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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN PC 2017/03/21 (2016-2018)Committee on Planning 4th Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawaii March 21, 2017 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Planning was called to order at ORDER: 9:05 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Kona, by Ms. Karen Eoff, Chair. R(1T T CAT r Present: Ms. Karen Eoff, Chair Ms. Eileen O'Hara, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Mr. Dru Mamo Kanuha, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member Ms. Jennifer Ruggles, 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. 160: NOMINATION OF NESTORIO LAGUA DOMINGO TO THE WATER BOARD From Mayor Harry Kim, dated February 22, 2017, submitting for the Council's review and confirmation the above nomination. Requires Council Confirmation by: April 16, 2017 (Section 13-4(1), Hawaii County Charter) Motion to Approve: Mr. Kanuha moved to recommend confirmation of the appointment of Mr. Nestorio Lagua Domingo to the Water Board. Seconded by Mr. Richards. CHR. EOFF: Ms. Bautista. PC -4 March 21, 2017 MS. BAUTISTA: Good morning, Council Member Eoff CHR. EOFF: Good morning. I was informed that Mr. Domingo may not be here today, is that correct? MS. BAUTISTA: That's correct. CHR. EOFF: Okay, so Council Members, what would be your preference? We can either hold his nomination here in committee until next time; I know he'll be back. We contacted him, he's out of the country today, but will be here for the next meeting. Ms. Poindexter. MS. POINDEXTER: I don't know anything about him, so I would suggest that we keep it in committee, but I don't know. I yield to hear from the other Council Members. Thank you. CHR. EOFF: Okay. Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, I agree with our Council Chair. I read through the application and it looks good, but I think we hold in committee until we talk story first. CHR. EOFF: Okay. Thank you. Mr. Kanuha. MR. KANUHA: Thank you. Just on timing -wise, how will this all fit into the confirmations and nominations? Do we have enough time to keep it in committee? Mr. Clerk, I think that might be a question for you. MR. HENRICKS: Just enough meetings. MR. KANUHA: If we keep it in committee and go through the process of MR. HENRICKS: Confirmation is due by April 16th, sono, you know what? Not really actually. We're short on time because we have committees on April 4 and then that would push it to the meeting on the 19th actually, so we would be three days short. MS. BAUTISTA: Excuse me. CHR. EOFF: Ms. Bautista? MS. BAUTISTA: Can I say something? Would it help if I read a little bit about Mr. Nestorio Domingo's background to assist the Council understand a little bit about him? Page 2 PC -4 March 21, 2017 CHR. EOFF: Yes, you can but we would just want to get clarification on what would happen if we aren't able to confirm him by MR. HENRICKS: He would be approved. CHR. EOFF: It would be an automatic approval? Okay. Then yes, go ahead please. (Note: At this time, Rose Bautista Executive Assistant to the Mayor introduced the nominee to the committee.) CHR. EOFF: Okay. Thank you. Mr. Kanuha. Looks like our option would be that we may have to go ahead and move it to Council and then have him show here or in Hilo, at the next Council meeting and we can talk to him then. MR. KANUHA: Yeah, Madam Chair. I think because we don't have him here—this is a really important commission, as we've been dealing with issues for the past years, dealing with water. We all see what's been going on, the controversies happening and especially he's going to be representing Kona. I have a real desire to have him answer questions that we have. So saying that, and the pressing of time, we're going to have to hear him or have him come before committee before the 45 day window. I mean he's obviously going to have to go to Council for either a positive or negative decision. I mean I can't vouch for him now because I don't know him that well. Usually, before we send people to Council without hearing them in committee, there's usually somebody on the Council that can vouch for these people. But since he's in my district and I don't know him that well, it's kind of difficult. So I'll leave it to you guys, whatever you guys want to do and we'll go from there. CHR. EOFF: Mr. Chung. MR. CHUNG: Thank you, Madam Chairman. May I ask a question of Ms. Bautista? MS. BAUTISTA: Go ahead, Mr. Chung. MR. CHUNG: Where is he? MS. BAUTISTA: He is in the Philippines for the time being. MR. CHUNG: For work? MS. BAUTISTA: He'll return by April 5th' which will be your next Council meeting. Page 3 PC -4 March 21, 2017 MR. CHUNG: Is he there for work or on a vacation? MS. BAUTISTA: I don't have that answer, Mr. Chung. MR. CHUNG: Madam Chairman, I was going to say the same thing that Mr. Kanuha said. Normally, in these types of situations—the only time that I can recall us moving something ahead without the person present to at least say a few things about his or herself, is when there is at least one person who's able to vouch for that person. Now Mr. Domingo, unless I heard incorrectly, has been a resident for three years. This is