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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES for 2021-05-25 FINALVETERANS ADVISORY COMMITTEE Tuesday, May 25, 2021, 1:30 p.m. WebEx Video Conferencing and Kona Mayor's Office (Via Videoconferencing) Present Members Michael Doolittle Isaac Nahakuelua Marcia Brinkley John Hiduchick-Nakayama Debra Lewis George Sheridan (joined meeting late) Kona Mayor's Office (Via Videoconferencing) Members Minoru Hanato Guests (Hilo) Pomaika'i Bartolome, Executive Assistant to the Mayor Nicole Gray, Congressman Kahele's Office Laurie Soares, Daughters of the American Revolution Brian Harrington, Veteran Wailani Walker, HCC Ex-Officio (Kona) None Ex-Officio (Hilo) Michelle Hiraishi, Deputy Director P&R Kelcie Figueira, Office of Veterans Services Also Present (Hilo) Brittany Iyo, Secretary J Yoshimoto, Deputy Corporation Counsel Absent None Call to Order Chair Michael Doolittle called the meeting to order at 1:31 pm. Quorum not met with six members present. Per recommendation from Deputy Corporation Counsel, J Yoshimoto, no items on the agenda can be voted on, but discussion can continue. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC None OLD BUSINESS Chair Doolittle: Did everyone read the minutes from the last meeting? (static noise) (inaudible) Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes May 25, 2021 Page 2 Debra Lewis: Michael, you muted yourself. Chair Doolittle: There I am. Has everyone read the minutes form the last meeting? Johnny Hiduchick-Nakayama: Yes. Chair Doolittle: Do we have a motion to accept the minutes from the last meeting? Oh, that's right we can't vote on anything. (laughter) Sorry about that. Lewis: We'll table that until we can get a quorum. I left a message for George I think he might be able to get on. Homeless Veterans during Pandemic Chair Doolittle: I just had a videoconference this morning with the Save a Warrior program. I don't know if any of you are familiar with that. They are a national organization, and the VA has been recommending or sending patients to the Save a Warrior program. They have an intense 75-hour program that they run out of a facility in Ohio, and we entered into some discussions about expanding their program and maybe bringing some of that to us, here in Hawaii or in our Veterans healthcare clinics and the Vet center referring patients to their program. It's a free program. The only thing that's required is transportation to and from Ohio. But it's an intense PTSD, moral injury program. They've had a great amount of success, helping veterans with PTSD and traumatic and it's more than just combat and military, it's integrating childhood and life experiences and that kind of stuff from the entirety of a person's mental health, not just someone's experiences in the war. I found that discussion really interesting and I'm going to be talking with their Founder and a couple of their Directors this next week about how, first of all, (inaudible). I don't know Isaac, if you've heard about it because you're in mental health, but I've been following them online for a couple of years and they seem to be, unlike Wounded Warrior Project that was just basically fundraising. These people seem to have more professionals involved in helping the mental health of veterans and I was... has anyone ever heard of them? Isaac Nahakuelua: No, I haven't heard of them. But I do understand the concept, they call it compounding traumas. There's a correlation and I got this information from 4 or 5 years ago, there was a conference at the Hilton on the Waikoloa side and the VA's top psychiatrist came down and he gave a talk and he talked about compounding traumas. He said there's a correlation to the (inaudible) rehabilitation to combat veterans that had a challenging childhood where they experienced traumas from their childhood and then going into combat and dealing with the traumas of war and leaving that environment and in the civilian world and they have these two traumas from their past, childhood and war kind of colliding and getting all tangled up in there. IT causes more angst, that's not the best word, but more mental health challenges than combat veterans that had a good childhood, defined as mother and father together for most of their life and stable family, etc. and then going through combat, they seem to have less mental health challenges than the later. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes May 25, 2021 Page 3 Chair Doolittle: that was one of the descriptions that came up a lot this morning in the conference was emotional entanglements, between the traumas of childhood and adulthood, combat and war and then trying to reestablish yourself in a society and trying to find a career path that you could actually become, at least somewhat normal in society if I could use that word. I think normal is kind of a varying set of degrees. I found the discussion interesting and I'm anxious to continue the discussion and see where it leads. How that integrates with the homeless problem because that's a big component of the homeless problem. I don't know how were going to get control of any of that or reestablish... we've been having a continual homeless problem at our housing site next to the university. This has been an ongoing problem and as we've evicted