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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN PRC 2019/12/03 2018-2020Committee on Parks and Recreation 3rd Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii December 3, 2019 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Parks and Recreation was ORDER: called to order at 10:30 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Chair Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Ms. Karen Eoff, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member (came in later) 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 Chair called Gala Lirette, who registered to speak in opposition to Res. 425-19, and came forward when called. CHR. POINDEXTER: Okay, seeing no other testifiers, I'm going to be closing statements from the public. Mr. Clerk, please read in Resolution 425-19. COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. (There were none.) ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. PRC -3 December 3, 2019 Res. 425-19: AUTHORIZES THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO A LICENSE AGREEMENT WITH SPECTRUM OCEANIC, LLC, TO ALLOW SPECTRUM OCEANIC, LLC, TO ACCESS COUNTY OF HAWAII PARKS FACILITIES LOCATED ON THE COUNTY OF HAWAII, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE PURPOSE OF INSTALLING WIFI EQUIPMENT The agreement would allow Spectrum to install and maintain free Wi-Fi service to The public for up to one hour per day at six facilities. Reference: Comm. 643 Intr. by: Ms. Poindexter Motion to Approve: Ms. Villegas moved to recommend adoption of Res. 425-19. Seconded by Mr. Richards CHR. POINDEXTER: At this time I'd like to call up Roxcie and J to the table. And I don't know if Roxcie, you want to start and give us a brief overview? Or J, either one. Thank you. (Note: At this time, Parks and Recreation Director Roxcie Waltjen and Deputy Corporation Counsel J Yoshimoto, came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. WALTJEN: Good morning Council, Roxcie Waltjen, Director of Parks and Recreation. A few months ago we were contacted by Spectrum, and we were asked if we would like to have Wi-Fi at various—at six different areas on this island to maintain contact or provide—it would be one hour free Wi-Fi at these different sites. This came as a suggestion from Spectrum as to say, "We want to help deal with any kind of emergency, disaster," because, especially in the Hamakua area where we have our horseshoes, if there is a disaster that goes on and the transportation or the lines get cut off in-between those gulches, there will be communities that will have no communication at all. And the only way to contact them or to get some kind of information out to them would be through Wi-Fi. So anytime that there is an opportunity where we are able to assist or to provide information to the general public, whether it be a need or that kind of, you know, service, we're always ready to accept. And I will tell you the sites were selected based on people in the community wanting it, okay, so it wasn't like we just decided where to put it. CHR. POINDEXTER: Thank you. J, you want to MR. YOSHIMOTO: Good morning, Council Members, J Yoshimoto, Deputy Corporation Counsel. Just some other points also to raise, we do have Page 2 PRC -3 December 3, 2019 Kiman Wong from Spectrum. He's here to answer any technical questions. We provided a copy of the Decision and Order that pertains to the obligation or the commitments from Spectrum. And you know, something to note that was I believe mentioned in the newspaper in terms of the free hour of service. That free hour of service is for one hour. The internet wireless service is subject to oversight by the Parks and Recreation Department. In other words, it's not going to be on all night because we don't want to encourage people to stay in the parks after they're closed. So the expectation at this point is that the service will be shut off when the park is shut down. Which makes sense, right? Because you wouldn't want people just loitering just for Wi-Fi service. So anyway, we're here to answer any questions. Thank you. CHR. POINDEXTER: Thank you. Okay, Council Members? Council Chair Chung. MR. CHUNG: Yeah, and you know, I wanted to explain to my colleagues about this coming to the Council. You know, the Administration had actually requested a waiver from Committee to the full Council, but you know, I felt that this at least needed a little bit more thorough vetting. And that's why we have it at Committee. J, you know, my only question relates to this one hour of use. And it says here in the second recital that they will be providing Wi-Fi service to the public to up to one hour per day as a condition of this order, I guess. Right? MR. YOSHIMOTO: Right. MR. CHUNG: Where is it, you know, we just got the order, but where is it in there? What can we look at? MR. YOSHIMOTO: I don't see the one hour specifically referenced in