HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN COUNCIL 2019-05-22 2018-2020 SPECIAL Hawaii County Council
131h Session
Special Session
Hawaii County Building
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii
May 22, 2019
INVOCATION: Pastor Jack Snell of Puna Covenant Church gave the morning's invocation.
CALL TO The regular meeting of the Hawaii County Council was called to order at
ORDER: 9:05 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Chair.
ROLL CALL:
Present: Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Chair
Ms. Karen Eoff, Vice Chair
Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member
Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member
Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member
Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member
Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member
Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member
Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member
PLEDGE OF The Chair directed the Council to the next order of business, Pledge of Allegiance.
ALLEGIANCE:
(At this time, Ms. Lee Loy led the Council in the Pledge of
Allegiance.)
STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Statements
FROM THE from the Public on Agenda Items.
PUBLIC ON
AGENDA ITEMS: The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by
the Chair:
Abolghassem Abraham Comm. 117.18, comment; and
Sadegh: Comm. 118.4, comment.
Dwight J. Vicente: Comm. 117.14, comment.
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
Frank Sayre: Bill 30 (Comm. 117), in support; and
(representing Daniel Sayre Comm. 117.20, in support.
Memorial Foundation)
Joel Cooperson: Bill 30 (Comm. 117), in support; and
Comm. 117.24, in support.
Herbert Ushiroda: Bill 30 (Comm. 117), in support; and
Comm. 117.24, in support.
Walter Kimura: Bill 30 (Comm. 117), in support; and
Comm. 117.24, in support.
CHR. CHUNG: At this time, I'd like to close "Statements from the Public." But
before I go onto `Bills for Ordinances," I think Ms. Kierkiewicz wanted to make
an announcement.
Announcement: MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I'm just asking the Council and
everyone here for a couple minutes of silence. Someone in the Hawaii Fire
Department lost his life this morning. I don't really want to go into the details, but
I just want everybody to keep the family and the department in their hearts and
minds. Thank you, Chair.
CHR. CHUNG: Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz. Okay, let's go on to `Bills for
Ordinances."
BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, Bills for
ORDINANCES Ordinances (First Reading).
(FIRST READING):
CHR. CHUNG: Let's see. Mr. Clerk—I've asked the Clerk to give us a brief,
maybe for lack of a better term, overview of our process or processese relating to
the operating budget. Mr. Clerk, do you want to do it after you read the bill or
before? `Cause, we also have a presentation from the Administration relating to
that.
MR. HENRICKS: I think doing it really quickly right now might be good. And
then, should I miss anything or be incorrect, then Ms. Sako can expand, correct.
CHR. CHUNG: Okay. And then, this is basically a very brief primer for the
newcomers and a refresher for the old-timers here. So, go ahead, Mr. Clerk.
MR. HENRICKS: Right. So, how we got here today was we had our
departmental reviews. We heard all the departments. And then the Council, at
that time, moved the operating/capital budgets out of Committee for today for
first reading. So, that's where we're at. So, the plan for the day is that we will
Page 2
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
move the bills for first reading. The Council will amend both bills to bring the
Mayor's Draft 2s into what we're doing today so that the Council may further
consider other amendments to both bills. And at that time, after all amendments
have been disposed of, the Council will take a vote to pass the operating budget
and the capital budget separately on first reading, moving those bills to the June
meeting in, I believe it's June 71h. If not, it's the first week of June for second and
final reading, at which time the Council would have the opportunity to consider
additional amendments to both bills. So, that is how we got to where we are
today and what the plan for today is. Thank you.
CHR. CHUNG: So, at this time, Mr. Clerk, could you please read in Bill No. 30,
Communication No. 117.14 and Bill No. 30, Draft 2.
Bill 30: ESTABLISHES AN OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF
HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2019, TO JUNE 30, 2020
From Mayor Harry Kim, dated March 1, 2019, transmitting for consideration the
proposed Operating Budget for the County of Hawaii for the Fiscal Year ending
June 30, 2020. This balanced budget includes estimated revenues and
appropriations of$573,538,123; which represents a proposed 10.7 percent
increase compared to the 2018-2019 fiscal year Operating Budget.
Reference: Comm. 117
Intr. by: Ms. David (B/R)
Approve: FC-26
and
Comm. 117.14: From Mayor Harry Kim, dated May 3, 2019, transmitting Bill 30, Draft 2. Draft 2
reflects an increase in estimated revenues and appropriations of$10,314,406 over
the first draft due to updated projections for real property tax revenues, the Fund
Balance From Previous Year, and the General Excise Fund. Increases
appropriations in the following funds: General Fund, General Excise Tax Fund,
Sewer Fund, Vehicle Disposal Fund, Solid Waste Fund, Golf Course Fund,
Geothermal Relocation and Community Benefits Fund, and the Housing Fund.
Draft 2 proposes 21 additional positions, for a total of 93 new positions.
; and
Bill 30: ESTABLISHES AN OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE COUNTY OF
(Draft 2) HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2019, TO JUNE 30, 2020
Draft 2 of the proposed Operating Budget for the fiscal year ending June 30,
2020, includes estimated revenues and appropriations of$583,852,529, for a
12.7 percent increase over last year's budget.
Intr. by: Ms. David (B/R)
Page 3
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
; and
Comm. 117.18: From Council Member Maile David, dated May 13, 2019. Increases the HI
(Memo No. 1) Impact Grant, Miscellaneous Services account by $90,100. The Police
Department received more than anticipated federally derived grant funds for
combatting methamphetamine use in the County.
; and
Comm. 117.19: From Council Member Ashley Kierkiewicz, dated May 14, 2019. Reallocates
(Memo No. 2) $21,000 within the Fire Protection-Other Current Expenses account for the
purchase of two fire apparatus.
; and
Comm. 117.20: From Council Member Karen Eoff, dated May 14, 2019. Increases the
(Memo No. 3) West Hawaii Ocean Safety account by $480,000 to appropriate funds from the
State Legislature to fund four Water Safety Officer II positions and provide
lifeguard equipment and services at Kua Bay.
; and
Comm. 117.21: From Council Member Ashley Kierkiewicz, dated May 14, 2019. Increases the
(Memo No. 4) Fund Balance from Previous Year account by $25,000, and increases the Human
Resources Other Current Expenses account by the same amount to create an
Independent Whistle Blower Program.
; and
Comm. 117.22: From Council Member Ashley Kierkiewicz, dated May 14, 2019. Increases the
(Memo No. 5) Fund Balance from Previous Year account by $270,000, and increases the
Council's Contingency Relief account by the same amount.
(Note: The following were circulated: 1) Comm. 117.23 from C. Kimo Alameda,
dated May 10, 2019, transmitting clarification on the Office of Aging's budget;
2) Comm. 117.24 from Council Member Rebecca Villegas, dated May 17, 2019,
transmitting proposed amendments to Bill 30, Draft 2; and 3) Comm. 117.25 from
Finance Director Deanna Sako, dated May 22, 2019, transmitting a PowerPoint
presentation.)
Motion to Approve: Ms. David moved to pass Bill 30 on first reading and adopt
Finance Committee Report No. 26. Seconded by Ms. Eoff
CHR. CHUNG: Now, what I'm going to do is also ask for a motion to amend
Bill 30, Draft 1, with the Mayor's amended budget. I know this is very confusing.
And then after that's done, we're going to bring up the Finance Department to
give a brief presentation.
Motion to Amend: Ms. David moved to amend Bill 30 with Draft 2. Seconded
by Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
Page 4
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
CHR. CHUNG: Deanna?
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako and Deputy Director
Steven Hunt came forward to address the members of the Council.)
MS. SAKO: Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Deanna Sako, Director of
Finance, and with me is Steven Hunt, our Deputy Director. We know there's
been a lot of questions of why our budget has been increasing over the years, and
we wanted to try and address that. We know in the handout, there's a lot of
information, and it seems long but we're going to have Steve go through it and
kind of summarize it for you and just hit the key points. But we wanted you to at
least have this information as you're deliberating today and at second reading.
So, thank you.
MR. HUNT: While it's booting up, good morning, Chair Chung, Council
Members. For the record, Steve Hunt, Deputy Director of Finance.
CHR. CHUNG: You guys need a short recess? Why don't we take a short
recess?
MR. HUNT: Okay, thank you.
Recess: At 9:36 a.m., the Chair called for a recess.
Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 9:37 a.m.
CHR. CHUNG: All right, we're back on the record.
MR. HUNT: Good morning again.
(Note: At this time, Mr. Hunt gave a PowerPoint presentation to the
members of the Council. For viewing of the subject presentation, see the
DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office. A
copy of the PowerPoint presentation is made a part of the record; see
Comm. 117.25.)
MR. HUNT: Do you have any questions?
CHR. CHUNG: No, I think it pretty much speaks for itself, right? But I'm going
to open Bill 30, Draft 2, for discussion. Now, let me just set the parameters here
so we don't go too far afield. We have to accept this. Just procedurally, we have
to approve this and then we're going to go into various amendments if that's the
wish of this Council. But if anyone wants to ask questions or make comments
generally speaking or broadly about this Draft 2, now's the time. Mr. Richards,
go ahead.
Page 5
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Finance. Steve, can you
specifically talk about the unfunded liabilities? For our people viewing this,
specify EUTF (Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund), define it please.
We speak a little bit too much with acronyms. If you could define that. The total,
if I understood correctly, works out to $1 billion. Could you expand on that,
please?
MR. HUNT: Sure. First of all, the EUTF is Employer-Union Trust Fund. It's an
investment fund that is set up on behalf of the County of Hawaii employees for
retirees, and it funds their post-employment health benefits. So, when they retire,
they continue to receive their medical premiums paid for by this fund. Unlike the
ERS (Employees Retirement System), the EUTF is specifically for the County of
Hawaii. It is our fund.
So, if we were to make advance payments, we would actually see a reduction of
that unfunded liability. That is not true of ERS. With ERS, it is a comingled fund
for all government employees here within the State of Hawaii. Any prepayments
to the ERS would not be reflected to the benefit of the County of Hawaii. And
that balance is totaled. I believe it's about $13.4 billion statewide. And from the
CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report), they've allocated—they do an
actuarial and they've allocated about 610 million to the Count of Hawaii as our
portion of that underfunded liability.
MR. RICHARDS: Definite ERS just again.
MR. HUNT: Sure. ERS is the Employees Retirement System.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, thank you. And then, contributions each year, both at
EUTF and at ERS.
MR. HUNT: Sure. In percentage, we're contributing right now 36 percent
dollars or percents? Both? Oh, okay. I'll have Deanna look at the dollars `cause
I don't know them offhand right now. For our Police and Fire, we're contributing
36 percent. And for regular employees, we are currently contributing 22 percent,
and this is of their gross pay.
MS. SAKO: As of fiscal year 20.
MR. HUNT: Fiscal year 20, correct.
MS. SAKO: And then, for ERS and for all funds, we're just at $60 million. And
then, for health premiums—that was retirement. For health premiums for all
funds, we're at 64 million, but that also includes the retiree portion that Steve was
talking about.
Page 6
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
MR. RICHARDS: And do we have that split out, Deanna, between the retirees?
That includes everybody, current employees as well as former?
MS. SAKO: Yeah,just a second. It is broken out.
MR. HUNT: There are two payments. One is called "Pay As You Go,"which is
a percentage of the employees' income that goes to that, and there's also what's
called an "ARC,"which is the Annual Required Contribution, and that is for the
retirees as a catch-up payment. And those two together total the amount.
MS. SAKO: So, the post-employment benefits for the coming year is the
41.5 million, but that's the Pay As You Go and the catch up or ARC payment
altogether. And then, the health benefits for active just in General Fund is 18.6.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay. And the catch up, why are we catching up? How did
we fall behind?
MS. SAKO: I don't know that we ever fell behind. It had to do with GASB-45
(Governmental Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 45) when the
accounting standard came out. And so, when that accounting standard came out,
it said you need to be more like a for-profit entity and tell everyone what the cost
is going to be of offering these benefits. This is a benefit that's been offered for a
long time.
So, by offering these post-employment benefits or retiree medical insurance,
there's a cost to that. And we've been paying those premiums every year for a
long time now, but they said, "No, you need to put the liability on your books."
And so, anything that you weren't paying or falling behind on, you needed to put
that on your balance sheet. Then, a new GASB came out and said, "Now, instead
of just what you're not paying, based on the total amount, the actuarial amount
that is going to cost us to pay these retirees, you need to put that whole amount on
your books." That's when we got the $400 million on our balance sheet.
But in addition to that, the State Legislature enacted a law that said you're going
to fund that entire amount. So, it went from an accounting statement of saying,
"Put this amount on your balance sheet so everybody knows what you do owe,"to
now, "Fund that Annual Required Contribution," of which ours is 41.5 million.
We started funding it even prior to that State legislative act. We all realized at
that point in time that we needed to contribute to that. I believe that was when
Mayor Kim was Mayor the first time.
So, we've been contributing. We did take a couple years' break during the
recession but then the law was enacted and now we're fully phased in, different
percentages each year. Now, we're paying that ARC at 100 percent. And so,
that's what that 41.5 million represents. But when we say "catch up,"it's because
Page 7
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
back in the mid-1950s or whenever that law may have first been enacted, we've
been paying the medical insurance but we never paid enough for that employee to
have it paying upfront during their service time. And that's what those GASB
standards basically do.
