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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN COUNCIL 2020-03-20 2018-2020 Hawaii County Council 341h Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii March 20, 2020 CALL TO The emergency meeting of the Hawaii County Council was called to order at ORDER: 1:01 p.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 (via videoconference from Kona) Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member (via videoconference from Kona) 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 (via videoconference from Waimea) Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member (via videoconference from Kona) COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Council to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 843: REQUESTS A DISCUSSION WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH REGARDING COVID-19 TESTING From Council Chair Aaron S. Y. Chung, dated March 18, 2020. CHR. CHUNG: We don't have too much time because we have Dr. Bruce Anderson from the Department of Health, the Director, who only has from 1:00 p.m. to 1:25 p.m. today. So I ask that everybody make their questions short and razor sharp. We also have here Mayor Kim and his Assistant, Mr. Maurice Messina. We have all of the Council Members from various sites. Okay, let's go. We have Dr. Anderson on the phone. Who wants to lead off? Or Dr. Anderson, did you want to address some of the questions that we had on our agenda item first, or how would you like to do this? (Note: At this time, State Department of Health Director, Dr. Bruce Anderson, came forward to address the members of the Council, via videoconference from Honolulu.) Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 DR. ANDERSON: Yeah. Chair Chung, I don't have an agenda. But let me give you all a very quick one minute or two minute update. We're about to have a press conference at 1:30 p.m., and you're the first to hear this. CHR. CHUNG: Okay. Thank you. DR. ANDERSON: So, news have been reporting pretty regularly what the case counts are and so forth, so I won't go through the history on that. But as of today there are 37 confirmed or presumptive cases of COVID-19 in Hawaii. Today we found that two of the 11 cases reported to us have no history of travel, indicating that there is some community spread. That's on the island of Oahu. We haven't seen that yet on the Big Island. But these are the first cases we found where the individuals have no travel history or history of contact with someone who has traveled. So it's a turning point for us, and what we've anticipated for some time. But again, these are the first two cases we have that were not associated with someone who brought the disease with them from the mainland or any other place. The good news, and let me touch on that quickly, is that the department is doing what they call a Sample Surveillance Testing Program. We completed another 61 tests today, randomly selected from the community including Big Island. And now have tested 185 individuals who represent every island and all of those results are negative. This is a program we have where we're trying to proactively look at community spread. We test individuals who have respiratory symptoms where the flu has been ruled out. So they are people who are likely to be exposed or at least are having symptoms that resemble COVID-19. Again, we haven't seen any cases among those individuals. So my assessment is that although we have now a couple of cases with no travel history, it's still not a situation where you have widespread community transmission occurring. However, let me add that it's starting. And I don't know how better to put that. It's just what we have seen in other areas. You know, we do our best to chase cases. And in this case we have gone after cases and contacts of any confirmed case. And I think we've kept the disease away from the state pretty well except for the travelers. And now we're starting to see some community transmission. So it's the time to take the recommendations seriously on gatherings. Obviously we want to keep people from gathering where it's not necessary. And the other actions that have been previously recommended should be taken probably much more seriously now to prevent the spread in the communities everywhere. The private sector labs are expanding their sampling. We've got way over a thousand results back. All 11 of these positive results that I mentioned today were done as part of that private lab sampling. We do our own sampling, but our focus is on the seriously ill. We have limited supplies. The private sector has a Page 2 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 lot more flexibility. And they're testing people who have less severe symptoms than we typically require. And I'm guessing that there probably were a few people at least, maybe more, who were missed simply because of our not having available to us the private sector laboratory capability that we have today. So I'm going to stop with that. But I just thought it would be helpful to let you know what's happening. And I'm glad to answer any questions you might have. CHR. CHUNG: Okay. You mentioned that the Governor is having a press conference at 1:30 p.m., were you going to give us a glimpse into what is going to be said at that press conference? DR. ANDERSON: Actually, the Governor may be planning something today. I spent all morning with him. CHR. CHUNG: So, no, basically. DR. ANDERSON: No. I don't know of any Governor's press conference. What we're going to talk about at our press briefing is simply what I just told you. CHR. CHUNG: Oh. DR. ANDERSON: That we've had additional cases and two of them have no travel history. And by the way, I'm going to be talking more about, you know, dealing with a number of issues, including mental health issues. You know, we're to a point where CHR. CHUNG: Okay. Right. Thank you. Okay, I'm going to be calling on some of my colleagues. But, you know, first why don't we go over what's on the agenda, basically. Can you give us a real brief statement as to what the general availability of test kits are in the State of Hawaii and the County of Hawaii and if there are any federal constraints in that regard? DR. ANDERSON: Well, I'll tell you what I know. I believe there are screening and testing stations or facilities available on all of the islands. There were some questions to whether or not the testing could be done at Kona Community Hospital. But they have stood up a testing service, if you will, in Hilo. And I believe North Hawaii Community Hospital also has the ability to test with a sample. Let me emphasize that today any physician can order that test. You don't have to go to a testing center if you have respiratory illness and are concerned. You should go to your physician and they can order the test. These testing centers were meant to divert people away from emergency rooms, so that people weren't flooding into the emergency rooms to be tested. And they were set up so that Page 3 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 someone could screen individuals who are coming in. First of all, tell the people who are asymptomatic there that it's a waste of time to test them. But if people were symptomatic, it could be evaluated and then they would test for the flu to rule that out. And then they could process the test right there on site. Again, a private physician can do that. But we wanted to have testing centers set up around the major medical centers so as to avoid problems in the emergency room. So as far as I know we have testing capabilities. (inaudible) CHR. CHUNG: And before I call on Ms. Poindexter, if I may ask, why isn't the state implementing a broader program of testing to include those who are asymptomatic instead of those who only fit the profile? That's becoming very scary on the part of our public. DR. ANDERSON: Yeah. Let me say, our AG (Attorney General) has been promoting testing blanketly. First of all, it's a waste of time to test someone who is asymptomatic. You're not going to find a positive even if they may be carrying the virus. So it's a waste of time and equipment and everyone's—and in this situation we are already running short of supplies nationally, and even statewide I'm hearing there shortages of masks and eye protection and even the containers that you put the swabs in. So it's not a situation where we can go out and test everyone. We do support testing whoever is concerned who has respiratory symptoms. That is something that we haven't been able to do. But that's being done by the private sector now. Our state laboratory only has limited supplies and we can only test those who are seriously ill. And we follow up on any confirmed cases with our testing program. But for screening purposes, if you call it that, all these testing centers and private facilities are able to do the test. And they all report to us. So we know what's happening out there. We've gotten probably about 2,000 results back. So it's happening anyway. If the private sector is able to do it and there are three commercial labs available to do it,the job's being done. And we're supportive of that. CHR. CHUNG: Right. Okay. And yes or no answer then. Are you saying for those who are asymptomatic the test would not work? DR. ANDERSON: Yes. CHR. CHUNG: Ms. Poindexter. DR. ANDERSON: You're going to be found negative. It's a given. The people who are infected and have symptoms are the ones you need to focus on. And then you can determine whether it's COVID-19 or something else. Keep in mind most of the people being tested have the flu. Page 4 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 CHR. CHUNG: Okay. Alright. Ms. Poindexter has a question for you. MS. POINDEXTER: You know, now that people are being quarantined and I would think that telehealth services are more crucial than ever. I don't know if you recognize that the infrastructure, the broadband infrastructure throughout our state is lacking, especially in the rural communities. So are we currently working with Spectrum and other broadband providers to assist us getting hotspots in rural communities so people can have access to telehealth? DR. ANDERSON: Yeah. That's a great question. And the short answer is yes. Although, I have to say that a lot of this work has yet to be done. I know personally I was at Hilo and Kona Community Hospital and even Ka`u and Hawi, I believe, all have (inaudible-acronym) have the capability of doing telemedicine. It's not used as much as it should be. And this is a great opportunity for us to do that. Keep in mind that if you do require testing, that can't be done obviously through telemedicine. But you could certainly do counseling and support other medical needs. And this is a great time to build up that system to support the needs of the rural communities. MS. POINDEXTER: Right. And I think it'll help in maybe calming some people down and not having to just rush out to get tested if they don't need to, you know, keeping them off the streets. But I have one more question and then I'll yield. But I have a hotspot of visitors in my district. I'm not just concerned about my district. I'm concerned about all the hotspots around our island. But I have a really hotspot at Waipi`o Valley. Yesterday we had over 141 hikers walking into the valley. That's not including tourists coming up and congregating at the top of where the pavilion is. And, you know, we have residents in the valley, we have farmers. They're freaking out because people are coming towards the back of the valley and there's no public restrooms. So they're using the bathroom in the river or in the bushes. But still it's where the horses trample, they walk throughout the valley. At what point does the Department of Health have the right to close our county road down into Waipi`o Valley down and overstep our Governor and our Mayor? Do you have that capability to do that because it's a public health emergency? DR. ANDERSON: You know, let me say I know they have, the State DOT (Department of Transportation), they've closed the road for all except residents to Hana—from Wailuku to Hana essentially. And of course there's a limited ability to enforce that. But it was for some of the same reasons. We didn't want visitors and others to be using that road and to exacerbate problems in Hana. I honestly don't know whether we have that authority or not. Let me say this, I think any tour operators who are contributing to the problem should stop their tours. I Page 5 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 talked to Rob Pacheco recently, he runs the Hawaii Forest and Trail, and now he completely shut down his operations because of concerns about COVID-19. And those tour operators should be doing that MS. POINDEXTER: Right. But when you look at the access, it's not a tour operation when they're hiking. And, you know, 141 is one of the lower numbers. We've had over 200 a day go into Waipi`o Valley. So I'm asking, when does the Department of Health see that as a public health risk, and when do you have the right to use that power if our county nor our state is willing to close it? DR. ANDERSON: Yeah. Let me ask, is the restroom down there a state facility or county facility, or (inaudible) MS. POINDEXTER: We don't have any restrooms. The county owns just the county road into the valley and then it stops. If you take a right you can go to the beach which has an outhouse, like a portable toilet there that is never really cleaned and nobody wants to go into it. That's on the beach area and BishopI think it's Kamehameha Schools that's in charge of that area. But for us, we're in charge of the road and that goes into the private back valley CHR. CHUNG: Val, Val. Let's get some real fast answers. I mean I think he knows MS. POINDEXTER: But he asked that, that's why. DR. ANDERSON: Valerie, I'll look into that. I'll get back to you on that. MS. POINDEXTER: Thank you. We have a right as a county to close it if we see necessary. But if we don't I want the Department of Health to look at it as a public health risk and, you know, overstep. DR. ANDERSON: If this is a new problem that's created by this COVID-19 outbreakI think it's a problem that's been there for a long time. But if it's a new problem I would certainly recommend that you MS. POINDEXTER: Well even if it's an old problem I appreciate you taking it seriously. Thank you. CHR. CHUNG: Thanks. Thanks, Val. Sorry to interrupt you but—yeah. Sue. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Mr. Anderson. I wanted to focus on the random testing samplings that you talked about. I think you mentioned 65 of them. I wanted to understand what the timeline of return of those testings look like. When are those results coming back? And then what kind of modeling Page 6 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 or snapshot are we trying to capture with this random testing so that we can start to look at projections or trends. So that we can really start making some real bold decisions. That's my first question, Dr. Anderson. DR. ANDERSON: Yeah. Good question. And I'll be real quick. So we have now 185 test results. None of them have been positive. I've just announced today, or told you about another 61 that add up to a total of 185. Those are samples that have been collected. The last set of 61 samples were collected over the last few days. They're not just today. So we're looking backwards over a period of days. And I'm guessing that if things are changing very quickly we won't pick that up in the surveillance system. What it does is it gives us some background information, recent background information, on whether there is community spread. I couldn't tell you if it's snapshot today whether that would be representative of what we just talked about. So we're going to continue that program just because it's a good random sample. We're covering all the rounds. We're not only getting all of the Big Island but we're getting Lanai and Molokai. All the sampling in some rural areas that we normally wouldn't get results. So think of it as just an additional piece of information that gives us a sense of how widespread the transmission's occurring. It's not going to tell you whether we've seen everything. Percentage-wise it's very small number, but maybe that's helpful. MS. LEE LOY: Yeah, I think it is helpful, because we can actually kind of compress the numbers and look at modeling. But that's for another time. Then my final question is of the tests that we have already seen from both the state side and the private sector side, do we know the rate of false positives or false negatives? DR. ANDERSON: As far as we know there are no false positives or false negatives. The test is very specific and sensitive if you have symptoms. So I wouldn't worry about either. So altogether, we have I'm going to guess 20 or so samples being taken from the private lab that are positive out of more than 1,000 samples that have been submitted. So you can do the math. You know, less than two percent I think is what it boils down to, of the samples that are being collected are positive. But again, the significant thing about the recent, the last 11, is that two of those 11 have a history well, they don't have any history of travel, which is something we've never seen before. MS. LEE LOY: Okay Dr. Anderson. And if your staff could provide the age brackets of that two percent, and then we could actually have people model more information based on what we already know. Thank you, Chair. Page 7 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 CHR. CHUNG: Okay, I'm going to call on Ms. Kierkiewicz, and we also have Rebecca and Tim who want to talk too, and we only have like about seven minutes left. Go ahead, Ashley. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Aloha, Mr. Anderson. You know, before I start I just want to say thank you, but also as someone observing from afar, I feel that there have been a lot of communication and coordination challenges that I really hope get sorted out, because there doesn't seem to be a very solid and coordinated message among state leadership, and that's causing a lot of conflict and panic in the community. I'm wondering what the reason for such low percentage of testing rates are compared to other states. I ask this because we have very high volume of movement in transportation in and out of the state. So I'm wondering what the strategy is to increase volume of testing, because people are falling through the cracks. How do we seal those cracks? And I'm wondering if this is an opportunity to just start mapping out additional sites, leveraging personnel, medical reserve corps, EMS (Emergency Medical Services). I mean, under proper guidance and supervision we can be administering more tests. DR. ANDERSON: Well, let me say, we're playing catch up in a large part. It's very fortunate we have the private laboratory testing available to us now. As far as I know,they have practically unlimited ability to collect samples and submit those samples. And our challenges to make sure that they're not just testing everyone because it's a waste of time again to test people who are asymptomatic. But for those people who are symptomatic, the physicians now have an alternative for submitting those tests. As far as I know, they've been able to keep up with the requests up till now. So we have now a tremendous new opportunity to expand our sampling program, which we're doing. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: What is your position on contact testing? DR. ANDERSON: Contact MS. KIERKIEWICZ: For instance, will State Senator Clarence Nishihara's wife be tested for COVID? DR. ANDERSON: Yeah, all his staff and his family members are in quarantine. They are considered close contacts. They've been MS. KIERKIEWICZ: But will they be tested? My question is will they be tested. DR. ANDERSON: If they have symptoms. Remember, it's a waste of time to test someone without symptoms. If they have symptoms, they will be tested. Page 8 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 That's what we tell everyone. So, it's silly to test someone who isn't symptomatic. You're not going to—even if are infected they're not going to be positive. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Anderson. DR. ANDERSON: We basically say wait 14 days, and if you have no symptoms, you're probably fine. But if you get sick or if you have symptoms, we will test those. And by the way, we will test them. Not just the private labs. We can turn around tests in less than 24 hours. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: So because we're not far behind other countries, I'm wondering if you're taking a look at other treatment modalities that can be administered early on to suppress impact. DR. ANDERSON: Good question. So if someone is found to be positive for COVID-19 and seriously ill, there is an experimental drug that can be administered, which may or may not be helpful. But at least there is an option that might help reduce the severity on this. But that's only by federal law allows for those who are confirmed to be positive and who have serious illness. People basically with pneumonia in the hospital. So there are applicable therapies being developed. I sure hope those are available quickly. And as I a vaccine. We don't have any vaccine of course, but that's also under development and your guess is as good as mine as to when it would be available, but hopefully within a year or so. We're not counting on that though. We're going to have to rely on distancing and other measures to keep people from becoming infected. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you. God speed. Chair, I yield. CHR. CHUNG: Rebecca to be followed by Tim. MS. VILLEGAS: Sure. Thank you so much, Mr. Anderson. I guess I heard you earlier speak that you have been with the Governor. My greatest question and request and imploring and begging to you is to have him follow more stringent, direct, and exact leadership protocols. The State of California is in lockdown. We still have confused restauranteurs and bars and other businesses that aren't sure what they're supposed to do, and we need a clear directive. My question to you is will you please take a message to our Governor that we need for him to make these statements to make it mandatory for our businesses to comply. Page 9 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 DR. ANDERSON: Yeah, I've had several people raise that question. Fortunately many of the businesses are voluntarily complying. I wouldn't(inaudible), I think some very strong statements need to be made that this is compulsory and required of those businesses. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. My other question would be why is he not listening to our Lieutenant Governor Josh Green, who is a doctor. All the rest of the statistics and the testing, all of those things exist just going online. I want to know why it's not happening in our state now. DR. ANDERSON: Are you talking about testing, or are you talking about something else? MS. VILLEGAS: I'm talking about shutting it down. I'm talking about mandatory shelter in place. DR. ANDERSON: Well let me just say he is listening, and I believe as we are speaking here, he is considering much more stringent requirements as it relates to travelers and others. Remember, most of the cases we have are people coming to Hawaii, both residents and visitors from other areas, where there is circulating virus in the communities. MS. VILLEGAS: Awesome, so close airports. DR. ANDERSON: (Inaudible) other measures. I've put forward to him and he is considering seriously a models that are available everywhere from Korea to New Zealand to other areas where MS. VILLEGAS: Right. Thank you. My last question, Dr. Anderson, I hate interrupt but I know you have two minutes left. Alii Health Center in the Keauhou Shopping Center is online to put up a drive-through testing facility, but they don't have the necessary PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). I shared that with the Mayor at the beginning of the week with hope that might be provided to them. If you could follow up with Alii Health Center in the Keauhou Shopping Center and try to find a way to get them the PPE necessary for their health care providers to stand up another drive-through test facility, that would be absolutely fantastic. Thank you very much, I yield. CHR. CHUNG: Okay, Tim, you know, we're actually over time, but if Dr. Anderson could just accommodate you for a minute or so. Go ahead, Tim. DR. ANDERSON: I'm glad to accommodate Tim, anytime. CHR. CHUNG: Okay, thank you. Page 10 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 MR. RICHARDS: Thanks, Bruce. Just real quick, Dr. Anderson. There's a lot of people watching this presentation from the Director of the Health Department, what recommendations, regardless of what the policy is, what recommendations do you make for our constituents to take right now? DR. ANDERSON: Okay, well thanks for the question, Tim. You know,this is a time to get very serious about this problem. You know, we talked about not gathering in groups of more than 10; everyone needs to do that now. You need to work from home, you need to obviously not go into groups or get close to other people if you're sick. Obviously schools are out right now, but I would certainly add to that with if schools opened again, if you go to school, don't go to school if you're sick. That's how the disease is transmitted. It's transmitted when you have symptoms, when you're coughing and sneezing. As a veterinarian, you know that. But it's not obvious to most people. If you have symptoms, you should not be around other people. We're going to do what we can to try to mandate various activities: bar closures, restaurant closures. Most of those are happening as we speak. The visitor industry is shutting down and I think a lot is going to happen without mandates. But pay attention to your health, wash your hands. I'm, you know, speaking in a little bit here about your mental health. You know, there's a lot of stress in this community, frankly. Just listening to the news, watching the news, it's scary for everyone. I think everyone needs to take a few deep breaths, they need to stretch, meditate, whatever you need to do. Eat healthy meals, exercise regularly. I take my dog out for a walk twice a day. I try to get sleep. But everyone else should certainly do that. And don't be afraid to talk to other people talk to other people about your anxiety and feelings. This is something that's going to be here for a long time, Tim. It's not going to be over in a month or two. We're going to be dealing with this one way or another for many months, and you need to be sure you're taking care of yourself as well as your community. So I'll stop on that. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, I appreciate that. Chair, I yield. CHR. CHUNG: Okay. Dr. Anderson, we have one more member who would like to ask you a question or two. He is Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, sir. My question from listening to what you just said, I heard that you're saying a person who doesn't show symptoms cannot test positive. And you can't carry and spread the virus without having the symptoms. Is that true? Page 11 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 DR. ANDERSON: I can say this as true. Almost every case, in fact every case that I know of where there's been transmission, it's been during the period of time when the individual is ill. When they've been actively coughing or sneezing. They don't necessarily have to have a temperature, but the coughing and sneezing is critical because that's when you're spreading the droplets and aerosols that contain the virus. So that's what you want to avoid is getting around people when you're coughing and sneezing. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: From everything I've seen, read, heard, you can have it for up to five weeks and not know it and be spreading it, which is the reason we're pushing for quarantine. DR. ANDERSON: We have 14 day quarantine period because that's what generally accepted as being the incubation period of the disease. It may be longer for some individuals, possibly shorter for others. I think for people with compromised health conditions it could be even longer than 14 days. But 14 seems to be the number of days that most people around the world have considered this disease to be that's the incubation period. You should see symptoms, if you're going to see them, within 14 days. It's during the period of time when you're ill, whenever that is, that the virus hits that you are most infectious. I hope that helps. I'm going to have to run off though. I have another group. CHR. CHUNG: Thank you very much, Dr. Anderson. Appreciate it. DR. ANDERSON: Okay, Chair Chung. Thank you for having me, and if you would like to have further conferences like this, I wish I could be there in person. Tim knows I had a place on the Big Island for awhile. I love excuses to come up there. So I'd be glad to CHR. CHUNG: No, you stay there. DR. ANDERSON: Okay. CHR. CHUNG: We're practicing social distancing. DR. ANDERSON: Sounds good. Aloha. CHR. CHUNG: Thank you. I really do apologize to all of my colleagues. You know, we had originally dedicated an hour for all of this, and I was just informed by Dr. Anderson's office about a half an hour ago that he would only have 25 minutes. I guess he is rushing off to the Governor's Office. But we appreciate his time. Page 12 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 You know, we also have on the agenda our discussion with Corp. Counsel as to what our powers are vis a vie the Mayor and the Governor and all of those other people, within the context of emergency declarations. But Mayor Kim has asked to speak to us today. He wanted to, based on my understanding, explain what his justifications were for his position. I want to also point out to all of the people in the viewing public that we have 10 people in this room. We've kicked some other people, some of our staff, out of this room, and we are trying to be as responsible as we can by example. So Mayor Kim, go ahead. (Note: At this time, Mayor Harry Kim came forward to address the members of the Council.) MAYOR KIM: Thank you for