the Order, but I would defer that question to Spectrum. I think Kiman would be able to answer as far as how that— MR. CHUNG: Because I was kind of looking through it too, and I didn't see any reference to the hour. So I'm just wondering where did this hour come from. CHR. POINDEXTER: So can we ask Spectrum to come to the table? Thank you. And J can you sit too? Because there might be some questions for you. And then if you could just introduce yourself for the record? (Note: At this time, Spectrum -Charter Communications Wireless Director Kiman Wong came forward to address the members of the Committee.) Page 3 PRC -3 December 3, 2019 MR. WONG: Good morning, my name is Kiman Wong, I'm the Director of Wireless for Spectrum -Charter Communications. And the question about where did the one hour come from, yeah, it's not in the D&O 366 (Decision and Order). The D&O has a requirement that we provide a hundred locations that are designated by the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA). It's something that we came up with and we provide since not everybody can access—our normal hotspots provide service to our customers. So you have to be our internet customers. And if you're not then you can't use it or you have to—so that's why we offered the one hour free because the whole idea of what the DCCA wanted to do, and you know, working with Parks and the County, was to provide locations that are underserved or not served, and to get it to people who don't have Wi-Fi or internet connection at home. So that's why we added that in. MR. CHUNG: So they could go over there during the one hour. MR. WONG: It's one-hour per day per device. MR. CHUNG: Per user? MR. WONG: Per device. So if they have a cell phone or i -Pad, that device would get one hour per day. MR. CHUNG: Okay, I see. I mean, you know, I'm always thinking more is better, right? But, is there a reason why it's only an hour? MR. WONG: Not really, that's kind of the standard that we provide for, because we do this at shopping centers as well. So when we contract with a private shopping center we bring in all the equipment and we maintain it. We give those areas also an hour free. So it's kind of our way of giving back something to the property owner. MR. CHUNG: So that's standard then pretty much? MR. WONG: Yes. MR. CHUNG: Okay. No, that was my only question. Thank you. CHR. POINDEXTER: Okay. Council Member, Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. And I'm not sure, Val, if this question might be part directed at you, but it has to do with connecting the rural communities. And this is an initiative that NACo (National Association of Counties) put forth probably two or three years ago. Is this part of that initiative? Do you know? Where's the funding for this coming from? Page 4 PRC -3 December 3, 2019 CHR. POINDEXTER: Yeah, from what I can recall and working with Senator Schatz, and he had commented on Twitter and stuff, and was happy to hear that it's happening. But we would lobby. Do you remember going to his office lobbying about this and getting more Wi-Fi connectivity? So Andy Weiner at one point, I forget what year it was, he called that they were doing the application. And he said, "Now is the opportunity to lobby them more to put in some conditions so that we can address some of the needs in the rural communities." So it started with that. And then, of course, Don Jacobs, who was our IT (Information Technology) person too, had advocated and worked with DCCA. And you know, he was the one that told me that DCCA was going to be the managing franchise agreement for Charter and Spectrum. So it all kind of started there, but then everybody else kind of helped to massage it to get it to where it's at today. I don't know if you have some other input as well. MR. WONG: Just that we actually fund the installation. We purchase the equipment and do the engineering and maintain the service. So it's not any charge to the County. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, so that's just part of your corporate philosophy then. Is that what's coming forward? MR. WONG: Yes. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, because I know the rural CHR. POINDEXTER: It was part of, like asking or advocating for that condition to be right, yeah? MR. RICHARDS: Because the rural communities are underserved. And I know listening at some of the NACo meetings we went to, that kids to get homework done end up having to go outside a County office so they can access internet. And I see that this, in part, could fill some of that need. But I have to agree with the Chair that an hourI understand what you're doing, you're trying to limit it so you don't have loitering or whatever, but by the same token I don't know, an hour sometimes may not be enough. And I did want to address that one of our testifiers expressed that, a health concern. I know that that is a conversation that is out there. Striking the balance