MR. RICHARDS: A couple of years ago, we had the actuarial tables change.
And, lucky we live Hawaii, we live longer now.
MS. SAKO: Yes, we do.
MR. RICHARDS: But did that also affect these contributions?
MS. SAKO: It did affect both of them. We were fortunate in that on the ERS it
had a more significant impact, partly because we are part of the statewide system,
which include teachers. Teachers work hard with students, tend to retire right at
55 or after 30 years of service, and then live an extremely long life. So, that
group especially, I think, kind of impacted the ERS. On the medical benefits, our
post-employment medical, in that case it did impact it but we had offsets by gains
and investments. So, we didn't see us as a significant impact on that particular
liability.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, thank you. I'll yield at this point.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. Villegas.
MS. VILLEGAS: Hi, Deanna. Thank you for being here. I just want to
personally thank both of you for being so great to work with and humble in your
presentations of very complicated numbers, and making my adjustment to this
new role as smooth as possible. So, thank you for that. I really appreciate it.
MS. SAKO: Thank you.
MS. VILLEGAS: Just for the sake of those that may not know—and I am still
unfamiliar with the exact specifics—what are post-employment health benefits
and how does that operate? I feel like that might shed some light on not only why
that amount is so much but also, as we all know, the increasing cost of health
insurance and how that affects those numbers.
MS. SAKO: So, I honestly can't tell you when it started, but a number of years
ago, the Legislature enacted the benefits for pretty much all State and County
employees. We follow HRS (Hawai`i Revised Statutes). We're mandated to
participate in the Employees Retirement System and to offer these post-
employment medical benefits. So, it says that when you retire, based on your
years of service, you will get medical benefits as well.
Page 8
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
Over the years, the State has realized that, that was something that is extremely
costly. So, depending on when you started with the County, your benefits are
different. Slowly, over the years, those benefits have been decreasing. They
started out at one point where a retiree would get medical benefits for that retiree
and their family, then it reduced to a retiree and spouse, and then it's reduced to
just the retiree now, or the employee when they retire. And also, you have to
accumulate a certain number of years of service. I think it's betweenI think
right now it's 25 years to get full medical when you retire. At 10 years, you
might get, like, 50 percent or, at 20 years, 75 percent. There's different levels that
you hit.
So, we're mandated to pay that. And previously, ERS would basically—not ERS,
sorry. EUTF, our medical provider, would send us a bill saying, "Here's all your
retirees that retired from the County of Hawai`i." And it's based on the last
employer you have `cause there are many people who actually may have worked
State and then County and then State or maybe transferred to the County of Maui.
But whichever County or employer you retire from, that's who pays the bill. So,
they would send us those monthly insurance bills, basically, and we would pay
them. It was only in, roughly, 2008 that we had to start paying these excess
amounts or we started paying these amounts.
So, we are actually in pretty good shape compared to the State. We started paying
quite early; that really has helped. So, we areI know it doesn't sound like
much, but I think Steve told me it's 27 percent that we are fully funded. And we
picked the 30-year fixed amount so that, at the end of the initial 30-year period in
roughly 2038, the plan will be fully funded. So, while it's painful right now to be
making these payments—and they are sizeable—in the future we are hoping that
the next generation will have a lesser tax bill to fill.
MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. I appreciate that definition and explanation. I
guess it always kind of strikes me that it's challenging for even myself and a lot of
constituents to look at a budget this big and not go, "Aah, that's our tax money!"
But, on the same token, the County of Hawaii is the largest employer, I believe,
in our County, and these monies are going to take care of the people that work
within our County and for our County. So, I just—maybe I'm a little Pollyanna
but there is a thank you for the responsibility that you've taken to pay it forward
and to invest in the future. And while we're struggling in some capacities, we're
not struggling as some other counties. Thank you for doing that because we're
paying it forward.
MS. SAKO: I don't have my CAFR with me, but I think we're the second largest
employer on the island because the State has all those teachers.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. We're right up there.
Page 9
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
MS. SAKO: I think they outnumber us.
MS. VILLEGAS: And we take good care of our employees. And for that, I'm
very grateful. Thank you, I yield.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Deanna and Steve, and to
everyone at Finance for all the hard work that you do to craft this budget. I sat
down with Bill Kucharski, and he told me that four months out of the year is
dedicated to just working on the following year's budget. So, I know that you
guys have your fingers on where every single dollar is for our County, and I thank
you for that.
I just wonder about the sustainability and affordability of all these new positions.
I believe that when we got the first proposed draft budget, there was a proposed
52 new positions, and now that's grown by 41 to 93 new positions. So, I wonder
if you do any cost analysis to project what that's going to cost us in perpetuity.
MS. SAKO: First of all, I just wanted to correct that there were more positions in
the first one. There are 21 new ones in this second draft. And of these ones in the
second draft, the ones for Fire are all grant funded, both through an EMS
(Emergency Medical Services) grant and then also for our ocean safety grant. So,
that was 12 of those positions, I think.
So, while we do look at, in total, we know we're going to have to pay the cost in
the future, we also look at what the need is right now. So, there's a balance and
yes. So, we keep that in mind, but that's not the sole driving force. Some of it is,
what do we need right now to provide the services that are needed by the
community?
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Those determinations, are they prioritized just by
department or how all of the departments function cohesively together to meet the
County's mission?
MS. SAKO: I think some of each. I think sometimes we look at department by
department, what their needs are. But then, also, we put all the needs of each
department together to say, kind of, what can help or provide the most benefits for
the communityI'm not probably saying that quite right. But there's, like, a cost
analysis in other ways, too.
And one is three of those positions were for Finance, to add to Vehicle
Registration and Licensing. I know West Hawaii notices it more than
East Hawaii, but I know they're tired of getting phone calls about the complaints.
I know they look out from their office, and they see the long lines; and people can
Page 10
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
walls directly to their office to complain to them. So, we really are trying to look
at that. Having to wait several hours to renew your driver's license is not
realistic. And so, we do look at things, like we believe that benefit to the citizens
and the customers is important right now.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: During the budget hearings where we got the departments
to present on what their needs were, there was a cry from the Prosecuting
Attorney's Office for more clerical staff, and this new budget doesn't reflect more
clerical positions. There's one Legal Clerk III, but I'm told that there's a need for
several more because they're just inundated with paperwork. And many of them
are having to stay way past dinner time and work on the weekends in order to get
paperwork through so that prosecutors have everything in line to be able to go to
court the following week.
MS. SAKO: So, we asked them which level of position they needed, and they
came back with Legal Clerk III, which is what we provided them. I believe
they're at about 3,000 hours of overtime. And one person working a full year is
2,080 hours. So, that would bring them down to where they were at in previous
years. I'm not saying that everybody needs to work overtime.
My thought process, also, was that we're staffing out police this year, and it will
take them a little bit of time to get those positions staffed and filled. And then, as
more arrests and things are made, Prosecutors are probably going to be needing
more staff in the following year as things continue to roll down their way. But we
did hear them, and we did provide a position for them.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So, it's possible that when we talk about next fiscal year's
budget, there's going to be more positions for the Prosecutor's Office.
MS. SAKO: I also heard them talking about technology and different systems.
So, I think as we go through the next process, we can see if any of that technology
or other things helped or if it's really they do need additional staff I know part of
the workload this year was related to the police RMS (Records Management
System), and I thought I heard that they were going to get more training or we'd
try to provide that for them to see if that helped. But if that doesn't help and they
need more staff, then, right, we may have to look at that in the coming year.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. A couple of other questions. What percentage of
our budget is held in reserve for rainy days or emergencies? `Cause, I tried to go
through the budget. It's massive. It's very comprehensive, but
MS. SAKO: So, it's actually on our balance sheet. So, our Budget Stabilization
Fund, our rainy day fund is a little over $6 million. By our County Code, we're
required to put 250,000 a year in that fund.
Page 11
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Do you think that's sufficient considering we just had a
lava flow with a couple of storms last year?
MS. SAKO: Probably not. But also, given the use of that fund, we can only use
it when we have a severe revenue decline. It's not an easy fund to access as well.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: That's helpful. I guess, you know, you've heard me say it
before and I'm just going to say it again because I have an audience, I would love
for us to move towards budgeting for outcomes. We had this discussion yesterday
when we talked about our grant-in-aid process where we want to now look at
what nonprofits in the community are doing with the money we provide them.
And I think that the County should be working towards articulating these
countywide outcomes and visions that we want to achieve, and getting
departments to work more efficiently and more collaboratively together to achieve
those goals. I think it's how we can ensure that we will still continue to provide
high-quality critical services but also ensuring that fiscal responsibility that many
of our constituents require of us. So, with that I yield, Chair. Thanks, you guys.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. Lee Loy.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Deanna, Steve, thanks for being here.
Ms. Villegas is correct. It's really complex. This budget is very different than a
checkbook. And so, if I ask this question and it seems rather confusing, it's
`cause I'm not sure if I'm asking it correctly. So, you mentioned we have about
41.5 million in the books for catch up. How does the 93 new positions impact
that catch-up number?
MS. SAKO: So, when they do the actuarial study, there is the piece from the
past: Employees that have already retired, basically. Some of them may have
been retired for 20 years already. They are looking at how much more do we
have to pay that retiree, and they're putting it in a bucket of, like, that past service,
okay. That's, like, the catch-up piece that they feel like we should have already
100 percent funded. Then, there's an employee, like myself let's say, right? And
so, this year I am working for one year, and they look at it as to how many more
years I have until retirement. And they're basing that piece on my years of
service so that, if it's 25 years that you need to accumulate to get that medical
premium, we're basically setting aside 1251h based on the actuarial studies. So,
these people are not having quite a significant impact on that number because
we're going to be doing it for each year they're working. And we're taking that
into account now.
So, that catch-up piece shouldn't be growing anymore. That should kind of be set
already, and we're basically paying it down each year. Whereas, the new
employees, we definitely are aware that we have that liability and we need to pay
them in the future. We're taking it into account 125�h or 130'h at a time. When I
Page 12
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
say, like, 130'h, there's a lot of tables these actuaries use, and there's a lot of life
expectancies. Police officers may have different life expectancies from teachers,
male versus female—all the different things they take into account.
MS. LEE LOY: Thanks, Deanna. So, your best guesstimate to pay down the
$41 million, how many years?
MS. SAKO: So, we believe by 2028—and the 41 million is actually for past and
current payments. There's a lot that goes into that, but by 2038, all that past
service should be done already.
MS. LEE LOY: Steve, you also mentioned there were some percentages. For
Police and Fire, it's 36 percent. For all our other employees, it's 22 percent. So,
a similar question: How does the new 41 positions for Police kind of adjust that
percentage?
MR. HUNT: It will be an adjustment to the amount of fringe that we will be
budgeting or is budgeted to cover that. And again, we're not at the end of the
cycle for those contributions. So, they actually still have another year where
they're going up from 36 percent to 41 percent and up to 25 percent. So, not only
do we have it provisioned this year, but those provisions will increase for next
year.
MS. SAKO: So, the difference between the OPEB (Other Post-Employment
Benefits), or post-employment medical, and the ERS is that, as Steve mentioned,
we have this liability that is ours and ours alone for the medical. We were able to
get EUTF to break that out for each employer. So, we know exactly what our
portion is.
When we look at the State, we are one big pool, okay. And so, they have an
actuarial study done, but we're not paying based on an actuarial study. They
needed a mechanism to kind of bill each County, and that's why we pay the
percentage rate on every salary dollar that we pay out. And so, those percentages
basically are covering both the catch-up portion and the current portion going
forward.
So, it is helping to cover, but we have based it on that 40—well, for this year, 36
and 22. Going forward, we know next year there is one more rate increase and
we'll be looking at that. Then, we believe those rates will not be increased again.
I think I've talked before that this increase, these four years of increases, came
right off of five other years of increases. So, we're really at, like, Year 8 now of
increases, which is a little overwhelming. But when the actuaries looked at and
helped the ERS set the rates of the Legislature, set the rates for the coming years,
we believe that when next year's rates go into effect, which will be 24 and 41,
those will not be changed for some time to come.
Page 13
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
MS. LEE LOY: This is my final question. You mentioned the Fire positions;
they're grant funded.
MS. SAKO: Correct.
MS. LEE LOY: So, my question is if we're getting grant monies to pay for
them
MS. SAKO: We make the State pay it all.
MS. LEE LOY: So, all of this, OPEB and these ERS contributions will come out
of the grant funding, and we're not going to be carrying those.
MS. SAKO: Right. Pretty much all of our grant positions, it's one of the things
we have asked Fire to go back to the State for in the past, like if there's pay raises,
if there's fringe benefit increases. We've been very fortunate that the State has
been willing to fund all of those as well. So, when we look at these grant
positions, they are pretty much 100 percent funded by the State, including those
fringe benefits.
MS. LEE LOY: And that would go for any grant funded position?
