MR. HUSTACE: What was purchased was a pre-engineered storage building, a
roll-on off truck, light towers and an excavator with a,hammer, right?
MS. BAUMAN: Yes.
MR. HUSTACE: So all of those transfers from the four different accounts for
miscellaneous equipment. What are the cost breakdowns for those items?
MS. BAUMAN: Jay. So the pre-engineered storage buildings, the estimated
cost was $120,000. In the end we did not proceed with that purchase. The
roll-off truck was about$350,000; the light towers, six of them totaled to
$264,000.
MR. HUSTACE: Sorry. Number again. Sorry.
MS. BAUMAN: $264,000 total. And the excavator was $130,000.
MR. HUSTACE: And so you didn't make that purchase of the storage unit
though?
MS. BAUMAN: Correct. We decided to hold off on that. We needed to do a
little more design and planning work before we proceeded with that purchase.
MR. HUSTACE: Is that not accounted for in the transfer though, the $120,000?
MS. BAUMAN: Yeah, that was included in the transfer.
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FC-39 July 7,2026
MR. HUSTACE: So that transfer just happened to miscellaneous and it's just
sitting there, the $120,000 then for future use?
MS. BAUMAN: Yeah.
MR. HUSTACE: Okay. Bigger question. The light towers, these are facilities
that are operating under dark conditions then?
MS. BAUMAN: Yeah. These would be portable light towers for use when crews
have to go out at night to do repairs, respond to emergencies to provide lighting.
MR. HUSTACE: Okay. But using heavy equipment�during dark hours so light
towers for that purpose for safety purposes. And then just'an overall question and
maybe this is a question more for Director (Daniel) Girvan, but should these funds
have been used instead of for repairs to existing facilities versus purchasing of
new equipment?
MS. BAUMAN: Well to some extent this will help us to repair our facilities.
MR. HUSTACE: Okay. I understand because the equipment tracks with that for
sure. Just out of curiosity We were talking about funding and repairs for certain
facilities. I mean, Director talked,about finding some capacity to repair some
facilities and so this transfer for a large amount just raises some flag for me in the
sense that some of these funds should be going towards the repairs of facilities
and the other costs that we have with existing facilities and what we're
undertaking. So it's more of a question for the director so I apologize.
MS. BAUMAN: Yeah. No. I can take that message back.
MR. HUSTACE: Thank you. I appreciate that. Thanks, Ms. Bauman. Thanks,
Chair.
CHR. kANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Anything further? Okay. To
the departments, thank you for being here this morning. I know Ms. Nakagawa
has asked all the departments to be available for questions from the Council and I
appreciate you all coming in to answer our questions as needed. Thank you.
Seeing no further discussion, motion is on the floor to close file on
Communication 23.38, all in favor?
Vote on Comm. 23.38: a,. The motion to close file on Comm. 23.38 was carried by
Filed the following voice vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada,
Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and
Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—8.
Noes: Committee Member Hustace— 1.
Absent: None.
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FC-39 July 7,2026
Excused: None.
Comm. 27.5: REPORT OF DONATIONS RECEIVED FROM THE DANIEL R. SAYRE
MEMORIAL FOUNDATION AS OF MARCH 2O26
From Finance Director Diane Nakagawa, dated June 3, 2026, transmitting the
above report pursuant to Resolution 468-20.
Motion to Approve: Mr. Hustace moved to close file on Comm. 27.5. Seconded
by Ms. Galimba.
CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Council Member Hustace, discussion?
MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. I just want to mahalo the Daniel Sayre
Foundation for their support.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER Thank you. Anyone else? ,No. As Mr.
Hustace said, I would like to say mahalo to the Daniel R. Sayre Foundation,
particularly Laura. She is amazing ancwhat she brings into the Fire Department
every year with the help of both County, State, and all of our private partners is
absolutely amazing. I mean, we can buy helicopters, trucks, scubas, I mean,
everything. So yeah, a big mahalo to the Sayres'. We have a motion on the floor
to close file on Communication 27.5, all in favor`?
Vote on Comm. 27.5: The motion to close file on Comm. 27.5 Was carried by the
Filed following voice vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Galimba, Hustace, Inaba,
Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, and
Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 8.
Noes: None.
Absent Committee Member Villegas — 1.
Excused: None.