between that and access to information is the tough one. I'm trying to figure that one out. So anyway, thank you, I yield. Page 5 PRC -3 December 3, 2019 CHR. POINDEXTER: And I think if you want to explain, if you're a Spectrum customer already, you're not limited to the one hour, correct? MR. WONG: Correct. CHR. POINDEXTER: So if you're a Spectrum, like we all have, you know, the cable. Oh, some of them don't, but most of them do. Then, it doesn't limit them on the one hour. Okay, any other? Council Member, Eoff, sorry about that. MS. EOFF: I just wanted to comment that these are communities where people have no access to Wi-Fi at home potentially or no libraries in the districts. So it's an opportunity for them, like you said, to be able to access the internet or do at least an hour's worth of homework, or whatever it may be. Is that correct? That's how these sites were chosen? They're rural communities here on the island that access is very limited? MR. WONG: It was through the DCCA and working with the Parks Department to bring up these. And our portion was to figure out whether they were in areas where we could actually serve. MS. EOFF: With the logistics. MR. WONG: Yes. MS. EOFF: Thank you. CHR. POINDEXTER: Any other comment? Oh, Council Chair Chung. MR. CHUNG: You know, I'm showing my ignorance because I really don't know much about, you know, this field. But, so is Spectrum providing service in these areas right now? MR. WONG: Are you speaking about the Wi-Fi? MR. CHUNG: Right. MR. WONG: There may be other hot spots in the area. But in most cases, I think these locations are pretty isolated. So they were chosen because we didn't have anything that close to that area. Because when we look for hot spots, we're trying to put it in areas that we think would maximize, you know, usage where more people attend. So shopping centers for example. We put it in those if we can come up with an agreement with that property owner. These locations are probably used less than a shopping center, but it was under the recommendation from Parks. These are areas that people want and need. Page 6 PRC -3 December 3, 2019 MR. CHUNG: So in and around the Honoka`a Gym, Papa`ikou Gym, Pahoa Neighborhood Facility; all these other places, Pahala. MR. WONG: We don't have any hotspots—other regular public hotspots. MR. CHUNG: No, I'm not talking about public hotspots. Do you guys provide service in these areas, though? MR. WONG: Oh, just regular service. MR. CHUNG: Yes. Okay, just kind of thinking out loud right now. I'm sure a lot of these people who are going to be utilizing this service, you know, don't have the where -with -all to subscribe to your company service. But on the other hand, couldn't it be also viewed as somewhat of aI know what you're trying to accomplish, and we really thank you for that, but it also helps you guys too, right? Because it markets your product, and there's a possibility that people may start becoming customers, right? MR. WONG: True. So true, they could become customers. MR. CHUNG: Yeah, and that's why I'm trying to balance this one hour. And then you guys have a benefit as well. You know, there might be some kind of benefit. MR. WONG: Correct. MR. CHUNG: Yeah, I just had to mention that because I'm just kind of thinking out loud. This one hour really seems like a short amount of time, right? MR. WONG: I guess the other thing to consider is that we're doing this at no charge to the Council. We do the engineering, we provide the equipment; do the installation, and we maintain all the equipment. And so it is, you know, expense that we're covering. MR. CHUNG: And we appreciate that. Thank you very much. CHR. POINDEXTER: Thank you. Council Member Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, J, thanks for being here. And just, if I'm getting this correctly, this is actually to satisfy the Decision and Order that was kind of—that came out of the Department of Consumer Affairs, right? MR. YOSHIMOTO: Correct. It was one of the conditions of the granting of the merger. MS. LEE LOY: The merger. So this really is them satisfying this Order. Page 7 PRC -3 December 3, 2019 MR. YOSHIMOTO: Correct. And I believe they're going to the other counties. Is that correct, right? MR. WONG: Correct. MR. YOSHIMOTO: So they're going to the other counties. I think we're the first. Are we the first? Sort of? MR. WONG: We have, you know, there's a hundred locations in total that is in the Order. And I believe your—the DCCA designated with us 35 of those locations be on the Hawaii Island. MS. LEE LOY: Okay, thank you. Thank you for that. J, I just had maybe just because looking at the Exhibit A of the resolution, it mentions, you know, Honoka`a Gym, Papa`ikou Gym. It gives the street addresses along with the TMK (tax map key). But I dug into our Parks and Recreation Section, in which they named the facilities. And so, there's a little bit of a disconnect because Honoka`a, Papa`ikou, Kea`au