this time. Again, I'm sorry for Dr. Anderson having to rush. I think that's a conference call I've got to go to also. The main thing I wanted take this opportunity to talk to you, Mr. Chair, but this is not the time because I think it's going to take more than a few minutes, is in regards to what we're doing. Because it is different from other counties, but not really different. For example, I'll give when the order came to close all the restaurants, I tried to tell them that Hawaii Island has a different problem in regards to some places. I gave an example of whether it be Waikoloa or Mauna Kea Resorts, before that they had a fast count of how many tourists we had here on this island at the time and the count was about 8,000 people. In talking to the hotels, you know, they would comply with any order, but also they wanted to show what they were doing to mitigate some of the hazards. The reason I told the Governor when they were implementing this thing is can you give us time to transition so when those people that are going to make a request, they could give the time to plan. For example, people when they go to Mauna Kea Beach or Four Seasons or whatever, for the most part those are not hotels, those are resorts. They're designed and made for people to come there, stay there, entertain themselves and eat there. This is why when we to tell them to close all restaurants, does that mean all hotels, resorts, and the answer was yes. All means all. When it came down, they gave it immediately to Corp. Counsel, will you tell me which one of these are mandates and which ones of these are recommendations giving flexibility, the Attorney General agreed that restaurants, bars and those things are your decision. I was not going to make it my decision, I was going to make it a decision of the private business. But telling them what they should do if they're going to keep it open. Page 13 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 We went back to that because I understand now they might get a little stricter, but outside of that,just an explanation of why we are asking for, you know, permission to do something. I did not go against the Governor. We got permission from the Attorney General that it is that flexible. I don't think we caused any problem on that, although there's an insinuation that we violated. I guarantee you we would not jeopardize the county on that. Most of the eateries I think if they could, they'd try to make it where by order only or drive up. Because we have a lot serving the general public in that category, they can do that and they have been doing that. But the most important thing I wanted to take this opportunity before you, Mr. Chairman and members of the Council, is what you're county government has been doing. First of all, there's the highest priority in regards to the protection of the employees. Because when the media says "as normal,"people think it's normal operations. And that's not doing it, it means it's just open. But I remind us that we have to be there in regards to all the services, support services that we provide key agencies like the police, the fire, water department. The parks because they're responsible for senior citizens, and our aging office. Most of our services are all providing service to them. But in the rest of the the permitting of Public Works, vehicle registration, human resources. I think if you call, you'll see a huge modification in regards to how they're operating. So not to violate the element of gathering. The one area that really have to get better and see how we can do it, and there's a lot of discussion of why we don't want to do it, is to close all the senior programs. I'll state this opportunity to state that why we were the only county or to be specific, why I am the only person that openly disagreed, even though I had no authority, disagreed why we thought the schools to reconsider, to open. Knowing everything we did about the disease, we told them that Hawai`i County, you know, so many, a big percent of our children, the school is their source of food. Source of health, source of companionship, source of everything. And because the disease factor did not pose a real threat to them in regards to healthy people, we felt that we could help keep them healthy by providing the types of things they need, like food and exercise. When you have a lifestyle that so many have, that is not provided at home, that the school could be a great source for that. I think the CDC (Center for Disease Control) agreed with that. If you read there, they did not say schools should be part of their group. It should be reconsidered in regards to what we do with the schools. They even stated that this total closure might even backfire. But it's closed and we complied with it. But now we're trying to work with them to see how we can provide the food, because ours is not as simple as come and drive up to is. You're talk like (inaudible), look how many miles they've got to go, any place in Ka`u or Puna. Page 14 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 In regards to other things, I do ask when we have time to look at the prevention programs that our Deputy Fire Chief is in charge of. I'm really proud of that. It was one of the things that we did from way back is we identified that the seniors are critical. All the data shows that the highest fatality is people that, even the young, the key thing was they had underlying health problems. That's why they fell into the critical range. So the first thing we did was identify who will work with the 167 home care units and work with them in regards to prevention, work with them in regards to visitors and all of that, because this is the most vulnerable. And this also includes working directly with the long-term care programs. If any of you would like to have Fire Chief Uchida come in, I think it would be very beneficial to see the kind of things that he is doing. In regard to closing for now because of time, I think you would be also, I think, pleased with your county government and your workers in regards to the prevention programs that are going in. Because when I said come to work as normal, it means come to work. But their responsibilities, if you go to the EOC (Emergency Operations Center), you know Mr. Chung, you've seen the big sign that says, "There is no priority two." Our priority is this disease and seeing what we can do with it. Commencing tomorrow, I understand that the t-shirts that we manufactured because the workers thought it would be nice if we were identified that way, you know, in regards to this group of people of Parks and Public Works working together to do everything they can seven days a week, now that becomes their duty to go around this island of ours in disinfection-type of assignments. Like every bus stop and those kind of things, every park bench and tables, et cetera, et cetera. That's a massive task. They were told, you know, this is an important task, and they have to coordinate with the Department of Health and everything in regards to prevention or protection of the workers as well as the formulas they use in regards to spraying, how you spray, et cetera, etcetera. Please know that this is a huge task, and I think you'll be very kind of comical on Ghost Busters-type. They have t-shirt design of that. But this would be "bug busters,"just to identify who they are. Operations as normal for your county government employees does not mean going to the office and doing normal jobs. We have stated a long time ago there is only one priority, there is no priority two. So department heads are getting together to see what kind of things they can do and will do, even stating commitment to resources of money that would hopefully come forth from the federal and state government in preparation for that to pay for these things. CHR. CHUNG: Is that it, Mayor? MAYOR KIM: Yes, I'm sorry. Page 15 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 CHR. CHUNG: Okay. Do you want to entertain questions, or did you just want to make that statement? Does anybody have any questions? Well put on your light so that I know more or less. MR. RICHARDS: Chair, this is Tim. I do. CHR. CHUNG: Okay, why don't we go with you, Tim, first. MR. RICHARDS: Okay. Thank you, Mayor, for coming before us. We all know that this is a difficult time. Pushing forward giving the Director of the Health Department, Dr. Anderson had just talked about that we need to embrace the recommendations now. Can you respond to that please and let us know? Our Director of Health is saying we need to get very serious very quickly. I'm hearing that you're a little bit more relaxed than that. Maybe I'm mishearing that. Could you address that please, Mayor? MAYOR KIM: Tim, thanks for the opening. You know, when our record, my record will show that this county government has implemented more things than any other county. This county government has initiated emergency and outreach of all the emergencies than any other county or state government. Then you get that kind of direct or indirect position of not taking it seriously. I think if you talk to them, they'll tell you about my lecture of them, including the Department of Health, of getting serious and doing more. I don't usually react to those things, but it is this reason I react,that what they're saying—and reflects it in media and everything else (inaudible) that this is what we're doing. Take a look at what we're doing, and I think you will be surprised not only what we're doing but the timing of what we've been doing. Talk to the professionals here that we deal with: The Department of Health, Fire Department, anybody else and ask them in comparison to what others are doing. So that's my long answer to your short question. I'm proud of what we're doing, I wish we could do more. I have no controls in regards to the testing. I have no controls in regards to any kind of authority our planes, ships, airports. I am doing everything I can in regards to what we can do with our local authority. In regards to the kind of things I can go—let's take the elderly population. I asked the Council to go and review and we'll spend the time with you in regards to what we do with that, the elderly population. Or the homeless population, and working with the private sector on cleaning their placing, et cetera, et cetera. I think we're the only county that has signs, a logo of working, you know, element of being safe, of this is a community issue, and community response is needed. I will close with this, Mr. Councilman. I challenge any county to see what this county is doing versus what they're doing. But that's ridiculous to do, because I'm not competing against them. Page 16 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 MR. RICHARDS: I appreciate that, Mayor. I do want to thank you. I know early on when we had our Parks and Rec. people going out and disinfecting when the cruise ships were there. I appreciate that, and also appreciated the information coming out of your office telling people what's going on. So that was actually being done. My concern is the gathering of people right now. Push the pause button so we can keep separate. Whether that means telecommunicating for our employees so they don't have to come to the office right now,just to give us that time until we can get that separation. Again, this has been my life's work as a herd veterinarian, and what we have before us is the ability to separate people until we can let this evolve to a point where it's not near the concern it is today. So I'm looking for a way to get to that so we slow things down. I'm as concerned about the economy as you are, Mr. Mayor. No one's more concerned about the economy than I am. But I'm more concerned about the health of our people first. Then we're going to have to come back. Our economy's going to be smashed, and we're going to have to rebuild it. But I'd rather have the health of the community there first, and then come back to the economy. So Chair, with that I'm going to yield to my colleagues. CHR. CHUNG: Thank you. MAYOR KIM: Can I comment on that, Mr. Chairman? CHR. CHUNG: Yes, go ahead. MAYOR KIM: Not on that, but I think one of the biggest issues is my decision to give the flexibility to the restaurants to stay open. I asked that every one of them were concerned about looking at the directive of what they were asked if they're going to make the decision to stay open. The second thing is in regards to when the state closed all of the beaches. I really felt that at times that we've taken away one of the things that is needed for psychological as, you know, Dr. Bruce Anderson said, that we have to address too. But at this point what I did not anticipate was when the state closed all of their parks and beaches. The only think left open for our localplease, when I'm saying our local as well—was all the beaches. Now we have to reevaluate that, because it violates very much that we are big concerned with, the number of people congregating. So it's very likely we will—we have been evaluating that since this morning because of the number of people coming. It's not just the beaches themselves, but obviously the facilities as far as the restrooms, is our bigger concern. Those are I think the two issues that were not different because some of the other parks were open also. But we will have to evaluate that there's just too many people now congregating, especially since this is vacation time. Page 17 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 CHR. CHUNG: Okay. Rebecca. MS. VILLEGAS: Mayor Kim, this is stack, it's only half of the stack of testimonies sent in from people begging, imploring, demanding, asking for you to remove from office, asking for impeachment, asking for the County Council to somehow usurp your authority and put into place more stringent actions to protect our county. I know this won't change your mind, but I would be remiss to not show them to you. It breaks my heart that this is what we're seeing, and this is what we're experiencing with both our Governor and our Mayor at this point. I've been asked to communicate to you that people feel this is a tragic reflection of weak leadership. On Monday you stated that this is a weak virus that's just very contagious. I would beg to differ. This is a very smart virus that predates upon the weak. To think that we are any different than the other countries, communities, municipalities, towns, cities, across this planet who are experiencing severe death and tragedy and families. I watched an interview of a woman, seven of her family members got sick, and four died within 24 hours. They didn't think it was coming there either. They didn't think they had community spread, but they don't even live in a community that people are landing there on airplanes on the daily, in the hundreds. I'm afraid that the arrogance and incompetence will end up being unforgivable if we don't listen and learn and take into consideration the statistics that are already available, already very obvious, and the directives that we have already been asked to make. I'm just sad for that, Mayor Kim. I'm sad for what this will do to our community and that somewhere