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FC-39 July 7,2026
Comm. 938: SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMARY OF BONDED INDEBTEDNESS AS OF
MAY 7, 2026
From Finance Director Diane Nakagawa, dated May 19, 2026, transmitting the
above pursuant to Chapter 47C of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, per the issuance
of$137,903 Public Improvement Bonds Reimbursable by Improvement
District 21 Iki Place Subdivision lot owners.
Motion to Approve: Mr. Hustace moved to close file on Comm. 938. Seconded
by Mr. Onishi.
CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Any discussion? Council Member
Hustace.
MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. I just want to mahalo Director Nakagawa
for transmitting this to us for discussion. Thank you.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER:,Council Member Kimball.
MS. KIMBALL: Yeah. I'd actually, given'the numbers here, I would love for
the director to kind of walk us through all of these. I am particularly interested in,
you know, some of these general obligation bonds that have been issued many
years ago and there's still a significant amount of principle due and just kind of
understanding how that, I mean,they may all be on different kinds of payment
schedules but I'd kind of like to understand particularly that aspect. But I think it
would be valuable for the body to kind of just walk through the entire report.
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Diane Nakagawa came forward to
address the members of the Committee.)
MS. NAKAGAWA': Of course. Good morning again, Council Members. Diane
Nakagawa, Finance. Here with me today is Chris Nakano, our County Treasurer.
The item you have in front of you is a summary of our net funded debt for the
Counts. This is an HRS (Hawai`i Revised Statutes) requirement to submit this
30 days within delivery of a new issuance, and this one happens to be the Iki
Place project that we did back in May. That one took a bit, but it is finally
underway. 'We're looking at an NTP (Network Time Protocol) shortly. If you're
wondering what the status is of that, so within 30 days of that we are required to
come forward. We will come forward again shortly because it will be the end of
the fiscal year on June 30t', so you will see us again, probably not much changes
to this summary, very shortly.
So to walk you through the documents you have in front of you. Under 1,you'll
have the GO, the County General Obligation bonds you'll see at the $501 million.
Then you'll have the state revolving loan funds and then the revenue bonds. So
your total debt outstanding and unpaid of$561+ million. Now you have to go
through for number two, the different exclusions. So one is those that are
maturing that we will be paid in one and in two of revenue bonds or the CFD
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(Contact for Difference), so those are paid. When they are paid by the private
owners or like in Water Supply in "D", those are excluded. They are paid by
other entities as well as in E in the improvement districts. With those exclusions
you get the net funded debt of$534 million.
The different schedules that are attached to that kind of breakdown the numbers
that you see in one and two in the first page. So to your question,yes, in
Schedule A, you have the date of issuance for our GO bonds, and our principle
amount outstanding as of May 7, 2026. So the original principle amounts
outstanding, most of these, and Chris can correct me if I'm wrong, but most of
these are 20 years. The primarily wastewater,GO'thatwe did last year is a 25 year
schedule. So they're all on that same schedule with payments and we're happy to
break those down if you would like a separate,meeting to look at each of the
schedules. But this is still the outstanding that we have on each of these
issuances.
For the May 25, the most recent, we have not yethad a principle payment yet.
That will be upcoming. So that's why you see the full total principle amount in
outstanding.
One of the other things thatcomes up a lot, a question, is the percentage of debt.
So with what you have in front of you; it is 8.84 percent of our general fund
expenditure as issued. If it was all authorized but not issued, we're at
14.05 percent.
MS:KIMBA L: Okay. Yeah. Thank you for that overview. When you
calculate those percentages, can you clarify if that includes the ones that are, for
example, with Department of Water Supply?
S. NAKAGAWA': Those are not included.
MS.KIMBALL: Those are not included. Okay. That's all the questions I have.
Thank You, Chair.
CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Galimba, go
ahead.
MS. GALIMBA: Yeah,just a quick question. So we're at 14 percent with the
current authorizations, correct?
MS. NAKAGAWA: The 14.05 percent authorized but not issued.
MS. GALIMBA: Right. What's the projections for authorizations in the coming
year? Is that authorization going to cover us for a bit?
MS. NAKAGAWA: Sorry. I'm just trying to think of the best way to answer.
So one of the things that we have done particularly through our wastewater
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FC-39 July 7,2026
spending and looking at our bond program out for the next ten years, we also did
the same calculation on this percentage. So this percentage does increase but does
stay below the 15 percent with the information that we're projecting today with
the data we have today stays below the 15 percent.
