Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN COUNCIL 2026-06-03 2024-2026 Hawaii County Council 41" Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii June 3, 2026 INVOCATION: Pastor Paul Linnemann of Christ Lutheran Church gave the morning's invocation. CALL TO The regular meeting of the Hawaii County Council was called to order at ORDER: 9:06 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Chair Mr. Dennis "Fresh" Onishi, Vice Chair Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Mr. James E. Hustace, Member Ms. Jenn Kagiwada, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member Absent& Excused: Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member PLEDGE OF The Chair directed the Council to the next order of business, Pledge of ALLEGIANCE: Allegiance. (At this time, County Clerk Jon Henricks led the Council in the Pledge of Allegiance.) PETITIONS, The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Petitions, MEMORIALS, Memorials, Certificates of Merit, and Expressions of Condolence. CERTIFICATES OF MERIT, AND (Note: At this time, Mr. Onishi presented a Certificate of Merit to the EXPRESSIONS OF International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1260 in recognition of its CONDOLENCE: 85t'anniversary.) Recess: At 9:10 a.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 9:11 a.m. Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 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: Pamela Sue: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Karah Creekmore: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), comment. Noel Morin: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in support. (see Comm. 372.213) Dave Webb: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), comment. Donna Grabow: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. (see Comm. 372.213) Julie Schaus: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Janice Palma-Glennie: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in support. Roger Christie: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. April Lee: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Juhl Rayne: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Gene Lamkin: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Megan Isaac: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Crystal Schiszler: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Seraph D'Alerta: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. (see Comm. 372.213) Jason Klahr: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Yuki Klahr: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Riyoko Osaku: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Chris Yuen: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in support. (see Comm. 372.213) Page 2 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Donna Dufault: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. (see Comm. 372.213) Deborah Sevy: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. (see Comm. 372.213) Renee Godoy: Res. 580-26 (Comm. 918), in support. (representing Friends of First Responders) Patti Pinto: Bill 158 (Comm. 890), in support. Dewi Lim: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Kevin Hill: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Ruth Robison: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30); and Bill 158 (Comm. 890), in support. (see Comms. 372.213 and 890.4) Sara Steiner: Res. 556-26 (Comm. 872), in support; Res. 567-26 (Comm. 886), comment; Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition; and Bill 158 (Comm. 890), in opposition. Recess: At 10:17 a.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 10:26 a.m. Martha Stephens: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Janis Parker: Res. 567-26 (Comm. 886); Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30); Bill 158 (Comm. 890); Bill 160 (Comm. 893); and Bill 166 (Comm. 926), comment. David Jacobs: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Chuck Flaherty: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in support. (representing Sierra Club — Hawai`i Island Group) Millicent Cummings: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Bridget Duffy: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), comment. Page 3 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Emily Naeole: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. RJ Hampton: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Jesse Waltjen: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Sativa: Res. 567-26 (Comm. 886), comment; and Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Ken Honma: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. (see Comm. 372.213) Point of Order: MS. VILLEGAS: Point of order. Sorry, Relley. Chair, is there some repercussion if people continue to disrespect what they've been asked very kindly a number of times? Mr. Clerk, do we have any policy for removing people from the chambers if they don't abide by the protocol? MR. HENRICKS: Only if it's determined to be disruptive to a point where it disrupts proceedings. What the Chair is asking for is just a common courtesy to refrain from displaying either support or opposition to people's testimony so those people feel that they're comfortable in doing so. That's all he's asking (inaudible) and I think he's getting tired of asking for it and I understand that. And I understand why you brought that up. It's just about respecting other people's opinions. Michelle Melendez: Res. 567-26 (Comm. 886); and Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. (see Comm. 372.213) Jonathan Kennealy: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. (see Comm. 372.213) Chris Hirose: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Kalei Kailikini: Res. 567-26 (Comm. 886); and Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. (see Comm. 372.213) Austin Martin: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30); and (representing Libertarian Bill 158 (Comm. 890), in opposition. Party of Hawaii) Alicia Gleason: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Eric Szwajkowski: Res. 567-26 (Comm. 886); and Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Page 4 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Michael Johnson: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. (representing Hakalau Farmers Market) Eugene Elmer: Res. 567-26 (Comm. 886); and Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. (see Comm. 372.213) Robert Petricci: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Nannette Savage: Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. Thomas Vo: Res. 567-26 (Comm. 886); and Bill 66, Draft 2 (Comm. 372.30), in opposition. 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 March 18, 2026, were approved. REPORTS: The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Reports. GOEAC-127 NOMINATION OF GEORGE APPLEGATE TO THE BANYAN DRIVE (Comm. 895): HAWAI`I REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY Vote on Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to adopt Governmental Operations GOEAC-127: and External Affairs Committee Report No. 127. Seconded (Adopted) by Ms. Kagiwada and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. GOEAC-128 NOMINATION OF JACOB K. ANDREWS TO THE LEEWARD PLANNING (Comm. 896): COMMISSION Requires Council Confirmation by: June 13, 2026 (Section 13-4(k), Hawai`i County Charter) Page 5 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Vote on Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to adopt Governmental Operations GOEAC-128: and External Affairs Committee Report No. 128. Seconded (Adopted) by Mr. Hustace and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. GOEAC-129 NOMINATION OF BOBBY JEAN AKANE LEITHEAD TODD TO THE (Comm. 897): BOARD OF ETHICS Requires Council Confirmation by: June 13, 2026 (Section 13-4(k), Hawai`i County Charter) Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to adopt Governmental Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 129. Seconded by Ms. Kagiwada. (Note: At this time, nominee Bobby Jean Akane Leithead Todd came forward to address the members of the Council.) Vote on The motion to adopt Governmental Operations and GOEAC-129: External Affairs Committee Report No. 129 was carried by (Adopted) the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. (Council Member Kierkiewicz thanked Ms. Leithead Todd for her continued service to community.) GOEAC-130 NOMINATION OF JAMES MONK TO THE COST OF GOVERNMENT (Comm. 898): COMMISSION Requires Council Confirmation by: June 13, 2026 (Section 13-4(k), Hawai`i County Charter) Page 6 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to adopt Governmental Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 130. Seconded by Mr. Hustace. (Note: At this time, Executive Assistant to the Mayor Micah Alameda and nominee James Monk came forward to address the members of the Council.) (Council Member Kierkiewicz thanked Mr. Monk for his willingness to serve. In answer to questions by Council Member Kierkiewicz, Mr. Alameda replied that with the confirmation of Mr. Monk's nomination, the commission would have five members, allowing for quorum, and that Mr. Alameda is actively seeking additional members to serve on the commission.) MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I know we're a little bit behind in terms of activating this commission. Will that in any way affect the ability for them to do their work over the course of 11 months, or are you having to compress that time frame? MR. ALAMEDA: I don't know that answer, Council Member. I will get back to you, though. I'll check with Corporation Counsel, and I will get back to you on that. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: If you could just email all members, that would be appreciated. MR. ALAMEDA: For sure. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you for being here. MR. ALAMEDA: Thank you. Vote on The motion to adopt Governmental Operations and GOEAC-130: External Affairs Committee Report No. 130 was carried by (Adopted) the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Page 7 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 GOEAC-131 NOMINATION OF NICK RIZNYK TO THE WATER BOARD (Comm. 899): Requires Council Confirmation by: June 13, 2026 (Section 13-4(k), Hawai`i County Charter) Vote on Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to adopt Governmental Operations GOEAC-131: and External Affairs Committee Report No. 131. Seconded (Adopted) by Ms. Villegas and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. CHR. INABA: We'll be in recess for a quick bio break. We'll be back at 12:05 p.m. Mahalo. Recess: At 11:57 a.