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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES for 2021-06-22 FINALVETERANS ADVISORY COMMITTEE Tuesday, June 22, 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 Kona Mayor's Office (Via Videoconferencing) Members Minoru Hanato Guests (Hilo) Brian Harrington, Veteran James Hussey, Veteran Holeka Inaba, Council Member Ex-Officio (Kona) None Ex-Officio (Hilo) Michelle Hiraishi, Deputy Director P&R Also Present (Hilo) Brittany Iyo, Secretary J Yoshimoto, Deputy Corporation Counsel Absent Kelcie Figueira, Office of Veterans Services Call to Order Chair Michael Doolittle called the meeting to order at 1:37 pm. Quorum met with seven members present. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC None NEW BUSINESS Review and discuss Proposed Bill Amending Membership of the Committee Chair Doolittle introduced the topic and asked if everyone had a chance to review the proposed bill beforehand. Everyone agreed that they did, and Chair Doolittle started off with recommending we remove some organizations I belong to Hawaii Island Veterans Memorial and we've actually talked about disbanding this group when we finish this project. So, I think I would put that on the table and being a Chair in the organization and Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes June 22, 2021 Page 2 I think it's only fair to put that on the table and say I don't know that that should be an entitlement to Hawaii Island Veterans Memorial and the same is true for why we have two open seats for Big Island National Guard Retirees and Big Island Retired Military Association. Isn't that kind of one in the same? Debra Lewis: I'll let someone else talk but I don't believe so. They're similar but one is retirees at large and one is those retired from the National Guard. Chair Doolittle: Well, yeah. Lewis: They are still two active organizations; I will say that. They are still two active organizations. Now we have some members of those organizations here. I sense that they have people who could be pulled from those organizations. Chair Doolittle: George, you're a member of the National Guard Retirees, aren't you? George Sheridan: Yup, I am. Chair Doolittle: Can you offer us any insight into that? Sheridan: Well, it's separate by themselves and its usually run by the NCOs. We normally don't serve as officers. We basically get together a couple times a year, check in with everybody, have a little party. But I think one person ought to be fine. Chair Doolittle: I don't ever recall any of those organizations designating or offering up anyone to participate in the Veterans Advisory Committee. Sheridan: Well, I don't think anyone's ever asked them. I don't know. Marcia Brinkley: I'm a member of BIRMA and so was Antonio when he was on. I think people in BIRMA are very interested in the committee. Sheridan: Yeah, one ought to be enough. But that doesn't mean we can preclude two being on the council. You just have the requirement to have at least one. James Hussey: Can I say something? I'm just a guest, I'm not a member of the council but I'm a member of BIRMA which is the Big Island Retirees Military Association which includes all armed services, active -duty retirees. There's about almost 100 members and we meet in Hilo and in Kona generally once a quarter, a pretty active organization actually. Raises money, donates money, gives scholarships every year to high school seniors and that's separate from the National Guard Reserve Association, two separate organizations. The BIRMA organization is made up of all services, everybody from colonel down to Buck Sergeant. If they're retired, has to be a retiree not just someone who served on active duty. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes June 22, 2021 Page 3 Lewis: I would say, Michael, in my time on the island, I've been aware of the two organizations. I have yet to have them march in the parade. That would be a stickler to say it. But I do know that they meet regularly, and it seems like based on their membership that's a group that will continue on unlike what we've seen with some of these other ones that depend one the year group that you retired at or served at. I for one have no problem given that we will now have, if we go along since you're the head of HIVM, it makes all the sense in the world based on your comments that would make seven at -large members. Which I think is more than adequate and it at least gives visibility to some of the active veterans' groups that are out there. Chair Doolittle: I guess my comment is more about having membership that (inaudible). Brittany Iyo: Michael is now on zoom and speaker phone; I don't think we need him on speaker anymore. Chair Doolittle: If I can get back on Zoom, I prefer to be there. Lewis: I'm hanging up. Go ahead. `Technical difficulties Brinkley: Deb, why don't you repeat what you were saying. Lewis: I think we can do it separately or together but what I heard from you, Michael, is that the revision to paragraph B is to