and cleaned it up a number of the people who have been in that homeless community were veterans. They didn't really want to stay into the mix of trying to find ways out of being homeless. It just seemed like they disappeared into the woods someplace else. That's kind of disappointing. Lewis: Michael, you touched on an issue I actually, as I get ready to take over the VFW for the state, I was talking to someone who was also addressing homelessness today and as Isaac and you touched on, it's a complex issue. You've got people that aren't looking for but also could be on drugs and alcohol as a way to cope. They have a catch 22 because you can't really put them in housing or the system and other states have faced this so there are solutions, I'm just not sure who's working it as an integrated way because these initiatives are wonderful. I had a great initiative in the Northwest, with Pacific Institute and they handled everything from trauma to all kinds of dysfunction and working with people using a lot of neurosciences that would help tag into the healthy parts than the unhealthy parts. Because sometimes even obesity can be related to trauma as a way of coping. It's not just drugs and alcohol and homelessness. There's a whole lot of ways that it manifests itself. Chair Doolittle: It's suggesting that a lifestyle that's forced upon them and not a lifestyle that they choose. I know that drugs and alcohol, the only agency locally that's been dealing with this issue in a legal sense is the Veterans Court. That's only after there's been some kind of violation or arrest where the Veterans Court actually had a mentoring system and these clients, the people who fall into this and the Veterans Court actually accepts into the program to try and help them is a really intense mentoring program and it was having a funding problem before the COVID thing, and I have not heard a word about the Veterans Court since then. Lewis: They pretty much integrated it into the drug court. The drug court that was funded, veteran's treatment court was only funded for a short amount of time. But as you suggest those kinds of comprehensive, holistic solutions require mentors and the pathways to success. Deputy Hiraishi: As an aside to that, I'm a mentor in Veterans Treatment Court, even though funding has run out, whenever there's a veteran in the system Greyson sends out a Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes May 25, 2021 Page 4 notice to all the mentors, head's up who can go and meet with this vet? So I don't know the outcomes, if anyone goes to meet with them, but the call still goes out. Lewis: Excellent and sadly that's when they've already gotten stuck in the court and then of course we have other issues, like getting IDs, that's a huge issue for homeless veterans because some of them actually do have money coming in but they may not have an address and they may not have an ID that allows them to cash that. I guess, I just don't know who in the County and maybe you do, Michelle, who in the County, because homelessness is a big issue on the island in general and then with veterans we have a couple other ways to do it and why there was success in the Veterans Treatment Court is because at one point they had the discipline and able to, it's easier for them to transition sometimes, into that kind of program and be successful. Deputy Hiraishi: I can research on some of that and talk with our Housing Director, Susan Kunz and see what she has in the plans for connecting with homeless vets. Lewis: That would be wonderful. Chair Doolittle: To see firsthand how the homeless have affected our community, just go down to Bayfront during COVID and all these closed shops, each one of the doorways seem to be a campsite. It's been really, I was down there yesterday, right next to the veteran's clinic and there were a couple of characters walking down the street talking to themselves. You can just tell that they're not really in the real world and I don't know how that interaction, that's right next to a school and they're camping out on that river, you know that flood zone channel is and the trees along the edges of that because that's not something anyone really polices, and it's not privately owned. Hiduchick-Nakayama: Hey Mike, this is Johnny, and this may be a question for Pomai or Parks & Recs, is there a County taskforce handling homelessness and if so, are they emphasizing, or is there a Veteran on that taskforce? I'm just trying to think outside the box, because I understand the issue with the homelessness, but our goal is the veterans, if we can bring that effort together. Chair Doolittle: I don't know of any program within the County. Brittany Iyo: Yes, so the County, Housing and Community Development has Sharon Hirota and under Mayor Kim, she used to be the homeless coordinator as an EA, she's since gone back to Housing, but I believe she still acts as a homeless coordinator for the County. I don't know that she has a committee or a taskforce. I believe it's just her and she tries to coordinate with Hope Services and Parks & Recreation, and I don't know what other outside organizations. Hiduchick-Nakayama: Hey I would highly recommend, I'm not sure she's aware of this, but I work for the USDA, and we have programs that might be available to the County, Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes May 25, 2021 Page 5 so I'm not sure how, can you send me her contact information? I would like to reach out to her and kind of put our brains together and figure out something. Iyo: Yeah, I don't know how involved she is with veterans who are homeless, but I believe she's been the homeless coordinator for at least two years now. But I can send you her contact information. Hiduchick-Nakayama: Hey Thank you, I appreciate it. Chair Doolittle: Wasn't there some kind of catch 22 and Hope Services and accepting homeless people? I seem to recall that we discussed this before, that either there was a catch 22 in drug use or some other thing that kind of excluded people from being served? I thought we had a conversation about that once. Lewis: There usually is, but the other thing is that they gave up the veteran facility that was at Hope Services, they used to have a home/house for veterans, and they no longer have that. They serve near the hospital in the facility there and I think when we talk about the mental illness you've got the drug, alcohol, mental illness, trauma. We know that 70% of the adult population has had some sort of traumatic event and then now with COVID, of course that's probably much higher and then you add in the military factor. This is a big discussion, but it just seems that we need to move it to someplace where we can actually put resources to bear that are integrated to what's available cause there's multiple programs across the country that are successful in ways, but the idea is, what works here? Chair Doolittle: We had a HIVM meeting down at the Elks Club a little while back and I noticed that there was some construction going on at that old hotel next to the Elks Club and I went over and talked to the people over there and there is some kind of in-house treatment facility going to be built out there. A private institute that's going to open up some kind of health services thing. But they're going to be bringing in people from around the country not necessarily a local based service facility but something that's more on a national scope. Anyone know anything about that? Heard anything about it? It's that old hotel and restaurant thing next to the Elks Club. Lewis: I just want to bring up a point of order, but we have George Sheridan, if you see Sheri, that's George Sheridan so we have our six people. Chair Doolittle: Hey, George are you there? Lewis: He's on mute. Chair Doolittle: Hey George, can you unmute yourself and confirm you're here? (pause) He's still muted. Lewis: Let me call him again, hold on. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes May 25, 2021 Page 6 George Sheridan: How `bout now? Chair Doolittle: Ok, there you are. Welcome there. Sheridan: Sorry I'm late, I was in my garden, I must've lost track of time. Chair Doolittle: Ok, let's go back to the beginning now that we have a quorum. Everyone's had a chance to read the minutes, do we have a motion to accept the minutes? Lewis: I make a motion to accept the minutes of February 23. Sheridan: I second. Chair Doolittle: It's been moved and seconded. All in favor? Six ayes, none opposed. Minutes are accepted. Chair Doolittle: This homeless issue, are we done discussing that or do we have anything that we kind of want to nudge towards some additional information or initiative. Is there a push to see if we can identify how we can deal with this? Lewis: Well, I'm thinking, Michelle was saying she was going to find out about the Housing one, what they know about it. But it seems to me, J may be able to advise us, it seems to me there's some way to bring in information and Brittany for the next meeting, we'll bring in all the different resources we find out. Like Michael, you just said this new homeless place that's being constructed. Chair Doolittle: I don't think it's a homeless place, I think it's some kind of a health destination that they're going to be bringing people in. I haven't talked to any of the principals of the organization, I just talked with somebody leading the construction in the remodeling. Lewis: Maybe we can find out who in the County is taking the lead on that and what meetings are being held, that would be very helpful. Who are the contacts? And what meetings are being held to address this. We know a couple issues we've already brought up; we know they have drug issues, alcohol issues, clearly housing issues, the mental health in general issues, trauma issues. It seems to be an integrated process and what are the programs that are available now, for those who have issues. We have a lot of mental health challenges and no longer have places for people to go. Somebody has to be working that now. Let's try to nail, who the County looks to work those issues and to integrate that issue. I would wager it's also the religious community and interfaith community as well. Because a lot of time, people just aren't aware of who has the lead on activities and where to lend support if people have goods and stuff. Go ahead, Johnny. Hiduchick-Nakayama: Hey Thanks for bringing up (inaudible) as a Pastor at a church we talk about mental health quite a bit, but it's not seen and it's more individually than anything else. So thanks for bringing that up. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes May 25, 2021 Page 7 Chair Doolittle: Deb, that facility, what is that the old hospital that was renovated. What's going on with that. Lewis: I was just told Hope Service because I contacted them, because in the past I had been trying to coordinate Home Depot and other donations to the home that they had for veterans and they said in this COVID period, they gave up that house, they had too many challenges with running that house, so they have housing and I guess that's at the same facility, I'm not certain. But I'm told they had worked on that facility and that's where they're keeping a lot of the previously homeless people and putting them there, including veterans. Deputy Hiraishi: It started out as a men's shelter, just for men. I only know because Arc of Hilo, when I worked for Arc of Hilo, we used to do the yard there. But it started out as a men's shelter, but I think you're right, they had some problems, so they opened it up to families but also upstairs they were doing something else up there. I'm not quite sure if the upstairs portion is even with Hope Services. Chair Doolittle: Yeah, I think one of the things that we're always lacking is a lack of information of what is available and what is going on in the community. It seems to be so individually organized where we're not sharing the resource information that our community actually has. We always feel like were flying blind. Lewis: I think it's the functions there plus the point of contact to find out more that really would be helpful. Marcia Brinkley: Can everyone see the notes in the chat? Pomai left some information for us, typed it in about a contact in West Hawaii who is Jane Clement and included her contact phone number and then also the contact information for Sharon Hirota. Then above that, Nicole said she had to leave but she'll try to dial in. She asked if anyone was in contact with Andrew Dahlberg of the VA — Homeless Veterans Taskforce. Chair Doolittle: Oh yeah, he's out of Honolulu, isn't he? Brinkley: Must be, he doesn't sound local. She said she'll get the contact information to you or Deb. But I'd be happy to contact Jane Clement and see what's going on in West Hawaii, that's the Executive Assistant. Chair Doolittle: Yeah, that's all part of the information directory that we've been talking about for quite a while now, just identifying what resources are available. Lewis: And who's working it, so we don't double work it. Brinkley: I'll do that one, see what's going on. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes May 25, 2021 Page 8 Lewis: I think we've covered that one, Michael. Summary of Agendas done Chair Doolittle: We've been trying to organize our thoughts and initiatives and discussions over the last four years and issue some kind of a report or document that identifies what this committee has undertaken since the period that it's been reconstituted by Mayor Kim, and we still haven't accomplished that or move that forward. Do we have any discussion about that? Lewis: I think the only remaining issue with that is the membership and where we are with that. Revamping it so the at -large members, we have more at -large members. Because the agendas done since the committee reformed, we're pretty much sticking cemeteries was a little bit, but trying to make this body an active body as opposed to unable to create any initiatives. Chair Doolittle: Well that's the one thing we need to identify and that's a question we had submitted to J about how we might change the language in the County's statues and codes relating to the membership of this committee. Lewis: Was Sue Lee Loy, was the one J, who said she would take the issue forward? Iyo: Sorry, J, I'll talk about it. Deputy Corporation Counsel J Yoshimoto: Alright, Brittany will talk about it. Iyo: Yeah, so Maurice did reach out to Sue Lee Loy, and she said that she's willing to assist in drafting the legislation to change Hawaii County Code and change the membership of the committee and she had prepared a draft of the bill, but she sent it to me late, the agenda had already been finalized and posted and so we weren't able to add it to this agenda. Hiduchick-Nakayama: Hey Brittany, this is Johnny, can I ask you a question about that? Iyo: Yeah, sure. Hiduchick-Nakayama: Do we have to wait till the next meeting to address that? Iyo: J and I had a quick discussion about that because the next meeting is not until August, so maybe we can figure out a time, maybe in June to have another meeting just to discuss the draft legislation to keep it going. If you guys are ok with setting a date in June? Hiduchick-Nakayama: Yeah, because I know that we do have, or at least one application that I know that was submitted to the Mayor's office. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes May 25, 2021 Page 9 Iyo: I think there are at least two people, Laurie and I don't know if you can see Brian Harrington who is also on the call, he's interested in assisting with our committee. We can set a date in June. I don't know if there's a particular day, maybe a Tuesday afternoon since our meetings are usually on Tuesdays. We can look at the 15th, June 15, or the 22nd, or the 29th. That would give us enough time to get the draft from Sue Lee Loy, gather an agenda and post it. Chair Doolittle: I would suggest the later date, so we have enough time to get it done. Lewis: I'd say the 22nd maybe? Hiduchick-Nakayama: Yeah, I'm good with the 22nd as well. Lewis: Can everyone else make that? Iyo: Ok, so we'll set it for June 22nd that's a Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. and that will be via Zoom. For this particular meeting, the only item on the agenda will be the draft legislation, so I'll send that to you with the agenda for your review and when we have the meeting, we can discuss what's good, not good, any proposed changes that we want to send to Sue Lee Loy then that way she can finalize it and submit it to Council. Hiduchick-Nakayama: Great, thank you so much Brittany. Iyo: You're welcome. DCC Yoshimoto: So, Michael, I just want to make clear, in terms of the changes to the code, my understanding is that the committee would like to have more at large members. Correct? Chair Doolittle: Yes. DCC Yoshimoto: In terms of number, right now it stands at 12, is that something we want to keep, or do we want to reduce the number? Chair Doolittle: I really don't know how to answer that question. I would say an odd number rather than an even number and I would also suggest that we have two prominent veterans' organizations that all veterans belong to. It's either American Legion or the VFW, we should have a representative from each of those and even Disabled Veterans cause that's a large segment and the rest should be at -large and maybe geographically distributed rather than all come from one area of the island. It would be nice if we were more diversified more from the west part of the island, from the Puna, south part of the island from the north part of the island and the like. Try to get more of the community. One of the things I try to suggest early on was that the Veterans Advisory Committee hold remote meetings in these different locations on occasion just to kind of draw the community in to participate because so many of our community are veterans. It's about Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes May 25, 2021 Page 10 12% of our community are veterans. That would be my recommendation or advocacy to geographically spread ourselves out, so we really represent the County more than just the people that are interested. It's hard getting people interested and wanting to serve. DCC Yoshimoto: Ok, so then sounds like it would be a combination of both. I'm looking at the code right now, membership with the committee shall include one representative from the American Legion, Big Island National Guard Retirees Association, Big Island Retired Military Association, Hawaii Island Veterans Memorial, VFW. Those seem to be my recollection, the more prominent organizations. Then, the idea would be the remaining at large seats would come from certain geographical areas. Is that the idea? Chair Doolittle: yeah, because a lot of these organizations, whether it's Purple heart, Combat Veterans or Korean War Veterans, those are really diminishing groups that really don't have a lot of membership and most of those members belong to the VFW or the American Legion. DCC Yoshimoto: I'll assist in the drafting, it's not hard to do. We could do it earlier in June if you want to, June 22" d sounds good to me though. Iyo: J, I had a quick question. I understand the geographical part, but my question is so were having members from particular organizations, how do we determine what, are we going to spell out what districts the at large members be from? If it's not all the districts, are we keeping it at 12 members? If we go all nine districts plus the six organizations, we already have, quorum would be huge. DCC Yoshimoto: Right, my thought is probably reduce the number to an odd number and include certain geographical districts. We wouldn't use Council districts because that's nine and that's too many. But we need to have something that's already codified so we can do that, the geographical... I can only think of is Judicial districts other than Council districts or State Senatorial districts. Lewis: Yeah, but J, I'm thinking why couldn't we just say that in combination, that is the guidance to try to get representation and then it will either be represented as part of the groups that are represented or part of the at large members. That's the consideration to try to get numbers rather than designate we've got the east rep as a separate entity or the west rep or however. DCC Yoshimoto: Deb, that's a good idea. We could do that understanding that that's not a requirement but a preference. Or that an effort be made to get representation from the entire island. Lewis: Yeah, and we track that. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes May 25, 2021 Page 11 Chair Doolittle: Even specifying that HIVM have a member. HIVM is a small private organization, why should it be included like the Combat Infantry group. There are such small groups that are contained and much larger groups. DCC Yoshimoto: We can have a full discussion on this on June 22"d. We could get this resolved because we can go whichever path the committee wants to move forward on, and the ultimate decision will be with the Council. I see the benefits of keeping some organizations mentioned because they are prominent in our community and the flexibility of having the at large and also emphasizing that we want to reach across the island. Let me see what I can come up with and we can have a real discussion on June 22na Lewis: And a real key J, is participation. People actually have their ear to the ground with things that are happening and working with local leaders to make good things happen. It's not just an apportionment where you do nothing. DCC Yoshimoto: I'm just curious since we're talking about this. Do we know what our counterparts do on the other islands? Chair Doolittle: Not really. I don't even know how active they might be. Lewis: Well, I know Maui is pretty active. At least they were. Oahu is very active; I know that through the VFW. They have their own Veterans Center where they host their meetings and get representation for the whole island and get updates regularly. You can be on distribution for that J, if you want but that's, we have a member of VFW that attend the Oahu ones regularly. The other ones are kind of hit or miss. Our VFW organization has representation on Molokai, you know it's a post, they know how many veterans are exactly on the island. It's represented on Maui; they even have some on Lanai, but they don't have their own office there. Kauai has its own post. So we have organizations, but the difference is very few veterans join veterans' groups. That's why we're trying to get more at large members. They are more in rotary, they're in other places that I think we want to aggressively find and participate. DCC Yoshimoto: That helps, Deb. There are several approaches, like I said. Maybe I'll put together two different drafts that go in different directions. Lewis: Brian Harrington was on, he's now off. Is that right? I guess he was interested in our group. As was Laurie, I guess she's not on. Brinkley: I think Laurie is still on. Laurie, are you there? Laurie Soares: I'm here. I finally got everything working. Britt: Brian, I think he's a Marine vet, I could be wrong. But he was interested in joining the committee, but I don't believe he belongs to any of the organizations that's listed on the membership in County Code. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes May 25, 2021 Page 12 Lewis: That's why if we move away from our current model, we'll be welcoming people whether they belong to those organizations or not. Chair Doolittle: Well, it's just whether or not you're interested in resolving some of these veteran issues. Interest is a big part of it. Actually being part of a big organization if you're not really interested in participating and helping us solve some of our problems leads you in the same place. We've kind of exhausted this discussion. Submit Report to Mayor Kim and Thank you for Support Chair Doolittle: Item C on the Old Business thing it's kind of been included in the previous discussion about a report to identify what we've done. Anybody want to discuss Item C on the agenda, Old Business? Lewis: My only statement is we are honoring former Mayor Kim Thursday evening at our VFW State Convention, he's coming to dinner at the Elks Club on the Kona side. If we do come up with a letter, if we want to present it there, we can, or we wait and present it here at a future meeting. I thought you wanted to have the report to thank him. Chair Doolittle: Well, the fact that he reconstituted this committee, and he was the one that signed off on the changes in statutes and codes for this committee, I wanted to thank him for that. As well as kind of give him a little highlight of the issues that we've discussed since we've changed the committee. It was a positive thing for him to do, it took a little bit of prodding, but I was impressed at how fast from suggestion to completion of changing the County Codes, it was less than six months. I never heard of any County government happening in six months in my life. Anyway, I want to thank him personally for that. I've already thanked him personally, but I was just very thankful he was opened to these changes, and we were able to make them. Lewis: How would you like to do that, Michael? Are you thinking a letter? Or were you thinking of inviting him to a meeting, or? Chair Doolittle: Either or, or all, a combination of those things. There's no I in team here. We are a team, I can suggest it, but the team has to help move it forward. Any other suggestions? Seeing none, we can move on here. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes May 25, 2021 Page 13 NEW BUSINESS Election of Officers Chair Doolittle: We have a need to nominate a volunteer for Vice -Chairman. We are lacking a Vice -Chairman. Antonio's term expired, he's no longer on the committee. Do we have anybody that wants to nominate themselves? Do we have any members left from the west side of the island? Brinkley: Just Minoru and me. Chair Doolittle: Well, we need that representation from the west side, I think. My own personal feelings. Brinkley: I'm willing to do it, but I'll hold my name if someone is really excited to do it. Chair Doolittle: Well, Minoru is not here, and he hasn't attended a couple of meetings. Iyo: Minoru is actually "bkassow" he's at the Mayor's office in Kona. So, b-k-a-s-s-o-w is Minoru. Chair Doolittle: Ok, good. Lewis: So we have seven. Brinkley: Maybe Minoru wants to do it. Chair Doolittle: Don't be shy. I'll formally nominate Marcie. Lewis: I second that. Chair Doolittle: All in favor? Seven ayes. Nomination passed. Chair Doolittle: Thank you, Marcie. Congratulation. You're certainly a worthy person to take that chair. Brinkley: Thank you so much. Lewis: We appreciate you, because in between meetings you are working hard. Report on Cemeteries Chair Doolittle: Do we have someone here from the State Office of Veterans Services? Lewis: Kelcie was here. Kelcie, can you talk about the cemetery at all? Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes May 25, 2021 Page 14 Kelcie Figueira: I don't have any new update from the last meeting. Chair Doolittle: That means everything is going well. Figueira: Yes, there's no hiccup. Everything is still ongoing in West Hawaii, and I didn't hear any other update. ANNOUNCEMENTS Chair Doolittle: Anyone want to make an announcement? I have a small one, I ordered a floral tribute on behalf of the Veterans Advisory Committee for Memorial Day and I'm going to pay for it. Brinkley: I'd like to contribute. Chair Doolittle: Ok and my main focus was out of memory and respect for the veterans that were lost at the Veterans Home this past year. Brinkley: Can we help you with the expense? Chair Doolittle: Yeah, I have no idea what it is yet. Mabel DeSilva is coordinating that for me. I wanted the Veterans Advisory Committee to be recognized in that tribute, so I went ahead and ordered it. Lewis: So the events that are happening that's leading up to it is, Saturday the 29th, the Puna Interfaith will have their virtual ceremony and Monday the 31st, at 9:00 cemetery 2, this is a big change, at 9:00 American Legion, under Geno Enocencio will be reading off all the names that passed in the last two years, not just the last year, because we haven't done that but that's going to be 9:00. Puna Interfaith is going to be accepting floral arrangements on the Friday before. You can take a look at their website for a time for that. West Hawaii, I just got word today, at 11:00 on the 31st there's going to be a limited ceremony at the West Hawaii cemetery. That will be under American Legion too? Is that right? Brinkley: Antonio said it's going to be Civil Air patrol, DAV, it's going to be several groups. Lewis: And the scouts, yeah. Chair Doolittle: I communicated this to Geno the other day, both for HIVM and the Veterans Advisory Committee. Lewis: Ok, yeah, we're talking West Hawaii right now. We just weren't sure that they were going to do anything. There's going to be no meal, no hanging out but at least they'll be able to do something. Please pass this to your representatives. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes May 25, 2021 Page 15 Chair Doolittle: Maybe we then should order a second one for the West Hawaii. I think that would be appropriate. I don't want to just concentrate on the Hilo side. This is an island committee. Mabel can only arrange things on this side of the island. Can you arrange that for us, Marcie? Brinkley: Yeah, I can do that. Also, I wanted to say, Antonio said the various groups are going to gather at 8:00 am that morning on the 31st at West Hawaii to set up and put out chairs and telescoping poles and all that. So if anybody knows people on this side who would like to help out. HGEA is going to make leis and boys scouts are going to put out wreaths and flowers. It's going to be very nice. Lewis: On this side Waiakea High School is doing their leis again. Chair Doolittle: Any more announcements? Johnny: Mike, this is Johnny. There's a motorcycle Memorial Day Poker Run for the Midnight Riders. That's this weekend, May 29th. I just felt it was important because this organization, they just went to PTA, and they had about $2,000 worth of donations that they received that they were able to feed all the Marines and soldiers there. So they have a Poker Run this Saturday starting at 10:00 am (inaudible) in Kona and it's going to end at the Elks Lodge in Kona as well. It's a great organization, me being a motorcycle guy, I try go on the runs as much as possible. Chair Doolittle: I saw a big component of motorcycle, hot rods and classic cars on Sunday as I was going to green waste. Hiduchick-Nakayama: Yeah, that was our Ali' i run. If you guys are good with that, I can continue to share it with the group. I can probably just email it out once I get the information. Chair Doolittle: Please do. Lewis: That'd be great, Johnny. Then we can post wherever too. Chair Doolittle: Any additional comments, announcements, anything to add. Pomaika'i Bartolome: Hi, this is Pomai. I just wanted to add, I wanted to thank Colonel Deb Lewis for being willing and able to bring a vision to fruition through video that we are going to be sharing here at the Mayor's office through our social media handles and also through our website for Memorial Day. If you have a couple minutes, I wanted to share that with all of you before we leave the meeting today. Chair Doolittle: The floor is yours. Bartolome: Awesome, so I will get this video together and share my screen. Can you see the screen? Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes May 25, 2021 Page 16 (video plays) can be accessed through the Hawaii County Mayor's Office website. Nahakuelua: Thank you, Deb. That was really nicely made. Lewis: Thank you, Pomai for the opportunity and the person, your videographer who was very masterful. Bartolome: Yes, the master, Barret Otani. Chair Doolittle: Do we have anyone else that would like to say anything? Comments, announcements? Lewis: If it's working on the west side, did you want to say anything now that you can talk. We want to hear from you, Minoru. You're not muted, go ahead and talk. Chair Doolittle: We're not getting anything through here. Either you're muted or some kind of technical glitch. Lewis: We're sorry, you can wave to us. You can chat, you absolutely can chat. Iyo: So I have Minoru on my speaker phone. Minoru, go ahead. Minoru Hanato: Can you hear me on the phone? Lewis: Yes, we can hear you. Hanato: I was trying to get you long time, but no can catch. But anyway, Brittany you used to call before ethe meetings, to get the quorum. Can you continue you that so we can get the quorum? Also, reminds the person that they have a meeting yeah. Iyo: Ok. Hanato: Update on the cemetery, we had a planting at the cemetery, last week Friday and they planted hundred something plants. The cemetery is looking really good. The County workers are making it look really nice. We're going to have a small program, 21-gun salute and there's going to be a speaker but no food, no refreshments. On Saturday, the boy's scouts are going to be there to put the flags up. I'm going to have to be there because the flags are in the maintenance section, I'm the only one that can open it up. Also, HGEA are going to put the ti-leaf leis on all the graves like they always do, every year. I just wanted to mention all that good stuff. Then going back to the membership, can you list the names that we have and what organization they're on and what's available. So when I do talk to other members of other groups they might want to join. What else I can say, I had a whole list, I no can read um now, I stay getting all excited. We're still doing the Honor Guard over here, the DAV and American Legion, we Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes May 25, 2021 Page 17 combine our group to do the military honors, we do the firing and bugle. Lately the military hasn't been coming over because of the COVID thing so we've been doing everything, holding the flags, presentation everything. We had one yesterday, one today. We had another one Saturday; we've been going crazy lately. There's another thing, at one time, at a meeting, we had requested the small little flags, I think it was 3 by 5. Did you guys get any in so we can put it on the columbarium. Iyo: I'll check with Parks Maintenance. Hanato: Because a lot of the columbarium, we have vases for the flowers and stuff like that and they can put that in the vase. When we put the big flags, they'll just fall down, and it'll look like a mess. We're going to have the laying of the wreaths everything should be going ok. Another question, what organization am I representing? DAV? Or At Large? Iyo: You are DAV. Hanato: Ok because I wasn't sure. I as At large for many years. Thank you. Chair Doolittle: Thank you. Do we have anything else to add? Lewis: Yes, just one more thing, Michael, if we can have a moment, given this is Memorial Day week, we actually have now a Chaplain on our staff, if he can do a short prayer once you're down with everything else? Chair Doolittle: You want to do that after we adjourn or before? Lewis: Whatever the preference. Chair Doolittle: If it's before it'll be a part of the official minutes, if its after it won't be. Nahakuelua: Does the separation of church and state apply to this? Lewis: You adjourn and then we'll have it. Chair Doolittle: Does anyone have anything to add to the official part of the meeting? Soares: Thank you for having me as a guest today. Chair Doolittle: You're welcome and we would advocate that you come back. Hiduchick-Nakayama: Hey Mike, I have a point of order really quick. While Laurie spoke, I just wanted to speak on her behalf. I've known Laurie for quite some time, she is a wonderful person, she is very active, a close friend of mine so I think she would be a great addition to our committee. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes May 25, 2021 Page 18 Chair Doolittle: Well, we really would like advocate is that, more of the community tune in to our meetings and participate if they have something to add. Whether you have something to add or not. It is a public meeting, and we advocate for our community to participate if they so choose. Soares: Absolutely, I'm happy to help, just let me know. Lewis: We thank the organizers for the meeting and all the input. Brittany, Michelle, Pomai. Deputy Hiraishi: That was Brittany, she's just stepping out. Chair Doolittle: The County has always been awesome to this committee. Deputy Hiraishi: Aw, thank you. I'll definitely pass it on. Chair Doolittle: It's been a wonderful experience to be on this committee for me. If we don't have anything else to add, do we have a motion to adjourn? Oh no, we need to make sure everyone knows the next meeting is on August 24 at 1:30. And we're going to have that meeting on June 22 to discuss this initiative to recalibrate the membership and affiliations. Do we have a motion to adjourn? NEXT MEETING The next meeting is scheduled for June 22 at 1:30 pm. Hiduchick motioned to adjourn. Brinkley seconded. Chair Doolittle: All in favor? Seven ayes, meeting adjourned at 2:44 p.m. Respectfully submitted, 3 r=a4ly rya - Secretary