MS. SAKO: Yes. Once in a while, we may make the decision that it's worth it to
pay the fringes. What's happened over the years is sometimes we have things
like—okay, even the Finance Department, we have positions with the State, that
they help us to fund some of our Vehicle Registration and Licensing and other
positions. We keep billing them more. But in the case where it's a fixed amount,
and I think the Prosecutors have some of these where it's a fixed amount, the
grant may be a little bit short but I don't believe it's much that the County's
paying for those. But I just can't say it's 100 percent in every case, but 99 percent
of our positions are 100 percent funded.
MS. LEE LOY: Sorry, I lied, I have one more question. For Mass Transit, those
salaries and wages are coming out of our Highway Fund?
MS. SAKO: We moved them to the General Excise Tax Fund.
MS. LEE LOY: Oh, so, the GE(General Excise).
MS. SAKO: Yeah, the GE.
MS. LEE LOY: Tell me again when the GE ends.
MS. SAKO: 2030.
Page 14
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
MS. LEE LOY: And so, what happens to these positions come 2031 when we're
not getting any more GE? Were those
MS. SAKO: They can either go to Highway Fund or back to General Fund.
MS. LEE LOY: Are we planning for that date? `Cause, we're going to have
these employees on our books and then that source of funding is going to possibly
evaporate in which, at that time, they're going to become our employees, and at
which time we're going to have to pay for them out of the
MS. SAKO: Are you speaking to the new positions or to the existing ones?
`Cause, right now, we have existing positions that we've been paying for out of
General Fund all these times, and so I would assume General Fund would resume
paying for them. Of course, it's possible that things may be different and
Highway Fund could absorb them as well. So, same thing.
So, with the new positions, we would look at either General Fund or Highway
Fund being able to absorb them. And I think right now we're looking at it that
these positions are critical to maintain operations right now and that, as we get the
new buses, maybe we won't need as many mechanics and maybe through attrition
later on, seven years from now, one of them, we might not need one of those
positions and we would be able to reduce it.
MS. LEE LOY: Thanks, Deanna. I mean, I have to agree with my colleagues.
I've been rather concerned on how sustainable our budget is, especially with the
employee benefits and the costs associated with them. And then, I do have a
concern about some of the buckets of money that we are getting that may not be
available ten years down the road. But it sounds like you guys have given it some
thought. But I would like to see some kind of trend or how we can start planning
for those types of positions and how, maybe, the funding source may not be
available for them anymore and then what that plan looks like.
I know we're here, right, at 2019-2020, but those things happen so incredibly fast.
And so, I just kind of want to put a pin in that or maybe ping you folks about how
we start building that into our future budgets. Chair, I yield. Thank you, Steve.
Deanna, thank you so much.
CHR. CHUNG: Anyone else? Okay, before we take a vote onoh, yeah, go
ahead, Matt. Yes.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Good morning.
MS. SAKO: Good morning.
Page 15
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I had questions about the GE tax. So, the
GE tax was expanded from 25 million to 32 million, but I didn't see that
represented in the current breakdown of what we have in front of us. It still totals
out to 25 million.
MS. SAKO: Okay, so, unless we printed something wrong,just a minute. So, in
Fund 25, in the green version, on page 36, there's a breakout of the 32 million.
And the amount to Mass Transit, I believe, didn't really change but the Transfer
to Capital Projects Fund and Debt Service are the numbers that changed.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So, it's not in this that we have right
now.
MS. SAKO: So, when we amended to Draft 2, I mean this is, I believe, Draft 2,
the green one. That's where we already reflected that increase. Pages 35 and 36.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, so, that is taken into account, though?
MS. SAKO: Yes, we did. Yes.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. A lot of the minor changes to salary
and wages, less than a position-worth of funds, you know, it's not 42, it's not 62,
it's not 80. Those slight changes in salary and wages, what are those across all
the departments?
MS. SAKO: So, throughout the year, there's personnel changes people leave;
we hire new people. So, someone may have gotten promoted and we didn't
budget enough in the March budget, so they amended it to match the person that's
in the position when we did the May budget. It could be someone got reallocated.
In a lot of cases, someone retired and the person that's going to come in to fill that
position is going to be at a lower step. And so, in some cases, there were actually
decreases as well. So, it's basically truing up to our current workforce to modify
our expected expenditures and salaries and wages.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And the decrease in the Geothermal
Fund, I think it was $600,000 and that there's two different funds, it looks like.
There's a royal—is that right—royalties and proceeding?
MS. SAKO: Yeah. So, there's the royalties and then the assets. So, the
Geothermal Community Benefit and Relocation Fund, that one I believe is where
they reduce the royalties given that they don't believe Puna Geothermal will be
starting up by July 1st. So, they just wanted to reduce it to have a more realistic
expectation of the revenues they expect to receive.
Page 16
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then, grant positions. When we
have grant-funded positionsI'm touching on what Ms. Lee Loy said—when the
grant goes away and we still have the employee for the Fire Department or Police,
whoever it may be, what happens to that position? `Cause, the grant is a little bit
different from our GE income.
MS. SAKO: Right. Most of the grant positions are temporary in nature. Some of
these, we call them permanent. But basically, when the funding goes away, the
position would go away. And so, those employees would, like, let's say Fire
positions, if the grant funding went away, then we would kind of absorb them into
our other County positions and basically not hire new recruits until we were able
to be back down to where we should be.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, so, they don't go away. We
re-absorb—
MS. SAKO: I think in the Fire Department—for most of our grant positions in
other departments, they are temporary positions. No grant funding, no job. I
mean, that's kind of harsh. But in the Fire Department
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's good.
MS. SAKO: Yeah, it is good. No, it is. I'm not disagreeing with you, but yeah.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: That's not harsh. That's just real.
MS. SAKO: It's real. But in the Fire Department, we have so many positions
that are grant funded by EMS that if we called some of them temporary, then we
would not be—most of our permanent employees would not be willing to take
that position. They would never want to be EMS trained. So, they are all
considered permanent positions. But if we lost the EMS grant, we would
immediately stop hiring and, through attrition most likely, work towards being
down to where we only need firefighters. I don't foresee that happening. I'm just
explaining what would happen if that did happen.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And then two other questions, maybe more.
MS. SAKO: That's fine.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: As I read through the different departments,
I noticed that Fire and Police have some huge overtime expenses budgeted. Fire
Department coming in at 4.1 million and Police coming in at 1.6 million. Are
those normal numbers?
Page 17
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
MS. SAKO: I believe those numbers are normal. The actual overtime this year
was much larger, partly due to the disasters we had. But overtime also can be a
factor of having to go to court on your day off, for police officers. For Fire, if
Police, for that matter, too, for all departments—more so Fire and Police, if
someone calls in sick, then frequently they have to call someone back to work to
fill that position so that they have adequate staffing. In Finance, if someone calls
in sick, I don't have to call someone back in. It's okay. We can wait a day.
So, they do have a more significant overtime than the other departments. But,
especially in Fire with that rank-for-rank, we have to call in a high-level employee
to come back and to fill a high-level employee being out sick. So, that's part of
the reason overtime's so high. And Fire might be able to better explain that to
you.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Not at this time. Coming from being an
employee and an employer, when you start having massive amounts of overtime,
you either start finding more positions, which is kind of counterintuitive but it
makes sense in the long run. So, I'm wondering if we need to be looking at more
positions, which is again counterintuitive but leads to decreased overtime.
MS. SAKO: So, I believe, in the past when we've had all of our positions filled,
there was still overtime to cover sick leave and vacations and whatnot. But
you're right, typically. But I think right now, in any given point in time for both
Police and Fire, it's hard to have every single position filled. I mean, `cause they
always have a recruit class that's in training. So, there will always be some
overtime. But, yes, we can talk to them and see if that would help reduce the
overtime.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, `cause I mean, time-and-a-half is
expensive.
MS. SAKO: It is.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And that's nothing new. And then the
engineering increases, where did that come from? Was that a request or is that ?
MS. SAKO: I believe, with all of the work that needs to be done from some of
our disasters, especially Hurricane Lane has a lot of roadwork, they needed
additional positions to do the design and get those projects off the ground. And I
believe those are in the Highway Fund.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, but yeah, I noticed that. And then
GE, I had two questions about the GE, sorry. Some of our GE funds, $5 million
are going to Debt Service, another 9.5 going to Mass Transit—and this is a little
Page 18
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
bit outdated; I think that's what we're using today. And then we have some going
to heath fund, the ERS, like you were talking about. Is that going to be the norm
for the GE?
MS. SAKO: The Debt Service will kind of be the norm for the GE. That is all
related to roads, so it's an allowable use of that fund and it helped to free up some
of the General Fund. In terms of the GE, I mean, yes, this would kind of be the
norm, but each year when Mass Transit does the budget, they'll also be looking at
the Mass Transit Master Plan to be sure we're able to carry that out as planned as
well.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: As these funds start to come out of the GE
fund, I would guess that we should have more funds available for other things.
MS. SAKO: That's correct, yes.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So, give me some examples of the
25 million that we're not spending.
MS. SAKO: So,part of it was that 5 or 6 million came out of General Fund.
Mass Transit used to be funded by General Fund and then the Debt Service came
out of General Fund so that GET (General Excise Tax) can pay it. And then,
those funds were freed up to provide the additional police officers. Was that the
question?
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So, GE covered Mass Transit, Debt Service,
and a few other things. And it's going to go to Health Fund, Police. Anything
else? That it goes directly like where you saw a direct consequence. Like, we
have funds now, and this is going to ?
MS. SAKO: So, the new positions that were created, but then also the other
increases such as the obligations that Steve talked about: the ERS, the OPEB, and
all of those. And then Police, which is Unit 12, and UPW (United Public
Workers), which is Unit 1. In the budget, each position has the correct amount
because they had already negotiated four-year contracts. But like for Fire and all
of HGEA (Hawai`i Government Employees Association), we were in the process
of negotiating. And so, those pay raises are in this provision for compensation
adjustment. So, everything, you know, we were able to balance the budget,
basically, by covering those costs.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. So,just general then, okay. Thank
you. I appreciate it.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. Villegas.
Page 19
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
MS. VILLEGAS: Hi, Deanna and Steve, again. Quick question. `Cause,
yesterday in Committee we were talking about the recent arbitration with the Fire
Department and what has been allotted there. It's my understanding that the
arbitrator identified our County budget as being strong enough and having the
resources to pay not only the raises but also bonuses. So, is that included in here?
Or what happens if that goes, I guess, past?
MS. SAKO: Well, we have a provision in each fund that has employees,
basically, to cover Fire and HGEA or any other raises that might be granted. And
so, we did our best to predict what that was. We used what we knew, like the
2 percent across the board and the step movements from some of the other unions
to kind of predict that. And at the last minute, as we became aware of changes to
the collective bargaining, we did kind of try to factor that in. We're also hoping
that some positions are vacant and the full amountI mean, that we'll be able to
cover it with vacant positions as well.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. Thank you for doing that. I yield.
CHR. CHUNG: All right. We have a motion on the floor. Before we take a vote,
though,just for the viewing audience, the discussion that we had was really brief
in relation to some of the concerns that we have regarding the budget. And I just
wanted to let, again, those who are not privy to the information that we have,
particularly with regard to our Charter-developed system, is that this Draft 2, as
unfortunate as it may be, will be summarily passed. And it will act as the vehicle
for more amendments to come, and that's when all of the action is going to occur,
probably in a few minutes, and then over the next several weeks and certainly two
weeks from now when we take it up again. Okay. Having said that, we have a
motion on the floor to approve Bill Number 30, Draft 2. All those in favor, say
Ic aye.
Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 30 with Draft 2 was carried by
Amend: the following voice vote:
(Approved)
Ayes: Council Members David, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Lee Loy, Poindexter, Villegas, and
Chair Chung–8.
Noes: Council Member Richards – 1.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. CHUNG: Motion is carried. Bill Number 30, Draft 2, is approved. Let's
see, now. Let's go on to—we have a number of communications. These will be
proposed amendments to Bill 30, Draft 2. Who'd like to take a stab at it first?
Page 20
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
MR. HENRICKS: Mr. Chair, I'll go ahead and just read them as to what we have
on the agenda in that order. And we'll go ahead and check those off until we get
to the ones that aren't on the agenda.
CHR. CHUNG: Okay, go ahead. All right.
Comm. 117.18: From Council Member Maile David, dated May 13, 2019. Increases the HI
(Memo No. 1) Impact Grant, Miscellaneous Services account by $90,100. The Police
Department received more than anticipated federally derived grant funds for
combatting methamphetamine use in the County.
Motion to Amend: Ms. David moved to amend Bill 30, Draft 2, with the
contents of Comm. 117.18. Seconded by Ms. Eoff.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. David.
MS. DAVID: Thank you, Chair. This, I believe, is a—the communication
expresses the intent of this amendment is, from my understanding and
Director Sako can correct me if I'm wrong, the initial 300,000 that was expected
from this grant. Actually, when they got the final figures, it was actually $90,000
more. And so, this amendment basically puts in that 90,000 and it doesn't do
anything more to our budget. So, is that okay? That's correct? All right. So,
based on that, I yield and ask for your support. Thank you.
CHR. CHUNG: Seems simple enough. Any further discussion? There being
none, all those in favor say "aye."
Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 30, Draft 2, with the contents of
Amend: Comm. 117.18 was carried by the following voice vote:
(Approved)
Ayes: Council Members David, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy,
Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and
Chair Chung–9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. CHUNG: Motion carried. Mr. Clerk.