remove HIVM and I think the discussion was some of us prefer to keep both, BIRMA and the National Guard Retirees, mainly because they are one of the few active veteran groups that we have on the island, and they have pretty good-sized members. With that it would now change it to be seven at -large when you remove HIVM. Chair Doolittle: Yes, I would agree. Sheridan: Concur. Lewis: We could, if you want to vote, unless there's a nay. Are there any nays out there for wanting something different from what we discussed? Those are three changes, remove HIVM, change six to seven at -large members. Deputy Corporation Counsel J Yoshimoto: Deb, this is J. So, if you're going to do that, you should get a motion and a second from two people. Lewis: Ok, I make a motion that we remove HIVM, we add seven at -large members, and we keep the two retiree associations on board and my caveat is we have three Veterans of Foreign Wars posts. At -large members, because they're all over the island, it doesn't preclude them from being at -large members. Before you could only have one member, or Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes June 22, 2021 Page 4 they have to belong to another organization. That's just with that understanding I don't think we need to write it in, we just need to have an understanding. So, I make a motion to make those changes, seven at -large and remove HIVM. Sheridan: I second. Chair Doolittle: All in favor? Lewis: Any further discussion. Hearing none, now ask the question. Chair Doolittle: All in favor say aye. Motion carried with seven ayes. Chair Doolittle: Where are we at now? Lewis: Now, we're at paragraph c, none of the other paragraphs were recommended for changing except for "e". We had some minor changes. Isaac Nahakuelua: Deb, I had a question on paragraph c, when it says, Initially, two members shall be appointed for a term of one year, two members shall be appointed for a term of two years, how do we know when our term is up and how... Lewis: yeah, I don't know why it's so confusing. Can someone give us a history on that? J, do you have the history on that? DCC Yoshimoto: The policy or reasoning behind that is initially when committees are started the thought process is to not have all of the members expire at the same time so this committee will not have to go through that so long as the membership continues. In other words, it's just when you first start up. The history of this committee is it was dormant for a number of years. That's why when we started it up again, we did the terms staggered in this way, again for the purpose of making sure not all members term out at the same time. Lewis: So, with the members that we have now, we could server for five years, but the new seven at large members may have to be staggered. The rule allows for that. DCC Yoshimoto: No, so basically the committee has already been filled and established so any new members would serve a term of five years from this point forward. It's only upon the startup of the committee. As a related questions in subsection "e" previously I believe it said two consecutive terms. I know there was discussion in the past meeting wanting it to have the term limits removed. But I changed it from two to three just for discussion purposes because I was just concerned that having no term limits might be as beneficial. But that's for the committee to decide so you guys can discuss that. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes June 22, 2021 Page 5 Lewis: I move, unless someone has other discussion, I move to keep paragraph "c" and "d" as is and make the changes as indicated in "e" that says for additional terms, no, for more than three consecutive terms. Chair Doolittle: I have a question for you, Deb. Your term expired last year; I believe. How did you get extended? Lewis: J can probably answer that. But I didn't have a five-year term. Iyo: Sorry, J, I can answer that one. So, Deb, you were one of the members who when we first started, I think your term was two years and I think there were only a couple members when we first started were given the full five-year term. George... Lewis: I think George was around a while though. The committee was around for quite a while. Iyo: Well, we only reactivated in 2017, that's why we had to restart the staggered terms. I keep track of those things, like Deb, I'll usually let you know when your term is going to expire and how you can reapply. Chair Doolittle: Ok. The committee was actually in moth balls in 2017. I know that there hadn't been any committee meetings in about four or five years under Mayor Billy Kenoi because I went back and reviewed the minutes of all the past meetings just to understand what the committee was looking at. This was a fresh organization. I don't think I even knew how the terms for each member was orchestrated until I know that Emile's tenure ended last December, and he didn't reapply. But for all of us to understand our terms, I believe my term expires this December. I haven't really seen the list. Brinkley: Michael, you are correct and there are three that expire at the end of this year, you, Minoru, and Isaac. All three of you should reapply. I found that under hawaii county. gov under Parks & Recs under our committee and there's a fact sheet that Brittany had posted and that's where it's listed. Iyo: Yeah, but I'll always remind you guys when your term is going to end and how you can reapply. Chair Doolittle: For each member I think each member ought to know what his expiration time is and whether or not they care to participate further. Rather than it be a mystery. Thank you for the clarification it is on the County website. Let's move forward. Do we have, we don't seem to have anything that we want to alter or modify or amend the way it's written now. Lewis: Michael, we still have to vote on "e" we're keep actually "c", "d" and "e" we're modifying it just slightly for additional terms and that provided no member serve on the Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes June 22, 2021 Page 6 committee for more than three consecutive terms. So, I make a motion that we adopt what has been identified there. Chair Doolittle: Ok, and we have a second. All in favor? Motion carried with seven ayes. Chair Doolittle: Now we have adopted all articles, Iyo: Michael, sorry, who made the second? Chair Doolittle: George. (pause) Now we have all of the items "a" through "e" agreed to. Any further discussions on this organizational chart and membership? Lewis: I just had a slight edit for section 1 as it's presented to the Council of the County of Hawaii. Chair Doolittle: You're talking about section 1 at the top? Lewis: Yes, section 1 at the top. It's just the description of why we're doing what we're doing. Chair Doolittle: Well, why don't we read it then and you tell me why you want to modify it. Lewis: To allow and adjust to the maturing membership of the various veteran's organizations currently identified by the Veterans Advisory Committee. To expand and allow future inclusion for new, immerging, and other veterans organizations that provide valuable assistance on veteran's issues in alignment with the Veterans Advisory Committee. Chair Doolittle: Ok, and how might you propose that you want to amend that? Lewis: "Immerging" was misspelled, with an "e". I had `for new, emerging veteran organizations' I had it singular, `veteran organizations and veterans who provide valuable assistance on veteran issues in alignment with the Veterans Advisory Committee.' The couple changes were, corrected spelling of emerging, take out the apostrophe "s" and just say veteran organizations and add the `and veterans who' take out the `that' and then `provide valuable assistance on veteran issues, that was singular. That was it. That at least allows us to say, we pick organizations, or we could pick veterans who are working in the community. At least for now, because we said we were going to keep it veterans if we change it to be non -veterans that's an issue for another day. Right now, it's to get the at large members and I pondered whether or not we needed to say the intent was to get the whole island, but I think the committee history will know that, while it may not always be possible, we want to try to pick veterans from other organizations from throughout the Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes June 22, 2021 Page 7 island. That would be what I would say, even when it comes to VFW, because we have a Kona place, we have Pdhoa, Hilo. Get people from all over the island. Chair Doolittle: Well, that was kind of the motive for having more at -large members than these specific organizations because that tended to narrow us down to a smaller focus. Lewis: I think that whoever worded this, whether it was J or Brittany or whoever, provide `valuable assistance', that's the key phrase that we want to keep, `valuable assistance on veteran issues' gets the intent to the Council as to why we're doing what we're doing. Chair Doolittle: Yes, I agree with you 100%. And that has been the whole focus all along from the time I started on this committee until now, that we needed to modify it and bring it in to the modern assistance to veterans and understanding of veteran's issues within the County rather than just narrowed into the cemeteries and I think this accomplishes that and I'm in favor of that. Do we have a motion to accept that? Nahakuelua: I make a motion to accept. Sheridan: Second. Chair Doolittle: George has seconded. All in favor? Motion carried, seven ayes. Chair Doolittle: We have now, officially, through each section, adopted each segment of this ordinance. Is it now appropriate for us to accept, J, is that what we need to do now, have a motion to accept the entire ordinance? DCC Yoshimoto: That is correct, Michael. Chair Doolittle: Do we have a motion on the table? Lewis: I make a motion to accept it as amended in this meeting. Sheridan: Second. Chair Doolittle: Do we want to discuss it any further? Minoru Hanato: Chair, can I say something, this is Minoru Hanato. Chair Doolittle: Go ahead, Minoru. Hanato: my position, originally started off as At -Large and recently I was changed to DAV. How do you count my time on that? Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes June 22, 2021 Page 8 Chair Doolittle: For what we've done in the past I don't think we need to do anything. What we do in the future will be how we designate; you'll probably be At -large for the most part. Lewis: If there's no other DAV member, he fills the DAV representation. Chair Doolittle: Yes, right. Hanato: Because we have three other DAV chapters on the island, one Puna, one Hilo and one Kona so I just was wondering who am I representing. Chair Doolittle: For the purposes of today's discussion, we're not concerned with who represents what in the present committee, we're looking at how the future of this committee is organized. If there's no further discussion Iyo: Johnny has something to say. John Hiduchick-Nakayama: Thank you, just a quick question, by doing what we're doing today, I guess the first question would be what would be the next step for it to go to the Council for approval, is that correct? Chair Doolittle: Yes. Lewis: Sue Lee Loy said she will help us once we've approved a section that she'll present it to the Council. Hiduchick: Perfect, then once that's done and approved then we can hopefully bring on Laurie Soares from the DAR, correct? Brinkley: I'm not sure she's veteran though, Johnny, is she? Hiduchick: She is not. But as an At -Large member, if we bring her on as an At -Large member, I thought that's what we were discussing previously. Chair Doolittle: I don't know that there's anything in here that specifically excludes people who are not veterans is there? Hiduchick Yeah, I don't think there is either. Chair Doolittle: Yeah, so whether or not a person who applies for membership on the committee is a veteran or not, isn't really material to the application. It's what they're trying to do that benefits veterans. Hiduchick Agreed. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes June 22, 2021 Page 9 Chair Doolittle: I think were on solid ground all the way around. We're not trying to exclude anybody in the community and we're not trying to only say Veterans can only serve on this committee. What we've said is people who bring support and value to the veterans' community is what we want on the committee. Brinkley: I thought we were just discussing the opposite. I'm not saying that we shouldn't include non -veterans, but it sounds to me like that last phrase in section 1 it says `and veterans who provide valuable assistance on veteran issues...' so if that's the case that non -veterans can join, maybe we should tweak that further. Iyo: J, correct me if I'm wrong but I think section 1 is just for County Council to kind of introduce the bill but what's in County Code which is outlined of Section 15-62 doesn't specifically state that any member has to be a veteran. Chair Doolittle: Yeah, I kind of remember that from when I read and applied initially, and I see anything here in section 1 that excludes non -veterans. Iyo: Well, section 1 is not actually going to be included in County Code. I think that's just to preface the changes that we are proposing. Chair Doolittle: I don't think were presenting anything here that is confusing to the Council. DCC Yoshimoto: Michael, this is J. Just to reiterate section 1 is just explaining the purpose, section 2 is explaining the amendments that are going to be recommended by the committee and like you said, there isn't anything there that requires veterans be at - large, it's open. That's my understanding of the intent of the committee. Chair Doolittle: Yes, thank you. Brinkley: Ok, and I didn't think that was clear but now I get it and I'm in agreement with that. Chair Doolittle: Now what we want to do is we need to make a motion to accept the entire ordinance to be presented to the council. Lewis: I thought we just did that. Sheridan: We did. It was seconded. Chair Doolittle: J? DCC Yoshimoto: Was there a vote? I didn't hear the vote. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes June 22, 2021 Page 10 Lewis: No, we didn't vote. We were having the last proposal. We just have to vote now, that was the discussion. Now we can ask the question. Chair Doolittle: All in favor? Motion carried, seven ayes. Chair Doolittle: That hopefully concludes the last part of the reorganization of the Veterans Advisory Committee. I'm definitely happy that we've wondered through this forest from start to finish now. Do we have further business that we need to discuss? (pause) Do I have a motion to adjourn? Brinkley: I motion to adjourn. Chair Doolittle: Thank you, Marcie. Do we have a second? Sheridan: second. Chair Doolittle: All in favor? Seven ayes, meeting adjourned at 2:11 p.m. NEXT MEETING The next meeting is scheduled for August 24 at 1:30 pm. Brinkley motioned to adjourn. Sheridan seconded. Chair Doolittle: All in favor? Seven ayes, meeting adjourned at 2:11 p.m. Respectfully submitted, 3► LMa4,iy rya - Secretary