inside I have to believe this is not your intention. But this will leave a tragic stain on your legacy as Mayor of the County of Hawaii. And with that, I yield. MAYOR KIM: I'm going to respond to that. CHR. CHUNG: Very briefly. Yeah, go ahead. MAYOR KIM: The weak virus, you cannot take that out of context. The weak virus was this: there was good point and bad point about the virus. All the stats show that approximately 80 percent of the people—and this is where Dr. Bruce Anderson on the testing and I differ75, 85 percent; 80 percent of all the people—and this is the frightening part,that they were seeing that, in regards to all the information, that the people who get it, the virus impact on them for many of them will not even know they had it. Just a small cough or whatever, and that's the difficult part about this virus because it doesn't affect you that greatly for the (inaudible), and what is the greatest key factor that I'm trying to tell you about the school kids is your health factor. That all the people who wereI'd Page 18 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 better not say all, but the vast majority of the seniors and the people in between that was infected and severely on it, were people who had underlying health problems. So what does it tell me? We've got to do everything we can to keep people healthy, and that's why we wanted a food program, the lunch program, the kids. You know, see how we can maintain that, and activities for the old. That's why we concentrated right away, over a month ago, on identifying all of the homecare and long-term care personally, in regards to addressing those things. And they will tell you my recommendation that I wanted to go even beyond one visitor. I wanted to make policies, no physical contact between visitors and patient. I don't mind in regards to what you're saying Council Woman. But it's got to be based on we're doing. As far a arrogance, I don't even want to comment on that. It's not easy to make this kind of decision, but tell me what decision did I make with arrogance? Keeping it voluntary, but mandating that they pay attention to the requirement of staying open just to feed our people that we're responsible for. And I think they all did a better job than mandated in regards to the kind of things that they do because the vast majority of the eateries went, I think, on take home order and those things. But at least it gave the hotels and other places. There's one in your jurisdiction. I don't know the specifically where it is but in Kona. I was so happy with the owner, that says he's going to remove 50 percent of his tables to comply with the distance. If arrogance is a factor,then obviously I apologize for being arrogant. But I do not apologize for the decisions made. This is made after consultation of what is best for this community. And right now because of the influx of people on the beaches, you know, that probably will have to be changed because the big beaches of Hapuna and Kua Bay and different places that were closed because they're state parks, and there were only a few left open. I'm afraid that when we have to do the closure, the local people obviously is part of that closure. That is going to be a very difficult decision to be made. CHR. CHUNG: Thank you. Matt. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Mayor. About four weeks ago I called Talmage and asked him, do we have masks. Do we have PPE for our people, our county people, first responders? Do we have enough for the whole island? "Yeah we have masks." "Do we have enough for everybody?" "No." "Okay." His closing comment, "Treat this like the normal flu. Don't worry about it." Now here we are, about two weeks ago he's on the news saying people may die. That's a 180 shift in response. That's our Civil Defense Agency. The President Page 19 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 just declared New York a major disaster area. We don't need to recreate the wheel here. We need to watch what everybody did and respond in the same fashion. The food is already here. The businesses that order food ordered it a month out. The food is on the way. It'syou're not covering anything that wasn't already covered. The businesses are not complying with suggestions. They're closing because they have to. We told everybody to socially distance themselves, so they're not going out. That's why businesses are closing. I'm one of them. On the back end of that I've got 40 employees wondering, "What am I going to do?" We're starting to sign people up with unemployment. They can't get into the system because the system is overwhelmed because everybody just laid everybody off right now. It's locked. SBA loans (Small Business Association). You can't fill the paperwork online because it's locked. We waited and now we're dealing with what happens when you react. We're being reactive. We haven't done everything that we can. We saw what was coming. We're the closest to China than any other part of the United States. We're right there. We're the main point. Japan, Hawaii, California. We're right next to the epicenter of where it came from, and we're three months behind. We know what COVID is. We know how it acts. We were just told that asymptomatic people can transmit. ThatI'm not going to say it's not true, but I disagree. It's time. We have to make the decision. I'm sorry. Like, we have to. We have to do it. Your businesses are closing. Your business community is crying, and we're trying to figure out what we're going to do. I'm not speaking from just my business. I'm in text threads with other business owners in our community and they're all doing the same thing. We're all waiting for the guy above us to make the decision, do we close? We're waiting on that guy up there to let us know. The federals telling the states,telling the counties. It's just one massive trail of dissolution of what's happening. We can't wait anymore. We're not—people aren't waiting. They're not complying with suggestions. You've got to start using the words "will" and "shall." This is what we're going to do. I don't need a t-shirt. I've got to make payroll for all our employees. We've got people in quarantine, but no one's policing quarantines. This is the real situation. But we've never done this before. You've never had to deal with this. I've never done this. Nobody here. Nobody here in this county has ever dealt with a pandemic because we haven't had this since 1918. There's no pandemic insurance. So this is all new. But we're trying to recreate something here in this county that's been done across the world already in response to something that is unlike anything we've ever seen before. So let's stop trying to recreate it. I don't think people need to be briefed on what COVID-19 is anymore. We know. We knew Page 20 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 in January. No more briefings. Just tell us what to do. We're waiting for you to make that call, Mayor, because all of us are just sitting here waiting. And it's an intense, serious, frustrated community we're sitting in right now. Everybody is stressed out. If this is an emergency, call it an emergency. If it's not, then call everybody off and tell everybody, "Go about your business." If I can go get a haircut, then why can't I go to a restaurant? If Target has 300 people in it, why can't more than 10 people gather? I expressed myself online in social media. It's there. But given the chance to talk to you, these are my thoughts. That's real and I think we have to, you have to. You've got to use the words "will" and "shall." I learned that when I walked into this building. "Will" and "shall." Those are the words. No suggestions. I am looking to you to be that person and I do not envy you. I yield. Thank you. MAYOR KIM: I heard everything you said. One thing I ask for clarification because it's so important that they understand directives. I think if you reexamine what Talmage Magno said in regards to treat it like a flu, it came in context, but in regards to taking care of yourself, et cetera, et cetera. Because that's what all the authorities have advised us. They advise people this is a different kind of flu, the one that makes it different, this new virus. The good part about that, and I consider it a good part about that, on the virus, is that they say 80 percent of the people worldwide but especially in industrialized countries will have mild or very, very little symptoms. That's the good part of that, but the bad part of that, sir, is that these people still can transmit that to someone else. The good part about this virus is that they find through all that research that the ones that get impacted in regards to severely impacted, critically, even fatality, are those who had underlying types of health problems. And those are the first things we addressed and why I told you we formed those task forces. I am not afraid to make any kinds of decisions, but the decisions have been based on what knowledgeable people of the disease and the virus tell us to do. If I have caused confusion on it, and I know there was some confusion because of the way it was written in regards to, not by me, but giving restaurants the option of what they want to do with these conditions. Because we thought that people needed to be fed, and we created a lifestyle that, that is how people get their food. I will do better in regards to what we're doing. On the "shall" kinds of things versus "will" kinds of things or choices, some of it's still is because this is a society of the United States, and you know, sometimes it's better to give them options if it is credible options. But I think there's certain things already that are "you shall." But those things generally speaking of the health element are—like I know one of the biggest things, Councilman, is that close all the ports, close all Page 21 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 the—including airports. That's not, as you know,within our authority. Some of it is not even within the state's because it's federal, like the ports, the Coast Guard. But bear in mind heavy discussion has been we know where the things are coming from. We're an island, and we're lucky on that. Hawaii Island has been so far very fortunate of a minimum impact, only one that was from the mainland. If you have specifics, and I know you do, ideas on how we can be better in the way we word things where we do things within our authority there were several things you mentioned that I think you know it's state or federal—but within the county government authority, I'm more than open to meet with you and see what things we can address better. CHR. CHUNG: Okay. Ashley. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Mayor, last night I sent you a letter which was very difficult to do. Because I grew up with your voice on the radio every time there was a disaster, and I looked to you for that protection, that reassurance, that you've got my back. That you had the community's back. I met no disrespect in the letter I sent, but I just needed to let you know how I felt. How the entire community feels. And it's hard for me because my partner is on the front line as a first responder. I read an article today about a woman in New York, health care system, who has been working diligently in the hospital. She contracted COVID, sent her kids to live with her parents, and now she and her husband just are living in opposite rooms of the home. I'm worried that is going to be my situation very shortly. You keep saying that we weren't ready for this. That we're scrambling to develop plans. And I just, it's hard for me to hear when I know that in 2010 a pandemic influenza operations plan was developed. I just wonder that has been pushed to the wayside. You know, earlier Bruce Anderson said now is the time to take this seriously; to isolate. And everything that we are doing is antithesis to that. You said earlier, "I wish we could do more." But you do have the power to make that wish come true and to shut things down. I have two questions. The first is you said you've made your decision in consultation with individuals that this is the plan for Hawaii County. Who are those individuals that agree with this position? The decision to continue operating county as is. I also wonder if you and your team have evaluated the impact of shutting down the county and ordering people to stay home. The impact of doing that now versus waiting till it's too late. I believe that there are going to be very far reaching implications that we cannot even imagine, and I am painfully afraid Page 22 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 for our very fragile healthcare system because I do not believe they can handle the overwhelm. We are isolated. We rely on outsiders for supplies. If mainland hospitals that have access to resources are feeling inundated, it's frightening to think that position that we are putting ourselves into. I just wonder if we can think about just even consider shutting down for two weeks to create that breaking point, to see if that's going to make a difference. I'd rather do that now and then evaluate where we are later, than wait too long and then just die this death by a thousand cuts. That's all I have, Mayor. MAYOR KIM: First of all, I appreciate your letter. And as you stated in your letter then and now the difficulty of writing that letter. First, I want to comment because it was stated on supplies. So Chairman Chung, very concerned, rightfully so on testing capabilities, because other countries have stated to us that the key is to test, identify, isolate. I wish we hadI don't want to say authority—but capabilities of that. I think you've heard Dr. Anderson who the State Department of Health because we have none, 100 percent of that is within the authority of the state and CDC on the national level. On the supplies, I don't think not—many of us were so disappointed when the President stated, it was two weeks ago he notified Governor and likewise our medical people, that we have stashes that will respond to your requests of shortages of supplies, but no facility can store things for two or three months. I mean, money prohibits that. But I was just informed yesterday that the President said basically, "States, you're on your own. Go through your procedural things." And as you know all of our hospitals are state except for North Hawai i Community Hospital which is private. That really threw everybody off. We notified the emergency responders that we have a little bit and we will make them available to people on priority of who they are. Naturally these are our first responders that are priority number one. We're county, and we're reaching out to the state people. I ask all of you that are disappointed in me, and not our Civil Defense because I determine that, disappointed in me to call these hospitals in regards to how we've been working with them probably longer than anybody in the state; I know longer, to try to work together. This is why we found out that there is only one state government worker responsible for the 167 homecare things. We knew how ridiculous that was. So it was us that formed the first taskforce to work