Comm. 117.19: From Council Member Ashley Kierkiewicz, dated May 14, 2019. Reallocates
(Memo No. 2) $21,000 within the Fire Protection-Other Current Expenses account for the
purchase of two fire apparatus.
Page 21
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
Motion to Further Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to further amend Bill 30, Draft 2,
Amend: with the contents of Comm. 117.19. Seconded by
Ms. Lee Loy.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. We have Chief Rosario in the audience
if anyone has questions. But when we had our special hearings for the budget,
Fire, one, had indicated that there is a critical need to ensure that we have the best
equipment and apparatus available to our first respondents at all times. And so, I
was able to work with him and his business agent Melanio to figure out where we
could find some funds in order to ensure that we've got an apparatus and a brush
truck added to the revolving list of equipment that needed to be swapped out.
And so, we were able to find funds in the Fire Department's budget. So, we're
not pulling from anyone else, and they were able to secure a grant for SCBA
(Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus) masks and other materials. So, that's what
we're going to be pulling from this proposed fiscal year. Just asking my
colleagues for their support on this.
CHR. CHUNG: So, basically, this was a collaboration, you working with the Fire
Department and moving things around within the department.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yes. Correct.
CHR. CHUNG: Okay. Chief, do you have anything you want to say, or was that
pretty much it? Okay.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chief.
CHR. CHUNG: All right. We have a motion on the floor. All those in favor,
signify by saying "aye."
Vote on Motion to The motion to further amend Bill 30, Draft 2, with the
Further Amend: contents of Comm. 117.19 was carried by the following
(Approved) voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members David, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy,
Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and
Chair Chung—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. CHUNG: Motion carried. Mr. Clerk.
Page 22
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
Comm. 117.20: From Council Member Karen Eoff, dated May 14, 2019. Increases the
(Memo No. 3) West Hawaii Ocean Safety account by $480,000 to appropriate funds from the
State Legislature to fund four Water Safety Officer II positions and provide
lifeguard equipment and services at Kua Bay.
Motion to Further Ms. Eoff moved to further amend Bill 30, Draft 2, with the
Amend: contents of Comm. 117.20. Seconded by Ms. David.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. Eoff
MS. EOFF: I'm very happy to be able to finally do this. As Frank Sayre earlier
in testimony had mentioned, we've been working towards these positions for
many years now. And thank you to Chief and thank you to the State Legislature.
Actually, we put a resolution forward to HSAC (Hawai`i State Association of
Counties) to include this need into the HSAC package, and I think it was sort of a
successful exercise that finally something from the HSAC package got funded by
the State Legislature. And I'd like to thank our Senator Kanuha as well as
Representative Nicole Lowen and others in the State Legislature for urging the
Governor to include this in their budget.
So, what this does is add the grant monies from the State as expenses to our
budget for the positions as well as the related needs. And to
Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder's question earlier, I believe that although it's in this
year's State budget, once it gets in there once, they usually continue to fund this
need. So, we're hoping that these lifeguards will always be at Kua Bay,
definitely. Thank you.
CHR. CHUNG: Very good and congratulations. So, basically this accounts for
the infusion of money that we're going to get from the State, right?
MS. EOFF: Exactly.
CHR. CHUNG: Correct. Congratulations to all of you.
MS. EOFF: It adds the line item in the operating budget, and I believe that the
positions were already created as well.
CHR. CHUNG: Very good. Congratulations to all of you for all of your hard
work. We have a motion on the floor. All of those in favor, signify by saying
Ic aye.
Page 23
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
Vote on Motion to The motion to further amend Bill 30, Draft 2, with the
Further Amend: contents of Comm. 117.20 was carried by the following
(Approved) voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members David, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy,
Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and
Chair Chung—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. CHUNG: Motion carried.
Comm. 117.21: From Council Member Ashley Kierkiewicz, dated May 14, 2019. Increases the
(Memo No. 4) Fund Balance from Previous Year account by $25,000, and increases the Human
Resources Other Current Expenses account by the same amount to create an
Independent Whistle Blower Program.
Motion to Further Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to further amend Bill 30, Draft 2,
Amend: with the contents of Comm. 117.21. Seconded by
Ms. Lee Loy.
CHR. CHUNG: Discussion, Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I might get a little bit of flak from you
`cause you've been on the Council before and I'm drawing on Fund Balance. I
just noticed that there was an increase over the current fiscal year by about
$5 million, and I saw this as an opportunity to fund something really critical that
was pointed out in a report by the Legislative Auditor in November 2017, and that
was the implementation of a whistle blower program.
I've made it known, and I'm sure you all have received anonymous letters and
calls from the public and even County employees sharing their concerns. This
would create a space for people to be able to report and share these concerns and
issues that they may have without fear of retaliation. And so, I was able to work
with Finance and Director Brilhante of Human Resources who is here. I'd love to
be able to call him up and share remarks if he has anything to add.
But this $25,000 request is, I think, a very small ask to implement a very
important program. And I know that he and his staff had been working very hard
at investigating how we would go about implementing this. And so, I'm just
going to turn it over to the Director.
Page 24
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
(Note: At this time, Human Resources Director William Brilhante came
forward to address the members of the Council.)
MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you. Good morning. William Brilhante, Director of
the Department of Human Resources. Good morning, Chair and Council
Members. Ms. Kierkiewicz is correct in that this matter directly stems from the
2017 HR (Department of Human Resources) recruitment audit. It was one of the
items specifically identified as recommendations for improvement, one of seven
items. At this point in time, it's the last item that has not been directly addressed
or remedied.
So, it was a passion of former Recruitment Division Manager Gabriella Cabanas,
and she initiated the process and she initiated the investigation and
communication with possible service providers. And the information we got back
is that, which was surprising to me, is that we're one of the few jurisdictions that
doesn't have this type of program in place already. The City and County of
Honolulu, all eight campuses of the University of Hawaii college system, they all
have some type of program like this in place.
What this program would do—and through the service provider is a third-party
independent provider who would monitor the established hotline where any of the
County employees or members of the public would come in and report an issue or
a problem. So, it's 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. And in
addition to that, when a complaint comes in, there's always the issue as to is this a
real complaint or is it bogus or should it be looked into?
So, part of this service that the vendor would provide is that they go and they
conduct the initial investigation and they just do a first review of the problem.
`Cause, what we hear is like on Oahu, oftentimes under the City and County they
receive numerous complaints because of potholes on the road. Obviously, that's
something that should be addressed from a governmental standpoint. And so,
those complaints are forwarded to the appropriate departments.
But the more substantial issues are if there's any complaints regarding, maybe,
some type of alleged or potential malfeasance. Those are the ones that we want to
make sure that we are able to address, one, timely as well as affording our
employees and as well as the members of the public the safeguards that they know
that the fear of retaliation would be much less in a situation like this if we were to
establish the program.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Director, and a special shout out to retired
Gabriella Cabanas for all of her hard work in putting all the pieces together and
figuring out how we can implement this. I'm going to yield for now. The
Director's here. Deanna Sako is also here to answer any questions about this. So,
thank you, and I just ask for your support.
Page 25
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
CHR. CHUNG: Anyone else? Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So, this creates a hotline for the public or
County to call if they have an issue they feel cannot be resolved by any other
agency that exists or by the County itself when they have an issue.
MR. BRILHANTE: That's correct. That's the proposal on the table right now.
And I failed to mention the estimated cost associated with this is between
20-25,000 per year, and I think that's the basis for this funding request.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And what happens when they call the
hotline and there is an issue? Who, then, takes care of it?
MR. BRILHANTE: That's the next step that we're investigating right now. I
believe there's a meeting tomorrow with myself, Mitch Roth of the Prosecutor's
Office, and Bonnie Nims from the Legislative Auditor's Office. We're trying to
brainstorm and come up with a reasonable process or set of procedures where we
can have an identified individual who would then be on the receiving end and
would facilitate any additional investigation or anything that needs to take place
in order to properly address the issue that was brought to our attention.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And the cost of that would be above and
beyond the 25,000, I'm guessing?
MR. BRILHANTE: Well, the cost—and that's the discussion we're going to
have, is our desire would be that we could utilize a current employee or someone
currently within one of those two departments. But if the response we get back
and we'll have a better idea tomorrow that they just don't have anybody
available, then there may be a need to look at, maybe, an additional funding with
a position or something of the like. With the other jurisdictions, they use current
employees to do the follow-up, and they have a procedure in place where they can
get the complaint forwarded to an investigator. The investigator will look into it
in an investigation and then come back with a conclusion as to whether or not
there's sufficient evidence to move forward on it.
And a lot of it is going to be determinative on the type of complaint. If it's a
complaint regarding criminal misconduct, then I'm sure that will go to the
Prosecutor's Office for their regular evaluation. If it's something that involves,
maybe, a violation of the Ethics Code, then I'm sure it will move in that direction.
So, a lot of it is going to be on a case-by-case basis as to what is the specific
course of action that we take.
Page 26
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I like the idea. I wonder about the funding.
And then I also have just got to ask, are there notagain, I'm an employer and
I've been an employee and I've seen both sides—but is there not existing whistle
blower protection that exists beyond the County even higher than that?
MR. BRILHANTE: Well, under the HRS there is a specific whistle blower
statute, which specifically affords protections for employees who are, you know,
who report potential problems
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: For any employee of anything, I guess.
MR. BRILHANTE: Correct. Yes, that's statewide under the HRS. Here, what
happened during the audit was a lot of the information that the Legislative
Auditor's got back during the audit process was that although there was some
concern raised by the employees, the fear of retaliation was so great that a lot of
them expressed the opinion that, that was the primary reason why they didn't
report or take any action.
So, from an employer's standpoint, we're hoping that, again it's a
recommendation stemming from the audit and we're hoping that by affording this,
by incorporating, implementing a system like this, then it will give our employees
the sense that we care about them, and we're confident that we can provide them
adequate protections. And if they see something that's not supposed to be done
and they're going to report it, then they should have enough security within
themselves that they're not going to be retaliated against. And that's what the
basis of this program is.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. David.
MS. DAVID: Thank you, Chair. Aloha, Director. I just have a question. Thanks
for explaining that. I believe it's important that employees feel safe in reporting
things that should be reported. How have we been handling these situations
before?
MR. BRILHANTE: From a formal standpoint, if there's an issue with an
employment matter or someone feels like they were not properly treated, we have
the internal complaint process. But that's a more formalized process, which we
afford all our employees. Outside of that, it's just the standard, "Well, notify your
supervisor and they'll run it up the flagpole, and hopefully somebody will stand
and salute." But other than that
Page 27
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
MS. DAVID: Other than that, this is meant basically for people that are afraid to
come forward because of retaliation, like you said. And so, this agent or
contractor or vendor would do all the investigations. How would the unions fit
into, the bargaining units fit into this sort of setup?
MR. BRILHANTE: Well, the proposal on the table right now is for the vendor to
monitor as well as conduct the initial investigation to kind of just look at the
general scope of the complaint and make a determination as to where it should be
directed to. As to the second part of your question, the unions, again it'll be on a
case-by-case basis. If it's an allegation of misconduct or wrongdoing, like any
other investigation the investigation will commence. They would have findings.
They would have recommendations. The employee would be notified and then
the normal collective bargaining arbitration grievance procedure would transpire.
MS. DAVID: Okay, so, this is basically a collection of concerns or calls and then
they will forward it out to the appropriate, once they make their investigation.
MR. BRILHANTE: Absolutely correct.
MS. DAVID: Okay. `Cause, I was just thinking along the same lines as
Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. That 25,000, what do you get with 25,000? This is a
complicated process, right? So, I understand what you're saying, that this is just
the beginning. I'm glad that we have something like that, and I think the vendor
would be also in a position to weed out legitimate claims and also some that are
not so legitimate. Right?
MR. BRILHANTE: That's correct, yes.
MS. DAVID: Okay. All right, thank you very much. I yield.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to respond to some
remarks that my colleagues Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and Ms. David mentioned:
This is just the beginning. There was a clear need from the Legislative Auditor's
report that we needed a program of this manner. And I think it will help to
increase the level of transparency and accountability that we have in our County
operations. I've already filed a communication to discuss this program and
implementation beyond the hotline at our June meeting.
And so, I'll be meeting with Director Brilhante, Prosecuting Attorney Mitch Roth,
and Legislative Auditor Bonnie Nims tomorrow to talk about the sustainability
and how we would actually implement this program, if it's going to require
additional staff or merely the need for investigator-type training of current
Page 28
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
employees. So, a lot of different things that we're going to be considering, and
just appreciate all the enthusiasm around this program. And we can talk about it
more in June. I yield.
CHR. CHUNG: Anyone else? I'm going to make a few comments about this if I
may. First of all, I think there's no question that this is an important program.
It's probably the first step, as Ms. Kierkiewicz said, towards building a more
trustworthy system of government. My only concern was the funding source, and
that was brought up by Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. I only caught wind of this
when we got these communications. Again, hence, supporting our contention that
there is no violation of Sunshine Law going on over here by this body, right?