One of the things that we're also working on internally in Finance is looking at,
there's some older authorized that we want to take a look at possibly cleaning up.
At a time if there were things that we were going to do and we haven't done them,
they're not a priority, we're not going to do them, then we'd like to clean up that
authorization and kind of lower the authorized amount. And of course that is
something we would bring forward. But it is,something that we have discussed
internally that it doesn't make sense to carry that authorization if we are not going
to utilize it. So of course we'd be very transparent of what those are and what
was included. But we'd like to make that effort to clean that up.
MS. GALIMBA: Do you have an'idea of when you might be coming back with
that?
MS. NAKAGAWA: You know, I think the,goal is to probably do it before the
next issuance. Right now with what we're projecting, our next issuance will be in
calendar year 2027, early to mid-2027 at this time with,our current spend rate.
MS. GALIMBA: Okay. 'thank you,so much.
MS. NAKAGAWA: Thank you.
MS. GALIMBA: Very helpful.
MS. NAKAGAWA: You're welcome.
MS. GALIMBA:, I yield.
CHR. kANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Council Member Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIEkKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Good morning, Director. Council
Member Galimba's questions kind of just sparked some interest for me here.
What sort of criteria is the administration going to use to evaluate the worthiness
of a prof ect continuing and being bonded?
MS. NAKAGAWA: So like previous authorizations?
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes. If the idea is to clean it up, how are you going to
handle that and make those solutions.
MS. NAKAGAWA: Yeah. First, we've gone through all the different issuances
back to 2008. Now some of them prior to 2016 were very specific projects. So
those are a little easier. Whether or not are these projects complete, are they no
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FC-39 July 7,2026
longer viable projects, right? Those were very specific to those projects. Bonds
issuance after 2016 allowed a little more flexibility in the types of things we can
do. So the bond language allows us to have wastewater projects and maybe
general Public Works projects and things like that. So first we'll take a look,
we'll pull all that out, which we've done, and then we need to meet with the
departments just to look at the status of maybe something else was complete or
what happened to that to just get a better handle on what has happened over the
years.
So from that list I think we'll have more internal discussions on priorities. It's not
much different than,you know, kind of how we look at things today. There's
mandates, there's public safety aspects,just things that are necessary for repair
and maintenance, trying to catch up on those things. All those things will still
come into play in that discussion. But of course we would have those discussions
and then come back and kind of talk,through what those authorizations included
and what our thoughts are on how to move them forward.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And then procedurally,how"would we move forward with
sort of adopting, would you say what the County is going to be actually moving
forward on? Because it sounds like then you would be able to open up some
bonding capacity for future projects.
MS. NAKAGAWA: Yeah, So Chris, can you talk through the process? Okay.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Would we have to approve another resolution? I'm just
curious.
MS. NAKAGAWA: You know,we'll double check on that. I believe there
would he because there was a prior authorization.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: And there's a set amount in which we can be leveraging
bonds before it impacts ,our credit score.
MS. NAKAGAWA': Right, right. So, you know,just for an example, I'm not
picking on"or I'm not choosing any one of these but let's say we came for an
authorization of$150 million, we ended up issuing $99 million. So there's that
authorization that is still out there in that particular bond. Now we have discussed
with bond counsel and financial advisors in some of the recent ones, can we go
ahead and use that authorization as we move forward. So there is some flexibility
for us to be able to use some of that as we move forward. Or there's some older
ones with specific projects that we've talked about that may not be priorities or
may not be viable that we would like to bring forward and say I don't think this is
what we should moving forward with and we should make some adjustments on
the authorized amount allowing more authorization kind of to free up. It's also
just a big gap between what we've authorized and what we've issued. You know,
with 14 percent and eight percent, we'd like to get that a little closer and be more
aligned and really plan through when we come forward with an authorization
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FC-39 July 7,2026
request to Council that the projects are kind of lined up and they match, and then
we do an issuance that matches the authorization and we just get a little closer to
what we're asking for.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. I appreciate that. And I just want to put on the
record that I continue to advocate for the bonds that was initiated by former
Council Chairman Aaron Chung, which we adopted in 2020. It elevated projects
across all of our Council districts, things that were important to the Council
particularly alternate and emergency roads for the Puna region. But I hope that is
not something that's going to be on the chopping block and that when the
administration comes forward to present on upcdates to bond issuance that there
can be a robust update on the status of the projects th4vere authorized for
bonding. Thank you. I yield.