such an important commission, particularly because what I've been—all of the things I've been reading in the newspaper about the water issues in Kona, exactly what Mr. Kanuha said. I'm sorry, as far as I'm concerned, my vote is going to be no today. I'm not going to allow this thing to move ahead and I don't know what the pleasure is of this body, but it's just unfortunate. Perhaps this man is totally qualified, but he may just be a casualty of ill -timing. What he could have done, prior to all of this, is come and met with each and every one of us, knowing full well that he was not going to be available for this committee hearing. It's a very important commission, I cannot vote in support of it, Madam Chairman. I apologize. CHR. EOFF: Ms. David. MS. DAVID: Thank you, Madam Chair. I agree with my colleagues and the other thing that really concerns me is that it is an important commission and he does have aMr. Domingo does have some engineering degrees. However, I think more important, in addition to having an engineering degree, is the knowledge and the background about the history of Kona and its water situation here. But my concern is I tend to, myself, want to actually question Mr. Domingo. However, if we do not act, my concern is he gets is he an automatic approval? He gets appointed automatically, whether we do something here or not. So that's my concern. I'm not sure how to address that, but I agree with you, Mr. Chung. And people who volunteer for commissions, it's an important role, and they should make a real good effort to be here. And I don't necessarily like the idea that this person's going to be approved regardless of what we do today because of timing. So I'm not sure how we're going to address that. I'd like to see him. I'd like to talk to him. And I definitely don't want any person appointed automatically due to the deadline. So I'd like to hear from the rest of my colleagues about this. Thank you, Madam Chair. CHR. EOFF: Ms. O'Hara. Page 4 PC -4 March 21, 2017 MS. O'HARA: Thank you, Chair. I don't know this gentleman either. I would ask Ms. Bautista, was he aware of when this confirmation would advance to the Council? MS. BAUTISTA: No, you know he had a pre -scheduled trip already at the time. MS. O'HARA: Okay. And often, I know it's difficult because we have all these internal deadlines, getting these confirmations to the Council. So heI just want to say, the individual may not have been aware that it was going to fall on this day. And I have found myself in this position at the State legislature where I was told not to attend, and then everyone was very upset that we weren't there. So sometimes it's about the information that's passed on to the individual. So I just want to give him that credit and hope that he can appear before us the next time. So I would like to meet the gentleman and have some questions. Thank you. CHR. EOFF: Okay. Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: For the rest of my colleagues, I am very concerned. I came from the Water Board, it is the semi -autonomous body. It's the most important commission that we have here in the County, aside from us. They have their own budget, they make decisions that impact our entire island. And I am concerned because like Ms. David mentioned, this is the first step of them participating in that board or commission, is being available. And what's becoming very challenging at the Water Board is they are meeting up against quorum issues and so I'm very concerned that if we don't have an opportunity to question him and his understanding about water, water rights, and what is a public trust issue here on this island, it's very critical. I appreciate that he has a lot of experience with hydrology, which is something very important to the Water Board, but I'm having a lot of reservations about this. I'm having a hard time to support this. This is the most critical commission we have as a Council. I want an opportunity to question him. As a resident, just three years of experience, there's a lot he has to know and I want to understand where he's coming from. So like Mr. Chung, I'm going to have a lot of reservations moving this forward if we have to. CHR. EOFF: Before we go on, Mr. Clerk, can I ask you to clarify something for me, and maybe the other Council Members too? You're saying that if we don't act on this, there's an automatic approval, if we don't act on it by April 16. Which means we'd have to either approve or disapprove by that date? So our choice would be to move it to Council and then either approve or disapprove there because if we don't move it to Council, and we leave it here, there's going to be an automatic approval, we won't have the option of disapproving. Is that correct? Page 5 PC -4 March 21, 2017 MR. HENRICKS: Barring some special meeting, but if you go with your regular scheduled meetings, the calendar doesn't provide for the opportunity to hold it into committee. CHR. EOFF: Okay. So to me, it would seem that we need to move to Council so we at least have a chance to vote yes or no when we do hear from him. Correct? Okay, so I'll continue the discussion, but I just wanted to understand that because he won't automatically get approved if we vote negative, but he will if we leave it here and don't do anything. MR. HENRICKS: That's my understanding of the Charter. I'll take a quick look, but yeah, I mean it's CHR. EOFF: Okay, if you could just double check that for us. MR. HENRICKS: 45 days and if there is no action then it's not a disapproval but an approval. But let me double check, I'm pretty sure. CHR. EOFF: Yeah. Thank you. And we'll go on with the discussion while you do that. Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. That was the question I was going to pose which is paradoxical because if we don't approve this now, we have no chance to disapprove it. And so that dictates how I'm going to vote. It's kind of backwards. CHR. EOFF: But we don't have to approve it now, but we do have to move it on to Council. MR. RICHARDS: Well we have to vote to approve to move it on to Council and listening to my fellow Council Members, water management in this County, in this State is very critical, and the history of the water in the County is very critical too. So I hear my fellow Council Members loud and clear and I think we all agree in the same direction. And ordinarily, I'd keep this in committee, but I think we need to move it out so then we can vote no, if that's how we feel, which is backwards. CHR. EOFF: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Richards. And I think that's been confirmed just now by the Clerk. Ms. Poindexter. MS. POINDEXTER: Looking at, of course his education and also that—Rose, I have a question. So you are familiar with his background and this person?I mean did you kind of like vet him for this commission? Page 6 PC -4 March 21, 2017 MS. BAUTISTA: Yes, we've talked to a couple of people, and he was highly recommended. MS. POINDEXTER: Okay. I know we have to move this to Council. I don't want my vote to be a negative no going through so I'm going to vote with caution yes, and I will do a kanalua yes so that this can move to Council. And voting kanalua yes is in respect to the administration, that they did some background on this. So I'm voting kanalua yes. I just want to let you know. Thank you. CHR. EOFF: Okay. Thank you. Any further discussion? Mr. Chung. MR. CHUNG: Yes. Just a follow up to Ms. Poindexter's question. Rose, you mentioned about—Ms. Poindexter's question was whether you vetted this individual and your response was that yes, you spoke to several or two individuals MS. BAUTISTA: The references and the other people that he knew in the community. MR. CHUNG: Okay, but you also interviewed him? MS. BAUTISTA: Yes, and we spoke to him. We interviewed him. MR. CHUNG: Who? MS. BAUTISTA: I spoke to him. MR. CHUNG: What about the Mayor? MS. BAUTISTA: He read all the recommendations and all the information about Mr. Domingo. MR. CHUNG: So he didn't meet with this individual personally then? MS. BAUTISTA: No, it was sufficient—the information that we provided to him was sufficient for him to move forward. MR. CHUNG: Let me ask you this. What's the procedure that you guys have implemented there? How do you guys go about nominating individuals? You solicit applicants or do they just come in? And then from there, what happens? Because if the mayor didn't speak to this person personally, which perhaps that might be a bit too much to ask the Chief Executive to interview all of the applicants, but what's the process that you guys have there? Who's making the selections really and who's making the recommendations to the Mayor? Page 7 PC -4 March 21, 2017 MS. BAUTISTA: Let me start from how we go about moving the nomination. We solicit for names, including requesting from the Council Members and members from the community. We also did an advertisement in the paper soliciting from such recommendation for you know, soliciting names to sit on the board and commission. Upon receiving it, then my office goes through those names and we selectI give background information to the Mayor and to the Managing Director who goes over those personal information about the nominations. And they vet it, they look at it, they read it, and if they have any questions, they ask me. Basically, then they will make the recommendation based on the information provided to them, which includes their application, some of them provide resumes. MR. CHUNG: And how many are given interviews or allowed to have interviews by the Mayor or the Managing Director? MS. BAUTISTA: You know, we don't have a whole lot of applicants at this point. As a matter of fact, it was very difficult to solicit members from the community to sit for, especially for the Water Board. And of late, this has been a critical time for the Water Board because they haven't met their quorum and we have been soliciting for community members. We've only had two of them. And then another one, after the name was forwarded, I believe there was another applicant that came in, but not a whole lot of people out there submitting applications. MR. CHUNG: You know, Madam Chairman—thank you very much, Rose. Madam Chairman, this only heightens my apprehension. There really has been no personal contact between the Mayor and this applicant, and if it were just some minor type of commission and we're talking about enhancing the public's participation