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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN GREDC 2019/12/03 2018-2020Committee on Governmental Relations and Economic Development 16th Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii December 3, 2019 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Governmental Relations and Economic ORDER: Development was called to order at 3:47 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Chair Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Ms. Karen Eoff, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member Ms. Valerie Poindexter, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by the Chair. Smiley Burrows: Comm. 430.24, in support, Nicolette Douvris: Comm. 430.24, comment. (Representing the Malama Ki Homesteads) Deb Smith: Comm. 430.24, in support. (Representing the Vacationland Hawaii Community Association) Gail Clarke: Comm. 430.24, comment. Nancy Seifers: Comm. 430.24, comment. GREDC-16 COMMUNI- CATIONS: Comm. 430.24 Motion to Close File: Tisha Montoya: (Representing the Malama Ki Homesteads) Andy Andrews: (Representing Leilani Community Association) December 3, 2019 Comm. 430.24, comment. Comm. 430.24, comment. Susan Kim: Comm. 430.24, comment. (Representing the Vacationland Hawaii Community Association) Robert Golden: (Representing the Village Bakery) Matthias Moylan: Melissa Niemeyer: Comm. 430.24, comment. Comm. 430.24, in support. Comm. 430.24, in support. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you so much. Is there anybody else that liked to testify at this time? Seeing no other testifiers, closing public testimony and moving on to business of the day. Mr. Clerk, if you could please read in Communication 430.24. The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Communications. REQUESTS A PROGRESS REPORT FROM THE 2018 KILAUEA ERUPTION RECOVERY TEAM REGARDING THE IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES OF THE INTERIM RECOVERY STRATEGY From Council Member Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, dated November 14, 2019. Ms. Lee Loy moved to close file on Comm. 430.24. Seconded by Mr. Richards. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: If I could call up our brand new Recovery Officer, Douglas Le. Is there anyone from your team that you'd like to bring forward as well? (Note: At this time Recovery Officer Douglas Le came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. LE: Not at this point. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. We're going to do a two minute recess to just set up the AN (Audio Visual). Thank you, we're in recess. Page 2 GREDC-16 December 3, 2019 Recess: At 4:20 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. Reconvene: The meeting reconvened at 4:22 p.m. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, out of recess. Douglas. Please take it away. MR. LE: Good afternoon. Douglas Le, Disaster Recovery Officer with the County of Hawaii. Appreciate the opportunity to bring an update to the Council regarding the county's process on our interim recovery strategy. And before I dig in, I just want to kind of call out in response to the communication and issues that we were asked to report out on. I'll be spending a lot of time talking about the mechanics of government, and I just want to callout that this is what I'll be talking on is one piece of our important work on recovery. And happy to have further conversations as appropriate on all the mechanics as well as the real things that affect people's lives, every day. Today, tomorrow as well. (Note: At this time, Mr. Douglas Le provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office. A copy of the presentation is made a part of the record, see Comm. 430.25.) MR. LE: So I'll leave it at that, and I'm happy to have further discussion, and answer any questions you all may have. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Douglas. The point of today's conversation was really to do a pulse check. We as the Council adopted the interim recovery strategy, maybe in August or October, can't remember. Everything is blending into one very long day. And this is really an unprecedented process. A natural disaster could impact any one of our districts at any time. And so it's really important for us to stay abreast on how this is unfolding, so that it can be fine- tuned in the event of future emergencies. So thank you. Before I open it up to questions from my colleagues, I just wanted to ask if you want to introduce any of the members from your team, you mentioned that some of the positions have been filled. MR. LE: Sure, happy to do that. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. MR. LE: If they'll oblige. We have Tom Callas, who's our Communications Specialist, you know, working on the Kilauea Recovery Website that we hope is a resource, and will continue to evolve to be a resource for getting information out to the public. We're all here too as well, for information. Dennis Kauka who recently joined us two weeks ago, as our Disaster Recovery Program Coordinator. So really working with our team as we grow, to bottom line a lot of the operations Page 3 GREDC-16 December 3, 2019 that would be required to work within our county family, work with the community. And that's about it for now. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. And Bob (Agres) is still part of the team. MR. LE: Absolutely. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Community engagement outreach. And at some point we'll have a formal press release memo go out to Council, and community about who all these faces are for recovery, right? MR. LE: We have to get the information out. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, great, thank you. I just want to make sure the community is aware of who's going to be in charge of the process, so they know who to connect with. You know, at this time, I have a number of questions but I do want to open it up to my colleagues. Because the disaster area has affected Puna at large, and that spans several districts. And the impact of the eruption have been felt island -wide. So opening it up for questions. Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Anytime we talk numbers we peak my interest. And you're talking almost $800 million impact, is that to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) for the county? How was that calculated? MR. LE: If you give me a moment, can I consult with our team who came up with the numbers, to answer that question? I'll walk away for 30 seconds. MR. RICHARDS: Okay. MR. LE: Appreciate that flexibility. You know, in answer to your question about this $800 million figure. It was really understanding the economic impacts of several factors. The loss of jobs over the one year period following the eruption, and so our team has identified that were 4,727 jobs lost in the year that followed the eruption. Another factor was also kind of losses in the tourism sector, and they've quantified an economic impact to $450 million in lost revenue island - wide. And you know, potentially $750 million of lost output statewide. I think our tourism community, they don't always understand the scale of our island state, and what was affected and what was not affected. Especially, yeah both domestically and internationally. Another factor was direct agricultural losses, including 46 farms that were directly affected by the eruption. Looking at the destruction or damage to infrastructure and natural asset it's at about $236 million. And you know, things like the boat ramp that had clear economic impacts. And finally looking at housing, and property values that were directly impacted. Kind of property damage, and also Page 4 GREDC-16 December 3, 2019 reduced property taxes. So a lot of those really specific coindicators, and I can follow up with more details. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, if you could just put a one page together, probably for the Council if you could get that to us. The number I was given was $500 million, and basically that came from the tourism sector. I know we had many, many rooms cancelled. And as Council Woman Kierkiewicz pointed out, the physical damage was Puna side, but the economic damage was county wide. And I know we had little businesses going out of business on the west side as well because of the down turn in tourism. And so I think my bigger concern is the economy at large, so I'd love to see those numbers. And we have to figure out how to get our economy going, which comes back to Energov and getting our building up and running. Okay, thanks. I yield. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Chair Chung, and then I'll go to Ms. Poindexter, then Ms. Eof£ MR. CHUNG: Yeah. Good afternoon, Douglas, and thank you for taking this on. You know, it really is encouraging to have three or four individuals working on this now, full time, right? You guys are devoting all of your work to that, and that's good. You know, it's good to have an identifiable group of people. You know, I don't have any questions, I might have one but it's more on a broader scale. Because I think it's much too early to ask you guy's specific questions, in as much as you guys just started this process. The main thing is you guys start engaging the community, that's what we've been asking for the longest time. So hopefully your team will be able to now get out there and really, really start engaging them, because they have a lot of resources. My only question really is, are you or your team basically like the recovery czar or czars? Or are you guys just coordinators? And someone else will be making the decisions, specifically the Mayor. I mean how does this thing work systemically? I just want to know. Because you know, I hate for you guys to do certain things and then get hung up. I just want to understand this. MR. LE: Sure. It's a fair question, and I think an important one. Thank you. I'm not a big fan of the czar model. There's a long history. MR. CHUNG: Maybe that's the wrong term. MR. LE: But I understand and you know, appreciate the point that is important to clarify. You know, there are so many decisions that need to be made in terms of mapping out the recovery from this event in Puna, and you know, the overflow impacts island -wide. I think many of those decisions happen at an individual scale, like what am I going to do with my house, what am I going to do with my farm, how am I going to get by? Page 5 GREDC-16 December 3, 2019 But a lot of decisions also are happening at a community