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 12:22 p.m. CHR. INABA: Apologies. We had some major technical difficulties, but we are back and ready to go. So we will proceed with Bill 66. Change Order As directed by the Chair and with no objection from the Council Members, the of Business: following items were taken out of order: STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public. PUBLIC ON BILL 66 The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by (DRAFT 2) the Chair: (COMM. 372.30): Josephine Keliipio: In opposition. Donna Thompson: In opposition. (see Comm. 372.213) Angela Longo: In opposition. Jaylyn Brendlen: In opposition. (see Comm. 372.213) Page 8 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Kate Kennedy: In opposition. William Brockman: In opposition. Paul Andrade: In opposition. Michael Barnes: In opposition. (see Comm. 372.213) Orion Friels: In opposition. Aaron Truitt: In opposition. (representing Hawaiian Acres Community Association) Sierra Murphsee: In opposition. Gene Tamashiro: In opposition. Doris Santiago: In opposition. Duchess Aranaydo: In opposition. James Juvik: In support. (representing Friends of Mauna Loa Observatory) Dominique Pajat: In opposition. William Haas: In opposition. Chris Louw: In opposition. (representing My Sovereign Man and Aina Arts Society) Fran Copp: In opposition. Aaron Zeeman: In opposition. Shannon Fisher: In opposition. (see Comm. 372.213) Kaulana Waipuilani: In opposition. Page 9 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Bill 66: ADOPTS THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I GENERAL PLAN 2045 AND REPEALS (Draft 2) ORDINANCE NO. 05-025, AS AMENDED Reference: Comm. 372.30 Intr. by: Council Member Kierkiewicz (B/R) First Reading: May 20, 2026 Motion to Approve: Ms. Galimba moved to pass Bill 66, Draft 2, on second and final reading. Seconded by Ms. Kimball. CHR. INABA: Discussion. Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thanks, Chair. I want to welcome Director Darrow up to the floor here just to kind of provide some background here as a final reading today. (Note: At this time, Planning Director Jeffrey Darrow came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. DARROW: Aloha, Chair Inaba, Vice Chair Onishi, and members of the Hawaii County Council. Jeff Darrow with the Planning Department. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Director. I appreciate your time this afternoon. If you just want to give us just some insight. We've had a good day so far. So if you could just give us some insight about the process the General Plan has gone through, where we are today, and what are the next steps kind of going forward in any sort of fashion or vein with the General Plan. MR. DARROW: Sure. As mentioned, this General Plan originated back in 2015 with Director Kanuha. It was initiated. From there, it went through numerous public hearings and meetings. There was a tremendous amount of input from the public. That's what the plan is made up of. Typically, when we go through a process, we need to get as much input from the public as well as government agencies to be able to put this plan together. This plan is not a plan that is just for the Planning Department. It was not created by the Planning Department. It is a plan for the County and for the direction of the County in the future. It involves all departments. And again, the engagement process that went through this, we've referenced this many times. On our website, we have a very thorough documentation of the process that we went through, under our General Plan section, where you can look up all of the testimony, all of the meetings that we had, all of the input that was gained from this. So this plan began in 2015. We went through Director Kanuha under—at that point, it was Mayor Kim. We went through Director Michael Yee; again Mayor Page 10 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Kim. We went through Director Zendo Kern under Mayor Mitch Roth. And at this point, it's under our term with Mayor Kimo Alameda. And we are at the final stage today, second reading for the General Plan. There's been a tremendous amount of testimony through the planning commissions. As mentioned, the planning commissions voted to send favorable recommendations to Hawaii County Council with amendments. There's been a lot of discussion in our hearings through our presentations, as well as through Committee hearings and through the Council hearings. At this point, what is on the table is to pass this plan, General Plan 2045. There have been amendments submitted. Our direction or our hope is that once the plan is passed, we will incorporate those amendment requests as well as reach out to the other Council Members to gain input from them in regards to any additional amendments that may be needed or requested. And we will create a package of interim amendments that we would bring back through the commissions and then up to the County Council. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Director. Thank you for that background. At kind of on a large scale in the General Plan, we have a lot of goals, a lot of benchmarks, things that we hope to accomplish in the next 20-plus years. What does that process look like in terms of actually implementing some of these goals and policies? What is that going to take the County to undertake and carry forward? MR. DARROW: As mentioned, it's not just plans. It's a process that has to involve all agencies to be able to look at this plan. They had tremendous input into the plan as far as their directions. So they would need to make sure that they implement the directions that they have put within this plan for the future of the County, as well as the Planning Department's future goals. As mentioned through a number of testimonies, the maps are extremely important. It involves transportation maps. It involves land use maps. As far as whenever we see requests for land use approvals or change of zones, State Land Use Boundary Amendments, there needs to be that alignment with the General Plan. We utilize that on a regular basis coming before the County Council. But we also use it in our everyday long-range plans. We are always constantly bringing forth new plans to be able to implement the General Plan. Currently, right now, we're working on the urban trails plan. We just finished one, the Kona Open Space Network Plan. These plans also incorporate the community development plans' directions. We've looked at all of the plans and incorporated a lot of their policies, goals, and objectives within this plan. So we're trying to bring forth a future guide, a future plan for this County. Page 11 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 MR. HUSTACE: And looking at kind of this plan and our neighboring municipalities and State policies and plans, do you see alignment between what's being proposed here and what our partners across the State are trying to do and accomplish? MR. DARROW: That was definitely involved in the process of this plan, making sure that we align with the State plans. So there was definite alignment going forward in that. There may have been some changes within the last ten years that may be different from the direction we're going now, but again from the beginning when we started this, that was—the goal is to make sure that this General Plan aligns with the Hawaii State Plan and their long-range plans as well. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you. As I mentioned in the past, some of the maps, that's been kind of an aspect of the plan that I've been really focused on. I know there's some other policy things too. And appreciate your engagement that I've had in conversations I've had with you and your department about the maps themselves. And I really took a fine comb looking through some oddities here and there that I saw. But in conversation with you and past planning directors, that scale is not necessarily the one we want to focus, like at a miniscule level, 1 foot by 1 foot sort of resolution, and within community. So there should be some overlap of areas and allowance of transition between different land use areas. But I do recognize that our hands are, more or less, bound by what is spelled out in the 2005 General Plan. And we've had some conversation about, okay, making minor changes and amendments here and there. But any of those map changes are considered substantial. So I do value the input from my colleagues here on presenting many of the amendments that I've brought on the map, particularly around District 9 in the Kohala region, and look forward to presenting those as changes because they're—as per the rules in the 2005 General Plan, they would be considered substantial changes to the map at this time. So, look forward to the process where we can really look at the map and make sure that it speaks to what we want to address, and that we are comfortable with some of those changes there. And then, of course, some of the other policies, I just want to reiterate one of the policy ones that I would still love to see in the 2045 plan. And that speaks about our workforce capability or impacts workforce when it comes to artificial intelligence, and changes to our workforce as the digital technology advances, what that means for our communities going forward. So I still think that is a substantial change that needs to be put into the document about that future that we face for sure. Page 12 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Thank you, Director Darrow. I appreciate the work you and your team have done on this with the community engagements, the number of meetings we've held, the lengthy ongoing conversations we've had on this. At this time, I will yield to my colleagues. Thank you, Chair. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Director, for being here. As you know, I've had a couple concerns about this general plan, No. 1 being that the Hilo community did not have a very current community development plan. We do have one for Hilo but it's from 1975. And more importantly, I think, is that we didn't have an action committee from Hilo that was involved in the process. We've talked about this many times. I understand that the Planning Department is going to help remedy that situation as soon as we get this plan through, and we'll start an action committee and looking at a redevelopment plan for the Hilo area in the near future, and I appreciate that very much. The other thing,just as somebody that wasn't here from the very beginning when this plan was being developed, and I think maybe added a lot to the frustration in the public and maybe the kind of mistrust that I'm hearing here is just the ability to follow along through that long process. And one thing that may have helped, and maybe going forward we can think about, I did hear a couple people mention ramseyering. I know that you are going to a new format, so it didn't make a lot of sense to necessarily Ramseyer it directly. Because of this brand new format, everything was moved around and changed. But going forward maybe, even if you are going to a new format, if we can look at maybe first ramseyering the content so that people can see that. Then once you have that piece, then putting it into the new format. I think that would help people follow along the way a little better. So those are just two things that I had concerns about and hope that we can change going forward. I just want to ask you a couple questions based a lot I was very much listening to people's testimony today, and I read the testimony. There's still a lot of concern. So I just want to ask, does anything in this General Plan restrict or ban agriculture, farming, or the growing of food on this island? MR. DARROW: It does not. MS. KAGIWADA: It does not? MR. DARROW: No. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay, thank you. And the natural designation, does it take away people's ability to farm or use their land as they see fit, as they're using it now? Page 13 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 MR. DARROW: It does not. It's a new land use designation. Let me pull it up. This time I have the correct reference. And this is found on page 85 of the Draft 2 General Plan. It says that natural are "lands to be kept in a largely natural state with minimal facilities consistent with open space uses along with agricultural land uses. Includes areas vulnerable to natural hazards, steep slopes, lava fields, and areas set aside for cultural and/or natural resource preservation purposes that are not necessarily under active management. Compatible Zoning may include Residential Agriculture, Family Agriculture, Agricultural, and Open." So it is just a new designation that tried to identify these areas that were more in a natural state. We have a lot of areas around the island that are left in forest or they're in lava, or they're in different areas. A lot of the areas that were taken out of extensive agriculture, which was a lesser type agricultural designation, were placed in a natural state in the natural designation because of that. This does not limit anybody's ability to farm or to build a house or to change their zoning. It's just, again, a new type of overall General Plan land use designation. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you so much for that. Correct me if I'm wrong, but focusingI heard also concern about people feeling like maybe they're getting forced into the urban areas on our island, or kind of potentially being pushed out of their kind of rural lifestyle. My understanding is that by focusing new housing development and infrastructure associated with that into our urban areas, that does not mean that residents that are currently living in a rural lifestyle or farming or doing agriculture need to move to those areas. But it does protect our existing rural and agricultural lands from overdevelopment, from a lot of this development happening on the lands that we want to keep for growing food, that we want to make sure it does not get taken over by housing that could be put in a more urban area so that we can keep country country. So that we can keep our rural ways of life in those areas and keep making sure that we can farm and hopefully expand our ability to grow food here and do agricultural here. Am I getting that wrong? MR. DARROW: No, that's absolutely correct. This is an identification of areas that we would like to see remain in urban areas, and to have a growth area because these areas do expand. And it's typically a small area that surrounds these urban cores. It does not expand out to the point that it's going to take over agricultural, rural areas. You want to have that buffer as well between urban areas and agricultural areas, which should consist of a more rural-type designation. There's nothing in the plan that is going to force anybody to do anything. It's not going to force anybody to buy an electric vehicle or give up your truck or lose your land or rezone or anything. This is a long-range plan for the direction of the County that we use in decision-making as we move forward. Right now, for the past 20 years, we have been under a general plan, General Plan 2005. Nobody that I know of that's here has complained about being affected by Page 14 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 the General Plan that we are currently under. It's the same concept. If they come in and they ask for a rezoning, we would look at that plan and see if that request is consistent. Or if there's a major project that's being undertaken by a particular agency, we look and see if that's aligning with the direction that we want to see happen with our island and the General Plan. So again, this is a tool that we use in moving forward our long-range direction for this County. It gives us guidance. Without a plan, we've all heard that it—we just flounder. We don't have a direction. This is our plan moving forward. And with this plan, we have more specific plans that are generated through our communities. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Director. I know people today have asked us to keep our minds open and to listen. So I just want to say to the people here and also to those who may be tuning in, I just really hope that you also can listen and hear that genuinely we want to keep the rural lifestyle and agriculture growing and existing on this island. And that's one reason that we have a plan that says that growth areas, development areas should be in the more urban areas so that we can keep those areas pristine and untouched, and not have large developments and large corporations building right next to you when you're trying to do your farming and live with that lifestyle. MR. DARROW: Yeah. The Planning Department has a tough job. When people come in and they want to build a shopping center, or they want to build some sort of commercial-type operation and they want it in a particular location, that location may not be the right location based on our direction for our General Plan. And so the Planning Department, when it's providing a recommendation, will say, "This is not the right place." And we want to preserve that direction for the plan. We want to be able to say we can depend on this plan to give us direction. That if somebody comes in that is not consistent with this plan, that we're not going to say, "Okay, why don't you just go here,"because then the plan really doesn't work. But the plan's purpose is to keep that separation; to keep the agricultural agricultural; to keep the urban uses in their urban areas; to identify those areas we want to see, even in the agricultural areas, where we want to see particular services, and we want to keep those in check. And it's through this plan as well as the community development plans. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. Thank you. I'll yield for now, Chair, and let my colleagues speak. But thank you, Director. I appreciate you sharing that information with us. MR. DARROW: Thank you. CHR. INABA: Any other discussion? Bill 66? Council Member Kimball. Page 15 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. I'll be brief. I wanted to speak, take the time to acknowledge everybody that came today and spoke, and appreciate the fact that I know you took a lot of time out of your days to come here and share your opinions and perspectives with us. I have been thinking a lot about what I might say. And what I'll start with is that one of my fundamental core beliefs is that everybody works and comes from a place of goodness. And so, when I say that and I think about what was shared with us today, from that perspective what I will acknowledge is that you folks care about your community, your rights as individuals, the ability to feed ourselves, protections for your community in terms of being able to secure nutritious, healthy food. These are all good things. And along with that, I will say that I share those values from the standpoint of I'm a mom. I have four kids, three of which have already had to leave the island because they couldn't find a place of work here. One, gratefully, is still here. I come from a background where my parents were both teachers. And so, they instilled in me that we use our lives and our abilities to serve our community as best we can. And so, that is why I sought public office. I have served in public positions my entire career, and I'm very proud of that. This particular job has been the hardest of all of those jobs, but it's also the one that I love the most because I can feel, on a day-to-day basis, that I am making a difference in people's lives. And that brings true meaning for me. I represent a very diverse community, a broad community. But by and large we are rural and agricultural. I know that there is nothing that I could say up here that would allay the fears of some folks about what this plan might do to them. So what I will instead say is that I want to ask you to consider that my role is understanding, reaching out, communicating with my community, and trying to determine how best to represent them. And it would be antithetical, or not make sense, to vote on something that would hurt my community. Like if I believed that this GP (General Plan) would hurt my community, that would completely be nonsensical for me to do. I do not believe that this plan will hurt any of you in the ways that you anticipate. I want to share, the way that our government is organized, Federal, State, County, the main thing that I've heard argued here is about your constitutional right to do what you have been provided an opportunity to do on your property. It comes from Article 5 of the Federal Constitution, which overrides any State law or County law. There is nothing that this body could do that could override that right from the Federal Constitution. And so, if that provides any assurances for you that we could not operate in a way that would take away your abilities that you have already been afforded, I hope that you will review the Federal Constitution because that is where your rights are established. Not in our County Code, not in the General Plan, not in State law, Page 16 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 but in the Federal Constitution of this country. With that, I'll yield. I'll be supporting this General Plan at this final reading. Thank you. And here's the Constitution if anybody wants it. CHR. INABA: All right. Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Director, you talked a bit about implementation of the General Plan and how that would be tracked by the County. Could you remind me again, should this plan be adopted today, how the County would go about tracking the myriad of actions,policies that are in the plan? And I bring this up because the 2005 plan adopted, what is it, 21 years ago, in that time there have only been two annual reports that had been completed and shared publicly to illustrate the actions the County has taken to meet the goals and objectives that were articulated in the document. MR. DARROW: Sure. Thank you, Council Member Kierkiewicz. Within the plan, there is an implementation section. There is a section called the monitoring and evaluation plan. And the purpose of it is to provide regular and predictable ways of measuring progress and preparing for updates. Through that, we do a yearly annual report to the Mayor. It's the annual Mayor's report that we submit. There is a proposed—we found going through an annual status report for the General Plan was just too overwhelming for the staff. It took a lot of man hours, a lot of personnel, and we just couldn't do it with everything else that we were doing. And so, that's why there was a limited amount of reports that came in. They were very just took a lot of time and effort to be able to get the information that we were trying to provide to the Council. In this particular plan, something a little bit more reasonable was a five-year implementation status report that we would provide to the Council. And so, we would look at all of the policies and actions and be able to provide a status report of how those are being implemented or not being implemented. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Director, I think there was also mentioned something about online dashboards, tracking information MR. DARROW: Online dashboards. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So that the public could have the ability to see how well the County is doing. MR. DARROW: Maybe if I could, if it's okay, I'm going to bring up my colleague Bethany Morrison. She might be able to speak to that a little bit better. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Page 17 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 (Note: At this time, Planning Program Manager Bethany Morrison came forward to address the members of the Council.) MS. MORRISON: Good afternoon, Council Members. Bethany Morrison, Long- Range Planning Program Manager for the Planning Department. As far as dashboards, we have seen a lot of opportunities with technology and GIS (Geographic Information System) and storing maps to show data in a more accessible way, and be able to track things. So that's kind of the dashboard idea, this through some of these tools that we have and we've been working through. So there's a number of dashboards that are talked about in the plan. There is a proposed climate-change dashboard. There is a broad-band dashboard. And so, that's specifically the two things that are mentioned in the plan now. I think the other opportunity that I wanted to point out is in the implementation priorities and phasing you'll see a Figure 12, which talks about four different phases of implementation where we would focus on certain things that needed to be done first in order to set us up for success in other phases, which is something that the current General Plan does not provide for us. So those first-phase things are all of the housekeeping that needs to be done to get our codes in alignment with whatever would be adopted for the General Plan. And also to start thinking about how we do the framework for the community development plan and those updates moving forward. So just mentioning that there's a lot of opportunity for that transparency. It's not called out specifically in here, but I hear what you're saying, and think that, yeah, there's so many ways that we can show progress differently than we have been able to do in the past. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Do you have a cost estimate for what the first phase of implementation would cost the County? MS. MORRISON: I don't except to say that we are already working on our zoning and our subdivision code amendments. We have, I think, approximately $500,000 left in those contracts, and we're getting through draft materials that we'll be following up kind of beginning of next year probably for adoption. So that's a huge chunk. And frankly, these are codes that haven't been updated since the '90s. And so, if we can accomplish those, that's a big piece of that Phase 1 implementation. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: The Director did emphasize that this General Plan is not necessarily just the Planning Department's plan. It belongs to the entire County `ohana. And so, I'm just curious about who's going to hold everyone accountable to ensure that the kuleana that is prescribed to them in the General Plan is actually implemented? Is that your department's role? Does that fall on the Office of the Mayor? I'm just trying to understand at the end of the day, if this is the plan for Page 18 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 the County, how are we ensuring that our commitments are followed through. And I think that's what the public is trying to get at as well. If you say you're going to do something, you've got to do it. That's what my dad said. MR. DARROW: Smart man. I mean, Planning Department is not the overseer of the County. We do take care of what we are required to take care of. Each department is going to be responsible for making sure that they implement whatever is required of them or directed of them within the plan. We are theI don't know the—yeah. We are that central agency. So we would be the ones, when we provide these status reports, we'd have to work with each of these agencies to determine where they are at in the implementation of their particular direction within the plan. And again, that's why it was a heavy lift originally, having to do an annual report specifying what the status was for each of the goals, policies, objectives, standards, courses of action that are in the 2005 plan. It was an extremely heavy lift. If you look at some of those annual reports, you can see how much work went into them. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Director, there were two I believe from 2008 and 2009. So significant time has lapsed. And we as the Council, the community does not know of all the courses of action that are contained in the '05 plan, how much progress was actually made. That is a concern. MR. DARROW: Correct. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Just high-level thoughts, right. General Plan is supposed to set the vision. It's at the top of our planning hierarchy. Second tier, community development plans where we get details, nitty-gritty, of what we want at the community neighborhood level, implementation details, functional plans. And then the third tier is our codes and our budget, right. Putting the money behind resources, behind taking action. My reflection is that over time in the '05 and '45 plans, we've actually absorbed more of the second and third tier details into the General Plan, to the point where it almost seems overly bloated and so prescriptive that it makes it very difficult I think for the County to adapt to present circumstances. I'm going to continue to remain in opposition of GP 2045. For me, the true efficacy of a plan is its ability to be implemented. And in my humble opinion, the fact that the community can't simply understand this plan, and I'm not a hundred percent convinced that the County has the wherewithal to execute it, I just can't support the plan. Page 19 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 I took my job very seriously as Planning Chair, listening to the community, poring over the 2045 plan twice and offering an alternative version. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to consider it,but that is the process that we have here today. There is an argument that I do want to address, though, when folks were saying, "Hey, we spent ten years on this; close to $2 million. Just pass it and fix it later." That investment of time and public money is precisely why I demand excellence. And I do not want to settle for a document with acknowledged mapping errors and admissions that portions of our plan were drafted by artificial intelligence. "It's not perfect but it's good enough" is a standard that I personally cannot accept as someone that was born and raised here and is raising a family here. "Good enough" is not good enough for my Hawaii Island. And so, with a decade of work and significant public dollars directed to this plan given to outside consultants, I believe that we should have been delivered a document that was done right, that more members of the community could stand behind. Thank you, Chair. CHR. INABA: Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: Thank you. I do want thank Council Member Kierkiewicz for all the work that she put into her alternative. That was a lot of work. And I know it came from a good place in her heart just like for everyone here, all the testifiers, everyone on this dais, the Planning Department, the County. We're all trying to do our best for the island that we love. And these are scary times. We all wake up, and if you read the newspaper, which may not be a good idea, you get scared because stuff is happening. And it doesn't matter what part of the political, ideological spectrum you're on, it's scary for everyone. I mean, there are just some really basic things that are happening that is scary. Like someone brought up that word"collapse," and I think a lot of the thoughts and the feelings that are coming out are kind of circling around that idea. It's an extreme idea. I don't think that I mean, there's a possibility that civilization as we know may collapse, but I don't think it will. We will struggle on. I think that all of the work that a lot of the folks in here were talking about about sustainable agriculture and renewable energy, that is all just really important work in making this the best island and the best community that we can be. This General Plan is not perfect. In some ways, reading it I'm almost nostalgic reading it, because I think it was written just a few years ago in a time when we were a little more optimistic and a little less scared. So some of the things that we set out to do and are visioning in this, we may not have the resources to do them anymore even though it was just a few years ago that we were thinking about it. I Page 20 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 hope that's not true. And I think there's a lot of it that we can still do, and we can still forge a path that will be the best possible path for our island even in these scary times. Again, sustainability—and a lot of folks here talked about sustainability even though they were against this plan. This plan, it has sustainability at its core. We may have different ideas about what that sustainability should look like, but I think everyone here very much supports the idea of sustainability, which means living as best as we can with the resources that are on this island because that's what we are going to need to do. We are in a global society. But we are more and more, I think, having to really look at sustainability and stewardship of our natural resources, because that is really one of the most precious things that we have is this beautiful island with the natural resources that we have. I mean, there's really nowhere more beautiful than this island, in my very biased opinion. The other amazing thing we have is our