is not mentioned in those Park schedules. Is that going to be something that we just update under ChapterI'm looking at Chapter 15-68, Parks and Recreational Facility Schedule, in which all of them are named. MR. YOSHIMOTO: My understanding is, the Exhibit A, the descriptions were specified based upon the location of the wireless. In other words, if it was in Pahoa Park, we didn't name it Pahoa Park, but we called it Pahoa Community Center. So it was specific to that area. So I don't see that as an issue in terms of the legality of it because it's basically saying where we're going to put it. And so, I think, as it's worded there, it's more accurately depicting where it'll be. CHR. POINDEXTER: Thank you, Council Member Lee Loy, for bringing that up about the facility schedule, because that's what I'm working on the Parks and Rec. to get all of our facilities and the correct names into that schedule. Yeah, so thank you for bringing that up and noticing that too. So we're working on that. Thank you. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, and Ms. Poindexter, I think we went through this when we were doing the Farmers' Market. And we redid this entire section. So it's ripe for moving the names in. Thank you. I don't have any questions. I'm going to be supporting this. I've heard in the past, especially for Pahoa; our Senior Centers, they got, you know, computers and they needed Wi-Fi. I mean, there was a huge need, especially in Puna. And, you know, I completely support the idea or providing connectivity to our kids for access. You know, myself and Ms. Kierkiewicz have been very active with Vibrant Hawaii. And it's this access that really becomes a leveling playing field for the Page 8 PRC -3 December 3, 2019 most vulnerable in our community, and then these rural areas in the event of an emergency. So with that, yeah, I'm going to be supporting this and thank you J, for being here. Mr. Wong, thank you. CHR. POINDEXTER: Council Member, Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, just a quick follow-up. A statement was made that there's a hundred sites statewide. Then I thought I heard you say, 30 on the Big Island, but we have six represented here or seven. So can you articulate on that? MR. WONG: The ones that are listed here are ones that we need to put equipment into the Parks buildings or onto the property, because another way that we can serve these locations is we put our Wi-Fi equipment up on our wires that are maybe in front of the community center, and it will propagate down into the location. These locations, the poles are too far away from the building so it wouldn't work well in the buildings, so that's why we're asking to put the equipment in the building. That's what this agreement—so the others are the 35 that are up on our wires. MR. RICHARDS: Okay so, for our County, we're actually going to have 30 plus sites. MR. WONG: Yes. MR. RICHARDS: That's really good for our County. We get a third of the hundred. So, okay, thank you, I yield. MR. WONG: You have the biggest island, the most rural areas. CHR. POINDEXTER: Thank you. This is the most I've seen Council Chair's light go on to speak. But, Council Chair Chung. MR. CHUNG: You know, and I really apologize, because I'm kind of learning on the fly because I'm really not well versed in this area, right? And it's interesting. So what's happening here then, the reason why we're taking this up is because you are asking to obtain a license to install different things on our County property, right? So I'm looking at this Decision and Order, and then there are other areas that are mentioned in the order that are supposed to be provided service as well, right? But because we don't have County facilities there, you guys are going to be establishing hotspots on private properties? You know, I'm just looking Kalapana, Seaview Estates, Black Sand Beach, and all these other places. Just looking really fast, yeah, sorry if I'm making a mistake. Page 9 PRC -3 December 3, 2019 MR. WONG: I believe those are what's in the D&O. That's to provide, not necessarily Wi-Fi service, that's to just provide service. I think cable service, right? In the case of the Wi-Fi part that we're talking about, is we're trying to put these in near community centers, because those were the ones that were general public areas. And we're just providing the equipment and putting it on our strand; on our cables in front of that. So, we don't have to actually come on to the County's property. I don't know if I'm explaining this— MR. CHUNG: So what are we granting then if you don't have to come onto the County property? MR. WONG: In this case, in these six locations, we do need to go on. The remaining other ones we don't need to. MR. CHUNG: And this license is specifically for the purpose of giving the public one hour of service, or is it helping to build up your infrastructure? MR. WONG: It does both. I mean it does provide—the