And instead of talking with Ms. Kierkiewicz, though—and really, if we had the
ability to form that ad hoc committee, we would have been able to hash a lot of
these things out. But instead of talking to Ms. Kierkiewicz, what I did is I spoke
with Ms. Sako about it, and she told me that Ms. Kierkiewicz had, had a number
of discussions with her on this matter. So, Ms. Kierkiewicz did her homework
before submitting this.
I'm going to give a little story, though, regarding the use of Fund Balance. Many
years ago, I think it was in 2004 just as I was ready to leave, this was my last
budget that I worked on as Finance Chair many years ago, I had used Fund
Balance monies. I beefed up the Fund Balance by millions of dollars, actually,
for the purpose of providing more funding for police officers in South Kona and
Puna. I thought those were the needed areas for more police presence. I was
called into the Mayor's Office. You weren't there, Mayor, at the time. You were
the Mayor, but it was Dixie Kaetsu who was the Managing Director and she gave
me an earful; basically, that's irresponsible budgeting. I had done my homework
too, and I think most of you will find out that as you guys go along, you will be
able to pretty much predict, to a relative degree, what the Fund Balance is going
to be for each year. And it worked out. It absolutely worked out. But it all
comes down to each person doing their homework.
In this case, Ms. Kierkiewicz has done her homework, and I applaud her for that.
It's really a small amount, $25,000. I think we're going to be able to handle it. I
would prefer that it wait until our last reading, though, because I mean—but it's
really up to you because we're dealing with risk assessment here. At that time,
we're going to have a better picture of what our Fund Balance might be. Because,
one of the biggest criticisms that I and others have had on this Council is that we
encourage, our system almost encourages spending at the backend. It doesn't
encourage savings. And we don't know what we're dealing with `cause I believe
we're going to have a flurry of activity and spending over the next few weeks as
we head to the end of our fiscal year, unfortunate as it may be.
Page 29
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
But that's my only concern. I wanted to state that because we have two other
measures that are going to be dealing with the Fund Balance, and I just wanted to
caution everyone about that. But it's a calculated risk, and I know
Ms. Kierkiewicz has really done her homework on this matter. So, I'm willing to
support it. Okay, anyone else wants to speak on this matter? If not
Mr. Richards, go ahead.
MR. RICHARDS: Chair, thank you. I'm not going to belabor the point, but I
know one of my concerns is when we discuss the Fund Balance, that is considered
a line-item funding for the budget as a whole. And I do agree that
Ms. Kierkiewicz has done her homework on this, and I also agree with you that
we encourage spending quickly by the way our budgetary process works. We
encourage that spending at the end of the budget cycle. And so, I'm concerned
that, once again, these amendmentsI have to agree with you that the Sunshine
Law, there's no violation `cause again we learn about this stuff when the
paperwork comes forward. So, I am concerned about that. I just want to make
that statement. I yield.
CHR. CHUNG: Thank you. And if we had the opportunity of forming that
ad hoc committee, a lot of these things could have been handled there. It's very
unfortunate. Anyway, we have a motion on the floor. All those in favor, signify
by saying "aye."
Vote on Motion to The motion to further amend Bill 30, Draft 2, with the
Further Amend: contents of Comm. 117.21 was carried by the following
(Approved) voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members David, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy,
Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and
Chair Chung—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. CHUNG: Motion carried. Mr. Clerk.
Comm. 117.22: From Council Member Ashley Kierkiewicz, dated May 14, 2019. Increases the
(Memo No. 5) Fund Balance from Previous Year account by $270,000, and increases the
Council's Contingency Relief account by the same amount.
Relinquish Chair: At this time, Chair Chung relinquished the chair to Acting
Chair Eoff.
Page 30
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
Motion to Further Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to further amend Bill 30, Draft 2,
Amend: with the contents of Comm. 117.22. Seconded by
Ms. Lee Loy.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So, if the previous communication was rocking
Chair Chung's boat, this is going to tip it over. So, I became Council Member
during an election year, so I had half the amount of contingency funds to be able
to kokua my district and the many needs. There are many in Puna. So, I had
about $15,000 to spend. Like Chair Chung pointed out and I mentioned earlier, I
did my due diligence and I met with Finance to see if it was possible to pull some
money from Fund Balance in order to beef up contingency funds. Many of you
on the Council have sat on the nonprofit GIA (Grant-In-Aid) Ad Hoc Committee
and recognized the critical need we have to support nonprofit organizations really
doing the groundwork to serve our communities' most vulnerable.
So, seeing that we had some additional funds in Fund Balance, I wanted to create
this space to have a conversation about increasing our CRF (Contingency Relief
Fund) by doubling the amount from 30 to $60,000. I know that there was a lot of
discussion about let's kick it up to 100,000, which would be really nice, but I'm
thinking about the sustainability of this fund. I would rather know that several
years from now I can count on 60,000 every single year, rather than jacking it up
to 100, 150,000 this year and then having to scale it way back given the fiscal
position of our County. So, I'd like to hear what my colleagues have to say.
I am willing to look at amending this communication to draw from other sources,
but remember when we do that, we're taking away from departments that are
already stretched so incredibly thin to be able to deliver services. So, with that, I
just want to start the conversation.
Relinquish Chair: At this time, Acting Chair Eoff relinquished the chair to
Chair Chung.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. Lee Loy.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Ms. Kierkiewicz, for starting the
rumble. Like Chair Chung, this Fund Balance is always easy pickings when it
comes to pinching money out of it. And so, I just wanted to hear from
Director Sako. `Cause, by my math, the amendment we just passed, 25 and then
this 270 and then a potential 250, that's about 545. And if I'm reading this
correctly, the Fund Balance from Previous Year is 20 million.
MS. SAKO: So, as you can tell from Draft 1 to Draft 2, we did increase the Fund
Balance based on projections. So, we already made a significant increase. It's a
number we constantly analyze during the budget process because it is changing
consistently. I know you guys mentioned a lot of spending happens at your end.
Page 31
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
Part of that is because we tell departments that if something happens during the
year, you have to be able to fund that through your own budget. So, you have an
emergency, a vehicle gets in an accident, we're self-insured, they have to replace
that vehicle with funds from within. So, they do wait till, usually, the fourth
quarter of the fiscal year to buy their more significant equipment items to ensure
that they still have the budget left.
A lot of those items are out to bid right now. So, we don't have the final amount.
So, that's one thing that could still impact the final Fund Balance. So, it's a
number we're constantly analyzing. I believe I did mention to some of you that if
we upped it maybe 500,000, I probably would still feel okay. But if we were to
wait till second reading, I think, for May, we'd have two more weeks to analyze
what's happening. It still wouldn't be a final exact number two weeks from now,
but we would have, hopefully, a little bit more precise or better estimate that we
would feel better about. And that's not to say I want this number to go way up
because we already know there's costs for the following fiscal year in 2021 that
would require us, you know, additional funds for that. So, any excess Fund
Balance over and above could be put towards that and those additional ERS
increases, our retirement contribution increases.
MS. LEE LOY: I want to walls back to a comment that Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder
mentioned, especially as it related to Mass Transit. `Cause, we had a bunch of
money as far as we were supplementing Mass Transit with both the Highway
Fund and then the General Fund. Some people call it supplanting, but clearly we
matched more money inside of there and so the General Fund was displaced. And
then, you mentioned where that money went. Can you share with us that one
more time?
MS. SAKO: So, how the funds offload, is that what you're saying? Okay. So,
we had to look at what the General Excise Tax Fund could be spent on. And we
know there's road projects, and we're definitely going to spend it on that. We
knew it was for Mass Transit, and we've consistently said from the beginning that
General Excise Tax would go to fund the transit program and the Transit Master
Plan. So, we went towards that. But we are also looking at ways—because, the
General Fund hadn't had sufficient funds to pay for police officers and other
needed expenses—of what else could it be used for? And one thing is Debt
Service.
So, we looked at Debt Service that had been spent on roads and other transit-
related items. And then, we did move that Debt Service over to the General
Excise Tax Fund. So, that freed up money that is in the General Fund to create
the positions as well as the pay increases, the fringe increases, and all those other
things and the obligations we did have to cover.
Page 32
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
MS. LEE LOY: Which takes me back to what Mr. Chung is pondering. Right
here in the last six weeks, we spent like crazy. Why aren't we giving any thought
to saving or holding onto it where we can pay down our OPEB and our ERS much
quicker? I'm trying to understand the rationale there.
MS. SAKO: So, we are trying to look at needs and be able to pay those needs. In
addition, definitely ERS is not one we would pay down because it would benefit
the State as a whole—maybe I'm selfish, but we want it to benefit our County,
our taxpayers—but it would benefit the entire $13.4-billion liability statewide.
We have been very good and diligent about paying down the OPEB, and we have
a plan. So, on the post-employment benefit, we have a plan that it would be paid
off by 2038 or whatever the year was. And I know that sounds like it's in the
future, but in addition, we all know that the Legislature has made changes to those
benefits, both for ERS, our retirement, and for medical benefits, post-retirement
or post-employment.
So, because of that, we also think we'll see significant changes in the next
10-15 years; hopefully, closer to 10. But there will be a turnaround given all the
money we're paying in now. And as we hire new employees, they fall under this
reduced benefit program so that eventually that will all have an impact on the
amount we're paying into the ERS.
MS. LEE LOY: I hear you loud and clear, but what I really appreciated was you
being selfish and we are going to help out our taxpayers. And so, I'm actually
going to speak in support of this amendment, but I'd like to see that amount a
little higher because I'd like to be selfish to serve the most vulnerable in our
community, which is through our contingency money which is a direct impact to
those programs that we service, along with it benefits the taxpayers. Our
contingency money takes that money right back to the taxpayers in the most
expeditious way. So, I'm going to be supporting this. There might be a future
amendment where this might get bumped up. I'd like to hear from the rest of my
colleagues and their thoughts on that. I'm going to yield at this time.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. Poindexter.
MS. POINDEXTER: Thank you, Chair. Yeah, I've come to really appreciate the
contingency funds because it is giving it back to the taxpayers because they're
letting us know what their needs are. It's not department driven, right? It's
community driven. So, I appreciate that. And, yeah, I'd like to see it a little
higher because we get to help the people within our own communities, not only in
our communities but there are things that happen around the island, like Keiki
Surf or things that our constituents bring their keiki to or whatever. But this
money is, to me, wisely spent for our taxpayers and the communities. And again,
Page 33
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
they are the ones in the driver's seat when it comes to the contingency funds,
yeah, because they let us know what their needs are. So, I'm supporting this, and
I think I would support a higher amount as well. Thank you.
CHR. CHUNG: Mr. Richardsoh, Ms. Eoff.
MS. EOFF: Just really quick, Ms. Sako. I know I already asked you this, but just
for everybody's benefit, you did say that looking at these, I think, three proposals
that increase the Fund Balance to fund the amendments, that you were okay at this
point in time with those and that, in the next couple of weeks, you would just have
to help us understand going forward how much more would still be in the comfort
zone by the end of the amending process. Correct?
MS. SAKO: Yeah, I mean, I think we can live with these three amendments and
then we need to look at it. Because, one of the things as we go out for bid with
different things, if bids come in higher than we expected or maybe departments
don't have a chance to spend money they thought they were going to. As I said,
it's not an exact science but we would have a little bit, hopefully, firmer numbers
as we move ahead.
MS. EOFF: Okay, thank you very much.
CHR. CHUNG: Mr. Richards.
MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. Deanna, thanks again. It's no secret I have
argued about our budgetary process ever since I've been elected. A couple of
things I want to talk about. Fund Balance, 20 million in it. Ms. Lee Loy referred
tothat's the 20 million from the General Fund. And I believe, if you combine
the rest of the amendments, about another 10 million; that takes it up to about
30 million. Is that accurate?
MS. SAKO: Sorry, I really look fund by fund since each fund has to balance in
and with of itself. But, yes, I think you're right.
MR. RICHARDS: It's just for discussion's sake now. And you had mentioned if
our Fund Balance is there, then some of these amendments might be okay. What
if we're off and we're $5 million less? What happens to these amendments?
MS. SAKO: The amendments stay, basically. But as we close the books and we
report to Council, like, in October what the Fund Balance is, if it was a significant
decline then we would come in and amend the budget.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, so, we'd have to do a back-look at the budget again.
And something that Chair Chung touched on, I want to ask, if we change our
budgetary process and our directors had the authority—it doesn't matter which
Page 34
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
department we'd select—but they're budgeted "x" number of dollars a year. If
they're able to save it in their budget, is there a way that we can help them so that
they can actually roll it forward if they're trying to take care of themselves? And
we would reward them for fiscal management. But also, if they're trying to have
a big ticket item, they can manage it within their own department. And let's pick
something, equipment. And they realize they don't have the funding for it this
year, but if they can hold it for two years they can actually get the funding. Is
there a way that we can encourage that, which would encourage fiscal oversight
rather than spending at the end, and thereby rewarding them for doing that? Is
there a way we can do that under our current situation?
MS. SAKO: Yes. I mean, I think we have worked with departments in the past
where they knew they were going to have a need coming up. We don't penalize
anyone for overspending, underspending. They are supposed to be developing the
budget they need each and every year. So, even though we say it's status quo, it's
kind of based on what your needs are. And so, they can put it in any line item.
