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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN PSMTC 2018/10/16 2016-2018Committee on Public Safety and Mass Transit 16th Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohaokdlole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawaii October 16, 2018 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Public Safety and Mass Transit ORDER: was called to order at 9:07 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Ms. Karen Eoff, Acting Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Karen Eoff, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member (via videoconference from Hilo) Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Mr. Dru Mamo Kanuha, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Ms. Eileen O'Hara, Member Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards III Absent & Excused STATEMENTS FR 01\/1 TUI PT TRT TC nNI AGENDA ITEMS: Ms. Jennifer Ruggles, Chair. The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by the Chair: Sylvia Maya Dolena: Tina Bounds: Mary Rose Krijgsman: (Representing Rainbow Friends Animal Sanctuary) Linda Brooks: (Representing Rainbow Friends Animal Sanctuary) Res. 727-18 (Comm. 1124), in support. Res. 727-18 (Comm. 1124) in support. Res. 727-18 (Comm. 1124) in support. Res. 727-18 (Comm. 1124) comment, and in support. PSMTC-16 October 16, 2018 COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 1129: NOMINATION OF JOAN OBRA TO THE POLICE COMMISSION From Mayor Harry Kim, dated September 28, 2018, submitting for the Council's review and confirmation the above nomination. Requires Council Confirmation by: November 11, 2018 (Section 13-4(1), Hawaii County Charter) Vote on Comm. 1129: Mr. Richards moved to recommend confirmation of the (Approved) appointment of Ms. Joan Obra to the Police Commission. Seconded by Ms. David and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Kanuha, Lee Loy, O'Hara, Poindexter, Richards and Acting Chair Eoff — 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Ruggles — 1. Excused: None. Committee Members spoke in favor of the appointment. ACTING CHR. EOFF: Okay, Mr. Clerk let's move on to Order of Resolutions. We have Resolution 727-18. ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Order RESOLUTIONS: of Resolutions. Res. 727-18: REQUIRES A MINIMUM STANDARD OF CARE AND RESPECT FOR ANIMALS IN HAWAII COUNTY, ACKNOWLEDGING ANIMALS AS SENTIENT BEINGS AND RECOGNIZING THAT ALL SENTIENT BEINGS HAVE UNIVERSAL NATURAL RIGHTS Urges the County Administration to treat animals humanely and respectfully when undertaking eradication and animal control programs. Reference: Comm. 1124 Intr. By: Ms. O'Hara Motion to Approve: Ms. O'Hara moved to recommend adoption of Res. 727-18. Seconded by Mr. Chung. ACTING CHR. EOFF: Ms. O'Hara you have the floor. Page 2 PSMTC-16 October 16, 2018 MS. O'HARA: This is of course a resolution that is to set a tone for the County in terms of dealing with animals. It was a submittal that came through—work with the animal welfare groups on island. And I'm not sure what the other members might find objectionable, but perhaps in discussion we can flush that out. Like I said, it's basically to set tone and it does support an action that's coming up later in terms of extending the functions of the Department of Environmental Management. ACTING CHR. EOFF: Okay, thank you. Comments Council Members? Mr. Chung. MR. CHUNG: You know, I did second it for the sake of discussion. But I'll probably be voting against it, and you know, I've used this term before "cold–hearted bastard." I don't want to seem like I am one, I just wanted to explain my situation here. I love animals. I have a bird, I got a dog, and I feed wild birds. And I actually adopted a family of cats, much to the chagrin of my wife. ' And as soon as I can catch them, I might get them spayed or neutered or whatever the term would be as it relates to them. But what troubles me about this resolution is it's a directive, and it can't be. So procedurally it is in my opinion incorrect, and that's why I'll be voting against it. Thank you. ACTING CHR. EOFF: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Any other comments? Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. When I first read the intent concerning animal health and well-being, I was all for it. And I too love animals, most people know I'm a veterinarian and I have a menagerie of animals as well. My concern with this bill is it—or resolution, puts forth the rights, and I do not support rights for animals. And a lot of things go back, and this is a life time of experience and going forward. As I thought how this was, and I completely support the efforts to increase our spay and neuter services, increase of taking care of those animals. There's other problems with those animals, their presence and all those. But we can discuss those at a later time. Fully supportive of that. There has been initiatives that have come forth on and off, concerning kill verses no kill shelters and the merits of both. I understand the intent, I understand the direction of going there and supportive of that provided the funding is there to support that. Where I become troubled is when we start validating rights of the animals. And first and foremost I think humans have a stewardship, have a responsibility and have an obligation for health and well-being for an animal, for animals in general. We owe them respect and dignity when it comes to food animal production side, we owe all of that. I was fortunate enough to have one of my instructors a man by the name of Dr. Leo Bustad, who's one of the first people to identify this people Page 3 PSMTC-16 October 16, 2018 pet partnership alliance. And so what he taught me was a true reverence for life. That does not mean rights. That means we are very respectful of what we're doing forward and dealing with animals. And I have seen situations, I come from the cattle background and food animal production side where it makes no economic sense. Sometimes it makes no logical sense, where I've seen cowboys put themselves in situations to try and take care of an animal. It's because they feel that obligation to that animal, not because that animal has rights. And I fear that when we start assigning those rights going forward that we are going to get ourselves in a quagmire. I'm fully supportive of health and well-being, respective treatment, punishing cruel treatment, fully supportive of all of that. But I draw the line when we start saying there's rights, because I do not believe there's an inherent right in there. And I think that can trigger problems for us going forward. I think there's also a couple of procedural areas with this, it's very overreaching when we start talking about Federal and State. Because again this is County, and I don't think we can go that far-reaching. And one of my concerns is we talk about live trapping, and then a release protocol. Where? Where are we going to release these animals if it's going to be a private sanctuary? Okay, that's fine. But we can't just return back, because that's not how we set things up. So though I think I understand the intent of the resolution, and I'm very supportive of the intent. The actual assigning rights takes us down a path. We have worked very diligently in this County and the State from the livestock standpoint. There's a woman, Dr. Temple Grandin was well known internationally for her work, and she has complimented the livestock industry on the work we've done and has said, you know, we are light years ahead of other places. I don't think that the direction for this County is to assign rights, because I think that's not the direction we need to go. We need to be very respectful, we need to be stewarding and have oversight for health and well-being. But not rights, so I cannot support a bill like this. I yield. ACTING CHR. EOFF: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Any other comments? Ms. O'Hara. MS. O'HARA: I think it would behoove me to withdraw this measure at this time. Since it apparently has no support, and needs to be refashioned to be not an assignment of rights but a commitment to human behavior from what I'm hearing from Mr. Richards. And perhaps Mr. Richards can pursue that at some point. Anyway I'm going to be withdrawing at this time. Withdraw Res. 727-18: Ms. O'Hara announced the withdrawal of Res. 727-18. Page 4 PSMTC-16 October 16, 2018 ACTING CHR. EOFF: Thank you, Ms. O'Hara. That brings us to the end of our agenda. BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Bills ORDINANCES: for Ordinances. (There were none.) ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 9:33 a.m., Ms. David moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Chung and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Kanuha, Lee Loy O'Hara, Poindexter, Richards and Acting Chair Eoff — 7 Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Chung and Ruggles — 2. Excused: None. ACTING CHR. EOFF: We are adjourned. Approved: Ms. aren Eoff, Actin hair Public Safety and Mass Transit Committee KE/rk 11. 1.4 Date Page 5