level, and some are decisions that we have to make together, and some are flat up county decisions, right. For those decisions that for which the county is responsible, our Mayor is Chief Executive, the County Council is our Legislature, and so you all you know, do have a lot of authority in terms of final decisions. The recovery leadership team that I shared, and the formation of our recovery team I think has a really critical role to play in terms of maximizing that authority that the Mayor in his executive role, and you all legislators have, and ensuring that the right decisions are being discussed first off, but also that decisions that are being made, are being well informed. I see my role as bringing together those voices, being able to make recommendations. Being able to articulate tough decisions, tough tradeoffs. Because I think our county, our communities, and our families all face that. And so one par coordinator, one par kind of match maker facilitator, but really my overall goal is to make sure that there is singular accountability for this important work that is happening at many different scales. MR. CHUNG: Well I think that's a fair, and reasonable answer at this point. I mean but at some time I think both the community as well as the Council would want to know how much weight we're having in all of this, right? And I don't want to create more work for any of my colleagues, of course. But I've long been an advocate for having both of our Council Members, right Mr. Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder and Ms. Kierkiewicz, being part of your team. Really, I mean they have a lot to offer, and you know, I'll be discussing things with you more in private not to violate any kind of—not to be in violation of the spirt of transparency, but there's so many questions that I have, that I'd like to work with you just in a meeting and maybe we can streamline this thing. MR. LE: Of course. MR. CHUNG: It's going to take too long, I think if I just ask those questions now. MR. LE: I'd welcome it. I mean I think as we're forming this team there are procedural things that are new to the county, that we're looking to stand up. And we've been working at the department level to figure that out. But also with the planning the larger decisions, you know, this model of consultation is one that we want to do with members of our community, but also with all you Council Members. MR. CHUNG: Well, I'm really happy you guys are all on board. And you know, maybe to a little negative, I don't know if it's negative or positive but, you know, I wish you guys were on board a lot earlier. Page 6 GREDC-16 December 3, 2019 MR. LE: The feelings are mutual. But we're going to move forward. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. Ms. Poindexter. MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah, and I'm glad we're starting somewhere with, you know, a recovery officer. But when I looked at this, you said the organizational chart, I was really bothered by it. I guess because I'm so used to having community-based kind of recovery, yeah. Where the community is always at the top, in control. Because it's their community, like the testifiers say, that I always say that. We come and go, the community is there, they know their community. We shouldn't be going in and getting some information, and then we're going to do for them, right. It's empowering them to take control of everything. I mean even the money, you know, at some point. A nonprofit, they should have a community disaster recovery team that you support, you know. And that the team that you bring with you, should be supporting what their efforts are. That's how I see it. So I'm bothered that the county takes this role, and it takes away the power from our community members. So I was just always brought up community-based, the people have the power. We need to recover, we need to learn from this, so that we can continue to prepare for future disasters. You know, what we're doing is enabling them, to rely on government all the time. The expertise in the community when you hear people coming up and their skillsets, and their expertise and the professionals in the community, believe me, they would do a lot better than County Government. But I thank you for your expertise, and being here to help guide them. Because I've heard the testifiers speak very highly of you, and you meeting with them. So I trust that I will be that partnership. But I encourage you to build that structure, to allow the community to be at the top. Not us. Thank you. MR. LE: May I just reflect a bit? CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Please do. MR. LE: Yeah. I appreciate the sentiment, and really the perspective that you're bringing into this conversation. You know, org charts are very two dimensional and that's one of the limitations, especially when you're trying to talk about our county roles, for those of us who are within the county. But yes, I think it's important also how we represent the work too though. So you know, as our team forms, we're going to be wearing a lot of hats. Making sure the money that's coming in is being spent well, wisely, and legally, for lack of a better word, to ensure that, you know, the right decisions are being made. But I think also to support. Support the energy, the knowledge, and skills of the community too. You know, folks like Bob and our team have been doing that from day one. So I Page 7 GREDC-16 December 3, 2019 wanted to continue lifting that up, and formalizing more of that as more initiative projects materialize. So thank you for that. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Ms. Poindexter for those sentiments. Ms. Eoff. MS. EOFF: Thank you. I'm kind of on same wavelength with Mr. Chung and Ms. Poindexter. I feel like there's some comfort brought to us with your presentation, and while the charts are two dimensional they do offer a more organized approach to the future. And we know that when you're dealing with this much money and coming from Federal Government and all, you have to be very careful and there's a lot of red tape, and so things can't happen fast. And we can understand that. But I still feel from the community side that they can't understand that, or there's not enough happening soon enough that could even just make a difference in few people's lives that would keep the rest of the people more patient. I just feel like—and maybe there's Council Members that could help your team by, you know, working with the community more. Or not more, but, you know, as you progress with this new plan, just to keep the community more engaged. Some people say they weren't notified of things. I mean I know it's hard, we have community members all over the island who maybe don't know how to get the information that's really being offered. Or we feel it's being offered, but they didn't get it. They don't read the newspaper, or they don't know when to come to a meeting. I mean how we really get into the community, and in the Puna area I'm sure it's very difficult, and there's a lot of isolated people too who have individual needs. But I was comforted by your presentation, but I also feel a disconnect somehow that community is still, I think trying to express. But I don't think that's insurmountable, I think you probably now will have a means. But yeah, it's a lot of money, it's unprecedented occurrence or this recovery is something that is sort of a moving, changing event. I mean it's not like we just knew how to go from here to here, we have to find our way. But yeah, I'm really happy that the Administration has now put together this team, and you're at this point with being ready to receive and spend the money that we are hearing about. I have a lot of confidence in you though. MR. LE: Appreciate the support. I think, you know, our residents understand red tape more than I think any of us even do, because they deal with it a lot. The Federal Government is unique in its own way too. You know, I think of the solutions that we have to start to find information, I feel it's important. So at least folks have an understanding as to why something isn't moving, or how something got to a place that it feels stuck. So I think our team has to work on collecting all Page 8 GREDC-16 December 3, 2019 the information across all the departments, then tracking this many moving pieces to make sure the information gets out there. MS. EOFF: The information sharing is probably one of the most important aspects. Looks like you have a good team for that. MR. LE: Starting, yeah. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Ms. Eof£ Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, then I'll go to Chair Chung. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Douglas, I appreciate your time. We've had a couple of meetings already, and so far you seem very collected. And if you're able to put your entire person into this, verses having a shared responsibility list I think you could make some headway. I'm excited to be on the committee. I am also sharing the concerns of Val and Aaron, as far as when we do make decisions who is going to say yes or no to them. I kind of wondered that, looking at the hierarchy that we have listed. But I am optimistic that we can make some good changes, and hopefully some quick action. And we wanted that from the beginning. So I'm very optimistic, I look forward to seeing what happens from here. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Chair Chung. MR. CHUNG: Yeah. And you know, Douglas, I told you I wasn't going to ask specific questions and I'm not going to do that. But just listening to Val, Karen, and Matt, I started thinking, you know, I want to have confidence in this group. I think that's what we always wanted to have, some confidence in the approach. So let me ask you this then, you know, since the time that you've been on board what have you learned from the community? What's your sense, what's their frustration? Have you seen? Tell us what you've learned, from the community. MR. LE: So to be very honest, one of the most striking learnings in the past four weeks I've been in this job. But also the six months prior, I've been working in support the broader team that has been responsible for it, that it is too easy to forget, the crises never ended for some people, to be very honest, for someone who does not live in Puna who comes to work every day in this lovely building across the street, and to really challenge how easy it is to forget. You know, our Senator and HUD (Housing and Urban