But, yes, some departments have been very clear that they need a big piece of
equipment. They're not going to get it this year; they want to spend it next year.
We try to take that into account. And then, we've also helped them if they need
to lease it because it's an extremely costly piece of equipment, much like we just
did with the fire trucks. So, to put money in the budget for that and spread the
cost over a few years to kind of even it out. Mostly, we're trying to avoid
significant peaks and valleys so that we kind of know what to expect in the
coming years, but we're not opposed to working with departments to save.
MR. RICHARDS: So, does the culture of the Finance (inaudible) encourage that
savings? Because, you just
CHR. CHUNG: Okay, wait, hold on. I'm sorry to interrupt, Mr. Richards.
MR. RICHARDS: Go ahead.
CHR. CHUNG: Yeah, I kind of allowed latitude on this matter `cause it is a very
important topic. Okay? Something that I've thought about a lot, too. But I think
it's going a little bit further than the issue at hand
MR. RICHARDS: Correct.
CHR. CHUNG: Which is a specific amendment. But it is something that
warrants discussion for sure. Okay?
MR. RICHARDS: And, Chair, you are right. I just had one other question
concerning potential funding for something like this if we had a reduction. May I
go ahead, Chair?
Page 35
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
CHR. CHUNG: Yes, please.
MR. RICHARDS: So, we'll shift and we'll come back to that conversation later.
Through Mass Transit, and we've learned that we hadn't received our funding for
that, to identify some of this other funding, we had, as I understand, about
$6.9 million that we had not actually put into our coffers. Could that funding be
used going forward to fund something like this?
MS. SAKO: I'm sorry. Can you repeat that question? I get the beginning part,
I'm not sure I get the ending part, of being able to fund, what, the current Mass
Transit expenses?
MR. RICHARDS: My understanding, from the things that we've identified
through this budgetary process, is that we had about 6.9 or $7 million, rough
numbers, not received
MS. SAKO: Grant money.
MR. RICHARDS: Not received by grant money, received by reimbursement. So,
looking at our budget, is that going to be additional revenue over and above this
583 projection going forward? And if so, could that be used to fund something
here or supplant?
MS. SAKO: Okay. Yeah, you're not going to like my answer: Yes and no. And
so, basically, some of that money was already budgeted in previous years `cause
we thought we were going to get it. It wasn't spent, so it's being carried forward.
And you can see that in the Monthly Budget Status Report; you can't really see it
in this budget. So, that's one part of the answer. It's kind of already there, and
we're taking care of it. The current year's funding is in this budget.
And then, they really don't like us to supplant. So, I believe there's two different
kind of grant pieces. One is for operations, and one is for equipment. And so, the
buses are new money over and above. The operating piece, we do move some of
our expenditures to that operating piece. They cover some of the things we cover
now. But we have, kind of, planned on that already.
MR. RICHARDS: Okay, you're right. I don't like your answer, but we'll talk
story more on that. I'll yield at this point, Chair.
CHR. CHUNG: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Deanna. So, did the fund carry
over? Sorry, General Fund carry over? I think we have some increased revenues
here and we have some increased expenses, but I feel like we, and who wouldn't
when you see more money in your savings account? You're going to go spend it
Page 36
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
`cause you've got money in the account. That's great, but I feel like the correct
thing to do would be to start paying down debt, not necessarily buying new cars
and going on vacations but using taxpayer money correctly to start paying down
debt and make sure we're doing the right thing for the taxpayers. And I am kind
of stepping outside of what we are discussing right now as far as this amendment.
But I just need to say that. I'm looking for your input on that.
MS. SAKO: I don't think I disagree with you. I think, as I've said before, we're
trying to provide the needed services to the community. When it comes to Fund
Balance, one of the basic principles of government is kind of returning to the
taxpayer. And so, we do that by using it to fund the next year's budget. So, it
does reduce what we would have to collect in taxes. But if you're saying you'd
rather use it to pay down debt or save for the future, you know, whatever, is some
of the things I've been hearing, then, yes, the budget can be amended and the
Council can do that.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Of course, I'd like to have more money to
spend on my district or nonprofits or projects, whatever it may be. Who
wouldn't? But at the same time, to be proper and to take care of the people like
we're told to do, that's our job, are we heading in the right direction by spending
down the fund carryover for, maybe you could call it, "selfish projects?" I need
to say that.
CHR. CHUNG: Anyone else? Yes, go ahead. Yes?
MS. DAVID: Hello?
CHR. CHUNG: Oh, Ms. David.
MS. DAVID: I'm sitting right next to him. Thank you, Chair. I just have one
question, Deanna. Thank you for all the discussion today `cause I think it's really
helpful, not only to us on the Council. The budget is something that I don't claim
or admit that I understand fully `cause no one can really do that, in my opinion.
But I think, going through the PowerPoint and explaining what you have about
where our expenses are coming from, the bulls of them are things that really are
outside of our control and are things that is a given by law.
So, the proposed amendments that we're looking at today, I know that with the
Fund Balance amount or about a half-million dollars, this is fine or we can work
with this. If we, given more proposed amendments, in your opinion what position
would that put the County in as far as tapping into the Fund Balance, like I'm
hearing now, "We have the money, let's increase that"? I'm all for increasing
contingency. I think I was around when we had 100,000 each, and that really
benefited the community. But, given the state of the economy and our position,
what is your opinion on anything further than ?
Page 37
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
MS. SAKO: So, based on the information we have now, as I've said the half
million is fine. Anything beyond that, I need our staff to look at it again and see
where we're at. I believe there are several bids opening in the next couple of
weeks. That would at least tell us if things are coming in as planned or if higher.
We do take all of that into account, and we do our best to estimate it. But until we
actually go through the year-end closing, we don't ever know what the final
number is going to be.
MS. DAVID: Okay. So, I think in two weeks when this comes back before the
Council, it will
MS. SAKO: We will probably have a better feeling of where we're at.
MS. DAVID: And more solid numbers.
MS. SAKO: Right. Still never an exact science but we would feel better.
MS. DAVID: Right, okay. All right. Thank you for that, and thank you,
Deputy Hunt, for all that explanation this morning. I yield, Chair.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair, and thank you, all, for the robust
discussion. I think it's very clear that we would love to be able to have more
money in our contingency funds but I think being fiscally responsible warrants us
to not winnow down our Fund Balance to absolutely nothing. We need to make
sure that we're beefing up our reserves and our rainy day fund in the event of any
kind of emergency.
And so, while I like the idea of increasing it to 100,000 like it's been in years past,
I also recognize that there have been times where contingency was zero. So, I
want to be really grateful for the fact that Finance is even allowing us to consider
doubling what we have. So, I would like to move forward with this amendment.
I think it's the most responsible thing to do. If we are able to find monies
elsewhere, great, but I would rather move forward with this knowing that we have
the buy-in of my colleagues and the Administration to support this. So, with that,
I yield.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. Eoff.
MS. EOFF: Thank you. I just wanted to add that our contingency allowance is
not only used to help projects in our districts, but they also help fund shortfalls
that the departments find towards a need in their yearly budget. For instance,
scoreboards, pool lane lines, things that go directly to the department to fund
Page 38
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
items that may not have been budgeted for but we can help with in our districts.
So, it's—yeah. But I'm happy that you are able to raise it to this amount, and I'm
in support of this amendment.
CHR. CHUNG: Anyone? Val? Well, I cannot disagree with all of you. I think
the use of contingency funds cannot be overstated. It's a vital tool for Council
Members to react quickly to situations within their districts. I agree with
Ms. Kierkiewicz; we should do something right now. I also agree with
Ms. Poindexter; I'd like to see this thing beefed up somewhat.
The reality of the situation is, and I don't want to be patting ourselves on the back,
but, `cause we needed it, but this Council went to bat for the Administration in
getting a lot of revenuesI don't want to use the word"tax"—revenues to come
in. We went to bat for them, and I think we should be, maybe "reward" is not the
right word but we should have something at least. Some empowerment in moving
things through, too. And we did have 100,000 before. I don't think that's a large
amount. But I wanted to say that.
But what's more interesting is the broader discussion that was had, brought up by
Mr. Richards and then later on segued onto by Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. That's
really an interesting point. Very important, something that we have to discuss
moving forward about our spending habits and things like that. But I did want to
share my thoughts on what Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder brought up: Why don't we
pay down debt? I'm going to use a different analogy, something that's closer to
me. It's the home mortgage, and I think we all have our mortgages. I try to pay
additional principal from time to time;just like you have suggested, maybe, let's
pay down the debt. But I have a plan in place, and that's because I have my kids
who are going to be going to college pretty soon. So, I have to be able to free up
money at the backend. Hopefully, my mortgage will be pretty close to getting
over by the time they're in. My plan didn't really work, but it's getting there.
Right?
But the other way is if I didn't have to worry about them, then I would be
investing in my property. I'd be doing things to enhance the value of the
property, which is another way of looking at how we enhance the operations of
the County. So, it's really—there's no right answer, but there's several ways of
looking at it. Anyway, we have a motion on the floor. All those in favor, signify
by saying "aye."
Page 39
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
Vote on Motion to The motion to further amend Bill 30, Draft 2, with the
Further Amend: contents of Comm. 117.22 was carried by the following
(Approved) voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members David, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy,
Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and
Chair Chung–9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. CHUNG: Motion carried. Before we go on to the next communication, I
also wanted to recognize—we should have done it earlier—we have Mayor Kim
in the audience, too. And I really wanted to thank you for being here, having to
sit through all of this. At least it gives you a good idea of our thoughts too. I
don't know if you want to say anything, but thank you for being here. I really do
appreciate it. Mr. Clerk.
Comm. 117.24: From Council Member Rebecca Villegas, dated May 17, 2019. Increases the
(Memo No. 6) Fund Balance from Previous Year revenue account by $250,000, and adds the
West Hawaii Golf Program, Miscellaneous Contract Services expense account
for the same amount.
Motion to Further Ms. Villegas moved to further amend Bill 30, Draft 2, with
Amend: the contents of Comm. 117.24. Seconded by Ms. Eoff
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. Villegas, please.
MS. VILLEGAS: If the other ones shook things up, this one definitely is another
opportunity to take a look at spending from our Fund Balance. It's been brought
up to me by a number of constituents in West Hawaii. And I don't think there's
any secret that there are and have been pervasive feelings between East and
West Hawaii, that West Hawaii puts in a lot of the funds that fund our County
and East Hawaii gets a lot of benefits that we don't necessarily always see on the
west side.
I, personally, love the idea of looking at us as an island as a whole and taking care
of our broader community as a whole. The need to set aside the east and west
differences or comparisons, I think, is healthy for us as an island. We have an
opportunity to exemplify a model of what working for the good of all can be. I
presented this amendment at the request of a number of constituents in
West Hawaii. I don't golf, but my husband golfs. And I respect golf as a sport
Page 40
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
that a number of people enjoy. And we have a number of beautiful golf courses
on the west side, but they are all private and the cost to golf at these courses can
be quite exorbitant.
I wasn't in office at the time that millions of dollars were spent to upgrade the
municipal course here on the Hilo side, but I have heard a number of people that
have some issue with that and feel an unfair advantage. And so, it is my
understanding that this has been done before, and so I was very grateful for the
assistance of different members of the Administration in adding this and an
expense account to cover it. There are also the processes in place as a template to
execute them. And so, I'm asking my colleagues to consider making this
investment in the relationships and some of the equity in what's available to the
sport of golf islandwide. With that, I yield.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. Eoff
MS. EOFF: I was just going to say something that Ms. Villegas already stated.
But we did have a golf subsidy program previously, and golfers in Kona I believe
were, there were vouchers up to, I can't remember the amount, but I think that
golf would only cost $25 a round. Is that true? So, that was very much
appreciated. And like Ms. Villegas said, some of the golfers in Kona have come
to us over the years. Dru and I both spoke to the same people, I think, in the last
few years. But, yeah, I think this would really go a long ways with helping out
the golfers in Kona or in West Hawaii. And so, I'll be supporting it. Thank you.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. David.
MS. DAVID: Thank you, Chair. And I'd like to thank the testifiers from Kona,
especially our kupuna golfers, many of whom come from the rural district of
South Kona, my district. And I often hear them mentioning the fact that they love
to golf but it's just so expensive in Kona. I think a subsidy like this for at least the
golfers or the retirees on the Kona side is an equitable way of giving these kupuna
on the west side an opportunity to play golf as opposed to waiting for a new
municipal golf course to be built in Kona. I mean, I've heard many years that the
proposal was out there, they were very excited about it, but it never happened.
So, for me, I'm going to support this, and I'm supporting this because there's a lot
of kupuna in Kona that love to golf. I didn't realize it but—I don't golf, but I hear
it in the stores and stuff So, I think this is a good give back for them, and it will
benefit the island as a whole. So, I will be supporting this. Thank you very
much.
CHR. CHUNG: Anyone else? Yes, Ms. Lee Loy.
MS. LEE LOY: Thanks. Thanks, Ms. Villegas, for brining this forward. I just
kind of wanted to understand the rationale on that number. We all know what
Page 41
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
rounds of golf cost or buckets of balls cost. I just wanted to understand how this
number of 250 kind of came up. Kind of the return on investment, how many
golfers are we really subsidizing or how much, you know? Just share with me
how we got to this number. Whatever the number is, I think for the larger public
to understand that we're not just making up these numbers, there is some thought
being given to what we can actually subsidize and what that translates into
savings. So, share with me.