hotspots that go on can provide the free one hour as well as provide to our normal customers. MR. CHUNG: I mean I'm going to support this, of course. You know, I think it's good for the public, but I've got to think about this a little bit more. You know, we just got this Decision and Order. And by the way, where is the section in the Decision and Order that relates to this? MR. WONG: Sorry, I don't remember exactly where— MR. CHUNG: Well, maybe you can give it to J, and then he can let us know. I don't want to take up too much more time. But one more question, though. Is there any possibility you guys may be amenable to giving the pubic more than an hour. Possible? MR. WONG: Yeah, it's possible. MR. CHUNG: Okay. Alright. Thank you. That's all I wanted to know. CHR. POINDEXTER: Council Member, Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. Following up on that, is it possible to use our sponsorship agreement where Spectrum could sponsor some of the repair and maintenance of these facilities? Just putting it out there. MR. WONG: I don't know what that is. CHR. POINDEXTER: He can't answer, but good point. Good marketing for us. Page 10 PRC -3 December 3, 2019 MS. LEE LOY: I wanted to speak to one thing Mr. Chung mentioned because Kona Seaview. In addition to the Wi-Fi, I know some of these areas that get, like the hardwiring of the cable. Some of them had; Farmers Market. So for those people who use our double bucks program, they actually can hard wire the use of those cards to pay for some of the food at the Farmers Market. So this really was building up the infrastructure for providing access through the Farmers Market Programs where they could use their EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) cards. That was another thing I saw, especially in Kona Seaview. That was one advantage of having this kind of network available. Again to those most vulnerable in our communities. CHR. POINDEXTER: Thank you. Council Member Chung. Wow, he's really making a record. MR. CHUNG: How about this J. You know why, this is going to move forward and we're giving the Mayor authorization to enter into things. I'm wondering if we could just change this second recital, instead of saying, "up to one hour per day." At least one hour per day, right. And then, the Mayor can work things out from there. Is that okay? I mean, J, maybe you can just amend that. Or someone, whoever, yeah. CHR. POINDEXTER: Yeah, I can put that amendment in. Okay, thank you. So, I'm glad you asked about expanding the hours, because especially when we use it as emergency shelters. And during those times, you have families at the shelters, and you would want them to have a little bit more than one hour. So putting that amendment in would pretty much satisfy that so we can at least advocate during those times that our families could have outside contact through the use of their cell phone. And I just want to say, you know, traveling to NACoduring the time of the Legislative Conference, we have the chance to go to lobby. And this has come through because of that initiative as well. That helped a lot. So to the public who sometimes think, "Oh look them, they're traveling to DC." Hey, it was worth every penny, because we're fighting for things for our communities at the Federal level. So I want to thank, definitely thank Andy Weiner, who called and said, "Hey Val, it's the time right now. The application is in, let's look for some conditions to be put in." And when the article came out, Senator Schatz, I guess he's on Twitter or Instagram, said, "From business to healthcare to education, internet is a critical lifeline for every community. We'll keep fighting to expand access for Hawai`i." That's what he tweeted, so he was very happy that, you know, that came out. And then again, I want to thank Don Jacobs who worked real hard getting Wi-Fi in rural communities, and I'm sure he had worked with Spectrum as well. So he's Page 11 PRC-3 December 3,2019 now with the Police Department, lucky them. But, so thank you to all of them. So I guess we'll go for the vote. All those in favor of approving Resolution 425-19, please say"aye." Vote on Res. 425-19: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 425-19 was (Approved) carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Poindexter-9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. POINDEXTER: Okay, Resolution 425-19 moves forward to Council with a positive recommendation. May I have a motion to adjourn? ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 11:03 a.m., Ms. David moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Ms. Eoff and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Poindexter-9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. POINDEXTER: Okay, meeting is adjourned. Approved: .�_� -�'` - ' December 23, 2019 Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Chair (Date) Parks and Recreation Committee VP/dt Page 12