in government, no problem. But when you're dealing with the Planning Commission, the Water Commission, possibly Liquor Commission, and the Board of Ethics, I would hope that those people would be thoroughly vetted. And what really troubles me is that it seems that because there was a dearth of applicants, well you know now they're going to put this guy through. This is critically important, we have so many issues regarding the Water Department—not the Water Department itself, but just water resources in general. Again, I'm going to vote no and if it looks like it's going to move forward, well I'm just troubled by what I've heard today actually, and it's going to carry over into our next meeting. Thank you. CHR. EOFF: Any other comments? Mr. Kanuha. MR. KANUHA: Great conversation to have and it'd be nice to have that conversation in front of somebody. But saying that, this will go to Council with a positive or negative recommendation, and we'll listen to what he has to say in Page 8 PC -4 March 21, 2017 front of the Council. So saying that, because of the importance of this and because of the issues that were brought up earlier, nobody on the Council really being able to vouch for this person, I have reservations of course. Until I actually talk to the person face-to-faceI think he might be a great asset on the Water Commission or the Water Board, I don't know, but I'm fine. I mean of course it's going to move to Council but saying that, I'm going to be voting with reservations and until I hear from him, my vote is going to be no. Thank you. CHR. EOFF: Thank you. Anybody else? Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: I definitely hear Councilman Chung's concern and I agree with it. My concern is that if we don't take action, we can't stop something if the train leaves the station so with that, I'm going to vote kanalua yes, but my Council vote will be no, unless I'm convinced differently. Thank you. CHR. EOFF: Okay. Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. Then I guess I'll go for a roll call vote. Vote on Comm. 160: The motion to recommend confirmation of the appointment (Approved) of Mr. Nestorio Lagua Domingo to the Water Board was carried by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, O'Hara, Poindexter, Richards, Ruggles, and Chair Eoff — 6. Noes: Committee Members Chung, Kanuha, and Lee Loy — 3. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. EOFF: Okay. Thank you. Then we will make sure that Mr. Nestorio Domingo is at the Council meeting and my office will be sure to contact him. Thank you all. Okay, moving on to our next item. Mr. Clerk, can you please read Communication 161? Comm. 161: NOMINATION OF WILLIAM DON BOSWELL, JR., TO THE WATER BOARD From Mayor Harry Kim, dated February 22, 2017, submitting for the Council's review and confirmation the above nomination. Requires Council Confirmation by: April 16, 2017 (Section 13-4(1), Hawaii County Charter) Page 9 PC -4 March 21, 2017 Vote on Comm. 161: Mr. Richards moved to recommend confirmation of the (Approved) appointment of Mr. William Don Boswell to the Water Board. Seconded by Ms. Poindexter and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kanuha, Lee Loy, O'Hara, Poindexter, Richard, Ruggles, and Chair Eoff — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. Committee Members spoke in favor of the appointment. CHR. EOFF: And sir, you don't have to appear at the Council meeting since you were here today and we questioned you. But any opportunity to reach out to Council Members, that would be welcomed I'm sure. Recess: At 9:42 a.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 9:45 a.m. CHR. EOFF: Council Members, I would like to call the meeting back to order. Mr. Clerk, can you please read in Communication 162? Comm. 162: NOMINATION OF JOSEPH B. CLARKSON TO THE WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION Vote on Comm. 162 (Approved) From Mayor Harry Kim, dated March 1, 2017, submitting for the Council's review and confirmation the above nomination. Requires Council Confirmation by: April 16, 2017 (Section 13-4(1), Hawaii County Charter) Mr. Richards moved to recommend confirmation of the appointment of Mr. Joseph B. Clarkson to the Windward Planning Commission. Seconded by Ms. Poindexter and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kanuha, Lee Loy, O'Hara, Poindexter, Richard, Ruggles, and Chair Eoff — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. Page 10 PC -4 March 21, 2017 Committee Members spoke in favor of the appointment. CHR. EOFF: Congratulations sir, and you don't have to come to the Council meeting where you'll be finally confirmed. ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. (There were none.) BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. (There were none.) ADJOURN There being no further business, at 9:55 a.m., Mr. Kanuha moved to adjourn the MENT: meeting. Seconded by Ms. David and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kanuha, Lee Loy, O'Hara, Poindexter, Richards, Ruggles, and Chair Eoff — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. EOFF: This meeting's adjourned. Approved: a 3. 50.1 Ms. Karen Eoff, Chair (Date) Planning Committee KE/j m Page 11