MS. VILLEGAS: Sure. Correct me if I'm wrong, Deanna, on this but I believe
it's half the amount that we're currently subsidizing the golf course in general. Is
that correct? And there's a subsidy for the Hilo side—no? I'm sorry. I
apologize.
MS. EOFF: I think I can speak to that. Previously, it was twice that amount, the
program that was implemented in previous years. But because Deanna was
comfortable with this amount of 250,000 out of the Fund Balance, we decided in
discussions that this golf subsidy wouldn't start until January. So, that way, this
is half. This is actually a half-a-year subsidy. So,it doesn't really go into effect
until January, which gives Administration time to go through the procurement
process. And it also doesn't take out or it doesn't add too much to the Fund
Balance to make
MS. SAKO: Yeah, all of that is right, and I think we haven't had it for a little
while now. So, we would put it back out to bid to have the subsidy and see what
kind of arrangements we can make. So, that will take time for Parks and
Recreation to kind of get it going again. So, we thought half a year would be a
good amount to kind of get it started up again.
MS. LEE LOY: Maybe this might be a better question for Roxcie. How many
golfers in West Hawaii compared to Hilo muni? Do you have some of those
numbers? Thanks, Roxcie.
(Note: At this time, Parks and Recreation Director Roxcie Waltjen came
forward to address the members of the Council.)
MS. WALTJEN: Roxcie Waltjen, Director of Parks and Recreation. I don't have
the counts between east and west, but what I can tell you at the muni, we have
anywhere between 60-75,000 rounds of golf played a year. Now, taking that into
consideration, why there is such a large spread over there, it all depends on the
year we're having. If we have inclement weather, a lot of storms, golf goes down
on the low side, maybe the low 60s. If we have great weather and no problems
whatsoever, we don't have any construction going on, we have upwards of up to
85,000 people.
Page 42
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
In addition to that, we not only serve kupuna. So, I understand about the kupuna
that wants to golf three or four times a week. We also have junior golfers and
they come out and practice, and we also have people that teach golf. So, yes,
absolutely.
MS. LEE LOY: Does West Hawaii have a pro shop and a golf restaurant?
`Cause I know muni does. Muni has a pro shop, and we have a vendor there. We
have a restaurant. Does West Hawaii have the same?
MS. WALTJEN: In the past when we did the golf program, what we had was we
put out an RFP (Request for Proposals), and there were, I think, two or three golf
courses that got it. And they ended up paying. The participant ended up paying
$25 a round, and they were afforded whatever amenities that, that area had. This
time when we put out the RFP, if we're going to do it, what we can do is we can
make sure that only those with a golf pro shop and that kind of restaurant be
included.
MS. LEE LOY: `Cause we also got a new multi-purpose room at muni, right?
MS. WALTJEN: Right.
MS. LEE LOY: And that's a potential for revenue to help subsidize the muni
course. Okay, thank you.
MS. WALTJEN: And one of the reasons that it was—being that I've been with
the department for close to 40 yearsI don't like to say that too often, seriously.
One of the reasons, a big drawback to building a golf course in Kona,just so that
everybody understands, it's not that east wants more than the west. It's just the
water and keeping it green is going to be very difficult. And the staff to maintain
it is also going to drive up our wages and that kind of thing. Okay? Thank you.
MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Roxcie. Chair, I yield.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. Villegas.
MS. VILLEGAS: Oh, Roxcie, before you leave, one quick question. And some
of this came up from the constituents approaching me after the newspaper article
recently when we had the presentations from Parks and Recreation about how
much is currently being subsidized. Can you share a little bit about what the
course here in Hilo does receive in subsidies to cover fees and whatnot?
MS. WALTJEN: Actually, at this time, the only reason we were subsidizing the
golf course is because the golf course underwent some renovation and they were
not quite finished, so the plat was down. In addition to that, we had
Hurricane Lane, which dropped it a little further down. Just so that we're clear
Page 43
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
and so that everybody understand, $180,000 was in our budget, which we already
anticipated that projection, okay, because we saw what was going on already. So,
it was just a transfer from one account to the next. It was in the administrative
account.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay. And what is the fee to golf at the municipal golf
course?
MS. WALTJEN: I believe it's about $25. But we also have special fees for
kupuna or we have monthly cards so that you can golf on a monthly basis.
MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, great. Thank you.
MS. WALTJEN: Thank you.
CHR. CHUNG: Okay, Roxcie. Anybody else? I know we had this program
before, right?
MS. WALTJEN: Yes.
CHR. CHUNG: How were the golf courses selected?
MS. WALTJEN: It was by RFP.
CHR. CHUNG: Oh, okay.
MS. WALTJEN: There were a certain amount of requirements that were put in
there and then people applied. And I think, at that point, we did have meetings
with the community and they did say that they wanted one in this area, one in that
area, and one in this area. And I think there was some kind of discussion about
having one in Waimea also. So, I think the golf course in Waimea was also
subsidized.
CHR. CHUNG: Okay. So, as best as you can recall, `cause that's when Waimea
was in operation. Right?
MS. WALTJEN: Right.
CHR. CHUNG: I recall that being part of the road area. And then what else?
Keauhou?
MS. WALTJEN: There was one in Keauhou.
CHR. CHUNG: The Kona Country Club?
Page 44
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
MS. WALTJEN: And one right in
CHR. CHUNG: Makalei?
MS. WALTJEN: Makalei, yes.
CHR. CHUNG: What about what was formerly known as Big Island Country
Club, now Makani? Was that ?
MS. WALTJEN: I think Makani had, had a program.
CHR. CHUNG: So, about four west
MS. WALTJEN: Yes.
CHR. CHUNG: Okay.
MS. WALTJEN: So, whatever was, the money was divided among. One of the
drawbacks, though, to that is that there were a lot of people that were going out
and utilizing the subsidy from the east side. So, what we need to do is if we're
going to go that route, we need to make it a little bit tighter as far as how we're
going to work at the procedures.
CHR. CHUNG: But this is for residents, right?
MS. WALTJEN: Yes, sir.
CHR. CHUNG: Okay.
MS. WALTJEN: And by the way,just so that everybody understands, when we
subsidize golf courses on the west side, it does affect the play on the east side.
Okay? So,play will drop. As long as everybody understands that it's not for lack
of doing the work or anything. It's just that this will happen. It's an automatic
kind of thing.
CHR. CHUNG: Okay. Well, if I may give—anybody else wants to talk? Yeah,
Matt, go ahead.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I think,just being real, I think a lot of guys
from Hilo drive to Kona to go play golf. I think we all know that. So, I think
subsidizing a golf course in Kona, although we are pulling out of the carryover
fund again, yeah, I think it's a good thing. I know people from here drive over
and they drop the player rates on this side, not the rates but the amount of people
playing. But I like the idea of helping to collaborate that east and west kind of
mix. So, I appreciate what's happening. Thank you.
Page 45
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
CHR. CHUNG: Okay, anyone else? Ms. Kierkiewicz.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. This is maybe a question for
Director Sako. I'm very supportive of residential play on the west side. I think
it's a great service, especially for kupuna. I mean, it's a way for them to stay
healthy and just ensure long healthy lives. For drawing from Fund Balance, how
do we expect to fund this going forward? Because, this amendment is only for six
months, correct, of play?
MS. SAKO: Correct.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: How do we continue to fund this? Is the idea to continue
to draw from Fund Balance?
MS. SAKO: It would look at, like, in the future years,just like the fire truck lease
that got passed a couple of amendments ago, which was only one month, we
would have to make up the difference as we move forward. So, we would look at
that with all of the other expenses and look at our potential revenue sources and
include them all and figure out if we can cover them all or not.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So, you're not worried going forward that this is going to
be 500,000, correct?
MS. SAKO: Right, moving forward.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay.
MS. SAKO: And soI'm not saying we're not worried but, I mean, we would
look at the whole big picture of things. Like, there's so many unknowns yet
because, I think, because we don't have the final collective bargainings for all of
the unions yet and different things. We know the ERS is going up, but we would
look at everything as one big picture as we move forward.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Are you anticipating more amendments coming and
drawing from Fund Balance?
MS. SAKO: To be honest with you, I have not heard of any more, no.
MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, all right. Thank you. I yield.
CHR. CHUNG: Anyone else? Okay, yeah, and I'm glad you asked that question
about further use of Fund Balance because, I guess, it's such a fun thing, right?
Hey. This Fund balance, yeah, free money; let's just add more things. And it's
really a risky proposition. It could almost be viewed as—if things don't work out,
it's almost illusory, right? So, let's just be cautious about that going forward.
Page 46
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
MS. SAKO: And the more we leave in Fund Balance—'cause I think some
people asked about reserves—the more we end up with Fund Balance at the end
of the year, that is a reserve. I mean, that takes into account when they look at our
financials for our bond ratings. And so, all of that kind of plays a factor. So,
definitely we want the Fund Balance to be as high—our actual Fund Balance
number, not what we use as a revenue—to be as high as possible. It definitely
helps us. So, whatever we don't spend definitely is a reserve.
CHR. CHUNG: Right. And again, had we been able to convene an ad hoc
committee and really hash things through early on, we might have had a more
coordinated effort in this regard. But it is what it is. I certainly support this thing.
It is basically a fairness issue. I listened to not only the speakers who came up
this morning but others throughout the years, and there is some resentment
towards having a public course on the east side and then not one on the west side.
But let me just say this `cause fairness really is a matter of perception too. I think
either Mr. Ushiroda or Mr. Kimura brought up the lack of a west side municipal
golf course and how that fell through many years ago.
And I don't really want to state this as a fact because I've got to do my
homework, but I know I was working at the Corporation Counsel's Office when
that came up. And it was tied in with the Kealakehe Sewage Plant with the
effluent being used for the grounds. And it was downed, not so much by the
County; the County was ready to move on that thing. It was the Kona people who
voted it down. They had some concerns about, I don't know what it was,
environment or something. And they caused it. It wasn't because the developer
left. It was theirI think it was going to cost like $4 million, something like that,
and it was ready to go. So, let's make sure we're all on the same page there. I
shall do my homework again, but that's my recollection. And I see Roxcie kind
of nodding her head too. And Ms. Lee Loy was there too. That's what happened.
And with regard to the play, I think you've still got to let East Hawaii guys
utilize that voucher system. You know why? You've got to get good courses on
the west side. And another thing about golf courses, it's a losing proposition.
That's why people aren't developing golf courses anymore. The developers
aren't doing that unless it's an enhancement. Like, for example, at Kohanaiki for
people who are going to pay big money. It's an enhancement, but it's not a
moneymaker. It's a money loser. So, that's just the nature of the beast already,
yeah. And that's why we will continue to be subsidizing the Hilo Municipal Golf
Course and perhaps continue to fund something like this kind of program for
West Hawaii people. But I think we lost the opportunity for a West Hawaii
municipal golf course many years ago. Just unfortunate. Now, it's going to cost
too much, and it's going to just eat up our revenues. Anyway, having said that,
we have a motion on the floor. All those in favor, say "aye."
Page 47
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
Vote on Motion to The motion to further amend Bill 30, Draft 2, with the
Further Amend: contents of Comm. 117.24 was carried by the following
(Approved) voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members David, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy,
Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and
Chair Chung—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. CHUNG: Motion carried. Thank you and congratulations, Ms. Villegas.
Is that all of our communications for now?
MR. HENRICKS: Yeah, we're back to the main motion to pass Bill 30, Draft 2
as amended, on first reading.
CHR. CHUNG: Okay, but we still have another crack at it later on, right? Okay?
MR. HENRICKS: Another crack at it. And it's not June 7�h. It's June 5,just for
the record.
CHR. CHUNG: Let's take up that motion as stated by our County Clerk.
Draft 2
MR. HENRICKS: As amended.
CHR. CHUNG: As amended.
MR. HENRICKS: Correct.
CHR. CHUNG: Any further discussion? There being none, all those in favor say
Ic aye.
Page 48
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
Vote on Bill 30: The motion to pass Bill 30, Draft 2, as amended to Draft 3,
Draft 3 on first reading and adopt Finance Committee Report
(Approved) No. 26 was carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members David, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Lee Loy, Poindexter, Villegas, and
Chair Chung–8.
Noes: Council Member Richards – 1.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. CHUNG: Motion carried. Why don't we take a very short recess—is that
okay—before we take up the CIP (Capital Improvement Project)? Thank you.
Recess: At 11:42 a.m., the Chair called for a recess.
Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 12:02 p.m.
CHR. CHUNG: Mr. Clerk, can you please read in Bill Number 31,
Communication Number 118.1, and Bill Number 31, Draft 2?
Bill 31: RELATES TO PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF
FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2019, TO JUNE 30, 2020
From Mayor Harry Kim, dated March 1, 2019, transmitting the proposed Capital
Budget for FY 2019-2020, and the Capital Improvements Program for the next six
years from Fiscal Year 2019-2020 to 2024-2025,which includes 39 projects
requiring a total appropriation of$159,690,000. Approximately $99.1 million are
intended to be funded in whole or part by bonds, $56.5 million to be funded by
the State Revolving Loan Fund or State Capital Improvement Projects,
$3.5 million to be funded by federal funds, and $590,000 to be funded by
Fair Share Contributions.