MS. NAKAGAWA: Thank you.
CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. That's where I was going too,
so please make sure that, I mean, with whate know about what's needed in
Puna the bond ordinance carved out by Aaron Chung carved out I think it was
about$10 million for alternate roads. And we've had this discussion for years
now about where we're at, connectivity, and all the different aspects of alternate
emergency access routes that,would,be possible with that bond ordinance. So, yes
please. We have a number of things that you could'apply that to so it would be
helpful to leave that where it is.
MS:NAKAGAWA: Understood. Thank you.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELI)ER My other question was Schedule D, the
obligation bonds reimbursable by the County Department of Water Supply. I
mean,justreading that'section that means that the Water Supply Department is
reimbursing the County posed bonds for the Water Department.
MS. NAKAGAWA: That's correct.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: How does that work?
MS. NAKAGAWA: That is correct. And so the Department of Water Supply
snakes those payments on that issuance.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And that falls under the total obligation of
the County, so the County becomes the bond, what's the correct word, holder?
MS. NAKAGAWA: Sorry. Those are included in the County debt.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: County debt paid for by?
MS. NAKAGAWA: Water Supply.
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FC-39 July 7,2026
CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Water Supply.
MS. NAKAGAWA: Correct.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So, the County of Hawaii is separate of
the Department of Water Supply because they are semiautonomous. We pull the
bond and then the Water Supply Department reimburses us.
MS. NAKAGAWA: That is correct.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So if,we wanted,to improve water service,
the County itself would improve the water service and then the Water Supply
Department would have to figure out hew to pay back the debt to the County.
MS. NAKAGAWA: If there is a bond issuance necessary or needed by the Water
Department, it would go through this'parocess with the County, and they would
make the payments of that particular issuance or debt.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Who initiates it?
MS. NAKAGAWA: What do you mean? Sorry.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Odes the Water Supply Department initiate
the bond,regpest or does the County initiate the bond request for the Water Supply
Department?'
MS. NAKAGAWA: Through practice or process it is a discussion with the Water
Department,,of course with Finance. By initiates, I guess I'm not sure what you
mean by initiates, like the procedural?
CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah,procedurally. I mean, Councilman
Aaron Chung always stressed that the Water Supply Department is
semiautonomous. But looking at this bond here, I'm realizing the County being a
separate entity from the Water Supply Department is the bond holder. And the
Water Supply Department is reimbursing us, which would be from their funding
source which is user fees and whatever else fees or grants that they can pull in.
I'm seeing the more wholistic picture.
MS. NAKAGAWA: So you could use the Iki Place improvement district as an
example because that was included in—well, that's an improvement district.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's an improvement district. Different,
yeah.
MS. NAKAGAWA: I was trying to find an example for you.
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FC-39 July 7,2026
CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So they have four. They have 2008, 2016,
2020, and 2022.
MS. NAKAGAWA: Sorry. I wasn't here for a recent one, so I was asking Chris
if he recalled the issuance. But if you look we do list Iki Place because it is a
water project. I know it's an improvement district, but if you look at the
ordinance it does come through as a County authorizing actions to the Director of
Finance. So if that's what you're asking, it goes through County Finance
authorization process on behalf of the Department of Water;.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So itwouldbk legislatively driven either
by the Council or the Mayor or a combination of both?—
MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER Okay.
MS. NAKAGAWA: Do we come forward with all of the authorizations? Yes,
absolutely.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Interesting,, Schedule D, are all of those
issued?
MS. NAKAGAWA: Yes.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And used in full?
MS. NAKAGAWA: I'm sorry, what was your question?
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: What is the other term you're using? So
we have issuance and
MS. NAKAGAWA: Authorized but unissued. No, no, no. What you see in front
of you are issued debt.
CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. Okay. Interesting. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you very much, Department of Finance. We have the motion on the
flexor to close file on Communication 938. Anyone opposed to the idea? No. All
in„favor?
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FC-39 July 7,2026
Vote on Comm. 938: The motion to close file on Comm. 938 was carried by the
Filed following voice vote:
Ayes: Committee Members Galimba, Hustace, Inaba,
Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi,
Villegas, and Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
ADJOURN- There being no further business on our agenda'today, Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder
MENT: adjourned the meeting at 9:38 a.m. Thank you very much.
Approved:
Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Chair (Date)
Finance Committee
MK/tk
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