community, our families, our small communities, our town cities like Hilo and Kona. They just have their amazing character. We have our difficulties as a community with affordability, but I think this plan really focuses on the well-being of our community and trying to make the most of the resources that we have here and the talent that we have here. So I just want to thank the testifiers. We may not agree but I know we're all coming from a place of wanting the best for our island and our community. I want to thank the Planning Department for all the work that they've done and all of the folks that helped to make this plan, and I will be continuing to support it. Thank you. CHR. INABA: All right, any final comments? If not, again yes, thank you to the testifiers. I don't have—and I want to state this on the record at second and final readingI don't have any issue with the policies and goals set forth. I do have significant concern about the organization of this plan and how we make it implementable, as Council Member Kierkiewicz had pointed out. And I've shared with the Planning Department and I've shared with OSCER (Office of Sustainability, Climate, Equity, and Resilience) my desire to see some type of assessment tool by which the County and the public can assess whether a proposal, an idea is in line with the policies, the goals, and the actions of the General Plan. Because, the traditional method of saying something is in line with the General Plan strictly based on the maps I think is a disservice to what the General Plan stands for. And until we have some type of assessment tool that can quantify and give us a good idea of whether something is or is not in alignment with the document as a whole, I don't think we're really using it as we should be using it. Page 21 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 So I'm hoping that in the months ahead we can continue to kind of flush that out. I look forward and dread the numerous amendments that we'll be having to go through, but do want to thank Planning staff for their work throughout this process. So with that, Mr. Clerk, roll call please. A roll call vote on Bill 66. Vote on Bill 66: The motion to pass Bill 66, Draft 2, on second and final Draft 2 reading was carried by the following roll call vote: (Adopted) Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kimball, and Villegas—5. Noes: Council Members Kierkiewicz, Onishi, and Chair Inaba—3. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Bill 167: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 25-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2026 Appropriates revenues in the Federal Grants—Justice Assistance Grant-Special Response Team Capability Enhancement Grant account($35,023); and appropriates the same to the Justice Assistance Grant-Special Response Team Capability Enhancement account. Reference: Comm. 927 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Waived: FC Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to pass Bill 167 on first reading. Seconded by Mr. Hustace. CHR. INABA: We have a member from HPD (Hawai`i Police Department) here this afternoon, or this entire day actually. Would you like to say anything for Bill 167? (Note: At this time, Police Sergeant Joseph Stender came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. STENDER: Good morning, Council Members. CHR. INABA: Would you introduce yourself for the record,please? MR. STENDER: Sure. Sergeant Joseph Stender with the Hawaii County Police Department, Special Response Team. This grant and grant funding definitely helps our team advance with our training and equipment that we direly need. So we would very much appreciate accepting this grant funding. Thank you. Page 22 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 CHR. INABA: Thank you very much. All those in favor of approving Bill 167 at first reading, please say "aye." Vote on Bill 167: The motion to pass Bill 167 on first reading was carried by (Approved) the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Inaba—7. Noes: None. Absent: Council Members Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and Villegas—2. Excused: None. Return to Order The Chair directed the Council to return to the order of business. of Business: ORDER OF The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Order of RESOLUTIONS: Resolutions. Res. 556-26: AUTHORIZES THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT WITH THE UNITED STATES POSTAL INSPECTION SERVICE FOR POSTAL INSPECTOR TASK FORCE OFFICERS Allows certain Hawaii Police Department officers to be designated as Postal Inspector Task Force Officers, with the authority to investigate mail-related criminal matters. Reference: Comm. 872 Intr. by: Council Member Kagiwada(B/R) Approve: GOEAC-132 Motion to Approve: Ms. Kagiwada moved to adopt Res. 556-26 and Governmental Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 132. Seconded by Mr. Hustace. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Just looking for people's support. We had a good discussion in Committee. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Thank you. All those in favor of approving Resolution 556-26, please say "aye." Page 23 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Vote on Res. 556-26: The motion to adopt Res. 556-26 and Governmental (Adopted) Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 132 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, and Chair Inaba—7. Noes: None. Absent: Council Members Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and Villegas—2. Excused: None. Res. 567-26: AUTHORIZES THE ACQUISITION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY BY EMINENT DOMAIN, BEING CERTAIN PORTIONS OF TAX MAP KEY: 1-5-009:012 AND 058, SITUATED AT KEONEPOKO IKI, PUNA, FOR THE CONSTRUCTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF GOVERNMENT BEACH ROAD, A PUBLIC ROADWAY Authorizes the Corporation Counsel to initiate proceedings for the taking, acquisition, and condemnation of private property for the improvement and widening of Government Beach Road. Reference: Comm. 886 Intr. by: Council Member Kimball (B/R) Approve: LAAC-42 Note: First of two required readings, Section 101-13, Hawai`i Revised Statutes Vote on Res. 567-26: Ms. Kimball moved to pass Res. 567-26 on first reading (Approved) and adopt Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Committee Report No. 42. Seconded by Ms. Galimba and carried by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 7. Noes: Council Member Onishi— 1. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Page 24 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Res. 569-26: AUTHORIZES THE PAYMENT OF FUNDS FROM LATER FISCAL YEARS TO ENTER INTO A MULTI-YEAR LEASE AGREEMENT FOR WAREHOUSE SPACE TO BE USED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS Authorizes the Mayor to enter into a three-year lease agreement with Geo Investment Company, Inc., for warehouse space located at 73-4081 Hulikoa Drive, with an initial security deposit of$4,896, and an estimated monthly cost of approximately $3,240 for the first year and increasing thereafter. Reference: Comm. 892 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Approve: FC-152 Vote on Res. 569-26: Mr. Hustace moved to adopt Res. 569-26 and Finance (Adopted) Committee Report No. 152. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Res. 578-26: AUTHORIZES THE PAYMENT OF FUNDS OF LATER FISCAL YEARS TO ENTER INTO A MULTI-YEAR LEASE AGREEMENT FOR ONE WIDE- FORMAT COLOR DIGITAL IMAGING SYSTEM 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$4,191.93, to be used by the department's Traffic Division in Hilo. Reference: Comm. 916 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Waived: FC Vote on Res. 578-26: Mr. Hustace moved to adopt Res. 578-26. Seconded by (Adopted) Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Page 25 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Res. 579-26: AUTHORIZES THE PAYMENT OF FUNDS OF LATER FISCAL YEARS TO ENTER INTO A MULTI-YEAR LEASE AGREEMENT FOR A WIDE-FORMAT COLOR DIGITAL IMAGING SYSTEM TO BE USED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE Authorizes the Mayor to enter into a five-year lease agreement with an estimated monthly cost of$340, to be used by the department's Administration and Property Management Divisions in Hilo. Reference: Comm. 917 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Waived: FC Vote on Res. 579-26: Mr. Hustace moved to adopt Res. 579-26. Seconded by (Adopted) Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneah'i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Res. 580-26: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO FRIENDS OF FIRST RESPONDERS TO ASSIST WITH EXPENSES FOR THE 2026 LIFEGUARD APPRECIATION WEEK Transfers $4,000 from the Clerk-Council Services—Contingency Relief account (Council District 8); and credits to the Department of Liquor Control, Public Programs account. Reference: Comm. 918 Intr. by: Council Member Inaba Motion to Approve: Mr. Hustace moved to adopt Res. 580-26. Seconded by Ms. Kagiwada. CHR. INABA: This resolution is from my office and being provided to Friends of First Responders. I ask for your support to recognize our lifeguards, both at Ocean Safety and with Parks and Recreation. All those in favor of approving Resolution 580-26, please say "aye." Page 26 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Vote on Res. 580-26: The motion to adopt Res. 580-26 was carried by the (Adopted) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public. PUBLIC ON RES. 581-26 The following individual registered to speak and came forward when called by (COMM. 919): the Chair: Keisha Colon: In support. (see Comm. 919.1) Res. 581-26: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO HALE MUA CULTURAL GROUP TO ASSIST WITH EXPENSES FOR THE 2026 KING KAMEHAMEHA DAY CELEBRATION PARADE AND HO`OLAULE`A Transfers $5,300 from the Clerk-Council Services—Contingency Relief account (Council District 8); and credits to the Department of Liquor Control, Public Programs account. Reference: Comm. 919 Intr. by: Council Member Inaba Motion to Approve: Mr. Hustace moved to adopt Res. 581-26. Seconded by Ms. Villegas. CHR. INABA: This is also from my office. The parade starts this Saturday at 9 a.m. from Kekuaokalani Gym heading south on Kuakini down Ali`i Drive and being on the south side near Coconut Grove Marketplace. So we invite the public to come down, get down early. There will also be the canoe regatta this weekend. It's always a packed weekend on Kamehameha Day weekend. And you might see some familiar faces in the parade. So we welcome everyone to come down and join us. All those in favor of approving Resolution 581-26, please say "aye." Page 27 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Vote on Res. 581-26: The motion to adopt Res. 581-26 was carried by the (Adopted) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Res. 582-26: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO HAWAI`I ISLAND HIV/AIDS FOUNDATION TO ASSIST WITH EXPENSES RELATING TO ITS HAWAI`I ISLAND COMMUNITY OUTREACH Transfers $4,005 from the Clerk-Council Services—Contingency Relief account (Council District 5); and credits to the Department of Liquor Control, Public Programs account. Reference: Comm. 920 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder Vote on Res. 582-26: Mr. Hustace moved to adopt Res. 582-26. Seconded by (Adopted) Ms. Kagiwada and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Res. 584-26: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION TO PURCHASE VOLLEYBALL EQUIPMENT Transfers $1,150 from the Clerk-Council Services—Contingency Relief account (Council District 2); and credits to the Department of Parks and Recreation, Recreation Division Equipment account. Reference: Comm. 924 Intr. by: Council Member Kagiwada Motion to Approve: Ms. Kagiwada moved to adopt Res. 584-26. Seconded by Mr. Hustace. Page 28 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 CHR. INABA: Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you. Just looking for my colleagues' support. CHR. INABA: All those in favor of approving Resolution 584-26, please say cc n aye. Vote on Res. 584-26: The motion to adopt Res. 584-26 was carried by the (Adopted) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Res. 585-26: TRANSFERS/APPROPRIATES AN APPROPRIATION OUT AND FROM A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT AND CREDITS SAME TO A DESIGNATED FUND ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE A GRANT TO THE DANIEL R. SAYRE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION TO PURCHASE EQUIPMENT FOR THE MAKALEI AND KAILUA FIRE STATIONS Transfers $12,930 from the Clerk-Council Services—Contingency Relief account (Council District 8); and credits to the Hawaii Fire Department, Fire Operations Other Current Expenses account. Reference: Comm. 925 Intr. by: Council Member Inaba Motion to Approve: Mr. Hustace moved to adopt Res. 585-26. Seconded by Mr. Onishi. CHR. INABA: This resolution is providing funding to the Sayre foundation to support some of the needs that go unmet at the two stations in North Kona. I ask for your support. All those in favor, please say ccaye." Vote on Res. 585-26: The motion to adopt Res. 585-26 was carried by the (Adopted) following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Page 29 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Bills for ORDINANCES Ordinances (First Reading). (FIRST READING): (Note: Items in this category were taken up previously, out of order.) Bill 156: AMENDS CHAPTER 2, ARTICLE 25, SECTION 2-137, OF THE HAWAI`I COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO APPROPRIATION OF FUNDS TO NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS Requires a nonprofit organization applying for County grant funds to certify, under penalty of perjury, that the organization has internal policies relating to management, audits, fiscal procedures, nepotism, and conflicts of interest. Reference: Comm. 873 Intr. by: Council Member Inaba Approve: GOEAC-133 Motion to Approve: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 156 on first reading and adopt Governmental Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 133. Seconded by Ms. Villegas. CHR. INABA: I ask for your continued support. Thank you so much. All those in favor, please say "aye." Vote on Bill 156: The motion to pass Bill 156 on first reading and adopt (Approved) Governmental Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 133 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Page 30 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Bill 158: INITIATES AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLES III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, X, XIII, AND XVI, OF THE CHARTER OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I (2024 EDITION), RELATING TO THE STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY Converts the County's government to a hybrid council-manager system, in which certain County departments and operations are overseen by an appointed County Manager and others are overseen by an elected Mayor. Reference: Comm. 890 Intr. by: Council Member Kimball Approve: GOEAC-134 2/3 Vote: First of three required readings, Section 15-1(a), Hawaii County Charter (Note: Comms. 890.2 and 890.3, from Council Member Heather L. Kimball dated June 2, 2026, transmitting proposed amendments to Bill 158, were circulated.) Motion to Approve: Ms. Kimball moved to pass Bill 158 on first reading and adopt Governmental Operations and External Affairs Committee Report No. 134. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. Just wanted to first of all share this bill proposal, as I hoped it would, led to really wonderful discussion, both the email and meetings and online that ran the gamut from "This is a wonderful idea. Let's do it. I've been in these County manager-type organizations"to "This is the worst idea I've ever heard" and, you know, run us out of town on a pitchfork. But I do want to say that, by and large, many of the folks that interacted with me on this piece of legislation provided some meaningful suggestions and feedback. And what I will share with you is that, first and foremost, I think that what the public wants to see is transparency and accountability. I think that plays into our conversation about General Plan a little bit. The structure and the mechanism we provide that I think is up for discussion and debate. But more than anything, that's what folks want to see, is that when there are projects that are established or programs that are established, clear oversight, clear guidance that these will continue between administrations. I think Ms. Pinto's testimony kind of speaks to this idea of when you have something that requires a significant amount of coordination, having continuity and being able to kind of bird-dog that through multiple administrations through different political machinations, that's important and that's key to people. Page 31 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 There were a couple things that I wanted to make clear that I know you guys get, but that came out in maybe some of the newspaper articles or some of the other conversations. As you all know, this is a Charter amendment. So we don't approve it. It goes to the voters, and they ultimately have the decision-making authority about whether it is approved on the November ballot. There was a number of statements about, well, this is adding another layer of bureaucracy, another position that we would have to pay a lot of money for. Want it to be clear that this bill really is a retooling of the managing director role. It is not a new position per se. It's rather supplanting the existing managing director role with a county manager. There was a legitimate concern that this approach would relegate the Mayor to essentially a figure head position. I kind of want to push back on that a little bit, because it's really just a revisioning of the Mayor's role to be more the lighthouse than our star, the guiding person, and having more time to engage with community, think about and develop strategic priorities, partner with the Council on policy development. And then really leaving the day-to-day operations of the County to this county manager role, the things that are not political in nature, and just making sure that those get done. So I don't see it as any sort of diminishment of the Mayor's role. There is a fair criticism as well about that electoral accountability like I spoke to. That is one of the tradeoffs that you make when you move in this way. But there still is that oversight and engagement between the Mayor and the Council that provides that direct line of feedback from the voters to the working staff of the County civil service staff. I did note one of our opposing testimony came from HGEA (Hawai`i Government Employees Association). I didn't speak to this in the first round of hearings, but one of the things I did want to share is that there haven't been any meaningful studies that directly tie satisfaction—and now I've lost it here—employee satisfaction with the County manager model, versus the County elected model. However, there is a strong correlation between organizational stability, continuity, clear administrative systems. Those are associated with higher employee engagement, lower turnover, and better organizational performance which is those are tied to professional management. So, while there haven't been any studies on employee satisfaction, there are conditions that are created by a county manager position that would tend to be towards better outcomes for staff. At the time, I have two amendments. I know that the main thing that I heard from folks was they didn't like the process of bringing the county manager on board. And so, I do have a proposal. There's two here, actually. I want to start with the one that is my favorite. Page 32 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Motion to Amend: Ms. Kimball moved to amend Bill 158 with the contents of Comm. 890.2. Seconded by Ms. Kagiwada. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. So the main criticism critique that I heard from you folks about this was the idea that there would be a PIG with the Mayor, a permitted interaction group with the Mayor, that would select the candidate that then would be approved by the full Council. So what this proposal before you does is actually a route whereby the Human Resources Department would conduct a search. The eligible candidates would be brought before the Council in a public hearing where we would interview and vet them. And then, we would provide at least three recommendations to the Mayor to choose from to hire that county manager position. I think it addresses the concerns about only a subset of the Council being responsible for the selection. It also addresses the issue of having HR(Human Resources) involved and providing some sort of search function. Additionally, you have that public hearing process where the community will have the opportunity to weigh in on the potential candidates. It is similar to hiring the Police Chief or hiring the Fire Chief. I want to take a second to just mahalo LRB (Legislative Research Branch), too, because I had an idea about how to do this, and I sketched something together. It was okay, but they really took it and ran with it and provided a much better amendment that does what I'm hoping it would do, which is have a real robust process to bring this county manager on board. Clerk, if I may ask a question on this? Because it is a Charter amendment, we just need simple majority for an amendment to the bill, right? Thank you. I would ask for your support on this proposal. CHR. INABA: Discussion on the amendment, 890.2? Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you. I like the change. I do think you're addressing the issue that we brought up in the earlier conversation. I like it being—the candidates being vetted in public because it would be a very important role. I just want to state that my support of this amendment doesn't necessarily mean that I'm fully supportive of passing this through at this point. But on the amendment, I like the amendment. I yield. CHR. INABA: Thank you. Any other discussion on the amendment? If not, all those in favor of amending Bill 158 with the contents of Communication 890.2, please say "aye." Page 33 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 158 with the contents of Amend: Comm. 890.2 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. I realize I have an uphill battle today with this requiring a two-thirds majority to continue moving forward. I relish and appreciate the discussion that has happened around this. I would love for the opportunity to continue to have those discussions and opportunities to improve this proposal. I realize again a little radical and maybe it is too soon to present this and bring it forward. So you do what you've got to do. But one of the things that I want to just kind of conclude with is that I would love to be able to have this on the ballot so that the voters could weigh in and we could really get a vibe for how well this is received by the general public. All that said, there's lots of room for improvement, and I think this conversation has sort of highlighted some of those opportunities. Some of those things are being done in other ways. Happy to take any additional questions. Would appreciate your support so we can continue the discussion. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. Council Member Kimball, this question is directed to you as the maker of the bill. I had a question from a constituent about—and maybe you've had some thought about this in regards to that pool of candidates for the county manager, whether an individual of those qualifications currently resides within this County or even across the State, or we would have to look further for someone to kind of fill these credentials. Thank you, Chair. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair, for the opportunity. Thank you for bringing that up. That was one point that one of the respondents to this gave to me, which was there was an interest in having a requirement of some sort of length of stay, like we do for Fire Chief, right. That they have resided in the County for a certain period of time, as one of the criteria for being eligible for this position. I do think that—after your comments in the first hearing about could we find somebody that meets these criteria, are they too strict, the way I read it I think is Page 34 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 it's not overly broad, to be too simplistic, but it is broad enough that I do think we could find eligible candidates that are either from here or have been here a while, or have gone through their education here that would qualify and be able to be one of the nominees put forth from the Council. CHR. INABA: Council Member Hustace. MR. HUSTACE: So just to follow up then, Council Member Kimball, you have a sense that that individual has that academic background and years of experience, they possibly reside, or could within a reasonable amount of time reside here, familiarize themselves with our systems, and be able to assume this role? MS. KIMBALL: I think so, yes. I think that there is a high possibility that there are multiple candidates that live here now that would be eligible for this. I would suggest that our current Managing Director Bill Brilhante is eligible per his background and his talents and experience for this particular position, as an example. MR. HUSTACE: Thank you. Thanks, Chair. CHR. INABA: Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: I don't really have too much to add right now to this. I think this is a great conversation that we're having, and I do hope that we can continue to have it. I guess the only thing that I wanted to add is that New Bern in North Carolina has this system, and it's such an amazing community that that in itself is almost a recommendation for me. It's a place where a lot of folks go and retire because the facilities, the access to healthcare, and transportation and recreation are so convenient. That might not all be caused by the county manager, but it certainly is a good example that very successful communities can have this system of government. CHR. INABA: Any other discussion? Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. I guess to the maker, I think this was brought up in our earlier conversation, and your recommendation today is to maybe put it on the ballot to get feedback from the public on kind of their thoughts on this. And I think you brought up earlier maybe having to do education, if this were to pass the Council and get on the ballot, between now and when it would be on the ballot for the public. I'm just wondering if you feel like there's adequate time and resources and all that to really provide enough education. I guess the concern I would have is that people would not get enough information on it to be educated enough to make a good decision, and then they might get it in their head that this is just a bad idea. And then, even further education would not Page 35 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 be—they wouldn't be necessarily open to further education and a next round. If it's too early without the time to really have all the discussions, get the feedback from the public, help to really understand where their concerns would be and have that back and forth, if there's not enough time for that, I would be worried that this would kind of maybe doom things for the future from happening. I think it's a good idea that deserves a lot more attention than I think maybe can be given in this short amount of time. But I think it's really important if we were to go forward, that we do really hear from the public and their concerns and also their hopes for something like this. And yeah. So I guess to the maker, do you feel like there would be adequate time and resources to really do that well in order to then give what you want, it sounds like, from the public voting on this in November? CHR. INABA: Council Member Kagiwada, do you have any other questions? MS. KAGIWADA: Nope. That's it. CHR. INABA: Okay. Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Council Member Kagiwada. I think that there is a tremendous amount of public outreach that would need to happen, and I think it would take a concertedI think it's doable but it would certainly take a concerted effort and potentially require sacrifices in other areas. I would actually kind of be interested to hearI don't want to take this conversation too long. I appreciate that we're all tired, but maybe Council Member Kierkiewicz, with her media background, might have some sense if that's kind of a thing that happens if you put things out too early, then you have sort of a negative thing that builds and sticks. I don't know the answer to that because that's not my area of expertise, but I think that's a fair concern. I'll just leave it there. CHR. INABA: All right. Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Council Member Kimball, I will give you so much credit for always being so bold as to want to have these very difficult conversations. I'm not going to be supporting this Charter amendment. I think it renders the Mayor's role useless. Without being able to do the budget or have any sort of direction over the operations, I don't see this shared power that you're describing through this county manager role. If there's something broken within our system, let's fix it. I want to give the Finance Director, CIP (Capital Improvement Project) manager, the departments time to integrate the systems that they've identified and invested in to bring about that transparency that we're all looking for, and to better track projects and get the Page 36 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 data we need so that all the decisions and future budgets are made with that in mind and not necessarily political. I don't think the public is ready for this wholesale restructuring of government. And my honest opinion is I don't believe that a ballot question is the appropriate place to test out this idea. I think that it requires widespread community outreach, meeting with folks. No one that has approached me has expressed support for this idea. Folks are a bit caught off guard, and I'll leave it at that. But I do encourage more community outreach before putting it on the ballot. To your question about the appropriate timing of when to socialize ideas like this, there is so much clutter honestly online. Face-to-face meetings in community with community is the best possible way to connect folks with the idea. So I just I want to encourage that. And again, thank you for being so bold so we can have these conversations. CHR. INABA: Alrighty. For myself, I just don't think we have enough time, Council Member Kimball, because it's such a monumental shift in how the County would operate and be structured. I just think the bill is not completely there yet. And to rush it through and make continued amendments at the next readings still isn't enough time for us all to really grasp and take this on. So I don't know if you want to take the vote on it. I also think you might not want a negative vote on something like this should you choose to bring it back in the future in the next Council term if we're all here to discuss it. But leave it up to you. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, thanks for that. I'm going to guess that Council Member Onishi is likely a"no" on this as well based on the previous conversation, which would not give me enough votes to move this forward. I don't know if you want to say something, because I do think your comment is appropriate, Chair Inaba. And I appreciate the suggestions. Council Member Kierkiewicz, thank you for your guidance. There were some recommendations around finance and what we're doing there that were not Charter-amendment related that I think could actually be incorporated to bring some of that additional transparency and accountability that you're talking about. There are also other strategies to preserve continuity that can be explored. I think the criticisms levied are appropriate. I guess at this time CHR. INABA: And I think the Clerk is actually rifling through our rules whether we can actually pull something since we amended it. Oh, yup, I'm reading minds. All right, let's see. MS. KIMBALL: Okay. You know what, let's just go ahead and proceed with the vote, and it is what it is and go from there. Thank you. Page 37 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 CHR. INABA: Thank you. A roll call,please. Vote on Bill 158: The motion to pass Bill 158, as amended to Draft 2, on first Draft 2 reading and adopt Governmental Operations and External Failed Affairs Committee Report No. 134 failed by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Kimball, and Villegas—3. Noes: Council Members Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Onishi, and Chair Inaba— 5. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Bill 159: INITIATES AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLES III, V, VI, VII, VIII, AND X OF THE CHARTER OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I (2024 EDITION), RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A BIENNIAL OPERATING BUDGET AND CAPITAL BUDGET Establishes biennial budgeting for the County, with an initial primary budget to be adopted every odd-numbered year and a supplemental operating budget to be adopted every even-numbered year. Reference: Comm. 891 Intr. by: Council Member Kimball Negative: FC-153 (Due to a vote of 1-aye, 8-noes) 2/3 Vote: First of three required readings, Section 15-1(a), Hawaii County Charter MS. KIMBALL: Chair, I'm not even going to make a motion to move this forward. This was pretty clearly not desirable for folks. So I don't see any reason for debate and discussion. Withdraw Bill 159: Chair Inaba announced the withdrawal of Bill 159. Bill 160: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 25-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2026 Appropriates revenues in the Real Property Tax Penalties account($1,125,000); and appropriates the same to the following Transfer to Public Access/Open Space Preservation accounts: Fund($1,000,000) and Maintenance Fund ($125,000). Reference: Comm. 893 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Approve: FC-154 Page 38 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Vote on Bill 160: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 160 on first reading and (Approved) adopt Finance Committee Report No. 154. Seconded by Ms. Galimba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Bill 161: 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 Fund Balance From Previous Year - Reserved account($443,775.57); and appropriates the same to the following Transfer to Public Access/Open Space Preservation accounts: Fund($274,878.65), Maintenance Fund ($40,457.41), and Transfer to Disaster/Emergency Fund account($128,439.51). Reference: Comm. 894 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) Approve: FC-155 Vote on Bill 161: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 161 on first reading and (Approved) adopt Finance Committee Report No. 155. Seconded by Ms. Galimba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Bill 166: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 25-50, AS AMENDED, AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 6 OF THE HAWAI`I COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO TRANSIENT ACCOMMODATIONS Delays the effective date of Ordinance No. 25-50, relating to transient accommodations, until September 1, 2026. Reference: Comm. 926 Intr. by: Council Member Kimball Waived: PCPLUED Page 39 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Motion to Approve: Ms. Kimball moved to pass Bill 166 on first reading. Seconded by Ms. Galimba. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Requesting my colleagues' support. I will let Director speak to it if you have specific questions, but this moves the start of the registration process for TVRs (transient vacation rentals) out a month. We do have the vendorno, because it's September 1st. It's July 1st, August 1st, there's that other month in there where my daughter's birthday is. Thank you. Gosh, it's been a long day. Out two months. So we have the vendor. The website is largely ready. As I understand it, it's really the ability to take payment that is the challenge right now, and they're trying to resolve that. But we should be on target to start the registration process in two months, September 1st. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Director Darrow, any comment? (Note: At this time, Planning Director Jeffrey Darrow came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. DARROW: No comment. Just would really appreciate your support. We're trying—we just finished the background and recommendations for Bill 147 to the planning commissions. That is the amendments to Chapter 25 for TVRs, transient vacation rentals, which will include both unhosted STVRs (short-term vacation rentals) and hosted B&Bs (bed and breakfasts). And then once we get through the planning commissions, it will come up to the Hawaii County Council. We're trying to incorporate the launch of the platform that's going to take care of the registration process, which is covered under Chapter 6. And we want to make sure that we're through the process. We don't want to launch too quickly and confuse people. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Director. All those in favor of approving Bill 166, please say "aye." Vote on Bill 166: The motion to pass Bill 166 on first reading was carried by (Approved) the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Page 40 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 ORDER OF The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Order of THE DAY the Day (Second or Final Reading). (SECOND OR FINAL READING): (Note: Items in this category were taken up previously, out of order.) Bill 152: INITIATES AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE III, SECTION 3-18, OF THE CHARTER OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I (2024 EDITION), RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF THE COUNTY AUDITOR Clarifies that the County Auditor has the same power with respect to employees within the Office of the County Auditor as department heads in the Executive Branch and specifies that the County Auditor may appoint a deputy. Reference: Comm. 858 Intr. by: Council Members Inaba and Kierkiewicz First Reading: May 20, 2026 2/3 Vote: Second of three required readings, Section 15-1(a), Hawaii County Charter Motion to Approve: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to pass Bill 152 on second reading. Seconded by Mr. Hustace. CHR. INABA: Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I appreciate the opportunity to bring this forward with you to ensure that our hardworking auditor's office has clear authority around leadership and ensuring continuity of operations. Looking for everyone's continued support. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Council Member Kierkiewicz. All those in favor of approving Bill 152 at second reading, please say "aye." Vote on Bill 152: The motion to pass Bill 152 on second reading was carried (Approved) by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Page 41 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Bill 153: AMENDS ORDINANCE NO. 25-45, AS AMENDED, THE OPERATING BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2026 Appropriates revenues in the State Grants—Coffee Berry Borer/Coffee Leaf Rust Pesticide Subsidy Program account($150,000); and appropriates the same to the Coffee Berry Borer/Coffee Leaf Rust Pesticide Subsidy Program account. Funds would be used to aid coffee growers in Kona and Ka`u by offsetting the cost of purchasing approved pesticides. Reference: Comm. 863 Intr. by: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder (B/R) First Reading: May 20, 2026 Vote on Bill 153: Mr. Hustace moved to pass Bill 153 on second and final (Adopted) reading. Seconded by Ms. Kagiwada and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. REFERRALS FOR The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Referrals EXECUTIVE for Executive Session. SESSION: Comm. 921: CLAIM AGAINST THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`UHAWAI`I PHYSICAL THERAPY AND CHIROPRACTIC CLINIC, INC. From Deputy Corporation Counsel Justin C. Lee dated May 13, 2026, requesting an attorney-client confidential discussion to consult with the Council regarding the above-entitled matter, including settlement discussion. Motion to Close Mr. Hustace moved to close file on Comm. 921. Seconded File: by Ms. Villegas. Page 42 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Vote on Motion to Mr. Hustace moved to enter into Executive Session in order Enter into to hold attorney-client privilege discussion regarding Executive Session: Communication 921, as authorized by Section 92-5(a)(4) of (Approved) the Hawaii Revised Statutes. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. CHR. INABA: We will be entering into Executive Session at this time. Recess: At 2:44 p.m., the Chair called for a recess in order to clear the room. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 2:56 p.m. CHR. INABA: Council Member Hustace with the summary, please? MR. HUSTACE: Thank you, Chair. I appreciate the opportunity. We entered Executive Session for the purpose and pursuant to Section 92-5(a)(4) for the purpose of consulting with our Council's attorney regarding questions, issues pertaining to any of our powers, duties, and privileges, immunities, and liabilities. Thank you. CHR. INABA: Thank you, Council Member Hustace. Is there a motion to approve the recommendation as provided in Communication 921? Vote on Motion to Ms. Villegas moved to concur with the recommendation of Concur: Corporation Counsel regarding Comm. 921. Seconded by (Approved) Mr. Hustace and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Page 43 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 Vote on Comm. 921: The motion to close file on Comm. 921 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Comm. 922: CLAIM AGAINST THE COUNTY OF HAWAI`UCLERKIN, SINCLAIR AND MAHFOUZ, LLP, ON BEHALF OF USAA AS SUBROGEE OF MATTHEW HO From Deputy Corporation Counsel Justin C. Lee dated May 13, 2026, requesting an attorney-client confidential discussion to consult with the Council regarding the above-entitled matter, including settlement discussion. Motion to Close Mr. Hustace moved to close file on Comm. 922. Seconded File: by Mr. Onishi. Vote on Motion to Mr. Hustace moved to concur with the recommendation of Concur: Corporation Counsel regarding Comm. 922. Seconded by (Approved) Ms. Kimball and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. Vote on Comm. 922: The motion to close file on Comm. 922 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Council Members Galimba, Hustace, Kagiwada, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Onishi, Villegas, and Chair Inaba— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. OTHER The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Other BUSINESS: Business. (There were none.) Page 44 Hawaii County Council-41 June 3,2026 ANNOUNCE- The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, MENTS: Announcements. (Note: At this time, Council Members made announcements regarding community events, activities, and other unofficial business.) ADJOURN- There being no further business, Chair Inaba adjourned the meeting at 2:59 p.m. MENT: Council Approval: SEP Q 2 2026 ERK JH/dg Page 45