Reference: Comm. 118
Intr. by: Ms. David (B/R)
Approve: FC-27
; and
Comm. 118.1: From Mayor Harry Kim, dated May 3, 2019, transmitting Bill 31, Draft 2, which
adds 21 projects, for a total of 60 projects, which is a $78.3 million increase in
appropriations over the first draft.
Page 49
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
; and
Bill 31: RELATES TO PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF
(Draft 2) FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2019, TO JUNE 30, 2020
Draft 2 of the proposed Capital Budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020
requires a total appropriation of$238 million, of which approximately
$98.9 million are intended to be funded in whole or part by bonds, $89.5 million
are to be funded by the State Revolving Loan Fund or State Capital Improvement
Projects, $48.8 million are to be funded by federal funds, $330,000 are to be
funded by private grants, and $490,000 are to be funded by Fair Share
Contributions.
Intr. by: Ms. David (B/R)
and
Comm. 118.2: From Council Member Karen Eoff, dated May 9, 2019, transmitting a proposed
(Memo No. 1) amendment to re-appropriate the Parks and Recreation Department's Kohanaiki
Coastal Park Improvements project in the amount of$1.5 million.
; and
Comm. 118.3: From Council Member Karen Eoff, dated May 9, 2019, transmitting a proposed
(Memo No. 2) amendment to re-appropriate the Parks and Recreation Department's Kealakehe
Regional Park Master Plan project in the amount of$1.5 million.
; and
Comm. 118.4: From Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, dated May 9, 2019, transmitting a
(Memo No. 3) proposed amendment to add the Parks and Recreation Department's Discretionary
Projects —Council District 5 project in the amount of$100,000.
; and
Comm. 118.5: From Council Member Maile David, dated May 9, 2019, transmitting a proposed
(Memo No. 4) amendment to re-appropriate the Parks and Recreation Department's Kahuku Park
Improvements project in the amount of$750,000.
(Note: Comm. 118.6 from Council Member Valerie T. Poindexter, dated May 17,
2019, transmitting proposed amendments to Bill 31, Draft 2, was circulated.)
Motion to Approve: Ms. David moved to pass Bill 31 on first reading and adopt
Finance Committee Report No. 27. Seconded by
Ms. Poindexter.
Motion to Amend: Ms. David moved to amend Bill 31 with Draft 2. Seconded
by Ms. Eoff.
Page 50
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 31 with Draft 2 was carried by
Amend: the following voice vote:
(Approved)
Ayes: Council Members David, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy,
Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and
Chair Chung—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. CHUNG: Motion carried.
Comm. 118.2: From Council Member Karen Eoff, dated May 9, 2019, transmitting a proposed
(Memo No. 1) amendment to re-appropriate the Parks and Recreation Department's Kohanaiki
Coastal Park Improvements project in the amount of$1.5 million.
Motion to Amend: Ms. Eoff moved to amend Bill 31, Draft 2, with the
contents of Comm. 118.2. Seconded by Ms. Villegas.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. Eoff
MS. EOFF: This is just a project. It's been on the books. It was going to lapse,
and I asked if I could re-add it back to the Capital Improvement Project budget.
Its purpose is to build a second comfort station on the north side of the beach
park, which is needed. And the developer in the past has committed to the ground
infrastructure and then the County's share would be the building. But this is
something that will, hopefully, be built in the next couple of years and is sorely
needed because that beach park and camping grounds is used every day. And we
have one regular bathroom with showers and toilets, but we have porta potties all
down the rest of the beach. And this would help to get rid of some of the
temporary lua.
CHR. CHUNG: All right. Any further discussion? Maybe you should take us
for a little site visit one of these days.
MS. EOFF: I would love to. Anytime we can
CHR. CHUNG: I know this is someplace that you hold dear, right?
MS. EOFF: That would be great.
CHR. CHUNG: Okay, all those in favor say "aye."
Page 51
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
Vote on Motion to The motion to amend Bill 31, Draft 2, with the contents of
Amend: Comm. 118.2 was carried by the following voice vote:
(Approved)
Ayes: Council Members David, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy,
Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and
Chair Chung—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. CHUNG: Motion carried.
Comm. 118.3: From Council Member Karen Eoff, dated May 9, 2019, transmitting a proposed
(Memo No. 2) amendment to re-appropriate the Parks and Recreation Department's Kealakehe
Regional Park Master Plan project in the amount of$1.5 million.
Motion to Further Ms. Eoff moved to further amend Bill 31, Draft 2, with the
Amend: contents of Comm. 118.3. Seconded by Ms. David.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. Eoff
MS. EOFF: Thank you. It's important that we keep this project alive on the
books because it needs to be started and move towards completion concurrently
with the Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant. It has a mutual requirement for
these holding ponds for the recyclable reusable water that's going to be generated
from the treatment plant. So, we're getting going on it, and these monies just
need to be available and this project on the books.
CHR. CHUNG: Okay, anyone else? There being no further discussion, all those
in favor say "aye."
Vote on Motion to The motion to further amend Bill 31, Draft 2, with the
Further Amend: contents of Comm. 118.3 was carried by the following
(Approved) voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members David, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy,
Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and
Chair Chung—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. CHUNG: Motion carried. Next, Mr. Clerk.
Page 52
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
Comm. 118.4: From Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, dated May 9, 2019, transmitting a
(Memo No. 3) proposed amendment to add the Parks and Recreation Department's Discretionary
Projects –Council District 5 project in the amount of$100,000.
Motion to Further Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to further amend Bill 31,
Amend: Draft 2, with the contents of Comm. 118.4. Seconded by
Ms. Kierkiewicz.
CHR. CHUNG: Discussion? I'm kind of curious about this one.
MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I missed the boat on using the carryover
funds just to fund it. But I am—let that sink in for a second; think about that.
Actually when I was campaigning, I had a few people approach me about fixing
up the Kurtistown Park and providing, specifically, some covered dugouts `cause
currently there are none, and some other park improvements that would be nice.
There's a skatepark being built there. And then, I found out through Parks and
Rec. there actually is a discretionary projects CIP fund I can use to do projects
like that. And so, I am re-upping the CIP list to make sure this is on there so we
can go ahead and do this. And I did put some of my contingency funds towards
this as well.
Specifically, what this is for is the covered dugouts `cause there's no covered
dugouts. Kurtistown rains all the time. So, when it starts raining and the kids are
playing baseball or softball, they have nowhere to sit that's covered. And this, as
we found out, will actually need to be upgraded to ADA (Americans with
Disabilities Act) compliance because they're covered, and that creates more cost
but it's necessary.
CHR. CHUNG: All right. Well, we're all in favor of it I'm sure, but, Deanna,
can you please come up? Is this the proper mechanism or should he come up with
a separate appropriation for these projects? What's the best way of doing this?
(Note: At this time, Finance Director Deanna Sako came forward to
address the members of the Council.)
MS. SAKO: So, historically, the ones that are like discretionary projects are
usually funded through, maybe, contingency funds or different things like that.
But there can be a generic, like, District 5 account. But if there are a lot of little
projects, it's fine to have one account that you do a lot of little projects under. If
they're going to end up being larger projects, then P&R (Department of Parks and
Recreation) might be able to help him break them out into more specific projects.
CHR. CHUNG: Like our appropriations, they're basically a wish list, right?
MS. SAKO: They are.
Page 53
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
CHR. CHUNG: So, is this real money or not real money?
MS. SAKO: This is not real money. So, the contingency funds or some other
funding source would have to be transferred in or we'd have to find other funding
to allot it.
CHR. CHUNG: So, maybe during the course of our year after our budget is
passed, he could come up with separate appropriation bills, right?
MS. SAKO: Right, he could do that.
CHR. CHUNG: That would be okay, right
MS. SAKO: Right.
CHR. CHUNG: To put together what he just stated? `Cause, these are all good
things.
MS. SAKO: Especially as we start talking about the next bond ordinance and the
projects each Council Member would like, we could kind of coordinate that.
CHR. CHUNG: Okay. So, you guys can work with Matt on this matter, yeah, so
we can get these things to fruition?
MS. SAKO: Yes.
CHR. CHUNG: Okay. Okay, good. All right, anyone else? If not, we have a
motion on the floor. All those in favor, say "aye."
Vote on Motion to The motion to further amend Bill 31, Draft 2, with the
Further Amend: contents of Comm. 118.4 was carried by the following
(Approved) voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members David, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy,
Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and
Chair Chung—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. CHUNG: Motion carried.
Page 54
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
Comm. 118.5: From Council Member Maile David, dated May 9, 2019, transmitting a proposed
(Memo No. 4) amendment to re-appropriate the Parks and Recreation Department's Kahuku Park
Improvements project in the amount of$750,000.
Motion to Further Ms. David moved to further amend Bill 31, Draft 2, with
Amend: the contents of Comm. 118.5. Seconded by Mr. Richards.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. David.
MS. DAVID: Yes, thank you, Chair. I'm just re-appropriating this. There's
really no money in this, but Kahuku Park really needs some improvements. It's
the only park for miles. And the kids that go there, there's things that go on there
that prevents the full use of it. It's been run-down for many years, and I'm just
hoping we find money somewhere to start improvements and get the undesirables
out of there so the people of the community can start to utilize that park. Thank
you. I ask for your support.
CHR. CHUNG: Okay, anyone else? If not, we have a motion on the floor. All
those in favor, say "aye."
Vote on Motion to The motion to further amend Bill 31, Draft 2, with the
Further Amend: contents of Comm. 118.5 was carried by the following
(Approved) voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members David, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy,
Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and
Chair Chung—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. CHUNG: Motion carried.
Comm. 118.6: From Council Member Valerie T. Poindexter, dated May 17, 2019, transmitting a
(Memo No. 5) proposed amendment to the Office of Housing and Community Development's
Papa`aloa Elderly Housing Expansion project for $2.3 million.
Motion to Further Ms. Poindexter moved to further amend Bill 31, Draft 2,
Amend: with the contents of Comm. 118.6. Seconded by Ms.
David.
CHR. CHUNG: Ms. Poindexter.
Page 55
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
MS. POINDEXTER: All this is, is moving some of the money around instead of
asking for more money;just carving it out of the construction cost and putting
some money into planning and design/survey, which the developer was okay
with. So,just shifting that funding around.
CHR. CHUNG: Thank you, Ms. Poindexter. We have a motion on the floor. All
those in favor, say "aye."
Vote on Motion to The motion to further amend Bill 31, Draft 2, with the
Further Amend: contents of Comm. 118.6 was carried by the following
(Approved) voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members David, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy,
Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and
Chair Chung–9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. CHUNG: Motion carried. Okay, so, now
MR. HENRICKS: Just a quick check with staff, making sure that we caught all
of the items that were not on the agenda. Thumbs up? Yes? Okay. So, we go
back to the main motion, which is passing Bill 31, Draft 2 as amended, on first
reading.
CHR. CHUNG: Okay. Can I have a motion?
MR. HENRICKS: It's on the floor. It's good. You just need to call for a vote.
CHR. CHUNG: As amended?
MR. HENRICKS: Correct.
CHR. CHUNG: Okay.
MR. HENRICKS: So, our main motion was amended, and now we're voting on
that main motion that Ms. David made, as amended.
CHR. CHUNG: Okay. We have a motion on the floor. All those in favor—any
further discussion, first of all? All those in favor, say "aye."
Page 56
Hawaii County Council-13 May 22,2019
Vote on Bill 31: The motion to pass Bill 31, Draft 2, as amended to Draft 3,
Draft 3 on first reading and adopt Finance Committee Report
(Approved) No. 27 was carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members David, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy,
Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and
Chair Chung—9.
Noes: None.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
CHR. CHUNG: Motion carried. Okay, so
MR. HENRICKS: Mr. Chair, before you call for an adjournment, which would
be appropriate at this time,just a quick recap so what we did today is clear. And
again, we'll get together on June 5 for probably a similar process. So, if it seemed
convoluted today, we had some practice.
CHR. CHUNG: Yeah. I wanted to just make sure, though, we've had discussions
about our rules and our ability to further amend on final reading.
MR. HENRICKS: Correct.
CHR. CHUNG: Okay. Mr. Kamelamela, no problem with that, right? Okay.
Let the record reflect he said yes. Okay. We just don't want to run afoul of any
kind of procedural matters and have the Mayor have the upper hand on us, right?
Okay, so, we've come to the end of our agenda.
ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 12:15 p.m., Ms. Lee Loy moved to adjourn the
MENT: meeting. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz and carried by the following voice vote:
Ayes: Council Members David, Eoff,
Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz,
Lee Loy, Poindexter, Villegas,
and Chair Chung—8.
Noes: Council Member Richards — 1.
Absent: None.
Excused: None.
Page 57
Hawai`i County Council-13 May 22,2019
CHR. CHUNG: Motion carried. May the record reflect one "no" vote, consistent
with the rest of the day. This meeting is adjourned.
Council Approval: U- 0 9 2019
COUN
JH/dg
Page 58