Development) today announced this new money, which actually isn't new money. I'm happy to explain what it actually means. But you know, announcement yesterday for funds that were appropriated in October of 2018, and June of 2019, by the Congress. A Federal Registry notice Page 9 GREDC-16 December 3, 2019 that we're still waiting for and have been waiting for, a 120 -day clock that will start after that notice is published. A 45 -day clock that will start, after we submit our action plan. The numbers don't work, in terms of the people that been affected by this event. You know, I mean it's not something that I didn't know, and haven't thought about often. But connecting with folks on a regular basis, putting names to faces, to situations, I think is important learning in my new role on being able to focus on these responsibilities. MR. CHUNG: Do you sense any frustration on part of the community? MR. LE: No doubt. MR. CHUNG: Yeah, okay. Well I didn't hear that word. Because I want to have faith in the group, but in order for me to have that faith I've got to know that you guys truly understand, you know, what the community is going through. And you know, they've come up with some wonderful ideas, you know, throughout the months we've been listening to them. And you know, I can't really say that much of it was implemented but that's—so anyway, we're going to move forward from here, right. But really try to get a feel for what's going on with the community, and then keep on letting us know. And then as soon as we know you guys get it, then we'll feel more confident. Yeah? MR. LE: Yeah. MR. CHUNG: Thank you. MR. LE: Understood. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. If my colleagues will indulge me, I have a few pointed questions that I want to ask. Just because I've been intimately involved in this process, since before I even was sworn in. I think what frustrated me, and this is not directed at you Douglas, but maybe you feel this frustration as well. But I felt that with recovery, we had an opportunity to do things differently, and we squandered it. We really did. It was business as usual, we put up those silos that we're used to. Because that's what was comfortable, that's what folks knew how to do. And I see myself as a little bit of a disrupter, wanting to be creative, innovative, collaborative, and work with community. Because at the end of the day, they have to live with our decisions. That's why I've been so passionate about making sure that the community has a seat at the table, that youth have a seat at the table. Because our kids who want to live in Puna, who want to live on Hawaii Island, they don't really see a future for themselves here, so we need to make sure that they're part of the decision making. I'm glad everybody picked up on how bothersome these structures are. I don't like seeing the Mayor at the top here, I honestly see us as equals to be really Page 10 GREDC-16 December 3, 2019 honest. We're there to keep each other accountable, checks and balances. So I'm really hoping that in January when we have another update, we can really dive into the mechanics of how the decisions are going to be made. I mean we have community here for this recovery structure graphic, and then this recovery task force. We have community informing every level of government. It doesn't make sense to me. And I see community representatives here as part of the task force, I don't know how this feeds into the overall structure. If that is the decision making structure, because it looks similar to something I was provided earlier. So I just want to get on the same page in terms of like terminology, of we're calling things. So that we can speak. The vernacular has to be down. We all need to be speaking the same language, so that we're understanding the process. I'm hopingI don't know if you can elaborate on the recovery task force, the blue ribbon task force, that's kind of been floated around. An update on chosen community members, how many community representatives have been identified. Initially there were three positions, and I have advocated for like five or seven. I just felt that we needed more voices at the table, so I don't know if you want to provide an update to us on that right now. We have a lot of folks in the room that would be very eager to know. MR. LE: Sure, of course. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. MR. LE: So relative to the task force I think, you know, there's a lot of interest in the community representatives. In our early thinking we started from a place of three, we're at a place of six in terms of community representatives kind of on the task force itself. I think that's important. But I also want to call out that, you know, there isn't an opportunity for folks to get involved in the recovery support functions as well. In terms of how communities kind of have a seat at the table. Again, hierarchical western ways of thinking about old charts. The co -leads kind of sit on the task force, quote unquote. But really carry the work forward of entire recovery support function. That working group that we're looking to lift up. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: So just to be clear, these are not just advisory roles. When the communities ask to step up and serve, it's more than making a decision. They're going to have kuleana to help implement. MR. LE: That's correct. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: We're going to be implementing in partnership. MR. LE: Right. Page 11 GREDC-16 December 3, 2019 CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. I don't want anybody to think that county is going to do it all, because we just don't have capacity. And I think if things are going to have longevity and be sustainable, the community got to be part of implementation. I'm really curious about the financial tracking piece. Are you well versed in like Fresh and Eden? MR. LE: My privilege of serving as Administrator for Planning Department for the two years prior, has gotten me very versed on the financial operations of Fresh. Not an expert, but familiar. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: So can that information be like translated into something more visual that can be updated on the website? I'm thinking of something like a dashboard that Kauai has. We had an OpenGov presentation, I floated the idea to Roy that this could be a potential opportunity to sort of test pilot that system. But we hear it over and over again, "where's the money, where's the money?" I think we also need to get into the complexities of the various pots. It's not just a blank check that the county's been written, but there are different restrictions, rules, and regulations that kind of govern how and when we can spend that money. MR. LE: So from experience with working in Fresh, it is incredibly good at accuracy of information. Across all kinds of methods of accounting, how you want to slice it, putting out reports. One function it does not have, is visual representation. And I think, you know, Council has discussed it with different folks of the county. If there's an opportunity to take that accurate information around financial reporting, understand and represent some of the complexity, we can explore within our team, to try and kind of generate that. Sort of another technology solution like OpenGov. But I appreciate, and I've seen in other contexts, other jurisdictions kind of utilize that visual representation of financial information as an educational tool. And then one of transparency. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Speaking of finances, there was a slide about the recovery monies. And I specifically want to talk about the $60 million from the legislature which Council Members Lee Loy, Richards, and I, we were at the legislature scrapping to bring that money home. So we sort of have it, right? But we haven't accessed it, so it's not technically in the hands of the county. Can you elaborate a little on that, like what the procedures are to access it? Is it something that is reimbursed once we spend? Do we have to provide an action plan similar to what we're doing for HUD and the DR (Disaster Recovery) process? This maybe a Deanna question, but if you want to shed some light on this, that would be helpful. MR. LE: Yeah. I speak to the aspects that I'm more versed on. So you know, these funds have been granted to the county, the Council has appropriated the funds in our budget. From my understanding, we have the authority it spend on it. However, what is lacking is a program, or budget for these resources. So Page 12 GREDC-16 December 3, 2019 $20 million is sitting in our budget, on a revenue side. It's my understanding that it hasn't necessarily been allocated, or programed on the expenditure side. Early on I think, you know, after the efforts at the legislature to secure these dollars, the recovery leadership team did float some proposals as part of the interim recovery strategy of what I would call programing those dollars. You know, buckets here for housing, x amount of dollars for immediate grants to the community. Concerns came up, around kind of how those dollars were being programed at a dollar level. Like why $8 million for housing in the absence of having a broader recovery plan, that would help make decisions collectively, right. And these are the structures we're talking about, in conversations like today. So I think it is unfortunate that in terms of the process we went through those dollars while available to the county, are not currently programed to any activities. They are committed to recovery efforts. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: So they're not programed, because we need criteria to direct how and where we can spend that money? MR. LE: That's an important part, yes. Budgeting is a tool, but also the ways that some of the money can be spent deploying it. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. I mean I guess I'm just a little confused and frustrated, again, not at you, but that this is an afterthought. Like we went to the legislature earlier this year, Joe, and I feel like only now Corporation Counsel is being looped in, to talk about, okay, let's figure out legally, how we can spend this money to make sure that it's benefitting our community. This is why the conversations have to be inclusive, everybody has to be at the table. That way we're on the same page. And that decisions are made with the legal stuff in mind. Because now I'm questioning like okay, how do we help Kua O Ka La, how do we help get money into the hands of community through the Puna Strong Grants Program? Which I honestly thought we would be announcing in October, because that was the indication I was getting from the prior recovery team. And so we're still here, kind of talking about these really novel interesting ideas. Okay, I'm just going to leave it at that. Not you, I have so much faith in you. I mean, I love hearing everybody come up and say we have renewed faith in the process because Douglas is at the helm. Totally, totally have 100 percent confidence in you. Just a couple more questions. Case management, so one of things that we heard from a constituent earlier was they get updates from neighborhood place of Puna, they have needs, they want to resolve their situation but there's no resources available other than what the Kilauea Hui can provide. Again, potential for the $20 million or other Federal, State monies to be spent to help resolve needs. Page 13 GREDC-16 December 3, 2019 Where else are we looking to help folks? I saw a little resource directory that neighborhood place of Puna put together, it's really beautiful. But it requires someone impacted by lava to pick up the phone, and call dozens, and dozens of folks to figure out what the opportunities are. And to me that's really stressful. MR. LE: So with the work of Neighborhood Place of Puna, you know, the case managers that folks are working with, can really provide support on that matter. In terms of reaching out and asking on behalf of the clients, what their needs are, what's available to them. I deeply appreciate that the resources out there in our community today cannot meet all the needs that our individual families are presenting with. I think that our recovery dollars, once we're able to deploy them, could generate resources to help but they aren't there right now, right. So if folks are experiencing a challenge where they feel like they're hitting a wall, or not kind of being supported in identifying resources that are available. You know, the case managers are there, Neighborhood Place of Puna is there. But if, you know, there's kind of unique situations, or ideas of resources that could be available, you know, we want to hear about it too to help inform the recovery plan, but also to help inform the projects and activities that gets supported with all these supported dollars. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: So 1,154 calls made, 27 cases opened, about a quarter like 384 have been resolved, because like 256 declined services. Do you anticipate the number of cases to go up? Are we going to reach back out to folks to see if they need assistance? MR. LE: Yes. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. MR. LE: The case manager process is an involving one. Even among the 1,100 or so clients that have been contacted, a lot of that is from, the Neighborhood Place of Puna's database. They continue to serve families, and residents even before the grant was in place. And we are coordinating with FEMA, to understand database of everyone who is assisted by FEMA. And we don't have eyes on that database, but understand that is a universe that could also be kind of assisted through this program both homeowners and renters. So you know, their responsibility is to continue to outreach, and understand needs as they change. And also, based on the folks I've gotten to meet and hear from, you know, their housing situation might be okay now, but they know they won't be okay in May, for example. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Right. So asking the right questions, I just hope going forward there aren't any more missed opportunities. I had a number of talk story sessions throughout the district, in November. And one of things that came up was, that FEMA deadline for individual assistance. And so in some situations the Page 14 GREDC-16 December 3, 2019 Neighborhood Place of Puna case manager asked about that for some clients, and other clients weren't asked that question if they needed a re -up. And so I just worry about missed opportunities. Again, not your fault, just oversight I think of the many, many, walls that are being juggled for ongoing recovery, which is like I think a decade-long process. I think there are some wins that we can start getting in the very near future. Puna Strong grants, some temporary roads, stuff like that. But I think recovery is going to take a while, to be really honest. So I hope everybody here is in it for the long run, because Douglas and I, the county are. Last question about the plans, Tetra Tech's and ISD (Institute for Sustainable Development.) Do the consultants need any more from the community, from Council Members? I know that there were strategy sessions, with Tetra Tech that were unfortunately convened the same time as Council meeting so Mr. Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder, Ms. David, and myself weren't able to attend. And so I'm just wondering, are there more opportunities to connect with Council Members or the community, because I want to make sure that these plans have definitely been informed by those perspectives? MR. LE: So right now as we work with the two consultant teams to get us to a document that we can all kind of really look at together, they're analyzing, and putting in a lot of information that has been collected on many different levels. From workshops, one on one talk stories, and raw data collections as well, geographic modeling and that type of work. I feel that, you know, we continue to have conversations in terms of engaging with the community and where they are is very helpful. I think that the projects that have been lifted up by the community, are being reflected in the projects that kind of are being at least memorialized in the plan. But also we're looking at feasibility, like is this a community partner driven effort, is it a private sector business driven effort, and is it a county, some combination of all, right. The really important part will be for us to come out and kind of work with Council Members, community members, business owners, and consulting on this plan when there's something to actually look at. I think for anyone who's been in a process like this or even, you know, like a high school end of year paper. You know, in the final weeks and months, there's a lot of focus on making sure that we have the right product on everything that we've done. Speaks to the vision, and the voices that we know we are accountable to. And I want to focus on getting that out for consultation. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: And are fully in control of managing those contracts, or are they still being overseen by R&D (Research and Development)? MR LE: So of the several contracts with Tetra Tech and ISD, which they are four or five depending how you count. There's different funding streams that are supporting those efforts, and because of that different contracts and different Page 15 GREDC-16 December 3, 2019 deliverables are being created. On the Comprehensive Recovery Plan, on the Volcanic Risk Assessment, and on the Economic Recovery Plan, I am centralized Project Manager working with the teams in terms of getting us to our finish lines. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, so yes. MR LE: Yes. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Okay, great. Thank you, Douglas. I enjoy working with you, I appreciate you being so frank and open. And yeah, I think this is the reset button we needed on this process, to feel good about it again, and to trust in it. So thank you. There's a motion on the floor to close file on this—oh. MR. LE: I didn't get to cover this, but given the timeless of the HUD news, would it be good to clarify around CHR KIERKIEWICZ: The $17 million? Yes, please. MR. LE: Okay. So last night, this morning our Senator announced new funding through a congressional appropriation for Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funding. Congress made two appropriations, one large, large, appropriation in October 2018 allocated $1.68 million to HUD for disasters in 2017, 2018. I'm sorry $1.68 billion, yes, sorry, $1.68 billion to HUD for you know, us and other folks from the cohort. And so that was the $66.8 million that I think has previously been discussed, in terms of what Hawaii can expect from that first appropriation. In June of 2019, Congress did a supplemental appropriation of $2.431 billion to HUD for some of the early grantees, our jurisdictions and also some 2019 jurisdictions. Bottom line is that, you know, HUD for the first time put out a press release earlier today identifying the specific allocations of disaster recovery dollars to Kauai County and Hawaii County. I can confirm short of the Federal Registry Notice being published, based on this press release, that the county expects $83,841,000 in Disaster Recovery dollars. We would expect that, that figure be reflected in the Federal Registry Notice, and that these would be the funds that we would be receiving once this process kicks off So I think like you all, like members of our community, we've been kind of waiting and trying to parse different sources of information. I mean it's helpful that our Congress, our Congressional Delegation and HUD provide information when it's known, but I think for me, for the first time watching this for several months now, I have a clear sense of what we can expect from HUD. CHR KIERKIEWICZ: Great, thank you for clarifying. Anyone else? If not there's a motion on the floor, all in favor to close file, please say "aye." Page 16 GREDC-16 December 3, 2019 Vote on Comm. 430.24: The motion to close file on Comm. 430.24 was carried by Filed the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Motion carries. ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, RF,SOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. (There were none.) BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of ORDINANCES: business, Bills for Ordinances. (There were none.) CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: Can I have a motion to adjourn? ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 5:24 p.m., Ms. Lee Loy moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Richards and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Kierkiewicz — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. KIERKIEWICZ: GRED is adjourned at 5:24 p.m. Thank you all, for joining us. Approve Ms. Ashley Kierkiewicz, Chair Governmental Relations and Economic Development Committee AK/rk 1)-41(ol (Date) Page 17