with every one of them and meet with them to see how we could service them and provide information and other things to them. I know this sounds like patting ourselves on the back and I am. But I take every one of your statements and the rest of the Council very seriously on what we can do better. In regards to the county government, the easiest thing to do was certain things are shut down. And you asked the question who did I consult with, ask Page 23 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 them how many times they are called for meetings to review what we should or should not do in the demands on that. Call any department. I don't care who, and ask them when we started to discuss these policies. These policies were not made unilaterally, because I've got to know how it impacts staff. I've got to know how the employees were responding because of the kind of things we're asking them. We're asking people who don't do it, to go out on Saturday and Sunday two or three times if possible to wipe every bench, counters, et cetera, et cetera. To make logos and things that is done with limited money in the production room here. I'm not saying it's perfect. It's not even remotely close. I'm saying I feel your concerns. I guarantee upstairs is monitoring it so they take the notes to see what we can follow. But on top of that, of your letter, of you, I totally welcome requests to sit down, whether it be here in open or in private, with ideas or areas you think we can do better. I'd be the biggest fool in the world if I thought we could not do better. Because all I ask is please review what we're doing with what we can do with all the agencies including ours, the Police, Fire, Elderly Activities, etcetera, etcetera. I want to end with a positive note, Mr. Chung. Of all the counties, and luck has a lot to do with it, we have only one case so far. But from the beginning we realized this was going to be something that we have very little control because of this disease. It is so quiet, and it affects people that become carriers and they don't even know it. A football league found that out. These healthy players didn't feel anything, and they were carriers. And they made big decisions because you've got one ball in the game, everybody touches the ball. Everybody knows that and realizes how fast it could be transmitted with every player thinking they're healthy. That's the kind of—you know, and Mr. Talmage Magno, I know him because we meet every single morning, Mr. Councilman. Every morning for the past since February 28, that includes Saturday and Sunday, to review what we're going to do. All the messages are carefully reviewed knowing the importance of what we say. But there are so many things of this disease, virus, that falls within the pandemic description; it is new. And because it is new, there are so many things of unknown. The first one of the major things was that came out seems like the target is the seniors. And review, review, then they found out they were kind of mislead by saying that thinking the young are not susceptible to catch it. Then they find out that's wrong. What it was, the seniors were getting high risk of fatality et cetera, et cetera, was because of what they're saying, their underlying health problems of age, and with age, different kinds of illnesses. So along even that, on the highest level they changed what they recommended to us. There is no vaccine and I don't care what anybody hears, there will not be a Page 24 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 vaccine for the general public for some time. And as you said, Mr. Chairman, it's not going to be over in a month. We have to make policies long term. But even the DOE(Department of Education), making one, then changing it, expanding it, and I think that will be changed also. I take every criticism to heart. I will review what we can do. I do not make things unilaterally. I promise you that every decision affecting the county government, every single department head and deputy was called for participation and discussion. We will continue to do that. All of the criticism, the concerns that were expressed today, I will address. And if you need feedback on what we're going to do all you have to do is tell me that you want feedback on this and it will be provided. This is a serious thing. The only thing I got offended today is the insinuation that I did not think this was a serious thing. And as you said, I've been in this business a long time and that's why I took it very seriously a long time ago. CHR. CHUNG: Ms. David has a question or a comment. Maile? MS. DAVID: Aloha. Thank you, Chair Chung. Thank you, Mayor Kim. I was sitting here listening to everyone's comments, and wholeheartedly want to stand behind my colleagues' concerns. And I appreciate the fact that you said reach out to your office. I think that's what we have been doing. I just want you to know that I'm getting very concerned because the people are wanting at least a sign that something is being done to at least take measures. If not a shutdown, then something. I was just hoping that given the situation with our county workers and staff, that in some situations, you know, I was hoping that the department heads could be the first, or the people that would make decisions for their departmental staff, whether they have the valid reason to stay home. And also to make decisions on how we address our DMV (Vehicle Registration and Licensing). People are just lining up. We're trying to address social distancing, but every morning we see the DMV line with lots of people just standing in line. I'm not sure how we can help them. I did have suggestions, and I don't think that anything's that's just what it is, suggestions that are being accepted. But my biggest concern right now is that the people in my district, especially the communities that are surrounded by parks. And I know you mentioned Miloli`i, and for that reason, people are still coming down into the village and the calls I've been getting, they're very scared. They reached out to see if we could at least put a sign to close that entrance or notify the tourists that because of the situation they shouldn't come down to the village. And I understand what you're saying, or what my answer was, but right now, I'm getting very concerned that the calls we're getting are not being requests anymore. It's they're frightened, and I just Page 25 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 got one this morning from residents in the Honaunau area, where the tourist spots are, Two Step. They closed Pu`u Honua `O Honaunau. The two biggest state parks, they've just closed. I got the notice this morning. And that means our county parks are going to be inundated with all these tourists. And you know, granted, they're here, but I think they will be gone, but what we're going to be left with is addressing the fears of our community and their health and welfare. So I'm not sure what more I can do as far as following the instructions on getting information to your office. Because for right now, I'm at a loss to tell the people what is going to be done. So I just want you to know that I'm very concerned about the situation of our community being at wits end because they cannot see anything being done to something small. Just some small thing shutting a couple of places down for now that are surrounded by residents. I'm not sure, but those are the things that I did communicate to you folks and I didn't get the answer that I was hoping to get. So I just want you to be aware that this rural district that I'm in is the area—and any rural district for that matter—are areas that tourists will congregate to because they have no place else to go. So we need to do something about that. I don't expect you to answer me right now, but I just wanted to bring this out in the open because it's a real concern as well as many of the other concerns expressed by my fellow colleagues today. So with that, I yield and I just ask for something to be done. Mahalo. CHR. CHUNG: Mayor, before you start. You know, I'm getting some feedback from our viewing public who have been texting me saying they cannot really hear you. We hear you loud and clear, but maybe if you can first of all make sure that's on, bring it closer to you, and I know you're speaking kind of loud to us, but if you can just speak a little louder. MAYOR KIM: Okay. CHR. CHUNG: But in Kona, I understand that you guys are coming across loud and clear. Okay, go ahead, Mayor. MAYOR KIM: Thank you very much. I apologize for that. This morning we had several meetings in the morning and one the decisions made, I didn't want to make it this way but I'll do it, effective tomorrow all beach parks, those parks will be closed because of the load, and explaining to the public why we have to close. I think you know those kinds of decisions are not that easily made because there's a lot of pro on keeping it open for health reasons. One thing that bothers me in regards to what is happening to people because of the concern, and so am I, is people want us to close off things. The schools have been closed off, now all parks will be closed off. Trying to keep things open so Page 26 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 people would have at least someplace safe to go, but we will close it because we cannot handle especially the crowds are coming there because of the closure of all parks. Maybe a few of you will understand some of it is personal difficulty because we always felt that the beaches and the salt water and the sand were cleansing things for many things. It's nice to be out there and stay healthy. But when districts call in, I won't mention which one, that wants us to close off their whole district because they don't want anybody else coming into their area. We get those kinds of things, and you know, so far I'm not responding to closing it all. Unlike some of you because of age, I've been around when we did have this kind of pandemic, but not to this degree for a demand of closure. Closures are something that's the easiest thing to do. I had the criticism in the eruption, "Why don't you just close off the whole lower Puna area,"which we didn't do. This is just a variation of what is impacting people. You know I cannot close off a district from other districts,just randomly do that. You know I cannot say these parks are only for these people but not those people, because every policy we make has to be enforced. The decisions have to be the maid ability, can it be enforced both legally and actually. This is a thing that most of us are not familiar with fortunately. I assure you that we're working seven days a week on it, even though it seems like we're doing nothing. On our employees, one of the questions asked by you was that of their health and welfare. A policy is made because of a simple statement that all the studies worldwide show that you have to take a look at the population that those who are severely affecting are those who ad underlying health problems. So employees are told, you know, not to come to work. Everybody knows if you come to work, don't come to work. But also those of you who have underlying health problems that make you very vulnerable, for example someone who is under cancer treatment or diabetic or those kinds of things, obviously they have "underlying"problems of weakness, resistance. We're doing all of that. But I think it is very, very important that we, meaning county government, do everything we can within our power of authority as well as resources to addresses. I have chosen a quiet way of working with all the programs of healthcare from the private to the state operations. I have chosen to really focus on energies in regards to prevent the spread of it in regards to education, types of brochures, et cetera, et cetera. A taskforce to go out there and clean. Some of the places they will start tomorrow. Seven days a week, things like bus stops have to be done three, four times a day, et cetera, et cetera. I know those are not headline kinds of things, but we're doing it. We made the choices of working with all the hospitals. Call any hospital administration. Call Mr. Brinkman. I've called the Chief of Staff. He's been at the office to discuss what we can do together. What kind of help they need that we can possibly provide. Page 27 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 Closures is the easiest thing for us to do. But I've got to learn the consequences of it. The closure of the restaurants to me was not that difficult because I am so familiar with so many of the hotels and resorts from jobs in the past, that I know without them telling me that a lot of the guests, that's where they eat their breakfast and their lunch. I cannot just give the places two days and say, "You're closed." So we make that kind of decision that was unpopular. And leaving some of the beaches open was for that reason. We thought it was good for the health and welfare of some people, until now it's too crowded. On programs that reach out for the seniors, the most vulnerable, to see how they can conduct that because I think one of the worst things for a senior who's alone is to be alone. This is one of the things of psychological things that was examined with the professionals who deal with them. I ask for only one consideration. To be accused or thought of that we make these decisions off the cuff, off the hip, unilaterally, is wrong. We don't do that. And I welcome, I totally welcome. Ask every staff member. They are told, "Your job is to review, criticize, whatever we decide for input. I welcome anything you may ask for us to pursue, change, or whatever, that you think will make it better. And I thank you for this time, Mr. Chair. CHR. CHUNG: Thank you. You know, before I call on Ms. Lee Loy, my text messaging is just blowing up over here. I understand that for those who are watching it on our website, the audio is not too good. That's okay because we hear you loud and clear, but I've also been informed that if they go on—and I don't know this kind of stuff—but Facebook Live, it's much better. So I'm just letting people know. MAYOR KIM: How to they get they're getting us Facebook Live now? MS. LEE LOY: Yes. CHR. CHUNG: Right, but I'm getting those messages from people who are watching this program. Apparently it's generating a lot of interest. Ms. Lee Loy, go ahead. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. You know Mayor, I've heard you today say a lot. I'm going to start with Monday. Monday, we sat down. Or was it Tuesday? Monday. We sat down. All of the Council Members had an opportunity to put all of their concerns on the table. With staff, you promised to respond to our requests. Today's Friday. We have not gotten a single response on any of our concerns since Monday. Mayor, we've had passionate speeches, letters directed straight to you and you welcome the input. But based on what happened Monday, there are no assurances that we're being heard. So what we're having Page 28 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 miscommunication, even patronizing remarks that we're listening. Our Kona Council member held up a stack of papers from testimony. We're not getting any assurances that we're being heard. So I'm going to take another stab at it and be very direct. Because we've also received testimony from our state legislators. Eleven of them, who are calling for you one, institute an immediate county-wide shutdown. Not only nine of us are asking you to do something, every single House of Representative and Senator from the Big Island joined together in a statement declaring this. So when you talk about your listening to people and you have a team of people, and you want to evaluate, I haven't heard a single name when we have a total of 20 representatives speaking loud and clear with one voice to help us. On top of that, asking for an order for all of County of Hawaii to shelter in place. And you say you don't have jurisdiction, and I completely disagree. Because under the emergency proclamation, you do. You also have jurisdiction on many other things. That's the bold type of decisions that I put on the table on Monday. They are also asking that you work with General Hara to procure any and all PPE equipment, medical supplies, whatever it takes. They have a bullet list of items. We're all speaking with one voice right now, Mayor. Please don't speak with forked tongue when the entire island is watching you right now. We have heard too many mixed messages over the course of five days. And that frustration is bleeding our community. They're scared. And like Ms. Kierkiewicz, I grew up with you on the radio. And that calming and leveling voice, I'm frustrated by it, just like the community is today. Mayor, listen. Listen to your community. Put your community first. Not the tourists, your people. Our people. And together, together we can do this. On Monday, we all said we would help you, help you message. Help you unify the community. And it's getting more and more difficult. If you want our input, we've provided it. We need you to make that bold decision already, Mayor. Aaron, thank you for this time. The agenda item spoke specifically about the authority of the Council under the emergency proclamation and declaration. I kind of wanted to get to that. CHR. CHUNG: Well, you know, I've just texted Corporation Counsel, asked them—you know, we were going to have Joe Kamelamela actually call in earlier, but we're going to have him wait outside, then we can trade off. Looks like something's hot off the presses over here. It looks like it's from maybe—is that the Governor's Office? No, the Legislature. Page 29 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 Let me just sayI think that's the testimony that they submitted via email. We'll just let the record reflect later on that they did submit the Big Island contingent, both Senate and House, submitted testimony, and we can reference that later on (see Comm. 843.240). But let me just say something before we get emotions running a little too high over here. You know, early on, Mayor—you know, first of all, I have to thank you for being open in regards to having meetings with us. Mayor, are you going to take some time to read that thing, or ? MAYOR KIM: I just received this today CHR. CHUNG: Just put that on the side. Never mind that right now. MAYOR KIM: Okay, sorry. CHR. CHUNG: You know, but I see some pretty incendiary words and statements being thrown about today. And you know, I'm certainly not going to censure those comments, but I don't want it to become an us versus Administration type of situation. When it all comes down to it, we want to have productive dialog and we don't want anybody putting their guards up. I think you know what the message is from the Council, and it's never been our intention to really pit one side against the other. But you know, this is our only mechanism to get our concerns out. Ms. Eoff had a comment out there in Kona. By the way, I'm not trying to make light of this thing, okay? Because this is not a time to have levity, but you guys sure look cozy over there. And you know, we're trying to exercise social distancing over here on our side. I just kind of noticed that about the three of you. Go ahead, Karen. MS. VILLEGAS: Thank you. Another reason to close it down. MS. EOFF: I don't want to repeat things that have been said, but I pretty much completely agree with everything that's been said today. We on the grassroots closest level to our residents and constituents have been reviewing and hearing pretty much the same concerns that have been articulated here. But now we're saying that we're seeing it from the State Legislature. Mayor it's been directed to you as well as to us that we want to hear one consistent voice. To me, all of this, it's pretty much consolidated in these testimonies we've seen from the State Legislature as well as the requests coming in from our constituents. And today the Council has two resos before us, two resolutions that pretty much summarize not only the concerns, but actually some proactive and very well-stated protocols to go forward. Page 30 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 So I'm just hoping, Mayor, that somehow rather than Hawaii County being characterized as the county that's doing it different, I really believe that the most healthy thing for our state now would be to all have one consistent message and one set of protocols going forward. I would hope that our county can jump on board with whatever mandates that are coming from the state and then all the counties would be consistent. I think that our island is probably in the best position right now not to escalate the cases, but rather to sort of slow down the numbers. And that way, we won't over tax our health system and maybe we can help people feel more secure. Whatever it takes. I'm not an expert on how to do it, but I definitely feel that a consistent message going forward, a statewide message, would be what I hope that our county can agree to as well. I think that would be the best way. CHR. CHUNG: Right. Thank you, Karen. I think you should just hear the comments instead of, yeah, responding. So go ahead, Ms. Poindexter. MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah, and you know, you had said earlier that you are taking this seriously, but I know that people's perception is that you're not taking it seriously because of the decisions that has been made thus far that's not strict enough I guess. Communities are seeing—you know, I had a call from a friend in Kohala, Tim's district, saying, you know, bikers were coming in the other day, and she stopped them and asked them, "Why are you here?" You know, here we are, we're asked to stay home in our communities and kind of ride out this thing and not help the spread, but yet visitors are coming in. So they're asking me, how do we stop them from coming into our small community? We're a small, older community. And it's not only the elderly, because we know the underlying conditions. Diabetes for one. I have diabetes. But thousands of people on this island have diabetes, and it's not only in the elderly. So when we look about the health conditions and how vulnerable the entire island is. It's not just a specific population like the kupuna, which they are part of the vulnerable population, but we talk about the underlying diseases, especially diabetes, that is so common in a lot of people in Hawaii. So on this island, the percentage of people who are vulnerable to this. So I think, you know, when Lieutenant Governor Dr. Josh Green put it out there said these are the things we need to do to get through this, it's coming from not only our Lieutenant Governor, but the background of a healthcare professional. So I think that is what people are looking to you as a leader to do is to protect our people. You know, to protect the entire island. And yes, you know, economically things are going to crash. But it's better for it to crash this small piece at the beginning instead of us letting it get out of control Page 31 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 and we will never recover. So I'm asking and I'm begging like some of my other colleagues or all of us here, is let's work as a state to get this under control. And let's be strict. And it's okay to be strict now because we want to make sure that our island can prosper down the road. You know, we don't want to kill off this island. We want to make sure that we take it on head on, and we prepare for a lot of difficulties but prepare down the road to build a better future. So I ask that we all work together on this, and that you've heard our voices and our people's voices. And likeI'm going to just throw this in while I have my little couple minutes left, I'm hoping like Council Member Maile David concern like Miloli`i, those are hot spot visitor places. Waipi`o is a very hot spot, and right now,people are afraid there too. And that's a big food source, the kalo. So I ask you to take that seriously into consideration as well. So thank you, Mayor. I yield at this time, Chair. CHR. CHUNG: Thank you, Ms. Poindexter. You know, Mayor, this is a situation that really amounts to damned if you do, damned if you don't, in my opinion. It could very well beI mean, there's a good argument to be made for your position too. I mean, and you articulated it. But it really runs counter to what the Council is feeling, and it looks like every single member of the Council has the same thought, that a stricter lockdown is necessary given the circumstances. It could very well be that come two months down the line, nothing will have happened if a lockdown occurs. And some people might say that we overreacted. And we'll never know. But I really do believe we have to err on the side of caution right now. But I respect you. I respect the position that you have taken even if it runs counter to my intuition and beliefs. So what we're going to do today is, first of all, we have Corporation Counsel Joe Kamelamela waiting outside. And I'm going to ask one of the member of your staff leave as he comes in so we can still keep within the I 0-people limit. And we're going to ask Joe just a few questions. Maybe only one. And it pertains to what the County Council's authority is to override an Administrative directive in the face of an emergency declaration, both from the state side and the county. I'm assuming that he's going to say that we don't have the authority, but I want to hear it from him. And you know, I've alerted you, Mayor. And I really do appreciate that you've had an open-door policy to all of us though. Okay? Even if we do disagree, dialog is very important. We have prepared, and it's not on the agenda but because our public meetings law and Chapter 92 (Hawai`i Revised Statutes) has been suspended by the Governor, we're going to be surfacing two resolutions. These things were hastily drafted Page 32 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 yesterday, but it hammers the point. One would urge the Governor to take stricter lockdown measures in this COVID-19 pandemic; and the other one that was introduced just today by Council Member Richards urges you to do the same. But Joe, can you please come up and give us your opinion. (Note: At this time, Corporation Counsel Joseph Kamelamela came forward to address the members of the Council.) MR. KAMELAMELA: Good afternoon, Chair, and members of the Council. My name is Joseph Kamelamela. I apologize the way that I dressed up, because this is a serious situation. So the question is what is the Council's authority in overriding the Mayor, and the answer is the Council doesn't have any. You know, because that's just the way we have it. And so you look at Chapter, Hawaii Revised Statutes 127. So unless you have any other questions, I can just sit here and try to answer. CHR. CHUNG: Yeah well, I think it's pretty clear. I mean, what you just explained to us. So in that regard, each of us, you know, resolutions have been distributed to each of the Council members. The first one is Resolution 559-20. Well hold on, let me just read it. And maybe at this point, we need a Clerk. Let's bring in one of our Clerks. Thank you, Joe. You can leave. ANNOUNCE: We're going to need your assistance here. And we're going to have our County MENT: Clerk read in two resolutions. Again, one is Resolution 559-20. And then we can read it out, actually. Then one is a well-written, probably more thoughtful resolution by Mr. Richards. He had more time. We had to really rush this other one through yesterday. MR. HENRICKS: In order, sir? CHR. CHUNG: In order. Why don't you read it, and then I shall read the salient parts of the resolution. Amend Agenda: At this time, the Chair directed the Council to take up items not listed on the agenda. As the requirements of Chapter 92, Public Notice, were suspended by Governor Ige during the COVID-19 pandemic, no motion to amend the agenda was made or voted upon. Page 33 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 Res. 559-20: URGES THE HONORABLE GOVERNOR DAVID Y. IGE TO DIRECT AND MANDATE STRICT AND UNIFORM LOCKDOWN MEASURES THROUGHOUT THE STATE OF HAWAII TO ADDRESS THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC From Council Chair Aaron S. Y. Chung, dated March 19, 2020. Reference: Comm. 845 Intr. by: Mr. Chung Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to adopt Res. 559-20. Seconded by Ms. Poindexter. CHR. CHUNG: You know, yesterday the Council instructed our Legislative Research Branch, headed by our County Clerk Mr. Henricks as well as Deputy County Clerk Aaron Brown, to prepare a really quick resolution. It was directed of course Governor David Ige. It's so short,that I'll just read it to you. (Note: At this time, Chair Chung read the contents of Res. 559-20 to the members of the Council.) CHR. CHUNG: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Aaron, I love this resolution. I'm going to ask a very obvious question to everyone right now. Why do we have to go to this measure to do what we're doing right now? Mayor, I need an answer. You can see which way we're leaning right now. Do we have to do this? Is this the way that we have to go to get done what needs to be done in this County right now? MAYOR KIM: First of all, I think we had a long discussion with the Governor's Office and General Hara in regards to what they're doing. We had a follow-up discussion on that, and we were sent something that to me was kind of vague. Because I asked for specific clarification of what they are asking for in regards to us to support or not support and comments on that so they can mitigate any kind of real problems before they passed anything or introduced anything. I think all of the counties who were involved, the Governor's Office involved, definitely General Hara was there and was conducting the meeting regards to that and looking at all the legalities on it et cetera, et cetera. And what I'm saying is I don't think it's necessary because it's being done, the whole element of I asked for a specific deadline and put it in writing, which they agreed to and they did. Although the only person that really saw it because I just got it was Roy behind me. And I showed it to him and I said, "What does this mean?" And it was vague. And you know, this kind of tremendous implication has got to be clearly specified by attorneys, because they will be challenged or there will be problems on how to interpret this, and what it was trying to prevent. Page 34 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 But in the element of what was the intent, the intent was almost verbatim what was here in regards to recommendation on the state level for the entire State of Hawaii to many of the things here. Some of it was not in there. For example, those things of county facilities and workspaces et cetera, et cetera,that they didn't address. Basically what is was addressing was the element of locking down the State of Hawaii and how do they do that. So all things pertaining to your resolution and that issue, that's not overlapping, but what I'm trying to say is it's being done now. But it was just done. In regards to timeframe, this is Friday. I now we're going to work this weekend to review it and make our input. I just got it just a few minutes before I came down here. Our attorney has not even reviewed it yet, but they haven't submitted that. We will discuss it in detail. Our deadline for any kind of input is this Sunday. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So what I'm getting from you is that yes, this is necessary for us to do. MAYOR KIM: Yeah, this is. Because this is the kind of authority needed that is not there in the County of Hawaii. The County of Hawaii means Council, Mayor. That's for one;point number two, the Governor's Office, with all of his resources, are working on it to submit something for review and submission. I think the deadline for our input is for this Sunday night. How long it would take them to act on it, I care not to comment because I don't know, but they were told that it should be expedited as soon as possible. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And do we need to go down this further process with you and tell you everything we told you already and say this is what the people are telling us, this is what we're telling you. Do we actually have to have this conversation in this manner to get where we need to go? MAYOR KIM: I think you can do it, obviously. But what I am trying to say here is that the discussion on doing this was held by all four counties with the Corporation Counsel, and we're going to review it after this so we make our timely input. Our deadline is Sunday, all the counties basically have the same deadline; they do have the same deadline. But I've got a strong hunch that the feedback is going to be clarification on some of these things. But the goal was the same. Same was to lock down the State of Hawaii from all outside travel, and the goal was to have a quarantine of all incoming passengers trying to address issues like the separation between people from Hawai`i that went to the mainland or students coming back on Spring break and making sure that those things are addressed. So it goes a little even more detailed than what the resolution is asking for. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mayor. Page 35 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 CHR. CHUNG: Anyone else? And you know, again, really this is just our way of trying to urge the different heads, the administrative heads of both the state and the county to do something that they're not doing right now. We just hope for the best, right? I think it's very important. Most—you know, I want to point out, and Rebecca did this earlier, she held up a stack of papers. I'm pretty sure it's more now. Because we only put out the notice for this emergency meeting yesterday. From the morning already it started coming in. We had about 200. And by the time post time for this meeting came along, and I'm sure it's still coming in. Including one that you have in your hand now from our Big Island Delegation of the State Legislature, signed by Senator Kai Kahele, Russel Ruderman, Dru Mamo Kanuha, Lorraine Inouye, Mark Nakashima, Chris Todd, Richard Onishi, Joy San Buenaventura, Richard Creagan, Nicole Lowen, David Tarnas. Basically, urging the same course of action, that we're trying to advance. So I just ask that you take that to heart. Consider it, talk to your staff again. Of course right now we're appealing to Governor Ige to come up with something that would be overriding, but right after this we're going to be taking up Mr. Richard's resolution 560, and I'm going to have him read out the recitals later on. But for now, we have a motion on the floor. MAYOR KIM: Mr. Chair? CHR. CHUNG: Yes? MAYOR KIM: I really need to comment on this, excuse me. This letter is addressed to me as Mayor. CHR. CHUNG: Okay, but this did come over our—it's online so the public can look at it, it's online right now. MAYOR KIM: Yeah, find. I just want to point out something that really needs to be addressed before they vote on it. Where it says CHR. CHUNG: And first of all, you're referring to the letter from the Legislature, right? MAYOR KIM: Yes, sir. CHR. CHUNG: Yeah. Okay, go ahead. MAYOR KIM: "Prohibit all nonessential inter-island and out of state travel from Hawaii Island. Require the immediate closure of all public and private schools, daycare centers, preschools, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hawaii Community College, and Hawaii Community College Palamanui. Require the immediate Page 36 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 closure of all county facilities, workplaces," et cetera, et cetera. I think if you look at the details of this and where it says, "As Mayor, you are the only person who has the direct authority to institute these actions," CHR. CHUNG: Okay, I think we all know where you're going on that. MAYOR KIM: And that's the kind of thing, you know, the frustration of giving the Mayor so much authority that we don't have, and the mixture of the two. All I want to conclude here is that, you know, these things were being discussed and the Attorney General's Office is involved, and there are levels involved in writing it. We had a discussion on all of these things that they felt, everyone felt basically the same things, except for locking out without Hawaii County district, certain parts of the districts from each other. Because you know it takes a lot of thinking. For example her concern which is real to prohibit motorcyclists from coming driving in. And those kinds of things need to be addressed as far as authority. But when this kind of blanket letter said, and it concludes that"you are the only person who has the direct authority," you go "Wow, I didn't know I had that kind of authority." CHR. CHUNG: Alright. Okay, and maybe that's why, you know, these two resolutions could go hand-in-hand. I'm glad you pointed that out. Thank you very much. Anyway, we have a motion on the floor. All those in favor signify by saying "aye." Vote on Res. 559-20: The motion to adopt Res. 559-20 was carried by the (Adopted) 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: May the record reflect that we have nine "ayes." Mr. Clerk, can we go on now to Resolution 560-20, and after you read it in, I'm going to allow Mr. Richards, the introducer of this resolution which is directed to Mayor Kim, to either read it in its entirety or just highlight the important points. Go ahead. Page 37 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 Res. 560-20: CALLS UPON MAYOR HARRY KIM TO ENACT STRICT LOCK DOWN MEASURES THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY OF HAWAII AND TO ADDRESS THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC From Council Member Tim Richards, dated March 20, 2020. Reference: Comm. 846 Intr. by: Mr. Richards Motion to Approve: Mr. Richards moved to adopt Res. 560-20. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. CHR. CHUNG: Mr. Richards, go ahead. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, thank you, Chair; and thank you, Mayor, for being here. What prompted this resolution is the conversation. I don't need to belabor that point. I'm going to read this resolution not in its entirety, but the salient points as Mr. Chung has pointed out,just to get context of what we're talking about. (Note: At this time, Mr. Richards read portions of Res. 560-20 to the members of the Council.) Then I have a definition that describes essential activities and businesses. I did borrow that from the County of Maui because I thought it was quite well written, and I do have their permission to do so. (Note: At this time, Mr. Richards continued to read, finishing with the Be It Further Resolved clause on page three.) That reads the nuts and bolts of it into the record, Chair. I do want to thank the Mayor for going forward. I know you've been working on exploring the possibility of expanding beds if in fact we need to do that. So I do thank you for that. I know you're putting that forth. Also, I want to thank you for the efforts in trying to help us identify in North Hawai`i a testing area that we may go to get it done. The reason I put this forth, Mayor, is because you've heard from the community, you've heard from the Council, you've heard from my colleagues, you've heard from the Legislature. I am not one to panic. I am not one to press the button, but I think in this situation we need to have a pause button and get control of our population as a whole so we're not exposing it. Just have the reset button. I don't want to belabor and echo everything that's been said, but this is why I put the resolution forward. So Chair, with that I yield. Page 38 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 CHR. CHUNG: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Any comment? Anyone from Kona? Yes, Karen. Go ahead, please. MS. EOFF: I think maybe I can express for all three of us, but thank you very much, Mr. Richards. I think you laid it out really well, and I like the fact that it's in black and white what exactly everything means. I think it gives people a clear idea of what we're talking about. So I urge all of us to support this. I'm really happy that it seems like we all will, and I hope this does go a long way and is taken seriously. Mahalo, Mr. Richards. CHR. CHUNG: Okay, anyone else out there? Okay. You know, let me just say this too, before we take a vote on it. Mr. Clerk, I'm assuming this is going to pass. And if we could send—well of course Mayor Kim is here. He's heard all of our concerns, but you know, this is really a formality. But he's going to have something in black and white. But with regard to the Governor's resolution, could we also send the one that's directed at Mayor Kim as well, so that he can kind of take a look at what we're looking at? You know,just so he has an idea? Oh, Matt, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mayor, I would ask you again one more time. Why do we have to do it like this? MAYOR KIM: First of all, this resolution are different from—if I miscommunicated and apologize for that, I'll reemphasize what the Governor's trying to do. First of all, it was overall discussions of what possibly can be done, what should be done, timeliness, et cetera, et cetera. What is being discussed now does not refer to many of these things, which is a lockdown of your local businesses, etcetera, etcetera. The only lockdown recommendations that were sent in, first of all, the schools. Secondly, the eateries. It was not a lockdown as the Attorney General relayed to us, it was an optional thing, to be flexible within that. I thought we handled it okay for the time being, et cetera, et cetera. But what is being discussed by the Governor now is strictly a quarantine of all visitors coming from outside of Hawaii. Just only two things of that, people that are not from Hawaii coming here for business or vacation; and people who live here and went for schooling and back, vacation or whatever but have residence here, they could quarantine at home. The rest would have to be quarantined at a designated place or their hotel or wherever they identified they would be quarantined. It would be a mandatory quarantine for a period of 14 days. This, as you can see is a resolution that identifies what needs to be locked down, identifies all the things that are exceptions to that rule. I'll close with that. The Governor's review of what we've been asked to review at this time is only in travel Page 39 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 between here and outside of Hawaii, and the mandatory quarantine consideration for all of the passengers for a period of 14 days. It does not look at any of these things here. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I guess, you're hearing it from us, and we're speaking on behalf of every person who's called us and emailed us. And you're looking at exactly what we're saying and what most of the people on this island are saying. You have the health of about 200,000 people in your hands right now. That's what's being asked. So I'm surprised that we have to go to the effort of writing a resolution and getting it to LRB (Legislative Research Branch), getting it back in front of us for an emergency meeting to tell you what you already know. I don't want to tell you what to do, but MAYOR KIM: I'll respond to your MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: This is a democracy, and your people are speaking. You're our leader. You're our Mayor. If we have to tell you via resolution how we feel, then I think we've lost touch already. MAYOR KIM: I don't think we have. CHR. CHUNG: Well, let's let this MAYOR KIM: All I can see is a difference of people on how to respond. I don't think there's any difference in the sincerity or the care of any level of government. The only difference here is how shall we handle it. I want to make that clear. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I've watched other Mayor's, Caldwell, Kawakami, they're speeches have been along these same lines. They're listening to the Governor, but they're fed up. Maui is on vacation. Oh wait, is it Maui or Kauai? Kauai is on vacation. Maui is trying to close down everything that they can do by themselves. Molokai is saying we're closed, go home. You have our health in your hands. Health over wealth. MAYOR KIM: The easiest thing to do is a lockdown. The reason we hesitated on that was when the CHR. CHUNG: How about this. Mayor, Mayor, this resolution urges you to do something. You've heard everything. All we can do right now is to ask you to consider what's being MAYOR KIM: It is our responsibility number one, to look at it and consider it. But if we see things that we feel are not possible or even detrimental to Page 40 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 community, then we'll point it out. If it's not, you know, is a lockdown of the community, and you feel that the community feels this is the way to address it, naturally it's a little different and detailed because it's a complete lockdown. CHR. CHUNG: Well, you know what we're asking, right? MAYOR KIM: So we will respond asap. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Chair? CHR. CHUNG: Yes, go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I yield. CHR. CHUNG: Right. I mean you don't have to—you're either going to change your directives completely or in part. You might follow what's being asked of you here. You know, all we can do right now is urge you. And you know, our fallback is that the Governor does something as well. Right now what he has proposed is only instructive and not mandatory. So we're trying urge people on two fronts. But that's all we can do right now. You know, I think both you and the Governor, and pretty soon we'll know what, at least what the Hawaii County Council feels. Okay, Ms. Kierkiewicz, go ahead. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair, I'll make this really quick. Mayor, I mean this alludes to a question I posed earlier which was what's it going to take to lock us down for two weeks. We have two resolutions that put forward that idea. You have all of your cabinet members, I'm sure, members of the taskforce ready to meet at any time. Can we get a response from you by end of business day today? I mean, it's pretty—you know what's been out there. You know what's been out there that's been served up by other counties. It's not new information. Can we get a response from you today about what you plan to do? The community just needs to know. Lives are at stake. I don't say these words lightly. But I think it's important for us to know when we can expect a response. We asked questions Monday, we haven't gotten responses. We just need to know. Can we pull the trigger on this? We need to know today so that we can make preparations as a community and as a county and do it over the weekend. MAYOR KIM: On a fast, fast readout, and I repeat, fast readout. First of all, end of today, not to get facetious or anything, but we're talking about will you give me till midnight? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Absolutely. I will give you my personal cell phone number too if you'd like to text me yourself. Page 41 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 MAYOR KIM: Well, I meant notification to the Council a decision in regards to it. But I think if you look at it, there's absolutely, at a fast glance, there's nothing I see that says where the county government to change what we're doing here. Because if you look at what we're doing in the County Council, which part of it, except for permitting and those things—even permitting I hesitate. We have identified totally the Water Department in entirety have to be there. The DEM (Department of Environmental Management), in entirety have to be there. The Police Department entirety have to be there. Fire Department, et cetera, et cetera. I have to look at this line by line where it refers to where you say these people should be closed. They are the people that have to tell me in regards to how this will affect the county or if this is in violation or in compliance with your resolution. And that will take a line by line review. CHR. CHUNG: Well, I guess you know, there's nothing that we can do that's going to require you to get us an answer in x amount of hours or days. But MS. KIERKIEWICZ: But Chair, he said that he could get back to us at midnight, so I'd like to (inaudible). CHR. CHUNG: Well, at the same time,just as a matter of professional courtesy, you know, I think MAYOR KIM: I asked if today meant midnight. CHR. CHUNG: I mean, midnight. MAYOR KIM: In regards to this resolution, you all know what a resolution is. I will absolutely get each department. I'm not the expert of each department. I have to ask each department how does this impede or in any way curtail your duties in regards to what you are required to do. CHR. CHUNG: Well, I guess it comes down to this, Mayor. As the administrative head of the county, you could make the decision just like the other Mayors. And I know it was all done in consultation with their departments of course. I know it wasn't all done independently of the departments, but ultimately you're going to have to make the call. And it's either going to be you're going to stick with your current directive, you're going to modify it, or you're going to maybe follow to a t what has been recommended by the council. Three options. And if you're going to stick with what you have right now,there's not much more than can be said. Then we have to appeal to a higher level which is the Governor. Right, so that's why we're fighting this on two levels. MAYOR KIM: Well, Mr. Chung, what I'm trying to say so the public doesn't see us in conflict, I don't think we're in conflict. I think when you saw our office, it said there is no priority two. All our efforts are to address combatting the virus. I Page 42 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 have to look at this specifically to see what part of the whole—you know, that's like a simple one, the Fire Department to me was 100 percent everybody was to address this or the responsibility of public safety. Now I want you to look at agency by agency, almost person by person who does not fall within this and then say you're dismissed. I have to do that, but instead of saying we will comply with everything and then review later, "oh this worker doesn't have any relationship." When the decision was made that everyone will work, because the decision was made on this. Everybody that works for county government was told priority number one is to combat this problem. CHR. CHUNG: It looks like we have differences of opinions as to how to combat it. But you know, I certainly understand and I know I'm taking away from Ms. Kierkiewicz, but this takes careful consideration. We are in an emergency situation, so decisions have to be made quickly as well. So I don't know, Ms. Kierkiewicz, do you want to continue? Matt? Go ahead. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I just want toI don't know if you know this, but they cannot process gun permits in this county right now. And people are running out of ammo. That gives you a clear idea of where the people of this county are headed right now and why this is important. What else does it tell you when you start seeing ammo run out in stores and people are processing gun permits as fast as they can, that tells you where people are heading. So if we can thinking about it now. But like you said earlier, emergency or now? CHR. CHUNG: Well, Mayor MAYOR KIM: I want to say this then I'll shut up. From some time ago, members of the Council, everyone that works with us were so, "we have a mission here, we're trying to be calm and do things in regards to the public to be sure of that." The worst thing in discussion with police is, Lord forbid that there will be violence because of what is happening. Just a comment, Ms. Poindexter, in regards to the motorcyclists that come riding through their town that created anger or, "what are they doing?" MS. POINDEXTER: Bicyclists. MAYOR KIM: Oh, bicyclists. Districts asking us to lockdown their district from all other districts, we have to look at the possibility of how to enforce these things. I'll close by saying we will review your resolution to see if there are things in there we cannot agree to because of conflict of what we feel is their job or vice versa. I do understand the anger. I do understand the fear. I thought, and obviously wrong, I really thought the kind of things that we were doing to show county Page 43 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 commitment to clean and disinfect, all the things that as you know, Mr. Chung, which I totally appreciate that you are aware that this county was ahead of the game of every other county on what we were doing. The only thing I want to make clear here, there was no arrogance or ignoring the position of the Council or anybody else. It was based on decision of what we thought was best to do our job for the county. You have obviously, you know, to send us a resolution now to say no do it this way which is a complete lockdown of the county. We will see how and if we should do that. Whether we're compounding other problems. It is not, I'll say, it is not easy to just lockdown an island from each other. First of all, there's just the enforcement of it or how do you screen et cetera, et cetera. Because that responsibility will go to the Police Department to enforce it. CHR. CHUNG: Okay, well Ms. Poindexter has another comment. MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah, when we talk about locking down, we need to you know, I'm getting, like Aaron, getting texts the whole time, because people are watching. And I just got one from a person I work with in healthcare, and she says, "Why can't we just implement what Josh Green is saying? And I just came from Waimea and I just saw a bunch of Japanese tourists coming in." So people are getting real cheap flights because the airlines are dropping the costs, and people are wanting to come because we are an open island. Because they've interviewed people saying, "Yeah, it was so cheap." They're at the airport getting their luggage. "So we figured we come to Hawaii, there's no quarantine," and blah, blah, blah. So our island needs to be protected. I don't know how much more we need to say. Every hour counts. Every minute, every second that goes by that we don't protect the island, we are killing our people. Think about that. MAYOR KIM: I will think about it, and I know I take a lot of time. I just want to clarify the Governor is looking at a quarantine of every passenger coming to the State of Hawaii. I just answered the question it does not reflect in island or district by district lockdown. That's a big difference. MS. POINDEXTER: That's great. Put the quarantine not in beautiful hotels, put them in tents, in parking garages, or something. Then they won't come, because their two weeks here ain't going to be a pleasure. You know we have people who are homeless who are struggling that wouldn't have that luxury if we would even put tents for them in parking garages. That's where we should start putting people who want to come here and quarantine. Page 44 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 MAYOR KIM: They were going to pay according to the way the Governor worded it. They come here, they pay for their own room and board, they pay for their own hotel space. MS. POINDEXTER: The danger, Mayor, is they're going to go to bed and breakfasts or vacation rentals that are right in the middle of communities. So this is larger than what we're able to control. That's why we need our Governor and we need you and we need everybody to be on the same page to protect our islands. We're small. We're small. We're a small place surrounded by water. We're like moke islands, you know. So please, please. It's come to a begging already of people. You know, "Protect us." I yield. Thank you, Chair. CHR. CHUNG: Mr. Richards. Really quickly, please. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, very quick, Chair. Thank you. Mayor, I put this forward as a roadmap and yes, you've got a lot of homework to do to implement what we need to get done here. Just a couple of things I wanted to put out. I know, I've been made aware in my district we have an event in North Kohala called the Mana Camp, and I'm told there's going to be 500 people there this weekend. I understand we have weddings scheduled, and I understand that someone in our communicated to because this county was open that people are moving from other counties to come to this county to continue on since they're on vacation. Again, the transient population. I agree with you if we didn't have the transient population. I just wanted to pass that along, Mayor. Chair, I yield. CHR. CHUNG: Thank you. I just wanted to make one comment too. Mayor, you said, had recognized Hawaii County was ahead of the curve, right. And you were the first Mayor to come up and talk to us, declare an emergency, and that was fantastic. But you know,the other day this is, it's almost like art imitating life. I don't know if you call it art. Or the virus imitating life. You know, as quickly as this thing has been evolving, our government's approach to this has been evolving as well. On Wednesday I think, I had called my counterpart, Aryl Kaneshiro from Kaua`i, "Aryl, what are you guys doing over there?" This was in the morning. He said nothing at that point. Same thing City and County (of Honolulu). Maui, Riki Hokama; same thing. Within hours their administrative heads, the Mayors, all came up with strong statements on lockdown. That's how this thing has evolved. So I'm just asking—and you know, you don't know how much it hurts me that we are not on the same page on this. Because in times like these, we really need to be together. You may actually be right. I have no idea. There's really no right answer to this. But you've heard from the County Council. We feel very strongly about the importance of a more thorough Page 45 Hawaii County Council-34 March 20,2020 lockdown. So please just take that to heart. I mean, we want to project a unified front to our constituents, to the whole community. It's so important during times like these. Really, I know you've had a long day, Mayor. You don't have to respond to that. But just take it to heart. MAYOR KIM: I just, I do want to respond. This is a resolution for a total lockdown for the Island of Hawaii. It will be reviewed. A lockdown in regards to I have to see how it will affect the people of this island, because the ramifications of it as you know is stay at home. CHR. CHUNG: Right. MAYOR KIM: But it has exemptions there of who will be allowed to go to and from, and that's what we're going to be looking at because I think if you look at it, Mr. Chung, it's almost saying, "You will work,"because it's identifies everything we do. CHR. CHUNG: Okay. Thank you very much though, Mayor. And thank you so much for your time if you've been here from the beginning of this meeting. I know you've been working till late at night every night and early in the morning. So thank you so much for your time. MAYOR KIM: Thank you. CHR. CHUNG: We have a motion on the floor. All those in favor signify by saying "aye." Vote on Res. 560-20: The motion to adopt Res. 560-20 was carried by the (Adopted) 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: Okay, let the record reflect that we have nine "ayes." Resolution is passed. Do we have any other business? MR. HENRICKS: Mr. Chair? Page 46 Hawai`i County Council-34 March 20,2020 CHR. CHUNG: Yes? MR. HENRICKS: I know Chapter 92 is no longer with us at this point, but we do have rules in place. It would help us to immediately certify these resolutions. If someone could make a motion to suspend the reconsideration rules for Resolutions 559 and 560 then we can process them immediately or as soon as possible. Motion to Suspend Rules: Ms. Lee Loy moved to suspend Council Rule 15 to (Approved) waive the five-clay hold for reconsideration for Resolutions 559-20 and 560-20. Seconded by Mr. Richards and 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: Okay, motion carried. Thank you very much. ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 3:33 p.m., Ms. Lee Loy moved to adjourn the MENT: meeting. Seconded by Mr. Richards and 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: Okay, meeting adjourned. 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